I am not an athlete

As declaratory statements go, announcing that I am not an athlete, is hardly likely to shock anyone. I am certain if they have seen me in person or read any other blog post of mine than that would self evident. Yet here I am declaring it anyway. Well there's a good reason for that. As someone who does Crossfit ( yes I know I have mentioned this before) I have the great privilege of training along side some fantastic athletes who are competing and hitting personal records all the time. There are many more who aren't quite at that level but are making great strides in that direction and there's me. You would probably be better off putting me in the same category as the occasional Crossfitters who just do the women's class twice a week because despite the fact I have been doing it on some level for over three years, I have not progressed that much beyond them. Doesn't sound too good when I say it like that. 

I think I have reached the point where I have accepted that I am unlikely to ever be at a level where I could compete without making a holy show of myself. I didn't actually get into Crossfit with competing in mind, I was fat and lazy and wanted something effective. Now I am just lazy so it clearly worked and its okay by me if that's all it ever is for me. A way to lose weight, to tighten up, relieve stress and the reason why I need help getting things on the bottom shelf of the fridge the following day. 

I have actually made progress since starting. I am not still in the back of class struggling to get an 8kg kettlebell above my head. I am pretty sure questions would be being asked if I was exactly where I started. I can lift heavier bells and a lot of my movements have gotten better. I still remember the time when I thought I would never use a bar because they were only for men  and now we use them every other workout. I even put some weight on it but my sidelong glances around the room tell me, I am not putting on nearly as much weight on the bar as most of those around me. I don't feel like I want to die as much mid workout and I only get pukey if I have eaten junk food within a day of working out. I definitely have muscles where I only had fat before and all of this is good stuff. 

The list of things I can do is not too bad in the grand scheme of things is not so bad but the list of the things I cannot is pretty epic. I have the poise and grace of a drunken baby deer taking its first steps and I think that has been a major set back for me. I cannot skip, I can skip better than when I started in that it is no longer necessary for me have my legs tied together but my skips are strained and slow when everyone else's seem to be faster and sleeker and turning steadily into double unders. I think its safe to say at this point that double unders are not in my near future. I cannot lift anything remotely heavy and I suck at anything remotely gymnastic.

There are number of reasons why I am not some super amazing Crossfitter by now. One being that I am not naturally good at this. I do not have amazing flexibility and I seem to be blissfully unaware of my body so I am frequently seen to be doing a movement wrong and thinking I am doing just fine until I am forced to watch myself in the mirror (never a pleasant experience).

I do not stretch or foam roll nearly enough so I get by with my aches and pains and try to feign surprise that my hips feel so tight when squatting even though I know damn well why.

Also I am inconsistent in my training. Most weeks I fit in two classes, sometimes less and sometimes more. Occasionally I will go a week or so without doing a class at all if I can't get to Clonmel and most of that time I don't actually workout at home. This week is an exception because I intuited my own laziness and asked for a home workout which I swiftly regretted when the alarm went off at awful o clock this morning. 

So that's it, I am no athlete but I am a slimmer, stronger Laura so all things being said, that's not so bad.