Work in progress

I have so much I want to write about that I don’t even know where to begin… a friend who was researching MS for her thesis a few years ago told me that many people with MS have a difficult time putting thoughts in “order”. Probably not the only thing that can cause this, but definitely something I’ve struggled with. But this post isn’t about that… this one is about food and health mostly and things that relate. I’ll try to keep on track 😉

Finally got in to see the new doctor on Friday.  Finally a doctor who was very thorough and ordered all the tests needed to figure out what’s going on.  Vainity plays a part for sure, but I also question WHY things are the way they are out of interest.  WHY when I exercise regularly and eat very clean am I still struggling with my weight? WHY with the same exercise routine and healthier eating than previously have I GAINED 45lbs in the last 5 years? “It’s probably muscle!” Is the lamest excuse I’ve heard over and over. Yes, I’ve definitely put on some muscle when going from a ball hockey 3x a week runner who lifted moderate weights from time to time to a crossfit junkie, but that really doesn’t explain the body fat %!! Wii Fit would tell me I’m obese again and get itself tossed off the balcony.

So the new doctor order so much blood work that the ladies at the clinic didn’t know what to do with themselves.  Best part was he went through it ALL with me and explained all the red highlights on my results.  My iron, vitamin D, B12, testosterone and cortisol are lower than he’d like to see.  My thyroid is fucky and my adrenals are waving the white flag. I take 5000IU of vitamin D religiously every day!  Increase it he said.  Also gave other recommendations to add/increase other vitamins/minerals and gave me prescriptions for T3 and DHEA.

Next he looked at the sample day of my diet that I sent him.  There was a bunch of red highlights here too! 😮 “You say you follow a ketogenic diet? There’s a LOT of sugar here” he said.  What?!? In fairness to myself, the sample day I sent him was two months ago and a lot has changed since then, but I was still shocked to hear that!! I could be causing my weight because I eat a little tomato sauce, some snap peas and a few baby carrots once or twice a week, and onions.  Not the onions!!!  The rest could go but the onions stay.  Besides, I’ve decided I’m going to try the supplements and the prescriptions before altering my diet any further.  If I change everything all at once, how do I know what works?  (Still fuming a bit… I sit beside my girl as she munches on a bag of chocolate things each night but I’m overweight cause I put onions in the BBQ veggie mix. Pffft)

I mentioned that a lot has changed since I sent my sample day to the doc.  I March of this year Amanda and I gave the exogenous ketones a try and were disappointed with our lack of success. We decided to give them another go and things have been better this time around. For me I think it all started when Jen addded me to the 60 hour fast group on Facebook.  I had tried the fast before but didn’t make it all the way through. This time I wasn’t entirely into it from the start either! Made it 20 hours and ate a little something which I initially saw as throwing in the towel, but actually shifted my mindset somehow! After that I completed the 60 hours and have since followed the intermittent fasting which a ketogenic diet is intended to accompany. I wake up, drink coffee with MTC oil, drink my ketones (slowly), and LOTS of water. When I’m hungry, I eat. During the week when I work all day and head to the box shortly after, there are days I don’t chew anything until 7:30-8pm.  Others I eat lunch and dinner.  I still don’t know what is the right method for ME, but it’s all a work in progress really… and in the first 10 days I lost 10lb! I haven’t been able to shed ANYTHING in forever, so it feels like something is going right.

regroup. carry on.

Today Amanda and I did Annie and Fran before breakfast!  Not the typical “Hero Friday” but technically it’s considered benchmark Fridays that has just happened to be all Heroes up until this point.  Since first reading the posted WODs early this morning, “Annie are you ok?” keeps playing on repeat in my mind…  After 8+ minutes of abuse, I really could care less if Annie is ok or not.  I forgot how much I hate abmat sit-ups!  Fran, however, was great!!  After more than 3 years of crossfitting I actually have a legit Fran time 🙂

Fri. Sept. 16:

Benchmark Friday @ CFC

“Annie”
 50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders (reps x2 Singles)
Sit-ups
Time – 8:50

 “Fran”
21-15-9
Thruster  #65/#95
Pull-ups
Time – 8:37 Rx!!

I know I need to put some serious effort into learning the whole Double Unders thing.  I know it, but I never seem to find time to do it!  There are always so many things I need to work on and I guess other things just take priority over whipping myself brutally.

Thurs. Sept. 15:

Benchmark Friday @ CFC

Buy In – Bench Press + Pendley Row
 Every 2:30 minutes for 10 minutes:
5 Bench Press  #95
10 Pendley Row  #55

 WOD
15 Ground to Overhead #55
400m Run
12 Ground to Overhead  #75
300m Run
9 Ground to Overhead  #95
200m Run
6 Ground to Overhead  #105
100m Run
Time – 15:40 Rx

Buy in was ok today.  The weight felt good for the bench and super-light for the rows, but we were working in partners and didn’t really have time to add to both.  The WOD was great even though I was all over the place!  There were enough people in the 7pm class that we ran out of 10lb plates!  My game plan was all neatly formulated in my head to snatch the first two rounds and switch to clean and jerk for the rest.  Also planned to start with a 10 per side, switch to a 15 and a 5 for the second group, add the tens back for the third, and replace the 10 with another 15 for the fourth.  Lots of switching, but made perfect sense!  Until the workout started and I lost my game plan somewhere during the first run.  Came back and loaded the bar uneven… regrouped and completed the round as planned.  Except for the snatch part!  I was flustered and just started cleaning.  All good… Then round 4 I over loaded the bar!  Failed my first 2 attempts before realizing it was #115 not #105!  Regrouped again and finished the WOD.  Dead… last.  LOL!  But at least I finished it 🙂

round and round

BUSY week!  Busy summer actually… I have a week of WODs to catch up on logging, and some other stuff on the go as well.  As always, nutrition is on my mind.  Well I guess more accurately, food is on my mind like pretty much all the time and I still want to be smaller again.  Those thoughts seem at war within my head pretty much every day.  I’m working on setting up a nutrition consult kind of thing with Amanda’s intro coach at CFC.  That’s her thing and I’m really interested to hear her spin on things.  From when we first chatted, she told me to keep a detailed food diary so myfitnesspal and I have become reacquainted after quite a long break.  Old things come back in style, right?  Anyways… my kryptonite is peanut butter and Quest bars (still, I know).  BUT… all in I’m getting like 900-1,100 calories a day!  So am I not eating enough?  Or just not the right shtuff?  PB is really calorie dense, so…?  I don’t know.  Obviously.  Anyways, looking forward to getting a new opinion and hopefully finding something that helps me fit into clothes as I would like again.

Thurs. July 28:

Every 30 seconds for 25:00 Minutes:
1- Squat Clean and Jerk, Approx 70-80% of your 1RM

#100!! (woot!!)

Yes, that’s 50 reps.  1 at a time… and 30 seconds goes by SO fast!!  I remember getting to 20 and thinking “yeah! 20 done!” immediately followed by “oh crap!  30 left!”  By the time we reached 40, it got tougher to stand up out of the squat clean, and my jerks became mini jerks with a strict press to lock the bar out but I made it!!  Went in to the box with a game plan of hopefully attempting 90-95lbs and crushed 100 😀  The happy dance that played out in my head was pretty awesome.

Wed. July 27:

3 WODs in 25 hours. 😐 Hungry and my quads are a bit unimpressed, so opted for a light run this morning to flush things out.  Run felt great 🙂 could have just kept going if I didn’t have to get to work!

Tues. July 26:  6am CFD

Back Squats: 9-6-3-6-9
Heavy 9, add weight, heavy 6, add weight…heavy 3, then try to use the same weight on the way back down

105-125-145-125-105

ONLY person to show up for the 7:30am class meant a private session with Coach Jamar 🙂  Sometimes, not appreciated… but on a heavy day it’s totally cool!  I was torn when it came to the set of 3 if I could put another pair of 10lb plates on.  Jamar asked “what are you thinking?” and when I told him that he said “well, you’ve said it now you have to ;)”  It was awesome!  Kicked myself a little later on for not going a little heavier!

Mon. July 25:  7pm CFC

Buy in – EMOM, 10 minutes:
Front squats: 1 pause squat, 1 squat
*add weight each round

Started with 75lbs and ended with 135lbs.  Can’t remember who I got there though!

WOD – 3 rounds, for time:
6 ground to overhead #75
12 box jump overs
24 KBS
48 double unders
2 minute rest

Time – ??

Mon. July 25: 6am CFD

With a partner…Aternate reps
AMRAP in 5:00 Minutes
2- Squat Cleans #185/#125  #85
(you do 2, your partner does 2…)
Rest 2:00 Min
AMRAP in 5:00 Minutes
5- Shoulder to Overhead #185/#125  #85
(you do 5, your partner does 5…)
Rest 2:00 Min
AMRAP in 5:00 Minutes
10- Deadlifts #185/#125   #85
(You do 10, your partner does 10…)
Rest 2:00 Minutes
1 Min Burpee Over Bar   18
Rest 1 Min
30 Sec Burpee Over Bar   10
30 Sec Rest
15 Sec Burpee Over Bar   6

I wish I remembered all the details for this one but life has been so busy I’ve slacked on recording stuff regularly 😦  I DO know we did pretty awesome!  Over 50 reps squat cleans, I think 65 shoulder to overhead and 120+ deadlifts.  This being said, 85lbs got HARD.  Especially for the shoulder to overhead, but stuck with it 🙂  Sit down before you read this… I LOVED the burpee portion 🙂  Or maybe I’m the one who should sit down.  Or lay down till that feeling goes away?

feels like a dream

Yesterday was my birthday and I’m still waiting to wake up and realize it was all just a dream 🙂  Such an amazing day!  Got to wake up beside my beautiful girl, had to work but that’s typical, then walked out to my car after to find my wonderful girlfriend standing by my car holding a rose!  I had been expecting to jump in my car to head to Burlington to hang out there!  What an awesome surprise 🙂  reservations for dinner at the Keg complete with a birthday “cake” made of watermelon and berries followed by a little jam session with my rockstar.  I’ve wanted to play together for quite a while, so when Amanda mentioned that she brought along her guitar so we could play I was pretty excited!  Cept it wasn’t her guitar.  I now have my very own!!!  Once the level of completely shocked settled down enough for my brain to actually function, we played together for a while and I actually kept up!  Such an amazing feeling 🙂  So does my dream comment make perfect sense?  Best birthday most probably ever… still can’t stop smiling 😀

when it falls into place

First off, this year will be the year of concerts and new experiences it seems.  I have tickets to more concerts in 2016 than I think I’ve been to in my life time, and that’s including Sharon Lois and Braham…  Well, close anyways.  And for the most part, they are for people or groups I never would have imagined I would go see.  This past weekend I saw Garth Brooks, and although I would never consider myself a country music kind of girl, it was such an amazing show!!  We got there a little early and found our seats way up in the 200 level.  Soon a woman parked herself next to Amanda and asked if we liked our seats.  Um… what?  “Would 2nd row be better?” was her next question.  Heck yeah!!  It happened!

Below my photographic standards a bit, but for an old dude the guy moves pretty quick!!  And I totally love how the digital age has converted the old “lighters in the air” ritual.  Looks so magical 🙂  Anyways, what a great show and a LATE night!  Pretty sure I saw 4am, and not in the time-to-get-up sense.  Thank god I had Sunday off 😮 but a nap still would have been appreciated today.

Mon. Mar. 28: Sunshine and rainbows

Night and day really is the best way to describe my 16.5 experience.  As mad as I was at myself on Friday for giving up, today was a totally different story even after a crazy weekend.  Also out of my comfort zone – Amanda saw the reality of my 6am workout routine which starts with the shocking 4:30am alarm clock.  Followed by the 4:40am “no seriously!  Get UP!” 2nd alarm.  Just in case.  Lucky for me, she seemed unfazed.  One thing I did do right to prep for my second chance at this little treat of a WOD was drink a crap-ton of water over the weekend (as per Coach Dave’s recommendation).

Open Workout 16.5

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
Thrusters
Burpees
 Women use 65lb

Score – 15:59 Rx

Boo-ya!  (Insert happy dance) I stepped up to the bar this morning alongside a fellow CFD friend.  He asked me before we began – “do you have a goal in mind?”  “Yes!  Don’t die!  And finish it.”  He liked the don’t die part, but truth of the matter… I went into this round with a game plan.  Smaller sets, and just keep moving.  The 21’s were 3×7, 18’s 3×6, 15’s 3×5, etc. until the 6’s and 3’s which were at unbroken set each.  I thought I took my time.  I thought I was resting for longer than I should have, but I just wanted to survive.  And not trip over the bar.  At the end, I realized I actually did pretty awesome!  My previous time to compare to was 22:23.  6 1/2 minutes faster!  Boo-ya!

Sat. Mar. 26: The dark side of the moon

Time to take a lesson from some encouragement I offered a friend earlier this week.  Was talking with DK and he was venting his frustration at having a crappy squat day even though his head was in the right place to crush it.  “Everyone has off days, and there are so many factors that could have been setting you up to NOT succeed.

How has everything else been lately?  Sleep?  Nutrition?  Water?  Stress?  Life?  Don’t beat yourself up over ONE bad day!  Next time will be different. – Me.

Friday I was in his shoes.  Went to the box first thing looking to complete a nasty little WOD that I know all too well.  My only real expectation for myself was to beat the time I got last time through.  Shouldn’t have been too hard considering I was still new to crossfit in 2014.  I’m stronger now and smarter too.  I know what my rhythm is and how to pace a longer workout.  Friday everything went wrong.  FIRST Open WOD ever for me where I’ve given up completely.  Got through the 21’s, 18 thrusters, and like 5 burpees – then told Coach Dave (my judge) “I’m DONE!”  Another grinder of a workout and another chance for me to shine, but it wasn’t in the cards.  Dave told me a few times “control it McDowell!  Use your LEGS!” but it was as if I had none to use.  The numbness effed with my head in this one big time and I couldn’t fight through it.

home stretch

To whom it may concern,

PLEASE let Coach Dave be wrong!  PLEASE let there not be thrusters in 16.5.  please??

Regards, Kate.

I think it was 2 weeks ago that I went to the box on a Thursday morning planning to just stretch and roll out and got suckered into an “aggressive flush” (as designated by Coach Dave.  Don’t think too hard about that or it gets weird.)  Yup.  Did I learn my lesson?  Apparently not cause I went in today with pretty much the same intention and ended with the same result.  That my friends is insanity, by definition.  The only differentiator today was I didn’t hold back and pace myself cause it was a partner WOD.  Went HARD out of the gate, like 1:35-1:40 split time (dumb. even 250m at a time I can’t sprint for 3km), crashed and burned just after the half-way point then got my sh*t together and found my pace.

Thurs. Mar. 24:

For Time:
In Teams of 2,  Row 6000m
*Every 1000m completed as a team:
30- Wallballs #20
2- Rope Climbs
*Partition as needed*
*Must switch athletes every 250m completed on the rower*

Can’t tell you what our time was, but the last time I looked at the clock during our final row it said 33 something… so I know it was more than that lol!  Another new experience – rope climbing with still numb calves and feet.  Quite possibly the weirdest yet and my inner thighs and knees are not overly impressed with how tightly they had to squeeze the rope, but tough.  Oh!  And the 20lb wallball SUCKS!  Thank god this workout wasn’t judged, cause I’m pretty sure even though I jumped hard for every rep I still missed the line often.

Like previous years, this is the time I’m ready for the Open to be over.  One WOD stands between getting back to my regularly scheduled program and I fully anticipate it to be a rough one.  Unlike previous years, my regularly scheduled program will most likely see a re-vamp after tomorrow.  Summer is coming.  Shorts, and tank tops and beach weather… and some races with my chick.  Running has already resurfaced in my life and is about to take up a more significant part in my story soon.  If only it would stop with the icy, wintery sh*t outside already cause I can’t wait to get back on the trails.

roll with it

Thank you crossfit.  More to the point, thank you Crossfit Division for inspiring me to give it another chance forever ago now.  Today I proved to myself just how far I’ve come and reaffirmed a big part of WHY I do this.  It’s been a week now since most of my hands, forearms and legs from the knee down have been numb, yet I still kinda killed 16.4.  Don’t get me wrong, it was mutual, but still happy with the determination I dug up to get through this bitch of a WOD despite all the self-doubt swimming around in my head.  I will admit, I went against my game plan for this year’s Open a little… I was nervous going into today.  Biggest fear was probably not being able to catch the wallball.  Oh and I dreaded the push-ups (rightfully so).  I had more than one coach mention to me “this is YOUR WOD!” and they were totally right.  The weight was light, and I dig a grinder.  But the game was different.  Thankfully my lungs kept it together and the annoying cough didn’t resurface till I got to work.  Thankfully the time I spent last week figuring out how to work with the whole numbness thing paid off.  Thankfully the WOD didn’t involve skipping or box jumps!  (That’s a big one)  My coordination isn’t the greatest right now.

Open WOD 16.4

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 13 minutes of:
55 deadlifts
55 wall-ball shots
55-calorie row
55 hand release push-ups

Women deadlift 95 lb. and throw 10-lb. ball to 9-ft. target

Score – 231

I can’t think of another crossfit moment where I’ve felt so close to barfing after a WOD.  My legs gave up and I sat on the floor for what felt like forever, but I survived.  Coach Dave asked before the WOD “what’s your goal McDowell?” I couldn’t come up with a response at the time, but all said and done whatever it was I think I crushed it.  I got through a full round and back to the deadlifts.  I didn’t catch a wallball with my face.  And although I’m pretty sure I back-talked some profanity when Dave encouraged me to keep my split time above 900, I was happy with my row.  I survived  🙂  MS messed with the wrong girl 😉

who knew?

Sun. June 14:

In teams of 2:
1600m Row
GRACE: 30 Clean and Jerks #75
1600m Run (together)
ISABEL: 30 Power Snatch  #65
1600m Row
30 Muscle Ups** 20
Time: 40 minutes (ish)

**scaling for the muscle ups – 4 ring dips+4 push-ups

Sweet Jeezuz!  I need to get my muscle ups if that’s the “new” scaling option!  And my cardio kinda sucks right now. I could barely talk with TB as we did our little mile run. Gasping… for… air…  Pathetic.  I was sweating profusely after this WOD and my shoulders, chest, triceps, and pretty much every other part of the arm was totally gassed after that one.  Dead, but happy 🙂  Although we’ll see how I feel about that tonight at hockey I suppose…

Sat. June 15:

Bench press only shows up in a WOD a few times per year it seems…  I know it’s not the kind of full-body exercise crossfit is known for, but I kinda dig it.  Until 1-2 days after anyways…  Last night I nearly gave up and went to bed with my bra on cause my chest and shoulders were just not interested in reaching behind my back to undo the damn thing.  Yesterday was another fun partner WOD too.  Sounds like sh*t in writing, but slap “partner WOD” to pretty much anything and it can’t be that bad.  Actually, all of the WODs this week have been both GOOD and FUN 🙂

Today was a rest day like most Saturdays, except my new love affair of long walks on the Grand River Trail with my wonder pup had out us trodding along after work for nearly two hours together.  Excellent post-work therapy 🙂  The spot is great cause it rare that I come across another soul during our 7km look AND I come home with a tired Yuko who settles down and sleeps like baby.

You’re still with me, right?

Fri. June 12:

AMRAP 20 Minutes: Teams of 2
75- Wallballs (20/14)
60- Box Jumps (24/20)
45- Chest to Bar Pull-Ups
30- Power Cleans #135/#95  #80
15- Muscle Ups  MU transitions
*Split Reps as Needed

Result – 1 round + 33 pull-ups

I so badly want to get better at my kipping pull-ups.  TB and I broke these into switching every 2 reps, which was smart, but it would be really nice to fly thru them in higher doses.  I mean, I’ve come a long way from a year ago, but I find these hard to consistently work on cause they leave the paws so tender.

Post-WOD, pre-work I finally got in to see the osteopath.  A few have been recommending it for some time.  Initial appointment includes going over my “history”.  She needed two pages.  I’ve always known that I had some concussions in the past, but when you get someone sitting in front of you and start to talk about the sh*t I’ve put my body through it’s still a bit of an eye opener.  I’ve had 4 major concussions.  Apparently that’s not normal.  And lots of injuries I probably didn’t even have officially diagnosed cause I was a horse kid and “just suck it up and keep riding!” was the way we did things.  “You didn’t tell me you broke your foot” came up at one point to which I responded “that’s cause I didn’t know I did!”  Yup.  At least once apparently.  There was an explanation of 3 T-intersections in our bodies that connect nerves and stuff that pretty much went right over my head… except the part about ALL 3 of mine are pretty much eff’d up.  “It’s kind of amazing you can even stand up” she said.  Not the first time I’ve heard something like that part.  The hopeful news that I came out with in regards to the never pain in my leg was “I can help you.”  It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve heard something that positive.  My fingers are crossed that she’s right!

Thurs. June 11:

Part 1. Floor Press/Bench Press: 2 Reps on the Minute for 10 Minutes  #105
*you choose weights*
-Then-
Part 2. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Reps of Floor Press/Bench Press #185/#135  #85
*30- Double Unders after each round*

The Double Unders had options!  Yes!!  15 seconds hard ass fawk of Satan’s tricycle (air dyne) or the ski ERG.  I like options.

Jam session

Yuko’s favourite song

I can’t post videos, so this is the best I’ve got for you 🙂  although he’s recently decided it’s cool to bark like a lunatic in the middle of a WOD sometimes, Yuko is generally super-quiet. Until last week when “Prayer in C” came on in the car and this singing ritual started. Scared the sh*t out of me at first, then I thought it was a fluke… Wrong!  This is his jam! Sings away every time it comes on!  Weird, but funny none the less lol

AND — I did 12 handstand push-ups today!!  Not all in a row, but still!!  boo-ya

Tues. June 9:

2 Rounds for Time:
25- Box Jumps
20- Chest to Bar Pull-Ups  scaled
15- Strict Handstand Push-Ups  8 wall walks / 12 HSPU (kipped)
10- Squat Snatches #135/#95   #60

Time – 14:22

My brain decided to join the party this morning 🙂  Maybe 6:00am is where it’s at if I’m hoping to snatch well.  Granted, the weight was light, but most of the reps felt really good.  Coach Sharon may have appreciated that there was no need for the typical “OPEN your HIPS McDowell!!” shouts this morning.  The hardest part of this little chipper was standing up out of the squat snatch in the 2nd round!  My legs whispered “rest day tomorrow??”

back on the wagon

Can someone please do a rain dance?  Or I could just get a car wash I guess if I want a sure thing… The humidity in Southern Ontario is really messing with me.  When you start sweating just tying your shoes, you have to know things are gonna get ugly.

Mon. May 25:

Clean and Jerk Complex:
4 Sets: 1 Power Clean+ 2 Front Squats + 2 Jerks
*Increase load after each set*

75/85/95/105

Oh joy!  More squats!  2nd jerk of the 105 weight I clipped my chin with the bar on the way up.  Still got it up and locked out, but then I noticed the taste of blood.  With that, I collected Yuko on my way out the door to complete the second 800m run, then stripped the bar back to 75 again and spent a bit of time working on jerk consistency.

Yesterday I fell off the nut-free wagon, but dusted myself off and back on tract today.  After a spicy WOD of Rachel’s invention and more than an hour working on my jerk, I felt a little entitled to a treat.  Problem was I wanted a chocolate chip cookie dough Quest bar but I couldn’t find one.  So I figured a few dark chocolate almonds would satisfy me.  Wrong.  So later there were a few chocolate covered raisins too!  :-S  That worked, but I realized the chocolate almonds were entirely unnecessary.  Oh well.  Noted.  If they managed to give me super-human strength for this morning’s WOD that would be cool, but not the case.  My quads hate me right now.

Sun. May 24:

For Time:

1 Mile Run Row
60 Air Squats + 60 Double Unders  2x singles (all)
50 Air Squats + 50 Double Unders
40 Air Squats + 40 Double Unders
30 Air Squats + 30 Double Unders
20 Air Squats + 20 Double Unders
10 Air Squats + 10 Double Unders
1 Mile Row

Yup… 210 air squats, which were followed by almost an hour and a half of jerk work which of course included a squat clean before every jerk.  Except near the end I switched to power cleans when I was struggling just to stand up out of the squat!  100+ squat cleans for sure!  I was walking pretty funny by the time I left the box and later met up with friends to go for a looong walk with the pups.  My legs have every reason to hate me today.

Fri. May 22:

I made it 7 days without snacking on nuts 😀 and I didn’t die.  I had bitchy moments, but I kept them to myself as much as possible.  I must confess to crushing a whole watermelon all by myself in like 4 days, but I’ve decided that’s the lesser of a few evils.  I’ve also found myself with a Quest bar in my hand more than once and haven’t even tried to fight the temptation to eat it.  Let’s be realistic, I’ve probably cut around 800 calories out of my day.  You can be grossed out.  I am and always was, but it never stopped me from munching away like it was my job.  I don’t want my workouts to really suffer though.  This morning was not my best, but my body is TIRED from the other WODs this week.  Tuesday kicked my ass harder than I expected… it was still a struggle to touch my toes this morning.  Hammys were soooo tight!  And today was deadlift day, as if that’s not a winning combination!  Haha!

Tomorrow I’m going to a Jerk workshop.  Sounds awesome, right?  Well, it’s needed.  The last several weeks Friday’s WOD has involved building up to a heavy sequence of squat clean & jerk.  The limiting factor has been the jerk.  I just can’t seem to get more than 105lbs over my head!  I wish I could post a video on my blog cause the limit really has to do with when the weight gets heavy I turn into a big chicken and jerk it half way and strict press the rest.  Just feels safer somehow… That being said, maybe I just need a stronger strict press??

Part 1. Squat Clean and Jerk Complex
4 Sets of: 2- Squat Cleans +1 Jerk

85/95/100/105

*Increase load after each set*
Part 2. Deadlifts: 3-3-3

185/195/205

There was meant to be a deadlift rep-out, but I bailed on that bit today.  It’s been a rough week and my sleep has suffered.  Woke up with a jolt Thurs. morning at 3:20 ish while invoices swirled around through my head.  The lack of network access at Henry’s on Tues and Wed completely drained me mentally.  Other than December, I’m usually pretty good at leaving work AT work when I go home.  This week that was not the case, so I cut myself a little slack when I just wasn’t 110% into the workout.