CHINA!!

Hey everyone,

First off, we're having an AWESOME time and we miss you guys! Have lots and lots of stories to tell, but for now I'll just leave some pics and fill you in later =)

This is a large stone carving on the steps of Palace in the Forbidden City. I love the story behind this: since the rock was so heavy (a couple of tons) and was high in the local mountains, the Chinese spread water on the ground during the winter so they could drag it across the ice. Nuts! (Sorry, this is the History buff in me coming out...)

Bill was born in the Year of the Dragon, which our tour guide told us means power for men, like an emperor. Guess what I've been hearing the whole trip? =)

"The Emperor's Summer Palace" or "Our New Summer Home" (hehe)

Training for the Qualifiers...Sort Of

So before I get anyone confused, I'm not training for the actual CrossFit Qualifiers...(I think a great big "duh!" is in order there). I do, however, want to take advantage of a really exciting time for training!

I have recently noticed a very long string of things that need to be addressed in regards to my fitness, and on my 13 hour (no joke!) flight to China, I'm going to be hammering out a program for myself. Colin, Nick, and Luke can't be the only ones having the fun ;)

I'm super excited for this, and I'm going to go over everything with Bill and Colin. It's going to include diet (now that we've been doing Zone for a little while I've been able to see what's been working well for my body), extra practice, reading, etc. and I'm going to set goals that need to be met between April 5 (when we get back) till May 2 (the day of the NorCal qualifiers).

Regroup

Well, after my sick week last week, reaalllly poor diet, and the days off because of my pulled hamstring, I'm feeling pretty sloppy and out of sorts. But, just like in a workout it just means it's time to regroup! =)

I'm in the process of reading a great CrossFit Journal article called "Hamstrung" (inspired by my recent injury) that I'll post more about tomorrow, but so far it's interesting to note the physiology behind the hamstring as a two-joint muscle (hip extensor and lower leg flexor) and just how essential it is to stretch tight hamstrings. Starrett talks about how lacking flexibility has great impact on our overall athletic abilities, and that if you're not actively working to fix them then you're missing a huge opportunity to get "better, stronger, and faster."

I'm going to go back to having some set pre-warm ups before class because going in without a plan leaves me sort of open-ended and a lot of times I don't get to the things I really should be getting to. Also, I think I'm going to be experimenting with my diet until we leave for Beijing. I've been realizing my body is taking in a lot of food when I really don't feel I need it, so I'm going to experiment with a block change for a little bit.

BRAT

It's official!! The best way to fall behind on the Zone challenge is to get the stomach flu...that, or go to China/Philippines for two weeks =)

Check out my recommended diet for the past 4 days (taken from webmd.com):

One type of diet that has been prescribed by doctors for people recovering from upset stomach (dyspepsia) and stomach infection (gastroenteritis) is the BRAT diet, which is an acronym for:

Bananas...Rice...Applesauce...Toast

My mom prescribed this to me throughout my childhood. Anyone else familiar with BRAT? (Talk about loading up the carb blocks!)

CrossFit Journal

I'm going to start further educating myself on the science behind and methods of CrossFit, starting by reading as many journal articles as possible. There is no doubt that we can all see and feel the benefits of the program, but I want to take it a step further and really grasp the tenets of it all so that I can better myself as well as help others when I can. I'll try to update here on my findings periodically.

This is partly inspired by my experience yesterday. After three 100m sprints , my hamstring in my right leg tightened up, really similar to a couple of months ago. I was pretty bummed because I actually like sprints (at least, compared to long distance running) and was ready to really push through what appeared to be a crazy workout. I was so confused as to why that kept happening with my leg (last time I couldn't do leg WODs for two weeks!), but then after getting some advice, it's almost definitely a combination of my lack of flexibility and my running technique.

I read some articles last night, and one of them about the fame of "Fran" was really interesting. It basically discussed how people use "Fran" as sort of a defining measure of your progress as a CrossFitter and talked about how people will train specifically for "Fran" by adding it in to their workout schedule every month, sort of negating the whole premise of randomness in workouts and being prepared for anything life throws at you. It started to make me think about how I can tend to place benchmark workouts on a certain pedestal. I get really nervous for them, and if I don't perform well, I get pretty upset with myself. I'm beginning to realize though that no one workout should hold any precedence over another in terms of how I will mentally and physically attack it. Every workout supports my overall fitness, weaknesses & strengths in all.

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Last week wasn't a stellar week in the Zone, and I have been so sick all day long today. My head was pounding, I was nautious, and food was just totally unappealing to me. So with that said...

Zone Challenge: 35.5