Any given Sunday

I was in a hurry when I wrote that last blog post. So much in a hurry that I completely forgot to mention the reason I named the post what I did, which is that when I start to look forward to my rest days is when I know I need more of them. So I am VERY excited for the off week coming up in preparation for next Saturday’s competition.

I also completely forgot to mention my happiest moment ever as a coach. I’m not actually a coach or a trainer or anything like that but if someone asks me a question or something I am always happy to help out where I can. Heck, one of the other non-coaches around taught me butterfly pullups in about 5 minutes flat (not that I can do more than 2-3 in a row, I keep losing my rhythm!), but anyway sometimes the best verbal cues can come where and/or when you least expect them.

It was Friday after class, and one of the girls was chalking up her hands, about to hang off the pullup bar. So I asked her what she was practicing and she said she thought she was close to getting her first kipping pullup. So I watched her, and showed her what she was doing vs what she should be doing, and gave her a couple verbal cues and damned if she didn’t get her first pullup on her VERY next attempt, and then the next one after that. I was just about as stoked as she was, actually, because what I said really resonated with her (all I did was repeat what Mel Ockerby told me a year and change ago, which similarly worked on me immediately after 6 damn months of frustration leading up to that moment!). Sometimes you just need to hear something said in a different way.

I was also having a laugh last week that there was some cult recruiting going on at work, and I wasn’t the one doing it. Still laughing over that.

But back to the more recent past. Sunday felt like about three weekends in one, probably because it had three very distinct parts (OMG I just had a Julius Caesar translation flashback…). It started extremely early in the morning when I woke up at 4:45 to get ready for the Trail Series race I was running out in Elgin, which is about an hour east. One of my friends was running a 26km course which had quite an early start to it, so a bunch of us were meeting to carpool at 5:30 in the morning.

When we arrived it was actually cold (!), so cold that after seeing Keith start his race the rest of us huddled back in the car until almost the start of our race. We unfortunately cut it a bit too close and I didn’t really warm up properly, but it wasn’t too terrible either. This race was 7.5kms long, and was at a wine farm called Oak Valley, and I had actually won this race last year, so I was vaguely familiar with the course and recalled that it was quite flat, and fast. Unfortunately this is not the sort of course that favours me as a CrossFitter over normal cross country runners, because I do relatively better at powering up hills and then recovering quickly, as was evidenced in this race: the woman who won the series raced out to the front way ahead of the rest of us, and I was actually in second place after the first 2kms (which were quite hilly).

That ended, when I was passed by four people in the mostly flat bike paths through the oak forests. But it was beautiful: soft dirt, shade, lovely smells of the forest. At this point I was feeling a bit concerned about my level of fitness; I was feeling pretty tired, and as I mentioned above was craving rest days and not going out and racing. But there I was, and in decent position so I kept plodding along and after a while the course got hillier again and I was able to overtake one of the people who had passed me. The other one I had in my sights, and she looked very beat-able.

The other day one of my co-workers was showing this video of Mike Tyson. He was saying before fights he was nervous but then he just transforms and when he enters the ring he’s unbeatable. A God. And he looks his opponent in the eyes, and eventually the opponent cracks and looks away for just a split second, and in that second they both know the game is already over. I had my mini Mike Tyson moment when we hit a BIG steep hill and this girl had stopped to walk about half way up and I just charged up the whole thing and more, and when I passed her I heard her say “Pshaw!” in amazement. So I knew I had beaten her mentally.

It was quite a lonely race after that point as there wasn’t anyone more than about 50m in front or 50m behind. Coming up to the last 1.5kms which were VERY flat I took the opportunity to practice my Pose running. In theory it is more energy-efficient always to run on your toes, like you do when you’re sprinting or running up a hill. In practice, this feels awkward and weird over longer distances (at least to me). But I thought what the hell, unless I mess up badly here I’m going to maintain my position (just out of the money, *sigh*, not that I really need more free athletic gear anyway though), so I decided to practice. For the first 200-300m it felt really awkward.

Then a strange thing happened. First, it started to feel easier. Then, it felt so much easier that moving back to heel strikes would have been harder. And at some point along this period, I started running faster. A LOT faster. Now, I wonder if I could keep that up over a longer distance, but it sure as hell was interesting. Something else to practice, I guess!

I did manage to beat my time on the course last year, by about 30 seconds. So I was happy overall. I can’t say that I deserved to win, the people who beat me were just better than I was on that course on that day. But I kept my head and didn’t panic when I started getting passed, and ran my own race, and most importantly I had fun. And no calf cramps this time, and I got to see how I responded to some high starch in the form of banana before & after the race. Finished 4^th out of 70 women, and 20^th overall, out of 143.

Not bad for someone who used to suck at cross country, huh? I was also feeling happy that the downhills didn’t scare me as much as they once did, although I would characterise myself as having a level of caution greater than when I was racing before the ankle sprain. Older and wiser I suppose (beats older and more frail!).

Some CrossFitters were also racing so after doing my mobility I chatted to them for a bit, and then when my ride was leaving had my hand forced to go introduce myself to a fellow athlete. But hey, all’s well that ends well (yes, peeps, I really am shy but sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do).

Then we went to the Peregrine Farm Stall where there was nothing paleo for me to eat. But I decided to see how my body responded to coffee after a five week break. The answer? Not so well, the acid upset my stomach. So, now I know now to drink coffee next weekend.

Then we went to Strand Beach, took off most of our clothes, and jumped in the ocean! I had no idea but the water is significantly warmer out that side than it is in Cape Town. I guess False Bay is a bay, albeit a giant one!

Then we drove back to Cape Town and I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing steamed veggies for my trip to Joburg. Well, until heading out to meet some friends for a Lion’s Head hike.

Actually it was an abbreviated hike because it was something like 38 degrees (that’s about 100), and one of our crew started to feel ill about halfway up. So we headed back down and over to where Natalia stays to hang out by the pool. Yet another reason I’m glad I always keep an emergency bikini in the car.

Sadly I couldn’t stay long because I had to get home to bed early so I could wake up at 12:30am and drive up to Big Bay to watch the Super Bowl streaming over the internet.

Now, a little bit of history here for the readers of this blog (geez there are a lot of you, silent strange lurkers!) who aren’t members of Patriots Nation. This may seem boring but there is a method to my madness.

So, my team first started winning Super Bowls in 2001. That game was a classic David vs Goliath, the St Louis Rams were heavily favoured to win and the little scrappy Patriots led by 23-year-old quarterback Tom Brady wound up taking the game in one of the biggest upsets in NFL history (Tom Brady was a Cinderella story in his own right, having been the backup quarterback who wins the Super Bowl).

The Patriots won again in 2003 and 2004, then had two kind of so-so years, and then came 2007, in which the Patriots did something that had only ever been done once before in the so-called modern era of football, which was to have a perfect, undefeated regular season. The last team to do it was the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who went on to win the Super Bowl.

So in that 2007 Super Bowl, the Patriots met the New York Giants. It was eerily similar to the 2001 game in that a) the team that was heavily favoured appeared for all the world to underestimate their opponent and that is the one thing you must NEVER do, and b) the young, upstart quarterback (in this case Eli Manning) led a charge down the field in the final minutes of play to produce a classic upset. I can still remember that game: where I was, who I was with, how I felt. I don’t think I’d been so devastated by a sports game since the Flyers lost the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996 (and at that age I had crazy teenage hormones!). I was so upset that I actually lost a good deal of my passion for football, and I'm not sure I ever got it back in quite the same way (I'm a Myers-Briggs 'J'. When I'm over something, I'm over it!).

This year was a rematch. Patriots vs Giants. It was an incredibly close game. Really, either team could have win and both teams played well. It wasn’t the sort of game that was lopsided and boring, or lopsided but the team that should have won managed not to. But, credit to the Giants because they played clean, and didn’t screw up. The Pats on the other hand, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with just sloppiness that 99 times out of 100 isn’t the case. A safety as the first play of the game? A penalty for 12 men on the field that nullified a Giants turnover that would have led to a sure touchdown? Two consecutive dropped catches by receivers in the final drive? Naw, the Pats could have won the game. On paper, and even in the moment, they probably should have won the game.

But that’s why they play games. On any given Sunday, either team can come up with the win. You just bloody well never know what’s going to happen in any competition, on any day. You can be as heavily favoured as you wish, but the opponent wants that win too, maybe even more than you do. And in that moment on the field, anything can happen, and luck and passion can trump any sort of sense.

And a last word. Fans, be humble. I like to think I have never rubbed it in when my team has beaten another team. I find it unnecessary and obnoxious. You can celebrate winning without rubbing the loser’s nose in the dirt. Same goes for athletes, the people whose asses you are kicking today might well be kicking yours in five years, or five months.

There was an article a few weeks back a friend posted to my wall: “Is God a Patriots fan?” When massive amounts of thunder, lightning, and rain woke me up at 7am I thought to myself God must be a Pats fan. He sure as hell sounds pissed.

Me? I’m already kind of over it.

• “Duuuude. Why aren’t there good looking guys like that at our gym?” – Ellie (there are good looking guys at our gym, for the record….)
• “No, really, I want to wrestle you sometime. I want to get beat by a girl.” “Oh my God. … What was your name again?” – Chris (apparently) & Ellie
• “Do you also have a Vermont by Hermanus?” “No, we have a Vermont by New Hampshire.” – Carla & Ellie
• “She’s human after all!” – Carla (I was vicariously enjoying the consumption of a hot cross bun)
• “Oh my God! We’re lost in the Strand! Let me Tweet, in case we’re never found again!” – Keith
• “These are the sort of people who are going to hell. It doesn’t matter how many times you go to church on Sunday.” – Keith
• “Unfortunately for everyone involved, including me. Oh, wait, I guess I’m the only one involved.” – Ellie (yeah, I really do say stupid sh*t sometimes!)
• “They’re totally checking us out!” “Well of course they are. Wouldn’t you?” “Yes!” – Natalia & Ellie
• “You guys, I seriously can’t remember the last time I had a beer.” “I can. It was two hours ago.” “Do you want a beer?” – Ellie, Joe, and Jon Jon (I later remembered: it was after doing Fran at my CrossFit cert last August, ripping both my hands badly, and going out drinking in New Haven with the boys … beer dulls the pain)
• “You spell triumph T-R-I-U-M-P-H?” – Joe 

Time for a break

No, I’m not dead. Just super busy. Still getting a lot done but my body is feeling a bit tired, and under-performing a bit. Nothing crazy, maybe 10%, but noticeable, I’ve just been lacking that top gear and really looking forward to my rest days.

So, what have I been up to? Last week Saturday morning was the CCF team beach workout. This time around, the male members of my team showed up, and with the addition of Emma we dominated the friendly little competition, winning both events (although barely winning both events!). Still, my attitude this time was better anyway, and I enjoyed myself, and we did not take 3 hours. AND we went to Sandbar after so breakfast was quick quick.

The rest of the weekend passed in a blur. Don’t think I did much of note, that’s worth mentioning.

A lot happened in the work week. I guess the main thing is that I took Tuesday completely off to work from home on editing our 76-page document that summarizes Heart, what we do, and what we plan to do for each of our portfolio projects this year. But I got that done, and Wednesday was pretty much a day-long master planning meeting for Heart Capital that I sat in on. What an amazing group of people I work with, from the top down. It really is true, and I know I keep saying it, but this year is already going so much more amazingly well than last year, which was quite terrible in a number of respects. And all of my co-workers are just great: there’s not a single person you look around the table and think ‘aw, geez, I have to work with so-and-so.’ And there’s no politics. Just love.

Anyway I also found an intern to take on work on the Social Enterprise Collective (a project we are doing to produce a free, public database of all the social enterprises in South Africa), and worked on a government tender response, and a bunch of other admin and planning that was not necessarily worth mentioning. Except the hassle of trying to get plane tickets to Joburg for next week from an airline from which we have preferred pricing.

What is worth mentioning is our check-in with Mama Rosie, who I’ve talked about before. She’s actually an amazing woman: very strong and steadfast. Not very well educated but with a big heart; she trains women from her community to do beading work, and ran a vegetable garden before FoodTents came along and put a GrowZone at her location. This meeting was a wake-up call and a reminder again of why we do what we do, and also that of course to us, FoodTents is only one of 12 projects we work with but to Mama Rosie, it’s extremely important. We always do get caught up in being the centre of our own universe, don’t we?

It was a pretty quiet week other than that; I mostly just trained and went home. Mona’s moved in with me for the last couple of days before her move to Port Elizabeth, so helped her move her stuff over. Fun workouts though: Monday we did Isabel which is 30 snatches for time, which I did with 33kgs and it felt awesome although my legs started to feel a bit tired by the time the last 10 came around! Tuesday I just felt ‘off’ in both sessions … strength and endurance just wasn’t there. Wednesday similar: my mental focus was lacking and I had no desire to do the metcon. But it was a bit of a funny thing, we had to do 100 air squats then 50 box jumps then 25 dead-hang strict pullups. Chris said we should be careful jumping onto the box after all those air squats. I remember walking over to the box after the squats, taking one look at it, and literally saying out loud: “uh-uh.” So I waited a few seconds before my first one. Never thought a 50cm box could look that high!!

Friday we did Grace, which is 30 clean & jerks for time. In this workout I was most definitely lacking a higher gear, so I just went at a slow & steady pace. I hadn’t done it in ages and was hoping for under 4:30, and under 4 minutes would be a dream. I finished at 4:05, so considering my general level of fatigue that’s not too bad. On another day, under better conditions, I estimate I could get another 20-30 seconds off my time. So, good to know where I stand. Maybe one of these Saturday afternoons I’ll re-do Helen, which hurt badly the first time I did it and scared me (it’s 3 rounds of 400m run, 21 kettlebell swings, 12 pullups).

Speaking of Helen, Saturday’s beach workout was Sandy Helen which is 400m run in sand, 21 kettlebell swings, and 12 burpees. This is another of my favourite workouts because it’s so hard but I stuck to my plan of not trashing my legs before tomorrow’s trail run, and skipped this workout in favour of hitting up the Biscuit Mill for early shopping, breakfast at Sandbar with the CCF crew, CCF team meeting, then went to Virgin Active to train because there wasn’t open gym that day after all (or maybe it ended by the time of the team meeting).

Diet-wise, I'm about to have my first high-starch veggie of the year, and I'm having a protein shake tomorrow morning that's very banana-heavy. So I guess I'm saying the hectic part of the detox is now over, but I'm still on the paleo challenge until mid-March. As with the whole 'no meat for 3 weeks' turning into my now eating still mostly eggs, fish, and chicken, (I have red meat maybe twice a week, whereas before it was pretty much daily), I'm just loving all the raw & steamed veggies.

Now, I’m finished packing for my trip next week, and going to have some dinner and head down to a braai/house party in Hout Bay for just a little while because bedtime tonight is 8:45 (I have to be up at 4:45 you see!).

• “Does anyone want anything else?” – our waiter at Sandbar (he meant anything ‘different’ after a table of maybe 12 of us ordered 8 of the same thing)
• “It’s not gonna stop.” – Jon
• “At first I thought it was crazy, to orientate your whole diet around training. But now that I’ve experienced the intensity of it, I can totally understand why it’s necessary.” – Peter
• “We’re already so far ahead of the rest of the pack it’s not even funny. And it’s only going to get better from here.” – Peter
• “You’ve done really great work.” – Debbie
• “I don’t eat pizza.” “But you can have the toppings, can’t ya?” – Ellie & Jacques
• “Well buddy your health food is really good!” – Jacques
• “I hope it’s not …. Too bad.” – Jacques
• “I’m very confused.” – Mama Rosie
• “I was hoping I could manipulate you into being my agent on this one.” – Jeremy  
• “CEO is CEO, wow!” – Anne
• “I’m just being high maintenance.” “I can see that.” – Ellie & Chris

How amazing is life?

Not, probably, a question we ask ourselves every day. But perhaps we should. Someone posted this to facebook a while back and I read it and it really got me thinking.

When I took a metaphysics course maybe 10 years ago I learned about the probabilities of certain universal constants being as they are, and if they were slightly different then, say, matter could never form. I can’t remember the details. But it was enough to push me from complete atheism (the multiple universe theory never appealed to me; too wasteful, I feel the universe is more elegant than that) into a state where I believed that something (or –things) could possibly have created things in such a way that matter could form, and oxygen and water could form, and perhaps life as we know it could evolve. The notion that some all-powerful God would swoop down and answer the prayers of us little ants has always seemed egomaniacal in the extreme, even to me as a small child.

But at the end of the day, we don’t really know. We can’t know. That’s where faith comes in. Quantum physics is an amazing field of study. Google Schrodinger’s cat, if you’re not already familiar with the concept. I guess for me, it doesn’t really matter. You may dismiss things like universal consciousness and new age yoga stuff, and maybe it is all a bunch of hooey. But maybe it isn’t. It’s much harder to prove a negative now isn’t it? And that, my friends, is what makes life fun. If we had all the answers, or knew how things were going to turn out, then life would be pretty boring now wouldn’t it?

Of course the Type A in me thinks it would be quite cool to have lived back in the day when it was possible to know all the knowledge known to man (even if some of it was incorrect). I wonder how much of what we know today as fact is actually wrong? Or how many of the things we learned or were told as children are in fact incorrect (A calorie is a calorie! Whole grains are good for you! Coconut will make you fat! Soy is a health product!). Right?

But above and beyond how the universe works, it really is humbling to think that our chances of being born at all are so infinitesimal, and of living right now (as opposed to having our life be in the past already, or a potential future, should the earth last a few more generations) … it’s actually mind-blowing. You start talking about universal constants and you fall victim to the unknown victim cognitive bias … that concept is too big to wrap your head around. You start talking about the chances that you, yourself, were actually born (and how easily it could have been other than it is), and that’s when the magnitude of the matter actually sinks in.

So the next time you feel like your life sucks, or life is hard, consider the alternative. Not just that you could die tomorrow (because you never know), but that you might never have been born at all. We’re all so lucky to be alive, in all of our imperfections and talents and frailties. I don’t believe everyone is beautiful, inside or out. But we all have the potential to be beautiful, just as we all have the potential to be ugly. In some ways it does boil down to that devil on one shoulder, and angel on the other.

At the moment, my angel seems to be winning. I’m plowing through my to-do lists with wild abandon (ok I was a bit grouchy today at work), and I’m now almost an entire month without any sugar, dairy, grains, alcohol (eh, whatever, if it ain’t meat, fish, eggs, coconut, olive oil, a green vegetable, a seed, a herb, or something in my protein shake I probably haven’t eaten it). And, for the most part, I feel fine.

I am having a bit of a hard time getting my Heart work done because the hub is taking up all my time, just as we feared. So I’m considering taking some days or afternoons and working from home, so I can actually get stuff done without distractions.

This week also marked my not-so-awesome return to the Trail Series. Apparently while I may look like I wouldn’t be out of place at an Olympic event, my performance left a lot to be desired. The day before we had just done a ridiculously hectic thruster workout after heavy back squats (a thruster is a front squat where you then stand up and press the bar all the way overhead). I was using a heavier weight than normal and by the next day my legs felt like lead, and were sore. So I was having some of those moments like in dreams where you are trying to run and your legs aren’t moving … I was trying to run up hills and my legs were working against me rather than for me, and then my left calf started cramping, and then I hit the wall (probably the lack of high-starch carbs got to me after about the 20 minute mark).

I finished sixth, and was actually a few minutes slower than my time on the same course last year, which should tell you more than my place. If I’d even run the same time as last year I would have been second. So, I guess before my next race I won’t trash my legs the day before, and will eat a banana or two beforehand for the potassium & carbs.

But again on the subject of being lucky – as we were driving out of Silvermine one of my friends commented how lucky we were to have this as our form of exercise – out there, running in nature, in the fresh air. It is true; we are so lucky to be able to do it financially and physically. And yeah, I can enjoy myself completely and then later reflect how damn lucky I am, when probably someone my exact age with my exact IQ and potential is sitting in poverty somewhere in Khayelitsha, with no idea what Silvermine is.   

But hey, no one said life was fair, did they?

• “Come to love that cramping feeling in your abdomens.” – Chris (or words to that effect, I was a little bit in the middle of a workout at the time!)
• “That’s pretty sad, when they have to put you down just to make themselves look better.” – Jobst
• “I’m already addicted.” – Peter
• “OK I *am* sneaky like that.” – Jon
• “Maybe you can just focus better than I can.” – Keith
• “We do look pretty intimidating, I must say.” – Jon 

Nothing Much

I’m not at all sure that too much very interesting happened in the last few days. I revised pricing for the hub, and continued to try and right that ship. One of these weeks I hope to get back to my real job but in the meantime it’s quite fulfilling to see sh*t that was bothering me for months because it wasn’t being done either properly or at all finally get done.

I (well, actually Yaseera) found a graphic design intern so I’m now finally going to get my logos and layout work that I need to have done.

Heart Capital did get a big coup; I got a call Thursday night to let me know that one of our clients is giving a substantial chunk of change for us to a) hire a fundraiser for their project and b) for us to provide consulting on their project once it has been funded.

The heat wave went, came back, and is now gone again. The heat wave managed to cause my rear registration plate (license plate) to detach. If you recall, they are attached with double-sided tape. So I drove without a rear plate for nearly a week until I got around to going to the auto parts store, which was mainly only because I needed engine oil. What I love about South Africa is that I had police cars drive behind me several times, and even through a road block, with no one batting an eye. Next up, fix the fact that only one headlight is working!

Thursday was a rest day. I had dinner with Charlotte in Kalk Bay, which was lovely, especially because it was cool and cloudy down that side. I swear, I have never in my life been as happy to see grey skies as I was Friday morning.

The plants do seem to like the heat. I have about a million tomato seedlings (but none of the peppers sprouted, sadly), and a lot of flowers are blooming around town. When I was a kid, my mother will recall that I loved hibiscus flowers. I used to insist that we buy them from the local nursery, only to have them die eventually (probably because hibiscuses are not well suited to growing indoors in Vermont). But here there are all sorts of hibiscus trees and bushes, mostly in red or pink with red centres.

Also the frangipanis are doing really well this year. I don’t remember them being so very full of blooms last year. It’s interesting what you note from year to year, especially living in a new part of the world. I saw North American daylilies the other day and it kind of made my day. I really want to smuggle in some peonies once I have a place to grow them.

Friday a fun gymnastics workout then an interval-training style strength conditioning workout with nose-to-wall handstand pushups, strict pullups (band-assisted in my case because we had to do 3 sets of 10 unbroken), and 15 burpees onto a weight-plate (competition-style). These are way more hectic than normal burpees!

Friday night stopped in at the Waterfront for a friend’s birthday. Got roundly made fun of for neither eating nor drinking (hey a diet’s a diet, and a paleo challenge is a paleo challenge). Good news I suppose is that I’ve been dropping weight FAST and it’s not muscle so far as I can tell. I didn’t actually weigh myself on New Years Day but from my weigh-in for the Christmas workout I am now down about 5kgs (11 pounds). And THAT, my friends, is what three weeks without sugar will do for you.

Saturday dropped Mona at the airport, did my shopping at the Biscuit Mill (the only hard part was choosing just what kind of meat to start eating, now that my three weeks of fish and eggs is over!), and went to CCF open gym. Was excited to practice muscle-ups for the first time in about three months due to my side injury. Got over the rings on my first attempt, but it wasn’t pretty. Had two failures then ripped my wrist in the false grip. Note to self: taping for muscle-ups is not like taping for general wrist protection. So I finished off the day with some snatches, where apparently I need to learn to be more patient. Imagine that.

Acupuncture (started off hectic then I relaxed, so it wound up being quite chilled), more shopping, a big lunch, then up to Big Bay for some beach time. That was cool if a bit windy (makes sense I guess, as that’s where all the surfers and kite surfers go).

I really am feeling like quite a hermit still; there were a couple of great parties and performances Saturday night but I just wasn’t in the mood. You almost have to drag me out, although once I’m out I’m fine. I was happy enough to go out Sunday night (all depends on who asks you I suppose, and who you want to see vs who you might be happy enough to avoid).

And on another note, the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl, in a rematch with the New York Giants. This game, unlike the one last week, I firstly watched live because it was early enough local time that I could do that. There is just something different about watching a game live than on tape delay, especially when it’s a close game and you know that the rest of ‘Patriots Nation’ is watching as well. There’s a certain inter-connectedness to sports fans. Strange, isn’t it, that team association? Well, I guess not actually.

This game was not pretty. The team didn’t play well and in all honesty I thought their opponents may have deserved the win more: the shocker of the game was when the Ravens missed a field goal with seconds left that would have sent the game to overtime. A win is a win is a win, but this one doesn’t fill you with confidence.

You know who usually doesn’t win? People who are scared they are going to lose, and people who underestimate their opponents. 

• “The only way you get three times as strong as them is to have a strong head.” – Charlotte
• “She’s really just a big softie.” – Jeremy
• “If you don’t kill yourself first, underneath some massive weight.” – Jeremy (my epitaph is better than his – he was going with ‘Here lies Ellie, she was a nice person.’ I much preferred ‘Here lies Ellie, she severely overestimated her 1 rep max’)
• “No rep!” – Chris (he was having a particularly strict Friday, it was awesome)
• “Just never cheat again. I mean, why must we put that sh*t in our bodies?” “Well, you say that, but I’m not sure I could imagine never having malva pudding again.” *pause* “Yeah, malva pudding is good hey….” – Mona & Ellie
• “In the context of paleo, he asked ‘Is it ok to take dairy if I don’t eat any carbs?’” – Roland (I don’t even know where to begin!)
• “I don’t care if that’s unreasomable. I have what I want and if I don’t get it, fuck it.” – Sam
• “There’s a lot of guys here who all look the same!” – Lauren 

Winning

Call me a princess (it’s been done. Recently.) but this heat wave is not for me. I know, I know, I live in Africa but Cape Town is generally quite temperate, even sometimes cold. This 33-37 degree weather (92-98F) is just atrocious. I was not built for hot weather; give me an outdoor track workout in freezing rain and I’ll be happy (after I finish whining about how much time it takes to warm up).

Aside from the heat wave we’ve been mired in since Sunday, I’ve been doing ok. Had a minor illness brought on, I’m sure, by the detox because I don’t get sick when I’m eating properly and I’ve most definitely been eating properly. I wasn’t quite 100% when doing the CCF baseline workout du jour Monday morning, so those overhead squats were even more of a pain in the neck than usual. But my brain wasn’t affected at work, and I was fine by Tuesday. Better than fine, actually, I feel much like I did at the start of the detox with super energy levels (at least I start off the day that way then the heat and dehydration gets to me!).

Lots of minor victories this week:

• Firstly, the Patriots won their game against the Broncos in decisive fashion. Tim Tebow … who?? Apparently they hadn’t won a playoff game in 4 years, since before Brady’s knee injury (and that perfect season marred in the Super Bowl, which killed my love of football for about 2 years … and there’s a good chance of a Pats/Giants rematch this year!).
• Three new hub members started on one day (we’ve already tripled revenues from December, and we haven’t even launched our marketing or event sales campaigns yet).
• Got the hub team tasks assigned, with dates, and we’re plowing through our deliverables, including a big one for me which was to review the pricing and packaging of our offering (thank you Babson for turning what could have been a scary undertaking into something quite manageable).
• Feedback from the rest of the team is amazing – I love working with them and they love working with me and my leadership style. To a certain degree I don’t care because I’d always rather get stuff done than be popular, but to another degree of course I definitely do care what others think of me, firstly, and secondly, I know that a happy team is a better-performing team. Luckily what we’re doing is straightforward enough that one does not have to choose.
• Managed to front squat 2 sets at 60kgs Tuesday morning for 5 reps (last week I maxed out at 65 for 3 reps, so this is an improvement). The overall strength gains I am seeing are amazing … so happy J
• Brought Tallan (Mandy & Peter’s son, and an intern at Heart now) to CrossFit on Tuesday. Much hilarity ensued between his discussion of the intensity of the workout and the amazing bodies he was seeing around the gym … when we got back and he was relaying stories of it I swear to God I was laughing so hard I was crying for a good five minutes. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard.
• Oh yeah, and I killed that particular workout … I only wish I hadn’t been quite so dehydrated going in, I wanted another half round at least. This performance amazed Tallan more than anything: “You did 6 rounds! I did 2 ½! And I was using a lighter weight!.” (made up for it by sub-par performances on Monday and Wednesday but hey at least I got two good workouts in the middle!).
• Began to discuss registration details for our growing empire. I wonder who’s Pinky and who’s The Brain in this equation…
• Last but not least, my mule arrived from America with three new pairs of Inov8s (in colours you can’t get over here), rings, more New Skin, and some books (one on anatomy, the other on paleo). Kind of like a CrossFitter’s wet dream. Really, who needs Santa when you have Amazon and The Shoe Mart?

Things are marching along. As much as I do find the new year concept a bit contrived, 2012 really does feel different and in a really good way. Onwards and upwards!

•  “It looks like a concentration camp for vegetables, if you must know.” – Peter
• “The gym is air conditioned, right?” “Um … no.” “You’re kidding, right?” “Um … no.” – Tallan & Ellie
• “Every workout that I’ve ever done was not even half the warmup.” – Tallan
• “Not that I was checking up on you or anything.” – Peter
• “I definitely took the red pill.” – Jeff