so maybe i’m bad at this

I missed last week’s post. The most important thing is that Mikey went through on-ramp last week and today we start crossfitting together!

Here’s catch up.

Back Squats – did 113 for 3 three weeks ago, missed the following week because I was out of town. Did 145 for my one rep max during peak week. This made me pretty stoked because my old one rep max before my long break was 165. I ended up much closer to it than I expected at the beginning of this cycle when I did 103 for 5. 

Weighted pull-ups – did the light band plus 10 pounds two weeks ago, worked up to Mini band plus 5 pounds for my one rep max of weight pull ups. This means I’m still a little ways off from getting my body weight pull up back, but I’m on a steady track. I’m going to start the Armstrong pull up program back up today.

Overhead Squat – worked up to 85 pounds two weeks ago for 2, and then only made it up to 80 pounds during peak week. 85 was a PR though, since I had never found my one rep max on overhead squats before. my shoulders felt wrecked from the two previous days’ metcons and I just didn’t have it in me to push press the bar over my head. We did Jeremy for the metcon this day and for some reason it’s my favorite! As much as burpees suck, I can just push through them without breaks so I always like metcons with burpees because I feel like I’m flying. Same goes for overhead squats. I can rep them out really fast as long as I can get the bar over my head.

Split Jerk – worked up to 63 two weeks ago for two, and then up to 68 during peak week. my old one rep max on these 8 months ago was 88 I think.

 

 

Barbell work is still feeling a little foreign but is coming back. My first week back even the bar felt seriously heavy. I backsquatted 80 pounds and it felt strange to have that much weight on me. Within a few weeks I was doing 145 and felt more comfortable than I had at 80. So it goes. It’s a little frustrating to know that my numbers were much higher, but also nice to know that this is just a period I have to go through to get re-acclimated. Mostly I’m just super stoked to be back and not have any impending deadline in the future that might prevent me from getting in.

Last Week’s Workouts

Okay, so here’s the thing.

When I started my February re-boot, I just made the assumption that I would need this blog for some serious accountability because my food habits had derailed so much. However, it turns out, all I really needed was to get back in to the gym. When my muscles are sore, and I’m spending so much time and money working hard to do good things for my body, it makes me WANT to eat healthy! When my muscles are sore, I actually do pause and think “what food should I give myself to make my body feel better?” and the answer is never something sugary or filled with gluten. When you’re aware of your muscles, you think about what’s good for them. It’s great!

It’s your brain and mental stuff that makes you want to eat shitty food, and it’s such a catch 22 because it never makes you feel better for more than a split second.

So I had planned to blog my food every day because I thought I would need to be seriously hard on myself to get back on track, but it turns out I actually FEEL like eating healthy most of the time now and the blogging part was time consuming and annoying. So I’m done with that.

Now I’ll just post once a week to record my progress on my lifts because that’s something I can easily lose track of, and also to share any notable meals that I did eat, because that’s also helpful to me and my friends who are trying to do a vegetarian paleo hack. Getting ideas from my buddies is super helpful for me in terms of finding consistent variety in my meals. Otherwise I’d seriously just eat greek yogurt, omelets and salad for the rest of my days.

 

A little catch-up.

Last week’s workouts:

Monday, 2/11

STRENGTH: Back Squat, up to a peak of 3 – I worked up to 113, still staying light since I’m getting my sea legs back, even just having the bar on my back feels soo heavy again. It’s tough knowing I used to be able to lift so much more (165) but I have to acknowledge that with an 8 month break, that’s just how it goes.

CONDITIONING:
AMRAP in 10 minutes:
30ft. Walking Lunge, Left Arm Overhead (1.5/1)
30ft. Walking Lunge, Right Arm Overhead
Knees to Elbows, 15 reps

used a 16k kettlebell and don’t remember how many knees to elbows, but they were pretty sloppy anyway because I’m terrible at these guys!

 

Tuesday, 2/12

STRENGTH - Weighted Pull-up (pronated grip), up to a peak of 3 reps – worked up to Light band + 10 pounds

CONDITIONING:
Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes:
3 Overhead Squats followed by
3 High Hang Power Snatch followed by
as many air squats as you can do in the remaining time.

ended up doing a crazy amount of air squats because I stayed light on my lifts. Used 35 pounds for my lifts, and did 177 air squats. 

 

Wed 2/13

STRENGTH: Overhead Squat, up to a peak of 3. – worked up to 78 pounds! I was pretty happy with this. I don’t think I’ve ever found my 1rm for overhead squats, so I’m excited to do that next week during peak week. I am a little nervous because my best jerk is only 83 pounds so I think I’ll get stuck at a spot where I’m unable to push press the weight even though I could have easily squatted it if I could have gotten it to the overhead position.

CONDITIONING:

AMRAP in 15 minutes (in groups of 3):
Ring Row – 15 reps, Rest, Ring Dip.
*Your Score is your ring dips!

This was a team workout. I used the light band for ring dips. I did around 80 myself. We did 215 or so as a team. 

Thurs, 2/7/13

 

FOOD:

Breakfast: 1 serving of greek yogurt with 1/4 cup strawberries and half a banana. coffee with a splash of coconut milk/almond milk combo.

Lunch: curried broccoli, cauliflower, carrots cooked in evoo, 2 eggs scrambled with red bell pepper, and half an avocado. i used a homemade curry at my nanny house and it was so delicious. i couldn’t get over it. for such a simple meal it was one of the best things i had eaten in a long time. 

Late-Afternoon Snack: ate two small cupcakes using my bday as an excuse. they were pretty modestly sized. 

BDAY Cheat Dinner: got takeout with Mikey. We had plans to go out to a fancy dinner but he ended up feeling sick, so we opted for the next best thing which is eating takeout in bed while watching Lost. We got Indian food from a nicer Indian spot called Bombay. It was delicious and not the most terrible of bday cheats. At least it wasn’t cheap greasy pizza, which is my favorite. 

Pre-bed snack: a cup and a half of ben and jerry’s. ice cream makes me feel real bloated, which this did pretty immediately. good reminder to myself. 

 

exercise: 9 miles of biking

 

Wed, 2/6/13

FOOD:

Breakfast: 1/3 cup strawberries and a banana. ran out of greek yogurt, so I ate it with 2 tbsp of sunflower seed butter. coffee with a splash of coconut milk/almond milk combo. 

Lunch: three eggs on 2 cups of mixed greens, two wedges of creamy swiss cheese, drizzled with hot sauce.

Late-Afternoon Snack: scrounged around the nanny house for a snack because I forgot to bring anything with me. Found a greek yogurt cup. These things are so good because they include a sugary fruit to mix in. I could have opted not to eat that part, but I ate it.

Pre-Dinner Snack: I didn’t have enough time to make dinner after work before going over to my co-op orientation, so I grabbed a hard boiled egg on the way out the door. I was seriously staaaarving but didn’t want to pig out on something convenient at the grocery store. The egg worked surprisingly well to hold off my hunger.

Dinner: I got home at almost 9 and didn’t want to cook a big thing, so I purchased a packaged fake meat pattie thing that was soy and wheat free. eh. not the best but it worked. ate two of those (for 20g of protein, though probably cheap protein), with saurkraut, salsa, goat cheese, and mixed greens.

Pre-bed snack: 2 tbsp sunflower seed butter dipped in coconut flakes on a spoon.

 

+no gym because of my orientation from 6:30-8:30. I rode my 9 mile bike commute.

Tues, 2/5/1

Okay, my legs are super sore now. That squat workout really did it. I went in again last night, despite the sore legs, to try to work through the tight muscles. I’m glad I did but today is definitely a needed rest day. I also have orientation at my co-op tonight so I can finally start getting 10% off on all my expensive local/organic groceries.

FOOD:

Breakfast: 1/3 cup strawberries and a banana. ran out of greek yogurt, so I ate it with 2 tbsp of sunflower seed butter. coffee with a splash of coconut milk/almond milk combo. no need to mess with a good thing.

Lunch: three eggs on 2 cups of mixed greens with a side of roasted beets with olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and slices of brie. drizzled with hot sauce.

Pre-Workout Snack: during lunch I realized I was about to overeat, so I saved half my beets for my pre-workout snack. finished those up with a hard boiled egg, some raw broccoli and hummus. I’m going to try to make some english pea hummus to replace my hummus snack habit.  Took 3 BCAA’s before my workout, and 3 after.

Dinner: a twice baked sweet potato, with the inside mixed with a little coconut almond milk, farm fresh butter, chives, red peppers, and spices. Topped with tempeh cooked in coconut oil and smoked paprika (to make a pseudo bacon and add protein). Sprinkled with melted smoked cheddar. Side of kale with garlic.

I’m trying to come to a decision about my cheese consumption. For the most part, it doesn’t seem too bad. It adds extra protein to my day, it’s all local and organic and when possible made from grass fed dairy and/or raw milk. And it doesn’t hurt my stomach. Can’t decide if it’s worth cutting out or if I should keep it for the protein.

STRENGTH, with a coach in about 15 minutes: Weighted Pull-up (pronated grip), up to a peak of 5 reps.   I worked up to the Light Band + 7.5 pounds.SKILL WORK: Power Clean from the Floor – about 5 minutes. just practiced with 45# bar since it had been a long time. CONDITIONING: 8 Rounds for Max Cumulative Reps of 30 seconds on/30 seconds off: Power Clean (115/75) – scale the load as needed. Did 60 power cleans at 50#. The weight felt pretty light through the end but I did get pretty gassed. Glad I stayed light on this for now. It’s easy for me to want to try to get closer to my old weights but I have to remind myself not to do that for a little while. The bar felt pretty foreign in my hands and I had some sloppy front rack positions with the bar hitting my collar bones.

Mon, 2/4/13

My shoulders were a little sore yesterday but nothing that would prevent from getting back into the gym, so after work I headed in for day two. I also had a pretty great day of eating. Just one little handful of chocolate covered almonds as my sugar slip. I definitely feel like the cravings for both sugar and gluten are subsiding, though, which feels great. That could partially be because the end of book is in sight and that heavy weight of stress is starting to go away. Phew.

FOOD:

Breakfast: 1 serving of greek yogurt with 1/4 cup strawberries and half a banana. coffee with a splash of coconut milk/almond milk combo. no need to mess with a good thing. i’ll probably eat this every day. 20g of protein first thing, nice and easy.

Lunch: made a stirfry at my nanny house with cabbage, swiss chard, carrots, zucchini and onion. cooked with olive oil, red chili paste, and red wine vinegar. oh, and a little sesame oil. it was really delicious. ate it with one hard boiled egg for more protein, and half an avocado for fat.

Impulse Snack: during the hour or two that I get really tired during the end of my work day, I end up craving sugar pretty hard. I tried to combat it by drinking coffee (fight one vice with another?) but ate this small handful of chocolate covered almonds.

Pre-Workout Snack: one sweet potato mashed with butter, salt and pepper, with a little shaving of parmesan, one hardboiled egg. lots of water. 3 BCAA capsules. 

Dinner: a big salad with salad greens, kale, cherry tomatoes  bell pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and tofu cooked in butter.

Workout:

ACTIVATION: Single Leg Squat Hold, 1 minute each side.

STRENGTH: Back Squat, up to a peak of 5  - worked up to 103 and did a couple sets there, stayed light since it’s been so long since I lifted

CONDITIONING: Split up into groups of 3 and complete: AMRAP in 10 minutes of: Back Squat (75-85% of your peak of 5 reps), Walking Lunge – 30 steps, Rest.

Ended up doing 33 reps of back squats at 83 pounds.

Also, rode my bike my normal 9 miles for work commute.

This one was really fun but hard. Everyone’s legs were jelly by the end, and I’m so sore this morning. I’m excited to get on my bike to stretch things out.

Sunday, 2/3/13

 

This day was a bit of a mess because I didn’t time manage well.

No exercise. Just a short walk with Rover and a trip on my bike to a friend’s party. Mostly I spent the whole day sitting and drawing.

FOOD:

Breakfast: 1 serving of greek yogurt with 1/4 cup strawberries and half a banana. coffee with a splash of coconut milk/almond milk combo

Lunch: had lunch on the fly. I was at a coffeeshop drawing and they didn’t have any gluten free options with protein in them (for instance, they had gluten free bagels and gluten free brownies/cookies), so I just got the thing that seemed like it had the most protein – a tempeh “chicken” salad sandwich. I ate the bread and everything. I’m early enough in my challenge that this doesn’t feel like the worst, especially considering how shitty I was eating last week. I also had a Lara Bar just so I wouldn’t be starving. 

Dinner: 2 eggs cooked in butter, on top of two slices of eggplant sauteed in coconut oil until they were dry and bready, piled with mixed greens, fresh cilantro, salsa verde, and fresh salsa. (I was sure to get salsas with no sugar added and no bad oils, just veggies, spices and vinegar), sprinkled with smoked cheddar, and 1 tsp of olive oil mayo, with a side of leftover roasted cauliflower with garlic and lemon juice. 

Late night snack soooo I went to a  birthday party and ate cake. a lot of it. starting fresh tomorrow without temptations. 

This is my birthday week, so I know I’ll have some cheats later on – but eating clean all week and being back at the gym makes a good counter balance. I wasn’t going to jump into this 100%. Gotta ween myself a littttttle.