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.

Burgers & Greens & Whining

First some pictures of something delicious, and then some whining.

I had been neglecting the 10ish pounds of ground beef that came with my cow share - it was a lot more exciting to make, say, a t-bone steak, or a roast, or fabulous green curry with beef cubes, than it is to start something with ground beef. Especially when you ALSO get 10ish pounds of pre-shaped burger patties, which are tremendously convenient.

BUT, rumblings have started about it being high time to get a second cow, and so I need to be more diligent about using up what I have so that I can re-up when everyone else does. So, the other day, I pulled out two pounds of ground beef in the morning before work, so that I'd be forced to make something with it when I got home that night.

I settled on burgers. First, I sauteed up an entire onion in some grassfed Icelandic butter.



While the onion cooked down, I seasoned the ground beef. There's no fat percentage on the cow share labels, but I'd guess it's around 80-20, maybe 85-15.



My old go-to burger recipe called for soy sauce and brown sugar...neither of which are among my current nutritional choices. So, I scoured my favorite new cookbook...



...and used the spices from their recipe for buffalo burgers. I tried to keep the patties relatively small, and I ended up with more than ten burgers. I cooked them in the same pan I sauteed the onions in, after taking out the onions. Didn't need to add any extra fat - the first round of burgers may stick a tiny bit at first, but they'll release more than enough fat to cook in without an issue.



I set the burgers aside to rest while I sauteed collard greens in the drippings.



Tasty. Two pounds of beef yielded dinner for PhillyGuy and I, plus three or four leftover patties for lunches and dinners that week.

And now, as promised, the whining.

This round of the CFCC BCCC is a little draining. It was discouraging to not perform to my expectations at the Total last weekend, and I reassured myself by trying to focus on the fact that I'm going to cut the last bit of body fat. However, as I'm entering my fourth week of black coffee, no dark chocolate, weekday salads without that handful of bacon bits or avocado, and rationing my sweet potatoes to long metcon days...it's getting a little old. Other than the occasional 30 minutes of cravings here and there, I haven't felt too deprived, and it hasn't been HARD...but I'm struggling because I'm not seeing the results I feel that I should be seeing.

Part of this is because I had so much success with the first challenge. Fat seemed to just melt off - the scale consistently went down, and by the end of the challenge I had lost two inches off of my waist. Two inches! In 30 days! The first challenge also wasn't as restrictive for the entire time. I had chocolate a few times a week for the first two weeks and had cream in my coffee until the last ten days.

This time around, I'm just not seeing that same progress - and I understand that it's a different ballgame to lose pure "vanity pounds." This time, the scale's just not moving. I'm consistently within a 151-152 pound range, having started the challenge at (by my scale) 153.X. I don't actually care what I weigh, but I'm definitely not putting on muscle mass (as evidenced by my inability to PR two of my three lifts at the total), and I still have enough body fat that the scale should go down as I lean out. I took a quick measurement of my waist last night and I think I've gone down about a half inch - but I'm not sure, since I didn't take my first set of measurements.

All this to say - if I'm going to keep NOT eating that bar of Green & Black's 85% dark that's been sitting in my pantry, I want to see something from it. I try to keep reminding myself that my bodyweight stuff is getting stronger - pull ups continue to improve and all that - but damnit, if I can't have cream in my coffee 5 days out of the week, I'd really like to be a size 0 for my troubles.

Whining over. Workout recaps:

Monday, 1/23: Squat Elizabeth. 21-15-9 squat cleans (135/95), ring dips. No option to scale dips with a band - if not RX'ed on ring dips, sub push ups. 19:06 with RX'ed weight and pushups. My squat cleans continue to improve, in that I was able to actually squat clean most of these instead of power cleaning and doing a front squat, which is SO.MUCH.HARDER.

Tuesday, 1/24: strict muscle up work. False grip ring pull ups with mini band; close w/o band but still not there. Metcon: 10 rounds for time, 1 muscle up/5 handstand pushups/10 pistols/15 unbroken double-unders. 25:05 with strict pull up (bodyweight), inverted pushups from a box, single leg squats to box, 15 unbroken DU's. Shit, this was hard.

Wednesday, 1/25: intro to oly. Spent the entire 90 minutes working on my snatch (FNARR FNARR, as Modern Paleo Warfare would say). Lots of drills, followed by sets of 2-3 at 53 and 60lbs. Snatched from blocks at 53 and 63lbs. Drilled the overhead squat at 53-73lbs. Not my strongest performance ever.

Thursday, 1/26: split jerk, singles. 45x3 to warm up, then 65-80-95-115F (oops, this was supposed to be 105)-105. 2lb PR from prior max of 103. Metcon: 10 handstand pushups, 20 pull ups, 30 kettlebell snatches (1.5/1pood), 40 wallballs (10'/8'). Option was to RX everything or scale everything - I don't do HSPU's yet so I chose to scale. 6:25 with inverted pushups from a box, pull ups with mini band, American kettlebell swings and regular wallballs. I went through the first three movements very quickly and then took the wallballs unnecessarily slow.

Sunday, 1/29: gymnastics followed by intro to oly. Back extension rolls to plank; bridge work; handstand limber. Skipped metcon to save my shoulders for oly. Snatch drills; back and overhead squatting; snatch balance; hang snatch. Snatched from boxes the entire time and worked with kilograms for most of class. 53lbs/24kg up to 66.2lbs/30.2kg. Clean, also in kilograms: 66.2lbs/30.2kg up to 45kg/99lbs for doubles, then singles at 49kg/108lbs, 51kg/112.4lbs (2.4lb PR over prior max of 110 and VERY easy). I tried 55kg (121.25lbs) three times and was SO CLOSE - first shot my elbows were too slow; second try I got under it, but got stuck at the bottom; third try my jump was huge and I should have had it, but those slow elbows get me. Next time I'll get this.

Brief Whining, No Pictures

you've been warned.

Today is day 5 of the current CFCC BCCC. After today, I have 25 more days to go. I know - intellectually, at least - that it will fly by, that I will be strict and consistent, and that on day 31 (or whenever I measure and weigh in), I will be really fucking happy about it.

BUT.

Today is day 5. And on day 5, I am not happy. And it's ridiculous - this is only day three of no cream in my coffee, for chrissake. (Somewhat coincidentally, it IS day 5 of no chocolate.) But...gah. My little Sophie has been sick since Saturday - I suspect it might be because I gave her a piece of fat off of the edge of my t-bone steak, which may or may not have wreaked havoc on her otherwise-cooperative little puppy digestive system. Anyway, last night she woke me up at 12:30, 4:30 and 5:45 to go outside. Poor girl. And poor me, because I was really feeling it when I got up for good that third time.

Standing there in my kitchen just before 6am, ALL I wanted was cream in my coffee. I had no interest in drinking it black. I was miserable and bitter about it (not to mention miserable and bitter about the fact that I am a much lighter sleeper than PhillyGuy, who snored right through all of Sophie's emergencies - I woke him up and sent him out with her the first time, but it just felt mean). Not surprisingly, actually DRINKING the black coffee made me somewhat less miserable and bitter...especially when I added some cinnamon and nutmeg.

An hour and a half later (grumble), when I was making my breakfast, I opened my pantry to find TWO precious, unopened chocolate bars staring me in the face. One is my usual favorite - Green & Black's 85% - and the other is a new one to try - Theo's 70% with mint. I'm not throwing them away, since that's about $14 worth of chocolate, but GOD am I bitter that I can't have them.

BAH. This too shall pass (and quickly, since a good 95% of the time I feel perfectly content without these little indulgences). Eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize, dammit.

Training:

Wednesday, off - I had planned on going to class to push cars (!!!) but didn't feel comfortable leaving Sophie stuck in her crate with her questionable tummy any longer than I needed to. Did a couple pull ups and called this one a night on the couch.

Thursday - back squat. Yes, again - this time for a peak of one, so heavier than Monday's set of three, without maxing. 85x3 to warm up, and then 105-125-145-160-170. I was still a little sore from Dae Han, but felt pretty strong. Feeling better about my goals for the total next weekend. Metcon was "Diane" - 21-15-9 of deadlifts (225/185) and handstand pushups, with a 10:00 cap. If it weren't for the time cap, I'd have done the RX'ed weight, but I knew my pushups would be slow and I wanted to finish the workout. 8:00 even, with 155lbs/regular push ups. Repped the first ten or so deadlifts and then started dropping them from the top to keep my pace consistent.

training note...I hope we focus on HSPU's soon, because I'd like to start doing at least partial ROM in metcons. I feel like it might be easier for me to do partial ROM HSPU's than regular push ups. I'm much stronger at pushups than I was six months ago - I'm happy that I managed to rep out ten to start with, and that I only failed two pushups in this metcon, both in the last round - this is a huge leap from when I first started and had to do them on my knees.

Whining over. Back to work with me.