What a day. I feel like I’ve been going full-speed ahead but haven’t even made a dent in my to do list. I had a productive morning…taught a yoga private, meetings, emails and trained clients but then my afternoon was a disaster. Let me explain…
We were supposed to max out on shoulder press, back squats and deadlifts on Monday in CrossFit. I begged out of it because I was so sore from the Sunday workout and have avoided it all week. I was finally feeling good and nothing was sore today so I figured I needed to get it done.
The purpose of determining your max is so that you can track your progress as you become stronger and also so that you know what weight to use when the recommended weight is something like, “75% of your max” during a workout. I’ve never maxed out so this was a new experience for me. I didn’t have the benefit of doing it with a big group and was on my own to power through. It was tough.
The stretch goal for the females was 400 pounds total. I ended up with a total of 385, just 15 shy of the 400 club but I was really okay with that. Like I’ve said before, I can’t be the best at everything right when I start. I’m new to lifting this heavy and I think 385 is a pretty good start! The final numbers were 85 lbs for shoulder press, 155 for back squat and 155 for deadlift. When you’re maxing, basically you lift to the point of failure and that was very humbling. I was trying to hit 400 by trying to lift 170 for my deadlift and I literally couldn’t move the bar off the ground.
I was feeling strong and accomplished after maxing out and was more than ready to go home to eat some lunch.
I made yet another egg scramble but with a bit of a twist. I used the rainbow swiss chard that I picked up at the farmers market as a base. I sauteed it with a little olive oil and then topped it with sauteed zucchini and grape tomatoes, a scrambled egg, shredded goat cheddar and avocado. Loved the heartier texture of the chard versus my normal baby spinach. Apple slices on the side.
I cleaned up after lunch, picked up around the house and then was getting ready to leave and take the trash out when THIS happened!
Yes, that would be a copperhead (Facebook and Twitter confirmed…100%) in the yard. I had a complete meltdown of epic girl proportions complete with slightly tearful phone calls. And for the record, I was not this close to the snake. I zoomed in using my DSLR and then cropped it even closer so I could ID the snake. It slithered away before I could do anything about it (and I have no idea in what direction!). I am actually grateful that I saw it because I was about to leave Sullie outside for the afternoon.
The snake derailed my whole afternoon and now I’m so freaked out to even let Sullie out to go to the bathroom. I wouldn’t care so much if it wasn’t a highly poisonous snake but this really gives me the chills. So in the span of an hour I went from feeling strong and confident to acting like a total girl.
Someone tell me this thing is was just traveling through the yard. I tried calling animal control and wildlife control but they said there’s nothing they can do. Anyone have experience dealing with snakes in your yard? The backyard is pretty natural and pretty much heaven for a snake so I’m going to work on getting that cleared out.
Enough snake talk. Seriously. If you’re still reading thank you again for the amazing responses to my two-year anniversary post. The winner of the giveaway (I used random.org to generate a number) is comment #51, Katie.
Congratulations Katie! Send me an email and I’ll get everything out to you.
Wishing everyone a happy and drama-free Friday! I’m headed off to the beach…but for a training. I’m excited though so stay tuned for details.
Wow, I would be freaked out too! I don’t have much experience living around poisonous snakes so I can’t really help you out with any advice or reassurance. BUT I will say that your lifting numbers look pretty darn good – you’re strong!
Awesome! I see the little sign in the background about not dropping weights, but I just was curious what you do when you max. I know that I’ve dropped the bar a few times (especially in an overhead squat). Since I left my box and do WOD’s at a ‘normal’ gym, I haven’t maxed out because we’re not allowed to throw/drop weights. I’m almost afraid to! Just curious what you do.
umm, you have every right to be scared — that is a big snake (sorry, i’m probably not helping)!!!! yikes! i hope it is gone for good!!
Wait… 155+155+85= 395, not 385. You were only 5 pounds off the stretch goal! Mad strong, girl.
Also, I have a request for a post- where do you buy clothes? My body type is similar to yours (though not quite as perfect)- I’m petite, but starting to get slightly bigger in the legs and shoulders from triathlon training, and my clothes are starting to get too small! Any recommendations for clothes for curvy yet petite yet muscular ladies?
oops! the shoulder press was supposed to be 75. i made a mistake when i typed it. thanks for the post idea! i’m no fashionista but it’s a good idea!
I would not leave my house. Ever.
I don’t know what to tell you to do about the snake since you didn’t see where it went but likely it kept moving along. From what I remember of my experiences with snakes they usually keep moving. Never saw them twice. I remember when I was younger my family lived in South Carolina and my mom let our dog out one night and a cooperhead had gotten into our garage!!! My mom almost stepped on it. Luckily my dad got his hunting shotgun from inside the house and killed it. Once it was in the garage it was really the only thing that could be done! Then he cut it in half with a shovel to just to make sure it was dead…gruesome I know but those things are DEADLY and you can’t mess around with them! Be careful when you are cleaning your yard out, too!
i PRAY it was just on its way somewhere else and not living in my yard. and i won’t be doing the cleaning out of the yard…i’m going to pay someone to do that! 😀
Ahhh! Jen! What a terrible midday greeting! I don’t think that makes you a total girl, just a normal human. I’ve never seen anything freaky at my house, only out on climbing trips (and I don’t even like them then)!
I am a little late but I have a topic request! Sort of a blogging 101. I have been thinking of starting a recipe style blog and just have no clue where to start! Thanks! Great work on you max weight!
shannon – thanks for the suggestion. i’ll definitely add that to the list!
Oh my goodness, that snake would have scared the crud out of me! I don’t think you should feel badly about acting like a girl….that is one scary snake! And great job on the weights!
oh my gosh, oh my gosh. no no no. Freaking hate snakes. Nice work on the lifting though! You make my 40lb bodypump squats look pathetic 🙂
oh please! i could only lift that much ONE time. i’m with you on the 40 lbs for bodypump…necessary when you’re doing 125+ squats in one track! 🙂
I stepped right over a baby rattle snake BAREFOOT a few years back without even realizing it until I turned around! Immediately threw a cardboard box over it and relinquished the situation to my dad who took care of it, haha! Yipes!
AHHH! That is so scary. I am TERRIFIED of snakes. We have rattlers where I live but they are mostly up in the hills and rarely in the city. I do trail run though but I’ve never seen one… Yet :S
I would have totally freaked out had I seen that Copperhead and been a total drama queen. Totally petrified of snakes like most people. He was so camoflauged with the leaves too! So glad you saw him before getting to close. I will probably have snake dreams now since I saw this picture! I had to close my eyes when I scrolled up a miute ago.
Congratulations on feeling good about your accomplishment with the weight! You should be proud!
i am SO happy i saw him too. i got so close. i’m sorry to scar you with the picture!
Oh man! I would have totally lost my marbles too. There was a spider in my car today and I had to stop at the gas station and ask the guy who worked there to kill it. Um ya, that was awkward. I’m sure he thought I was insane…your lifting numbers look good to me! I’m sure its more than I could do
haha – love that! 🙂
i’ve had spiders in my car too…while driving. it sucks!
Snakes, spiders, other icky things…that’s what husbands are for!
Aww, Jen! I would have flipped too. It might be one thing to be able to lift 385 pounds, but that snake trumps it all!!
I would of done the same thing. We were on a hike the other day and I started to get freaked out by the possibility of seeing a snake and pretty soon it occupied every one of my thoughts and I had to turn around and go back.
I would have trouble going in my yard again. I saw a HUGE snake crossing a road and I have not been able to drive on that road again. I have been avoiding it and going the long way around for over 2 YEARS!
Stink to hear about the snake! I often feel very lucky that we have nothing deadly in the bush here in NZ, so I fully sympathise with having to deal with something so awful right in your yard – I certainly wouldn’t know how to deal with it! I had a white tailed spider in the house the other night (one of the worse things we have to be honest), and I looked at it, thought, ‘that looks like a white tail’. Thought I better google to check, and yup, it was a white tail. Looked at it some more and wondered if I was supposed to put it outside or kill it, so I googled that. Pretty much all our other spiders are harmless so I usually just get them to walk on to a bit of paper and pop them outside, so they can do their bit in the circle of life thing. Anyway, turns out a few websites said I should spray it, so I did. You can’t really just spray snakes though!
As for your weights.. PHOOOARR! You go girl! I’m so impressed! Think I’m going to have to go to the gym and lift heavy tomorrow – I’m feeling inspired! I think my recent-ish max for squats (at 6 reps) was 40kg (88 lbs), and to me that’s HARD! That’s so cool that you can lift all that. And do handstands! Brilliant!
I don’t think there’s anything more you can do other than properly clear out your garden, like you said, just to get some peace of mind that it’s not hiding anywhere. I’m terrified of snakes, but every once in a while an adder will get to close to the house. Last summer I immediately got scared that it would bite my dog or one of my cats, so I went into an action mode and killed it with a shovel. Gruesome, I know – the things I would do for my pets…
OMG that snake was huge!! yuck!
Hey Jen! I agree that clearing out your yard as soon as possible will help ease your concern over letting Sullie outside by himself. We see snakes around our area a lot and have had to move some off the property. Snakes don’t like to interact with humans (or dogs!) so any place they can hide in the yard (wood piles, leaf piles, etc.) is super attractive to them. I would start by removing any above ground obstructions (like the aforementioned wood piles) first. Make sure to wear gloves, long sleeves, long jeans, and work boots/sneakers 🙂 Good Luck!
clarissa – thanks for the suggestions! i am definitely going to work on getting that stuff cleared out…but will probably pay someone else to do it! 😉
First, Congradts on the weights – that is awesome! On the snake front, we had a 5 ft black rat snack in our garage last summer. Of course had to be the weekend my hubby was out of town! Ugh! Thankfully my kids thought it was “way cool” and swept him out. After having 2 glasses of wine and numerous Facebook posts, I climbed down off my kitchen counter and proceeded to place mothballs around our garage and front door. Don’t know if that works, but was told that and Pine Sol are good at keeping them away. Doesn’t sound environmentally friendly, but I HATE SNAKES!
Good morning, lady.
I noticed you had a nice breakfast with some avocados, which is a good sign that you know what is the good thing to eat.
My wife and I have been followed you for a while and just now we realized you live in Charlotte, where we are moving pretty soon.
I woild like to send you some avocados samples so you can keep adding more of the good fat (as my wife has taught me) and hope one of these days we will stop to visit you.
Please send me whichever address you prefer so I can send you some avodudes. Once you get them, get the boxes out of the cooler and then please make sure you place them on the refrigerator. Make a small hole on the bag to pull avocados as you eat them. If you keep them in the refrigerator and on the bag they can last at least 30 days. It’s something new we have created for consumers and you should try it!!!
Regards,
Henry
Hey, Jen!
That snake was pretty big! Luckily, I’ve never seen a Copperhead down in Texas; I’ve had my run-ins with rattlesnakes and coral snakes, though! Best advice: clear out all piles of leaves, wood, sticks, anything that they can hide under and buy a pistol 🙂
PS: Yes, I am a nerd… snakes are venomous, not poisonous 😉
Snakes can be scary! When I was younger I almost stepped on a copperhead while playing in a park. Luckily I saw it before I put my foot down, but that was definitely not a fun experience. Normally I’m not freaked out by snakes, but poisonous ones are an exception, I like staying far, far away from those.
You are motivating me to start lifting weights again! It feels good to be strong. 🙂
I was wondering if you listen to music or anything while running? Sometimes I feel like it is a hassle to get the ipod out and make sure it’s charged, etc., but there are times when I couldn’t go without it!
I’m a real nature enthusiast, and I hope people can learn to live with nature, rather than destroy anything that makes them uncomfortable. Copperheads aren’t aggressive, and typically try their best to get away from what they see as a predator. In Africa, where one of the deadliest snakes in the world, the black mamba, can make its way into homes, trained wildlife experts will capture and relocate snakes rather than kill them.
I screamed when I saw the picture, I HATE snakes!!!! Pretty sure I would never be able to go outside again until that beast was captured!
My mother would have been freaking out like crazy….i hate brown snakes…blehhhh don’t know what to say…thankfully you and your family were inside the house…pffff