Paleo Day 14

Yesterday even though we were going at 9, I was up from 6:30 on with some...indigestion.  Not pleasant.  We went to CF ATL around 9:15 and I ended up toughing it through maybe the worst WOD I have ever done.  (It's somehow worse than the full Michael...?!)

5 rounds for time of:

15 power snatches

400m run

My time was 25:45.  I'm not so happy with it, but I did have to take a lot of breaks because I got kind of dizzy/nauseous.  I am ultimately just proud of myself for finishing the damn thing without meeting Pukie.  Or Uncle Rhabdo, for that matter.  I hope...

090827 Fri

Yesterday was a rest day.

Today was, for me, Karen with 150 wall balls. I used a 16 lb ball this time. I started off with one round of 10 and then did 5's after that. Toward the end, when I had done about 115 shots, James Brown came on the stereo with "Get On Up" and even though I was dying I was home free. Time 14:42. Slower than the 11:20 time I got 5 weeks ago on Friday, 090724, but this time I was throwing a 16lb ball rather than 12. I was pretty much tore up after it was over.

Happy Days

My pull up bar came in from Again Faster!  Yessssss!

Paleo Day 12: Oh.

Today was overhead squats, and it was my first time doing them with weight.

3-3-3-3-3

I did:

10-15-20-20-20-andthenanother20forgoodmeasure

I had to tape my wrists because the first time I did the 20kg my wrists hurt so damn much that I had to drop the bar.  Mid-squat.  Oh the indignity.

I'll be increasing my weight next time because those last 3 20s were fairly easy for me.

Paleo Day 11: day of rest

Yep, today's a rest day. Which, I might add, is more than well deserved after yet another 20 minute AMRAP WOD.

We did Nate: 20 min AMRAP
2 muscle ups (we subbed 8 pull ups and 8 parallette dips)
4 HSPUs (we subbed a 20s handstand)
8 2pd KB swings (I did 12 kg)

I managed 7 rounds and 7 additional pull ups. My arms were and mainly still are shot. My right arm is also covered in little red spots, as all the capillaries burst since my arm was working so hard. Ha!

Tue, 090825

We walk into the gym and one guy with whom we trained last week says, "Good luck Man." His friends says, "It ain't no joke." What they were talking about was this WOD: 5 thrusters, 7 hang power cleans, 10 sumo dead lifts; as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes. I had a clean bar so I was able to do 10; which meant I wasn't lifting enough. In any event, I was blowed out for the rest of the day. It wasn't no joke at all.

Paleo Day 9

Still hanging in there. Yesterday's WOD was Cindy. I did 12 rounds + 5 pull ups with a green band only. Last time I did Cindy, I did 10 rounds + 3 pull ups with green and purple bands, so this is a huge improvement all around. Happy :) I still have been using dumbbells instead of pushups because my elbows tend to hurt. Dan says he thinks it's maybe mild tendonitis or something. But pushups are something I need to work on. The good things is that I used dumbbells both times I did Cindy, so the comparison is accurate.

Today we did AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
5 thrusters
7 hang power cleans
10 sumo deadlift high pulls

I did 10 rounds even. So did Dad.

Heidi and Brent were giving me some good motivation this time around. With one minute left, I needed to do the 7 cleans and 10 high pulls, and it was nice to have someone motivating me to finish. Additionally, Dan and another guy both individually complimented me on my form. (The guy told me two or three times in a row that my SDHPs look good.) Dan says I've gotten WAY better since starting at CF ATL. So hurray. I just need to learn snatches and I'll be set for lifting out on my own.

Paleo still going strong. Still eating more fruit than I should. In the fall at school I NEED to stock up on kale, broccoli, and brussels sprouts, which are three of the more manageable vegetables in terms of block amounts. I'm really not looking forward to leaving my affiliate, though. Hope they don't forget who I am :/

Here is me chowing down on raspberries for dessert last night:

Monday, 090824

Cindy - 5 pullups (green band), 10 pushups (knee), 15 squats; as many rounds as possible in 20 min. Today I got 12, which is up from 10 in the last Cindy I did, about a month ago. Felt pretty strong.

Yesterday ran the park and also did yoga.

Saturday 090822

1111111 Hang Cleans. 42.5KG.

Also did the O'neill test: 975 meters.

Also 60 sec recovery from 149 BPM was 35 BPM.

A great workout day after a day off.

Paleo Day 6: feeling groovy

Yes, it's day 6 of Paleo and I am feeling gooooood. I have devised a concoction to have for breakfast when I eat my 3 oz of nonfat turkey. This leaves me with having to double the fat, so I have 6 blocks worth of coconut milk (approximately 2.7 oz). I mix this with 1 cup of strawberries (1 block) and 1 cup of blueberries (2 blocks). BAM. 3 block meal.

I've noticed that blocking things out is making me eat more fruit though. My favorite vegetables happen to be spinach and broccoli, which both take a crazy amount of mass to make up one block (think: 10 cups of spinach), so I've been having trouble getting my green leaves in. I'm not yet comfortable with calculating partial blocks and whatnot, so I guess I'll push for more kale on the menu (1.5 cups = 1 block = more doable). I'm just not happy with eating so much fruit.

Today's workout was 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 hang power cleans. I had a 1 rep max of 37 kg. I am pretty happy with it, but if my elbows weren't so darn slow I may have been able to do more. Weights are something I have fun with. The other lady workout out with us was fresh out of the beginner class and was really impressed that I was lifting so much already. I have a long way to go, though, so I'm going to have to befriend some of the coaches at Williams or something so that I'll have someone to watch my form and reminds me to get my elbows up. Otherwise I don't see myself progressing super fast.

1/2 Michael

Today we graduated from Crossfit Atl beginner's class.  Did a 1/2 Michael - 400 m run, 25 GHD's, 25 sit ups.  Time was 14:32.  Got a massage to loosen the shoulders, which have been tight all week.  

Paleo Day 4: Blockheads

Okay, so I'm blocking things out today.  I'm going for three 3-block meals and two 1-block snacks.  Seems like a lot of food, but high volume eating isn't always bad.

So far, my breakfast is:

3 oz turkey breast

9 almonds

.5 c blackberries

.5 small cantaloupe

I have to investigate into whether that turkey breast was nonfat or not so that I can compensate for the assumed 1.5 oz fat included in the protein block if I have to.

Also, holy carbs, Batman!  I realized that I have been correctly eyeballing the amounts of protein that I get, but I tend to eat too many nuts at a time, and I tend to not get my full carb amount.  So some tinkering is needed.  Hence me measuring out zone blocks.

WOD was 1/2 Michael: 3x (400m run, 25 back extensions, 25 situps)

My time was 14:00.  The first time I did Michael (full) my time was 30:48.  The full and half Michaels aren't really comparable, but today's runs felt easier than yesterday's, and the only thing I can attribute that to is Paleo eating.  Hooray.

EDIT: Okay, am adding in the fat because I don't think there was any in the turkey.  I think I am going to drink some olive oil.  For some reason that idea is strangely appealing to me.

SECOND EDIT: Whoah, just drank a teaspoon of olive oil.  That was oddly satisfying.  Next I would like to experiment in cooking with coconut oil.

090819 - Helen

Tough workout. It was either 14:15 or 14:51 - have a call in to Dan to ask him to get it off the board for me since I forgot the exact time. It was extra hard today given that my shoulders were tight from sitting in a chair for 7 hours yesterday at Fulco Sup Ct doing jury duty, and legs were tight from jumping rope last week.

Paleo Day 3

Dad finally learned the SDPHs!

Today's workout was Helen again.  I finished in 16:22, which is more than two whole minutes slower than my last time, but this is because

*cue trumpets*

I did all 36 pull ups on a green band only!  !!!  Dan even commented that I was getting some kip in there without realizing it.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but today was a huge step for me in my quest to unassisted kipping pull ups--time be damned.

Dad did a great job.  He can't remember his time, but I'm pretty sure it was 20 or so seconds less than the last time we did it.  This was my second time with Helen and dad's third.

Paleo going well.  I am eating whatever is on the list and avoiding whatever isn't.  Need to fine tune my intake into the block system, though, as when I go into the kitchen these days I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Paleo day 2

Today while dad was at jury duty I went back to the second week of the beginners' class, which seems very much like the first week--we did med ball cleans and sumo deadlift high pulls again.  Plus some nutrition.  I made Dan add some push presses to the workout since today was a max rep push press day.  I am a little annoyed that I was stuck doing the same damn workout again, when I really wanted to do the Rx WOD.

I have been consciously upping my fats intake today, eating nuts and so forth.  Somehow I am still very tired after my nap today, in the way that makes me feel like I haven't been eating enough.  HOW CAN THAT BE?  I feel like I've been stuffing my face.  Almost every time I go into the kitchen I eat something.  Wow.

Paleo is going well.  So far:

smoked turkey

lamb chop

roast beef chunks (yummm)

brussels sprouts

and a random assortment of pine nuts, walnuts, marcona almonds, and cashews

I should start measuring my food by Zone blocks so that I can keep track of what is working for me and what isn't.  Still need to figure out how one does that though.

Ouch / Day 1

Today's WOD did not end well.  I was doing the last 30 seconds of situps and I guess I kept sliding back further and further until, during the last 15 seconds, I cracked my head on the base of the GHD.  Aaargh.  Made me lose count of my situps.  (I also lost count of some jumproping here and there too.)

Day 1 of Paleo and Paleo only.  Going well so far.  Have had:

roast beef

more roast beef

broccoli

gazpacho

Day Off

Did a run around the park and a yoga session to loosen up. Felt good.

Ad Hoc WOD: my take

As dad said, yesterday's was a made-up WOD.  The WODs proposed for Saturday are usually leftovers from the week that maybe you didn't get around to doing...  Well, we hadn't done met-con in quite a while, and when Heidi asked us is we wanted to do strength or if we wanted to sweat, dad immediately said, "We want to sweat."  

Which was more or less true.  But I knew it meant running, and boy do I hate running.

I finished in 13:32.  Used an empty women's bar for the thrusters.  I could definitely tell that Dad had worked on his running, as he was steadily fast right out of the gate, and I took a long damn time to adjust to the fact that, yes, I had to run 1200m.  I couldn't help envying the people doing Linda right on the other side of the rack from me.

Thrusters are fun but killer.  I like them.

In a twist on our normal CF routine, I brought Jennifer, my bestest friend in the world, with us.  She'd been hearing me babble about CF for weeks now, and she wanted to give it a try.  Well, she went from: "Well it sounds cool but I don't really have the funding to do that so I guess I'll keep going to the UVa gym" to: "So if I join CF Charlottesville..."  It's old and cliched, but where there's a will, there's a way.

She trained with Vas, who I met for the first time yesterday, and did a workout consisting of 3 rounds of: 

10 DL (30 kg)

15 wall balls (unknown med ball...?)

5 pull ups (green band)

She finished it in about 15:30.  I am so proud of her.

LASTLY.  I have been reading Byers Gets Diesel, which is now (and for a limited time only) called Byers Goes Paleo.  Love this girl.  Anyway, I think that I am going to try staying straight-up paleo for 30 days, as she recommends.  I have a lot of non-Paleo crutches that I've had a hard time giving up (dairy, chocolate, CHEESE).  Even with these, I am noticing a great and positive change in my energy levels (high amount and no dips), not to mention weight loss, so I can only imagine how great I am going to feel during/after those 30 days.

Ad Hoc Workout

Today Heidi made one up for us, this being a make up day officially. It was 3 rounds of 400m run and 20 thrusters (unweighted bar). I did 13:59. Yanked something in my neck. I had woken up late and for some reason with what Churchill called the "black dog", a negative malaise / attitude which shows up for no reason at all. It first dawned on me, though I should have noted it before, doing pullups warmups when this inner voice was telling me to stop and rest after 6 or 7 pullups. I persisted till 10. It came back on the first run in the WOD, and I just kept pushing, trying to blow through the negative fog. It finally dissipated, like morning fog, in the third round on the run when sustained effort and persistence, thinking about positive things like finishing, made it evaporate.

Hallelujah, hallelujah

It's rest day, and I am getting a massage!  Good days!

Last night I got the house salad, but it had mushrooms and mozzarella on it.  You win some, you lose some, right?  I'm not too concerned.  Yesterday I bought some Spirutein protein yesterday on our run to the vitamin store, as well as some Zone bars.  Neither of those are particularly Paleo, but (1) the bars are good in a pinch and (2) protein powder is good to put into a shake right after CF, as roast beef gets kind of tiresome sometimes.

Stairway to pull up heaven

Today was a pull up ladder...I used the usual green + purple bands and got to minute 11.  Minute 10 was my goal, so this was excellent.  My next step is to cut out the purple band and eventually wean myself off of bands completely.  All in good time.  I can't wait to do unassisted kipping pull ups!

Yesterday's Linda was good.  I finished in 17:22.  The weights were too light for me, and there wasn't much I could do about it...there was a shortage of women's bars, and there were three women, so we kind of had to share.  This made my time a few minutes longer than it should have been, too.

Paleo is going pretty well.  It makes me so much more clear-headed and keeps my energy up.  Last night, I have to admit, I did have some pasta.  I had made it for my parents, and it was delicious, so no regrets there.  Tonight I'm meeting up with friends at Fellini's, which mainly serves pizza.  I am going to try and avoid that, since I don't have a pressing need for pizza, and since I can get pizza any old day of my life if I want to.  The benefits Paleo are really worth being kind of awkward at social gatherings that revolve around eating (most of them do), so I'll survive.

Linda

Today's WOD was Linda, which is dead lift, power clean and bench press cycles, 10 . . . 1 reps for time. The actual WOD calls for benching body weight and other currently impracticable requirment, but I used 50kg for dead lift, 20kg for clean and 20kg for bench press. This was too low, since my time was low - 16:18. Brent said I should add weight next time, 5kg for each, and after several Lindas I will begin to know where the right weight is. Anyway, it was a great workout and I sweated like a pig, and am now stiffening up which means some muscles got worked. Lifting is very satisfying.

Wall Ball

Today was Wall Ball Ladder...I upped my weight from a 4 med ball to an 8 and ended up making it to minute 10. My goal was minute 8, so I am more or less satisfied. It's good to be back!

Armageddon is coming

After a few days sans workout for health reasons, I am going back to Crossfit tomorrow morning--assuming I can wake up on time.  I WILL DIE.  I need that again after my pansy week...  I think dad gets home tomorrow, so I can't wait to get back in the ol' wing of things again.

PS - Just heard (or sensed, really) some really loud bass coming from the Howell Mill area.  It's around dinner time, so it was almost like dad was going to drive up just in time for dinner...  DAD COME BACK!

Made it up

Today I made one up because I felt like running. So I did 3 x 1/2 mile, 25 pushups, 25 situps, 3 rounds for 21.26. It was a beautiful morning here in fabulous Guerneville. Last night we had a fabulous time at the monthly bingo game they conduct at the local oddfellows hall; it ended it at 10, so I had plenty of sleep to get me ready for this workout. The harder part was that at the concession stand I got a chili dog, a bowl of firehouse chili and a thing of nachos, so had to carry that all along on the road. Not exactly Crossfit type food either. The Younger Next Year book really has impressed on me the benefit of getting in some exercise every day, making it a matter of habit.

5 push ups, 5 squats, 5 sit ups

For time. This was a great workout. For some reason it felt really good and pushed me hard. Time was 14:47.

Tabata Friday

Squats and Push ups. What can be said other than that 4 minutes can be a long time. My hams and quads felt like someone had applied jet fuel to them and set it off with a match. But that was nothing compared to the pain in the pecs after the pushups. No pain no gain, so I figured I gained a hell of a lot today. Squats - min 9, total 97; Pushups - min 6; total 68 (showing once again how much upper body needs work).

Today rest day. Feels good. I am listening, however, to this book called "Younger Next Year," excellent book Ken Canfield gave me which has interesting things to say about the need to exercise 6 days a week, eat right and stay engaged in order to grow instead of decay. This doesn't start being real important until about age 50, (though according to the book the metabolic tide starts turning in the 20's) so everyone can rest easy. So I have to sort that through with Dan the Godfather when I get back to the A.

At a table right next to mine here in this good old coffee shop, the Coffee Bazaar, is this nosy old BIOTCH who is scrutinzing what my screen is showing. Is she reading this now? Ta!

Psych!

So today is actually the rest day for me.  Yesterday I ended up doing some SDHPs and more push presses and med ball cleans...does is sound like all play and no work?  I hope not...med ball cleans are my mortal enemy--they tire me out almost as fast as running--so I am trying to build up a resistance to them.

CrossFit Improv

Today Eva T prescribed 10 handstand pushups and 200 m run x 3. Cannot do handstands yet. So I made up a workout to try to go in that direction; 25 pushups, 25 situps, 1/2 mile run x 3. Did it in 21.56. The morning air felt great on the face. Did not see the raven this morning; I must not have been interesting to him / her.

LSAT makes for an angry Jen

Just finished taking a practice LSAT, and now I have a headache.  My legs are pretty much nonfunctional, so I am more likely than not taking today as a rest day.

EDIT: make that an active rest day, at least.  Am heading to gym to walk on treadmill, may do some SDHPs if I muster up the energy/find a women's bar.

Tuesday / 200m runs, 25 pushups

Today was 200 m sprints and 25 pushups, 3 rounds. I used to have to do 45 pushups in 1 min for the annual Navy fitness test. No more. I started with 20 pushups the first round, then 10 at a time by the second round, then 5 on the third round, all this on my *knees*. But I can tell that I am gaining ground quickly, because I was just doing 5's at time on my knees 2 weeks ago. Today I did this workout in 9:16.

One of the cool things is being out in the air at 6 am when things are pretty quiet. There was a raven sitting on the roof of my motel unit, and I just started staring at him. He was staring back, turning left and right so he could check me out with both eyes. He was making these talky like noises, sort of like Kate does, but more agitated. He then took off, flew a lap around me at about 10 feet altitude, then headed out across the road. Incredible animal.

Yesterday

I didn't know what to do yesterday, so I just kind of winged it.  I did, in no certain order:

push press (men's Olympic bar w/o bar)

front squats (same bar)

DL 5 rep max of 50 kg

a few med ball cleans with 10lb

tabata rowing--4 minutes total

Susan

Today Eva T prescribed Susan, which is 200m run, 10 squats, 10 push ups, 5 rounds. It felt really good to get out and stretch my legs in the morning mist blowing off the coastal range, smell of the redwoods. Especially after all day yesterday squatting and applying muscle to the Cuturi pneumatic hammer to work the face and undersides of the piece. I did it in 12:31.

200 squats...

...sound easy but are really killer.  Ack.

My time was 8:41, and now my legs are jelly.

"Rest" Day

Today is ostensibly the rest day. In actuality, if I am using the point chisel with 2.5 lb hammer, like I was using all day yesterday, then it's a different type of workout altogether. If I can get the old wrist working today; it's pretty stiff. So maybe today it will be Cuturi Pneumatic Hammer - as many rounds as possible in 8 hours. Seriously the rest feels good, and with the pint of Superfood I pour into my body every a.m. at the fabulous Coffee Bazaar, I can feel the muscles massing up.

Unintentional rest day

Yesterday I was super exhausted from the travel--didn't end up working out.  Today I am planning on doing the 200 squats for time once we get to Williams.

All there is at Gustavo's house is carbs, carbs, and more carbs...I feel really disgusting/headachey/tired.  Today when we get to Williams we are going straight to the grocery store, where I will buy 1.5lb turkey.

Air Squats for Time

Today Eva T prescribed 200 air squats for time. Sounds easier than it is. I had bought another wooden shower bar down at the Dada Ace Hardware store and used it over my head. This makes air squats harder. I was doing groups of 10 by the time it was over. 13:40 time. Plus a lot of stretching my shoulder.