Feeling Great!

I was just thinking this morning that it is so nice to feel like myself again.  After my surgery, during recovery and even after my vacation, I just didn't feel like myself.  I don't like it when I'm not cheery, damnit.  :-)

Last night I went to pick up the Skittle and I'm glad to say that she looks as adorable as ever.  They had to replace the fender and another small part, then they painted the front end and the door.  She looks really nice.  Hopefully nothing falls off later or anything!!

There was no question last night about me going to CrossFit this morning.  I went home and packed my bag first thing.  I went to sleep at a reasonable hour.  I did wake up in the middle of the night with my arm insicions hurting.  I was laying on my arms at an angle that made them burn.  No bueno.  But I went back to sleep.  Then I got up and drove to class.  I was super excited to see THREE of my donut crew girls there which helped me get to know a couple of the new girls since they all know each other.  I knew 2-3 of the guys too.  It felt a little more comforting.  I only quit about FIVE times in my head during the 1/4 mile warm up run.  Baby steps!!

During the rest of the warm up, I still felt woefully out of shape.  But that's the thing with cardio, you have to just keep doing it.  It will get better with time.  The WOD:

Back Squats:  2 sets of 5, then 1 max rep

Press:  2 sets of 5, then 1 max rep

5 sets of 5 pull ups (add weight each rep)

Last night I looked up what I had done last time which was pre-surgery, so... sometime in April or May.  Yeesh...that was a LONG time ago.  I squatted 105# and pressed 65#.  The girl I partnered with this morning said those sounded like good weights to her, so I went for it.  My cardio was shot, but it was time to see if I retained any of my muscles.  :)

Back squats basically work your legs.  Since the weight just rests on your shoulders, your upper body doesn't work a lot.  I did my two sets of 5 reps at 105#.  It was hard, but I managed.  I actually squeezed out 9 during my max reps.  Y'all, I'm not going to lie.  I was SO excited!!  Next time I will get to move forward and that is awesome.

I love this video.  It really shows the difference between these three moves.  We did the Press today which is the one on the left.  It is ALL upper body.  You can't use momentum from your legs or bouncing.  With 65#, I was able to do my 2 sets of 5 and on my max rep, I did 6.  I felt strong!  And again so excited because I'm right where I left off as far as strength.

Then it was time for pull ups.  I knew I couldn't do weighted pull ups, heck I can't even do unassisted pull ups.  So, I set up my band to do assisted pull ups:

You can see what I mean here, but I have to use the strongest green band.  As soon as I hung from the bar, I knew it wasn't going to happen.  The new boobies and the pecs over them said "absolutely not, sister".  So the coaches told me to do push ups instead.  I'm not sure how long it will be until I can do pull ups again, but seeing as I can still feel my pecs (2 hours later), I think it is going to be quite a while.  That's okay though, I'm not going to do anything that will cause problems and I know if I'm patient, eventually I will be able to do everything. 

I used no weight for the first set, 10# for the second, 15# for the third and fourth, and 25# for the fifth.  Not bad!

I'm trying really hard not to be embarrassed by this picture.  I'm mostly having success.  :)  I just have to keep working!!  And keep reminding myself that I would have HATED a picture like this three years ago...heck, I couldn't have held myself on the bar three years ago.

When I got to work, I got a call from my city's fire department, and I have been confirmed for the Citizen's Fire Academy that starts in a few weeks.  Basically it is a 3 hour class once a week for 9 weeks to learn about the fire department.  I thought it sounded like a fun thing to do.  They aren't 100% sure that they are going to have enough people, so fingers crossed!  I changed my entire schedule for this, so I will be bummed if they cancel it.  But no big deal, I'm all flexible and "go with the flow" these days, right??

My mommacita is coming to visit and is supposed to get in tomorrow night.  Hopefully Isaac won't get in the way, but I think she should be okay.   Speaking of Isaac, thinking of all my Gulf Coast bloggy buddies!!  

My whole body aches when I stretch...and it is AWESOME!!  

Big hugs!!