Encouragement...

The past few days of training were a little hard in the sense that I have been under the weather. It's hard to go 100% when you feel congested and have restricted breathing, but it was not the end of the world, I was still able to do some work while sick.

Alex and I discussed what I could do and decided to do Max's class Saturday morning and just lift, nothing to follow in the morning. Depending on how I felt, maybe try something in the afternoon. I had plans to go support Sandy and some other friends at a competition in Hercules, so after the gym, I traveled out there while Alex slept from coming off his night shift. By the way, Sandy and everyone did amazing, very proud of all the athletes that competed!

At the end of the day, I was beat and my body was telling me that I needed more rest, so I called it day and just rested. We talked about training on Sun and would see how my body felt and we could go from there.

I absolutely love the talks that Alex and I have; I feel as though we are able to connect and share our words with one another. We are able to express our concerns or deep inside thoughts about many things and have meaningful conversations. The support and encouragement that I receive from him, is amazing, I'm so thankful and lucky to have it. More on the encouragement in a little bit.

As Sunday came around, I felt a little better, so I looked at our plan for the day and I gave it my all. Did the yoga class, went for a 3 mile run, strict pressed, did some snatches and muscle ups, rested a little bit and then another met con, diablo crippler. It was a long day but a good day; fighting some of the sickness off, I felt better than Saturday and was able to get some work completed. There was some accessory work to be done, but we decided the plan could be shifted a little bit.

Come Monday, I felt better than Sunday, still a little drained but back at it in the gym. Alex had today off, so we were able to train together.... and I love the days that we can do this, it's so much fun but also motivating. Watching him lift and workout gets me all hyped up. I love cheering him on and supporting him, all day, every day. You should have positive encouragement in your life, in any and all aspects of life.

Monday was a heavier training day, a bench pyramid, power cleans and muscle- ups, some accessory work and then an awesome workout laid out by Alex lol. It was 1k row, tabata pull ups, 500m row, tabata squats and a final 500m row for time. Woah, it was a hard workout, a mental tester for sure.

Alex had just worked out and pushed himself to do a brutal workout with thrusters, double unders and v-ups and this was amazing for me to watch because he just had came off the night shift. I can only imagine what it is like to come off working nights and then try and switch to a day shift. I'm in awe of you Alex and am so proud of you every day. After he finished his workout, he came over and helped me count for my workout. Near the end of the workout, he had some encouraging words to push me to finish strong. He told me things that are important to know. He motivated me to keep pushing, to keep going until the end. Reflecting back on those words and phrases, it makes my drive even stronger. It makes me want to dig even deeper to reach our goal of getting top three at regionals.

Looking back at the days in the gym, some are great, some are good, some are not so good, but we are putting the effort in. We are working towards our goals and making things happen. You have to make it happen. Put in the work and hours that are needed; have the support and motivation of your loved ones around you. You can reach your dreams and goals but you have to work hard for it and fight for it, every step of the way. It is all worth it in the end.

~ MCA