Sunday, February 5, 2012

First Full Week of the Year!!!

It's weird to think that this week, 5 weeks into the year, was the first week I have been healthy enough to attend all 3 boot camp sessions. Welcome to my January 2012, it was officially my worst start to a year in a very long time, I can't remember when I had this bad of a January. Anyways, here is my pity party. Week 1 (1/2-1/8) missed Thursday work because I was sick, missed Friday boot camp due to it. Week 2 (1/9-1/15) Missed one day this week due to sickness, can't remember which day but I know it happened because Nick was home sick with me that morning as well. That Friday around 3pm I just started to feel really ill. I had felt sick a few times already this month but most of my sick days were to prevent getting really sick, I was taking the "rest when you think you're getting sick and you'll have less sick days" approach. It failed. I spent the entire weekend on the couch, resting, napping, resting, drinking fluids, and doing everything you're supposed to do when sick that I usually never EVER do, but I figured since I'd been that sick, I should really go "hard" at trying to get better. On Sunday I felt a bit better and decided if I got a good night of sleep I'd go to boot camp in the morning. Sunday evening I spent the majority of my night dealing with an upset stomach due to some not so awesome food. 
Week 3 (1/16-1/22) Missed Monday boot camp, figured that if I couldn't sleep the night before, I probably wasn't healthy enough to work out. Pretty sure my body was giving me warning signs since I slept terribly all week. Still I made it to Wednesday's camp, which was a nice mile run in the rain, followed by legs, which didn't want to work as hard as I was asking them to. That afternoon at work I realized that I had a fever, which sucked, and it continued on Thursday. So I decided to go to the doctor since my horrid cough wouldn't leave me alone. Turns out, I had bronchitis, so they gave me some weird medicine but it started to work. Then I managed to feel pretty good all weekend, which meant Nick and I deep cleaned the entire house, it was the best weekend I've had in a LONG time. Week 4 (1/23-1/29) I was prepared for a good week. I felt better, minus my awful cough, but it was better. Then came Thursday.... Seriously single handed-ley was the worst I have felt in months and months. The medicine I was on for the bronchitis gave me a bacterial infection. Which presented with flu like symptoms and my body stopped processing food. Well needless to say, my bathroom and I were good friends for the day. I did not make it to boot camp on Friday. 
Week 5 (this week 1/30-2/5) Ahhh the sweet sigh of relief... or so I thought. Monday my bacterial infection was still lingering but I made it to boot camp. Monday was tough! My shoulders were still sore on Wednesday. Monday though, was bad, had some not fun "side effects" from my bacterial infection and got some bad news about a family member and cancer. Fuck Cancer. Tuesday showed up and I slept in, I figured I haven't made it a week without falling apart that I'd take it slow. If I make it through a full week of boot camp, I can go back to 5 days a week in the gym. So Tuesday my "side effects" got worse. I decided to call the doctor and got some medicine that really sucked. Then that evening I realized that I had poison sumac on my ASS. Yes you read that correctly, in FEBRUARY, sumac is growing in our yard. I got it last year from my puppy, she just loves to play in our backyard and when it's warm Nick is really good about keeping the yard clear of it for me. We never thought that in February it'd be growing but the patch of hives on my ass, begs to differ. I know, lovely, but this is the hilarity and terrible of my month. The last day of the month, I find hives on my butt. Luckily I still have the steroid cream for them so now Nick applies it daily to my boottay. (we assume that I touched the dog, then touched my butt, and that's how it got to my butt) 
So Wednesday I made it to boot camp again, this was a record (almost) but man, my legs think I probably should have skipped. We got WORKED, just plain worked. We did a weird cardio warm up that I wasn't too fond of but it was the entire leg workout that really kicked our asses. We were in 2 groups, I now realize I was no longer in the top group, I've lost that much muscle in 5 weeks, defeating, but a new goal to work towards. We started with.. 15 deadlifts then moved to a isolated hamstring move and did 10 reps, increased weight and did 8 reps, then increased weight again and did 6 reps. Repeated this cycle 6 times then moved on to quads. For quads we did 15 squats then did the 10, 8, 6 reps cycle 6 times. Don't forget, we had about 30 punishment burpees, which was just comical because my arms were SO exhausted from Monday still. Regardless, I made it through the leg workout, defeated a bit, but I made it. 
So Friday morning comes and I'm alive, well, and kicking, and at boot camp, the first time in 2012 I've made it all 3 days. And let me tell you, after boot camp on Friday, I wasn't sure I'd be alive and kicking when I left the gym. I had my first meeting with crossfit, while it was awesome, it was HARD. We began with our cardio, 10 burpees, 20 hand release pushups (your hands had to come off the floor), 30 box jumps, 40 squats (I wasn't sure my legs would hold up), and 50 jump rope. So basically you move through this sequence as quickly as you can and Mary recorded the time. I did my first set in 4:09, beating Nick by 8 seconds or so, I was pumped. Today was back & biceps and when I thought my legs were weak, they had NOTHING on my arms. We all started with standing barbell presses, NBD... Ha! So then after our 15 presses we moved on to a station, then did 15, 10, 8 reps, increasing weight each time, unless you're me and end up on one station with just the weight of the machine and Mary spotting you because you literally have no muscle left. Regardless, by the end of the cycle we had hit 10 or 11 stations and did 10 or 11 sets of barbell presses in between the stations. So we're close to 6:30 but not close enough, we go back to the crossfit cardio and have to BEAT our first time. Really? I was so proud of my first time. I worked hard, ended first, and worked incredibly hard during the weight session and now you're telling me I need to find some gas in my already empty tank? Okay, ready go! I beat my time by almost 30 seconds and finished second. I'll take it. 
So here I am, Saturday evening, writing down the woes and challenges I've faced the last 30+ days. Here I am, happy, content, inspired, and motivated. My entire body is still sore, my legs hurt to the touch, and my arms hurt when fully extended, but I'm here and I plan to do a 3 mile walk tomorrow if the weather permits. I can honestly say that January was one of the longest, most stressful, busy, and pretty terrible months I've had in ages, personally and professionally speaking. It was just exhausting. Still, throughout all of the bad, negative, and just silly things that happened to me, I still managed to drop all of my Christmas weight and exceed my January budget by 9% and only cried about the awful, terrible, very, very, bad month 4 times. I'm pretty sure that all of those cries came between 25th & 31st. 
My take away from all of this, when someone says "it can't get any worse" it actually can and it most likely will but you can choose to let it defeat you or you can choose to keep pushing through the shit and know that it can't be awful forever. Life just doesn't work that way. I literally chose not to let it break me into a million pieces. Yes I cried from time to time because I just didn't know what else to do, but shortly there after I was able to make jokes out of my childlike immune system and move forward with my itchy butt. It wasn't easy but I'm pretty sure it was easier than giving up and moping forever because I never quit. So I will end it with this, Nick sent this to me on Wednesday and it just fit. 


‎"God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength but with your testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it" 1 Corinthians 10:13


ps i have not proof read this entry at all, i just started writing and apparently just vomited out a novel. enjoy if you can. :)