Oly Day

Couldn't make it in to the 9am this morning due to heavy work sched and morning conference call. Thankfully Amy and I have a session with Roger and Mike this evening (yaay) so it's probably good that I'll be fresh for that.

Great work today. Started with snatches (refresher course from last week). Felt strong with these. Don't remember what weight we went up to (but Amy did - 31 kilos - 68#), but it felt good :) Switched to cleans and worked on those for awhile. Worked up to 41 kilos - 90#. It never occurred to me how similar the two lifts are at set up (which seems silly now) and really enjoyed switching from the snatch work into the clean. Next week we move on to jerks!!

Mike also showed me more stretches and ways to use the roller to improve the mobility in my upper back muscles. The problems I'm having with the technique are all flexibility based. My upper spine doesn't bend, and my lower spine over bends. Turns out that's a problem.
--
Nutrition
8:15 am - 4 oz. braised ribs (leftover from Vermillion), 2-3 oz. coconut water, 1 T sunbutter

10:15 am - 1/2 oz. spicy turkey jerky strip (no cooties)

12:00 pm - 5 oz paleo chili (~2oz protein, 3oz vegis), 2 t. sunbutter. I will be hungry later. Probably pretty soon actually.

1:15 pm - Yep. Chocolate tea with 1 t. raw sugar and coconut milk.

3:30 pm [Pre skills work] - 3 oz. spicy turkey jerky, 8 oz. coconut water, handful almonds/walnuts/macadamias/dried cranberries

7:45ish [Post wod] - 10 oz peppercorn crusted filet (mmmm), ~6 oz. roasted zuchini/mushrooms/red onions/eggplant in balsamic, with ~6 oz. salad (greens, apples, pecans, cranberries, celery with oil & vinegar & a smidgen of "apple ranch dressing"), chammoile tea.
--
Read a few interesting things on the CFC Paleo blog today (from Mark's Daily Apple - yes, we get it Rudy, we should be following this site. I promise to start).

It talked about intermittent fasting - which I generally feel is stupid, but wondered how it would affect training. I think it would be negative, since we work our bodies so hard during wods and need as much fuel and recovery time as possible. But, I've never really studied the benefits of fasting for the body... I may look into those at some point in the future, as I'm always interested in how to improve my health (though I have to say it sounds unhealthy. And sucky).

It also talked about an individual's "healthy homeostasis." I really feel that's what I've reached. I've been at or around this weight/shape for a few weeks now without any major changes. I eat the way I should eat and have few cheats (dab of sea salt or raw sugar here and there). OBVIOUSLY I'm not counting my major cheat weekend. But one wkend in 6 mos of cheating? I think I'm okay. I eat mainly vegis for my carb intake (plus coconut water) and I don't eat nearly as many carbs as allowed by Zone, so not only am I not overeating, I am not even sure that I've even getting enough calories in during the day (since I NEVER EVER count them... thank god), though since I'm not seeing performance dropping I guess I am probably okay. Although, maybe my performance would improve if I ate more and I have been performing sub-par for months without knowing it... I dunno. I doubt it though. I think I would feel it if I was lacking in sustenance, and I doubt I'd be hitting any PRs. I think most realistically I've reached the homeostasis that my body believes is right for me and that's why I've stagnated. I'm not as lean as I'd like to be, though according to Mark's Daily Apple that's common for women to have higher than they'd like body fat percentage at homeostasis. He went on to say it would take some serious fighting (adjusting levels of carbs, calories, activity levels, sleep, and stress) to drop any more weight. He also suggested adding some more sprinting into my workout routine, although I would venture to say that many of our metcons (the 8 minutes or less ones) include a decent amount of sprint activity. Hmm. Lots to think about.