MIA

I've been MIA since last week because my life was CRAZY BUSY but I'm back with a run down of meals and workouts :-)

Friday 5/21/10 - This was the night of my monthly Goddess Gathering Dinner with my girlfriends and they really liked the Paleo meal especially Jess's Artichoke Salad and the Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate w/strawberries and Macaroons :-)


Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
1/4 c onion
1/4 c green pepper
1/4 c mushrooms
1/2 c egg whites
1 tsp coconut oil

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
4 oz smoked turkey
field greens, beets, cabbage, carrots w/basalmic vinegar, olive oil, honey and garlic salt dressing

Snack 2:00 p.m.
1/2 c canteloupe
2 oz oven roasted turkey

Dinner 8:00 p.m.
2 Paleo Margaritas
Oven baked fish topped with sauce of tomatoes, olives, capers, onions and garlic sautéed in olive oil
Oven roasted zucchini and squash
Artichoke, tomato, cucumber, olive, salad mixed with basil, basalmic vinegar and olive oil
Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate, strawberries, macaroon

Saturday 5/22/10

Breakfast 9:45 a.m.
1 banana
1 tbsp almond butter

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
Oven baked fish topped with sauce of tomatoes, olives, capers, onions and garlic sautéed in olive oil
Oven roasted zucchini and squash
Artichoke, tomato, cucumber, olive, salad mixed with basil, basalmic vinegar and olive oil

Snack 4:00 p.m.
Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate and strawberries

Dinner 8:30 p.m.
Hamburger patty w/guacamole, sautéed onions and peppers
2 paleo margaritas
1 glass red wine

Workout:
4 mile run - 8:30 a.m.
Vinyasa Yoga - 10:30 a.m.

Sunday 5/23/10

Breakfast 9:00 a.m.
Paleo Pancakes

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
1 poached egg
1 slice Canadian bacon
1 slice salami
1 slice ham
Spinach with strawberries tossed in champagne vinagerette

Snack 4:30 p.m.
Handful pistachios

Dinner 8:00 p.m.
Oven baked fish topped with sauce of tomatoes, olives, capers, onions and garlic sautéed in olive oil
Oven roasted zucchini and squash
Artichoke, tomato, cucumber, olive, salad mixed with basil, basalmic vinegar and olive oil

Workout 5:30 p.m.:

#1
12 Ring Rows
18 Sit ups
24 Walking Lunges
5 Rounds

#2
21 Box Step Up and Jump Down on 21” box
21 Dumbell Deadlifts 20#
3 Rounds

For Good Measure:
10 Burpees

And then:
4 mile walk

Monday 5/24/10

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
1/4 c onion
1/4 c green pepper
1/4 c mushrooms
1/2 c egg whites
1 tsp coconut oil

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
4 oz Turkey
field greens, beets, cabbage, carrots w/basalmic vinegar, olive oil, honey and garlic salt dressing

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1 c cantaloupe
2 oz turkey

Dinner 8:30
3 oz salmon
Oven roasted asparagus tossed in olive oil with garlic salt and pepper
¼ c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate and 2 strawberries

Workout:
Strength Drill - 3 60 second handstands
WOD:
12 Ring Row
6 Dumbbell Snatch (3l/3r - @ 25#)
3 Burpees
AMRAP

I did ring rows the night before in place of pull ups in my Spartan 300 additional workout so my shoulders were pretty tired. I was able to do all 36 ring rows on Sunday with straight legs but had resort to bent knees after the first 12 :-( In order to not overwork my right shoulder I used 15# dumbbell on the snatch. Finished 6 full rounds and got through 4 ring rows in the 7th round.

On Tuesday I had to attend a conference in Dallas so I had to pack a food that was portable and non-perishable and that would be light and compact as I had to carry it in my purse all day long.  It was a challenge to eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables I typically would and I did have to rely on a Larabar and Paleo Treats but I was able to stay Paleo for the entire trip :-)  Lunch was a big texas style bbq but since I did not know where the meat was from I ate salami that I brought from home.  They did serve cole slaw with no mayo and grilled vegetable that were actually tasty. 

I typically do Vinyasa yoga as my workout on Tuesdays so I missed my class being out of town so I took a rest day and went to watch my nephew's baseball game and to dinner with my family after.
Tuesday 5/25/10

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
1/4 c onion
1/4 c green pepper
1/4 c mushrooms
1/2 c egg whites
1 tsp coconut oil

Snack 10:00 a.m.
1 cashew cookie Larabar

Lunch 12:30 p.m.
½ c cole slaw
1 c grilled veggies
1 oz salami

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1 Paleo Treat Mac Attack

Dinner 7:30 p.m.
Shrimp sautéed in oil with green peppers and onions with guacamole
2 Paleo margaritas
½ Paleo Treat Cacao Now


Wednesday 5/26/10

Breakfast 7:00 a.m.
Paleo Pancakes

Snack 10:00 a.m.
Stopped at Starbucks to a coffee to which I added Sugar in the Raw and Half and Half :-(

Lunch 11:45 a.m.
Field greens with beets, cabbage, carrots and basalmic vingarette
4 oz smoked turkey breast

Snack 4:00 p.m.
2 oz smoked turkey breast
1 c canteloupe

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
11 oz coconut water
1/2 lb baby back ribs
2 zucchini and 2 squash oven roasted in olive oil, garlic salt and pepper
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

Workout:
Strength - Squat Clean 5x1 - 45#, 65#, 70#, 80#, 95# - Crystal said that I was lifting too light because the bar was "floating" so I need to go heavier next time.
WOD:
Tabata - For twenty seconds do as many reps of the assigned exercise as you can - then rest 10 seconds. Repeat this seven more times for a total of 8 intervals, 4 minutes total exercise.  The score is the least number of reps for any of the eight intervals. 
Pull Ups - Highest 10/ Lowest 5
Pushup - Highest 10/ Lowest 5 (I did the 1st 10 on my toes but had to drop to knees for the rest)
Sit Ups - Highest 13/ Lowest 10
Squats - Highest 15/ Lowest 12
This one wore me out.  I started strong but faded pretty fast in pull ups and push ups but maintained a stronger pass in sit ups and squats.

Bye Bye Larabar :-(

I'm sad to announce that Coach Crystal has suggested that I part ways with Larabar.  It seems this yummy treat is the culprit of my weight loss stagnation.  I have been stuck at 11 lbs for a couple of weeks now and after reviewing my food log Coach Crystal deemed my 1-2 Larabar habit my problem.  She said everything else looked great with the exception of the Larabars and my over indulgence in red wine this past weekend.  So I made a vow to wean off the Larabars starting today.  I decided that I would start with eating 1/2 of a bar a day until I depleted my stash of 3 remaining bars.  Today I savoured 1/2 of a Chocolate Hazelnut bar and put the rest away for another day.  I'm gonna miss you Larabar :-(

Yesterday's workout was bitter sweet.  I rocked the deadlifts.  I PR'ed it with 130# which happens to be my goal body weight so essentially I deadlifted the me I want to be :-)  We didn't get to run in our warm-up which really sucked because I love to run.  Our WOD was straight forward, 15 kettlebell swings and 10 jerks, 5 rounds, 12 minute time limit.  My right shoulder is still wonky and after Monday's WOD of clean and jerks I knew I had to baby it so I used a wimpy 45# bar for my jerks and a 14 kg kettlebell for my swings.  I finished in 8:30, second only to Jess but I didn't feel victorious.  The weights were not challenging enough so I was able to breeze through the WOD and that disappointed me.  I would rather finish dead last, dead tired, seeing stars, puking and about to pass out than to finish 1st or 2nd with no real effort.  Crystal asked me if the weight was ok during my workout, I think she could tell it was too easy and I explained about my crapped out shoulder.  She said it was better to go lighter and repair and strengthen the shoulder than to push and cause real damage.  She's right and I know it but I only get 2 chances a week to have my a** kicked and I just feel cheated that I walked out of there last night without feeling like I had been whooped.

I'm having difficulty getting in my extra workouts again this week.  So far I have managed to do none of them and it's Thursday.  They're tougher than last week so doubling up could be an issue and my weekend is jammed packed!  :-(

It's my turn to host the monthly Goddess Gathering with my girlfirends tomorrow night.  I have planned a completely Paleo meal:

Cocktails:
Norcal/Paleo Margarita

Appetizers:
Salmon Carpaccio with lemon vinegarette
Melon wrapped prosciutto drizzled with basalmic vinegar

Entree:
Pescado a la Veracruzana
Grilled squash and zucchini
Jess's artichoke salad

Dessert:
Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate
Strawberries
Macaroons

My fuel for yesterday and today looked like this:

Wednesday 5/19/10

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
1/4 c onion
1/4 c green pepper
1/4 c mushrooms
1/2 c egg whites
1 tsp coconut oil

Snack 10:30 a.m.
1 Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar :-(

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
2 oz oven roasted turkey
field greens, beets, cabbage, carrots w/basalmic vinegar, olive oil, honey and garlic salt dressing

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 c canteloupe
1 oz salami

Dinner 8:45
4 shrimp sauteed in olive oil
oven roasted asparagus cooked in olive oil and garlic salt
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

Thursday 5/20/10

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
1/4 c onion

1/4 c green pepper
1/4 c mushrooms
1/2 c egg whites
1 tsp coconut oil

Snack 10:30 a.m.
1/2 Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar :-(

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
4 shrimp sauteed in olive oil
field greens, beets, cabbage, carrots same dressing as yesterday

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 c canteloupe
2 oz oven roasted turkey

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
1/2 c egg whites
1 tsp coconut oil
1 banana
1/2 tbsp almond butter
1 oz salami
3 pistachios
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

Pretty random dinner but I could not decide what to eat and had no food to put together a real meal even after going to WF's to buy groceries for tomorrow night's dinner.  Oh well, c'est la vie!

Bath and bed are calling, nighty-night :-)

It's all in the delivery

Until March 15th I was a vegetarian for many years and a vegan for quite a few.  I chose to be a vegetarian for many reasons including health and moral issues.  No one else in my family was vegetarian and other than my yoga friends I was mostly surrounded by people who included meat in their diet.  The reaction to my dietary choice from meat eaters varied but typically included teasing, often time condescending questions and even the sadistic need of some to try and upset me by describing the gory details of slaughter and consumption of animals in a way they found humorous.  I truly never judged non-vegetarians and explained that to people whenever I was "outed" but I always had a sense of being judged.  I never tried to "convert" anyone and  certainly never harassed anyone about their choice to consume flesh.  It took a long time to realize that the reactions I was receiving had nothing to do with me but where entirely about the other person. 

Naively I thought that by going Paleo the world of meat eaters would embrace me with delight and welcome me back into their fold.  I was actually relieved that I would no longer feel the need to defend myself or to put others at ease, boy was I wrong!  I feel more isolated than ever.  Vegetarians find it baffling that I would make the switch to meat and give up dairy, a protein source staple for many vegetarians and  grains and legumes, also staples of the vegetarian diet.  As for meat eaters, I'm finding that most can not fathom a big juicy steak without a cheesy, buttery potato and a meal without bread.  I find myself explaining and defending myself now more than ever and it can become pretty tiring.

For good reason I have a great deal of enthusiasm about my new way of eating.  I have experienced tangible results:  11 lbs of weight loss, 16 inches total loss, 3% body fat loss, no more bloaty belly and digestive issues, more energy, no more joint pain, PR's in my workouts and runs, more stamina and strength in my yoga practice and finally feeling satisfied after eating a meal.  So it stands to reason that I want to share the secret to my success with everyone especially people who are struggling with weight loss, lethargy, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pain, allergies, etc.  I expected everyone, especially these people to welcome information that is proven to work and could relieve them of any suffering they are experiencing but I'm finding that's not often the case.  When I describe the paleo way of eating it seems to be an immediate turn off and I think I have discovered the reason why.  It's not so much the diet, it's my delivery of the information about paleo eating that's the problem.  Typically, I begin by telling the person I eat a paleo diet and then rattling off the litany of "no-no" foods and that immediately turns people off!  They only hear what sounds like some cuckoo, crazy strict diet so you can imagine how thrilled I was to find the info below over at Whole 9 .

When asked, “What’s this diet you’re on?”, most Paleo people approach their response entirely the wrong way. The first thing we mention are all the things we DON’T eat – grains, dairy, legumes, sugar and processed foods. Trouble is, there is probably at least ONE of those food groups in their listener’s diet, and starting the discussion with a judgment of their dietary choices (whether real or imagined) immediately puts the listener on the defensive. (As we say in our How to Win Friends post, us Paleo people have the ability to make people feel bad about what they’re doing, JUST by doing what we’re doing.) In addition, jumping into the foods you don’t eat first immediately closes off further conversation if the listener jumps to some fast conclusions about your level of dietary fanaticism, or the restrictive nature of your self-imposed regimen. (For most people, not eating ANY of those food groups is hard to wrap your head around.) Finally, that kind of lead-off also places you in the unfortunate position of then having to justify from a scientific (“prove it”) perspective why the foods you don’t eat are actually not that good for you. And as many of you have discovered, that’s darn near impossible when up against a lifetime of “milk gives you strong bones”, “whole grains have extra nutrition” and “black beans are a good source of protein”.)


So we approached our Paleo pitch from a different angle – emphasizing the foods we DO eat, why we eat them, and the general (and well documented) health benefits associated with the foods we choose. And then we seal the deal with a personal testimonial – how this way of eating has affected YOU, personally. It’s hard to argue with, “Since going Paleo, I put 25# on my deadlift, cut my 5K time by 5:00, lost 10 pounds, and my skin has totally cleared up”, right?

So here’s our final version – Whole9 Paleo Elevator Pitch. Give it a read, give it a test run with the next person you see, and share your thoughts, feedback, experiences and suggestions in comments.

The Whole9 Nutrition Elevator Pitch


I eat “real” food – fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient dense, with lots of naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important – I’m careful about where my meat comes from, and buy produce locally and organically as often as possible.


It’s not a low calorie “diet” – I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy and a healthy weight. In fact, my diet is probably much higher in fat than you’d imagine. Fat isn’t the enemy – it’s a great energy source when it comes from high quality foods like avocado, coconut and nuts. And I’m not trying to do a “low carb” thing, but since I’m eating vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal and pasta, it just happens to work out that way.


Eating like this is good for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s been doing great things for my energy levels, body composition and performance in the gym. It also helps to minimize my risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

I made an appointment for my annual physical for Monday, June 28th.  I intentionally set it for that date because I will have been eating paleo for 60+ days and will have completed my 7 week Spartan 300 Challenge training and final workout on June 26th.  I am really curious to see how my lab results will compare to years' past.  Mr. X and my parents who are both in the medical field are a bit skeptical about how eating so much  meat and eggs will affect my cholesterol levels.  Hopefully the results will be good enough to convince them that they should join me in my "fanatical, restrictive, self-imposed regime" :-)

Last night's Vinyasa class with Lilyana was just what I needed and  Malia's adjustments made my heart and body sing :-)  Tonight Coach Crystal's workout  will have my glutes and hammies screaming and my shoulders crying uncle:

Strength:
5 x 3 deadifts

WOD:
5 Rounds
15 swings (16kg)
10 Jerks (75#)

Fuel Log 5/18/10:

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.

½ c egg whites
¼ c green pepper
¼ c onions
¼ c mushrooms
1 tsp coconut oil

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
5 slices brisket
Field greens, cabbage, carrots, beets w/dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey and garlic salt

Snack 2:00 p.m.
Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar

Snack 6:00 p.m.
1 oz oven roasted turkey

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
11 oz coconut water
3 oz baked salmon
oven roasted asparagus w/olive oil and garlic salt
1/3 baked sweet potato, mashed with 1 tsp coconut butter, sprinkled w/cinnamon
¼ c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

Anyone who knows me well, can tell you that I have an issue with control as in I need to be in control of my schedule, my time, my environment at all times.  I could go into all of my self-psychoanalyzed theories on why but I won't bore you with such nonsense.  Over the past few years at the suggestion and encouragement of Mr. X, I've been working on this and I'm making progress. 

This weekend my family visited from Georgia, Dallas and El Paso.  We are a group of strong personalities, all with our own ideas and agendas.  For this reason, family visits can become a huge source of anxiety for me.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family dearly and truly enjoy being with them but the loss of control over my "life" is very uncomfortable for me.

My family is originally from the the south, and I mean the REAL SOUTH, as in Alabama where all family get togethers center around food and not very healthy food at that.  I knew there would be dinning out experiences with limited options for me and food sources that might not be ideal.  As an exercise of letting go of my need for total control, I decided that during this visit I would go with the flow while maintaining my paleo diet as best I could without obsessing over whether all the ingredients in the food where organic, free-range, grass feed or pastured and to put family time first working in the 4 additional Spartan 300 Challenge workouts I had been assigned for the week during any free time I had.
 
Family time began Thursday evening with a trip to Guerro's for Tex Mex.  Since I work my day job until 4:00 and then teach yoga until 7:15 on Thursdays I originally planned to start family time on Friday with dinner.  I had planned to go home and knock out one of my 4 workouts but my family chose a restaurant close to where I live and it was my sister's birthday so I went to dinner.  I felt a tinge of panic at the idea that I had these 4 workouts to get in over the jammed packed weekend but rationalized that I still had Fri, Sat and Sun and it was possible to double up on a day if I needed to.  I wasn't too worried about the food situation at Guerro's since shrimp fajitas with guacamole sans tortillas is always a safe paleo bet .  The only stumbling block I could foresee was the alcohol during the week rule.  It was my sister's 40th birthday and how could I not drink a margarita in celebration with her?  So I made a deal with myself to limit myself to 1 margarita. 

My family ordered chips and queso for appetizers which pre-paleo was my FAVORITE thing in the world to eat but by the Grace of God I no longer have a desire for.  Some of them ordered enchiladas for dinner which used to be my 2nd favorite thing in the world to eat but also no longer have a desire for them.  I was content to eat my shrimp, onions, green peppers and mushrooms with a side of sliced avocado instead of guacamole since Guerro's for some reason beyond me puts sour cream in their guac!!!  Thank god I confirmed with the waiter while ordering that there was no grains, dairy, legumes or sugar in anything I had ordered.  I was shocked when he filled me in on the guacamole secret ingredient and glad I went through the litany of "no-no" foods with him.  So far so good, I stuck to paleo.  YAY ME!!!  But the night was young and we were all having such a good time and the 1st margarita was so good, that I rationalized ordering a second because this was a special occassion.  Not so good of me but at least I stopped at 2 and they were paleo meaning just tequilia, lime, water and salt.

Day 2, Friday, I didn't meet up with my family until dinner.  I was able to get in my endurance and overhead press workouts, 2 down, 2 to go.  My sister made the family's dinner plans at a kid friendly restaurant.  It was an Italian restaurant that specialized in pizza, pasta and panninis.  I checked out the menu on line to establish my eating game plan and decided to go with either a side of meatballs with marinara or grilled Italian sausage with a salad or a side or grilled veggies and 2 glasses of wine max.  When placing my order, I went through the "no-no" list and discovered that the meatballs had cheese in them :-( so I went with the sausage.  The grilled vegetables, zucchini, squash, mushrooms and onions sounded more nutritious than then salad choices so I went with that.  I was pretty hungry and didn't know how long the food would take so I ordered Affettati for an appetizer and offered up the none paleo items to my family while I enjoyed the prosciutto and salami.   I was surprised that the grilled sausage and veggies were actually tasty and the wine was delicious, so delicious that I went over my 2 glass max.  Shame on me!  :-(

Saturday, Day 4 started out well.  I managed to avoid breakfast at my family's hotel even though my mother was all but begging me to come have breakfast with them.  I knew that our trip to Fredericksburg that day would offer less than the best choices for quality food for lunch so I knew I better stay home for breakfast.  That was an excellent call on my part because I ended up eating a questionable hamburger patty with tasteless guacamole and a pityful side salad for lunch.  Thank God for Larabars!  I had 2 that day to stave off hunger as my mother, aunt and sister induldged in sugary sweets from a bakery to make up for the crappy lunch they too had endured.

My mother and aunt who shop for sport but should make it a profession took our trip to Fredericksburg into overtime so I did not make it back in time to squeeze in the 2 remaining workouts I had left for the week but I reminded myself I was going with the flow, doing well with the food thing and could double up the workout on Sunday.

My mother had asked that I select a restaurant for dinner Saturday night.  I chose Perla's.  They have incredibly fresh seafood and are willing to prepare anyway you like.  Everyone in my family loves seafood so this was a win-win for us all.  We started with raw oysters that were incredible.  My family also nibbled on the hushpuppies that I remembered being absolutely delicious from my pre-paleo days but thankfully was not tempted by that night.  I had grilled sea bass with chimichurri sauce on the side and split a side of spinach and brussell sprouts with my sister.  Good job ME, I had been able to do Paleo all day, no problem.  However my 2 drink max rule went out the window, not so good me :-(   A pre-dinner margarita followed by an incredible malbec at dinner then after dinner drinks at my favorite bar Peche with Mr. X, my sister, brother-in-law, aunt and uncle was a casuality of going with the flow but a great time with my family!

I woke up Sunday, Day 5 exhausted from going non-stop, lack of sleep and overindulging in good wine and tequilia.  We all met up at Magnolia for breakfast were I promptly ordered a coffee, proceeded to add sugar in the raw and milk which I have not had in 2 months.  It did give me a little pick me up but also a slight case of the caffeine and sugar shakes.  I stuck to the paleo plan avoiding pancakes and ordered an egg white omelet full of veggies and a side of bacon.  Still dragging, Mr. X and I ran by Starbucks and picked up another round of coffee before heading over to my family's hotel to just hang out even though those 2 workouts were looming over my head. 

The inevitable caffeine and sugar crash ocurred so Mr. X drove us home for a nap.  By the time I woke up it was time for dinner so we made the trek out to the Salt Lick.  I hadn't eaten at the Salt Lick since becoming a carnivore.  I don't know who was more excited about me eating real Texas BBQ for the first time, me or my family.  I'd always taken my own food or eaten pickles and slaw sandwiches with bbq sauce and potato salad.  It was humorous to think that I would be avoiding the bread, bbq sauce and potato salad but gobbling up ribs, sausage and brisket.  I didn't realize that some of the meat would actually be pre-sauced and was a little diappointed to ingest hidden sugar.  I tried not to think of where the meat was from, if it was grass fed and grown with love and if the cabbage in the slaw had been sprayed with chemicals on the farm before it made it to my family's dinner table.  I did drink a liter of water I brought from home with my dinner and avoided dessert like the plague but managed to focus on the joy of being with my family and the crazy happiness they felt over my consuming meat along side them.

Following tearful goodbyes in the dusty parking lot of the Salt Lick, and feeling my heart being pulled out of my chest as I watched the tail lights of my family's car head west as Mr. X and I drove north, it hit me that I had actually had an incredible time, free of most of the stress and anxiety I typically felt during visits.  I suddenly realized that letting go of my need to control my "life" completely in the past 4 days had actually been an act of gaining control.

As I pushed my shopping cart through Whole Foods that evening filling it with all my paleo staples for the week, it occurred to me that this new way of eating has already become 2nd nature to me.  I was able to make it through a special occassion weekend without veering too far off course and getting back on track was a piece of cake :-)

Last night's workout was a killer!  We started with the usual warm-up minus the run as it was about to storm.  Our strenth practice was 3x5 deadhang pull-ups and then we did 10 medicine ball clean and jerk to prepare for the barbell c&j in the WOD.  Then it was off to the races, 10 rounds of Cindy:

5 pull-ups
10 pushups
15 air squats

Coach Crystal upped the ante and added in a set of clean and jerks to each round of Cindy.  She had us start with 10 c&j's for the 1st round, 9 for the second round, and continue on until we finished with just 1 in the last round. So in its completed state, that's a total of

50 pull-ups
100 pushups
150 air squats
55 clean and jerks

We had a time limit of 20 minutes but Crystal had to cut us off at 18 because we ran out of time.  RX weight on the c&j was 95# but I went with 50# which was plenty heavy for me!  I finished 5 rounds and did all but the last 5 pushups on my toes!  I also did all 30 warm-up pushups on my toes so I did a total of 75 toe pushups in my workout!!!  I did all my pull-ups during the WOD on the blue band with the exception of the last 5 which I used the green band for.  I did 25 pull-ups, 50 pushups, 75 air squats and 35 clean and jerks in 18 minutes.

Fuel Log for 5/17/10

Breakfast 7:45 a.m.
Paleo Pancakes

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
4 slices of lean briskets
field greens salad with beets, cabbage, carrots and dressing made of basalmic vinegar, olive oil, garlic salt and honey

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 c canteloupe
1 oz salami

Snack 6:00 p.m.
1/2 Lemon Larabar

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
3 oz oven baked salmon
1/3 baked sweet potato mashed with 1 tsp coconut butter, sprinkled w/cinnamon
oven roasted asparagus tossed in olive oil and garlic salt
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

Tonight is Black Swan Vinyasa Yoga class with the lovely Lilyana and I hope Malia Scott and her magic hands are there blessing us with adjustments :-)

I'll Never Be Like Those Girls!

One lesson that I should have learned by now in my 43 years on this earth is to never, ever, EVER say never but have I?  NO!!! :-(  When I began this Crossfit journey I was never, ever, EVER going to go from being a vegetarian to eating meat.  Well, we all know how that went down.  Then I swore, I will never, ever, EVER have hands like these belonging to Annie Bug:

Not me, no way never, ever EVER! That's just gross!  I'll never be like those girls proudly displaying ripped, bloody skin, that's just ugly, painful and disgusting!  I'm not sacraficing my femine, soft, every other week manicured hands for some stupid workout, that's just freakin' ridiculous!  Well guess whose hands these belong to?

(head hanging in shame) That's right, ME and I'm more proud of those little blisters than any pretty manicure I ever received (head held high with pride)!  These blisters were born out of hard work and determination.  They are the foundation for the beautiful strong, upper body I so desire.  I wear them as a badge of honor,  proud to finally be like "those girls" :-)

Last night after my WOD I stuck to my goal of practicing 25 kipping pullups with a band to work towards my 7 week goal of getting 1 kipping without a band by June 26th, the date of the Spartan 300 Challenge final workout.  I started with the green band and knocked out 10 with ease.  At the insistance of my Crossfit sisters Jess, Myriam, and Annie I moved down to the blue band, struggled by got 3 good chin to bars then Myriam insisted that I try the black band, the skinniest and least elastic of all bands.  At first I refused but she grabbed the band, knotted it over the bar and slid my box into place.  With all the girls urging and Jess saying that she would kip alongside me, I stepped up on the box, slid my foot into the looped band, grabbed the bar and started the rhythmic, swinging kipping movement.  To my shock and amazement I was able to get in 2 decent attempts of chin almost to bar before my arms weakened too much to hold me any longer.  All the ladies cheered me and encouraged me not to ever go back to the green band again.  They all agreed that I have the strength, it's just a matter of improving my technique, especially the push away at the top.  Insert Success Celebration here:  YAY!!!  ME!!!

I can't say enough about the Crossfit Cenral Community.  The coaches, clients and admin staff are all incredible!  I never dreamed a workout facility could actually be this way.  I'm surrounded by people that consistently inspire, encourage, and support me.  From my coach Crystal who is always willing to go beyond the call of duty by staying after class to meet with or work with clients who need extra help, holding free workshops,  welcoming us into her home for meetings and meals, to my classmates who encourage me through my workouts when they are pushing themselves to their own limits, staying after class to push me to the next level and inspiring me with their own experiences through their blogs and one-on-one conversation, to the admin people who are always so welcoming of questions and willing to assist, to all the coaches, some of which I haven't even had the pleasure of meeting, who inspire me through their blogs and their own successes and always making me feel welcome with a hello when I run into them at the box, to the owners who have created this incredible community and lead us all,  I want to say thanks to everyone :-)

Last night I did Turkish Get Ups for the first time in my life and I LOVED them!!!  I think I'll definitely be incorporating these into my outside class workouts.  I think the reason I love them so much is that they actually remind me of a yoga vinyasa, the linking together of movement with mind and breath in a dance of strength and grace. These Get Ups are much more my style than a lot of the Olympic lift moves that I find difficult due to the explosive, aggressive nature that initiates the movement.  Just like with the hand blister thing, by CF standards I'm a little bit of a sissy. Take my donkey kicks for example, this is a warm-up exercise that involves jumping into the air as high as you can on one leg while kicking the opposite leg straight back with great force and traveling  forward from point A to point B.  My donkey kicks look more like a flying fairy or a jete and it is quite hilarious and amusing to all who witness it, especially to Coach Crystal who after having us travel as a pack of donkies from one end of the box to the other tried to make me return to the otherside in front of the whole group byself back for her own amusement! LOL!!! :-)

Anywho, we did 3 rounds of Turkish Gets Ups (one one each side) followed by 2 burpees.  It worked my shoulders and arms enough that I knew that taking on the RX weight of 65# in the SDLHP portion of the WOD to follow might not be kind to my wonky right shoulder so I decided that I would go for 55# and it was the right decision. So we did:

5 Rounds:
10 SDLHP
10 Back Squats
10 Pushups

For the life of me, I can't remember my time and I didn't write it down but I know it was somewhere between 16 and 18 minutes and I was not the last person to finish.  I did the push ups on my knees during the WOD to protect my shoulder but did 20 out of 30 on my toes in the warm up.  The last 10 I did on my knees because Coach Crystal decided to pull a fast one on us and made us do the last 10 as clapping push ups.  I let her know that she was sabbotaging my goal of doing all 30 push ups on my toes during my warm up to which she responded with an evil laugh :-)

For post WOD "fun" we partnered up and as one person sprinted from one end of the parking lot to the other the other person did kettlebell swings, upon the sprinting partner's return both of partners did 10 squat jumps alternating this for 3 rounds.  So now in addition to using the phrase "your workout is my warm up" we can also say "my post WOD workout is your workout"!

Fuel Log 5-12-10:

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.

1/2 c egg whites
1/4 c onions
1/4 c green peppers
1/4 mushrooms
1 tsp coconut oil
1 cup of green tea w/1 tsp honey

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
2 c spaghetti squash
2 c spaghetti sauce w/meat

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar
1/2 oz of Fra Mani Salumi

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
2 c spaghetti squash
2 c spaghetti sauce w/meat
2 bites of Mr. X's grilled ribeye
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

I teach from 4:30 'til 7:15 tonight.  It's usually my rest day but tonight I'll head over to CC to work with Crystal and Jess on Spartan 300 move techniques.  Yet another example of Crystal going above and beyond the call of duty to help her clients meet their goals on her own time!  We love you Coach Crystal!!!

Hip Flexor Hell

I spent most of Monday and Tuesday in Hip Flexor Hell thanks to the 50 floor wipers on Saturday but after 1 WOD, lots of rolling and a great yoga practice with lots of emphasis on opening those suckers I have finally been released :-)

Monday's WOD was lots of fun!  We started with our usual warm up and then moved on to:

1000 meter row
30 pull ups
30 wall balls
1000 meter row

When I first read the WOD on the Crossfit Central Women Blog I thought the rowing and squatting in the wall balls was going to KILL my hip flexors but I was wrong, actually it was the pull ups that killed me.  When I sat down on my rower I noticed that there was no monitor, Coach Lauren informed me that my monitor was broken so I would have to row with Myriam at her pace to track my distance.  Since Myriam is the bionic woman, I knew this would make or break me so I strapped in my feet and hunkered down prepared for the row of my life.  Much to my amazement, I was able to match Myriam pretty much stroke for stroke with ease and it felt great!  Small success celebration moment here, YAY ME!!!!  I always struggle unstrapping my feet from the rower and lose precious seconds and today was no different.  Note to self:  add to goals list to practice unstrapping feet from rower :-) 

From there I went on to the wall balls station since someone had snagged my green band that I had set up for pull ups.  I had a choice of an 8# ball, too light, and a 14# ball, too heavy, the just right 12# ball had been snatched up by someone else.  Determined not to sell myself short, I grabbed the elite weight 14# ball squated down, sprung up and threw the ball 10' to hit the bottom of the target, my arms felt as heavy as lead but I dropped into a squat and sprung up 4 more times before my nice classmate with the 12# ball asked if I'd like to trade since she was on 25 out of her 30 wall balls.  I knocked out the next 25 and moved on to pull ups but the same person was still on my green band so I frantically searched for space and another green band.  Crystal finally located another green band, lassoed it over the bar, Lauren helped me step into the "stirrup" and I fell apart.  The band was old so it was more like the less elastic blue band, my arms felt like 2 steel pipes that I could not move to save my life, the rhythm of my kipping was totally off and I could not get my chin over that bar to save my life so I jumped down and ran to another station with a box and did jump, reverse decline pull ups with Crystal coaching me to use my kipping motion.  These were too easy so I feel like I cheated myself and should have just stuck it out on the band.  I have never struggled through pull ups like that and can only conclude that my arms were just kaput from the amount of work they did on Saturday.

I ran back over to the rowing station, this time snagging one with a monitor but Annie got stuck with without one so we rowed together and I yelled out our distance every 100 meters so she would know how far we had to go.  I called time and Crystal yelled back 17:18.  I knew then if I'd stayed on the old green band in push ups I would have never made that time and probably would not have finished in the 20 minute time limit.  Since then I have been debating in my head what I should have done about the pull up situation.  I gave up on the band for 2 reasons.  The first being that I was trying to listen to my body, not to push myself so hard that I ignored the warning signs of overworked arms which could possibly end up swollen and useless like they had after 85 pull ups in Angie a month ago.  Secondly, the competitive side of me really wanted to  finish this WOD as quickly as I could since I had done so well in all the other stations.  Did I cheat myself or do the right thing?  So I'm torn and finding it difficult to celebrate the success of my awesome rows and wall balls in this WOD  :-(

We finished up with handstands held for 30 seconds then going straight into a squat for 30 seconds x 2 and I held both STRONG!!!  My handstand felt so easy and the squats were a breeze! I continue to be amazed at how much CF is actually helping to improve my yoga practice!

Last night I had a great yoga practice with the lovely Lilyana at Black Swan.  Melia Scott was there giving  incredible adjustments!  Luckily Lilyana did a lot of poses that opened the hip flexors, thanks Lilyana :-), so my soreness has disappeared :-)  I will say Navasana, which is usually fairly easy for me was a challenge not for lack of core energy or strength but my hip flexors were just toast!  Over all my practice rocked and I hope Melia visits Lilyana's class again to give adjustments! 

I'm super psyched about today's WOD.  Our skill practice is the Turkish Get Up:



Never done these bad boys but they look as fun as tire flippin' so I am looking forward to tryin' them out!

The WOD is:
For 3 Rounds (sure there will be a time limit but don't know what it is yet)
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls - Elite Weight 65lbs
10 Back Squats- Elite Weight 65lbs
10 Push Ups

I LOVE back SDLHP's and back squats!  I can definitely back squat the elite weight of 65#.  My last attempt at SDLHP was in Fight Gone Bad last Monday and I did 55# so I am going to see if I can RX this one since we will probably have to use the same weight for both.  Tonight my intention is to lift as heavy as I can and not to focus on my time.

Fuel Log for 5/10 - 5/11/10:

Monday

Breakfast 7:45 a.m.
paleo pancakes

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
2 c spaghetti squash
2 c meat sauce

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1 oz prosciutto
1/2 c canteloupe

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
3 oz oven baked salmon w/1 tsp olive oil, garlic salt and pepper
asparagus oven roasted with garlic salt and pepper
1/3 med sweet potato oven baked topped with 2 tsp of coconut butter and sprinkled with cinnamon
1 oz of  Naked coconut water

Tuesday

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
1/2 c egg whites
1/4 c chopped green peppers
1/4 c chopped onions
1/4 c baby bella shrooms
1 small mandarine orange

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
2 c spaghetti squash
2 c meat sauce

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1 Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar

Snack 6:15 p.m.
12 pistachios

Dinner 9:00 p.m.
11 oz of Naked coconut water
3 oz oven baked salmon w/1 tsp olive oil, garlic salt and pepper
asparagus oven roasted in olive oil, garlic salt and pepper
1/3 med sweet potato baked and sprinkled with cinnamon
3 1/8" thick slices of Fra Mani salumi - my new addiction, thanks to Mr. X :-)


From the Fra Mani website:

fra'-má-ni Italian abbreviation for fratelli mani, meaning “brothers hands.”

sa-lú-mi (plural noun) Italian for salted, cured cuts of meat or sausages made primarily from pork.
Founder Paul Bertolli, renowned chef, launched Fra' Mani Handcrafted Salumi in March 2006.

Philosophy
Our mission is crafting salumi in the finest Italian pastoral traditions, using the highest-quality pork.
Our pork comes from family farmers committed to the well-being of their animals and their land. The hogs are never given antibiotics, artificial growth hormones, growth-promoting agents or meat by-products. They eat only the finest grains and natural feed. This old-fashioned way to raise hogs produces pork of outstanding quality, which is the essential ingredient in all Fra' Mani salumi.

Drum Roll Please

The results are in from my Spartan 300 Challenge and here's how it went down.  Woke up at 6:30 Saturday morning, didn't sleep well Friday night due to nerves so I was a little tired but excited.  Wasn't really sure about what I should eat but knew I needed something in my stomach so I had some green tea with honey and a banana with almond butter.  I rolled out at home and then made my way over to CFC to watch the heats before mine. 

At check-in I had to chose my competition level from beginner, intermediate or elite.  I knew that I was between beginner and intermediate but closer to intermediate.  I didn't want to sell myself short come the final challenge workout on June 26th because by then I will definitely be a solid intermediate so I went intermediate.  By going intermediate I would deadlift 65#, use the same weight for the floor wipers and 16 kg for the kettlebell press.  I knew the 65# weight for the deadlifts and 16 kg for the kb press would be no problem but I was worried about holding 65# over my head/chest while flat on my back and swinging my legs from the floor up to tap the weight on each side of the bar 50 times after doing 25 pull-ups and 50 pushups.

I arrived in time to see heat 2 and heat 3 compete and was so happy to see Annie and Lory there to cheer their fellow Crossfitters on.  It was great to have them there for feedback, advice and most of all moral support!  I was also stoked to have my fellow Spartan team member Jessica in my heat.

Coach Travis led us through a typical CF warm-up minus the run and went over the workout with us.  Then we were matched up with out counter and I was so psyched to get Carey!  She is an incredibly motivating and inspiring person so I knew if anyone could push me through this she could.  As she got my station set-up and walked me through it, my heart began to pound in my chest and the butterflies in my stomach started.  She led me over to the pull-up bar and helped me position my foot in the green band and I was relieved to see Annie and Lory's smiling faces standing right in front of me!  When I stepped into the band I realized that it was a newer band so my pull-ups would be super easy which made me feel like  would be cheating but I didn't have time to change bands so I had to go with what I got.  Big Mike started the count down from 15 seconds and all of the sudden this rush of adrenaline shot through my entire body and I felt like I was going to pass out, my legs and arms felt like noodles and I seriously thought for a moment I am not going to be able to do this but as soon as he said GO! I swung into action, it took a couple of pull-ups to get my rhythm down but soon I was knocking out pull-ups without a problem!  I was right about the band, I didn't need that much help so there wasn't a huge challenge and I finished pretty quickly.

I jumped down and headed over to my station for a sip of water and Carey got me started on my deadlifts, I knocked out 50 without a rest.  Afterward Annie and Lory said my back was as flat as a washboard and that my deadlifts looked really strong! 

It was time to knock out the pushups.  I have been working on doing my pushups strictly on my toes but knew at this moment that I needed to save my arms and shoulders for the floor wipers.  I started strong but lost steam pumping out 3 at time and then pushing back to rest as Carey reminded me to breathe deeply and counted down from 5.  Got those out of the way and moved on.

Next came the box jumps.  I hate box jumps because I'm afraid of falling, hitting my shins or worse my head or face and knocking out my front teeth so I typically use a 14" box.  The box I was facing was 20" and I told Carey that I would stepping not jumping.  One of my goals for this 7 week challenge is to overcome my fear of box jumps.  I got through the 50 step ups with Carey coaching me to open my hips at the top and moved on to the floor wipers. 

I took a sip of water and laid down on my mat, Carey hovered over me with the bar, told me that if I got to tired to tell her and she would take the bar and give me a rest then she said "Ready?" and handed me the weight.  When it dropped into my hands I thought "oh crap, there is absolutely no way I can hold this!" then I remembered everyone's advice to lock my shoulders in and to use them and my lats not just my arms to hold the weight so I plugged my shoulders into their sockets and immediately felt much stronger and more stable.  I knocked out 8 and asked Carey to take the bar.  Next set I got in 5 before I took a rest and stayed at that pace for a while but my hip flexors were talking loudly to me so I dropped down to 3 before a rest as Carey reminded me to breathe and counted down from 5 before handing me the bar again.  I finally finished the 50, got to my feet, ready for the kettlebell press.

I started with my right arm and knocked out 10 switched over to the left arm and knocked out 10 back to the right for 10 more then to the left for 10 I got to #38 and Big Mike called time.  Darn it!  Only 12 more presses and I would have been on to the last 25 pull-ups.  A felt a fleeting sense of disappointment but then realized what I had just done and felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment!  I am 43 years old, just 5 months prior was in the worst shape of my life and I had just done 25 pullups, 50 deadlifts, 50 pushups, 50 floor wipers (something I had never even done until that day!) 50 box step-ups and 38 kettlebell presses in 20 minutes.  That was a victory and deserved celebration!!!  YAY ME!!!

After a quick group picture I made my way down to the Farmer's Market to pick up my meat and eggs order from Richardson Farms and headed to Vinyasa yoga class.  I was on Cloud 9 with adernaline still coursing through my veins and a grin on my face from ear to ear.  I practically skipped from my car to the front door of the yoga studio!  When I got to the front desk to sign in they informed me that the class may have to be cancelled since the teacher was out of town and her sub forgot and left town too.  Most of the people there to take the class were students and friends of mine so I volunteered to teach the class to avoid cancellation.  They were are great group and very grateful for having a teacher. 

After class I went to Whole Foods to pick up lunch and then home for some R & R.  Around 5:00 I finally took a nap and then around 6:30 went for a 3 mile walk.  I could already feel the stiffness and soreness creeping into my body.  Mr. X and I ate an delicious steak dinner to celebrate.  My ribeye from Richardson Farms was INCREDIBLE!

Sunday morning I went to a Hatha Flow yoga class that I knew would be more gentle than the typical classes I attend, I just want to get my blood flowing, stretch and sweat a little to lessen the DOMS I knew were inevitable.  I was amazed at how hard it was for me to hold poses, my body trembling quietly in warrior poses and goddess squats. 

Last night we had a team potluck dinner meeting at Crystal's.  I took my spaghetti squash with meat sauce so that Jori could finally experience the yumminess of spaghetti squash.  Jessica brought a delicious salad, Jori brought Paleo Brownies, and Crystal grilled some chickem, squash and zucchini.  Jori and Lindsay shared their vision boards and goals.  My vision board is all laid out on my sofa waiting for a glue stick to secure it in place. 

We have yet to name our team so I sent out an e-mail to everyone today with my suggestion.  Since we are an all female team and this is the Spartan 300 Challenge, I suggest the name Team Gorgo in honor of the queen of Sparta who was the daughter of King Cleomenes I and the wife of Leonidas. Her son also went on to become King of Sparta. She was greatly respected for her intellect, political acumen and wisdom. She is mentioned by name in the writings of Herodotus and by Plutarch. Herodotus mentions her twice in the context of political interactions where she is present at court or in council and gives advice to the king or the elders. This either indicates that Gorgo was highly thought of by Herodotus who often left out the names of the female figures he included in his books, or that as the wife of Leonidas I, her actions and counsel were all the more noteworthy. She was a powerful figure and represented the strongest of female energy. "When asked by a woman from Attica, 'Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?', she said: 'Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men.'" So far I've heard back with a yes vote from Jori.

I woke up with the tightest hip flexors of my life and little soreness in my low back, I'm sure the culprit is the floor wipers from Saturday.  I'm looking forward to but dreading tonight's WOD at the same time. 

1000 m row
30 pull ups
30 wall balls
1000 m row

The pull ups are not the issue, it's the rowing in and the squats in the wall balls that I'm afraid are going to have my hip flexors screaming!!! 

Fuel Log for 5/7 - 5/9/10

Friday:

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
3 egg whites
1/2 c chopped onion and green peppers
1 tsp coconut oil

Snack 10:30 a.m.
1/2 Cashew Cookie Larabar

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
1/2 lb baby back ribs
squash, zucchini, broccoli

Dinner 8:30 p.m.
hamburger patty
guacamole
mixed field greens
2 paleo margaritas

Saturday:

Breakfast 7:15 a.m.
1 banana
1/2 tbsp almond butter
green tea with honey

Snack 9:45 a.m.
Coconut Water

Lunch 1:30 p.m.
1/2 lb baby back ribs

Snack 3:00 p.m.
Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar

Dinner 9:30 p.m.
8 oz ribeye
spinach sauteed in olive oil
mushrooms sauteed in red wine and olive oil
2 paleo margaritas
1 glass of red wine

Sunday

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
green tea with agave nectar
1 Cashew Cookie Larbar

Lunch 3:00 p.m.
6 shrimp sauteed in olive oil
salad of field greens, cabbage, beets and carrots

Dinner 7:00 p.m.
spaghetti squash with meat sauce
grilled squash and zucchini
salad of tomatoes, artichokes, mushrooms, olives in basalmic vinegar and olive oil
paleo brownie

Trifecta

As I was stalking my blog roll this morning, I came across this most incredibly inspiring picture on fellow Crossfitter Lory's blog, Lory's Adventures and stole it to post here, hope she doesn't mind :-) 

I am in awe of the beauty of these women.  Their strong, healthy bodies, the strong will, determination and confidence they exude.  They are the total package!  Mind, body and spirit, the trifecta in perfect harmony, that's what I want!

For many, many years I chased what society told me was the standard of beauty.  I abused my body by undereating and over exercising and was full of self-loathing.  I'm saddened when I think of that young woman who spent so much time, energy and effort on trying to mold her body into something it was not designed by nature to be.  Hating my hips, thighs and mostly my strong arms and shoulders, always wishing they were willowy, delicate and thin.  Wasting my body down to nothing and still looking in the mirror in disgust at those arms.  Thinking that if only I was petite and my arms were smaller that my life would be perfect.  I would find the perfect man, the perfect job, I would have the confidence to be the woman I was supposed to be if I could just fix this body of mine.  My heartbreaks for that young woman.

I will never have the body of a super model or have the willowy, delicate arms of a ballerina and I've been coming to peace with that over the past few years.  I realize now that at my thinnest, my body did not help me attract the right man, the right job, the confidence I needed to have the life I thought I should.  The self-loathing that seethed underneath the surface and the obsession with the external undermined it all.  I was unbalanced, disconnected from the mind and spirit.

Surprising to even me, my Crossfit practice is teaching me balance.  I went into it with a mindset of getting my body healthy enough to carry me through my middle age into old age, focusing only on the physical once again.  Today I realize Crossfit has more to offer than is obvious to an outsider.  It's definitely about having a strong, healthy body but in no way excludes the mind and the spirit.  I am learning things about myself that are amazing and scary.  I am loving my body more and embracing all parts of myself good, bad and ugly.  It brings to the surface things that even my yoga practice never has and is teaching me that without the trifecta of strong body, mind and spirit I will never manifest the life I have been waiting my whole life to just happen. 

Tomorrow is my Spartan 300 Challenge benchmark workout.  I signed up for the latest slot available, 8:15-9:15 a.m. in hopes of being good and rested.  The reality of this workout is starting to set in and I'm beginning to get a little nervous.  I keep telling myself that this is just a workout, not life or death.  I will do my best and remember the words from this:

Stay tuned for the results! :-)

Fuel Log 5-6-10

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
3 egg whites
1/2 c chopped green peppers, onions and mushrooms
1 tsp coconut oil
1 small mandarine orange

Snack 10:30 a.m.
1/2 Coconut Larabar

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
Field greens with cabbage, beets, and carrots
2 scallop sauteed in olive oil
1 c spaghetti squash
1/2 c meat sauce

Snack 3:00 p.m.
1/3 Apple Pie Larabar
6 thin slices of salami

Dinner 8:30 p.m.
Ceviche - shrimp, tomato, avocado, lettuce, tomato
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

Centipede I'm Not

During yesterday's WOD our skill practice was focused on sit ups, in particular hip and back extensions and the combo.  The hip and back extensions alone where fairly easy but the combo deal not so much.  Crystal explained that you should roll up and down using a "centipede" like movement.  The video below is a beautiful demonstration of all 3.



Unfortunately, I looked more like the awkward Centipede as channeled by Rebbie Jackson in the video of her 1984 hit "Centipede"



I think my abs got more of a work out from laughing at myself than from the actual exercise!

Yesterday's WOD was no laughing matter, however.  Especially since I was on the 4th burpee of my last set when Crystal called time at 10 minutes.  I lost time by starting with the elite weight 45# barbell, pushed out my first 5 and realized I had been too ambitious so I hurriedly changed out to a 35# bar with Crystal's help.  Having to change the bar costs me those precious seconds I needed to finish the last 6 of my last 10 burpees.

2 Rounds/10 Minute Time Limit

40 Bar Bell shoulder press (45)
30 air squat
20 sit ups
10 Burpees

Jori and I stayed after class to practice our kipping pull-ups. 




I still use the green band but she doesn't need a band at all.  Some of my seasoned classmates and Crystal stayed after and helped me.  That's one of the things I LOVE about CF, it is a real community of people supporting one another to meet our personal goals.  They all kept telling me that I need to push off from the top and just float down, I am controling the release too much.  Crystal blames it on my yoga and since she trains a couple of other yoginis I know I'm guessing she is speaking from experience.

Today is my rest day and I am debating over what or how much I should actually do tomorrow with my Spartan benchmark being Saturday.  I typically run on Fridays but I am wondering with this sudden rise in temperatures from the mild 80's to the humid upper 90's if I should take a rest tomorrow as well.  I think I will play it by ear and just see how I feel tomorrow evening. 

Fuel Log 5/5/10:

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
3 egg whites
1/2 c green peppers and onions
1/4 c shrooms
1 tsp coconut oil

Snack 10:30 a.m.
1/2 Coconut Cream Pie Larabar

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
2 c spaghetti squash
1 c meat sauce

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 c cantloupe
1 oz prosciutto

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
2 slices of salami
4 scallops sauteed in olive oil and garlic salt
field greens with cabbage, carrots and beets
homemade basalmic vinegar dressing - olive oil, basalmic vinegar, agave nectar, garlic salt
1/2 c mashed backed sweet potato with coconut butter and sprinkled with cinnamon

Goal Setting, I SUCK :-(

Yet another thing I have discovered that I really suck at since starting this Crossfit journey is goal setting.  Last night in our Spartan 300 Challenge team meeting Carey and Crystal talked to us about goals and then had us set goals for the next 7 weeks regarding our health, career and personal life.  I found it really easy to set goals for my health:

I will lose 5 lbs and 3% more body fat by continuing to eat Paleo and workout
I will get off my knees and do toe push-ups only by doing a total of 30 a day breaking them down into mini practice sessions through out the day and doing all 30 push-ups in my CF warm-ups on my toes
I will overcome my mental block of jumping on the 20" box for fear of falling or hitting my shins
I will get 1 kipping pull-up without the band by practicing after each CF class. My teammate Jori made it her goal to stay after class and do 25 band kipping pull-ups with me :-)

Setting goals for my personal life and career brought on some major anxiety for me and I know why.  It doesn't actually have anything to do with goal setting, it's about facing some issues that I need to but don't really want to go there.  So my first goal is to sit down and face all those things that I am dreading and that have been holding me back.  Once I face the facts, I will be able to take control and set goals that will help me create the life I truly want.

Carey shared tools with us on meeting these goals and encouraged us to celebrate all successes big and small and so I will celebrate here the results of yesterdays body comp :-)  Since beginning to eat Paleo on March 15th, I have lost 10.6 lbs, 3% body fat and 16 total inches overall!!!  Crystal was so shocked that she actually measured me a second time with a different measuring tape to make sure the numbers were correct!  So I feel totally confident that I will easily make my weight and fat loss goals over the next 7 weeks.

Food Inc had a profound affect on me.  There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of the message of that movie and the atrocities it exposed both in animal cruelty and the thuggery of Monsanto.  I have long been aware of the inhumane treatment of animals in industrial agriculture and thus one of the reasons I chose to be a vegetarian to try and avoid any participation in that travesty.  In my attempt to seperate myself, I became a consumer of soy products in mass.  I consumed soy milk, tofu, tempeh, tofu ice cream, you name it and I bought and ate it thinking I was some how doing good to the earth, animals and fellow man.  But alas, ignorance is bliss and I now know that I was WRONG, WRONG , SO TERRIBLY WRONG!  Bascially the business of growing soy to make all of those products I consumed with a clear conscience is as crooked as the Mississippi and is controlled by the Monsanto company. 

Monsanto, the company that developed the weed killer Round-up, Agent Orange, DDT and PCB also genetically engineered a soy bean called Round-up Ready that  is resistent to their weed killing product.  Farmers who purchase and plant these seeds sign agreements not to engage in the age old practice of saving and cleaning seeds after harvest to plant the next season.  Instead they are required to buy new seed for the next crop.  The problem is with wind drifts and pollination non-Round-up Ready crops are being cross contaminated causing Round-up Ready beans to grow in the fields of farmers who are not buying or using the Round-up Ready seed to their knowledge.  If Monsanto discovers that these seeds are being used by these unknowing farmers, they demands payment from those farmers.  If farmers are caught cleaning Monsanto seeds they are charged with violating a patent.  The deep pockets of Monsanto make it impossible for farmers to fight a legal battle against them, many have tried but have failed forced to cry uncle or lose everything in the fight.

I have to say this revelation was absolutely shocking to me.  Almost more shocking to me as animal cruelty in industrial agricutlure and I am saddened to know that I had a role in this by purchasing the products that support this treatment of human beings.  My eyes have become even more opened and I am now even more vigilant in my quest to cast the right vote when I shop for food.

Yesterday I voted for locally grown food by placing an order with Richardson Farms.  I first heard of Richardson Farms a couple of weeks ago when I discovered the heavenly carpacchio at Peche.  The carpacchio they serve is grown on Richardson Farms.  As an avid follower of my fellow CF'ers and coaches blogs, I discovered that many of these folks trade with Richardson Farms also so I decided to look them up and placed an order.  I ordered  1 lb of ground beef,  2 ribeye steaks and 1 dozen eggs.

I encourage you to investigate where your food comes from.  Surf the web, ask questions at your grocery store and read blogs written by folks like Crossfit Coach Zachary Thiel to educate yourself so that you can cast your vote in the right direction.

Due to my Spartan meeting last night, I didn't make Lilyana's 7:00 Vinyasa class so I sucked it up and took her 8:30 Sweaty Yoga class.  Since I am not a fan of heated rooms in yoga, I believe the heat should be created internally not externally, I set an intention to go into the experience with an open mind.  As I entered the space the heat engulfed me and it was difficult for me to breath.  I began to feel the sensation of claustrophobia and slight panic.  I placed my mat on the floor and settled into virasana, closed my eyes and began long deep sitali breaths.  Soon my mind relaxed and the feelings of anxiety disappeared.  The act of acknowledging my discomfort and using the tools I had to cope allowed me to be more present and I acutally enjoyed the class.  I am looking forward to next week as I will miss the 7:00 class again.

Tonight's CF WOD looks fun:
GHD sit-up skill work
2 Rounds:
40 Bar Bell shoulder press (45)
30 air squat
20 sit ups
10 Burpees

Report to follow tomorrow :-)

Fuel Log 5-4-10

Breafast 7:45 a.m.
3 egg whites
1/2 c chopped green peppers and onions
1/4 c shrooms

Snack 10:30 a.m.
1/3 Chocolate Hazelnut Laraba

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
2 c sphaghetti squash
1 c meat sauce

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 c canteloupe
1 oz prosciutto

Snack 7:45 p.m.
pistachios

Dinner 9:45 p.m.
3 oz oven baked salmon
oven roasted asparagus
1/2 c mashed baked sweet potato with 1/2 tsp coconut butter and sprinkled with cinnamon

Fight Gone Good!!!

Yesterday's CF WOD was Fight Gone Bad.  It's a benchmark workout and was the first WOD I did back in March on the first day of my real CF class.  We do this WOD with a partner.  My first FGB I was lucky to partner with Jess, a seasoned CF'er.  She was so sweet, patient and very encouraging.  I remember being scared to death but her calm, steady presence helped me make it through. The WOD goes like this:

Fight Gone Bad (2 rounds; 1 minute at each station, 1 minute rest between rounds, as many reps as possible)

Wall ball (14#)
SDLHP (55#)
Box Jump (20")
Push Press (55#)
Row for calories

During and after my first FGB I thought I was going to D-I-E!!!  Last night was tough but not nearly as hard as my first time at this rodeo and I recovered much quicker.  I got a little light-headed and had to take some breaks for deep breaths but afterward felt great!  I was able to up my weight on the Wall Ball from 8 lbs to 12 lbs, from 45 lbs to 55 lbs on SDLHP, use the 14" box instead of the 12" but stayed at 45 lbs with the Push Press.  I added 4 points to my overall score also so I am pleased.  I definitely need to work on the box jumps, they're completely mental for me.  I was able to do 30 box jumps in the the first round but I'm afraid of falling or hitting my shins on the box so by the second round when I was tired I just kept thinking I need to be careful, don't want to fall or hit my shins.  Kirsten was my partner last night and she along with Coach Crystal and Lauren were great cheerleaders pushing me through to the end!

Tonight kicks off the Spartan 300 Challenge with our first team meeting.  I am looking forward to meeting my teammates and setting my goals but I am super psyched to get my body comp done!  My last comp was on on March 15th and I have lost 10.2 lbs since then but have no idea how my measurements have changed.  I am especially interested to see my body fat percentage as compared to just 7 weeks ago.  Saturday we have our benchmark workout and I'm totally excited!  I'm so looking forward to this leg of my CF journey and seeing where it takes me physically and mentally.


Spartan 300 Challenge from CrossFit Central on Vimeo.


After tonight's meeting I plan to go to my usual Tuesday night Vinyasa class at Black Swan.  Looking forward to opening my body and getting my sweat on to detox and cleanse.

Fuel Log for 5-3-10:

Breakfast 7:45 a.m.
Paleo Pancakes

Snack 10:30 a.m.
1/3 Key Lime Pie Larabar

Lunch 12:15 p.m.
2 cups spaghetti squash
1 cup meat sauce

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 c canteloupe
1 oz prosciutto

Snack 6:15 p.m.
1/3 Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar

Dinner 8:30 p.m.
3 oz oven baked salmon
oven roasted aspargus
1/3 baked sweet potato mashed and sprinkled with cinnamon
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

Weekend

Started the weekend Friday night by working late and missing my run but made it to my Goddess Gathering with my girlfriends.  The hostess had whipped up the most divine ceviche which went perfect with my Paelo friendly margaritas!  She cooked 2 beautiful quiches and served an apple slaw that looked yummy but I decided to stay on course with my no dairy, grains or sugar plan and just enjoy the ceviche.

Saturday morning I spent with my kula (my yoga community) practicing Vinyasa Flow with the divine Ms. Jenn followed by a much needed mani/pedi and some poolside time in the sun.  That evening Mr. X took me to Peche where I ate carrpachio (my new favorite food) from Richardson Farms with 2 glasses of meritage.  Mr. X watched in amazement as I gobble up the raw beef commenting that he can't believe just a few weeks ago I was a long time vegetarian!

Sunday I made paleo pancakes for myself and a scramble of eggs, green peppers, onion and smoke sea bass for Mr. X.  I spent a couple of hours poolside reading a new book I bought that morning and then headed out to run errands and grocery shop.  I walked 4 miles around the lake with Mr. X and came home to prep meals for the week.

Tonight I start up Crossfit again so I checked the WOD first thing this morning.  It is the benchmark WOD called Fight Gone Bad.  This is the first workout I did in my CF class that I started back in March so I am really excited to see how I have improved since then!

Here's my Fuel Log for the past weekend:

Friday April 30th

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
3 egg whites
1/2 c chopped onions and green peppers
1 tsp coconut oil

Snack 10:30 a.m.
1/2 Coconut Cream Pie Larabar

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
2 pieces of London Broil
1/2 c broccoli
1/2 c brussel sprouts

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 Coconut Cream Larabar

Dinner 8:00 p.m.
Ceviche - shrimp, avocado, tomato and onion
Margaritas - tequilia, lime juice, agave nectar and water

Saturday, May 1st

Breakfast 9:45 a.m.
1 oz proscuitto
1/2 c canteloupe

Lunch 2:30
Shrimp cooked fajita style
onions, green peppers, red peppers, mushrooms
lettuce
guacamole
1 small manadrine orange

Snack 6:00 p.m.
Pistachios
1/2 Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar

Dinner 9:30 p.m.
Beef Carpacchio with mustard horseradish sauce on a bed of arugula
2 glasses of red wine

Sunday, May 2nd

Breakfast 9:30 a.m.
Paleo Pancakes

Lunch 3:00 p.m.
1/2 lb baby back ribs

Snack 7:00 p.m.
2 small mandarine oranges

Dinner 8:30 p.m.
blackened catfish filet
salad of field greens, cabbage, carrots, pineapple and canteloupe
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

I am so excited because I think I may have converted a friend to Crossfit and Paleo diet!  I hope she joins me for this journey :-)