Author Archives: Cindy

About Cindy

Hi! I'm Cindy Brummer. By day, I'm a web & wordpress designer/developer/content strategist. And for fun, I'm a cook, Crossfitter, novice Olympic weightlifter, and mom to two cuties. Find me on Google+.

Reflecting on the I AM Crossfit Challenge

It’s been over a week since the 2013 I AM Crossfit Challenge ended, and I think it was probably my most successful challenge, even though I only hit one of my goals.

This was the first challenge where I wasn’t pregnant or nursing, and I tried to follow the nutrition very closely. I did not Zone my food, but I did follow the Whole 30 guidelines really closely and watched portion sizes.

I also did every extra workout I was supposed to do. It was a lot — I added in two extra met-cons a week plus an endurance WOD. By the time we hit week 8, I was ready for it to be done and tired of having to fit it all in. But now, I kind of miss it.

I had set a pullups goal and a body fat goal. I did not get my pullups. I just never worked on them outside the gym. But I did get my body fat under 20%, so yay me!

But there were definite benefits that I achieved outside of my goals. I am a stronger and faster runner. I broke my gum habit ( I was chewing a pack a week!). I also broke my sugar tooth. I still haven’t indulged in dessert, and to be honest, I don’t really want it. Fruit is sweet enough.

I may have undone some of my efforts at SXSW this year. But not like last year. Last year I went crazy with the food. This year, aside from a few meals with rice or tortilla chips, I was relatively restrained.

Yes — it was a good challenge. Just the benchmark alone is a good indication of how much I improved. I barely finished the first time — with a time of 11:58. On March 9, I crushed my old time — finishing in just over 10 sec.

Here’s a clip from the WOD:

3 rounds
400m run
15 pullups
7 hang power cleans (65#)

Squat-a-thon

I used an expletive when I looked up from my warmup at the board Monday morning.
I was already sore from a weekend of workouts – two challenge WODs and a team workout that included front squats.

Back squats and front squats? Together?

Yep.

It turned out not to be as bad as I imagined. Don’t get me wrong – those were still hard as hell.
But I imagined a torture session where I would squat the bar and struggle hard the stand – maybe not being able to stand at all.

As it turns out, I was able to stand. What’s more, I focused on squatting to full depth every time. It’s something I usually am inconsistent on, especially as the weight goes up.

I could feel my weight shift on the way up as I got tired. Zach reminded me once to fight the shift, and I immediately refocused. Hopefully my shifting has improved over time. I know I spend a lot of extra time working on mobility and exercises for my hip, so I’d like to have improved.

The next morning, I was sore. I didn’t want to go to my workout. I did anyway. It was like therapy for my legs. It got the blood flowing and loosened me up. But when my coach asked me if I was sore and I said “Hell, yeah!”, his face broke into a grin.

Kind of an evil grin, if you ask me.

“Wait until we hit 90 percent.”

GULP.

The human body is amazing

I shared this video on Facebook the other day, but it stayed with me so much I thought I would share it here too.

It’s about how a disabled vet who had been told he could never walk without assistance again — and pretty much lost all hope — somehow met a person who decided to help. What follows was months of grit, determination and transformation.

The video is pretty awesome. It even brought a tear to my eye.

I love seeing that kind of human story. You know, the one about hope? About defying conventional wisdom? People are pretty amazing, ya know?

And I’m not just referring to physical ability. Yes, losing weight and regaining mobility is incredible in its own right, but the mind is truly amazing. The ability to believe in yourself and keep going, despite falling, possibly feeling embarrassed — it would have been so easy to give up.

Yep, the human body AND the human mind are pretty amazing. Don’t you think?

My war on sleep and why I’m losing

photo credit: peasap via photopin cc

I’m writing an article about the health benefits of sleep for work, and I’m probably the worst person to do it.

Or maybe I have it backwards. Maybe I am the best to do it because of how flippantly I have treated sleep and how I need a kick in the pants to take it seriously.

The past year has been rough in terms of sleep. I have written about my lack of sleep many times. And yet, despite being aware of how little sleep I get and how much I actually need, I still seem to be trying to wage my own war on sleep — taking on new projects, signing up for extra activities, volunteering to help even when I know time is tight.

Last fall I felt miserable. I remember crying in my parents’ kitchen about how tired I was. I remember driving home from their house in the evenings and being terrified that I would fall asleep at the wheel.

I think that’s when I got serious about sleep.

I actually began taking a hard look at how turning my nose up at sleep was hurting me. I felt awful, the weight was creeping back on, and my family didn’t want to hang out with me.

I’m better now. Way better. I had a chance to rest over the holidays, and I have made sleep more of a priority for this challenge. I don’t work as late as I used to. My productivity sucks when I’m so tired I can’t think. It’s better or me to sleep and think clearly than not and.. Well.. Be a scatterbrained idiot.

I guess I’m curious if I can keep up the better sleep habit for the long haul. Habits are best changed by creating new ones. Hopefully the terrible memories of last fall compared to how rested I now feel will help.

I’m literally too tired to continue my battle against sleep. I’m ready to give up and let sleep win.

Dear Monday, I love you

Poor Monday. It gets such a bad rap.

It begins of the work week, bringing sadness to so many. We grieve the memories of our fabulous weekend and realize it’s gone, never to reappear.And Friday is soooooo far away. Ugh.

It’s Monday. We must return to our work, carrying our coffee mugs and lamenting the fact that it’s Monday.

Or do we?

Do we really need to treat every Monday as if it’s some kind of punishment? What happens if we just one day decide that Monday is the best day of the week?

Because it offers new opportunities?

Because we get to do our life’s work?

Because we’re one step closer to our goals?

In my case — because I get to throw around heavy weights in the morning and feel strong?

Because I get to see my work friends and laugh and scheme about how we’re going to change the world?

Because I need time away from my family to be able to come home to them and truly appreciate and love them?

Hmmm… When you look at it that way, maybe Monday isn’t really the problem. Maybe it’s our attitudes.

On second thought, I think I love Mondays.

Week 1 of challenge complete (7 more to go)

The first week of my gym’s Crossfit Challenge is officially complete, and fortunately I was able to fit in all three extra workouts, plus not slip up on my nutrition.

This was my OIlympic Lifting workout on Wednesday, Jan 16.

It was dicey, though. I woke up Monday morning and imagined I heard rain outside, so I didn’t do the first extra WOD when I had planned it. Zach rolled his eyes when I told him and gave me one of those incredulous looks like,”you are so full of excuses.”

And while most of the time I try not to come up with excuses, he was probably dead on in that case. And many others this week. I just didn’t want to be cold. It wasn’t until Friday morning that I pulled it together to actually do an early AM WOD on my own.

The whiteboard at Crossfit on Thursday, Jan 17.

I guess there’s a reason why I go to CLASSES. I’m less likely to flake out.

Today I had planned to do the Austin Gorilla Run, a 5K that benefits mountain gorilla conservation. That would have coincided nicely with this week’s endurance WOD, which was a 1, 2 or 3 mile run for time. Unfortunately, it conflicted with the Beekeeping class Andy bought me for Christmas, and beekeeping won out, Oh well — at least I’ll have the gorilla suit for next year.

Instead, I ran 2 miles in my neighborhood. I probably should have run 3, but the instructions said you should only choose the 3 miles if you have a 9 min mile and can run 3 in under 27 minutes. I wasn’t sure I could.

Turns out I may have been able to. Time: 17:48.

I definitely need some new music. The playlist on my phone is atrocious.

Afterward, I hung out with the kids while they rode their bike and trike up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. It’s so cool watching their progress. Both of them have gone from not being able to pedal or steer to zipping up and down the sidewalk with ease — within weeks!

: Luke on his bike

: Mads on her trike

Dreaming the possible dream

The kids and I left the house this morning with the intention of finding the 3M Half Marathon and cheering on the runners. I know quite a few people who planned to run the 2013 race, and I thought it would be fun for us to go out there, despite the cold.

We ended up leaving too late to find the race. After driving all the way downtown and finding out that we had missed it, we stopped at UT to visit the turtles instead.

6 months of training

Photo by Beth Tanner

My friend Sally was one of the 3M finishers. She has been training for 6 months. I think she started out a little unsure that she would make it so far, but she’s grown to enjoy running. She laughed when one of her running buddies asked what race they would train for after the 3M, but she’s already signed up for Austin’s 10/20, so I think she’s hooked on the longer runs.

It takes a lot of dedication to set your sights on a run like that — especially if your goal is half a year or more away.

What do I want?

I’m supposed to set goals I want to achieve in the next 8 weeks. Two years ago, it was hard to narrow down my goals — I wanted so much. Right now, it’s hard to imagine what I want that I can actually measure.

There are two things I really want that will motivate me.

I want to lean out to 20% body fat.
I want to do 5 unassisted pullups

I could probably come up with a third, but it would be made up — not really one that motivates me. Not right now, at least.

How will I do it?

I will follow the Whole 30. But for longer. That means lean meats — with an emphasis on quality and sustainability — grass fed, pasture-raised, no additives; LOTS of vegetables, with a heavy emphasis on leafy greens; some fruit, preferably melon, berries, or in-season fruits; nuts and seeds; healthy fats, like olive oil, coconut oil…
I will do my mobility exercises for my shoulder and forearms to keep my muscles and joints healthy everyday. I will practice pullups whenever I can. I will break down my movement and figure out where my weak point is and work on it.

I will support these actions by setting a positive, healthy habits. That means I will

Strive to sleep 7 hours a night (8 would be ideal, but since 6 is hard enough to come by, I’m going for 7);
Walk my dogs most nights during the week;
Play with my kids on the floor as soon as I get home;
Choose to eat at home rather than out at restaurants;
Plan out menus with Andy and help prepare our meals.

Whew! That seems like a lot! Can I do it?

2013 I AM Crossfit Challenge begins with a bang

Goal setting and WOD mark challenge start

I was among more than 100 people this weekend who began Crossfit Central’s I AM Crossfit Challenge. It’s my third time to take on this 8 week challenge. The path is familiar, but even though I’m not new to it, it’s exciting and daunting all the same.

Start of something new

I feel kind of like how I always did at the beginning of the school year — oh those many years ago. Back then, I wondered what it would be like, what I would learn. My notebooks were all new and fresh and full of opportunity. I always loved that, despite how nervous if inevitably felt about meeting my classmates and teachers.

I’m trying hard to imagine what things will be like in 8 weeks when I look back. What do I want to look like? How do I want to feel? I can’t quite put it in words, so I’m having trouble coming up with my goals.

Deep down I want this physical challenge to bleed into the rest of my life. I want this energy to feed into my family and my career in a way I don’t know how to explain. Confidence? Determination? Inspiration?

I’ll have to work on those goals into something I can measure and just have faith those other things will happen naturally.

The WOD

3 rounds
400m run
15 pullups
7 hang power cleans
12 min cutoff

Everything took place at Crossfit Central’s new downtown location, which is really nice. It’s a hike for me, so I’m not going to switch my class anytime soon, but it’s still really nice.

Somehow there was a glitch, and I wasn’t on the list when I signed in for the benchmark WOD on Saturday. I wasn’t alone, but the coaches were super awesome and worked us in. Lisa Thiel even went around asking if there were folks who would switch with us so we could get into a an earlier heat (since we had kids and needed to be home).

I quickly got into Heat 2 thanks to Michael, who agreed to wait an extra hour until Heat 6 (Thanks, Michael! You rock!!!) They took our “before photo”, some video of me doing a hang power clean for a future video, and then we warmed up with Zach.

Then the coaches came for us. David was my judge. He set up my bar, but there wasn’t a lot of time, and I had to tell him what band I needed as I was running to the start line.

Some highlights

I remembered the WOD being hard. But it’s hard to imagine how hard two years later. My friend and teammate Linda took photos while I was in the middle of it (Thanks Linda!!). Here are the highlights:

Our run was on the sidewalk along the I-35 access road. At one point a big truck hauling a trailer on the interstate dragged the trailer along the guardrail and a bunch of wood came popping off down the concrete wall. It didn’t hit the access road, but it made me run a little faster.
The humidity was high, and my grip strength was for-s**t because of Thursday’s workout of 250 kettlebell swings for time. I felt like I couldn’t hold on.
It was totally motivating to hear people cheering for me — not just my judge and Linda, but also several of the other coaches as I was running back into the gym.

Time: 11:58 (Intermediate level – 65#, blue band)

I’ll be posting those goals soon. I may only have two. But that will just help me focus.

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This is where it begins – My body comp

I had my body comp done today. It’s for the challenge, which starts on Saturday.
I wasn’t too surprised by the numbers which you can see on my sheet there.

The takeaway? The body fat is over 23 percent. I think I can bring that down in 8 weeks.

The Whole 30 program has been quite a change for me, and I haven’t even read the book yet. We’ve cut out butter, scaled back on meat and I haven’t had any bacon since we started. We only use coconut oil and olive oil to cook. We’re careful about the kind of nuts we eat and the amount.

Fruit has returned to my diet, but not in a huge way. I’ll eat one or two pieces a day — usually just the one — with a little fat and protein.

I think the biggest benefit is the Whole 30 forces me to take my lunch to work. I can’t eat junk when I pack it myself. It’s a lot easier to stay on track when you don’t go out to eat.

I’ve already noticed the bloating and inflammation is less. My jeans are fitting a little better. I’m not supposed to weigh myself, so I won’t be checking in the the scale until the end of the challenge. I’m not sure what my goals will be. But I have time to think about them.

Video: My Clean & Jerk PR – 110 pounds

Just before the holiday break, my coach had us try for a new max on the snatch and the clean & jerk.

We had been working a steady progression of heavier and heavier weights, and it was time to see if we were stronger. The last time we went for a max, my body was toast. I had been working like crazy, living on little sleep, and the day before, my Crossfit class did the workout named “Cindy” (AMRAP 20 min: 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats). My arms were SOOOOO sore, I could barely lift the bar off the platform.

On December 19, things were different. I felt awesome. I finally made a snatch at 75#, and my clean & jerk went from 100 pounds to 110 pounds! My coach took video:

I ended up going for a clean PR as well — and I made 115 pounds.

So when I start back in class tomorrow, I’ll be working off of these numbers, which means my working weight will be a bit higher than it has been the past 6 months. Yikes!

Red in the face

Adventures on the path toward a stronger, fitter me