Shameful!

This is shameful! I've written 10 posts in 2009 and that's it. Sad. I was pondering earlier today, on the Eff Bee, whether or not blogging has become passe. The verdict is still out--I feel compelled to do it less lately myself, but I still read quite a few on a regular basis, so I'm not sure where I stand in the debate. Time will tell.

So anyway, Crossfit continues. I think tonight makes workout #14 or 15, and overall I'm still having a good time getting my ass kicked all over the warehouse. Yesterday's WoD ate my lunch though (almost literally). I'd had a low-grade, advil-resistant headache all day and, like a big dummy, somehow I thought it would go away once I started working out. Tra la la...off in fantasy land...

Of course it got worse. All that squatting up and down and loud RAAAAWR music and bouncing around and high heartrate got me up to almost a migraine-level by the time I was done. I was dizzy and nauseated and had a hard time focusing my eyes on the way home. Blech! Finally a shower, a bowl of cereal and some quiet seemed to cure me and I felt okay by bedtime.

Fast forward to today and I had no problems. I mean, maybe I should have even tried harder? I dont know. I find it a little difficult to pace myself accurately during these Crossfit workouts--just like anything else, go out too fast and you'll have to keep stopping and/or lose form, go too slow and you'll finish feeling like you've got gas left in the tank. I think it's because the WoDs are so varied in intensity, time and aerobic vs. muscular endurance effort. That's my theory anyway--too many variables to track! I mean, ask me to pace myself for a run ranging anywhere from 200m to 20k and I am all over that target heart rate like nobody's business. But this stuff? Eh.

The nutrition stuff continues to be difficult, and I am struggling even more with being hungry now that I've settled back into regular exercise. I have been eating *extremely* clean and have yet to see any visual results, which is a little disheartening, but I will press on. My arms are getting nice and buff, but COME ON, I need to get rid of the fat that's covering them! GO AWAY FAT. Have I mentioned my ultimate goal? No? Well, it's to be able to see muscle definition in my arms, while standing still and not flexing. I know, it's a little lofty, but whatevs.

I might start Fitday-ing again soon, even though I am a little loathe to do so because it makes me obsess too much. Also, I have elected not to weigh myself for couple weeks, as I am going on a little trip over the long weekend (pictures later, yay!) and don't want to mess with my head, if I can help it. After all, my energy is good, I feel strong and my body feels balanced health-wise, so why eff it all up with Tanita? Booooooo, Tanita.

My running program with DRC starts tomorrow and I'm super excited about it! I have high hopes for meeting some new people and building my aerobic base back up. I'll be shooting for 4 runs/week + 4 Crossfits--Saturday will be a double-day and one other will have to be too, since I'd like to take one day completely off. I suspect my running mojo (yes, with the Cartman voice, "Respect mah AUTHORITAH!") is lurking right around the corner...let's see if I can find him out at White Rock!!!

Eff You, Nike.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Nike has discontinued my favorite running shorts!!! Those fuckers! Now I am inconsolable...and I will have to go try on like 50 more pairs to find new ones I like. If that is even possible. :(

Yes, I cried at Crossfit. SO WHAT?!

I am still loving the awesome Crossfit torture; last night was session #7. I feel much stronger and more recovered this week than last, that’s for sure. I’d even venture to say the warmup hasn’t been too bothersome—well except that this week it includes some kind of jump-roping thing, which I’m not too good at. My boobs totally get in the way…and I keep smacking myself in the right forearm with the rope, which just looks really hot. (Insert eye-roll here.)

Anyway, so last night I may have cried a little during the WoD. Let me set it up for you: 1) I have NO core strength and I know it, 2) all the exercises in the WoD were meant to engage abs and back. At first, it looked deceptively easy: we were supposed to do 10 front squats (with bar on shoulders, no weight for me so I think it was 45 lbs?), 10 knees-to-elbows (where you hang on a bar and use your abs to curl up and bring your knees to touch your elbows or arms), 10 air squats (no bar)…then 9 of each, then 8 of each and so on.

The one freaking thing I am naturally good at is squats, so I was like SWEET, I AM GOING TO ENJOY MYSELF. Hah. I should know better. On that damn pullup bar, I couldn’t even get my knees up to touch any part of my body…so I got assigned remedial sit-ups instead—TEN each round instead of declining reps. Because I suck. You know the kind—where you lay on the floor with your legs out in front and reach your hands in front of you—from middle school PE? By the way, in middle school I don’t think I could even do one sit-up.

So, I would rock my squat sets—they went really quickly…TOO quickly if you ask me…and then I’d be back at that effing sit-up mat. AGAIN. WITH THE SIT-UP MAT. Towards the end, I’d get maybe 5 done and then on the sixth one, I’d get halfway up, squeezing my abs and back and shoulders as much as humanly possible, and collapse back onto the mat. It was horrible and I got so absolutely frustrated…which is when the large stream of expletives and, ahem, small amount of tears started. (Hopefully I was sweating so profusely that Hot Coaches didn’t notice, even though they seemed to be constantly monitoring and probably marveling at my lack of ab strength.)

I continue to be amazed that there are so many new and different ways to get my ass kicked—last night was just one example. That WoD was SO DECEPTIVELY HARD; some of my muscles obviously got worked to exhaustion and I was covered head to toe in sweat, yet I wasn’t out of breath at all. One of the other days last week we did these insane sprints after the warmup, and as a result I was out of breath and feeling the lactic acid build in my legs for the entire workout. Crazy.

Today, I feel like I want to curl up into a ball under my desk…it’s fatiguing me just to sit up straight. And I don’t know why, but it feels awesome. Really, it does. ;)

New Nutrition Plan

A new week is approaching and I am modifying my nutrition plan now that I'm doing Crossfit regularly. (And I will alter again after I start the running program.) Here's what I've got:

I'm sure you can tell basically what I'm doing from the schedule above, but there are a couple things I want to point out. First, instead of eating more on workout days and less on "off" days, I'm trying to smooth my caloric intake over the week. So I'm averaging 4 days worth of burn from Crossfit over 7 days. Second, I've been reading up (what little there is to be found) on metabolism during exercise, and it appears that just like with RMR or BMR, the amount of calories burned in a workout varies by individual. So based on that, I am applying a multiplier to my exercise calories (my RMR / normal RMR). The base is 500 kcals/hour for a total Crossfit workout--warm-up, technical instruction, WoD, etc.--and also for an hour of running 12 min/mi.

Third, I am revising down my target weight reduction per week from 1 lb to 0.75 lbs, to be a little more realistic, based on what is possible with my given metabolism at this point in time. As always, I will be shooting for 5 small-ish meals (bfast, am snack, lunch, pm snack, dinner), 30+% of kcals from protein, 30% from fat and the rest from low glycemic index carbs and absolutely no wheat/gluten.

Here's hoping this works for me! As a wise man once said, "We are all an experiment of one." ;)

p.s. for all you Zone peeps, here is the *best* explanation I've ever read for why the blocks don't equal 40/30/30 and why the prescribed caloric intake seems so low. Why they don't just explain it in the books, I couldn't tell ya!?

Cute or ridiculous?!

So, what do you think: short dress with leggings--cute or ridiculous for someone in their 30s? I suspect it might be the latter, although my eye is increasingly drawn to this look lately...especially as I've now seen it a couple times in person. (And I daresay I am a little tempted to purchase.) I suppose the urge could just be attributed to a wistful rememberance for a piece of early 1990s high school fashion I used to love sporting. Sigh.

Tanita Ruins My Morning.

Against my better judgment, I weighed myself this morning. I was already feeling “fat,” whatever that means, so I knew I shouldn’t…but I did anyway. And I was up 3 lbs. over 2 weekends ago when I said I had lost 5 lbs. Totally disappointing. Ruined my morning.

Last week and this week I have really struggled with being hungry for some reason. Sometimes, I can embrace the hunger and ignore my stomach growling…and others, I really can’t deal with it and I need to eat something before a headache sets in. Based on my tested resting metabolic rate (RMR), I am supposed to eat ~850 kcal/day to lose ONE MEASLY pound per week. And if you calculate that out, 1,220 – 850 = 2,590 (3,500 kcal = 1 lb.)…the 850 kcal amount even assumes I burn 130 kcal/day more than my RMR. This is all not including exercise of course.

And let me tell ya—it’s REALLY difficult to spread 850 calories over an entire day so you’re not hungry. Actually, I don’t even think it can be done—especially with a husband who wants to eat dinner every night and pushes you to eat it too. I mean, a freaking chicken breast and salad will make me go over!!! Anyway, I got burned out with tracking calories on Fitday, but over the past 2 weeks that I overate, I’d say I am hitting 1,200-1,300 kcal/day. My carbs and sugar intake is still way down, but I don’t think that really makes much difference as far as losing and gaining. I guess I need to go back to Fitday to keep myself more accountable.

Also, I am wondering how many calories Crossfit burns? I know it’s not much, but maybe 200 or so over the hour? I will need to add that into my count. A quick update on that—I went Monday and Tuesday, didn’t cry either day (so yay for that!). Last night my legs were so shredded I couldn’t even complete the full modified workout-of-the-day. The coach was like, “PLEASE TAKE A REST DAY TOMORROW AND MAYBE THURSDAY.” Hah. I will comply.

So anyway, I am aware this is a whiny, self-indulgent post, but I am frustrated beyond belief and I had to get it out. Besides, Iron Mike is tired of listening to me obsess about it at home, so I figured I might as well puke it all over the internet instead. There ya go.

Pain is teh awesome!

Okay, people. I had my first real Crossfit workout on Saturday. (Not counting the one 3 weeks ago at a different location.) It was completely awesome in an ass-kicking, work every muscle in my entire body to exhaustion and stop just short of killing me, sort of way. Hee hee.

We are going back for more torture tonight, and now this morning I find my enthusiasm waning a little as I am wondering how I am going to make it through an hour of that. REALLY, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO—I CAN BARELY WALK DOWN STAIRS!? Two days later, despite large quantities of Advil and IcyHot along with plenty of stretching, I am still extremely sore. The worst pain is in my quads, which are sore to the touch and seem to hurt every time I BREATHE. Lest you think that is the extent of my issues, I assure you I can feel it in my arms, neck and back as well.

I have a feeling I might cry tonight. Is crying allowed at Crossfit?