It's been a full and fun day, but I can say with total certainty that I have achieved my goal of getting in the best shape of my life. The 5 pounds 5 weeks challenge was a total success and I am excited to greet my 30s super fit and raring to go.
Today I had a physical and a body comp test to see where I stand, and to see if the results were worth the training. Don't have the results from blood work yet, but every other stat came back great:
Weight at home (AM weight, nekkid): 150
Weight at Dr's Office (fully clothed, no shoes, hydrated): 154
Weight at Bod Pod Clinic (underwear and sports bra, after lunch, hydrated): 152
Blood Pressure: 108/56
Resting Heart Rate: 46 Beats per Minute
Body Fat: 12.1% (Last August, training for triathlons, it was tested at 14.9%)
More details on the Bod Pod Body Composition Testing tomorrow. Right now I have a great book to finish!
Edit:
Got results of bloodwork back. Everything looks great. Cholesterol is at 110, which is apparently quite low but in a good way, and my LDL-HDL levels are great. Urinalysis, CBC, Kidney functions, thyroid, etc. etc. are all described to me as excellent. I have asked my doc to send me a copy of the results. When I get them I'll have D (best friend/nurse) walk me through my labwork so I understand what everything is.
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Countdown to 30: 3 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
5/02: 150.0
Great day today. Lots of great family time celebrating Nick's awesome quarterly review (these are days to be a rock star at work, and Nick is pulling out all the stops) and I even picked up a few new books too!
At the gym, I came back from yesterday (took it as rest - was feeling a bit run down) feeling ready to go, but I gotta say today's Crossfit WOD was intimidating.
The WOD was Hansen, a new Hero WOD named after Marine Staff Sgt. Daniel Hansen, who was killed in Afghanistan while serving as an EOD Technician. These Hero WODs suck, in all possible ways: they are a reminder that one of the (usually young men) of our community has died, and because of that they are super challenging both physically and mentally. Hero WODs are generally made of hard motions with heavy weight for lots of reps and lots of sets, and this on was no exception. When everything in the workout sucks, when your hands break open and bleed (as mine did on this one) and when you think you cannot actually do anything more, you go do it anyway, because in a tiny tiny way you are honoring the memory of a fellow Crossfitter. RIP Sgt. Hansen.
As Rx:
5 Rounds for time
2 pood Kettlebell swing, 30 reps
30 Burpees
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
As performed:
45# Dumbbell swing, 30 reps (1.5 pood, or 54#, is the woman's rx weight)
30 Burpees (did the push-up but the jump towards the end was a bit weak)
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
37:06 (I think - my stopwatch/phone is downstairs...will edit if I am misremembering. My goal was sub 30. Not even freaking close.)
This was tough. At the end of Round 3 I could not believe I still had 2 more rounds to go. At the end of the Round 4's swings I realized I had blistered then torn the skin off the bottom joint of each pinkie finger. I did the rest of the workout without using my pinkie fingers, which was a strange feeling on the burpees, and caused me to change my grip on the final set of swings.
After the workout was over, one of the trainers at the gym, who I know and who is a totally nice, cool girl, told me people were worried about my swings. She basically said they were a liability cause if I ever slipped, and someone got hurt, it was 45#, it could be a huge problem....which I get. I think the real issue is that I was set up next to the GHD station, and that's across from where people do their stretching and stability stuff, and I think I musta freaked somebody out. I got the impression that if I did the swings somewhere more...isolated...it wouldn't be a problem.
To be frank, I did look a little freaky doing the swings. My hair was all greasy and flying everywhere, my shoulders were all striated and tendony, my pants were rolled up and my bruised-to-hell shins were on display and I had my music way up so I'm sure I was grunting and breathing really loud in a very uncouth way. Plus, you know occasionally I would yell at myself: "c'mon!" or "5 more! let's go!" or - when I discovered my pinkies were out of commision - "oh, fuck!" I probably would have freaked me out if I had seem me. I can hardly be offended that the poor 65 year old's who were also there were a little nervous. Anyway, I apologized. I don't want to freak anyone out. :(
For all the Globo Gym horror stories out there from Crossfiters, my gym has been super cool. Two of the training staff have their level 1 cert, and one of them - the oft mentioned Kevin - runs his clients thru Crossfit type workouts almost every day. The trainer who talked to me about the swings was totally nice about it and seemed apologetic for having to mention it. In general, it's what you would expect from an independent place. There are a lot of regulars and the staff and regulars form a big, occasionally messy pseudo family. Sometimes there's drama. For the most part I've been able to stay out of it, and I intend to keep it that way. If that means subbing ab-mat sit-ups for GHDs and doing my workout in an empty racquetball court, I'll do it.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
5/02: 150.0
Great day today. Lots of great family time celebrating Nick's awesome quarterly review (these are days to be a rock star at work, and Nick is pulling out all the stops) and I even picked up a few new books too!
At the gym, I came back from yesterday (took it as rest - was feeling a bit run down) feeling ready to go, but I gotta say today's Crossfit WOD was intimidating.
The WOD was Hansen, a new Hero WOD named after Marine Staff Sgt. Daniel Hansen, who was killed in Afghanistan while serving as an EOD Technician. These Hero WODs suck, in all possible ways: they are a reminder that one of the (usually young men) of our community has died, and because of that they are super challenging both physically and mentally. Hero WODs are generally made of hard motions with heavy weight for lots of reps and lots of sets, and this on was no exception. When everything in the workout sucks, when your hands break open and bleed (as mine did on this one) and when you think you cannot actually do anything more, you go do it anyway, because in a tiny tiny way you are honoring the memory of a fellow Crossfitter. RIP Sgt. Hansen.
As Rx:
5 Rounds for time
2 pood Kettlebell swing, 30 reps
30 Burpees
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
As performed:
45# Dumbbell swing, 30 reps (1.5 pood, or 54#, is the woman's rx weight)
30 Burpees (did the push-up but the jump towards the end was a bit weak)
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
37:06 (I think - my stopwatch/phone is downstairs...will edit if I am misremembering. My goal was sub 30. Not even freaking close.)
This was tough. At the end of Round 3 I could not believe I still had 2 more rounds to go. At the end of the Round 4's swings I realized I had blistered then torn the skin off the bottom joint of each pinkie finger. I did the rest of the workout without using my pinkie fingers, which was a strange feeling on the burpees, and caused me to change my grip on the final set of swings.
After the workout was over, one of the trainers at the gym, who I know and who is a totally nice, cool girl, told me people were worried about my swings. She basically said they were a liability cause if I ever slipped, and someone got hurt, it was 45#, it could be a huge problem....which I get. I think the real issue is that I was set up next to the GHD station, and that's across from where people do their stretching and stability stuff, and I think I musta freaked somebody out. I got the impression that if I did the swings somewhere more...isolated...it wouldn't be a problem.
To be frank, I did look a little freaky doing the swings. My hair was all greasy and flying everywhere, my shoulders were all striated and tendony, my pants were rolled up and my bruised-to-hell shins were on display and I had my music way up so I'm sure I was grunting and breathing really loud in a very uncouth way. Plus, you know occasionally I would yell at myself: "c'mon!" or "5 more! let's go!" or - when I discovered my pinkies were out of commision - "oh, fuck!" I probably would have freaked me out if I had seem me. I can hardly be offended that the poor 65 year old's who were also there were a little nervous. Anyway, I apologized. I don't want to freak anyone out. :(
For all the Globo Gym horror stories out there from Crossfiters, my gym has been super cool. Two of the training staff have their level 1 cert, and one of them - the oft mentioned Kevin - runs his clients thru Crossfit type workouts almost every day. The trainer who talked to me about the swings was totally nice about it and seemed apologetic for having to mention it. In general, it's what you would expect from an independent place. There are a lot of regulars and the staff and regulars form a big, occasionally messy pseudo family. Sometimes there's drama. For the most part I've been able to stay out of it, and I intend to keep it that way. If that means subbing ab-mat sit-ups for GHDs and doing my workout in an empty racquetball court, I'll do it.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Countdown to 30: 4 Days to Go (I did it!!!!)
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
149.6! 149.6!?! Where the fu@k did that come from? I'm at my goal! Now, my 4-day moving average is still 151.8, so I won't consdier the goal officially met until that is at 150, but if I stay at or under 150 for just a few more days, I'm there! I will have met my goal. Honestly, even if I bump up a tiny bit from here, I have to say I am amazed and super proud of myself. I really didn't think I was going to drop lower than 151 without cutting back on food (which I am just not willing to do). Yeah!!!!
In other good (if totally superficial and shallow) news, the super hot, tall, lean, yoda-hard-body manager at Lululemon complemented my arms when I went into buy a new sport bra and asked what I did. So I got to evangelize Crossfit a bit and gt a really nice complement. In the past four-and-a-half weeks I've seen some real improvement in the definition in my arms so that acknowledgment felt great.
That's it - no training or diet journaling. Just a totally superficial post to celebrate hitting my goal!
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
149.6! 149.6!?! Where the fu@k did that come from? I'm at my goal! Now, my 4-day moving average is still 151.8, so I won't consdier the goal officially met until that is at 150, but if I stay at or under 150 for just a few more days, I'm there! I will have met my goal. Honestly, even if I bump up a tiny bit from here, I have to say I am amazed and super proud of myself. I really didn't think I was going to drop lower than 151 without cutting back on food (which I am just not willing to do). Yeah!!!!
In other good (if totally superficial and shallow) news, the super hot, tall, lean, yoda-hard-body manager at Lululemon complemented my arms when I went into buy a new sport bra and asked what I did. So I got to evangelize Crossfit a bit and gt a really nice complement. In the past four-and-a-half weeks I've seen some real improvement in the definition in my arms so that acknowledgment felt great.
That's it - no training or diet journaling. Just a totally superficial post to celebrate hitting my goal!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Countdown to 30: 5 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
Wed was supposed to be a rest day, but I woke up to 153.6 on the scale, and just felt a bit derailed. Now, I know enough about trends, moving averages and the like to not freak out about a jump like this, but it was still a bit discouraging. So I did what any reasonable fitness freak would do: I called the only person I know more fitness focused than I am for a pep talk.
Hesper did not disappoint, and after a short chat with her I felt much better about my uptick. She also confirmed what I was thinking: for the psychology of it, and to help with hydration, little light cardio would do me good. So, even though it was my rest day, I dropped into a spin class at the gym.
Now on Monday, we had a sub, and that wasn't the best experience (she was nuts). My regular spin instructor was still out of town, so I was a bit hesitant about class Wednesday, but I knew we would have a different instructor, and I figured I could always just do my own thing on the bike if need be.
As it turned out, the Wednesday sub did a hell of a great job. He was motivating, had great music, and led us through a sprint and hill based workout that really wore my ass out. Took the rest of Wednesday off from training but definitely felt like I made the right decision about doing a little something. Thanks again for the advice, Hesper!
Today I was pleased to see I was back down to 151.2...that's a bit lower than my steady hold in the 151's from before my uptick, so I feel like I'm still on-track-ish, but I remain unconvinced that 150 is reachable in the next 5 days. We'll see.
This morning was super amazing spring weather: sunny, 60s, clear skys. Seattle had an uncharacteristically ugly, cold and protracted winter. So to finally see some sunshine is a really great thing. I did the only sensible thing and headed to Greenlake for a run. I figured I would do a fartlek work and just go at the speed and pace that felt good. That turned into some pretty focused Pose form work as I concentrated on pulling through and keeping my lower leg relaxed.
I definitely overused my calves -- they are so sore right now! -- but I am also really pleased with the feeling I was getting on my last two stretches of form work. I really could feel a pull from the hip flexor/core and it make a huge difference to the comfort and speed of the recovery portion of my stride. It always feels great when you get how something should feel, even if you aren't at the point where you can duplicate that accuracy over and over yet. There was also just a joy in running--I stayed off the hard surface path and ran through dirt, wood chips, grass, and a whole field that was practically white with mini daisies. Pretty hard not to smile when you are running through flowers.
This afternoon I had a WOD scheduled with Alison, who apparently is tired of waiting around for me to get her Crossfit on. She got together with another friend to do Micheal - 3 rounds for time of 800 meter sprints, 50 back extensions & 50 sit-ups - AN HOUR before she and I got together to do Elizabeth - 21, 15, 9: Cleans and Ring Dips. I heard this was her plan and texted her: "maybe you and I should just do a cardio WOD." She writes back: "Oh they use different muscles; I'll be fine." OMG, Alison has become a total firebreather. I am so happy!
So Elizabeth it was, and here's how it went down:
As rx:
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips
Modified (Erica):
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 90 pounds (Started with 6 or so full cleans, then switched to hang power cleans when the going got really tough. Sort o feel like I wussed out in that way. I'll do some full clean skill work and hit it hard next time.)
Jumping bar dips
8:06ish
Modified (Alison):
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 40 pounds (Hang Power Cleans)
Bench dips
6:58ish
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
Wed was supposed to be a rest day, but I woke up to 153.6 on the scale, and just felt a bit derailed. Now, I know enough about trends, moving averages and the like to not freak out about a jump like this, but it was still a bit discouraging. So I did what any reasonable fitness freak would do: I called the only person I know more fitness focused than I am for a pep talk.
Hesper did not disappoint, and after a short chat with her I felt much better about my uptick. She also confirmed what I was thinking: for the psychology of it, and to help with hydration, little light cardio would do me good. So, even though it was my rest day, I dropped into a spin class at the gym.
Now on Monday, we had a sub, and that wasn't the best experience (she was nuts). My regular spin instructor was still out of town, so I was a bit hesitant about class Wednesday, but I knew we would have a different instructor, and I figured I could always just do my own thing on the bike if need be.
As it turned out, the Wednesday sub did a hell of a great job. He was motivating, had great music, and led us through a sprint and hill based workout that really wore my ass out. Took the rest of Wednesday off from training but definitely felt like I made the right decision about doing a little something. Thanks again for the advice, Hesper!
Today I was pleased to see I was back down to 151.2...that's a bit lower than my steady hold in the 151's from before my uptick, so I feel like I'm still on-track-ish, but I remain unconvinced that 150 is reachable in the next 5 days. We'll see.
This morning was super amazing spring weather: sunny, 60s, clear skys. Seattle had an uncharacteristically ugly, cold and protracted winter. So to finally see some sunshine is a really great thing. I did the only sensible thing and headed to Greenlake for a run. I figured I would do a fartlek work and just go at the speed and pace that felt good. That turned into some pretty focused Pose form work as I concentrated on pulling through and keeping my lower leg relaxed.
I definitely overused my calves -- they are so sore right now! -- but I am also really pleased with the feeling I was getting on my last two stretches of form work. I really could feel a pull from the hip flexor/core and it make a huge difference to the comfort and speed of the recovery portion of my stride. It always feels great when you get how something should feel, even if you aren't at the point where you can duplicate that accuracy over and over yet. There was also just a joy in running--I stayed off the hard surface path and ran through dirt, wood chips, grass, and a whole field that was practically white with mini daisies. Pretty hard not to smile when you are running through flowers.
This afternoon I had a WOD scheduled with Alison, who apparently is tired of waiting around for me to get her Crossfit on. She got together with another friend to do Micheal - 3 rounds for time of 800 meter sprints, 50 back extensions & 50 sit-ups - AN HOUR before she and I got together to do Elizabeth - 21, 15, 9: Cleans and Ring Dips. I heard this was her plan and texted her: "maybe you and I should just do a cardio WOD." She writes back: "Oh they use different muscles; I'll be fine." OMG, Alison has become a total firebreather. I am so happy!
So Elizabeth it was, and here's how it went down:
As rx:
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips
Modified (Erica):
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 90 pounds (Started with 6 or so full cleans, then switched to hang power cleans when the going got really tough. Sort o feel like I wussed out in that way. I'll do some full clean skill work and hit it hard next time.)
Jumping bar dips
8:06ish
Modified (Alison):
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 40 pounds (Hang Power Cleans)
Bench dips
6:58ish
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Countdown to 30: 7 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
One week to go. That jump this AM isn't helping my chances of hitting 150 by 30, but I continue to push forward with clean eating and hard intense workouts. I love how I mouthed off about my extra couple hundred calories in yesterday's post, only to see a one pound increase on the scale this morning. Typical. Rarely should one miss an opportunity to keep one's mouth shut.
Today: Crossfit WOD: One rep max, shoulder press 1 - 1 - 1 - 1- 1 - 1 - 1
My Shoulder Press from the CF Total was 90, so that was my goal, but it just wasn't in the cards today.
75 - 80 - 85 (F) - 85 (F) - 80 - 80 - 80 - 85 (F) - 85 (F) - 80 - 80
I tried and tried but couldn't stick an 85, so 80 is what it was today. Could be my shoulders are a bit fatigued from the 105 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls yesterday.
Then I did some super fun (in retrospect) skill work.
5 rounds of 50 double unders. Each round for time with full recovery between rounds. Set it up this way because I wanted the met con aspect, but I wanted the skill work part too. I knew that 5 Rounds for Time straight thru would have just smoked me, so there would have been no form work by half way thru.
So as it was, I was pretty happy with my times:
Round 1: 3:30
Round 2: 2:03
Round 3: 1:51
Round 4: 1:51
Round 5: 2:03
Since double unders are really hard for me, I'm very happy with these times. I'll keep this practice up and next time the Filthy 50 comes around I'm doing it as Rx the whole way...no single under subs for me! :)
PM: I hit up the C2 rower to work on form and get a little sweaty. Kevin gave me tons of feedback and instruction last Friday, and I was excited to put his pointers into practice.
I rowed 5000 meters for time in 22:36, averaging a 2:24/500 which is not horrible, but after a few sessions I'd like to see a sub 20 on that distance. Worked hard on PULL and wore my ass out. Felt good.
With one week to go, it's time to get back on track with food (not that I've been bad, just eating more maintenance level calories than fat cutting level calories). Had a massive bowl of clams in a cherry tomato & dijon broth that absolutely blew my socks off and I went back for seconds. Rounded that out with a big bowl of strawberries. I am now super full and happy, but think it's unlikely to see the scale drop tomorrow.
4/28: 152.6
One week to go. That jump this AM isn't helping my chances of hitting 150 by 30, but I continue to push forward with clean eating and hard intense workouts. I love how I mouthed off about my extra couple hundred calories in yesterday's post, only to see a one pound increase on the scale this morning. Typical. Rarely should one miss an opportunity to keep one's mouth shut.
Today: Crossfit WOD: One rep max, shoulder press 1 - 1 - 1 - 1- 1 - 1 - 1
My Shoulder Press from the CF Total was 90, so that was my goal, but it just wasn't in the cards today.
75 - 80 - 85 (F) - 85 (F) - 80 - 80 - 80 - 85 (F) - 85 (F) - 80 - 80
I tried and tried but couldn't stick an 85, so 80 is what it was today. Could be my shoulders are a bit fatigued from the 105 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls yesterday.
Then I did some super fun (in retrospect) skill work.
5 rounds of 50 double unders. Each round for time with full recovery between rounds. Set it up this way because I wanted the met con aspect, but I wanted the skill work part too. I knew that 5 Rounds for Time straight thru would have just smoked me, so there would have been no form work by half way thru.
So as it was, I was pretty happy with my times:
Round 1: 3:30
Round 2: 2:03
Round 3: 1:51
Round 4: 1:51
Round 5: 2:03
Since double unders are really hard for me, I'm very happy with these times. I'll keep this practice up and next time the Filthy 50 comes around I'm doing it as Rx the whole way...no single under subs for me! :)
PM: I hit up the C2 rower to work on form and get a little sweaty. Kevin gave me tons of feedback and instruction last Friday, and I was excited to put his pointers into practice.
I rowed 5000 meters for time in 22:36, averaging a 2:24/500 which is not horrible, but after a few sessions I'd like to see a sub 20 on that distance. Worked hard on PULL and wore my ass out. Felt good.
With one week to go, it's time to get back on track with food (not that I've been bad, just eating more maintenance level calories than fat cutting level calories). Had a massive bowl of clams in a cherry tomato & dijon broth that absolutely blew my socks off and I went back for seconds. Rounded that out with a big bowl of strawberries. I am now super full and happy, but think it's unlikely to see the scale drop tomorrow.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Countdown to 30: 9 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
Had another great breakfast today, and had to take a pic:
That's sweet potato and apple hash with ginger, curry & almonds. Also had some green beans, just cause I like green beans.
Rest day and lots of food yesterday did me good, and I feel really great today. Just got back from the gym, where I did a series of workouts that took the better part of two hours. I'm confident I will sleep well tonight.
Started with some snatch practice with an empty bar, then did a variation of the Crossfit Mainsite WOD:
Here's the rx workout:
21/15/9 reps for time of:
95# Snatch
Pull-ups
I'm not about to go doing 21 snatches in a row when I'm not really sure I know how to do them properly. So until more technique practice can be done, I did this:
21/15/9 reps for time of:
65# Overhead Squat
Pull-ups
Took 7:15, which was a good 15 seconds more than I would have liked. Intensity wasn't where it should have been, and I lost some time figuring out how to rack jerk the bar up on the OHS.
Then I did some bench work with Nick. I was really happy not to have lost strength in the bench since my strength building phase. I went for 5 x 5 at 95, 100, 105, 110, and 115. 115 is my previous bench PR but I'm not totally confident I got the full 5-reps in when I last pressed 115. So this might be a new 5-rep max. I've never done a 1-rep on bench, but I'd like to try one day.
Then Nick went for a long walk and I thought I might as well do something with the hour of childcare I had left, so I rested a bit and devised my own WOD, which I am calling the Terrible Ten.
Terrible Ten:
Ten rounds for time. Do 10 reps the first round, 9 reps the second, 8 reps the third and so on, decrementing 1 rep per round until 1 rep the 10th round.
135# Squat
18" Box Jump
45# Swing
Chin-ups
27.5# Alternating Renegade Row with Push-up
55# Weighted Lunge (a 27.5# DB per arm, held at sides)
Burpees
Ab-mat Sit-Ups
27.5# Alternating Single Arm Snatch (I originally tried with the 45# DB but almost dropped it on my head so I wimped out on weight)
100# Deadlift
No joke, this took me--are you ready?--50:12. To be fair I dicked around with my phone's timer for 10-20 seconds at the end, trying to stop the closk, so most likely I was actually sub-50, but just barely. It was just really hard. The squats on rounds 3 and 4, when I was doing 8 and 7 reps, were brutal. I really felt the OHS I had done earlier. Once I got down to the 4-rep range things were easier all around, but I was just so fatigued, there was only so fast I could move. I'll put it this way: this was sucky enough that Burpees felt like a break.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
Had another great breakfast today, and had to take a pic:
That's sweet potato and apple hash with ginger, curry & almonds. Also had some green beans, just cause I like green beans.
Rest day and lots of food yesterday did me good, and I feel really great today. Just got back from the gym, where I did a series of workouts that took the better part of two hours. I'm confident I will sleep well tonight.
Started with some snatch practice with an empty bar, then did a variation of the Crossfit Mainsite WOD:
Here's the rx workout:
21/15/9 reps for time of:
95# Snatch
Pull-ups
I'm not about to go doing 21 snatches in a row when I'm not really sure I know how to do them properly. So until more technique practice can be done, I did this:
21/15/9 reps for time of:
65# Overhead Squat
Pull-ups
Took 7:15, which was a good 15 seconds more than I would have liked. Intensity wasn't where it should have been, and I lost some time figuring out how to rack jerk the bar up on the OHS.
Then I did some bench work with Nick. I was really happy not to have lost strength in the bench since my strength building phase. I went for 5 x 5 at 95, 100, 105, 110, and 115. 115 is my previous bench PR but I'm not totally confident I got the full 5-reps in when I last pressed 115. So this might be a new 5-rep max. I've never done a 1-rep on bench, but I'd like to try one day.
Then Nick went for a long walk and I thought I might as well do something with the hour of childcare I had left, so I rested a bit and devised my own WOD, which I am calling the Terrible Ten.
Terrible Ten:
Ten rounds for time. Do 10 reps the first round, 9 reps the second, 8 reps the third and so on, decrementing 1 rep per round until 1 rep the 10th round.
135# Squat
18" Box Jump
45# Swing
Chin-ups
27.5# Alternating Renegade Row with Push-up
55# Weighted Lunge (a 27.5# DB per arm, held at sides)
Burpees
Ab-mat Sit-Ups
27.5# Alternating Single Arm Snatch (I originally tried with the 45# DB but almost dropped it on my head so I wimped out on weight)
100# Deadlift
No joke, this took me--are you ready?--50:12. To be fair I dicked around with my phone's timer for 10-20 seconds at the end, trying to stop the closk, so most likely I was actually sub-50, but just barely. It was just really hard. The squats on rounds 3 and 4, when I was doing 8 and 7 reps, were brutal. I really felt the OHS I had done earlier. Once I got down to the 4-rep range things were easier all around, but I was just so fatigued, there was only so fast I could move. I'll put it this way: this was sucky enough that Burpees felt like a break.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Countdown to 30: 10 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
10 days to go. Taking stock, I can look back on the past 25 days and honestly say I've given it all I could so far. My diet has been really clean and healthy, I've been accountable with my portion sizes (I've been ranging between 1700-2300 calories most days, with an average of probably 1900 or 1950, depending on how much I worked out.) My exercise has been intense and effective, and more days than not I've doubled up with an AM & PM workout.
I feel and see results, too. I am definitely in the best shape of my life. I have way more energy, a more stable mood, and my sleep is much improved. My strength has remained steady or continued to go up, and though it's hard to judge my metabolic conditioning without a stable benchmark workout, I definitely perceive an improvement in my interval and intense crossfit workout times. My skill base in pose running, kip pull-ups and (hopefully, as of Kevin's lesson yesterday) c2 rowing has improved too.
Physically, I notice the greatest change in my arm and abdominal definition. I have more distinct cuts in my upper arms. My shoulder, bicep and triceps are standing out more than they ever have, and my abdominals look pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. I see less noticeable change in my lower body (where I tend to carry my extra weight), but my pants fit a bit more comfortably. These things are great.
Losing a percent or two of body fat has led to some unexpected physical changes too. I'm getting a bit vein-y, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I made peace with my forearm veinage when I started to increase my pull-up load a year ago, but now for the first time I am starting to see the veins in my biceps and lower abs. This is, I will admit, a bit creepy.
Of course, this brings up the question as to why I find the vein thing creepy....the circulatory system responds to the stress of increased physical activity like every other system: by getting stronger. Trained athletes develop a blood supply system that allows their muscles to work longer and harder under increased loads. The natural result of training, therefore, is increased veinage. At a lower body fat percentage one can't expect just the "pretty" parts of training--the muscles--to pop. The support system is going pop too.
So then, again, why are visible veins a bit creepy? I think the answer for me is two-part. First, I have always been terrified of shots & needles, and it's hard for me to see a big ol' vein without thinking of phlebotomy. Even typing this, I am squirming in my seat with discomfort at the idea of blood draws.
Secondly, a lot of visible veins represent strength, and are therefore masculine. And, as a girl, I want to look strong, lean and ripped, but I don't want to look masculine. So there's that: good old fashioned sexist social conditioning about what defines "feminine" and therefore attractiveness.
So what to do? Other than the veins, I'm thrilled with how I feel and look as a consequence of my increased training and super clean diet. I'm not going to stop training. After the 5 pound 5 week challenge is over I will increase caloric consumption to something in the maintenance range instead of the weight loss range, and with this my body may bounce back to it's happy place of 155. If not, well, I guess I'll just have to embrace my veins and the strength they represent.
But I'm still not going to dwell on the idea of blood draws.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
10 days to go. Taking stock, I can look back on the past 25 days and honestly say I've given it all I could so far. My diet has been really clean and healthy, I've been accountable with my portion sizes (I've been ranging between 1700-2300 calories most days, with an average of probably 1900 or 1950, depending on how much I worked out.) My exercise has been intense and effective, and more days than not I've doubled up with an AM & PM workout.
I feel and see results, too. I am definitely in the best shape of my life. I have way more energy, a more stable mood, and my sleep is much improved. My strength has remained steady or continued to go up, and though it's hard to judge my metabolic conditioning without a stable benchmark workout, I definitely perceive an improvement in my interval and intense crossfit workout times. My skill base in pose running, kip pull-ups and (hopefully, as of Kevin's lesson yesterday) c2 rowing has improved too.
Physically, I notice the greatest change in my arm and abdominal definition. I have more distinct cuts in my upper arms. My shoulder, bicep and triceps are standing out more than they ever have, and my abdominals look pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. I see less noticeable change in my lower body (where I tend to carry my extra weight), but my pants fit a bit more comfortably. These things are great.
Losing a percent or two of body fat has led to some unexpected physical changes too. I'm getting a bit vein-y, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I made peace with my forearm veinage when I started to increase my pull-up load a year ago, but now for the first time I am starting to see the veins in my biceps and lower abs. This is, I will admit, a bit creepy.
Of course, this brings up the question as to why I find the vein thing creepy....the circulatory system responds to the stress of increased physical activity like every other system: by getting stronger. Trained athletes develop a blood supply system that allows their muscles to work longer and harder under increased loads. The natural result of training, therefore, is increased veinage. At a lower body fat percentage one can't expect just the "pretty" parts of training--the muscles--to pop. The support system is going pop too.
So then, again, why are visible veins a bit creepy? I think the answer for me is two-part. First, I have always been terrified of shots & needles, and it's hard for me to see a big ol' vein without thinking of phlebotomy. Even typing this, I am squirming in my seat with discomfort at the idea of blood draws.
Secondly, a lot of visible veins represent strength, and are therefore masculine. And, as a girl, I want to look strong, lean and ripped, but I don't want to look masculine. So there's that: good old fashioned sexist social conditioning about what defines "feminine" and therefore attractiveness.
So what to do? Other than the veins, I'm thrilled with how I feel and look as a consequence of my increased training and super clean diet. I'm not going to stop training. After the 5 pound 5 week challenge is over I will increase caloric consumption to something in the maintenance range instead of the weight loss range, and with this my body may bounce back to it's happy place of 155. If not, well, I guess I'll just have to embrace my veins and the strength they represent.
But I'm still not going to dwell on the idea of blood draws.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Countdown to 30: 11 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
Doubled up on longer metcons today.
AM was a modification of Michael. Here's the WOD as rx:
Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups
I want to know who the hell pissed off coach with some comment about not getting enough back work...the past three days have included: maximal effort deadlifts, 50 back extensions + 50 swings + 50 wall ball, 150 back extensions. My low back is feeling it. Anyway, Michael was the WOD, but for various logistical and gym-layout reasons, combining running with back extensions sorta sucks at my gym. Either I'm fighting my way downstairs to get outside, or I'm fighting my way to the cardio room to run a lame 1/2 mile on a treadmill. Either way there's a few minutes of transit time, so I rearanged a few things in the upstairs weight room and did this instead:
Three rounds for time of:
Row 1000 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 GHD Sit-ups (cause, you know, why not?)
This took me 30:19. I figure really fresh and not all worn out I should be able to could cut 4 or 5 minutes out of it. All in all, it was a pretty disappointing time but I still gave all I had, given the state of my low back and general fatigue. By the end of the last set of GHDs sweat was dripping down my arms and my head felt like it was going to explode. I sat in a corner for several minutes just to let the pounding in my head go down before I could work my way home.
Have to give thanks to Monique, a new Crossfit Level 1 cert'd instructor who started at the gym a few months ago. At round two she threw some serious encouragement my way and got me through the back extensions and GHDs one 5-rep partition at a time. It was really nice to have her support because in some ways that second set was the worst....the pain was just as bad as it was on the final set, but without the knowledge that it would be over soon. Thanks Monique!
Then I went and did work-ish stuff that is in no way related to fitness for several hours (serving at a teacher and staff appreciation barbeque at Bella's school-pretty easy and fun!). After that was over, I brought Bella home, ate an enormous early dinner and took a quick 15 minute power nap to gear up for a PM Crossfit with Kevin Workout.
Kevin devised a really cool workout based on body weight. It's not like anything I've seen before, but it sure made me happy I have lost a few pounds. For purposes of the workout, I assumed I was 152 pounds.
One Round For Time:
Jump Rope: 2 x body weight reps (304 reps)
KB Swing 1 x body weight reps (152 reps)
Row 3 x body weight meters (456 meters)
Lunges 1/2 x body weight per leg (76 lunges per leg)
Total Time: 16:17
After wrapping this up, Kevin layed the fitness wisdom on me with regards to my row, which was apparently all jacked up. He showed me a WAY more effecient technique, and helped me correct some of the flaws in my row. I think with practice this should really cut down my rowing time... I just wish I had known what to do right this morning before I rowed 3000 meters wrong! Thanks Kevin! (Man, it's been the day of the gym trainers really helping me out, hasn't it!)
I've crammed 5 workouts in the past 3 days, and I'm done. Tomorrow it's gardening and reading and playing with my kiddo.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
Doubled up on longer metcons today.
AM was a modification of Michael. Here's the WOD as rx:
Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups
I want to know who the hell pissed off coach with some comment about not getting enough back work...the past three days have included: maximal effort deadlifts, 50 back extensions + 50 swings + 50 wall ball, 150 back extensions. My low back is feeling it. Anyway, Michael was the WOD, but for various logistical and gym-layout reasons, combining running with back extensions sorta sucks at my gym. Either I'm fighting my way downstairs to get outside, or I'm fighting my way to the cardio room to run a lame 1/2 mile on a treadmill. Either way there's a few minutes of transit time, so I rearanged a few things in the upstairs weight room and did this instead:
Three rounds for time of:
Row 1000 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 GHD Sit-ups (cause, you know, why not?)
This took me 30:19. I figure really fresh and not all worn out I should be able to could cut 4 or 5 minutes out of it. All in all, it was a pretty disappointing time but I still gave all I had, given the state of my low back and general fatigue. By the end of the last set of GHDs sweat was dripping down my arms and my head felt like it was going to explode. I sat in a corner for several minutes just to let the pounding in my head go down before I could work my way home.
Have to give thanks to Monique, a new Crossfit Level 1 cert'd instructor who started at the gym a few months ago. At round two she threw some serious encouragement my way and got me through the back extensions and GHDs one 5-rep partition at a time. It was really nice to have her support because in some ways that second set was the worst....the pain was just as bad as it was on the final set, but without the knowledge that it would be over soon. Thanks Monique!
Then I went and did work-ish stuff that is in no way related to fitness for several hours (serving at a teacher and staff appreciation barbeque at Bella's school-pretty easy and fun!). After that was over, I brought Bella home, ate an enormous early dinner and took a quick 15 minute power nap to gear up for a PM Crossfit with Kevin Workout.
Kevin devised a really cool workout based on body weight. It's not like anything I've seen before, but it sure made me happy I have lost a few pounds. For purposes of the workout, I assumed I was 152 pounds.
One Round For Time:
Jump Rope: 2 x body weight reps (304 reps)
KB Swing 1 x body weight reps (152 reps)
Row 3 x body weight meters (456 meters)
Lunges 1/2 x body weight per leg (76 lunges per leg)
Total Time: 16:17
After wrapping this up, Kevin layed the fitness wisdom on me with regards to my row, which was apparently all jacked up. He showed me a WAY more effecient technique, and helped me correct some of the flaws in my row. I think with practice this should really cut down my rowing time... I just wish I had known what to do right this morning before I rowed 3000 meters wrong! Thanks Kevin! (Man, it's been the day of the gym trainers really helping me out, hasn't it!)
I've crammed 5 workouts in the past 3 days, and I'm done. Tomorrow it's gardening and reading and playing with my kiddo.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Countdown to 30: 16 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
Yup, holding steady. At this point I have to acknowledge that if my body just stays at 152, then I really can't argue with it. I'm eating well, eating an appropriate amount, training hard and am not willing to lose muscle just to hit a number on a scale. That said, I've still got two weeks to go, so I'm just going to stick to my rhythm here and see where it takes me.
AM Workout was a 60 minute spin class. I enjoy this class very much. The instructor is great. I was somewhat irritated my the chatty kathy's in the back row who talked all through a 15 minute progressive hill. Um, ladies? If you can talk that much, you are not working hard enough. I am usually able to tune out a lot of distraction when I'm working out but today I was a bit more distractable. Still, great class.
PM Workout just kind of didn't happen for me. It was 3 x 5 back squats, so looking at a heavy squat. I thought 185 was totally within reach. 195 was by 1-rep max on the CF Total, so 10 pounds down from that seemed reasonable for a 3-rep max. What can I say, I just didn't have it.
I worked up to 175 without too much problem, loaded up to 185 and failed on rep 2. Tried again, failed. Took the weight back to 175, did 2 more sets at 175. Moved up to 180 for my final set. Failed (loudly!) on rep 3. Kevin front squatted the weight back up for me and made it look like he was setting a baguette on the counter (he is totally, freakishly strong). Reset and failed again, this time on rep 2. Called it a day.
Looking back, 165 is my highest 5-rep thus far on squats, so I don't know why I'm so disappointed with 175 for 3. I just didn't feel strong today. It was like yesterday with the deadlifts: something was just off. The bar didn't feel exactly right, my set-up didn't feel easy. Kevin said I was too far over, that I need to stay more upright. I'm sure he's right...like I said, it just felt a touch off.
So, to do penance for my failed squat set, I took Bella to the track with every intention of running 4 .25-mile intervals: forward, backward, forward, backward. I did a warm up lap with Bella (who is, by the way, one hell of a good runner) then she played while I set off to do my workout.
As I came around the final straightaway and toward the bend that designated lap 2, I saw Bella grab my water bottle and take off down the track. I'm not sure she knew I was almost already back to the starting spot, because when I caught up to her and asked her what she was doing she said, "I was bringing you your water bottle." like she was going to race after me and catch me to hand me my bottle. Such as sweetheart!
I decided right then and there that I had done quite enough working out. I had no energy to finish my sets, I didn't want to be running anyway, and I just felt done. So I took my super cool kid home for dinner and bedtime. :)
Sorry cyberspace, this might be a bit delicate for you, but I'm thinking my monthly cycle might have something to do with my feeling a bit awkward on the heavy lifting the past two days and having really no motivation to push through the malaise today. I started my period today and though I am not normally too affected by my cycle I haven't really tracked how it might affect my athletic performance. Any girls out there notice that they have less motivation/pep/strength for their workouts when they start their periods?
In any event, it's probably a sign that an easy day is in order, which is convenient because tomorrow is my 8 year anniversary and I don't plan on logging a lot of gym time!
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
Yup, holding steady. At this point I have to acknowledge that if my body just stays at 152, then I really can't argue with it. I'm eating well, eating an appropriate amount, training hard and am not willing to lose muscle just to hit a number on a scale. That said, I've still got two weeks to go, so I'm just going to stick to my rhythm here and see where it takes me.
AM Workout was a 60 minute spin class. I enjoy this class very much. The instructor is great. I was somewhat irritated my the chatty kathy's in the back row who talked all through a 15 minute progressive hill. Um, ladies? If you can talk that much, you are not working hard enough. I am usually able to tune out a lot of distraction when I'm working out but today I was a bit more distractable. Still, great class.
PM Workout just kind of didn't happen for me. It was 3 x 5 back squats, so looking at a heavy squat. I thought 185 was totally within reach. 195 was by 1-rep max on the CF Total, so 10 pounds down from that seemed reasonable for a 3-rep max. What can I say, I just didn't have it.
I worked up to 175 without too much problem, loaded up to 185 and failed on rep 2. Tried again, failed. Took the weight back to 175, did 2 more sets at 175. Moved up to 180 for my final set. Failed (loudly!) on rep 3. Kevin front squatted the weight back up for me and made it look like he was setting a baguette on the counter (he is totally, freakishly strong). Reset and failed again, this time on rep 2. Called it a day.
Looking back, 165 is my highest 5-rep thus far on squats, so I don't know why I'm so disappointed with 175 for 3. I just didn't feel strong today. It was like yesterday with the deadlifts: something was just off. The bar didn't feel exactly right, my set-up didn't feel easy. Kevin said I was too far over, that I need to stay more upright. I'm sure he's right...like I said, it just felt a touch off.
So, to do penance for my failed squat set, I took Bella to the track with every intention of running 4 .25-mile intervals: forward, backward, forward, backward. I did a warm up lap with Bella (who is, by the way, one hell of a good runner) then she played while I set off to do my workout.
As I came around the final straightaway and toward the bend that designated lap 2, I saw Bella grab my water bottle and take off down the track. I'm not sure she knew I was almost already back to the starting spot, because when I caught up to her and asked her what she was doing she said, "I was bringing you your water bottle." like she was going to race after me and catch me to hand me my bottle. Such as sweetheart!
I decided right then and there that I had done quite enough working out. I had no energy to finish my sets, I didn't want to be running anyway, and I just felt done. So I took my super cool kid home for dinner and bedtime. :)
Sorry cyberspace, this might be a bit delicate for you, but I'm thinking my monthly cycle might have something to do with my feeling a bit awkward on the heavy lifting the past two days and having really no motivation to push through the malaise today. I started my period today and though I am not normally too affected by my cycle I haven't really tracked how it might affect my athletic performance. Any girls out there notice that they have less motivation/pep/strength for their workouts when they start their periods?
In any event, it's probably a sign that an easy day is in order, which is convenient because tomorrow is my 8 year anniversary and I don't plan on logging a lot of gym time!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Countdown to 30: 17 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
Well, 152 pounds is quite the comfortable spot for my body, eh?
Started with some bench work and deadlifts. Nick was kind enough to come into the gym with me on his day off (thank's sweetie!), so we did some heavy lifting together. Having him there made it a lot nicer to work on bench press, and I went to failure though I wasn't at my PR weight.
Warmed up, then went for a 5 x 5 at 105#. On the first set I did 6 reps instead of 5, so it bcame 5 x 6. I got my first 4 sets in, and got 4 of 6 reps on my 5th (last) set, but failed on those last two reps.
Nick worked at similar weight, working into my set and getting a feel for form. Nick's more a cardio guy, so throwing weights around is a bit foreign to him, and I don't think he's bench pressed since some sadist of a high school gym teacher made him back in the day, but he did an awesome job and made some really substantial form improvements even over the sets we did together.
Then it was on to deadlifting cause, well, I haven't pulled heavy since the Crossfit Total. I didn't feel 100% on with my deadlifts today. The back room with the lifting cage where I normally do my squats, deadlifts, etc. was occupied so we were in the front weight room (the dumbbell room, as opposed to the barbell room). We had a bar jacked up on 25# plates to get it up to the right height, and I just didn't feel like I had the focus I needed to really nail in my pull.
Nick and I warmed up, then settled in for a 5 x 5 at 145#. I did my first 3 sets at 145#, then moved to 165# for the fourth set and 175# for the fifth set. On the fifth set, I lifted clean 4 times, then had to regrip for the 5th pull. That's what I mean about focus. It just wasn't completely on keeping everything locked in with great form and a clean, efficient pull. Still, now that I think about it 175# for 5 is about where I was when I left of my strength building phase, so maybe that's not so bad after all.
After a brief rest, Nick took off to be the zen master of the slow twitch and went for a long, outside, uphill walk. I set up for a little action with Angie. Don't get all dirty, "Angie" is today's Crossfit Mainsite WOD. And she's kind of a bitch.
For time:
100 Pull-ups
100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats
16:03, partitioned into 10 rounds of 10 for each activity. Now real badass types will tell you that partitioning totally destroys the point of this workout. As prescribed, you complete 100 reps of pull-ups before moving on to 100 push-ups, and so on and so forth. But you know what? Bella was in childcare so I could workout, and childcare was only open for another 45 minutes. I highly doubt I could have completed Angie as prescribed in less than 45 minutes, so I did what I had to do to get the work done.
Even broken up into sets of 10, this was brutal, and the push-ups were by far the worst. Coming after bench-to-failure, my push-ups were pretty weak. No full depth. Not even close. I even kicked my feet about a 18" apart towards the end to get some relief. It was wimp central. But, for what it was, I got it done, and in just a hair over 16 minutes.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
Well, 152 pounds is quite the comfortable spot for my body, eh?
Started with some bench work and deadlifts. Nick was kind enough to come into the gym with me on his day off (thank's sweetie!), so we did some heavy lifting together. Having him there made it a lot nicer to work on bench press, and I went to failure though I wasn't at my PR weight.
Warmed up, then went for a 5 x 5 at 105#. On the first set I did 6 reps instead of 5, so it bcame 5 x 6. I got my first 4 sets in, and got 4 of 6 reps on my 5th (last) set, but failed on those last two reps.
Nick worked at similar weight, working into my set and getting a feel for form. Nick's more a cardio guy, so throwing weights around is a bit foreign to him, and I don't think he's bench pressed since some sadist of a high school gym teacher made him back in the day, but he did an awesome job and made some really substantial form improvements even over the sets we did together.
Then it was on to deadlifting cause, well, I haven't pulled heavy since the Crossfit Total. I didn't feel 100% on with my deadlifts today. The back room with the lifting cage where I normally do my squats, deadlifts, etc. was occupied so we were in the front weight room (the dumbbell room, as opposed to the barbell room). We had a bar jacked up on 25# plates to get it up to the right height, and I just didn't feel like I had the focus I needed to really nail in my pull.
Nick and I warmed up, then settled in for a 5 x 5 at 145#. I did my first 3 sets at 145#, then moved to 165# for the fourth set and 175# for the fifth set. On the fifth set, I lifted clean 4 times, then had to regrip for the 5th pull. That's what I mean about focus. It just wasn't completely on keeping everything locked in with great form and a clean, efficient pull. Still, now that I think about it 175# for 5 is about where I was when I left of my strength building phase, so maybe that's not so bad after all.
After a brief rest, Nick took off to be the zen master of the slow twitch and went for a long, outside, uphill walk. I set up for a little action with Angie. Don't get all dirty, "Angie" is today's Crossfit Mainsite WOD. And she's kind of a bitch.
For time:
100 Pull-ups
100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats
16:03, partitioned into 10 rounds of 10 for each activity. Now real badass types will tell you that partitioning totally destroys the point of this workout. As prescribed, you complete 100 reps of pull-ups before moving on to 100 push-ups, and so on and so forth. But you know what? Bella was in childcare so I could workout, and childcare was only open for another 45 minutes. I highly doubt I could have completed Angie as prescribed in less than 45 minutes, so I did what I had to do to get the work done.
Even broken up into sets of 10, this was brutal, and the push-ups were by far the worst. Coming after bench-to-failure, my push-ups were pretty weak. No full depth. Not even close. I even kicked my feet about a 18" apart towards the end to get some relief. It was wimp central. But, for what it was, I got it done, and in just a hair over 16 minutes.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Countdown to 30: 19 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
My weight loss progress is slowing, but there is still progress. Slow and steady, and since I'm feeling so damn good recently, there additional motivation beyond the "goal" to keep me focused.
This morning, I did some skill work on hang power cleans after I got some form advice from Awesome Beard and Burpees for Breakfast. Kevin (crossfit coach/badass) walked in to the weight room while I was practicing, so I got his opinion and as usual his advice was invaluable. Basically, it's not a squat clean, so unless I really want to make it harder, 1/4 squat catch position is as deep as it needs to be. Pull needs to be BAM! with elbows coming up to ears and a wide elbow. Then, I need fast elbows around and under the bar. It's a moderate skill--not as easy as a squat but not a snatch either--and I'm thrilled to have the right coaching to help me learn it right.
After skill work (mostly sets of five, worked up to 95#) I took a break for other life stuff, then did the Crossfit Endurance 1 minute ladder WOD:
1 min on, 1 min off, 1 min on, 50 sec off, 1 min on, 40 sec off, 1 min on, 30 sec off, 1 min on 20 sec off, 1 min on, 10 sec off, then go back up the ladder until you finish with 1 min on, 50 sec off, 1 min on.
I started off at 7.3 and finished the last minute strong at 8.0. 1% grade the whole time, felt great.
PM Workout was Crossfit with Kevin...he had up do a Tabata workout with 4 stations....20 seconds on: 10 seconds off for 8 rounds. The stations were Rowing machine (count meters), Double Under Jump Rope (count complete double unders), Sumo Deadlift High Pull @ 65# (count reps) and single leg squats (count reps).
My score looked like this:
Single Leg Squat: 16 (L), 11 (R), 12 (L), 10 (R), 13 (L), 11 (R), 13 (L), 13 (R)
Row: 121, 209, 311, 401, 560, 592, 686, 782
Double Unders: 8, 1, 0 (did 25 single-unders while trying to find a rhythm), 3, 3, 3, 3, 5
Sumo Deadlift High Pull: (Why did I end on these?!) 11, 8, 5, 7, 6, 6, 6, 8
Total Score (if I did my math right) of 964. Smoked me like a hand-rolled cuban, yo.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
My weight loss progress is slowing, but there is still progress. Slow and steady, and since I'm feeling so damn good recently, there additional motivation beyond the "goal" to keep me focused.
This morning, I did some skill work on hang power cleans after I got some form advice from Awesome Beard and Burpees for Breakfast. Kevin (crossfit coach/badass) walked in to the weight room while I was practicing, so I got his opinion and as usual his advice was invaluable. Basically, it's not a squat clean, so unless I really want to make it harder, 1/4 squat catch position is as deep as it needs to be. Pull needs to be BAM! with elbows coming up to ears and a wide elbow. Then, I need fast elbows around and under the bar. It's a moderate skill--not as easy as a squat but not a snatch either--and I'm thrilled to have the right coaching to help me learn it right.
After skill work (mostly sets of five, worked up to 95#) I took a break for other life stuff, then did the Crossfit Endurance 1 minute ladder WOD:
1 min on, 1 min off, 1 min on, 50 sec off, 1 min on, 40 sec off, 1 min on, 30 sec off, 1 min on 20 sec off, 1 min on, 10 sec off, then go back up the ladder until you finish with 1 min on, 50 sec off, 1 min on.
I started off at 7.3 and finished the last minute strong at 8.0. 1% grade the whole time, felt great.
PM Workout was Crossfit with Kevin...he had up do a Tabata workout with 4 stations....20 seconds on: 10 seconds off for 8 rounds. The stations were Rowing machine (count meters), Double Under Jump Rope (count complete double unders), Sumo Deadlift High Pull @ 65# (count reps) and single leg squats (count reps).
My score looked like this:
Single Leg Squat: 16 (L), 11 (R), 12 (L), 10 (R), 13 (L), 11 (R), 13 (L), 13 (R)
Row: 121, 209, 311, 401, 560, 592, 686, 782
Double Unders: 8, 1, 0 (did 25 single-unders while trying to find a rhythm), 3, 3, 3, 3, 5
Sumo Deadlift High Pull: (Why did I end on these?!) 11, 8, 5, 7, 6, 6, 6, 8
Total Score (if I did my math right) of 964. Smoked me like a hand-rolled cuban, yo.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Countdown to 30: 20 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
Moving average on weight has been dead flat for several days. At this point I can only continue to eat clean, train hard and see what happens. Honestly, I'm not willing to drop my caloric intake below about 1800 with the way I'm training (I'm not giving up muscle if I can possibly help it), so I'll just have to see what consistency does for me over the next 20 days.
Spent the AM with K-Lo, but we didn't work out at all! We barely even talked about fitness, actually. Shocking! It was nice to hang out and see her.
So, did an afternoon Hero WOD, "Danny" named after a California SWAT team member who was killed in the line of duty. The guy Officer Danny and was going in to get when he was killed was (allegedly) a scumbag who has already been imprisioned for assault with a deadly weapon, jumped parole, killed another few cops earlier that day, and was wanted for the rape of a 12 year old. So as one would expect, the workout in Officer Danny's honor was a brutal ass-kicker.
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
115 pound Push Press, 20 reps
30 Pull-ups
Alison did this one with me and we both scaled like nobodies buisness (because 20, 115-pound push-jerks might be possible for me over the course of a day, but push-presses? Not yet!)
Alison got 4 rounds + 13 box jumps. She scaled to 12" on the box jumps, 30# on the push presses for her 1st round and 20# thereafter, and subbed 55# and 45# lat pull-downs for pull-ups. Nice work!
I was 3 rounds + 30 box jumps, 20 presses and 6 pull-ups. 24 pull-ups shy of four rounds. I scaled to an 18" box, and still managed to bash the shit out of my shin when I jumped into instead of onto the box on round one, rep 6 of box jumps. Completeing the rest of the jumps was a bit tingly and awkward after that. Used 60# for the presses, and broke the pull-ups into 10 sets of 3 for each round, but did them all unassisited.
My blood blister from the 120 pull-ups/120 dips workout had popped the night before and I used nail glue to tack the skin back together. Saddly, the nail glue did not hold out against the rotational stress of the push-press and pull-ups and long about round 2 the tender baby skin under the blister was being dealt the full force of the motions. Between the bashed up shin and the ripped off blister, this workout was painful in a non-muscular or cardiovascular way.
I'm not trying to winger: it's a fu@king Hero WOD, so I tried to toughen up and push through. Did what I could. RIP, Officer Danny.
After that, Alison and I talked about going straight into the Crossfit Endurance cardio WOD (1 minute ladder) and opted to go get ice cream instead. Yeah, that's right, ice cream! So we both had a child's scoop of the dairy free, fat free strawberry sorbet (140 calories for 4 oz) and it was both delicious and non-diet-breaking. Bella, who had also sustained injury that day (scraped knee and nose - recess can be brutal) was the motivation behind our medicinal ice cream break. She opted for mint chocolate chip in a sugar cone.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
Moving average on weight has been dead flat for several days. At this point I can only continue to eat clean, train hard and see what happens. Honestly, I'm not willing to drop my caloric intake below about 1800 with the way I'm training (I'm not giving up muscle if I can possibly help it), so I'll just have to see what consistency does for me over the next 20 days.
Spent the AM with K-Lo, but we didn't work out at all! We barely even talked about fitness, actually. Shocking! It was nice to hang out and see her.
So, did an afternoon Hero WOD, "Danny" named after a California SWAT team member who was killed in the line of duty. The guy Officer Danny and was going in to get when he was killed was (allegedly) a scumbag who has already been imprisioned for assault with a deadly weapon, jumped parole, killed another few cops earlier that day, and was wanted for the rape of a 12 year old. So as one would expect, the workout in Officer Danny's honor was a brutal ass-kicker.
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
115 pound Push Press, 20 reps
30 Pull-ups
Alison did this one with me and we both scaled like nobodies buisness (because 20, 115-pound push-jerks might be possible for me over the course of a day, but push-presses? Not yet!)
Alison got 4 rounds + 13 box jumps. She scaled to 12" on the box jumps, 30# on the push presses for her 1st round and 20# thereafter, and subbed 55# and 45# lat pull-downs for pull-ups. Nice work!
I was 3 rounds + 30 box jumps, 20 presses and 6 pull-ups. 24 pull-ups shy of four rounds. I scaled to an 18" box, and still managed to bash the shit out of my shin when I jumped into instead of onto the box on round one, rep 6 of box jumps. Completeing the rest of the jumps was a bit tingly and awkward after that. Used 60# for the presses, and broke the pull-ups into 10 sets of 3 for each round, but did them all unassisited.
My blood blister from the 120 pull-ups/120 dips workout had popped the night before and I used nail glue to tack the skin back together. Saddly, the nail glue did not hold out against the rotational stress of the push-press and pull-ups and long about round 2 the tender baby skin under the blister was being dealt the full force of the motions. Between the bashed up shin and the ripped off blister, this workout was painful in a non-muscular or cardiovascular way.
I'm not trying to winger: it's a fu@king Hero WOD, so I tried to toughen up and push through. Did what I could. RIP, Officer Danny.
After that, Alison and I talked about going straight into the Crossfit Endurance cardio WOD (1 minute ladder) and opted to go get ice cream instead. Yeah, that's right, ice cream! So we both had a child's scoop of the dairy free, fat free strawberry sorbet (140 calories for 4 oz) and it was both delicious and non-diet-breaking. Bella, who had also sustained injury that day (scraped knee and nose - recess can be brutal) was the motivation behind our medicinal ice cream break. She opted for mint chocolate chip in a sugar cone.
Feeling Good vs. Looking Good
So the last two weeks have been - let's be frank - a vanity exercise with a nice training bonus attached. Basically, I have embarked to lose five pounds before my 30th birthday just because I want to know if I can start my 30s in the best shape of my life. With most things fitness related my overdeveloped stubbornness (horoscope: taurus) gets me to my goal. I'm pretty good at delayed gratification and all that.
So I was expecting a cleaner, stricter diet and more training to be doable to get me to a goal, but not actually...well...fun (no wine? less coffee? really, am I sure about this?). And yet I have been struck by an undeniable feeling of, well, feeling good for the past week or so. I wasn't expecting this, but I really think the clean consistent diet, the short, intense workouts and the adequate sleep have just put me in a good mood. I'm less stressed, more calm, more patient, generally just happier.
Now I'm not normally a Polyanna type. More like Polyanna's asurbic older sister who wears a lot of black and makes sarcastic comments and drinks 6 cups of coffee a day. But focusing on the diet-exercise-sleep trifecta has me waking up without the alarm, at hours that are normally unthinkably early for me, getting out of bed cheerfully (or staying in bed to blog until Bella wakes up) and answering the question, "how's it going?" with a genuine: "really great, thanks!"
So while I took this 5 pounds, 5 week Challenge on as a short term goal and anticipated a payoff of looking good (or maybe more accurately, feeling good about how I look) I am finding the day to day feeling good bonus is too compelling to ignore. Even after by birthday I think the clean living program may have to continue. I will modify a bit, of course: I will probably stop monitoring caloric intake, do slightly less training, indulge in the occational glass of wine. But for now, this feels like a pretty great way to feel. All the time.
So I was expecting a cleaner, stricter diet and more training to be doable to get me to a goal, but not actually...well...fun (no wine? less coffee? really, am I sure about this?). And yet I have been struck by an undeniable feeling of, well, feeling good for the past week or so. I wasn't expecting this, but I really think the clean consistent diet, the short, intense workouts and the adequate sleep have just put me in a good mood. I'm less stressed, more calm, more patient, generally just happier.
Now I'm not normally a Polyanna type. More like Polyanna's asurbic older sister who wears a lot of black and makes sarcastic comments and drinks 6 cups of coffee a day. But focusing on the diet-exercise-sleep trifecta has me waking up without the alarm, at hours that are normally unthinkably early for me, getting out of bed cheerfully (or staying in bed to blog until Bella wakes up) and answering the question, "how's it going?" with a genuine: "really great, thanks!"
So while I took this 5 pounds, 5 week Challenge on as a short term goal and anticipated a payoff of looking good (or maybe more accurately, feeling good about how I look) I am finding the day to day feeling good bonus is too compelling to ignore. Even after by birthday I think the clean living program may have to continue. I will modify a bit, of course: I will probably stop monitoring caloric intake, do slightly less training, indulge in the occational glass of wine. But for now, this feels like a pretty great way to feel. All the time.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Countdown to 30: 23 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
AM Workout: Spin Class...focused on hills. Great class, as usual.
PM Workout: Kept it pretty mellow - I'm showing my friend Alison the Crossfit Ropes and she's just starting out so we did a "Filthy 50" style workout, but scaled in reps & actions. She did great!
18 Box Jumps
18 Push-ups
36 Walking Lunges (18 Left-Right pairs)
18 Sit-Ups
18 Supermans (some guy at the gym jumped onto the back extension station 14 seconds before we were going to talk it, so we modified on the fly)
18 Air Squats
18 Burpees
I came in around 6:30, not particularly pushing it, but still feeling that I'm at the end of a 4-day training cycle. Alison did great, pushing through the suck of those final burpees and came in at 7:16.
I also have to comment on the delish dinner I had tonight. I really wanted....you know...a big dinner. I wanted that sit-down-get-full feeling that you just don't get when eating small meals 6 times a day. But I'm not about to blow my training or goals on crap food, so I put together a fantastic but really clean meal that worked on all levels: clean, yummy, healthy, super easy, family friendly....and did I mention yummy?
We started with a mixed greens salad with strawberries, avocado and red onion and dressed it with a super light apple cider vinaigrette sweetened with dark agave. Nick skipped the avo and added Danish Blue to his salad, which would be excellent as well. Even Bella got in on the salad action, enjoying everything but the vegetables. She basically had a bowl of blue cheese, avocado and strawberries.
Then we had baked herbed Copper River Coho. The salmon was previously frozen and not rich and wonderfully fatty like a king or sockeye, but it was very moist and mild, with good texture and a great price point. I served that with salt-roasted green beans & brown rice and shoved myself away from the table wonderfully full and happy.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
AM Workout: Spin Class...focused on hills. Great class, as usual.
PM Workout: Kept it pretty mellow - I'm showing my friend Alison the Crossfit Ropes and she's just starting out so we did a "Filthy 50" style workout, but scaled in reps & actions. She did great!
18 Box Jumps
18 Push-ups
36 Walking Lunges (18 Left-Right pairs)
18 Sit-Ups
18 Supermans (some guy at the gym jumped onto the back extension station 14 seconds before we were going to talk it, so we modified on the fly)
18 Air Squats
18 Burpees
I came in around 6:30, not particularly pushing it, but still feeling that I'm at the end of a 4-day training cycle. Alison did great, pushing through the suck of those final burpees and came in at 7:16.
I also have to comment on the delish dinner I had tonight. I really wanted....you know...a big dinner. I wanted that sit-down-get-full feeling that you just don't get when eating small meals 6 times a day. But I'm not about to blow my training or goals on crap food, so I put together a fantastic but really clean meal that worked on all levels: clean, yummy, healthy, super easy, family friendly....and did I mention yummy?
We started with a mixed greens salad with strawberries, avocado and red onion and dressed it with a super light apple cider vinaigrette sweetened with dark agave. Nick skipped the avo and added Danish Blue to his salad, which would be excellent as well. Even Bella got in on the salad action, enjoying everything but the vegetables. She basically had a bowl of blue cheese, avocado and strawberries.
Then we had baked herbed Copper River Coho. The salmon was previously frozen and not rich and wonderfully fatty like a king or sockeye, but it was very moist and mild, with good texture and a great price point. I served that with salt-roasted green beans & brown rice and shoved myself away from the table wonderfully full and happy.
Moving Average and Weight Loss (Where Geekness and Fitness Come Together!)
I glanced back at my past several post and realized I mention the phrase "moving average" in almost all of them. So what the heck am I talking about? When you are monitoring your weight, there will be day to day fluctuations. Depending on your hydration levels, changes over the course of the month (ladies, I think we all know what I'm talking about here) sodium intake and the -ahem- progress of food through your system, it's easy to fluctuate 3, 5 or more pounds over the course of a day, or from day to day.
K-Lo, who is on the 5 Pound 5 Week Challenge with me, lost 5 pounds in 3 hours one morning. She had a particularly salty meal the previous night, woke up bloated and retaining water, and as her body rebalanced her hydration levels, normalized to a more accurate weight.
Obviously, eating clean and working out consistently and seeing a 3 pound weight gain on the scale can be really discouraging, which is why a lot of weight loss programs advocate only weighing yourself weekly.
But I think the ritual of the morning (or evening or whenever, as long as you are consistent) weigh-in helps to focus one's attention and set a tone of healthy weight management for that day. And, as someone who has been quite overweight, I prefer to catch upward trends sooner and nip them in the bud with small behavior changes, rather than waiting three or four weeks to see a trend emerge and then having to deal with 5 or 7 pounds to lose. (Think you can't gain 5 or 7 pounds in a month? Au contraire, mon fraire. Two words: Christmas Cookies.) In any event, my morning weigh-in is like brushing my teeth: just one of those things I do everyday.
So if you are going to weigh yourself daily, how do you avoid making yourself crazy when confronted with sudden gains and losses? You factor in the moving average of your weight, which shows the trend of weight loss and damps down the day-to-day fluctuations. Investors use moving averages (simple and more complex versions) to get a better idea of the trend of stock prices without getting caught up in day-to-day market fluctuations. It's a pretty neat and very simple tool for analysis of something over time.
A simple moving average is calculated by tracking your weight over a given number of days, adding up the total pounds from that time period, then dividing the sum by the number of days. To get a four-day simple moving average of your weight, you would add together your weight over the last four days, and then divide that number by four. Perhaps some charts would make this clearer:
This is the chart of my weight since 4/1/09, when I began the 5 Pounds, 5 Weeks Challenge. Note the big uptick on 4/8 and the big downtick on 4/10. Both of these were times that could have been cause for a lot more emotionality than they really deserved. It would have been easy to feel a bit despondent on 4/8, like all my hard work was ruined and I was back up to my 4/2 weight from a week earlier. But that would have been a false interpretation of the trend, as the moving average will soon demonstrate. Likewise, while it felt good emotionally to hit 151 pounds on 4/10, I knew immediately I was looking at a false low and I would see some rebounding the next day or two. If I hadn't realized that, the 2 pound weight gain the next day could have really taken the wind out of my weight loss sails.
So here's that same data, analyzed with a four-day simple moving average. The upticks and downticks are damped out, and a much more realistic picture of my weight loss progress becomes clear. Instead of a seemingly random collection of ups and downs, a slow, gradual decrease comes into view. This is a believable picture, showing about a 3 pound weight loss over 9 days, and is far more likely to represent actual fat loss, which is of course the goal, instead of changes in my hydration.
Now here's those two charts viewed together. Which line do you think gives you a clearer feedback picture? The Moving Average, natch. You don't have to actually create an Excel spreadsheet to figure all this out and calculate your own moving average (but it's really easy and if you do you get bonus geek points!) but if you are tracking your weight, it's a good idea to at least keep the moving average idea in the back of your head before you jump to conclusions about a "ruined diet" or "breaking through a plateau." Sometimes it's enough to glance back over the past several days of your weight log: are the past few days when taken together generally lower than those same days last week? Then you are probably on track.
There's quite a few tools to help with this concept online. There's the Google 15, an awesome little moving average calculator widget that you add to your Google Homepage. Old School .xls speadsheets are available with the (free! free! free!) Hacker's Diet, the most effective and honest (and did I mention free?) weight loss book around, assuming you can handle the geek-truth contained in it's pages. And if reading this has just made you tingly to know more about statistics, Wikipedia's Moving Average page goes into far more detail than I ever will.
K-Lo, who is on the 5 Pound 5 Week Challenge with me, lost 5 pounds in 3 hours one morning. She had a particularly salty meal the previous night, woke up bloated and retaining water, and as her body rebalanced her hydration levels, normalized to a more accurate weight.
Obviously, eating clean and working out consistently and seeing a 3 pound weight gain on the scale can be really discouraging, which is why a lot of weight loss programs advocate only weighing yourself weekly.
But I think the ritual of the morning (or evening or whenever, as long as you are consistent) weigh-in helps to focus one's attention and set a tone of healthy weight management for that day. And, as someone who has been quite overweight, I prefer to catch upward trends sooner and nip them in the bud with small behavior changes, rather than waiting three or four weeks to see a trend emerge and then having to deal with 5 or 7 pounds to lose. (Think you can't gain 5 or 7 pounds in a month? Au contraire, mon fraire. Two words: Christmas Cookies.) In any event, my morning weigh-in is like brushing my teeth: just one of those things I do everyday.
So if you are going to weigh yourself daily, how do you avoid making yourself crazy when confronted with sudden gains and losses? You factor in the moving average of your weight, which shows the trend of weight loss and damps down the day-to-day fluctuations. Investors use moving averages (simple and more complex versions) to get a better idea of the trend of stock prices without getting caught up in day-to-day market fluctuations. It's a pretty neat and very simple tool for analysis of something over time.
A simple moving average is calculated by tracking your weight over a given number of days, adding up the total pounds from that time period, then dividing the sum by the number of days. To get a four-day simple moving average of your weight, you would add together your weight over the last four days, and then divide that number by four. Perhaps some charts would make this clearer:
This is the chart of my weight since 4/1/09, when I began the 5 Pounds, 5 Weeks Challenge. Note the big uptick on 4/8 and the big downtick on 4/10. Both of these were times that could have been cause for a lot more emotionality than they really deserved. It would have been easy to feel a bit despondent on 4/8, like all my hard work was ruined and I was back up to my 4/2 weight from a week earlier. But that would have been a false interpretation of the trend, as the moving average will soon demonstrate. Likewise, while it felt good emotionally to hit 151 pounds on 4/10, I knew immediately I was looking at a false low and I would see some rebounding the next day or two. If I hadn't realized that, the 2 pound weight gain the next day could have really taken the wind out of my weight loss sails.
So here's that same data, analyzed with a four-day simple moving average. The upticks and downticks are damped out, and a much more realistic picture of my weight loss progress becomes clear. Instead of a seemingly random collection of ups and downs, a slow, gradual decrease comes into view. This is a believable picture, showing about a 3 pound weight loss over 9 days, and is far more likely to represent actual fat loss, which is of course the goal, instead of changes in my hydration.
Now here's those two charts viewed together. Which line do you think gives you a clearer feedback picture? The Moving Average, natch. You don't have to actually create an Excel spreadsheet to figure all this out and calculate your own moving average (but it's really easy and if you do you get bonus geek points!) but if you are tracking your weight, it's a good idea to at least keep the moving average idea in the back of your head before you jump to conclusions about a "ruined diet" or "breaking through a plateau." Sometimes it's enough to glance back over the past several days of your weight log: are the past few days when taken together generally lower than those same days last week? Then you are probably on track.There's quite a few tools to help with this concept online. There's the Google 15, an awesome little moving average calculator widget that you add to your Google Homepage. Old School .xls speadsheets are available with the (free! free! free!) Hacker's Diet, the most effective and honest (and did I mention free?) weight loss book around, assuming you can handle the geek-truth contained in it's pages. And if reading this has just made you tingly to know more about statistics, Wikipedia's Moving Average page goes into far more detail than I ever will.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Countdown to 30: 24 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
Moving average is on my side, and despite yesterday (chocolate and port night at my house - oh my!) and tonight (Easter dinner with AWESOME roasted potatoes and leftover mass chocolate dessert) I've been sticking to pretty clean food, in not insane portions. Also have made it to the gym, so I feel pretty good about the program, even if I haven't been doubling up many days like I was my first week back on.
Today I did the mainsite WOD: 30 Muscle Ups for Time. Since I can't do a MU, I had to sub 1:4 and go with 120 pull-ups/120 dips. I sent in a pic that demonstrated how the pull-ups turned out for me....massive blood blister. I went for 20 sets of 6 pull-ups/dips and the blister showed up on set 18 so I gingerly worked through the rest hanging by my findertips and managed not to pop it, so that's good.
I felt good about the kip: until I got pretty fatigued I was holding a better form and not overarching my back. I found it helped to deliberately try to make the reps faster and take the "rest" of the back swing out of it....tightened up my kip a lot. Until about set 16, then everything was hard.
Still, I thought a 12:30-ish finish was pretty good since I haven't done volume pull-ups since the shoulder injury--almost 3 months, I'd guess. And speaking of the shoulder, it held up great!
After the mainsite I rested a few minutes and did the XFit Endurence WOD. I know I'm supposed to break them up, but sometimes there's not time for two gym sessions in one day, yo! So I did the lactate shuffle workout:
5 min run / 2.5 min recover - 7 mph
6 min run / 3 min recover - 7.1 mph
7 min run / done! - 7.1 mph
I notice the XFE stuff is really helping me push my speed up. And much like the kip, on the second round something just happened with the pose and the first several minutes it was like I was a gazelle - I felt like one of those people who looks comfortable running. Thats a very new thing for me. Didn't last past about minute 4, but I held on as long as I could, and got it back for about the first 4 minutes of round 3 too! This was a great workout. Just the right amount of ass kicking....a little leg and a lot mental.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
Moving average is on my side, and despite yesterday (chocolate and port night at my house - oh my!) and tonight (Easter dinner with AWESOME roasted potatoes and leftover mass chocolate dessert) I've been sticking to pretty clean food, in not insane portions. Also have made it to the gym, so I feel pretty good about the program, even if I haven't been doubling up many days like I was my first week back on.
Today I did the mainsite WOD: 30 Muscle Ups for Time. Since I can't do a MU, I had to sub 1:4 and go with 120 pull-ups/120 dips. I sent in a pic that demonstrated how the pull-ups turned out for me....massive blood blister. I went for 20 sets of 6 pull-ups/dips and the blister showed up on set 18 so I gingerly worked through the rest hanging by my findertips and managed not to pop it, so that's good.
I felt good about the kip: until I got pretty fatigued I was holding a better form and not overarching my back. I found it helped to deliberately try to make the reps faster and take the "rest" of the back swing out of it....tightened up my kip a lot. Until about set 16, then everything was hard.
Still, I thought a 12:30-ish finish was pretty good since I haven't done volume pull-ups since the shoulder injury--almost 3 months, I'd guess. And speaking of the shoulder, it held up great!
After the mainsite I rested a few minutes and did the XFit Endurence WOD. I know I'm supposed to break them up, but sometimes there's not time for two gym sessions in one day, yo! So I did the lactate shuffle workout:
5 min run / 2.5 min recover - 7 mph
6 min run / 3 min recover - 7.1 mph
7 min run / done! - 7.1 mph
I notice the XFE stuff is really helping me push my speed up. And much like the kip, on the second round something just happened with the pose and the first several minutes it was like I was a gazelle - I felt like one of those people who looks comfortable running. Thats a very new thing for me. Didn't last past about minute 4, but I held on as long as I could, and got it back for about the first 4 minutes of round 3 too! This was a great workout. Just the right amount of ass kicking....a little leg and a lot mental.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Countdown to 30: 26 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2 (Wow! How'd THAT happen? Local minima, methinks)
AM Workout: Crossfit Total, and I could not be happier. For those unfamiliar with the XFit Total, it is the total combined weight of your best squat, deadlift and shoulder (military) press. You can "work up" to your max-and should-but all the movements have to be completed in one (reasonable length) exercise session. No adding your best deadlift from Tuesday to your best Squat from last Saturday, in other words.
My pipe dream if-everything-goes-right-and-God-Himself-spots-me goal was a 500 pound total. I wasn't entirely sure how that was going to happen, since I've never pulled more than 185# or pushed more than 75#, and my 205# PR squat had a spot-assist and was probably not full depth anyway. But it was my goal. And you know how I am with a goal.
So, here's how it went down under (and over) the bar:
I worked up 195# on the squat, tried for 205 and failed. I think if I had backed down to 200 I would have stuck it, and probably been able to get 205 too. But as it was my too-long warm-up session was making me a bit jello-y, so I moved on to the pull.
Deadlift - Indulge me, I've worked hard to get my pull half-way respectable.
135- No problem, obviously. This is warm up weight.
185- Hard. Really hard. 50# jump to my previous PR may have been too ambitious off my warm-up weight but I lifted it.
195- Failed. Twice. Like, not even off the ground fail.
190- Backed off, stepped back, thought through my set-up. Closed my eyes. Clean lift. Wasn't even that hard, strangely.
195- Also easy. Continued to increment up 5# at a time.
200- I'm trying not to freak out too much that I'm actually able to pick this shit up. And at this point it's hard but it's not, like, freaky hard.
205- Ok, here it started to get freaky hard. My form started to degrade.
210- Put on a belt. First time ever. Form not at all pristine but successful pull.
215- Form crap but sucessful pull. Barely. That was all I had. New PR by 30 pounds, and suddenly 500# total was in sight!
Press-
Had no problem incrementing up from 65 to 85 pounds. 85 actually wasn't even totally sucky. And I knew I needed 90 on the press to make 500, but I failed twice or three times trying to execute. Texted awesome Trainer / Coach Kevin. Told him where I was in my press. He texted back: "Grip It And Rip It." It took everything I had, but I got under the bar and locked out.
Then I ran around the gym like a little girl on a candy bender cause I was so skipping pleased with myself. 500# Total! Yeah!
After some rest and food and other life stuff it was time for....
PM Workout.
This was a Friday Night Special with Kevin, and it was a paced workout...one of those where you just can't go till you puke. Instead you have to be smart about where to spend the energy and where to conserve it. 15 minutes total, rotating activity on the 5 minute mark. Go for max reps in time.
5 minutes jump-rope (count reps): 410
5 minutes wall-ball (count reps): 104 (12# ball)
5 minutes row (count meters): 1120 (level 3)
Finished off the night with a boat-load of brown rice sushi and called it a night.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2 (Wow! How'd THAT happen? Local minima, methinks)
AM Workout: Crossfit Total, and I could not be happier. For those unfamiliar with the XFit Total, it is the total combined weight of your best squat, deadlift and shoulder (military) press. You can "work up" to your max-and should-but all the movements have to be completed in one (reasonable length) exercise session. No adding your best deadlift from Tuesday to your best Squat from last Saturday, in other words.
My pipe dream if-everything-goes-right-and-God-Himself-spots-me goal was a 500 pound total. I wasn't entirely sure how that was going to happen, since I've never pulled more than 185# or pushed more than 75#, and my 205# PR squat had a spot-assist and was probably not full depth anyway. But it was my goal. And you know how I am with a goal.
So, here's how it went down under (and over) the bar:
I worked up 195# on the squat, tried for 205 and failed. I think if I had backed down to 200 I would have stuck it, and probably been able to get 205 too. But as it was my too-long warm-up session was making me a bit jello-y, so I moved on to the pull.
Deadlift - Indulge me, I've worked hard to get my pull half-way respectable.
135- No problem, obviously. This is warm up weight.
185- Hard. Really hard. 50# jump to my previous PR may have been too ambitious off my warm-up weight but I lifted it.
195- Failed. Twice. Like, not even off the ground fail.
190- Backed off, stepped back, thought through my set-up. Closed my eyes. Clean lift. Wasn't even that hard, strangely.
195- Also easy. Continued to increment up 5# at a time.
200- I'm trying not to freak out too much that I'm actually able to pick this shit up. And at this point it's hard but it's not, like, freaky hard.
205- Ok, here it started to get freaky hard. My form started to degrade.
210- Put on a belt. First time ever. Form not at all pristine but successful pull.
215- Form crap but sucessful pull. Barely. That was all I had. New PR by 30 pounds, and suddenly 500# total was in sight!
Press-
Had no problem incrementing up from 65 to 85 pounds. 85 actually wasn't even totally sucky. And I knew I needed 90 on the press to make 500, but I failed twice or three times trying to execute. Texted awesome Trainer / Coach Kevin. Told him where I was in my press. He texted back: "Grip It And Rip It." It took everything I had, but I got under the bar and locked out.
Then I ran around the gym like a little girl on a candy bender cause I was so skipping pleased with myself. 500# Total! Yeah!
After some rest and food and other life stuff it was time for....
PM Workout.
This was a Friday Night Special with Kevin, and it was a paced workout...one of those where you just can't go till you puke. Instead you have to be smart about where to spend the energy and where to conserve it. 15 minutes total, rotating activity on the 5 minute mark. Go for max reps in time.
5 minutes jump-rope (count reps): 410
5 minutes wall-ball (count reps): 104 (12# ball)
5 minutes row (count meters): 1120 (level 3)
Finished off the night with a boat-load of brown rice sushi and called it a night.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Countdown to 30: 27 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/0: 152.6
Rest Day!!!!!
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/0: 152.6
Rest Day!!!!!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Countdown to 30: 28 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
Workout: 60 minute spin class / Hills and Speed Intervals.
Bit of a rebound bump this AM...I'm not worried. I know my diet and exercise have been tight, so some fluctuation is fine...the important thing is the trend, the moving average, and that's on course.
I'm pretty wiped today, actually. It's been a hard push since my last rest day, on Saturday. Today I did Sue's awesome spin class but I could feel the need for a recovery day. So that's it for today, and I'm taking tomorrow completely off.
One of my favorite quotes about this: "Exercise is the architect of your body; sleep is the builder." Without rest you just get really tired, not strong.
So that's it for today.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
Workout: 60 minute spin class / Hills and Speed Intervals.
Bit of a rebound bump this AM...I'm not worried. I know my diet and exercise have been tight, so some fluctuation is fine...the important thing is the trend, the moving average, and that's on course.
I'm pretty wiped today, actually. It's been a hard push since my last rest day, on Saturday. Today I did Sue's awesome spin class but I could feel the need for a recovery day. So that's it for today, and I'm taking tomorrow completely off.
One of my favorite quotes about this: "Exercise is the architect of your body; sleep is the builder." Without rest you just get really tired, not strong.
So that's it for today.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Countdown to 30: 29 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
Quite a drop today...that's how it tends to go. Stable with a slow downward trend, then a full pound drop. Feels good to be on track, though.
AM Workout - Crossfit WOD:
Press (x1): 55 - 65 - 75 - 85 (f) - 80 - 80
Push-press (x3): 85 - 90 - 95 - 100 - 105 (2)
Push-jerk (x5): 95 - 100 - 105 (4) - 105 - 110 (2) - 110 (2)
Then:
Squat 5 x 95 / 5 x 145 / 5 x 165 x2 / 3 x 170 (fail on 4)
Pull-ups, 3 rounds: 11, 12, 11
PM Workout - Crossfit Football Inspired
4 Rounds for Time
15 Bench Press @ 75#
20 Pul-Ups
25 Box Jumps (bench height - 15"?)
(15:30)
Then, Crossfit Endurance:
run @ 6.3 MPH, 12% Grade
30 sec on - 20 sec off tabata / 8 rounds
I messed this up, lost track and did 7 rounds, but it still smoked me. After all this, tomorrow will be a light day.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
Quite a drop today...that's how it tends to go. Stable with a slow downward trend, then a full pound drop. Feels good to be on track, though.
AM Workout - Crossfit WOD:
Press (x1): 55 - 65 - 75 - 85 (f) - 80 - 80
Push-press (x3): 85 - 90 - 95 - 100 - 105 (2)
Push-jerk (x5): 95 - 100 - 105 (4) - 105 - 110 (2) - 110 (2)
Then:
Squat 5 x 95 / 5 x 145 / 5 x 165 x2 / 3 x 170 (fail on 4)
Pull-ups, 3 rounds: 11, 12, 11
PM Workout - Crossfit Football Inspired
4 Rounds for Time
15 Bench Press @ 75#
20 Pul-Ups
25 Box Jumps (bench height - 15"?)
(15:30)
Then, Crossfit Endurance:
run @ 6.3 MPH, 12% Grade
30 sec on - 20 sec off tabata / 8 rounds
I messed this up, lost track and did 7 rounds, but it still smoked me. After all this, tomorrow will be a light day.
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