where did 2017 go?

I spend so much time one social media these days that I never seem to get the chance to write blog entries. Life is good! Except I made the mistake of drinking a double dose of ketones at work yesterday, both of which were caffeinated so I’ve been WIDE awake since like 2am. Anyone want to join me for a run kind of awake. It’s been so long I can’t remember where I left off!

2017 has been a good one for me after a rocky start. Career realignment when I stepped down to part time at sport chek and started working with my dad. Still not entirely sure if that is going to live up to all the dreams we had for it, but it still has potential in my mind.

Got engaged to the most amazing girl 😍

Found success for myself personally with drinking ketones. 😁 I have way better and more consistent energy. 😁My brain fog is no longer a challenge I face daily. The inflammation I can physically see has improved big time, which makes me believe the systemic inflammation has improved as well. I’m in a really good mood like all the time. 😁Oh! And I’ve lost nearly 20lbs 😁 Have you heard of ketones? If not, watch this!!! Or drop me a comment or whatever.  katemcdowell.experienceketo.com

 

 

Just got back from vacationing in Florida again.  Timing and coincidence could not hav worked out better for this round! Festivus Games happened for the second time for us while we were away! At first I was bummed cause I thought we were going to have to sell our spot when we decided to go away but I was able to switch our location so we could complete in Bradenton. Then right after we finished our last WOD we jumped in the car and drove 3 hours to Orlando. Yup. Right after finishing 4 WODs. No more explanation is likely needed than getting out of the car was a stiff situation.

Any-who… made it just in time to get to the stadium for the National Women’s Soccer League championship game where Amanda’s team (Portland) won! 😁 That was our insanely crazy day and the rest of the trip was beach walks, sunshine, and just enjoying each other’s company. My mom is still not really talking to me cause I didn’t invite her to join us to watch the sunset on our last night there, but happy Kate doesn’t stress over stuff as much. As my sister said when I told her – “yeah! I totally invite my roommates on dates when me and my boyfriend!”  Well put Claire 😉

 

Life is good

Life is good.  Like, been walking around with a big smile on my face for days kinda good.  This past Saturday I asked my girl to marry me.  Like, for real.  We’ve daydreamed together about our wedding for a long time and I was ready to finally work towards making it actually happen. ❤ A friend commented on Sunday out of the blue how much he admires our relationship.  He loves how much we obviously care about each other and the respect we both share.  There was more to his little speech but my not-so-rock-solid memory has misplaced it at the moment… Anyways, he made me smile cause it’s true 🙂  We can truly be ourselves together.  A couple of geeks who do silly things and laugh non-stop.  We both could spend the whole day cuddling and watching neflix and be perfectly happy.  We like adventures together but we also like the less exciting times too! Life is good. 😀

Last weekend was a long weekend and for once we had no real plans, so what do you do when you have a whole 3 days to waste? Workout and make food!!  By Monday my pretty much everything hurt.  It was awesome!!

I’m going to talk food in a separate post, cause the workout recap is tedious and I can ramble on about food and nutrition for ages too.

Friday Sept 1 2017

HERO Friday – Brownwood Dallas 5
50 Burpees
then…
10 Wallballs
10 Shoulder to Overhead 65lbs
10 Pull-ups
10 Box Jumps
10 Sit-ups
5 Rounds
then…
800m Run
Time – 28:25 Rx

Well, this was a challenging one no question.  My cardio is horrible right now.  I’m disappointed in myself for letting it get so bad, but overall I feel better when I’m not squeezing runs in on top of my already busy life so I’ll survive I guess.  Except we’re competing in Festivus Games again in just over a month and I don’t want to totally suck.

Saturday Sept 2 2017

100 Air Squats
90 Double Unders
80 Jumping Pull-ups
70 Sit Ups
60 Push Ups
50 KB Sumo Deadlifts 32kg
40 DB Push Press 25lbs
30 Weighted DB Box Step Ups 25lbs
20 Burpees
10 Man Makers 25lbs

We did this one as a partner WOD, cause Saturday is partner WOD day.  Even split in half if was pretty rough! Can’t imagine doing it as individuals.

Sunday Sept 3 2017

1. STRENGTH – BACK SQUAT
8 Minutes to Build to a HEAVY 5 Reps 135lbs
7 Minutes to Build to a HEAVY 3 Reps 155lbs
6 Minutes to Build to a HEAVY 1 Rep 175lbs
2. OLYMPIC LIFTING – SPLIT JERK
EMOM, 12 Minutes
Complete 1 Split Jerk, adding weight each round
3. SKILLS (skipped today!)
4. CONDITIONING
800m Run
30 Cal Row
25 Burpees
20 Squat Clean 75lbs
5.BARBARA
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Air Squats
5 Rounds

Ok, I was tired today.  Friday and Saturday flattened me a little… well the legs anyways.  Got chatting and missed the skills portion which I was relatively ok with since I really didn’t feel like 55 HSPU (or going upside down at all if I’m being honest).  I kinda fluffed Barbara as well.  Still got a good workout though! 😀 Sundays are so much fun and now that hoceky is done we can actually go to them.

Monday Sept 4 2017

Partner Workout – Run together, split all others as desired
400m Run
100 Front Rack Lunges 65lbs
50 Toes to Bar
100 Double Unders
50 Calorie Row (while partner holds plank)
100 Hang Power Cleans 65lbs
50 Burpees
100 Shoulder to Overhead 65lbs
50 Deadlifts 165lbs
400m Run
Time – 41:41 Rx

HOLY CRAP!!  But I’d totally do this one again.

 

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.

In motion

Some days it just feels like I’m stuck going through the motions. Get up, get dressed, go to work… but I’m not in a job I want to continue going through the motions with right now. I mean, I like what I’m doing generally, but it’s not the career I see myself in. I had a good job.  One I worked really hard to earn but it was taken from me, so now I’m trying to figure out what’s next. Starting next week I’ve stepped down at Sport Chek to part time again and will start something new. I’m both nervous about it and pretty excited, so hopefully it can become what we’re hoping it will 🙂 Also will give me the opportunity to go back to school, which I’m really excited about!

Took the whole weekend off from crossfit after Friday’s WOD pretty much flattened Amanda and I. Went for a hike Saturday instead 🙂 and played ball hockey last night as usual. Well… kinda.  I played defence for the first time in a long time and enjoyed it! Lol! Also badly needed a good crockpot weekend to replenish our lunches stash.  Last week there was a drought in that regard and the freezer needed to be restocked! After both crocks running Saturday making chicken curry and again Sunday with chili and a beef/vegetable mixture we’re good to go!

Friday July 14:

Right up until the 3, 2, 1 GO!!! I didn’t want to do this one.  At all.  But once I got going it wasn’t that bad.  Got through the 15’s and 12’s and my mind calmed a little knowing the remaining rounds were less than 10 Reps each.  Sometimes it’s really just a head game to convince yourself to make it through.  I certainly wasn’t fast, but Rx on this one was a huge victory for me!! 90 pull-ups!? Yeeeah!  Thankfully my hands didn’t rip up the first set of 3, but the last set ended in bloody palms.  Hate that 😕 And another reason there was no WODs happening over the weekend! After a round of Krazy Glu to hold my wounds closed I survived the work day, but at night my hands were kinda angry.

 

 

Wahls Protocol

If there’s any interest… my Wahls Diary will be on this blog: https://battleworthfighting.wordpress.com/2017/04/26/my-wahls-diary-prequel/

We survived Festivus Games his past weekend 🙂 Amanda as a competitor and myself as photographer. Still digging myself out after more than 1,500 images were captured, but I’m excited to share these soon! Only a handful of the 130 competitors were from CFC and while it was kinda nice to shoot some different people, I’m always most concerned with capturing “family”. Especially when things are crazy intense like they were at this one with 14 lanes per heat!

Now there’s a plan

Let us back-track for a moment… 5 years ago I had just moved to Waterloo.  I had been living a pretty crazy life with a long drive to and from work every day and LOTS of ball hockey. Also quite committed to the global gym scene.  I had recently started the whole Paleo routine trying to fix some health crap. Oh! And I was skinny!! Not healthy necessarily despite all my efforts, but shopping for pants mad me happy for the first time in my life. Unfortunately that was the only thing really at time, but it was pretty huge. Life in Waterloo was a real change. I was 6km from my job, with an awesome gym in between. I had so much time on my hands I didn’t really know what to do with it at first, but I figured it out. Reconnected with an old friend from work who had gotten into personal training and started lifting. You probably know that drill… Monday leg day, Tuesday back and biceps, etc.  Pretty boring stuff, but I wanted to gain some muscle. Then one day I found crossfit. It was new for me, but brought the cardio element back to my world which I had been missing (Waterloo doesn’t offer the same ball hockey opportunities Toronto did!!). It was new, and scary, and exciting… and FUN!!  Downside… I slowly started to gain weight. At first I thought, all good its muscle. And in a sense I was right! But every season I was shopping for new clothes cause the old ones didn’t fit anymore. After a while I started to freak out a bit, so I tightened up my diet (which was pretty strictly Paleo already) and worked out more. But the weight kept creeping up. Could I have been going about things all wrong?! Fast forward to today and finally realizing that crossfit and Paleo could be responsible for my weight gain!! WTF!?!? I read this a few days ago which really got the ball rolling in my mind:

paleo-made-fat-pop-tarts-got-shredded/

I felt like this guy completely understood how I’ve felt!! I mean, I have a pretty decent 6-pack that I’ve worked really hard for, but there’s this layer of body fat covering everything.  I did a bit more reading and decided it was time for a change. I had already made the decision to give up nut butters, which at least had me in the right direction, but I’m increasing my carbs as well. After 5 years of quite a low carb intake, it might be just what my body needs? Or I might get fatter. I’m really hoping option A is reality.   There’s a part 2 to this rant. With dropping the fat content, my macros were in line with what Coach Jen had recommended at my nutrition consult, but my calories were still quite low.  So I asked! Explained my frustration and what I was looking for and got another response I hadn’t been expecting!  My focus had been set on adjusting the diet component once again, but Jen’s thoughts were along a different line.  Could crossfit be to blame?  Seriously??  So now it’s a matter of trying to determine wether my super-clean eating or intense workout routine is the reason I can’t shed a few pounds.  Not binge eating, or nights of drinking, or sitting on the couch… a clean diet or exercise.  What. The. FUCK.  Jen is also looking to lean out before a very important event in June, so she is readjusting her workout routine with the same goal in mind.  “We could lift together!  Misery loves company, right?” she said haha!  Anyways, her plan involves just lifting 3 times a week and cutting the WODs to 2 per week MAX.  They are great, but they cause stress on your body (says Jen) Some people handle stress by loosing weight, some bodies go into panic mode and store everything as fat!  So… sitting on the couch might actually be a more effective way to lose weight?  I don’t know… so confused.  What I DO know is crossfit keeps me sane and happy, so I’m making some adjustment to my workout routine for now but focusing more on the nutrition part.  Last night we went to Olympic lifting class instead of the WOD for the first time in ages 🙂  It’s kinda strange how I used to feel like I was ripping myself off from the sweatfest I needed and just went through the motions of the class without much enthusiasm.  Last night was so different!  I loved it 🙂  and Coach Carson is amazing!  The crossfit side of things will benefit SO much from working with him too.  Plus if I can actually lean out a little the gymnastic parts should improve as well.

Anyways… long rant.  I have always had a goal, but now I feel like I have a plan too.  Hopefully that’s the difference this time.  To be continued…

Chaotic

This post could be a chaotic one… just saying.  I’ve got a bunch of thoughts swimming around in my head and I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to put them all down quite yet. 🙂

Tomorrow a good-sized group from CFC are starting the Whole Life Challenge.  I considered it, but A: I’ve already done it.  Twice.  B: I can think of better ways to spend money right now.  C: Although I did seriously consider it, I just couldn’t see how it would create enough of an impact to make a difference.  I eat clean.  Other than the once a month pizza night cheat meal, I’d have to give up gum and spend more $$ on clean bacon.  Just not enough of a difference to make a difference.  Anywho… I’ve decided to give up nut butter for the duration of the challenge instead.  Cause as always, I’m not happy with my body and want to find whatever is making me carry around extra fat.  I mean, I have abs!  I can see them sometimes… like when I move or whatever.  But I want to just see them.  So maybe no nut butter will help.

I’m dealing with an MS relapse this week.  Not a bad one, but still not fun and in a totally new environment makes it challenging.  My Henry’s crew new me.  They new what was normal and how to help when things were rough.  So did my CFD crew.  This is a new experience with Amanda too and I’m really doing my best to communicate things with her and help her understand.  I know how it feels to be on the other side of things too where you just want to help but you have no idea how.  I read a post yesterday (while sitting on my butt with a warm Magic Bag draped over my legs) that described very well the communication challenges.  I shared the post with Amanda cause it seemed easier than trying to interpret my own version.  The author refers to MS as her sidekick.  It’s something that has an invisible but constant impact on your physical well-being and state of mind.  Yet no matter how long you’ve been living with this sidekick, it can still be quite challenging to decide how much to keep to yourself.  It’s also challenging cause when things are my normal I have no need to share anything, but when something comes up I mentally often don’t have the space in my mind to also take into consideration how to explain what I’m dealing with.  My mind is occupied with “Just get through this.  It will pass.”  I mentioned to Amanda yesterday, it’s a battle in my mind cause there can be a fine line between I don’t want you to feel like I’m shutting you out and I don’t want to get to the point where it’s like a broken record.  This week os thankfully not too bad.  I can still crossfit (although not quite at my usual intensity but it’s something!).  Coach Jason approached me after the WOD on Tuesday where I had scaled to a 75lb bar when I really wanted to try at least 95 and commented “is that YOUR bar?! You could have done heavier! 😉 ” Oh, trust me… it’s a tough enough mental battle to convince myself to be smart.  I did call in sick to work yesterday, which is hugely odd for me, but the pain in my legs has been pretty intense.  Ever had frostbite?  Know how it feels when your frozen bits start to warm up again?  Well, that painful burning sensation has moved in from just above my knees to my toes and doesn’t seem to want to leave quite yet.  Anyways, if it interests you here’s the post I read:

https://www.msconnection.org/Blog/October-2016/An-Inconvenient-Sidekick#

I had my weekly dose of puppy therapy on Wednesday 🙂  Pluto came to work with me and kept me smiling.  He’s actually the only reason I didn’t call in sick Wednesday too, but look at this kid?  How could I pass up the chance to chill with him?

Amanda and I are starting a little side project together.  I’ve been hired to shoot at CFC (like, NOT for free!) and  my awesome girl wants to join the fun too!  When we shoot together I figured it wasn’t right to just put my signature on the photos so yesterday we came up with a name and logo 🙂  With the Open right around the corner, we’ll have plenty of opportunity to shoot too!

 

focus forward

Haven’t been able to figure out where I wanted to go with this. 2016 is more than 2 weeks behind me now and I’m going to be totally one of those people and say “thank GOD it’s over!!”  Don’t get me wrong, it had some pretty awesome highlights, but one of the biggest shit storms my 34+ years has seen. I’m thankful though… I have an amazing girl who has been incredibly supportive ❤  Once Henry’s is officially in the rear view mirror I’ll have a chance to figure out what the next chapter is.

Another great form of therapy… CFC 🙂  Way too much has happened to get caught up completely, but last Friday’s WOD is worth recording.  I was a little sad when we we told Hero Fridays was taking a break till spring, but Open WOD Fridays are pretty awesome too!  Especially when the WODs are ones I’ve seen before.  Well, awesome in an “oh joy!!  I get to relive that horror!!” kind of way, but still!  I get to kick my old score in the butt too.  When I first say 14.3 I was 7 months in to Crossfit and managed to complete 95 reps.  I went in to round 2 excited to see how far I’ve come since then.  Didn’t disappoint myself at all.

Friday Jan. 13

Open WOD 14.3
AMRAP 8 Minutes:
10 Deadlifts #95
15 Box Jumps
15 Deadlifts #135
15 Box Jumps
20 Deadlifts #155
15 Box Jumps
25 Deadlifts #185
15 Box Jumps
30 Deadlifts #205
15 Box Jumps
35 Deadlifts #235
15 Box Jumps

Will WOD for bacon

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Some days I’m pretty smart, but then some days not so much.  Yesterday was a not so much kind of day I think.  Rx didn’t sound that heavy, but I failed to consider the volume of reps. And the fact that I still couldn’t attatch those glorious two letters beside my time cause I still can’t do double unders. 😐  Plus it was my second WOD for the day…

Tues. Oct. 11:

7:30am CFD

Teams of 2, for time:
75 – 50 – 35
Airdyne- Calories
Rowing- Calories
Bench Press #135/#95  #75

Ok, interpreted this completely wrong.  Thought it was 75 airdyne cal, 50 row cal, 35 bench.  NOPE!  75 of each, then 50 of each, then 35 of each.  Silly me!  :p  Anyways, it was bad but not that bad.  Kept the row above 1500 cal/hr and fought through 94 bench press without lowering the weight.  My chest is angry today but all good 🙂

7:00pm CFC

BUY IN – OTM, 12 Minutes
Even minutes: 3 strict press  #75/80/85
Odd minutes: 3 strict pull-ups

 WOD
 50 Double Single Unders
45 Air Squats
40 KB Swings 24/16kg
35 Wallballs  20/14lbs
30 Sit-ups
25 Push-ups
 20 Deadlifts  165/105lbs
15 Power Cleans  165/105lbs
10 Front Squats  165/105lbs
5 Jerks  165/105lbs
Time – 13:40 almost Rx

The CLEANS were KILLER!!! 😮  1… rep… at… a… time!  Ugly reps too, but somehow I came out the other side 🙂  Then had to drop the bar a few times during the front squats and jerks and wanted to cry cause that just meant I had to clean the damn thing again, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right??  Thankfully I’m not Mario 😉

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Fri. Oct. 6:

“Ralph”

4 Rounds, for time:
8 Deadlifts 250/175
16 Burpees
3 Rope Climbs
600m Run
Time – 27:53 Rx

Another Hero Friday in the books 🙂  Actually read this one and thought “meh…” but it was gooood! Such a mental grind to keep going, especially for the runs. Is it lame to consider a 600m run long? Well… it felt that way!  The “rest” came in the form of burpees….

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 🙂