slow going

thursday

3k row @ 14:00 something really bad? yah. i stopped twice, that should account for the extra 2:00 i added to my average time

friday

deadhang pullups. 5 attempts AMRAP @ 4-4-3-2-2 ... eesh. a little embarrassing... i miss you, guns. please come back.

today

5 rounds @ 8:28

• 10 pushup
• 10 pullup
• 10 airsquat
• 10 situps

not bad, but not great. kept pace steady throughout, but wasn't really "hustling" it. movement was good even though my knees tracked in a bit and slowed me down a lot. i wonder if there's something i can work on for that - not sure, but i'll chip away.

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trying to work on training plan for denali 2012. i'm struggling. using coachs' template, but i'm having a tough time because climbing has pretty specific skills.

so far, i brainstormed the functional requirements for the climb. then i listed the skills for each requirement. then i tried to figure out a plan to get me to where i want to be from a performance perspective for each skill. i guess the next step is to put it into a format that works for the coaches so they can help me put the 12 month plan together. i want to make sure i hit goals for rescue skills, glacial travel-specific skills, climbing skills, acclimitisation, diet, muscle mass (weight gain), recovery, endurance, and strength.

if i start march 1st, then that gives me 2 months to baseline and get the plan right. then it'll leave me about 12-13 months (may/june 2012).

i think my biggest challenge will be mental and all the other priorities i have between now and october. non-profit side work, house renovations, and wedding planning are keeping me extraordinarily busy. something is going to have to give and i'm not sure how we're going to do it... i wonder if i can put a wedding planner or paid contractor on our registry ;)

rear in gear

today is my day off, but i worked on full cleans and front squats. then i prayed through the full primary series (ashtanga yoga - about 90min) ... i love yoga. really helps me get my head straight when i'm stressed or out of sorts.
kinda disappointed that i forgot to video given that my movement work was better today. my gluts and hips are gonna be sore, i can feel it already! it's all good, though, i'm just happy that i'm moving a little better. even my CF-nazi commented on how much i'm improving.

warming up in our lil home CF box	We warm up the bars so our hands don't freeze to the bars too!

snacktime!

breakfast: apple, lara bar, 4-egg omelette with lean bacon and kale
mid-day: handfuls of turkey jerky/nut/dried cherry mix
lunch: whey protein shake, lean steak, kale, and chicken breast
dinner: chicken breasts, kale, and mushrooms
after dinner ... um ... matt and i found these chocolates in some eastern european language that we couldn't read (or understand), but they had little pictures and were rather yummy. i ate 6 pieces. yeah. i'm going to start hurting even more if this bad diet behavior doesn't even out.
i'm up to 136lbs! ok, it's mostly D&D, popeye's, and chocolate treat weight, but i'm happy to be over the scrawny-arsed 115lbs i was. i have a nice little layer now and will enjoy every suffering moment as i transition into expedition training mode next month... 2 weeks left until i start the first month of benchmarking
* sleep: 2.5 (had several conference calls with UK around 4am)
* stress: 8 (been having nightmares ... TBD)
* health: 75% (coughy and chest felt "heavy" this afternoon when i finally got up)
* diet: -1 (great all day until the polish chocolates showed up)
* physical energy: 6 (hard to function when you're on only a few hours of sleep)
* mental energy: 8 (finished reading one of my favorite books, finished up the grant proposal edits, successfully tested my API, and got my research data compiled)

Video from yesterday's Valentine's Day WOD

5 rounds of
- 5 deadlifts
- 5 hang cleans
- 5 push jerks
- 5 squats

what i thought was 45-45-55-65-75 looks like 45-45-55-65-85 after looking at the video ... seems i'm back to being space cadet because it looks like i misloaded the bar on the last round ... i think i put the 5's back on when i switched out the 10's to the 15's ... ( i knew i was little pooped, but i also knew it felt heavy!)  whatever, i finished it whether it was 10# more or less. i really liked the workout, though.

round 4 @ 75

round 5 @ 80 (part 1) ... yeah, lost balance, kinda sat down, but managed to keep it together and get back up... only to fail on the transition to push presses. ha!

round 5 @ 80 (part 2)

i know, they looked more like push jerks... old pack mule... err, dog trying to embrace new tricks.

Cravings

I notice that when I have really bad cravings for chocolate, a good omelette (bacon and spinch), coffee, and nuts nicks it. Not always, though.

hmm...

5 reps each of deadlift, hang clean, push press, and squat @ 45-45-55-65-75

kept things light to focus on good movement and consistency. didn't feel bad at all.

there was a little knee tracking, over extension of head/back, and droopy elbows ... but i corrected them as i went and kept pretty consistent. last round was funny when i cleaned too low and ended up sitting on the groud ... no worries, though. i leaned forward and pushed through! ha!

video to come shortly...

visiting the devil...

“ran” a 5k in 38:43 ... why so slow? Loaded backpack (about 20#), mountaineering boots, gaiters, and breaking trail in 2-3 feet of snow each way in the forest preserve.

I had a pretty bad day yesterday so all the snow, cold, and winter weather got me jazzed to get outside today. My lungs weren’t happy that I returned to the snow like this. My face and legs were numb - it was tough, slow going, and sucked, but it was so awesome too. Felt like the devil, but it was really good for me mentally to get the boots, gaiters, heavy pack, and my “GRR” on. It was also more weight than I should be carrying on my first real run in the snow for a while, but I really enjoyed myself. Definitely level 1 fun and something I want to do at least twice a week - maybe I’ll call it my “soul run”.

Now, I’m not making excuses nor am I not taking things seriously, I just want to get my head back in it before I really get going on March 1st. I think one of the problems I have at the moment is that I forgot how to have fun when I train and how to let myself get into a steadier frame of mind. I feel that in order to get that intensity back, I gotta get my “GRR” on ... and that’s not an easy thing to do for me. .

Oh yeah, I’m coming clean about something else too. When I finally got out of the forest preserve, instead of going straight home for my post-WOD, I walked over to Starbucks and had a chai latte ... please don’t judge. Oooh. So naughty!

Today ... out of 10 ....

Sleep: 7hrs

Mental energy: 8

Physical energy: 7

Health: 7

Recovery: 6/10

Diet: 5/10 (good calorie/food intake, just not enough or at good times)

Stress: 8 (had to deal with something tough, but necessary, yesterday)

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oh yeah, more squat video... the squat movement is by far on the top of my list of weaknesses.

first go

second go

I need to work on this. It’s really frustrating. I think my balance still looks too far forward, my elbows too low, and my back not neutral. Matt thinks it’s mostly mental and that I need to stop working out “negative”. He may be right. Gonna process that a bit.

Middle Gun Rut

ugh. misposted on CFC blog that i scaled, but a 3rd correction on the same day would really just be stupid...

Anyhoo, my v-v-scaled Top Gun @ 17:19

20-Thrusters @ 55#
20-Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 65#
20-Push jerks @ 65#
20-Overhead squats @ 55#
20-Front Squats @ 55#

i scaled it by between 50-60% from the 135# RX ... weak sauce, weaker attitude. diet, sleep, and stress are such keys to good performance and i have some work to do.

frickin squat movements didn't feel strong (ie thrusters, ohs, and front squats) ... prolly didn't look all that great either. i'm pretty sure i was getting enough depth and moving from the bottom, but i didn't feel myself sit back into them and really engage my gluts and quads (kinda felt like i was cheating it with an overcurved back). it's something i am really struggling to correct - in WODs and even in just warm ups. as soon as i can upload the video, i'll post it.

mostly, i really need to work on my mental game and not sure how to go about it. in years past, i had no trouble because all i had to do was choose a mountain, a cause, and i was ready to go get it. now i struggle with getting motivated to clean up the house.

part of me thinks it's what i saw on denali and in wyoming this past year. another part of me thinks that i am too distracted by the wedding, the house, and school. and an easy one is the vicous cycle of poor diet, stress, and poor sleeping/rest habits. then another theory is that i just think too much. yeah, maybe a combo of them all.

diet hasn't been bad, but not great. my cheating is epic, but when i do eat clean, i eat very clean. without some kind of plan and structure for myself, this is another thing that has just "gone soft"... in a bit of a slump and need to find my way through.

* sleep: 7 (I go to bed v-late and sleep until 9-10am every day... it's hard to get to sleep. i just lay there.)
* stress: 7 (hasn’t changed much ... wedding, house, and other stuff)
* health: 80% (coughy and "heavy", but i think it's because of below ... and PMS)
* diet: -5 (oh yeah, i'm rating it THAT low)
* physical energy: 6 (meh, lethargic and bit bleh. see above.)
* mental energy: 7 (snow, football, cooking, and friends make me happy)

front squats

first go

second go

I resisted you, costco demons. And thus my internal organs will prevail!

V-V-V-naughty cheeses. Damned you, costco! I've tasted your samples and now cannot think of much else

Dear Costco, I hate you. I come for a turkey and you show me this?!?!?! I am going to feel sick again

Dear Blizzard, thanks for the fun storm last night... but... that's all you got? Frankly, we're a bit disappointed.

Fat Fran, I think I hate you more than Cindy…

Fran ... she's mean, she's ugly, and today... she's carrying a few extra pounds.

Today’s Mainsite Workout

• 135 pound Thruster, 15 reps
• 35 pound weighted Pull-up, 15 reps
• 95 pound Thruster, 21 reps
• 20 pound weighted Pull-up, 21 reps
• 65 pound Thruster, 36 reps
• 36 Pull-ups

Tery’s sissy-scaled down version: (somewhere under 21:13?)

• 65lb Thruster, 15 reps
• 5lb weighted Pull-up, 15 reps
• 55lb Thruster, 21 reps
• un-weighted Pull-up, 21 reps
• 45lb Thruster, 36 reps
• un-weighted Pull-up, 36 reps

Notes on the WOD:

Yeah, I scaled it by almost 50%, I’m not above admitting that I have a lot of work to do and a ways to go. If I can do it before, I can totally do it again.

But OOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMGGGGGGG!!!

It was slow going, but steady-ish. I‘m not sure how my thrusters looked, but given what I know about my bad habits and history, I'm sure I would have benefitted from having a coach there going into the last round... it’s frustrating because I really want to get it right and I struggle with some movements ...

Speaking of trying to improve, I remembered to do something I used to do to keep myself honest. I mentally measured the bottom of each thruster where my tricep would almost touch my knees – whenever I’ve taken this approach I seem to get better depth and full range. But my hips and legs are going to be SORE! I guess that’s punishment for taking too much time off and getting complacent about my overall fitness and diet. Yes, yes, lesson learned.

Anyhoo, my back doesn’t feel sore but I can tell my abs and arms will be tomorrow, so I’m guessing that I didn’t move too poorly overall. I rested at the top of the thrusters and never put the bar down, so that helped. Pullups were single/doubles in the 3rd round and I was annoyed at how uncooperative my arms were being.

I hit the wall towards the end of round 2 and started thinking of my 2 friends with MS, fellow West Buttress climber, Pascal, and one of my personal heroes, Joe Puryear to get me going a bit more, but it was such a struggle and I’m sure I was still cursing up a storm. I’m going to have to think about why I have to work myself into such an emotional tizzy in order to get past the finish line each time. I know it can be annoying to others and is definitely something I can’t do near children, but it seems to be the only thing that works for me... any help or suggestions are welcome.

This would have been a great WOD to at the CFC box, but the storm would make my 12 mile round-trip take a couple of hours. A bummer, but OMG, I am just LOVING this storm!

Today, the intention was to focus on getting my head back into training, taking only 3-breath breaks only at the halfway point in between each round, and trying to move consistently and better instead of being “faster” or “stronger”. I think quality over quantity will help me in the long run – I’m naturally strong, but it doesn’t mean that I move efficiently to be stronger.

...Yeah, I ponder things a lot, but that doesn’t mean that space cadet here remembered to stop the timer (or even look at it) upon completion and total collapse. (I think there was dry heaving somewhere in round 3, I‘m honestly not sure). I think it took me longer to get up than the time it took to do the workout and I felt so traumatised that I totally forgot – thus the lack of accuracy in completion time. Seriously, I think my IQ drops by 75% and I become a mono-syllabic beastess when I workout. Anyway, I remember somewhere in round 2 seeing the clock around 9:24 ... not sure if there has been any improvement given how inconsistent I’ve been these last 3 months. But I can say that I haven't suffered this good in a long time

Consistency. Perhaps that is the ONE skill I should aim for in the next months.
* sleep: 5 (started using alarm to get to bed/get up at same time)
* stress: 8 (it hasn’t changed)
* health: 80% (coughy, but ok)
* diet: 4 (see below)
* physical energy: 7 (meh)
* mental energy: 8 (the storm is getting me excited, what can I say?!)

Diet: I’m guessing around 2000 calories, but I’ll start an online intake log and get better readings soon. One step at a time.

Before 11am: Only had 1/2 c of coffee... given my 4+ cups a day habit, this is a big improvement. God, I am SO addicted to this stuff.

Around noonish: whey protein with coconut milk. Also a couple of teaspoons of almond butter and avocado.

Around 3-ish: hot dog, plain. I was at costco and there wasn’t anything else available. Bad excuse, I know.

Really bad part  ... forgot to eat again until almost 7pm. Yes. I went THAT long without good calories. Got in a 4-egg omellete with some fresh turkey breast and an apple. It was my pre-wod.

Post WOD: endurox, water, and laying about on the floor.

OMGOMGOMG I AM LOVING THIS STORM!!