Time has flown By!!

Hello to those of you who still visit this blog! As I said in my last post 2L year has been as hectic as they come! I took 6 courses in the fall and was still working at the law school library, so I was up to my eyeballs in homework- constantly behind.  Also, I started playing soccer again on an intramural team and ended up getting a very severe (level 3) ankle sprain in one of our last games of the season.  So I was hobbling around on crutches for a few weeks.  Which basically mean that my working out diminished greatly because I wasn’t able to do much besides seated shoulder press and one-legged rows, which suck btw.

Anyways, I started the spring semester and decided to take 6 classes again.  Why would I put myself through such stress? Well so that next year when I’m stressing about the bar, etc. I have like 3 classes and I’ve picked classes already and my schedule is exactly that-3 classes=win! Also this semester, I picked up a second job in a law firm and was doing paralegal/law clerk type work for the semester.  So my free time this semester was 0, I’ve still been working out with the 5 am crew at my gym and doing partner workouts with my friend Zac on Saturdays.  It’s been a jam packed semester that’s for sure.  I also randomly decided to take a trip to Europe next December.  I’ve always wanted to travel and just haven’t, so I decided I need to do it before I graduated and had crushing debt/a job.  So I’m very excited about that- I have my trip almost all the way paid off which is exciting (thanks 2 jobs!).

It’s currently mid-finals.  The way my classes were set up I had a lot of work in the weeks leading up to finals; a lot of trials, papers, etc.  So right now I only have 2 actual finals, which means I have a lot of free time because I’ve cut my work hours down dramatically.  As someone who is used to a jam-packed schedule I’m honestly unsure what to do with all of my free time.  It’s mainly resulted in binge watching television, which there are worse things I’m sure.

Also my gym membership is up so for this last week that I’m at school I am taking up running again.  Even though I’m in shape, I’m out of running shape so I’ve definitely been sucking wind.  I’m hoping to run a half-marathon again in a few months so I have to stick with the runs!  Soon I’ll be home for the summer and will hopefully find a summer internship that I can gain more legal experience in.  Other than that, I’m just taking it one day at a time! I hope everything is going well for everyone else!

Working on me!!

So 2L year sucks some major lady balls to say the least.   I’m stressed AF, my food choices are real shit, sleep is less than last year (I didn’t honestly think that was possible), I barely have time for the gym, and I’m behind in my work for the most part- did I mention this year sucks lady balls?

Anywhoser, after weeks of literally not being myself and being the most miserable person on the planet to deal with- I decided to make a change for myself.  With some great advice/input from my friends I figured out things I’ve wanted to do/work on for myself and made a list.  First things first, I’ll be learning to dress like an adult- my usual wardrobe basically consists of an undergrad gym rat type style- not saying its a bad thing because its comfortable as hell, but seeing as how I’m attempting to get professional internships/job opportunities I figured its time to look the part.  The best thing? My friends are going to help me shop! A main reason for my laid-back attire is due in part to not knowing how to dress myself so I’m finally going to learn.

It’s also a goal of mine to just eat.  I’m not saying completely unhealthy or completely healthy, but I’m learning to be ok with moderation and balance.  But most importantly I’m learning how to eat without guilt tripping myself for eating candy, or a cookies, etc.  I mean I’m not going to make it an everyday habit, but it never hurts to live a little!

Yoga- I’m going to learn that shit.  It consists of a lot of strength- which I quite honestly didn’t realize, but I think that it’ll help my balance and I just think it’d be cool to learn.

But most importantly, I’m learning to focus on myself.  I think I’m pretty selfish as it is, but I’d like to focus being independent and being able to do things on my own without having to rely on anyone else because it honestly seems like I’ve been relying on others for quite a while.

Anywhoser, that’s  a basic outline of what I’m planning for the time being.  Like I said, 2L year sucks so I won’t be posting here much.  But hey hope everyone is well!

Summer 2015

So clearly I’ve been MIA for quite some time.  Well there’s not too much to say except that law school keeps me extremely busy and that I was extremely busy this summer.  I go back for my 2nd year on Friday and classes start on Monday.  So I’m pumped to finally get back into things and to be back with my Crossfit family at Crossfit Journey!  My summer training wasn’t exactly 100% on par with how I train August-May, but hey what can you do?

Long story short, I interned in a Public Defender’s office all summer under a Practice Order which allowed me to generally do almost everything actual fully licensed lawyers are able to do.  So I got a lot of really amazing hands-on experience, which I hope will help make me a really strong candidate to be accepted into a JAG program come my 3rd year.  I was so lucky to get the internship that I did and to be able to work with the people I did.  There were 6 lawyers in the office and they all had their own technique and style and I was able to learn something from each of them.  I’ll never really be able to say thank you to the extent that is required to show my appreciation… Anyways, after such an exciting summer I’m a little concerned that I’m going to be slightly bored in law school- I mean I’ll have plenty to do for sure, but it won’t be as “thrilling” as being in court all day long.  But hey, what can I do? I’m not a real lawyer yet so I have to actually finish school first.

What else? Oh I used a regular gym all summer and I tried to keep with my box’s training to the best of my ability.  It was a little difficult because I wasn’t eating as well/enough which greatly effected my workouts.  Being a lawyer is very time consuming and sometimes you don’t really have time to stop for lunch! Anyways, these 2 weeks at home have thrown off my training even more since I have to do all bodyweight workouts-so I’m super pumped to get back.

I’m basically just waiting to go back at this point and have mostly been working out and knitting a lot.  I’m trying to get as many Christmas presents done now so I won’t have to worry about them during school.  Plus, I’m making some baby things for my friend who is pregnant- 1st pregnant friend! It’s weird having 2 married friends, one of whom is pregnant, and one friend who looks like will be engaged by the end of the year and I’m over here like….. I’m still in school and have homework to do….  Its just different being in school when most of your friends are starting their careers/families etc.

So that’s basically all I have to say for updates.  It’ll probably be awhile again before I post since I’m going to be getting right back into the swing of things in 2 days, so hopefully y’all bear with me!
So until later, TTFN.

Thanks to my coach

So clearly I haven’t been on here in awhile.  I won’t apologize. Life happens and it happens even more for a law student who also is trying to continuously get better at CrossFit.   So to sum up the past 2 months or so of 2015.  Well I started a whole new schedule, which has given me more work to do this semester and I’ve had to rely on supplements to understand everything better.  Supplements are basically like “law school for dummies” books, sad but effective.  So that’s that, not much to report really, I only took 1 midterm and it hasn’t been graded yet so I have no idea how I did.
I started a job at the law school library at the end of January and I do love it.  It’s perfect because I generally only work around 10 hours a week and during at least one of my shifts I’m able to do some homework.  So the job is definitely good for sure and it is helping me to save up for this summer when I go back to St. Lawrence county to intern in the public defender’s office again.

CrossFit!  Well the open started last week and according to mine and my coach’s plan I am doing the workout scaled (first year there is this division), in order to see what I really need to work on.  The first workout 15.1 wasn’t too terrible and I did decently.  The second workout today 15.2 just was absolute crap on my part and was I’m sure horrible to watch. My wod buddy Kevin, whose 58 and usually kicks my butt, was not having a good workout either.  15.2 scaled had movements that both of us are weak in; for me its pull ups and for Kevin its ohs.  He was given an option to scale further but would then disqualify and I promise you I have never heard him swear more! He was like I don’t care if I no rep every single one, I’m not getting disqualified.  I swear he inspires me every day with the amount of heart that he puts into the sport! So even though we were both disappointed we know what we have to work on and we are going to work on it.

So basically I had a little mental breakdown yesterday because I really want to qualify and make it to regionals my 3rd year of law school.  So I was texting my coach and asking if I was doing everything I could possibly be doing.  Well, when I went back in for my 2nd workout he pulled me aside and gave me a talk. He reminded me that am a law student 1st and a crossfit athlete 2nd- no matter how much I love it.  Law is my future, crossfit is my fun.  But besides all of that he also reminded me to be patient (Something I definitely need to work on!).  I’m steadily getting stronger, even since I started at this box in August I’ve put on muscle and increased all of my lifts.  But more than that I’ve been perfecting my form, without which you can’t continue to get stronger.  But also, he reminded me that by taking my time and mastering all the basic movements now, I’m building up my strength and movement pattern and I’ll be better off in the long haul because I’m working in such a way to prevent injury.

So basically, without my coach to remind me of all these things and to keep me on track all the way, I’m pretty sure I’d get into my head far more.  I don’t know what I would do without him!

So then Brian was helping me work on my kip today after my 15.2 rough time and I definitely can do it.  I just need to work on my strict pull up strength, which will help me when it comes to kipping pull ups.  So he gave me a whole variety of things to do to work on that.  Basically, I have my work cut out for me over the next year because next year I’m doing the open Rx!  Oh did I mention that Kevin and I have decided to practice our burpees?!? Right? who does that??  We do I guess because we both know we kinda suck at them and that we need to get better so every day we have decided to do some burpees and just add more each day.  Why did I think that would be a good idea?!

But other than all my complaining I have spring break in 2 weeks.  It will be great to sleep in and to not have to go to class- I can just do homework and outlining all day instead of classes and homework all day-YAY! Plus, it’ll be nice to have someone else doing the cooking, even if its just for a week.  Oh and I guess it’ll be nice to see my family too… I have missed them a bit- but only a little bit!

So that’s it for now, I hope to be better about the updates.  Maybe over spring break I’ll write so much that no one will want me to post for awhile!

So until later, TTFN.

2015

Whelp I’m a bit late to the race here folks.  Clearly I haven’t posted in forever, no excuses! But no apologies either, I’m busy doing things in real life.  So Christmas/New Years happened.  My favorite Christmas gift was a home-made blanket I got made of a bunch of my old t-shirts.  It’s super warm and I have taken to dragging it everywhere I am going overnight, since I’ve gotten it.  Christmas was generally lovely, my house was invaded by relatives- as it should be!  I got to see some of my cousins who I don’t get to see very often and my grandparents so it was an overall fun time.

I ended up going to Syracuse for New Year’s Eve so that I could visit with my friends who I haven’t seen in a while and to find a bridesmaid’s dress for my friend’s wedding in July! Super pumped! I got her save the date card, and her and I found/bought all the bridesmaid’s dresses (super cheap) so it was an overall successful trip.
I’ve got my 2015 goals for the year taped to my bedroom wall, sitting there, staring at me, waiting for me to check them off.  And slowly throughout this year I will! I’m currently waiting patiently anxiously for my final grades from last semester, but the good lord only know when they are going to be out.  So I’m trying hard not to stress too hard while I wait.  What else?
Oh I’ve made the decision to apply to a JAG program for after law school.  It’s going to be a process for sure and I’m not sure whether or not I will be selected, but I sure hope I will!

I hate to keep this post short since I haven’t posted in so long, but I have a mountain of work to do and little time to do it all in.  I just wanted to keep y’all update (for whomever actually reads this).

 

So until later, TTFN.

I’ll just leave you with this; https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=z0rxydSolwU

DECEMBER!

Well if you can’t tell by my lack of posts, its been a very busy month for me.  Time has just flown by! Since the competition I’ve basically just been bugging my coach to tell me what to do to work on my skills.  We ended up having a lovely hour pow wow about what I need to do if I want to get serious about getting better at the basics.  So currently I am on a push up and pull up regimen to do every day after the wod.  So I’ve started that….

I’m also trying to remember to be better at not killing myself every single day.  And I even took 3 whole days off from anything! On Thanksgiving I ran my annual 5k Turkey Trot race with my mom and my brother.  Now, I’m a klutz, I’ve fallen in this race basically every year.  Last year was the 1st year in about 5 that I haven’t fallen.  So my goals this year were to; not fall and to have someone give me a beer.  See the course goes past this bar 2x- once on the way out and once on the way back in.  I’m happy to say… I accomplished both of my goals- so it was basically a Thanksgiving Day win.  

So after Thursday, I didn’t do any working out for 3 whole days because I figured after many months of 2 a days and not taking more than 1 day off a week, my body deserved it.  Although I don’t know if my body really appreciated it because we did Fran this morning.  This was the first time I’ve ever done Fran… I’ve done variations of Fran with thrusters and burpees or Double unders, but never actual Fran.
So Fran consists of thrusters and pull-ups at 21-15-9 and my time was 14:09, not exactly the 2 minutes that Camille does, but I’m just happy I finished it and didn’t stop because I really wanted to.  My goal is going to be that the next time we do it (in spring/summer) I take like a few minutes off and I do it fully Rx.  I can do the thrusters Rx, but the pull-ups not so much…

So anyways, my body felt really sluggish during it and I don’t know if it is because my body has so much rest or if (realistically) it’s because of all the crap I ate over Thanksgiving.   Now, I’m paleo so I don’t eat milk products, grains, corn, etc.  And all I ate over Thanksgiving (Thursday-Saturday) was cheese, bread (cornbread), soda, wine, chips, dip, stuffing, clam chowder, etc.  I went absolutely nuts.  And it was fun while I was doing it but my body quickly reminded me how much it did not appreciate such crap.  I kept getting headaches and stomachaches from all the food I don’t normally eat.  So while it was fun, I’m happy to be back on my normal eating schedule of meat, veggies, nuts, and fruit.

This week is my last week of classes and then I have 2 weeks of finals.  And then I will be done with my first semester of law school! Seems absolutely crazy, but there it is!   So that’s it for now, I’ll probably be MIA for the next month again with studying and all.

So until later, TTFN. 

CrossFit Competition

So I had my CrossFit Competition yesterday…. there were about 6 teams in the women’s scaled division.  So Joscelyn and I had to beat at least 2 teams to get into the 4th wod, which only the top 4 teams in each division go to get to.  When all the teams were there and we were having the athlete meeting the people running the event told us that the 4th wod would be double Isabel.  Isabel is 30 snatches for time, in order to do it the first person on the team had to do all 30 and then the next person had to do all 30.  You couldn’t switch off and you had to do it as fast as you could.

So the first wod came; it was a 3 RM front squat.  We both had to hit our 3 RM in 10 minutes and guess what? We both PR’d! I hit 130 lbs. for 3- 5 lb. higher than I’ve ever hit before and Joseclyn hit 160 lb.!  So we were feeling pretty good after that… Then came the second wod.  During practice it was a 14 minute wod of wall balls and jumping pull ups.  Now when we first heard about it it was only up to 50, but on the day of the event they changed it to 50+ in essence, you just kept going until the time ran out.  So Joscelyn and I made it through the 50 and we got around 25 wall balls of the 60.  So again we were feeling pretty good after that because well we were on our way to 60 and we weren’t sure how many other teams had made it that far.  When we finished some of the guys from our box told us they didn’t think they had gotten as far as we did and when we checked the leaderboard we were tied for 2nd place!

So we were super nervous going into the 3rd wod pretty psyched and nervous al at the same time.  The last wod was a 2,000 m row, 30 power cleans, and as many burpees as possible.  We got through it and did 65 burpees.  When  we finished our judge said “have fun in the 4th wod!” So we go super pumped and nervous- yet again!

Ok so final wod, we had to do our 30 snatches each as fast as we possibly could.  I thought my arms were going to fall off but I finished and then it was Joscelyn’s turn.  And it literally came down to like 1 snatch.  We were neck and neck with another team and were about to finish but the girl couldn’t finish it so her and Joscelyn each had one left.  And with literally only a few seconds to spare she got it before the other girl! It was so exciting.

So we got to the end and the places on the podium were announced.  And guess what? We got 2nd place in the women’s scaled division! It was so exciting and if I wasn’t already addicted to CrossFit then I would be now!  I told Brandon that I wanted to do a bunch more competitions.  And he said only do 4 a year.. to which I said so what I’m hearing is that since I started to late… I should do 3 more competitions by the end of January…  And he was like yeah…no.  Worth a shot!

So that’s it for now.  I’m extremely sore and I don’t want to move much because moving hurts everything.  So until later, TFFN.

It’s going to be a good week!

So it’s a Monday-drag-BUT I did have a lovely start to the day with the wod.  I literally almost died a little bit, but I did make it through.  I finished last, which isn’t something I normally do, but I was trying to go heavier on the weight today.  The wod was a metcon; it was for time and it consisted of- 50 wall balls with the 14 lb. wall ball, 30 cleans which I did at 83 lbs. and 15 chest to bar pull ups.  I have to do the pull ups with a band, which is whatever.  But my max clean so far has been 103 lb. which I’ve done around 4 times at once.  Doing 3o cleans at 83 lb. today makes me realize that my clean is probably way heavier than that now! 

Me cleaning and split jerking 103 lb. ————————————————————————->

Even though I finished last during the wod today I’m pretty proud of myself for doing that weight and for not dropping the weight down at all.  I’ll get faster as I get stronger, but for now my goal is going to be to perfect my technique because without technique I will only get so far on my lifts.  Brandon was telling me what I need to work on skills wise over the next few weeks so I think that I might work on that at night this week.

This also has to do with the fact that I really shouldn’t be doing anything crazy this week because my CrossFit competition is THIS Saturday so this week is more of a deloader week for me.  I’ll mainly do mobility or skill with the pvc/ bar this week.  I don’t want to do anything too crazy because I want my body to be nice and relaxed and rested for this weekend.

Plus, I’ll be taking Friday completely off from the workout, which is what I’ve been advised to do by both my coach and fellow athletes who are competing and have competed before.  But basically I’m going to be grumpy on Friday because I generally like never take a rest day besides Sundays…

<- How I will look on Friday…So that’s enough about that.  I can’t wait, only 3 more weeks until Thanksgiving when I get to go home and see my family and basically just not be in class for like 4 days in a row, it will be glorious!  Also, it will give me time to outline my last class, study, get caught up on hw/get ahead, and it will let me update the other outlines that I basically have done.  So it won’t really be much of a break, but I will get to eat turkey, so that’s a win!

Oh, I found this cozie this morning while I was putting my lunch in the fridge at school.  I found it so it’s mine now- possession is 9/10ths of the law! 

So that’s basically it for now.  I just have classes, hw, and attempting to chill on my workouts this week. Nothing too exciting until the weekend and I’ll keep y’all updated on that after!

So until later, TTFN! 

I am not Lauren Fisher

Or Camille Leblanc-Bazinett or Julie Foucher.  It is a difficult thing to remember sometimes.  I go to my box 2x; once to do the actual wod of the day and the other is to do some skill work.  Luckily I have my wonderful coach Stefan who constantly reminds me that I have to not over-train and to make sure that I get the proper rest.  I tend to forget such things a lot of the time.

So I’ve written on a lot of post-it notes to remind me of such things.  Things like rest is an important factor in building muscle, eating clean doesn’t have to happen 24/7- I am allowed to eat some crap every once and awhile, and that working one skill a bagillion times isn’t going to help me be better overall.  These are the things that I have to drill into my own head.

I also have to remember that I’m not Lauren Fisher.  I want to be yolked like Lauren Fisher is, but I have to remember that she didn’t get to where she is overnight, just like everyone else.  I totally creeped on her Instagram so hard and looking at pictures of her from like three years ago and she was where I am now.  So it gives me something to aspire to, it shows me that if I continue to work hard and eat clean and be a boss I will look like I want to look.  And not only look how I want to look, but be as strong as I want to be and meet the goals that I have for myself.

So I was talking to Joscelyn, the girl from my box that I am doing the CrossFit competition with in November, and we were laughing that we need men who do CrossFit in order to be able to date/marry them.  We were saying it because besides school, homework and the box we don’t do anything.  Like literally we spend so much time at our box, and its literally the only thing we do outside of school that it’s all we talk about.  So the guys we date will have to be involved in CrossFit or we will have nothing in common.
I love Joscelyn, today we did one of the wods from our competition in November, because they are posted already, and it was rough.  I mean I’m glad we did it because it proved to me that we CAN do it and do it well, but not only that I had no adrenaline running, which will be a big help come competition time.

So my friend posted this article to my Facebook wall and I thought it was hilarious and I felt the need to share it here;

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahbass/leg-day#zah746

So that’s it for now I guess, oh the wedding… Yeah I’ll talk about that in my next post.  So until later, TTFN.

 

Getting things in order

So my baby brother has his gallery opening today.  He is a photographer and if I do say so myself he is pretty damn good.  And he’s a cutie to boot! Anywhoser I was going to try to finish my homework on the quick side today so I could drive home to surprise him, but that was a no go. I would’ve been able to do it if I had been able to get homework done yesterday, but I was so hungover!
Ok, so I like never go out anymore.  And some people say that but I’m serious.  I don’t go out on Friday nights, I go to CrossFit.  I don’t go out on Saturdays, I go to bed.  So I drank and I drank too much and I was hungover all day.  I asked my friend how we managed to do such nonsense in undergrad all the time and she said because we were young then.  My God, getting older sucks a bit.

Needless to say, it validated why I don’t drink much.  I’m clearly NOT missing out on anything. So now that I’ve experienced being drunk again, I can check it off my list and not do it again for a very long time.  So I found my notebook that I had started of all the inspirational photos for working out and such.  And it reminded me about talking with Joscelyn and about how she has goals for what she wants by next year.  And I was thinking, I have goals for what I want by the end of this year.  I made a list and put it next to my bed to remind me every day.

My goals are; To up my daily water intake, to get better at yoga (my balance sucks!), to hit a 93 lb. snatch, to get a strict pull up, to ROCK my first CrossFit competition, to be more confident, to study my ass off, to get in the top 10% of my class this semester, to eat better (Paleo wise) and to be a BADASS every day.

I really want to improve my Olympic lifts especially the snatch because between that and the clean and jerk, I’m way better at the clean and jerk. I just hit a 83 lb. snatch last week which is the most I’ve ever done.  And I hit my first ever 100+ clean.  It’s because of this girl Allie from my CrossFit gym who pushes me.  I’ll be adding weight and am like “I don’t think I can lift that weight” and she will be like “Shut up, and do it”.

<– That’s me hitting a 103 lb. clean and split jerk 3 or 4 times this past week.  The week before it was my 1RM for the week.  Clearly, I can do more, but that’s besides the point.  I was so pumped to finally break 100+ it was ridiculous.  I can’t wait until the strength cycle is over and I can see just how much stronger I’ve gotten.

My strict press has already gotten stronger and the strength cycle is not done yet! I literally can’t even say how much I love CrossFit Journey.  My life basically revolves around school, homework, and doing CrossFit. And I’m absolutely ok with that.  Contrary to what some believe I don’t have to go out every weekend to have a good time!

I’ve got to really stay on top of my homework this week because Taylor and Kathleen’s wedding is this weekend.  I can’t wait it’s going to be a great time.  I’ll probably cry or something lame.

So that’s it for now, until later TTFN.