Step Away From the Cake

Today was a fairly epic day. It's not so much that anything really fantastically great happened. It's much more in how I am feeling. Yesterday at Crossfit, I totally rocked the WOD. I was the only one at 6 am and it was wall balls, sit ups and pike push ups. I rocked it. It was amazing. I rode that high all day. Then this morning, the WOD was kind of like a chinese food menu. You could pick one from column A and one from column B. I chose burpees and deadlifts. Burpees because I can do them, even if I hate them, and deadlifts because I could go RX. During the WOD the above picture was taken as I was kissing the floor during a burpee. I love that picture. I love it!!! It shows the effort I put into that workout and I just love it. I've made it my FB profile picture. Most people want a nice picture where they look good, not me. I want a picture that shows me working hard. That's what it's all about. After that I finally got a container to make my kombucha tea in, so ...

I have been on a bit of a baking spree. For some reason I have just felt like baking lately. Tuesday I made a lilikoi chiffon pie. Then on Thursday I decided to try making real French macarons. For the filling I wanted to try my hand at dulce de leche so I could make a salted caramel filling. Let me just say it all worked perfectly. While they did not look as perfect as these, they were amazing. The cookie was hardish on the outside, like an eggshell, and chewy in the middle and basically a meringue cookie. The inside was chewy and just a touch salty and totally delicious. Mine did not come out all the same size, as they should, because I'm not very adept at piping out of a bag. So they were odd shaped but absolutely delicious. I ate them. All. In 2 days. Not good. Also, they are almost pure sugar. Sugar and eggs and flour in the cookie, sugar and milk in the filling. Sugar. As I was eating some last night I thought if I don't have diabetes yet, these will give it to me. But ...

There is a fine line between taking care of yourself and taking it easy. It's a balancing act and it is difficult. I am currently walking that tightrope and it's driving me crazy. Yesterday at Crossfit was a rough day and today was another one. We had a 14 minute EMOM (every minute on the minute) with push ups and thrusters. I can not do push ups well and when I'm rushed like that it's even worse. We were supposed to do 8 pushups and 4 thrusters. The idea being that you do them and allow yourself enough time to get a little bit of rest. I started with a blue band low between two bars, but quickly had to switch to a blue and red band up high. After about 4 sets though, I couldn't do those either and had to move to the kettlebell table. I was pretty upset with myself. My arms hurt on the push ups and the thrusters. I was not a happy camper. On my way home though I realized something. My right arm, the one that I hurt the shoulder, hurt a lot more than my left arm. My...

It's all mind games. When I started Crossfit I was pumped. I was excited about every single WOD and every thing was a PR. It was awesome. Then I started to get kind of good and started doing amazing things. That was really awesome. Then I injured my shoulder and I slid, not back to where I started, but even further back. It's been a slow recovery process, but I am recovering. But knowing where I was before the injury and where I am now kinds of bums me out. I try to keep a positive attitude and remember that I was injured, but it doesn't always help. Like today. I was getting down on myself because I can't do a pull up yet. But I can do 5 kipping pullups in a row with bands. At the beginning of the year I couldn't even do that. Progress. Then there was a lot of running today. Lately running has caused my low back to seize up. After the 2nd 400m I was ready to quit. I didn't. I rolled out my back and just kept working out. But it is a humbling experience. I was...