Hey There

So it's been a while.  Some shit went down, my activities slowed down, and now shit is mending and activities are back on the rise.




1)  FOOD FOOD FOOD
My Whole30-inspiried super-strict paleo-for-a-month went very well.  I actually did it for 6 weeks, because at the end of week two I had cake for a friends birthday so I started all over.  It did feel awesome, and it proved to me how drastically effected my mood and my skin are by sugar. No sugar = clear skin.  Guess I better cancel that Proactiv subscription :)

Then for two weeks I ate ALL THE THINGS.  Actually, I started off slowly, just incorporating chocolate and rice cake at the beginning, but the last weekend I ate every bad thing I could get my hands on (a quart of chocolate custard with brownies, caramel, and fudge, and a super-size bag of puffy cheetos.... it was kind of glorious, even if it did give me a headache).  The reason for my crazed eating of all the things was that my crossfit gym was starting an 8-week "Eat Clean Train Hard" challenge after those two weeks, so I knew I had a deadline.

We are now two weeks into the challenge, and I'm not being as strict as I was being during the Whole30, but I'm not going crazy either.  Rice cake in moderation, the occasional piece of dark chocolate, but no straight sugar or milk.  And normal paleo besides that.  But I am having to record everything in myfitnesspal.com (at least for the first 3 weeks), which means I'm keeping track of my calories, which is a good thing for me in small bursts.


2) INJURIES INJURIES INJURIES
So in the middle of the Whole 30, I got into a relatively serious/scary bike-car-car accident, and my foot got crushed by an SUV.

That's a "displaced fracture" in my pinky toe.  

Woo!  This is the exact same toe that I broke before.  But break #1 was just a tiny fracture that took less than 4 weeks to heal.  This is a legit crushing of a more interior bone, splitting it off in a different direction than the rest of my foot. So that meant for two weeks I basically sat on my ass and did nothing as walking was relatively difficult for a while.  Then I got back into the gym and started doing what I could, rowing when everyone else was walking, etc. Six weeks later, and I'm finally allowed to slowly incorporate running and jumping back into my workouts. But the true healing time could be 12 weeks, doctor says, so I'm trying to play it safe and really pay attention to how my foot feels.

That's the healing after 4 weeks.  Still broken, obviously, but at least lined up correctly.

3) MOVING ON, MOVING UP, STRAIGHTENING UP?
So now that I'm mostly mended, eating well, and am done with grad school for the year (THANK. GOD.), I have time to ramp up the training/physical stuff and get back on track. I'd still like to drop quite a bit of weight, but the more immediate goal is making sure I'm ready for Tough Mudder in September.  I'm really trying to get to CrossFit at least 4 times a week.

I had also purchased a hot yoga punchcard right before I broke my toe, so I'm trying to get back into that at least a couple times a week.  I really like hot yoga, but it's going to take some time before I'm able to finish a class and then not immediately want to take a nap.  But I love the heat and really sweating everything out.  It also ensures that I'm drinking enough water, because you're pretty much fucked if you go in there dehydrated.

The next step is trying to run a bit more and get cardio back into my life.  While this will certainly help with any weight-loss goals, I also need to step it up (as soon as my foot is up to it) and get back on track with my ToughMudder team - who've always been faster than me, but I would like to be able to keep up for at least short distances.  I've realized if I started running to CrossFit instead of biking a couple of times a week, that would be pretty perfect - it's a nice 2.5 mile run along the Burke Gilman Trail from my work.  Running back would be optional depending on how much that day's WOD killed me :)

The other aspect of running is that it is an extension of walking, which is becoming a TOTALLY NEW EXPERIENCE for me. ^_^  I've known for about the past 8 years that there is something wrong with the way I walk, the most obvious symptoms being that I used to get near shin-splints from walking quickly for 10 minutes, and it really shouldn't make me near-vomiting to run a mile in 9:30 minutes when I'm in the best shape of my life.  I knew there were big parts of my legs that I wasn't using, but I wasn't sure what they were or how to start getting them involved.  Luckily, my BFF Heidi recommended that I see the Exercise Anatomist she'd been going to, as she could probably help me fix my walk.

And 4 weeks later, wow.  Amber. Is. Magical.  So far she's really changed my posture and how I hold myself, and in doing so she's also caused me to gain about 1/2 an inch in height.  My walk is also getting much better, but it's not super-natural or as good as it could be yet.  And it still requires quite a bit of thought/concentration to make sure I'm doing it right.  But I'm really excited for the possibilities of how much better my body could work.  She also immediately pointed out that I don't use my hamstrings or glutes AT ALL when I walk (and probably run), which is why my quads are GINORMOUS and why I would be struggling so much when running - as I'm not using the main powerhouse muscles in my legs.



Anyway.  There's more that could be said here (I'm at least very close to one of my goals - my strict press is up to 65lbs and I'm making good progress on pull-ups, finally!), but it doesn't fall into the organizational schema I've set up, so I'll save them for another day.

My diet got even weirder.

After my paleo instincts came back with a vengeance, I stumbled across Whole9's website once more, and decided to finally do it.  So I'm spending experimenting* with a no-sugar, no-dairy (and no added-salt) diet on top of my normal no-starches, no-processed foods way of eating.  The no-sugar thing I've done before, but never so strictly (no fake-sugar this go 'round, which means no stevia, which means no black tea T.T).  It was the no-dairy part that scared me, because I have a fear that cutting dairy out will reveal that any lingering health issues I have (like acne, for instance) are a result of dairy, and thusly I wouldn't be able to reintroduce it into my diet after I was finished. Which would just make me cry profusely.  I can happily (?!?) say, though, that after almost two weeks, my skin has not gotten better, so I think dairy and I remain friends when all is said and done.

The results so far have been pretty great.  I'm definitely eating less, although over the last few days I'm sure if you cut me open you would not find blood and guts but rather just almond paste.  Mmmmmm, nuts. I'm probably eating more fruit than Gary Taubes would recommend, but I can't eat baby carrots all the time, and those are the only vegetable I can really "snack" on.  I do like that banana chips (freeze dried, not normal dried) have become candy to me now.  I'm a lot more sensitive overall to sweet and salty - when I come across a salted macadamia in my trail mix it's almost unappetizing because it's too salty for me now.

Another benefit has been more money in my wallet.  I usually go out to eat 2-4 times a week, but restricting what I can eat to this level means that unless it's a build-your-own salad bar, I really can't eat out.  This means I have to plan ahead more and make sure I bring food with me where ever I go, but it's really not to difficult to throw a bag of nuts, and apple, and some roasted chicken into my backpack before I leave the house.  And provided I get my morning egg scramble, that is plenty of food until I get back home.

Also, I've been cooking most things in bacon fat for the past couple of months, but now that I'm not using butter (dairy), I use bacon fat for ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.  And let me tell you, that's the way it should be.  Everything is better with bacon fat.  I made a giant batch of my own trail mix the other day (raisins, cashews, macadamias, walnuts, pecans, almonds), and needed to roast the pecans and almonds.  Usually I'd use olive oil or butter. But then I thought, "is there any way this could NOT be MORE delicious if I were to use bacon fat?"  And I thought right.  Oh, I thought so, so right.  (Which is why I am now more almond than human, because almonds roasted in BF are pretty much the best things on the planet.)

FYI, this bowl is HUGE.

When I talk to my parents I sometimes get the impression they think this no-starch thing is a phase that I will get over and then get back to eating pasta and bread like a normal person before too long.  Um, sorry guys.  Not the case.  The extreme no-sugar/dairy/salt is a phase, because I enjoy being more sociable in my eating habits, but I'm never actually planning on returning to anything that resembles a "normal American diet."  And really, that's for the best.

Oh, and did I mention I've lost some weight?  I haven't actually stood on a scale in months and months so I don't know how much exactly (and I don't intend to stand on one until I've finished this), but it's a visible difference.  I'm also working out like crazy, so it's difficult to tell what percentage is coming from the diet, but I think it's making a difference. 


* As far as a time commitment, I say I'm "experimenting" because the Whole9 program wants you to go a full 30 days.  When I started, I had a goal of a week, and then I'd take it from there depending on how I felt.  Now, at the end of my 2nd week, I would feel fully prepared to take it the whole month, but I have a VERY SPECIAL birthday party to attend this weekend, which includes a supa-fancy dinner.  Luckily, it's so fancy that the entree's and sides are ordered separately, so other than cooking additives like butter, oils, salt, etc, I should be fine (omigodimsoexcitedforsteak).  It's just the matter of dessert/cake, etc, if that happens.  And that part I'm going to play by ear.  My main goal for the weekend is to not completely derail myself and decide it's a sugar free-for-all after having a single piece of cake or something. Then I'm going back to no-sugar/dairy/starches, with the hestitant intention of doing a full month post-cake, and the solid goal of a full month including cake-day.

Calluses!!!

Woot!  Been a while since I posted.  Here's the summary:
- CrossFit is still awesome.
- I've been eating better/less, mostly*
- Running/hiking on the weekends is also awesome, except when it causes toe injuries!**

* I started counting my calories again, which is a good thing for me - especially as I devised the 12,000 calories a week system, which allows for great leniency on my part.  Weeks 1 and 2 went swimmingly.  Week 3 has been derailed by free donuts which led to an all day EAT-ALL-THE-CARBS binge.  Because if you haven't noticed, I'm kind of an all-or-nothing gal.  So I ate all the carbs, then went pretty strict paleo yesterday and back to normal today.  I've decided calorie counting is out for this week, and I have to pay the penance on Saturday by doing 100 burpees.  Awesome!  Calorie-counting will be back next week.  I like taking the break though, because then I listen a little more closely to what my body actually wants as opposed to what I think it should have, given the calories I have left in the day/week.

** We've been running trails on Saturdays in prep for tough mudder, which has been awesome (even if I'm still really slow).  And then last Sunday I went hiking with a friend to Rattlesnake Ledge, which was a great hike.  Uphill 1100 feet in 1.8 miles, and it was snowing for about the last third.  We were both in Vibrams, and I was in shorts.  Most of the other hikers we saw were decked out in rain/snow gear, and looked at me like I was crazy. I still approve of my hiking outfit - I would have been way too warm otherwise.  And I felt like we took it at a good pace.  Cody probably could have gone a bit faster, but I was really satisfied.  Going down we ran most of the way, which was INCREDIBLY fun.  Until that last bit when I smashed my toe on a rock....  pretty obvious hazard of vibrams+downward-running-on-rocky-trail.  I'm pretty sure it's just sprained and not broken, but I'm going to the doctor tomorrow a.m. just to be sure (and to get a prescription for massage therapy, as crossfit has impressed upon me how out of whack my right shoulder is). 

This is week 3 of (real) CrossFit, and I've managed to go 4 days a week each week.  I'd like to shoot for 5 next week, but I'm not going to berate myself if something comes up.  I feel like I'm there often enough that I'm seeing really quick improvement, and the coaches seem relatively impressed with my frequency, especially considering I'm so new.  Most importantly, I'M GETTING CALLUSES!  From weight-lifting.  It is awesome, and makes me feel a little like a bad-ass.  Even though practically speaking, I really need to be pushing myself more.  I did our WOD today with a 35 pound bar.

WOD 3/14/12:
5 rounds of:
10 hang cleans
10 front squats
10 bent-over rows
1 minute rest in-between rounds

But I didn't have too much trouble finishing it though, so I probably should have had 40-45 lbs.  I'm learning. The thing I really love most about Stoneway Crossfit is that in EVERY class I've had, there has been at least one coach taking the class - this not only makes me feel like I'm doing something that's actually worthwhile/challenging, but it means that I have someone besides the person leading class to look to for good form and to ask questions of, etc. They're usually great about motivating people, too, as a lot of times we break in to small teams and you'll have a coach on your team who helps get the most out of you. Anyhow, it's awesome.

And today was especially awesome. I'm not exactly sure why, I think it's mostly a combination of things. I finished my last final of the quarter yesterday (YES OMIGOD YES), but the joy/relief didn't really seem to set in till today - that may be most of it. But I just felt really great after the workout - and then I caught the bus back to U-District, and made an impulse decision to get Korean food (instead of walking up to 50th to get an overpriced vegetable juice like I maybe should have).

I couldn't find what I wanted on the english menu, so I told the guy I wanted ddukbokki*** and I apparently didn't fuck up the pronunciation too bad, because he went, "Oh, okay!" Then I sat and looked at my Ancora music (I was headed to rehearsal after eating), and mouthed words/rhythms to the christian rock that was playing on the stereo (this would normally drive me insane, but it didn't bother me today). They brought my food out, sans side-dishes (probably because then saw I was american and so probably wouldn't eat them, which is mostly true, although I usually take a couple of stabs at them). I ate my ddukbokki, and not JUST the rice-cake/fish-cake! I made a very concerted effort to eat the vegetables in the sauce as well (mostly carrots and onions), and I definitely put more away than usual. I'm training myself to eat onions now, and it's going well so far (as long as the pieces don't get too big). Also I had some of the house tea - which is mostly flavored by rice?!?  Seems odd, but I really like it.

*** Ddukbokki is DELICIOUS.  There's very little to it, and it's usually sold as a street food in Korea.  I saw it in a lot of K-dramas, and always thought it looked intriguing.  I was really happy when I found out it's pretty common in korean restaurants in america.  All it is is sliced rice cake (so rice that's been mashed up and formed into things like solid pasta tubes), fishcake, and vegetables (carrots, onions, and spring onions for the most part) in this really spicy sauce.  I like it so much I went out and bought the ingredients to make it, based on the recipe below (although I still haven't found dried anchovies, and the fish cake I found isn't the right kind, and isn't as good).  It probably doesn't taste authentic, but it does taste HOT, and I'm pretty sure that's the main point.

Anyway. Dinner was delicious.  And afterwards I was still kind of high-as-a-kite, climbing on the scaffolding while waiting for my bus and such. And then my choir rehearsal was really fun, although I'm sure most of the other girls thought I was on crack because I was literally BOUNCING for most of the rehearsal.  It's been an awesome day over-all, and especially from 4:30 on.  And hopefully the awesome will continue.  I'm off to take a shower before bed, so I can get up and go to a morning crossfit class so that I have more time in the afternoon to come home and clean my apartment because I'm having a PARTY tomorrow night!  Hurrah!  and Huzzah!  and Hurray!

<3

Some failings, excuses, and new goals.

I got both lazy and busy since my last entry. Grad school started eating into my extra time, and I just didn't have the energy to keep up with my fitness stuff on top of everything else. And then Christmas came, and I went home fully intending to stick with my Paleo/Primal diet except for on Christmas day itself (I made my mom stock up on things like almond flour and frozen fruit before I got there). AND THEN my mom made these riDIculous chocolate cookie things with powdered sugar on the outside. (I have a big weakness for powdered sugar.)

Long story short - my paleo skills fell by the ways for about a month in some respects. I still never ate bread or starches, but lots of sugar started sneaking its way back into my life. (Ok, I have a big weakness for most kinds of sugar.) I'd say I was probably a 65-35 paleo person (MDA allows 80-20 as still being pretty good/admirable).

Also, you guys, it got MOTHERFUCKING COLD in Seattle in January. I still kept riding my bike everywhere for the most part, but when it came to riding down a steep hill to get to my exercise class at 5.45am - I wasn't up for it. I was too afraid of ice and killing myself on the way down, especially since I have a friend who had recently wiped out on some black ice at a similarly stupid time of morning, and completely demolished her bike and done some damage to her knee.

And then it wasn't so cold anymore. But I was SUPER busy with school stuff + choir stuff, and I was often staying up past midnight-1am, which meant getting up at 5.30 wasn't going to give me enough sleep to function for the rest of the day/week. At least that was the excuse I used. And I do think that was at least half of it. The other half was that I wasn't that interested anymore. I still think that class (SWLBC) is run amazingly well, and is a great way to start the day, it just had become routine enough for me by that point that I wasn't seeing great improvements nor was it really energizing my days or making me feel awesome anymore.

So my life is still fucking insane. And I want to punch grad school in the face. A lot. Like, multiple times, while holding a brick. And brass knuckles.

BUT. I'm ready to start fitting fitness back in, because I've realized I'm much happier and more productive when I'm working out regularly. Also, I signed up for an INSANE amount of mud/obstacle runs* this summer, which require a little bit of prep for. Most importantly I signed up for Tough Mudder at the end of September, which is probably borderline impossible for me to be able to do in 7 months. But dammit, it's one hell of a goal, and why the fuck not? Right?

'

So. Here I go. Back on the horse and all kinds of motivated.

I just finished the basic/essentials class at Stoneway Crossfit, which is a CF gym a couple of good friends recommended. So far, I really love it. I've always liked the idea of lifting weights, but didn't have the wherewithall to do it on my own, and didn't really like doing it in normal gyms where it would be obvious I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Crossfit is a little like having a personal trainer - but s/he's training 6-10 other people at the same time, too. The first couple of sessions I was incredibly sore in my legs afterwards (endless squats and deadlifts with medecine balls). But I still felt pretty much in my comfort zone, and didn't quite understand all the fuss people make about how tough it is. On session before "graduation" though, they incorporated burpees into our newbie WOD (workout of the day). What's a burpee, you ask? (Yes, some people don't know yet.) This is a burpee:

My burpees do not look like that. Imagine that kind of movement happening, but much much slower, and with much much more wheezing after burpee #2. Burpees are my new least favorite thing on the planet. The entire WOD for the day was:

400m run

10 push ups

15 burpees

20 medicine ball cleans (kind of a double-squat action with a 10lb medecine ball)

We were supposed to do it 3 times.

After I finished round number 1, I decided I would be really really fucking impressed with myself if I managed 2 rounds. Which I TOTALLY did. Go. Me. Then, since people were still going I headed out for round #3. I may have been the last one still going (a couple of people stopped at 2), but I totally finished that motherfucker THREE times. I still kind of can't believe that I did. I mean, theoretically it doesn't seem that bad, but burpees just KILL ME. Also, I had eaten complete shit the day before (it was more of a 15-85 paleo day).... so that may have been messing me up. Anyway. That day really impressed upon me what crossfit could be like, and why people have been known to throw up.

Graduation day was easy in comparison. Not easy overall, but I didn't feel like I was going to faint before I finished. Our graduation WOD:

400m run

50 kettle bell swings (I think mine was 12kg?)

40 situps

30 burpees

20 medecine ball cleans

400m run

We only did this one once, and it was timed (I was at 15:30ish). And there were still lots of burpees, but since they were all at once they didn't destroy my life so hard as the first time. (Also, I ate a lot better in prep for this class.)

And now that I had graduated, I was ready to go to real classes! Although admittedly I still wanted to go to classes coached by Scott, since I knew he knew me and how new I was :P

So, biting the bullet, I signed up for the very next morning at 6am.

Where our WOD was:

Straight Press

1-1-1-1

Burpee AMRAP

7 minutes

Let me interpret that for you. Straight overhead press - with a bar and weights, working up to your max single rep weight (which I now know is 55lbs, which is an okay place to start, I guess). Then, As Many Reps As Possible - Burpees for 7 minutes straight. It's like the cosmos was forcing my to get over my intense dislike for these things as soon as possible. I only did 44 burpees, but I was still proud. And we did 20 during warmup, so I went ahead and pushed out another 6 before I left, just so I could say that I did 100 of those fuckers in just over 12 hours. (Or 70 before 7.30am.)

So, Crossfit is going well. And I'm excited to learn more things and learn to lift weights AND finally build the muscles I'll need to be able to do a pull-up. (We did do assisted pull-ups with resistance bands, which I could only do a couple of, with the strongest band they had.) Crossfit is definitely one of the best things about my life right now - or at least the thing I look the most forward to, and which causes me the least amount of stress. ^_^

Going back to Tough Mudder. The other reason I think I can do this is that I've got a great support of people who are going to be insane with me! We've appropriately named ourselves the "Hell-O-Kitties". We're getting T-shirts made. We also started training this morning - we're trail running every Saturday until the race, rain or shine. Today we did Discovery Park (probably a 3.5 mile trail), and felt pretty great. It's admittedly more running than I've done in months, and I was the slowest in the pack, but I don't think I held anyone back too badly.

I've also made a commitment to eating better. I've actually been eating pretty well for the last week - Paleo/Primal is back at at least a 70-30 if not better, and I've been trying to cut back on my dairy intake and use my juicer more. But I realized I keep failing at consistency mostly because I'm not very good at being accountable to only myself, so Haley (also doing Tough Mudder!) is holding me to a 12,000 calories a week, or I have to do 75 burpees Saturday morning when we do our trail run. I'm constantly glad for the technology in my life, because without MyFitnessPal on my phone, counting calories like this would not be a do-able thing for me.

So that's the what's going on. The new goals are just really steps to ToughMudder. I'd still like to drop another 15 pounds, and if I'm working out like I plan to and keeping better track of how much I'm eating, I think that will happen without too too much effort. I'm also hoping I can get to a full pull-up by June 1st, but I'm not sure how long it takes to build up that much muscle. Everything comes down to my ability to stick-with-it and not relapse into not-really-giving-a-shit. Which is why I signed up for Tough Mudder. If I have any hope of making it through that thing, I can't slack off between now and September.

Also, did you get the impression that completing Tough Mudder makes you kind of a legitimate bad-ass? Because I did. And you know who's a bad-ass?

That's right. Sarah-motherfucking-Connor.

Mission: Unavoidable.

Paleo Start-up

I started eating "primal" or "paleo" on Monday. It's also known as the "caveman" diet. The basic gist is that you eat what our ancient ancestors were eating - our body hasn't actually evolved since then, so that's what we're designed to consume/process. In practical terms, this mostly means NO GRAINS. (They're actually pretty toxic, no joke.) Cavemen didn't farm. They were hunter/gatherers. So what you get to eat is this (from Mark's Daily Apple):

(I love this food pyramid. Makes me so much happier than the other one that only had that tiny box for meats and proteins.)

And the amazing thing is, you usually end up eating a lot LESS calories eating this way, because meat and vegetables (sans sauces and dressings) are pretty low in calories, and also, eating protein all the time FILLS YOU UP. I've been eating around 1300-1500 calories for the last couple of days, which is what I was actually eating before, but it didn't seem like work - I didn't feel like I was stopping myself from eating all the time. And I've felt really full.

I really thought this was going to be tougher for me. I thought I should attempt it now, as I already had a $100 bet running with a friend to keep me from eating sugar until Thanksgiving Dinner (a Halloween-Thanksgiving sugar fast). But not eating grains at all has been remarkably non craving-inducing. Usually I crave things like rice and pasta because I crave chewy textures - but so far nuts and seeds have been covering that pretty nicely.

Also, I think this works well for me because I. Love. Meat. SO. MUCH.

I think many people starting this have a hard time getting that much meat into their diet. For me, I always take less meat than I like because I feel like I'm supposed to be eating more of the other things. And yes, I should still probably eat more vegetables, but one of the main tenants of this diet/lifestyle is that the more protein you eat, the more protein you'll have on your body. I.e. fitness is 80% what you eat, and if you want to be a lot of muscle, you should probably be eating a LOT of muscle.

There are obviously different levels of how "primal" you want to get - and I'm definitely in the lower echelon of those, at least for now. I'm still eating some dairy (but woot! for higher fat milks! I'm excited for post-Thanksgiving when I can find some good dark chocolate or something to add in and finally make hot chocolate again), still eating Stevia (it or honey are still the only way I can make tea palatable), and I'm also giving myself one free day a week to eat some grains, although I'm going to try and keep them under the 150g/day limit.

Anyway, I really loved my "primal" life last night. I had bacon for dinner (as long as it's nitrate-free, it's pretty much okay, although there are some differing opinions on this, I guess). And then to go with my bacon, I had turkey meat. Fried in bacon fat. MmmMmmMmm. And since animal fats are a good thing, I'm saving all my bacon fat from now on to cook other things with.

To read more about going "primal", I suggest Mark's Daily Apple - which is really informative and easy to read. And the success stories are friggin' amazing.