Beginner Mistake

Note to self: The back of my neck is NOT a good place for the barbell to land, especially one that is traveling in a swift downward motion. Ouchie.
The effects of the overhead press skills performed yesterday during "The Bear Complex" WOD are evident today in my arms and shoulders. It must be working! I am glad.

I went to YDFM with Ali today. I'm keeping my commitment to try TWO new vegetables each time I visit the farmers market. All items in this photo are first-time purchases for me. I've eaten pomegranate and artichoke, but never had chayote squash, persimmon, Indian eggplant, or pineapple quince before. I will enjoy preparing these (or just eating them). The downside: I'm certain that I have way too much food now. :(

Resources

I'm starting to talk more to friends about my health improvements through dietary changes, and I'm going to list some of the resources I find most helpful.

There's nothing better than a good testimonial video, so first, you have to watch this one: What elite athletes eat

I'm reading Protein Power Lifeplan by Michael Eades, M.D. and Mary Dan Eades, M.D. I'm considering purchasing a bunch of these and giving them as gifts to people in my life. My biggest issue with this book is the title, because I fear that folks will shy away because they think it's about meat. It's about optimal nutrition and health! So please, read it. This book was recommended to me from a Registered Dietician, Erica Lesperance who is Paleo friendly and not only talks the talk, but walks the walk (she is a CrossFitter too). One thing she told me which I loved was that so many things that she learned in school about nutrition were wrong! She does her own research and finds what really works. I believe I will be working with her more in the future.

Check out Mark's Daily Apple. It's got TONS of awesome information from the author of The Primal Blueprint.

I'm going all out here with sharing - so I'll share the site I created for myself to help me track good resources, recipes, markets, food intake and anything else related to my work to regain my health. It's super tailored to me, but if you find it helpful in any way - let me know if you have any questions about it. I'm happy to help. Just please don't enter things into my food tracker, I've only made it public so you can see what it looks like. It's very easy for me to log my food this way. (I love me some Google Docs!)

I'll add more resources to this post as they come along.

Feeling Good

I'm really feeling the results from training lately. Progress is being made. I haven't been perfect with the schedule, and I haven't been perfect with my eating. But I have been much more focused on the big picture, rather than focusing on perfection each day and each meal. I am feeling much stronger than before.
Conversely, I have been working on goals with a "one week at a time" approach. I painted the picture of what a successful week looks like by putting together a work / life schedule for myself. It is an interesting exercise. I'm finding that I work way more hours than I should. But, at least for now, I am certainly making my fitness and eating a priority instead of allowing work to eclipse everything in my life.
One step at a time...
Today's workout:
250m run
20 wbs
20 box jump
time: 22 something?? I forget! But, for the first time - I think I wasn't last! (I get so delirious during the workouts, my brain doesn't work right). :)
***NOTE*** after 1 week, I have stuck to this schedule exactly ZERO days. Sigh...

Myshy Brain...

I showed up an hour early for the workout today. Not on purpose. My brain is still not operating at it's full potential. I can't figure out why I'm having memory issues lately. I'm hoping it's not dairy.... I'm just not ready to cut that out yet.
Fortunately, I am using my poor memory as my motivation to really study the movements and learn as much as I can. I am really interested in getting my technique down well so I can get the most out of my training in the long run. There's nothing worse than learning something incorrectly. Unlearning muscle memory is a bitch.
I figured I'd make my visit more productive by taking copious notes on the 9 foundations movements. My experience with karate taught me that the best way for me to learn things is to have a good instructor, practice a lot, write it, read it, watch it, and tell others about it. My brain needs a lot to get stuff to sink in. Fortunately, I really enjoy doing all of these things - it enhances my experience and makes it much more rich.

Mike was really helpful with my notes today. He also introduced me to a new term: "glycolytic pathway " which I will be reading about shortly - as I believe it will be something I will take great interest in. He also suggested that he might take us on a field trip to go see some lifting competitions - which I would really enjoy. It'd be fun to see something new. He also suggested to go see a rowing competition - weekend after next. Mike used to be a rower. That might also be interesting to see!

All in all, it was a good workout today. I feel like I learned a lot. I leave the gym VERY happy each time - regardless of my time - since I'm really just pleased that I am there and working my ass off.

My Foundations WOD was:
4 Rounds for Time (22:25)
250m run
15 Thrusters #40
9 Pull-ups (jumping)

Oh - another thought - I'm seeing definition in my arms when I flex my muscles for the first time in ages. And, my thigh muscles are starting to poke out again. Thank friggin' GOD. Honestly, I was starting to think my health issues were going to be the end of my physically fit days. YAY!

Mini Me and My Med Ball: In Molasses

For time = 16:19
10 med ball cleans, 10 wbsu, 10 wb shots, 250m run w/ med ball #8

I was very confused in the workout today. Mike kept trying to explain the med ball cleans to me, I just couldn't get it. I heard what he was saying, and understood the words, but could not make my body do the movements he was asking. Felt like I was in syrup! Very tired. Just came off of a weekend with a hurt low back / muscle relaxers.
Still have not gotten my diet in order, so something there could be the issue.
I did organize a weekly recipe planner, a comprehensive grocery list of foods that I know I will eat that are on two lists: 1) Low Carb and Paleo-ish, and 2) Elimination Diet.
I'm going to be supplementing with Magnesium first before beginning the very challenging Elim. diet, because I'd like to rule out that I am not simply Mg. deficient!

Warmup, and Sweaty Wrists

I had a good workout yesterday. Unfortunately, I tweaked my back doing basic squats in the warm-up! It felt kinda sorta bad, but I figured it wasn't bad enough to end the workout. So I forged ahead.
I have no way of knowing if that was a good decision or not. Suffice to say that muscle relaxers and plenty of discomfort has been the order the day - yesterday and today. Not pretty. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better, or at least good enough to participate in the workout.
Here's the good news: I have recognized an old thought pattern that has come up: "Every time I try to get back in shape I get injured." While this may seem to be true, this does not mean that I have failed, or that I will give up. Nor does it mean that I will get injured again as I continue to work on getting in shape. Here's my new rule: absolutely no all-or-nothing thinking is allowed. I will continue to battle the defeatist statements that pop up in my head.
Take that, negative thoughts!!

Yesterday was the first time in a loooong time that I saw sweat on my arms! I had to stop often, and could not manage pull-ups with the band, but by gum, I made it through.

Modified Fran
21-15-9
Thrusters #40
Pull-ups (jumping)
Time: 15:20

Head Crackers

The past two weeks have been pretty hectic and stressful for me. I had to miss the last two scheduled foundations workouts. GRRR. Finish that off with three days of head-splitting agony in the form of my old friend: The migraine headache. Today it finally broke. That's 3 days down the tubes. I feel like I've been through the wringer.

My diet has been a little wacky lately, I have to admit. Saturday night I had a brownie and a lemon bar at a party, and I can't help but think that triggered something bad. I also experimented with a few days of avoiding dairy, but then had a big Greek yogurt on Saturday morning.... so who knows. (My chronic throat clearing is back with a vengeance too). I've been doing many hours of research and reading to help figure out what I need to do to get a handle on my health. I had a great visit with a nutritionist / life coach from the FB CrossFit Gym (Erica). She was wonderful, and helpful, and for once, I really felt understood.

Here are some of my conclusions from my discussion with Erica and my research:

1. If I want to find out if I have issues with particular foods, I think I need to do an Elimination Diet.
2. I still want to follow a Low Carb plan (100g/day), due to my history and severe cravings for carbs.
3. I'm hoping that by following a Zone type block plan, I will get the nutrients I need to properly fuel my workouts.
4. I still need to figure out my vitamin/supplement needs. (I was reading that Magnesium deficiency can lead to many symptoms I have, including migraines).
5. I probably do need to get a firm diagnosis on my possible gluten issues. (I hate going to the doctor!)

I created my own little Google Site to help me track what I'm doing, and to have everything I need in one place. I think I might go grocery shopping tonight and get started tomorrow.

Also on tomorrow's schedule: I go back to CrossFit. YAY!

WOD

Box Jumps

Kettlebell swings

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, tada!

Time: 7:04

Today was a very good day for me.

I woke up feeling congested and miserable. My joints hurt. Digestive issues are out of control. I need to keep my food diary and get a handle on what's happening. Tomorrow I have a consult with a nutritionist - maybe we can get the beginnings of a plan together.

Anyhoo, what made the day so good was that my goals won in the morning mental debate (instead of my feelings):

"I'm too sick to work out today. And I have KB class tonight, so no one would blame me for taking the first workout off, since I'm also all congested and sick feeling. Right?"

And the answer was "Wrong. Just go work out. You'll feel fine, and you aren't that sick. You certainly aren't going to die. Just get your morning started as usual, and you'll make it."

And I did. I ate well to fuel up for the workout, and felt great. I was still tired as hell throughout, and I had to stop many times, but I did it. And afterwards I felt even better. I'm sore, but don't have that whole body fatigue that's been plaguing me for months. I feel like I'm coming out of the hole in the ground, slowly...

Final thought: I've had a total of 5 workouts. I'm not sure they even amount to a full hour of working out in total. And I am feeling progress already. My pants are getting looser, my energy is improving, and I am feeling stronger. No kidding.

Front Squats and Applesauce

I ate some unsweetened applesauce about 20 minutes before the workout today, and drank about 8oz of water. Who knows if it helped, but I did have 2 or 3 moments of nausea. I started the day with my usual Greek yogurt / flax seed / honey substitute breakfast.

No new skills today, Ali practiced kipping for pull-ups. Not I. We did our warmup, then:

5 rounds of Front Squats (#35 bar), and 400m run for time. (21:47)

How can something so simple to write be so hard to do? I did stop a few times during the run sections. I also had a huge mental battle raging. There were two characters. I'll call one voice Wimpy, and the other voice Arnold:

Wimpy: "I'm dying. I can't breathe. I'm so out of shape. I need to take a break. Stop running, my lungs are about to explode!"

Arnold: "You fucking loser, just suck it up. So what it hurts? You're not going to die. Just keep going and stop being such a big fat baby."

And on and on the mental argument went... It's kind of funny what goes on in there!

I met another member at the gym today who went full tilt Paleo. He cut out all the bad carbs and dairy at the same time. He says it made a world of difference for him, AND he said he is frequently in ketosis! I wish I had more time to talk to him...

First it's carbs, now dairy too? I'm keeping an open mind.

CrossFitters say to eat a Paleo diet. This got me VERY excited, and further fueled my excitement about the program. Sounds like these folks don't just tow the line of the masses when it comes to diet and exercise. This is right up my alley. Hooray!

Back in the 90's I first discovered low-carb eating. I read about all of the health benefits from reading books like Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and Protein Power. I tried LC eating and did ok, but didn't follow it properly and didn't really see measurable benefits.

Recently I've gone through another couple of rounds of LC, but this time consuming more vegetables adding much more variety. It's better this time around, and the benefits are nothing short of amazing.

It's so frustrating to see the USDA continue to follow the same food pyramid they have for years - and I'm starting to really see now why people argue that the grain and dairy lobbies are partially to blame. But that's another story.

This weekend I went out to read up on the Paleo diet. Seems that their plan is pretty low in carbs - there's no grains, breads, or other simple carbs on the plan. They also add in what seems to be more fruit. But the kicker is: They take out [drum-roll.....] dairy. Dairy. Dairy. DAIRY.

Ouch.

I've always suspected that my chronic throat clearing was due to dairy consumption. And I've noticed that the few times that I've tried to cut back, there was an improvement. But I've been reading more about dairy, and it's not looking good. It's not just about a little nuisance cough any more. It seems to be about consuming things our bodies are not designed to handle, and that ends up causing systemic health issues.

I've learned long ago that I do not know very much about anything. And if I let my emotions control my beliefs about food, I would still be eating Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip Muffins for breakfast with a box of chocolate milk. However - I realize that just because I love the way a food tastes, does not mean that it is good for me. EVEN if it is natural.

So, today I will be doing some more research on dairy, and getting myself prepared to remove it from my diet. At least for a week - to see how it feels. And although it feels like I won't be able to carry on without milk, creamer in my coffee, my daily Greek yogurt breakfast, ice cream, and cheese -- I have GOT to keep an open mind and not allow my emotions to tell me what I should and should not have.

Sick (and Tired)

I am not a fan of complaining in public forums. But, I'm getting sick and I have to miss my workout today. The reason I want to mention it here is because I have noticed in the past when I start to get back into a hard workout routine I often got sick. So I think the stress of hard workouts messes with my immune system. I've just never heard anyone else say this happens to them.

I've been working a lot, and been around many more kids recently - so there's lots of reasons I could be getting sick. It just makes me wonder, and I'm curious if there's any other folks who have similar issues with hard workouts and getting sick.

I am VERY disappointed to be missing the workout today. BOO.