Sunday, May 26, 2024

I Can Do Hard Things

I think this is my new mantra. Last weekend's trail race (did you read my recap?) really forced me to dig deep and keep going when I wanted to give up. That strategy came in handy this week when I did the full Murph workout at CrossFit. 

I'm so grateful for what my body lets me do and what my mind pushes me through.

Weekly Rundown
Sunday: walk 1.9 miles
Monday: CrossFit
Tuesday: Fluid running
Wednesday: trail run 5.55 miles
Thursday: CrossFit
Friday: Run 5 miles
Saturday: Murph, run 2 miles

After a restless night, I woke up Sunday morning feeling pretty fatigued. I was still feeling off from my race the day before, but I wanted to take a little walk up to Gibraltar Rock. It was such a beautiful morning and I was surprised that no one else was there when I arrived. I took my time both ways which was a nice change from when I run on this trail! Sometimes it's nice to slow down, isn't it?



I still wasn't feeling 100% on Monday morning. When I checked the WOD, I saw that we were doing a push-up 'test'. I figured that would give my legs the rest they needed, so off I went. This was a really fun class. The coaches had boxes set up at different heights and we had to do 10 perfect push-ups on each of the boxes, starting at 30" and stopping when we failed. In between each set, we did 6 GHD sit-ups. This was all about core strength, not arm strength. I did pretty well until 12". I couldn't get past 7, so I was done. Now I have a new goal to work towards! The MetCon was a 10 minute AMRAP, 2-4-6-8-10 of double or single unders x 10, burpees over the kettlebell, and kettlebell swings (I used 30#). I did one full round and was starting on my second round of 60 single unders when time was called. 


Wednesday was very windy! I figured trail running would be the best option, as the trees would help mitigate the wind. Of course, there was the fear of falling trees--yes, it was THAT windy. My drive to the preserve was on streets littered with leaves and fallen tree branches. I decided to run the east preserve trails because I wanted to run through the piney woods where the deer hang out. I also wanted to keep my miles low to help with my recovery from last weekend's trail run. My run started out cloudy, but by the time I finished, the sun was out. I did see deer on my run, including several male/female pairs, but they were really skittish, making me think they had a fawn with them. Hopefully, next time I go, I'll see one. For now, I was happy to soak up all the foliage and wildflowers around me. 



I may have been a little too ambitious with my recovery run on Wednesday. On Thursday, I woke up with really tight quads and hips, so I did a yoga sesh with Adriene, which helped a ton. Then it was off to CrossFit. There were bench presses and dumbbell rows for the strength portion!! For the bench presses, we had 5 sets of 5 reps. Since it's been a while that I've done bench presses, I built from 55# and finished with 70# for my last set. I alternated the sets of 12 dumbbell rows using a 25# dumbbell with my knee on a box. The MetCon had 5 sprints for time: 150m row, 1 fast lap farmers carry, and 4 devil's presses. I used 15# dumbbells. My splits were: 1:20, 1:24, 1:21, 1:21, 1:21. Consistency and speed were the goals!

My legs were still fatigued from last weekend's trail race, so I took it easy on my Friday morning run on the bike path. I had some new gear and Brooks Ghost 16s to try out too! It was pleasantly cool but humid and I stopped to walk several times to let my heart rate come back down. Overall, it was a pleasant little run and the perfect way to start my morning. 


I wrapped up the week on Saturday at CrossFit to participate in the annual Murph workout. Held every year on Memorial Day weekend, this workout honors Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. This was his favorite workout and consists of:
1 mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 air squats
1 mile run

I have done the half Murph multiple times, but this was the first time I would be attempting the full Murph. After my challenging trail race last weekend, I figured I could dial into the 'I can do hard things' mode and dig deep to finish this one. My strategy was to break up the workout into 20 segments. I also modified the movements to ensure I would perform them all with exceptional technique, as we have been doing in class. I subbed ring rows for the pull-ups and did the push-ups on a box. Sammy Jo walked by multiple times and told me my push-ups looked beautiful, high praise indeed from her! For the air squats, I squatted down to a wall ball to ensure adequate depth. When I went back outside for the final one mile run, my quads were tight and my heart rate was high. I felt pretty bad and even vomited a little bit. Once I got my breathing back under control, I was able to run at a nice steady pace. The coaches were at the finish line and congratulated me. I finished at 54:21, which was under my goal of 1 hour. 


I was really proud of my effort. Physically, it was hard! Mentally, I had moments where I felt like I couldn't keep going, but my mantra helped. The encouragement from the coaches and other athletes was helpful too. 

Off the Road

It's Memorial Day weekend and we're at home. What the what? We had some storm damage this week and needed to do a major cleanup of our backyard. For years, we've had a gazebo on our deck that was bolted to the wood. Much to our surprise, this week the wind picked it up and destroyed it. We woke up to twisted steel and a shredded tarp. Mother Nature is crazy.


Since we wanted to do some planting, we went to Home Depot to pick up flowers and tomato plants. We also looked at outdoor deck coverings and decided to buy a large offset umbrella instead of a gazebo. The hubs and I set it up--it looks great! Cocoa spent the day chasing her ball. It was just a perfect day to be outside! Let's hope the weather stays calm for a while.


How was your week? What are your plans for the weekend? Did you do Murph or run in a Memorial Day themed race? Who else had to deal with storm damage?

 I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. 





30 comments :

  1. Wow, I’m so impressed that you did the full Murph! It sounds really REALLY hard! You must be so strong! Well done indeed.
    I’m sorry about the storm damage. We get plenty of storms here primarily in the winter. Since we moved here there hasn’t been any major damage in our area but last year the wind took an outdoor sofa that my husband had built. It was made of pallets and absolutely MASSIVE, we could barely move it ourselves but the storm winds lifted it up and threw it over the wall (our house is on a hill so the back garden is down below) where it destroyed our greenhouse. And this winter plenty of large tree branches came down. Still we haven’t seen the worst of storms. The worst here in recent years was storm Ophelia in 2017.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's been pretty bad this year--not so much for us but the Midwest in particular. Lots of tornadoes. It's actually storming today but nothing severe.

      Delete
  2. It's crazy what Momma N can do! The trail has been pretty well-maintained, but there have been a lot of small branches everywhere. I did come across a big fallen tree that covered a large portion of the path yesterday, though. Murph is tough!!! Congrats on finishing! I did it a few years ago (had to modify the pull-ups and push-ups as well), but it's always the weekend before DAM to DSM, so I'm leery of doing it, even with modifications.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't blame you--I am really sore today! I did some yoga this morning to loosen up but it will be slow going with the runs this week, lol

      Delete
  3. I've never done the Murphy - great job on getting it done!
    Fun weekend for us - yesterday was our 33rd wedding anniversary. We rode the train to Santa Barbara and it was perfect. Today we celebrate our Pastor's wife - she's turning 70.
    No storm damage here - our damaging winds always come in the fall. Several years ago our outdoor umbrella got knocked off and demolished our glass table top. It was silly of us to think glass would survive outside!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy anniversary! My sister and I loved Santa Barbara when we visited there a few years ago.

      Delete
    2. Sounds like some really tough workouts—you can do hard things for sure!

      Yikes on the storm damage — you fixed it up nicely though. Looks so inviting.

      Delete
    3. Now if it would stop raining for more than a day, we could enjoy it!

      Delete
  4. Those Murph challenges always look super intense! Congrats on completing. Your backyard looks great enjoy

    ReplyDelete
  5. Way to go on that Murph! I just don't have the pullups in me, so I've never tried. But I had no doubt that you could do hard things, so this is no surprise at all!

    Your poor backyard! That's awful! I'm glad there was no lasting damage, but everyone's weather has just been absolutely unhinged. I hate it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The thing with all the CrossFit workouts is that there are options to scale all the movements. We have an 83 year old man in class in he does what he can do.

      Delete
  6. Your porch looks very relaxing and inviting! We have a very similar umbrella and I really like it. How crazy about that damage! I'm glad your gazebo didn't crash through your window! That would have been $$$ to fix.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can imagine that you needed some rest after the race, but still great work this week with some trail hikes and different strength workouts!

    I am so sorry about the storm damage. It's so hard to imagine that something like a steel, bolted-down gazebo can be just picked up and twisted by wind. Your new patio setup looks nice though!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fantastic job on the Murph, Wendy!!
    I'm glad I read your post this morning before we headed to Crossfit! It was my first Murph. Like you, I did ring rows for pull-ups. I did my push-ups on the knees but I couldn't keep my form like you did.
    I was very close to vomiting, too!!
    Going forward, I want to work more on my push ups so that I can do them better next time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congrats on completing your first Murph. I had no doubt you would do it! I was going to do my pushups on the floor but with all the focus on form, I knew the coaches would make me modify to a box during the workout. As it was, I had to raise the box up from the height I originally started with. My triceps are reminding me how hard this was!

      Delete
  9. Congrats on conquering the Murph! Of course you can do hard things. Yikes on the storm damage though. The weather has been so up and down. Pretty new umbrella! We've had one for 7+ years and we love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear it! We weren't sure if we'd like it, but so far, we do!

      Delete
  10. I am so impressed. Congrats on the Murph.

    I repeat that blog title every time I run a long race! It gets me to the finish line.

    I ran/walked 3 miles today and am so happy that my leg feels normal. Phew!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm still so sore from Murph! But I was happy I was able to run--slowly--on the trails this morning.

      Delete
  11. WOW Congrats on completing the full Murph! That's so amazing! Yes, you can do extremely HARD Things and it's a great mantra to have. Congrats again!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congrats on completing a full Murph! I've never tried doing one (or a half) and never think of it until I see everyone's posts on social media.

    I'm sorry to hear about your storm damage. Your new decor looks great! We're under a tornado watch as I type, but I think (hope) the worst of the weather has moved past us.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow- you actually vomited near the end of the Murph- that shows how hard you pushed yourself! Sounds like quite a week! I hope you had a relaxing Memorial Day. The new deck umbrella looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love this headline (and blog). I think we all can be reminded now and then that we can do hard things. I like to tell my friends - don't sell yourself short (like many women). You can do hard things!

    ReplyDelete