Day 5

Yesterday marked my 5th day of living sugar-free! It has been a lot harder than I thought. I don't eat junk food by any means but in the past few months I've noticed that I've gotten very loose with my sugar consumption . I've gone from having 1 cheat day a week to eating sugar almost every other day. I've always had a HUGE sweet tooth so giving it up for a month is going to be mighty hard. I've been reaching for nuts or fruit to curb my sweet cravings and this seems to be doing the trick. Wish me luck!

TODAY'S FOOD:

7:30AM

3oz Chicken w/ homemade peanut sauce

braised Kale, Mushrooms, and Onions

1 Tangerine

12:10PM

3oz Beef w/ roasted onions

1 Apple

Lotsa Almonds

SLEEP LAST NITE: 8.5hrs

EXERCISE: Tonite @ CFO

A busy girl's shake

I am completely committed to a whole foods diet - no doubt about that. Fresh produce, animal protein and healthy fats are the basis of my diet but lately I'm discovering that even I can't keep this up ALL the time. Eating this way takes time and although it is totally worth it, sometimes I just can't do it. My usual routine is to prepare a whole ton of food on Sunday or Monday nite for the next few days. This is a great system that saves time (and $$) during the week. Also, preparing your meals ahead of time will guarantee that you stick to your diet. When I simply don't have time to prepare food in advance, I resort to a protein shake. It's easy in a pinch and tastes damn good too. The downside is that it doesn't satisfy your hunger like real food and I am usually starving 2 hours after drinking. That being said, I wouldn't recommend this for everyone.

Busy Girl's Shake:

Paleomeal whey powder (excellent source- from grass-fed cows)

1/2 cup Coconut Milk, canned

juice from 1 Lemon

1 scoop Green powder (Jarrow brand)

2 tbs Brewer's yeast (excellent source of b vitamins, minerals and amino acids)

organic Cherries, frozen

2 tbs ground Flaxseed (good source of fiber and Omega 3 fatty acids)

1/2 cup Goat's milk Kefir (good probiotic)

Cinnamon

*Throw this all in a blender until smooth.

I don't bother counting blocks on this one, but if I had to guess:

4-5 Protein blocks, 7-10 Fat blocks, about 2 Carb blocks

Bull's Eye

I finally hit my target weight on bench press: my bodywieght. After months and months with no hope of ever getting over the 100 pound hump, I just about cried yesterday when I got 113 x2. Last week I got 100 x5x3 fairly easily so I thought I would try my bodyweight. What the heck, why not, right? For some reason, I had imagined that the weight would feel like a gajillion pounds as soon as I got it off the rack but it was surprisingly "light". It felt so good, I went for another and got it!

I'm absolutely thrilled to have a bodywieght bench press and it's no coincidence that I got it during my strength training cycle. My hard work is finally paying off. So, even though I may have a pathetic Helen time, at least I can bench press #113! Whoo-hoo!

Yesterday's Workout:

"Lynne"

Max Reps Bodywieght Bench Press

Max Reps Pull-ups

5 Rounds

2/10, 1/10, 0/10, 0/10, 1/10

Total Score: 54

The third and fourth rounds were brutal. My bar path was a little off and I couldn't manage to correct it while pushing the weight off my chest. I'm okay with that. I'll definitely try again next week.

Food Today:

6AM

Shake (whey, brewer's yeast, flaxseed, hempseed mik, coconut milk, frozen berries)

10AM

1oz Turkey

2 slices of Jicama, raw

Herbal tea

12PM

2.5oz Turkey

2 cups Green Beans, cooked

3 Almonds

Sleep: 7.10 hours

On a side note: I have to say that I’m super excited to be writing a blog post today. Finally! Work and school have been keeping me busy these days, leaving me very little time for anything else. I find that the free time I do get here and there is spent at the gym playing catch up on my workouts. I’m not used to spreading myself thin and I must say I really suck at it. I’d like to say I can work 2 jobs, do homework, adequately feed myself, train hard, and get 10 hours of sleep every nite but I’d be lying. Needless to say, I'm working on organizing my life and “getting my mind right” as Angela says.

Rippetoe is right. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. I love CF but I've recently reached a point in my training where I think I could really benefit from a break. Up until now, I’ve supplemented CF with powerlifts every 3rd day or so, but my linear progression on the lifts soon came to screeching halt on this program. Obviously, my desire to be both good at metcons and strong was getting me nowhere. I still have trouble doing a good deal of the CF wods with the prescribed women’s weight so, I decided that if I’m ever going to do “Linda” rx’d I had to commit to heavy lifting and quit messing around!

This week I’m entering my 5th week of strength training. I’ve been doing a combination of power lifts (e.g. backsquat, press, bench press), Olympic lifts, and some accessory exercise (weighted dips/pull-up). I’m following the SS novice program pretty loosely and have been strict about taking a rest day every other day. According to Ripp, you don’t get stronger from lifting heavy weights; you get stronger recovering from lifting heavy weights.

Workout Log 11.17.08

Yesterday I learned just how unconditioned I am. My Helen time was 1:26 slower than my last time. I felt totally winded during the runs and I’m pretty sure I was gasping for air as I reached the gym on the final run. As I mentioned above, this is to be expected after a month of only lifting. On the bright side, I did all of the KB swings unbroken for the first time ever.

Backsquat 5x5 @ #118- Mike advised me to widen my stance a bit, which helped in correcting my depth and torso angle.

Bench Press 5x5 @ #98 (wow, I’m almost benching as much as I squat, interesting…)

Here is a great video on Female Olymic Lifters from the Strength Mill forum:
http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=88&highlight=female

Sleep

Sunday- 8hrs

Monday- 9hrs

Catching some Zs

As I mentioned in the last post, sleep has taken a high priority in my life. I just picked up TS Wiley's book LIGHTS OUT, Sleep, Sugar, and Survival, a well-researched look into the long-term health effects that sleep deprivation has on today's society. Wiley does an excellent job of arguing how lack of sleep can be at the root of many modern diseases. In the short time that I've been reading it, I have learned to appreciate the important role sleep has in my health. While we all know that we feel better after a good nights sleep, most of us short ourselves on our daily rest. Now that I’m back at school I really have to learn to manage my time so that I don’t have to sacrifice sleep.

And what a more appropriate time to begin my hibernation than fall? Unless you’ve been living entirely indoors for the past 30 days, you may be fully aware that summer is officially over. This means the hours of sunlight are becoming less and less. Naturally, the body makes its own adjustments to conform to its surrounding environment that is rarely constant. This typically translates into early bedtimes and sleeping in late -the body's attempt to conserve energy for the ensuing winter months. I think it's important to not resist this natural inclination to want to sleep more; it's the body's way of communicating that it NEEDS MORE SLEEP! I've definitely been guilty of guzzling down loads of coffee to ward off the yawns but that simply just won’t do any more, especially since I've sworn off coffee. The point is that adequate sleep is an important component to a healthy lifestyle and I plan on getting in on some!

Sleep Log
Monday 9.25
Tuesday 9
Wednesday 7.25

Yesterday’s Workout
Backsquat 5x5 #118
Benchpress 5x5 #96

Finisher: FGB 224 total score

(this was 5 reps short of my PR, but not bad considering I really haven’t been doing any metcons).

May you have a restful night of sleep!

Friday...Ahh..

I couldn't be happier for the weekend! This week felt exceptionally looong. The combination of school+fieldwork+an election was enough to throw off my sleep and training this week. In anticipation of my hectic schedule, I got in a pretty decent workout on Sunday though. Thank God for that.

Sunday

Backsquat 5x3 #114 (back'd off 10%)

Bench Press 5x3 #94

Pull-up Ladder= 10 rounds+5pull-ups C2B

2 Rounds of:

10 Box Jumps 26" box

10 Kb Swings 44#

4:41

Sprint 8 @Piedmont Track

Monday off.

Tuesday would have been my next training day if I hadn't of been glued to the Television.

Wednesday

Squat Cleans 3x5 #88

Wieghted Dips 5x2 #11 (would have done another set but I was rushed)

WOD: How many rounds in 20 mins of?

10 Thrusters #45

1o Pull-ups C2B

=10 rounds

Thursday off.

Friday

My quads were fried after the thruster workout on Wednesday so I did backsquats instead of front. Unfortunately, it still killed my legs.

Backsquat 5x5 #116

Shoulder Press 5x3 #68 (failed) = 4/3/4

Weighted Dips 5x3 #13 (failed) = 4/4/4

WOD: Helen-ish 3 Rounds of:

50 Double Unders

21 Kb Swings #44

12 Pull-ups C2B

Meals have been pretty good this week. I didn't have much time to plan but managed to get by on leftovers from the weekend. I've been maintaining 10-11 blocks of protein with lots of extra fat. Most carbs have been low GI and I've been pretty careful about not overdoing it, oh except for the vino on Tuesday and Thursday...and the homemade carrot cake on Wednesday. Okay, maybe I'm idealizing a bit. Nevertheless, I am really looking forward to the weekend and spending some quality time at home!

Sleep was a bit scarce this week. Late nights at school followed by early mornings at CrossFit put me in a sleep deficit. I averaged about 7.25 hours a nite. This is totally unacceptable, especially if I want to see any gains from my hard training. But, this was a rough week and sometimes it just works out that way. I'm hopeful that next week I'll be able to clock in a solid 9-10 hours/nite.

Kicking the Habit

As I sit down to sip my hot, organic lemon-ginger tulsi tea (take that Starbucks), I am reminded that today marks my 30th day without coffee and chewing gum. When I first decided to give my two vices the boot I had some serious doubt that I could survive without either one-especially gum. After the initial withdrawal symptoms from the coffee, the transition wasn’t so bad. Don’t get me wrong, there are still times when I am captured by the smell of a fresh pot of coffee and find myself staring longingly into the pot. And I do miss my kiwi-mandarin Trident gum, especially when I’m craving something sweet after lunch. Now that I’ve successfully completed 1 month free of coffee and gum, I feel like I can do anything!

When I started the Holistic Nutrition Education program at Bauman College, I quickly became aware of the potentially harmful effects of all sorts of junk that we put in our bodies. In my case, it was the sorbitol and other synthetic chemicals in chewing gum coupled with the absorbent amounts of caffeine, in the form of coffee, that were the main culprits.

The Good News: For the first time in a LONG time, I did not have menstrual cramps this month. This makes it all worth it! I remember the pain last month all too well and am thrilled to not have to re-live it. And, lucky for my friends and family, not chewing gum all the time has resulted in no more burps! OK, maybe a few tiny ones here and there.

Today's Meals:

Breakfast 8:45AM

3 Eggs scrambled w/ Kale and Tomato

1 piece of Bacon

5 Macadamia Nuts

3.5 protein/1 carb/ 8 fat (?)

Lunch 11:45PM

3oz Turkey breast

Fresh Tomato w/ Hummus

1 Peach

Peanut Butter

3 protein/1.5 carb/7 fat