"We could not have gotten where we are without coming the way we came." ~ Stephen Covey

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 83:

Ahhh... If ever there would've been a good day for an ice bath, it would've been last night. Feeling super triumphant from my new PR run last night, I hit the pillow HARD. I woke up this morning, feeling the fatigue in my legs, for sure. I was still rockin' the Kinesio tape on my stupid tweaked ankle, which I think saved me, but other that that, it all just felt tired. I'm thinking that's a pretty major success.

For any of my readers not in the know, I have a host of old (horseback riding related) injuries to my knees/ankles. When you add a whole lot of extra weight on those things, which is what I was doing for several years, without the muscle to compensate, etc. you get a lot of hurt. Soreness, pain, OUCH. Not good. That was part of what made me begin this journey. Not only did I see a horrific picture of myself that really woke me up, I was constantly sore in my knees to the point where I was chewing a lot of ibuprofen and icing them, to no avail. Only solution was to lose weight and get in shape (apparently, regular exercise helps lubricate joints!).

I am happy to report that I have been completely pain-free for over a  year now. Like nothing. No pain. At all. EVEN after running 4.15 miles. (yes, I had fatigue pain, but no ouch pain!) I NEVER thought that that would be something I'd be able to do. I would like to note that I'm even running in minimalist shoes (inov8 230's), so it's not like running on a whole lot of cushion either. Woot! If NOTHING else comes of this (which isn't possible), I will live the rest of my life being eternally grateful for not being in chronic pain.

Whew. Okay. Off soapbox. :-)

Today's workout was an evening at Crossfit - I'm ALMOST done the intro classes to allow me to join the regular Wod's.
Tiny Hercules (what I respectfully call Lisa, at GMCF) may have tried to kill me... Or at least that's what my arms and shoulders are saying now. haha

The learning portion of the evening included Thrusters and Front Squats, as well as Kettle bell cleans and KB Thrusters, with an assortment of dips, Jumping Pulls ups, sit ups and all sorts of other good things, 10 at a time. Yikes. I tell you, those little things will wear you down, over the course of an hour.... and THEN, we move onto the WOD:

10 min. AMRAP:
10 Thrusters (40#)
10 Sit ups
10 Jumping Pull Ups

I got through 5 strong rounds, which felt good. Sweaty and do-able. Yeeeah! The Jumping pull ups even felt GOOD today. Like, No big pauses in between jumps, just hit and up again. AND, the negative portion of the pull up (the down) felt strong. Like, I could really feel the difference from even May (When I did an initial Crossfit intro). One of my big goals is to be able to do a pull up by next summer, and I am really believing that it is attainable. Rawr!

With that....

I think I'm off to throw some icepacks on my shoulders, check on my baking (Trying out Shawty Spartan's J&J Protein Bars...), and chill. :-)