Today is Closed!

I am playing catch up here and I am disappointed that I have not been consistent with my posts. This was a promise I made to myself and I have found myself slacking. I am starting week 8 with my husband being in Iowa and I am tired! But no more excuses. I am better than this!
Thursday was a pretty busy day. Mark, the owner of Trinity CrossFit went out of town, so I coached 4 classes that day. I was able to get a WOD in there, but not my strength WOD. :( Yesterday, I was stuck at home waiting for Rooms to Go to come make an inspection on my furniture that needs to be replaced. I also had a ton of ads to design, a dirty house and many errands to run, so no WOD yesterday (unless cleaning my house "for time" counts).
As for today, I have declared the day "closed" and plan to stay in my pajamas and do nothing. I think everyone should have at least one "closed" day a week. I know this is not realistic though. I probably get 1 a month and today is it. My boys even let me sleep late. I actually slept until 10:00! I haven't slept til 10:00 since...well, I'm not sure! So even my body is saying "CHILL!".
But to be honest, I don't know if I can stand it. I already feel guilty for not getting to workout yesterday. My plan is to workout tomorrow, but I may end up doing it later on this afternoon. If I go too long without working out, I actually get in a funk. Does that happen to you?
But I am really trying to take it easy today. I'm not tired from working out, just from everything else that has been going on this week. Just being mom to 3 boys is enough to exhaust me sometimes. But I love it and wouldn't change anything except to have my husband home very soon.

Thursday WOD
"Power 13"
650 meter row
13 Power Cleans (65lbs)
13 Pullups
13 KBS (35lbs)
13 Knees to Elbows
13 Deadlifts (65lbs)
650 meter row
Time: 9:07

Once again I am disappointed on my pullups. It was only 13 and I came off the bar after only 4. I blew through the cleans but was wiped out when I got to the pullups. That surprised me, since the weight is pretty light. This WOD is all grip, so the knees to elbows were not fun either!
I need to work on stringing more kipping pullups together. Very disappointed. It seems I've slacked off on many areas in pursuit of achieving my muscle-up. Sometimes stubbornness does not pay off.


Speaking of the muscle-up, I sent a picture of me doing the muscle up with my horrible wrist lock to one of the top gymnastic coaches hoping for some feedback on what I could do. I was just hoping for an email, but he called me and talked with me on the phone about it. He wanted me to send him a video so he could see exactly what was going on. He was super nice and gave me some homework. I think I actually stumped him, though. Leave it to me!
But I am working on his progressions and going by his advise "taking it slow". He saw the video and responded within minutes saying "wrap that wrist!!!"
I am continually amazed, although I shouldn't be by now, of how nice everyone in the CrossFit community is. The fact that he took time out of his day to give advise to someone he hadn't even met, speaks volumes!! I LOVE CROSSFIT!

Eating:
Thursday
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs
Post WOD: Progenex
Snack: Salmon and sweet potato casserole
Lunch: Cabbage stir fry
Snack: Larabar
Dinner: Chinese bourbon chicken, egg drop soup, egg roll (not exactly paleo, but I did my best)
I put myself in a bad postition, by eating so late and being so hungry.

Friday:
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 1 apple with almond butter, 2 pieces of canadian bacon
Snack: nuts, seeds and raisins
Lunch: Grilled chicken salad
Snack: Larabar
Dinner: Fried Chicken (skin removed), sweet potato

NEW PR!! :))

What a crazy week this has been! My husband was sent to Iowa for the next 4 weeks. (that's a really long way from Alabama). He was told on Monday and had to leave Tuesday morning! So, I have been just getting my ducks in a row, rescheduling appointments, and just doing what it takes. I'll be honest, the first thing I thought was, "I CrossFit, I got this!" But needless to say, I have been quite busy over the past few days.
Even though I may not have much to say from day to day, I promised myself, and those of you who are keeping up with this, that I would post everyday during the week. I wasn't too worried about yesterday though, since it was my rest day.
After I finish this entry, I am going to start packing for my Olympic Lift Certification this weekend. I can not begin to describe how excited I am! This is probably my favorite thing about CrossFit...Olympic lifts. I want to be better at them myself! You know, be able to snatch 165lbs, that kinds of thing. Most importantly I want to be the best coach I can be.

So here is a recap of yesterday and today. Oh, by the way! How many of you watched the CrossFit Games last night? Wow! Just WOW! The women are just incredible athletes! Ahh..one day!

Wednesday-Rest Day

Today's Strength
Took a break from my strength sets and worked on a 1 rep max deadlift. I got a new PR at 225lbs! I think I could have gone heavier because that 225lbs seemed to come off the ground ALOT easier than I expected. But when I tried 235lbs, I lifted it maybe an inch. I KNOW it was in my head! But not because of fear. It was because my coach had told us to stop once we hit our PR. When I went for the 235lbs, I knew I wasn't "following instructions." I know that's it! Your head HAS to be in the right place! I can't wait to try this again in about 2 weeks.

Today's WOD
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 Deadlift (65% of 1RM=135lbs)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Toes through Rings
alternate exercises and work in descending and ascending reps
Time-6:30

EATING-
Wednesday-Day 16 Whole30
Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs with almonds
Snack: Larabar
Lunch: Cubed steak, broccoli and cauliflower
Snack: banana with almond butter
Dinner: Boston Butt (seasoned only), sweet potato

Thursday-Day 17 Whole30
Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs with almonds
Post WOD: Progenex
Lunch: Grilled chicken salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, olive and cabbage
Snack: Apple with almond butter and blueberries
Dinner: Left-over Boston Butt with butternut squash and spinach

September 20, 2011

Not much to write about today. I think I expelled all my pondering yesterday for the time being. So this entry will be short and sweet. Just a log for today's WOD's and eating.

Morning WOD
15lbs weighted pullups. Two pullups every 30 seconds for 5 minutes
then
For time:
25 Thrusters, 65lbs
20 pullups
15 burpees
20 pullups
25 Thrusters
Time: 8:13 (Basically, this was Fran with 15 burpees thrown in! YUCK!)

Strength WOD (noon)
Back Squat- 60%, 5 reps (100lbs), 70%, 4 reps (115lbs), 80%, 4 repsx4 (135lbs)
Power Snatch- 60%, 5 reps (50lbs), 65%, 4 reps (55lbs), 75%, 4 reps (65lbs), 85%, 4 repsx2 (75lbs)
Power Clean-75%, 4 reps (105lbs), 85%, 4 repsx2 (115lbs)
Snatch Pull-95%, 3 reps (80lbs), 105%, 3 reps (90lbs)
I am happy to report that these lifts are getting easier. I am really looking for to doing my 1RM on these lifts at the end of this cycle.

EATING: Day 15 Whole30
Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs with handful of almonds
Post WOD: Progenex
Lunch: I kind of messed up. I met a friend for lunch and order brisket, fruit and spinache. I forgot to tell them no sauce on the brisket, but it really wasn't alot. Ooops!
Snack: Nuts, seeds and raisins
Dinner: Baked Lemon Pepper chicken with brocolli and butternut squash.
Dessert: Apple with almond butter.

What's In Your Head?

I have been stewing on this blog for the past two days and I hope that I will be able to articulate what is in my head.

If you crossfit, I'm sure you've heard the quote by CrossFit Founder Coach Glassman, "The greatest adaption of CrossFit takes place between the ears."

I completely agree. In my humble opinion, CrossFit is about 30% physical ability and 70% mental. I am sure if you ask other CrossFit coaches, they may give you a different percentage, but mental ability will be high.

For example, it doesn't matter how damn strong you are, if you can not let yourself drop under the bar, you will NEVER squat snatch or squat clean any significant weight. If you cannot trust yourself to put your feet over your head, no matter how strong you are, you will never do a handstand pushup. And if you cannot disengage from the pain, you will never have a sub 3 minute "Fran".

These are obvious examples, but here's what got me thinking about all of this in the first place.

This weekend, I was talking with a friend of mine, who had just done Fight Gone Bad. She knew that I had done this WOD the day before and what my score was. She said, "Girl, you beat me by 3 points!" She was excited because she had done this as RXd. She just had surgery a few months ago and I was really excited for her because she has worked very hard to get back to where she was before.

But I told her that I was mad at myself because I KNEW I could have done better. How much better, I don't know, but when round three came and I knew I had already PR'd my old score, I slowed down and just coasted the rest of the workout. Why did I do this? Maybe it would have helped to have some crazy firebreathers next to me knocking out a 405. I know it wasn't because I couldn't physically do more.

You know what it was? It was my head! I had started talking myself out of "killing it" because I had already reached my mark.

What is that Michelangelo quote? "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim to high and falling short, but setting our aim to low and achieving our mark."...BINGO!

She also told me that she thought that I was one of the hardest training coaches that she knew. Am I? I certainly didn't feel like it at that moment.

Not long after this conversation, I watched a video of a friend lifting a 300lb deadlift on Facebook. This friend is my size and weight, and Holy Moly, that girl picked 300lbs! Wow, I am nowhere close to that! Why? Because I am scared of another herniated disk. There. I said it. The answer is "FEAR".

So then, I just started beating myself up. Do you do this?
If you were in my head Saturday, it would have sounded something like this, "I could have worked harder during FGB.", "I can't deadlift twice my bodyweight.", "I struggle daily with a 'sugar demon'", "I don't have six pack abs," and of course, "I can't do a freakin' muscle-up!" I just continued to tear myself down in my head.

This of course put me in a lovely mood for my family and the poor guys had no idea what was wrong with me.

Today I talked about some of this with my coach. We also discussed my inability to do a muscle-up. He said, "There is no physical reason why you can't do a muscle-up."

Did you read that, folks? No. Physical. Reason.

I said, "Well, it's not because I don't want to. I do! I feel like it is my job as a coach to be able to do this. This is the only movement I can not demonstrate."

He asked, "So, what do you think it is?"

I thought about it for a few minutes and finally I said, "I'm scared. I'm scared of hurting my shoulder, I think." I went on to explain that whenever I step up to the rings, my heart starts racing, I get butterflies in my stomach and I get nervous as hell. This didn't happen when I was learning how to do pullups, or double unders, or handstand pushups, but it is there when I step up to those rings....It's in my head! "The enemy is my inner me!"

So, I finally had to reset myself. Just sit down and ask myself, "What is going on in your head?!" I can tell you, that if I were to have done a WOD with my friends Saturday, I would have sucked...seriously. Why? Because I had spent the entire day beating the crap out of myself.

As I took some time to really refocus my thoughts, I asked myself, "What makes a good coach?" and I found this great quote. "A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are."

I feel that I do this. I am not saying this to toot my own horn, but I always look at where my athletes are going, not where they are. I see their potential and I do my best to help them see it, too. I LOVE coaching. I LOVE watching my athletes surprise themselves everyday doing things I already knew they could do.
I was told by one of my athletes, "I love the way you break down these movements so that I can see them in slow motion and in small parts. It helps to make it all click in my head."

I think I will take that any day over PR'ing a lift or a muscle-up.

Sometimes it just takes 1 positive comment to turn your thoughts around and let your head help you rather than work against you.

So. What's in your head?

Saturday

Rest day

Sunday WOD

5 rounds

35 Double unders

200 meter run

time-9:22

Monday
Strength

work to get 1 rep max on Front Squat

Pr'd at 150lbs! YAY!!!

WOD

75 KBS (35lbs)

75 Pushpress (33lbs bar)

When you set the weight down, run 200 meters

time 8:14

Did 75 KBS unbroken and 57 Pushpress unbroken

Eating:

Saturday, Day 12 of Whole30

Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, apple with almond butter

Snack: Larabar

Lunch: Grilled chicken with lettuce and tomatoes, 1/2 cup of grapes & apples

Snack: almonds and raisins

Dinner: Stuffed Red Peppers (made with ground beef, chopped spinach and sauce)

Dessert: Frozen grapes

Sunday, Day 13 of Whole30

This was not my happy day. Really missing my comfort sweets but I made it through!

Breakfast: scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of Canadian bacon, apple with almond butter

Snack: Larabar

Lunch: Left over Stuffed pepper (so good!)

Snack: nuts, seeds and raisins and some turkey meat

Dinner: Steak and baked sweet potato

Monday, Day 14 of Whole30

Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs, 1 piece Canadian bacon

Post WOD: Progenex

Snack: Larabar (don't really know what I would do without these!)

Lunch: hamburger patty with salsa, broccoli

Snack: Ground beef with spinach (left over mixture from the stuffed peppers)

Dinner: Cubed Steak (seasoned only), cauliflower, broccoli

Well, I survived my first Auburn football game and was not tempted to indulge. I was very proud of myself for staying true to the Whole30. It's a tradition at my house to have tortillas chips and rotel cheese dip while watching football. Maybe it helped that my husband took the boys to his grandfathers to watch the Alabama game. Yes, my husband is an Alabama fan and I am an Auburn fan. In this state, this is considered a mixed marriage.
If you are not from the south, you may not realize that here in Alabama the Beautiful, for the most part people, love iced tea & Bar-B-Q, are polite to strangers, say "Yes, sir" and "Yes, ma'am", can insult anyone as long as they follow it with "Bless her/his heart!", AND are either Alabama fans or Auburn fans.
I took the weekend off, but, as I mentioned before, today I start the 2 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, 1 day off cycle.
Today I had a great day at the gym. I got a new PR on my double unders, 51 unbroken! I also PR'd my overhead squat, 125lbs - 2 reps. It was supposed to be a 5-5-5 but on the 3rd rep I lost it coming up out of the squat. I was still happy though, before today, my 1 Rep max was 120lbs! This is the first time I have been able to jerk 125lbs from the neck. Happy Day!!

Strength
5-5-5 Overhead Squat - 95lbs, 115lbs, 125lbsx2 then failed

TODAY'S WOD
21-15-9
Ground to Overhead 75lbs
Bar hops (jump over the bar and back=1 rep)
8:45

Disappointed with this WOD. Apparently I can't add. I thought I was doing this with 85lbs and was very happy with my lifts, thinking "Wow! This feels light!" Well, that's because it was only 75lbs! Yeah. 45 bar + 30lbs has always equaled 75lbs. Geez!
What surprised me on this one though, was that the bar hops just gassed me. I wasn't expecting that!

Eating:
Saturday:
Day 5 Whole30
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, 1 apple, tablespoon of almond butter with a teaspoon of Applebutter (Cracker barrel has the most amazing applebutter. Only ingredients are apples and cinnamon! Yummy!)
Snack: Grazed on vinegar and salt flavored almonds all day
Lunch: left over beef stew
Dinner: Pork salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and green olives

Sunday:
Day 6 Whole30
Breakfast: "Dawn's Scrambled Eggs"- eggs scrambled with mushrooms, bacon, salsa, onion and spinach.
Snack: Larabar
Lunch: Hamburger patty with salsa, grilled zucchini and squash
Snack: Apple with almond butter and blueberries
Dinner: Steak with baked sweet potato

Monday:
Day 7 Whole30
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 piece of bacon
Snack: Progenex
Lunch: Left over scrambled eggs and hamburger patty with salsa
Snack: Larabar, raisins
Dinner: Meatloaf, cauliflower and steamed broccoli

Train smart, leave the ego at the door.

Today was a stength day for me. My back felt so much better this morning! I redid my 500 meter row and got it under 2 minutes -1:56! a PR for me! I was in such a great mood! We had a great group there this morning, the music was pumpin' and we were having fun! I love my box, I really do!
BUT, during my last set of cleans, as I was pulling the second one, I felt my back twinge again, same place! Damn IT! So, I rolled it out with a ball and finished the set but the clean pulls just weren't happening for me today.

STRENGTH WOD (all percentages are based on 1RM)

Front Squat: 60%, 5 reps (83lbs), 70%, 4 reps (98lbs), 80%, 3 reps-4 sets (113lbs)

Clean: 60%, 3 reps (83lbs), 70%, 3 reps (98lbs), 75%, 3 reps(103lbs), 80%, 3 reps-3sets (110lbs)

Clean Pull: this was supposed to be 3 reps at 95% then 3 reps at 105%, but I could only do 2 at 95%. I was just too nervous about my back today. Me really hurting my back is NOT going to help me train. Train smart, leave the ego at the door!

Bench Press: 60%, 5 reps (60lbs), 70%, 5 reps (70lbs), 85%, 5 reps-3 sets (85lbs)

Skill Work:
Spent about 20-30 minutes on just muscle-up progressions. Using my feet on the box and shooting my head through. Did 30 of these. Next week I will start working on transitions while sitting on the floor. Only 20 days left for the Muscle-Up challenge!

Eating:
Day 4 of Whole30
Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs, 1 piece of canadian bacon
Post WOD: Progenex
Lunch: Left over Cabbage Stir Fry
Snack: Larabar
Dinner: Paleo/Whole30 stew. Yum!!!
Dessert: banana with almond butter and blueberries.

Need a rest day!

I am so excited that some of you have decided to join me in the Whole30 challenge. For me, this is day 4 and so far, so good. I think just knowing that I am not doing this alone makes it so much better!
As always, I will be posting what I eat, but if there is a meal that you would like the recipe to, just let me know. I love to share!
Today was a great day but I am whooped! I have always stuck pretty true to the 5 days on, 2 days off schedule. That just works best for me...most of the time. But what I have discovered over the past two weeks is that I can't do these heavy strength days and keep a 5 day on, 2 day off schedule. Today, I really felt like I was only at about 75%. How does this help me?
I have gone pretty hard this week and today I really felt it.
After doing my strength training Tuesday and then that heavy WOD yesterday, my back is smoked! It is still really tight from those heavy deadlifts yesterday, but it's not a "Oh my God I've hurt myself!" pain, it just needs a rest day!
We were supposed to do our best 500 meter row today and I just couldn't give it my all with my back so tight. My best time is right at 2:00. Today it was 2:15. I was just too sore! So, I am going to finish out this week and next week, I will be going to 3 days on 1 day off, 2 days on, 1 day off schedule and see how that works.

Today's WOD

Strength and Training
3 rounds
12 cleans (65% of 1RM=83lbs)
rest 30 seconds
max handstand hold

Today's WOD
"Annie"
50,40,30,20,10 reps
Double Unders
Situps
Score: 7:43 (PR by over a minute!)

I am pleased with my double unders during the WOD today, I only had to break up the 50 double unders, after that they were all unbroken. I still can't go fast on situps. The first round I was able to go hard, but after that, it was a struggle to keep the situps unbroken. I don't know why I can't go fast on the situps, but I guess I did go faster than last time, so I am happy with that.

This afternoon I went back up to the gym to work on Muscle-ups.
My coach took video of my muscle-up attempts and he is going to look at it at home and see if he can't figure out where I am getting stuck. He is as frustrated as I am. Have I mentioned that I have been working on these for over a year? This is getting a bit ridiculous!
I did about 10 attempts before becoming completely frustrated. I can get my hips way up there, above the rings actually. I can get my chest to the rings, but I can't get my head through. So...back to transition work. I spent the rest of the time working with my feet on a box and band assist. It's obviously my transition, but where exactly am I losing it? I have the transition when I do band assist, but that's it.
I think if I spend the next week off of the higher rings and just focus hard on the transition, I will see some progress.

Eating Today
Day 3 of the Whole30 challenge
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 piece of canadian bacon, black coffee
Post WOD: Progenex
Lunch: Left over Zucchini casserole (Left overs ROCK!) Unsweet tea
Snack: Lemon Larabar
Snack 2: Sea salted almonds and grapes
Dinner: Cabbage stir fry, frozen banana for dessert, unsweet tea

You Can't Hide Bad Nutrition

Well, I got "called out" today! It wasn't ugly, but it was honest. I was at the gym this morning setting up my bar for my first WOD, which was different from what was on the whiteboard. My friend Danny asked me, "Why aren't you doing the class WOD?"
I explained, "I am going to do that later today. Twice a week, I am going to do strength training in the morning and then do the WOD in the afternoon."
He asked,"What are you getting ready for?"
I told him, "Next year's Garage Games. I want to compete as Rxd this time and the only way I can do that is to get stronger." I went on to say, "I'm not sure how great I'm going to do today though. My stomach just doesn't feel right."
He asked, "How has your diet been?"
I said, "This weekend wasn't great with the diet"
He asked, "Well, when are you going to get back on track with your eating?"
"Well,..." I start to explain that I was at my dad's this weekend and blah blah and he cuts me off.
"No, that's not what I asked you. I asked, 'When are you going to get your eating back on track.'"
BUSTED!
Now this may seem a bit harsh to some of you, maybe not, but here is what Danny knows about me. He knows that this past February I did the Whole30, which is Paleo to the extreme. For 30 days, no grains, no wheat, no soy, no dairy, no alcohol and no sugar...of any kind, that includes honey, agave, maple syrup. This also means most condiments and salad dressings... NO SUGAR!
I did this and I DID NOT CHEAT! And I really liked the results. I leaned out, my recovery was better and my energy was much improved as well. I hit PR after PR. My times improved. My stamina was better and I felt great! I still didn't have that coveted washboard stomach, but I could actually see my top 3 abs (yes, lop sided! I've had 3 babies, what can I say?)
But here is the other truth of it...it's not fun, damn it! It just isn't. I know, I am whining but let me tell you another thing that I learned about food while on the Whole 30 challenge. Are you ready for it?
Sugar is a drug.
Hi, my name is Dawn and I am a sugarholic.
I do not say this to be funny. It's not.
Someone I love very, very much is a recovering alcoholic. I watched him endure rehab and struggle with his addiction and then finally take control of it. One of the most important things that has kept him sober is taking each day "One day at a time"
I honestly had to do this with sugar. The first week, my poor family, I was on sugar detox and I was not nice or very much fun to be around. I just wanted chocolate or a diet coke! The worst was that I missed my coffee. I loved it with Almond Milk and Agave (that's paleo, right?) But I drank it black and every morning I would ask my husband while looking into that black coffee, "WHY am I doing this? This is stupid! Nobody cares if I do this or not!" Then my coffee would start doing it's job at making me a nicer person and my day would get better from there.
And everyday of those first 2 weeks I would tell myself, "Just get through today". It was alarming to me and it made me angry that food had this much control over me!
Now don't get me wrong. I don't have an eating disorder. But when looking at a piece of cake, I should be able to say "no thank you" and move on. Not think about it for hours!
One night, I was talking with my "qualifier". I was only 7 days into the challenge at this time (rough waters) and he said, "You're addicted. That's all it is. Treat it as an addiction. Don't tempt yourself by keeping bad food in the house and just take it "One Day At a Time".
"But this isn't alcohol! It's sugar!"
Well, then I started researching this deeper and was pleased to find that it wasn't me just being over dramatic. Sugar is addicting and people do suffer withdrawals when taking it completely out of their diets.
Now the good news is that after about 9-10 days my sugar cravings were gone, along with all the withdrawals. I began to enjoy my coffee black (still do) and I was a much nicer person! When the end of the 30 days came, it was time for that special dessert, a Jim-N-Nicks lemon pie. One of my favorite desserts! I remember looking at that piece of pie and for the first time thinking, "I really don't want that."
But I had planned this cheat meal for 30 days! So I ate it. And it was good! And since then, I have battled going longer than 14 days pure paleo.
Can I do it? YES. I know this because I have already done it.
Is it fun? Aha, NO! and there we have it ladies and gentlemen, the truth of it. I LOVE SWEETS!
So, back to Danny. He knows, that I know all about which food is better to eat. I gave a class on it for crying out loud! I know what happens to my body when I eat bad food and what happens when I eat good food. And yet...I wasn't practicing what I preach.
Was he telling me I need to lose weight? Gosh no! This isn't about losing weight.
But he was calling me out on my training. If I want to compete, I HAVE to be just as serious with my eating.
Am I eating horrible. NO. Am I eating like a competitor? NO. And that is the point.
See, when I decided to do the Whole 30, it was because I was going to be giving a nutrition class and I wanted to be able to tell our athletes what the effects were. To be able to give them an honest opinion and to help them decide if this was the way to go. The positives and the negatives. I had a reason to be accountable. There was no way I was going to ask our athletes to try something that I hadn't tried. So I did it first. Accountability. That's what I need and that's why I am telling you this story.
Danny knew I needed accountability. That's why he said something. You can't hide bad nutrition and my performance today was a direct result of the bad eating I did over the weekend.
That's what friends are for. :)

So, today I started the Whole 30 challenge again. This time to prove to myself that I can do it for me, not just for the people in my gym. The only exception I am making is for my Progenex. I challenge you do this with me. You can feel free to fuss at me in my comments, I get it, but stick with it. If you are a CrossFitter, you know that CrossFit is about the "suck" as much as it is about the good stuff. We suffer the "suck" because the benefits make it so worth it. This challenge is worth it! It's only 30 days. If I can drink my coffee black for 30 days, you can too!

Strength WOD
All percentages are based on my 1 Rep Max for each lift
Deadlift: 128lbs 5reps, 153lbs 4reps, 173lbs 4reps x4
Hang Power Snatch: 43lbs 5 reps, 48lbs 4reps, 53lbs 4reps, 63lbs 4reps x2
Hang Power Clean: 73lbs 4reps, 83lbs 4reps x2
Push Press: 63lbs 5reps, 73lbs 5reps, 93lbs 5reps x3
Snatch Pull (off blocks): Find 1 RM -83lbs

Conditioning WOD
Practicing for Fight Gone Bad 6

12 minute AMRAP
15 Pushpress, 55lbs (1 round I loaded 65lbs by mistake!)
15 Wall Balls, 14lbs
15 Sumo Deadlift High Pull, 55lbs
15 Box Jumps
15 Burpees

2 Rounds + 35reps

Eating:
Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs, 2 cups black coffee
Post WOD: Progenex
Lunch: Paleo Chicken Salad
Snack: Grapes, Raisins and Larabar (over a period of 3 hours)
Dinner: Zucchini casserole (paleo)

Blond Moment! Yes, I am blond.

This will be a short blog because I am absolutely exhausted.
Today I did 105 58lb snatches. Here is why.
Today's WOD was "Randy" which is a hero WOD. I wrote it up on the board and got ready for my class. I knew it shouldn't take me long, so about 30 minutes before class, I glanced at the board, got my bar ready and set the clock. 3,2,1...go!
Man I was smoking! I looked up at the clock and couldn't believe I was almost done. 1:53!! DONE! I was laid out on the floor trying to get my breath back, when it occurred to me, this can't be right! "Randy" is a hero WOD. A hero WOD shouldn't be sub 2 minutes. What's up? So, I got up and went to check the HQ site for times on "Randy"
Have you figured out what I did? Yep! I only did 30 snatches. I wrote it down wrong. "Isabel" is 30 snatches at 85lbs. "Randy" is 75 snatches! Are you kidding me?! So, I waited about 30 minutes and did "Randy" again. All 75 snatches. My time was 7:05. But honestly, I don't feel like I can really count it, I know my time can be so much better. My first go at it, I did 30 snatches in 1:53. The second go round it took me 2:15 to do 30 snatches. Part of that is because I was still gassed, but mostly it was my head. All I could think was "Damn It! I just did these!"
So, that was my blond moment today.

Meals
Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs
Post WOD: Progenex
Lunch: Chicken Salad
Snack: 1/2 a hamburger patty, larabar
Dinner: Boston Butt, Butternut Squash

I wish cake went straight to my boobs!

It's Monday evening and I am really trying not to beat myself up! As I mentioned in my last blog, Friday was my husband's birthday and I had decided I would have my cheat meal that Friday night. I did and it was delicious! But here is where I always falter. Saturday came and I did really great! Until...Saturday night. Walking by that chocolate cake all day was torture. Everytime I had to get something in the kitchen, there it was, winking at me and talking dirty to me. I felt my will power slowly crumble as the day went on. That night after dinner, my husband gets out 4 plates for dessert. Upon seeing this I almost became angry. "Did you forget about me? WHY are there only 4 plates?!", I demanded. He just looks at me and says, "I thought you said you were going to be good for the rest of the weekend so I didn't want to tempt you." Poor guy. This was a lose lose situation! He was absolutely right and was trying to be supportive but guess who had cake and icecream along with everyone else...me! Willpower just walked out on me!
Then yesterday we went to visit some good friends of ours for the day. I knew it would be another cheat meal and I was ok with that, this day was about just having fun and visiting with friends. We had an awesome time!
But this is where I feel I failed. I knew yesterday would be a bunch of bad eating and having fun, so I should have been much, much better Saturday. It seems like everytime I try to plan my cheat meal, it tends to bleed into the rest of the weekend. If I am not careful, the next thing I know, I have eaten badly all week.
Am I trying to lose weight? NO! I feel I need to really stress this point. I AM NOT trying to lose weight. I am not on a diet. I am trying to change bad eating habits and make this a lifestyle change. What I am trying to do is improve my wellness, my fitness, my lifts, my strength, my stamina and my recovery time from WODs. Good nutrition is one of the most important parts of taking care of yourself. I know this but alas, I am human. But I feel that I need to be a good example for the people at my box, and this is where I really feel like I failed.
Today I was back on track and I am promising you, whoever you may be, and myself, that this coming holiday weekend I will kick my Willpowers ass and show it who is boss!

TODAYS WOD
5 Rounds
15, 135lbs deadlifts
15 Toes to Rings

Meals today
Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs
Post WOD: Progenex
Lunch: Hamburger Patty and spinache
Dinner: Fetacheese baked Chicken, cauliflower, broccoli

Even little boys need to take care of their hands!

As a CrossFit mom and I am very proud to say that my 3 boys CrossFit with me. My oldest son is not as into it as my other two boys, but for a kid with High Functioning Autism, I think he does really well! My youngest son, Jordan, went to CrossFit with me everyday this summer and everyday he would go straight to the bars or the rings. Needless to say, he can now do chin ups, dead hang pullups, skin the cats, toes to bar, ect. (Yes, I am soooo proud of him!) Over the past three weeks or so, he decided he wanted to learn how to kip. He would ask me to tape his hands and then he hit the bar. This video is from the other night. He doesn't have them strung together yet, but I am convinced you are looking at a future Rich Froning Jr.!
Right after this video was taken, we taped up his hands and I begin my strength WOD and he continued playing on the bars. A few minutes later, he walks up to me holding out both hands, "Mommy, I need a band-aid." It was about this time that the air hit his hands where he had ripped the callouses off both palms. "Honey, where is the tape that we just put on your hands?" I asked.
He starts jumping up and down now, fanning his hands and I take him to the bathroom to wash them. My heart is breaking for him because I know this water is really going to hurt! He was trying his very best not to cry as we cleaned hands. Again I asked, "What happened to the tape?" He said, "I took it off because it was slipping. Now I can't do anything!" he cried.
I said, "Jordan, the tape is for a purpose, not to make you look cool."
"Oh", he said.
So, he learned a valuable lesson. I have seen a lot of CrossFitters posting pictures of bloody hands and ripped callouses and I am guilty of it, too. But, I began to really think about it one day. Wouldn't we be wiser to ask ourselves the question, "Does this make me fitter or will this set me back?" I know for me, when I have ripped my hands, just taking a shower is a painful adventure. Fixing my hair? A nightmare! Going back the next day to do pullups...not good.
The first time an athlete at our box rips their first callous, I'll admit, we high five, take a picture and congratulate the "rite of passage" because, as any CrossFitter knows, it shows that persons determination not to quit. To fight through to the end of the WOD. BUT after this celebration is over, we then immediately discuss how to protect their hands from this point on. Why don't we discuss this before? We do. But until that person actually rips their hands, most of the time they feel it is too much trouble to tape up. And for some it is. There are several guys at our box that have never used tape and have never ripped their hands. I wish I knew how to do that!
So, we discuss hand care, from there it is up to them how they take care of their hands, but I know the last thing I want in our box is an open, bleeding wound. Can you say "staff infection?". My 11-year old had a staff infection last year from a small mosquito bite on his leg and it was very scary. Am I over cautious? Yep! Sorry.

Message today? TAPE YOUR HANDS!

Alright, today was supposed to be my 2-a-day, but I promised my kids that we would visit some friends this afternoon, (family first, always!) To make up for it, I did a double WOD this morning.
WOD1-Baseline: 500 meter row, 40 squats, 30 situps, 20 pushups, 10 pullups. time: 4:54. Not my best time, which is 4:15, but I had to break up the squats today. My legs are just smoked from this week.
WOD2 - 7 minute AMRAP. As many Ground to Overhead for total pounds. Choose your weight. I wanted this to be a strength WOD, so I went heavy...for me. I did 110lbs x 15reps. I realize this isn't heavy to most CrossFitters, which is exactly why I am working on strength. I just PR'd my 1 rep max on a clean and jerk last week at 133lbs, which is my bodyweight...110lbs is heavy for me at 15 reps. If you want to do this one but would like it to be more of a metcon, just use a lighter load. My friend Sherry did this WOD with 63lbs x 31reps.


Now, how about eating?
Well the Sugar Demon was held at bay today until I met my best friend to take the kids for Snow Biz. She is such a bad influence! :) I had 5 bites of butterbeer flavored ice. Yummy!
Breakfast: hardboiled eggs, 1 slice Canadian bacon
Post WOD: Progenex Recovery Drink
Lunch: left over Cabbage stir fry and half a hamburger patty
Snack: Lara Bar. Starbucks unsweetend Tazo Tea (mmmm)
Dinner: Stuffed Peppers (sub chopped spinach for the rice), dessert is an apple with almond butter and dried blueberries.
Until tomorrow, happy WODing. :)

Learn something new everyday

Yesterday I was reading another blog and came across this conditioning workout. I really liked it. It was:

40/30/20/10 calorie row

In between each row do 25 box jumps (20"box) and 25 Ab-Mat situps. Time- 18:11

This one wasn't a killer, just good ole' grunt work.

AND I did learn something new today as well.

This past Monday at our box, in prep for Fight Gone Bad 6 coming up, we rowed 1 minute for max calories. I rowed a whopping 16 calories! WTH? Honestly, at the time I wasn't worried about it. Yes, I will admit, it was a bit embarrassing that "Coach Dawn" had one of the lowest scores, but I chalked it up to where I was mentally-which was, I just didn't want to row.

But then today, my friend Allman came in and worked out with me. Yes, he is bigger and stronger than me but I was matching him row for row on the rower! Yet, he was just killing me! I would catch up with him during the box jumps and the situps but as soon as we started to row, he would just crush it again.

What. The. Hell!

So, after we were finished, yep, you guessed it! We rowed some more. I wanted to know how many strokes it took for each of us to get 10 calories. We both set the damper on 6 so that wouldn't be a factor. Results? It took him 16 strokes and it took me 21. All I could think was "This will NOT DO!"

So, he said, "let me coach the coach". Yes! Please do!

After watching me for a few minutes he made the suggestion that I adjust my foot straps. Really? Yes, really. That's all it was. Seriously. I never realized that made that much difference. I made the foot holder smaller (set to 2) and that bunched my legs up more, giving me a deeper reach on the row. The next 10 calorie row, I made it in 16 strokes. I did not kill myself, I just had better range of motion.

So, maybe as a coach I should already have known this. Maybe. Maybe not. I taught Art History for 4 years and always learned something new in every lecture. I believe the same is true for coaching. Whether it is learning something new about a movement, nutrition, recovery, or just something new about a member at our box. I am sponge and love to soak it up...unless it's math! Then just keep that to yourself!

Eating has been on track today, but I have been very hungry all day. So, I have been grazing on nuts, raisins and dried fruit. And grapes! I love grapes! But only the sweet ones (sugar demon alert!)

For now, I will keep posting all my meals, but you will soon discover, that for breakfast, it is the same thing almost everyday. I'm exciting like that!
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs with 1 piece of canadian bacon
Post WOD: Salmon, sweet potato (I get the sweet potato baby food, easy to carry and it's just sweet potatoes)
Lunch: left over sirloin and string green beans. Yes, I realize that these are technically legumes, but they are covered by so much green that they are "ok".
Snack: Larabar
Dinner: Cabbage stir fry- YUM! Made with Napa Cabbage, bacon, mushrooms, chicken, onions and topped with a little bit of feta cheese.

until tomorrow,
Happy WODing