Boot Takes on Murph (Memorial Day Recap)

Hello! Checking back in for a Memorial Day recap.

Memorial Day is a time to remember and honor those who have served. Thank you.

When we left off, I was getting ready for my freshman dorm reunion on Saturday evening.

I had a lot of fun at the reunion, but left with sort of strange feelings.

Dinner was delicious. I was trying to be careful with my stomach so I didn’t eat a lot, but would totally go back to the catering restaurant at a later date.

Make your own tacos! Mine with chicken and veggie filling.

It was great catching up with people. I actually saw the end of the Warriors game with a table of guys who were streaming it. I did find myself mostly talking to the people I’m still in touch with though.I guess there’s a reason we’ve stayed in touch! I actually think I’m still pretty close to all my good friends from freshman year.

I left a bit early to hang out with another friend, and I feel like I missed out on a bit of fun, as everyone migrated back to visit our freshman dorm. I think it’s probably for the best because walking clear across campus in a boot wouldn’t have been a good idea, but I missed hanged out with those people.

After spending the evening being careful with my stomach, I actually had a really, really bad flare Saturday night after I got back. Our chef made GF chocolate cake, and my friend made me GFG snickerdoodle cupcakes, and I just had too much, and the fat in them sent me into a bad flare. On the one hand, I do feel like my stomach has healed a ton. But this is a reminder I have to be careful. Now, pretty much every flare or mini flare I have, there’s a clear cause, and in this case it was the fat in the cake/frosting. I had a pretty rough night. I had to stay up far later than planned because I was too nauseated to get in bed. Finally after a second dose of stomach meds, I started feeling better. Luckily, I woke up feeling much better, although tired.

Sunday morning, I went to another farmer’s market with a couple of friends. I’ve always heard that there were kittens there, but I never actually saw them until this week. How adorable!

I got a large quantity of fruit (after 2 days of farmer’s markets, I’m totally stocked), and my friends and I stopped at one of the stands for lunch. It was a sandwich place, but you could get it as a “paleo plate” over lettuce with an egg, instead of bread, so that’s what I did! I got the avocado, which was mashed avocado and fresh mozzarella. SUPER delicious.

After the farmer’s market, I stopped at a sorority alumnae brunch to celebrate my chapter’s birthday. We had bagels and died tea, and it was nice to catch up with those who have graduated, and hear about life in the real world.

Monday, I went home to clean out my closet. Both my home Crossfit and school Crossfit were doing Murph, which is one of my favorite Crossfit workouts. I had a tough decision as to which gym I should do it at, and ultimately decided to do it at home. I was happy with that choice; it feels like summer now, it was great to see everyone, and now I’m a bit more excited for summer (aka post-grad).

Since I have a stress fracture in my foot, I had to modify. I figured I could do push ups and pull ups, so I was at least half way there! For those of your unfamiliar with Murph, it is a hero WOD typically done every memorial day. It is:

1 mile run

100 pull ups

200 push ups

300 squats

1 mile run

The pull ups, push ups, and squats can be broken up however you want, but most people do 5-10-15.

I knew I would have to sub the assault bike for the runs, but wan’t sure about the squats. I can do deadlifts because the weight is entirely on my heels, but I’ve stayed away from squats. I decided to see how it felt. If I felt like it was at all unsafe for my foot, I planned to switch to sit ups in place of squats. As it turned out, the squats were fine, I just couldn’t rush them.

This was my fourth time doing Murph. (Just for fun, here, here, and here.)

So how did it go? Let’s just start by remembering that I haven’t done a single squat in 4 weeks. Moving on.

I did 3 miles on the bike for the mile run, which took about 9 minutes. I used a band for the pull ups and did strict, but it actually felt really easy, so about halfway through (round 10 of 20) I started doing kipping no-band pull ups for 3-5 of my sets of 5. I honestly probably could/should have ditched the band for the whole workout and just done kipping pull ups the whole way, but it really surprised me that I felt as good as I did. I’ve definitely gotten stronger since hurting my foot: before, I could only string together 3 kips, and now I can do 5, even in round 20! The push ups I scaled on my knees, and they actually felt much easier than expected as well. Next year, I hope to do the workout unscaled!

For the squats, they felt hdd but less awful than they could have been.

I finished Murph in about 51:00. One of my slower times, but I have no problem with that! I was so happy I was able to do what I did. Murph is one of my favorites, as I mentioned, and was really the only exercise thing I was sad about missing out on with my foot.

Boot takes on Murph.

Afterwards, I went home, ready for some PROTEIN. We had grilled chicken and peach salad with goat cheese, plus some baked Lays on the side while watching the Giant’s game.

After cleaning myself up, I made a recipe I’ve had bookmarked for a while, Blueberry Zucchini bread.

It came out beautifully, and was delicious! Although its 1/2c of sugar is a little higher than I’m used to, so I think it would still be great with 1/3 of a cup!

My main task/reason for going home was to clean out my closet before I dump a whole bunch of stuff from school there. I’m entering a new stage of my life, so it’s out with the old! I think I made pretty decent progress. Someone decided to be oh so helpful. In denial that she is not a lap dog.

A few nights again, my friends and I had a little Pinterest party, and I learned they had entire boards devoted to soup. Um, YES. Soup was courtesy of my friend Kate’s pin. Sweet potato, kale, and corn chowder. Served with GF avocado toast.

I love that despite having soup more or less every week, I’m still finding new and different recipes!

I watched about an hour of the Warriors game, before rushing back to campus for my last sorority initiation.

And now it’s back to reality. Sort of. I only have classes Tuesday and Wednesday this week before finals start Friday, and only have 1 class Tuesdays. Summer is so close! Not sure how I feel about impending graduation though….

Also, if you’re wondering whether or not you should do 300 squats after not doing them in a month, the answer is a solid no. I’m in a world of pain! Last night (Monday), I wasn’t feeling too bad, but throughout Tuesday I’m growing progressively more and more immobile. My quads are just LIT UP right now. Stairs are the mortal enemy. Both up and down. Between that and the boot, it’s rough walking! My arms/shoulders actually aren’t crazy sore, though the soreness is starting to come in a little stronger. Nothing compared to legs though. I basically don’t want to move at all. For a while.

(Want to see the aftermath of past memorial day Murphs? Here and here.)

Have you ever done Murph? What’s the hardest part for you?