Friday wasn't exactly Zone, but it was relatively close to Paleo (minus the cheese, salad dressing, and croutons on my dinner salad). I did eat more than 1.5x fat, and other than feeling a little uncomfortable at the beginning of the workout (ate too many almonds right before), I felt pretty dang good!

WOD was

“Dead Ringer”
21-15-9
Dead Lift, 155 lbs
Ring dip (first set with tan band, second with two tan bands)
Burpees

I was very pleased to be able to do the deadlifts as Rx'ed. Had almost talked myself out of it, but I'm glad I didn't. My rings came in the mail, so I'm excited to be able to start working on dips at home.

Thursday was another rest day, due in part to lingering soreness, but mostly because there was lots of studying that needed to be done. This of course meant that my nutrition was good for most of the day and then degenerated into a carb fest as the evening progressed. Sigh. While I'm not pleased with my inability to completely control my stress eating, I'm happy to be able to confine it to 1 or 2 slipups per week right now. Hopefully things will improve when I quit my job and my stress levels go down (at least that's the plan).

Wednesday was a rest day - I felt pretty beat up after Monday and Tuesday's WODs, so decided to take it easy.

Food was good. Went over a little on protein, but wasn't desperately hungry at any point in the day AND I managed to avoid late-night stress binging.

11:00 - 4 whole eggs, 1 apple, 39 cashews (4P, 2C, 13F)

2:00 - 4.5 oz ground beef, 39 cashews (3P, 13F)

4:15 - 4 oz ground beef, 1 apple, 1 medium-sized cucumber, 39 cashews (2.75P, 2.75C, 13F)

4:45 - 3 oz beef jerky (3P)

Back on the Zone! I'm gonna aim for 1.5x fat for the next 2 weeks to see if it can help keep me full and satisfied. I feel good today!

2:40 - 4 oz pork sausage, 18 stalks asparagus, 39 almonds (4P, 1.5C, 13F)
4:40 - 4 oz pork sausage, 39 almonds (4P, 13F)
8:15 - 4 whole eggs, 1 apple, 1 small cucumber, 39 cashews (4P, 2.75C, 13F)

Total: 12P, 4.25C, 39F

Today's workout was Jackie:

For time:
1K row
50 thrusters (35 lb) barbell
30 Pull Ups w/ blue band

10:54

Felt pretty good on the row - I really tried working on my form, pulling hard, and taking it easy on the way back. Kept up a reasonably good pace, especially compared with my usual time. Think I should put the damper on 5, because I was feeling a tiny bit inefficient.

Tomorrow's a rest day, which I'm pretty excited about. Monday and today worked me over something fierce.

A Nutritional Lark.

So I've pretty much been eating what I've wanted to over the holiday weekend. It's been great, at times, but I am so ready to get back to the ole hunter-gatherer routine on Tuesday. It was actually really nice to eat some of the things I've been dreaming about these past few weeks and realize that they weren't as tasty as I remembered.

Sunday was another rest day. Today's WOD was

"Bulletproof"
50-30-20

pullups (first 30 with blue band, rest with green)
kb swings (30 lb)
burpees

25:11

I was just happy to finish this. Pullups really kicked my butt.

Saturday was a food debacle. Seriously, I pretty much ate everything in my path. It was glorious.

WOD (before most of the eating) was:

AMRAP in 20:00

10 wall balls (12 lb)
10 box jumps
10 deadlifts (145 lb)
10 burpees

5 and 21/40 rounds

Did this one at home with the boyfriend, and we don't have a 16 lb medicine ball, so not quite as Rx'd. Got to 5 and 1/2 rounds with about 20 seconds left and was pretty fried but decided to do one more deadlift to show it who was boss. Was surprised how heavy 145 lbs felt given that my 1 RM is 205, but I know that doing 51 of them is another matter entirely, especially with the other exercises thrown in.

Friday's WOD was

push jerk

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

75-85-95-105-110-115(f)-115(f)

Perhaps I should try split jerks next time, especially at the higher weights. 110 is the heaviest weight I've ever put over my head, though, so I'm pretty happy.

Nutrition was fair today. I worried less about getting exact block numbers than eating pretty clean and feeling good (and not eating for any other reason than being legitimately hungry), and other than the two glasses of wine I had at night, I did alright. I did eat a little more protein than usual and was probably slightly over my 6 block goal for carbs, but I was legitimately hungry, so I ate. In related news, I have officially abandoned my cheese and legume strike - I for the most part avoided them for around two weeks and just wasn't feeling any kind of dramatic benefit, at least one that outweighed me not being able to eat cheese, cashews, and peanuts.

Thursday was a rest day, workout-wise. As a result, I decided to fast for most of the day after my Wednesday carb binge. At 9:30 PM, I ended up breaking it (after 22.5 hours) with

3.5 oz pepperoni
3 egg whites
1 apple
54 almonds

for a total of 5P, 2C, 18F

I felt pretty good after the fast, and while I probably should have eaten a little bit more before I went to bed, I was tired and ended up passing out on the couch before I could even attempt another snack. I don't fast all that often, but this was a good experience for me - it reminded me how often I am tempted to eat just because I'm bored!

If It's Wednesday...

Then it must be time for my weekly carb binge. First 18 hours of the Wednesday was great, food-wise, but as a result of poor planning, poor luck, and nonexistent willpower, the last 6 went all to hell. Dang.

WOD on Wednesday was "Health Lift."

Using your max deadlift weight complete the following:
10 reps @ 30% max
5 reps @ 50% max
5 reps @ 60% max
5 reps @ 70% max
3 reps @ 80% max
3 reps @ 90% max

Assuming a 1 RM of 210, I ended up doing:

65-105-125-150-170-195

My callouses were killing me on the last couple of rounds and made deadlifting a much more unpleasant experience than usual. I need to fix the callouses asap; in terms of the deadlift itself, working on my hook grip will probably make things better too. Also, I was surprised by how tired I was by the last set - this may have partially been a result of doing the 6:30 AM WOD after doing the 7 PM WOD the night before, though.

Oh, got my "Door Gym" on Wednesday, so I can now (responsibly) GTG pullups until I am blue in the face. Yay! I'm hoping to get some rings in the coming weeks so I can start GTG ring dips too...

WOD today was:

150 pushups for time.

*Every time you stop and rest with your chest on the ground this constitutes a penalty. If a penalty is counted, you must immediately sprint 100 yards. Once the penalty is completed continue with the push ups. You can rest in an up position but once you can not do push ups any longer and need to rest on the ground, a penalty is counted and a 100 yard sprint must be completed.

14:55 as Rx'ed, broken up into 9 rounds.

Deceptively difficult workout. I maybe should have broken the 150 up into even more sets, since I spent a lot of time resting in the pike position towards the end of the latter sets. In any case, I really tried to concentrate on keeping good range of motion throughout.

Food-wise, felt pretty good today.

10:15 - 6 egg whites, 2 cups strawberries, 30 almonds (3P, 2C, 10F); 1 vitamin c pill; 10 fish oil pills

12:45 - 3 oz chicken, 2 small cucumbers, 3 tsp olive oil (3P, 1C, 9F)

2:15 - 2 1-oz buffalo sticks, 30 almonds (2P, 10F)

5:00 - 3 oz chicken, small handful green peppers, approximately .3 cup coconut milk and red curry mix (3P, .25C, 6 or 7F)

total - 11P, 3.25C, 35-36F

Monday was another rest day, what with work and 5 hours of chemistry class in the evening.

Food was good, though:

9:15 - 6 egg whites, 1 apple (3P, 2C); 1 vitamin c pill

12:00 - 4.5 oz deli chicken, 2 servings paleo pizza with pepperoni (3P, .25C, 20F); 10 fish oil pils

2:30 - 2 oz tilapia, 1 apple (1.25P, 2C)

5:00 - 3 oz deli chicken, 1 oz pepperoni, 1 small cucumber, .75 cup tomato, 2 tsp olive oil (3P, 1.5C, 6F); 10 fish oil pills

The goals for this week are to eat clean and make sure that most of my carbs are veggies (instead of fruit and alcohol, like it has been).

Sunday was a rest day, which was great, because my back was still pretty sore after Saturday's cleans. Food was so-so on Sunday. I tried some Paleo pizza which was delicious but put me over on fat. I also have been eating too many apples, but other than that (and having a bite or two of my boyfriend's real pizza and ice cream), I felt ok about my choices. Weight has gone back up a little (in the 139 range), but I still feel pretty good, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.

9:00 - 4.5 oz deli chicken, 1 apple, 24 almonds (3P, 2C, 8F); 1 vitamin C pill, 5 fish oil pills

1:45 - 4.5 oz deli chicken, 1 apple, 24 almonds (3P, 2C, 8F); 5 fish oil pills

4:00 - 2 1-oz buffalo trail sticks

7:00 - 2 servings paleo pizza with turkey pepperoni, 2.5 oz ground beef, 2 egg whites, 1 apple, 4 sugar-free popsicles (4P, 3.5C, 20F)

Monday is going to be another rest day because I have class tonight from 5-10:30. Egh. I briefly considered getting up for the 6:30 am class, but decided that sleep was more important than the workout.

21-15-9

Power Clean (3 at 95, rest at 85)
Ring dips (blue band assist)

8:15

Felt good about the 95s during warmups, but I felt like it was going to get too ugly, so I dropped 10 after only a few. Probably should have gone with the tan band on the dips, honestly - the blue ones felt too easy. Got about 20 deadhang pullups done before and after the WOD (5 of which were done afterwards as ring pullups starting in a flat-footed position, but hey), so I was nice and tired after all was said and done. My back really tightened up on me in the hour or so after the workout - probably should have stretched more. D'oh!

Food was pretty good today. Having panang curry meant I ended up going over on fat, but I'm ok with that:

1:00 - 4.5 oz chicken slices, 1 apple, 24 almonds (3P, 2C, 8F)

3:00 - 3 oz turkey pepperoni, 1 apple, 24 almonds (3P, 2C, 8F); 1 vitamin c pill, 10 fish oil pills

6:00 - 1.5 oz turkey pepperoni, about 3.5 ounces chicken, handful chopped green pepper, 4 sugar-free popsicles, 15 almonds, about .5 cup coconut milk (5P, 2C, 15F)

"Superwhite"

3 rounds
5 db renegade man makers (25 lb dbs)
10 pullups (blue band)
10 ring dips (tan band)
10 one-arm kb swings (5 each arm; 35 lb)
1 lap bear crawl

13:55

Felt ok today - those manmakers were killer! Still nowhere near real pullups or ring dips, which is frustrating, but just something I need to keep working on. Cooled down with 50 double unders - managed to get 18 in a row at one point!

Food relatively good today until dinner, when I went a little over on protein and way over on carbs. Am having trouble with willpower recently...

9:00 - 6 egg whites, 1 apple, 24 almonds (3P, 2C, 8F); 1 vitamin c pill, 5 fish oil pills

12:00 - 4.5 oz tilapia, .75 cup tomato slices, 2 tsp olive oil (3P, 1C, 6F); 5 fish oil pills

2:00 - 3 oz tilapia, 24 almonds (2P, 8F)

8:00 - 4.5 oz ground beef, 1 oz turkey pepperoni, 2 cups lettuce, handful tomato and onion slices, 1 apple, .5 oz crouton, 2 tbsp avocado, 2 tbsp caesar dressing, way too much ice cream (4P, ?C , ?F)

“Danny”
AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
30 Box Jump, 24 inch
20 Push Press, 75 lbs
30 Pullups (5 deadhangs, 10 double tan bands, rest with blue band)

2 1/3 plus 3 push presses

Not as Rx'd, but felt pretty good doing 24" box jumps for the first time and push press pretty close to the Rx'd weight of 85 lb. Pullups were another story - I really need to keep building strength (and learn how to kip), because my lack of pullup ability is killing me in workouts. Cooled down with 75 double unders - managed to string together a couple good sets, although I definitely need to work on doing them when I get tired (that's where the trouble starts).

After yesterday's stress-eating debacle before and after my EMT exam, felt pretty gross today, so didn't eat until almost noon. Food today was relatively solid:

11:50 - 6 egg whites, 1 apple, 21 almonds (3P, 2C, 7F); 5 fish oil pills, 1
vitamin c pill

2:30 - 2 oz turkey pepperoni, 2.5 oz tilapia, 1 cup tomato, 2 tsp olive oil
(3.5P, 1.25C, 6F); 5 fish oil pills

3:40 - 12 almonds (4F)

7:45 - 1.5 cups chicken tikka marsala with onions, 1 glass wine, .5 apple, 30 almonds (4P, 3.75C, 10F)

total - 10.5P, 7C, 27F

Blah.

Team workout today. Basically, I ended up doing

box jumps
400 m row
double unders
kb swings (1 pood)
box jumps
400 m row
double unders
kb swings (1 pood)

cool down/skill work:

6 pullups (in sets of 1s and 2s)
3 rounds 15 second static ring holds

I did the non-rowing stations in the time it took for one of my teammates to row 400 m. 185 reps during that time. Basically, being gassed screwed me on the double unders. I also felt weak during the kb swings. Not sure what that's all about.

In general, a little frustrated because I feel like I'm plateauing. I don't necessarily have any data to back this up; it's more of a feeling than anything. Motivation to go super hard is still kind of a problem too. Tomorrow's a rest day, though, so maybe all I need is a reset.

Nutrition good today.

8:45 - 3 slices bacon, 3 whole eggs, handful onions, 24 almonds (4P, .25C, 8F); 1 vitamin c pill, 5 fish oil pills

12:00 - 4.5 oz tilapia, 1.25 cup cauliflower, 2 tsp olive oil (3P, 1C, 6F); 5 fish oil pills

1:30 - 1 oz buffalo stick, 1 apple (1P, 2C)

3:45 - 33 almonds (11F); 5 fish oil pills

5:00 - 4.5 oz tilapia, 1 apple, 1tbsp raisins, 1tsp olive oil (3P, 3C, 3F)

total - 11P, 6.25C, 28F

9:10 - 2 egg whites, 2 oz turkey pepperoni, 24 pecans, 1 apple (3P, 2C, 8F); 5 fish oil pills, 1 vitamin c pill

1:00 - 4.5 oz tilapia, 1 9 inch cucumber, 3 tsp oil (3P, 1C, 9F); 4 fish oil pills

3:00 - 2 1-oz buffalo trail sticks (2P); 5 fish oil pills

7:00 - 2 oz turkey pepperoni, 2 egg whites, 1 apple, couple handfuls popcorn, 24 almonds (3P, 3C, 8C)

Pretty solid other than the slight overage on carbs. Couldn't help the popcorn - we went to see the new Star Trek movie!

Workout:

front squat
5-5-5

85-95-110 (f)

rest

for time: 50 burpees

3:06

Front squats felt ok. Thought about trying a slightly lighter 4th set after failing at 110, but ran out of time. Happy we did ring dips in the warmup - want to work on those more nowadays. Need to remember to keep working on double unders too.

Near-Perfect Sunday

A wicked crick in my neck this morning prevented me from doing the park WOD at W&L, and I had work tonight, so I couldn't make the afternoon WODs at the box, but I managed to fit in the afternoon WOD at my house. It was

For time:

21-15-9

ground to overhead (55 lb; bar, not dumbbells)
ghd situps

7:55

Working out alone is hard - I definitely had a little trouble pushing myself. Looking forward to getting back in the box tomorrow.

Food today:

11:30 - 4 egg whites, 1 oz pepperoni, 24 almonds, 1 apple (3P, 2C, 8F)

1:30 - 2 egg whites, 1 oz chicken, 1 oz turkey pepperoni, 2 cups lettuce, .25 cup tomato and onion, .75 oz croutons, 2 tbsp caesar dressing, .25 apple (3P, 3C, 8F?)

4:30 - 2 oz sausage, 15 almonds, 8 oz beer (2P, 1C, 5F)

5:45 - 3 oz buffalo trail stick, 27 almonds (3P, 9F)

Not all the way Paleo, but not bad. I'll keep avoiding legumes and dairy for another week or so before I decide whether or not it's worth it to me to cut them out of my diet. Also, I started taking fish oil yesterday. I bought some capsules from Costco, and based on my calculations, it appears that I should be aiming to take about 20 a day. I've only managed about 5 a day so far (kept forgetting), but will work my way up and try them out at that level for awhile to see if I notice anything.

Saturday's food:

11:00 - 4 egg whites, 3 slices bacon, 27 almonds (3P, 9F)

2:00 - 3 oz chicken, 2 tsp olive oil, 1 apple (3P, 2C, 6F)

5:30 - 5 oz sausage, 24 almonds, 12 asparagus spears, 3 12-oz beers, 1 5-oz glass wine (5P, 6C, 8F)

Total - 11P, 8C, 24F

Not bad, but not great either.

Update

Couldn't make it to the park WOD today, but managed to squeeze in a 10:00 row.

I feel pretty gross after 3 days of rest and 2 days of pretty crappy nutrition, but exams are over now, so it's back to a normal sleeping, eating, and working out schedule. Yay!

Solid.

9:00 - 6 egg whites, 1 small apple, 2 tsp sunflower seeds (3P, 2C, 8F)
12:00 - 4.5 oz ground beef, 1.25 cups cauliflower, 2 tsp olive oil (3P, 1C, 6F)
2:30 - 4 egg whites, 18 pecans (2P, 6C)
6:00 - 3 oz turkey pepperoni, 1 small apple, 30 pecans (3P, 2C, 10F)

total: 11P, 5C, 30F

Feeling better today - no binge last night, and I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in awhile, thanks to the airplane eyemask my boyfriend found around the house. Amazing what a solid night's sleep can do for one's state of mind. I can't make it into the gym this afternoon, but have resolved to go strict Paleo on the intake today to get myself back on track. This mostly just means no ketchup (thanks for the reminder, Ryan P!), which is fine, because it was knocking me off balance anyhow (when I have ketchup with something, I have a lot of it).

T-Minus 7 Days

Nutrition ok today. I'm going to try to avoid another stress binge before I go to bed, but I can't count it totally out. I felt bloated and gross all day after yesterday's escapades, so I cut out the 8 blocks of fat that I'd usually have at dinner. Carbs were all apples (and ketchup with my eggs), but other than that, not too bad.

Workout was eh. I went into the gym in a really bad mood, and only left feeling slightly better. Plus my shoulders were still sore from Sunday and tweaked a little during the pullups - poop. Anyhow, after the Burgener warmup (which I did enjoy, since I am not comfortable with technical movements like the snatch), we did the following:

Weighted Pullups 1-1-1-1-1
Weighted Ring Dips 1-1-1-1-1

I ended up with:

BW-2.5-5-5-10(f)
on toes x 5, with each time trying to put more weight on the rings

Seven days until the semester is really over, a few other things wrap up, and life will start to sort itself out again. I'm hoping that once that happens, I'll be able to get my motivation back - I don't like feeling totally derailed like I do right now (this is the first time I've felt this way since starting Crossfit). At least the raccoons were evicted today, so I'm hoping to be able to sleep better tonight!

Stress

Got through most of the day fine, but couldn't work out because I needed to study for my EMT final. Then my exam happened, and all hell broke loose. I'm chalking this one (and in retrospect, my slip-up on Friday) up to stress and exhaustion, and not beating myself up about it. Exams will be over soon, thankfully!

Inadvertent IF

Today was fun at the gym - after mandated double under work (100 doesn't seem so scary now that I've been working on them every day for two weeks) and some deadhang practice during warmups (I ended up getting 15, mostly in sets of 1s and 2s), the workout was as follows:

Shoulder Press: 1-1-1-1-1
Push Press: 3-3-3-3-3
Push Jerk: 5-5-5-5-5

I didn't really know where to start, since I haven't really gone heavy on these movements, but I ended up with the following numbers:

55-60-65-70-75(f)
65-70-75-85-95
75-90-95-100(f after 4)-65

Overall I was pleased, given that my shoulder felt good and I bested my last shoulder press PR of 55 by a good 15 pounds.

Nutrition was solid today. I ended up not eating until 1 pm, but I felt ok, so I just made sure to eat everything I should have eaten. I'd still like to lean out a little more, so I'm going to back down off of 1.5x fat for a few days.

1:00 - 3 whole eggs, handful onions, ketchup, medium apple, 24 almonds (3P, 2.5C, 8F)

3:15 - 2 1-oz buffalo trail sticks, 21 almonds (2P, 7F)

5:45 - 4.5 oz sauteed ground beef, 1 small cucumber, .5 medium tomato, 3 tsp olive oil (3P, 1.5C, 9F)

7:30 - 3 whole eggs, handful onions, ketchup, medium apple, 18 almonds (3P, 2.5C, 6F)

As you can plainly see, I am a creature of habit when it comes to food. Other than the ketchup, olive oil, and almonds, everything I ate today came straight from the farmer's market, so it's partially a matter of what I have on hand. Honestly, I also kind of like not having to think too much about what I'm going to eat at any given time.

Lazy Saturday

Got back in the gym this morning, which felt good. I enjoyed Siddarth's group warmup, and despite feeling not on top of my game, I got through the workout ok. I even managed to string some double unders together!

10 rounds:

5 burpees
10 double unders

10:03

I worked on pullups (kipping and strict) before and afterward. Siddarth helped me with the first movement in the kipping progression - rocking back and forth, feet together, pointed down, with only the shoulder and the hip as hinge points. I also worked a bit on static holds on the rings before I left.

Food quality was pretty good today, even though my quantities were a bit off. Am still eating too many sugar-free popsicles in between meals, but after this box is gone, I'm going cold turkey for a bit.

8:45 - 1 whole egg, 4 egg whites, handful green peppers and onions, ketchup, 30 almonds, 1 small apple (3P, 3C, 10F)

1:30 - 3 whole eggs, handful onions, ketchup, 30 almonds, 1 medium apple (3P, 3C, 10F)

3:30 - 2 1-oz buffalo trail sticks, 27 almonds (2P, 9C)

6:45 - 2.5 oz pepperoni, 1 egg white, 1/3 cup tomato slices, 1 6" cucumber, 4 tsp olive oil (3P, 1C, 12F)

Blown.

Another rest day yesterday, given my class and work schedule. All was well food-wise until the evening, where I demolished my good day by cannibalizing my friend's french fries and downing 3.5 oil cans of Strongbow cider. D'oh! In my defense, this was my first time out on the town in many moons...

10:15 - 6 egg whites, 1 small apple, 30 almonds (3P, 2C, 10F)

1:00 - 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg, handful chopped onions and green pepper, ketchup, 30 almonds (3P, 1.5C, 10F)

4:00 - 2 1-oz buffalo trail sticks, 33 almonds (2P, 11F)

6:30 - grilled tuna salad with pine nuts and balsamic vinegarette, glass of wine, 10 fries (3P, 3.5C, ?F)

8:30-11:30 - way too much hard cider

Oh well. Today is a new day!