Wednesday 03.09.16

WOM Michelle Marine

Meet March's (Alliterative) Warrior of the Month

Michelle Marine

1. Describe your athletic background. 
I don’t have much athletic background as I’ve never played competitive team sports ever. I did take up long distance running in my mid 20s and completed one full marathon in Okinawa, Japan and many more halves in Japan and Arizona. I quit running when I started having babies 12 years ago though and didn’t do anything athletic again until starting at WCF Muscatine.

2. Can you discuss the balance between juggling your kids' schedule and still finding the time to consistently train?
 It’s really hard to juggle four busy kids’ schedules and also to train consistently. The kids have afternoon or evening activities almost every week day which makes afternoons hard, and the noon class comes just a little too early in our homeschooling days. The kids and I also travel a lot so I was pretty hit and miss at CrossFit for the first year and half, only training once or twice a week if I was lucky. Sporadic training isn’t productive and really just frustrated me because I never saw much improvement and was always sore.

Dan had been bugging me for a while to go to the 5:30 am class with him, but I was resistant. Who wants to get up before 5 am? But after very little improvement in over a year, I knew the only way to get stronger was to work out in the mornings. I told Dan around Christmas to make me go with him at 5:30 am and he’s been only too happy to oblige. So far in 2016, I’ve worked out three times a week almost every single week. Working out in the mornings has been key for me and I’m actually making progress now and finally feeling stronger!

3. Favorite exercise?
Running and rowing.

4. Least favorite?
Overhead squats and burpees.

5. Goals within the next year?
I’d like to be able to do a pull-up and kick into a handstand. I’d also like to start running again and participate in a race or two.

6. I know you come from a long distance running background. Can you discuss how CrossFit has supplemented this endeavor? 
CrossFit would supplement long distance running very nicely, but I haven’t logged many miles in over 12 years. I would like to start running again this year and slowly work my way back up to a half marathon. I’m hoping it will be much easier to start running now than it was when I first began in my 20s, because I think I’m stronger now than I’ve ever been. I could be totally wrong, though. I’ll have to let you know.

7. You have a food blog that has a substantial following. Can you discuss what kind of foods give you energy and help you recover from WODs? 
The honest answer for what helps me recover is coffee, as it’s the only thing I can stomach for a couple of hours after the 5:30 am WOD. I also drink a lot of water during the WOD or in the car on the way home and I think it’s very helpful too. Overall, our diet isn’t tragic – I grow a lot of our veggies in the summer and raise egg and meat chickens. Whole foods, a diet rich in veggies, fruit, and protein gives me energy. We try to eat local, organic, and in-season, and I cook mostly from scratch. We drink a lot of green smoothies, and I like hard boiled eggs from my happy chickens. We also like nuts and eat a lot of beans. We don’t subscribe to any one diet and I also like jalapeno kettle chips, feta cheese, red wine, and carbs. So there’s always plenty of room for improvement

8. What advice do you have for newbies?
My biggest piece of advice is to show up. Most of my battle is just getting to the gym. I've found everyone at WCF Muscatine to be welcoming, helpful, and friendly. If you show up consistently, and try hard, you'll make progress.

WOD

Partner!

10 min to establish 1RM snatch

-- Rest --

Row 3000 m

100 burpees

100 toes-to-bar

10 rope climbs