Who the hell is FRAN?

In the world of Crossfit, the name FRAN is synonymous with pain, agony and torture.  It is one of the "girls"; workouts designed by Crossfit to measure your performance and the overall improvement of your fitness level. These ladies are not friendly.  FRAN is one of these 'benchmark' workouts that is designed to capture the essence of Crossfit; a whole body workout with an element of weightlifting tossed in for good measure.  To say the least FRAN and her girlfriends are designed to humble the athlete who attempts them. 

Take a look at the following video that shows what FRAN should look like!

In our house there are two distinct periods in time; BC (Before Crossfit) and AC (After Crossfit).  Just over a year and a half ago, my husband took his Crossfit Level 1 Certification. After he got out of his session he called and was barely audible.  Struggling to string two words together before letting out a phlegm filled cough that rattled from his chest, he recounted the day.... "to finish we had to do a workout named FRAN?!?! 21 Pull ups, 21 Thrusters, 15 Pull ups, 15 Thrusters, 9 Pull ups, 9 Thrusters as quickly as you can!"  He didn't finish the workout that day but his love affair with the CF ladies and all things Crossfit began.  That night he resolved to start working out at home using his new found knowledge and the home page then shortly after he became involved with Crossfit Red Deer.  Here he took his love of Crossfit to the next level and subsequently I had lost my man to something much worse than a mistress!!! To gain back his attention, I followed suit and started to casually Crossfit without much success or improvement and if you are a regular CF'er you know there is no such thing as being a casual CF'er.  So here I am, a 29 year old, mother of two willing to commit to taking a serious run at this stuff and work towards a common Crossfit goal, COMPLETE FRAN AS PRESCRIBED!!!!! and I will give myself ONE calendar year to do it. 

This blog will serve as my 'journal' to track this wild journey, my ups and downs, my success and my failures and a place to rant and rave about this crazy stuff.   And by putting it out there for the cyber world to see I am hoping that there will be an element of accountability to keep me on the right path. 

A small disclaimer: I cannot do a pull up (even with a band) chin to bar nor can I do a thruster of more than a 35lbs, never mind a total of 45 pull ups and 45 65lbs Thrusters!

Stayed tuned for the 'game plan'