Things I Love

Thing I love, number one: recently, I've hit a new level of genius (and laziness): you can scramble eggs in the microwave.

They aren't quite as tasty as pan-cooked eggs (mostly, I suspect, because you don't add any cooking fat), but it is faster since there's no cleanup required.  So, I've been bringing a little tupperware to work with me, with a couple of eggs (three if I'm not adding meat OR two plus meat of choice) and some veggies (salsa is a really good "cheater" veggie...or a handful of spinach and cherry tomatoes...and lately, SO MUCH KIMCHI).  When I get there, I break the eggs into the tupperware with whatever meat I'm using, stir it all up with a fork, microwave for a minute and 15 seconds, stir, and nuke for a little longer to finish cooking - usually another 15-45 seconds, depending on the meat.  Top with veggies of choice, and it looks like this: 

Thing I love, number two: so this morning, I'm standing there in the office kitchen chatting with a coworker, who's watching me stir a couple of eggs in with leftover smoked pulled pork and a (particularly beautiful) chunk of brisket.  I work in a small office, so everyone has noticed my recent weight loss and several people keep asking me how I did it.  I usually say that I found out I was allergic to gluten, which isn't COMPLETELY true, but generally staves off any scrutiny about "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT EATING WHOLE GRAINS ARE YOU ON ATKINS UGH YOU ARE GOING TO DIE."  

Anyway, she's telling me how she needs to start eating better, and going to the gym, and she just can't seem to lose weight.  "It's not like I overeat!  I haven't eaten anything yet today, and in a little while I'm going to have a yogurt.  That's what I'll have today...a yogurt."

It makes me die a little bit inside to know how miserable and frustrated she must feel.  I hate having my eating choices criticized, so I generally don't do the same to others (PhillyGuy must be rolling his eyes through the back of his skull right now - but it's DIFFERENT because I LOVE YOU!), but I always feel like I have this big amazing secret I want to share with all the sad dieters existing on boiled chicken breast and Yoplait.

One of the things that's surprised me with my third BCCC is that I'm not actually getting quite as much protein as I'd assumed I was.  Focusing on gettin' SKRONGER means that I need to make sure I'm eating a sufficient amount of protein - at LEAST one gram per pound of lean body mass.  With some very rough estimating, I've been using 115lbs as my LBM - so I shoot for 120-150g of protein every day.  I figured that'd be a given.  It is NOT.

Which brings us to thing I love, number three: canned fish.

Sardines, tuna, smoked herring (what my grandfather used to call "kippered snacks"): whatever.  They don't need to be refrigerated or cooked or prepared, which means I can keep a couple tins stashed in my desk drawer.  It's a decent way to get a hit of protein - one little tin of sardines has 22g - and if you stick with a good brand, the ingredients are nice and clean.

(Incidentally...how is a serving HALF of this little baby tin?)  So we'll see.  The past week has been rough, but I'm off antibiotics now and feeling MUCH better.  I'm still taking a probiotic supplement and eating kimchi and yogurt like it's my job, but hopefully my gut flora will rebuild themselves pretty quickly and I'll be back to normal. 

Log:

Tuesday May 15: some strict HSPU work - tripod to headstand and pressing up from the bottom. THAT SHIT IS NOT EASY.  Even though I can do a few sets of strict HSPUs with light and mini bands, and can kip them easily, I couldn't even press out of the bottom with an average (green) band.  Oy.  Strict overhead press, peak of three. 45-60-70-80-85x2, failed on the third.  This is a PR, since I could never get 85 up before, but it was incredibly ugly - I went up on my toes, arched the shit out of my back, etc.  These are still on my suck list.  Oh well.  Metcon: AMRAP 7 minutes, burpees.  I got 93 - quads seizing, sweat dripping off of my face, mascara annihilated, and beating my score from the open by nearly 20.

woof.

I've been sick.  It's been a long week.  My productivity at work wasn't great last week and I feel like I'm super behind.  I've eaten my weight in kimchi and some full-fat yogurt here and there, but the antibiotics are still kicking my ass (and my digestive system) a little bit.  We traveled up to visit the inlaws this weekend and my diet wasn't ideal - I ate far more dried apricots and almonds than was necessary, but I suppose in the grand scheme of things, gorging myself on dried fruit and nuts in a movie theater beats the many, MANY other things I could have gorged myself on. 

Pretty sweet theater, though.  Why doesn't Philly have one of these?

I don't have a ton to say, except that I want to curl up in bed with a bagel or maybe some nachos.  Instead I'm going to drink a buttload of water and do my best to force myself to be a workhorse today.

Training log:

Tuesday May 8: strict press, peak of three. 55-65-75-80-80.  Yep, tripled my prior (and honestly, probably current) max.  This is not my strongest lift, but my shoulders feel like they're a little stronger than they were.  Metcon, 5 rounds of AMRAP 60 seconds wallballs (20/14lbs), 60 seconds handstand pushups.  Half-assed the wallballs.  Total reps 87, as RX'ed.

Thursday May 10: clean & jerk. 63x2, 83x2, 103x2...and then I started pulling with my arms. 103x1, 108x1, 108x1...and then two sets of 5 clean pulls at 108lbs.  Woof.  15lbs under my max.  I went to a morning class and had to rush to get to work, so I wasn't sad to skip the metcon (50 bar facing burpees for time).

Friday May 11: deadlifts, peak of three. 145-185-215-235-255.  Fast and easy to 255; 255 was heavy but still fast enough out of the bottom that I was satisfied.  Fran (21-15-9 thrusters (95/65) and pull ups): 7:40 as RX'ed.  54 seconds slower than last week's time.  Like last time, broke the 15 thrusters up into 7 and 8 - but I failed THREE TIMES to squat clean the bar for my 8th rep, which ate up a bunch of time.  Post-Fran I felt awful - sick and nauseated - not sure if it was due to the workout or to the nasty shot of antibiotics I got in my arm earlier that day, but I had a coconut water and ginger Larabar afterwards and felt much better.

Monday, May 14: another morning class. back squats, peak of 3.  85-115-135-155-175 easy.  Could have gone up to 185, but I decided to skip it and planned to take two sets in today's metcon - 20 rep back squat.  Last time we did this I did 115 and 125 and remember it being fairly easy, so I planned to do 135 and 145.  Should have done the extra work set instead, because I wore a belt and FRIED my lower back on the 135.  Easy weight for my legs, though.

that's what she said

A little mid-Irene blogging.

The dogs don't like severe weather. When I got back from the gym this morning you'd have thought they hadn't seen me in months.

Speaking of which. Oh, crossfit: my suck list is long.

TWSS.

But seriously. I mentioned when I first started at CFCC that crossfit is humbling. Very, very humbling. There are a few things I'm decent at - deadlifts, handstands, some other gymnastics stuff. And there are a bunch of things I'm solid at - squatting (at least I think so - it's been a while since I've really squatted), turkish getups, most other basic lifts.

But the list of things that I'm just NOT good at - or at least not good at yet - is so, SO long.

Burpees (they kill me and they kill me FAST). ROWING (oh my GOD i am so inefficient and uncoordinated). Ring work. Pull ups (I can rep 5 unbroken with a light + mini band...only 3 or 4 without the mini band...and if we're doing them in a metcon I still use the average band). Broad jumps - oh god, these are awful for me. We had a metcon that involved 60' broad jumps and it seriously took me like, 20 jumps to get across each time. And pushups - PUSHUPS! I did like, 4 billion pushups every week for over a year. Little did I know that I was doing them way wrong. Now I do them right and I do them on my knees. And what the hell happened to my running? (Hint: since I started crossfitting I haven't run one time unless it was in a metcon. That is likely why the short run, which was so easy the first time I did it in the onramp, now whoops my ass.)

Le sigh.

As embarassing as it is to be at the bottom of the group - I told Liz on Friday that my only goal was to not have the shortest recorded broad jump of the day, and I BARELY made it - it's nice to have so many areas to improve in. My wrist and forearm strength has increased substantially since I started, which in turn has helped my pullups, other bar work and ring work.

But still. My suck list is long.

This week's workouts (which were designed to let us taper for the Crossfit Total, which has now been pushed forward a week due to hurricane):

Monday: conventional deadlift, very light peak of 1. 115-135-155-185-185. Metcon: for time - 100 meter row, 5 strict pullups, 10 american KB swings, 5 strict pullups, 10 american KBS, 5 strict pullups, 100meter row. 5:27 (1pood/average band).

Tuesday: back squat, v. light peak of 2. 65-85-95-95-95 (WOMP WOMP WOMP. my form sucked). Metcon: 60' burpee sprint ladder, up to 8 burpees. 2:46. Stuck around for gymnastics; worked on handstand walking, and added "rope climb" to my suck list.

Thursday: general work on press, sumo deadlift high pull and front squat, in preparation for the metcon: with about 75% of your max press, 5 rounds for time of 3 strict press, 5 sumo deadlift high pulls and 7 front squats. 6:07 with 60lbs - had to push press the last two rounds. Stayed for gymnastics. worked on rolls (front and back) and ring support.

Friday: broad jump, 4 attempts. 75" (I don't want to talk about it). Metcon: tabata wallball slams for power, 14lb.

Saturday: gymnastics. Bridge ups, kickovers and freestanding handstands. 5 attempts and all I could do was a 2 second hold - but the best time of the day was 5 seconds, so yeah. My bridges are good, but my shoulders are so weak I can't press up with my feet on a box - I need a ton of assistance. Metcon was brutal but fun: 5 rounds for time of 10 handstand kickups to the wall, 10 toes to bar, 10 bridgeups and 10 rocking hollows. This felt strong, even though my toes to bar were more like knees to chest - next time i'm going to try to actually get my toes to the bar, since so far I've just assumed that I can't. 17:21. shoulders fried.