One week was all it took...

I'm bad at this blog thing, especially when it gets busy at work. However, last week was on vacation, hence the extended hiatus. Vacation was a lot of fun and even though we enjoyed ourselves immensely with sleep and food and sun, my stomach was in for a rude awakening.



Five weeks of clean paleo eating (with mostly gluten free cheats)... down the drain.

It wasn't hard to eat paleo for that long as I was feeling good on a daily basis, including the WODs. Once in a while, I'd crack and eat some sweet-marinated meats or pieces of 75% dark chocolate but for the most part, was pretty good. The few days leading up to vacation was breaking down my will as I'd been working in a stressful environment, not sleeping adequately, and then, to top it all off, the idea of eating stuff I wanted around my birthday/on vacation. Damn it, I was going to relax on vacation!

And it WAS a wonderful vacation! We ate plenty of southwestern (Mexican) food to our hearts' content. I ate desserts! I had wedding cake! And I even had a tres leches cake that wasn't very good and ended up regretting. But it was okay because I was on vacation.

Then, towards the end of last week and at its worse yesterday, it hit me: I have leaky gut. I must have broken down whatever was protecting my stomach from absorbing the stuff I shouldn't be absorbing from eating gluten here and there all week and boy, was I paying for it. I was so uncomfortable and all the stupid GI issues the paleo diet had gotten rid of, was back. The bloating sucked. Who knew that all it took was one week of bad eating to undo five weeks of paleo??

I never realized how super sensitive to gluten I was but even worse, even after I had taken the gluten down a few notches, it wrecked havoc on my stomach and I'm still trying to figure out how many days of eating clean before that leaky gut goes away. Imagine if it took only 1 week to break down 5 weeks of paleo eating, how many weeks of paleo eating will it take to undo a lifetime of abuse?

Nobody said it was easy but at least now, I've learned my lesson and am consciously aware of what it takes. Wish me luck as I try to stay as clean as possible over the next two weeks in Hong Kong...

C&J PR

Finally in a groove... diet is pretty paleo, minimal cheats, feeling strong in WODs...
I can't remember how long I've been eating paleo again but I like to not think about it. As long as it makes me feel good, that's really all I care about.
For the last month, I have been trying to avoid gluten, even in any cheat meals or unavoidable cheats. It's been a long time since I had a craft beer... I switched to red wine and NorCal margaritas. Just one bad cheat last weekend at a wedding where they had Molly's Cupcakes, so I'm feeling pretty good in general.

WOD-wise, I think my cardio is finally back but still need to get used to pushing past that muscle burn. Been feeling strong in the strength portion lately but still need to maintain awareness of things like a recovering hip and shoulder. I need to do more shoulder and mobility WODs more frequently.

I'm pretty happy about cleaning up my rack position since Rudy's article. I haven't smashed a bar into my collar bone/chest in a while and that's a real improvement. I think it helped me get my C&J PR (105#) and my squat clean PR (115#) even though it was a bit ugly (dropping elbows). Still have trouble bringing the bar back down from a Jerk. The 5x3 FS felt good at 103#... my last PR was 125#... I might be ready to try for it soon with appropriate hip warm up.

Teeth

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog. Been a bit busy traveling for work.
I managed to stay pretty paleo last week... mild cheats: Korean food (meats were probably marinated with sugar) one night, half a glass of wine another night.

If you dread dentists like me, a relatively short and painless teeth cleaning session would be another reason to eat paleo. I first noticed that I had less buildup about 6 months ago. Hygenist compliments me on how clean my teeth are and I'll have to admit that I'm not even a regular flosser. Yesterday was my second teeth cleaning since going paleo and it was even less painful than the first. Hygenist looked genuinely surprised at how little she had to do. Other than some stains from coffee, I'm doing okay in that department :)

Here's a good meal idea that reheats pretty well: paleo shepherd's pie (adapted from Mark's Daily Apple



Ground beef
Diced veggies (I used onions, peppers, carrots, butternut squash)
Mashed/pureed root veggies (for the potato part, I used celery root and butternut squash)
Seasoning
Chicken broth (organic, low sodium)

- Cook onions until tender in olive oil. I did this in a dutch oven.
- Add ground beef. Cook until done.
- Season to taste: salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme... or use Kirkland No Salt Seasoning
- Add peppers, carrots, butternut squash. Cook until soft.
- Add chicken broth for flavour and moisture. To save it from being too liquidy, I didn't add too much as I skipped the coconut flour in MDA's recipe. Reduce.

Mashed/pureed veggies:
- Chop root veggies in smaller pieces. Boil until tender. Drain.
- Puree in food processor or use hand blender. Add appropriate amounts of butter (if you're not strict paleo). Salt and pepper to taste.

Extra steps that I didn't do:
- Put ground meat in pan. Spread pureed root veggies on top.
- Add some butter/oil. Make designs if you're creative.
- MDA says to bake 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy!

Snacks

If you prepare well and eat clean meals when you're hungry, you shouldn't need to snack in between. But for people starting paleo, it'll take some getting used to wean off snacks or, if you can't get a clean meal when you're hungry, you're going to need clean snacks.
When JJ and I have time, we make our own paleo snack kits.

It contained:
0.75oz of jerky
0.75oz of various nuts (macadamia, almonds, pecans, walnuts, pine nuts)
0.5oz of dried fruits (berries: blueberries, strawberries)

It's a pretty high caloric snack because of the fruits and nuts but at that time, it worked well for us. We've since dropped the dried fruits because it really doesn't help with weight loss but I think that kit was a good beginning. We have a Foodsaver so we can make more at a time but you can make batches in zip top bags too.

When we got lazy, we bought piles of Caveman Mix from Dick Stevens. However, they've since sold out (couldn't keep up with demand, didn't fulfill all orders, stories of bad customer service) so I'd look elsewhere.

Tom Windish's homemade jerky recipe is probably worth trying if you want to avoid sugar and preservatives in store bought jerky.

I'll talk more about coconut in another post but something that has worked for me and JJ lately is coconut flakes. We've seen these at Fox and Obel but you can also get them on Amazon for a decent price.

I keep a bag at work and a can of almonds too (preferably naked or the sea salt kind) for when I run out of paleo kits. When I have some time, our next batch of homemade paleo kits will have coconut flakes instead of dried fruit.

For ultimate portability, I stick with Trio bars. It has more sugar than I'd like but the ingredients are, for the most part, paleo:
Ingredients:
Cashew, Almonds, Pistachios, Blueberries, Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Dates, Raisins, Rice Malt, Natural Flavors, Evaporated Cane Juice and Sea Salt.

Starting with "Rice Malt", it gets a bit dicey (okay, what exactly is in "natural flavors" that it needs to be listed?) but it's better than Zone bars...
Remember, if you can't pronounce the ingredients, it's not paleo!

Breakfast - preparation is key!

For a lot of people starting on paleo, I've heard of a lot of trouble with breakfast, especially if you're used to eating items like cereal, toast, bagel, oatmeal, etc. Preparation is KEY to eating paleo and it is even more important with breakfast when you're in a hurry to get to work.
In my opinion, breakfast is the most important because it sets the tone of the day. I generally wouldn't skip breakfast but I am usually hungry. If I eat a big enough breakfast, I manage to stay feeling full throughout the day and as a result, make better choices around lunch, dinner, or the choice to skip a full meal.

We prep veggies and meats on the weekend so that we have enough for the week. Between me and JJ, we can go through up to 2 dozen eggs in a week. We throw in our omelets anything from chard, pepper, onions, bacon, salami, ground beef, sundried tomatoes... you can put ANYTHING in a scramble and it takes about 5-10 minutes to cook in the morning.
Don't forget to eat enough fats at breakfast: nuts, olive oil in your omelet... I've taken to drinking coconut milk in the morning to up the fats.

Welcome Paleo Challenge friends!

I'm pretty excited about a new group starting the paleo challenge! JJ and I started eating paleo a while ago and even though we've gone through various degrees of strictness, we never looked back.
In honour of the challenge, I want to help you kickstart paleo so I will be refocusing my blog over the next few weeks.
If you want to dig through old posts of when I was going through the paleo challenge, just find ones that have a label of "paleo" or "recipe". There will be some paleo dessert recipes floating around... also, feel free to ignore that peach ice cream recipe since it's not paleo.

A little background...
I am Chinese so I grew up eating rice. When I started my full time job in Chicago with Bagel Fridays and easy access to places like Venice Cafe, I started eating lots more refined grains and my body reacted adversely to it. I got the shakes about an hour after eating a bagel, instant ramen, or 10 servings of pasta in a sitting (that's what they gave you, so that's what I ate). I began paying more attention to my body's reactions and JJ started to eat paleo when he joined CF. We both lost lots of weight within the first 4 months back in early 2009. Over time, my body felt better but you will go through phases of low energy when you reprogram your body to run on fats instead of sugars/carbs. Give it a chance (2-4 weeks) if you're brand new to paleo and your body will thank you in the long run. It is easy to give up refined carbs and grains once your body experiences life without it.

Good luck! Feel free to post questions, requests, etc! JJ's the creative one so I'd be happy to share his recipes!

Another 3 in a row

On Tuesday at 7pm, a monster class showed up and Bryce handled it all smoothly. "Everyone's doing tomorrow's Metcon!". Okee dokee, Coach!

12:10 with regular red-banded pullups for me and 10# WB.

Feeling those lunges in my butt and quads on Wednesday but I already committed to myself that I'm making up Tuesday's so there I go.

With lingering soreness in quads and butt, I was pretty disappointed with my performance. Maybe my body hasn't completely switched over to burning those ketones yet but I know they're there. Maybe it's affecting my recovery. Maybe maybe maybe.

Bench 5×5: 55-65-55-55-55
65# was a struggle so scaled back down. Former 1RM was 90#. First time benching in what seems like 6 months. It's going to take a bit of work to get back there.

Metcon with 63# jerks, 44# KBS: 8:11

Man, those jerks were hard for me. Push jerks in the 10 round but after a few press outs, moved to split jerks the rest of the way. I can't seem to bring the bar back down without it crashing into my sternum. Lowering it slowly took a lot out of me. Cleaning it a few times on the 8 and 6 round sucked. Arms and legs felt pretty weak through it all. Burpees and KBS were unbroken and moved at a decent pace so that was cool.

Post: butt and quads were too sore to tackle that 10x100m row. Worked on cleans instead as it didn’t work for me in the WOD. Got up to 93# which was a PR for PC. I could have squat cleaned the 103# but mentally bailed. I pulled it high enough but I just couldn't get under it quickly. Felt partially redeemed so called it a night.

Resting today.

Building confidence

Rudy's rack position article from last week was really helpful. It was time to put it in practice (I still kind of want to make up that WOD). I'm so excited because the wide grip tip worked for me. Built confidence with each clean as it landed PROPERLY on my shoulders. No wrist pain either. WIN!!!

Today
Back Squat 1RM (30X0 tempo): 143#
This tempo thing is pretty cool. First 143# attempt wasn't deep enough. The second one, my right knee caved in. Finally got it on the third one. I feel it in my left hip. No pain but yeah, I feel it.

Worked on negatives/banded strict pullups
Very close. Got a deadhang on the thin band. Rudy thinks I might get it in 3-4 weeks with constantly varied work on it :)

Metcon @ 53#, red band: 4 rounds + 6 cleans
I am just so happy with the cleans. For the first time since starting crossfit, I think I am finally doing it right! Pullup work before this metcon made me really slow in the pullup part of the WOD.

Post – 75 sit-ups (worried about wrecking my abs so cut it after 75)

Everything's sore now!

Tuesday's WOD
FS 3-3-3: 95-115-125(2)
I really need to work on proper rack form so I’m not messing up my wrists. FS, cleans, everything… form goes out the window when the weight gets heavy or I get tired. Had more in legs but just couldn't keep the bar on the shoulders.

Metcon with red band: 18:00
Splits: 2:48, 2:46, 3:09, 3:17

Pullup endurance was bad. Small tear with 5 pullups to go…

Post: 2 x 10 GHD sit ups. Left it at that or it’d be too painful.


Wednesday's WOD
200 DUs: 4:09 (speed rope)

Metcon (24″ BJ / 103# DL / 10# WB): 4 + 1WB
24" box jumps were a good mental challenge. Shake legs off and get back on. Almost missed one. I went lighter than 50% (1RM = 225#). I remember when I did Linda with a 115# bar... wrecked my back for a week. Hoping the 10#s saved me. Lack of breathing rhythm on WB was my limiting factor. Missed a few reps on the WB too.

Post: 3 x 10 per leg step ups with two 15# KBs on small box + 45# plate
These are a great exercise for hips. My PT had me do these (with not as much weight) when I was rehabbing my hip.

Catching up

Sunday:
Was supposed to go climbing today but I had a freak accident and bent back my big toe nail pretty bad on a vent cover. Yeah, crazy.
20 min row: 4,210m
Pace was anywhere from 2:15-2:30/500K. Not good...

Tuesday:
Clean/Burpee WOD
Shoulder to overhead: 110# split jerk from in front. PR!
I didn't really want to try the behind the back jerk since it would have meant a wider grip and I thought it would be easier on the shoulder to do a narrower grip.

Metcon @ 60#: 6:54
Burpees at a good pace with some focus on breathing. Quads burned a bit so that slowed me down on the cleans.

Post: 48 PUs on knees with elbows in. It's for the shoulder but even this was tough on it. Just not back at the strength I was before.

Post-post: 3x5 ring rows. Felt strong. Hoping to get in the pullup WOD tomorrow so I took it easy.

Pumpkin Custard

Ingredients
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
pinch of sea salt
2 pinches of grated nutmeg
2 organic eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk


Preparation
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine pumpkin and all spices in one bowl. (I would recommend amping up the spices.)
In a smaller bowl, beat the eggs lightly then whisk in the vanilla and coconut milk.
Whisk the egg mixture into the pumpkin mixture until well combined.

Pour the custard into 1/2 cup ramekins. Place the ramekins in a baking pan and add enough boiling water to the dish to come up 2" high around the ramekins. Carefully place in the oven and bake for 60 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the custard comes out clean. (Mine were in the oven for almost 2 hours. I did
have a higher pumpkin puree/coconut milk to egg ratio though.)

Serve warm or chilled. Serves 6. (Using a full can of puree and coconut milk makes about 8.)

Fight Gone Light

Last WOD destroyed my quads for days. I'm only starting to walk like a normal person and ALMOST without pain today. That's messed up.

JJ and I went rock climbing on Sunday. Thought that would help get some blood in there. Though it didn't help, it didn't make it any worse either. I'm happy that I am seeing some improvement in my rock climbing technique. JJ bought a book and we're learning how to climb better. I can't wait to see how that improves.

Okay, finally felt decent enough to come in. Thought I'd make up Monday's but given the weather and that everyone else was doing the FGHeavy WOD, I guess I'll join in the fun but I went light myself to test out the movements.

Did I "test out" the Jerk with lighter weights? No. I felt no pain when I warmed up so I just went for it with Kerry, Karen, and Lauren.

Jerks 5-5-5: 55-75-85
First jerks since January when I hit a 1RM of 95#. Feels good to be back at it!

Metcon (35# SDHP/PP, 20″ BJ, 6# WB / 11′ target): 18:38

Fight Gone Light for me. I made sure to push as hard as I could given how light I went. Felt no pain on all the movements so that's a good sign. BJ rhythm just wasn't there today and I felt like I was hyperventilating on the WBs. Feels good to do the same WOD as everyone else!

Hopefully, shoulder won't get too sore over the next two days.

Toughest fight in a while

Today was a tough day at work though I never imagined I would be met by the toughest WOD I have done in a long time.

Traps and back were still feeling Monday's WOD but should be good enough to go for today.

Press 5-3-1+: 43-48-53(3)
Worked off 60# to test out shoulder. Last recorded 1RM was 70# from January. This was a win considering it felt good and the shoulder felt fine.

Metcon @ 75# (last recorded BS 1RM was 175# from January): 8:52

THIS was much tougher than I thought it could be. Looking back at my log, I've actually never done a metcon with FS @ 75#. But rx was 50% of BS 1RM which would have put me at 83# so I figured, how bad could 75# be? I picked it up and the clean felt heavy for a metcon. Just in case, I checked with Bryce... do I pick a weight that I know I can do 21 unbroken? Bryce suggested that the right weight would be barely being able to do 21 unbroken so I settled with 75# because that was exactly how I felt about it.

The first 21 were okay. I took quick breaks in the rack position. The 21 burpees that followed were slow but steady. I didn't want to wear out my quads for the next round. Then, I walked to the bar, cleaned it and I couldn't get out of the bottom of my squat. What?! I couldn't believe it. I lost the bar a few more times with my weight a little too far forward and I just wasn't to all that weight on my wrist. I think I did way too many cleans. The sweat was getting in my eyes and boy, was I frustrated.

Thanks so much Rudy. Had you not come over, the rest of it would have been just plain awful but your reminder to stay tough helped me focus. Stay in my heels and drive with the elbows!! Chipped away at it til it was over.

I never write an essay like that about a workout but for me, it was an epic fight that I want to remember. I think I've never done a WOD that got the best of me like that but it was worth the experience.

Haha afterwards, I almost fell down the stairs because my quads feel like they exploded! I'm happy to report that my wrists are okay now.

Breakfast: two eggs in butter, 3 slices of Canadian bacon
Lunch: a reuben from NYC Bagel Deli. It's so good. I ate as little bread as possible.
Snack: half a Trio bar
Dinner: salad with all the fixings (turkey, hearts of palm, fresh sungold tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, artichoke, grilled veggies, olives, lemon juice, pepper)

12 min row

Since I did an interval workout of sorts yesterday, thought I'd go for something longer even though it's not exactly what the CFCE program has for this week.
12 min row: 2522m

I didn't really have a goal in mind so this is good to know for future CFCE WODs.

Traps, hamstrings, butt, biceps are all kinda sore from yesterday but nothing hurts too too bad. Feels all right as I think that means I scaled to what my body can do without destroying it.

Ate okay today.
Breakfast: 2 eggs in butter, Canadian bacon
Lunch: #11 unwich from Jimmy Johns and a handful of almonds. Let's be honest, I don't think there's a whole lot of calories in that unwich even with the cheese and mayo!
Dinner: Was supposed to eat at Cafe 28 but understandably, the expiring-Groupon mob shows up. My friend and I went half a block to Katarina's. Could have been bad news but escaped just having mildly cheated (1 beer, 2 small slices of baguette, whatever they put in the meatballs). Souvlaki platter was good.

Snatch win!

Been eating a bit better lately but still struggling with bringing lunch as we're spending weekends on hobbies and relaxing. Some weekends, we just need time off from a cooking extravaganza haha.

Fun WOD today
DL 5-3-1+: 155-175-195(3)
Metcon @ 40# and red band: 21:43
Splits: 3:51, 3:52, 4:05, 3:55

1st round: I don't think I chained any snatches. I wasn't sure I could or I just didn't think about it. Run was decent. Unbroken pullups.
2nd round: Snatches chained (2 sets maybe). Felt a bit of a pull on the shoulder when bringing it back down but it was okay. Run must have been slower since I chained the snatches. Unbroken pullups. So far so good.
3rd round: Chained 6 snatches, then singles (just too much effort to catch them). Run must have been slow. Pullups (10/2/2/1). The second I stopped after the 10, I could barely chain pullups. I guess the trick is to just keep going?
4th round: Snatches mostly in singles. Unbroken pullups b/c I was trying to chase down Steph! Loved it :)

GHD raises scare me. I tried to do one but I almost cramped up. Oh well.

New hobby

Busy work week towards the tail end of last week so I didn't have a chance to make it into the box. Meant to row an extra day but I got kinda lazy. However, JJ and I found a new hobby: rock climbing!

This past weekend, we learned how to belay each other. Also, I've graduated to tackling 5.7 routes! Good workout though as it helps me with grip strength, finger strength, forearm strength, weight shifting, leg mobility... and I like it!

Hoping this week won't be as bad at work so I can get to the box.

4 x 800m row

Awful. Hated it. Wanted to quit after the second round so bad but glad it's over. Failed to get within 10s. Lots of muscle fatigue in the quads.

3:27, 3:36, 3:42, 3:43 (3 min rest between intervals)

Breakfast: 2 eggs, salami, onions, 1 americano with cream
Lunch: Potbellys Farmhouse salad w/ potbellys vinagrette, no blue cheese
Snack: handful of almonds (honey roasted...)
Dinner: something clean... must get to it soon

In line for Potbellys, I was getting pretty hungry. Had to fight off any cravings for shakes, cookies... and I don't normally want cookies...

A week ago, I hurt my head... like something popped when I did heavy deadlifts and it feels like a painful headache. Every time I exerted myself after that day, that same spot would hurt. Today, I felt some residual head pain but seems to have gone away for the most part. Weird.
Foot still the same. Hoping to get that Mobility WOD in later tonight.

(Long) Weekend Update

Busy week last week with lots of see-ya-laters and eating out. Anniversary celebration was a success but JJ and I both need to get back to eating clean. That's the toughest part is getting back on it. Every time I take a week off and let my eating loose, it's just so tough for me to get back in the eating well and working out groove.

Today was supposed to be my first day back on clean eating but I ruined it with the rest of my pint of mint ice cream I had been saving for "emergencies" (there was only maybe 1/5th of the pint left). Well, it's gone now at least. Threw out the rest of the coffee mochis (they weren't that good anyway) but we still have some of our homemade sugar free ice cream (for "emergencies - at least it's sugar free).

Clean eating for me means high quality meats, veggies, and also some limited high quality dairy. Mostly, it means eating out less. Gained a bit of weight back this summer so I'm hoping to drop down a few over the next month.

Foot did not improve too much over the last week and I think it's because I wore heels a few time in the office last week. You might be thinking that the rock climbing and tennis didn't help either but I don't think that was it since those shoes didn't let my foot bend that way. I also didn't chase down too many balls playing tennis either.

Breakfast: 2 eggs fried in butter, 2 slices of bacon, 1 Americano with cream
Lunch: Various meats and veggies from Market Creations (a lot of sauce I didn't want)
Snack: 2 walnut cookies (bad - made from flour, sugar, lard, then walnuts) and some almonds
Dinner: 8 homemade chicken wings (pan fried, pasture raised, no salt either!), broccoli, bowl of red pepper soup, and darn ice cream

Enjoying the Biology Lessons!

I'm enjoying the back to back biology lessons about Metabolic Pathways and the Burn. Keep 'em coming coaches! The diagram above is actually something I remember from high school... but what it all means? I had no idea until now.

Sometimes, I wish I knew more about this stuff. I love reading about the "why" of things though I might not understand it all. I had a bad biology teacher in high school and having to memorize things like parts of mitochondria, without learning the "why" did not make this topic interesting, unfortunately. Instead, I chose a life of math and look where that has gotten me ha! I think I need to do some more biology learning!!

Interval Baseline at CFCE today.
4 x 400m run (2 min rest): 1:40, 1:40, 1:42, 1:39

I am surprised and happy that I stayed within 5 seconds! I knew I was too slow approaching that cone where I had to turn around on the 3rd round... got mentally lazy. Powered through that last one as my foot was feeling okay and well, I didn't have another round after that. Almost bulldozed two girls who were at the cone when I turned around haha.

Biceps and back tightening up from Monday's workout. Not much progress on foot though it did not worsen from the run. Ice and fish oil.

So it's JJ and my anniversary week. Last year, we went to Alinea for our first anniversary dinner and this year, we're making a whole week of eating out out of it (intentionally and unintentionally). Last night, we had Serbian food at Restaurant Sarajevo. Man, that was good. Tonight, all you can eat sushi at Shiroi Hana and I'm still stuffed. No, not doing so good on the paleo front this week but should be back at it next week... if I don't end up on a traveling project for work...

Working with injuries

Eileen's story is something I can relate to. What worries me is that I am not even in my 30s and this year has been more injury prone than ever. My body breaks down when I don't get enough rest/recovery and even when I do, I just don't know how to use the correct muscles to perform a movement properly.

Here is the list of mild/serious injuries from this year:
- Left hip (bad back squat form)
- Left shoulder (fell on it snowboarding)
- Left wrist (either from keyboard or HSPUs)
- Left foot (as described in yesterday's post)

Okay, it's gotta be some weird coincidence that it's all left side right?? I'm beginning to think that it's an imbalance in my strength. I never really trained for sports when I was a kid and when I did, it was skewed towards right-dominant racquet sports. Maybe my left side never caught up and it is struggling to keep up with CF. Maybe this is all just wild theories though it just seems plain bizarre.

Another thing I've noticed is that my brain can't seem to tell my muscles what they're supposed to be doing as weird as it sounds. People go to rehab to retrain their muscles... I never understood why the muscles never worked properly to begin with. Anyways, I think JJ has experienced this while re-teaching me tennis strokes. He's mentioned how he doesn't know how I don't hurt my elbow hitting a forehand the way I do and also with learning how to overhand serve in volleyball, my body never understands the power zone on contact with the ball.

DL 5-5-5+: 135-155-175(8) (1RM 220)

Death by Pullups (red): 11 rounds + 7 (73 pullups wow)

Post WOD – 3 x 20 cal row sprints (2 min rest): 1:19, 1:21, 1:21

Started icing my foot, which I will make an effort to do every night. Back on the fish oil. Hands are unhappy right now with the blisters. Back and shoulders are sore today but thank goodness they don't feel destroyed!

New week

Haha same title as E-Diesel's but hey, it IS a new week.

No WODs Friday, Saturday, or Sunday... well, guess we had some food/alcohol/rock band WOD Saturday night. Thanks to everyone who came over! Great housewarming party :) Pics to come.

It seems I am battling some metatarsalgia. Still suspecting the jumping into a clean got it but standing and walking around a lot on Saturday night may have aggravated it a bit. Might head to the box to get in DLs and work on some pullups but doubt I'll be hitting the metcon. We'll see. I want to make sure I rest up for Urbanathlon training week 2!

5K PR!

Before we get too deep into Urbanathlon training, ran the 5K today.

11/9/09: 28:36 (last time I ran a 5K)
8/26/10: 27:50 (PR!)

Sprinted the last 200m to get it in under 28. Pretty happy considering I hadn't been training for it at all. I think I can pace better.

3 years ago, I couldn't run ONE mile without training for it. Being able to run 5K cold is a real accomplishment for me and I have CF to thank for that!

Time for a row

Yesterday, we had our beach volleyball championship double header. Man, it was an epic battle with us falling in the last 5 points. Tough loss but great game. We really pushed it when it came to close games but we were getting it together in the end, in the dark. I want to blame it on the poor lighting that didn't turn on until around 8pm but that's not everything. I mean, the other team did have better lighting where they could actually see the ball sometimes.
Oh well. It's over. We came in second.

Lats finally pain free today. Left foot still feeling bruisy. I've been picking back up on the fish oil intake so maybe it's helping.
Sectionals WOD week at the box and I just wasn't in any condition to do any of it. Didn't want to risk aggravating anything so I made up mod CFCE WOD on the rower tonight.

8 x 250m (60s rest)
1:02.7 / 1:02.5 / 1:03.1 / 1:03.4 / 1:04.1 / 1:04.8 / 1:04.6 / 1:03.9

I could have easily pulled below a minute on the first round but decided to slow down b/c I needed to pace. Worked out pretty well. Quads got pretty sore around the last 150m of the last 4 rounds. Lungs and legs burning in that last round to keep it under 1:04.

I only did 8 rounds in order to compare against my time from July 6 when I had been off the wagon and before I got back into CF.
1:01.8 / 1:00.4 / 1:02.3 / 1:03.0 / 1:06.6 / 1:08.7 / 1:09.4 / 1:07.5

You might say I did a bit better with some consistent crossfitting (about 2-3 times a week) and better eating over the last 3 weeks :)

Hopefully, foot's ready for the 5K tomorrow!

Pain

I don't remember the last time I was in this much pain... my lats were killing me Sunday and the soreness actually woke me up. I spent much of the day moving as little as possible with almost no raising of arms overhead.
I think I need a few more rest days... muscles are taking a while to recover as my back and foot are also still tender to the touch.

However, looking forward to the CFCE training for the Urbanathlon that is starting up this week! Doubt my foot will be in a condition to sprint but hopefully, can do the 5K on Thursday.

Baseline

Friday, I did Baseline for the first time since I started CF. I always meant to do it on a rest day or something but I just never did. I got to a point before the injuries where I could have done it Rx'ed. Now, I'm back to the beginning so at least it's not a bad place to start.

Baseline: 5:52
Knee push ups, red-banded pullups.

Man that's slow. Pushups were extremely tough especially since I was still hurting from the AMRAP where I subbed pushups for burpees. The pullups I had to fight through a bit b/c of sore lats. Row is still not as efficient as I like... I think I might have rowed a 2:06 or 2:08. I also don't know how to do situps fast like everyone else does it.

Saturday, JJ and I did City Chase and we teamed up with Jason, Steph, Jonny, and Lauren. Pretty fun but tiring day! We did a 5 person pyramid, ran around in Flintstone carts, drummed on buckets, crawled on the beach, did some football drills... all lots of fun and topped off with a stop at Urban Burger Bar. Considering we didn't eat the whole day, we wolfed down burgers and beer/shake. Fun times.



Lats are paying for it now. Can't raise my arms without pain. And all the walking didn't help my foot which continues to be sore. I think I pulled something doing cleans on Monday.

Pull!

My back is STILL sore from Monday. On top of that, left ball of foot didn't get any better so no CFE for me yesterday. Instead, I decided I'd tackle Wednesday's WOD. It would be my first pullup WOD in forever...

No snatch balance. Rudy said work on FS instead so I decided to try out FS 1RM. I was working on it thinking my 1RM was 145# but looking back I am surprised that I actually never did it before. It turns out 145# was some BS 3RM a long time ago. Oops.

FS 3x1: 83-103-125

I loaded on 140# since it was feeling okay though heavy. I took it off the rack and started to squat down and gave up without even getting half way. I didn't think I could get out of the bottom and didn't have weightlifting shoes. My wrist started to hurt with the 140# racked on my shoulders and I just mentally bailed. FS doesn't bother my hip but I still got scared. Excuses excuses...

Metcon: 9 rounds.
First 4 rounds with red band, then switched to blue band. Subbed pushups on knees for burpees (I hurt my foot from DUs on Monday). Just locked out the last pushup as time was called.

I promised myself that I would use the bands and do deadhangs but when it came down to it, I did do small kips just so I can save my arms/grip a bit to get 7 in a row. I think the bands do help take some stress off my shoulder though because it changes the angle of my pull so they're a little more like a ring row angle. Shoulders are holding up okay and no bad soreness.

I am actually enjoying these elbows in, narrow pushups. Even though I am still doing them on my knees, I think it's developing some strength in different muscles and it's saving my shoulder a bit too. By the last two rounds, it was tough getting 7 in a row.

After talking to Rudy post-WOD, he gave me a goal of trying to hit 8 unbanded deadhangs. I don't think I ever managed to do ONE before injuries so this will definitely be a bit of a journey but nice to have something to work on. I'm thinking I'll start with the blue band and do 3x10 as my post-WOD that doesn't involve arms. Otherwise, maybe try 10 in a warm up.

Mark Sisson discusses proper strict pullup/chinup technique. He makes some good points to remember.


Overall feeling pretty sore today but probably have enough to do baseline!

My back!

Back's super sore today. Ball of left foot seems to have sustained some impact from cleans or DUs so that's sore too. Hammies sore. Hopefully can get better by tomorrow, if not, definitely by Saturday for the City Chase!! Go team two tone!

Damn you GHDs

DLs, DUs, cleans! All movements I like!
DL 3-3-3+ @ 143-165-187(5)
Metcon @ 65#: 8:40
Post WOD: 1 GHD and 40 sit ups

Worked off max DL of 220# and they felt good and heavy. Back’s going to feel it tomorrow. I think that's a PR on the 5RM by 7#! DLs weren't as good today as max DL. I felt myself coming on my toes for 1 rep which I almost never do.
Metcon felt good other than 1 clean where I leaned forward and lost it. Minimal breaks but did catch a breath here and there to make sure I can string at least 5 DUs together before starting them.
Okay, GHDs are nasty! Some ab muscles that I didn't know existed are still sore from the 3×10 GHDs I did over a week and a half ago! Did 40 sit ups instead just to keep those other ab muscles working.

Volleyball tomorrow and Paramore/Tegan & Sara on Wednesday. Will get back in on Thursday!

Things I learned while camping

Last week, JJ and I camped at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in TN/NC. It was a great trip but we're starting to put a lot of things into perspective.

Things we learned:
- We need 10 hours of sleep a night. No joke, we went to sleep at 10pm, woke up consistently at 8:30am for like, 5 days in a row. T.S. Wiley might be on to something!
- We can't have the jobs that we do and still average 10 hours a night.
- Our bodies can live on way less food than we currently feed it. This I knew already but pretty impressed on how little food we were eating and still have the energy to hike lots.
- Camping in the forest with the birds, bears, and bugs gives you amazing mental clarity.
- I still don't like bugs but at least I can learn to get used to them... maybe.

Things we did over the last week:
8/8: Hiked up the monument at Monument Circle in Indianapolis
8/10: Hiked the Alum Cave Trail at GSMNP (11 miles, some 2500+ft elevation gain)
8/12: Hiked the Appalachian Trail at GSMNP (almost 9 miles, some 1000ft elevation gain) from Newfound Gap to Charlies Bunion

We also ate a lot of bad-for-you-but-delicious food. Stay tuned for pics. Back at it this week!

Side note: GHDs from the previous week had my abs hurting for a whole week. Note to self - don't do 30 in a row after months away from it. Traps took half a week to recover.

Max DL

Max DL day
DL: 175-200-220
Metcon: 6:48 with 70# HPC
Post-WOD: 3×10 GHD situps.

DL PR is 225# from back in mid January when we did CFT and also it was pre- hip and shoulder injuries. First time doing 1RM in months so pretty happy that 200 went up easy. Rounded back on 220 so cut it even though I probably had 10 more in me.

Traps still has some residual soreness from FGB on Monday (RKBS/row) but HPCs felt good. Burpees much faster than last week which is nice. First GHD situps in months also... feeling them today!

Post-WOD thoughts:
Upper traps continue to be sore. Left hip felt some weakness right after WOD but feeling okay today. Must've landed funny while catching the bar on the HPC or something.

Peach Ice Cream

Non-paleo and indirectly related to CF post today. As you probably may have guessed, I'm not doing strict paleo but even though I eat butter, cream, and even drink an occasional half-glass of milk, I still watch how much I take in of that stuff.
Last night, I made peach ice cream with our brand new ice cream maker (from Costco - where else?). Erin's Mango Coconut Ice Cream inspired us to finally pick up one of these nifty machines (yeah, nifty). We didn't do the chill part as I didn't really have a lot of time but most of the ingredients were straight from the fridge anyway. This was what went in:
- 1 cup of grass-fed whole milk (Tradespoint)
- 2 cups of heavy whipping cream (Organic Valley)
- 2 cups of chopped peaches mushed with a bit of lemon juice
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Mix it all together, pour it in machine, watch it churn for 25 minutes. Man, that was easy. I don't have a picture because it didn't look particularly interesting but it was pretty good even without any sugar.

It bothered me a bit that the cream I used in my ice cream was ultra-pasteurized and non-grass-fed but Kilgus Farmstead ran out of cream at the Green City Market this past weekend. Next time, my ice cream is going to be made with all grass-fed dairy!

For those of you who know me, food has always been near and dear to my heart. You can call me a snob if you like but high quality food that tastes good and is properly priced is important to me. It has always bothered me when chicken wings regularly had broken bones, eggs can cost less than $2 a dozen, bananas that look and feel like a banana and yet, doesn't quite taste like the bananas I knew from my childhood. The tipping point came when Crossfit and Omnivore's Dilemma resulted in a perfectly timed one-two punch to kick me out of conventional wisdom. Crossfit taught me to question whether conventional forms of exercising (running, ellipticals, etc) were really effective and Michael Pollan made me realize how far removed we are from our food sources. This led me to question all sorts of conventional wisdom as a whole and so I dug deeper...
Robb Wolf
Mark's Daily Apple
Criticisms of the China Study
Animal Vegetable Miracle

There is so much to learn out there and so much material that I am still trying to grasp what little material I have read so far. We currently buy most of our food from the farmers' market or Costco (I know, total opposites right?) and this summer, we started growing our own tomatoes and some herbs to try to eat as local as possible. I think I can ramble on more about why we are choosing to eat locally or why we will pay premium prices to buy eggs, meat, and dairy from the farmers markets but I think I will have to save that for another post.

Fight Gone Bad!

Modified FGB a la Zack

20" box jumps: 33/24/23
Knee push ups for PP: 21/15/12
Row: 11/10/9
WB: 12(10#)/15(6#)/12(6#)
20kg RKBS for SDHP: 16/15/17
Total: 245

Game plan going into this was to get as many reps as possible on the box jumps so I started with it. Achieving that made me pretty happy! With the push ups, focused on keeping elbows in though I felt that coming out when I got tired. Row efficiency still not very good but better than it used to be. Might have pulled with some traps but made an effort to keep those down. WBs were a bit of a disaster. I thought I could do the 10# WB but in my first 5 reps, I either missed the wall or came up short on 3 of them. It was a battle through that first round so I downgraded to a 6# WB for the remaining rounds. RKBS were about the right toughness though having that last, I was just pretty winded overall.
Got a pretty nasty headache right after this WOD. Maybe it was because I was on the ground trying to breathe for a good 2 minutes after I was done. Didn't quite recover really until the 2nd round in the next heat.

Post WOD thoughts:
Surprisingly, other than being completely winded during the WOD, muscles all held up okay. Today, my back is a bit sore from the RKBS. Left hip is a bit weak feeling and tight from the BJs and WBs. Upper traps a bit sore too but not sure what got them... probably the RKBS. Shoulder held up okay. I really think the WB weakness was from the hip and not the shoulder. Triceps sore from the push ups but a good sore.
I've always been right-side dominant but since the injuries, I can feel the physical weakness in my hip and shoulder post workouts. I find myself pushing/pressing/pulling/throwing more using my right than my left in terms of upper body. Maybe that's something I need to work on?

Hopefully, the 1 hour of volleyball I played in the friggin humidity today helped loosen some stuff up!

Getting my act together

Been a good past week and a half as far as slow and steady goes...

July 22:
First full WOD in a loooong time.
FS 5x1 at 105#.
Metcon subbed ring rows for pullups: 8:01
Post WOD: 150 DUs in 6:44.

Thoughts in the days following:
Felt good to do a full WOD. Hip was feeling weaker with each rep of 105# FS so it was good that I maintained weight. Quads were killing two days after all those lunges. Slow DUs definitely supported evidence of weaker cardio from not having worked out consistently.

July 25:
Was going to go to CF but quads were still killing. Biked down to the beach for 4 hours of beach vball (2's and 3's). Round trip on bike was probably 13 miles in total. My legs were dead.

July 26:
Forced myself to go to the box b/c waiting a full week would just mean I'd be back at square one. Quads still feeling tight but needed to work it out.
Clean / DU WOD
No lifting overhead.
Metcon subbed PC @63# for PS: 7:21
No ring dips.

Post WOD thoughts:
Rudy suggested that I lay off lifting things overhead for a while. Instead, I worked on some deadhangs with bands. No pain on shoulder so that's good news. I think I did 3x3. Good PC weight for the WOD but it's not 75% of 1RM. Focusing on not pulling with upper traps but more on explosiveness in hip. Thanks for tip, Rudy. First set of unbroken DUs made me pretty happy. Gave it a mini fist pump after round 1. Despite my efforts, upper traps were sore for 3 days.

July 28:
Made up Tuesday's WOD.
No backsquat.
Metcon w/ 6# WB: 7 rounds + 1 burpee
Post WOD - shoulder stretching and other PT movements at home

Post WOD thoughts:
Backsquats still scare me so I don't want to do them until I'm 100% confident that the hip can handle heavy weights. Metcon was unbroken but slow - could not make myself move any faster for the life of me. 6#WB too light but not confident that shoulder and hip could handle the 10# yet.
Hips still pretty sore two days after from the deep squats I do in the WB movement. It's not a bad sore so I think I just need to pace myself and keep practicing until I can move up in weight. Shoulder felt a bit funny on Friday... think I'm going to use that Rock Tape on it again.

July 30:
One hour of tennis. Constantly varied right? Abs still hurt from two days ago.

August 1:
Housework? Haha... okay this one doesn't count but we spent the day cleaning the house so it wasn't like I was sitting around doing nothing. Been on my feet all day but muscles have all recovered and I should be ready to go this week!

Inspiration

I'll have to admit that working out through injuries isn't something I'm good at. I never am sure if I'm subbing the right thing and I was pretty discouraged that I couldn't do something more. I attended Rudy's shoulder seminar and he assured everyone in attendance that "it's okay"... something I really needed to hear.
In the weeks that followed, I tried to get back to the box but realized that I had been gone for so long that my body pretty much got destroyed and took me a week to recover. Then, another week passes of not wanting to go. I was in a pretty bad rut and I started letting myself eat a little more badly too.
Ever since the beginning of July, I think I'm starting to wake up and realize that the rut was spreading into all important areas of my life: personal life, work life, crossfit life. I became a lazy ass with no motivation. But somehow, the world recognizes that you mentally hit rock bottom and I got a serious kick in the ass in each of those aspects of my life.
Today, I feel a lot better... feeling like I got a part of myself back and at least, the path seems a bit clearer. The trip to see the CF Games and the days I had by myself to roam the Santa Monica mountains was the last piece of inspiration I needed and the two days back at the box this week so far has been a personal gain for me.

I feel like this time, I'm back for real and it's about time I'm getting my act together. Lesson learned: take it easy and be confident that slow and steady can make headway. Be patient. Take baby steps.

Clean it

First time in this week... been busy with PT and in-laws too so didn't get to make it in like I wanted. Nice 7pm class today... all three of us!
Hip is holding up pretty good but shoulder was feeling pretty crappy all day, probably because of the PT from yesterday. The stretches the PT gave me just doesn't seem to be getting where it hurts... and I'm not sure whether that's the goal or not. Oh well.
Bryce suggested I find a one rep max squat clean. I haven't squat cleaned in a long time b/c of the hip. I also don't think I officially found my 1 rep max but I did one at 95# on Jan 9. I didn't have a game plan going into this since I thought I'd just play around and see how the joints all felt.
I'm glad Chris stopped me before I started and suggested I warm up with the bar. Haha I almost just went for it but the warm up was a good idea: down and up, hang power clean, power clean, squat clean. After that, I went for 53# which felt good. Then I went for 83# which felt pretty good too although the heavier it got, I started to forget to explode through the hips. Have to work on that. Chris said my form was looking pretty good so I was happy with that. Then, for whatever reason, I loaded the bar at 103#. I mean, the 83# felt good but given that I didn't remember doing a 100# clean in a long time, not sure why I attempted it. Good news is that I think I can get it... just need to use those hips and get under the bar faster. Not having my lifting shoes got to my head.

Metcon @ 63# 6:22
10 power cleans / 50 double unders
8 power cleans / 40 double unders
6 power cleans / 30 double unders
4 power cleans / 20 double unders
2 power cleans / 10 double unders

Took a while to get into a good rhythm for DUs but did manage strings of 20+ in there which was good for me in a metcon. First 10 PCs were unbroken but I got pretty tired in the round of 6 when Rudy reminded me to use the hips. I tend to pull with my arms when I get tired which seems counter-intuitive. Gotta work on that.

Tomorrow's WOD looks fun but I have PT. Maybe I'll get in a run or CFE WOD.

Shoulder

Yesterday, I went to my first PT session for my shoulder. The PT screened me and agreed with the diagnosis of shoulder impingement. He took a video of me lifting my arms out from my sides and it is noticeable that my left trap is compensating for my delinquent shoulder muscles. I have a pretty hard knot in my left trap as a result of it too.
I took a video of it last night and I'll post to show what I'm talking about. I get significant pain in the shoulder right when my arm passes shoulder level. The pain only shows up when the shoulder is active. When the PT moved my arm around in all directions but I was relaxed, everything was fine. Even after having worked on my shoulder, it still gets stuck in the same position, which didn't seem like what the PT was expecting.

Not sure if my shoulder can handle Murph pullups so I'm probably a tentative on that. I was looking to forward to getting healthy for the WCCF lifting meet but I'm going to be out of town that day. It was funny that in the winter, I was trying to get under the 58kg weight class but now, I might make it under the 53kg weight class! Not that it matters since I'm going to be out of town. Just isn't meant to be...

Get to work today and the network is down. Can't do any work for now haha. Guess I get to surf/read stuff online guilt free for now.

Legs destroyed

Haha I knew going into Grace that I was pushing my luck with my legs with 3 days in a row after maybe minimal workouts for 2+ months. Still really glad I got to do it b/c it was my first time at it.

Press 3x5 @ 55#

"Grace" @ 53#: 4:14

3 min DU: 82
100 DUs: 3:34

Press: I wasn't sure how my shoulder would fare but given I had a rotational strain, I thought I could do it without pain. It was TOUGH! I almost forgot how to press haha Problem is, it reaggravated something in my left wrist. Good thing I have an appointment booked for Friday! Yikes.

Grace: Went light b/c I didn't know how my legs would feel after the previous two days. Good thing it was a power clean. Bad thing is that the jerks still got the legs. Legs still felt good but it was probably b/c of the adrenaline.

Sunday now and I'm pretty sore. I could barely walk today! Shoulders are also sore (both of them) but I'm happy to report that it's all regular soreness and not like I screwed something up.

Volleyball: won our playoff game today and will be back for more next week. Good day despite my soreness all around. Thanks for subbing, Megan and Rudy!

2nd day yay

Got progressively more sore throughout the day but was pretty determined to get to the box today. Back squat day so was a bit nervous but probably good day to test out that hip.

1 back squat @ 53#.
No go. I think it has to be the angle or wherever it sits on my back.

5 rounds of 10 ring rows (purple band) / 20 WBs (6#) + stairs!
7:33

I was on the fence about going unbanded on the ring rows but Derek was worried that I would lose control if I got tired so I added the purple band. Probably a little too easy but no need to wreck my shoulder in case. Next time, I should probably give a few rounds without a band but have a band ready in case.

WBs were surprisingly good. Adam said I had pretty good depth and I experienced no hip pain which is fantastic. We'll see what happens when I move on to the 8#.

My legs feel like jello from yesterday and today. It amuses me how weak my legs and butt and hips feel. I walk gingerly and everything is just tightening up right now. The lower calves from running yesterday are also catching up. Legs need some rest tomorrow.

I haven't used the big bar for pullups yet and frankly, I'm a bit nervous about it. Everyone seems to be ripping and ALL my calluses are gone after a 2 month hiatus. Well, it's not like I can worry about it consider my shoulder is in no condition to be hanging off a bar but will have to cross that bridge one of these days...

mod WOD!

Gorgeous weather put me in a super good mood all day so I was really excited to get to the box for a WOD. YAY!

40 yard dash: 6.00, 5.88, 6.03
First dash, I slowed up too early. Second dash was all out. Third dash, I got tired. I think I swung my right arm too crazy and my right shoulder feels funny. That or it's from tennis yesterday.

800m run
3 rounds of 30 mini box jumps (12"? It was 3 45# plates) / 20 air squats
800m run
13:51

All the running put a blister on my right foot. I also have some blisters from tennis yesterday :(
Got ambitious and thought I could play tennis after. Just couldn't move my feet b/c of the blisters so called it quits after 30 min (sorry JJ).

I want to be back at the box tomorrow. We'll see how the blisters feel...

Good sweat

Had a hard time dragging my lazy ass to the box today (I've fallen off that wagon) but JJ offered up a pretty good alternative: tennis!!!
Thank goodness I'm right handed with left side injuries. I am able to play tennis even with my busted shoulder and wrists. Hip held up so that's good news.
Played 1.5 hours of tennis and played a set with me serving all the games b/c JJ's ankle is still hurt. He wore ankle braces but it's still not completely healed.
I lost 2-6.

Ate decently today.
1 coffee w/ a bit of half and half, 1 hard boiled egg, 1 chef's salad from Pockets, 1 Trio bar, 1 muscle milk light, then topped it off with soup, crabcakes, asparagus, and a few bites of potato pancake at Glenn's diner (yum).

Hopefully back at the box tomorrow?

Last day of hip PT but...

I am in the process of fixing myself... today, was the shoulder's turn.
Went to see the doc and guess who I see in the waiting room... Emily! She was in for her knee. Hope it went well with her.

Diagnosis: no rotator cuff tear (good news) but I have some "internal impingement"
(whatever that means) that will require some PT to fix.
RX: PT 3x a week for six weeks! My PT said that we can probably do 2x a week for four weeks so we'll see how progress goes.
Recommended exercises: range of motion, strengthening, post capsule stretching, scapular stability

Supposedly, if it's not better after that, then I'm supposed to see the doctors again.

Today was the last day of my hip PT, all 8 weeks of it. I am 95% of the way there and my last session proved it.
Ran 0.5 miles on the treadmill
2 sets of 15 step-ups (18" box) with 8lb weights
2 sets of 10: with left leg, hop on bosu ball, hop off, jump left, then right (then right then left). Good lateral movements for my hip.
2 sets of 15 box jumps (18"). Felt pretty good. He says I'm landing too hard and that I need to absorb more.
2 sets of 15 "reverse lunges"
2 sets of 15 "rose wall slides" (I'm supposed to continue to do this to strengthen those side glute/hip muscles - also need to continue to do clams)
Some active stretches, monster walks, etc.

Pretty decent workout actually. Cardio is shot b/c I got pretty winded doing some of that stuff.

Bits of cheating here and there last week and this past weekend. It's Monday so time to get weekday clean eating back on track.

Sick again

After yesterday's food extravaganza, I had a really clean food day today:
- eggs and kielbasa, 1 coffee for breakfast
- veal osso bucco and broccoli for lunch
- a handful of nuts, dried fruit, and 1 piece of dark chocolate for snack
- chicken and veggie soup and more veggies for dinner

I'm sick again. It's really discouraging b/c it's been the fourth time I've been sick in the last 5 months I think. Last night, all the muscles in my arms and legs were achy and I hadn't done anything in a week. I don't understand... how is it that my body has been falling apart since I turned 28?!

Booked an appointment to see a doctor about my shoulder next Monday. Tail end of hip PT still going... hopefully, shoulder's not so bad that I'll need more PT once hip PT is done.

Food WOD

Okay, this isn't technically Crossfit related other than the fact that I eat well with my fellow CFC'ers :)

Two Brothers beer dinner at The Publican:

Jamon Iberico with mushrooms and pickled ramps
paired with Prairie Path Ale

Guinea hen, foie gras galantine with ramps orange mustard greens and cashew
paired with Ebel’s Weiss

Grilled Salmon with some kind of grits and green onions, bacon carrot coleslaw
paired with Public Domaine (this was written on the menu but I can't find this online - made in collaboration with Paul Kahan)

Crawford farm lamb mix grill (corned, sausage, tenderloin)
paired with Long Haul Session Ale

Wheat bran cake with coffee ice cream and almonds
paired with Domaine duPage

New low

Dropped another pound! Wow... I really never imagined this.
This HAS to be because I'm not working out and I'm not really eating when I'm not hungry. I think I am definitely back to high school weight which is pretty awesome. I might need new clothes again!

Shoulder is coming around very slowly so I think I might not go to the doctor this time. Will just seek out Rudy for some shoulder exercises and maybe go to my massage therapist to work whatever kinks there is left out.

This week, I won't be able to get to the box til Thursday. Maybe I'll sneak in a run here and there if the weather holds up.

Only cheated a little bit on Friday night. JJ and I went to Bolat. That place is amazing! I love how I'm still pleasantly surprised by flavour combinations: spicy jerk chicken with coconut rice, grilled lamb chops with sweet potato and ginger mash, grilled plaintains with spicy peanut sauce... so bizarre but totally works! Oh man, that piri piri shrimp had my mouth on fire but was so delicious. It killed my taste buds though but the sweet potato mash fixed that.

Where oh where did my double unders go?

I hurt my hip mid January. Man, has my cardio gone!
Today, I did 200 double unders... in 6:06!!!
I think I cracked 100 around 2 or 2:30 but I'm not certain. 6:06 isn't a time I am happy with but I suppose it's somewhere to start after being off for all that time!
I did this outside, in the wind! I need to work with my rope so that when I get back on the speed rope, they will go fast.

I also did some sprints and I'm happy to report: no hip pain! It's still controlled and I'm not as strong as before but yay! Finally! Next challenge: jumping?

... but... shoulder still sucks. My massage therapist last week said that I should see him again if it wasn't better by Wednesday, the latest. It's Thursday and it's not better. I'm thinking I should go see a real doctor but I'm a little hesitant to commit to more PT, especially just after the whole hip therapy. I can't decide what I need... more massages or just PT? More exercises? Aaaah I don't know!

JJ and I took a nice walk after he watched me grind through the 200 DUs and the sprints. We grabbed some food and I was happy that I turned down lots of bad food (pizza, wings, crepes, empanadas) and opted for something pretty decent at Sultan's Market. No real desire for a cheat meal... I know I have one coming on Monday!!

Back on the (blogging) wagon?

From Kicking Horse Mountain Resort March 13-20, 2010

I've had a history of leaving posts behind but once in a while, I'll have something to blab about :)

It's been a while since my last blog because I've fallen off the wagon a bit. Ever since the Paleo+ challenge ended, I've been a little looser on the diet than I'd like to be honest. I mean, I'm enjoying what I'm eating but know I will feel like crap afterwards (but I still do it sigh). One thing especially is the increased intake of beer haha. I love my craft beer and I know it's the absolute worst thing you can drink but I love it anyway!
Here is a list of craft beers I had while on vacation:
Mt Begbie Powerhouse Pale Ale
Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
Unibroue Efemere
Granville Island Maple Cream Ale
Big Rock Grasshopper Wheat Ale
Steamwhistle Pilsner
Wild Rose WRaspberry Ale

I love vacation! I love the Canadian Rockies and I do totally miss Canada. Snowboarding was a blast! Doing a handstand with about 7 lbs of clothing/boots was fun haha... took about 5 attempts!

The hip is recovering... slowly but surely. My PT says it's almost there... that the only pain I'm still experiencing is where the muscle attaches to the bone. I think he said it's the sartorius muscle that's still inflamed although I am still experiencing some soreness in my piriformis too. I really need to take a biology class.

A new injury I am experiencing is my left shoulder. I don't know if I fell on it or slept on it funny but it's been over a week and it's still tender and weak. I went for a massage over the weekend and definitely felt serious differences b/t my shoulders when pressure was applied. I had my PT check it out and he thinks I strained my rotator cuff. Recommended that I get a massage in a week to get it fixed up. No weight on it for a week to see how it goes. He even said to lay off it even if it doesn't feel like it's hurting (he cited working the traps - think HPCs - as an example). My massage therapist said no heat difference b/t my shoulders and that was good. Will probably be back in there in a week.

Only went to CFC once last week on Tuesday (5 rounds of 25 sit ups / 25 back ext in 11:10) and my back had been sore for a few days. Sucks getting old as I feel like everything is taking longer to recover and with all this PT and MT, the costs are piling up!

My hope is to get back on the wagon soon. I'm cleaning up my weekday eating again and I'm hoping to get back to the box 3x a week.

Difference of opinion

It's Thursday and my traps are still swollen from the HPCs on Sunday. Definitely not doing anything until it recovers completely.

Yesterday, I had an interesting argument with my PT. I was doing an exercise where I stood on my left leg and I bent and pointed directions with my right leg. They're called vectors and they're supposed to help my stability throughout the leg and they're supposed to help my hip muscles get stronger. I felt a bit of soreness on the outside of my leg, near the ankle and I asked the PT if I was supposed to feel it there.
Instead of saying something like, concentrate on working your knee/hip or whatever, he said "I think you need more supportive shoes". I was wearing my Puma K-streets.

At first, I didn't think anything of it but it was his tone that really bothered me. Don't get me wrong, I really like my PT and he's fixing my hip but he went on to say that he's read "all the books" on barefoot running and pose running and he doesn't believe any of it and claims people get hurt more from it. Well, I'm sure the people that go to him that get hurt might not be easing into barefoot/pose running properly or they're not listening to their own body but I did not appreciate the way he passed judgment on me.

I tried to have an intelligent discussion with him as to why and things that he's read but he throws out a challenge at me to find studies for him to read. I haven't read and don't have access to studies with hard evidence (requires payment) but I have read plenty of anecdoctal articles that doesn't say barefoot running is bad for you.

Anyway, he doesn't have to agree with me but I feel like he judged unfairly. His compromise, interestingly enough, was for me to do the exercises barefoot. I don't understand as the reason he cited for my pain was lack of arch support. So how exactly does doing exercises barefoot help his cause?

It doesn't matter. If he wants me to wear regular running shoes, that's fine. I'm there to fix my hip. I can run in my Pumas after I'm all better.

Short version of what I've been eating over the last few days:
Breakfast: meatballs, eggs, spinach, peppers in some form or another
Lunch: Protein Bar Chicken Parm bowl (I had a coupon), Market Creations buffet lunch (fish, chicken, broccoli, bok choy... other than sauces, as good as paleo as I can be).
Dinner: salads with salmon burger, pureed turnip and celeriac, ground elk with tomato sauce.

Between the Chungs...

... we have one fully functional body.

My arms, traps are super sore from Sunday's WOD.
My hip, left wrist are still recovering.
JJ's back, right wrist are still recovering.

Last weekend was JJ's birthday so we cheated a little bit. Peruvian food where our main dish was paella. We threw down some beers. Ate some sandwiches (with bread!). Lattes. Coconut custard cake from Metropolish. Delish.

In the week now so back at eating paleo. Been good this week so far!

Sunday's WOD:
5 rounds of:
10 pullups
20 HPCs at 45#
10 push presses at 45#
Just under 15min.

First round of pullups unbroken AND the second round was only broken once. I think my pullup endurance is finally coming along although today, 3 days after that WOD, I still can't straighten my arms without pain. Strange.
Also got a popped blood blister... boo
HPCs felt good considering it was my first time in months. No pain on hip. My traps are still killing me today.
Tried a push jerk but my hip just isn't ready for that yet so stuck with the push presses.

500m row after using minimal lower body: 2:16


Tuesday's WOD
5 rounds of
20 bench presses at 40#
Jog 2 hallway lengths
8:34

Bench presses were unbroken in first round. Broke up once in second round. Then started to go downhill from there. Worked hard to fight through 3. Muscles just failing at that point.
Good to jog down hallway and get moving!

2 x 500m row (2:11, 2:16). Just love jumping on the rower!

3 x 10 back extensions. Want to strengthen back since that movement causes no hip pain.

Tripped on the boards downstairs. That was not good for my hip :(

Back at PT today!

Acceptance

Read this:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/exercising-through-injury/

I realize I've struggled with accepting my hip flexor injury; and missing CFC plus working lots really didn't help. I'm finally seeing a light though and even though it could be weeks before I am 100%, I think I'm finally taking the advice at the end of the article to heart.

"The idea is to accept your injury. You don’t have to like it, and you don’t have to give up, but you do have to accept the fact that being stubborn about the intensity of your workouts will only keep you sidelined longer. You can still work up a sweat and stay fit; just don’t overdo it."

Eating well even though JJ was out of town!

I don't like weeks when JJ is out of town but I managed to feed myself sufficiently well on meals we already made and courtesy of client work.

Monday:
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, salmon, 1 espresso
Lunch: Cobb salad (no cheese) and tomato soup from Panera
Snack: homemade paleo kit
Dinner: 2 homemade kefta rolls with salad (sundried tomatoes, artichokes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil)

Tuesday:
Breakfast: 1 fried eggs, sauteed rotisserie chicken leftovers, pureed cauliflower with sauteed onions and garlic, 1 espresso
Lunch: Chef's salad (no cheese) and half of a medium lobster bisque from Au Bon Pain. Also got a medium latte with whole milk which always makes me feel better on a rough day.
Snack: homemade paleo kit
Dinner: homemade ratatouille with bolognese sauce. Some carrot and zucchini strings in there too.

Wednesday:
Breakfast: leftover rotisserie chicken (drumsticks), pureed cauliflower with sauteed onions and garlic, 1 espresso
Lunch: pot roast with roasted buttnernut squash, eggplant, and carrots
Snack: half a homemade paleo kit
Dinner: 2 homemade kefta rolls with salad (sundried tomatoes, artichokes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil)

Thursday:
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 1 apple with sunbutter
Lunch: bolognese sauce with roasted eggplant, white asparagus, mushrooms, and chayote
Snack: half a homemade paleo kit
Dinner: chicken korma with broccoli

I really like lattes and was doing well with not drinking them for a while. However, sometimes, when I'm stressed at work, I just really want one. As a result, I am trying to limit myself to max 1 latte a week.

PT: hip flexor stretches, foam rolls on IT band and TFL, monster walks.
Today, I threw in 3x max pushups with 60s rest: 14+8+7=29
Still off on my first set but my third set is higher. Maybe that means push up endurance is getting better??

Weekend

I find the weekends the hardest to stay paleo especially when there are social get-togethers like dinners and bars. The Chicago restaurant week also isn't helping... I loooove food too much that when a delicious risotto comes with my entree, I'm going to eat it. I even hesitate to sub especially when the chef recommends a certain preparation.
I did find that cheating gets worse with fellow paleo crossfitters! It's just really funny but you can't blame us! All we do is talk about the food that we can't eat :)

Saturday, I ate:
9am: Muscle milk lite, apple with sunbutter
1:30pm (brunch with friends): ham, bacon, sausage, mushroom, onion, avocado omelette with orange, coffee
6:30pm ("dinner" at Thai Pastry): Tom Kha Kai (mushroom, coconut, lemongrass, and some other herbs/spices) soup, whole fried red snapper in a spicy pepper sauce, thai basil ground chicken, 1 young coconut with the coconut meat for dessert.
9pm (snacks at Tony's): bites of buffalo chicken, sliders, carrots, chocolate birthday cake, Riesling, champagne

Sunday, I ate:
Lunch at 1pm: stir fried chicken with Worcestershire sauce, pureed cauliflower (with black pepper, butter, sauteed red onions)
Snack at 5pm: some beef/elk/venison jerky with nuts and dried fruit while I made paleo kits
Dinner at 8pm (at Naha): cremini mushroom soup, pork belly with mushroom risotto, dark chocolate and hazelnut cake with orange wedges

Possible cold?

I can't remember where I was with logging the nutrition but last night, JJ and I went to David Burke's Primehouse for restaurant week and it was AMAZING and worth the cheat!
I've been eating relatively cleanly all week so this was a nice reward.

We started with the Kobe beef sashimi served on Himalayan salt blocks. The thing came with this delicious mayo and crustry bread, all of which I ate. Then they gave us this lovely cheesy flaky bread pudding looking things... omg, I ate it with the delicious butter accompaniment. I guess if I'm cheating, this is going all out.
For our entree, I had the "Burker" which uses 40 day aged beef. JJ upgraded his steak to the 55 day dry aged steak and it is honestly one of the best pieces of steak I've ever had. I'm totally sold on the dry age!

Yesterday, I WODed one last one above Lalo's at 6am:
Press 43-51-57(8) (being off a few weeks and this felt weak but nice to be back at it!)
2 min double unders: 63 (there were a few 2s and 3s in there... need to be more patient)
Tabata pullups: 10+4+2+4+3+3+2+2=30 (not bad for a first time at unbanded! Hands hurt)
Handstand negatives: 10 (felt good... taped wrist)
Handstand holds (as free as possible): 5 (I got up at least once without the wall!... before falling over haha)

Woke up this morning with a super sore throat and decided to skip the 9am that JJ went to. Really hope I'm not getting sick!

Never hold back

Men's snowboard superpipe has got to be my favourite snowboarding event. I watch the Winter X Games, highly anticipating this event every year, and this year, a bonus to see it at the Winter Olympics in good ol' Vancouver.

Shaun White attacks every single hit with athleticism, speed, and absolutely no fear. He drops in above the wall while everyone else in the field checks their speed on their first hit. His straight air is at least 5 feet higher than everyone else's. The guy smashes his chin on the wall at the x games and keeps going because it would have ate him up if he didn't go and lay it on the floor. He knew he could do it and his competitive spirit further pushes the boundaries of the sport. The double mctwist 1260 is just insane!

At last night's final event, he knows he took the gold before he even went on his last run. He's celebrating and he even joked about doing his victory lap down the middle. But no. In true Shaun White fashion, he does a flawless run and throws in his signature move on the last hit with NO SPEED. He bests his winning run by 2 points... totally delivers no matter what the pressure is. This guy is true inspiration.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=d924411a-bea6-4fd8-b485-f58dc5238dfe.html#mens+halfpipe+white+wins+gold

New box!

Love the new space and I could get used to that quick metra ride!

WOD today:
30 DUs (took a while to get into rhythm)
10 push ups (regular)
20 DUs
20 push ups (sets of 5 on knees)
10 DUs (unbroken)
30 push ups (sets of 1s/2s on knees)

Push up endurance sucks. Guess I got lots to work on while hip recovers.

Goals I put down today for October:
30 kipping unbroken pullups
1K row: 4 min (probably will get adjusted depending on when I can get back on the rower)

Need to think about a few more goals but stepping stones include things like deadhangs/butterflies/CTBs! I want to get better at KTEs and I really want to do one strict HSPU with full range of motion too.

Today, I ate:
Breakfast at 8:30am: 2 fried eggs, 4 Tallgrass meatballs w/ tomato sauce, 1 espresso, 1 spoon of sunbutter
Lunch at 12:30pm: Market Creations buffet (chicken teriyaki, steamed sole, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy - all saltier and sweeter than I wanted)
Snack at 5:30pm: Trio bar
Dinner at 9pm: stir fried rotisserie chicken with sauteed rapini and radish leaves, 1 apple with sunbutter

Sore from stretches

Geez my hip is sore today...

I ate:
Breakfast at 8:30am: 2 fried eggs, 4 Tallgrass meatballs w/ tomato sauce, 1 espresso, 1 spoon of sunbutter
Lunch at 12:30pm: JJ's homemade braised chuck roast with roasted beets
Snack at 5pm: homemade paleo kit
Dinner at 9pm: Whole Foods buffet (beets, chicken cacciatore, 1 turkey meatball, cauliflower, kale, ratatouille)

Forgot that I ate the Sweet Mandie B's cupcake that JJ picked up for me last night.

Someone at work talked about giving things up for Lent. I'm not religious but feel the need to shore up my diet some more if it is, in fact, causing my inflammation. Need to get better before snowboarding trip too. Need to give up grains and sugar between now and then... it's going to be tough!

PT day 2

Physical therapy day 2.
PT really worked it today... man is it sore! Pinching is bad. Soreness is okay. Just gotta keep at it until it gets better. He says getting back to normal daily function (stairs, in and out of car, etc) without pain will be the easy part. Getting back to full crossfit WODs is going to take "some time"...

Home exercises include:
Stretches:
5 x 20s of stretching out hip while lying down on edge of bed
3 x 20s "pretzel stretch"
3 x 20s hip flexor stretch (Samson stretch without the arms above head)
Strengthening:
3 x 10 "bridges" (hip thruster things)
3 x 10 "clamps"

Been taping wrist lately (even at work) as it's been bothering me.

Today, I ate:
Breakfast at 8:30am: 2 fried eggs, 4 Tallgrass meatballs, tomato sauce, 1 americano
Lunch at 12:30pm: chicken korma with roasted butternut squash (roasted w/ garlic and cinnamon)
Snack at 4:30pm: handful of almonds, pistachios, dried cranberries, and dried cherries
Dinner at 9pm: Barbacoa (frozen, bought at Costco... kinda salty) with broccoli. Banana nut cupcake from Sweet Mandie B's (happy birthday Amy!)

Sectionals

It was absolutely incredible. Aiming for Sectionals 2011!

Love my CFC family!

waaay behind

I must have fallen off the wagon... sigh

I'm eating more or less like JJ...

Also, my stomach did not handle that Culvers burger very well...

Way to go, Bryce, on setting an example of refusing the donuts... even if it's because you don't like donuts?

Maybe this week I'll be better...

The bus

Today, I just missed the bus. I would have made it had I been able to run pain-free. The worst part was the tease: people were getting on and the light was counting down to a red. I thought with 2 seconds left, it would have to sit there for another light but it didn't. Damn bus ran the red.
What a lame story haha
At least I enjoyed watching the snow fall as I waited for the next bus. Makes me want to go snowboarding!

Sunday, I ate:
Breakfast/Lunch at noon: Two fried eggs with breakfast steak and roasted butternut squash, 1 americano
Lunch/snack at 4pm: Whole Foods buffet of 1.5 turkey meatballs, a few wings, some beets, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, asparagus. About 1lb of food.
Dinner: Grassfed beef hotdog (no nitrates) with JJ's julienned turnip, carrot, celery, radish, apple salad. Had some delicious apple cider (no added sugar!)
Snack: 1 apple with sunbutter

Monday, I ate:
Breakfast at 8am: pot roast with steamed broccoli (no seasoning... I forgot since I was in a hurry).
Snack: 1 16oz coffee
Lunch at 1pm: wasn't feeling hungry... finally ate 3 homemade Kefta rolls with roasted veggies (carrots, butternut squash, eggplant)
Dinner at 8pm: not feeling hungry again... flank steak with salad and some almond crackers with banana/sunbutter/carob dip

Today, I ate:
Breakfast at 8:30am: grassfed hotdog wrapped in 1 fried egg, spinach and peppers with crushed walnuts, 1 americano
Lunch at 1:30pm (not hungry again): beef osso bucco with roasted cinnamon butternut squash.
Snack at 3:30pm: 1 latte (needed it to pick up my shitty mood)
Dinner (that I'm about to eat) at 9pm: spaghetti sauce with homemade bolognese sauce, small salad with sundried tomatoes, artichokes, and hearts of palm. Maybe I'll have an apple with sunbutter too...

This not feeling very hungry thing is concerning me a bit. Haven't needed or wanted a homemade paleo kit in a while. Maybe my body isn't needing as many calories since I'm not working out as much. Mood's been crappy lately... think I'm stressed/depressed with career stuff... Not sleeping enough either. Recipe for disaster... need to FIX ASAP!

Braised oxtail!

Roasted veggies!

Full arsenal

Tired and achy

I feel like I am starting to not be very good about posting daily. I don't have too much to say lately other than "my hip hurts", "my wrist hurts", "I miss crossfit" and "work sucks" so I'm starting to sound like a whiner too. Please forgive me.

I'm probably averaging 2-3 times a week these days. I want to go more but I'm just achy. I feel myself falling out of sync a bit and the work crankiness is starting to creep back too. End of busy season is close... just another month to go. Then I hopefully can concentrate on sleep and recovery in time for my snowboarding trip!

Friday, I ate:
Breakfast at 8:30am: 1 muscle milk light (I was in a hurry)
Snack at 10am: 1 banana and 1 16 oz coffee
Lunch at 12:30pm: yellow squash and zucchini with bolognese sauce
Snack at 4pm: homemade paleo kit
Pre-dinner snack at 7pm: 1 apple with some sunbutter
Dinner at 7:30pm: canned wild sockeye salmon salad, made with homemade mayo (egg yolk + olive oil + fresh chopped rosemary). Sundried tomatoes, artichokes, hearts of palm, balsamic dressing all made it into the salad party
Post-dinner snack at 10pm: a few bites of freshly baked carob blueberry muffins


Today, I ate:
Breakfast at 10am: Glenn's diner omelette with bacon, spinach, mushrooms, and green pepper
Snack at noon: Latte (delicious) and few spoonfuls of butternut squash coconut curry soup at Metropolis. Love that place.
Snack at 3:30pm: samples of random stuff like Starbucks VIA and deli meat turkey.
Dinner at 8pm: Veal piccata limone at Fiorentino's. Had some grilled octopus, lightly breaded calamari, other people's food (scallops, chicken, steak, 1 small strand of squid ink fettucine). I started with a minestrone soup that was delicious but very disappointing as I did not expect the amount of potatoes, beans, and pasta in it. It looked like I barely ate any of the soup. My non-crossfit friends must have thought I was crazy.

Pretty sad food day. I never felt super hungry and I just didn't feel like eating. I think I was a bit moody today...

Robb Wolf responds

I've been listening to the podcasts and decided to post my ganglion cyst/bursitis situation on Robb's blog.

His response included:
"Ganglion cysts really respond well to low carb, sleep etc. I doubt if glucosamine would help that."
and this.

More work + more stress + less sleep is messing with my insulin sensitivity apparently. I should probably be a little more strict on paleo. I love food... not being able to cheat little bits is going to be tough...

6am WOD:
3x max pushups: 16+10+6=32. I didn't do as many in my first set but more in my second and third sets. Total is a PR of 1.
Alex's alt WOD:
5 rounds of 5 strict press at 75% of my 1RM (used 53#) and 10 (unbanded kipping) pullups: 9:04
Limiting factors are still pullups but they're getting better. Blood blister but did not rip.
Finished it off with 3x 10 reverse sit-up thing using bench. Tough stuff. Thanks Rudy.

Pre-6am WOD: 1 muscle milk light
Breakfast at 8am: 2 fried eggs with Kerry Gold butter (best butter ever) and shrimp sauteed with garlic powder and tomato sauce. 1 espresso.
Mid-morning "snack": 1 16oz coffee
Lunch at 1pm: Chicken shwarma salad w/ parsley, cucumber, sumac onion, spicy tomato sauce from I Dream of Falafel
Snack at 5pm: almost-paleo banana walnut muffin
Dinner at 7pm: Dinner at Spring included yellowtail sashimi with sweet potato bouillon, lemongrass and coconut soup with shrimp dumpling, 1 glass of white wine, scallops with braised oxtail, bokchoy, and mushroom in a sweet soy sauce, 1 decaf latte.

Yesterday and today

I would have had a boring post yesterday... worked til JJ came to pick me up after volleyball. Decided at work at around 9pm that I needed to go to the box for a 6am. Worked like a charm.

Yesterday, I ate:
Breakfast @ 8am: sauteed shrimp with tomato sauce, 1 fried egg, some spinach and peppers with crushed almonds, 1 americano
Lunch @ 1pm: yellow and zucchini squash with homemade bolognese sauce
Snack @ 5pm: homemade almost paleo banana walnut muffin (there was a bit of honey)
Dinner @ 7:30pm: Jimmy Johns #11 unwich, no mayo and homemade paleo kit

Today, I made it to the box!
Double-under work, Press 5-3-1+: 50-57-64(3) which felt pretty heavy, and tabata push-ups. Goal was to make it through 4 rounds of regular push ups and I was 2 into that round and I failed so had to go on my knees.
12+8+4+2/3+5+6+6+7 = 53
Definitely need to work on some push-up endurance.
Did 3 sets of pullups (5-8-4). Grip slipped a bit on my first set. Rudy jokingly said I should do a butterfly pullup by the time my hip heals. I really hope my hip heals before that! I can't even do CTBs yet!

I would have liked to get Freddy's Revenge in but not this time.

Today, I ate:
Breakfast @ 8am: beef osso bucco with broccoli and sauteed baby bella mushrooms, 1 espresso
Mid-morning "snack": 16oz coffee (for $1) from Roti. I love Metropolis coffee.
Lunch @ 1pm: 1 crabcake, butternut squash in "veggie stew" (the sauce from the osso bucco with all the veggies just broken down)
Snack @ 5pm: handful of nuts and dried cranberries
Dinner @ 7:30pm: chicken/beef chili with roasted beets, maybe I'll eat that hard-boiled egg too.

Diagnosis

Went to the doctor today after approx 3 weeks since my hip pain.
Diagnosis: bursitis on the hip joint(s). The doctor threw out some terms I wasn't familiar with but it basically started with the hip flexor. He prescribed PT but some online websites said not to do anything until the pain is gone. Maybe I should take some ibuprofen but I've been off that stuff for a while now. Icing...

Breakfast at 8am: sauteed shrimp with garlic powder and tomato sauce, 1 fried egg, 1 espresso
Snack at 11am: paleo banana walnut muffin (made with coconut flour and almond meal)
Lunch at 1pm: chicken korma with roasted butternut squash
Snack at 5pm: homemade paleo kit
Dinner at 8pm: chicken curry with steamed broccoli, a few slices of banana on paleo almond crackers and sunbutter, some sticks of celery with sunbutter

Yes, that is homemade beef osso bucco!!

Home sweet home

A wonderful Saturday with nothing planned at all. Needed a day off from work.
Woke up around 10:30am and ate brunch at Glenn's diner - one of my favourite places in the city! Then hit up West Loop for a WOD. Hip still not 100% so trying to lay off it still. Just gotta keep it straight. Goal is to see a specialist this week.

PR'ed on kipping pullups in a row in warm-up! 8! Yay!

Jerks - skipped due to hip
Press 3-3-3+: 43-48-53(3)
I'm an idiot. I completely forgot that the last set is a max rep set. I've been away from strength for too long...

Modified WOD:
8 minute AMRAP of:
5 ring push ups (on knees)
5 ring rows (1st 2 rounds with no band, then got a thin band)
5 kipping pullups (no band)

5 rounds + 2 pullups

Thanks John for offering me that band for those ring rows!

3x max ring dips w/ thin band: 10-9-6

Also, I warmed up with double unders and ended with some work on HSPUs.

Brunch @ 11am at Glenn's diner: coffee, seafood salad split w/ JJ, crabcake eggs benedict w/ hollandaise on the side. Ate a few bites of the potato pancake (argh so delicious). Also, got tempted by the excellent bread soaked in butter - took a few bites b/c I couldn't help it. Next time I go anywhere, I am asking them NOT to bring me any bread (except maybe if their French croissants).

Snack @ 5pm: handful of beef jerky from Trader Joe's
Dinner @ 7pm: Ahi tuna (from Dirks Fish) ceviche w/ cucumber, tomatoes, coconut milk, and shredded carrots. Salmon burger, als from Dirks Fish.