Wednesday, August 8, 2012

A "murph" personal achievement...

The definition of a crossfit “murph”: 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 air squats and finish with another 1 mile run.  



I know murph says run, which I did…mostly downhill. (ahem)  But when I didn't run, I power walked.  Pushing these coffee table legs as hard as I could and swinging my arms wildly, I am proud to say I did both miles. 

The pull ups were no joke, but I didn't exactly do them on my own.  As much as I would have loved to do them solo, I had the assistance of a thick rubber band.  I was able to reach 70, but had to change tactics when my forearms became too explosive.  So I finished up the remaining 30 by jumping/pulling up to get my chin above the bar.  Afterwards, I decided to split my pushups and squats up; doing 100 pushups, 150 squats then another 100 pushups and 150 squats.  What I am trying to say is work with the WOD (workout of the day). It isn’t written in stone.  Of course, I would love to do this WOD as is, but I am working towards that goal.  One day murph, one day.

I also received a new wrinkle in my brain today on how to properly pace myself.  (Still after 8 weeks, I learn something new in every WOD.)  The instructor noticed my pace was a bit off as I was taking longer breaks then I should have.  10 squats, 20 second break, 10 squats, 20 second break.  I needed to reduce the length of my breaks.  By keeping them around 10 seconds, that keeps my muscles warm and will eventually make the reps easier.  Giddiup!  The more you know…

68 minutes after I started, I finished my first “murph”.  By the end, even my eyeballs were sweating but I felt GREAT!  Sore and insanely sweaty, that played small in comparison to the amount of pride and excitement I had that I actually finished.  I was not only excited over what I accomplished physically but mentally.  Admittedly in the middle of my workout I secretly hoped for sympathy from the instructor or searched for a reason to cut the workout in half "I'm very out of shape and can only do half.".  Realizing the mental poison I was creating, I instead retrained my focus on what I was doing in that moment, counting each rep and before I knew it...completing every squat, pull up, push up and mile. 

Just when I feel there are limits to what I can do, I find after all this time my brain has been lying to me because I have proven that I am physically capable of so much more!  Thanks murph!  


"Work it, make it, do it, makes us harder, better, faster, stronger." - Stronger,

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