Silver Lining

In August of 2007 I signed up for my first CrossFit class. I had no idea what intensity meant, I just wanted to look sexy in my cavewoman halloween costume (true story). Competition, athletic performance, power output, moving heavy stuff a far distance...pfff, who needed that stuff! I went to class two times a week and came in dead last every time. Don't misunderstand, I pushed my limits every time, I just got my butt handed to me by the workouts and everyone else in my class. 

Fast forward past halloween and into 2009 and there I was, qualified and competing in the CrossFit Games. Going head to head with top 74 Elite CrossFit females in the world! Somewhere in there I got my head on straight and realized it was more about the competition than looking sexy. Over the 3 months after the Games I upgraded my last name to ISBELL, peed on a stick and spent some time sleeping, not training like a competitor, oh and growing a human being!

Today, I am 6 months post delivery and 4.5 months into what I loosely call my comeback. I've completed 10 weeks of Coach Mike Burgener's olympic training PRing my Snatch (135#) and my Clean & Jerk (170#) but my goals are much higher than that;
   -155# Snatch (Body Weight)
   -185# Clean & Jerk
To ease back into Games style training, I've started following CrossFit HQ's main site wods with the 3 on 1 off schedule and dabbled in CrossFit Endurance on my rest day. My work schedule has increased and my 6 month old is as demanding as one might expect. Some days training is impossible, skipping a warm up keeps my timing impeccable, and unplanned breaks during a wod are inevitable. Its my life and I live every day by the phrase that helps me keep my sanity, "ADAPT AND OVERCOME."

 Tony Budding (the dude in charge of the programming at CFHQ and well known for describing CrossFit as, "it could kill you...") recently explains that the CFHQ WODs cater to athletes that are above average. To support this idea, the media guys at CFHQ have been publishing not only the WOD, but also the scores of many of those top performing athletes (God bless them and their athleticism.) On the daily, I feel the pressure of Kristen Clever breathing down my neck, while I eat the dust of many other top competitors. I have yet to beat anyone's posted score, but I consider it a good day if I come close enough to smell their sweat. Dead last is where my CrossFit journey started and not once did it occur to me that someday I would be coming in dead last to the CrossFit Legends.