SELF Day 11.12 (New 1 Rep Maxes)

Flowers from one of my girlfriends - felt so loved!

You may feel like I have a lot of Self Days over here.

Well, I do.

I try to take one every month, especially since I've noticed that if I miss a month...it shows, and everyone kinda suffers for it.

This Tuesday was November's day off to enjoy life and rejuvenate myself. 

Little things in life (like hippie playdough and
monster dish-scrubbies) go a long way

I started out with a bang by lifting weights at the box.

It was my day to retest my deadlift and overhead press one rep maxes.  After a month of Wendler training, I was so ready to see if my dedication had paid off.

Technically I probably should have retested at the gym instead of at CrossFit, since the bars and plates are different, but I knew I'd have the box to myself and so I caved to my introvert criteria.

The overhead press seemed a little harder at the box than at the gym, because the bar itself is heavier (45 pounds instead of 40) and so I think the weight distribution at the ends makes balancing a little more difficult?  (I welcome your opinions...I honestly don't know much about lifting yet and don't know what role the bar can play.)

I warmed up really well, then started progessing up in weight until I hit my previous one rep max of #70.

It went up alright, and so after a few minutes of rest, I went on to try #75.

My first attempt failed, so I took a little break, and then did a few reps with the #15 bar, just to remind my body that I do know how to do this.

I went up  to try again with good focus on form, and well...here's what happened:

After getting a new PR of #75 I was debating whether to try for more, since the lift was a struggle.  I figured I could at least try #80, and if it didn't work...oh, well.

I could hardly get the bar off my shoulders...so we'll say #75 is an improvement over #70, and so I'm content.

My deadlift was another story - the plates in the fitness center have a much smaller diameter, so the range of motion for a deadlift from the floor is a lot greater.  The bar is also kinda slippery, even with the hook grip, which makes the lifts more challenging.  At the box, I knew it would be much easier and I could definitely nail my goal of breaking #175 and hitting at least #180.

I warmed up sufficiently, and worked up in weight to my previous max of #175.  I felt great and decided to jump to #185 instead of #180.  I made #185 with no trouble, hit #195, and then decided to try for #205!  This would be the first time I'd ever lifted anything so heavy...but I knew some of the gals at my box had recently done #205 and it really motivated me.

After sufficient rest, I went for the lift:

Not the prettiest form, but I got my hips fully extended at the top and was SUPER proud (as you can tell from me skipping and applauding myself).  I thought about trying for #210, but didn't want to hurt myself and decided to just be proud and call it a day.

This was my first experience videoing myself while lifting, and I must say, it was really eye-opening.  I was able to see where I was weak and where my form slipped on things - I bet you aren't surprised to hear that my back was sore and my hamstrings were not...oops.  I decided to set up my own YouTube channel and am excited to have realized this (free) resource for improving.

The rest of the day was delightful!  I got to catch up with my dear friend Beth and her adorable son, Charlie.  We had coffee and then ended up walking and talking for hours.

Charlie's a total lightweight, though.  He crashed about 30 seconds into the walk.

Afterwards I ran a few errands and then went home to enjoy snacks, my latest murder mystery (a Lord Wimsey), and the company of my space heater.

I went out later to take my husband some dinner before his basketball games, and then went to visit my buddy Meghan on her break between teaching (she's a kempo karate instructor).

Meghan and Meghan

I got there early, and figured she'd want protein (as usual), so I stopped at Emerald City to grab some smoothies and read a little more.

I peeked in for the end of her class and then we got to chat a little while consuming frozen produce and protein powder through straws.  She's a champ.

Then I finished up the evening with my sweet mother-in-law watching Jared play basketball and win.

Such a good day.


You tell me:  Do you ever take vacation days just because?  What's your favorite smoothie joint?  Any tricks you've learned to improve your lifting techniques?

SELF Day 10.12

Last fall, I picked up the November issue of Self Magazine on a whim at a bookstore.  I love health and fitness magazines and I especially love Julianne Hough & Footloose, so I had to have it.  A big theme of the issue was "Self Day" - taking a day off work and stress and doing things that you enjoy instead of just being busy with the "have-tos" of life.  I thought it was a killer idea and I had a great time celebrating my first Self Day on November 1st.  (Incidentally, it was the day I tried CrossFit for the first time and got hooked.  Double win!)

Now, every month or so, I try to designate one Self Day so that I can relax and get a little rejuvenated to jump back into life.  The past few weeks at work have been stressful, and I realized I was overdue for my day off!

Yesterday was a treat from the get-go.  I got to sleep in a little, and then started the day off with mobility at CrossFit.  It was my day off, but since I had to drop Jared off at work anyway, I figured I'd go in and make use of the equipment (and prevent squeezing mobility out of my day completely).  It's so peaceful to just work out stiff or tight muscles and get a little blood flowing without the pressure of a full-on workout.

Next I headed to Target to pickup a few things and ended up finding a sale on some Method products!  Yay hippie soap!  I also stuck to my list except for the soap, which at Target is a real challenge for me.

On my way home, I got a treat at Great Harvest and hit up my beloved Bellevue Library for some returns and some new reads:

Then instead of jumping into chore-mode like I normally would, I sat on the couch with a cup of tea and my raspberry cream cheese scone for some Gilmore Girls.

Unfortunately I had some "business" to take care of besides just watching Rory's bad date at Yale and Luke's first experience with "Casablanca."  I had to pick up my license tabs at the local licensing office.  It was a little frustrating but thankfully didn't take too long, and I was able to blow off the momentary cloud in anticipation of the next item on my agenda!

I have some dear friends whom I've known since the days they were born.  They're brothers and were the ring bearers in our wedding. 

The younger one's been having a rough week, so I took him out to lunch at Subway!  We've always gotten along great, and it was awesome to catch up with him - I think it made both of us feel a lot better about life.

After my lunch date, I met up with Tina (the gal I teach with) and we went over some plans for our musical theatre class.  I will get to choreograph "Greased Lighting" and I'm stoked.  Then it was time for class, and it was great to see the opening number of the show coming along so well!

I listened to the soundtrack for Wonderland and sang my little heart out in traffic on the way to pick up Jared from work.  After we got home, we decided we HAD to start in on season 4 of Castle...so Jared ran out to get it while I did some serious work on the dishes (sometimes getting chores done actually helps me relax).

We finished off the evening with turkey, roasted veggies, and two killer episodes.  Life is good.

You tell me: How do you unwind when life gets crazy?  Are you in love with the library?  What's your favorite type of scone?  Gilmore Girls or Castle?