hello again!

So it has been a while...I will start from today and work my way back... We just returned from a trip to Philly with which I am falling more and more in love.  John and JBoone went to go to the NCAA wrestling championships, and I tagged along and got to hang out with family.  I will make a confession...when we planned the whole 58 I did not plan on going to Philly, I in fact attempted to deter John because he was planning this trip, so I cheated a few (okay kind of a lot).  Some cheats were worth it...late night cheesesteaks from Geno's (I shared with John), not worth it... my dinner at Cheesecake Factory which didn't seem so bad but left me feeling terrible, but I am glad to be back to my regularly scheduled eating.

Today I thought Crossfit would feel pretty terrible, but it was not so so bad.  Today was supposed to be week 3 of wendler, but it was my week 1 for squats. All sets up to my 85% set felt medium, but the thought of the last set was so terrible to me I only did 2, and did not apologize for it, I mentally did not prepare properly... The wod was 4 rounds of walking with a sandbag overhead, and 35 squats...it was gross.  I then stayed for endurance, with new coaches Paul and Erin, awesome athletes in and out of crossfit... They are pretty tough, we warmed up with an 800 m run and some running drills and some sprints...and THEN we worked on either rowing 2K or running a mile.  I chose to row as I have some serious shin splints and miles scare me...we first went over some rowing technique which was pretty helpful as I don't know that I have had much specific training since I first learned to row... I finished the 2K in 9:52 which may actually be a PR... I am going to make a more concerted effort to make it to endurance twice a week...

I also technically signed up for the crossfit opens.  When I did it, there were only 2 girls signed up, and you need 3 for a team, which was my reasoning... Because we went out of town, I had to do the first wod (AMRAP 10 min 30 double unders, 15 power snatch (75/55) on Wednesday... though I must  have still been pretty tired as I set up my bar incorrectly, and made it through a perfect set of double unders and a few snatches before we realized the error...so I had to start over.  I only got through 2 rounds and 25 double unders, and because HQ had so many issues with the site, they are extending the deadline, and I plan to take advantage of this, as I know I can do  better!! (but really, I don't believe the error caused me to suck it up)

11- By any means necessary....

So... Ashley said she was gonna do another crazy wod.  I can't quite keep up with Ashley and the others that tend to show up for her crazy ideas YET, but I will get kinda close...you are a product of the company you keep.  Today only me, Paul Pi, and Ashley came to participate in this ridiculous, so I ended up wodding by myself.  The wod was one of Crossfit Harlem's black history month series. On paper, it was so unassuming, I saw it a few days ago and thought it was pretty interesting...

UNBROKEN
50 front squats
50 push press
50 back squats
50 overhead squats
50 thrusters

5 burpees every time you drop the bar or rest more than 10 seconds, 30 seconds rest between each exercise.

Every time a workout requires you to avoid burpees I end up doing a million.  I didn't really count but probably ended up doing about 100...We dropped my weight down to 35 somewhere during the overhead squats, and it took me somewhere between 45 min and an hour...(the clock was only set for 15 minutes, I am not sure if it repeated 3 times or more... This is a lot of mental gaming which I need to improve on obviously...But I definitely got a workout in...

FOOD...
Medium.  I haven't had serious cravings, and I am pretty good with my trader joe's trips...I have had problems where I have gotten stressed out during the day and have not eaten enough, but I am working on that.  I have also made poached eggs...and I am pretty much a fan, though today I made poached eggs for me, and a veggie scramble for john and let mine cook too long, so I missed out on yolky goodness but still good....

today's breakfast...

Day 7

So I am a week into my paleo eating... I have lost some lbs...though I am not sure where from, I feel better about eating, I just can't quite keep my energy level up for working out.  I have felt sluggish, and haven't recovered quite as well as I would like, my back has done the thing where it gets tight and prevents hip thrusting movements (everything in crossfit).  Things I will focus on from here on out: eating more food, especially more fat  , drinking more water, taking my fish oil.  I believe those will help, and this is just a part of my body getting used to something different (and motivation to not fall off the wagon).

We went out for a birthday brunch to Southern Rail yesterday, and I picked out my meal ahead of time...I was a bit limited in my options as most things had biscuit or potato or grits etc.  This seemed to be my best option...Benny and June (get it...eggs benedict??? or does benny order it in the diner?) poached eggs, lump crab meat, spinach, it came on toast with pesto spread, with hash browns and salad...

This is how it is normally prepared...with an extra biscuit...

This is mine...still pretty awesome looking no?

Two of us ordered this way and we got crazy looks, but whatevs...It was pretty satisfying and I didn't miss the bread, though I almost speared a hash brown when Denise went to the bathroom, and longed a bit for the tots at the next table... and poached eggs may get added to my repertoire... I will go to Melanie for lessons, as she learned those first. Does that seem weird to you too? My first eggs were scrambled, what about you??

day 2 continued

Yesterday evening I decided to switch things up and head to the regular gym for some good old fashioned aerobics... I originally went to go to yoga, and then saw one of my favorites, Body Attack was right before and decided to hit up a double feature. The best way to describe body attack is if I asked you to think about old fashioned aerobics... a lot of jumping around, a few grapevines, some high knees and kicks and my favorite the flying motion where you hop on one leg and send the opposite arm and leg out (get it? no doesn't matter).  I did the class for some fun.

For those that don't know me, my preferred method of exercise is dance, due to limited class offerings that fulfill my crave for good music, movement that feels good, challenging exercise and a good release, I crossfit.  It fulfills all of it in a different way, as does group fitness.  Body attack has good music, some fun movement that makes me cheesily smile, but for some odd reason, no one else. My mistake yesterday was thinking it would make my legs feel better, all the jumping makes my calves tight and we did like a million hammie curls and those were the worst, so I decided to skip yoga, as it was power yoga and a lot of energy is required.

I got home and collapsed on the couch and didn't move for a while, I needed nourishment, and couldn't decide what to eat.  My day 2 of paleo did not go as well as day 1.  I ate breakfast, then couldn't decide what to eat for lunch/got caught up in doing some work and picking up my sunglasses.  I ate a little snack to hold me over, then spent time making a chicken, and some meatballs.  It took longer than I anticipated, and ended up only eating two meatballs and some sauce before heading off to class.  I neglected to pack or eat a post workout meal when I returned home, so I was a ball of mush...When John got home he gave me a snack and then I ate a couple more but not a real dinner...so day 2 fail!  I also commented to John that paleo is easy for him because he has someone to prepare all of his meals and snacks for him, to which he replied you can do that too (but that person is me) :/.

day 2.

So last night about 9 pm my body started hurting...so this morning I decided to take a rest day...The culprit? I guess deads and snatches...and maybe the rowing from Monday evening.  Yesterday's workout was just lifting and jumping which makes me happy...We started with snatches, I worked up to a working set of 3 at 73#, I attempted 83, but I could not get it over my head and steady, it was quite certainly a mental problem, because I could get it to the top, and I can definitely overhead squat it, so ho hum...

Then we worked on deadlifts.  I have been quite concerned with the whole Wendler 531 situation... I know the program makes you stronger (yes!), but I was concerned about where to start, as each cycle you add 5# to upper body movements, and 10# to lower body, which sounds like a little, but had I started this program 8 months ago when I hit my deadlift pr, I would have a 335 dead (not to mention a 130 press) which is freaking huge.  So my concern was starting too low and then taking forever to get back to previous numbers, or trying to start too high and failing reps.  So yesterday Sarah and Lori were there so I just worked in with them, which solved my problem of not knowing where to start.  They worked at 15 under my max, and if I was alone it would have been 30 under.  I worked up to a max set of 5 reps at 185 which is more than I have done in a while, and John discovered that I breathe weird, so now that it is under control maybe I can get more.

Today is day 2 of 58.  I so far feel good, but also have been bombarded by Domino's flyers on my door and in my mailbox.  John criticized me yesterday for chewing a piece of gum, and then he asked for one.  I don't normally chew gum, so whatevs!

the last supper...

I woke up this morning tired and not wanting to workout.  I started by cleaning up my apartment some, but the task got daunting, the maintenance guy stopped by and I wanted to make sure he got everything, so I skipped 1130, but made it in for 5 pm.  We started warming up with 100 sledgehammer swings.  There is something so satisfying about swinging a hammer, and I hope to one day be able to swing it like Tripp who doesn't need to use a top hand guide, just like Thor. They got tiring after about 50 though...

We started Wendler 531 programming today, and I am excited about the change.  This is a great way for me to make sure I get all the major lifts in every week, and track it in an organized way, and GET STRONGER! We worked on press today which sucks.

The wod was 10 down to 1 chin ups and push ups.  I hopped up to the bar to see if I could go unassisted on the chin ups, but the reverse grip feels so wierd, so I used a band, and did girlie push ups to keep it quick.

I stayed for endurance (go me!) which I hope to make at least a 2 time per week deal.  Today we rowed 20 seconds on, 50-40-30-20-10 off, 3 rounds of that.  I made it a total of 1373 m.  I should have strategized better,  as I didn't know the total amount of time, so I didn't have a goal for meters, but tried to keep splits at 2:00, (which didn't quite happen) but feel like I could have squeezed out some more meters if 1500, or so was my goal.

So tomorrow we start our clean up whole 58 (we go out of town on day 59, so I make no promises for 60 days).  I have spent a good amount of the weekend thinking of meals to savor in my nonpaleoness which means I have also have had heartburn for the past four days... I am now sick of eating crap, so I am excited for a clean up.  My concerns are my meal planning skills which are currently lacking, I usually go to the grocery store and buy what is on sale, so at this point I am prepared only for a couple days, but it will probably also take a bit to get used to 2 paleo eaters in the household.

seven...

So the other day I heard some people in the gym talking about this crazy wod they were gonna do...I said hey that sounds cool and somehow got myself involved in the shenanigans... The Seven is a hero wod in honor of 7 CIA officers killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.  If you think about how badass you need to be to be in the CIA and multiply that by 7 per officer...then to the next power for being killed doing something knowingly dangerous for the USA then times it by a little more.

The Seven...
7 handstand pushups
7 thrusters (135/95) I did 75
7 knees to elbows
7 deadlifts (245/205) (145)
7 burpees
7 kettlebell swings (70/52)
7 pull ups.

So it is a terrible wod if I get excited for the bodyweight portions of it.  HSPU's you either can do or can't do...I can't so they weren't that bad, I should have gone heavier on the thrusters as they were challenging but not terrible, my knees don't quite touch my elbows, but soon.  The deads were terrible.  I have some tightness in my low back so I know I was using my back rather than my legs, something to work on...burpees were a rest, Kettlebell swings were probably my favorite part...and pull ups were pull ups.  Badass Ashley finished in 32 something while I was on round maybe 3.  After round 2 I figured out I wasn't going to finish in a timely manner anyway, so I finished at round 4 in 49:01.

Then Gabe and Chad decided to do 11:30, which involved deadlifts and Annie.  I had enough deads, but wanted to do Annie, so I sucked it up.  The warmup felt fine, and then I tried to go light on deadlifts, but my back said no thank you...so I just used that time to mobility and roll out.  It came time for the wod, and I started but couldn't get even 10 double unders together, I got through 50, sat down for situps and my body didn't work so I called it a day.

So while I am disappointed that I didn't finish, or even get anywhere close to Rx, my body hurts enough for a regular wod.  I would like to attempt this again after my whole 58 to see the improvement.