Crossfit Day 256 - Shin and Calf Pain - 5/22/13

Alright, so since I got my 25 DUs in a row LAST Sunday (as in, 10 days ago or whatever, May 12th Sunday) I have had intermittent yet excruciating pain just on the inside of my shins where the bones meet my calf muscles. Diagram!

See where my circle and X are? That's where it fucking hurts. I have determined that it's the way that I land on the ball of my foot/toes when I do DU type jumping. This also started to happen when I've gone running (the second I take my first step to run, I feel it). Fortunately, when I'm running, it loosens up enough and subsides throughout the run, until I'm done, and then they wind up again and are just on fire.

Box jumps aggravated it, but the real aggravator (not a real word apparently, but you know what I mean?) was when we did the 400m skip around the block on Bring a Friend Day (May 14th).

DUs again that week didn't help, and then running this past weekend along with more DU practice didn't help either.

So.. this brings us to today. We did a 400m run for a warm up and it was instantaneous. The pain shot through my shins/calves (not shin splints!) from the first step I took. They loosened up a little and I was able to complete my run, but the WOD was the real kicker. Even through the rest of the warm up, I was walking very tenderly. It was definitely hurting with every step. Keeping my foot flexed seemed to make it worse.

Our WOD today was a 20 min EMOM
calorie row for 1 min
lateral bounds for 1 min
(rotate every minute for 20 min)

I got through my first and second sets of the lateral bounds, which is literally just jumping over a 20" height over and over, and counting your reps, and the pain was almost unbearable. The rowing helped it to subside, but actually, the rowing probably contributed to it just as much, as my feet are flexed to the max when I row.

I tried doing a couple different modifications, but the pain didnt go away, so I said fuck it and finished the workout with the RX movement. Here's what they look like, except we used a PVC pipe on top of a 20" box, and not the parallets.

I soon realized it was the landing and not so much the jumping that was causing the pain. When we finished, I tried doing everything to stretch out those muscles, but the only thing that seemed to work initially was kneeling down as hard as I could (sounds stupid) to force my calves to stretch as much as possible. I then took a lacrosse ball and rolled it over the sore spots (see first diagram) to try and work out those muscles. Now THAT hurt like hell.

When I got home, I rolled my capris up and stuck my feet in our non-heated pool, letting the water go up to my knees. The cold water felt so good on them, and by the time I got out, I was feeling soo much better. Literally, within 5-10 min after that, the pain was gone.

Right now, there's no pain, but I can tell that those muscles are tender. If I were to jump rope again, or skip, or do anything where I was pulling my feet up like that and landing on my toes, it'll come right back. Each step I take is with care. So frustrating because every time I think I'm doing better, I'll do the movement that aggravates it and it'll come right back as searing pain. :(

OH. I finished my WOD with 198 reps/calories total. Wish I had done more, but considering the muscle pain, I'm just glad I was able to Rx it and finish.

Crossfit Day 255 - Regional WOD #6 - 5/21/13

I CHOSE to come to this one... brutal as it may sound. And I loved it.

It was the CrossFit Regionals WOD #6, and we had to do the following:

30 min time cap (Thanks Russ) The original time was 15 min

100 DUs or 300 singles
50 HSPUs
40 T2B
30 Shoulder to Overhead 100lbs for the girls (I RXed the weight!)
90 ft walking lunges with the same 100lb bar in the front rack.

I finished in 20:24!

I did 300 singles, so I could get through them. Turns out, the DUs hurt the shit out of my calves, because of how I jump. Excruciating calf to shin pain that I'm finding is just not worth it. It's happened every time I've done DUs since last Sunday.

My HSPUs I did my old easy peasy way, just lowering myself down enough to touch my head to my stack of plates. :D (btw, I finally learned to do HSPUs the right way, coming all the way down and popping/kipping my feet up, it was AWESOME, but for 50 of them, there was no way! I could do maybe 5 the 'right' way.)

My 40 T2B, well, I can do T2B, but not many of them. I was so excited that I did them for the Open WOD, but for this one.. I did maybe 10 actual T2B and then resorted to my dinky knees up in the air mod. Frustrating. Russ didn't want me doing toes to rings, which I could've done all 50 with my feet touching the rings, so I did my shitty K2E instead.

30 Shoulder to Overhead just wasn't a big deal for me. I knocked those out 5-6 at a time. and the lunges, as hard as they were, I just had to get through them. BAM. Done.  :)

My butt will definitely be sore from the 100lbs of weighted lunges though, looking forward to that!

Crossfit Day 254 - 5/16/13

Floor Press
5-5-5-5-5-5

A floor press, I learned, is like a bench press but without the bench. I maxed out at 135, 20lbs under my max bench of 155lbs.

21-15-9
Dynamic Push ups (I did these!!)
C2B Pullups (green band)
50 Du Each round (I did DUs the first two rounds, slowly, and horribly, because I was BEAT, and then singles the last round) :(

I finished in 18:36 I believe. Shit was hard.

Crossfit Day 253 - 5/14/13

So clearly I've gotten off the bandwagon of going to Crossfit every single day. I'm finding it difficult to get back into my Crossfit on a daily basis routine, only because I've been monumentally sore after each workout, which is, essentially, my own fault, because I'm NOT GOING AS FREQUENTLY. My own fault. This will change! :)

I also forget that my BCAAs are as helpful as they are, and then I don't take them, and then I get more sore.

All this is only motivation to go more, and try harder though! I've built my healthy lifestyle around this, and it's actually been really eye opening to take a step back and analyze my progress, my injuries (minor as they are, they can hinder things), and my strengths and weaknesses.

Since being sick, I've taken the biggest breaks that I've ever taken since I started a year and a half ago. With my CF Total Control anniversary coming up in a couple weeks though, I want to be back into my regular awesome mode, so this means I start tomorrow. :)  Does that mean I start tomorrow morning at 7a?? Ehhhhhhh maybe. I guess the only way to get back into it is just to do it, right? And it's a HELL of a workout tomorrow too! But that's a story for AFTER it happens..

Crossfit Day 253 was Bring a Friend Day and it was great!! Totally my kind of workout.

3RFT
Partner WOD, Each partner works for 1 min on one movement, and then switches to the next.

Station 1: Ring Rows and Push Ups (then rotate)
Station 2: Box Jumps and Jumping lunges (then Rotate)
Station 3: Ball Slams and KB Swings (then rotate)
1 min rest

REPEAT!

I LOVED it. It was so hard, but it was all doable! It's the kind of workout I love, because I know I can do it all, and RX it, and give it my best shot, and it'll still kick my ass. It's not a defeating workout.

There's Something I'd Like to Address; Crossfit is NOT Easy.

So yeah.. there are a few things I'd like to talk about.

Bring a friend day was awesome last week, totally my kind of workout awesome. Box jumps, kettlebells, push ups, jumping lunges, I was all over that!

Yes, I brought a friend, she hated me for it. She WANTED to go.. was dying to check it out, even asked when she could come with me next to try it out. She did a complete 180 halfway through the warm up. She finished like a superstar, and even wanted to go running afterwards, but during the workout, she was not a happy camper! 

Because of the way one thing leads to another in this head of mine, I started thinking about this a little more in depth. How people want to come in and try it, and then they're like OMG this isn't what I expected!!! after it's all over. So you know what I want to say??

Guess what, kids? Crossfit's fucking hard. It's not easy. What I've done and accomplished here, this shit's not easy. It's not puppies and flowers. It's not a walk in the park, it's not a pontoon boat ride around on the intracoastal. Nope.  I am honestly annoyed that people think that what I've done was done with little to no effort. It's insulting. You don't completely transform your life, body and by taking an aerobics class, at least I don't. You don't fix your health problems, put on a shit ton of muscle, tone up, drop weight, and get smaller by eating Panera, cookies, cakes, and pasta, or by going for a brisk walk in the evening. No. Sorry. It doesn't work that way.

You want to change? You want to become a stronger and healthier, more competent person? Then guess what? You have to put in the blood (a little), sweat (a LOT), and tears (some here and there) and make it happen. You stop eating garbage, processed foods, crap, sugar, candies, cakes, pies, sodas. You make the fucking effort to change your life, and you stick with it.  And guess what?? IT WORKS! Not overnight, not in a few days, but over the course of weeks, months, years.

I'm tired of people asking me what I do, how I've done it, what it took to get to where I'm at today, and then when I tell them, they respond with "OMG I COULD NEVER DO THAT! I couldn't give up this or that, or OMG I was born to eat loaves of french bread, I could never stop eating BREAD!"

(really?? come on..)

It's like, well I didn't take some magic pill, asshole.  When I get those responses, I take it as those people belittling my efforts, undermining what REALLY goes into a lifestyle change. Yes, I judge. I keep it to myself most of the time now, because it's just better that way, but yeah. If you want to change, you have to commit to change! You want drastic results? You'd better make some drastic changes! Yes, it can take time to get used to it, it will take time to start seeing results, but if you don't commit to making these positive changes in your life for the better, then what do you expect???

So yeah. There's my rant. I'll feel slightly guilty if you're offended, but I'm not sorry. Crossfit is clearly not for everyone. But if you want to make a life change, and do something fucking INCREDIBLE and empowering, then I strongly recommend trying it for a month, and changing your diet as well. Do a clean sweep and give it a shot. But don't ever go in thinking it's easy. And if you DO think it's easy, then you're probably doing it wrong.

Open Gym Sunday is for DUs - 5/12/13

I did what you're supposed to do on Open Gym Sunday... I practiced on shit I wasn't good at.. and guess what? I FUCKING GOT MY DOUBLE UNDERS! I was ecstatic! Jumping for joy like a moron, after doing 10 or 15 DUs at a time, and I did it over and over and over. Of course when I went to go show people yesterday (2 days later) the most I could do was 3 or 4, but STILL, I ended up getting 25 DUs in a row, like it was just no big deal. SO COOL!

I attribute my success to my awesome jump rope, made by www.RXJumpRopes.com and the awesome thin cables they offer. I went from the giant 3.4 cable to the tiny 1.3 cable, and that's where I noticed the difference. It took me a couple times of working with it (I couldn't even do singles with the thin cable) and I was so frustrated! I finally got it out again a couple weeks later and tried again, and that's when I got it.

I have the Kona Coral handles, and the Neon Pink 1.3 cable. Wooo!! I love it. I love it so much I want to buy another one. :D

Crossfit Day 252 - Hero JT - 5/8/13

I redid my Hero JT WOD today.. we had done it back in December, but one thing that's cool about today, I actually got my kipping handstand push ups down!! I've been just lowering myself a little bit to where my head touches the mat, but TODAY.. I actually went ALL the way down and kipped back up. WEE!! I was so excited!! Then I did it 3 more times! Very cool, very proud. :)

Because I actually did quite a few kipping HSPUs in the WOD, my score was slower than it was last time, but that's okay. I still felt pretty good about it! Today I finished in 14:27, whereas last time I finished in 11:23. Again though, I did several real HSPUs.. So cool!!

I've been sore since Sunday, but I'm feeling better now. We also spent a couple hours over at TPC Sawgrass for the practice rounds. After 3 years of living here, this was the first time I've been able to go and watch and check it out. :)

Dave and Me at TPC Sawgrass. :)

Crossfit Day 251 - Fight Gone Bad - 5/5/13

No drinking today on this glorious Cinco de Mayo! Today was the first day of sunshine all week.. it rained and rained and everyone in the area was miserable from cabin fever. Not sure how we ever endured living in North Carolina for those 13 long months! My god..

Anyway, it was BEAUTIFUL today and I was feeling pretty awesome when we woke up this morning. I knew there would be Open Gym, so I headed in around 10a, with the intentions of doing Fight Gone Bad, and hopefully not alone!

My previous score was 211, and that was from last year. Today I got 218. I had mis-counted and thought it was 238, because I added 10 by mistake to my last two rounds. Fortunately though, my two FGB buddies were right in sync with me, pretty much, so I was like yeah.. there's no way I got 238. There's no way I went faster than you guys on my reps! I wouldn't have felt good about it had I not said anything.

Fight Gone Bad is:

3 Rounds
1 min of work for each of the following movements (this is the order we did them in)

SDLHP (55lbs)
box jumps (20")
push press (55lbs)
calorie row
wall balls (16lb)

1 min of rest

(repeat 2 more times)

I had a massage at 1p, and was going to go back and do FGB again later on, but Tom, my coach, suggested against working out crazily after a massage. Considering I hadn't done a WOD since LAST Friday, it was probably a good idea that I didn't do it again. :)

Me tonight. Feeling exceptionally satisfied with myself.

I was thrilled with this picture tonight.. I was leaning on the counter, talking to Dave, and I looked over in the mirror to my right. I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't repulsed, or that I didn't instantly shift into a position that I was comfortable with seeing. Instead, I was like, oh wow.. I have my arm squished into my side and it doesn't look ginormous! (by my standards.) It was just really nice to look at myself and not contort into an unnatural position that I would've felt happier with. That doesnt happen very often (being happy with my appearance without posing..)

Tip of the Day - Don't Search for Recipes at Night - 5/4/13

Searching for Paleo recipes on Pinterest at 11:30p was NOT a good idea... Oh man..

http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=paleo

Aside from the fact that I'm now hungry.. the paleo brownies made with almond butter and cocoa powder sound delicious, as do the cauliflower tortillas, and paleo pumpkin pancakes!

And now I shall go to bed hungry. 

http://deliciousbydre.com/paleo-pumpkin-protein-pancakes/

http://cookeatpaleo.com/easy-paleo-brownie-recipe/

http://slimpalate.com/cauliflower-tortillas-paleo-grain-free-gluten-free/

Day 5 of my Cleaner Paleo eating - 5/3/13

I'm already down 3 pounds.. and yeah yeah I know it's not always about the numbers, but those are important to me too!! I feel good, not bloated, and I don't feel heavy and full either.

Basically, no starches or sugars, especially after noon! The only sugar I'll get is from fruit, if I have any in the morning.

Lots of salads, balsamic vinegar.. I know I said I'd have blue cheese dressing but I got smart and looked at the ingredients.  I nearly threw away my freshly made salad. GROSSSSS. first ingredient, soybean oil. Come on, really?? I need to find a better version of it, or just get some bleu cheese crumbles and add it to my salad with balsamic and oil. Sigh.. ITS FOR THE BETTER, I know this.

Vegetables, meat, protein shakes. The only coconut milk I've been drinking has been in the morning with my coffee. My protein shakes are only with almond milk, which is about a 3rd of the calories as coconut milk! I've been using stevia as a sweetener in my coffee, as well.

I did break down and eat a smidge of what was left of my banana paleo ice cream the other night, but it didn't affect my weight loss.

Rule of thumb... always have fresh chicken breasts available to cook, or have some already cooked so I can cut them up and throw them into my salad late at night when I'm ready to tear the kitchen apart.

For dinner, we splurged and went to TacoLu, (and really early too, like 5p) which is this super well known Jax Beach restaurant that everyone knows and raves about. Normally, I would've gotten corn tortillas, but I opted for lettuce wraps instead last night, and only got one of my tacos with a corn tortilla, for fun. And I only had 3 chips with salsa.

Anyway, I'm documenting this because I think it's important. And I know others are out there who are doing paleo too, and wondering why the scales won't budge, or why they don't look better, or different, or whatever. I haven't even worked out in a week. I'm curious to see how that will affect me, really. I'm going to go this afternoon, so we'll see.

It's SO AWESOME to be disciplined and to feel good about it too.

My awesome friend and former CrossFit trainer, Erin Mouser, and me at Jax Beach last week.