Starting the Whole30 and getting back to CrossFit

Along with the excitement of the holidays comes an almost unavoidable halt to all things routine; kid’s daycare and school days off, sleeping in becomes the norm, eating whatever decadent morsel that’s placed in front of you, and getting flimsy on the workout routine.

I had made a promise to myself going into the holidays that I wouldn’t let them disrupt attending CrossFit; but of course, they did.  Or, I allowed them to and made excuses.  Sure, we had family in town, late nights making it hard to attend the 5am workout at the box that I’m accustomed to, and food hangovers that rival any alcohol hangover I can remember.

Today marks my day of getting back to it after nearly 2 weeks of slacking due to holidays and an upper respiratory infection/virus and ear infection running rampant through our household rendering all 4 of us miserable for nearly 2 weeks.  The CrossFit community I belong to in Port Angeles had decided early December to do the Whole30 together as a group starting January 1.  Well, given how crummy I feel from making horrible food choices and missing workouts, I’ve decided there’s no time like the present.  Mine will be a Whole33.

So for the record, so both you and I can keep me honest and on top of it, I want to keep track of where I start doing the Whole30 and end, as far as my body goes.  I weighed myself this morning and despite great gains in strength, flexibility, and muscle tone, I maintain 199lbs weight, now 5 months post-partum.  Now, rule #1 of CrossFit is DON’T WEIGH YOURSELF!!!!  But one thing I’ve noticed from watching others do it, is increase in workout energy AND weight loss.  So I want to see if the same happens for me.

While YES, I am no doubt still stuck to that darn weight number, I am far less fixated on it as I used to be prior to CrossFit.  I will also try to find a tape measure today and will post measurements to see if after Whole30 and being back at CrossFit 3x/week we can appreciate any noticeable difference.  I know there will be!

 

Reminding myself…

It’s good to remind yourself of basic principles with which you claim to hold dear; be good to others, lying spins a tangled web, eat your vegetables, yadda yadda yadda.  But one thing I find I need constant, if not hourly, reminder of is how to eat while in training.  I’m just as guilty as the next slacker.  You think to yourself, “well, I ran 2000 meters today, deadlifted for 20 mins straight, and then did yoga…what will it hurt if I eat 14 mini Snickers left over from Halloween?”  Ridiculous.  Partly, YES it hurts and can add those calories that go to nothing to help build that lean muscle, not to mention the sugar crash and the guilt that always surfaces seconds if not hours later.  And if you are me, within a day or so of eating processed sugar, my hands begin to crack and bleed.  There is no hiding it if I’ve cheated on my healthy lifestyle – – – my hands undeniably rat me out.

Yesterday on our CrossFit Facebook page for Olympic YMCA, one of my colleagues posted a link to an article by CNN: The World’s Fittest Women.  This article reveals CNNs top picks for the top 11 female athletes in the world.  Most are a handful of famous Olympians or trainers.  But one in particular is one that the mainstream world most likely hasn’t heart of or seen before; Annie Thorisdottir from Iceland (image 2).

This is precisely what I needed today.  I need to be reminded that my diet effects my ability to be as fit as Annie.  My dedication and inspiration to get up at 415am to head to CrossFit depends on me and only me.  It’s time to reach deep.  Deeper than I’ve ever reached in my years of playing competitive sports.  Time to reach deeper than I think or believe I can.  Time to pin Annie’s photo up in my mind, as that dangling carrot when setting up my bar and weights for the impossible.

That’s not to say that I want to be Annie or reach the acclaim she has, but damnit, why not!?

Inspiration

Repost from Again Faster

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Here’s what I know:

1.) Training is nothing without nutrition. You can train your ass off, and if you go home and eat Cheetos, you’re still going to be a fat bastard.

2.) An hour of cardio is going to turn you into someone who is capable of doing an hour of cardio. Twenty minutes of hard sprinting will turn you into someone who can sprint, jump, lift, and do an hour of cardio.

3.) Everyone thinks they work hard. Most of them are wrong. The harder you make “hard work”, the more progress you’ll make.

4.) If your friends refuse to train with you, you’re usually on the right track.

5.) Full-body movements will make you strong. Bicep curls won’t do sh*t.

6.) The fact that you bench 300 doesn’t mean anything if a guy half your size can run circles around you.

7.) The fact that a guy half your size can run circles around you doesn’t mean anything if he can’t squat bodyweight.

8.) 95% of the supplements out there are equal parts beach sand and bullsh*t. Anything with an “X” on the label is only going to increase the amount of time you spend in the bathroom.

9.) Overtraining will get you further than undertraining. If you’re working out two days a week, you’re not overtraining.

10.) Surrounding yourself with quality athletes on a regular basis is a surefire way to become a quality athlete.

I’m sure I know a few other things–they tend to occur to me really late at night. If I call you at 2 a.m. with training tips, I’m sorry. Just hang up.

I swear your girlfriend doesn’t know me.

My Everest: CrossFit, Eating Paleo, and Flu Season

For the last 2 weeks my family has managed to pass a nasty virus around to one another, over and over.  Thankfully baby Stone only had it the first time around and it was primarily fever, reduced milk intake, and (for me) major body aches and chills.  He seemed to weather it well over the course of a few days.  The rest of us, however, seemed to have that, then pass around a form of rotavirus; my husband and daughter getting it the worst.

Obviously during that time my attendance and energy level slacked with CrossFit.  I felt the absence of it as I’m still a newbie; worrying that my other 5am class-ers were going to judge me.  But, we all know, we are our own most brutal critics.  CrossFit isn’t like that.  Your compadres don’t judge you, they only cheer you on.  So after my short hiatus I’m starting to feel the sense of community.  I’m starting to chat with my fellow classmates, get to know them, and not feel embarrassed when one of the coaches comes to correct my form or check in on my status during a WOD.  It feels good to be graduating, mentally, to a place where I’m finding a bit of a comfort zone in a very (physically) uncomfortable environment.

One thing I DO feel horrible about is how easy and fast we as a family slipped out of eating paleo the minute we all got sick.  Suddenly a fast and easy take-out gluten free pizza is the choice.  How do you cook paleo if you are in misery?  I have to find a way to overcome that, for sure, as I’m certain we stayed sick a little longer than we could have if we had eaten much better.

Today’s workout rocked me.  I ran more than I can remember ever running in the last 10 years; total of 2000 meters.  Sure, it’s not that much to most, but to me, it was like climbing Everest.  Today, my workout was Everest.  Shouldn’t everyday in CrossFit be our Everest?

The first of my CrossFit bloopers

I’ve graduated OnRamp as of today!!!!!

I’m sure there will be many more to come, but today was the first workout where my body struggled harder than the last work out to complete every exercise.  I believe I was only 4 into the box jumps when I landed in the kneeling position on the box on my knees.  It didn’t hurt, I managed to land it square with my weight entirely distributed evenly on my shins.  My coach laughed and said it was a first for him to witness such a landing…thankfully, I laughed too.  It was, however, only a few seconds into a very hard workout.  By the time I got to the burpees, I’m pretty sure I peed myself a little between burpees 5-20.  Go ahead, laugh; but in the moment, I didn’t even care if it happened or not.  I was completely exhausted and daydreaming of the drive home with the windows down and gulping down some serious water.  Needless to say, I enjoyed the drive home…except that despite having power steering, I found it VERY hard to turn the wheel…jello arms and legs too mushy to attempt driving with my knees (not recommended or safe anyhow!)

Warm up was 400 m run.  WOD today (completed in 19:20):

“Filthy 50″ – (scaled to 20, I’m calling it the “Tainted 20″)
For time:
50 Box jumps 24 (inch box), (scaled to 20” box)
50 Jumping pull-ups,
50 Kettlebell swings (1 pood),
Walking Lunge 50 steps,
50 Knees to elbows,
50 Push press (45 pounds),
50 Back extensions,
50 Wall ball shots (20 pound ball),
50 Burpees,
50 Double unders. (I scaled this to 20 attempts – I’m able to complete 1 double under at a time, but don’t have the rhythm to keep going.)

Don’t CrossFit and Drive

My second ever WOD was the 6am class today at the Port Angeles YMCA and I’m still sweating!  Was it my kick ace instructor?  Was it the WOD?  Or was it that I have a ways to go to find my health again post partum?  Definitely a combination of the above.  Today’s WOD was challenging for me as I despise running.

Tuesday October 9, 2012 WOD

• Warm up: 400m run
• WOD: AMRAP 15min; 7 dead lifts (for me 65lbs), 10 wall balls (with green medicine ball), and 200m run.

I was able to perform 6 rounds in 16:32.  I’ll tell you what, the running is what did me in.  By round 2 I was barely shuffling along for the 200m run.  Round 6 I thought I was going to fall over as I glanced up to see the finish point like an unreachable mirage in the far distance.  I finished my workout 55 minutes ago and only just now stopped sweating.

As I drove home with my seat heater on and all the windows down (desert breeze style), I noticed myself going a little cross-eyed and feeling pretty woozy.  I kept driving trying to find a way to describe the feeling, and the only comparison I can think of, is that euphoric, exhausted, near-death feeling you get after giving birth.  That’s not to say that every CrossFit workout will feel this way, I guess it depends on if I can do MY WORK and give that 80% continually and earn it.  But my body felt heavy and light at the same time, my head was swimming, I felt nauseous, sweat was pouring, and all I could think about was getting home before I passed out.  In retrospect, it felt GOOD.  At the moment, it felt SCARY.

I’m super stoked about what the future could hold for me here in CrossFit, but today, I hear the “I told you so”‘s and “oh you just wait”‘s echoing in my head of the seasoned CrossFitters who warned me as I skipped into this endeavor with (probably very annoying amounts of) positivity.  That’s not to say that I’ve lost my positive newbie mindset; it’s more to say that the reality of this battle against myself is only beginning and it feels a bit daunting.  Time for a shower and an energy replenishment by snugging my sweet babies!

Pre-CrossFit: the BEFORE photos

Now don’t get excited just yet folks, I’m not posting my before photos until I have some AFTER photos to post next to them in just over 90 days.  What am I, crazy?!  All I can say is that I took the BEFORE photos today, and if those alone aren’t enough for me to give CF my all, I don’t know what is.

I had no idea that is how I looked.  I felt immense shame, but moreover, sadness.  Most folks will chime in here and remind me that I just had a child less than 2 months ago.  But something about this changed body doesn’t scream NEW MOTHER.  Something about it screams ABUSED AND UNHEALTHY**!  How did it get this bad?  How could I not know?  What type of role model am I being for my nearly 3 year old daughter?  And the most asked question in my mind; who IS that, I don’t even know her!?

To add to this, I’ve managed to get some sort of head cold.  Praying I don’t give it to my infant or the rest of the family.  Also hoping I can kick it in under 7 days as I start my Pre-CrossFit program (OnRamp) in less than 7 days!

**When I say “abused”, I mean this in a self-inflicted way, not by anyone else but myself through eating bad food and lack of exercise.

The most delicious salsa!

In our house we don’t mess around when it comes to salsa!  Only the best, most flavorful ingredients and end result will do if it’s going to accompany my famous carne asada or merely top a burger.  It’s simple, fabulous, and I don’t know about you, but when I have fresh salsa I feel healthier after the first bite!  Something about the tangy citrus garlicky goodness making any day feel like summer.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium to large tomatoes
• half a large white onion (we prefer Walla Walla sweets)
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1/2 juice of a fresh lime
• 1 jalapeno (optional if you don’t like spice)
• Salt, pepper, and cumin to taste

Put all ingredients into a hand chopper or a few pulses in a food processor (not too many tho, you don’t want to turn it into sauce, you will lose the chunk!)  This is where you give it a taste and add more lime or spices as needed!  See!  Super simple, but you will never buy store bought again!

Juevos Diablos (Paleo)

Down the road from our little farm is the Grotjan Farm on Pond Lane (Sequim).  There they have a huge flock of chickens that lay the most delicious free-range and organic eggs.  The following recipe was inspired by these tasty eggs!  It’s a super simple way to fancy up those hard boiled eggs!

Ingredients:

• 6 medium/large eggs – hard boiled, peeled, with hard-boiled yolks set aside in separate bowl
• 6 slices cooked bacon – crumbled (reserve 2 tsp of the bacon grease)
• 1/2 cup homemade or store bought salsa (see separate post for our famous salsa recipe!)
• 2 tsp bacon grease
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cayenne too taste (optional)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients but the empty hard boiled eggs in a bowl.  Stuff eggs with the mix and refrigerate for an hour at least before serving.

Pre-Pre-CrossFit Homework Day 2 and 3

So Saturday I was supposed to do DAY 2, however, a family trip out of town took longer than expected and I got sick on said family trip.  So DAY 2 commenced on Sunday, and today was DAY 3.

DAY 2: 50 sit ups and stretching.  This was TOUGH and I knew it would be.  After having my abdominal muscles abominated by a stretching baby inside, there are mornings I still have a tough time getting out of bed!  I have no stomach muscles left!  But I did it!  I had to take 2 short 10 second breaks to catch my breath, but I did it!  Darn you hardwood floors!  We don’t have a scrap of carpet in our house with cozy pad beneath it – whew my lower back is hurty!

DAY 3: 5 sets of running for 3 minutes then walking for 1 minute.  Thankfully my husband suggested that I wait until after the sun started to set to start my running.  He is a runner himself and had gone for a run at 5pm and came home super overheated.  My jog was super tough; not easy, and involved me wishing I’d hit my inhaler before I left.  But again, I DID IT!  Now to touch base with the CrossFit boss to ask what my next homework is!