Been A While...

It's been over a month since I've last blogged!  I'm going to get back on track with this because it's really a great way for me to be able to not only share my journey but I've met some pretty amazing people who read my blog.

So what have I been doing the last six weeks...

I competed in the Crossfit Open 2013 this year which was a big first step for me.  I was pretty impressed with my overall performance.  All the workouts were on different levels for me physically but the mental aspect was about the same.  Just don't quit was my motto going into every workout.  I completed all five weeks and was happy with my results.  Overall I was stronger physically and mentally by the first week of April.

This picture is from 13.2 I'm pretty sure but I could be wrong...That's 75pds for those who are wondering!  It was darn heavy!

The Open came to end but then I started the Spring Into Summer 24 Day Challenge with my AdvoCare group.  It was time to drop a few pounds, inches and increase my cardio performance.  I started out strong the week of April 8th...then it all came to a screeching halt this week.  I was mentally exhausted, frustrated, depressed and my stress level was thru the roof!  Why?  I'm my own worst critic in life and I'm not talking about a little bit harsh.  I'm talking about failure is what I see most days in my own life as I reflect on my over all health and workouts.  I am terrible about hiding all my feelings inside and then they blow up like a bomb (right Jana and Pam!!).  

I've done a lot of self reflecting over the last three weeks and I refuse to let myself see the progress that I've made in my lifestyle over the last five months.  The positive things I seem to forget is that my marriage is stronger than it ever has been!  Steven and I rarely have arguments (if any) and we've found the perfect balanced of happiness while working on having a successful future together.  There's just one thing holding us back and it's my mental weakness.  I've got to believe in myself and my abilities. 

I'm not telling you all this for pitty or sympathy votes; I'm telling you because it's reality.  Everyone of us is faced with the reality of life and not believing in ourselves at some point.  What makes us successful is overcoming these obstacles and becoming a better person from the lessons you learned along the way.  

It's only failure when you give up completely and never try again.

13.1 In The Bag

The Crossfit Open officially kicked off Wednesday evening after the announcement of the first workout.  As the news quickly spread about the details of the workout my heart quickly sank.  The more that I read the workout the more that I let fear set in.  I've been doing Crossfit for seven months and there are three things I haven't been able to make much progress on which are running, burpees, and manmakers.  My running is getting better every month and I just completed my first mile a week ago.  Burpees and manmakers are horrific.  Anytime I see them listed in the workout I cringe!

13.1 Workout Details:

17 Minute AMRAP
40 Burpees
30 Snatch (45lbs)
30 Burpees
30 Snatch (75lbs)
20 Burpees
30 Snatch (100lbs)
10 Burpees
Max rep Snatch (120lbs)

Now you see why my heart sank and fear set in...LOOK AT ALL THOSE STINKING BURPEES!!  Saturday was getting closer and closer but the fear only got worse.  I had lots of uplifting positive people providing endless support for me (Pam, Matt, Jason, Clay, Jana, Steven and the list goes on).  They had the faith in me that I was going to do great.  Saturday arrived and it was time to kick some butt!  I woke up positive and refreshed, ready to face my fear of burpees!  This would also be the first time I have ever competed in an athletic competition.  It was my turn to do the workout and something absolutely amazing happened...I KICKED BUTT!!  My burpees were stringing together smoother than any workout I had ever done before.  I was physically exhausted but mentally I was racing so I kept going.  In the end I survived the workout and had a great score!  I even set a PR during my workout by doing a 75lb snatch!

75lb Snatch

Kicking Burpee Butt

Can't wait to see what 13.2 brings this coming Wednesday!!

Ready, Set, Go!!

February 18th is almost here which means it's time for me to buckle down with my health and fitness goals!  That means it's AdvoCare 24-Day Challenge time! The cleanse starts tomorrow and I'm so ready for it!  I'm ready to clean out all the funk from my body from the last 7 weeks of a crazy busy life.  Ready for some awesome workouts and moving myself to the next level of training.

The challenge isn't all about weightloss.  For me personally, it's a spring board in my workouts.  I also run faster (ok jog faster), lift heavier and push myself past my mental limits.  I'm 31 yrs old and have honestly never felt better in my entire life!  I'm feeding my body great clean food and amazing supplements!  

Bring on Monday because this girl is ready to blow it up!!

Frustration

Today has been a day full of frustration, anger and confusion.  Steven and I have dreams that are wonderful and amazing but they will take hard work and dedication to accomplish them.  At what point though do you ever feel like your on the "right" path to accomplishing those dreams?

Our dreams take big sacrifices that can take a toll on our emotions.  For the couple that doesn't have any kids we aren't home very often.  2013 was the year to have a baby...yeah right!  Not sure when we are suppose to fit that in!  We seem to over commit ourselves to everything else and in the end we pay the price.  The price being that we don't focus enough on our own marriage and dreams.  We push those things to the "next free weekend" and then that never seems to roll around.  But we feel selfish when we tell family and friends no.  

Now here we sit 6 weeks into the new year still not focused on our financial dreams, health and wellness to the level that we want to.  We makes excuses constantly but we never put ourselves first!  So how you do press the reset button on life?  It's hard!  We've tried about 4 times in the last 3 weeks and still haven't reset.

We are faced with how to move forward and start living the life we have always wanted to.  We've done it before but somehow we have to get back on the right track!  So if we take a step back from the social calendar of life, don't take offense.  We're focused on starting a family, financial freedom, and accomplishing our goals for 2013.  

Scared to Post

Strange title right?  Don't worry it will all make sense very soon!

I've been doing Crossfit for about 5 months now.  Some might think that's a long time but it's really not.  When I started Pam Munson asked me had I ever done any sports when I was younger.  I literally LOL'd at her.  I mean seriously...was she looking at the same person that I saw in the mirror each day?  She then started to tell me that I was an athlete and I again chuckled because I honestly thought she was just blowing smoke.  In January my attitude FINALLY changed about my athletic ability.

At Crossfit Champions they post the WOD on their website and ask you to post your results after completing that particular WOD.  I was determined to NEVER post my results because I was embarrassed by them.  Then I thought why?  Why was I am embarrassed?  Those people posting all had to start somewhere on there own journey right?  I continued to watch as people would post and I continued to do nothing with my own results.  Then I changed my thought process and started wondering how many other people are having those same thoughts?

Then the day came and I posted my results finally.  You know what?  Not one person said anything negative!  Instead people are encouraging and proud of my success.  I never thought that anyone would be proud of my athletic success.  Then again I never thought I would have an athletic success story.

So yesterday's WOD was very challenging for me and I was again faced with the fear of posting my scaled slow results but I did it anyway!

3 x 300m Run
3 x 500m Row
3 x 150 Jump Ropes
Total Time:  26:46

Don't be ashamed of your results!  Everyone starts somewhere on their journey.  Be proud and post away!  Someone you don't even know will benefit from you being open about your struggle and success!

Stop or Keep Going?

Steven and I have truly struggled over the last three weeks with our workouts and eating. We've made poor food choices which have lead to average workouts for us. Some people might be happy with average but I'm not! I'm better than that, I'm an athlete now and I need to train like one! It's not just about the workouts but its also about the fuel you feed your body. Have you ever spent time to read the labels that junk food is made of?

Lots of our friends and family don't understand why we are eating the way we are. My answer is simply because we want to feel better! I'm 31 and at times you might think I'm 60!

2013 is the year that Steven and I change our lives! It's more than eating and working out, it's also about becoming a better wife and husband. We deserve the best that life has to offer but we have to WORK at our success! No one is going to dump happiness and success in your lap! You have to work at it!

So are you going to stop or keep going towards your own happiness?

Closing Out 2012

Well it's New Year's Eve and another year is coming to an end.  2012 has been a roller coaster ride for Steven and I.  Our lives together started out with lots of bumps and we are ending on such a high.  It's hard to even figure out where to start...

Our year started with us struggling financially and living two separate lives in the same house.  We hadn't quite made the one year mark of marriage.  Many friends told us the first year would be the hardest.  Not because we weren't meant to be married but because we were both older when we got married (lets face it, when you get married and your both in your thirties your "older").  We were both pretty much set in our ways as individuals and we struggled with communication as a couple.  Then reality hit us in the face at the beginning of February.  Our dear friends Steve and Jen Martin told us that Steve had stage 4 melanoma.  Talk about kick you in your face!  Here we were arguing over leaving a dirty bowl in the sink for someone else to clean-up and they were dealing with the reality of STAGE 4 CANCER!  Funny thing is that they didn't dwell on the negative and sadness of the cancer, instead they started a war against cancer which has lead to Steve still being here 12 months later!  Here's a link to Jen's blog http://martinfamilyjourney.blogspot.com

Our one year anniversary arrived in March and we celebrated with an amazing dinner at Damian's in downtown Houston!  Probably in my top 5 awesome moments in life.  I got to cook like a real chef!

I'm even wearing high heels while I cook my master piece!  

Steven and I had overcome a lot of our issues by March.  We were plowing through the first part of the year and creating memories along the way!  In May we took a wonderful trip to New Mexico for some great hiking and relaxation!  It was fantastic!

I was goofing off during this photo and nearly fell backwards down the cliff.  Lesson learned...don't goof off while at the edge!

So the first half of our year was pretty exciting and we had overcome our bumps in our marriage!  The second half of 2012 was very busy and lots of fun!

My Mary Kay business was having it's own success!  I was the first runner up in the Rockstar unit for court of sales.  My good friend Lori was the queen!  Steven and I went to our very first Mary Kay Seminar in August.  It was lots of training and we got to play fancy dress-up a couple of nights for awards.  It's always fun dressing up for events!  My success in Mary Kay allowed me to donate $450 to the Martin Family's AIM for Melanoma walk in September as well!

Steven decided to leave 24 Hour Fitness where we had been kind of working out together and joined Crossfit Champions.  I stayed at 24 Hour since I had a personal trainer.  Our weight loss was up and down all summer long.  Not really seeing any progress because every time we lost weight we had a bad weekend or week(s) and gained it back.

In last August I took the plunge and joined Crossfit Champions.  I thought it was the dumbest decision I made at the time but whatever I was giving it a try.  Immediately after I joined Steven left on an out of town trip for the ENTIRE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER!  Oh great, I joined this new place and my husband left!  In September the gym had an AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge which I participated in and didn't have much success.  The only real improvement was that I took 2 minutes off my workout.  I will stay the unsuccessful challenge was COMPLETELY MY FAULT!  I quit the last 2 weeks of the challenge and the results suffered because of it.

October was about the same.  We were working out and taking our AdvoCare supplements but not really eating clean and healthy.  In November we took our annual trip to San Antonio to watch the lights come on the Friday after Thanksgiving on the River Walk.  We had a great time!

After Thanksgiving we decided to do a 24 Day Challenge together. This my friends was the turning point in our weight-loss and life that Steven and I both needed!  We had amazing results with weight and inches lost.  We both felt great and had energy that we had never had before.  We didn't eat out for 24 days!  Our checking account was gratefully for that!  At this point I had figured out that Crossfit was EXACTLY what I needed!  It was a giant family and I loved it!

So now the end of the year is here and what's next?  2013 is going to be full of greatness and lots of success!  We will continue to get healthy together and we will also start helping others.  There are so many people out there that want to get healthy but just need help from real people who have been through the same struggles!  We're hoping to do just that!

Happy New Year to everyone and may your 2013 be a great one as well!