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!!!
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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!!!!!