Holiday Shuffle

I know time goes by faster as you get older, but this month has been setting records. I can't even process how fast the days are slipping past, let alone accept that Christmas Eve is a mere 5 days away. The normal "milestones" of this season somehow came and went without the reality of them setting in...Christmas tree was bought and decorated 2 weeks ago, lights were strung outside, our annual holiday party has came and went, my sister's birthday...usually the big clue to me that December is almost over seems like ages ago, yet it was 2 days ago. Somehow I've managed to get the majority of my shopping done, which is weird because in my head I still feel like I can put it off another week! Since I'll be traveling from December 24- Jan 3rd, I'm just trying to make sure I think of everything. I decided that I would not be making the normal mix of holiday cookies this year to ship to my relatives on the East Coast. I'm going to be visiting them in a week or so, and I figure I'm a much better gift. Saves me time, saves their waistline. Win/win?

I had every intention of updating last week after my work treadmill tempo run, which was awesome, but got distracted with work? Who knows. I just know that my last post here was two weeks ago, and that doesn't seem possible. Last week was pretty ideal as far as my training schedule goes. I got my sprint workouts in on Monday and Tuesday running to and from the gym. I got my tempo run in on Wednesday at the work gym- I was able to hold a faster than race pace for 20 minutes straight, then did a slow cool down. On Saturday, I made plans to run with a friend which proved to be a great decision because after we spent some time running errands in the cold, raining, dark PNW day, both of us agreed that we wouldn't have run if we were on our own. We ran a huge set of steps 3 times, and then jogged around the neighborhood for 1.5 miles or so? I didn't even get warm until half-way through the run. That's how cold it was.

Since the stair run on Saturday, I've been extremely sore in my calves. I think my leg muscles are still adjusting to running on the balls of my feet rather than heel striking. Like, so sore I have to hobble awkwardly down stairs, and walking around it looks as if I'm using wooden legs that don't bend. I ran to and from the gym Monday and Tuesday and performed the tough workouts there, hoping to get some relief- not so much. Today is the first day I feel slightly better in my calves, but my shoulders are crazy sore from many 115# power cleans, 115# hang cleans (new PR for me) and 115# full squat cleans (so hard!), so I'm choosing to hold off on my tempo run today, and do it tomorrow. I will up the pace 0.2 MPH from last week and run that for 20 min with proper warm up and cool down. Then on Friday I'll hit the gym like normal. The daily and weekly checklists are still in full effect, and really keeping me on task as far as my veggie intake, fish oil intake, water intake, and other general things that are great for my overall health and well-being.

Yesterday was a really tough day for me at the gym. We were working on cleans, and my head was just not in the game. I can picture in my head what a good clean should look like, yet somehow I can't get my body to do it. Once again, my head is getting in the way of me being able to just do something. For whatever reason, I just could not drop under the bar. Then, when we were to do a full clean (dropping under bar, catching in a squat) I just wouldn't do it. I basically had the coach yelling at me (which I don't mind) and finally I got a few in. The annoying this is that when performed correctly, the bar feels weightless. So, I don't know what my problem is. Its discouraging because I've been attending a crossfit gym for 2+ years, and I don't really feel like I've progressed much in the last 1.5 years. I mean, sure, some things have improved. I can deadlift/squat/press more weight, and I can actually eek out a few toes to bar, but the list of things I can't do still remains long. I watch all these other people around me making huge leaps and gains in strength and skill, and then I feel like I'm just stuck in the mud. Its kind of frustrating. I don't know what the remedy is right now, but I've got a few ideas churning.

No, I'm not going to be changing anything drastic in my diet or training right away, but my initial thoughts are that I need to choose something specific to work towards...and stick to it. Like, just focusing on the 1/2 marathon in the spring, training for that, and letting some of my crossfit ego lifts slip a little as long as my runs are getting longer and faster. I read somewhere that you can work on getting stronger or you can work on losing fat. You can't do both. I'm beginning to understand that statement a lot better.

I wish I could spend the rest of 2012 curled up next to this guy: