Rowing Competition and Monday Metcon

This weekend went by so fast and I had barely any time to do anything! Saturday was a great experience and one of my favorite days so far this year. AND one of the reasons why I love being part of CrossFit Fire. Saturday was such a great bonding experience and I hope that we are able to go to more competitions as a group. 22 two CrossForters participated in the Chicago Indoor Rowing Competition. Each of us rowed an individual 2000 meters and then there was a male and female 2500 meter relay competition. It was so encouraging to watch everyone row their 2k and everyone PR. I was lucky to have Kinsy next to me during our heat so I was familiar with someone rowing. I had a goal in mind of rowing 8:00, but I exceeded that and rowed a 7:54.3 2K, which crushed my old PR by 20 seconds. I don't remember everyone's exact times, but I know everyone PR'd and I'm so happy we were all there to support each other and achieve so much!

We waited around for a few hours before the relay's started. The female team consisted of Nicole, Hannah, Kinsy, Steph, and myself. Our original plan was to have our strongest rower, Nicole, start and give us the lead followed by Hannah, Kinsy, Steph and myself. Bill believed I had a good chance at finishing our relay off strong based on how I finished my 2K race. Nicole gave us a good lead and while she was rowing the line up was jumbled and I was thrown on the rower after Nicole, I pulled the hardest 500m I've ever rowed and kept the lead by 10-16m the entire time. Our transitions were a little slow, since we were all sharing one rower and we have never practiced that before. Hannah followed me, then Kinsy and finally Steph. We ended up in 3rd, which was a little heartbreaking, but we all did our best and it was a great competition. I hope we can get another chance at it again in the future. The boys team came in 4th in their relay. I was so proud of everyone, we beat so many teams that row for their sport, just goes to show how badass we are! :)

Today started off rushed at work. I was running around trying to finish some stuff on time so we could ship boards out and get them tested. And then the afternoon was slow and I was rather tired and just ready to get out of there and to the gym.

Strength: Hang Power cleans 3-3-3-1-1-1 35kg-40kg-45kg-50kg-56kg-58kg fail - 57kg fail. I finished at 56kg and that was a PR. I tried 58 and 57 three times a piece, but I just couldn't get my elbows around. Next time I got it.

WOD: 4 rounds for time: 21 KB swings (24/16) 12 Burpees. Goal time 5:00-8:00.
Right before the WOD Tommy Mo asked me if I was going heavy for the KB swings. I was actually thinking it before he said something, but I second guessed myself and thought I was crazy. So I was happy that Tommy Mo pushed me to go heavy and I decided to use the 20kg kettle bell for the swings. I need to start pushing myself that extra notch every once and awhile. And like Tommy said, my swings are pretty strong, so 20kg wouldn't break me. So I went at it, but kept the 16kg KB close, just in case. My goal was to get the KB swings unbroken every round, I was successful the first two rounds but the last two I went 15-6. And all my burpees were unbroken. However, my underwear was giving me some issues, so that slowed me down a bit. I ended with a time of 7:12, which was within the goal time, so I was very pleased with that. Thank you, Tommy, for pushing me that extra bit, I need that from time to time. Gave me that extra bit of confidence, so I hope to do it more often!

Food For the Day:
Breakfast: 3 eggs and 5 sausage links
Lunch: Roasted chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots
Dinner: 6oz tilapia and 9 asparagus spears and a side salad with cucumber and tomatoes.
Dessert: banana, almond butter muffin with cinnamon butter. OMG DELISH! and .5oz dark chocolate

Clapping push ups!

This is the first week in a long time where I feel really rested and somewhat caught up on my sleep. The last 2 week where I was driving myself to work, working 45-50 hours, working out, observing ramp and trying to find time to hang out with Jer, just took it out of me. Not getting the extra naps in the car on the way to and from work when dad drives, really made a difference in my energy levels. To make up for that difference I would have to have gone to bed at 7:30 – 8:00 at night. Which wasn’t possible since I got home from the Fort around then if not later. So needless to say, I’m glad I’m carpooling with dad again and can get my naps in. Yeah, you all think I’m mean that I sleep when he drives, but he’s been doing this for 23 YEARS!! How he does it, I don’t know, but he doesn’t mind, so I’m going to take full advantage of the nap time.

So today I was still pretty sore from Barbara. My hands look pretty awful too, my right more than my left. I hope they heal up pretty good by Saturday for the rowing competition! Pretty much my entire upper body arm area and my abs are really sore. Looks like I need to work more pushups and sit ups into my daily routine. Louis feels a little swollen from all the sit ups, but nothing to be concerned about. I have definitely come to the conclusion that Louis the lump will always be there as long as I’m working out this way. I feel like he would’ve gone away by now. So when I lose all my stomach and my abs are showing I’ll have 7 instead of 6, take that! J haha

Food for the day:

Breakfast: 3 eggs and 5oz ground beef

Lunch: 7oz chicken breast with spaghetti squash

Dinner: 5oz burger with 1/2 a slice of cheddar cheese, some sauteed onions, and 2 pieces of bacon and a salad

Dessert: smoothie (coconut milk, banana, strawberries, blueberries, almond butter)

Strength: Front Squat 3-3-3 at 58kg

WOD: 6:00 Amrap of: 3 cleans (85/55) 7 clapping push ups 6:00 rest 2:00 Amrap wall ball shots (20/14)

Today was kind of hard working out because my hands are destroyed. So doing the cleans all I could focus on was how crappy my grip was and I struggled with getting them up. I went with 45 on the bar instead of 55 because I just didn't think I had it in me to go that heavy. Especially considering my current 1RM is 55. The clapping push ups were a little difficult as well with my hands, but I was happy with how I did on those. My push ups have come a LONG way since I've started. I ended with 5 rounds and 2 cleans. The wall ball shots I just went for it, didn't really have a goal in mind. But as I was going I was shooting for 50, I came close and ended with 47. I probably could have rested a few seconds less and gotten to 50. But overall I was happy with my performance today. I just really hope my hands heal fast!

Oh, Barbara!

Thank goodness for rest day. I took full advantage of it today after facing "Barbara" yesterday. She tore my hands to shreds and throughout the day my body progressively got more sore. I have to say that this Mega Metcon Tuesday wasn't nearly as bad as the last two. If it wasn't for my hands, I would've enjoyed this workout and gotten all 5 rounds of pull ups in. For those of you who don't know ...

"Barbara" is 5 rounds of:
20 pull ups
30 push ups
40 sit ups
50 squats
3:00 of rest between rounds

I was determined to do this wod RX'd even though my pull ups are just coming back into full swing. I was about to get the first 3.5 rounds in prescribed, then my right hand ripped. Jennie gave me the option to tap out after the 4th round, but I was determined to finish this girl! I taped my hand and then my left hand ripped during the final round. I definitely didn't get my chin over the bar on all 20 reps, maybe 10 of them my hands were killing me so much. I was kind of disappointed in that. But I gave this workout my all and did the best I could. Hopefully the next time she shows up I'll be able to finish it without tearing my hands and completely RX'd. This time I finished at 32:32. Which is a decent time, need to work on the pull ups and push ups.

Food for the day:
Breakfast: 3 eggs and 6.5 oz chicken fajita (chicken, pepper, onion)
Lunch: 6 oz pork tenderloin with cooked baby carrots and mashed cauliflower
Dinner: 4 oz salmon and a side salad with cucumber and tomato
Dessert: smooth with coconut milk, almond butter, strawberries, banana, and blueberries.

I need more 3 day weekends!

So this weekend was pretty fabulous. Friday was a super long day with work then driving to the city for the Hawks game, but it was great fun with great friends.

Saturday morning I woke up for Oly class and Team Saturday. I decided to do a rowing wod during Oly lifting instead of lifting, I really want to work on my endurance and I feel doing extra cardio on the side is really going to help me loose that little bit left in my stomach. The rowing WOD was 2 rounds of (5 x 1:00 row, with 2:00 rest in between) between the 2 rounds 5:00 rest. Nicole was doing the wod with me and I tried to keep up with her. For those who don't know, Nicole ROCKS at rowing and she's a tough cookie to keep up with!!! But I ended up with 2764 m, I think, i know it was 2700something. Nicole ended up with 2900something, so I was ok with being about 200m short than her, because her pulls are sick!

Next we moved onto the Team Saturday and I was paired up with Marcie. I haven't had the opportunity to really work out with her before, so I was excited to be paired up with someone new. The wod was 5:00 row for calories. 12:00 AMRAP of: 10 push ups, 15 situps, 20 squats. 3:00 of burpees. One person works at a time. We decided to split the row in half and we got 78 calories in the end. The amrap we decided to each trade off with rounds and complete all 3 movements, then let the next person do it. I think this was a good way for us to do it and we ended up with 10 rounds plus 35 reps. Finally was the burpees, I gave it all i had and finally figured out how to just throw myself on the ground. It's amazing how much faster you can move through them, we ended up with 55 burpees. In the end we finished 11 out of 12 teams, but I didn't care. A lot of people are only in it for the belt and complain when they don't win and accuse people of cheating. But I was in it for the workout and I felt like I had a great workout. I definitely felt the sit ups and burpees the next day. Marcie kept apologizing for not being "awesome", but I just told her, you WERE awesome, you did what YOU could and we got a great workout in. That's all that really matters! :)

Yesterday was fabulous and relaxing because Nicole, Steph, Jennie, and myself went and got manicures and pedicures. Definitely some relaxation and girls time that I needed! Then K-Tuck and her husband Dave and Jer and I went bowling. It was nice to go out with some friends and just enjoy ourselves and not worry about having to get up for work.

Today was a furlough day at work, so no work, but no pay. I was ok with it because I got to sleep in and get some extra stuff down around the house that I needed to do and felt really great going to the Fort.

Strength: Hang Power Cleans 3-3-3-1-1-1. 35kg-40kg-45kg-50kg-55kg-57kg. I've never really done hang power cleans for a PR, so I was kind of basing it off my clean PR of 55kg. Which I already know could be heavier. I cleaned 55kg with ease and was hoping to get a couple kilos more. First attempt at 57kg I hit my boobs, so that was a fail. Second attempt I hit my chin and was thrown off. Third attempt I got too deep in the squat, so it was a failed rep. BUT now I know that I can clean 57 kilos!! :) So my final successful rep was 55kg.

WOD: 3:00 Burpee box jumps (24"/20") 2:00 rest 2:00 burpee box jumps 2:00 rest 1:00 burpee box jumps. My first thoughts were to shoot for 10/min, which I was able to do easily. I realize now, that my adding skills were off after the WOD and I did 66 reps, not 76, for some reason I wrote 76 on the board not 66. BUT my rounds were 32/21/13 = 66 reps. Apparently I should stick to using the calculator and not my head after the wods. oops. Not trying to cheat, promise!

After the wod Nicole, K-Tuck, RTL and I did the rowing wod for the week to finish preparing for the rowing competition on Saturday. the wod was 1000m row 6:00 rest 500m row 2:00 rest 250m row 2:00 rest 250m row. The goal was to row at our 2k pace for all rounds, which mine is 1:58/500m. My final time was 7:41. I was pretty happy with that and I felt great leaving the Fort tonight with two great workouts. I'm excited for this week and how great I'm feeling.

Food for the day: Brunch: 4 eggs scrambled with spinach, red peppers, bacon, and a little bit of cheese, 3 oz pulled pork and 6 strawberries.
Snack: 1 oz almonds and 0.5oz dark chocolate chips
Dinner: 5 oz pork tenderloin, 8 asparagus spears, spaghetti squash.
Snack: almonds, dark chocolate chips, and dried cranberries.

Double Dose

It's almost Friday!!! I feel like the last two weeks have been the longest weeks ever! I'm excited for this weekend...Blackhawks game and a 3 day weekend, yes please!?

So Tuesday night was another killer metcon. It was 6 rounds of: 15 burpees 300m row 5:00 rest. Goal of 1:30-2:00 rounds. I went to the Fort already not feeling too hot, my stomach felt really off. Then when I saw the wod on the board, I wasn't too excited. I figured my burpees would really slow down, which they did but they were all unbroken. But my rowing really took a toll too. My fastest round was the first at 1:49 and my longest was round 4 at 2:09. Thankfully after round 4 I picked it up a but, but sheesh that was rough. I closed my eyes the last 2 rounds on the rower to make it go by faster! I find that when I don't pay attention to the meters slowly going up and just count my pulls and close my eyes I do a lot better. Combined my time ended up being 12:09. I was kind of disappointed in this, but given that I didn't feel well before it, I guess it was to be expected. I then laid on the slam balls for a good 20 minutes after the wod because I felt so light headed. I didn't feel right until about an hour and a half after the wod and once I showered. Sheesh. Hopefully, if we see this again, I'll feel better going into it and improve.

Today's Strength: Front Squat 3-3-3 stay at the same weight. 57kg-57kg-57kg. This is 2 kilos heavier than last week when we did the sets of 3 and I felt pretty good with it. The last round was a struggle, but felt good.

WOD: 10:00 AMRAP 25 double unders 5 Dead lifts (100/70). 8 rounds + 4 DU's. I went into this wod just hoping to give it all I had. I wasn't so much worried about the DL as I was the DU. I haven't practice nor have we done double unders in a wod in awhile. I had a hard time stringing them together a couple rounds I got 15+ in a row, but normally it was 10 and then 5 and then a couple more and just a mess. I need to start working on those again. My DL I felt pretty good about, I heard Jennie saying to pull more with my chest, so I need to work more on that and perfecting my form during a WOD. Overall I felt good about the wod. It'll be nice to have another rest day tomorrow and get back at it for Oly Lifting and Team Saturday! :)

Food for the day: Breakfast: 3 slices of Meatza
Lunch: 11oz of chicken fajitas (chicken, peppers, onions)
Dinner: salad with cucumbers and tomatoes and a TBS of honey dijon vinaigrette, spaghetti squash with chicken, spinach, tomato, pepper, onion mix on top with a lil Parmesan cheese.
Dessert: spoonful of coconut ice cream. 1oz dark chocolate chips 1oz almonds

My pull ups are back!

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you all got to enjoy some time with your loved ones tonight or this weekend. It was another crazy busy weekend! Friday I left my house at 5:30AM got home around 8:45PM, showered and ate in 25min then was out the door to see a movie with Jer. Finally came home around 11:45 and CRASHED. My head hit the pillow and I was OUT! Oh and we both recommend going to see “Just Go With It”, it was hysterical! Saturday I decided to take an extra rest day and catch up on some sleep. With working 48 hours last week, working out, and observing ramp up, I was exhausted. I managed to get almost 10 hours of sleep Friday night and it was fantastic. Saturday obviously flew by and ended it with a great V-day dinner with my parents and Jeremy. Mom and I prepared some bacon wrapped dates, steaks, roasted sweet potatoes, asparagus, and paleo chocolate espresso cake. It was absolutely delish and was great to spend time with the p’s! Then we attempted to go bowling, but it was way too crowded, and ended up just meeting Steph, Colleen, K-tuck and Dave at Firewood. I was glad some of my other friends (Mal and Joe) were able to stop by too since I haven’t seen them in forever! But was also disappointed Pete and Ivy decided to be lazy and stay in! L Next time! Sunday we had a birthday celebration with Jer’s family at Nick’s Pizza and Pub. That was hard since they ordered a bunch of pizza, but I ordered a burger instead and avoided all the pizza! I took 2 sips of Jer’s birthday shake thing they brought out which was amazing and so hard to resist not taking more. So the weekend came and went and the only thing keeping me afloat this week is the thought that I have a 3 day weekend coming up! Oh and the Blackhawk’s game! :)

Food for the day:

Breakfast: 3 eggs and 5oz of chicken

Lunch: ~2.5 cups shrimp stir fry, mainly veggies and like 4 shrimp. And 2oz almonds

Dinner: taco salad. 2.5 cups salad about 4oz ground beef 1/4 avocado and 3 TBS salsa

Dessert: piece of paleo chocolate cake and 1/2 a strawberry

Strength: hang power snatch 3-3-3-1-1-1 20kg-25kg-30kg-35kg-38kg-40kg (PR)
WOD: 21-18-15-12 KB swings (24/16) pull ups

I scaled the workout to do RXd swings but C. reps for pull ups 10-8-6-4. I've been working my way back with the pull ups and today they finally just clicked! The first round I was about to get the first 5 unbroken! It was such a relief! And after that I was getting 2 or 3 in a row! So excited. I called time at 5:25, so I was pretty happy with that, could have even done more pull ups had I known they were going to rock today! :)

Why CrossFit?

So there must be a lot of stalkers out in the Facebook world because I’ve gotten so many people asking me “what is this CrossFit thing you do?” It’s OK, stalk away. I’m pleased to share my journey with everyone and encourage everyone to try anything at least once. I’m damn proud of what I’ve accomplished since I started CF back in June and will gladly answer any questions. I’m also proud to say that I’ve gotten a handful of people to join CF because of my success and how awesome it is. Not that I’m bragging or anything! :) So anyway, because I’ve received so many questions about CrossFit I’m going to share with you what I think the Pros and Cons are of CF and why it’s better than anything I’ve ever done before…

Pros

(Not in any sort of order)

1. Different every day – there are so many movements in CF, that no workout will be the same two days in a row. Some WODs (Workout of the Day) include moving a lot of weight, some are just bodyweight movements, some are long, some are short, the rep scheme is always different, some are for time, and some are for total reps. YOU NEVER GET BORED!

2. Scaleable – No matter what age, physical shape you’re in or no physical shape, male or female, injured or healthy, EVERY workout is scaleable so you get a workout that fits you. Depending on the workout you can scale the reps, the weight, sub a movement, rowing for running, do leg workouts if your upper body is injured, etc. It’s infinitely scaleable to meet your capabilities.

3. It’s FUN – working out…fun?! HELL YES it is. Because it’s varied everyday it never gets boring. You don’t have to force yourself to go, like you do when you realize you have to run on the treadmill for an hour. And the people you work out with are fun too. I look forward to going to the gym every day and I never said that before!

4. Trainers/Coaches – you always have a coach around to help you improve your technique, scale a WOD, ask a question, encourage you, push you a little harder than you would push yourself. My coaches have pushed me further than I thought imaginable and have helped me achieve so many goals in the last 8 months. They care about YOU!

5. Community – the people you work out with on a day-to-day basis become your friends. You share with each other your personal life with family, work, relationships, school, etc. They push you to achieve your goals and they are some of the most supportive people in your life.

6. Socialize – you make friends with the people you work out with and end up hanging out outside the gym. You plan weekend adventures, have dinner parties, play sports, go on trips, try new restaurants, etc.

7. Competitive – not only is CF competitive with the people around you, but it is with yourself. Working out with people pushes you harder to stay up with them and push yourself to new limits. You want to get a new PR (Personal Record) every time you walk in the door. And maybe one day you’ll be lucky and get on the record board. I personally try to focus on setting my own PR’s and pushing myself a little harder every time I’m in the gym. And if I happen to make a record board, that’s a bonus, but not everything.

8. Motivational – you look forward to working out every day, to see what’s in store and how much ‘fitter’ you’ve become. That’s motivation in itself, but if you lose that, there’s plenty of people who care about you and check up and get you back in the gym.

9. You get results – Holy cow, a workout that works?! Because CF is constantly varied and work every part of your body and lift heavy stuff mixed with short cardio intervals…YOU GET RESULTS!! I haven’t been in this good of shape, well, ever! I’ve lost 15lbs and 3 dress sizes since I started and I’m constantly seeing strength gains, you can’t beat that!

10. You lift heavy shit – when do you get to lift so much heavy shit and work on Olympic lifting? Never! Unless you’re training for the Olympics or do CrossFit. No more lifting 5 lb dumbbells to see no progress, start snatching 40kg (88 lbs) overhead!

11. Traveling CF – you can go to other gyms across the world and WOD it up with different people that share the same passion.

12. Movements translate to everyday life – all the movements preformed in CF translate to everyday life. Squat – you pick something up. Clean & Jerks – picking something heavy up and putting it on a shelf. Sit ups- getting out of bed in the morning. Etc. You’ll find that you are more efficient at every day activities when doing CF.

13. You do what you couldn't dream of - you learn to push yourself past the suck and harder than you ever imagined. When you're finished with a WOD you realize you ran over a mile on top of wall balls, box jumps and more. The first day you walk in seeing all these shirtless muscular people working out and you think to yourself "I'll never be able to do that". Then months later you find new people walking in and seeing you with your shirt off (I'm not quite there yet, soon though, ha!) doing the stuff you never thought was possible! It's an awesome feeling!

14. You're entire family can do it - LITERALLY! My whole family CrossFits. My mom and dad come to the Fort with me and my brother and sister-in-law do it out in Virginia. And there are even CrossFit Kids classes, so you're kids can do it too. I see a lot of the kids at the Fort imitating their parents, it's a good example to look up to! :)

15. Gain Self - Confidence - this may be one of the most important ones to me. I've always had a low self esteem and was very down about my weight. But ever since joining CF, my confidence is soooooo much higher. Yes, I have my days where I'm down, but don't we all? I have made so many gains physically and mentally, that I'm unstoppable! Bring it on!

Cons

1. Cost - When you first take a look at the cost you'll think "OMG! I can't afford that!" But if you make your health a priority instead of putting it on the back burner, YOU CAN! If you compare a single personal training session for an hour at a globo gym, let's guess $80/hour to the $150/month unlimited classes, it's a no brainer. You can't really compare them. It comes to about $15/hr per training session. Now THAT's a steal!

2. Class times - Some gyms don't have classes at ideal times for some people. You may have to get up a little earlier or go a little later, but make it happen. If you and a bunch of people at the gym would like another class time, ask the trainers and see if they're willing to add it.

3. It's competitive - yes, I said this was a pro, but it's also a con. Sometimes you or the people around you get too competitive and lose focus of the point of CF. Just always remind yourself that you're in this to better your health and fitness abilities. Strive to be the best you!

So obviously my Pros outweigh the cons by a landslide. And this is clearly my personal opinion, but I have a good feeling that many fellow CFers feel the same way. And I'm sure I've missed some points, so those of you that do CF add them to the comments! Everyone remember that you can do anything if you push yourself and believe to achieve! CF is an amazing community and I'm proud to say I'm a member. I hope everyone who reads this will take something away from it. Thank you to my bro/sis-in-law for introducing me to CF, thank you to my coaches Bill and Jennie, and thank you to my fellow CrossForters for being such an amazing addition to my life! :)

We don't want another Louis...

Good news....I remembered my food today!! So no crying in the parking lot! haha. I realized how pathetic that was, but it really was the straw that broke the camel's back from everything else that weekend. Anywho, I'm in a much better mood today. I woke up today with a fresh start. Granted I was super exhausted from my 15+ hour day yesterday, but gotta do what you gotta do! And thanks to the kind comments from some people, I really appreciated your support and honesty!

Food for the day: Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs and 4 sausage links and 3oz mixed nuts and dried fruit Lunch: ~13oz chili (ground beef, stew meat, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and a bunch of spices) Dinner: 6oz of stew (stew meat, carrots, celery, onions) and 4oz mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)

WOD: 5 rounds of: 2:30 AMRAP of: 5 hang squat cleans (60/40) 10 burpees 2:30 rest 2+8/2+6/2+5/2+6/2+6 Since I decided to take this week a little easier, I decided to go with 35kg for the WOD. Not only that, but squat cleans are what caused "Louis". Since I went lighter than I could have done, I decided to go completely unbroken and try to go at a faster pace. My goal was to get over 2 rounds every time, so I'm very pleased with my results. In the end I was glad I didn't go RXd on the weight, just as a precaution. I could have done it, but it definitely would have been a lot harder and less rounds. Hopefully in a few months I'll be over this mental block of 'Louis' and be able to go heavy on squat cleans!

Again, I'm happy to be working out in the later class and work out with some of the girls I haven't seen in awhile. And plus it gives me some extra practice on my coaching skills! K-Tuck you did awesome with the WOD! I'm proud of you for going heavy on those squat cleans!

No more sissy pants!

Holy emotional breakdown, Batman! I haven’t blogged in a few days because I’ve pretty much been a mess and I hate feeling this way. There will be a string of days every once in awhile where I’m super down. And the last few days have definitely been that time. I wish I could use the “it’s my week” excuse, but it’s not, I’m just down. It started Saturday when I had to take pictures for the Better Body Challenge. I was ok doing them at the Fort, but then I came home and took some in my bikini and just started crying. How could I start crying and be upset with the way I look after how far I’ve already come?! I don’t know. But I’m not pleased with myself. And this, this reaction and stress that I get, is part of the reason I can’t get rid of that bit around my stomach. I stress too much, but I don’t know how to change it. That’s how I’ve been. I freak out.

Then Saturday night we went out for CFF’s 3^rd anniversary to Fogo De Chao, a Brazilian Steakhouse, in the City. And it was absolutely delish. I of course ate too much and split a piece of 5 layer chocolate mousse cake with Jeremy. I figured, eh whatever, the BBC starts on Monday this will be my last big cheat. And I also sometimes get the mentality that if they can eat like that why can’t I? I mean we’ve got K-Tuck who weighs 110 lbs soaking wet and ate all that…and then there’s me. (It's ok K-Tuck, I'm just slightly jealous!) I just can’t do that and not be punished for it by gaining weight. So I’m just gonna have to get over it and eat they way my body can handle it. And even after the last BBC, I don’t know what my body can handle because I didn’t lose any weight the second half of the challenge. Yes, I know I’m gaining a bunch of muscle by lifting all the heavy shit I do, but damn I should be losing some lbs here and there too!

Then yesterday, I was all crabby and emotional and every little thing upset me. What the heck is my deal?! Someone slap me back to reality and get me over this hump! I beg of you! Then to top it off, this morning I jumped on the scale before work to see what my starting weight would be for the BBC and it’s 165.4. WTF?! I was down to 160 like 3 weeks ago, did Fogo really hit me that hard? Or those paleo cookies I had last week? Ugh. SO. FREAKING. DEPRESSING. And to put the icing on the cake…I forgot all my awesome paleo food for the day in my lunch bag at home. When I finally arrived at work and realized this, I just sat in the car and cried. I had a freaking break down because I forgot my lunch bag at home! I’ve hit the bottom and I can’t take it anymore. I need to get out of this rut. How am I going to do this?! I have no idea. But the BBC started today and I’m pledging to 70+ of clean eating. I don’t want to cheat, cheating doesn’t get me anywhere, it only knocks me on my ass. So I have to keep reminding myself of that. And I’m going to be completely honest with myself and everyone else on here. That’s why I’m doing this blog so I’m held accountable for my actions. So if I ever write anything down that I did wrong or wasn’t supposed to eat, yell at me, slap me, do something to make me realize how stupid that was and to get back on track. And my other goal during this challenge, which I already stated at the beginning of the year, not to stress so damn much. Otherwise this weight isn’t going anywhere. So it’s time to toughen up and stop being a sissy!

Food for the day:

Breakfast: The shittiest approx 3 eggs and 5 pieces of bacon I have ever had. cafeteria food...need I say more. BLAH
Lunch: A small crappy salad from Hilander and a 2.5oz packet of tuna. Then a couple of handfuls of overly salted crappy trail mix. yuck.
Dinner: (the good stuff!) 5 oz of pork shoulder and 5 oz mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) with 1 TBS garlic/herb butter on top.

Strength: Hang Power Snatch 3-3-3-1-1-1 Establish 1RM. 20-25-30-35-37-39

I was pretty excited to work some new strength work today. I was going into this thinking that my 1RM should be slightly less than my full snatch which is 40kg. Which I already know I could do more on my full snatch, so I just worked around those numbers. I finished with 39 kg and was pretty happy with that. I needed to squat some more and get under it, so I know I can go higher. It was great working with K-Tuck and Carrie. I'm enjoying going to the later classes and working out with some other people lately.

WOD: 3:00 row for calories 1:30 rest 2:00 thrusters (40/35) 1:30 rest 1:00 toes to bar 91 total cals/reps

Going into this WOD I wasn't really planning on going full force, I'm trying to give a lot of effort, but not absolutely kill myself every day. On the rower I really wanted to focus on my pulls and keeping a great pace and came away with 55 calories. For the thrusters I knew they were going to be really heavy and they for sure were. I got 10 unbroken in the first set then two more sets of 5 for a total of 20. This really got heavy on the upper body more than the legs, so that was the hard part for me. Finally the toes to bar, which I find easier than knees to elbows! I pulled out 16 reps. These are hard for me or anything on the bar because when it comes to kipping I just can't get the rhythm. But all in all I was happy with the performance when going about 85%-90%.

Now that I'm approaching the end of the night I'm feeling a lot better than before. I'm super tired from a really long day, but my emotions aren't as out of whack. I'm feeling a lot more relaxed and determined. So here's to 70 days of challenging myself! :)

What day is it?

Today for sure felt like Monday after having yesterday off. Well, technically we didn't have off. I'm pretty sure HS was the ONLY place open in the state! But it didn't matter because we didn't go in and I slept till 9! That's 4 more hours than I normally got, it was fantastic! I shoveled a little bit of snow, not much because my shoulder wasn't feeling it. Then went to Jer's house for his birthday and gave him his awesome gift! Then we played in the snow and went sledding. Later on we had dinner with his fam and hung out for a bit. It was nice to have a day off, but went by wayyyy too fast.

Today was actually a good day at work, I was at my desk for like an hour and a half. Which is fantastic because I'm normally sitting behind my desk for all 8 hours. Lame. I'm supposed to be getting more work since they want me working more hours, but I don't see that really happening. working 50 hours a week is really working 60 hours with having to drive 2 hours a day! :( Sooooo hopefully that doesn't actually happen with all my plans in store for the next couple months. And after it taking an hour and 45 minutes to get to work this morning, that definitely does not sound appealing.

Food for the day: Breakfast: piece of the Fritatta. Lunch: turkey burger on salad with a hard boiled egg and 2.5oz pecans and almonds. Dinner: 4.5oz pork tenderloin, 8 spears of asparagus and some roasted sweet potatoes. A pear and a couple of paleo cookies...I had the munchies today.

Strength: Floor Press 5-3-1-1-1 establish 1RM. 35-45-50-51.5PR-52.5fail. I've been struggling with this lift for the past couple months, so I wasn't really looking forward to today. My upper body strength, well, sucks! But it's ok, I make up for it with the leg lifts. So I only PR'd by 0.5kg since September, sad face. WOD: 12:00 AMRAP of: 21 KB swings (24/16) 14 burpees 7 body rows. 5 rounds plus 8 swings.

My main goal for this wod was to go unbroken for all of the movements. I was able to do this for all of the KB swings. Burpees I was too distracted by my pants falling down, so I would get 7 then have to pull them up and do the other 7. Body rows were typically unbroken except for a couple sets that were 4-3. I was aiming for 4.5 rounds, so I was really happy with finishing just over 5 rounds. I think I need to get some pants that don't fall down...

Grace!

Am I the only one thankful for all this snow? Dad and I decided it's not worth driving to Rockford tomorrow for work, so that means I get to sleep in! No 5AM wake up call for me tomorrow! :) hell yes.

We did single rep max box jumps for our 'strength' portion today. We did this back in July and I got 31 3/4 inches. I was kind of nervous about this today, since I biffed it on a box jump the other day and have an awesome lump on my shin. However, I was determined to beat my old SRM. I ended the day with a new SRM at 33 3/4 inches! I'm pretty happy with that!

Today was another day I was looking forward to at the Fort. I've been anxiously awaiting "Grace" to show up on the whiteboard for weeks. For those of you who don't know, CrossFit has a bunch of named WODs that we use as baselines to see how we progress over time. There are female named WODs and Hero WODs, all are a great test of your abilities. "Grace" is 30 clean and Jerks (60kg/40kg). Last time we did this back in September, I used 35kg and finished in 4:09. Tonight I went with the prescribed weight of 40kg and finished in 4:00! I increased the weight AND decreased my time by 9 seconds!!!! I was determined to beat the 4:00 mark, and just made it. This one really killed my right shoulder, which is was caused my time to slow down. I was able to bust out the first 10 reps in the first minute, but slowed down from there. Overall, I'm VERY pleased with my performance tonight. I really need to work on my mobility and strengthening my shoulder.

Food: Breakfast: 3 eggs and about 1.5 cups of veggies/onions/sausage and a couple dried mango slices. Lunch: 5.5 oz turkey burger on a salad with a hard boiled egg. Dinner: 3 pieces of Fritatta which had peppers, onions, garlic, spinach, chicken, and eggs. It was delish! and a pear.

So excited for rest day tomorrow, from work AND working out! :) YAY SLEEP!