Pre-Thanksgiving FRAN

Wednesday was a bit of a zany day as everyone got ready for Thanksgiving. People were going and coming like crazy both at work and home. I knew I would be taking today off to spend the day with my family so I wanted to make sure I got in at least one good work out before indulging on the Thanksgiving Feast. Clearly, I wasn't the only one who felt the need to earn their slice of pumpkin pie since the gym was packed!

I knew I needed a workout that would make me feel sore enough to eat mindfully rather than to stuff myself past what I would normally eat and so enters Fran. Fran is not a real person, at least not as far as I've ever heard, but she is one heck of a solid work out. Crossfitters have a love/hate relationship with their workouts but as someone who doesn't actually practice crossfit on a regular basis I just have to go in knowing I'm gonna get my butt kicked.

I do enjoy the occasional crossfit WOD but for the most part stick to workouts that I know. Having been a gymnast on and off for the last 19 years and a varsity athlete in high school, I have a pretty sufficient knowledge of challenging exercises to run through and mix them up enough to never really get bored. But occasionally I have to go to outside sources to find just what I'm looking for. This week, that was Fran.

Foolishly, I didn't think Fran would be enough and started off with 30 minutes on the arc trainer, my new favorite thing. Turns out, there is a drastic difference between 15 and 30 minutes on that beast. Especially when you keep your heart rate above 185 the entire time. I looked, and smelled, like death by the time I was done and had already committed to doing Fran as well as an abdominal circuit before heading home. Lord, what fools these mortals be. First I was too short to even reach the bar but once I had a friend lower it for me (yes, I really am that short) I was ready to go. I will not say it was my best time, my pull ups were more than rusty and ended in a couple chin up holds while I caught my breath. I was just happy to have finished. That is, until I remembered I still needed to do abs.

I grabbed a mat and a 10 pound weight and got to work.

I held the small 10lb disk against my chest during the crunches. During the Russian twists I held the weight slightly in front of my torso so I could tap it on the ground each time I turned.

By the time I had finished with my entire workout I had to peel myself off the floor. It hurt to laugh, to pick up my purse, to walk out to my car. The works. I knew I had done well when I arrived home and was still warm enough from my workout to put on a tank top and shorts while everyone else was bundled up and huddled around the fire.

I had a deliciously high protein dinner of crab legs with fresh fruit for dessert. I passed up on the cookies the boys were chowing down on knowing eating too many sweets in a week would make me sick. The willpower it took to turn down those freshly baked chocolate chip cookies was harder than I would have liked but I survived. Yep, I totally earned that slice of pie with extra whipped cream.