Accept No Limits

This week, I continued to push out of the comfort zone and challenging any limits--physical or mental-- that have been holding me back from reaching some goals. I'm not sure what's behind all of this, but I have been having fun!

It's been a busy week and I apologize for my lack of posting. We've got my youngest leaving for college this week and lots of other things going on. Summer's like that. I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule after Labor Day.

You might have seen my rope climb on Instagram this past week. On Thursday, when Coach Sammy Jo introduced the rope climb as one of our bootcamp activities, I wasn't planning on actually climbing the rope. In fact, about a year and a half ago, while I was still working with Coach Becky, I set a couple of upper body goals that included handstand, pull-ups, and the rope climb. We worked on these goals for quite a while, and while I never achieved them with her, I have since done the handstand, although I'm still working on holding it.

I never wanted to revisit the rope climb. Every time I tried it, I couldn't get my legs positioned properly on the rope. The rope hurt my hands and my legs. I was frustrated with my inability to pull myself up the rope. After Becky moved away, I was glad to let go of that goal.

This time when it was my turn to approach the rope, I decided to at least work on the positioning. I grabbed the rope in both hands and wrapped it around my ankle, stepping on the rope with the other foot to secure it. It felt ok, so I pulled my legs up the rope and was able to straighten up, moving my hands up the rope. Ok. Totally didn't expect that to happen. I repositioned my feet and pulled myself up the rope again. It was happening. Coach Sammy Jo stood there in stunned disbelief, as did the rest of the bootcamp class. I made it to the top and she instructed me on how to come back down. I begged her to take a picture because, as we all know, if you don't have a picture, it didn't happen.

It's happening...

Coming down was much harder than going up and I started lowering down too fast, burning my ankle with the rope on the way down. My inner thigh took a beating from the rope as well.

It was so worth it!

My head was pounding when I landed on the ground. Not sure what that was all about. It took about 5 minutes for that to clear. I was in a bit of a daze. But I had to keep on moving through all the other activities that were part of the workout. I didn't climb again, instead substituting those raises and lowers. For that day, once was enough.

But I'll do it again. I sent a picture of my climb to Becky and she was excited to see that I finally accomplished that goal. Next up: the pull-up. This was definitely the highlight of my week.

Running
Running is definitely taking a back seat to all the other activities I've been participating in. But I have Zooma Great Lakes coming up in 3 weeks and I needed to get in some miles! On Wednesday, I ran 6 miles, on Saturday, I ran 10, and on Sunday, I ran 4. All 3 runs were done using 4:1 run/walk intervals and while they weren't easy given the very humid conditions, I was pleased with my pacing. On Saturday, I was a little nervous running on the bike path after the creeper I saw there a few weeks ago and with the sad news about Mollie Tibbets. My run was uneventful, but this tragedy was most definitely on my mind.

I'd love for you to join me at Zooma Great Lakes!
Use my code WENDY2018 to save 10%.

CrossFit
Prior to the rope climb, I did strength training with Coach Sammy Jo. We're still doing high volume weights. I did deadlifts 115# x10 reps, 3 sets, alternating with barbell good mornings. After that, I did unstable walking overhead presses--in the picture below, you can see the KBs dangling from the pipe. These were so hard. This work is definitely paying off--I'm so happy she and I are doing upper body strengthening. It's fun and it's rewarding. The bootcamp has been great as well. Not only is it fun, I'm seeing lots of benefits from the variety of things we do in the class. Hooray for crosstraining!

Yoga
I had a super busy week off the road and so I was only able to squeeze in one Five Parks Yoga class. Slow Flow Gentle Yoga definitely hit all the high points. I was really sore from all the waterskiing last weekend. Hopefully, I'll find more time to get in some quality yoga. But we do what we can, right?

This is one of my "best stretch ever" poses

Kayaking
I don't know if you can call this activity, but I spent the afternoon with my friend Elaine while kayaking on the Fox River in the town where I grew up. Every summer, my high school friends and I do a "kayak krawl" to celebrate Elaine's birthday. This year we weren't able to make it happen. Fortunately, Elaine and I coordinated this week and spent a very leisurely afternoon on our own lazy river. We didn't kayak hard or far, but we managed to stop at a couple of the taverns that line the river in my old hometown. Isn't it great to have a friend that you can just pick up where you left off the last time?

Kayak selfies are so hard!

Isn't that what life's all about?

How was your week? What did you do to push yourself out of your comfort zone? Have you ever scaled a rope? Did you run #milesformollie? Do you have friends who like to push you out of your comfort zone?

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap! To celebrate the WW's 3rd anniversary, my co-host and partner-in-crime Holly and I are giving away a prize package to one of our linkers as a way of thanking all of you for supporting us. All you have to do is link back to both of us and comment on both of our posts. We'll be randomly selecting one of you from the linkup below. Fitness bloggers only, please.

As always, thanks so much for being a part of the Weekly Wrap. Have a wonderful week.

An InLinkz Link-up