So if you are in the CrossFit community, you’ve have probably at least heard about the CrossFit open or you may even be competing in it! I have competed in the CrossFit open 5 years (I think) in a row, 2 of those years were spent competing and making it to the Southwest Regional. After competing 2 years in a row, I decided I didn’t want to do it anymore. I was getting closer to injuring myself, I was 30+ pounds heavier than I am now, and I spent almost every waking moment in the gym. So I stopped competing but still signed up for the CrossFit open just because that’s what our gym does every year!
Last week, I did the first workout of the Open and it crushed me. Not only did I do much worse than I had hoped, but I also felt like crap the next day, getting a sore lower back which never happens, and really feeling disappointed in myself. So not only did it crush me physically, but it crushed me mentally. I was really bummed out afterwards.
But why? Why should I be bummed out? I went to the gym, I got a really hard workout in, and life moved on. Nothing changed other than my disappointment with myself. I finished what I had set out to do that day which was workout and better my life longterm. Something that I have to remember and remind myself of frequently is I’m much happier now that I don’t compete. I’m much happier now that I’m not constantly taking a risk at injuring myself and I’m much happier being smaller than I was before. I enjoy having my life back, not having hormonal acne, and not feeling like I’m literally going to die every single workout. Sure, I get bummed when I’m not as strong as I was before or when I’m the slowest of all the coaches, but I’m happier and that’s what matter in the end.
I think this type of situation occurs regularly throughout our lives. We get good at something, life changes and we are no longer where we were before. Whether that’s financially, physically, emotionally. Life changes and it’s sometimes challenging to accept those changes. I will never be where I use to be when it comes to CrossFit, but I’m much happier in all other areas surrounding my life. I have the balance and I sometimes have to remind myself that I enjoy that balance more than what I had in the past. Don’t forgot that in life, we may have to give up something to gain something else. Not always, but sometimes. And that’s not always a bad thing.
WAIT! Before you go – this week I’ll be recording my podcast with random reader/listener questions! Anything you’d like me to talk about or question you’d like me to answer! It can be about food, or workouts, or blogging, or beauty, or really whatever you want! Just leave a question in the comment section below and I’ll answer it in the podcast this week!! Happy Monday!
Sunday – Rest Day
Monday – CrossFit Broadway Class
Every Minute On The Minute x 20 min:
min 1: 14 Double KB Front Rack Lunges, as heavy as possible to go unbroken.
min 2: 9 Strict C2B Pull Ups
min 3: 18/14 Cal Row
min 4: 40 sec Nose & Toes to Wall Hold
I used 2×35# KBs, did 7 strict pull-ups every time, did 14 cal row every time and held the hold every time
Then 6 min AMRAP Of:
80 Double Unders
20 Burpees
I got 3+40 rx
Tuesday – Orange Theory Class
Wednesday – CrossFit Broadway Class
Sumo Deadlift: 4 x 7. All sets at 75% of regular 1 rep max Deadlift. (17 mins) – I used 165#
After each set perform Max Effort set of Strict Handstand Push-Up – I got a total of 64 hspu using 1 ab mat
Then 10 min As Many Rounds As Possible Of:
15 OH Squats (115/75)
15 Box Overs (24/20)
15 KB Swings (70/55)
I got 4+39 using 65# and 45#
Thursday – Rest Day
Friday – CrossFit Broadway Class – CrossFit Open Workout 17.1
For time:
10 dumbbell snatches – 15 burpee box jump-overs
20 dumbbell snatches – 15 burpee box jump-overs
30 dumbbell snatches – 15 burpee box jump-overs
40 dumbbell snatches – 15 burpee box jump-overs
50 dumbbell snatches – 15 burpee box jump-overs
Men use 50-lb. dumbbell, ladies 35# and 24″/20″ box
Saturday – Orange Theory Class
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Free Travel Workout:
5 rounds for time:
400m run
15 DB thrusters
20 push ups
25 tuck jumps
On Sale Activewear:
Nike Free RN Shoes (30% off)
Nike Dry Training Tank (20% off)
lululemon Wunder Under Pants (30% off)
Athleta 7/8 Tights (45% off)
lululemon Cardio Tank (30% off)
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What I Ate in a Day:
Started off my day with a cup of coffee with 1 tbsp of collagen, some heavy cream and a little liquid stevia extract. Since I was working out in the morning, I had a strawberry Maple Hill Greek Yogurt with Wholeme Lemon Berry Chia Granola Pack.
After the workout, I made a breakfast of Mulay’s breakfast sausage, arugula and spinach, mushrooms, and pearl onions.
Later on the day, I went to Whole Foods to pick up some groceries so I grabbed lunch at the hot bar: taco meat, curried vegetables, and plantains. And then I added cilantro when I got home.
In the middle of the day, I snacked on a Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter packet.
While I made dinner, I snacked on plantain chips.
Dinner was marinated Tuscan chicken (no recipe yet), marinated tomato salad, and crispy roasted fingerling potatoes!
I know you’ve mentioned your reluctance to try fillers in the past. Have you ever heard of/thought about trying a vampire facial, where they inject your own blood plasma back into your face where they would put fillers? I am intrigued by it because I love the thought of adding volume without having to resort to fillers because they are scary but don’t know anyone who has tried it. Thanks!
I am so dumb, I just read your podcast transcript from last week and you said you are trying this! I am excited to hear how it goes!
This is only my second year doing it, but the Open is such an interesting time of the year to me. I was having this conversation with someone else in my gym yesterday – if we had just shown up for the WOD as usual and the content of it was 17.1… we might be like, holy crap, that’s going to suck bc burpee box jumps are the worst, but we would just do it, and wouldn’t feel so crazy/judgemental/nervous about it.
I actually enjoyed my 17.1 experience (probably mostly due to the fact that I did it scaled & blew my own expectations out of the water – finishing in 15:15!), but even still I found myself getting in my head afterward & wondering if – given how well I moved – I should have given the Rx weight a try… or, if I had just moved a little bit quicker could I have broken 15 minutes… crap like that. It’s so freaking easy to fall down the ‘I could have done better’ rabbit hole. I realized I needed to check my ego, stop trying to find ways that I could have ‘improved’, and just allow myself to be super proud of myself for a hot minute!
(also, given the state of my back muscles today, not going up to the 35 lb dumbbell was a very good choice, ha ha)
As someone who will never come close to going to Regionals, I find it interesting how much pressure we place on ourselves in during the Open, no matter our fitness level or goals. And, I also like to try & remember how one person’s ‘bad score’ can be freaking AMAZING to a lot of other people. Commenter Lisa above, I feel you girl… but I hope you know that 17:49 Rx (particularly given that you were sick?!) is incredible to me!
Long story short, I guess I’m hopeful that we can all just learn to be kinder to ourselves during the next four weeks/in general. Whenever I am feeling nervous or disappointed about a workout, I just remind myself that I came to the gym to move, breathe, and sweat. And, be with my people. If I accomplished those things, then the rest (times, scores, weights, etc.) doesn’t really matter.
Anyway, thanks for being you, Juli. I love your blog & think you are fab! Best of luck w/the rest of the Open!
You are kicking ass at OTF!! I’m so curious what your base, push pace and all out speeds on the treadmill are?
Is it weird being a brand? Like, you deal with so many shitty/judgy comments (in addition to the nice ones from people who adore you and are super grateful for the work you do, of course), so is it weird that they’re directed to you and not the brand itself? If you were to do this all over again, would you do it differently so you weren’t so central to it and you could distance yourself from the brand a little (and eat cheese and rice in some goddamned peace)?
Any advice for making it through a 21 day sugar detox or whole 30? Thanks!
Neeeeeded to read this today! I have been pretty bummed out recently about being the slowest person in my CrossFit class and not being as strong as I used to be. BUT I am recovering from a shoulder injury and am focused on slimming down instead of building muscle. Plus I have more important things to do in life than live at the gym! Like you said, life moves on and, regardless of my WOD time, I’m bettering myself longterm. Thanks for the reminder!!
P.S. Can you talk a little bit about OTF? What exactly is it? I’d love to hear!
Hi Juli! I don’t really do Crossfit, but I do more or less have all the equipment to do that brutal-looking workout at home, so I think I’ll give it a try! My question for the podcast is this: what do you do with the food you make that isn’t blog-worthy, as far as texture or appearance goes, but tastes good anyway? For example, I tried to make up a pancake recipe the other day, but the pancakes absolutely did not hold together and ended up being a complete mess. Other than looking ugly, the taste was great. I hated to waste the time and money I had put into making the pancakes, so I ended up eating them right then and there (the recipe didn’t make very much) just to do something with them. Then I felt kinda bad for having eaten them when they weren’t something I had planned to eat that day. I know you must have some recipes that turned out to be flops, so I wondered what you did with the food so it didn’t go to waste?
Hi Juli! I love your podcast (it literally makes me laugh out loud) and blog ( your recipes are easy and amazing!!) Question for you 🙂 is there a way to do crossfit workouts at home? My garage is a gym and since I have 3 little ones I work out at home and really like the look of your short/intense workouts (plus crossfit is crazy expensive!) could I just jump in and follow yours or would I need some sort of crossfit training first? I’ve done a 90day program from Christmas Abbott via oxygen magazine and it was crossfit based and loved it! Also, do you train certain body parts on certain days or basically do whole body workouts most days? Thanks!!
Thanks for being so open and honest about your 17.1 experience. I was disappointed with my score(because I had to do it sick and I KNOW I could perform so much better if I was heatlhy), and then I just feel awful about letting this affect my mood at all because it doesn’t matter! I’m not a regionals athlete and my score matters to no one except myself so I really just need to chill out. It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only stressing out over nothing.
Hi Juli, this post was timely for me too. I was out of town for a conference this past weekend, and I made it to the hotel gym, busted out an intense workout (plyometrics, etc.) and felt great about myself. I could not even do the commandos properly because I was dripping sweat and kept sliding off the mat, ha! I ate really healthy, and felt pumped. Then the next day, I was stuck in a frigid cold conference room for 8 hours, then had a 2.5 hour drive home. My whole body was sore – every single muscle fiber felt strained. I have been resting and trying to let everything heal, but I feel bummed about not working out for going on 4 days now. I know it happens, as you said. Life changes, and our bodies and abilities fluctuate. Obviously I need to incorporate a lot more stretching into my routine. What other tip do you have for muscle recovery?