Thanksgiving and Christmas have been really hard for me two years running. And by hard I mean really fucking hard... I won't get into the details but they've been the saddest holidays of my life.
This year for Christmas my mom got me a pair of vibrams and a book called Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It was perfect timing. Not only did I need something distracting, I needed something inspirational and this book was both of those things, plus it taught me interesting things about our ancestors, evolution, why people hate running (as if I needed to be told that- I've hated running my whole life)... so much information!! And told in such a fantastic way, all wrapped inside the story of the Raramuri (more commonly known as the Tarahumara people of Mexico, or the "Running People") and the most intense ultra marathon ever run.
I finished the book today. I'm sad to be finished with it- I wish I could read more. And this morning I realized that a good long run was exactly what I needed to clear my head. And I'm not an especially good distance runner.
But I strapped on my new Nike Frees (I left my old ones in Chicago and wasn't ready to use vibrams on a long distance run) and just ran. I had no idea where I would go, for how long I'd run or anything, I just ran. I left at 3:35 and got back at 5:10. I could've kept going once i got back to the starting point but didn't because it was getting dark and I didn't want my parents to worry. I have NEVER EVER EVER arrived at my ending place and thought, maybe I'll keep going. I could not believe it.
I definitely ran slowly... I was working on keeping a consistent pace and focusing on my stride and the way my foot hit the pavement. But I ran farther than I've ever run in my life and up and down the worst hills I've ever attempted. I ran 12.42 km (7.42 miles)... The last 2 1/2 miles (at least) were almost entirely uphill. And I couldn't believe it- the whole time I wasn't dying!
But here's the most impressive part... It was the most cathartic thing I could have done for myself. In the beginning of my run, I was sad. A few minutes in and every emotion came flooding over me and I felt like I was about to start sobbing. I could feel the tears welling up inside but they wouldn't come out- something about my breathing made it impossible to actually cry. I continued running, and slowly I began to feel less sad. All of a sudden I realized I had been running for thirty minutes, I wasn't tired at all, and I was singing along to my iPhone! Now, usually I would realize that if I can sing I'm not running fast enough, but i decided that pacing was my goal because I wanted to run far. And I realized that I was ELATED!! I skipped during my run. Not once, but often. I waved at other runners (who I, for the first time didn't totally hate), sang whenever I felt the urge, and threw my hands in the air when I reached my turn around point (even though it was at the bottom of an ENORMOUS hill that I was going to have to run right back up).
I'm running a marathon this year. I'm totally doing it.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Back at it
Monday 12/14/10. Back in VA for the holidays!
Nutrition:
2 eggs + 1 egg white
2 c. coffee w/ half and half + 2 sugars, ~8 oz. gyro meat, one bite of pita, prob 1/4 c tzasiki (yogurt) sauce, small greek salad, w/ greek/italian dressing
pre-workout: 2 oz (?) Carl Buddig sliced turkey breast
post: 100 cal vanilla muscle milk
scrambled egg whites (3 or 4 eggs maybe?) with 2 % cheddar
Workout @ Gold Medal Graplling:
3 Rds of 1:30 each interval:
stairs
keg/hammer slam (keg rd 1, hammer rd 2, keg rd 3)
21" tire jumps
25# dumbbell cleans
push-ups
sit-ups
rest
That was tiring and got a good sweat going. Didn't track reps just tried to block out the world and pushed myself. Prob could've pushed harder if I had a counter or could've tracked and compared my reps round by round. Did most of the push-ups on my knees b/c I was aiming at 45 per interval, but did a few full-out in rd 3 (aafter being called out for being a girl). Then, worked on DLs.
DL @ 95#x5 - 135x5 - 185x3 - 205x3 - 225x2 - 245x1
Finished out with 10 sets of 5 kipping pull-ups.
I dunno if I'm gonna keep tracking my nutrition. It was necessary when I first started to keep myself accountable, but now I'm accustomed to eatng this way and really only cheat prob once a week with something I feel bad about. I also decided to switch to a more primal than paleo approach as I allow myself dairy, and occassionally sea salt.
Nutrition:
2 eggs + 1 egg white
2 c. coffee w/ half and half + 2 sugars, ~8 oz. gyro meat, one bite of pita, prob 1/4 c tzasiki (yogurt) sauce, small greek salad, w/ greek/italian dressing
pre-workout: 2 oz (?) Carl Buddig sliced turkey breast
post: 100 cal vanilla muscle milk
scrambled egg whites (3 or 4 eggs maybe?) with 2 % cheddar
Workout @ Gold Medal Graplling:
3 Rds of 1:30 each interval:
stairs
keg/hammer slam (keg rd 1, hammer rd 2, keg rd 3)
21" tire jumps
25# dumbbell cleans
push-ups
sit-ups
rest
That was tiring and got a good sweat going. Didn't track reps just tried to block out the world and pushed myself. Prob could've pushed harder if I had a counter or could've tracked and compared my reps round by round. Did most of the push-ups on my knees b/c I was aiming at 45 per interval, but did a few full-out in rd 3 (aafter being called out for being a girl). Then, worked on DLs.
DL @ 95#x5 - 135x5 - 185x3 - 205x3 - 225x2 - 245x1
Finished out with 10 sets of 5 kipping pull-ups.
I dunno if I'm gonna keep tracking my nutrition. It was necessary when I first started to keep myself accountable, but now I'm accustomed to eatng this way and really only cheat prob once a week with something I feel bad about. I also decided to switch to a more primal than paleo approach as I allow myself dairy, and occassionally sea salt.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Charles Staley Oly Lift seminar day 2 & day 8 of nutrition tracking
Sunday 10/18/10.
Nutrition:
2 eggs + 1 egg white.
1/2 extra big choc muscle milk light
Chipotle burrito bowl...double chicken, pico de gallo, guac, lettuce... And a little bit of spicy corn salsa.
1/2 extra big choc muscle milk light
Steak lettuce wraps... Prob 4 oz steak, 1/3 c peppers and onions, lettuce wraps, guac
A shit ton of vodka sodas... 8-10? And another car bomb. Man, those are delicious.
Prob about 1/3 c cheese tortellini in cream sauce with peas and proscioutto. And 1/3 carafe of bellinis.
---
Maybe not my best wkend as far as food goes... Next week I'll have to make up for that. Whatever though- we're starting to shoot on Tuesday so I needed to get all my misbehaving out before then. Plus one of my oldest friends came into town and we had a lot of fun. And apparently both are secretly fatties who miss pasta :)
I worked out hard though- another 9-3 day of lifting with Charles Staley. I snatched up to 70 or 80 some #s, I cant believe I didn't write that down, but it wasn't a PR... Just much prettier than prev PRs. I C&J up to 103#, but was really struggling with the pull. I wasn't getting that weightless moment - that shrug that happens when you rally nail the pull. So, instead of continuing up in weight I dropped down to work just on that. I need to spend some time this week on these lifts... I hope i can find a gym in LA with barbells I can play with as i want to.
Nutrition:
2 eggs + 1 egg white.
1/2 extra big choc muscle milk light
Chipotle burrito bowl...double chicken, pico de gallo, guac, lettuce... And a little bit of spicy corn salsa.
1/2 extra big choc muscle milk light
Steak lettuce wraps... Prob 4 oz steak, 1/3 c peppers and onions, lettuce wraps, guac
A shit ton of vodka sodas... 8-10? And another car bomb. Man, those are delicious.
Prob about 1/3 c cheese tortellini in cream sauce with peas and proscioutto. And 1/3 carafe of bellinis.
---
Maybe not my best wkend as far as food goes... Next week I'll have to make up for that. Whatever though- we're starting to shoot on Tuesday so I needed to get all my misbehaving out before then. Plus one of my oldest friends came into town and we had a lot of fun. And apparently both are secretly fatties who miss pasta :)
I worked out hard though- another 9-3 day of lifting with Charles Staley. I snatched up to 70 or 80 some #s, I cant believe I didn't write that down, but it wasn't a PR... Just much prettier than prev PRs. I C&J up to 103#, but was really struggling with the pull. I wasn't getting that weightless moment - that shrug that happens when you rally nail the pull. So, instead of continuing up in weight I dropped down to work just on that. I need to spend some time this week on these lifts... I hope i can find a gym in LA with barbells I can play with as i want to.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Charles Staley seminar on Oly Lifting - day 1 of 2
Saturday 10/16/10.
Nutrition:
Pure protein bar.
1/2 extra big chocolate muscle milk (during oly lifting training).
Lunch at Flat Top Grill - 3 oz chicken, stirfried with broccoli, spinach, peppers, a few pineapple chunks, mushrooms, and green onions plus Indian coconut curry sauce, garlic and sriacha sauce.
1/2 extra big chocolate muscle milk (at end of oly lifting training).
Barbacoa burrito bowl from Whole Foods- 4 oz barbacoa steak, 1 1/2 T guacamole, pico de gallo, and lettuce.
And... Later on I will be having copious amounts of alcohol.
Later on's update is... I think I drank 4 vodka sodas, plus a car bomb (amazing...happy bday Erin), a shot of tequila...
And I was starving coming home. And wanted fucking taco bell. Like really wanted it. I settled for 1 oz of no salt turkey deli meat. Ugh.
--
Workout:
9am- 3pm Olympic Lifitng training seminar with Charles Staley.
Great day!! Worked first on cleans, then snatches, then jerks. Broke for lunch and then returned to snatches, and then put together the clean and the jerk. Worked up to 73# snatch, 30% off my prev ugly as shit 1RM, which didn't make me especially happy but it was okay. I then worked up to a 103# clean and jerk, which was only 10% off my prev 1RM, which felt great. I wanted to push for 108, but I was tired. I recognized that I had reached my end for the day so didn't try it. But tomorrow!! Tomorrow I'm getting it. Actually tomorrow I'm hitting 125#. :) Charles suggested writing it down ahead of time... Not waiting until you hit the PR but announcing it first. Making it happen. So, I'm making it happen. Tomorrow.
Nutrition:
Pure protein bar.
1/2 extra big chocolate muscle milk (during oly lifting training).
Lunch at Flat Top Grill - 3 oz chicken, stirfried with broccoli, spinach, peppers, a few pineapple chunks, mushrooms, and green onions plus Indian coconut curry sauce, garlic and sriacha sauce.
1/2 extra big chocolate muscle milk (at end of oly lifting training).
Barbacoa burrito bowl from Whole Foods- 4 oz barbacoa steak, 1 1/2 T guacamole, pico de gallo, and lettuce.
And... Later on I will be having copious amounts of alcohol.
Later on's update is... I think I drank 4 vodka sodas, plus a car bomb (amazing...happy bday Erin), a shot of tequila...
And I was starving coming home. And wanted fucking taco bell. Like really wanted it. I settled for 1 oz of no salt turkey deli meat. Ugh.
--
Workout:
9am- 3pm Olympic Lifitng training seminar with Charles Staley.
Great day!! Worked first on cleans, then snatches, then jerks. Broke for lunch and then returned to snatches, and then put together the clean and the jerk. Worked up to 73# snatch, 30% off my prev ugly as shit 1RM, which didn't make me especially happy but it was okay. I then worked up to a 103# clean and jerk, which was only 10% off my prev 1RM, which felt great. I wanted to push for 108, but I was tired. I recognized that I had reached my end for the day so didn't try it. But tomorrow!! Tomorrow I'm getting it. Actually tomorrow I'm hitting 125#. :) Charles suggested writing it down ahead of time... Not waiting until you hit the PR but announcing it first. Making it happen. So, I'm making it happen. Tomorrow.
Holy shit I'm about to get on a plane to Chicago!!
Friday 10/15/10 Nutrition:
2 eggs + cheese + top half of a mini croissant + 1/2 t Tabasco. 16 oz coffee + sugary non-dairy creamer.
"Pure protein" bar.
Sashimi and some random Japanese veggies, a bit of fresh mango and avocado. 2-3 glasses vodka+ club soda.
Post-bikram 1/2 extra big chocolate muscle milk
Prob 2 1/2 oz. of chicken, 1 italian mini meatball, 1/3 c cavatelli pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce. Plus 1/2 caraffe delicious delicious bellini :) and then one more kettle on the rocks.
--
Workout: bikram yoga. I wanted to go to CFC but my traps are still pretty sore so I wanna give them some additional rest since I'll be kiting all day tomorrow and Sunday.
--
I'm so excited to head back to Chi-town for a weekend of olympic lifting training and fun fun CFC times. I don't even know what to do with myself I'm so excited. I miss my box, and this will be a fantastic reunion. Plus, I spent the last few days hitting up Northern VA boxes, training at GMG, and having a fucking phenomenally relaxing and rejuvenating time. AND we just locked our lead actor for the shoot, which means we'll finally start shooting this upcoming Tuesday.
I. Love. My. Life.
2 eggs + cheese + top half of a mini croissant + 1/2 t Tabasco. 16 oz coffee + sugary non-dairy creamer.
"Pure protein" bar.
Sashimi and some random Japanese veggies, a bit of fresh mango and avocado. 2-3 glasses vodka+ club soda.
Post-bikram 1/2 extra big chocolate muscle milk
Prob 2 1/2 oz. of chicken, 1 italian mini meatball, 1/3 c cavatelli pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce. Plus 1/2 caraffe delicious delicious bellini :) and then one more kettle on the rocks.
--
Workout: bikram yoga. I wanted to go to CFC but my traps are still pretty sore so I wanna give them some additional rest since I'll be kiting all day tomorrow and Sunday.
--
I'm so excited to head back to Chi-town for a weekend of olympic lifting training and fun fun CFC times. I don't even know what to do with myself I'm so excited. I miss my box, and this will be a fantastic reunion. Plus, I spent the last few days hitting up Northern VA boxes, training at GMG, and having a fucking phenomenally relaxing and rejuvenating time. AND we just locked our lead actor for the shoot, which means we'll finally start shooting this upcoming Tuesday.
I. Love. My. Life.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Day 5- 10/14/10
Nutrition.
2 eggs + 1 egg white.
1 grande americano + heavy cream.
~2 oz. Deer steak.
2 oz. Buddig honey roasted turkey deli meat. 1 T crunchy peanut butter.
Pre-wod: 4 oz low sodium chicken deli meat
Post-wod: muscle milk lite
8 oz shrimp + 3/4 T ketchup
--
WOD at CF Woodbridge.
21-15-9 reps of:
Power snatches 95/65#
pull ups
Capped off with 3 burpees to finish the wood out!
10:02
I went light again today which frustrated me but I just knew that I was already tight from the stupid car accident and then OH squatting and jerking yesterday made my traps and neck muscles really tight and sore this morning, so I lifted 53#. Which made me feel like a slacker... but it was the right call.
2 eggs + 1 egg white.
1 grande americano + heavy cream.
~2 oz. Deer steak.
2 oz. Buddig honey roasted turkey deli meat. 1 T crunchy peanut butter.
Pre-wod: 4 oz low sodium chicken deli meat
Post-wod: muscle milk lite
8 oz shrimp + 3/4 T ketchup
--
WOD at CF Woodbridge.
21-15-9 reps of:
Power snatches 95/65#
pull ups
Capped off with 3 burpees to finish the wood out!
10:02
I went light again today which frustrated me but I just knew that I was already tight from the stupid car accident and then OH squatting and jerking yesterday made my traps and neck muscles really tight and sore this morning, so I lifted 53#. Which made me feel like a slacker... but it was the right call.
Days 2-4... Coulda been worse...
Monday 10/11/10.
2 eggs + 1 egg white, 1 cup coffee plus non-dairy sugary creamer.
2 turkey burgers.
~8 oz. Shrimp + 1/4 red pepper + handful of lettuce + green goddess dressing salad
~2 1/2 glasses effen black cherry vodka. Handful of peanut butter m&ms. Too much effen to get a clear picture as to how many sunchips I had. Damn sunchips.
---
Tuesday 10/12/10. Flight from LA to VA.
2 eggs + 1 egg white, plus 1 1/2 cup coffee plus non-dairy but sugary creamer.
Turkey + mozeralla + tomato + pesto mayo sandwich (sans the bread... and mostly sans the pesto mayo since that was mostly just on the bread). And a little bit of pasta salad. Oops.
1/2 - 3/4 cup "Meat mush" with 1 T ketchup (this is Elijah's go-to protein packed creation... Grd turkey, grd beef?, onions, wheat germ, probably some eggs). Sounds kinda weird but tastes like meatloaf. Surprisingly tasty.
---definitely not enough food for a normal whole day, but I was on a place for much of it so didn't need that much energy.---
--
Wednesday 10/13/10.
3 egg whites + 1 T cheddar cheese. First scrambled eggs in months. Delicious!
Post-wod muscle milk lite
Diet a&w root beer. 1/4 lb. low sodium chicken deli meat
Pre-cardio circuits 1/4 lb. low sodium chicken deli meat
Post-wod muscle milk lite
2 1/4 lb. Turkey burgers with cheese and 2 T salsa.
WOD at CF Lorton.
Strength work: 5x5 overhead squats.
My Chiro cleared me to workout but just told me to be careful. This past wkend he said absolutely no overhead work, but Monday he did clear me officially. On my first warmup set of 5 with the 33# bar I could feel my shoudlers tense and tighten right around the base of my neck, which I thought was not a good thing, but it wasn't a sharp pain or anything, more like a warning sign. So, I decided that I could still do OH squats today, but I went pretty light (only went up to 63#) and stuck to sets of 3 instead so as not to aggravate it. Until my last set, which I pushed to 5 reps unnecessarily. Which was probably stupid.
Metcon- 3 rds of:
1 min power cleans @ 135/95#
1 min rest
1 min burpee pull ups
1 min rest
1 min jerks @ 135/95#
1 min rest.
Rd 1: 11/9/6
Rd 2: 9/12/4
Rd 3: 10/10/4. Total 75.
2nd workout of the day...
Cardio circuits at Gold Medal Grappling.
2 rds:
1 min of stairs, hammer slam, giant tire box jumps (21-24in?), deadlifts at 135#, burpees, rest
Followed by, I dunno, twenty-thirty minutes of boxing? I rested as needed for a few seconds, but worked as hard as I could for a long time. I was surprised by my cardio endurance today.. I expected to be hurting much more during the workout at GMG, but I actually felt super strong and capable, even though I haven't been CFing as much as usual.
2 eggs + 1 egg white, 1 cup coffee plus non-dairy sugary creamer.
2 turkey burgers.
~8 oz. Shrimp + 1/4 red pepper + handful of lettuce + green goddess dressing salad
~2 1/2 glasses effen black cherry vodka. Handful of peanut butter m&ms. Too much effen to get a clear picture as to how many sunchips I had. Damn sunchips.
---
Tuesday 10/12/10. Flight from LA to VA.
2 eggs + 1 egg white, plus 1 1/2 cup coffee plus non-dairy but sugary creamer.
Turkey + mozeralla + tomato + pesto mayo sandwich (sans the bread... and mostly sans the pesto mayo since that was mostly just on the bread). And a little bit of pasta salad. Oops.
1/2 - 3/4 cup "Meat mush" with 1 T ketchup (this is Elijah's go-to protein packed creation... Grd turkey, grd beef?, onions, wheat germ, probably some eggs). Sounds kinda weird but tastes like meatloaf. Surprisingly tasty.
---definitely not enough food for a normal whole day, but I was on a place for much of it so didn't need that much energy.---
--
Wednesday 10/13/10.
3 egg whites + 1 T cheddar cheese. First scrambled eggs in months. Delicious!
Post-wod muscle milk lite
Diet a&w root beer. 1/4 lb. low sodium chicken deli meat
Pre-cardio circuits 1/4 lb. low sodium chicken deli meat
Post-wod muscle milk lite
2 1/4 lb. Turkey burgers with cheese and 2 T salsa.
WOD at CF Lorton.
Strength work: 5x5 overhead squats.
My Chiro cleared me to workout but just told me to be careful. This past wkend he said absolutely no overhead work, but Monday he did clear me officially. On my first warmup set of 5 with the 33# bar I could feel my shoudlers tense and tighten right around the base of my neck, which I thought was not a good thing, but it wasn't a sharp pain or anything, more like a warning sign. So, I decided that I could still do OH squats today, but I went pretty light (only went up to 63#) and stuck to sets of 3 instead so as not to aggravate it. Until my last set, which I pushed to 5 reps unnecessarily. Which was probably stupid.
Metcon- 3 rds of:
1 min power cleans @ 135/95#
1 min rest
1 min burpee pull ups
1 min rest
1 min jerks @ 135/95#
1 min rest.
Rd 1: 11/9/6
Rd 2: 9/12/4
Rd 3: 10/10/4. Total 75.
2nd workout of the day...
Cardio circuits at Gold Medal Grappling.
2 rds:
1 min of stairs, hammer slam, giant tire box jumps (21-24in?), deadlifts at 135#, burpees, rest
Followed by, I dunno, twenty-thirty minutes of boxing? I rested as needed for a few seconds, but worked as hard as I could for a long time. I was surprised by my cardio endurance today.. I expected to be hurting much more during the workout at GMG, but I actually felt super strong and capable, even though I haven't been CFing as much as usual.
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