Back At It…

The past week has been Hell.  It was a special kind of Hell known as “the common cold”. And this nasty strain of cold stayed with me for over a week. I was coughing so much I didn’t want to eat, and when I did want to eat…I ate really bad food. I slept all day and watched a lot of Netflix (that was the only good part). I thought I was doing better on Sunday, and I accompanied my friend as she embarked on her first mud race. It was so much fun to watch, and I am looking forward to participating in the next one…whenever that may be. However, making my first entry into fitness trekking around a muddy course for over four miles may not have been my greatest decision. I don’t regret it at all, but I do think I should have taken it a bit more easy.

Now, over a week later, I am finally feeling ready to go back in the gym. However, I have no idea how far back into the gym I should go. There are two options: go full force and start back with CrossFit today OR do an arm workout with my two friends. I don’t necessarily think that going back to CrossFit right away is a bad idea, I’m just trying to gauge how much pain I will be in tomorrow morning. Most likely I will go to the gym without a plan and see what the workout is for today before making a decision. I’ll let you know how it goes.

-Jenni.

I’m Gonna Be in So Much Pain Tomorrow

In CrossFit, there are several benchmark workouts that help measure your performance and progress. These workouts are always going to be the same. These are needed in a workout program that never does the same workout twice. These workouts are known as “The Girls”. And today, we basically did the worst one.

Okay, I think it’s the worst one. Karen.

“Karen” is 150 wall balls for time. Why would someone do 150 wall balls? Because they can. And that is exactly what I did today.

I completed 150 wall balls in 20:57.

It was Hell, but I finished.

I’m going to be in so much pain tomorrow, but I finished.

I absolutely love that I am able to prove myself daily that I’m able to do things that I would usually look at and walk away.

I know I need to update more, but I’m so tired.

-Jenni.

Sick

I absolutely hate being sick. It has nothing to do with the sore throat and the cough. I hate not being able to go out and run or go to the gym and find some other workout to do. I can’t even do yoga when I’m sick. The most difficult thing for me to do is sit around and wait to get better. Then, I have to face the hell that is regaining my fitness level after a week of doing nothing but creating whatever medicine cocktail I can come up with and sleeping. I feel fatigued and all I crave is more carbs. I have the calm of knowing I rarely ever gain weight when I’m sick, but I hate craving everything that is put in front of me.

In short, I am SO ready to get better.

-Jenni.

When Fitness Saves You

If you would have talked to me just a few months ago, I would have said that I had to make myself to go to the gym. Each afternoon was a battle of whether or not it was worth it. I was too tired or I had to wallow in self-pity. I would go through drive-thrus and use food to  deal with all the emotional crap I was going through. If I had a bad day at work, I rewarded my stress with a spicy chicken sandwich, fries, and a large milkshake. And for a long time, I thought nothing of this way of life. I figured that I was “healthy enough” and that while I wasn’t losing weight, I wasn’t really gaining weight either.

Then about a month ago, I got less satisfied with that way of life. Being able to start CrossFit again was a big factor in me changing my life. I know that I have to fuel those workouts. I know that I have to show up to the gym ready to push myself. And I am happy to say that I have made huge strides, larger than with any other in the past. In less than a month, I have already achieved a full-RX workout AND today I did a real box jump. For those of you who are not CrossFit-Savy, an RX workout is one in which the athlete does the assigned workout with all prescribed weights and movements. I’ve done CrossFit for almost two years, and I finally got through one as prescribed. And a “real” box jump is one that is on a real wooden box that is 20″ high. This is a goal that I literally made last week, and I’ve already achieved it.

More to come. For sure. I am so excited to see how the next month goes. I have so much to achieve!

-Jenni.

Push Yourself

There’s nothing quite like the last minute of a CrossFit workout. You’ve pushed yourself to the limit; and now that the limit is here, you find it in yourself to dig a little deeper and pull out your best. What you thought was your best looks like child’s play next to that last minute of all-out insanity. Those wall balls you were taking breaks after every three reps of now feel weightless as your only goal becomes finishing before the timer cuts you off. And when you don’t make it, it’s a punch in the gut. Sometimes you push yourself to keep going until the coach domes over the tell you that it’s enough or that the next class is coming in soon.

Today was a weightless day.

Because CrossFit at Gold’s is still in the demo stage, some of the WODs are being done multiple times. Today was one of those days. I don’t know if you’ve ever done 400′ of walking lunges two days in a row, but it’s not the most comfortable feeling in the world. Pushing yourself to use the same muscles you used just the day before in the same exact way can seem daunting and just plain evil. But, I wanted the workout, and I honestly wanted to see if I could push myself even further. I will be the first to admit that my WODs are generally pretty scaled, and today was no exception. I gave up my overhead weight early on for the lunges and stuck to step-ups for the majority of my time working with box jumps. But, I still did it. And I can guarantee you that I still felt as worked out as the people around me. But the best part. The weightless moment was when I looked at the clock and called time a full 10 seconds early than I had just yesterday.

Yay!

-Jenni.

Back to Crossfit

It all started the middle of last month when I saw a small sign at the front of my gym: “Crossfit is Finally Here”. That sentence pretty much summed up my exact sentiments when it comes to Crossfit entering my gym. I had stepped away from Crossfit almost a year ago when I realized that it just was not sitting in my budget anymore. I mean, even the cheaper places run at least $100 per month, and the more well-known place can get up to $160. I completely understand why these boxes have to charge a large amount of money. In the end, each person is paying for intense personal training that present new and challenging workouts every day of the week. But now, Gold’s Gym in North Lakeland is offering Crossfit for $79 a month. Combined with my monthly gym payment, it’s still right under $100, and I get full access to Gold’s Gym pretty much any time I want. It’s really unbeatable.

I also absolutely love the fact that Crossfit at Gold’s Gym is bridging the gap between Crossfit and the so-called “GloboGym”, or for people that don’t consider every gym that’s not a box evil, a regular gym. For so long, I was told that I had to make a choice, and you couldn’t choose both. You either subscribed to Crossfit’s fitness regimen of functional workouts, or you went to a regular gym and created your own combination of strength training and cardio. But I’ve always felt like I needed something more when I was focusing on only one of the two. I needed more strength workouts when I was focusing solely on Crossfit, and when I was focusing solely on a gym, I was not fully committed to the cardio aspect of my workout plan. By bridging the gap, I can be a part of the Crossfit community, which I have severely missed over the past several months, and I am able to fill in the cracks with additional strength and extra cardio workouts on the days I choose not to participate in the WOD. I don’t see why more people aren’t about this combination.

Be prepared for more Crossfit updates in the coming months. I am super excited to be a part of this community again. ❤

-Jenni.

Not So Random Goals

I was supposed to do a super fitness goal this week. While my fitness is super important and I am still planning on finding SOME way to be active each day, I think I am going to be putting random goals on hold for the time being. Starting a new job has been really crazy, and all I really feel like doing today is going on a light run. I spent all day learning about my job and setting up my room. I am happy today that I am almost satisfied with my room. I just need a few more finishing touches that will come with time.

So, scratching the Insanity goal for this week, I will instead be watching a TED Talk every day. There are many awesome things about this goal. It will be beneficial for me because it is a fairly simple goal, and I will have the potential to learn something new each day. There are also a lot of TED Talks done by teachers, so there is even the potential to learn something about my job. I am definitely looking forward to it, which I think is really important to keep this goal thing going each week.

This has been a quick update. That’s all for now.

-Jenni.

The First Full Week

This past week was a lot of things.

It was the first week at my new job. I just started a long-term position teaching Fourth Grade, and I absolutely love it so far. There are a lot of challenges that I know I will face and some that I have already started to face. But it doesn’t seem like something that I cannot handle. I finally feel like I have found something that I am going to be successful doing.

It was the first week that I did not complete a weekly goal/challenge. Sure, I fell off the wagon reading Job at the end of the week last week, but I was still spending time in the Bible each day…just a smaller amount. I could have done better, but I wasn’t completely ignoring my challenge. This past week failed in a big way. I did yoga the first night, and it actually was a huge help in falling asleep and waking up feeling rested. Then the rest of the week took over and I ended up dragging myself to bed each night like I had been doing.

It was the first week that I really felt the pressure of balancing work and the gym. I really did not get to the gym that much last week, and a lot of the problem was starting my new job. When I did make it to the gym, I felt like I was phoning it in and not really pushing myself. The only workout I really attempted was my Saturday workout that involved a lot of Crossfit-type movements. I really miss being a part of Crossfit, and I am excited that they are bringing it to Gold’s Gym in North Lakeland.

It was the first week in a very long time that I felt like I was doing something good. I have spent the past year trying to find somewhere to fit in. I wanted so badly to find something that I was good out so that I could feel like I was making a difference in the world. I am so happy to finally have a job again. I am so happy to have somewhere to go each day with same people and to feel accepted. I don’t think I have felt truly accepted and part of a team in a workplace since working at Publix. I truly think that I may have found a home with my new job. My current goal is to let myself be happy in this realization. I am constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop instead of putting my trust in God that He has provided this job for me and He wants me to be happy.

This week my goal is to do Insanity each day. I am running through a few Crossfit demos this week (Monday and Wednesday), so I may be skipping on those days… but it’s basically the same thing. I’ll try to throw in an update on Wednesday or Thursday.

-Jenni.

A Spiritual Week

Hey guys! Sorry I’ve dropped off the earth this week, but a lot has been going on! The week started out pretty normal. My challenge for the week was to read the Bible every day, which I ave admittedly slacked on near the end of the week. But Monday through Wednesday I spent a good portion of my evenings reading through Job. It is definitely something I want to finish, and I even found a few John Piper sermons to listen to that go through a study of the book of Job.

In other news, I found out I would be starting a new job next week! After almost a year of searching and almost getting something and getting something and leaving it, I finally found a job that I think I will enjoy sticking with for an extended period of time. I am going to be teaching 4th grade at Lena Vista Elementary as a permanent substitute teacher. I will hopefully graduate to a full-time teaching position once I get my certification for Elementary School, K-6. This means that the next few months will involve a lot of studying, and probably a bit of stress. Friday night I went to the opening night the this weekend’s United City Conference. It was a great night of worship and preaching.

The best part of Friday was my morning run, which is good once I haven’t written a lot about running on my “running blog” since the first few weeks. I finished about four miles in just under an hour, clocking in about 14:30 miles. The best part about this run was that it included no walking breaks other than the warm-up and the cool down. I love that I am able to finally feel like I can turn to running when I am feeling stressed or upset. Running used to really clear my head, and I feel like I’m finally getting back to that point again. Yay!

Today was spent traveling around Lakeland with the boyfriend getting odds and ends of what I will need for my first week. I also started a Gofundme page to help raise money for my Certification Exam. If you would like to check that page out, please feel free (gofund.me/kcrkcg).

-Jenni.

The Final Four

Wrapping up my movie week consisted of a lot of different movies. We’re talking “all sides of the spectrum” different movies. Wednesday Jack and I indulged in the documentary, Jesus Camp, which has been on our Netflix watch list for quite some time now. Thursday I started watching Nymphomaniac, Vol. I before realizing it was almost three hours long. Once into the movie, I felt committed and I did end up finishing it. On Friday, Jack and I stayed home due to some pizza not agreeing with us and ended up watching Thunder and the House of Magic. We weren’t expecting much, but it was really an adorable movie. Although a Lord of the Rings marathon was planned for Saturday, it turned into a game night and I finished up my seven movies last night by watching Wayne’s World.

Jesus Camp is a documentary that explores a church camp that is geared towards young children. The documentary itself is very well done. While it shows a very specific type of Christianity, one that I don’t necessarily subscribe to, the film does not offer any personal opinions. It shows you what the camp is about spliced up with a few clips of a radio show that has some differing opinions from the church and you are allowed to form your own opinions. I would give this documentary a strong 5 out of 5. Not only was it very well done, it will open up the floor for some great conversation/debate if you are with the right group of people.

On Thursday I started watching Nymphomaniac, Vol. I before realizing the three hours is a really long time. The movie follows the life of Joe, a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, as she recounts it to Seligman, who found her lying in an alley after some type of accident that is not revealed in the first film. The metaphors that parallel Joe’s stories to Seligman’s interests is probably my favorite thing about the movie. Although it is definitely a weird movie (and not one to be watched with your parents), it is very well done and I would recommend it to anyone who has the ability to watch a movie with an open mind. I’d give this movie a 4.5 out of 5. I’m hoping to watch Vol. II within the coming weeks. I’m including some trivia for this movie because I really think it gives a feels for the nature of the movie:

• Shia LaBeouf was asked to send pictures of his penis in order to obtain his role. He subsequently decided to send in personal sex tapes of him and his girlfriend having sex in order to convince Lars von Trier to cast him.
• Originally, this movie and Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013) were shot as one movie and were originally intended to be released as one cut. Due to its length it was split into two movies.
• According to Stellan Skarsgård, the “chocolate sweets” portion of the first chapter is based on an anecdote told by a female friend of Lars von Trier about how she and a friend dared each other to have sex with people on a train for a bag of candy.

Thunder and the House of Magic was simply a very cute movie about a cat named Thunder and a magical house. There’s not much information about it online so I can’t include any good trivia and such, but I would definitely recommend it especially for people with kids. I’d give it a 4 out of 5.

I almost skipped my last day, but I did end up watching Wayne’s World with Jack. My main concern was picking another movie that was long and felt more like running a marathon than watching a movie. Wayne’s World  definitely didn’t feel like that. It was quick and funny, and obviously a classic. I’ll give it a 4 out of 5. Here are some fun facts about the movie:

• When the plane flies over Wayne and Garth, the plane is seen from underneath is actually a 4-foot-long model.
• When Rob Lowe is pitching the arcade sponsorship to Wayne and Garth in the restaurant, he says “literally” very drawn out, which is foreshadowing his catchphrase “LIT-tralee” on the TV show “Parks and Recreation” (2010-14).
• While filming the Bohemian Rhapsody sequence, both Mike Myers and Dana Carvey developed severe pain in their necks from all the head banging. There are scenes later in the movie where it becomes apparent they are trying to move their necks as little as possible.
• In the early ’70s, some British music shops banned or fined patrons for playing “Stairway to Heaven” because it was played so often. Hence the sign: “No ‘Stairway to Heaven'” when Wayne plays the guitar in the store.

That wraps up movie week. I really did enjoy the fact that I watched a lot of different genres and not just seven movies I knew I would like. It worked out in my favor, with most movies being really awesome. This upcoming week my seeking goal is reading the Bible every day. I’m not sure how to include that in the blog, but I will think of something.

-Jenni.