Chugging Along – Whole30 Day EIGHT

I SURVIVED THE WEEKEND! WOOOHOOOO! The weekend is where I typically crumble. We got things to do; I don’t want to plan; And then I cave in for BAD FOODS. I don’t just cave though, I disappear into the bad food, junk food abyss. But this weekend, I was prepared. And I made it!

Day FIVE Lunch/Dinner
My meals were just a combo of leftovers. A little bit of matchstick salad. A little bit of salmon. A little bit of chicken. Nothing exciting or major.

Day SIX
I started off my morning trying out YOGA at the BOOM Box. I’ve dabbled in a class or two in my past but never got into it. It’s been several years since I’ve attempted anything yoga related. Boy oh boy, do I suck at this. But as I warmed up and understood the tempo and how things went along, I did get a little better. I realize how tight everything is when I’m trying to relax. Even so far as my cheek muscles didn’t want to give. It was beneficial to me and I hope to keep on attending as the classes pop up.

When I got home, I did a quick heat of some grassfed ground beef, onions, spinach, tomatoes and over medium eggs. Ate a handful of raw trail mix and out the door we went. Good thing we came home in time for me to eat lunch, but I did have hardboiled eggs, fruit and some salad packed up just in case home wasn’t an option! Instead I stir fried some leftover chicken, threw in some broccoli and a handful of coconut flakes and voila! Lunch. And dinner was pretty much the same. Heated up and finished up leftovers. Also had a nice mug of Bone Broth. I could be an addict. It’s sooo good.

Day SEVEN
One full week in Wooooo! Before we headed out to do our shopping for the day I had some eggs, broccoli, tomatoes and a clementine. I can’t remember what fat I had but it was probably coconut flakes.

I had my shopping list in hand ready to purchase foods for Week 2 of Weeknight Paleo. Ernie really really like the pork from last week. So instead of Steaks, we are going to redo pork and just make the sides that would go with the steaks. I’m excited for the menu because it has new things like turnips and celery root, both of which are foreign to me. When we got back home, I went straight into prep mode. I was a little less enthusiastic this time around. My head started pounding. My stomach wasn’t happy and I was not feeling the prep time. I still muddled through most of it before I took my lunch break.

Paleo Chicken Salad and Sweet Potato Chips. Not a pretty pic but yummy!

I took leftover roast chicken, way too much onion, green apple and diced it all up. Then I threw in some paleo mayo (on the verge of expiring), and voila Chicken Salad. I also took some sweet potato slices and fried them up in some coconut oil for some chips. I probably could have thrown some kind of green veggie in there but I was dragging, starving and not feeling well all at the same time. Finished up some of the prep then took a NAP! I felt a little better when I woke up and waited for my Pork Roast to finish before I did anymore food prep.

By the evening I had all of my PWO meals made. I had emergency hard boiled eggs made. I had Pork to last us a couple of meals and a few other veggies chopped and ready to go.

Day EIGHT
BOOM Box 1/13/14
Midline: 30 hollow rocks
I think I will never like these. My ribs are broken.

Strength: Front Squats 4 sets 3 reps @ temp 103X1 (10 sec neg, 3 sec hold, fast up, 1 sec at top) without dropping 10 reps AFAP
I CAN FRONT RACK THE BAR! I CAN FRONT RACK THE BAR! But that is all. Now that I know can do this, I just need to work the movement regularly. My wrist is tight but not pained. When I added weight, well that’s a little scary. So I definitely need to work my way up slowly.

As for this tempo Front Squat, negatives and what not. It was hard on me today. My left shoulder was not on my side today. It was in pain and limited mobility. So after a few reps in, the frankensteining was taking a toll. I had a hard time holding the bar up. So even though I did try to stay on track, I just couldn’t. I still got work in, just not the kind of work Coach was wanting.

1/13/14 WOD

MetCon: 7 min AMRAP 5 HSPU 5 Clean & Jerks 135/95
For me it was Ring Push Ups and Dumbbell Clean & Jerks (25lb dumbbells). I never felt right doing the Ring Push Ups but my triceps and shoulders were on fire, so something was working. And for the Clean & Jerks, as I got through, they seemed to get easier. Just working overhead in general is a work in progress. But I’m glad I’m working my back. Final: 6 rounds + 5 Ring Push Ups

As for PWO meal, just some chicken and pureed sweet potatoes. It was breakfast that is still OH SO HARD to eat. 1. I’m not hungry. 2. I’m not hungry. 3. I don’t want to chew my food. But alas, I had 2 hardboiled eggs, a cup of broccoli, handful of cherry tomatoes and some trail mix. At least it holds me till lunch. I just wish I could drink the meal. But Whole30 frowns on drinking your meals. Something about the chewing of food and the messages that sends your brain. Work in Progress. Just fighting through today for sure.

That’s a wrap!
As you can see, the shiny new excitement has worn off just a touch. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in this. I just am so blah about it right now. I guess the best description I have for it now is that it’s more of a chore than exciting. I need a personal chef. That would help tremendously! For real!

I hope you all are getting your workouts in and sticking to whatever healthy plans you are on! Don’t forget to stay hydrated! And Stay Strong!

And then I got tired

I was feeling pretty good Day ONE and Day TWO. But it caught up to me. The HANGOVER as Whole30 states may happen in Days TWO & THREE. And I felt it this morning at the BOOM Box. Normally after the warm up, especially in the mornings, I finally wake up. The blood is flowing, the heart rate is up and my brain starts to work. But today, I was like a slug. Moving slow. Spaced out. Eventually adrenaline kicked in but the rest of the morning has been so blah. I know this will pass but right now I just want to crawl into bed. The good thing is that I truly believe the Clean Eating is instantly helping my sad muscles recover much more quickly. I’m not near as sore as I have been the past couple of months and my body is overall feeling better for the most part.

Many Whole30ers report headaches, fatigue, and general malaise during this part of the program. This, my friends, is completely normal. Your body is working its way through a whole host of junk it stored from the foods (or food-like-products) you used to eat. This process lasts a day for some folks, but for others it can take a few days longer. Relax, drink a lot of water, and keep making good choices. And do your best to earn sympathy and support from friends and family,
– www.whole30.com

And even though I’m feeling like the only thing I should do is sleep right now, let me tell you how excited I am that my meals are turning out great. That’s like the bright side to this nasty food hangover. The meals from Weeknight Paleo by Amber Beam are tasty and aren’t taking up much of my time. And no, I’m not getting compensated for plugging this book! LOL I WISH! Seriously though, the meals are great. And a success among all of my family… ages 10-29! Hehe.

I still am struggling with eating breakfast after my Post Workout Meal. And I fear that I always will. I have a good time frame of 1 1/2 – 2 hours after my PWO and it’s still so hard. It’s like I don’t want to chew. And part of Whole30’s thought process tells you to not drink shakes/smoothies! Chew your food! UGH! My face hurts!

Day TWO Everything
I decided to just give you all a run down of the day instead of splitting it all up! Maybe this will be better and less boring. I hope. Maybe. Don’t leave me! 😀

You should have already seen my beautiful breakfast in yesterday’s post and I only described Lunch. Got home, hit the BOOM Box and reheated some pork for the Carnitas–Style Taco Tower. But also remembered I had Salmon I did not throw in the freezer and needed to cook that ASAP. Turned out lovely, just lovely!

BOOM Box 1/714
30 heavy Russian Swings
Used the 1.5 POOD. Not fun, but did the work

Skill: Pull Up progressions
So Coach wanted us working on the Rings! Ugh, me and rings. I have dumb fears, Hanging from those is another one of them. But I almost got Toes to Bar on those. Just need to practice.

1/7/14 WOD

MetCon: 8 rounds for reps of 1 min Over Head Lunges w/plate 45/35 and 1 min Burpees to the plate
Ya, I knew this was gonna hurt! I wasn’t sure how the OVER HEAD part was going to work with my wrist and well I learned real quick it wasn’t going to work. I did about 10 reps with the 35lb plate but my wrist won’t bend all the way, so I was off balance. I tried going to a 25lb plate and it was still a NO GO. So I just did lunges. I felt bad I was scaling way bad. But I totally sucked without weight too! The burpees got me. BAD. Final: 214 reps.

DINNER
So I said I came home to reheat some pork. I made the Cole Slaw that goes with it the night before. SUPER EASY. And I improvised on the “tower” part. I didn’t purchase the metal ring thing that was suggested. But I had this handy dandy cup/measure thing that I used to attempt a tower. As you will see in the pictures, it came out OK, nothing restaurant worthy but I just want to eat!

My contraption, nothing like what the cookbook asks for!

Hehe, my LEANING Carnitas tower! May not be purty but it sure is tasty!

And what the cookbook shows! (Weeknight Paleo) As you can see I was a little heavy handed with the guacamole in the pic above!

In between reheating and trying to create a masterpiece, I cooked up the Salmon for the Herbes de Provence-Crusted Salmon with a Citrus-Herb Sauce and Asparagus in Weeknight Paleo. Besides the “juicing” of the citrus fruit, this was quick and easy. Maybe 20 minutes from start to finish. Seriously EASY and QUICK and kind of fancy looking! So yummy!

Fresh out of the oven.

My attempt at making it more presentable.

SLEEP
Working out in the evenings makes it a little harder to sleep but once I did fall asleep I was out! I woke up fine when my alarm went off at 4 am but ended up hitting snooze till 4:35! Doh!

Day THREE
So I rolled in a few minutes late to the BOOM Box…. you can’t fault me for that when I’m showing up at 5 a.m.! Coach T already has his wheels turning on what I would be substituting for the WOD. Cause it was Thrusters and Hang Cleans on the board.

Midline: 30 evil wheels
With my wrist and lack of core strength I could only roll out so far, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t putting a beating on me!

Strength: EMOM 20min 3 thrusters AHAP. Once you have past 5 minutes you must keep that weight.
I am soooo glad I can’t do Thrusters with a BAR! They are misery! But I did get the opportunity to use 20lb Dumbbells. Of course the weight wasn’t there but I’m still working up my upper body strength since it’s been slow rolling. Still sweating and still a good heart rate.

1/8/14 WOD

MetCon: TABATA of Air Squats, Hang Cleans 115/75, C2B Pull Ups
Sometimes I love TABATA and sometimes, like today, I don’t care so much for it. Maybe cause I was already feeling drained after the Evil Wheels. So tired! 3-2-1 GO. I started off OK with Air Squats getting 20 in the first 20 seconds, then 16, then 14, then 12… I stayed at 12. Instead of Hang Cleans, I did Power Snatch with the 35lb bar. I did like 7 on the first 20 seconds, then held out with 5 for the rest of the time. By the time I got to my BANDED Pull Ups, I was just happy to be alive. I struggled a lot and ended up with a score of 2! Boooo! Final: 12, 5, 2

PWO MEAL
A serving of pork and a serving of Sweet Potato Puree. As exhausted as I felt, the food was good and went down easy. But as soon as I got home, I was already dreading breakfast!

BREAKFAST
Bone Broth! I’ve made the broth before but with less chicken carcasses and only used it for soups and seasoning veggies. But now I’ve made it properly and now I know that drinking it by itself is beautiful. And knowing all the health benefits makes it that much more the reason to drink it! Click HERE for more info!

I also had boiled some Eggs on Sunday, so this was going to be my breakfast. I was moving slower than normal and was glad I had this back up for food. I packed 3 eggs up, a sandwich bag full of spinach and a handful of cherry tomatoes. I figured I would eat this around 7:45 a.m. on my drive in to work. OH MY the spinach was so hard to eat as well as the EGGS. I was tired of eating that I failed to eat one of the eggs. I realized I was missing my “healthy” fat also but was so over it. I think/hope I’ll survive till lunch!

That’s a Wrap!
So there you have it for this lovely HUMP DAY. I’ll have REST until Friday morning! How sweet it is! This gives me time to cook up some chicken and ground beefs to hold me through Friday and maybe through the WEEKEND. I’ll be checking in tomorrow, hoping I’m not sooo tired and let you know how any food prep went down. Until then, take that step to cleaner eating, more physical activity or just getting more sleep! Do Something! Make a Change!

Welcome to the GRIND!

Hello Hello! No I’m not slacking again. I had jury duty yesterday and blogging fell off the to do list. But I did get my WOD in. Someone recently asked me HOW I DO IT? How do I get up every morning, check in at the BOOM Box, get the kids off to school and get to work. And I responded with “It’s not always easy and sometimes I do sleep in but 5 am is the only time I CAN go. There’s a fit kid in me somewhere telling the fat kid inside me to get up and move. I want to be strong for my boys so I get up and go. I want to put my all out there so they have no excuses for not trying or giving it their all.” That’s the best way I could explain it without going into full on novel mode. I want to be fit, healthy and THERE for my family. I don’t want to be hurt, broken and sickly. I want to be a better me for me, for my boys. I’m not always the most positive athlete in the box but hell I’m there. I show up. I put work in. Ahhh, there’s so much I could say but I would bore you and I’d just be a broken record. Just freakin do it! Go out there and work hard. Life life. Laugh. Cry. Smile. Relax. Love!

Right now my kids are in the heart of baseball season. We eat, breathe and live baseball 24/7. One of their coaches sent out a link to the team for the boys to listen to and I hadn’t really had the chance to hear it, but it’s loaded on their iPods and they listen regularly. The past couple of days we’ve been listening together in the car and it speaks to me probably more than the kids! So here it is. It’s a great motivator.

That’s right ladies and gents. Welcome to the GRIND! Man I love that video. It’s only my 3rd day listening/watching it but it will be a daily ritual. I love it!

On to my Boom Box reports. Taking a week off HURTS! I’ve already preached about not slowing down or taking time off and I did just that and it sucks. But it does motivate me to work harder (sometimes).

4/2/13 WOD
Skill/Strength: Muscle Up or Ring Dips
Ya, there’s no Muscle Up in my near future but hopefully in my future in general. I’m getting better at getting my hips working the movement right when we break it down to work on but there’s so much more work to be done. Focusing on ring dips is the goal for the moment. I can get up there and hold myself up there but the dipping part is where I have a mental panic. I can’t just drop without completely failing. I can’t lower myself down to pop back up. With a band, I’m AWESOME but that’s not that cool. I’m working on it. But it’s a SLOW work in progress.

4/2/13 WOD

MetCon: 7 minute AMRAP of 30 Double Unders, 10 Handstand Push Ups
My wrists and shoulders haven been shredded. The idea of doing a handstand push up hurts me. I still can’t do them but I’m getting better. I opted for using the box for a modified version of HSPU. Double Unders come relatively easy for me. I’m not a MASTER and I can’t do 100 unbroken. But I can get them knocked out quickly. I’m pretty sure I did my first 2 sets of DUs unbroken. Most of my time was wasted climbing onto the box and setting up for HSPU. Plus it seriously sucks to be winded and being inverted. It’s so much harder to breathe! The rest of my DUs were sets of 10’s or 15’s. Fatigue set in my triceps halfway through, I didn’t even want to hold the rope. 7 minutes isn’t that long but I was feeling every second of it. Score: 6 rounds + 10 DUs.

4/3/13 WOD
It was RAINING this morning and it felt so good to be in bed. I was 90% sure I wasn’t getting out of bed. And the MetCon was SPRINTING. It’s raining. SLEEP! The legion did not win. I got up and put my feet on the ground and didn’t look back!

Skill/Strength: 15 minutes to find 1RM Push Press and 3 X 8 Jumping Good Mornings.
As typical for me I get stuck with my 1 rep max weights. Although I’ve Push Pressed 105lbs before, I can’t seem to get back there. And I’ve been stuck at 95lbs. I’m OK with it for now. Like I said my shoulders are toast. My whole upper body is smoked. I know I can do more weight, it’s just not happening today. More dip, more drive. MOVE FASTER. All those things in my head. Get the bar up and all momentum stops. Not sure where that brake is in my head but I want it gone!

4/3/13 WOD

MetCon: 4 x 400, Rest 1:1 (100% effort)
So it was still raining and pretty steady when we started so we opted for the rower. I’m no more of a rower than I am a sprinter. And we haven’t rowed in a while. I wasn’t sure where I would end up. ROWING is tough cookies man. I think being short doesn’t help. But of course that’s my excuse. If I was tall, I’d probably say that’s the reason. I’m too tall. I was taking turns with Leigh. I rested while she went and she rested while I went. I didn’t pay much attention to my times but I think I averaged 1:30 splits. Faster than my 400m sprint, that’s for sure. Woooo I was beat down. My forearms, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and quads were dead. I need to row more!

I’m tired today. Maybe the rain. Maybe the WODs. Just heavy eyes. This is a first week of 5 days in a row. Not sure if I can HANG! But I’m gonna try. You will all know how it turns out. Plus it’s 13.5 DAY! The last CrossFit Games OPEN WOD will be announced and we can all go back to our normal, anxiety free (ha) lives. I know I gotta step up my game. I gotta put more focus into my workouts and I HAVE TO GET BACK to at least a 90% if not 100% clean eating regimen. AGGGHHHH! So much to work on. My first year I started off GREAT. My 2nd year has been half ass. I need to end my 2nd year of CrossFit strong. NOT half ass! Anyhow, that’s where my I need my head to be, let’s see if I can actually get there.

Happy HUMP Day! Make it AWESOME!

Wore out!

I am T-I-R-E-D! Exhausted! I think I’m just trying to cram too much in. Work is typically laid back but we are in tradeshow season so I’m extra busy and not sitting at my desk all day. Then at home, I’m trying to make a gazillion cakeballs and that’s a whole different kind of stress. It’s not bad stress but I’m staying up later and I carry all the tension in my upper back and shoulders. They are hurting. On top of the 5 am workouts, I am TIRED!

This morning was extra chilly at the BOOM Box. Where did my 50° mornings go? Seriously back in the 30s. I’m not a happy girl. I had no motivation to do work. I’m really surprised that I didn’t stay home. The workout for the day was 12.3 from last years open!

Before we started we worked on TTB and Box Jumps because that my friends makes up 2/3 of 12.3. I tried working on not reloading once I hit the ground from box jumps. But I still haven’t found those super springy legs yet. I’ll just have to fight through those pesky box jumps. And well I still haven’t found my TTB. Sigh, that’s one more thing I need to get back to working on. So close but they are hiding from me.

2/13/13 WOD

MetCon: 18 minute AMRAP of 15 Box Jumps, 12 Push Press and 9 Toes To Bar. 20″ for box jumps and 75lbs for push press. Coach T wanted us to do a weight for push press that we felt we could do unbroken. Well I didn’t think I could do 75lbs unbroken. So I went with 65lbs even tried to get away with 55lbs but that wasn’t happening. I couldn’t do 65lbs unbroken either! And it hurt. I should have warmed up more because a lot of the hurt went away with more reps so I know it’s not an injury, just tired ass muscles. My Toes to Bar didn’t magically come at 3-2-1 either. It was really a Debbie Downer kind of morning.

OUCHY!

Then I tried to break my shin on the box jumps, which I have never done before. I’ve missed and banged up right below my knee but today I went for all the marbles, drew blood and stained my NEW and AWESOME Reebok compression socks Ernie got for me for Valentine’s day. Womp, Womp.

At least they weren’t the white ones! 20″ isn’t even an issue for me when it comes to box jumps. I was not feeling it today though. Total reps: 166. When I saw Coach G after the workout he asked me how it went and I had nothing positive to report. It was bad. He asked how I did last year and I couldn’t remember. But I did look back in my posts and found this. A little more optimistic version of me who did freaking 75lb push press but only got a score of 96. Ugh. Still just made me more blah for the day! But it also reminded me after reading about Sherry, why I love CrossFit – COMMUNITY! I may be a big baby but I have a great box full of wonderful people that inspire me and challenge me even when I just want to throw a fit.

Can I get a do-over? Pretty Please? I promise I will be awesome the rest of the day! I will not think about my banged up shin anymore. I will knock out a gazallion cake balls tonight and I will eat clean! I will for sure enjoy my REST day tomorrow! Done son! Gotta regain awesome! You GO BE AWESOME as well! Happy WEDNESDAY!

DOWN & OUT FRIDAY

Nothing is worse than getting a poor night of sleep and then hitting your work out early in the A.M. and failing miserably at it. Yes I’m whining and crying. Feel free to move along in your day and come back on Monday where hopefully I’ll be less pathetic.

12/16/11

As you can see on the whiteboard… there is no “STEPH”. I didn’t even make it through my second round of back squats. My HIP, GLUTE and whatever else is in that area is super TIGHT and I just couldn’t get the weight up. So Coach thought it best I sit out on Grace 😦 Rest up, don’t get injured… all good ideas, I just hate feeling weak when I showed up to be strong. It happens I suppose, I just wasn’t expecting for my body to let me down today.

And that’s all I got for ya. All week has been drizzly, rainy and super gloomy …. hopefully with the sun peeking out today I’ll get in better spirits. But for now I am down and out!

Have a great weekend! Remember kids, JUST SAY NO! to grains, sugar and processed junk that your body doesn’t need 🙂 The weekend can be the hardest. Stay Strong.

Words from the Wise

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

tired

Chugging Along – Whole30 Day EIGHT

And then I got tired

Welcome to the GRIND!

Wore out!

DOWN & OUT FRIDAY

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