Days 85, 86 & 87

Day 85

I had a late breakfast/lunch/brunch. I cooked up a couple of hamburger patties and had that with my paleo ketchup. I also had some celery, carrots, a banana and some grapes.

During my lunch break I did some front squats. I warmed up with 5 reps at 45, 5 and 65 and 3 at 95. Then I moved in to a 3×3 at 115, 135 and 155. They felt pretty good. I had already seen what the evening WOD at the box was going to be and I didn’t want to overdo it so I called it there. After work I went to the gym where we started off with a 3×3 of back squats. I did two warm up rounds of 3 at 105 and 135. I then did 155, 185 and 190. I think I could have done more, but again, I didn’t want to exhaust myself before the WOD. It was a chipper with 20 each of thrusters, sumo deadlift highpulls, push jerks, overhead squats and front squats, all at 65 pounds. The kicker here is that at the top of every minute you had to do 4 burpees. I completed it in 14:05. First minute I got 18 thrusters. That was the most I have strung together at that weight and I only stopped because it was almost time for the burpees. That makes me feel more confident for the next time I meet Fran.

Ed made dinner. We had bacon wrapped chicken breasts covered with pineapple. I love that stuff. We had sweet potatoes with butter as a side.

Day 86

For breakfast I had a banana and some bacon. It was a very busy day at work and I was barely away from my desk. For lunch I had a couple of eggs over medium. I also had some dark chocolate. Trust me, it was needed.

My whole body ached and so it was a rest day.

For dinner I fixed some shredded pork with some diced baby potatoes that were covered with Italian seasoning and baked. I made a small batch to keep me from eating too many. I used to eat the crap out of those things.

After dinner Ed & I chilled with some wine. That’s pretty much my favorite part of the day.

Day 87

Yay Saturday. I got up and cooked some pancakes for the munchkins. I made myself a couple of eggs. Then it was time to head tot he gym for the OnRamp. Again I demo’d a LOT of wallballs at 14 pounds, did some double unders, box jumps (24 inch) and pushups. My double unders were not working well today. 7 was the magic number that I just couldn’t get past. It might be time to do them everytime I am there.

Back home I didn’t have a “real meal” after that. I munched on celery, carrots, tortilla chips with velveeta/rotel dip and dark chocolate. Yes, it wasn’t the best dining choice I could have made. However I am feeling a bit moody and hormonal and it kept me sane.

I was cranky most of the evening until I decided it was time to build a pillow/couch cushion/table/step-stool/blanket fort of epicness. I wish I had a picture. Ed & I both got in it with Tyr & Freya. It was much fun. I really needed it.

I can’t believe there are only three days left to this. I think I am going to have to end this with a bang. Day 90 falls on club night. I think that is very appropriate. I also think that it’s time to see if I can hit a couple more PR’s. Today was barely an active rest day, but I am definitely back at it tomorrow.

Days 72-75

I’ve been a bad girl. I’ve been meaning to sign on here and update but it’s been one thing after another. It’s no excuse but that’s just how it goes some times. Also, I haven’t eaten very well recently. It was my birthday weekend and I allowed myself to cave a few times. There were cupcakes, breaded chicken and fast food fries. And, aside from the few lifts I demo’d on Sunday, there was not very much working out. I planned on getting back on track yesterday and food wise I was, but my baby boy was sick and I didn’t feel right going out to lift weights while he was feeling so bad.

Today I am back at everything full swing. For breakfast I had a banana and bacon. For lunch I had steak, bacon and celery. For dinner I had pork roast and a couple of sweet potatoes with butter. I was just going to have one, but it was post-wod and I was starving.

Tonight, as is usual on Tuesdays, I attended two classes. First we did a 20 rep max back squat – unbroken. I did 155 pounds. Last time I did it I used 145. I was very grateful for Ed who was spotting me and pushing me through the last 5. Then we did a WOD that had 30 reps of bear complexes. Not only that, every time you dropped the bar you had to do 2 burpees, 4 box jumps and 6 wall balls. I completed it in 15:38, 2:10 faster than the last time I did it. I broke the reps up in to 8, 8, 7 and 7. Next time I hope to do 10, 10 and 10. Oh, and I used 75 pounds. If you have never seen a bear complex or are not sure what they are, check out this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Laa7BJHJWrw

After that was the Club WOD. I did a 5,5,3,1,1,0 of split jerks. It was supposed to be a 5,3,3,1,1,1 but it didn’t work out that way. The bear left me more drained that I expected and I couldn’t go as high as I wanted. The “warm-up round” wasn’t so much a warm up after all. I did 95, 105, 115, 135, 145 and then failed my two attempts at 155. I just couldn’t get my feet to move. There was no dropping under the bar. I will need to work on this some more so that it doesn’t fail when I am exhausted. Then it was a 3 position snatch pull, 5 rounds of 2 reps. I did 95, 105, 115, 125 and 135. I did use the hook grip and my thumbs are not liking me.

I can tell that I am going to feel this tomorrow. It’s okay though, I have my foam roller to get me through it.

Day 40

At this point in my 90 days, having completed the Wendler cycle and PR’d in a few lifts, I have decided that it’s time to refocus my attention to some skills that need improving. Starting with strict hang pull ups and pistol squats. So for the next few weeks I will be working on those areas while continuing to work on lifts with more focus on form than on weight.

Today I did 3 rounds of 5 pistols (each leg), 10 lunges with 10 pounds over head (each leg) and 10 back squats (45 pounds the first round and 65 pounds the second and third round). After that I did 50 sit ups and 25 push ups.

For food today I was totally gluten free. I had bacon, an egg breakfast bake, yogurt, orange juice and coffee. After working out I had a protein shake and almonds. For dinner I had an open face burger with home made sauce on top (totally paleo) and sweet potato fries.

After having dinner, Ed & I had some much needed relaxation time on the couch with wine. I love wine. It will never be removed from my diet. There is a lot I can give up, that is not one of them.

Days 35-39

Sorry about the delay in posting. I let myself get behind on here but have been keeping up with my workouts.

To save this from being a lengthy recap post I am going to sum things up.

I stuck to my gluten free diet for almost this entire period. The only exception to that was when Ed & I went out for dinner after shopping on Wednesday. I wasn’t thinking and ordered mashed potatoes with gravy… It was only after I finished my meal that it hit me that flour is used to thicken gravy. Seriously, I don’t know what I was thinking. Good news, it wasn’t a lot and I didn’t notice any ill effects. I mainly had bacon & eggs for breakfast and a variation of protein/fruits/veggies through out the day.

For my lifting, Wednesday was a rest day. Thursday I did Back squats and hit a 10 pound PR. I did 45×2, 85×2, 125×2, 150×2, 170×1, 190×1 then I rested for 5 minutes and did 215×1, 220×1 and 225×1.

Friday I hit a 5 pound PR on my front squats. I did 45×2, 75×2, 105×2, 125×2, 145×1, 165×1 and after a 5 minutes rest period I did 180×1 and 185×1.

Saturday was OnRamp day again. During that I demo’d sumo-deadlift high pulls with 65 pounds and wall balls. I did 16 pounds for the wall balls. They felt pretty good. I think I am going to try and force myself to do 16 pounds on any WOD that isn’t Karen. After that I stuck around for about an hour and worked on various things. First I worked on double unders. I was able to string together 30. That felt great. Then I did some pistols. They still need a lot of work and are going to be a focus for me in this next month. After that I worked on my squat snatches. I did 45×2, 65×2, 85×2 and 95×2. I tried 105 but couldn’t get it. My upper body has taken a lot of abuse this past week so I didn’t push it. After 3 failed attempts I moved on. I did 25 GHD sit-ups and worked on my strict hang pull ups. I still need a band but am able to get 2 with the smallest band before moving it to 2 bands.

Sunday was a “rest” day of sorts. Ed & I worked together on cleaning/reorganzing the garage. We spent 4 hours out there moving shelves, cleaning, sorting moving stuff out and moving it back in.

Sunday night I made something I had never thought I would try make. Paleo ketchup. I used this recipe minus the fennel bulb. My local grocery store doesn’t carry it this time of year. I haven’t had a chance to try it on anything but did taste it last night. It’s doesn’t have your typical ketchup flavor but is very similar. I will be making open face burgers tonight to see how they pair together. 🙂

Day 25 & 26

Day 25

Today was actually fairly productive. I slept in a little bit and that was wonderful. I was in no rush to do anything. I spent the morning catching up on laundry and actually putting some of it away this time. For breakfast I had a couple of scrambled eggs with my coffee. Lunch was a sweet potato hash with ground beef and carrots. I’m still tweaking this recipe. It was better than the last time I had it but still lacking something. I will get it figured out.

After lunch I went to help a friend move and got to see some people I hadn’t seen in a while. It was nice. Plus all the trips up and down the stairs were a nice mini-wod. After that I stopped in at Local Pig. It’s a butcher shop/charcuterie that I have been meaning to check out for some time now but never even knew where it was. I ended up leaving there with a couple of bacon burger patties, jalapeno-chedder burger patties, stuffed dates and bbq burnt end sausage.

So, for dinner I had a bacon burger, no bun, and a side of cauliflower & carrot mash. This was my first time trying the mash and I think it turned out really well. I made a big batch and so there was some left over.

After dinner I did my lifting from Friday. For some reason I had it in my head that I missed doing my front squats but I double checked my calendar and realized it was back squats. Week four is my deloading week and, as much as it pained me, I didn’t go heavy. I followed the recommended percentages and this week was 40%, 50% & 60% with 5 reps each. That came out to 80, 100 and 120 pounds. Ed was out there with me and he did the same but went up to 185 pounds. It was hard stopping at 120 but I reminded myself that there is a method to this madness. I also did 10 reps of power clean to push press at 65 pounds to work on speed. I’m going to work this in at varying reps with anything from 65 to 85 pounds to work on the speed of this movement while keeping proper form.

Day 26

For breakfast I had a couple of the sausage stuffed dates and they were delicious. I also had two eggs over medium. Lunch was a small cup of turkey vegetable soup, some left over cauliflower-carrot mash and a few pieces of turkey.

My workout today was front squats and strict presses. Both at the same lower percentages. It’s going to be that way all week.

Strict press – 3×5 – 45,55,65 – They felt good… and insanely easy

Font squats – 3×5 – 70, 90, 110 – also felt good and light. I focused on form and hitting proper depth with out going too low. Just tried to break parallel and come back up.

Between the two movements I decided to do some more cleans to push presses for speed like yesterday. Today I went for 2 minutes and did a total of 22 reps. 12 the first minute, 10 the second. I tried to make sure that every rep was fluid and efficient. Next time I do it I am going for a true max effort in three minutes. I could have done more in this one but took a rest break after the first twelve reps until the end of the first minute (about 13 seconds).

Dinner was chicken breast wrapped in bacon and smothered in pineapple. That crap is delicious and my own creation. I am proud of it’s beauty and simplicity. I made it one night a while back when all three ingredients were in the house. Seriously tasty stuff. TRY IT. You just wrap bacon around chicken breast and then cover it with pineapple and back it until it is done. How much easier can it get?

If you don’t try it sometime that’s your loss. But seriously, do it.

Oh, and I also made some sweet potato fries seasoned with rosemary and ground coriander. I could eat my weight in that. There was supposed to be left overs for Ed for tomorrow. All he is getting is one chicken breast. Sorry baby. Every time I went in the kitchen I ate more fries. I’m not ashamed.

I was having a craving for chocolate and so Ed was kind enough to bring some home. Godiva. 85% dark chocolate.Giant bar. I think the bar is intended for cooking. I don’t care. I behave and only ate two pieces. I did ignore the girl scout cookies, m&m’s and kit kats that spent the day calling to me. Screw you temptation. I want tight abs more than I want you.

I also had a couple of glasses of wine with my baby before calling it a night, which I am doing now.

Day 19

Today was definitely a better day.

Breakfast and lunch sort of blurred together as I didn’t really have a big meal and more or less ate as I got hungry.It consisted of turkey, a banana and a hot pocket. I also had some hot tea along with my usual coffee. The hotness felt good on my throat which is still battling congestion. Early in the morning I got a text from a dear friend. She told me to lift today and that it would help with my stress. I had already decided I would but wasn’t quite finding the motivation for it. So thanks for the push Jill, I needed it. You were right, it totally helped.

I went outside to lift three times today. My first time out I did push presses and snatches. It was a mix of what I originally planned to do Friday and today.

Push Press – 5,3,1 – 75, 85, 95

Snatch – 3,3, AMRAP – 80, 90 100×4 reps

The push presses felt really good. The snatches were even better. If you were there to see me struggle with getting the 100 pound snatch earlier this year then you know how awesome it felt getting 4 tonight. You see, during the CrossFit open last year I got 100 pounds ONCE. Just once. The next time I tried it I failed. The time after that, failed. For months I was stuck in my head and couldn’t get it again. I can’t wait to try for a new max on this.

Then on my next break at work I went out and did back squats. I warmed up with 5 & 5 of 100 and 135 pounds.

Back Squats – 5,3, AMRAP – 150, 170 and 4 reps at 190.

These felt good as well… except for the last 2 reps. I really had to push to get those. I debated, briefly, stopping at 3 reps. Then I remembered something I read recently about the last reps being the ones that counted the most. The reps that you have to fight for. Those reps that almost don’t happen. So I fought for one more rep and was glad I did.

After work I had about 20 minutes before I had to pick up the kids from the sitter and so I did a workout posted by my box. It was 20 reps back squats unbroken. The last time I did that I used 135 pounds. This time I used 145. I got all 20 reps. The last five were hard but not impossible. Obviously since I did it. I have set myself a goal to revisit this before the end of the year and get 20 reps at 160 pounds. I think I can do it.

Dinner, that wasn’t so great. It was pizza, meat lovers. I ate the crap out of that. I also made cookie bars with the kids and had a couple of those and wrapped the night up with a glass of wine. I did stop at one glass though, so that’s something.

Day 16

Today was a bad day. It started off fine, everything was normal and good. I had eggs with bacon for breakfast and that’s always good. I had a nice workout planned. Today was the day for snatches and back squats. It didn’t happen though.

I was out i the garage warming up. I got three reps of 65# snatches in before I got the text with news I REALLY didn’t want to hear. It’s something personal, something i don’t feel like sharing with the world. But to sum it up I was betrayed by someone who I once trusted with every ounce of my being. Someone I have since come to learn is not who I thought he was. This betrayal cost me a lot of money.

I was devastated, distraught, furious, livid… so many emotions all at one time. For the first time since I developed my passion for lifting I experienced such an intense emotional state that I was unable to function for a while, let alone lift. Some close family and friends know what happened and I am so luck to have such a wonderful support system. I am grateful for every last one of them. I know that with them I will overcome this like I have all the other things I have been through in my life.

You can knock me down but I won’t stay there.

You can take away the things that I have and I will find a way to replace them

But you can not betray me and think that I will forgive. Especially when it impacts people I love. More-so when it impacts my children.

I am stronger than he ever knew and I am stronger because of all he put me through. This was the last thing that he could take from me that had any significance in my life.

The anger from this is still there and I don’t know how long I will be dealing with it. Today, however, is the only day it is allowed to hold me back. Tomorrow I will wake up and use it as fuel. Fuel for my workouts and fuel for doing what needs to be done. I will control it. It will NOT control me.

Day 9

I was right, my arms are very mad at me today. Lots of mobility work was done through out the day trying to get my triceps and forearms to forgive me. They never did. I am hoping that tomorrow we can be friends again.

Breakfast was an orange cream yogurt and three eggs scrambled with milk and 21 salute seasoning. I had a pre-lifting snack in the form of 6 left over chicken wings from the other night. They reheated quite nicely in the toaster oven. I was pleasantly surprised. The downside is that now I am out of hot wings.

In the garage it was snatch and back squat day. The back squats didn’t feel as heavy as they did last week. I was very glad of that. Especially with the slightly higher weights and with knowing that next week will be even higher.

Snatch – 3x3x1 – 75, 90, 100 pounds

Back Squat – 3x3xamrap – 140, 160 and 180 pounds. I did 4 reps at 180

I tried to do an additional rep on my snatches at 100 but failed. I almost put more weight on to try and see if I could match my prior 1 rep max but then I reminded myself that these rep schemes were planned out for a reason. No good will come if I ignore it. Besides, it will be nice to see if this actually results in an improved 1 rep max at the end of it. I think the hardest part of this is going to be reminding myself that I can’t try for a new one rep max every week. That’s not how this work. PR’s came more often in the very beginning but it’s not hard to get stronger when you start off thinking the 45 pound bar is heavy.

After work I had to do a lot of driving and dinner was on the go. I stopped by my food crack dealer, also known as Panda Express, and order a large orange chicken. I did not order an entree plate. It’s hard, although not impossible, to eat rice while driving. As such I have gotten in the habit of ordering a large single entree and eating the entire thing myself. Plus the fortune cookie. I have no shame. It was good. I enjoyed it. I will do it again.

Tomorrow I don’t have any set plans on what I will be lifting. I will be basing that partially on what muscles hurt the most and partially on how much time I have. We will just see what happens. One way or another there will be weights involved.

Day 2

Well, I did get more sleep last night but I was still very tired this morning and so I know it was not enough. I did sleep like a brick though. I got up 15 minutes earlier than normal. It’s a start towards getting up early enough to workout in the morning, but not quite enough. One step at a time, right?

Breakfast this morning was a breakfast burrito with 3 eggs scrambled, diced steak, diced bacon, ground beef and cheese. Of course I had some African Steak Seasoning on it and some taco sauce. I’m out of orange juice and milk so I just had coffee this morning. Time to run to the store. Good thing it’s payday.

My body is not as sore as I thought it would be and I am surprised by the lack of bruises on my forearms from the tire flipping. I was sure I would be purple. My triceps and biceps were the sorest parts of my body so a decent part of the morning, while on phone calls and on hold at work, was spent digging a ball in to those muscles.

So far this week I have done deadlifts, front squats, overhead squats, thrusters and push jerks. I decided that today is a day to work on  two movements, the snatch and back squat. I’ve decided to mostly follow the Wendler System. I am going to follow the reps and percentages of weights but I am NOT going to only squat once a week. Also, the bench press is not a major lift for me, so that is probably not going to happen more than every other week. As with everything in this, I am tweaking things to work for me.

So, today’s workout (after a warm up) included a 3×5 of hang cleans, power snatches and back squats. The hang cleans were all done with 65 pounds. This was more to work on form, speed and warming up some more than it was to work on weight. I will increase weight on those another time. Power snatches were done at 80, 85 and 90 pounds. I warmed up with 65 pounds as that was already on the bar from the hang cleans. They felt good but the last round was heavy and I wasn’t sure I would get that last rep. I am very glad I did.

Back squats were a different story. I have not done a lot of these lately and it’s been two months since I went heavy on them. I warmed up with 65 and 95 pounds and then started my reps at 135. It felt good and so I bumped it up to 165.  That felt very heavy and so instead of doing my planned 190 for the last round I did 175. I don’t have a spotter and I am doing this with iron plates on a bare concrete floor. We should be getting a rubber mat with in the next couple of weeks and so then I won’t be so afraid of dropping the weights and breaking something.

For lunch I had a big bowl of chicken noodle soup. Ed made it the other day and it has carrots, celery, bacon and I think even a poblano pepper. It’s yummy. Then later I went back and made myself a peanut butter sandwich.

Dinner was on the run. Had a Whopper Jr with cheese & bacon and some of my fries. I skipped the soda and had tea instead.

After settling back in at home for the night I pulled out my planner and laptop and got busy figuring out what I am doing. I have almost all of my lifting for the next 4 weeks planned. Movements, percentages and reps are all written out. I even have my deload week planned and Sunday is my official rest day every week.

During this time I will be setting goals while listening to my body. Mobility work will be a must, probably on a daily basis. When this is all said and done I think I just might reward myself with a massage.