Today was a perfect storm of madness. I woke up feeling like I'd been smashed by a truck, my breath refused to resolve into anything less than terrible, it was rainy, I was congested, my asthma was flaring, and it was running day at the gym. Oh. And I forgot my inhaler. So I did what any sane gym rat would do: I ran anyway.

I really enjoy challenging my body. I rarely enjoy running. It's not a form of exercise that speaks to me. But running was fun today. Maybe it was the good vibe of my usual 9AM class. Maybe it was the mint gum a friend gave me pre-workout. Whatever happened, I set a personal record for my 200 meter split time AND for my asthma recovery time.

I even rang the PR gong!

Make no mistake, my split times are still slow, but being able to run 200 meters over and over with 90 seconds rest in between and still breathing is a big deal. The last time I ran, running 200 twice was pushing my limits. This time I made 6 rounds with no walking and no darkening vision while moving consistently faster. Do you know what this means?

I am getting fitter!

Friends, CrossFit is working! This is not news to me. I've had the greatest improvements in quality of life through CrossFit, but I am still surprised. I've been injured since October. I've had to go backward in so many areas of strength training it felt like I was losing fitness. But what has really happened is I've been forced to work on areas of my body I avoid. For example, you can't get me to do a hollow hold or cherry pickers unless they are part of the programming of the day's workout. But limiting my ability to do pull-ups, push-ups and various other movements has forced me to repeatedly choose hollow holds as my GOAT (a movement that is meant to be difficult) when one is assigned in warm-ups. I suddenly have ab definition and the ability to do GHD sit-ups.

Because I was unable to use the rower for three months, I've been working my quads to slayer status on the Assault Bike. This is what made my running and breath recovery speed up. I will NEVER choose Assault Bike if there's a choice. Weighted pedaling? No. Now it's no longer a weakness of mine, although again, I'm not fast.

As a reward to myself for all the achievements unlocked during recovery, I got into bands on the cage today and worked on my pull-ups. I used a higher resistance than usual to offset my body weight more. My goal was to let my arms glide through the kipping and strict movements. I did my "snow angel" arm stretches in between sets up five pull-ups. It was painful, difficult and glorious. I love pull-ups. I have a goal of doing my first with no assistance in 2018.

Okay, yes, you read that right. I rewarded myself for going to the gym by doing a second workout after my first workout. I am so glad I did. Because when I got home, I found that our extremely fluffy poodle had rolled in poop and it was matted in his fur. I had to shave him down to his skivvies. Had I not been flying on a natural workout high, I might have been angry. Instead, I was amused.

How have you rewarded yourself?

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