Big Things?

Ugh.  I just...ugh.

I'm having a little bit of food fatigue, I think.  Since starting Operation: Get Strong Without Getting Fat, I've been cramming in the protein, aiming for 120-150g per day.  There have been a couple of days where I just wasn't focused and barely got in 100 or 110, but generally it's been doable.

And then yesterday.  It's peak week, and I'm geeked out about, well, peaking.  Back squats on Monday went really well - I've hit my June 30 goal over a month ahead of schedule.  I even PR'd my strict press by 2 little pounds (well, technically by a kilogram - so 2.2ish pounds - but whatever).  And I cannot WAIT to deadlift on Friday.  BUT.

That meant that yesterday, I had to set a reminder in my outlook calendar to tell me to eat at 4:30 pm.  Last Friday's 1.5-hours-from-eggs-to-Fran semi-disaster has made it clear that I need at least two solid hours between a meal and training.  And my lunch was a little light on the protein, since I had a practice group meeting and the best I could get was a salad with MAYBE four measly ounces of chicken (tasty, but so little!).  So...CHRIST.  There I was, at my desk, shoveling down eight ounces of tuna and trying to get it all in before 4:30 so I could train at 6:30.

So, it's not super glamorous.  But it's working.  And I do like eating a couple squares of chocolate before hitting the gym - that's kind of fun.  And I'm pleasantly surprised that adding in a bit more sugar, in the form of fruit a few days a week, plus all this protein and pre-training chocolate, has actually left me the tiniest bit leaner in addition to super-strong.  (Have you ever had berries with flaked coconut and a little bit of heavy cream?  And maybe some 85 or 90% dark chocolate shaved over it with a microplane zester?  CHRIST ON A CRACKER that's delicious.)

But I kind of wish I was this cat just for a minute.

I've also started logging my training at the CrossFit mainsite boards, here: Chrissey's CFCC Log

Saturday May 26: 4x750m row with 3:00 recovery.  Score is slowest interval.  3:07, 3:11, 3:13, 3:14.  A little inconsistent, but more annoyed that my last interval was also my slowest - I started out too fast (at a 1:50/500m pace) and just died somewhere in the middle.  I am getting substantially better at rowing but am still so far from being good at it.  Went rock climbing later in the day with some gym friends - and WOW.  I would be much better at that if my forearm strength was JUST a little bit better. 

Sunday May 27: Memorial Day Murph. 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 air squats, 1 mile run.  In theory, I wanted to do the entire thing - but I wanted to PR my back squat on Monday, so I did half Murph...sort of.  Amber and I both ran the first mile and then split the pull ups, push ups and squats.  Mile run was about 8 minutes - 7:17 on the gym timer, but it was a little behind.  I did 11 full rounds of Cindy (5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats) plus half of the pushups and squats for a twelfth round.  We finished everything in 28:45 - I got a little caught up in stuff and almost went out for the second mile, but reminded myself that I needed to squat heavy the next day.

Monday May 28: ...and I'm glad I reined it in with Murph.  Back squat, peak of 1.  115x3 -145x3 - 170x2 - 185x1 - 200x1 - 210x1 (PR) - 215x1 (PR, but not counting it - I JUST got to parallel).  Next goal a legit 215 and then 225?

Tuesday May 29: strict press, peak of 1.  55x3 - 65x2 - 75x1 - 80x1 - 87x1 (PR).  87 got stuck around my forehead but I forced myself to get my head through and what do you know - that shit went RIGHT up.  Maybe I have 90 in me, maybe I don't.  This is one of my weaker spots.  Metcon: 60yd shuttle run, score is fastest attempt. Rounded to the nearest second, I did 16-16-15-16-16-16.  Hard to say how consistent I am because we can't measure any more accurately than a second, which is kind of a large increment for such a short run, but I'm happy with it.  Turning around is SO AWKWARD.

Wednesday May 30: some kipping pull up practice followed by strict pronated chest-to-bar pullups for a peak of 1.  I tried out the new pullup bar - it's a little more painful on your hands, but MAN is it easier to grip.  I was easily stringing together sets of 4 or 5 kipping pullups before losing my rhythm - which is real progress for me.  Did maybe 5 or 6 sets, then onto strength.  Light + mini band - light band - light + 5lbs - light + 10lbs - mini band only - mini band + 5lbs.  I think I have a bodyweight chest-to-bar in me.

Metcon was a mini-chipper.  For time, 50 double unders, 40 american kettlebell swings (1.5/1pood), 30 burpees, 20 pull ups, 10 handstand pushups.  11:56, as RXed - WOOF.  I wasted a LOT of time on the DUs, taking my first 25 or so in really small sets and tripping over the rope a bunch, before hitting a better rhythm for the last 25.  Kettlebell swings and burpees unbroken (can you "break up" burpees?  I didn't go fast, but didn't rest at all).  Pull ups finished in 5 sets.  And then I hit the HSPUs at about 8 minutes in - my first 5 or so were REALLY tough.  It was my first time using full ROM in a metcon (one abmat with plates on either side), and I didn't realize how much harder these would be when I was fatigued.  Once I worked out my hand placement, the last 5 felt much stronger, but still - those suckers took me four minutes.  Um and also:

OH HAY PALM RIP.

Impulse Decision

all the cool kids are doing it.

Or, well, a few cool kids at the gym are doing it. And for the past couple of weeks, I've had the nagging awareness that I really need to clean things up if I want to drop a little more body fat (which I do). Problem is that I've been shutting down that nagging awareness with a bit more 85% dark chocolate than I should be eating in order to maintain - let alone continue to lose - body fat.

So, after chatting briefly with some fellow CFCC'ers on Sunday afternoon, I impulsively decided to start Whole30 on Monday. I may regret this decision in a few days (or, more likely, in about two weeks, when I won't quite be at the halfway point and the novelty of my "LOL NO MORE CHOCOLATE FOR A LITTLE WHILE" decision has worn off), but whatever. I do better with a structure in place, no matter how arbitrary.

I spent most of Sunday moving the gym from its cozy little home on 13th street to a much, MUCH bigger and swankier home on Chestnut Street.



CFCC men reassembling the pull up rig.



...about an hour after this picture was taken, and the rig fully assembled and all 1532 bolts tightened within an inch of their lives, we realized they'd put the main posts in wrong. Every single one of them had to be turned 90 degrees.



Moving is hard work.

Log:

Thursday 3/22 - yet another 6am class, so I could get my first crack at the games open WOD 12.5 7 minute AMRAP, 3/6/9....thrusters (100/65)/chest to bar pull ups. I made it all the way through the round of 9 for a total of 36 reps. While I was happy with this, since a few months ago I couldn't even do a single bodyweight pull up, let alone multiple chest-to-bar pull ups, I knew there was plenty of room for improvement since I did a whole lot of no-reps where I got high enough but didn't actually touch my chest to the bar.

Friday 3/23 - DEADLIFFIN' again. for an easy peak of 1. 135-165-195-225-255. PR, and I definitely had room for one more set, if we were going for a max and not a fast, easy peak. Metcon - easy Diane. 21-15-9 deadlifts (225/185), handstand pushups. Instructed to do 50% of our max - so since my max isn't 370, I wasn't RX'ing this one. 6:36, 135/regular pushups.

Saturday 3/24 - 12.5, attempt number 2. This time I finished the round of 9, did my 12 thrusters and got 3 pull ups into the round of 12, for a total of 51 reps. Glad I participated in the open - doing the workouts with everyone else was a lot of fun and gave me a few good chances to really challenge myself.



Sunday - moved the gym. And then gorged myself on easter candy and chicken sopa (a/k/a mexican lasagna) at my parents' house pre-Whole30. Woof.

Monday 3/26 - I was geeked out about working out in the new space, so I went even though it was an easy, short day. About 15 minutes of single-leg squat work - I am really farking close to a pistol on my dominant left leg, moreso when I add a 12kg kettlebell as a counterweight. Right leg - meh. Single leg squat to a box without much trouble on both sides. Metcon - row 1K for time - 3:59.3. Significant improvement over my prior best 1k row of 4:06. I still want to punch rowing in the face.

I WON!

(clearly we're not talking about the Hybrid Strongman competition here.)

no - for my second stint at the BCCC, I came in third place. While I'm very, very happy with my prize (which included tiger-print socks, a whole mess of Primal Pacs, and a $25 lululemon gift card), I'm much happier with THIS...

So a long time ago, I started P90X with PhillyGuy. We both loved it and saw some results, but I never really got my nutrition in check, so I didn't see the super-intense results I was hoping for. Hence, I never took "after" pictures with P90X. But...I sure did take before pictures.

That's me - in March 2010, just about two years ago. While I lost about 7 pounds, I put them all back on during the fall of 2010, so this is roughly what I looked like when I joined CFCC in late June 2011, and when I started eating paleo in July.

Now, after (i) starting to eat paleo, initially about 90% of the time; (ii) going through a BCCC in October 2011 where I really got consistent, gave up artificial sweeteners, and stopped eating fruit, almond butter and Larabars every day; and (iii) going through another BCCC in January 2012, where I really worked on being strict, by omitting all chocolate, nuts, cream in my coffee, and even limiting fat and fibrous/cruciferous vegetables, here's where I am now (or, where I was in early February).

Um...BAM. That's 18-ish pounds down, four inches off of my waist, a couple inches off of my hips, and so, so much healthier.

And the reality is that today, as I sit here in my bed typing this up, I'm down another couple of pounds from THAT picture, even having loosened my restrictions a bit (hello, daily coffee with heavy cream, and weekly bar of chocolate).

I kind of struggled with putting these pictures out there, since this blog isn't exactly super-anonymous, but the fact is...I'm proud of this shit. I'm REALLY proud of discovering what works for me and being consistent with it, and I'm REALLY proud that I've become so strong and kind of jacked.

So I used my $25 gift card to put towards some real colorful Wunder Unders...

...which I wore last night to work towards my goal of pulling 300lbs by June. We're getting there.

Last night involved a lot of steak, a lot of scrabble, and a lot of this:

SO GOOD.

Workout log for my post-Hybrid week:

Monday, 2/27: overhead squats, peak set of three. After a set of 5 to warm up with an empty bar - 65-75-85-95-100. 100 felt pretty good and solid, so I'm happy with that - I haven't done an overhead squatting cycle yet, so I have no idea what my max might be. Metcon: tabata ab wheel rollouts followed by tabata hollow rocks. Score is your lowest number of reps of each workout - 6 rollouts + 8 rocks = 14. MEH.

Wednesday, 2/29: oly. Snatched to 63lbs, mostly off of blocks to work on the second and third pulls. Clean & jerk to 115 - felt REAL GOOD on this. I got some new cues from Jim, the olympic lifting coach, at Sunday's lighter session, regarding keeping my arms straight and "snapping the bar like a pencil," which have helped me get my elbows around faster.

Thursday, March 1: two-a-day. I went to the gym at 7am to do the second Crossfit Games Open WOD, which was a snatch ladder of sorts. AMRAP in ten minutes, 30 snatches at 45lbs - 30 at 75lbs - 30 at 100lbs - max at 120lbs. Since my max was 73lbs, I was just hoping to get one or two at 75. Killed it - 44 total, 30 at 46lbs and 14 at 76lbs (weird loads due to working with the ladies' bar). Repeating this one today now that I know I can move the weight for so many reps, and shooting to bring my score up to 50.

Second workout: regular CFCC session. WAY more fatigued from 12.2 than I realized. Hang squat cleans, 2 on the minute each minute for 10 minutes. Started with 83lbs for the first 3 or 4 rounds, up to 93 for the rest. I could have gone up but didn't want to - holy hell was I tired. Front squat, peak of three. 103-123-143x1, failed on the second. WAY TIRED. Metcon - three rounds for time, short loop run, 25 box jumps (20"), 50 doubleunders. I scaled this to 100 singles and used the jump rope time as my recovery, since I just wanted to finish this. 12:20.

Friday 3/2: DEADLIFFIN! sumo deadlift, peak of 3. Sumo deadlifts are more difficult for me than conventional, but this day felt strong. 135-165-195-205-215-235. Happy with pulling 235 for 3 - I'm feeling better about my goal of pulling 300 (conventional) by June. (Also, my other goal of pulling 2x bodyweight is now down to 296. Woot.) Metcon: tabata row for calories. I want to punch rowing in the face, even when I'm only doing it for 20 seconds at a time. Score: 53.

happy Saturday!

um you guys

seriously, fuck work.

but anyway.

I don't have much of anything interesting to blog about. I've barely been making it to crossfit four times a week (which I do not like) and I'm eating the same thing day in and out (which I do really like).

I did try Rotisseur for lunch last week and was hooked.

Half chicken.

Kale chips.

SO MUCH HOT SAUCE.

Good stuff.

More crossfitting:

- Friday: front squats, peak of 2. Um...after nutts, this was not so pretty. 65-85-105-115-125F-125F. WHAT? my max is 140. Metcon: 3-6-9-12 of thrusters (95/65) and deadhang pull ups. 9:16 with light+mini bands.

- Saturday: Crossfit Endurance. I suck at rowing. I mean, really bad - I'm very uncoordinated. So, you know, I guess I need to do it a whole lot more until I don't suck at it. 1:00 on, 1:00 rest, 3:00 on, 2:00 rest, 4:00 on, 3:00 rest, 5:00 on, at 90% effort for max distance. Total: 3041 meters. Not awful, but plenty of room for improvement.

- Sunday: My foot is STILL not 100% healed and was pretty sore, so I opted out of intro to oly and did a bunch of jumping pull ups throughout the day on the door frame bar in my guest room. That goal I had of doing a bodyweight deadhang pull up by year end? Yeah, that's coming up FAST.

- Monday: couple sets of pull ups before class - 4x1 with mini band; 3 or 4x3 with light band. Squat cleans: 65x2 + jerk, 65x2+ push press, 65x2, 75x2 + push press, 85x1, 95x1, 95x1, 105x1. I am FINALLY starting to figure out the third pull. Metcon: Grace. 30 clean & jerks (or ground-to-overhead however) for time, 135/95. Last time we did this was on Halloween - I started that with 85lbs and dropped to 75 after failing my third rep three times. This time, I started with 75 and finished in 4:47 - more than THREE MINUTES faster than my prior time of 7:58. Um, time to start doing this one RXed, I think.

I missed the last two nights due to work and I'm feeling it. Life was a little easier when I was able to get to the gym six days a week - while that's kind of like "duh" - if you have enough free time to spend most of your evenings working out, of course that'll be less stressful than those nights you find yourself working until after ten - there's also a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing there, too. Would I be a little less frantic and working a little more efficiently if I took he time to sweat? Probably.

Meh.

Goal Setting and Constant PRs

Today was a beautiful day for a partner metcon.

And a beautiful day to walk there.

One of the great things about starting something new is that you get a PR almost every time you work out. This week's crossfit skillwork:

- Tuesday: Overhead press, peak set of 2. I did 35-45-55-60-65-70. PR over last week's peak of 60 for three (with awful form). Metcon: 5 rounds, max reps of strict OH press (55lbs) followed by max reps of strict (i.e. dead hang, no kipping) pullups. Pull ups are getting a little better, but still not my best.

- Wednesday: Sumo deadlifts, easy peak of 1. I did 95-115-135-155-165. Having never done a sumo deadlift before, this was an automatic PR, and also 30 pounds over last week's peak of 135 for a standard deadlift. Metcon: 100m row, three attempts. My time improved from 26.8 seconds to 22.4 seconds over the three attempts. I SUCK AT ROWING.

- Friday: Back squats, peak set of 2. 45-65-85-95-105-115-125. PR over prior peak of 85 for 3 (with bad, but not awful, form). Metcon: tabata weighted planks. (Fuck that. 8 sets of 20 second planks, 10 seconds rest, with a 25lb plate on my back.)

- Sunday: team workout. Burpee sprints, tuck sits and rowing 10 minutes.

Sprinting is strong for me. Rowing is not.

Anyway. Every week so far I've been able to improve my peak set. This is due to two things: one, I don't know what I'm capable of, so I start low and run out of time before I can get really heavy. Two, I started with kind of lame form in most of the big lifts, so my strength is improving exponentially as my form improves.

Friday's back squats are a perfect example of this. Two weeks ago I did back squats for a peak (i.e., fast out of the bottom, not your max) of three. I started with the bar, but had to repeat weights a few times throughout the workout because I wasn't keeping my abs tight, or I wasn't going deep enough, so I didn't have time to get above 85lbs. Friday, with a somewhat smaller class and a much better sense of how the weight was going to feel, my form was much better and I had time to get in a ton of sets. I'm confident I could have done at least 135 or 145 without my speed suffering, but seven sets is a lot of sets, so Liz had me stop.

While it's lots of fun killing my prior weights every single time, it makes it a lot more difficult to set goals. I don't know what to focus on, what's reasonable or easy or arbitrary or foolish. I need to get some insight on this, because I'm really interested in what my potential is.

How do you set your first goals with something new?