Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Stir Crazy!!

No CrossFit this week. You heard me. No. CrossFit. This. Week! The box is closed for the week. No big, I figured. I'll just run every day, and work on sit ups and push ups, and maybe some burpees (you know, because I love burpees SO much...)


Started out well enough. Did the community WOD on Saturday, and then ran 6.3 miles on Sunday. Then, a couple of hours after my run I was walking around the house, took a step and OUCH! Radiating pain in my left foot. What is up with that? Tried to walk it off - made it worse. Monday came around and it was painful to walk on (as long as I was sitting it was fine). So, being that it was Christmas Eve and everyone is closed, I went to the local Urgent Care center and wasted $50 to be told it doesn't seem to be broken and rest it. Oh, and if it's no "significantly" better by Wednesday, come back or go see my primary doctor.

Today is Wednesday. Not better. Went to the doctor. Saw Dr. Nguyen - super nice guy who, it turns out, is a runner as well! Had a nice chat about running half and full marathons, and other such runner talk. Bottom line is I need new running shoes. Which, I knew, just was hoping to get a few more miles out of the ones I have. And, no running until the pain goes away. Hmph.

Doesn't help that I ate myself into a carb-loaded, full of gluten frenzy yesterday and I'm feeling all kinds of yucky today. I have come to the conclusion that I'm not one of those people who can have "cheat" days - I don't even think I can have "cheat" meals. I feel like a total slug today. Back to Paleo - STAT!!

Tomorrow - I WILL get up early and work on sit ups and push ups AND burpees. Here's hoping my foot feels well enough to do the community WOD on Saturday. I am suffering some serious withdrawals and need a fix!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The scale is only half the story

So, just wrapped up the Eat. Live. Be. challenge at Milestone Crossfit. It was a 2 month challenge (Oct. 6-Dec. 3)  in which I completed my first Whole30 program (which actually ended up being more like a Whole40 due to a gift box full of Tiff's Treats that were totally worth it!), and added an additional CrossFit session a week (so, 3 times a week now).

It started out with a benchmark workout - the Spartan 300.


25-minute cutoff. The first go - I got through about 26 of the KB clean & jerks. 2 months later? Finished ALL 300 reps in 23:26.

We also had a body composition analysis done with hydrostatic testing by Body Fat Test. Beginning measurement had my weight at 124.7 pounds, and 22.6% body fat, which is average. From where I started, "average" is pretty darn awesome. But - the final analysis - weight was (drumroll please!) 124.9 pounds. That's right. .2 lbs. MORE. Here's the awesome part - my body fat percentage dropped to 20.6% - which is HEALTHY. I actually lost 3 pounds of fat, but I replaced it with 3 pounds of MUSCLE! That's right. I have muscle!



It doesn't end here. I'm on a roll - I feel better than I ever have. For the first time ever, I also feel like I know what to eat to fuel my body. I have more confidence because I know what I'm capable of, and that I'm capable of even more than that!

So - the moral to the story is don't listen to the scale. Use it as a gauge, sure, but it's not the whole story. My clothes fit better (actually, some are too big!), and I can see muscle definition in my abs and arms, and maybe some in my legs. And, again, I feel better. Lighter, even. So, maybe the scale is only a quarter of the story. Not even half. Hmmm...

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Benchmarks

I think I love benchmark workouts. Maybe not while I'm doing said workouts, but, when I'm done, and I look back at how I did the last time I did said workout. Love.

Take the 300 challenge workout. Here it is:


There is a 25-minute cutoff on this one. 2 months ago I got to number 26 of the KB clean and jerks. Today...I finished the. whole. thing. in 23:26.

That's kind of bad ass.

Speaking of bad ass...I'm a little proud of this:


And - did both scheduled runs on my half marathon plan this week. The 3-miler will be accomplished tomorrow with the Reindeer Run 5K.

I'm on a roll!!