Walking… Today It’s a Struggle

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A few weeks ago, my workplace had a health fair type day. There was a little bit of everything. Health food vendors, massage therapists, wellness screenings and raffle prizes for health related stuff. They also had a sign-up to win sessions with a trainer. I figured why not, I need the extra kick in the butt and it would be during my lunch hour… so I threw my name in. Turns out everyone who signed up got to be in the training session. Woooo!

It’s mostly cardio based (which I do need) and so far has been nice extra push to my CrossFit world. The bad thing is that there are MIRRORS everywhere! I haven’t been in a non-CrossFit type environment in over 3 years where there are ZERO mirrors. Suddenly I found myself turning into my old way of thinking – judging everything – about ME. I know I have some extra layers of flub on me the but the mirrors are a huge negative reminder. Not that I don’t own a mirror at home but when I’m working out, I’m working out! Feeling good. Feeling empowered. I have strength and I press on. So day one, although good, was strangely stressful. I did better on day two though. Just pushed through and brought the intensity.

Adding that to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday CrossFit classes and I’m smoked. My shins, quads, hammies, feet… they all hate me! Not in the “overdid” it kind of way. But close! I need the shake up both physically and of course when it comes to food. I’m getting there. Making better choices and really trying to focus on the phrase I know all too well… “You can’t out train a bad diet!”

Tuesday – 4/21/15

SKILL & STRENGTH
8 min EMOM
odd 10 KB lunges
even 2 Turkish Get-Ups

Eight minutes isn’t a very long time. But add up the lunges and the balance it takes for Turkish Get-Ups and I was feeling like I could have called it a day!

CONDITIONING
CHIPPER for: (TOTAL TIME)
10-1
Pull-ups (modification: Ring Rows
OHS 65/45

Chippers. They can be your worst enemy sometimes. But I feel when it’s set up to to go from higher reps to lower reps, it’s easier on the mindset. The first set of Ring Rows and OHS went along smoothly. I did them all unbroken. I know that’s not impressive, being that Ring Rows aren’t entirely difficult an the OHS was only 45 lbs. But the idea is to move fast and get some work in. And then the round of 9. Ring Rows slowed down. I had to break them up. It was a sad state of affairs. But at least I was crushing my OHS. By the time I got to the round of 5, I was not feeling as defeated. I was almost done and the reps were getting fewer and fewer. I wanted to push harder on the Ring Rows… but there’s a point where the brain is not winning. Time: 8:30

Wednesday, 4/22/15

SKILL & STRENGTH
8x – 50ft band sprints

Not much to say here. Short and sweet.

CONDITIONING
5 rounds for: (Total Time)
Run 400m
20 KB Swings (1.5/1)
30ft Handstand Walk (Modified: shoulder touches on box)

Running. Bleh. If you know me, my feelings on running have not changed. Sadly, probably only have become more negative.  After my first run, I thought my left calf was going to literally explode, so I nicely asked if I could substitute the run with a row. Coach was cool with it. Which was great cause if not then I’d still be out there trying to finish!

KB Swings at 1 Pood… easy peasy! Ha. Maybe for the first 3 rounds. But towards the end, everything was a struggle.

And for my modified shoulder touches. I initially thought I got this. So I popped up into a handstand against the wall and just stood there. All I had to do was lift one hand off the ground and touch my shoulder. But my hands did not move. Didn’t budge :/ So I had to go to an even more modified situation using a box.

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This I could do. Right hand to right shoulder. Left hand to left shoulder. 30 times. Rounds 4 and 5 were a blur. But I finished. Time: 23:04

 

Pressing On

Yup I’m pressing on. I have been feeling weak. It’s true. But in the end I know I’m getting better. It may not be as huge as others but I know that slowly but surely things are clicking (except for pull ups of course). And this morning in the car I heard an old favorite song of mine by RelientK and it just got me amped that I just have to Press On. Leave all my crap behind. So here goes it. If you’ve stuck around with me long enough you know I have these ups and downs. I realize it. But it’s still gonna happen. I’m pretty sure that’s just a part of being human. 😀

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We’ve had unusual warm temps and it’s been quite nice showing up to the BOOM Box not freezing to death. I definitely think it helps that we are warmed up much more quickly.

Skill/Strength: Press 1,1,1,1,1
With Press my weight is low so there’s not much in regards to jumping through weight. After several rounds of warm up, Leigh and I decided to start at 55lbs for our first 1 rep. The goal was to do 55, 65, 70, 75, 80. Being that 70lbs is my 1RM that I’ve been stuck at that would give me two attempts to PR. When we got to 70lbs we traded out the 10lb and 5lb plates for 15lb plates and 2.5lb plates. Oh but I wasn’t paying attention. And the 5lbs were on there. So I go for my 3rd attempt and think wow this isn’t easy and it’s 70lbs which I tend to do fine. WOW I SUCK! Well I get it up and rack it. Notice the 5lbs and realize I just PR’d! Finally! I broke that damn 70lb wall I’ve been hitting for so long. Of course a PR gets you all excited so you want to see if you can jump even more, but that didn’t happen. 80lbs was not in my cards today. Still happy for my little PR.

1/25/13 WOD

1/25/13 WOD

MetCon: 20 EMOM – Even Minutes 2 MU, 6 CTB, 8 Chin Ups, 10 Ring Rows; Odd minutes 5 Press @65% of your heaviest in the strength portion. If you didn’t go RX then you had a buyout of 40 Ring Dips.
Leave it to me to screw up in the first round! I thought I had to do 2 Pull Ups because I saw the 2 in front of MU and wasn’t using my brain. So I was done really fast not realizing I owed 6 more reps. I moved on to minute 2 clueless and proceeded with Press. Went back to Pull Ups and everyone realized I didn’t do 8, doh! It wasn’t on purpose. I went and finished my 8. It definitely was not on purpose. But that first round was failed :/ because I didn’t finish Pull Ups. As the minutes wound down. I had 3 more failed rounds due to Pull Ups. I finished all my Presses at 50lbs. So I had a total of 6 rounds completed. I still put Pull Up effort in managing about 5 each round I failed at. I proceeded to do my ring dips in sets of 10’s. That gave us enough time to rotate with everyone else. I feel better at those, band assisted of course, but dang my shoulders were DEAD! I’m hoping tomorrow involves Cleans or something I’m good at!

Whole30 Days 23 & 24
Still not excited about cooking but still plugging away at it. I can’t imagine myself eating anything else though. So even though I’m still having a hard time finding the excitement in cooking you still will find me in the kitchen prepping away. And the kids seem to find some fun in helping me every now and then. I think they are more about the sampling than anything but if they are going to be in the kitchen they know they will be put to work. So it’s a WIN/WIN situation!

1/24/13 Lunch - Sauteed Chicken, tomatoes adn spinach, with sweet potato chips and kiwi.

1/24/13 Lunch – Sauteed Chicken, tomatoes adn spinach, with sweet potato chips and kiwi.

Last night, I was really at a loss on what to eat. I did remember to portion out some chicken for me for dinner since I knew Ernie would be gone for the evening. Whew. Saved my day right there, because by the time I got home from work and baseball I forgot. I was seriously stressing over what I was gonna eat. I had a whole chicken defrosted but I like to roast those and I didn’t want to wait the hour for it to cook. So after I got the whole chicken cooking. I got some onions, tomatoes and chicken warming up in a skillet. Added some red chard and dinner was done! My favorite way of eating has become this skillet meal of proteins and leafy greens. It works. Eat some coconut flakes, guac or sunflower butter and I’m good. It’s quick easy and it always tastes good.

1/24/13 Dinner – More sauteed chicken, onions, tomatoes, red chard, guacamole.

1/24/13 Dinner – More sauteed chicken, onions, tomatoes, red chard, guacamole.

Once the whole chicken was done roasting I portioned it out for Ernie, me and extras. Unfortunately before I portioned it out, I ate pretty much all of the skin. It was extra tasty last night and I just couldn’t help myself. How bad am I?

This morning, I ate some of the roast chicken for my PWO meal and a carrot. While I was eating all of that, I had some bone broth heating up and I was adding the rest of the chicken to that along with sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and spinach. My oldest wanted some so I got out more chicken broth, doubled the veggies and we both had lunch cooking away. Now’s the time I wish I would invest in a thermos!

24 Days and I’m killing it! I’m feeling really awesome. Even when I did the 21-Day Sugar Detox I caved for Mother’s Day. I paid for it and fell into a sugar coma. But on Whole30 that 1-2 servings of fruit is good for me. I don’t eat fruit everyday but knowing it’s not restricted I think is better for me mentally. I just found Dare You to Blog yesterday and Meredith wrote about her sugar detox experience. And the one thing that stuck out most was her comment that food will always be there:

Food will always be there.  I am fortunate enough to be in a place where the treats and cheats I may be tempted by, such as the frozen yogurt mentioned above, will always be available to me.  I don’t need to have this froyo now, or those chocolate-covered almonds today.  I don’t need to dig in to the free bagel breakfast or the rice-rolled sushi at this very moment.  When I want it, when I’m ready for it, it will be there waiting for me.  With that in mind…

She’s so right! Why haven’t I implemented this same thought process! I mean it’s not like it’s wiped off the face of the planet. It’s not going ANYWHERE. For me those little words were like a breath of fresh air. A new perspective. Cleaning up is good for you. It’s not gonna hurt you and if you don’t like it, ah well. Go back to your ways of dirty, processed, sugary, chemical eating. I keep telling you I feel great though. I haven’t felt bloated or achy in any regards beside sore muscles. In December I was waking up with pains in my wrists. Now all that pain is gone. I have had one headache but that was on my major cleaning day and I’m pretty sure it was chemical induced from cleaners. There is ZERO brain fog which is great.

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If you’ve ever eaten clean for an extended period of time and then went off the rails then you must be able to relate. It’s almost like you’re hungover or under the influence for sure. It’s bad and so weird how eating one or two meals that aren’t clean can do that to you. No one has any idea that they too are living in brain fog until you clean up your eating! It’s crazy. 6 days to go but I’m in a good groove. Let’s hope the groove keeps on rolling!

Friday! Deep Breath In! Yay for Friday! Have a magnificent weekend! My youngest will be 10 tomorrow! Double Digits. Young men I have, 3 young men! Aaahhhh. I wish they wouldn’t grow up so fast! Anyhoo, BE AWESOME in all that you DO! Press ON!

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