New Gym!

Holy Moley, I joined a new gym.  Like a real globo gym with sales people and everything.  It was weird and I felt icky, but I'm pretty happy about it now and I'm done feeling all guilty for leaving my gym of 8 years.  I've only been a handful of times but so far so good.  I swam twice and took a spin class and LOVED it! Sometimes change is good!

Being back in the pool has been pretty cool.  I love swimming and if I'm going to"tri" this summer I need to get my swim on.  The pool is 25 meters, 3 lanes, clean and not too crowded.  Last night I swam 40 laps with ease.  I was mainly working on form and breathing, speed will come, so will the distance. 

Tonight I go back for a session with the trainer.  He'll do all that body fat stuff that I'm dreading and show me some machines.  I'm pretty ok with my strength training, but I feel like I have no idea where anything is, this place is huge!  I guess I'm most excited about the in depth tour.  This guy also knows that I was a Crossfitter so we are planning on really utilizing the free weight section which is cool.  I've heard a lot of Crossfitters talk about how "globo" gyms hate on the Crossfit methodology and don't want they members doing any of the wods.  I'm not sure I'm going to bust out a huge complex wod, but it's nice to know I can still do clean and jerks and stuff like that.

Overall I'm really happy with this new place.  I'm excited to spend time there and I'm even more relived about my decision to quit CF. 

In addition to all the swimming and spinning last week, I also ran a bunch.  Running partner and I cleared 3 miles Wednesday and Sunday I ran 4 before my best day ever.  After the gym tour I'm planning on a speed session on the 'mill. 

Oh, and the food has been pretty good too!!

Things I love:The Sunday (How Did I Get So Lucky) Edition

A quickie (twss) for a lazy Monday Morning.

4 mile runs in my neighborhood

My running route

Drives out East for a late lunch and a chance to catch the sunset with the boy

Dune Road/Sundays

Bakeries!

Beach Bakery Cafe

The running was great, lunch even better, the apple pie thingy that I should have taken a pic of but I'm not a food blogger, even better!  I love Sunday's.

I Moved The Scale

The scale is both my friend and enemy.  I like to know where I stand, but when that number fluctuates, I may or may not get a little evil to be around.

I've been on a crazy-weigh-my-self-obsessively kick lately.  Sometimes 2x a day, and for sure every day, but I only "count" my Monday morning number.

All this weighing in business is exhausting so I have moved the scale. Drastic measures people!

 For now it's under my bed, but I may move it to the basement. It's time to focus on healthy eating, not a number. 

I'm still a little all over the place with the quitting Crossfit thing, but part of me feels relieved which makes me think it really is time to go.  I'm still active until March 1, so I will definitely make a few classes.  CF became this rigid thing for me, if I didn't make a certain number of workouts it was a waste of money, and there wasn't a lot of flexibility.  For instance, today is going to be close to 55 degrees so I'm hoping to run, but I haven't make a single CF workout since last week, normally I would have a resentment and go just so I wasn't wasting money, today I'm like who cares, just go for the run...It's nice to just do, not fret about the dollars and cents of a workout!

Quitting Crossfit

I've been going back and forth for awhile about Crossfit: stay, quit, like, love, worth the expense, not worth the expense...so on and so forth.

I'm still on the fence, but I think I'm going to give it up.  I'm not seeing the results I was hoping for and it's getting harder to fit in the workouts (hence the not great results).  I'd love to say that for the past 6 months my body/life/self has changed drastically because of CF, but it's just not true.  I have gotten stronger for sure, but I think I can continue to build strength at my regular gym.

Does CF work?  TOTALLY, if you work it.

I know my food isn't 100% and I'm only there around 2 -3 times per week (along with running and the occasional spin class) and it's still cheaper than a personal trainer, but in my heart of hearts I just can't justify the expense.

I've always been a believer of the "don't quit before the miracle" adage and I think that's part of why I have held on for so long.  But as I write this post, it's clear to me that I need to move on - for now.

I'm going to miss some of the movements, and most of what I will miss I can do at my regular gym, but will I?  That is the beauty of CF, I get to do things I would normally not do.

So for today, the plan is to terminate for March, then re-evaluate in a month.  I'm pretty regimented as of late, so maybe I can build out some sort of a plan for myself and see how I do.  And who knows, I may end up back in a box, maybe even a new one....the beauty of this workout journey that I'm on is that it's MINE and I can make changes and figure things out as I go.

Lastly, and I CANNOT stress this enough about myself....I NEED to clean up my food.

Valentines Day

I've always been the single girl in my crew, and with the exception of yesterday, I have been single for every Valentines day since the history of man. I've never really had a problem with it, but this year I'm not single and it became a HUGE deal to me to have a special day.  The only problem is I have a crabby BF who HATES holidays.  Bummer, especially since I'm the total opposite.  That being said he came through with roses, dinner and a trip to my favorite froyo place EVER, Swirls and Twirls.

So Sweet!

I will probably not put so much emphasis on this holiday again, but it was fun to be all girly and get flowers and be cheesy all in the name of love, now if only CC would get on board with my cheese, maybe next year?

We had a not so great thai dinner but I was careful not to overeat, and the most amazing part of my day is that I managed to get up and run in the morning.  It was just under 3 miles which was good enough, I will gradually add mileage, but I really just wanted to get out there and be back in less than 30 minutes.  Mission accomplished!

I Ran For Sherry

Saturday morning I headed out on my own for a 3 miler for Sherry.

I was bummed I missed an email from Sarah and I never made my club's group run so I shuffled off in the  wet/rain/snow for a run to the docks and back...my usual 3 mile loop.  I could have gone longer, but it was getting slick so I erred on the side of caution and grabbed coffe at The Bean and went home.

The whole run felt pretty special, I thought about Sherry and SUAR and although I don't know them, I know them...blogging is funny like that.  Each step was in her honor and I felt overwhelmed with gratitude.  I had an aunt who was murdered when I was about 1 years old.  We don't speak about it much, but I can't imagine the pain my parents and family must have felt.

It's the little things about blogging that keep me here, and this was no exception.  I know that there were thousands of us running our hearts out for someone we had never met, but because of this awesome community, we know.

Wait, I Used To Run, Right??

There's been a lot of talk about running, and this is sort of a running blog, so I guess I should actually run one of these days!

I think the last time I ran was 3 weeks ago, probably the Caumsett 5k which was snowy and fun.  I don't even think I have been on the treadmill.  Sheesh.  I guess I could count the 400's we ran this past week at CF but that was maybe a total of 2 - 2.5 miles tops.

No running though isn't terrible.  I have been spinning and Crossfitting and getting my workouts in, plus I think I needed a little break with the 'ol knee acting up.

So peeps, what's a non-running, runner to do?  Run, obvi.  Sat. is the Virtual Run for Sherry which I am planning to do NO MATTER WHAT.  I have a few groups to run with, I may even run on my own, I just know I'm going to run.  The next step is to figure out my spring half and put together a training plan.  There are a bunch to choose from between the NYRR races and some on LI so I'm covered there. Then I have Chicago to think about....who cares if it's 8 months away, I need to plan :)

All this talk makes me want to get out there and run, but I'm at work so blog reading about people running in sunny places will have to do!

Chicago Here I Come!!

It's officially official....I just registered for The Chicago Marathon! I am beyond excited! I knew I wanted to run another marathon and since getting into NY is so slim through lottery I figured why not and so here I am, confirmed, running partners in tow and I think we may even have our room squared away. Yes, I am aware that it is only Feb 7.

Even though I was knee deep in taco dip at last nights Super Bowl party, I'm feeling back on track with food. I logged every bit of food I ate last week and will continue to do so until I die, or something like that. I took 2 spin classes and hit up crossfit 3x, including Saturdays WOD which was probably the longest CF workout ever...I think I finished in 46 minutes. It was tough, sweaty and loooong but I loved every second of it.

Aside from obsessing about Chicago, the plan for this week is to continue watching my food, spin tomorrow at 6am with Sully, CF at night and a mix of CF and running the rest of the week.

Those few pounds I wrote about last week are more like 5 so the goal is to get those off plus some this month. I'm toying around with the idea of staying away from the scale. I'm thinking I will weigh in only 2x per month...I hate that I am a slave to a number, even though I do think it keeps me on track.

Gung Ho!

February has certainly started off on the right foot..

Crossfit last night, spin class this morning...feeling good and on track. I'm also thinking about signing up for Chicago, but I'm guessing I will have to do it soon before the race closes, so my cheap ass needs to figure out if I want to do it. The other thing to consider is I will probably go solo...I do know a few people who have signed up so I can always tag along. I'm thinking this might happen....

Ok, so onto the goals for the month:

Reign it in. Enough talking about it, more DOING it!
Crossfit/run/spin repeat
Try to fit in some yoga
Lose some weight!
Help my parents with their computer, uploading pics to Facebook ect...this is actually easier said than done, but I WILL do this for them!

January Recap

So aside from this being the warmest January EVER, even with one snow fall, I managed to not at all dominate my goals, but rather gain a few pounds.

I did, however, manage to:

Ski in the rain

Ski in the sun

Hold a baby

Run a few races

With all that fun, I must be doing something right! And I did manage to keep up with Crossfit and running, even with one week off to rest the knee. Work stuff was better and overall I had a fun, productive month. I have to say a big "so what" to the food. I may not have lost any weight, and may have gained a pound or two, but I'm ok with it, and am determined to make some big changes for February! Sooo take that stupid weight gain!