YAY :)

You know I need to remember these...

THURSDAY 110120

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Jake Rubash 247lbs, Josh Everett 245lbs, Michael Giardina 243lbs,Brandon Pastorek 243lbs, Brandon Phillips 235lbs, Rob Miller 225lbs,Kristan Clever 155lbs, Katie Hogan 155lbs, Rebecca Voigt 120lbs.

The question competition inspires.

Could I have done more?

For me, training is fun, even if you are there to get legitimate work done. Training is done with a plan to be better... but it is ok if the week just doesn't permit it. Training can be serious, but never so serious that you feel like doing well might be something imminently important to you. Training can be approached in a variety of moods and still completed. Training is done with some eyes on you but no one really minding what you do for better or for worse - it's just what you do.

But competition demands respect.

Competition demands your best. Competition demands a stern mind, a fueled body, a rested nervous system, and a standard. It demands a plan. It demands discipline.

On competition day, If you can't do it, you aren't going to do it. You aren't going to scale. You aren't going to get an extra second to run to the bathroom. You aren't going to get what you want because you're not having a good day.

And unlike when you train and you ask yourself "could I have done more?" and the answer is RARELY ever "Nope", competition makes that question feel deeply important. Because, after all, this is kind of your chance. It's your opportunity to take all of what you have done every 6am, noon, or 530p class and see what it is worth in numbers, and in contrast to everyone else who does what you do.

And whether you win, or you lose, you want your effort to be honest - you want it to be a real representation of WHAT YOU CAN DO.

So this is how the question always haunts me. I know my effort during competitions is very different than my effort during training (if only because I feel less pressured when training) - but that voice in my head is always the same, "slow down", "be careful", "it doesn't really matter", "you're already behind anyway".

Battling those small nudges is what bettering myself is ultimately about. Balancing them out is the challenge.

"Get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding, you will be yourself. Relaxed. You wouldn’t be driving with your brakes on. That’s what would happen."

- Anthony DeMello

Eleven is a nice number.

Gravity's my enemy.

Muscle Ups at 215 - a short analysis from CrossfitCC on Vimeo.

My New Years’ Resolution for 2010 was one thing: to live more simply.

A slew of small enlightened sentences would spring forth from my wee blog in the months to come. There was a lot of change. A lot of movement. A lot of acceptance of things that, had you attempted to warn me of prior to my experience, I would never have believed would happen.

Truth be told, it’s been a year of growing pains in both my personal and professional life.

I wonder whether I really have simplified. I now live in Philadelphia and find keeping myself in service to one business much more fulfilling than two, or three. I now find myself accepting the company of an incredible man who reminds me of the things I want to live for every day I know him. I now find myself imperfectly, but earnestly trying to cast off the forces in my life that weigh me down (my car, my inbox, and my “things” in general) in favor of those that build me up (my friends, my family, my faith, my training, my journey).

Plotting his way to Brazil I'm sure...

2011 presents me with new beginnings galore: a new gym, a new apartment, a new relationship, new friends, and a new outlook. I hope to allow this year to be what it will - everything that is hoped for but nothing that is promised.

Here’s the concrete; 11 things I hope to do in the next year:

1. Certified USA Olympic Weightlifting Coach come May (Totten)
2. Win something - not sure what yet - OR simply compete in my first Oly Meet ever.
3. Finish meeting with DB (my accountant and financial advisor - pretty much) about money and CFCC
4. Go to Colorado and take an anusara class from Heidi.
5. Go to church - not because I must, but because I want to, at least once a month.
6. Read and implement Gray Cook, also Kelly Starrett at CFCC at least 1x a week.
7. Play tennis through the spring, summer, and fall at least a few times a month.
8. Find somewhere to sing.
9. Cook the majority of my food at home and finally buy a grass-fed meat freezer for CFCC.
10. Go to the Mutter Museum.

11. Take a class/get a certification: either anusara, CSCS, another language, sewing, or... SOMETHING.

I'm saving the CrossFit Goals for AFTER HYBRID. :)

Inspiration.