14 Day Firm Up

Our wedding is only 15 days away! It is hard to believe that after 7 1/2 years, Mark and I will finally tie the knot. While I am really looking forward to the day, I recognize that I need to approach my workouts and meal plans with even more intensity over the next two weeks in order to not fall back into bad habits. So, in search of some inspiration, I browsed Pinterest and stumbled upon the "Reasons to Be Fit" blog and found exactly what I was looking for. Everyone has a unique reason for maintaining their fitness and that was refreshing to see. When I am at crossfit, I also find every member of the gym has a specific reason for being there and working hard. I am posting the reason I related with the most recently :)

I frequently use running, crossfit, yoga, and other forms of exercise to alleviate stress or find a way to organize my thoughts. If I am annoyed or frustrated, I try to get in a set of pushups. These are times where I feel driven, focused, and calm. I actually felt a bit of peace yesterday when I did 400 meters of walking lunges because it did not involve any wedding details. My reasons to be fit are to be confident, healthy, and happy.

On another note, I completed my 5 rep max sumo deadlift @ 200lbs on Wednesday. It took 9 months of lifting to get to this weight so I am definitely psyched! I thought Jon might go easy on my conditioning workout after that, but instead he had me do the 400 meters of walking lunges followed by a 400 meter sprint. When he said the 400 meters of lunges, I was immediately filled with some trepidation. I remembered when I was 18 and on the novice crew team. We had to do that very same workout and the next day I could not even walk! Luckily, all the strength I have built up this year prevented that catastrophe from happening again! This morning, I woke up and went for a 4 mile run. It was not the fastest run, but I got it done.

Tomorrow starts my two week firm up challenge. The focus will continue on morning fasted cardio, weight focused crossfit, and healthy/paleo meals.

"Nothing and no one can make you happy until you alone make you happy."

150 Bricks!

Last Wednesday, I finally hit my 150th brick day! Back in late January (as part of the transformation challenge), I decided to commit to completing 150 bricks before my wedding and here I am just 26 days away from the big day and I have crossed another item off my list.

So what exactly is this brick idea all about? Check out Johnny Pain's blog post. I had a fairly specific day in mind when I determined what a perfect brick day would look like. It consists of fasted morning cardio for 40-60 minutes, healthy meals, carbs (except veggies) cut by 2PM, frequency method pushups throughout the day, 1 gallon of water, and crossfit on scheduled days. Yep, I did this for 150 days! Now, I did not do it consecutively as I had the occasional "cheat day" mixed in, but I think 150 perfect brick days since the end of January is solid! Is there room for improvement? Absolutely, but I thought this was a noteworthy accomplishment to include on the blog.

August has already proven to be a challenge as I knew it would be. With more vacation days and the wedding fast approaching, the desire to maintain all that I have accomplished can be daunting. Happy hour after work is far more tempting than going to the gym in the humidity. The cookouts, bbqs, and concerts are all very enticing. After hitting 150 bricks, it is easy to say that a few breaks are OK, but I know what that means for me. I do not need August to catch up to me the way it has in the past, so this morning I cooked up a storm in order to have plenty of healthy food choices for the week. I signed up for a 10K to have a goal for September. Dinner tonight was delicious: grilled chicken with pesto-paleo mayo, roasted beets, sauteed brussel sprouts, and some baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon and ghee. For dessert, I had some coconut butter with coconut flakes, almonds, and cocoa powder.

Hopefully I can use my more intense weight training program, 10K, and wedding dress as the ultimate motivation to stay on track!

How do you maintain when you have hit your goals?