2018 Half Way Point

Although I can’t believe we’re already half way through this year; it’s time to check in on my goals

Cross Fit:
Every Memorial Day almost every Cross Fit Box in the United States (and even some in France) features a work-out in honor of Lt. Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan . It’s a mile run, then 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats and another mile run. Last year, I hit a PR by doing all 100 pull-ups, but to save my arms a bit, I modified the push-ups and did them on my knees. This year I was determined to complete the work out as prescribed and my goal was to complete it in under an hour. The true way to do Murph is to do the work in order (while wearing a weighted vest) but the majority of non-elite athletes break it up, usually into 20 sets of 5/10/15. Since I can do a high volume of pull-ups, I decided to break my work into sets of 10 (10/20/30) hoping that spending less time transitioning on and off the bar would save me time. As I got into the workout, I suddenly developed a new goal: not puking. This new goal now superseded all my previous goals. I didn’t barf and I finished in 62:31, just over my time goal. I managed to do 6 sets of 10 unbroken pull-ups and did 2 sets of 5 for the final 4 rounds. As I chatted with another woman about how she managed her strategy, she commented “Just like having a birth plan for labor, your Murph plan will quickly go out the window…”

I did’t tear my hands too badly this year 

I also entered another competition, which was a lot of fun, but also exposed all my weaknesses and lead me to develop some specific goals that I want to hit by the end of the year.

Run faster: Decrease mile time in 9 minutes
Improve Strength: Deadlift 80 Kg, Thruster 40 kg, OHS 35 kg, HPC 55 kg
Maximize efficiency: improve kipping on Toes to bar, work on butterfly progression
Skills: Strict Chest to Bar, rope climbs

Leadership Role:
When I interviewed (as the only candidate) for my current position, I asked a lot of questions about the specific responsibilities and expectations and didn’t receive a lot of precise answers as I was told; “well, it’s a new position and we’ll see how it evolves.” I feel that I’ve done well in areas where I am geared to excel. I lead a few workshops on cultural sensitivity for abortion services and as we started doing monthly clinical updates, I ended up doing the first two presentations and I was told that I set the bar very high and I even received praise from some of the toughest and most critical clinicians in our group. My weaknesses are handling some of the more human resource aspects of the position, dealing with interpersonal conflict, encouraging improved performance, and building a more cohesive team. The affiliate has been really good about offering workshops and training sessions to improve my skills, and recently someone drew the parallel that I have difficult conversations with patients, which is not that different to having a hard conversation with a colleague. Maybe in time I’ll feel a little more confident. My goal for the remainder of the year is try to be more proactive in my position rather than being reactive.

Photos to my In-laws
I missed sending them in May, as we were in Hawaii at the time, and I had thoughts of sending some of the professional shots we had done during our holiday or making a photo book of our trip. While my Shutter.fly app hasn’t crashed on me, I’ve found it to be a bit cumbersome to use and it’s been more time consuming that I would like. I was about a week late sending out photos for June and due to work restrictions I wasn’t able to go the the gym or the pool anyway, so I lost a bit of my incentive. I’m now going to try to send on the first of the month.

Run some 5Ks with Kate
We received two more finishers medals! One race she even ran/walked on her own for about ¾ of a mile. The race organizers are really great as they will give me an unused bib for Kate (she insists on having her own) and the MC will announce her name as she crosses the finish line. She seems to be showing a genuine interest in the race experience beyond the snacks at the end.

Sending Bday cards
I’ve been rocking this one and what’s been really nice is that some of recipients have message me to express how much they appreciated getting an old fashioned card in the mail.

Participating with Kate’s share days
Still a total fail. Her new school requires a lot more parent participation in the form of brining in snacks and spending time in the classroom. They will charge you if you fail to comply, so I am going to have to try harder.

More Face time with Husband
His spring hockey season has finished, as has my resentment toward all the hours he is outside of the house and is leaving me on my own. We haven’t had an opportunity for a date night is a while, but we starting planning some activities while my parents are visiting.

Swimming
After our championship meet, I decided to take a few days off, but then Husband’s travel, my work schedule, Kate having a few bad nights and our trip to Hawaii, a few days suddenly turned into a six week hiatus. It always amazes me how long it takes to get into good physical shape and how quickly it dissipates. I’m becoming more motivated to put the work in over the next few months, especially in August while my parents are visiting, as Husband will be away for three weeks in September and I will be limited in training time leading into our meet in October.

Flexible eating and weight loss
Ugh. There is a reason why I kept this one to the end. It’s been a fail. At this time last year, I weighed 151 pounds. I hit a low of 146 in September, but was back around 150 by the end of the year. Since then I’ve been following the pattern of where I was prior to my pregnancy bouncing around 151 to 153 and now 153 to 155. At the body fat test just before my successful embryo transfer, I weighed 154 lbs and had 117 pounds of muscle, so my body fat was about 24.5%. Last year, my body fat ranged between 24.4%(my PR) and 25.9% but my muscle weight was only 112. I would like to say that the extra weight I’m carrying presently is muscle…but I know it’s not. I missed body fat testing in February, but I just completed it in June. I haven’t yet looked at my results as I want to be in a better place physically before I do.
One of my biggest obstacles is Husband. He doesn’t participate in meal planning, but will complain about what I chose to cook. He’s a picky eater, who won’t admit he’s a picky eater, which is the worst type of picky eater. He also has gained all the weight his lost last year (plus more I suspect) and just isn’t as invested in eating well. I’m hoping that subscribing to a meal prep service will help us eat better, and Husband has started going to the gym (after taking ten months off due to a thumb injury) again, so I’m hoping that will motivate him to be on board with healthy eating. We also have an in house meal prep team while my parents are visiting in August and as I look back and take note that I lost weight during the past two summers, while they were visiting. I consider if I should make another appointment with our gym’s nutritional consultant who helped my last year, but I know it doesn’t matter what he tells me if I don’t comply with it! I need to hold myself accountable. One of my patients lost almost 80 pounds in just over 9 months. “Everyone assumes I had gastric bypass surgery” she informed me. “I tell them [pointing at her mouth] this is my bypass. I bypass my mouth” I’m going to carry that line for the next time I’m faced with temptation.

I looked at my results. 

Here I am 115 lbs lean 40 lbs fat