A week off = Bittersweet

So I rested as in I took a week off from my workouts and did nothing but sleep in and eat. Of course my life went on as anything else but I laid off the physical activity. And it was a much needed break. My body needed the break.

The only downside to taking a whole week off, for me at least, is that it’s hard to motivate myself into getting back to it. Fortunately, just showing up again is worth it and even though the break felt good, it is time to get back to work.

And work it was. Back squats that I wasn’t feeling strong at and the CrossFit Games Open WOD 14.1. For the past two years I’ve paid my fee and joined the tens of thousands to compete. This year, with a weak wrist and a weak self, I opted out. It didn’t make sense for me to pay the $20 and not be sure if I’d be able to handle movements like Power Cleans or Clean & Jerk. So I did not and guess what? 14.1 has my strengths! Doubles Unders and low weight Snatch. Now I know deep down I wouldn’t be able to hang with the Elite ladies out there but this is a workout I CAN do. Lucky for me, even if I’m not in the OPEN, I still have to do the workout!

So I stroll in NOT wanting to do any work at all, but I’m here now so I must. We do 8 sets of 3 Back Squats at 85% of our 1RM. I did more like 80% because I was feeling OH SO WEAK. But with a weeks worth of rest, my HIPS were feeling great.

The we move on to warming up our Double Unders and Snatches. 55lbs feels good, light even so I’m actually ready to go. All until the clock starts and I mess up on DUs immediately! WTH?!? After I finally made it through 30, which sadly took almost a full minute I moved onto the 15 Snatches at 55lbs. The “lightweight” that it was 5 minutes before is now ridiculously heavy. After 5 reps I was mentally ready to quit. Somehow, somehwhere I convinced myself to keep going. But it was at a snail’s pace considering my goal should be to BEAT EVERYONE. As the rounds went on my DUs got better and when I focused on good form, of course the Snatches were much more awesome. I finally got some UMPH in me with like 2 1/2 minutes to go. Hahah, who does that? UH ME Final: 211 reps and I can honestly say it was a poor showing. Ah well. I’m sure there will be a variation of this workout come 2015. Maybe I’ll have my crap together by then …. maybe.

3/3/14 WOD

And that is all I got for this fine Tuesday. Besides the bipolar weather here in Texas, all is good. I hope you all are doing great and go ahead and make those changes you’ve been holding off on. Get back to working out. Clean eating. Or whatever it is you do, unless it’s meth, then stop. Stop now. But other than that, find your healthy happy place.

Drumroll please……… DAY 30!

You know it. Although my Day THIRTY is not complete, it soon will be! I made it! I am crossing the FINISH LINE!

It wasn’t the smoothest ride but I fared pretty well. I ate compliant foods the whole way and although some of my weekends were a little off on proportions, I still hit this one out of the park. I was mentally prepared for the challenges I knew I would face and by the end of this journey, the temptations and cravings were no more. I know I will not be 100% from here on out but I hope to be 90-95%. I hope to continue with my food prep and staying on task but if I go rogue once a week on dinner, it won’t be the end of my world. I have no plan post Whole30. I just want to be better than I was for a majority of 2013. I don’t think that will be hard because I feel so darn good. I like where I’m at. And I don’t want to go back!

I learned that no matter how good you are at clean eating or how disciplined, there will be pitfalls. I know there will be struggles. I know, because I fell into the abyss around April of 2013 and it took me 9 months to find the light. I’ve learned that if my body and brain feel better then I’m not as harsh on my physical self that I see in the mirror. We are our worst critics and I’m super bad! But when I feel good because I’m eating good, I’m less likely to nitpick at myself. I’ve RE-learned that just because we are busy that I can always make time to get GOOD CLEAN food and I can’t use TIME as an excuse. I’m not saying it’s easy but it’s true.

Superbowl Sunday baked drumsticks with a mango glaze and tossed in Ghee and Franks Red Hot Sauce. YUMMO!

Whole30 and Beyond
I do plan on trying new Paleo recipes so I will try and share those as I go along. Honey and some pastured dairy are all I really plan to add occasionally back into my kitchen. If I eat anything non-compliant it will because of a social outing. And of course, I’ll let you know when my off-road eating gets the best of me!

I’m here to cheer you on, be your support system, or answer any questions if you choose to do your own Whole30. There are also many supportive folks in the forums at Whole30.com. So don’t be afraid to see what’s going on over there.

CrossFit Boom
As always, I will continue to post my workouts here so that’s never going away! I did end up making it to the Friday morning workout, so yay for that. Then there was the Community WOD and Yoga on Saturday, both of which are fun.

1/31/14
Test Day BOOM Total: Snatch, Squat Clean Thruster, Back Squat ADD Total weight!

Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing! So even with the wrist not 100% I was still able to hit my 1RM on Snatch. That’s not great since I feel I could do more weight, but I a scaredy cat As for Squat Clean Thrusters it’s a NO GO. I could clean the bar by itself but to Squat and then do a Thruster was too much. Coach T asked if I wanted to do something funky in regards to Cleaning the weight so I said SURE! Let’s Clean like Kelly Starrett!

Yay, that was fun! And I can actually do my favorite lift now! I didn’t start out doing the Mixed Grip, which probably would have helped with heavier weight. But I did get to 105lbs which isn’t bad for my first go round at this new Chicken Wing method. Moving on to Back Squat, I feared I wasn’t going to get close to 175lbs which is my 1RM but I managed to hit 165lbs. I’ll take that for now. I know you can’t always max out or hit new PRs. It’s been a hard lesson learned over they years but I finally found my peace with it! Totals: 75, 105, 165 = 345lbs

1/31/14 Test Day

2/3/14 Chicken Wing Pt. 2

Midline: 30 T2B
Have no fear T2B are still here! Woot Woot! Now if I could just string them together!

Strength: Back Squat 5×5 @75%
Mondays and Squats. Just wasn’t feeling it today. So 5 sets of 5 at 135lbs felt HEAVY. I was ready to go home after that! My hips are smoked!

MetCon: 4 min AMRAP of 10 HrPU and 5 Cleans 115/75 rest 3 min then 4 min AMRAP of 10 HrPU and 5 Cleans 115/75
I was so excited to actually be able to do Cleans in a MetCon again! Granted, they will be slower than normal because I can not touch and go with a chicken wing but I can do them! This time, I started off with the Mixed Grip and felt that my hand was less likely to try and revert to a normal Clean movement which was good on the wrist. Since the weight was not heavy I tried to catch the weight at the bottom so I could have a little more fluidity. This only worked half of the time though. Push Ups are what got me. I only got 4 Push Ups in and my wrist felt tight and achy, so I moved back to fist Push Ups. This was no fun and I really dragged ass. Final: 8 rounds RX

2/3/14 WOD

That’s a Wrap!
Thank you all in general for being faithful readers. And an Extra BIG Thank You for your support during my Whole30. I would hug you all if I could! Having something to blog about other than my workouts is definitely nice but now that Whole30 is over, I hope you continue to stick around. I’m still planning on getting involved in more giveaways and what not so stay tuned.

Remember it’s not about being perfect, it’s about making progress! Every meal is a new meal, every day is a new day. If I were to pick one thing to eliminate for good that would be WHEAT. I know what it does to my body when I reintroduce it and it’s not good. So just pick one thing to ADD or ELIMINATE from your life for at least 30 days. See if anything changes. Then change something else for the next 30 days. No one said you had to go cold turkey! But it sure is helpful if you do! Don’t forget Paleo Parents has a handy dandy e-book, 3 Phase Paleo that will help you make the transition. You can find the link to the book in the menu bar, top right!

Have a beautiful Tuesday and Whole30 ON!

Found!

At the corner of Clean Eating and Consistency, I FOUND my Toes To Bar! What! What! This my friends is a big deal. Back in early 2013 I still had them but as time went on, the LBS packed on and my Boom Box attendance floundered. I slowly but surely lost them. I wasn’t beastly at them in the first place but how sad it was to know how easy T2B can just disappear. Now boys and girls they are back! I was so excited, you have no idea. Whole30 will not do you wrong! I can’t promise it will always be rainbows and unicorns but eventually you find that happy place and it feels good.

So it’s Day TWENTY THREE and Day THIRTY is out there in the shadows. So much of me wants to just keep on keepin on, but so much of me wants a little break too. This is such a hard mental battle. I’m determined to stay on the right track but I’m already making up excuses in my head for days I have to offroad a bit. I’m hoping when push comes to shove, that I just stick it out and stay strong. WholeLife it on.

1/27/14 Lunch

Food and the work that comes with it!
A lot of people moan and groan on how much work it takes to prep and cook when they start off on the Whole30. It’s true, it is work but it does get easier. For a lot of people, this is completely new and it can be a little bit overwhelming. You aren’t just picking up your normal items in the grocery store. You aren’t buying processed, full of badness, boxed food where you just add a protein. You have to hunt down specific things and maybe even venture into other grocery stores, which in itself could be a confusing adventure. It can also be very defeating because there a lot of staples out there that just aren’t Whole30 compliant and you’ve probably been buying them your whole life. At this point, I’m hoping you’re determined enough to at least start. But as with any new endeavor, once you learn the ropes, it all starts becoming easier. You learn and make new kitchen habits. You will try to find ways to be more efficient and soon enough it will be second hand. I would say that halfway through Whole30 is when you probably will find ease in your prepping. You’ll know what works for you.

What worked for me most, is that I keep all of my free Whole30 downloads with me, along with a copy of It Starts With Food. I keep my phone linked to Whole30 forums so I can do quick and easy searches. On my first Whole30, I tagged all the important pages and I constantly referenced them. This time around, I mostly just keep them with me so I have ZERO excuse when I want to give up. I literally carry a bag with me with all of the literature. It’s with me at work, it’s with me in the car, it’s with me at home. All of the time. I know with technology you can have your smartphones or iPads, but there’s something about me physically carrying the paper and books that keeps me focused.

Even though I’ve made Paleo Mayo a lot, I still bust out the Whole30 recipe and put it on my counter. I’m in a hurry most everyday so I’m liable to screw it up. I make sure I read the recipe every time even though I have it memorized. It’s not work anymore. It’s just what I do. I’ve made new habits. You will too. And remember it’s only 30 days. You can push yourself outside your comfort zone for one month out of a year!

1/27/14 Boom Box
Midline: 50 Hollow Rocks
What can I say? I still don’t like Hollow Rocks. Same as it ever was.

Strength: Back Squats 3×10 @65%
Who doesn’t love Squat time? But it’s been a while since I’ve worked on Back Squats. We were doing a lot of Front Squats and my wrist was holding me back so the weight wasn’t as heavy. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel. But 65% of 175 isn’t so bad. My first set wasn’t weak but it was slow. I picked up the pace for the other two sets and felt much better about everything.

1/27/14 WOD

MetCon: 8 min AMRAP of 8 T2B and 5 DL 225/135
Well you already had the spoiler at the beginning of this post, but I wasn’t sure I’d do Toes to Bar. I really had the mindset coming in that I would do Knees to Elbow. But Coach had us warm up a little bit with Knees to Elbow before we started and I realized how close I was to T2B so I went for it and FAILED. But I was so close. So I went for it again and I failed! I probably did that for 4 or 5 times and finally my TOES hit the FREAKIN BAR! Well I done did it. Now I have to do it in the workout! Doh! So even though I hit the bar, I wasn’t sure I’d do it for 8 reps or MORE!

Even though I couldn’t string them together it turns out FOR MY STATUS, I was killing it! I only had 2 No Reps, and I probably did rest a little more than I should have but I kept chipping away. Deadlifts were relatively light but again. I rested a little too long before picking up the bar. Final: 4 rounds + 3 T2B RX! Small victory for me 🙂

That’s a Wrap!
It’s cold down here in Texas and I’d love nothing more than some comfort foods. So I’ll probably have Steak and Cauli Mash for dinner! But a lot can happen between now and then. So we’ll see. I do hope you all are making things happen. I’d love nothing more than to see and hear happy reports of progress and change! Stop waffling and get on board if you haven’t committed yet. Do something NOW!

Kill Some of the Things

Rockin’ Day FIVE here on the Whole30 and they (Whole30) say that days FOUR and FIVE is the KILL ALL THE THINGS phase. Yesterday I was slightly agitated and today slightly more irritable on all fronts. Not necessarily wanting to kill all the things but I can tell I’m off a little bit. Patience is thin. Energy wise, I feel good.

So far, so good on eating, cravings, and what not. I seriously am not salivating at the thought of dessert which is my weakness. I’m doing good by not indulging on too much fruit. I think the last time I did this, I didn’t enough veggies. Now I’m not saying I’m the veggie queen now, but I’m making an effort to eat at least 2 cups of something veggie related for at least 2 of my meals. Breakfast is still hard to eat after a PWO meal, so I probably only choke down 1 cup of veggies, mostly spinach.

Day 4 Lunch. Leftover Asian Five Spice Chicken with Matchstick Salad. Cucumbers, Cherry Tomatoes, Blackberries, Coconut Flakes, Bone Broth. I seriously am addicted to BONE BROTH now. It’s soooo yummy!

I can honestly say I’ve never hit a “starving” point or had a craving meltdown. And yes I know it’s only Day FIVE. So much can still happen. But overall everything is going great. I tend to be a sucker for boredom grazing. But those thoughts aren’t even creeping in and I’m loving it. Last week, I would eat anything just to eat it. Chocolate? Sure give me the whole package. Chips? Why yes, can I have a coke too? Beer? No make it a whiskey. You get the idea. If it was edible or drinkable I was consuming it.

And BONUS, I have FAT KID jeans. You know that pair or pairs of pants that are your LIMIT. Like I’m not buying a bigger size jeans/pants. So I have those and well they were at their limits of containing me without busting at the seams. In just 5 days, these FAT KID jeans are no longer busting at the seams. Granted, they still are THOSE jeans that I’d rather not be wearing but at least I’m at DEFCON 4 instead of 5. So yay for a little progress!

BOOM Box Recap
Although I’m awake and not groggy or flat out so sore I can’t move, I’m still struggling getting out of bed and on my feet. I’ve been running a few minutes late to the box for the 5 a.m. class. I gotta fix that ASAP!

1/10/14
Strength: 200 ft KB farmers carry x 3 (heavy)
Thank goodness it’s not cold outside. It was pretty humid and probably 60° out. But that didn’t make the KB’s any lighter! I had two 53lb KBs and they were heavy and my shoulders and forearms were not happy. I was pretty much a big ol baby the whole time but I still carried the damn weight.

1/10/14 WOD

MetCon: 3 person team WOD with running clock – 20 minutes 3 rm Back Squat for each member 0 rest 10 minutes Row Max Calories. Add all the lbs and all the cals for score.
We ended up with a 4 person team cause that’s how many of us that were there so we went with it. I wasn’t really sure what my 3RM Back Squat would be. We’ve been doing a lot of Front Squats and because of my wrist, I haven’t been going as heavy as I would like. So Back Squat was a mystery. There were two of working together so we got ample rest in between sets and I was surprising working my way up nicely. My hips were good, my mind was clear, I was chugging along. Worked my way up 160lbs for 3 reps. My 1RM is 175lbs. And I figured I’d lost some strength in general since I’ve been such a slacker but I felt pretty good at 160, so I went up to 165 with like 2 minutes left and I failed on the first rep. I think the time limit got in my head and I was trying to rush. Ah well. I’ll take 160 for 3 reps.

As for the Row, we just were going to go hard then switch until the 10 minutes was up. I went first for 1:50 and only got 25 calories. But the rest of the team was getting after it. I got back on near the end for a minute but didn’t pay attention to how many calories I rowed then. Probably 5, lol. Who knows. Rowing is not easy for my short self. But I’m trying! Final: 855lbs total for Back Squat + 173 Calories = 1028.

An afterthought pic of my PWO meal. I only had roasted Sweet Potatoes for this morning. I do prefer pureed so I will make sure next week I’m covered. Also a little lean grass fed ground beef with tomatoes and onions.

That’s a Wrap!
I fear the weekend will my hardest days of this Whole30. With a work/school schedule, I have structure. With the weekend it’s all loosey goosey. We are still busy, but weekends are the times where drive thru’s are the best. Oh, we are all hungry? Ok, where shall we eat? It sucks. I just need to focus on packing up food I need and food I can eat in the midst of all our driving around. Or if we are home being lazy, then I need to stay focused and do something productive. That won’t hurt either I suppose. Just gotta stay focused!

Anyone else out there on the Whole30 or some other journey to better health? Chime in. Let me know how you’re doing. And it’s never too late to start if you’re still going back and forth. It’s doable. It’s worth it. Don’t neglect YOU anymore. It’s time to take time for yourself, for your family and get things rolling! Don’t sit there and sigh and tell me “it’s easy for you to say” or “I’m just not ready”. You just have to do it. Make the decision and do it!

Happy FRIDAY! Make the weekend SHINE!

Injuries Blow

Granted my injury is minor. And besides old and worn out ligaments, tendons and everything else, I’ve been pretty healthy the past few years. Thank goodness! But now this wrist o’ mine is just being a pain in the ass! If any of y’all have had a serious injury I totally feel for ya. I can’t imagine how I’d be behaving right now if I was completely down and out.

So I took a few days off last week, hoping to heal up some. And I thought I was feeling a bit better, till I tweaked it picking up something over the weekend. So the pain is back and it feels like a sprain. That’s completely self diagnosed by the way. I can’t bear weight on the darn thing and it sucks.

Monday morning rolls around and I think to myself, I need more rest so I won’t go to the BOOM Box. But by Monday afternoon rolls around and I’m so ants in the pants, that I NEED to go to get some work in! I know Coach will have some good workarounds for me.

Warm Up: Sled Push
My first sigh of the day. There’s no way I can PUSH the sled with a bum wrist. But Coach was like who needs hands. Just lay into and push with your upper body. Hey, hey, hey… this worked and seemed much easier. Don’t get me wrong. Sled Pushes are still the devil.

Strength: Squat 5×5 @ 82.5
Sadly for me, I have no flexibility to even hold the bar on my back with my right wrist. Ugh! I was seriously upset that I even showed up at this point. Coach had me straighten my arms out over the bar. I felt like was carrying the barbell cross here. Warming up this felt great. By the time I got to my 3rd set at 82.5%, I was not feeling so great. As I fatigued, I felt like I was weighing the bar down with my arms. I know it was just a head game, but the head game won. On my last rep of my 3rd set, I leaned forward too much. While I did not hurt myself, I made the smart decision to call it a day for Back Squat.

10/21/13 WOD

MetCon: 30 – 20 – 10 Kettlebell Swing (1.5,1) and Burpees
We had a super full class and not quite enough KettleBells. So we had two heats. I opted for the 26lb Kettlebell, just to prevent further strain. I was scared to go overhead but I tried it anyways. It wasn’t super painful but there was a nice twinge. And with 60 KB Swings ahead of me, it was better to play it safe and do Russian Swings (eye level swings). I look at Coach and say “What do you want me to do for Burpees?” He puts his hands up, closed up in a fist and said “what about going down like this?” Uhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ok?!?!? I tried one. It was doable. Uh oh.

Since the KB was light, I was able to get through pretty easy. It was the Burpees that got me. After 15 in my first round, my knuckles were on fire. I thought I ripped. Looked down expecting to see torn skin, blood, etc. But they were just RED. I just had to fight through. Time: 7:21

I went ahead and took this morning off. I really need to rest. We’ll see if the ants in the pants come into play. Press and Front Squats are on the agenda. Both are not wrist friendly. We’ll see!

I hope all you have had a great week so far. It’s only Tuesday I know. But I’ve been MIA for a few days so it feels like FOREVER. And for my blogger friends. I hope to catch up on ya. Y’all better be writing good stuff! Hehe.

Have a great day and always, I repeat, ALWAYS be AWESOME!

Monday Not So Fun Day

I’m not entirely sure how I missed Thursday and Friday workouts last week but I did. My body just needed the rest I suppose. I had a stressful Friday and pretty much that led to binge eating all weekend. And it’s not like I dove into a gallon of ice cream, nor did I eat a whole lot but it wasn’t good either. I also decided that a garage sale was in order. So that left me on my feet all day for two days. MY FEET ARE DYING!

Walking into the BOOM Box this morning was a big debate for me. I could wait till the evening or just knock it out ASAP. NANCY was on the board! UGH. Running and OHS! I chose to knock it out this morning because it’s a big Texas Rangers game tonight and I don’t want to miss it!

Strength: Back Squat 5@65% 5@70% and 5@75%
This is the first time doing percentages with my new 1RM and it wasn’t too bad! Granted the percentages were light but doing 5’s isn’t always fun. I felt good. My hips were a little creaky but overall I was glad to put in the work.

9/30/13 WOD

MetCon: Nancy – 5 rounds of 400M run and 15 Overhead Squats
I had already showed up with the mindset to row instead of run. My shins, ankles and feet are tore up. I did do some mobility work and after Back Squats I was feeling much better. Coach T asked if I was going to run and I said I might as well. And for the first time in a long time I think I had a better time for a 400m run. 3 minutes. I know that’s not fast in any sense but I actually ran for a little bit and my shins weren’t dying. Still hurting but tolerable. It’s when I got to Overhead Squats that I fell apart. The weight is 65lbs. Not heavy at all! But after 5 reps, my right wrist was dying. It hurt to even grip the bar. So I dropped to 55lbs and it was still a NO GO. I have a hook grip on the bar and Coach told me to release that grip and to try letting the bar roll back onto my fingertips. This was a hard task. I’ve fought so hard to learn to be comfortable with a HOOK GRIP and now I’m letting it go. My brain was confused. I finally finished out the reps and went out for my next run. My wrist was in pain and I didn’t even want to walk but our time was limited and I needed to move. I did do more walking on this run but the running part was faster than my typically trot. Maybe it was the cooler air or maybe I’m finally shedding some weight. Either was I didn’t dread running near as much today. My second round of OHS was better than my first but I was at a light weight and I had just rested. Knocked out 10, then struggled with the 5. My third run was probably better than my second run but my OHS were done. I couldn’t find a happy place for my wrist. And then I DID for the last 5 reps. My goal was to get to that happy place for the 4th round. Finally, UNBROKEN. I should have gone unbroken the whole time, but that wrist o’ mine. It hurted! It was after 6am and I had to go. Today was a big ol DNF for me. Womp Womp. But I will run into Nancy again and she’ll know what I’m really made of. Time: DNF, finished 4 rounds in 25 minutes or so. Not real sure.

Barbells For Boobs
Hey, Hey, Hey…. PLEASE donate to my B4B fundraising page to support Mammograms in Action. Barbells for Boobs is a non-profit organization that provides funding to pay for breast cancer detection services as a last resort for thousands of people who don’t qualify for assistance elsewhere. Their aim is to help anyone that needs it, anywhere, whether they are male or female, no matter what their age or situation in life.

You can find my page here: HELP SAVE BOOBIES. No amount is too small. And if you aren’t able to donate at this time, please share me with your friends, co-workers, business owners, etc. Thanks in advance for your help and support.

That’s all folks!Keep on keepin on! Don’t give up! Don’t Quit! Be a healthier you. Even if you fail, get right back up and keep doing work!
And as always be AWESOME!

Wednesday Wall Balls

EQUALS NO FUN for this girl! If you’ve been around long enough, you should know without a doubt that me and wall balls might as well be mortal enemies. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 10lb ball or 14lb ball, I DISLIKE this ~~movement~~ torture. To make matters even more interesting, it’s not just KAREN (aka 150 wall balls), It’s Karen + other crap.

But before I dive into that brutality, can I get a WOOOOOO? I can’t hear you! WOOOOOO! Ya let me tell you what you are yelling for (you better be yelling) … wait for it, wait for it … a 20lb PR on my Back Squat! YA!

Today was a retest for those of us that missed last week… cough cough ME. And I was a little hesitant/scared! I didn’t want to fall in the DID NOT PR category. But I am finally making gains. I went from 145lbs to 165lbs. So excited for that and now 200lbs doesn’t seem like a pipe dream anymore. It’s a realistic goal!

2/20/13 WOD

MetCon: 12.4 – 12 minute AMRAP of 150 wall balls, 90 DU, 30 MU
Last year when they released this WOD for the CrossFit Open, I pretty much laughed. This time around for this throwback WOD there wasn’t so much laughing but more of a sigh and OH HELL. At least I have a PR for the day. Just do better than last year! Right?

Even though I am dumb for defeating myself mentally before the clock even starts, I found some sort of pace and was over half way through the wall balls before I was halfway through the time! And then that wall that I like to run into popped up and I hit it, HARD! And then I just counted myself out. It’s not gonna happen. And with that sucky ass attitude why would it happen? I had about 10 NO REPS throughout where the ball made the distance but didn’t touch the WALL! So that was wasted energy! When time was called I had 133 completed. Yes it’s improvement over the 120 I had last year but I really feel like I should have finished. Barely a month after last year’s beating we just did plain ol Karen and I finished in 14:37 so I think for sure I would have beat that time. I know there are folks who get 150 wall balls finished in half the time or LESS. One day I’d just be happy with a SUB 10 minute score!

14 days till the open and I’m at about an 80/20 clean eating situation. I haven’t made it to a 90/10 or just an all out 100% commitment. What is wrong with me? I’m getting back there though, just very slowly! Ernie says he’s committed to being strict for the next 14 days and on into the open so maybe that will help me out! I know there’s a few folks at the BOOM Box trying it out now and I hope you all are staying strong and following through. Help me to get back on it! Please!

Also, my friend Vicki shared this AWESOME video, all about the PALEO:

On that note. EAT CLEAN ladies and gents! Smile! Share your AWESOMENESS with others and enjoy the day!

No More Burpees!

Can I just get a burpee BREAK?!? I know that won’t happen but wouldn’t it be nice? I had a busy weekend, lots of working out and some off road eating. Yikes! But have no fear. Whole30 is here to stay even if it’s on loose terms every now and then! Where should I start? I guess I’ll start with Saturday and work my way up to today! Hopefully I don’t dredge on for too long! I know y’all LOVE me but not sure how much exactly 😀

SATURDAY 2/2
Boom Box morning consisted of Deadlifts and SNATCH. Boy oh Boy. I failed to take a picture but ah well. I’ve been fairing much better in the Deadlift, at least I FEEL good at doing them!

Skill/Stength: DL 4×5@77.5%
Working at 77.5% isn’t so bad. Ended up being 155 for me. I felt good through all the sets. My hamstrings used to be so tight, they would light up like Christmas and hurt like hell. Now I don’t have all of those issues, which is nice.

MetCon: 10 min AMRAP Snatch 30 reps at each weight 75/45 135/75 165/100 210/120 Scaled 35 55 75 90
Argh, 12.2 of last years CF Open. I still don’t SNATCH more than 65lbs out of me being a weirdo. I know I can do the weight, I’m just a scaredy cat. So of course I went with the scaled weights. I managed to get through 35lbs and 55lbs. Had time to get a few in at 75lbs but that wasn’t happening. I still kept trying but I was getting nowhere. Although I don’t care for SNATCH that much, I do like lifting in general. Just one more thing to work on!

Girls Night Out @ CrossFit Pantego
CFP is a box that is in the area and I happen to know the owners. They decided to host a GNO which sounded like fun to mix and mingle with other ladies from the area. Some folks were from that box, others newbies and even others came from other boxes. It was a good mix of novice and experienced women. Since there was such a good turnout the WOD didn’t consist of anything with bars or their pull up rig. It was all body weight movements. And it was a partner WOD to boot.

200m run, push ups, 200m run, air squats, 200m run, burpees, 200m run, lunges, 200m run, sit ups. But wait there’s more. On your run you get a 10lb plate. While one partner ran, the other partner did the movement. Then partners switched. So each person did the run and the movement. Lucky for me and Mel, CrossFit BOOMer, we got the 20lb MED BALL to run with. That ladies and gentlemen is NO JOKE! We were hanging in there in regards to the running but towards the end we both fell apart. I figured if I was gonna suck at the run I better bust out the reps! Mel had the same idea as me and low and behold we score a whopping 528 reps! Wooo go us!

CrossFit Pantego Girl’s Night Out

After the WOD we headed over to a very generous hostess who let us come in and take over her house. We all brought some sort of eats. I myself brought Paleo Deviled Eggs and there was plenty of other goodness there to be had, Paleo and non Paleo but I stuck with the good stuff.

Monday 2/4
Boy oh boy am I sore! It hurt to do the warm up this morning. I was really afraid of not hitting the weight on the Strength portion cause I was sooooo Sore! But amazingly I did!

Skill/Strength: 3 x 2 Back Squat @ 95% of 1RMYup I got the reps in. Only one rep was kind of ugly but other than that, I did just fine. I am always slow at coming back up even though I’m trying to will myself to explode up! It just doesn’t happen. On my last set I kept thinking to myself to PUSH UP on the bar and low and behold I was a little quicker coming up. I know I’ve been told that. I know I’ve heard that on podcasts but today I really focused on that and whaddyaknow! It helped.

2/4/13 WOD

MetCon: 2 rounds 30 Burpees to plate, 400m run, REST 1:1, then 4 rounds 15 burpees to plate, run 200
I bet you were wondering where NO MORE BURPEES came from and well now you know. Burpees last Saturday, Burpees this recent Saturday and Burpees this morning! And of course I’ve set a precedent that I can bust out burpees. This is a curse people, A CURSE! I can’t not do burpees well anymore. It’s a badge that I was proud of but I’m good now! I don’t need it anymore! So I didn’t even look at the clock to see how fast or SLOW I did the 30 burpees but I got back from the run in 4 minutes flat. So I got to rest for 4 minutes. Rinse and Repeat. I did the second round in 4:12. Woo I get an extra 12 seconds of rest! Not the goal I know but hey it’s 12 seconds. Then it was the 4 rounds with NO REST. Since most of you know I suck at running I wasn’t sure how it would all go down. I did my first round like a champ! Rounds 2, 3 and 4 a little hard! I got back from the first run and just went and knocked out 7 burpees, tried not to vomit then finished. After run 2 I only busted out 5 burpees, then dragged ass. It was the same after run 3! By the 4th round I was ready to quit. I got to 12 and I heard someone say just move and I finished the last 3 as if I was fresh out of the gate. Ran as fast as I could which wasn’t much. I finished the 4 rounds in just over 10 minutes with a final time of 27:02. Not too bad I hope. I’ll have to wait to see how the rest of the day pans out via the whiteboard though!

Whole30 – on track. kind of sorta!
So in the middle of Saturday I was tempted with Chick-fil-a, cupcakes, cookies, sweet tea, etc. All my fault as I purchased it all but it’s for a birthday party! I was GOOD! Excellent in fact, NO taste testing! By Saturday night, post GNO though I was tempted by those leftover cupcakes! I thought I’ll just take a bite. So I DID! And I SPIT IT RIGHT OUT! As good as I know they were since they were a hit with the kids, they were TOO SWEET! I would have never thought those words would come out of my mouth but they did! I didn’t swallow one crumb, I spit it out and rinsed my mouth out with water! Whew! It was a bittersweet feeling. Yay, I don’t need sweets and BOOO I don’t need sweets!

Superbowl Sunday hits and I get a little off the path. I savored a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks. It didn’t send me spiraling downward. Did affect my stomach, but not sure if that was coffee in general or the combo of coffee, dairy and caramel? But I was good. Then I was all ready to go and ENJOY my paleo foods at a Superbowl Party. Plus our hosts had Paleo foods as well. BUT of course there were non Paleo foods in my face as well. I started off pretty ok. I had a few chips to go with the Guacamole I made but just 2 or 3. I had brisket and deviled eggs and my favorite treat BACON WRAPPED sweet potato! Those were like candy to me. Then I chose to taste cake batter dip, which was made with Greek Yogurt. YUM, that was good! Then I chose to try TRASH DIP that had cream cheese, chili and some form a melted cheese. YUMMY. But they were just tastes! By the end of the night there were some BRISKET nachos being made. Well, there was my line. And I was going to cross it! And it was good. Chips, queso and Brisket! TRIPLE YUMMY! And won’t you know it within the hour of eating those my face got all itchy, my nose started running and I was a mess! And of course Ernie was right there in my face… THE NACHOS! argh, the probably VELVEETA cheese, although I did not inquire. But most party quesos in a crockpot consist of something along the lines of highly processed cheese such as velveeta. I still slept fine and woke up fine. Maybe a little more bloated feeling that I would have liked. Just a confirmation to stay on the WholeLIFE path! Stick with the clean eating and I’ll be fine. The good news is that YES I want to stay clean (sound like an addict much?) and I didn’t jump off the deep end and go bat shit crazy over junk! I think if I do indulge in treats they will be dark chocolate based or some sort of fruit sweetened muffin made with coconut flour or almond flour. Maybe some almond flour pancakes. But other than that, I don’t see myself diving into a banana split anytime soon.

I was back to eating my Whole30 plan of attack today. Even ventured out a little bit and made some Salmon Cakes! And my oh my they were tasty. I was limited on cooking and prep time so they were basic and they still turned out fabulous! Added some of my HOMEMADE PALEO MAYO that was leftover from the deviled eggs and BOOM I had a lovely lunch! Seriously, I could get crafty with these Salmon Cakes and I mostly likely will start soon!

How’s that for a busy, fun, trial and error weekend? Good times! It’s just Monday but I am a ball of energy! Who says that? MONDAY and ENERGY?!? No freakin way! YES SIR! Go now, enjoy your day and BE FREAKIN AWESOME!

Home Stretch

It’s so close – Day 27 of the WHOLE30 and you know what? This train isn’t stopping! I still wish I had a chef to alleviate some of the burden that goes into it all but I’m not holding my breath on that one. The big challenge will be Birthday Cupcakes at my son’s birthday party this weekend! I think I’ll be fine since at this moment that doesn’t even sound good. But who knows by then. I should be fine.

Whole30 Days 24-27
The weekends have become easier to manage. In the past I either skipped meals or lived on fruit and junk of some form but I’m managing well with 3 meals a day. It helped that I made chili this weekend. Yesterday was the first day I felt a nap was in order, I think I was just spent from my CrossFit workout the day before but who knows. My hormones are still changing so it’s been all sorts of chaos on my mental state. I wish that would go away ASAP!

Went to PF Changs for my baby boy’s birthday. Risky I know. I googled it of course and partakers of Whole30 suggested the Gluten Free, Steamed Salmon and Ginger. So that’s what I ordered, no sauces on anything. Of course the server looked at me funny and said well the Chicken Lettuce Wraps you ordered weren’t special, I said I know, those are for them, not me 😦 OH how I LOVE the lettuce wraps. They would have been fine if they weren’t cooked in a sauce that has rice wine and sugar

I patiently waited for my food as it was the last to come out. Took a few bites and it was delicious! Flavorful and I’m not a huge fan of salmon. All the veggies were steamed as well. I busted out my bottle of Coconut Aminos, YES I DID! and splashed some on my foods. I probably would have been fine without but it was good anyways. Not too bad, even watched the family all get dessert. Although I wish I could had a sample, I powered through. Got home, started prepping my Chili for dinner and I had to rush, RUN to the bathroom. Not sure if there was something in that Salmon or if it was just fish itself but I fear it wasn’t Whole30 compliant. I won’t ever know though and I’m not quitting or starting over based on that. I felt fine the rest of the day.

As you can see or NOT see, I haven’t been taking any GOOD pics of my meals but I’ll share my Chili Pic with you. It’s not impressive but the actual food was good.

Not the best pic, Chili with sweet potato, avocado on top. YUM!

1/28/13 Lunch – Chili, Spinach Salad, Broccoli, Kiwi

Chili Ingredients:
2lbs grassfed ground beef (chili cut, Burgandy Beef has a less ground beef just for chili, good stuff)
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 onion
1 garlic glove
1 sweet potato (cubed)
1 TBS cooking fat
Spices: cumin, salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne, red chili flakes, cinnamon ( I have no measurement as I just pour to my liking. I like heavy on the spice.

Saute onions and garlic in cooking fat, ghee for me, until onions start getting soft. Add ground beef. Add spices. Cook through. All the while I have the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and sweet potato warming up in my crockpot. You could do this all on stove as well. Once the ground beef is browned, dump into crockpot. Cook on high for 1-2 hours, check sweet potatoes. If they are soft, then you are good to go, If not let cook on low for another hour.

I would have added red, green and yellow peppers if I had them but I didn’t. It’s chili, add what you want. Turned out great! And sweet due to those sweet potatoes! Good stuff.

1/26/13 WOD
I was very sore walking into the BOOM Box Saturday morning. REALLY sore. My shoulders were dead, my hamstrings were dead and what was on the board: deadlifts and burpees!

Skill/Strength: 3 x 5 Deadlift @ 75% of 1RM
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve deadlifted. I think the last time is when I PR’d. And that was a while back now. So getting back to this lift was awkward but nice to do. 150lbs is my weight and overall I felt good. Had some small items to work on but didn’t lose all technique, thank goodness.

1/26/13 WOD

MetCon: 12.1! For those of you who don’t know, that was WOD 1 for the CrossFit Games Open last year. 7 minutes of Burpees! Oh the hell! We looked up our reps from last year and I got 74. Coach went around asking what our goals were for this time around and I said 75! Seriously. I’d be good with that. 3-2-1 GO! I was determined not to burn out too fast like I did last year. So I just went with the goal of “DON’T STOP”. Coaches were yelling out time left but it wasn’t really registering. I just thought this is the longest 7 minutes ever. I finally hit 75 reps and thought well shit I gotta keep going. Then I just said go and went H.A.M till I got to 90.

Then I thought I was going to die but there was still 2 minutes left. I just kept going up and down, making all kinds of mad noises. Final: 112! WOOOOOO! I don’t know where that came from but I was all sorts of Happy. Made my day indeed! After I stopped rolling on the ground like a flailing weirdo, I sat up and said Whole30! Strict clean eating!

1/28/13 WOD
Still dead from the Burpees. My shoulders are TOAST! Today was nice and HUMID. 62° and HUMID! We aren’t used to this right now. So much better than FREEZING! I fear February will bring us SUPER COLD though. We need it to kill the buggies but I don’t like it!

Skill/Strength: 3 x 3 Back Squat @ 90% of 1RM
Yup that got heavy fast. My shoulder mobility sucked so bad holding on to the bar. UGH! My hips were dead too. I worked on my hip mobility after my first set and Coach noticed a big difference. I could feel it and knew then that I should have done both sides, but my right side is the painful side. Ah well. Got through the lifts ok. I’m not feeling explosive on the way back up. Hopefully that’s just a side effect of being smoked!

1/28/13 WOD

MetCon: 100 Double Unders, 75 HR Push Ups, 50 TTB, 25 Pull Ups. You have 5 minutes to complete each movement. If you finish early in your 5 minutes of one movement, you get to rest! Record time finished.
So we have 5 minutes to do 100 DUs, 5 minutes to do the Push Ups and so forth. A timed chipper I guess is best to describe it. I was already scare of DUs just because my shoulders are so tight, sore, etc. Shoulders go fast when they are already useless to you. Then PUSH UPS next. Not good! I finished DU’s in a little over 2 minutes, I can’t recall specific times but I know it was 2 something. It was a good rest till HR Push UPs. I struggled but managed to finish in a little over 4 minutes. Enough time to get handguards on for TTB, errr Knees to Elbow for me. I found my kip and got 10 in a row. Went back for another 10, then hit a wall. Only getting 5 at a time, then only 3, then 2. Finished under 4 minutes on this one though! Only 25 Pull Ups but it’s still alot in my book. Did 5, 5, 3, 2, 1, 2 and 1’d and 2’d it till the end. Finished in 4:20 I think, not sure, Final time (added up): 14:25.

There you have it folks. My weekend wrap up! Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. It’s a whole new week. Make that change you are thinking about, stop thinking about it! And be Awesome all the while!

Mental, Mental, Mental

Yup it’s true, and most of you know by now, I’m mental. Sometimes I exude overconfidence but mostly I’m just a basketcase! I have officially made it to day 20 of Whole30! Only 10 days to go. This weekend I struggled the most with wanting NOT GOOD FOR ME CRAP! Not sure why. A little more stressed than normal. Hormones playing with my emotions. I stayed on course and ate my meals and followed through, but mentally I struggled a little more than I had thought I would at this point. Only because it’s been pretty smooth sailing until Friday. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not throwing in the towel. But boy a taste of ice cream would have been delightful! In the END I stayed STRONG! It’s not that hard folks.

You gotta stop the excuses. Seriously. In It Starts With Food they have a lot of tough love moments and to me it’s really not even tough love, it’s REALITY. The reality is we are all grown ups. We all know what’s good and bad for us but we just make excuses. Being overweight, having PRE-DIABETES, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, joint pains, migraines, high cholesterol, etc are not good for you and YOU know that. Those are side effects of eating processed foods, sugary foods and those said foods cooked in VEGETABLE OIL (yes highly processed oils made from vegetables). Those are side effects of eating CHEMICAL SUGAR with no Calories as well! Yet here is the majority of society not giving a damn. Or those trying to give a damn by counting calories or points. If you just lay off the JUNK (btw it’s not food, just JUNK), eat real food, drink plenty of water and drop those “DIET DRINKS”, I can PROMISE you that you will not only feel change, you will see change. Ya I’m not a Dr., but I know change will come. I don’t think a Dr. is going to tell you it’s BAD for you to try to eat real foods. I’m sure there will be some that advocate grain and milk but I bet they can’t tell you something bad will happen if you don’t eat them. Once again, I ask you to give it a try. Suck it up and just SEE. 30 days!

My heart wants everyone to be healthy. And sure there are “many” ways to get healthy but fretting over calories and snacks will drive you to insanity and FAILURE. Want a prize? I’m up for giving something away. It won’t be large because I don’t have the income that provides large. Let’s go with a $30 incentive. Since I’m asking you to go for 30 days. Again it’s not a lot but I’m thinking some sort of gift card that you can use towards something for your kitchen, to help you out for prepping your whole, clean and healthy foods! Have you eaten your weight in girl scout cookies? Can you not let go of that ice cream after dinner habit? Then why not try something NEW? If you’re up for the challenge, then comment below. We’ll go over details. YES it’s going to be based on WHOLE30. Yes that’s called clean eating. Paleo. Whatever. Just do it though! I know you could all be a bunch of liars, but I’m hoping whoever is up for it will be truthful, take before and after pics and also keep in touch with me every couple of days to let me know their status. So it’s out there. A small prize for you making a little bit of effort. Anyone in?

1/19/13 WOD

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. Ours was pretty good. I finally got to cleaning my house which was way overdue. Now if someone would just mop my kitchen floor for me. That would be fantastic! But before clean fest happened I did stop in at the good ol BOOM Box!

MetCon: TABATA of Hollow Rocks and Superman Rocks 2 minute rest then Death By Thrusters (65lbs)

Hollow Rock, you rock in this position. Killer on the ABS! Flip over on your stomack for Superman Rocks.

I know TABATA anything will hurt. Little did I know Hollow Rocks are horrid in TABATA fashion. Superman Rocks are another one of my strengths, DUs being my other. So those weren’t so bad.

1/19/13 WOD

It was Death by Thrusters that scared me. I went and looked through my blogs and didn’t find that we had done this workout previously. I was sure we had but at this time I came up with nothing. So coach thought 65lbs was a doable weight for all the females and it was just fine. It’s been a while since I have done Thrusters with a bar because of dumb shoulder pain. The pain was still there but I was determined to overlook it. After a few rounds I didn’t feel it much. It was my wrists that caved in early! I was in pain. Only made it through 8 rounds. I think I could have at least made it through 9 had my wrists not been dying. I couldn’t fight through that pain at all. 8 rounds, not so bad I suppose.

1/21/13 WOD
Strength/Skill: 3 x 3 Back Squat at 90% of 1RM
Whew that gets heavy fast! My warm up weights were good, I was getting good depth and popping right back up. Put on 130lbs and that slowed me down a bit. I surprisingly made it through the 3 sets. It’s only 3 right? But it was a struggle.

1/21/13 WOD

MetCon: CINDY
Ah Cindy, I do not like you. I’ve told you this before. My feelings have not changed. Something as simple as Pull Ups, Push Ups and Air Squats can be soooo evil! Especially when it’s a 20 minute AMRAP. Cindy I know I’ve done. I have one blogged record and although it was a lower score at 6 rounds 4 rep, I was only using one green band. Today I was using one green and one blue band. I suck so bad at Pull Ups. I managed to get through 10 rounds 3 reps. I’m a baby. Cindy is Mean. The End.

Whole30 Days 17-20
I wasn’t very good at taking pictures this weekend of all my foods, but to be honest it was a lot of the same. Protein (ground beef), sauteed up with spinach and sweet potatoes. I would change it up with some cauliflower or broccoli but nothing EXCITING. I was in Clean house mode so I just needed fuel. And fuel is what I made.

1/18/13 Lunch – Ground beef, Sauteed Broccoli, Roasted Cauliflower, 1/2 Avocado and a Kiwi

We are on our last package of Pork Belly and our handy dandy butcher hasn’t had any since we last stocked up 😦 So I ordered some Sugar-Free Bacon from US Wellness Meats. It should arrive today. I’m rather excited.

Mood: Again, besides mother nature barging in and making me feel bleh. I still feel pretty good, full of energy and no lulls in the day. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post though, I was mental. I wanted bad stuff. Mostly for the sake of convenience I think but also because it sounded a little bit good. Not good enough to throw Whole30 down the drain but it did surprise me to have that desire. I’ve been so good and so on point with no cravings and now more than halfway through my brain says GIVE ME GIVE ME GIVE ME! Seriously? UGH. I’ve read in ISWF about that happening, but not to me! Right? Oh but it did!

Ten days to go! Have a week’s worth of veggies and grass fed meats to get me through. I also remember to snap a picture of the Pasta Sauce I use, Organic and NO SUGAR added = PERFECT. So many pasta sauces have some sort of sugar or odd chemical. This brand happily does not.

Hopefully I get over this mental battle and just power through. And hopefully I don’t waste food. It seems that towards the end of the week, I was becoming a little forgetful and left food out instead of putting it away. That’s a fast way to throw money in the trash!

Hope everyone has a great day. It’s Monday Funday? NO it’s just MONDAY! Take care of your mind and body! and BE AWESOME!

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

back squat

A week off = Bittersweet

Drumroll please……… DAY 30!

Found!

Kill Some of the Things

Injuries Blow

Monday Not So Fun Day

Wednesday Wall Balls

No More Burpees!

Home Stretch

Mental, Mental, Mental

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