This week was a pretty solid and varied week for workouts, so I thought I’d tell ya about it.

Monday: Felt like I was coming down with something so I took the day off. I honestly rarely feel guilt for not exercising, but I’d basically taken off both Saturday and Sunday, and I did feel a little guilt. However, I think I successfully held off the sickness, so it was worth it.

Tuesday: Not exercise-related, but I met up with the lovely Ellen for coffee before work. It was nice having an evening workout planned so that I could do that before work. Also, pro tip: there are multiple Koffeecake Corners. I do 94% of coffee meetings there because it’s near my office and has the most ridiculous name ever, and did not know there was more than one. #themoreyouknow

At night, I did another CrossFit Elements class. I have just two more to go! The workout was 21-15-9 wall balls and burpees. In English, this means 3 rounds of throwing a medicine ball against the wall and then burpees; first 21 reps, then 15, then 9. The instructor eyeballed us and kind of decided who she thought was stronger and she put me in the weaker group and gave me a lighter ball. Oh, it’s on, lady. I’ll do a post on my initial thoughts on CrossFit once I finish Elements, but I’m still so surprised/impressed at how you can get such a killer workout in such a short time.

Wednesday: another PM workout! Or two. I had an 8pm CrossFit class scheduled so I was just going to stay late at work to get ahead of all the content I need to schedule for while I’m on vacation…until Jordan asked if I wanted to go for a run with her. Duh, yes. It’s hard to say no to one of my favorite people and to running during work hours. We ran about 4 miles, and then I came back and worked for a bit more before going to CrossFit…and hoping that the workout wouldn’t include too much running.

Random side note: we use a chat system called Slack to communicate at work (there was an interesting Wired profile on it) and someone created a bot so every time you say “CrossFit” it responds with this GIF. I forget every. single. time. and am still amused.

So, of course the workout included running. We did the “Helen” WOD, which is three rounds of: 400m run, 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pull-ups. I used a 12kg (26.5 pound) kettlebell and felt pretty badass about it. Also, EXHAUSTED. The kettlebell swings were the hardest part of the workout for me. Although I sort of didn’t want to run any more, I was happy to have something in the workout that I knew was my strength. I was faster than all of the other girls, and faster than one of the dudes. I, also, was one of those douchebags you see running around the block, which I honestly wasn’t crazy about. I can’t do a real pull-up (much less 36 of them!), so I used a band. The bands you use to help you do pull-ups are basically massive rubber bands that you put over the bar and step through/into so that you have some assistance. (Here’s a video on how it works.)

I came home and laid on the floor, staring at Bailey, willing him to walk himself. That didn’t happen, so I peeled myself off the ground, chugged some post workout drink and let Bailey pull me down the street.

Thursday: I saw Elle was in town for work, so we met up for an early run. I rarely run in the park by myself in the morning because it’s not super close to me, but once I get up there, I remember how happy it makes me. We ran about 4 miles, and it was an awesome shakeout from the CrossFit-ing.

Friday:

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Yesterday, I swam attached to a giant tether. I felt like a massive fish on a fish pole, and I wondered when I was going to be scooped up and had for breakfast. But they probably would have just thrown me back because I am 94% wine.

New York Health and Racquet Club has a new class called Swim Pro, where you swim attached to a giant tether for added resistance…and difficulty. It’s such a weird sensation, but it was definitely a good workout. They did a special private class just for me and my coworkers, so I’m not sure if this the normal format, but we alternated between the tether and doing ab stuff out of the pool on the deck.  The instructor, Jerome, came around several times to look at our form. I’ve come a long way since my swim lessons with Sam, but my kick still needs some work. I kick from my knees, not my hips, which is not right. We did a bunch of intervals – swim hard for 30 strokes, easy for 30 strokes, repeat, and by the end of the class, I had worked some some serious hunger. Forget runger, I had some serious swimger! That’s gotta be a thing, right?

And last night was our Junior League Homecoming, so today I am taking a rest day.

So, two random questions:

1. iPhone people: what have you done with your phone when traveling internationally? I’ll be in Switzerland this time next week!!!

2. CrossFit people: how/where do you track your workouts? Is there some sort of DailyMile for CrossFit people?

3. Everyone else – what was your favorite workout this week?

I was supposed to be racing Princeton 70.3 this morning.

After the New York City Marathon last year, I was happy reaching my goal and didn’t feel a need to keep pushing, pushing right away to see how much faster I could get. (BQ by 35? That’s another story that I think I’m ready to start chipping away at next year.)

I chose Princeton as my goal for this year because it was different, and because I’d had a really good tri last year and wanted to explore the sport more. I thought an Olympic wouldn’t be a challenge enough for me and I should go big or go home.

I started training, and I really enjoyed learning more and getting more proficient in swimming and biking.

I completed the NYC Tri, and I felt great and really proud of myself. And then I realized that I’d still have to bike double that, and it still terrified me, and I just didn’t want to, right now, and so I withdrew.

This week, I swear I’ve seen more Ironman/70.3 shirts and hats than I’d ever seen before. I swam Tuesday morning, and I thought about what my mindset would be like this week if I were racing. I thought about Former Coworker Abby and Susan, who are both doing it. I thought about how I definitely could have done it, and felt a bit wistful about my decision. But then I remembered the head space this race occupied and how the bike training was so scary and daunting to me that it stopped being enjoyable.

Instead, this morning, I’m running the Run 10 Feed 10 with friends, and cheering for Abby and Susan from afar. And cheering for my coworker Alex who’s running her second half in Philly, and for my friend Sarah who’s doing her first tri.

Have you ever dropped out of a big race? How’d you feel about it?