Category: CrossFit & Weightlifting

I’ve Got My Routine Back!

Hello World – It’s nice to see you again 🙂

Yes, I’m alive and well – but I have been MIA from my blog for a few months, and I would like to offer a sincere apology to anyone who had been following my posts. I initially planned on taking only a week away, but a week turned into two, and then three . . and now here I am 3 months later – embarrassed and apologetic.

I don’t plan on going into a lot of detail in my blog posts regarding the reason for my absence, but I will be brutally honest: Over the last few months, I have made some less-than-stellar food and fitness choices. I won’t make excuses for why this happened – regardless of extenuating circumstances, I am responsible for the choices that I made.

On to the GOOD news: I’m 100% back on track and feeling awesome! I’m reminded once again that we sometimes don’t realize how much our bodies are affected by our bad food choices until we eliminate them, and then: SHA-BANG!! It feels A-Mazing to have a “clean” body again! I didn’t realize how bad my body felt until it didn’t feel bad anymore . . does that even make any sense? It may not if you’ve never experienced it – but I think anyone who’s done a Whole30 can relate.

I learned several lessons from my mistakes during my little hiatus, and will gladly share these with the world with the hopes that I can help one person avoid having to learn these lessons the hard way.

Lesson Learned #1: I am a Creature of Habit, and I love having a routine!

I think that a lot of us are creatures of habit. If you’ve done a Whole30 before, I’m sure that you will agree – the first week is rough because you’re not used to prepping all that food. You’re used to the convenience of Grab-and-Go Processed foods, and your cravings really kick in when you suddenly realize that it’s lunch time, and you don’t have anything already prepped – Am I Right?

By the end of a Whole30, a lot of people describe the last week as being “fairly easy” and finally feeling “normal”. This is because they have learned to set time aside to prepare meals, and always have something on hand prepped in advanced that they can eat in a pinch. Setting time aside to cook is no longer a chore, but just simply part of the day-to-day routine.

But some people fall off the wagon, and then find it very hard to get back on because they lose that “routine”. Once I got out of the habit of cooking breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, it seemed like such a CHORE! I was tired, and Subway was easy – I would cook tomorrow night. This soon became my mantra nearly every night.

The same thing went for my workouts. Once I got out of the habit of going to bed by 9:15 and getting up at 5 to go work out, I forgot how to do it! Suddenly, I was staying up till 11:30 every night, and getting up with just enough time to shower and get to work. Once I broke my routine, it was really, really, really hard to fix it again!

This time around, I had to sit down and pencil out my schedule for the first week. I wrote in my work hours, grocery shopping times, meal prep times, workout times, and my going to bed and waking up times. I had to FORCE myself to stick to this plan for the first few days, and it was aweful! But now it’s feeling “normal” again, and I love it. I’m back to the point of wondering why I ever lost this routine in the first place, because it feels so darn good 🙂 Starting a new routine (or getting back to one that’s been abandoned for a while) is never easy, but once it’s established, boy does it feel great!

Little Victories are the BEST!

Little Victories – I’ll Take ’em!!

I just had to share. I’m currently sitting on top of Cloud 9 as a result of a workout for the first time in a LONG TIME!

Tonight’s WOD:

“Erin”
15 DB Split Cleans (Female RX 25 lb DBs)
21 Pullups

5 RFT

I know that I’ve done this WOD before, but I refuse to look at my previous time. I’m sure I finished much slower than before “It”, but I’m only concerned with doing my best in the moment with what I’ve got to give right now.

Before the workout, I was just hoping to make it through the whole thing w/o having to go to a band. My pullup performance has decreased a lot recently and I’ve found that in workouts with more than about 50 pullups, I can only get about 1-2 in a row towards the end w/o having to fall off the bar in between. At that rate, I’d be better off using a band and stringing more together.

Tonight, I DID make it through the whole thing RX.

And the BEST part of it was that I was able to string between 5 – 8 pullups together all the way through the end of the workout! I never got less than 5 in a row – THAT is progress, and I’ll take it. Official time was 21:16.

The Little Victories, after such a long time spent going down hill, feel pretty freakin good.

Okay – Vacation’s Over!

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I know I’ve been MIA again for a bit, but it’s been for good reason this time 🙂

My husband and I recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary a few months early with a vacation to Jamaica. I didn’t post anything about it ahead of time because I try to be “smart” about the kinds of personal info that I put out there for the world to see. . .:)

Anyway, we spent an amazing 10 days in Jamaica from November 13th through the 21st. We stayed at an all inclusive resort, and I made the concious decision ahead of time that I would try to make the majority of my meals Paleo Compliant, but would allow myself a few desserts and sugary frozen drinks. I also decided that I would workout most of the days of vacation because I actually ENJOY working out, and it’s not a “chore”.:)

Vacation was AWESOME, and I did stick to my plan for the most part. Most of my meals were made up of only lean meats, fresh veggies, and delicious fresh fruits. I wasn’t as careful about sauces and seasonings as I would typically be at home, but I did avoid any sauces/seasonings that were obviously cream or milk based or overly processed. Most everything on all of the menus was comprised of WHOLE FOODS and it was very yummy. I never had a problem asking for veggies to be subbed for starchy carb sides.:)

Where I went off-track a little bit was on the desserts. . . . yikes. I had slayed my sugar demons back in August but I woke them up with a VENGENCE on vacation! I found myself eating desserts (albeit small ones) after almost every lunch and dinner. . . so while the actual MEAL was Whole and Natural. . . the desserts were most definitely not!:)

As I said earlier, I had already planned on eating a few desserts, so I didn’t beat myself up over this stuff (even though I ate considerably more desserts thant I had planned). I truly believe that you have to live your life to the fullest. I made a very personal decision to stray from my typical eating habits while on vacation, and I did this guilt-free. . . although I do have to say that my digestive track gave me a hard time over it! I had planned to do another Whole30 round starting the day that we returned from vacation in order to put a stop to the sugar cravings that I would have undoutedly re-awakened, and get myself back on the right track. (More on this in a moment!):)

As for drinks, I did drink a ton of water, but also drank my fair share of drinks with various liquors and fruit juices. . . I’ll leave it at that.:)

As for working out – I did work out the first 5 mornings of our trip and it was AWESOME! Burpees on the beach in Jamaica suck just as much as burpees in the back yard – but the scenery was a heck of a lot better! By the end of the vacation though, I found myself staying up later, drinking a bit more at night, and failing to drag my lazy butt out of bed . . .I didn’t officially “work out” the last 3 days, however I did play 3-5 agressive games of beach volleyball daily, so that’s got to count for something! :):)

The day before we left my hubby and I started feeling a little bit icky, and by the time we got home we had come down with a full fledged case of the flu. And this is the Flu that would just not die! We were sick as dogs from the 22nd through the 27th. . . we’re both just starting to feel human again today.

As I mentioned earlier, I had planned on going back to strict Paleo the day we returned home, but the Flu threw a wrench in my plans. I’m guilty of “justifying” an extra week of junk eating with “rational thoughts”. Looking back it was stupid and I probably would have recovered more quickly on a diet of whole, natural foods . . . but my “justification” was that I felt like crap and was running a 102 degree fever and couldn’t even contemplate drumming up the energy to go grocery shopping and prepping a bunch of food. So I picked up a ton of soup, a turkey, and **gulp** some ice cream (for our sore throats . . .some justification, huh?) Not exactly “Whole” foods. . .

So here I sit after 10 days in Jamaica of splurging, and then another 7 days at home eating “sick” foods that were most definitely not Paleo. . . and I feel nasty inside. And not from the flu!

Of course the fact that I’ve been entirely too sick to work out for the last week doesn’t help matters either!

But it’s time to put down my foot and say enough is enough!

I’m starting another Whole30 on Monday Morning (yes, tomorrow!) – and can’t wait! I am aware that this will take me through Christmas, but I’m A-Okay with that 🙂 I’m actually looking forward to preparing a Whole30 compliant Christmas dinner to show my hubby that it CAN be done!

If anyone wants to start on Monday with me, let me know, and we can help keep each other accountable 😉

Oh, and here’s proof of those burpees on the beach:

Two Weekends of Fun!

The last two weekends have been full of athletic adventures – and SO much fun!

Saturday, October 9th a bunch of friends and I traveled to Houston to compete in the Oktoberfest Obliteration II CrossFit Competition – What a Blast!

Sunday, October 17th, several of us ran in the Harbor Half Marathon right here in Portland – which ended up being a lot of fun as well!

I’ve summarized my experiences at both events below:

Oktoberfest Obliteration II

This was CrossFit Competition at it’s absolute best. The organizers of this event (CrossFit Champions) did an amazing job of putting it all together. The programming and organization of the entire event couldn’t possibly have been any more perfect.

I competed in the Standard Women’s Division – I won’t spell out all of the details of the WODs (you can check out the link for that), but I have to say that when they were announced, I was THRILLED to find that there were no gymnastics movements! After my initial elation though, I started looking at them a little more closely, and realized that there were HEAVY squat cleans in one of the WODS – I love Oly Lifting – so I had been initially thrilled to see Squat Cleans. . . . but then I realized that they were set at 125 lbs and my current 1RM Front Squat is 130! Ruh Roh.

The good news (for me anyway) was that the heavy Squat Cleans were in the first WOD of the day, so I was able to get that one over with, and then stop worrying about it!

I did the best that I could – there was a little strategy involved with this WOD – I knocked out all of the other required movements (KB Swings and Runs) first before starting my Cleans. I started my Cleans with about 5 minutes remaining . . and tried. . . . and tried. . . . and tried some more to squat clean that weight! After a few failed attempts, I decided to Power Clean it, and then Front Squat it (also acceptable). I power cleaned it without too much trouble several times, but kept failing at the bottom of my Front Squat. When the whistle blew to signal that the allotted time was up, I hadn’t completed a single full Squat Clean. And you know what? I was totally okay with it!

Was I frustrated that I had DNF’d a WOD at competition? Sure.

A little embarrassed that I hadn’t gotten a single rep of the Cleans? Yep.

But did I walk away knowing that I had given everything that I possibly could have of myself during the WOD? Yes I did – and THAT is why I was A-OKAY with the DNF – there was not a single thing that I could have done differently to change the outcome – and I know with all of my heart that I left it all “on the court”. . . so I had no problem walking off the blacktop with my head held high and mentally preparing myeslf for the remaining WODS of the day.

Lesson Learned: I need to continue to focus on building strength, and never, ever, ever skip a squat day! 🙂

The rest of the day went great – I saw some absolutely amazing performances by good friends and strangers alike and left at the end off the day feeling inspired by those performances. And also motivated to continue to work hard on my own performance!

That’s the thing that I love about attending CrossFit Competitions – no matter what level I am at, I will always find inspiration in those competing around and with me. It’s just so amazing to watch someone push themselves to their limit, and then keep on pushing. And the look of satisfaction on a person’s face when they’ve finished a WOD and know beyond a doubt that they gave it their all and dug deeper than they realized that they could – that is more inspirational, uplifting, and motivational than words can describe.

Harbor Half Marathon

I found out the weekend of Oktoberfest Obliteration that a fellow CrossFitter and friend of mine was running the Harbor Half Relay marathon the following weekeend, but needed a Relay Race Partner. Let me state for the record here, that I am NOT A RUNNER!! . . however this race did sound like a lot of fun, so I told her that if she was unable to find another partner (who actually WAS a runner!), then I’d run it with her.

I’ll be dead honest here – I was initially dreading it and praying that someone else would want to run it . . . but then a few days before the race when I realized that it was probably going to be me, I started to look forward to the challenge of it! I hadn’t run more than 3 miles in a single session in at least 2 years (and probably double that). . . so the thought of running 6.5 miles was both terrifying and tempting at the same time. In the end, I decided to use this opportunity to prove to myself that I was capable of more than I thought I was – and that I really could push past the 3 mile mark if I put mind over matter. I didn’t want to let my friend down, and I figured if nothing else, that thought would be enough to keep me moving forward.

I have several friends that are runners – and any of you reading this are probably laughing. I realize that 6.5 miles to “a runner” is nothing. It would probably be the equivalent of me squatting 90 lbs . . it takes a little effort, but it’s not really “hard”. To a “non-runner” though, 6.5 miles is very intimidating! Especially when you throw trekking up the Harbor Bridge into the mix!

Sunday morning 5am rolled around, and I found myself waking up to my alarm actually excited (Suprise!)

My Relay Partner and I met before the race and psyched each other up, and then it was “off to the races” . . . literally!

I ran the second leg . When she passed off to me, I just started at a nice easy pace, and did my best to maintain it. I think this must have been the trick. Before I realized it, I was coming up on the bridge and realized that I’d already covered about 4.5 out of my 6.5 miles! I guess that’s when the runner’s high kicked in because I just zoned back out and before I realized it was crossing the finish line . . and thinking to myself “Wow – I can’t believe I just did that!”

I’ll be honest – I don’t think either of us gave a second thought as to our placement at the start of the race – My goal was just to run the full 6.5 without slowing to a walk. One foot in front of the other at least at a jog, and I’d be happy. Turns out that we finished in 15th place out the 100 Female Only teams that ran! I was so proud of us! And happy to have a friend that was willing to push me outside of my comfort zone 🙂

Lesson Learned: Sometimes, just convincing myself that I’m capable of something is enough to make it true! I think that if we could just get our heads out of the way half of the time, we’d be capable of a lot more than we give ourselves credit for!

Oh, and I still don’t consider myself “A Runner”, but I did have a heck of a good time, mostly due to great company and re-connecting with several friends that I hadn’t seen in too long. And who knows? Maybe after my stregnth building cycle is over with, I’ll start running just a little more often. . it was suprisingly relaxing to zone out to my I-pod and let my legs just go.

Update on my Paleo Progress

I know I’ve been neglecting my blog again, so it’s time for another update –

I’ve stayed strict Paleo with very few exceptions since the end of July when I began my Whole30 journey. I found that this kind of nutrition just “works” perfectly for me, and I don’t want to mess with a good thing! The only exceptions that I have made:

  • I have made an absolutely “to-die-for” marinara sauce from scratch and used a little bit of red wine in the recipe. I wanted to see if I felt any ill-effects from it, and fortunately I did not – and the sauce was AMAZING!! I served it over some calamari, steamed shrimp, broccoli, and kelp noodles. . YUM! So I’m going to allow myself to use a little wine for cooking from time to time going forward. This isn’t going to be a daily thing, but more like a “once=or-twice-a-month” kind of thing. Of course this wouldn’t be condoned during a Whole 30 stint, but I’m in “maintenance mode” at this point 🙂

  • A week or so after cooking with red wine, I decided to have one glass with dinner. I nice medium-rare grass fed steak paired perectly with a glass of Merlot. I had only one glass, and had no desire to go back for a second or third glass – it just served as a great complement to an awesome dinner. Again, I felt no ill-effects that evening or the next day, so I have decided to allow myself the occasional glass of red wine with dinner – but again, this will not be a regular thing – only once every month or so as a special treat.
  • I competed in Oktoberfest Obliteration II at CrossFit Champions this last weekend. I had been perectly strict with no cheats whatsoever other then the wine mentioned above up to this point, so I decided a few weeks ago that I would treat myself to a frozen yogurt after the competition. They have an awesome Frozen Yogurt chain called “FreshBerry” in Houston, and a girlfriend and I swung in after a grueling day of competition. I ordered a regular size yogurt w/ shredded unsweetened coconut as a topping. . . and it was just what the Dr. ordered! My tummy was admittedly a little upset for the rest of the evening – no doubt due to the re-introduction of dairy. As a result I do not plan to indulge in frozen yogurt on a regular basis – maybe just once or twice a year as a special treat. . .

  • Lastly – over the weekend, my hubby baked some sugar cookies. . . they smelled SO GOOD and I managed to resist them all weekend long. . but had a moment of weakness this morning and decided I would have just one. . . Oh My Goodness. . . NEVER AGAIN!!! Gluten is definitely something that I do not have any desire to re-introduce into my diet, even as an occasional treat. My stomach has been screaming at me ALL DAY LONG – I’ve literally been doubled over in agony several times. Lesson Learned though! And the good news is that I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to eat any more of those darn things, and now fully remember why I cut that stuff out of my diet in the first place!

So since I did a “Whole60” from July 29th – September 29th, with the exception of the Edamame slip-up around day 28. After 60 days of 100% compliance, I’ve “tested the waters” just a few times (listed above) to see what does and does not affect me negatively. I’ve found that I can cook with wine occasionally, or have a glass with dinner from time to time but don’t plan to make a habit of it – I’ll only splurge here occasionally as a special treat byt outside of this I plan to pretty much stick to Whole30 principles for my day-to-day life.

So how has the last 75-ish days of Paleolithic nutrition affected me?

Mentally, I feel clearer and more “in tune” than I have in ages. I’m leaner than I’ve been in a long time, and my performance has finally started to come back up in the gym. I did have the complicating factor of some thyroid issues that I’m still working to resolve, and this has affected my energy levels, stamina, and recovery ability however I feel like all of these would be even worse than they are if I hadn’t jumped back on the “Paleo Wagon” when I did.

I plan to continue to work to build my strength by focusing on the Strength Programming that Coach Wilkes has provided and limiting my MetCon. Once I have built up some more strength, I’ll gradually add a little more MetCon back in to my routine.

Patience is a Virtue. . .

For someone with my personality, patience is one of the things I struggle with the most. Not patience with others, but more patience when waiting for things to happen or in this case, waiting for injuries to heal. I want to get back in the game ASAP even though logic is telling me that I need to take it easy for a few days. . .

On Tuesday I was doing a WOD that involved a lot of Hang Power Snatches at 65 lbs. To me, this weight felt heavy, but definitely not unmanagable. Unfortunately though, as fatigue set in I started to let my form slip and as a result I tweaked a muscle in my back on one of the very last reps. Throughout the rest of the day my back got tighter and tigher as it continued to spasm every time I’d move a certain way, so I decided to give it a few days off. I’ve been keeping ice on it taking anti-inflammatories to help with the swelling. It’s feeling much better, but not quite 100% just yet.

The “smart/logical” side of my brain is telling me that I need to just chill out for a few more days and let it heal completely before resuming my training. I know that if I go back too soon I will prolong the healing time and it could turn into a nagging injury that holds me back for months. Unfortunately, the “other” side of my brain is less logical and feels like I’m losing ground every single day that I don’t train!
Fortunately my wonderful husband is my voice of reason, and every time I say “well maybe I’ll just do something light” he threatens to chain me to the furniture and reminds me that I will make a lot more progress if I wait just another few days and go back at it when I’m 100%.

So good luck to all the CrossFitters out there doing Fight Gone Bad today! I’ll be cheering you on from my couch . . . patiently!

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 🙂

Working My Weaknesses. . .

THIS is what I felt like today when trying to deadlift a measly 195 lbs for 3 unbroken reps. . . .

I know that deadlifts are one of my weaknesses – In fact they are my weakest lift and when compared with my other numbers, my deadlift number is ridiculously low. I also know that I should work on the things that need improvement. . . but for some unknown reason. . .

I. . HATE. . DEADLIFTS!

I think part of it is the slam to my ego that I get every time that I do them in a group setting – watching other CrossFitters pick up considerably more than me and make it look easy is frustrating! Don’t get me wrong – I love to see other people succeed (Really, I do!), it’s just a bit disheartening to watch someone else do something so easily that I struggle with so much.

It’s only common sense that I won’t get better at something unless I practice it – but it’s so hard to practice things that I’m bad at when working on things that I’m good at is so much more fulfilling!

The cold hard truth is that if I ever want to have a prayer of picking up more weight, I’ve got to start working on my DL form and technique – so I’ll suck up the ego to make way for progress 🙂

Right now, I dedicate my Saturday’s to “active rest” where I spend about an hour doing skill work on the areas that need improvement, like HSPU Progressions, Ring Dip Work, L-Sits, etc. Somehow I think adding deadlifts to that list would eliminate the “rest” part of the active rest though, so I will have to find another way (i.e. ask Coach Wilkes!) to work them into my programming more frequently. But I will get them in, and I will improve . . . time to STOP ignoring my biggest weakness just because I don’t like working on it!

Fighting the Temptation to Overtrain

Anyone that knows me personally knows that I have a Type A++ personality! I’ve never been afraid of working hard toward a goal, and once I have my mind set on something, I’m willing to do everything in my power to make it happen, regardless of the amount of work required. I can also be very hard on myself – I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my own successes and failures.

I think that this is one of the reasons that I love the CrossFit Community so much – I have found in my experience that A LOT of CrossFitters have Type A personalities just like me – so I fit in pretty well within the community 🙂 This makes me wonder though if others have to consciously work to “hold themselves back” to prevent overtraining . . . let me explain:

Overtraining occurs when the volume and intensity of exercise exceeds a person’s recovery capacity (Mondey). In other words, when we don’t give our bodies enough time to heal (a.k.a. RECOVER) after a workout, we risk suffering from overtraining. Symptoms of overtraining can vary from fatigue, irritability, and loss of motivation to constant muscle soreness, recurring sickness, reduced work capacity, and increased incidence of injuries.

So why does overtraining occur if everyone knows about it and its negative symptoms??

  • I don’t know about every one else, but I find that when I set my mind on a goal (either short term like mastering Hand Stand Pushups, Ring dips, a Snatch PR. . . or long term like competing at an Oly Lifting tournament or qualifying for the CF Games), I tend to let my Type A personality take over. A little devil on my shoulder tells me that if I train harder, longer, and heavier – I’ll reach my goals faster. I mean, in the other areas of my life harder work = faster/better results, so why wouldn’t this carry over to my training to, right? WRONG. (Or so I’ve been told by some very wise people who are trying to help me reach my goals . . . )

  • I’ve also found that chronic lack of proper nutrition can lead to overtraining symptoms for me, even if my training level hasn’t increased much. This is because when I’m eating poorly, I’m not giving my body the fuel that it needs to repair itself and get stronger after intense exercise. So it doesn’t heal as fast as it normally does when I’m giving it the right “fuel”. As a result, even though I’m not exercising more frequently, my body isn’t able to fully recover from an exercise session before I start the next one because of the lack of fuel, and as a result, I begin to see overtraining symptoms creep back in.

  • Finally, for me at least, exercise is addictive. The rush of endorphins that I get when working out is amazing, and I’m almost always left feeling a little bit euphoric after a Lifting Session or CF workout. Add to that the awesome feeling of accomplishment that I get when I am hitting PR’s, and it’s like my “happy drug”! It’s human nature to do things that make us feel good, so as a result I can sometimes go “of the deep-end” with a few to many 2-a-days. . .

You may ask why I’m writing this if I already have it “figured out”. . . well that’s the thing – I know about the dangers of overtraining, but recently I’ve found myself doing it yet again.

It started out with little things – like it’s a rest day, but there’s an awesome WOD on the board, so I say to myself “I can’t miss THIS one”, and do it anyway. . . after doing this a few times, I started to notice the fatigue and chronic muscle soreness creeping back in. So “Smart/Logical Christie” had to pull “Type A Just-Do-It Christie” into a corner and talk some sense into her head. . .

The fact of the matter is that we’re all capable of overtraining, regardless of our fitness levels. My husband refuses to CrossFit because he says he sees too many people getting hurt and putting themselves out for months at a time with injuries – and he says that several people that he works with feel the same way. And really, he has a point. . . . I do see a lot of injuries in CrossFitters at all levels, but I don’t think it’s actually CrossFit that is causing these injuries – I think it’s a bunch of Type A personalities like mine that are addicted to success and progress, and think that the harder that they push themselves, the more results they’ll see. . . again . . . WRONG.

One of the symptoms of overtraining is increased frequency of injuries. If we don’t give our bodies a chance to heal themselves in between workouts, they are going to start breaking down eventually. . and we begin to see injuries occur more and more often. It’s my personal opinion that the perception of CrossFit being “dangerous” comes more from people who injure themselves as a result of overtraining than it does from the type of training that we do. If we went into every workout fully recovered, I think we’d see a lot less injuries, and as a result more progress. . . . Of course, this is referring to our every-day training, and not competitions – occasional 2 or 3 a days in a competitive atmosphere are great – as long as full recovery time is given after the fact, and our every day training doesn’t become a string of 2-a-days.

So the moral of the story is – in some cases – less IS more. Reduced training frequency (more recovery time) can and will lead to better and faster results for someone who has regularly over trained in the past. Listen to your body – and if it’s screaming for a rest day – give it one

I’m in Love

I’M IN LOVE!!!

With Olympic Lifting that is. . . .
So tonight was my first backyard session in a loooong time with my trusty ‘ol barbell and bumper plates. I started back with the programming from Coach Wilkes I was using before my hiatus.

Tonight’s Workout (Day 1):

  • 20 sets of 1 rep Snatches at 70% of my max
  • 15 set of 1 rep C&J’s at 70% of my max
  • Full recovery (i.e. – sit my ass down!) between each rep

I was really tired when I got off of work, but knew I would feel better once I got outside, so I sucked it up, changed into my w/o clothes, and headed out into the 95 degree sun on my back porch. I put on some Breaking Benjamins and Puddle of Mud, and started warming up w/ some double unders, some PVC work, and the Burgenger Warmup.
I wish I could put into words the feeling of euphoria that came over me as I picked up the barbell for my first lift. I honestly can’t even explained it. It was as though all the world was right, and this is exactly where I was supposed to be, and the bar felt great in my hands, and the ground solid under my feet.
As I went into my first lift, the bar literally jumped up over my head, I hit full squat depth, and stood up with a solid core – and thought to myself “Oh hell yeah. . . . this feels good!!” The thud of the bar hitting the ground as I dropped it brought back feelings & memories of PR’s and progress. . . such a great feeling.
As I continued my snatches, I concentrated on proper form, a good pull, full depth, and a tight core. It just felt SO GOOD to lift like this again. I got an adrenaline high that I’m still coming down from, and I just wanted to lift and lift and lift forever. . . .
But all good things must come to an end . . . My Clean & Jerks felt just as wonderful, and as I finished the last one, I smiled. The smile grew to a Cheshire Cat Grin, which is still plastered to my face an hour later.
I can’t believe I ever let myself get pulled away from this routine – it feels so good, and there is absolutely no turning back, and no more excuses from here on out.
While I’m on the topic of workouts, I’ll mention the results of this morning’s WOD as well. It incorporated plenty of my weaknesses!
Today’s WOD: “Mary Poppins”
As Many Rounds as Possible in 20 minutes of:

  • 10 Ring Dips
  • 10 Pistols
  • 200 meter run

I scaled this WOD, as my ring dips are still very, very weak, and I can’t do more than one or two pistols at a time RX. I used 1/2 of the red (smallest) resistance band for the Ring Dips, and held onto a ring (as little as possible) as I did my Pistols.
Total Rounds Completed: 6
Hope everyone reading this has a great weekend! I’m planning an early morning visit to the Farmer’s Market tomorrow to stock up on goodies 🙂

Feeling (Suprisingly!) GREAT

Yesterday began my Whole30 journey, and I am honestly suprised to say that I made it through Day 1 without any trouble whatsoever!

I was expecting at least a mild headache, some fatigue, and maddening hunger/cravings, but I really didn’t experience any of this. I think that having all of my food prepped and ready made a huge difference, because there was absolutely no stressing over “what am I going to eat next”.

Breakfast was a huge omlet w/ tons of veggies & avocado, and also my own personal version of “fruit salad” with a few strawberries, blueberries, 1/4 peach, some Organic Unsweetened coconut flakes, a few walnuts, and a little bit of coconut milk. YUM!! This breakfast filled me up, but I didn’t feel that icky bloated/stuffed/cranky/guilty feeling that I have been experiencing all to often lately after breakfasts of donut holes or some other sugary nightmare.

I was absolutely shocked to look up at the clock at 1:00 and realize that I hadn’t had any mid-morning crashes or sugar cravings! I fixed a huge salad w/ baby spinach, avocado, HB Egg, Jicama, red beets, carrots, onions, cucumbers and Wild Planet Albacore for lunch. I didn’t even need any dressing b/c the brand of tuna that I use is cooked in it’s own juices in the can, and was moist enough that I didn’t even miss a salad dressing!

Mid-Afternoon (around 4pm), I snacked on a handful of almonds, a few slices of Jicama, and 1/2 of a clementine – and then headed off to help out w/ CF classes from 4:30 – 7:30pm.

At this point in the day, I hadn’t had a single craving, no hunger pangs, and had plenty of enerygy to spare!

I did have a slight “zone-out” session/drop in energy around 6pm while at the gym, but it passed fairly quickly and wasn’t bad at all – I may not have even noticed it except that a member started pointing at me from across the gym, waved at me, and said “you okay over there Christie”? – which made me realized that I had kinda zoned out and was just staring into space a little .. . oops!

At home after classes, I had some grilled chicken and roasted brussel sprouts sprinkled w/ olive oil, black pepper, sea salt, and a little cayanne pepper. I had cooked the frozen Tyson chicken breasts with no added seasoning, and while it tasted great, I was suprised to find that it was really, really salty! I guess a day without added salt had already woken my taste buds up a little bit. I am going to try to go for the “all natural” chicken in the future and avoid the pre-frozen stuff that has a sodium solution – it was just too much salt. I think I used a touch too much sea salt on my brussel sprouts too – they tasted great, but my fingers were a little swollen when I woke up this morning.

Yesterday was a “rest day” at the gym, so no pre or post workout nutrition.

My legs were REALLY sore yesterday from the previous day’s workout, so I was thankfull for the rest day!

I turned in about 9:30 last night, and slept like a baby until my alarm went off this morning at 4:45.

I’ll summarize Day 2 (today’s) WOD and such in a post tomorrow morning.

Right now (7:30am, morning of day 2), I’m feeling absolutely awesome! Although I’m a little full from my post-workout sweet potatoes/turkey (think I’ll cut down the portion tomorrow). I’m really looking forward to my first Oly Lifting session in ages tonight when I get off of work!!

Yay Snatches!

Whole30 – Here I Come!

Yes, I’m back after a long hiatus from blogging. . .

Long story short: I fell off the Paleo Wagon big time, and my Oly Lifting has suffered as well over the last 3 months because of a lot of unexpected business travel, making it difficult to find locations that would let me do my “own thing” during an Open Gym time.

No Excuses, and I’m right back up on the wagon. . . I just hope Coach Wilkes will take me back. . I’ve literally fallen off the face of the planet . . .

So I have a two-part game plan to address both nutrition and training.

Part One: Nutrition

I’m jumping back in head-first, no excuses, and balls-to-the-wall Nazi-style hard core Paleo! I saw such great results when following a Paleo nutrition plan previously, that it blows my mind that I ever stopped. . .but the past is the past!

I started the Whole30 Plan today, as detailed by Melissa Urban and Dallas Hartwig on their website: http://www.whole9life.com/

Basically, this means 30 days of Paleo, but stricter than I’ve ever gone before. I’ll also be cutting out all artificial sweetners and Protein Powders. Nothing but whole, natural food for the next 30 days. . . and then some.

While this is a 30 day program, I fully plan to continue past the 30 days. I know that I’ve done a ton of damage to myself over the last 4-5 months by pigging out on Junk Food, Fast Food, and Sugar. . . I am using this 30 day program to spring-board me back into the “routine” of eating right, and plan to continue the lifestyle at the end of the 30 days. I’ll be posting regular updates here througout the month.

I have learned my lesson in the past about just “jumping into something” w/o preparing first, so I made sure to fully stock my fridge and prep most of my food last night, so that there will be no moments of “Crap – there’s nothing to eat”!

I’ve chopped up and bagged Fresh: Broccoli, Kale, Collard Greens, Brussel Sprouts, Zucchini & Squash, Scallions, Jicama, Artichokes, and Spinach

I’ve cooked & portioned: Sweet Potatoes (for post-workout), Lean Ground Turkey (to mix in w/ my SP Post Workout – YUM!!), HB Eggs & Red Beets (for salads)

I’ve stocked up on Avocadoes, Olive Oil, Olives, Unsweetened Organic Coconut Flakes, Coconut Milk, Almonds, Walnuts, Strawberries, Blueberries, FISH OIL, Omega-3 Eggs, Bagged Spinach, Baby Carrots, Mushrooms, and Wild Planet Canned Tuna

My Freezer is now full of: GrassFed Steaks, GF Stew Meat, and GF Ground Meat, Wild Fish, and “Natural” Chicken

And Lastly, I have THROWN OUT all: Salad Dressings, Splenda, Stevia, Coffee Syrups, and Junk Food

My husband isn’t doing this with me (I tried. . . . trust me!!), but he’s agreed to let me put all of his bread products, cereals, ect on a single shelf in the pantry so that I don’t have to rifle through it when reaching in for almonds or olive oil . . . he also has a dedicated shelf in teh fridge for his milk, soft drinks, ect.

I’d say that I’m about as prepared as I’m gonna be!!!

Part Two: Training

The first thing that I need to do is get in touch w/ Coach Wilkes and see if he would be willing to continue to provide my Oly Lifting Programing and Coaching. . . I kindof fell off the face of the earth on him with no notice (and feel horrible about it), so I’m hoping he’ll take me back.

I haven’t been consistantly Oly Lifting for the last 2-3 months b/c of all of that travel, so I know that I will have to back-track a little bit to get back to the level that I was at before my hiatus.

I plan to spend the next month getting back “up to speed” using the programming that was working for me just before I disappeared. Then I will re-evaluate w/ Coach, and go from there.

I plan to WOD at CrossFit XLR8 M, W, F, and Sat mornings. REVISED 8/3 – Will only do MetCon on M, W, & F. Cutting Saturday out so that I can spend more time on Saturdays doing skillwork.

I’ll be Olylifting/Squating and doing Skill Work in my Backyard Gym in the evenings M – F.

I plan to run 1 day a week, either on Tuesdays or Thursdays in the morning. I am going to limit my running b/c I don’t want it to hold back my stregnth gains, but I need to start running a little bit because I’m slower than a tortoise, and have got to improve my speed a bit. I’m not talking long runs here – just 2-3 miles, with some sprints thrown in the mix occasionally. REVISED 8/3 – I will only run 1 -2 times per month, rather than once per week. I want to focus on stregnth gains right now, and I’m worried that too much running may slow that down.
Well, that’s the plan! Now I just need to put it into action. I’m not making any promises about how often I’ll update here, because training and nutrition have to take priority over blogging. . but I’ll do my best to update regularly. . if nothing else, it helps to keep me accountable!