Memorial Day 2014 - 40 Mile Bike Ride

Dennis and I had been itching to do a longer bike ride for weeks now and Memorial day was providing us the opportunity.  So once again, we woke up earlier than we would have liked, and prepared for the ride. 

We technically started at the END of the trail, but, our plan was to start in Purcellville and bike to Arlington, a total of 50 miles.  We staged my car down right before Arlington and drove up to Purcellville to start our journey.  

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!  

I started the ride towing Shane, as I know that the 2nd half of the ride would be my most challenging so I prefer to take Shane first.  We switching towing him at about mile 15, which was a little disappointing (less than half) but I was struggling already.  

As you can see from this nifty picture, we biked for 40 miles and took us just under 3.5 hours.   You can also see my heart rate in the small box at the bottom right corner.  

We decided to stop at 40 miles because both of our backs started to hurt and it was way hotter than we anticipated and of course we had to keep the health, comfort, and safety of Shane in mind.  We also had some odd things happen to us on our ride:

1.  Shane lost a shoe. 
2.  The Trailer Got a Flat Tire.
3.  We had to walk our bikes through a Fair that was being held in Vienna.
4.  We had to wait for a parade to be over to cross the street
5.  Finally saw Horses on the trail!!
6.  A pedestrian yelled at me and Dennis and him almost got into a fight.  

Also, worth noting, we saw 2 Crossfits right off the Trail:

Catoctin Crossfit & Crossfit Vienna - SO COOL!


We still have plenty of time to train for our 100 mile bike ride in September, and there was no real reason to keep going just to make it to 50 miles.  I hope everybody had an enjoyable long weekend and got some good quality time outside!! 

Also,if you'd like to sponsor me on my 1st ever 100 Mile Bike ride, please click on this link, DONATE HERE ,to make a contribution.  The money goes towards a great cause, MS Research, and is greatly appreciated!

Reebok Crossfit Games 2014: Mid Atlantic Regionals

Finally, moving to Virginia has proved convenient for once!  The Reebok Crossfit Games 2014 Mid Atlantic Regionals are held in VA very close to our house.  Now all we needed was for SMCF to qualify.  Done and Done!

SMCF's team qualified from the Crossfit Open and advanced to the Regional in Virginia.  Hooray!!  We were so excited and so happy that our old crew would be making the trip to see us, and we'd be there to support them.  

With all but one of my workouts completed for the week, I could finally relax on Saturday and sit there an watch other people work out.  And let me tell you, it's exhausting!  

Any time I watch elite Crossfitters compete, I end up feeling two different things.  

1. I feel as if I am a tiny spec of dirt in the Crossfit community.  I feel as if my accomplishments are nothing compared to these people, and I feel embarrassed about my "small" struggles to get my act together, eat right, and dominate.  These people give up SO much (and obvious more than I am willing to give up) and it shows.  

2.  After I feel smaller than a spec of dirt, I end up feeling so pumped up and motivated, I want to aim to be the fittest person on earth!!  I get so jacked up watching these people toss around weight, give it all they've got, and it's contagious.  Watching people work out is so odd, but it for some reason gets to me, and makes me want to be just like them. 

Once the heats with SMCF team were done, we sat outside in the amazing weather and tailgated for the rest of the evening where I was hit with one final emotion.  Homesick.  

I'm not one to be get homesick, I probably can count the times I specially missed my home on one hand, but this weekend sure hit me hard.  I was with people who had been there with me since the beginning (Court, Joanne, Fox, Brando), some of my favorite 6amer's (Lynne and Christa) and some who were my favorite to look at at 6am (Matt), some of my old coaches who helped form my Crossfit knowledge (Curt, KC, and Brad), and then others who I only knew briefly, but acted like I had never left the box.  (Queue eyes watering right now..ugh).  

As I posted just a few days ago that I am started to make a presence at my new box (which I love) and moving on that way, it sure was amazing to spend an incredible weekend with my old SMCF family and this weekend I couldn't have been more proud to be wearing your shirt!

5 Days in a Row

I really meant to rest today, I swear, but....

My Phone Takes Lovely Pictures

.........it was just too nice of a day to not run.  And I got out of work early so I had the time to do it.  I was supposed to rest today, run tomorrow, and cross train on Sunday.  But I've learned that if you are ABLE to get a workout in, do it, because there is always the chance that tomorrow the weather will be bad, you won't feel right, or 100 other "ifs" that could cause a disruption in the training.  

This now free's up tomorrow for me, which is great because I have some VERY special visitors coming this weekend!!

South Mountain Crossfit is competing in the 2014 regionals which just happens to be 15 minutes away from our house here in VA!  The team had their first 4 WODs this morning and provided me with some entertainment during work this morning (it was streaming on crossfitgames.com live). 

They have their 2nd heat tomorrow morning which Dennis, Shane, and I will  be attending in person to watch.  Should be a great time to see everybody from SMCF and it will be nice to finally have a rest day! 

I hope everybody has a wonderful and safe long weekend!

Beast Unleashed

It's about fucking time!

For whatever reason, since my run in Florida, I've been half assing to get back into mental and physical shape.  I had every tool in the fitness world to help me succeed, but I was missing one thing.  My inner beast.  

But lately, for about a week now, something in me has changed.  I feel loyal to the workout program I've decided on.  I feel committed to the membership that I've invested in at CFC.  And more importantly, I've unleashed the beast.

I have to speak to the Crossfit Chantilly community.  I walked into the box a seasoned yet weak unknown, and now, I've completed the foursome of 6am girls who are constantly IMing each other daily.  We basically take role call for who's going to the WOD the next morning, who's resting, and who's shoulders are blasted from the week's WODs.  I LOVE IT.  They recognize my strengths (Snatch) and my weaknesses (Wall Balls) but they support me no matter what.  It's simply awesome, awesome, awesome.  

I've been really drilling down on my eating.  Incorporating more veggies rather than fruits (I've evoked the no fruits after 12pm rule), trying to eat every 2-3 hours, and trying to keep that Carb, Protein, and Good Fat ratio going.  I'm changing my view on food all together.  I'm trying not to live to eat, I'm trying to eat to live.

In addition to my Crossfiting and food awareness (I refuse to say I'm dieting) I've added two more elements to my routine.  Running and Biking. 

Now running I've done in the past.  It took me a long time to do it, but I completed a 5k, 10k, 10 Miler, and Half Marathon within a year, and boy was that hard.  BUT the rate in which my body was forming into what I wanted it to be was cray cray.  So whether it's mental or what, I am convinced that I need to be running 3 times a week in addition to my Crossfiting 3 times a week and eating clean to see rapid results.  

Biking is the fairly new exercise craze for the O'Donnell's this year.  Why is that you ask? Location, location, location.  In PA, we did have some options for biking, but nothing like the W&OD Trail here in VA.  And as a side note, can we talk about how the W&OD Trail basically spells WOD?

Dennis and I discovered this amazing trail a few weeks ago and we've been biking it as often as possible.  Dennis has even gone to the extent of biking 10 miles of his commute to and from work.  Saving him time, gas, money, and he is outside exercising on this trail on a bike he spent a good amount of money on.  Win Win Win Win Win situation.  

So far we've done about 4 or 5 Medium Length bike rides on the trail but this Memorial Day weekend we are going to attempt the whole trail.  The whole 50 miles, towing our son.  Wish us luck. 

And the crazy doesn't stop there.  For Dennis' birthday, we have signed up to bike 100 miles for the MS City to Shore event in September.  Holy shit.  

The event is a double win as the money raised goes to MS research, which, my uncle and one of my brother's closest friends suffer from.  I'm happy to raise money for this cause, and if you'd like to donate (any and all amounts welcomed and appreciated) please see the event page for a link.  

So I'm starting to think that this is my new starting point and I'm getting giddy just thinking about how slowly but surely I'm unleashing the beast.