Thursday, June 16, 2011

Ahh-ha moments and running with gazelles

Hey Everybody!

Don't you just love "ahh-ha" moments? Those moments when it seems like the cobwebs in your head somehow get brushed away and the things you have been wrestling with suddenly make sense and are easy to perform. I have had a few...and while I am always glad when the fog lifts, I still feel a little stupid when I realize just how hard I was making things by over thinking. As my mama always says "Stop making a mountain out of a mole hill."

Well apparently today was my day for some Crossfit ahh-ha moments...

Dropping under the bar, sounds easy right? Not really. Dropping under a bar with heavy weight isn't easy at all. It's one heck of a mind game. Who wants to be under a bar with 100+ pounds on it? But that one little movement, getting under that bar quickly, while it is still traveling up over your head, is critical to controlling that weight and getting it up. (I think that is one long ass run on sentence lol). I have been trying to do this for some time. I have cracked myself under the chin, whacked my forehead, and dropped the bar more times than I can count...learning this little movement has not been an easy road.

My moment came today while doing Power Snatches, one of my favorite oly lifts. I can't tell you how or what changed...I wish I could...but all I know is when I had the bar at eye level, my body dropped under the bar and I caught it with great form. I had coach watch me  to make sure I wasn't lacking in the form department, and she said "looks awesome...you can lift more weight". So I did. And I got a new PR on Power Snatches...100lbs.

Running with the gazelles:


We always begin our warmup with a run, either 400 meters or an 800. Anyone who has ever joined in a WOD knows that Crossfit and running goes together like peanut butter and jelly. As I have probably mentioned in an earlier blog (?), I hate running. I cannot stand to run. I would rather do burpees than run. Have I mentioned that I hate running?

Since this is a weak area and one of my goals was to improve, I have been doing extra running intervals with my husband. And while I love him very very much, I can't help but want to trip him when we are doing these intervals. Have these extra sessions helped? I am beginning to think so. Steve is a fan of telling me that I am faster than what I think I am. He has also mentioned before that when I run, it is like I am fighting my body to stay slow and not stretch out and eat some ground. And he is absolutely right. I over think running. When I am running, all that is going through my head is how much I hate it, how weak I am in this area, any number of disparaging thoughts.

Today was different. On the drive to the box, the cobwebs cleared and I finally realized what Steve was saying. I am faster than what I think I am.Why was I wasting my energy fighting against being fast? What was I afraid of? What harm could possibly come from just letting go? So I let go. When coach said to run, I wasn't dreading it like I normally did. My mind wasn't whirling with how much I hated to run. My mind was quiet...and I just moved my feet...and while I felt myself running, I didn't FEEL myself running. Normally I can feel every thud of my feet on the asphalt, feel it jarring my legs...today, I didn't. I was just moving.

I jokingly call the faster runners in the noon class, gazelles, because they just bound away like they have wings on their feet....today, I was running with the gazelles...and it was nice.

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