OK, Maybe Not EVERYTHING

One of my halfway-there-CFCC-BCCC-observations is that everything I eat now is delicious.

I mean...really.



I have steak almost every Friday night, with sweet potato rounds baked with cinnamon, paprika, chili powder and cayenne pepper. I call them "fries," but they're not - they're just fricking delicious.



And then the salmon wraps. This was a great discovery.



Smoked salmon, avocado, grape tomatoes and crumbled bacon. If you don't like this, you have no soul.



But...okay. Maybe not EVERYTHING is delicious.

Starting on Saturday - the halfway point - I added in a supplement. Erin made this recommendation at our first meeting, but I just didn't get around to picking them up until this past weekend.



BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) are, for chemistry and biology dummies like myself, three of the nine essential amino acids necessary for the body to function. They are metabolized in muscle, rather than the liver, and once broken down into their individual components (leucine, isoleucine and valine), are either burned as fuel by the body, or used by the body to build new proteins. BCAAs are a popular supplement in crossfit and in bodybuilding and olympic weightlifting in general for their ability not only to increase energy during a workout, but to assist in recovery. (Let's be clear: this is obviously not my independent scientific study, but just the understanding I've developed based on a whole lot of internet research. Take it with a grain of salt and do your own research, internet-based or otherwise.)

So, starting with Saturday's intro to oly, I've been taking 5 grams of BCAAs dissolved in about 6-8 ounces of water before and after each workout. Let me tell you something about BCAAs.

They taste awful.

A lot of articles describe it as a bitter taste, but I think it tastes exactly like that cheap-ass Barton's vodka we used in well drinks at TGIFriday's. People recommend adding citrus, but I'd rather just get used to the taste and deal with it, I think. Also, once they dissolve, you end up with something that looks like a bottle of water with glitter floating in it. It's far too early to make any real observations about what they actually DO, but I can say that - coincidentally or not - I'm not really that sore from the past three days of workouts.

Speaking of which:

- Friday. Some skillwork on the snatch, which is still not my best lift but is getting better. I need to just practice this a lot until muscle memory starts to kick in so I can get the form correct. Worked up to 65lbs, which isn't much, but it's something. Metcon: Jeremy. 21-15-9 of overhead squats (95-65) and burpees. I wanted to do it RX'd, but when your first three reps feel heavy, it's not good...so I dropped down to 55. Arms were like jelly by the end. 9:19.

- Saturday: intro to oly. Clean & jerk. I started with just the training bar to work on the form for the split jerk; tried the push jerk but that's just not me. 15-35-45-55-65-65-75-75-85, mostly doubling up the jerks with some singles towards the end. This is much, much stronger for me than the snatch.

- Sunday: gymnastics. Forward rolls (speed rolls with two connected, dive rolls) and handstand walking. Getting much better at shifting my weight and working towards the single-arm handstand, but haven't walked on my hands yet, despite many attempts. Metcon: death by handstand thigh slaps (handstand against the wall, shifting weight to one arm and bringing opposite arm off the floor to slap your thigh - one rep is both sides). One in the first minute, and then adding one more each consecutive minute until you can't finish the prescribed amount in the minute. 7 full rounds plus 6 thigh slaps.

- Monday: power cleans, starting with doubles and working up to a peak of one. 65x2-65x2-75x2-85x2-85x1-95x1-105x1. Metcon: death by thrusters (95/65). One thruster was OK; my shoulders were NOT having me rep them. Rather than aggravate my weaker rotator cuff muscles, I substituted front squats after the first minute. Starting with three thrusters in minute 1, 10 rounds + 8 front squats at RX'ed weight.

Mental Challenges

Every morning, I dutifully chug back a handful of supplements.



That's one multivitamin (Target brand), one fish oil, and two glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM. I've been regularly taking them for about a year. And I am pretty sure they do nothing for me, since my knees have not been miraculously cured -- but whatever.

It's funny. More or less ever since I started running, the treadmill and I have been BFFs. I find it much easier to pace myself. And it's climate-controlled! I always preferred doing my workouts on the treadmill. If I was running for 60 minutes or less, it was treadmill city for me. Period.

But running on a treadmill had always been the ONLY form of indoor cardio that I enjoyed. The elliptical, for example, was equivalent to torture for me. Same with the bike. And don't get me started on the stairmaster -- I used that thing one time in college, and NEVER AGAIN. But something about those machines just made time stop. I'd get a magazine to flip through, but it never really helped. My legs would burn and sweat would drip off of my face and I felt every single second tick by.

Running, somehow, was not the same. Usually I was done with my first mile before I could even blink. Another mile would zoom by and my warmup was done, and then whatever workout I was doing, whether it was short intervals, mile repeats or a tempo run, would be knocked out even faster. It's not like it was easy, of course -- I'd be working and huffin' and puffin', but for some reason, the time just flew by.

And then I took my most recent lil' running sabbatical. And something changed. Whatever little switch in my brain controls the "hamster wheel syndrome" just flipped. And now running on a treadmill has become a mental battle like I've never really had to deal with before.

I need to just get over it, because I do it to myself. I had one long, gouge-my-eyes-out type treadmill run a few weeks ago, and I honestly think that I've just let it get to my head. Last night, for example -- on my plate was a five-mile tempo run. This used to be the type of thing that I would hate to do outside, since I'd be concerned about keeping my pace steady and fast enough. But ALL I wanted to do was run it outside. Unfortunately, the weather report called for thunderstorms. On my walk home, and then while walking the dogs, I kept looking at the sky nervously. I checked the radar. I desparately wanted to avoid the treadmill -- "FIVE WHOLE MILES on that thing??? That's going to be so painful!"

But I didn't trust the weather -- running in the rain is one thing, but lightning and thunder is another completely. So, to the gym with me. And I didn't even TRY to think positive. I spent the entire first mile with thoughts of "OMG this is going to take FOREVER" and "it's OK, it'll be boring but you'll be fine when you're done!" NOT helpful.

And it is a mental challenge, you know? Because I can do these things. With a modicum of effort, sure. And you bet I stopped between the last three miles to stretch and release the lactic acid built up in my legs (I suppose the point of the tempo run is to learn to run with that damn buildup, but such is life), but it was significantly more of a mental battle than a physical one.

Run: 5 miles in 48:50, including warmup and cooldown miles at 10:00, and three miles at 9:22. Four thousand miles on my brain.

But really -- the main, number one, up-front mental challenge, of course, is GETTING THROUGH THIS DAY. Just a few more documents to draft and probably a frantic panicked afternoon of getting random things out of the way -- and then! Vacation! What are you guys all doing this weekend?