“The simplest things are often the truest.” - Richard Bach

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 265, 266, 267:

Oh Blogland. I've been behind on my blogging. Ever just feel like Life is racing along and you're JUST trying to keep up and not get dragged under the wheels? Yeah, that's been this week. However, I'm back, and ready to appropriately chronicle my adventures! (I know you've been waiting with baited breath.)

Day 265:
Today was the dreaded Sprint WOD. I can't tell you how much I do not look forward to this one, Blogland. I DO it, because I know I should and because it's helping me.... but I never, ever look forward to it. However, today was proving to be a little different. Not only would I have my awesome Up-The-Hill buddy coming down to keep my company and motivate me through sprints, we'd also have another running friend of mine, who wanted to come and see what all the fuss was about. GROUP SPRINTS!! Yay!! Somehow, suffering just isn't so bad, when you're suffering with other people.

The three of us set out for a warm up .55 mi jog to our destination. It was nice that the sun is setting a little later each day... I noticed that today was the first time that we weren't setting out in pitch darkness.

Getting to the track, we did our warm-up walking lap and I explained to April, our newest sprint buddy, the simple principle: Sprint (100% effort) for half the track (200m), then walk half the track. Repeat 4 times. Like my initial reaction, she also thought that seemed pretty easy and straight forward.... How hard could it be?

I set up my stopwatch and we were off for lap number 1. My initial few seconds were good - it was great to have someone to race against. Definitely was motivating me to push my speed as much as possible.

.... then.... I started feeling a breeze.
... on my ass.
..... and had three simultaneous thoughts: 1) OMG, I'm LOSING MY PANTS. 2) They can't really fall down, right? Surely I can just keep running. 3) What underwear do I have on today?

Ultimately, I ground to a stop after 13.4 seconds of sprinting, while trying not to drop my phone, but still grope at my pants - which at this point had exposed a large portion of my pasty-white-ass-that-never-sees-the-light-of-day. I am pretty sure that if anyone had looked out the window of the school building we were behind, they would've wondered what that white glowing orb was. Yep, just Aja's butt, as she loses her pants.

Oh yes, BlogLand, fitness, workouts and losing weight is *always* pretty, graceful and very serious.

I collapsed into laughs and walked to catch up with my peeps. I was alternately laughing at the ridiculousness of it (who loses their pants?!?) and perplexed as to how I would handle this. I still had sprints to do, damnit!

It seems that while my UA Allweather tights are okay for consistent speed runs, the fact that they don't have a super tight waist (and they are probably a size too big, now), or a drawstring, seems to really be a problem when sprinting. My muscular gluteus does not want to be contained.

Being a problem solving bunch, one of my ladies had a safety pin. Waha! Defeat goes to you, pants! I thought to myself, as I just folded the waistband and pinned it smaller.  NOW I can get down to business.

Off we went for Actual Sprint #1: I made it through half this sprint, before I felt the safety pin pop and try and stab me to death. However, there was NO WAY I was going to try and start again, so I grabbed my pants with my free hand (phone/stopwatch in the other), and kept running.
Time: 40 seconds (... I accidentally cleared the stopwatch before I knew the exact time, in the flurry of trying to get my pants back where they needed to be. Again.

More problem solving, and this time, we just pinned the back of my pants to my shirt, which I'd tucked in. SURELY that would work. Off we go for Sprint #2. This time, I'm working to chase April. My legs are feeling okay, but they are remembering why I hate this WOD. But, again, in the last third of it, while I did not lose my pants in the back (thank you safety pin), I was losing them off the sides/hips, etc. Not to be thwarted, I just grabbed my pants and kept running. Time: 42.17

Wow, this was good for some laughs. It's hard to be really serious when one of your group members is totally just losing her pants. April was a whole lap ahead of me sprint-wise (she didn't have to save her pants...), so she was starting to feel the evilness that is the Sprints.

On to Sprint #3 and 4. More of the same here. I finally gave in. With the safety pin in the back of my pants, I just ran as hard as I could, with one hand holding my pants up. Probably not as aerodynamic as one would like, but it certainly kept me from focusing quite as much on how I wanted to die at the end of each round. Sprint #3: 44.08 and Sprint #4: 44.6.


I must say, I was pretty damn proud of myself, here. When I reviewed those times, I nearly jumped for joy. While my initial time pretty consistent (although, it may have been faster, I'm not sure), I am getting more consistent over the 4 sprints. There is WAY less of a slow-down factor over all four. When I first started, they went something like 40, 42, 46, 49 or so. Knowing that I'm keeping those times faster (just think of what I could've done, NOT holding my pants!!), definitely makes me feel better about this WOD. I'm seeing progress! Yes!

After standing briefly with the hands-on-knees, "please don't puke" pose, at the end of sprint #4, it was time for tire flips!! 6 big giant tire flips to round out the evening.... but then, it was time to collect my reward.
Remember how on Easter Sunday, my Up the Hill buddy worked up the determination to do her strength WOD, so I told her I'd do a burpee for every minute she worked out (35!)? Well, since she knows how much I hate doing these sprints, she told me she'd do TWO burpees for every second I shaved off last week's time. She ended up with 9 (she did one for my false start!) burpees. I did a few with her in solidarity.

We trotted off home for protein shakes and recovery. However, I've learned my lesson. Apparently my ghetto booty is just too badass to be contained without extreme spandex or a drawstring, during sprint wods. Next time, I will know and plan accordingly... because, quite frankly, no one wants to see that. LOL
(Although, I think this does mean that it's time to acquire more clothes!!)
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Now we move onto the next two days.

Epic Fail, BlogLand. I was supposed to go to CrossFit yesterday morning... that didn't happen.  Sleep Fail.
I should've come home and gotten in a strength WOD or SOMEthing... well, that didn't happen either.
And it didn't happen today.

Two days in a row, and I feel a bit off kilter. But MAN, Life has been hitting me hard the last two weeks, and I'm just not bouncing back as quickly as I would like to. There is so much to do, so little time, and I'm SO. TIRED.  (really got to get to bed earlier.)

Having said that, I must also touch on an experience and frustration that I had this morning.

... I got on the scale...

Now, I am not at all obsessive about losing weight, despite my flareups of FCS (Fat Chick Syndrome). However, I do like to use it as a rough progress monitor to keep me on track. I got on the scale this morning and almost threw up. Up a little bit, today. Still in the same 5 pound range that I've been in for MONTHS. At the upper end of it, even.

Now, yes. I know I'm building muscle. I know that I should be looking at how things fit and not how much I weigh, etc. But at the same time, when you're not seeing those changes anywhere, it seems, and definitely not on the tangible scale, it gets really frustrating. I worried I was slipping back. I reminded myself of all the crossfit I've missed recently. Etc. etc.  It was ugly first thing this morning.

But, like so many things, sometimes you just have to let go. Yes, I will be a little more mindful of what's going in my body (maybe there's a lot of extras I don't realize?), and yes, I need to get my butt in gear and stay more consistent with my workouts... but, it is what it is. I can only go FORWARD from here.

With that, it's time to take a deep breath, sleep it off, and get ready to take charge of tomorrow.