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.

Pushing Myself

I probably am not doing it enough.  But maybe I am.  It's so hard to judge!

Like yesterday, our WOD was:

4 rounds, max time 25:00
Hill Run (300m, very steep)
50 Air Squats
30 Kettle Bell Swings

My 25:00 finish: 3 rounds + Hill + 10 Squats

Earlier this week I tweaked out my leg/hip, and then made it infinitely worse by running on it (Monday was a 3x800meter run) so I was a little worried (our Coach advised me to just power walk the hill if it felt bad, as that could feel better and would potentially be just as quick).  But running felt pretty good, so I totally made it (running) up the hill the first time.  I decided to walk it times 2 and 3.  By the fourth round though, I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish the whole round in under the max time, and I had walked the flat-ish 150 meters leading up to the hill, so I decided to see if I could run it one last time.  And turns out, I totally could.  I blasted up that mofo, and felt awesome about it.

So the question is, should I have pushed myself to run it on rounds 2 and 3?

I don't know.  The KB swings were also killing my lower back (still using the 35lb bell, go me!), which really made itself apparent on the way up that hill, and so I was kind of trying to pace myself for those.  Also, after my workout I had to walk to the bus stop, and after pausing for maybe 10 minutes to check my phone and the bus schedules, I found myself literally HOBBLING down the street, practically unable to move my legs with the added weight of my backpack.

Even with the slightly modified way that I did it, the workout was obviously incredibly effective.

But I RAN that last hill, no problem.  Ughhh.  I just don't know. 

I don't like vomiting but I like the idea of pushing myself hard enough that I would, at least once. Then I would really KNOW I had pushed (too) hard.

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.

just some updates

Todays WOD:

10 rounds of:

8 Kettle Bell Swings
8 Squat Hops
8 Burpees

This pretty much knocked me on my ass.  But I did finish all 10 rounds (in 17:40 min), and with a heavier kettle bell than I usually use - I've been trying to move up to the 35lb weight, but this is the first time I've used it for a full WOD.  I'd like to remember to try and do this again in a month or so to see what my time is.

I'm also thinking of buying myself a kettle bell to use at home.  During warm-up we moved to swinging the KB around our bodies (and in figure eights through our legs) and the coach pointed out that round-the-worlds are an excellent way to tire out and work your core, perhaps especially your obliques.  And it's something I can do while I watch tv or korean dramas, etc more easily than holding planks... so... yeah... that's almost a plan.

Also, next week I'm starting back up at SWLBC, which I started last summer and really loved, but took a break from this winter.  It's outside at green lake in the morning, and it's a really great program that focuses more on women's bodies and achieving the shapes/lines they are after (as opposed to crossfit, which is more about overall awesomeness and less about shaping your waistline).

I'd like to work in some runs at greenlake or somewhere, too, so that Saturday mornings with the TM crew aren't my only runs, but I'm not sure where on earth I'll be able to fit that in, especially since school has started again.  Meh.  It's still not a top priority for me.  I figure I'll work more on running once school finishes and it gets a little nicer out.  If I find time, great, if not - there will be time later.

And I was not doing too good paleo-wise for a while, but not concerning myself with feeling overly guilty.  I just kind of felt like those eating habits would come back when I was ready for them to come back.  And then the other day I watched a lot of Gary Taubes' lectures, and lo-and-behold, my desire to eat better magically re-appeared just like I thought it would!  Thanks, Gary.  :D

Loughing, feet, and tiaras

Had one of those successful workouts today that proves its worth by making you cough every time you try to laugh for the 4 hours immediately following. Which I think should be appropriately called... uh, loughing?

Also I am very aware of just how freakishly sore my lower back is going to be tomorrow. Oh god, it will be bad.  Very, very bad.  I stepped to the next weight up for my kettlebell today (from 24lbs to 35 lbs), which is something for which it was definitely time.  But this was the workout (or rather, the version I did):

75 KettleBell swings
with 5 burpees every minute on the minute (till you finish the KB swings)
1000 meter row

(time: 13:35)

That's a lot of KB swings at a new weight.  And riding home (the ride is getting easier, yay!) my lower back started screaming in pain.  Tomorrow may suck lots.

And a foot update!  Because for no apparent reason I feel that all blog posts are better with photos.

My toe is broken!  Totes broken!  I got the x-rays to prove it (only because I've never actually broken a bone before and I wanted to be sure). So that means I get to keep on rowing/walking instead of running.  Which I don't mind, because I dislike running, but I'm pretty sure that will come back to bite me in the ass when it comes to catching back up to the TM team.  Here's a picture of my buddy-tape recovery method (pretty much the only method available for fixing a broken pinky-toe):

The other foot update is that I got a pair of wonderful new shoes on Saturday after our Discovery Park workout.  They are utterly adorable and the most comfortable things to ever grace my feet (and that's including all the very nice slippers I've worn over the years).  They are called Lemings (Stem is the old brand name, these are apparently a vintage model) and they're barefoot running/exercising shoes.  (FYI there's an entirely barefoot running store in Seattle, called Born to Run, and it is awesome.)  I can literally roll them up the sole is so flexible.  I wore them today at crossfit and they felt great. :D

And now, with my first weekday of spring break (and perhaps the only night I'll have to myself), I am off to do dishes, laundry, make myself some eggs, watch some k-dramas, and learn how to dance like T-ara (yes, pronounced "tiara"). Because holy-hell, I'm so excited for JKPop night in Seattle that I can hardly stand it, and this is the group dance they're encouraging us to learn ^_^

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

Crossfit Lesson OTD:

Ask more questions.

Because when the board says:

21-15-9
Squat Hops
Power Cleans
Push-ups

It means do a set of 21 of each, then 15 of each, then 9 of each.  It does not mean to do 21 of the first thing, then 15 of the second thing, then 9 of the last thing.  Which is what I did (I didn't quite make it through 3 rounds).

Not a tragedy by any means, but I'm pretty sure my legs are going to complain about the extra 15 squats I did.

And for my own personal records:
Power Cleans @ 50lbs

After class finished and I realized I need to speak the fuck up instead of assuming shit, I went upstairs to collect my things.  Only to dig through every part of my bag looking for my wallet, and not find it anywhere.  I also did not find my cell phone.  I'm pretty sure they're just at work, sitting on my desk, but it will be pretty horrible if I get there in the morning and they aren't waiting there to prove my negligence.  Either they fell out of pockets somewhere on the ride to the gym, or someone at the gym swyped them, which would be a pretty horrible prospect.  I'm pretty positive they're at work.

Not finding them, however, meant that I had to ride my bike all the way home.  It's not such a horrible ride, except for the fact that I'd just finished working out, it's raining (pretty hard for Seattle), and my ride home is about 4.5 miles, 3.5 of which is uphill.  HUZZAH.  Bonus wet workout!

In other news,
1) I turned in big homework assignments today!  Now I only have final projects and grants!
2) Big Bang released their new mini-album, which I spazzed about here.
3) For only having really done crossfit for about a week, I feel like I can already see muscle definition in my arms.  That seems pretty awesome to me.  I <3 lifting weights.

I think I'm going to take a hot shower now.  And then make some eggs.  Mmmmmm, eggs.