It has begun – Whole30

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Happy Monday folks. If you’ve been following along most of you know, I put off my New Year’s resolution till today. This has worked out just fine. I had plenty of time to prepare mentally and get my ducks in order food wise. So this past weekend, consisted of eating mucho food and then shopping to get my health back to goodness. I know, I could have just made any day D-Day, but today seemed logical. I’m ready to do this. And I really don’t want to be back to this OOMPA LOOMPA state again, EVER. I already thought I was past this and would never return, especially to the extreme I’m at now. Sadly I did return and now it’s time to ANNIHILATE this chunky monkey.

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The day before Day ONE – PREP and COOK
I mentioned last week that I purchased Weeknight Paleo, by Amber Beam over at www.paleosavvy.com. The decision to buy this cookbook was spurred by the fact that it had some interesting recipes that were a little bit outside my comfort zone but not completely way out there. I tend to get stuck in “food” ruts, which leads to boredom, which leads to laziness, which leads to me swimming in the abyss of junk food. The book lays out shopping lists, when to cook/prep things and how long I have to use the foods.

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So off we went to Whole Foods. I told Ernie to be patient with me as I was buying specific items and not our “normal” veggie and protein stash. We had our shopping trip down to a science. A very boring science. So now I’m shopping for Jicama, specific fruits, and stuff off my normal radar. I’m also shopping for cuts of meat I’m not accustomed to asking for at the meat counter. To be safe, I still got some of our go to staples. This made my overall total bill a lot more than I’m used to but the meats are easily frozen to be used for another day.

Some of the foods already packed up and ready to go!

Some of the foods already packed up and ready to go!

My first step in prepping was to get my PORK SHOULDER ROAST going. Then I was on to chopping up veggies for salads during the week. I also roasted a chicken and split it up into portions for post workout meals. Pureed some sweet potato to go with my PWO meal. Roasted sweet potato for meal 1 of the Weeknight Paleo. And I also boiled some eggs for quick breakfast when I don’t have time for much else. This took me a couple of hours but I think it’s well worth it to be prepared.

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Day ONE
Well it’s only the beginning of Day ONE but my PWO meal went down easily. My breakfast on the other hand was much more of a chore. I just am not a big eater in the morning. Like I told Ernie, had I been sipping on a nice coffee drink and a sweet pastry, it would have been gone in 3 seconds. But 3 EGGS with veggies, however tasty they were was just a beating to get it down. I had to keep telling myself that I was resetting my gut, rewiring my brain, etc. Mostly rewiring my brain. I’m such a baby. But I ate it all and I survived. And I’m pretty satiated at the moment. My lunch is packed to the specifications of the Whole30 guidelines and dinner is pretty much ready to go. Just gotta heat it up. Woohooo. Day ONE should be successful… let’s just hope Day TWO and beyond reach the same success.

BOOM BOX recap
1/3/14
MetCon: (running clock) 3 minutes Elbow Plank, rest 2 min, 5 minutes max Wall Balls, rest 5 min, 5 min AMRAP of 20 Double Unders and 10 snatches 75/45. Score Wall Balls + reps from AMRAP

How’s that for a Friday workout. Doesn’t seem to daunting right? First off the Elbow Plank. Ya I suck at this. Barely made it a minute in without having to drop. Then was barely getting 15 seconds at a time after that. The rest following the plank was much needed. Because Wall Balls were about to destroy me. It’s been at least 3 or 4 months since I’ve done a Wall Ball. Doesn’t help I’ve been injured. I started slow with a 10lb ball and seemed ok, then moved to the 14lb ball. HOW IS THIS SO MUCH HEAVIER?!?!? I could get it up there but I was scared as I fatigued that catching it would put too much stress on the wrist. So Coach ALLOWED me to let it just drop and catch on the rebound! WHAT? I loved this idea! Cause I’m a bum. But that fun left pretty quickly. I only managed 50 Wall Balls in 5 minutes.

1/3/14 WOD

1/3/14 WOD

Then it was time for the 5 minute AMRAP of DUs and Snatches. How does 5 minutes in Wall Balls last forever and 5 minutes of this AMRAP finish in a minute. Oh my rebellious brain. Before we started I wanted to test out my Snatch. So I got the 15lb techniqe bar and threw it up and NO PAIN. So I moved to the 25lb bar and NO PAIN. I was scared moving up to the 35lb bar but I picked it up and BAM, NO PAIN. Coach had me stay at 35lbs which was fine by me. And it was so much more fine once the AMRAP started and my shoulders were DYING! I got through 3 full rounds, 20 DUs and 4 Snatches. Final: 164 reps.

1/4/13 Track WOD
Oh why oh why did I show up for this misery. Because I need to get back to it and start being a mini beast. That’s why. But it sure does suck at this moment. I also got my kids up for this crap. Good thing for them is they are good at running!

Warm up: Leg swings, 400m jog, dynamic movements
Let’s just say the 400m JOG was practically a crawl. More sucking at life.trackday

Conditioning
A: 50 yrd sprint x 6 (walk back for rest)
Uh, ya, no fun. And I typically like sprinting. This was hurting my shins and my right hip, lower back.

B: Team WOD 400 m run, 100 yd Buddy Carry, 400m run
I was done as far as running was concerned. TOO. MUCH. PAIN! So I teamed up with my kiddos. Only one person working at a time but since I was barely hanging in there Coach let me walk one 400m while the other two ran. I barely finished the walk to keep up with them. Then it was my job to buddy carry them. So I carried one kid halfway, then swapped out for the way back. At the end of that I was DUNZO, so they ran the 400m and I cheered them on! So proud of those boys! They worked hard.

C: 50 yd Lunge, 50 yd sprint for time
And here I thought we were done after those 400’s. NOPE. I had a 50 yd lunge and then a 50 yd hobble. At least I showed up!

1/6/13
HOLY SCHMOLY, it’s cold outside. I’m talking in the teens here. We haven’t seen sub 20° in a long time! And I almost snoozed right through the 5am class!

Midline: 30 hollow rocks
Getting slightly better at this misery. But still struggling.

Strength: Front Squats @ temp 102X1 (10 sec neg, 2 sec hold, fast up, 1 sec at top) 3×5 then 20 reps AFAP (w/ doable weight)
Uh yaaa. I should have slept in! Taking 10 seconds to hit bottom is HARD. By the 3rd round, at a measley 60lbs, I finally had it figured out but I could only do 3 consecutive. My hip/lower back was dying. Like a permanent cramp. I still did the work, but I was not liking it at all. Then it came time to do 20 reps As Fast As Possible. I did 12. Then racked it. Hip/lower back was on fire. Plus, I’m Frankensteining it and that sucks even more. Finished my 8 reps then laid on a foam roller for a long time.

1/6/14 WOD

1/6/14 WOD

MetCon: 3 Rounds For time of 20 Sit Ups, 10 Push Ups, 10 T2B, 5 HSPU
Today was all about the core. I probably won’t be able to roll out of bed tomorrow. Sit Ups and Push Ups, I got. T2B and HSPU, not so much. So it was Knees to Elbows and Overhead presses with the Multi-Grip Bar which I was kind of excited about. I need to work on that overhead strength. I felt I did well with everything but KTE. So frustrating. Hanging onto the bar hurts SO bad! Time: 8:26

That’s A Wrap!
I worked out 6 days! Wooooo! It’s been a while since that has happened. With school and baseball picking back up I fear that it won’t be a common occurrence but I’m shooting for 5 days. I’m all prepped for the week to SUCCEED at the Whole30. And I sadly took “before” pics of myself. It’s funny how one (me) can live in denial about where one is at until one sees pictures of oneself. That’s a slap in the face. Big time. Bleh. I’m definintely determined for those “before” pictures to NEVER BE AGAIN! I’m up MANY pounds over where I’d ideally like to be. And when I say many, I’m mean 40-50lbs over. That’s the icing on the cake for me. So no more icing and no more cake. Gotta shed this weight and get back to the leaner version of me.

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I hope you all have a fabulous day and if you’re rebooting, starting something new or making a change today then BE STRONG! BE A ROCKSTAR! I’m here to cheer you on and send you virtual high fives! Whole30 on!

My tshirt that I ordered from Savage Life Apparel! So cute!

My tshirt that I ordered from Savage Life Apparel! So cute!

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Thankful and Blessed

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Hey everybody… I just wanted to thank all of you again for checking out my posts regularly. This is my part of the little world to vent, rant, rave, be silly etc. Even if I had zero readers I’d probably still blog away. I just want to re-iterate that I share my days, my ups and downs, my silly world with you so you know LIFE is a journey. Life can be hard, but it can be SUPER and rewarding as well. In the end, this blog is for fun, entertainment (sometimes), and a creative outlet. So thanks for putting up with me willingly 🙂

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Yesterday we had a little bit of crazy enter our world. One of my kids lost complete feeling in his legs for a few hours and had all of us, including Dr.’s scratching our heads. All is well now as far as we can tell but it’s those moments in life where you sit back and evaluate. We should be thankful and appreciative daily but on a day to day basis sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. (Cliche I know, but you get me right?) And of course when I’m rambling here it’s mostly towards a specific love/hate relationship I have with CrossFit and clean eating. Like I’ve said, idrankthecfkoolaid.com is meant to share my experiences on my fitness journey. You get tidbits of the rest of my life but only tidbits. After some reflection and prayer, I know and have always known that I am truly THANKFUL and BLESSED. My life is GREAT. I don’t think I say that enough. It’s not perfect by any means, HELLOOO, I have 3 boys (13, 11 and 10). It can be a little insane. We have a lot of irons in the fire but we are good. God has truly blessed me.

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I just wanted to share that and put that out into the open but I still gotta recap my BOOM BOX morning where I forget all of those happy warm feelings! Especially when it’s 30° outside! And this morning I felt OLD. Not old like on my death bed old but worn out and heavy feeling. My bones felt heavy. I wasn’t feeling bushy tailed and wide eyed at all. I’m sure it was the mental stress of yesterday, the cold of this morning and the fact that I just might make all 5 days this week instead of sleeping in, feeling crappy or whatever. Ernie actually encouraged me to go this morning. So I had to roll out of bed and go.

Skill/Strength: 5 RM Deadlift

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SOOOOOO being all sleepy and old feeling I forgot we had a 3RM day last week, so I was just going until I could go no more or until time ran out! After some good warm ups I was ready to jump up in weight and like I’ve been saying over and over, DEADLIFTS finally feel good to me. I used to dread them but now it’s like wow, I can lift this. My hamstrings aren’t wound up tighter than a (fill in the blank because I’m at a loss for something funny). I worked up to 185 and knocked those out. Coach said was that HARD. I was like NO but it’s not EASY either. So he goes it was easy. Do one more set and add weight. So I went up to 195lbs and besides losing grip, I felt good at this weight. Again not HARD but not easy. Just somewhere in the middle. I don’t do the math to find out what my 1 RM should be but it should be something amazing! Yay for Deadlifts!

3/6/13 WOD

3/6/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 rounds of a 3 minute AMRAP of 5 Shoulder to Overhead (155lbs/95lbs), 10 Burpees, 15 Toes to Bar, rest 1 minute.
Hhhmmmmm. Did I tell you all I felt heavy and old? Ya, 95lbs, hhmmm. I can get 95 overhead. My max right now is 105lbs. And then someone asks if we are cleaning the weight each round and the answer is YES. Duh, why would I hope for anything else. So my max clean is 105lbs too. Hmmm. I warm up thinking I’ll just go to 85lbs. Seriously I was ready to take a step back. Then I remembered how I fought through those damn Kettle Bell Thrusters on Saturday and told myself to do the 95lbs. Just suck it up and do it. You are already going to not do TTB as prescribed, you might as well do the weight RX! 3-2-1 GO. I cleaned the bar fine. I felt good. But HOLY SHEESH this is heavy going over head! I went slow. I dropped the bar after the 4th rep. HELLO you only have to do 5. Then I struggled cleaning the bar again. I got mental really quickly. Finally got it overhead and moved to Burpees. These are never any fun but got through them and I didn’t even try to do TTB, just went straight to Knees to Elbows. I didn’t even complete one round in the 3 minutes. How defeating. After our minute rest it was time for the second round of 3 minutes. I got a little more amped and aggressive with the bar and knocked out the STOH like it was easy or something. See what MENTAL does to you? Got to burpees. A little slower than last time. 95lbs is still heavy for me. I was tired. And then fought for those 15 KTE! Made it through one round. Yay! I pretty much went through the 3rd round the same as the 2nd. I finished even faster but wasn’t able to clean the bar fast enough to get it overhead before time was up. Score: 86 reps. Not super or outstanding but I put in the work and I was beat!

13.1 is released today for the CrossFit Open and foodwise I’m not ready. Way to go Steph. Way to screw up Whole30 when it counts the most. It is what it is and I just gotta focus on eating clean over the next 5 weeks and just pray and hope to see improvement. I’m sharing a link about being a sugar addict. I typically share all 21-Day Sugar Detox and Whole30 type information. But found this to be another source/voice to add to my arsenal of information. This might be the words that you needed to read to kick the sugar, grains and dairy habit. http://www.beingprimal.com/could-you-actually-be-addicted-to-foods. Check it out. (Disclaimer, the only thing I don’t agree with is the beans in the detox salad) Kick that crap to the curb and carry on! Or just pretend you are doing all the right things and your health is in tip top shape. I know it’s gibberish to hear that GRAINS, something that is the basis of the FOOD PYRAMID and that has been bashed in our heads FOREVER are bad for you! But they are. It’s hard to believe that SUGAR is that bad for you. Even worse those NO CALORIE CHEMICAL SUGARS are gasp… BAD for you!

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Come on now. You know deep down all that processed food going in your body is not good for you. Or wait maybe you don’t. It’s becoming clearer everyday, from news shows, to reality tv shows that the GENERAL PUBLIC has no idea how BAD processed food can be for you. If it comes in a box don’t eat it. If it comes out of a window don’t eat it. If it has more than ingredients you can not pronounce or clearly define DO NOT EAT IT. I can’t force you to eat real food or make you believe me. You have to do your own research. You have to do your own self experimentation. I’m telling you that I physically have seen and felt the difference and I know others that have as well. Giving it a try isn’t going to kill you. At least I don’t think it will! Just try to eat better folks! Please!

Alright enough for today. It’s HUMP day! Take that one step for a better, healthier life – It will make you more AWESOME!

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Yay Monday! Hehe, Ok NOT really!

Besides being broke, AC in car crapping out on me and whatever else I can whine about it’s my least FAVORITE day MONDAY! In reality it’s not that bad. I just like to give Mondays a bad rap.

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The CrossFit competition came and went like a whirlwind. The day flew by and we had a great time! I’d like to say my TEAM was AWESOME! For a bunch of ROOKIES we did pretty good. We placed 22nd out of 79 teams. There were some amazingly strong folks out there and when I grow up I want to be just like them ツ I only competed in 1 of the 3 WODs which was sad at first but fine by me at the end of the day. I would have slowed the team down had I attempted to compete in the other two WODs. But I will say I think the one I was in was the WORST one to be in. It started out with 15 Curtis Ps using a 30lb sandbag. After that 2 of us had to run the sandbags to the other end of arena, run back and start our leap frog push ups. All the while, our other two team members had already begun the pushups. The leap frog push ups went on for what seemed like FOREVER. We had to lie side by side in push up position, elbows touching. Then we had to push up over our partner over and over for a long distance. I don’t even know how long, I just know half way through I felt like dying and Ernie puked in his mouth. Thank goodness it wasn’t while he was jumping over me!

Me and Mel (AKA SUPER WOMAN) ready to start the day at Europa.

The first WOD consisted of 200 back squats, 50 per team member. I have a 1 RM of 145 and the squat weight was 135. This is why I was not part of the WOD. The rest of my team KILLED it! I was so happy and proud for them to push through like they did! It was pure amazeballs!

The third WOD was all SNATCH and running. It was 21-15-9 of Snatch then run to other end of arena and back after each set. Each team member had to complete the round before they could run. We practiced SNATCH at the box on Friday and well I sucked. So we decided I wouldn’t partake. Thank goodness because even though I probably would have found some competitive strength I know our team would have had a slower finish. So proud of the BOOM Box!!

The BOOM teams! We had one Elite team and one Intermediate team! So proud of everyone ツ Happy to spend the day with y’all!

POST Europa
Several of us met up at BJs Brewhouse and stuffed our faces with pizza and pizookies. Although it was 1000% yummo, I felt 3000% crappo! Definitely had a food hangover on Sunday. I’m gonna kind of give myself the week off from super clean eating, get back into it next week and then go full blown sugar detox again the first week of September. Don’t get me wrong I’ll probably eat rather clean regardless but I won’t be too concerned if some cheese, sugar or wheat crosses my path!

8/20/12 WOD
So my knees are a little lot bruised up and my quads are still tender but I was feeling pretty good this morning. I’m hoping the rest of the team is recovering nicely!

Skill/Strength 5×5 Press @90% of 5RM. I couldn’t find a 5RM that I’ve noted so Coach told me to go with 60lbs. I was kind of excited to work on Press because I struggle with it so much. The good thing about competitions is that you come out of them wanting to push harder and be better. I did fine until my 4th set. I only managed to get 4 reps completed. So I rested a bit and was going to attempt 6 reps for my last set. Ends up I only got 4 again. So I took a small break and busted out the last 2. I felt ok though overall. I have the worst upper body strength so any work is better than no work.

8/20/12 WOD

MetCon: 400m run, 10 STRICT Toes To Bar. Yikes! I have a hard enough time kipping the TTB. I was just inches from touching the bar but just didn’t have the UMPH to get my toes up there. So we went for Knees To Elbows. Well I can get my knees almost high enough to be legit but the whole bending my elbows to make contact with knees just wasn’t happening! Coach gave me the clearance to move forward with my knees coming up ALMOST to my knees, whew! It still was not easy I promise. We all know I hate running so I wasn’t too excited for that but I plowed away at it and I really felt like I pushed more than I typically do on the bar. I was actually making leeway and catching up on the other folks there with me this morning. I made the mistake of thinking I could catch a really fast 15 year old in one of the runs. It was good that I pushed but geez it sucked! Time 13:16. I ended up catching him in the end though so I felt good. Is it sad that I get satisfaction from barely beating a kid? Hahaha, YES I suppose.

Overall, I’m trying to get in a positive more competitive mindset. I started out gung ho (A YEAR AGO), fell flat after letting my deranged mental side take over and now I’m ready to do ramp it up. Hopefully this HOPE and DESIRE stay strong and don’t fizzle out! Next week marks a full year of CrossFit for me. Coming in I had no idea where I’d end up or if I would even stick with it. But I’m still here and I plan to kick it into high gear.

Have a INSANELY GOOD Monday! And be AWESOME!

Hang Cleans YOU DECEIVE me!

WOW Hang Cleans really suck! I haven’t ever had to do them and they got to me. They got in my head, they hurt my body and I let them take over and ruin me this morning! That paired with Toes To Bar (Knees to Elbow for me) and Hand Release Push Ups!.

After our regular warm up we did OLY lift warmups to get us all primed for these hang cleans. Now I’m a big fan of Power Cleans so I thought HEY I GOT THIS! We proceeded to work the pvc, work the bar, and work the cleans. I felt pretty good. A little awkward not coming from the ground but nothing to worry about or so I thought. Let me be clear, I now know I AM NOT A FAN of HANG CLEANS!

5/15/12 WOD

The MetCon was 3 rounds of 8 Hang Cleans (75lbs), 10 TTB, 12 HR Push Ups. Now I’ve been struggling more with the TTB for some reason, so instead of struggling all morning with those I did Knees To Elbows. Well I knocked out 3 maybe 4 Hang Cleans then I just lost confidence. I didn’t feel like my forearms were working for me, my grip went to out the door and I struggled. I knocked out my first 8 and I was WHOOPED! KTE were slow and wussy. Push Ups were fine but I was still beat from the measly 18 reps of cleans and KTE. Ugh I was pissed. Back to the BAR for Hang Cleans and I was getting 2 at a time sometimes 1 at a time. Mentally I struggled. Physically I would hold it on my knees because I just would think I couldn’t get the damn weight up. That was a lot of my problem. The weight wasn’t too much of an issue. It’s that short distance maybe that got to me. I don’t have the power there… well I do have it, I just don’t know how to harness it each rep! It will come with time, I know. I also have to not OVERTHINK everything (yes I still let that thinking get in the way). And maybe, just maybe the next time my grip and forearms won’t get wasted in the first minute of the workout! 😦 Time: 13:52

Day 15 Sugar Detox
Back on track like I said I would be. I didn’t have any issues yesterday so I’m glad to report that. I really thought the bites of yummy goodness I had would ruin me. Just been stick with the basics, lean proteins, veggies, water and herbal teas. They’re keeping me on the up and up. I do feel like my stomach feels less bloaty. Kind of like when you give up grains. All that “fullness” goes away. For me it’s not going to be bikini wearing results unless someone wants to donate to some plastic surgery. I was not blessed with good skin in regards to having babies. I do feel lighter in general so I’m hoping I lost a few pounds. I don’t have a number per say that I would like to hit but a few pounds down isn’t going to hurt me. I’m in a good range, I just feel like I’m on the high end of it. I made a deal with the kiddos to extend the detox a few days since I did indulge. So I hope to push through to the weekend. My journey will end May 25th, at least that’s the plan for now 🙂

Have a great day y’all! Can you believe May is halfway over?!? I really wish I got a summer break like the kids get!!! BE AWESOME!