PFL: Be upside-down

this isn't me...yet.  via

So I went to CrossFit today.  I'd looked over the WOD beforehand and it seemed doable - some not-too-crazy-heavy deadlifts and cleans and that was pretty much it.  Awesome sauce.  I get there just as the previous group was finishing up their cleans, and I try to make it through the gauntlet of snappy hips and flying barbells to drop my stuff at the cubbies.

Oh hey, who's that?  It's the lovely and talented Dr. Shirey, who promised to spot me on handstands...er, sometime.  Hey...now is sometime.  Um.  Right.

I thought about just smiling and not talking, but that would be totally weak.  As I walk by her, my mouth immediately says "So, handstands?"  Damnit, reactive brain!  You will get me killed.  No going back now.  "Yeah!" she says.  "After the WOD?"  Sure...but now I'm thinking about supporting my entire bodyweight with my arms right after lifting heavy-ish stuff multiple times.  Hm.  Hmmmmm.

The WOD wasn't actually that tough.  I may have unintentionally sandbagged it a little because the day I figured out my current 1RMs was a few months ago now and I'm already considerably stronger.  But my form on the cleans can definitely use some work, so we can just count it as a skill day.  So:

• 10 sets of 2 reps on the minute of banded deadlifts at 85lbs (sadly yes, that WAS about 60% of my last measured 1RM) getting up as quickly as possible (I slowed it down considerably on the way down instead of just dropping the bar)
• 12 sets of one full clean and one hang clean (both with a full squat) on the minute at 65lbs.  Decent, but honestly not heavy enough for me to feel like I had to engage my hips all that much. Which is a good thing, especially as the scary elite who watched me totally fail at hang-cleaning 95lbs a few months ago was there.  I didn't fail this time.

And then everyone started doing banded good mornings - step on a band and wrap the other end behind your neck, then bend over and straighten up a bunch of times - which just looks ow and also kind of like Dave just found a sneaky way to get everyone to bow to him.  So obviously handstands are so, so much easier, especially with the ever-fabulous Ms. Scott volunteering to spot me on the other side.  She and Kristen told me they were total Hercu-Lisas and would never let me fall on my head so that I'd have to spend the rest of my days typing out slow but inspiring prose with my eyelids.  In fact, they were going to each grab one of my ankles with their pinky and parade me around the gym.  Why?  Because they're motherfucking bamfs and they CAN, that's why.

Kristen was amazingly helpful and spent a lot of time telling me about how there's an actual physiological reason for why some people start crying uncontrollably when they're put upside-down (yes!  science!), and showed me a couple of ways to start kicking up against the wall and told me the story of when she was learning to do handstands with Dave spotting her, and also demonstrated some absolutely beautiful handstands numerous times and actually was able to look up at my face WHILE she was doing them, which is absolutely inconceivable to me.  And then after enough stalling, it was my turn.

By this time Amy had joined us and I had a fitness goddess on either side of me ready to catch me, so there was really no reason not to.  Except, you know, my BRAIN telling me that the second I kicked up I would fall down/up towards my feet and crash through the roof into the sky and fall into space.  God DAMNIT, brain.  But I knew it was crazytalk and there was only one way to shut it up.

Crouch.

Set up my hands.

Put my feet in position, one behind the other.

Try to stop at least the necessary parts of my body from shaking.

Shut my eyes as tightly as possible.

And...kick.

I probably went about a foot off the ground on the first try, but it felt like a freaking barrel roll.  But I didn't die.  Amy and Kristen were yelling wonderful encouraging things that I cannot for the life of me remember.  And so I did it again.  And again.  Kristen showed me the approximate angle my body was reaching, which was way more than I thought it was...that's good, right?  But honestly it was too terrifying to think about the fact that I was actually doing it, so I just did it again.  And another time.  And then a few more.  And then Team Hercu-Lisa grabbed my ankles and spotted me all the way into a full handstand.

I wish I could remember it better.  I was so focused on locking my shoulders and elbows out and not opening my eyes and trying to ignore the fact that I was honest-to-gods upside-down under at least half my own power for the first time in my LIFE that it was all kind of blurry.  And then I was saying "put me down now down please now yes down" and then I was down and not crying, by some miracle.

I did it.

And then I wrote it on the PR board and totally forgot to take a picture, but next time I promise.  Because there will be a next time.  And my goal for that one is open my damn eyes already and don't forget how gravity works.

Commenters: leave me more ideas of what to do for Project Fear Less.

-N

IF = meh, plus cheat-day madness

So I've been following the IF (intermittent fasting) eating template for just about two weeks now.  I've got some mixed feelings about it.

• CON: I feel really kind of restricted by my meal times.  The way my schedule works out, I break my fast after I get back from work, around 1pm or so.  Because of this, I can't really stop off anywhere on my way - no more river swims or library visits, unless I want to go out later - because I feel like I absolutely have to eat then.  I'm sure I could actually go longer without food if I wanted to, but I'm frickin' hungry and really don't want to wait.
• PRO: I can see a difference.  It's a little one, and I can't give any concrete proof of it, as I've stopped weighing myself again (reasons why in this post), haven't gotten my body fat tested since the follow-up of Bonesetter Stew's cleanse dealio, and can't find my damn tape measure.  But the difference is there, if (so far) slight.  My waist is a little less puffy and my arms are a little more defined.  Inner thighs, I'm still waiting on you.
• CON: I'm almost certain I am more irritable.  Maybe Shirtless Man #1 was right, and I should either eat the first meal sooner (putting it right in the middle of the time I'm usually feeding Baby Bug his third breakfast) or have the last one at...11pm.  Um, maybe not.  Anyone wanna weigh in, especially ladies who've tried IF?  Coach TCTH aka Mike K, I know Paul Po would include you in that category, but feel free to offer advice as a dude.
• PRO: It's fairly easy to follow.  There's no weighing or measuring or figuring out blocks, and although Coach TCTH is all finicky about counting calories and I'd probably see results even faster if I did too, I don't think it's entirely necessary.  The very act of eating everything within a smaller window means that you unconsciously restrict a bit, or else you'd just be constantly stuffed to the point of discomfort during that time.  And that restriction gives me a little leeway to not stick completely to paleo - if I want some cream in my coffee, I'll have some, and not worry about it.

So there you have it.  It's decent enough, even if the scheduling gets a little annoying.  Maybe I should just quit whining and pack lunch.  Which I could then eat at the river.  I know, I know.  Sometimes I astound even myself.

But enough talk about healthiness.  Today was Saturday, and that means I get to eat whatever I want, whenever I want.  And today was, in general but especially in that regard, AWESOME.

• 6:00am: went running around the Duke Wall with Vivian.  Afterwards, we drove to Guglhupf and sat in the parking lot until it opened at 7:30.  The cream puffs came out literally five seconds before I got to the counter.  Loaded up with delicious flaky sugary goodness of various kinds, we left feeling supremely satisfied, an emotion that only increased when I devoured said cream puff (the size of my palm!) in the car on the way back to my house.
• 9:00am: buckets of coffee with cream, plus a chocolate croissant and a butter croissant (the rest of my haul from the bakery; each one larger than my hand).  And then a good-sized plate bacon and liver fried up together.  And then I realised that was a hell of a lot of food to eat within an hour of working out.  Whoops.
• 10:00am: got to CrossFit, feeling only slightly stuffed.  Completed the WOD without puking.  I consider this a major accomplishment.  Stayed for mobility and then the shoulder health seminar, finally leaving around 2.
• 2:30pm: a good cup of blueberries (3 for 1 at Harris Teeter!) swimming (and I do mean swimming) in whipping cream.  Some leftover salmon.  A plum.
• 6:00pm: a small piece of chicken.  Losing steam here.  I think I need the mother of all cheat dinners here.  Any suggestions?  It has to be supremely non-paleo.  Chinese takeout is a possibility if I feel like driving and spending more money.

Updates to come when I eat some more.  For now, here's a picture of a cream puff:

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-Nelly

Here goes my dignity...

Alternate title for this post: The One Where Nelly Strips.  Just get it all out there.

First off, the method:  I'm doing this 21-day cleanse-y type dealio, coached through it by Stew, one of the dudes who teaches at CrossFit Durham.  On Monday he measured all the stats I'm about to share and gave me the wherewithal to do the diet.   There's a series of capsules to take along with a couple huge tubs of protein powder to replace what I'm no longer getting from bacon *tear*  It works like an elimination diet - get all the possible bad stuff out all at once, then slowly introduce it back and see how you feel.  Which means for the first week, I'm pretty much vegan.  The shakes* aren't too bad yet, but I honestly think I might murder someone for an omelette by Saturday.  For a steak...I don't even want to speculate.

Now, the stats.

Weight: 160.  Higher than I thought it would be, but not too bad.

BMI: 25.06.  This is classified as overweight.  I can lift over 200 pounds, jump over 30 inches and I did barefoot sprints on the road today.  'Nuff said.

Body Fat Percentage: 26.3.  This means I've got about 42 pounds of fat and 118 pounds of lean mass.  That's definitely a little higher than I'd like, which is one of the reasons I'm doing this.  The tricky part is getting the abs and keeping the T&A.

Total Body Water: 43.3L/59.7%.  Stew says this should be closer to 70%; I guess I'm a little dehydrated.

Basal Metabolic Rate: 1540 kCal/day.  One of the goals is to raise this, which is done by gaining muscle.  Yes please!

Daily Energy Expenditure: 2002 kCal.  I don't know what this one means.  Anyone?

Waist: 30.5 inches

Hips: 41 inches.  So I've got a waist-to-hip ratio of right about 0.75.  Which, biologically speaking, means I'm sexy.  Awesome.

And now the pics.  Warning: although Bea is the most amazing photographer ever, she couldn't disguise my post-WOD sans makeup glory.  View at your own risk.

WOD=Workout Of Death (plus a recipe!)

So Joanne mentioned in a comment that she was under the impression that "WOD" stood for "Workout Of Death."  I think that's actually amazingly apt, especially when applied to yesterday's ridiculousness.

Colin the Caveman Ninja led the workout, so we warmed up by crawling, obvs.  Then there was about 15 minutes of "climbing onto and over things" which was mostly just muscle-up practice on the pull-up bars.  The whole deal with swinging around and flipping over the bar and being approximately 25 feet above the ground does not agree with me, so I just watched this part.  Crazy Tom is crazy amazing at these, by the way.  Next time you see him in the gym, tell him I said to show off his mad skills!

So then we got down to the actual workout.  Here it is, in all its lurid glory:

For time:

• 70 burpees
• 60 sit-ups
• 50 overhead kettlebell swings (35lb KB)
• 40 pull-ups
• 30 handstand push-ups

For the happily uninformed, these are burpees.



The first 10 passed fairly quickly.  The second 10 weren't too bad either.  I think it was somewhere around 40 that I started to significantly slow down (relative to myself, that is).  I think that took a good third of my total time.  I got a good pace going on the sit-ups, so they were actually a decent rest from the burpees.  KB swings started out solid, but my shoulder started to bug me so I switched to one-armed face-height swings with a 30lb KB for the last 20 reps, all with my left arm.  The last two movements were also scaled: instead of pull-ups, I did one-armed ring rows (got the right arm going just for balance on the last 10) and instead of HPSUs I did regular push-ups.  And I was the slowest at 25:something.  But I can crank out 30 push-ups with relatively little effort at the end of a crazy workout with a busted shoulder.  So that means I'm awesome. :D

And here's the food!

mise en place ftw!

I used Coach Too-Cute-To-Hate's recipe for chicken faux mein, tweaking it a little because I'm just cool like that.  I didn't measure out the chicken, just used what I had left over from the last one I roasted.  I also didn't have fresh ginger or gluten-free soy sauce, so I subbed ginger powder and regular soy sauce, and I added the optional honey, so it wasn't really paleo.  Also, 8 cloves of garlic is a hell of a lot for normal people.  I used 4 large ones and it gave a nice kick, so I'm a little worried about how twice that amount would be.  I added it in at the beginning, going along with the recipe, but I wish I'd stuck with my gut and waited til the end, as you're supposed to do with garlic.  I did wait til the very end to add the green onions so they'd stay bright and delicious-looking, and it totally worked.

the delicious outcome

There was one major but very simple change I made to the recipe that turned it from delicious to your-head-asplode-with-delight*.  And that was to stir in a spoonful of Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter, you could probably use another nut butter) directly before consuming.  ZOMGUH.  Try it, you guys.  Especially those people who frequent Mike's mobility workouts.  This will make all the pain go away.

-N

*yes, this is a reference to both Strongbad and Monty Python.

To everyone who commented on my last post (updated 3Apr11)

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You guys are amazing.  Seriously.  I was all like "blog blag blarg bleah" and you were like "no but yay, see?"  And it helped a lot.

Phil: Thank you!  It's especially nice to be told by someone I consider a total badass that we're in the same boat/tent/other containment device.  If we're ever in the gym at the same time again, we need to have a WOD-off.  I bet you I'll be slower than you.  Loser (of the bet) buys the winner a burger at King's.  Sound cool?

John: Thank you! You can emulate me any day :)  And it really means a lot to be counted in that description, of "people who seemed to be having the most fun. The people who greeted me and the people who seemed get the most joy out of each WOD. Especially by those who seemed driven by love of exercise and not ego."  Awesome.  You always have the best things to say.  And you are a total badass.

Emily: Thank you!  That's so true about the quality of work being the most important - I need to remember that even though I might be slow, I look damn good.  I'm talking about my form, of course.  Also, Recovering-Fat-Kid powers, activate: form of a TOTAL BADASS!  Also, those bacon-wrapped almond-stuffed dates on your blog look kind of amazing.

Maggie (who emailed me): Thank you!  It's more myself and my silly thought process than "the CrossFit thing" that gets me down, but having wonderful people like you around to provide happy thoughts makes everything get whole lot better a whole lot faster.  And you are the baddest of all the asses because you are my seester and I love you.

Amy: If you suddenly appeared in my living room right after I read your comment, I would go in for a full-contact body-check-esque high five that would then turn into a hug.  Thank you!  You are an amazing athlete (without any quotation marks at all because it's TRUE, so fucking ACCEPT it already) and a total badass, and any admiration you have for me is returned tenfold.

Lindsay: I think all the self-proclaimed slowpokes need to have a WOD-off for reverse time.  For serious.  And then Dave can do a feature on the winner, something like "I'm the slowest person at CFD and I can still (deadlift 300 lbs/throw a 20lb wallball over the wall/scare small children with my shoes/blah de blah)."  Eh?  Eh?  Anyways, thank you!  I don't see you in the gym nearly as often as I'd like to, because you're kind of awesome (and also a total badass).  Also, I have no idea why you weren't in my bloglist before.  That has been remedied.

Joanne: You know, "Workout Of Death" is actually a MUCH better way of putting it.  I like your style.  And also, aw shucks I ain't all that *shuffles feet*...but thank you :)  As for being 30 minutes behind everyone else...I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you're probably much more of a total badass than you think.  I know that was true for me.  And if you're ever down in NC, give me a holler and I'll give you a chance to realise that!

You guys make me smile like crazy.  Thank you all :)

-Nelly

Last

So I've noticed an interesting phenomenon lately.

That is, I've noticed it lately, and realised that it's been in effect for quite a while now.

Here's the deal:

I go to Crossfit.  I get suited up in my toe shoes and my gi pants.  I sip some water and fill up my bottle for easy access during the workout.  Maybe I eat an egg. Stretch.  Squat.  Sprint.  Push ups, downward dog, Sampson stretch, and so on and so forth.

Time for heavy lifting.  Awesome!  Usually I feel like a total beast at this point.  Grr, arg, hooah, etc etc.

Time for the WOD.  (Workout Of (the) Day, for the non-insane people).  Get out the boxes and rowers if the CrossFit gods are pleased with me; get out the jump ropes and wall balls if they are wrathful.  Must remember to get a fatter calf next time.

Start the WOD.

Breathe.  Pace.  Don't smash yourself in the mouth with the barbell like you did yesterday.  Avoid the nose as well.  Keep shoulders firmly in joints.  Breathe.  Don't double over.  Ignore the cramps.  Don't you dare double over.  It's just 15 minutes/4 rounds/whatever it is today, significantly shorter than forever.  You can do that much without dying.  Or puking.  Or crying.  Keep going.  Breathe. 

"You can do it, Nelly!"

Wait.  That wasn't my mind.

I'm just last again.  Everyone else has already finished and is sitting and resting and cheering me on.

Here's where I get torn.  On the one hand, I'm absolutely thrilled to be counted among a group of people who care enough to cheer and yell and keep me going until I finish, even though they have no particular personal interest in my times and PRs.  On the other hand...I'm last.  Again.  Even though I pace myself.  Even if I scale the movements down.  Even back in my bootcamper days.  Even when I rejoin the bootcamp now, for old times' sake.  Literally, almost every single time.

Merh.  Arglebargle.  Fuck.

I can lift heavy (210 lb deadlift, at last count).  I can jump high (30 inch vertical).  I can run fast (in brief spurts).  But throw anything resembling an endurance-style, just-keep-going workout at me and I turn into Jabba the Goddamn Hutt.  Never mind the fact that I've been doing this for over two years, not once missing a bootcamp session or more than a week of regular WODs. 

It irks me.

That's all.

< /wordvomit >

-Nelly

I knew this would happen eventually

Some wonderful person has finally combined my two loves of CrossFit and window (browser window...) shopping for clothes I'll probably never buy to create this amazing blog:

The 11th CrossFit Skill: Coordinating Outfits For Time

Every day, a new workout outfit.  Simple as that.  But they're pretty!  Sometimes they have themes...

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...or ridiculous/amazing/ridiculously amazing shirts...

the hoodie shows a woman lifting a barbell over her head while riding a unicorn.  via

it's a unicorn puking rainbows! via

the front of the shirt says "shut up!" via

...and sometimes they're just badass as all hell, while still being undeniably feminine.

the back of the shirt says "trained hard." via

Of course it's geared towards XFitters, which means a lot of the outfits feature knee socks (where did we get that fad from???), but that doesn't make them any less wearable for people who are not crazy.  And there are links provided with each entry for every item featured!  Love it.  Check them out!  Now!

Also, I really, really want this shirt.

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-N

Six inches can seem like a lot more than it is

...and I'm not even referring to the naughty context! 

Finally, a CrossFit Update!  I've been out of the gym with the flu of death for the last week and a half, so it was awesome to get back into the swing of things.  Here's what I've been doing:

Tuesday

Strength

• 50 strict GHD machine back/hip extensions (the third move shown in this video.  Turn your sound down before you hit the link; it's got loud screamy music).  These kind of terrify me - as does anything where I'm in an upside-down-ish position - especially as the machine has the tendency to wobble a lot.  Coach Peter Parker (aka Rich)  helped out by holding my ankles while I did the move.  Don't laugh.  It helped a lot.  Thanks, Rich :)

WOD: Birthday WOD for Coach Too-Cute-To-Hate (aka Mike).  Yay!
AMRAP for 9 minutes:

• 9 deadlifts
• 6 squat cleans
• 3 jerks (I did split jerks for the first round and then push jerks)

Got 5 full rounds and 5 more deadlifts out of that, with 65lbs on the bar.  Then, after 3 minutes rest:

• AMRAP burpees for 3 minutes.  I totally lost count here and have no idea what I did.

The "six inches" thing comes into play here: for each burpee, we had to jump at least 6 inches high.  After a dozen of these, you kinda start to feel it.

Wednesday

Strength: 20ish minutes of L-sit progressions/practice.  I can only get about 10 seconds, but it's pretty solid.

WOD: freaking insane, and I kind of sucked at it.
4 rounds for time of:

• 500m row
• 3 rounds of "Cindy:" 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats

So for every round there's a total of 500m row, 15 pull-ups, 30 push-ups and 45 air squats.  Monster bitch.  I had to sub out one-handed KB snatches for push-ups on the last round because my shoulder slipped, but other than that it was straight.  Took me 40:33, which is kind of ew.  Better next time!

Thursday (today!)

Endurance WOD

• Allison actually had us do barre exercises (sans barre; just held the wall).  Hold the leg for 10 seconds at waist height, followed by 10 grand battements (controlled straight-leg kicks to waist height or higher), doing each leg to the front, back and side.  We repeated the whole deal 3 times, although I only did it twice because I came in late.
• Rowing, rowing, rowing.  12 rounds of 1 minute on, 30 seconds rest, pacing to keep the speed as steady as possible all the way through.  I started out at a pace of 2:00/500m and kept pretty closely to that to the end.

Strength

• Warm-up: used a PVC pipe for shoulder pass-throughs and around-the-worlds, then worked on snatch progressions for about 10 minutes
• 5 sets of 5 snatches, as heavy as possible.  This is the hardest of the lifting moves for me because it's incredibly technical: you have to think about your feet coming out (but not too much) and your knees staying in and your hips being extended and your elbows coming up and about 50 other things all at once.  I'm starting to get a bit of a flow, though...and I no longer fall down EVERY time.  Made it with 33lbs for the first two sets, followed by 43, 53 and 63, which is a PR :D

WOD:

• Tabata sledgehammer swings, 20 seconds on/10 seconds off for 4 minutes.  My official score (lowest number of reps in any round) was 11; got up to 14 on a couple though.

Tomorrow we're doing deadlifts.  I'm ridiculously excited.

I also found out tonight that Coach Peter Parker has a motorcycle.  I seriously had no idea until I saw him all suited up and carrying his helmet.  He's all cool now!  You're a lucky lady, Bea ;)

-Nelly

...and then a WIN

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 So the last time I attempted to find my max weight for the back squat, we were doing the CrossFit Total workout.  It's entirely lifting: overhead press, back squat and deadlift, as heavy on each as you can go.  I got a solid 165 for the back squat that day (also when I hit my standing deadlift max of 185), but when I tried to go higher (I can't remember if I tried for 170 or 175), I slipped at the bottom of the squat and rolled the bar down my back, leaving some very pretty bruises all the way down my spine.  Not so much the fun times.

Today, however, was much better.  Warmed up with a 45-lb bar, then did 3 reps each of 85, 100, 115 and 130, followed by 1 rep each of 145, 152.5, 160 and then attempts at a new 1-rep max.  .  For this move (as with all squats), it's super important to go below parallel - that is, your hips need to be below your knees - at the bottom, so your glutes engage and take the strain off your quads and knees.  I was sharing a rack with Katja i.e. Awesome Tall Yoga Lady, and something we both noticed was that the higher the weight, the easier it was to get lower (duh, I know) but the less it felt like you were going so low.  I started to worry that I really wasn't going low enough on the heavy lifts, but Dave said it looked just fine, so I tried not to worry or force it too much.

So 160 seemed heavy, but not too heavy.  Katja and I both hit 165, my previous max, without too much grunting, so we moved it up to 170 and stuck that one just fine too, which is her new 1RM, so yay Katja!.  We were running out of time, so I tried once more for 175 and...made the hell out of it :D  I'm even sure I could have done a little heavier! 

I can lift things that weigh considerably more than I do.

I just love saying that.

:D

-Nelly

FAIL

Crossfit killed me last night.

All said, it wasn't an insanely difficult workout.  There was 15ish minutes of freestanding handstand practice for which I helped spot; anything more than a very slow and controlled tuck into a headstand, by the wall, with my eyes screwed as tightly shut as I can get them tends to evoke primal fear and the feeling of imminent death.  But I'm good at spotting them!  And the ladies I was teamed with (not sure of their names) were great at actually doing them, so that all worked out.

Then, the WOD was as follows:

• 500m row
• 20 burpees
• 15 bent-over rows with 25-lb kettlebells in each hand

5 rounds for time.  This shouldn't have been that hard.  Pace yourself on the rows and take the burpees 5 or so at a time and you're golden.  But...I couldn't.

I noticed it pretty quickly.  After the first round of rowing and about 10 burpees, I already felt completely sapped.  I kept going for as long as I could, but eventually gave up after only 4 rounds...which took me 30:55 (including several minutes in child's pose thinking about how I might be able to blend into the floor mats long enough to sneak out the door).  That's ridiculous and pitiful and I'm more than a little annoyed with myself.

It's not that I felt overly exhausted, or sick, or anything like that.  My muscles didn't hurt, they just felt incredibly weak - like they were constantly on the point of failing me all together, leaving me to collapse.  And my body - and my muscles in general - are one of the very few things in my life that I feel like I do have control of.  I can't get back the years I lost to being stupid in college, without which I'd have had my degree years ago.  I can't, with my current job, make enough to support myself without working over 50 hours a week (I did the math).  I can't snap my fingers and have The Man's family financially set and stable enough for him to be free to move to NC, so we can actually be a real, geographically-together couple after almost two and a half years of being 600 miles apart.  But I can (or should be able to) master my own body enough to make it get through a tough-but-not-impossible workout that really shouldn't have taken longer than 20-25 minutes, tops.

Blarg.

But now I'm gonna eat this poached egg, put on a shirt and my game face, get back in there and do better.  Because sometimes that's the only thing you can do.  And poached eggs are delicious.

via

-Nelly

PS: I did in fact do a whole lot better at today's workout: very solid on the presses, focusing on form, with 70lbs as the max weight for today, and then finished the WOD (3 rounds of 10 deadlifts with 115 lbs (which should have been 135 at least) and 150 single-under jump-ropes) in 7:51.  Not bad.

CrossFit questions

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

And then, if the "problem" happens to be CrossFit, the second step seems to be buying shoes of questionable aesthetic appeal that come in many bright colors.  Cases in point, the Inov-8 shoes I'm seeing on everyone and their grandmother in the gym right now, as well as the already classic Vibram Five Fingers (the name of which, my sister thinks, sounds like it should belong to a product of slightly more personal use).

Note that I haven't actually bought a pair of either yet, I'm just lusting after them like yeah whoa.  Just something to go on the list of what to do with my tax refund...

But I digress.

I'm addicted, you guys.  I've swallowed the red pill; I've downed every last drop of the kool-aid (can you even make paleo kool-aid?).  I may have constant bruises and torn hands and even red, swollen whip marks from those damn double-under jump-ropes, but it's absolutely worth it to be able to do something that is slowly (but faster than I realise it) and surely turning me into a totally bad-ass goddess of CrazySexyFitness.

The question is, where do I go with it?

Part of that question is for you guys.  I know that not everyone who reads this blog is as head-over-heels gone as I am for CF, or has even tried it yet.  I'm assuming that the regular CFers would be at least marginally interested in me posting my stats for WODs and lifting, but what about the rest of you?  Would you prefer that I keep it in a different section or page, or just update once in a while?  I've also been toying with the idea of adding videos/pics of myself and other CFDurhamites (if they want) working out.  What do you think?  Let me know!

The other part of that question is a deeper and much more personal one.  As it stands, being fit and healthy is currently an almost entirely personal pursuit of mine, and the day job revolves around...well, to be honest, pretty unhealthy food.  It's started to nag at me rather a lot lately - I put so much emphasis on having the best health I can for myself, but my livelihood still consists of literally feeding people stuff that I won't even eat.  Now, don't get me wrong - I love working there, but it's mainly because of the people I work with.  The more I learn about true health and the more I apply that to my own life, the more it bothers me that I'm supporting myself by doing exactly the opposite for other people - it's kind of a "sleeping with the enemy" thing, only I get paid for it.  Which makes me a...well, you know.

So many things to ponder.  For now, what do you think?  I'd love to hear what you'd like to see on this blog, any ideas you have for what I should do with my life, what you had for lunch today, how much you are loving your new baby puppy (Haleigh, I'm totally calling you out here!) and anything else you feel like commenting on.

-Nelly

Money Monday 3/1 (now with awesomeness!)

...which is super, SUPER belated this week.  But I'm a sucker for alliteration, so the tag stays.

This past week has been pretty fantastic.  We started the new year off with a bang and a good deed: my friends and I went to Raleigh (our capital city) to dance our patooties off and had loads of fun, then on the way back to the car (amidst a whole lot of craziness) saw a girl sitting barefoot on the side of the sidewalk, sobbing.  Turned out that she and her boyfriend, both slightly sloshed, had a tiff which ended in him storming off into the wilds of downtown, which neither of them knew very well, and leaving her sans keys (with which she simply would have taken a cab home).  My wonderful friend Martha, who can be incredibly intimidating in the friendliest way ever, got on the phone with the girl's boy and persuaded him to come on back, giving him directions on how to do so, while I provided a sweater and hugs until he finally did, which took a good half-hour or so.  But they ended up safely together, and we got the warm fuzzies, and all was good.

I also had a couple fitness/weight related successes this week.  First, I measured my waist for the first time in years.  In high school, I was about 29-30 inches; in college, that jumped to 32 or so before I didn't want to see it keep growing anymore.  A week ago (before starting Whole30) I measured at 28 inches.  YES, Tony, WITHOUT "sucking it in!" :P  I also managed, just yesterday, to do TWO completely unaided pull-ups (still kipping, though).  I AM SUPERGIRL!

This week's questions (original post here whoops, looks like Miss MPP took a day off!  Good on her.  I'll just make up my own last question then):

1.  The most I’ve spent this last week was on the Whole30 Success Guide, $39.  It was a total impulse splurge, and while it's got a lot of good information on the little finicky parts of implementing Whole9 (detailed shopping lists, for one), I probably would not have paid that much for it if I'd gotten to flip through it first.  Maybe $15 or $20, keeping in mind that I'm normally pretty cheap.  But it's still quite useful.
2. Today I feel FREAKING AWESOME towards money.  Why is that, you ask?  Because I got a major, totally unexpected windfall in the form of a LOT of savings bonds that my grandparents got for me over the years and my mom just told me about.  How much is a lot?  Well, with all of those plus my latest paycheck and some Christmas money, I just about doubled my net worth.  It'll be into 5 figures by April, and that's thinking conservatively and taking into account my tax refund.  I've decided to use most of this to open an IRA (Roth, natch), drop a nice chunk on my student loan and then go shopping with my sister, who's promised to give me comprehensive wardrobe help.  Yay!
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free/inexpensive thing I did last week that made me happy was TWO UNAIDED PULL-UPS IN A ROW!!!  That kept me grinning...well, I'm still grinning now :D.
4. I will consider this week a success if I do THREE unaided pull-ups in a row. 
5. One of my goals for the year ahead is to do 20 unaided dead-hang pull-ups in a row (no kipping!).

 Lurkers: Tell me something awesome.  Anything at all.  My definition of "awesome" is pretty broad.

-Nelly 

Oh hey look at that interesting headline right there!

 Maybe I'm not so crazy after all...

Breakfast FTW!

• coffee with coconut cream (intense!!)
• a bunch of pretty boring lettuce
• 1/4 avocado
• 2 eggs (nom)
• homemade salad dressing over everything

 I've started to rediscover my intense passion for avocado paired with something sour (in this case, vinegar in the dressing) and pepper.  Alone it's just kinda meh.  But these other two tastes mixed with it just makes it explode!  Try it, you guys!

We're doing Fran tonight at Crossfit.  I haven't done this workout before, and it's one of the worldwide benchmark ones that everybody and their mother do.  Kinda nervous...

-Nelly

Ew.

So yesterday was delightfully sunny and gorgeous, and didn't seem so cold (even though it was right around freezing) simply because it was so beautiful outside.  Today, however, is a different story.

EW.

There was a mixture of snow and freezing rain falling all night, still depressingly spattering down on occasion.  We didn't even get the thick coating of ice on everything that NC does so well - at least that would have some aesthetic appeal to it! - but just damp, drippy sleet all over everything, and a sky that's a blank, gray, too-low ceiling.  Ick.

So what else could I do but make myself an omelette!

YAY!

There's feta and smelly mystery cheese (which melted beautifully) inside it, and the broccoli is steamed in the micronuke and then sauteed in a butter-and-white-wine-vinegar mixture.  And coffee, natch.  It's decaf, though!

Crossfit update!

Monday: Bootcamping it up with Bea leading the class, as Colin's off gallivanting around in NY for the holidays.

• Warm-up: 5 minutes of jumping rope.  
• 15 minutes of 8 sit-ups and 8 back extensions (both with an abmat) on the minute, every minute, but I switched to 10 of each after...4 rounds? 5? Somewhere around that.  
• 10-9-8...3-2-1 reps of air squats and push-ups.  
• No crawling... :(

Tuesday:  

• Warm-up: double-unders for several minutes.  Welt marks ALL over my legs.  ow.
• Practiced ring dips for the strength portion of the workout - 75 reps total, scaled however we needed them.  I did about 10 unaided and the rest with a box or a giant rubber band.  
• The WOD: 2 minutes of each movement for max reps, with 1 minute of rest in-between each station.  The movements, in the order I did them: box jumps (20inch box), single-under jump ropes (199 reps), American kettlebell swings (25lb), deadlift (115lbs, 22 reps).  I'll fill in how many reps I did for the jumps and KBs when I remember what they were...

this is a split jerk.  source here

 Wednesday:  

• Strength: Clean and Jerks (using the split jerk), 12 reps total.  I made it up to 78 lbs, a personal best! :D
• WOD (as it were): 12 minutes long, 3 power cleans on the minute.  I started with 65lbs but moved up to 75 and then 85 within a few rounds, and finished it out with that weight.

Today we're going to be doing the Filthy Fifty.  Check it out here and wish me luck!

Lurkers: how do you lift your spirits when it's gross outside?

-N

PAIN. And tea.

So after a good week of not really working out at all (and spending a lot of time curled up in cars, which is murder on flexibility), I have returned to the fold like a little lost lamb.  And by fold I mean Crossfit and by lamb I mean someone who seriously needs to step it up, because I'm hurting like a bitchmonster now.

Monday:

• Colin-style warm-up, which means lots of crawling and grunting and general apish behavior.  I'm kidding about the grunting but not the other stuff.  He just crazy.
• 150 medicine ball cleans for time.  Which is basically the equivalent of 300 weighted squats.  AND every time we broke momentum doing the cleans, we had to do 5 box jumps (or steps), 5 push-ups and 10 jumpropes.  I did about 50 on the first batch, then broke and was getting between 12 and 20 every other time.

thorlos ftw

  
Tuesday: 

• Pull-up practice!  I'm pretty solid when using the two weakest bands (red and purple, I think?) together, but kinda give out with anything less helpful than that.  I'm getting better though.  Think I can do it unaided by the new year?
• WOD: AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) for 15 minutes of 7 deadlifts and 7 box jumps.  I used a 17-inch box because my quads were still pretty frozen from Monday, but tried to up it with a 105lb barbell, about 60% of my max.  Got 9 rounds out of it, which wasn't too shabby.  Also massive shin and knee bruises >>

Wednesday: I looked at the CF website and saw that the WOD for that day involved about 180 double-under jumpropes with some sprinting.  Now, I'm really not great at those at the best of times, and with two leg-heavy workout from the last two days I just didn't want 180 new welts on my legs from missing the damn rope every time.  So I went to the bootcamp.

• Warm-up with Colin, hopping around and doing high-knee and butt-kicker jogs
• Sprints outside.  FSCKING COLD.  We did 6 100-m sprints, with the first two being untimed, everyone starting at once and the last four being timed with people starting in reverse order of finishing.
• Tabata wallballs.  I made it through the first two rounds (10 reps and 9 reps, respectively, with a 10-lb ball) and then got cramps and couldn't finish.  That kind of sucked.

Dinner!  Salmon, collard greens from a very Southern friend and avocado all mushed together into a big delicious hash, and also grape tomatoes sauteed in EVOO until they popped.  Not shown: some tinned fishy stuff.  Not sardines, something bigger.  It was delicious, whatever it was.







This tea is incredible.  Anyone else tried it?  It's mainly peppermint...but also kind of sweet and has almost a chocolatey undertone to it.  Makes me think of hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps (which is aMAZing, if anyone wants to try it) but without all that sugar and booze and stuff that is bad for me but so delicious.

Today's breakfast: I wasn't too hungry, but had some almonds and warm no-sugar apple sauce with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg just to have something in my stomach to balance those pills.  That's right, I took drugs.  Without them I would not be walking right now, I swear.  I don't really like relying on stuff that treats the symptoms and not the cause, but now I have to get dressed like a normal person and go do errands and chores, so I can't be stumbling around zombie-like scaring people.  So, bring on the meds!  :D

Lurkers: What is your favorite tea or other comforting hot drink?

-N

AWESOMENESS

Hey you guys.

So today at Crossfit we were working at establishing a 3-rep max for deadlifts.

As far as I can remember (because I was silly and didn't write it down), last time I did deadlifts I was somewhere around 120ish for the max, without trying terribly hard, but I hadn't done them in forever.  So today I teamed up with this one woman (don't know her name, but she's awesome - smaller than me but crazy strong!) to work together on the same bar.  We started at 75lbs, which was pretty easy, and moved up fairly fast through 95, 115 and 125, then she maxed out at 135 (which was definitely more than her bodyweight, so w00t!) and I kept going.

So I did pretty well at 145.  And then 150.  And then 155.  I was only aiming for anything over bodyweight, so I felt pretty happy with this.  And then Rich (who was the trainer that day) came around and looked at me sideways and then at my bar and then back to me, and he put a whole bunch of weights on.  Like, ALL of the ones I had lying there.  So I went ahead and tried that one.

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY POUNDS for a 1-rep max.

Right now, I weigh between 145 and 150.  Way back two years ago when I started all this glorious insanity that is Crossfit, I weighed approximately 180 with no muscle tone whatsoever.

So I just lifted my old sad fat self.  And it felt GOOD.

^_^

(I also got a 3-rep max of 165 and a total time of 6:20 for today's WOD with rowing, but the other news was cooler.)

Lurkers: show yourselves!  Tell me about a time when you were just in awe of your own incredibleness.

-N

Three things that are weird

1. My dinner tonight was CRAZY.

Tonight, it was "Throw all kinds of random shit in a pan and see how it turns out."  No...really.  Sauteed celery in EVOO, mixed with a can of sardines and some chopped up roasted red peppers, with two eggs scrambled in, topped with muffaletta (sundried-tomato-and-olive relish stuff) and 1/4 avocado.  Skim milk to drink.  It was AMAZING.  Practically a religious experience.  You don't even KNOW.

2. Noises affect me in really. weird. ways.  

image via mentalfloss.com

I remember as a kid going through these bouts - maybe 10-30 minutes? - where every sound I heard became what I described then as "the same sound, but the loudest and meanest one possible."  I think they were sometimes brought on by loud noises, but I honestly can't remember.  You know how, in horror movies, when they're trying to up the tension and they focus on the clock or the dripping faucet or something similarly innocent and the sound just builds and builds upon itself, echoing and beating and vibrating louder and louder?  Yeah.  I'd go to my room and turn out all the lights and hide under the covers, but sometimes even the blood beating in my ears and rustling just a little bit against the blanket with each beat would be too loud.  Even now, if there's a noise that's very loud, or sudden, or of a certain pitch, I'll jump or flinch or (if it's VERY loud and close) I'll start to collapse a little - my knees will give out and my vision will get starry and blurred, and I'll have to catch myself.  It's very strange and not at all fun.

Tonight at Crossfit, part of the WOD was pushing these metal "sleds," shown below  We were supposed to get down as low as possible and shove them across the parking lot, making this horrible, mind-wrenching screech of metal on asphalt the entire time.  It's bad enough hearing it from inside the building when other people are doing it, but actually pushing the thing and having that sound up close, vibrating through each of your bones is, quite literally, torture.

image via crossfitwilmington.com

Oddly enough, while doing the image search for the sled, I came across this one here:

image via crossfithanover.com

That's how I felt.  Like someone was reaching into my body through my ears with both hands, rending and ripping at my brain and spine and throat and ears and tearing the shreds out through them.  It's faded now but for a long while I felt like there was blood pouring out of my ears - literally, could feel it dripping out..  I finished the WOD but just barely, and had to go hide behind the cars and cover my ears and shake for a while before I was ok.  Usually I try and tough it out through workout parts that are uncomfortable or painful because of something weird about me, but NOT this one.  Never doing those sleds again, except with some seriously heavy-duty ear protection.  Period.

WOD: 21-15-9 reps for time of:

• med ball cleans (20lb ball)
• pull-ups (blue/violet bands for the first round, blue/black for the second two)
• push that invention of pure evil back and forth across the parking lot once (not 21 times!)

And then we did Tabata squats, and I got a score of 15 (squats in 20 seconds, as the lowest number in 8 rounds).

3. My cat likes AVOCADO.

She just crazy.

-N

My stupid joints

It seems like the entire right side of my body has decided to rebel against me. Ok, so not the ENTIRE side. Just a couple of key contributors: notably, my ankle and shoulder. The ankle is kinda-sorta-maybe my fault for not babying it enough the first time I sprained it badly (like, 5 years ago) and then repeating the mistake every subsequent time.

But the shoulder is just out to get me, I swear. It just randomly slips out of joint - a couple weeks ago I was sitting on the floor, leaned on both hands to get up and it went. Yesterday we were doing ring rows as part of the WOD and it gave out, making me fall and yell. It always goes right back in, and only hurts for a minute (and is sometimes sore afterwards), so I always feel ridiculous for calling attention to myself. Still finished the WOD, though, just with a few

modifications noted below:

• Warm-up: Colin found some lumber and decided we were going to mess around with it. Yay for impromptuity! He laid out a 10ft board on the floor and had us walk along it, like a balance beam in gymnastics (or, as Susanna and I figured out a little later, like "the floor is lava!"). Walking, walking while keeping eye contact with him, walking and kneeling down, walking backwards, and pivoting. I should have been a gymnast :D Also, some squats, push-ups and practice with Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (with a 55lb KB)
• WOD: 6 rounds for time of 10 SDHPs, 20 ring rows and 200m run/row. I ran the first and last times and rowed the rest; when my shoulder went on the 5th round I finished up with 20lb KB snatches with the left arm for the SDHPs and one-armed ring rows (which are kinda fun!)

It took a while. I think my time was at least 20 minutes. Meh.

Dinner!

Leftover Shrimp Provencal with a little wild rice; applesauce with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; Fage Total; salad; milk. Nom.

Stay tuned for the Shrimp Provencal recipe later! It's an old family one and is DELISH.

-N

Breakfast, the half-assed way

So today I woke up feeling intensely UN-hungry.*

Which kind of sucks because it's the first day of the Breakfast Bonanza!

But I tried my best.

Coffee with whole milk, Fage with fresh nutmeg, a baby apple (so tiny and cute!) and the puzzle section. Today's sudoku is killing me.

Question for the lurkers: sudoku or crossword?

I'm off to find out what the "Bea"hive is...wish me luck!

-N

*probably because I stumbled home from a very long day at work and decided that dinner was going to be a tin of sardines and a big spoonful of Nutella. yes i know don't judge me!

So I don't really like Siggi's all that much

...which I'm kind of sorry to say, considering all the recent hoopla about it in the food blog world !
It gets 10 gold stars for presentation, though. Look how cute it is! All clean lines and friendly lowercase letters and the adorable little drawing of a milk can - I love it!
It's THICK, too - this spoon would have stayed in the upright position indefinitely had I not removed it. The taste is nice, too - tart without being too mouth-puckeringly sour, and nice and fresh-tasting. But it's the texture that makes all the difference to me. I like yoghurt to be perfectly smooth, to the point that when I was making my own on a regular basis I'd strain it a couple times before pouring it out to set. This stuff is just the slightest bit grainy, and has this weird quality that I can only describe as gluey - it stuck instantly to all surfaces inside my mouth and left me feeling like I had to rinse my mouth out.

I really really wished I liked this stuff, if for no other reason that the container is so damn cute! But I don't. Sorry, Siggi's!

I still love Fage more than my firstborn child, though.*

Dinner tonight: salmonburger, roasted carrots with mustard and some other stuff that amam threw together, mashed cauliflower with a big ol' blorp of butter, glass of milk and some Fage Total with nutmeg and way too much cinnamon sprinkled on it. It needed more green but I was lazy and relied on leftovers.

Crossfit today was again a monsterbitch, this time designed by Colin. Colin has gorgeous blue eyes and looks just a little bit like a shorter Jensen Ackles but this workout proves the fact that he has no soul and delights in the misery of others.**

• Run 800 meters
• Do as many burpee pullups as possible to finish up 8 minutes

For those who wish to be enlightened, this is a burpee pullup. Ladies, his shirt comes off at about 2:05:



I got in about 12 of those at the end of the run (not moving nearly as fast as this fellow), which took me a pretty pathetic 5:15. We also worked on clean and jerks, working up from a 45lb barbell to 80lbs, doing split jerks, which I officially suck at but I was doing a lot better by the end, thanks to Rich's coaching.

Question for the lurkers: do you all like Siggi's? Did I maybe just get a bad batch? Are the flavored versions any better than the plain one?

-N

*I have no children.
**Just kidding, as usual. He's still awesome, just mean. Kidding!!