I’ve been quiet on the blog for a while, but don’t think for a minute I’ve bagged Crossfit and gone onto the next thing…although the thought had crossed my mind back in May…Nope, I have been getting my head on straight and training  hard the past month.

It is really, really cool to say you’re a Crossfitter when you’re a creaky dame of 51. My friends, when they realized that Crossfit was something a bit more demanding than spending hours per week on an elliptical trainer were and remain extremely impressed. My biceps are the envy of the book-club, no bingo-wings here, thanks, and it’s kind of fun to watch the look on guys’  faces when I swing two crates of Grolsch at a time into the Mini. However, I found that I was getting to be a bit of a Crossfit-poser– talking the talk, but not walking the walk. I’d been training in my comfort zone at the Box, running in my comfort zone on my rest days, and totally disregarding healthy eating. Why did I even bother? What did I want to get out of Crossfit training?

The thing that first attracted me to Crossfit was getting stronger and fitter. I still want that. So therefore…100% effort is required and I’d been slacking off around 55-60 % and being whiny about that.

Early June I had a “come to Jesus” meeting with Titia, the wonderful sport dietician, (who also  writes at I’m A Foodie ) , where she asked me what my end game is. I’ve only lost 2 kilos in the year I’ve been going to see her, and yes, I was not really making an effort  to stick to a healthy eating regime. Too much wine, too much cheese, too many gourmet dinners out with Vince…Hey, I thought I was doing well not re-gaining the 2 Kg. but apparently I saw that wrong. Basically I was told in a very nice way to either get serious or stop wasting time for us both. I floated the idea of losing 10 kilos by September, but all that got me was a (well-deserved) eye-roll and we agreed to 5 kilos off by September and a rather rigorous diet plan. I left with a pocketful of good intentions.

Two days into the diet and it was clear that if I didn’t want to end up on a list of Interpol’s Most Wanted for Serial Homicide, something had to give. A few emails back and forth and we worked out a 1500 calorie per day diet for me. It’s going ok. I’m only hangry half the time, I haven’t killed anybody and I drink wine in the weekend.

Meanwhile I’ve had a bit of an (alcohol-free) attitude adjustment re: Crossfit. The past month I’ve been moving slowly out of my comfort zone and re-addressing Box-Jumps, high-intensity and lifting a bit heavier than I’m used to. I have embraced scaling options and find that makes workouts a lot less frustrating. Burpees are coming along (finally) and neither T-rex nor I are fans of wall-balls, but I don’t hate them so much anymore. Let’s not discuss double-unders.

Big news is that I don’t inwardly burst into tears when Mark S. cheerfully suggests a pre-warmup  run down the friggin’ stairs and 800 meters “round Hazemeyer” just for fun. Its still a case of everybody else takes off and I’m eating dust way behind the pack, but I can run 5 K now and 5 K is a lot longer than a run around Hazemeyer. I’m slow as hell, but I get there in the end.