secret’s out

Monday 09/30

I never would have guessed the de-load phase would be so hard!  Not in the usual “oh my god this is HEAVY” kinda way, but in the “am I doing this wrong?  sh*t feels so light!” kinda way.  I spent a good chunk of today’s workout second guessing myself as to whether or not I was “getting” the concept of this week.  Don’t get me wrong, my body deserves the recovery time.  Especially if I’m going to ask it to pick up the slack again next week, and the two weeks following.  Dave and Sharon often speak of “squat therapy”.  At first, the phrase made me laugh a little, but now it makes a ton of sense.  This week that is my goal.  A lot of squat therapy so I’m ready to add the weight back on.  See, my range of motion when it comes to the squat is very good.  I have no issue dropping down well bellow parallel.  However I have been struggling to figure out why I seem to end up on my toes (instead of my heals) when my legs get tired or the bar gets heavy.  Dave’s suggestion – “stick your BUTT back!”  Ah-ha!  We’ve done a bunch of practice and I think I get it, but now it’s like learning to ride a bike all over again.  :p Having a coach around makes a huge difference 🙂  Also prevents injury.  No one wants that.

First night of Kitchener ball hockey 😀  I’m going to need to un-train my mentality that came from 5+ years of living with a goalie…  There is no need for a regular old player to arrive 30 minutes before the game.  The bad part of getting there this early is the Reebok outlet is far too close for my wallet to remain comfortable.  Bad news bears…  :p  Also my first time playing coed.  Wow.  Guys are like freight trains.  Fast, and plow through anything that gets in their path.  It’s all good though :p  I’ll learn how to adapt… although I’m sure a few more checks into the boards can be expected.

Tuesday 10/01

October already??  😦  When did that happen??

The 7:30am WOD was a good one 🙂  Well… I’m saying that now, about 3 rounds in I likely may not have had the same opinion.

Skill: Pistol Squat Drills
Box
Banded
Open Floor

WOD – 7 rounds:
1 min Row for Calories (try to hold 15/10)
1 min max reps: Power Clean #135/#95 (try to hold 10 reps)   #65
1 min max reps: Pistol Squats

Holy cow.  I found another area where I could use some work.  Pistols.  Of course, when I saw the WOD posted last night, I googled that sh*t.  Not that googling anything so far has resulted in a moment of “oh THAT!  I can do that.”  Mostly it leaves me thinking “dammmmn!  This is going to suck.”  But it has yet to stop me from going…  Anyways, I made it through somehow 🙂  On the 7th round of power cleans, I did the 10th rep (Dave had given us a goal of at least 10 reps per round), put my bar back on the ground, and went to catch my breath before the final round of pistols.  “McDowell!!  Pick that bar up!  One more rep girl!”  Came my way.  CRAP.  Apparently I gave him “the look”.  haha!  But I grabbed the damn bar and put some serious power into my final clean.  Bad news.  Dave tells me he now knows how to tell when he’s pushed me hard.  He now will be striving to get “the look” all the time.  😮  I gave away a secret today, and there’s no way I can get it back.  :p

 

crossfit therapy

First – minor correction on my #boxlove post.  The hickie-bruise is from catching the bar on my collar bone (elbows down) in my push jerk.  NOT from front squats :p

Another busy day…  Started with a follow-up appointment with my MS guy.  Nothing new to report from recent tests, however when I refused to “take a seat” in his office as I always do, he once again strongly recommended I start on yet another prescription.  This one to help deal with the chronic pain in my right leg that makes it unbearable to “take a seat”.  I tried to politely decline, as usual, but after the hour drive to his office, I was in so much pain I was nearly in tears.  So, I left with a script.  But I also left with no promise of filling it.  If I can just avoid driving, and sitting, I’ll be fine.  I don’t want drugs.  I have crossfit as therapy.  :p

So, of course, shortly after returning home after my appointment, crossfit I did.  I was a little bummed that the dr appointment got in the way of my usual 7:30am class with coach D, but I was able to make it to the noon class with another coach.  It kinda sucked.  I worked hard, but I left the box feeling like I should have picked a more challenging weight and set myself up in an area where I could have completed the WOD as it was intended.  During the first few warm-up snatch sets, another coach glared at me and said “if you forget to open your HIPS once more, you’re giving me 50 burpees!”  After that comment, I stopped loading the plates on my bar and opted to play it safe.  It’s not that I do it on purpose, I have all the desire and determination to do things RIGHT.  Just sometimes it seems my brain can’t figure out how to put all the pieces in the right order.  That’s where coaches D & S are great at giving tips on where what part I need to tweak to make the magic happen.  Anyways, I’ll work on my snatch again tomorrow.  And th next day. And probably the day after that.  As for today, the wimping out on my weight load is part A of why I’m mad at myself.  Then the WOD started and I quickly discovered that I could not broad jump the length of my bar, spin around, broad jump back.  The spinning part made me so dizzy I figured I would surely land on my butt soon.  So I switched to skipping.  Threw 50 single unders in between the snatch rounds instead of the jumps.  Then when I finished way ahead of all the others who were actually lifting challenging weights, I headed to the other side of the bo and completed 40 broad jumps where I could do 5 in a row before doubling back.  Hey dummy, had I put my bar on that side to begin with, I could have done everything all proper-like.  But it’s done.  I still worked hard, and tomorrow will be another chance to redeem myself.  Here’s the specs from today:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of : Snatch (#165/#105)

20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 of: Broad Jumps (Length of the Bar)

Time – 13:11

Enough bitching.  I have good stuff too!

My September schedule is pretty much a right off and it’s only the 12th!  Exciting stuff to look forward to though 🙂  Final obstacle run of the year is this Saturday.  Ball hockey starts up again this month too 🙂  Finally!  But it’s September 21st I’m looking forward to the most 😀  There is a crossfit challenge happening in Etobicoke and CF Division is putting 4 teams in.  When the notice was posted looking for people interested in competing, I was only a few days out of my introductory month.  Sooo… I will be going as a cheer leader and photographer for my box and I couldn’t be happier!  My first chance to experience a crossift competition! 😀  Totally stoked!  Then the weekend after that is the summer end social 🙂  That should be good times too!  Still trying to figure out what I’m going to wear, but it should be cool to hang out with my fellow crossfitters when we’re not in our spandex-y best and sweating profusely.

 

one life, LIVE it.

Sorry I suck right now.  So busy!  Working lots, working out LOTS, cooking some, and getting ready to head to sun and sand next week.  Poor me, ya I know! :p  Next week I’m really going to suck 😉

Just a note…  So, I often throw the “Multiple Sclerosis” tag on my posts, but never talk about it.  The whole thought process there is: I write about LIFE and how I choose to live mine.  I have MS, but I still do my best to live the life I want to live.  Being diagnosed with anything WILL change a person’s life, but it’s up to the individual which path they choose to take.  The whole experience certainly opened my eyes to the importance of appreciating the people and things I do have and can do. 

Three times a week, this is my reality…  Also probably the reason I have very little patience for people who cry about how rough their life is and carry on the sob story looking for sympathy.  In my mind, it always could be worse.  Life really is too short to sweat the trivial things…

It’s all connected… pt. 1

So a good friend, and the inspiration behind my decision to start writing this whole compilation of thoughts, suggested that I back track a little here…  She mentioned that it might me a good idea to share my experiences with living with MS, as well as a bit of history behind my journey through nutrition and fitness which has led me to today.

Ok.  When it comes to MS, there really is no simple explanation.  It sucks sometimes.  This being said, I try to not let it change who I am…  Some of the challenges I’m more than willing to share, some I’m not :-p  The biggest problem I’ve come to expect is not knowing what to expect.  Everyone will have a different experience, and no one will be able to tell the recently diagnosed “ok, so this is what’s going to happen”.  All you can do is learn to pay more attention to what your body is telling you. 

The most consistent complication I have is fatigue.  It can be completely debilitating and impossible to explain just how bad it is.  If you don’t “know it”, you have no idea!  (And I wouldn’t want you to!)  When I was first diagnosed, I resisted the suggestion to start on any “disease-modifying” treatment.  Yeah, they do call it that.  I guess when there isn’t a cure, you have to come up with some other kind of a name which sounds appealing.  I was a young punk who thought I good tough it out on my own.  I also wasn’t the type of person who ever liked to accept the need to ask for help.  I’ve gotten over that over the years :-p  When I finally accepted the need to give the drugs a shot, I started with Copaxone.  It was a once daily injection which, other than pretty ugly site reactions, was not so bad… and actually helped with the fatigue a bit.  Only problem there, it didn’t seem to help slow the progression of my disease and the MRI’s showed my worsening condition.  Boo.  So my neuro suggested the switch to Betaseron.  This meant less needles (yeah! only 3 times a week!) BUT they make me feel like crap after, hence bed time is the only option.  It’s a more aggressive treatment, which has done a good job so far at reducing new flare ups, but the fatigue returned with a vengeance.  😦 

There is soooooo much more I could talk about, but that will have to do for now.  Every day I am affected by this disease.  Every day the people close to me are affected as well.  I’m lucky to have an incredible support system at home, Ange has been my ROCK 🙂  More than a month ago, I watched a video which was shared by my friend Amanda that gave me the inspiration to fight back.  To see if there wasn’t a way to take the reins, rather than just picking myself off when I get bucked off.  THIS is where the connection exists.  My rants about Primal Blueprint and Paleo and Crossfit all do come together in the end.  Check it out if you’d like:

http://youtu.be/KLjgBLwH3Wc

Eat your greens

Link

So, I’ve been reading a LOT lately about all the benefits which can come from the “Paleo”  or “Primal Blueprint”  lifestyle.  This all stems from a friend’s post of a video which shares a seminar done by a Dr. Terry Kohl where she talks about how she was able to reverse some of her MS related symptoms through a change to her diet.  Check it out if you’d like:

http://youtu.be/KLjgBLwH3Wc

This video got me rolling on my research quest.  I’ve spent some time at Chapters and found a LOT of books which support this belief that what we put into our bodies can help with disease.  Makes sense.  I’ve always been a strong believer that diet is the cause behind contracting certain ailments, so why would it not also work in the reverse?  Since gaining 50 lbs in 2006 and going through the process of regaining control of myself and my life, I’ve been very disciplined when it comes to nutrition and fitness.  I did shed the 50 lbs through hard work and dedication, and learned a lot more about myself along the way.  Yes, I had to cut out a lot of the bad food choices I was previously making, but I really don’t miss them!  At first the thought of this new “Paleo/Primal” mindset was strange to me cause it’s a bit of a polar opposite to what I used to be successful so far.  However, a lot of it makes sense too.

SO… I did some thinking, and I’m going to give it a try.  What’s 30 days really??  I actually started yesterday and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be.  A lot of people use this concept to lose weight, however that is NOT my goal at all!  There have been many cases where it has helped people with MS and Polycystic Ovarian syndrome, which I would really appreciate!  Exercise routines won’t change.  Just diet.  MORE – vegetables, healthy fats from nuts and oils, and lean proteins.  NO- breads or grains.  Only thing I refuse to leave behind is my Greek yogurt.  :-p  LOVE that stuff too much…

March 24-April 22.  1 day down…

Interesting reads:

Paleo diet and MS – http://paleodiet.com/ms

Primal Blueprint – www.marksdailyapple.com

Happiness is…

I haven’t posted anything in a little while, but in my mind that is never a bad thing.  When things are not going well, I write a lot.  When life is good, I write very little.  Just a quick follow-up on my little theory… since putting the brakes on my latest prescription, Alesse, things have slowly returned back almost to normal.  You really do take your basic senses for granted until one is taken away…  While I can’t imagine losing my sight or hearing, losing my ability to taste really wasn’t much fun either.  I am SO grateful to be able to enjoy food again 🙂  I will say though, I’ve learned a very important lesson from this whole situation.  Never will I ignore what my body is telling me.  While a doctor can take a quick glance at your chart and dismiss your complaints, only you can tell when something doesn’t feel right.  I understand that MS is a complicated disease, with many unanswered challenges, but I’m not willing to accept that any and every symptom I present should be brushed off and blamed on it.  Enough bitching though.  I am feeling soooo much better than I was, and really in a great frame of mind 🙂  The weather has certainly helped with my happiness too.  It’s been so much like summer this week and I’ve been grateful for every second of it.  Being only March, and Canada, I’m sure it won’t stick around for too long…

More appointments on the horizon.  Somehow most MRI appointments I get seem to be at really strange times too.  Tomorrow I’ll be heading in to Brampton Civic for a 10:15pm scan 😮  That’s already past my bedtime by the time the test is scheduled to begin!  Haha.  Good thing I tend to sleep through these things anyway, and as long as I’m sure to make sure Ange has a coffee all should be fine.