Yeah. . .that’s going to hurt in the morning!

Okay, I’ll start with a quick update – I’m wrapping up day 26 of the Whole30 Program, and I feel absolutely fabulous! About the start of week 3, this way of eating began to just feel “normal” again, and it is no longer a hassle at all. I’m currently on another business trip, but staying Whole30 compliant on the road is even easier this time than it was the last! I cooked my dinners in advance, and cooked up a big batch of eggs for breakfasts. Once I arrived in Cleveland, I stopped at a Whole Foods and picked up Salad Fixings and Wild Planet Tuna for my lunches – and that’s it 🙂 Easy!

I’m planning on stretching my Whole30 into a Whole60 – that basically just means that I’m going to stay very strict for another 30 days with absolutely no deviations from 100% Whole Foods. After the 60 days is over, I may occasionally cook a pot roast in some red wine, or make a very rare decision to deviate slightly for a special occasion – but I don’t see any reason at all that I can’t maintain this way of eating for good! I’m finding that I don’t miss artificial sweetners or salad dressings at all. The smell of warm bagels doesn’t bother me in the slightest any more either! (And yes, my hubby is happy about that!!) The only lingering craving that I occasionally have is Ice Cream, but I can live with ignoring the occasional ice cream craving, and I’m assuming that these cravings will soon diminish as all of my other cravings have.

Okay, now to explain the picture and title of this post! As I mentioned, I’m on another business trip. I was super excited about this one because it would bring me through Cleveland! I’m a huge fan of Kate Rawlings, and knew that she coached morning WODs at CrossFit Cleveland, so I was oh so very excited about getting to attend one of her classes! I showed up this morning at CF Cleveland to find this on the board:

400 Meter Walking Lunges – For Time

Anyone that has not personally experienced this work out first hand would probably look at this and think “wow – that’s not bad at all”. . . and they’d be DEAD WRONG! You see, I’ve done this one before . . . twice. And each time I remember clear as day the agony that I was in 48 hours after completing this WOD. The workout itself hurts enough – but it’s the after-effects that REALLY kick your butt!

I know from experience – The 2-3 days immediately following this workout are pure torture. Each time I’ve done it before, I’ve found new muscles in my legs that I never knew I had before – and they screamed bloody murder at me for two days straight in an attempt to convince me to NEVER put them through that again. . . I guess I just don’t learn!

So I looked up at the board and said “Well, Crap!” You see, I usually work remotely from my home office, and spend my days in sneakers or flip flops, so having insanely sore legs would be bad enough under normal circumstances. . . . But it just so happens that I’m on a business trip, and will be wearing skirts and high heels for the next three days – Doh!

Picture if you will a baby giraffe that just learned how to walk – and then put it in roller skates. I think that’s about what I’m going to look like attempting to walk tomorrow!

As much as I’ve whined about it though – I really do like this workout. I’ve got pretty long legs, and great stamina, so I’m able to take long lunges, keep a steady pace, and do the full 400 meters without pausing for a rest, which makes for a great time 🙂 I finished this morning in 8’32” which is a PR for me by about a full minute!

But much to my dismay, my legs started complaining within minutes of finishing. I was standing there chatting with Kate about the cool-down exercise when suddenly my left but cheek decided it was going to have the spasm of it’s life. I literally let out a little yelp , screamed BUTT CRAMP!, and crumpled to the floor – talk about embarassing! And not a good omen of things to come!

I took all of the precautionary measures that I could – I stretched REALLY GOOD after the workout – and then again around noon. This evening I did my Olympic Lifting Programming at CrossFit Nasti in Cincinnati (which helped to loosen my legs up some more), and then stretched yet again. All I can do at this point is continue to stretch, stay well hydrated, and hope that I’ll be able to get out of bed in the morning – wish me luck 🙂

I also want to take a quick moment to thank Kate and the morning crew at CrossFit Cleveland for making me feel welcome this morning – I really enjoyed working out w/ you guys – even though my legs will be complaining for days!

I also want to thank Stephen and Brent of CrossFit Nasti for letting me borrow a platform in their gym this evening so that I could get my Olympic Lifting in – they graciously welcomed me as part of their “extended family” as well 🙂