Day 11 - Monday. Back on track with a two-a-day

8:00am - wake up.

8:30am - 24oz mate and ayurvedic teas.

11:15am - 10g BCAA.

11:30am - 1st metcon of the day:

3 rounds for time of:

2 - Front Squats @ 75% [115#]

12 Pull-ups

3 - Front Squats @ 75% [115#]

8 Box Jump (24 in.)s

5 - Front Squats @ 75% [115#]

4 Ring Dips

Time: 9:05.

1:30pm - 2 HOUR thai massage. So necessary. My arms - specifically triceps and shoulders have been KILLING me for days. When I raise my arms up in front of me like a zombie I'm in terrible pain, and it's worse if from that zombie arm hold i internally rotate so my hands are against my chest and then try and press my elbows up into the sky. that REALLY hurts. I asked for 60-90 min and Anna (who's great) said she needed more time (which she didn't charge me for) because my arms were so wrecked. She literally spent 90% of her time on my arms, and then other 10% on the rest of my body.

4:00pm - Breaking fast?! Now?! Didn't mean to wait so late in the day but the massage therapist said to come then, so I came. Approx 5 oz. tri-tip steak on a Fiesta salad - mixed greens, roasted red peppers & onions, shredded jicama, green onions, diced tomoatoes, 1/4 avocado. approx 1 T. spicy ranch dressing. 20 oz coffee with 4 cream, 4 sugars. Exceptionally delicious coffee. Terrible black, but with cream and sugar it was so good I went back for a second cup (each cup was 10oz)!

7:00pm - a-coach.
8:30pm - Accel gel. Chocolate flavored. Nutritional facts:

Total Fat 0g

Saturated Fat 0g

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 95 mg

Potassium 40mg

Total Carbohydrate 20g

Dietary Fiber 0g

Sugars 10g

Protein 5g

What?! The sugar count is ridiculous! I didn't get a chance to read this until now. Am surprised that Team CF promotes these. Will talk to the coaches there tomorrow about this. Shoulda just had BCAA instead.

8:30pm - 2nd metcon of the day. Was supposed to get in OH squats today at 75% but my arms needed a break. Coach Joynier designed this one:

10 rounds:
7 goblet squats with 26# dumbbell in each hand (total weight 1 pood)
7 box jumps @ 20"
7 sit-ups

Wanted to get another wod in but without using arms. Realized in round 8 that it was all the same muscles I used in this morning's wod. Oops.

10:30pm - 8 egg whites, spices, brussel sprouts + butternut squash cooked in 1 T coconut milk. Yum.

one cheat leads to another...

I was craving bad food all day on sunday. All day. I was super tired though and woke at 7:30, stayed up about 30 minutes or so and then fell back asleep till 9ish, was up for about an hour then fell asleep till 10:15 when I finally got up. I was craving something bad but decided to have a healthy egg whites, grilled chicken, and veggies scramble, but thought I'd have a pomegrante tea latte to satisfy the urge to cheat, but it didn't hit the spot so I skipped it.

Then, later I split half of a reece's crunchy bar thing with a friend, and later had a few spoonfuls of peanut butter. Then a healthy chicken and homemade paleo salsa for dinner, followed by more peanut butter. Oh, and and hours later, ice cream.

Sooooo... yea. Bananas (at least eaten that way like a damn shake) are obviously cheating since they totally led to cravings the following day, and I rarely have cravings. Or, I'll have a tiny craving but nothing worth doing anything about, so can ignore it pretty easily. Today though, total binge.

And what sucks is I didn't have that shake because I was craving a cheat, I just wanted to try out cacao nibs. I tried them the other day on their own and didn't like them but wanted to give them another shot and this recipe was suggested to me.

... I'm not listing out everything as usual b/c it was a mess. 2 good paleo meals with good proportions, but then bunches of cheats... which i didn't track times for. ugh. tomorrow's a new day?

Delicious totally cheating protein shake (though still paleo)

7:30am - wake up

8:15am - 20oz mate tea.

9:00am - a-coach for Steve
10:00am - stretching/mobility work - my shoulders are wrecked. I want someone to stretch me out.
11:00am - a-coach for Jen

2:00pm - BEST cheaty feeling non-cheat ever! Protein shake made with 1/4 c coconut milk, 1 totally ripe banana, 1 1/2 T cacao nibs, 1 scoop grass-fed whey APS chocolate protein powder, ice, cinnamon, nutmeg. Fat: 27g Carbs: 11g (4g sugar) Protein: 27g. Totally satisfying, delicious and obvi way higher fat content than I usually eat in a meal BUT it's my rest day so I'm allowed a higher fat amount in my first meal. This should totally be my weekend "cheat" from now on. SOOOO much better than the shitty cheats I had last night. Happy Saturday to me!!!
--^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^--
Okay, so... bananas are still cheating. SO I have revised the post to acknowledge that the above shake was in fact a cheat b/c it will not aid my weight loss or leaning out goals or help me improve performance in the gym. Which does not detract from its deliciousness but it was still not a good call. Also, the following day I was craving sweets and cheats all day. And, I lacked my usual restraint. Fuck. Coach Rudy is always right. Damn it. AAAAAND, JJ pointed out I didn't add teh banana into the nutritional info. ACTUAL NUTR'L VALS: Fat: 27g Carbs: 38g (19g sugar) Protein: 27g
--^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^--
4:30pm - 4oz turkey burger, some beet/pepper/spinach salad, and a few bites of eggplant/cucumber salad.

8:00pm - Ran 4.1 miles (same route I ran on 4/29). Last time was 4.1 miles in 47:49.4. I finished in 42:26. PR!! MORE THAN FIVE MINUTE PR!! I heart CrossFit. And Bryce for introducing me to IF. And that Martin guy for coming up with it.

9:00pm - 8 oz egg whites (approx 5.9 egg whites) with 2 oz turkey burger and broccoli (ps i NEVER remember how to spell that damn vegetable). with a SHIT ton of chili powder b/c i accidentally poured from the open top side insteada the sprinkle top side. oops. meh. it was still good. spicy for sure, but good. poured about 1 T coconut milk on the eggs/turkey burger b/c the burger was dry but that didn't cut it so I drizzled maybe 1 T avocado oil on top which did help. made it extra tasty actually. With 9/5 oz coconut water - "Taste Nirvana"  brand is DELICIOUS. My absolute favorite so far. Last meal was approx 38g protein... so a little bit more than usual but wanted the turkey burger for taste and wanted the egg whites for long term fullness, but still within the allowable range of protein for last meal and for the day so i feel good.

Days 7 & 8

Day 7 (Thursday)
7:45am - wake up

9:00am - 16 oz. mixed MateVana + white ayurvedic chai tea. Yum. And the ayurvedic tea is good for digestion :)

12:00pm - 5 oz chicken cooked in homemade salsa (just veggies, a teensy amount of avocado oil, and spices), with homemade salsa on top of spinach greens, with a splash of balsamic.

2:30pm - 1 oz no salt roasted turkey breast and nitrate free genoa salami. 15 blueberries, 6 blackberries.
3:30pm - nap till 4:45pm. soo sleepy!

4:40pm - slammed down 10g BCAA since I didn't have time to eat.

5:00pm - Heavy Metal! Warmup was a 7 minute AMRAP including sprints and 65# push press (maybe a third movement, but I can't remember). Turns out that was the guys weight but I only found that out in my last rd, so figured fuck it might as well finish at that weight. Don't know how many rds I got through, as I had JUST woken up and was outta my mind at the time.

WOD: 5 rounds for time of:

3 Push Presses 90#
15 Box Jump (24 in.)s
10 Burpee Pull-ups
3 Push Presses 90#
2 Muscle-up progressions

Time: 25 minutes. ish. The clock got turned off, so I'm not 100% sure.

6:45pm - ACCEL gel. Had been wanting to try it for ages. Little chocolatey packet. Not bad.

7:00pm - a-coach for Dan.

...I planned to have dinner but didn't get out of the box until 9 and that was way past my eating window so I skipped last meal. Went and got a massage instead to pass some time, then had a nice long bath and went to bed.

Day 8 (Friday)
7:30am - wake up.

9:00am - 24oz tea: 2/3 My Morning Mate Tea + 1/3 white ayurvedic chai.

11:30am - 10g BCAA

11:45am - Metcon:

5 rounds for time of:
6 Deadlifts @75% 1RM (190#)
100 Jump Rope (Singles)
6 Ring Dips
100 m Sprint

Time: 18:35. This hurt. I dropped almost every DL from the top instead of carrying the load to the ground because it was so damn heavy. Also my left side lower back has been hurting all day from this. Fuck. I iced it once and am gonna ice it again. I also put some arnica on it and even took arnica pills. Intended to throw double unders into a wod today but seriously I just couldn't focus on them. I failed them repeatedly before starting the wod so decided that if i couldn't do doubles today I'd at least punish myself by makinge myself do 5x the number of singles as I would've programmed doubles. That'll learn yo ass.

1:45pm - sashimi salad with 3 oz mixed fish, mixed greend, and cucumbers plus some kinda japanese dressing. 4 tiny pieces of miso broiled eggplant (absolutely spectacular). Still super hungry so ate some of my friend's lunch of tempura veggies (a few bites) and onions/mushrooms/kale in some kinda brown sauce.

4:15pm - 3 oz no salt turkey breast. 15 blueberries, 3 blackberries.

6:45pm - 4oz turkey burger, 1 whole egg, spinach + eggplant cooked with 1/8 c. coconut milk, beets and peppers. Wanted some kind of cheaty chocolate thing to celebrate how good I felt all week and had half of this chocolate bar and was totally disappointed. Not worth the cheat so I threw the rest away.

9:20pm - 1 1/2 c. coffee with creamer. 1/2 snickers bar. WHAT?! I said I wanted a cheaty celebratory thing! I damn well earned it this week thank you very much. And snickers was the best I could do b/c it was all that was at the venue I was at. AND they had free wine after the play which I did NOT have b/c it was after 10pm and that kinda cheating isn't okay. Cheating as in having not perfectly paleo food is one thing, but eating after my feeding window is like being up past curfew. Not allowed.

I GOT A 3:16 GRACE?!?!?!

I would like to start this post by saying HOLY SHIT!!!!!

We did Grace tonight. And I raced the top guys in my gym. And they beat me, but... I mean... I just by a little bit. We were demoing what a "real" Grace should look like to get the other athletes in the class ready and excited to compete and I was hoping for sub-5, I really believed that was an achievable goal for me. I finished in 3 fucking minutes and 16 fucking seconds. I didn't think that was possible. It's the first nasty girls wod that I finished without gaming it or breaking it up significantly... and it's the first one I've ever been on the leaderboard for. I mean, once with Linda but it wasn't Linda rx'd it was for the Linda challenge and I wasn't competing in the heaviest lifting group!

I actually jerked, first of all, and didn't push press except for a few reps. Last time I did a half Grace I psh pressed a bunch and went 5/5/5, and needed that rest in between the fives. And I finished just those 15 reps in 2:30ish sometime.

3:16?! I'm so damn excited I might have peed a little. Just now. And it's six hours later.

... Seriously, I'm so excited :) :) :) ...

...So, Nutrition. And workout (3:16 grace!)

9:15am - 16oz JavaMate tea. Yum. Coulda been a stronger though the caffeine was more than enough. Remarkable.

9:30am - 20 min mobility for hips and shoulders.

2:30pm - started eating later. by accident - i got busy. which worked out so I could have dinner later than usual. Perfect :) Thai sweet potato soup. With a seaweed, um, crackery thing. I don't remember what it was. Besides delicious. Followed by 3 oz. grilled chicken.

4:15pm - about 2 1/2 oz salsa cooked chicken & some peppers and tomatoes. Prepared a big ole batch of salsa and chicken for the week... soo good.

6:45pm - 10g BCAA.

7:00pm - GRACE! Did I mention I did it in 3:16? wtf?! I will cheer and blush and smile like an idiot all DAY about this because I may never do another wod this fast ever. And I got my first butterfly pull-up! I can do them in singles now. I can get the legs going for 6 reps without my chin driving above the bar, OR i can get my chin over one time and fall miserably out of rhythm. Coach Joynier worked with me for awhile on these tonight. I'm so close! Finally! GOD today felt good!!

9:00pm - 6oz grilled swordfish with salad of arugula, spinach, a few butternut squash bites, some red peppers and a bit of fig/walnut balsamic vinegarette. Prob approx 17 almonds/peanuts - roasted and coated with berries/honey/salt/pepper/deliciousness. 2-3 glasses red wine. And, nope! I didn't feel guilty at all.

12:45am - ummm... 1/4 glass of red wine until I remembered that this might be cheating. Well, the earlier meals had some cheating on paleo, but this was cheating on IF. Which is not allowed. So I poured the rest out. my b.

Day 5 and down 4-5 lbs. Booyah.

8:30am - wake up. I was EXHAUSTED today. Tried getting up at 6:30, then 7:30 so I could workout but just couldn't force myself into it.

9:45am - 16 oz iced tea.

10:00am - 45 min stretching/yoga with Jess.

12:30pm - sushi restaurant at the mall with some Team CFers. 4oz spicy tuna, 2 1/2 oz sauteed chicken with onions, carrots, and zuchini (cooked in a bit of brown sauce), with mixed green in a lightly applied japanese sauce.

2:00pm - 16oz mate tea. Delicious.

3:30pm - 3 oz grilled chicken, 25 blueberries

4:15pm - bite of James' homemade turkey burger (yum!), but of Heidi's chicken (also yum!).

8:30pm - a little later than I should've been eating but grocery shopping took too long tonight. 8 egg whites with spices, 1/4 c. steamed brocoli and less than 1/6 c. sweet potatoes sauteed with about 1/8 c. coconut milk which I cooked down until it was thicker. pinch of sea salt. Sounds kinda weird but was a creamy, almost-bechamel-type dish. Very delicious. I had been feeling unsatiated for the latter part of the day (my 3pm meal did not sustain me for very long) so I wanted something to combat that feeling. Now I'm stuffed. And sleepy. I think I'll go to bed early tonight.

I planned on getting a wod in today but I was just exhausted all day today. Traveling always takes it out of me. Guess I needed a rest day.

Day 4 IF and mobility cert talk

I mean... when there's a motorcycle club having a BBQ next door to a CF box,

what else am I to do??

Day 4. Monday.

5:45am - wake up. Sooooo tired. 2 droppers of "kung fu fighter" herbal-don't-be-sick stuff.

6:45am - 10 oz. Coffee. Couldn't stomach this coffee black. ~1 1/2 T 2% milk (all they had...ugh), 1 packet sugar. I haven't added sugar to my coffee in ages but the milk just wasn't cutting it. And I had to drive to the airport so needed this coffee. 2%?! ugh.

8:15-10:30am - Napped on the plane ride Portland to Oakland. Woke up a bit hungry, but it went away pretty fast.

1:30pm - 4oz roasted no salt turkey breast, and a salad of arugula + roasted sweet potato, ~3 t. white truffle oil with 2 pinches sea salt and a fried egg on top. Yum. Possibly my new favorite salad.

3:00pm - still felt hungry, so had ~1 1/2 oz grilled chicken, 15 blueberries, and a handful of arugula. Also remembered I hadn't taken vitamins today so 2 tsp. fish oil, multi-vitamin, 3 vit C, 1 more dropper of kung fu fighter.

6:00pm - About 45 min. mobility work.

Hips:
1) Lacrosse ball in the hip crevice down to the bottom of my quads - good ouch. switch legs and repeat.
2) lay on ground butt with on wall, heels down (essentially a squat position) back flat on the floor, press knees out.
3) deep lunge with back knee on the ground and forward knee @ 90 degrees. hold front foot with same side of body hand and gently press out and hold for 5 sec, release, go deeper and hold 5 sec release until knee is almost on the ground. switch legs and repeat.
4) go back to the other leg adn actually lay that front leg down with knee on ground (same basic position but deeper and with front leg flat on ground) and press body down 5 sec, release, go deeper, release until chest and arms are flat or close to flat on ground in front of you. switch legs and repeat.

Shoulders:
1) using only one arm, tuck elbow in tight and raise arm like a front rack position but grab a band that is hanging from a bar. pull forward (extrernal rotation of the shoulder) for 15-20 sec, release, repeat. switch arms and repeat.
2) using only one arm at a time, get into a front rack position with elbow pressing hard against a bar just below shoulder height, pushing heading through the hole. switch arms and repeat a few times.
3)  using a hanging band, get body inside the band with arms over head, bands touching under the arms almost into the biceps. step forward and lean hard into this stretch. You should feel like youre almost about to fall onto the floor. Repeat three times and push deeper each time. Don't fall.
4) Pass-throughs.
5) Snatch balances.

7:00pm - a-coach. Pretty much led the whole class which was fun. AND Coach James said he was impressed by how much better my overhead squat was. he actually said wow :) woohoo!!

8:25pm - chugged down 10g BCAA pre-wod with only about 5 oz water b/c i was in a hurry and realized I hadn't eaten in a few hours. After the workout I was practically foaming at the mouth. More water next time, brainiac.

8:30pm - Metcon:

3 OHS, 21 box jumps @ 24" [OHS @ 75% 1RM, so 73#]
3 OHS, 21 burpees
3 OHS, 21 KBS @ 44#
3 OHS, 15 bj
3 OHS, 15 burpees
3 OHS, 15 KBS
3 OHS, 9 bj
3 OHS, 9 burpees
3 OHS, 9 KBS

Time: 13:59. OHS were much better than in the previous OHS wod, though I did fail 3 reps. Also realized that the nerve pain I feel is when i'm not holding the bar properly and am internally rotating my wrist into the bar. So, um, don't do that anymore.

9:30pm - RUSHED home from the gym, cooked super fast and pounded dinner down b/c  I was supposed to stop eating at 9:30! Ate in 15 minutes, so technically my feeding window was 8 hrs 15 mins today. Cheater.

--
Mobility Cert!

The movement and mobility cert was great! Kelly Starrett is funny and engaging... A great lecturer. And the material was phenomenal. He gave us testable and measurable ways to improve muscle and joint function, as well as simple tools that we can bring with us to help our athletes. I have a feeling a small foam roller or rolley stick, lacrosse ball, and band will become staples in my workout bag from now on. With the tools he gave us and the videos on his mobility WOD website, I feel much more prepared to work with athletes on how to teach them to improve their mobility.

I highly suggest this cert for other coaches, and intend to implement mobility work into my every day training. I also intend to implement at least one mobility movement into every warm-up (these to me are far better than the traditional stretching exercises I've done in the past).

Today in the warm-up I led the athletes through #s 3 and 4 of my above hip mobilizing things as we were working on OHS as the strength portion today, and so when we moved on to basic air squats I looked around and throughout the class everyone actually looked pretty damn good, and it was mainly a class of beginners. I was pretty damn astonished. Yaaay Mobility!!! Thank you Kelly Starrett!!!!!

Days 2 and 3... Weekend in Portland!

7:15am - wake up. Planning to make today 2-10pm feeing window because I'll be landing traveling to Portland for my mobility cert. I leave LA at 2:30 and arrive in Portland at 6:10pm, and have a dinner reservation at 8:30pm. It's only an hour later than yesterday and I'll be busy so I don't think this should be a problem. We'll see :)

8:30am - 16 oz dirty chai tea (brewed chai tea with a shot of espresso)

9:00am - a-coach

10:00am - 10g BCAA.

10:00am - Metcon.

6 rounds tabata of each movement
135# side-shuffle sled pull (for total meters)
Heavy hammer slam (total reps)
Row (total calories)
Sit-ups (total reps)
20" box jumps (total reps)

Total points: 230m/60/37/?/?.

11:15am - 10g BCAA

2:15pm - 8oz americano with a tiny bit of heavy cream... So delicious... 4oz no salt turkey breast with maybe 3 oz. Zucchini/squash/brussels sprouts/yellow beet salad mixes... had more food and more coffee but couldn't finish them (wtf?!).

5:30pm - 2 oz no salt turkey breast, 5 oz. veggie mix from above. Wanted to finish the food I had and per the Martin's (www.leangains.com) suggestion wanted to make sure I wasn't too hungry at dinner so i didn't make bad choices while eating out.

9:30pm - Italian cured meats (less than 1 oz), 2 sliced figs, 3 olives. Tiny Beet salad. 3 1/2 oz halibut. 4 baby tiny grapefruit wedges. Tiny, but delicious, food at the restaurant. 1/3 dark chocolate brownie thingy (what?! so much for that no bad choices game plan). espresso.

--
I cant believe how good i feel today. I'm down 2 lbs since thurs day morning (it's Saturday), which isn't anything to speak of since I go up down within 2# throughout most weeks, but its the way that I FEEL. I feel leaner, I feel like my diest is cleaner than usual, and seriously i feel amazing. Strong, lean, just amazing. I expected getting used to the diet to be hard to uncomfortable but it hasn't been, it's been cake. Which maybe i should say b/c I shouldn't have any but whatever I feel fucking good.
--

Day three. Sunday. Mobility Cert Day!! Rest Day, though worked on some mobility throughout the day (9-4).

6:30am - wake up.

8:30am - 12 oz americano with 3 shots espresso

12:30pm - 6 oz no salt turkey breast. Forgot to pack veggies for my cert. Oops. 2 tsp fish oil, 2 magnesium, 1 multi vitamin. Maybe i should include those from now on so i remember to take them.

4:30pm - 4 oz. Steak, more fatty than usual (which is ok b/c it was a rest day) was part of the new york strip of a t-bone. Also a little bit of spinach and strawberry salad (i didn't realize it was dressed in some sort of sugary sauce so only had a few bites out of politeness to the people who had prepared it) i ate because I was feeling kinda tired and off... I mean, it was the first day on IF without a workout... Plus the first meal didn't really satiate me and so I was gonna grab a chicken salad from somewhere but as I walked out of the gym (CrossFit X-Factor in Portlamd - I got my mobility cert today!!) the warehouse next door was having a BBQ and offered me a steak!

7:30pm - beets and mixed greens with a few bites of orange, 1 1/2 T goat cheese, a bit of olive oil, and a few hazelnuts. 7 oz rotisseries chicken. 6 asparagus. 2 1/2 c chamomile tea.

Day One IF - Success!

I'm gonna change the way I track things b/c with IF timing of meals is important, so I'll be blogging in a more linear format with meals and wods together so I can see how things fit together better.

7:30am - wake up.

8:45am - 16 oz. coffee with 1 T half and half

9:15am - 10g BCAA (Purple Wraath - purple lemonade flavor... not bad)

9:20am - Find 1RM OHS. 93#. Failed at 98# twice and stopped b/c I ran out of time (had to a-coach at 10am). I think I could've gone heavier but I need time to really work on my OHS. Way more time that I need for other lifts b/c of my lack of stability, flexibility, and control on this movement.

11:00am - 10g BCAA.

1:30pm - large salad (so large i couldn't finish it!) with mixed greens, sautéed onions and peppers, approx 3.5 oz grilled chicken [~28g protein], 1 T. Poblano ranch dressing. This meal should've had more protein but I was eating out. I'll try and eat more protein in my later meals today to balance.

5:00 pm - Metcon.

4 Rds for time of:
4 OHS @65% (which loosely came to 63#)
100m row
3 OHS @65%
100m row
2 OHS @65%
100m row
1 OHS @65%
100m row

Time: 23:14. OHS were a bear as usual and only got 4 unbroken in rd 1 and 4. I got a shooting pain in the pad of my left hand directly below my thumb. It continued to pulse and hurt throughout the wod but stopped the shooting pain. Some kinda nerve thing I guess. Awesome. Coach James pointed out that I'm squatting with my feet too wide and Coach Heidi pointed out that my grip is too wide. Thank god I'm attending the mobility cert this wkend I have GOT to fix my OHS.

7:30pm - Last meal before the fast! 9 egg whites [31.5g protein] (with so many spices! garlic, cloves, chives, pinch of sea salt, YUM!), and brussel sprouts & beet & walnut salad and butternut and yellow squash and zuchini salad tossed in olice oil. SUCH a tasty meal. I mean to have another in b/w these two but I didn't have time in b/w running errands and getting to the gym at 5, but that's good it means I can eat less and get by fine so that should be a lesson to me! Although I was starting to get hungry - and only made it till last meal b/c I was working out.

what the F is IF?

Intermittent Fasting. I.F.

I'll be honest, I'm a non-believer. I think eating is how your body sustains itself and therefore skipping eating is stupid. That being said, I consistently weigh 145#. I generally stick between 142-148, but for the past month I've been between 148-153 and it's obnoxious. I look fine, not great but fine. My strength is at it's best and my metcons are actually kicking ass recently, but why the hell am I carrying around this extra weight? And I've been paleo for the past 2 weeks (minus a few cheats here and there) so what the fuck?

So Bryce posts this article about IF and shows how he really leaned out in a short timeframe and actually increased his snatch weight. I was immediately sold - his after picture is impressive - definitely the leanest I've ever seen him and he eats clean on a regular basis so if that's the result I can aim for/hope for/maybe possible achieve? I'm in.

And, the IF plan isn't acually that different from the way I'm eating now, it just compresses the eating schedule. The plan I'll be following goes like this:

Workouts days:

8/9 AM - Wake up. Have coffee/tea... something with caffeine.
5-15 minutes pre-workout: 10 g BCAA (branch chain amino acids).
Morning workout.
Within 1 hr post-workout: 10 g BCAA.
12-1pm: Breaking the fast. Start of the 8 hour feeding-window. Biggest meal of the day.
(If 2nd workout is done, it should be done sometime in b/w 12-6pm)
4-5pm: Second meal
8-9pm: Final meal before the fast begins.

Rest Days:

12-1pm: Breaking the fast. Start of the 8 hour feeding-window.
(If 2nd workout is done, it should be done sometime in b/w 12-6pm)
4-5pm: Second meal
8-9pm: Final meal before the fast begins.

The general rules I'm sticking to are below:
-Aim for 1200-1500 calories a day, but essentially as long as the majority of my calories are coming from protein I'm not going to get caught up in that.
-Last meal before the fast should consist of fiberous veggies and should be heavy handed on the protein. This meal must sustain me throughout the night and until 12pm. Could eat up to 40-50g of protein (though I think that number is based on a man's eating plan not a woman's so will just play with this until I find the right amount for me). Focus on slow digesting proteins like egg whites or casein protein.
-Workout Days:
    -Focus more on carbs than fat.
    -Post-workout meal should be the biggest meal of the day. If doing 2-a-day workouts, still ensure that larger meals are eaten post-wod.
    -One piece of fruit is allowable these days post-wod though I don't think I'll have much fruit. Prob stick to bananas/apples/and maybe the occasional berries
    -Stick to leaner meats.
-Rest Days:
    -Can have a little more fat than on workouts days, and reduce the carb intake.
    -Consume less calories than workout days.
    -Fattier meats like ground beef and salmon are okay on these days.

Last Day before IF begins!

Nutrition
9:30am - two eggs, one egg white.


12:00pm – romaine lettuce with green peppers, ~6oz grilled chicken, ¼ avocado, 1 ½ T ranch dressing. Delicious and filling salad from the Stand. Yum. 16oz icea tea.

4:45pm – starving, and had to rush outta the house so grabbed 3oz no salt turkey breast + 1 oz. spicy genoa salami. 8oz iced tea.

10:45pm – 6 egg whites plus ½ cup broccoli. Not actually hungry, but want to start IF tomorrow :)

--

Workouts

--

10:00am - 45 min stretching/yoga with Jess. Very excited about this! I am atrociously inflexible.

1:00pm - Strength Set: Find 1RM Push Press. 118# push press - 10# PR!!

2:00pm - Metcon:

7 rds for time of:

6 push press @78# (unbroken)

6 double unders

6 push-ups (broke only in rd 4)

Time: 10:41.

Wanted to do the whole workout unbroken, but my double unders were getting on my nerves from the get go. WHICH was especially frustrating as I was consistently stringing sets of 10 pre-workout. Fucking double unders. In rd 1, I got 3/3/1 dus and decided that the focus of my wod was push press, so, fuck it, only the pp had to be unbroken. Of course in rds 2 and 3 I nailed all 6 dus unbroken. Push-ups were all unbroken except rd 4 which was 3/3. Originally planned this to be a 6 rd workout, but the time frame I was shooting for was 10-12 minutes with around 35-40 reps of PP, so when I finished rd 6 too early I just tagged on an extra round.

Also, I got a 90 min thai massage today. Heaven.

40 reps of DL @ 65% is my nightmare

Nutrition
9:15am - 2 eggs, 1 egg white. 6oz iced tea.

2:00pm - 24oz. iced tea, and sushi! todays sushi was not as paleo as the last time - i definitely ate rice today, plus prob 2T soy sauce. Prob ate ~6 pieces of sushi (with rice), and ~4oz sashimi (sans rice). 1/2 packet of peanut m&ms.

6:45pm - just under 2oz. no sodium turkey breast

9:00pm - 1 banana, 1 egg, 1/4 turkey burger, 1/4 red pepper

**I know I cheated on paleo today. I know. But it was my friend's bday celebration, and we all just ordered sushi for the table, which makes it a bitch to stay clean because i love sushi. AND, once I knew where we were going for lunch, I planned my workout to fit the cheat. If you're going to cheat and have rice and sodium, it's much better to do it when you're doing something static like a 1RM DL, versus some sort of explosive movement (like a clean) or some sort of crazy long endurance work. Oh, and peanut m&ms are delicious. I've been craving chocolate on and off for 2 wks. I did however take a magnesium supplement today to curb those cravings from now on.**

Workouts:
7:30pm - 1mile run. Time - 7:40. PR!

9:00pm - 1RM Deadlift. 262# PR!

9:40pm - Metcon. Originally planned to do 3 rds of:

20 GHD
15 DL @ 65% 1RM
10 pull-ups

…BUT the DLs were so fucking heavy and my back was sore as a mother by rep 8 of rd 1, so I decided to split up the DLs and change the WOD format to be more manageable and so that it wouldn’t put me out for a few days. I changed the wod to:

Rd 1: 20 GHDs, 10 DL @ 65% 1RM, 10 pull-ups, 10 DL @ 65% 1RM
Rd 2: 20 GHDs, 5 DL @ 65% 1RM, 10 pull-ups, 5 DL @ 65% 1RM
Rd 3: 20 GHDs, 5 DL @ 65% 1RM, 10 pull-ups, 5 DL @ 65% 1RM.

Don’t get me wrong… it still fucking hurt but it was for sure more manageable breaking up the DLs versus trying to bang out a set of 15 at once. Time - 13:11

Then, as a pre-emptive strike to avoid back pain tomorrow, I iced my back, ate an extra fish oil pill, and sat in the hot tub for 10 mins till the night security guard kicked me out. Again.

Back to clean eating

Nutrition
9am- 2 eggs, 1 egg white

1:30pm- salad - mixed greens, ~1/4 c of carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, ~3oz chicken. Not impressive. ~1 1/2 T lite greek dressing, ~1T tzatziki sauce. Kind of a lettuce festival.

2:30pm- 20 oz. chai iced tea + 1 shot espresso

6pm- mixed sashimi, 12 pc, approx 7oz of tuna/salmon/yellowtail/other, plus 1T soy sauce & wasabi

10pm- 1/4lb. turkey burger, handful of arugula, 1 T. white truffel oil.

Workouts!!

Strength set 3pm
Find 1RM Front Squat. 151# PR!!! (prev 1RM 140)

Metcon 3:45pm
4 Rds for time:
10 FS @ 65%
10 KBS 1 pood
10 24" Box Jumps
Time- 12:34. Originally planned for 5 rds, but had to cut the wod short b/c there was a 4pm class.

Skillwork 9:15pm
Worked towards Skin the Cat and butterflies. Used 2 movements - Movement A was simply deadhang knee raises (essentially KTEs but raised knees together up as high as they'd go into my chest). Movement B was just holding tight in the starting position of the butterfly - tightening lats and pulling feet back and up as high as possible and holding tight.

Rd 1
A1 - 5x10 reps
A2 - 5x10 sec hold
Rd 2

A1 - 4x10 reps
A2 - 4x10 sec hold
... down to
Rd 5
A1 - 1x10 reps
A2 - 1x10 sec hold

I didn't time this as the goal here was to do everything strict, no kip, and to start from a still position for each rep. I shook my arms out a rested about 10-20 sec in between the sets of 10s, and rested a minute or so in between rounds. By the last round my knees were getting up waaay higher than in round 1. Skin the Cat here I come!!

OHS is no longer on the suck list

Okay, it's not like I'm great at them. They're still ugly, I'm sure. But I did them in a wod and didn't have to drop the bar ONCE in that wod and they felt the way they're fucking supposed to. Woo! So suck that, Overhead Squat!

Strength set 6am: Back Squat 3x3 @ 155#. These were tough but felt really good. Haven't back squatted in awhile.

Metcon 6am:
5 Rounds for time of: (12 min cap)

1 Snatch (full) @135/95# or 75% of 1RM - used 73#
4 Overhead Squats
10 Pull-ups
Time: 7:32
OHS felt AWESOME! No trouble getting down and Coach Rudy actually told me good job on them!! I DANCED over to the pull-up bar (and probably shouted with a big dumb grin on my face) I was so excited! That is the first non-negative feedback ever on my OHS and I was sooo excited :) Still excited. I power snatched in rds 2 and 3, but got the full snatch in rds 1, 4, and 5.

Skillwork 8pm: Tried to get some snatch work in but just couldn't focus. Tried to switch to butterfly work but same problem. I was just beat after all the traveling, shitty eating, etc this weekend and couldn't push myself into any actual work so went home and went to bed!

Week Two

Sunday 5/1/2011
Skillwork: Butterfly work!! Need to start with feet back and scoop them up without starting with a swinging motion. Need to tighten lats and core for this to be an easier movement.

WOD: 150 push-ups for time. Every break for 2 seconds or more results in a 50m sprint. Steve's creation. Time: 14:04. Good arm killer.

Monday 5/2/2011
WOD 8pm: 3 Rds: 10 BJ @ 24”, 10 KBS @ 1 pood, 10 sit-ups. Time 4:26. 1st rd of BJs unbroken but 2nd and 3rd were not. Need to get better to string BJs at a slightly uncomfortable height.

Skillwork: 8pm: Lots of rope climb instruction while A-coaching (@7pm), then 2 full-out rope climbs before my WOD. 2nd went probably 75% as fast as the first – need to get better upper body strength so that I don’t slow down until after 3rd rope climbs in a row. Then worked on butterflies for about 30 minutes. I got the legs movement down and can rep out 3 in a row though my chin isn’t over the bar. Conversely, can get 1 rep with chin over the bar, but then I drop down hard. In order to get the legs motion I am overly controlling the movement which makes it hard to get enough power to get up over the bar, and when I am going all out I am able to get the 1 rep over the bar but can’t get the rhythm. Need to work on both of these to nail the movement.

Tuesday 5/3/2011
Skillwork: 6 am: Clean bar path work. Need to get my knees coming forward on the second pull to the hang position. Worked on sets of 3 mainly, though stayed at 83# and 93# for awhile as Dan suggested form improvements. Worked @ 33#, 53#, 63#, 73#, 83#, 93#, 103# in preparation for Helen meets Grace event on Friday. Then moved on to Jerks in sets of 3 @ 53# & 63#, 2 sets of 3 @ 73#, 2 sets of 3 @ 83#, and a few singles @ 93#.

WOD 1: 7 am: Half Grace. 2:57. I expected this to take much longer. Felt good.

WOD 2 series/Personal Punishment session with Coach Dan: 8am: 3 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 x 9’ WB @ 14#. Time- 5 min-ish. 2 min rest then, 1 mile run – Time 8:20. Followed by 5x back and forth bag penalties for running too slowly of cleaning the heavy bag once, then dragging in from ladder edge to ladder edge across the box floor. Followed by 5 isometric WB pushup, clean & squat – with my left hand on the WB with right hand on the ground do a push-up then jump over and transfer hands (not rolling the ball but moving my body over the ball) so left hand is on ground and right hand on the WB and do a push-up, followed by jumping up into a squatted position, clean the WB into a full squat. Those 5 were the hardest parts I think!! I am not coordinated.

Wednesday 5/4/11
Strength set: Find 1RM Press. PR today!! 5x 33#, 3x 53, 63#, then 2 @ 73, 83#, 1 @ 88# (PR), 93f, 90.5 f, 90.5f. Could’ve hit 90.5# fresh though. Then worked Push Press @ 63, 83, 103#. Slight jerk in 2nd set of 103#.

Thursday 5/5/11
Skillwork: 12:30 pm Bikram Yoga!

Heavy Metal Strength 5pm: Front Squat 5-5-5-5-5 (ended @ 115#)

Heavy Metal WOD 5pm: 3 rounds for time of: 50m Tire Flips, 15 Front Squats 135/95#, 25 Dumbbell Snatches 35/25#, 400 m Row. Time: 24:30 Was SOOO overheated during this workout. No more bikram pre-metcons!

Friday 5/6/11
Team CF Competition - Helen Meets Grace: 8:30 pm Partner WOD 3 rds: 400m run, 21 KBS, 12 pull-ups, 30 C&J @ 95. Time: 13:42.

Saturday & Sunday 5/7 - 5/8/11
Rest days - in CHI-TOWN! CFC Anniversary Party. Thank god I wasn't tracking my nutrition on this trip. good LORD!

--> This week I didn't really stick to my goals of 7-10 min metcons and laying low. Fail. I did, however, cut back and not workout 10 times this week, which when I get really excited about working out is actually quite difficult for me. So, that's a win. Next week I'll be back to two-a-days and awesome punishment, but the following week I really need to get in more of the short time domains.

Week One - Heavy Week

Monday 4/25/2011 Metcon: Team WOD. Each team member rows 800m, while the other members do DUs, hollow rocks, plank holds (for seconds), & mountain climbers (both legs count as 1 rep). My total score 440.

Skillwork: Stringing TTB work. Need bigger kip, almost out of control to string these. Snatch progressions up to 55#. Worked on bar path mostly and shoulder mobility.

Tuesday 4/26/2011
Strength Set: Push Jerk 5-5-5 @40/50/60% 1RM. Accidentally used men’s bar, so thought I was lifting at the %ages, but actually was up about 10% using 65#, 75#, and 85#. Then, metcon was 2 WODs back to back with 1 min rest in b/w.

Metcon: WOD A: 30 DU, 10 Push press @ 55#, 10 HSPU (8 min cap). Again with the wrong bar so worked @ 65#... 1 min rest… WOD B: 200 m sprint, 10 BJ @ 24”, 10 air squats. WOD A completed 2 rds + some DUs, WOD B completed in 8:30 or so.
Skillwork: Skin the Cat work with Coach Dan. Need to focus on tightening lats (shove shoulders back to start the movement) and get a stronger core. Need to do GHDs and other ancillary skills work to improve.

Wednesday 4/27/2011
Activity: Surfing! Love that Stacy came to visit and made me do stuff :) 2.5 hrs

WOD: Cindy! 12 rds

Thursday 4/28/2011
Metcon@ 9am: 15 min AMRAP of 200m row, 10 SDHP @65#, 200m sprint, 10 KBS @ 1 pood, 20 sit-ups. 3 or so rounds. I think.
Heavy Metal WOD(s) @5pm:
1) 10 mins to find your 1RM OHS. 105#! PR!! (Stacy said my depth was good during this portion of the afternoon, but in later rounds struggled really bad to hit depth so unsure if I really hit this PR or not).
2) 5 Rds for time: 3 OHS @ 95#, 25m burpee broad jump. This was atrocious. Couldn’t find the bottom of my OHS so this really ended up being a few burpee broad jump sessions and a bunch of trying to get to the bottom of the squat.
3) 25 min AMRAP: thruster @ 95#, 1 wall climb with 50# sandbag, 7 burpee 24” box jump onto and overs, 1 wall climb with 50# sandbag, 7 KBS @ 1.5 pood. This was kinda a mess b/c there were so many of us waiting for wall climbs or boxes that it’s hard to say b/c I went out of order so frequently. Probably was in b/w 2-3 rounds.

Friday 4/29/2011
WOD: 10-1 exchange Body Complex Progression (air squat, push-up, sit-up, superman, jumping knee tuck) & Squat Clean @ 95# plus sprint 100m in b/w each round. Time 25:58. I was DYING towards the end of this wod. I could really feel that I had worked out so much this week and was simply exhausted by the time I got into this. Was fighting to finish without even wanting to finish by the end.

WOD: Running! 4.1 miles in 47:49.4

Saturday 4/30/2011
Rest Day.

-->by thursday and friday I was REALLY feeling burnt out. thursday evening after we worked OHS and moved on to the metcon the metcon felt atrocious, and friday i was fighting so hard to get up 95# cleans - way harder than normally necessary. i know that this new workout plan is heavy and maybe even a little crazy but i think it'll be good for me to learn to really fight through a week. so... we'll stick with this for a few weeks and then i'll either continue on or try something new.

Oh right. Blogging.

So I've been tracking my workouts for the past, what, 2 weeks or so on my laptop... no idea why I wasn't just blogging them here. My sister just started a paleo challenge and is logging her stuff, which I was reading and discussing with her and then I remembered WHY I blogged. So, time to get back to my CFC roots and blog.

I wanna get back to where I was and better. I wanna compete for the 2012 Games. I may never be able to qualify at the Individual level but for sure on a Team I should able to be competitive. I want muscle-ups...butterfly pull-ups... a damn sub six fran time... and handstand push-ups to the damn ground. And to look hot in a bikini. I know about making S.M.A.R.T. goals, and I will for sure make them but right now I just want to get back to a competitive level in the box by getting a month of so of consistent CrossFit training (consistent meaning 5 times a week or more) and then I'm going to start establishing (and achieving) goals.

I am trying out a new training cycle. Week One: heavy weights, longer time domains, high volume of workouts, skills work. Week Two: Focus on speed training and cardio burners. Lower weights and shorter time domains. Fran-type WODs are the ideal time domain for this week. To play catch-up, I'll post week one and then week two as separate posts, and then will start daily/almost daily blogging to begin Week Three.