5.29.2011

Workouts this week:

Thursday evening:

WOD: 15min AMRAP:

5 Clean and Jerks (135#)

5 Strict Pullups

5 Ring Dips

I subbed 5 muscle ups in for the strict pull-ups and ring dips... Finished with 8 rounds and 4 Clean and Jerks. The muscles ups were not too bad, surprisingly enough. I'm starting to learn to pace myself through heavy WODs like this and stay consistent. By going slower, with better consistency, I am actually able to push out more work! 

Friday Afternoon: 

I wasn't in the mood for a WOD especially after Thursday's WOD being rather heavy, so I did some skill work and heavy bench. The box jumps had to be unbroken (10 in a row) in order to count. Surprisingly, I survived all the sets! After the box jump non-timed WOD I decided to see what my 1 rep max height box jump was. I increased by one 45 each jump until I got to 3, then went up by a 25 each jump. I finished with 4 45s and a 25 - approximately 3 inches above my nipple line! 

Saturday Morning:

This WOD was simply brutal. I couldn't think of another way to describe it. The first 1000m row was interesting, my legs started to cramp up around 500m, but luckily cleaned up somewhere just past the 600m mark. The OHS, SDHP and K2Es went well, I split the OHS and SDHP into 6-5-5 and did the K2E unbroken. The last 1000m row was terrible. Absolutely, positively terrible. I wanted to quit multiple times but forced myself to keep pulling, finished, then collapsed. Fun stuff! :)

Sunday: 

Rest Day.

Monday:

 'Murph' speaks for itself, but I will say this: CrossFit proved itself to me once again... I ran a 6:54 on the first mile WITH a 20# vest! The amazing part is, a few months ago, my best mile time was a 7:30 (NON-vested)!!! Again and again, CrossFit training amazes me. It works!!

Thoughts for the day:

I've been attempting to explain the undeniable importance of consistency and a well thought out plan with finite, well defined goals. From what I've seen so far, everyone who has done CrossFit consistently for 2.5 months has seen noticeable results - Consistency and determination provide these results! I have seen these qualities garner results in more than just CrossFit and fitness, they have helped me in my relationship with God as well. Staying in relationship with Him through prayer and the word is unbelievably important! There have been more times in my life than I can count where I was able to survive and continue pushing forward through difficult situations or make the correct decision because I had been staying close to Him. I think Paul, in this following passage from Corinthians, is emphasizing the need to take what were are doing in this life seriously. 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New International Version)

The Need for Self-Discipline

 ²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I know I can't just go floating through life aimlessly. Honestly, I would go nuts! I need to have goals, challenges, and obstacles to overcome. I think God puts these challenges and obstacles in our lives for a reason. He wants to help us grow stronger and grow closer to Him through them! I know every challenge I have faced in life, whether or not it seemed like it at the time, has brought me closer to Him and I am incredibly thankful for that fact. Paul challenges us to think about our life and make sure what we are pouring our energy, time, and emotions into will be of eternal value and not just further us in this life. Sometimes its difficult to differentiate between what is of eternal value and what isn't. When I come to these situations and decisions, I try to dig into the word, pray, talk with other believers God has blessed me with in my life, and really search out what I should do. By doing this I have been able to continue to be sure I'm headed in the direction He has planned for me. Most time its a direction I haven't expected and simply had to trust Him it was the right decision. Sometimes, I've gone one direction, which was completely wrong, just to find him tugging on my heart to turn around and head in another. All we need to do is keep our relationship with Him strong and at the center of everything we do. He'll be there for us and support us through everything! So cool. :)

Also, some legit Oswald I stole from J. Hill (thanks for this!) and www.utmost.org:

Lord, I will follow You, but . . . —Luke 9:61

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.