29/30

To conclude the thirty day White Mountain Crossfit Challenge, I participated in the Barbells for Boobs fundraiser by completing the workout Amazing Grace. This consists of 30 clean and jerks for time. I'll fully admit that I lifted a very light weight as I am still working on getting the movement down and would rather not injure my back as it finally seems to be healed up from the issue I had in August. With that said, I finished Amazing Grace @ 40lbs in 3:48. My hope is that next year I'll be lifting more weight, but for now, I am just happy I finished and seemed to have decent control over the movement this morning.

All in all, the thirty day challenge was a good reset for me post-wedding. I needed to follow rigid guidelines and workouts in order to get back on track pre-holidays. I had 29 of 30 perfect days. What happened on one of the days? Well, it is kind of lame actually. I had a fancy dinner for the NH Humanities Council and was doing well through most of the evening. No drinks, no dressing on the salad, etc. Then, as I was halfway through my squash (seriously!) and I realized it was full of butter and sugar. At that point, I knew that my fasted cardio for the next AM was not going to happen so I also indulged in a glass of red wine and some tiramasu for dinner. The next morning, I went to Starbucks for a few treats but by 9am, I was back on track. I could have just given up at this point because it was day 22 of the challenge, but I did not go that route. I cleaned up for the remaining 8 days to finish strong. I lost 6 inches and almost 6lbs during this reset and that puts me at a comfortable range for the difficult holiday season. My goal for the next few months is to focus on building strength and eating clean during the week. If I slip a bit on the weekends or holiday days, oh well. 2013 is right around the corner to make new resolutions ;) My daily pushups are something I will continue to do. Burpees...I think I'll save those for the gym. I hated doing those every day for the last 30 days! Throughout the month, I completed 1200 burpees--gross! Nonetheless, it helped get the heart pumping every day.

Moving forward, I purchased a fun paleo cookbook called Practical Paleo and I have some meals planned for next week. I'll continue to drink a gallon of water every day--it is probably one of the best things I do for my body on a regular basis. I'm starting to think about snowshoe racing, yoga, and even some possible triathlon races for next summer. We'll see what direction my training takes next, but in the meantime, I'll keep doing the fasted morning cardio, lunch boot camp, and crossfit workouts through the week. There is certainly no reason to go back when things are working so well. This is my one year anniversary of starting the crossfit lifestyle--so glad I walked into WMCF last year!