Epsom Salts

I took a bath in Epsom Salts just to try it out. A magical experience, sort of like the mineral baths where they take the cure. I stayed in the tub about 20 or so minutes. Got out, felt so good I went on line and googled "how do Epsom Salts work." Turns out the body absorbs Mg ions and also Sulfate ions, both of which it has a hard time getting through the digestive tract. Both of which are really good for you in all sorts of enzymatic and other ways. So I became a Facebook fan of Epsom Salts. It's amazing stuff. Should go get a shitload and soak in it 3 times a week. 2 cups in the bathwater does the trick. Only reason I did not find out about this before was the heinous cretins at big pharma, same folks who have kept tea tree oil under the bushel, a magical potion that has laid waste in mere days to the second worst case of athletes foot I ever had.

Lunges

It was a nice day today and I was walking around the park after a 1.5 run was to the trashcan over by Woodley when I say a path through the trees and the thought occurred to me to do the lunge workout. So I did it. But thought it was 400 lunges. The grass on the knees was a lot nicer than I imagine the pavement would have been. It took 25:05. Got home and your mother reminded me it was 400 meters, not lunges. So I did 10 in the front yard and it turns out I did 512 meters. I did lots of stretching afterwards, but my hips and thighs are sort of hurting right now. At least it makes the rest of my body not feel so bad from Linda on Saturday.

3 Bars of Death - Still Dying

Yesterday we did Linda, which was 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 for time of dead lift, bench press and cleans. I did not feel so bad yesterday afternoon but last night in bed got real sore turning over. Today my upper body is hurting more by the minute. Dan was right when he said, "I hope you're not planning to do anything for the rest of the weekend." Except die maybe. Hoping to get better soon. Be sure to watch Coach's video yesterday on CrossFit Journal where he spends about 20 minutes talking about why CrossFit is different. Great talk.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  I will be sitting down all day--or for as much of the day as I can--because I did the 400m walking lunge workout yesterday.  That workout is no joke...  I have never been more sore in my life.  Even after stretching and extensive rolling.

On the super happy side, I will be eating this rather paleo apple crisp (next time I will sub in honey for agave) instead of pie today...so I am thankful for that.  It's delicious, and also the butteriest non-butter-containing item I've ever eaten.

All out intervals

So on Sunday I got a new PR for 5RM deadlifts: 80 kg.  My hamstrings were pretty shredded yesterday, so I did the CFE workout and didn't do Angie.  Today is a CFE rest day, and I think I am going to take another rest day for the main site WOD too.  

But let's get on to the numbers...

All-out efforts: 6x1:3 (1 minute on, 3 off, 6 times through)

246 m

250 m

251 m

246 m

246 m

245 m

I tried as hard as I could to keep those last three above 250, but I'm just not there yet.  Also, 3 minutes may sound like a really long time to rest, but your pulse never quite comes down to where you want it to be before you have to start up again.

Low fat diet = SB

A new study promoting the low-fat diet has come out.  It claims that there is no difference between low-fat and low-carb diets except that people on low-carb diets become significantly unhappier.  Participants in both groups lost 30 pounds over the course of the study.  I guess they didn't bother testing the physical aspects (percentage fat lost vs. muscle; athletic performance; etc.).  Silly.

This all just reminds me of Good Calories, Bad Calories, which I am in the middle of reading.

Out Sick

With cold of a lifetime. I was on the edge when I came back from Germany, and thought I had it beat. Tuesday morning I did the workout with 5 sets of 30 wall balls and 5 sets of 30 GHD's which seem to have put it over the tipping point allowing the little viruses to run rampant and bring me down. Looking forward to being back and going to the gym.

Ballet Flats

Today I was lifting barefoot because I forgot my shoes.  The track coach came over and told me that usually they don't allow anyone with even sandals in the weight room.  I've met this guy before and he's super nice, so I was okay with it.  He said he knew that I knew what I was doing, but he just wanted to make sure I didn't step on something sharp or anything.

Then a kid comes over and asks," Hey, are those special dance shoes or something?"  I said no, I am stuck wearing those because I forgot my lifting shoes.  He said, "But you should never lift barefoot anyway."  To which I answered that no shoes is actually better than most shoes because it allows a direct transfer of force from the floor, etc. etc.  

Then he asks, "Yeah but what if you drop the weight on your foot?"  

me: "I don't drop weights, or when I do, I do it safely.  I know how to drop weights."

him: "But what if someone drops something on your foot?"

me: "Then they'd be in my rack and I'd kick them out of my rack before I started the lift."

him: "Well, you got me."

The track coach also told me I'm "not right in the head" because I like deadlifts so much.  But he said it in a positive, joking way.

Fun times.  In the midst of those hijinks, I got a clean and jerk 1RM of 40 kg.  Not bad.

Workout of Today

Today I did yesterday's CFA workout which Dan made up since it was an HQ rest day. It was 5 rounds of 400 m run, 30 GHD's and 30 wall balls (16 lb). My right leg is essentially well from where I yenked it about a month ago (judicious stretching and toe raises helped) - but was running in my geezer skids, the gray new balance 991's not my VFF's. The first set of GHD's, which are usually no problem, tightened me up for the first round of wall balls; might be because I have been on the road for a while doing Eva T workouts which aren't quite as intense. Anyway, the inner voice was screaming at me the whole time - so much of this is psychological and the need just to be tough about it; battling the voice and thinking positive thoughts. The quote from the Inner Voice article I like best is:

Ensure your inner dialogue

is about the present tense.

Remember, the point of power is

always in the present tense.

As this morning proved, it's easier to read this than truly to live it out in the workout, to be totally in the present tense and not OCD about the 140 wall balls you have left to do but rather just focus on driving from the heels and looking at the 10 foot mark. Anyway, did the workout in 37:02. Point of power: Present tense. My mantra for today.

CFE

Today is a HQ rest day, but I did today's CrossFit Endurance WOD to atone for my biscuit and multiple brownies after dance practice today.  

15 minutes of rowing = 3184 meters  (I used damper level 4)

I was psyching myself out for the first three minutes: "I'm so tired, I can't do 15 minutes, this is brutal, I feel like I'm going to throw up."  But then I remembered that I have done way worse workouts before (5 rounds of snatches + running, anyone?) and promptly told that inner voice to "quit that shit," in the words of Coach Glassman.  I got into a good rhythm of breathing and generally managed to keep myself within a 10-second window for pacing (measured on my display as time it would take to row 500m).

These days I have been pretty good about keeping it Paleo for breakfast/lunch/snacks, but come dinnertime (especially on Wednesdays and Thursdays after dance practice) I head for the carbs.  Then I wake up with a headache the next morning.  I need to figure out why I do that.  

I mean, I'm pretty sure it's because I want to eat at the dining hall with my friends instead of coming home and taking an hour or so to cook myself a meal--and then once I get to the dining hall, there is nothing healthy at all.  I still need to fine tune my system of cooking intentional leftovers for the rest of the week...once I get that set up and find a way to be with my friends that doesn't involve food, I'll be good.

So true, so true

I like this image of the food pyramid promoted by the government. (I swiped this off CF Balboa's blog.)

Compared to the Paleo pyramid:

Yum, love that meat, love those fats.  (From the Paleo Diet Blog.)

Random stuff

Today at the gym I didn't do a specific WOD.  I was thinking of doing the 5k, but I don't have any running shoes up here, so I decided not to.  I started the CF Endurance WOD and then stopped after 500 meters because my knee was hurting.  Then I hopped on the elliptical for ten minutes.  I also did 20 pull ups on that stupid knurled bar (taping the hands doesn't help!) and 30 ring dips--both with blue bands.  Boy is my upper body hurting!  I may do yoga tonight, we'll see.  My knees hurt, though, so I may be done for the day.

EDIT: Also, I did CF Total the other day and got a total of 375#, or 170 kg!  This is way higher than I expected, so I am happy.  I am also happy that I was able to replicate my 1RM deadlift even after my legs were tired from working up to a 55 kg squat (and still recovering from a 3RM squat set a few days before).  That's 90 kg easy, folks, and hopefully moving up to 95 next time I attempt it.

Back to it

Well, I am back from my one-day trip to Boston, and I went to the gym immediately after returning.  I didn't even unpack (but then again, I don't unpack immediately either).  I made up Friday's pull up ladder since I am in no way ready or equipped to do the Filthy Fifty.  I did 10 rounds with a blue band.  I am very pleased with this, since last time I did it, I did 11 rounds with green PLUS purple bands.  I could have managed 11 in terms of muscle fatigue, but the stupid pull up bar at the gym is KNURLED so my hands were in agony and I wouldn't have been able to keep a grip much longer.  In fact, one of my blisters has turned into a blood blister because of that stupid bar.  The other pull up bar that isn't attached to a wall (no kipping on those!) has a rubber slick covering on it, so that's no good for the grip either.

I also did tabata rowing, as Rx'd by CF Endurance.  I noticed that my knees tended to buckle in, just like they try to in squats and deadlifts--a visible sign of inner thigh weakness--so my whole knee problem makes a lot more sense now.

I want to make up CF total tomorrow, plus the regular WOD from HQ.  We'll see if my knees are up to it.

Lastly, I have figured out that pin curls are a great way to get your hair out of the way for working out, especially if you tie a bandana around them.  That keeps the sweat off, and you don't have to worry about your ponytail falling out or your hair getting in your face.  And then afterwards, you have nice curls in your hair.  See?

It's no-nonsense WOD hair.

More Eva T

Yesterday did 10 sets of 10 squats, pushups, situps in 12:02 and lots of yoga, shoulder and ham/calf stretching. Today did 3 sets of 25 squats, pushups, situps in 9:13 and lots of yoga, shoulder and ham/calf stretching. Hotel floor is hard as hell; doing situps on the bed which was about as hard as my manduka black yoga mat is.

Knees

So I went to the athletic trainer who trains dancers and some of the wrestlers and men's soccer, and she said that my quadricep is so much stronger than the muscles on the inside of my thigh that it is causing the patella to be pulled over towards the quadricep, out of its groove, and to rub against the thigh bones that connect at the knee.  (Dad you probably know what I'm talking about, and in more technical terms.)  

She told me to ice it 6 times per day, stretch it as many times with certain exercises she gave me, and take ibuprofen with every meal.  And I can exercise as long as I use my judgment and stop when I need to.  She said we'll work on strength later once I loosen up my hip flexors and reduce the inflammation.

So today I went into the gym and did front squats:

3-3-3-3-3

30-35-40-45-40...new front squat PR wheeee-ha!

Wish me luck

Going to the athletic trainer in about an hour.  The elliptical machine made me knees (and elbows) hurt even worse.  Ugh ugh ugh.  I'm hoping this is something fixable.

Hotel Workouts

At the fabulous Angelo in Munich. Eva T yesterday and today. Yesterday, 6 rounds of 10 squats, push ups, sit ups. Today, 3 rounds of 25 of each of them. Plus a bunch of stretching on shoulders. I can say that Jet Lag makes squats harder. My pushups are building however.