The Hot Yoga Spot

Work travel is in full swing and this week I find myself in Saratoga Springs, NY. The Hot Yoga Spot is minutes away from my hotel and I've enjoyed two classes there. One was a real 90 minute, actually did all the postures twice and all of the savasanas in between the postures Bikram Yoga class. I loved it. It's practically impossible to find a real class anymore.

The other class was called Baptiste Yoga. I only went to it because I didn't get out of the last conference session to attend the Bikram class, but I ended up really liking it. It's in a heated room but not as hot as Bikram. There are a lot of sun salutations and I haven't done downward dog in like 5 years so my shoulders were on fire.

Everyone at The Hot Yoga Spot is really nice and welcoming. They have two studios - one for Bikram and the other for their other yoga classes and their barre classes. It is clean and I couldn't find any stinky carpet. I think we all know how grossed out I am by carpet in general, let alone carpet that people sweat on for 90 minutes.

Parking can be a little confusing. There's a small lot across the street slash behind the studio. There's also Saratoga Springs downtown public parking a short walk away.

The new student unlimited week special is $25. They let me take advantage of it even though I don't live locally.

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink

We have a fun little tradition at CrossFit Identity - on Wednesdays we wear pink. Many of you likely get the Mean Girls reference. What I like the most about our Wednesday custom is that no one ever officially announced that this is something we do. People started wearing pink and then greeted other people wearing pink by saying, "On Wednesdays we wear pink." The coaches also ran an order on custom men's Virus shorts with a hot pink option, so that probably helped.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, another time when we are encouraged to wear pink. For every person who wears pink to a Wednesday class this October, Pure Barre Virginia Highlands is donating $10 to the Pink Agenda Atlanta and 15% of all retail sales will benefit this organization

These are some of my favorite pink things that I am wearing this month.

I ordered these pink 3.25 Fleo shorts because they are adorable, and I came to accept that we weren't ordering CFID custom booty shorts any time soon. I like the 3.25 because they give just a little extra coverage, which is nice when the WOD involves running or burpees. They are still available on the Fleo website as of October 16.

I bought the new Pure Barre Breast Cancer Awareness socks. I really like that they are a light heathered pink. I would wear them with grey leggings all year round. They are available online and in your local studio.

One of my favorite tank tops is from Pink Iron, the awesome all-women CrossFit-ish gym in West Hollywood where everything was pink, including the dog Barbell. Pink Iron doesn't exist anymore, but Holly has a new gym called Burn Babe.

We got these sweet crop tops for Regionals one year. Our coach Bre competes at Regionals, hence the pun.

I've been eyeing the pink Reebok CrossFit Grace. I really don't need anymore shoes but they are just really pretty.

Run for Chick-Fil-A

Greetings from Murfreesboro! I've been traveling a lot for work again and I drove to TN this week. I got a run in the other morning, but I know from experience that there's no ideal running route near this hotel. No worries. I just started running through the shopping centers with the goal to run at least 2.5 miles before I stopped at the Chick-Fil-A across the street from my hotel. I made it 2.8 miles and ordered a chicken biscuit with American cheese and pickles. Best decision.

As we know, the Doubletree in Murfreesboro has the most flattering mirrors. They never disappoint.

August 2017 Goals

Hi friends! I'm back! I've found it pretty difficult to blog all summer. I've been struggling, and sometimes I hesitate to write about it because it feels like I'm airy dirty laundry. Work has been hard. I got an awesome promotion that recognized the hard work that I have been doing, including the additional responsibilities I've taken on since a colleague left in June 2016. But more money and a new title didn't add any hours to my week. I try to keep things in perspective but I broke down and cried on Tuesday. My team is so understaffed and my right-hand woman works remotely from Houston. Her house is destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. I am so thankful that she and her family are safe, but she's offline for the foreseeable future. That's 25 hours of work a week that's back on me. I'm trying to get temps in but that's a whole extra level of stress when I work remotely from Atlanta and the temp agency is in New York.

The travel is killing my personal budget because I'm spending so much money on dog boarding. I don't want to go anywhere for personal travel when I rarely get to enjoy a day off in Atlanta. That being said, I just got back from some trips that were pretty great. I had a really great birthday in Charleston. My Mikes planned me the best weekend where we ate all the food and drank all of the rosé. I got to see the eclipse in totality and a special someone threw me the best space themed birthday party.

Eclipse Margarita

CrossFit is Better with Friends

The most magical thing happened last week! My friend Erin was in Atlanta and she dropped in at CrossFit Identity. Erin and I went to college together, but we didn't know each other well. Years after we graduated, we both got into CrossFit and rescue dogs and started chatting about our shared interests on Facebook. Erin and her husband are fantastic dog parents. Their dog Chance is the coolest, and he has been a wonderful foster brother to TWENTY-SEVEN foster dogs. I am so thrilled that I got to spend some time with Erin in-person at the box. She's super strong by the way.

To make the day even better, my brand new Endless Summer by Nikki Leonard Fleo shorts arrived! These babies are the 3.25 contour, which have become my favorite Fleo short style. Just long enough to minimize chafing during runs, but still short enough to be cute, sassy, and #teamnopants.

We retested a workout that most people dislike but I kind of secretly love. You pick a heavy odd object and run 1,000 m around the loop. Our gym is located on this random street that has everything from psychologist offices to a tech incubator to 3 different yoga studios to a framing place run by veterans plus a nature preserve. The run route is a mix of parking lot, gravel, and mulch trail. On June 13, I used a 50# dumbbell and finished in 9:32. On August, I used a 50# dumbbell and finished in 8:35. Progress folks.

Compliant

I used to work with a nutrition coach. I think working one-on-one with a coach is helpful, especially when you are new to flexible dieting and need someone to prescribe you some macros. My biggest frustration with coaching was that I didn't feel accountable. I either hit my macros each day or I didn't. The most important part of any diet is consistency and so most of the time I didn't have much to say during my check-ins. By the end I was getting frustrated because it felt like I was becoming a guinea pig for things she learned about, such as carb-cycling. I got this email about intermittent fasting and carb-cycling the first week of the 2016 CrossFit Open. The last thing I wanted to do before 5 weeks of competition was fuck around with my carbs. Ultimately, I decided to part ways with my nutrition coach because she started posting about "upleveling her business," which I think means she automated most of her content. My best advice to internet entrepreneurs is to avoid sending emails to your current clients about how you changed your program so that it can be mass-produced, ultimately undermining the very product your clients originally purchased.

Anyway, I kicked around the idea of getting a new coach. I tried to map out my own reverse diet and freaked out because I felt I was getting fat. I was researching coaches because of this freak out when I happened to listen to a podcast with Layne Norton, PhD, aka Biolayne. He talked about his company Avatar Nutrition and the cost of $10 a month seemed more than reasonable. About a month later, I signed up.

For the first time since I started tracking food (back in 2009), I feel like I have a system of being accountable because I weigh in each week AND I have to check a box saying if I was compliant or non-compliant with my macros during that week. I wasn't compliant for the first three weeks of using AN, and then I started feeling pretty dumb about that. I'm really good at weighing and tracking food. I'm really good at eyeballing portions. Why did I keep saying fuck it and ruining my progress? Well, I had gotten myself into a habit of just moving on to the next day. And if you have more fuck it days than compliant days, you're not moving towards your goals.

144.8 lbs on August 2, 2017

Weight Loss Wednesday 6.14.17

Today I woke up and weighed 143.2 lbs. My weight stayed between 146 and 147 lbs for the month of May. I've been experiencing some serious mental fatigue and my heart wasn't into tracking macros. Sometimes stressing over hitting my numbers is just enough to tip me over the stress ledge into full-on fuck it mode. I've been loosely tracking for the past month to try to stay a little accountable and to also see what I eat when I actually eat what I want when I want. I was telling my boyfriend recently that I don't know what it feels like to be hungry and then eat to meet that hunger. I'm not sure I will ever feel comfortable with 100% intuitive eating, but I've been dipping my toe in the water to see what it's like. I've learned that I usually eat lower on the protein side and higher on the fats, and I like to eat about 2,000 calories a day.

I used to feel uncomfortable about posting progress photos on my blog. I felt like I had to put on the same shorts and sports bra, which is stupidly annoying because I don't usually workout on Wednesday mornings and I had to make sure I did laundry by Tuesday. I take my "real" progress photos in my underwear because I am 1. lazy and 2. likely to get trapped in a sports bra. It's too much effort to do that twice in one day. Plus, all of my shorts make it look like I have muffin top in selfies. I realized that if I'm willing to wear a thong bathing suit to the pool (thanks Savage Swim!), why should I care about what I wear in my progress photos?

I've got some new macros - 137 P 194 C 63 F - that I started using yesterday. After a lot of fretting and research, I decided to sign up for Avatar Nutrition. I just didn't feel confident choosing my own macros and I was constantly second-guessing myself. I respect the creator - Layne Norton, I like the price point, and I'm enjoying the Facebook accountability group. 

The Chestee

I finally bought a Chestee sports bra and let me tell you, it most definitely works. What the heck is a Chestee you might be asking - it's a sports bra with a built-in collarbone design so you can have all the fun with a barbell without the bruising. Whacking yourself in the clavicle with a barbell hurts and it's not fun when your boss asks you about your neck bruises later that week when she thinks they are hickeys. Speaking from experience here y'all.

May 2017 Goals

Fitness and Nutrition

CrossFit Goal: 76/200 WODs. I did 14 WODs this month.

Not CrossFit: I went to Bikram Yoga Herald Square once. I ran 6.6 miles.

Macro Tracking: I tracked loosely. I was getting pretty frustrated with my numbers and feeling trapped in a cycle of not feeling lean enough but also not feeling strong enough. My weight leveled off what I stopped freaking out about it. I tried to eat pretty well.

Water: I got new CO2 for my SodaStream. I've been hydrating on the regular.


Happiness

Church: I went twice. I went to church with my parents when I was up in New York and I went to my church once.

Call a Friend: Still not doing so hot with this one, but I do remember to call my mom.

Tackling the 10K

This year I won a bib in the Peachtree Road Race, which is the biggest 10K and apparently the thing to do in Atlanta on the Fourth of July.

I've got a confession to make - I'm a little scared of the 10K. It's not a distance I've ever felt comfortable in because it's not a distance that feels natural to me. A 5K makes total sense. A half-marathon makes total sense. A 50K is just ten 5Ks. But the 10K has always lurked there. Is it a fast race? Is it a paced race?

My best time was at the Great Cow Harbor 10K back on September 17, 2011. I finished in 46:04.2. Those are 7:25 minute miles. Here are some terribly blurry screenshots I found in an old unfinished blog post.