Rehab Day 23

Weight 125.2

Food

Nuts and eggs again for breakfast, this time with a little sliced ham for variety. Oooooh! I had a delicious strawberry, blueberry, spinach, egg white smoothie after working out around noon. Mid afternoon I ate a caveman's delight variety leftover platter - 3 ribs, pastrami, a chicken and sausage skewer, and 1/2 an avocado.

I found a spaghetti squash at the co-op this week so I made my Paleo Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp for dinner and used the squash in place of noodles. It makes an excellent substitution and you really would hardly even notice the difference!

CrossFit

Today's WOD

"Eva"

5 rounds

800m run

30 KB swings, 1 pood (Rx'd weight was 2 pood)

30 pullups

--> 57:09

Yeah... that's right. 57:09. This is officially the longest CrossFit workout I have ever done. I ran the first two 800s, but my foot, still sore from a bad landing off the bar on Saturday, started screaming at me and I knew I was running gimpy. I rowed 800m for the last three rounds which made an awful substitue given the other two exercises are grip and pulling intensive. Even though it was long and tough, I felt good afterwards. I'm one of those sick individuals that likes these kinds of challenges.

Rehab Day 22

Weight 126.4

Food
Good old eggs and nuts again for breakie. I munched on cherries, more nuts, blueberries, and some roast beef throughout the morning. Last night I cooked two roasts, chilled them over night and used my meat slicer to create an abundance of homemade deli meats. And yes, I have my own meat slicer.

Two Spicy Looking Eye Round Roasts Ready For The Heat

David and I have arranged a deal that if I supply him with enough quality homemade paleo food that he never has to cook anything, he will clean my bathroom. Take my word for it that this arrangement works in my favor... that is one messy bathroom...

For dinner I tried a recipe from the Weber Grilling cookbook that looked tastier than it actually turned out to be. It was spicy italian sausage and scallop skewers with big chunks of onion. I couldn't find good scallops at the grocery store today, so I ended up using chicken. I did find fresh in-store made italian sausages though that actually did not contain wheat, dairy, nitrites, or MSG. The filler was rice flour, which is a lesser evil as far as I'm concerned but still not great. Anyway, the kabobs turned out to be just kinda boring...

CrossFit
Today's WOD
CrossFit Total
3 attempts each for max weight in
Back Squat
Standing Shoulder Press
Deadlift
--> Total 462, an increase of 7lbs over last time
Squat - 190 (the same)
Press - 76 (a disappointment since I max pressed 81 a few weeks ago)
Deadlift - 196 (6lbs bigger than last time)

At one point in Oct last year I 3-rep deadlifted 205, but have not been able to recreate that magic since getting full-on into CrossFit and following only the mainsite programming. 195 is inching in the right direction though!

Rehab Day 21

Weight: 128.4 (yeah... I gained 4.2lbs in 24 hrs)

Food
I wasn't hungry too much today - more about that below. Around noon I ate 2 eggs scrambled with sliced ham. At 4 I had a Larabar. Then we had dinner at my parents' place which was BBQ'd ribs and veggies. A paleo delight! Dessert was some dark chocolate and fresh strawberries, which are just starting to be deliciously in season. Overall, not a lot eaten today.

A Properly Functioning Metabolism
Your body is designed to withstand huge fluctuations in energy intake. You can imagine quite easily that your caveman ancestors did not have a steady supply of food to enjoy 3 square meals and 2 snacks each and every day. Instead they likely enjoyed a huge feast after a successful kill, and then less food until they were hungry enough to bother going out to hunt again.

I find for myself that the day after a big cheat I have almost no appetite. The interesting thing is this is how a properly functioning metabolism is supposed to work. I didn't have to purposely deprive myself of food today, I just had no desire to eat. I ate as much as I wanted, and that wasn't very much. Your body does not work on a tight 24 hour schedule with regards to calories in and calories out. The process is smoothed out over days, weeks, or even months.

Hormonally, I'm pumped full of leptin, the hormone that makes you feel satiated, and devoid of ghrelin, the hormone responsible for hunger. This is how your body evens out energy intake with energy output and maintains homeostasis - a fancy way of saying "balance". It would be evolutionarily disadvantageous to be obese, after all. Try chasing down a woolly mammoth with 50 or 100 extra pounds dragging your ass down. Not very successful. A small amount of body fat is enough to see you through those brief periods without food, but too much would not be helpful at all.

It all goes wrong when you inundate your body with unnatural foods for too long. The steady flow of refined and starchy carbs overwhelms what your body is designed to handle. Your hormones get totally out of whack and crazy things start happening like you feel hungry even though you just ate an hour ago. Or you feel tired even though you at plenty all day and you've got easily 100,000 calories stored on your butt. Essentially your metabolism can no longer maintain homeostasis at a "healthy" bodyweight and weight gain ensues.

CrossFit
Today is main site rest day. Yay!

One of the recommendations in CrossFit's Elite Fitness In 100 words is to try new sports often. Today we tried Frisbee Golf and it was really fun. We will definitely be doing that again quite a bit this summer!

Rehab Day 20

Weight - 124.2

The blogger world

Melissa Byers is a girl I like, even though I've never even met her. She's witty, real, and an awesome CrossFitter - my 3 favorite qualities in a lady. She writes a great blog called Byers Gets Diesel that I check in with often. This week she had a wonderful two part series on cheat days (how timely, see below...). You're never going to go your whole life without eating a cookie again and no one expects you to, so she addresses a few points on how you might work cheat days into an other wise health and performance oriented lifestyle. I accidentally got up on my soapbox with regard to Part 1, however, and ranted a little about how we think about supposedly "clean" carbs like sweet potatoes vs obvious junk food like ice cream. Read it here. 

Food

I ate my regular breakfast, although somewhat later in the morning than usual. After the workout I made a strawberry, mango, blueberry, banana, and spinach smoothie. Seriously, you can't even taste the spinach. It's a good way to hide some extra greens in your diet. 

We planned for a cheat day today, and cheat we did. It didn't start until about 3 in the afternoon. So in total the crap food intake only lasts about 6-7 hours. It is remarkable what can be demolished in that amount of time. I've threatened to post what I am actually capable of consuming on a cheat day before, so here it goes in all its disgusting, carb'o'rific glory:

• 1 regular size Quizno's turkey sub with guacamole and a cookie
• Several chocolate cake donuts
• 2 pieces of Delicio oven pizza
• Blue Cheese/Hot Wing Doritos
• 1/2 pistrami sandwich (one piece of bread, lotsa meat)
• A few winegums
• Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

Sometime I will actually FitDay a cheat day just to see what it all adds up to. I suspect it is easily 5000-7000 calories. The worst part is this is nowhere near the most I've eaten on a cheat day. While wandering through sobeys looking for inspiration, I found myself mostly wanting meaty things. I bought some deli meats, and chicken fingers, which I never even ate. They're still in the freezer for next time. 

CrossFit

Today was an odd workout that has not come up since 2003... 

2 rounds for time:

1 arm barbell push press, 12 reps right arm

1 arm barbell deadlift, 12 reps left arm

run 800m

1 arm barbell push press, 12 reps left arm

1 arm barbell deadlift, 12 reps right arm

run 800m

This WOD has no Rx'd weight, only saying "go heavy, run fast". I used 46lbs for the push press and 96lbs for the deadlift. As expected, the left arm, and especially the grip in the left hand were the weak parts. My foot is still not happy from yesterday and so the runs were slow and kinda gimpy. Total time 40:53. David severely owned me in this one, finishing in 27-something. Ouch. This was a fun one though! 

Rehab Day 19

Weight - 126.2

Food

Again with the same breakfast. Food throughout the day was left over pork stirfy and butter chicken. I had a banana, blueberry, and spinach smoothie after the workout. I ate some chicken and guacamole at my parents' house while visiting in the late afternoon. Today was one of those days where I had very little appetite and almost no interest in eating.

CrossFit

"Nicole"

AMRAP 20 mins

400m run

max reps pullups

Basically you sprint, then do as many pullups as you can. When you drop off the bar you go for a run again. If you can't do very many pullups, or if your grip is weak you'll be running a lot.

-->15, 12, 10, 10, 7, 6

the 15 pullups in round one is a new PR for me. I did 13 continuous kips, then 2 more before dropping off. Previously my record was 7 continuous, and 12 without dropping. Unfortunately I dropped off the bar and landed wrong on my left foot in round 3. It wasn't too happy about running after that. I did not do the run between the last two sets of pullups because I was already hobbling around at that point.

Rehab Day 18

Weight - 126.2


Food
Eggs and nuts again for breakfast. I mostly ate leftover stirfry from last night throughout the day. David picked up some fresh cherries from one of those roadside stands yesterday and it was on this day in history that I first discovered that cherries are in fact delicious. I'm not sure why, but I always thought I didn't like cherries. I had no idea what I've been missing my whole love. Those little gems are scrumptious!


We went to costco in the afternoon for another load of meat, veggies, and nuts. In addition to Cherries, it is also getting to be blueberry season. My favorite time of year! For dinner I made a cheater butter chicken with sauce from a jar. Besides some cream, the ingredients are not only pronounceable but also reasonably paleo.


CrossFit
The Workout of the Week in our gym this week is:


3 rounds, for time:
500m row
21 burpees
400m run


After watching everyone else sweat it out through this cardio monster, I couldn't resist taking a shot at it even though it wasn't on my schedule. In April, I did it in 19:21, this time 18:00 flat. I was really hoping to go sub-18, but I just didn't get there in time! Call me a masochist, but I love this one.


But since that wasn't actually my workout for today, I had a smoothie then hit the main site WOD which was:
AMRAP 20 mins of
Thruster, 5 reps
Hang Power Clean, 7 Reps
Sumo Deadlift High Pull, 10 reps
66lb barbell for all.
--> 5 rounds + 3 thrusters.

Hang Power Clean

Since I had just worked all the metcon I needed for today, I used a weight that, for me, is really heavy and treated this as more of a strength workout. 5 rounds is really not many for one like this, but it felt great to throw some weights around!

Rehab Day 17

Weight- 126.4

Food

Another Paleo day completed. You must be bored by now of reading that I eat eggs and nuts for breakfast everyday. Somehow I'm not bored of eating them though! I ate some sliced deli turkey, cucumbers, red peppers, pistachios, and half an apple with nut butter throughout the day. For dinner I made a pork tenderloin, broccoli and cauliflower stirfry. It's really pretty simple simple. 

Slice and marinate the meat in oyster sauce and sesame oil. Stirfry, then add the veggies. 

The sauce: 1 Cup beef broth, 1 TBSP soya sauce, 2 tsp honey. Simmer until the sauce reduces.

CrossFit

Rest day! Glorious rest day!

Rehab Day 16

Weight: 124.6

Food

Another reasonably good day, although by the time I write this I almost forget what was eaten today. Breakfast was the same as always - eggs and nuts. I munched on some nuts and beef jerky through the morning. After my workout, I had a Booster Juice, again with no yogurt and added my own dried egg whites. That's a lot of carbs and it set me up to feel quite munchy through the rest of the day. At some point I ate a Larabar. Thank goodness the box of those things is almost gone because they are addicting! Dinner was some chicken eaten later at night and too close to bed time.

Water Weight

So lets talk about water weight. Between yesterday and today I dropped nearly 4lbs. Clearly this is not "bodyfat". You can't gain or lose 4lbs of fat in a day. What it is, is mostly water. 1 litre of water weights 1kg or 2.2 lbs. My drop in weight from yesterday to today represents aprx 1.5L of water.

Salt, hormones, and different foods can all influence water retention. Large fluctuations in salt (and water) intake can cause big changes in water retention or loss. Female hormones definitely have that lovely monthly effect of making girls bloated and cranky. Other hormones, like insulin, stimulate the kidneys to retain fluid rather than excrete it. A by-product of the chemical equation for metabolizing glucose is water. Some foods, like cucumbers and grapefruits, can have a diuretic effect making you shed water weight. Remember the grapefruit diet? Well that's basically a dehydration plan and it works to dump a lot of weight in a short period of time. It's not fat though. Just weight. Caffeine and alcohol are also both strong diuretics.

Low carb diets are well known to cause a huge weight loss in the first few weeks. "But it's mostly just water weight!" the critics will always whine. Excuse me, but when was the last time anybody wanted to retain fluid? In fact fluid retention is one of the major elements of hypertension. Why are we supposed to be disappointed when we 'just lose water weight'? I don't wanted to be bloated any more than I want to be fat, so if a diet is causing me to shed excess fluid along with the fat that's just peachy as far as I'm concerned.

CrossFit

3-3-3-3-3 Front Squat

121 lbs x 3

126 lbs x 3

136 lbs x 2

Previous 3 rep max was 125lbs with 0 reps on an attempt at 135lbs. The two reps I eeked out at 136 completely finished me off and back was was having no more of making any further attempts!

Later in the day I did the CrossFit Endurance workout on the rower which was 6x3min sprints with alternating rest periods. It goes like this:

3 min on, 1 min off

3 on, 3 off

3 on, 1 off

3 on, 3 off

3 on, 1 off

3 on, DONE!

Distances (in meters) were: 655, 666. 666, 647, 640, 662

Rehab Day 15

Weight: 128.2 (ouch)

Food

Today was entirely back on track. Eggs and nuts for breakfast. Chicken, pistachios for a mid-morning snack, and veggies. A larabar in the afternoon. 2 grilled sirloin patties with all the fixins for an early dinner. We didn't get home until around 8:30 and by that time there didn't seem to be any point to eating right before bed.

Supplements
I haven't been listing much in the way of supplements because I don't take much in the way of supplements. I usually have 2 fish oil capsules with breakfast and with dinner. I take caffeine first thing in the morning and occasionally part way through the day as well. Post workout, you'll see I list my smoothies in which I use dried egg whites. I don't even consider the egg whites a "supplement" - they're just powdered eggs! The only ingredient is "egg whites", unlike most designer protein supplements which contain a whole selection of weird, unpronouncable chemical concoctions.

Probably the weirdest thing I take is baking soda. I'm quite conscious of the acid/alkaline balance of my high protein diet. This topic deserves a post all to itself on the BRIO page. Basically a net metabolic acidosis is a bad thing, and a slightly alkaline internal environment is a good thing. The remnants of what you eat present themselves to the kidneys as either an acid, a base, or a netural. You can't pee out acid, so your kidneys neutralize the acid with one of only two alkaline substances stored in the body: calcium from the bones or glutamine from the muscles. Either you're breaking down bone mass or muscle mass - bad news either way. Grains and dairy (espeically hard cheeses) are highly acidic. This could possibly explain why north americans have such high rates of osteoporosis despite consuming huge amounts of dairy. Animal protein though is also acidic, but in a caveman style diet, this is balanced out by the alkalinity of the dark green leafy things and berries. There are several books written on this topic such as the Acid Alkaline Diet, the pH Miracle, and The pH Balance Diet. Of those, I've only read the first one.

There are plenty of supplements promising to bring down metabolic acidosis and even some kooky water ionizer things for sale on the internet, but the easiest, simplest, and cheapest is good old baking soda. It's even the main ingredient in Alka Seltzer so it can help with acid reflux too. I often begin and end the day by chugging 1 tsp of baking soda dissolved in water. Whether it's a purely psychological effect or not, I do seem to feel better when I take it and it helps to settle the acidy stomach on intermittement fasting days.

CrossFit

"Handstand Helen"

3 rounds:

400m run

21 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood (16kgs)

12 Handstand pushups

---> 12:36

Felt great with this one today. Out of breath, but in a good way...

Rehab Day 13/14

Weight: 124.6 (I deserve that...)


Food:

The theme of this weekend could be "minimize the damage". Much to my chagrin, Friday night's cheat set off a cascade of less-than-dedicated paleo eating for the whole weekend.


Usually I follow a cheat day with a day of intermittent fasting. On Saturday, this lasted until the early afternoon when we went for a little subway. I won't pretend like I was a good little cavegirl here. I ordered a 6" sub with double turkey. More meat, less bun. I get the "sandwich artist" to pick out the squishy bread once the bun has been sliced open to further eliminate at least some of the grain-factor.


Saturday evening we were at a wedding with a great buffet. Half my plate was greek salad and the other half was chicken and roast beef. I skipped the buns, pasta salad, and potatoes because I knew the wedding cake was coming later. Yes I had some. Isn't it bad luck if you don't?? :-)


Sunday I had my regular breakfast late in the morning followed by a postworkout smoothie of blueberries, bananas, spinach, and dried egg whites. In the afternoon, David suggested Arby's. I ordered a large roast beef sandwich and ditched half the bun. Again, more meat, less bread.


Sunday night we had a great paleo dinner at my parents' house of bunless burgers, bacon, guacamole, cauliflower salad, grilled asparagus, and strawberries with dark chocolate for dessert.


So that's it. There you have it. I (we) cracked and the cheats happened. But WHY?! Why on earth do I do this to myself when I know all the negative consequences? Sorry Kelly Brownell, but this certainly is not an issue of lack of nutrition education or information.


Instead I think the biggest problem is the long lag time between indulgence and negative consequences. If I ate a pizza and was struck with asthma, weight gain, sickness, and diabetes at the speed with which I would burn my hand on a hot stove, I'd probably learn to knock it off with the pizza pretty fast. Instead, I woke up on Saturday feeling refreshed and energized. Sunday I was heavier, which made the pullups more difficult, but otherwise I felt fine. It would take a few weeks of crappy eating to start feeling terrible, and that's a long time when it comes to human behavior. It would take close to 30 years before I'd get diabetes or heart disease, which is an inconveivably far-away time when that pizza is in the oven.


CrossFit
Saturday was a rest day and I went for a nice jog with a neighbor early in the morning. It felt good and the weather was perfect.


Sunday was the following:
10 rounds for time of:
3 weighted pullups, 45lbs
5 deadhang pullups
7 kipping pullups


I turned this into my own version...
8 rounds for time of:
1 weighted pullup, 10lbs
2 deadhang pullups
3 kipping pullups
200m sprint
--> 23:37

Rehab Day 12

Weight: 123.2 (finally...)

Food
Breakfast - 1/2 larabar (before I biked to the gym), 2 eggs, nuts
Snack - Lemon chicken, more nuts, beef jerky
Post Workout - A large Tropical Tornado Booster Juice smoothie, minus the yogurt. Added my own fried egg white protein rather than the soy protein powder they use because soy isn't food.
Late Lunch - 2 sirloin beef patties, with all the bunless-fixins and a plate of veggies
Dinner - here's where it all goes wrong...

So we went to a party at a friend's house and managed to successsfully avoid all the non-paleo items like lasagna, bean salad, crackers, cheese, and even all the booze. On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up eggs for tomorrow's breakfast. And here's where the fatal mistake was made: we went to the grocery store hungry! Our quick stop for eggs turned into a cheat night involving Delisio pizza, a sausage roll, and some cookies. SH*T!!!

Damn you pizza and your grainy cheesy deliciousness!

CrossFit
Today's WOD

AMRAP in 20 mins of:
5 Handstand Pushups
10 Bench Press, 56lbs
15 Push Press, 56lbs
20 Dips

Finished 4 rounds + 10 bench press + 6 push press. This was a killer since all 4 exercises use the same "pushing" muscles, but it felt great. I love a good shoulder day!

Rehab Day 11

Weight: 124.2 (finally going in the right direction again)

Food
Breakfast - 2 eggs, almonds, walnuts
Post Workout - Smoothie: 2 TB dried egg whites, spinach, strawberries, blueberries
Lunch-ish- Left over lemon chicken, about 4 oz. Almonds, walnuts. Peppered Beef Jerky
Later Afternoon - Larabar, pepperoni stick, cucumbers, pistachios
Dinner - 4oz roasted chicken, 1/2 avocado, whole red pepper, cucumbers

Beef Jerky Underwear? Edible undies indeed!

In a pinch for something to tide me over during an afternoon hair appointment/training session out in Martensville, I grabbed a bag of beef jerky from Pharmasave. The Peppered Beef flavor was the best option with only 1g sugar per piece. Holy hell that stuff is salty though. It almost burned my lips! You know I'm a fan of sodium for athletes but this was excessive. My homemade jerky is way better... more on that the next time I make some :-)

CrossFit
Today's WOD:
50 Wall Balls
50 Pullups
35 Wall Balls
35 Pullups
20 Wall Balls
20 Pullups

Time- 36:04

That's reeeeeeeeally slow. I know. David was done the first round before I was done round 1. Shameful. But here's the thing - I HATE wallballs. I hate them. IhatethemIhatethemIhatethem. And continuing in the spirit of trying to get better at things I hate/suck at, I used full girl weight (14lb ball) and was brutal on myself about not counting reps that did not contact the 10' wall target. I'm guessing I did close to 150 WBs to get the 105 that counted. Normally I would scale the weight in order to get through the WOD faster. I'm finding now that unless I physically cannot move the weight, I have more to gain from taking some hits on my times but attacking things unscaled than I do from continuing to languish at the same weights/reps/versions of things.


The pullups are coming along just fine. They're slow - only 5 or 6 at a time, but I can do them. For the second time in less than a week though, I ripped my hand - on rep 96!

Rehab Day 10

Weight: 125.0 (Still... hmmm...)

Food

Breakfast: 2 eggs, almonds/walnuts

Post WorkOut: 2TB Dried Egg Whites, Big Ol' Handful of Spinach, strawberries, blueberries

Lunch: OPA! Greek Salad (no cheese), gyros, and chicken

Snack: Larabar, pepperoni stick, pistachios, leftover lemon chicken

Dinner: Butter Chicken with ground cauliflower

For the butter chicken we used a sauce from a jar. The main ingredients

were fine (water, tomatoes, garlic, onions...) but it did have some sugar and cream. Both very very not cavegirl approved. Instead of serving it over rice though, I pulsed some cauliflower in the food processor and cooked it lightly. Rice is bland and so is cauliflower. I pick the one with an enormous amount of vitamin C and almost no starch.

CrossFit

I missed Nasty Girls on the weekend, so I decided to combo that with today's 10x1 Power Snatches. 

3 rounds, for time:

50 squats

14 scaled muscle ups

10 Hang Power Snatch, 56lbs

---> 13:47

(still riding my bike to work!)

I feel as though my recovery from these workouts is going really well. WODs that, last month, would have left me feeling beat up are now leaving no residual soreness at all. I attribute that to better nutrition (duh) and more sleep. My food isn't quite as ninja as I would like, but I'm getting there and the cravings are basically non-existent now. Interesting though that my weight hasn't budged in several days...

Rehab Day 9

Weight: 125.0

Food

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/2 apple, almonds butter

Late Lunch: Drake Sausage, cucumber, mini red and yellow peppers

Snack: 1 Pepperoni stick, pistachios, Larabar

Dinner: Lemon Chicken, steamed broccoli

CrossFit

Today is the CF main site rest day. On Monday, "Run 5k" came up and I said pishposh at that time. But today I decided to give it a whack with my new and improved running form. Usually on the rest days, CrossFit Endurance will prescribe a "Time Trial" (balls to the walls, all-out) or "Tempo Run" (85%-90% Rate of Perceived Exertion) so it seemed fitting. Mincing no words, this was the worst run ever. Ever. I must have hit the button on my silly iPod timer, because it stopped around 14 min, but I estimate this 5k jaunt took over 30 mins. ugh! Problem #1: I was trying to focus on maintaining my POSE form, and so speed was of little priority. My form fell apart in the 4th km. Problem #2 was I procrastinated until 11:30am which left me baking under the mid-day sun! Sweat much? Yikes.

After the terrible run, I went through the CFE Strength Recovery circuit:

3x15 of GHD extensions, GHD sit ups

3x10 of pullups, pushups, kettlebell swings

Sometimes (all the time) CrossFit challenges our ego and our patience by making us attack the things we struggle with the most. I hate running, for no other reason than I suck at it. But I believe it in as one of the many important functional skills I should possess in order to consider myself "fit". This is also the area where I have the greatest opportunity to improve, and isn't that the point of training. I could continue focusing on the things I am already good at (single leg squats anyone?), but where would that get me? So I suck it up, and I run.

Rehab Day 8

Weight 124.8 (that's UP, from Friday, please note...)

So we're now a week in to this thing and so far no major cheats have happened, as in, I haven't eaten anything that is severely not paleo. BUT there have been a few too many carbs consumed in the last few days and the scale reflects that.

Food Log
Breakfast: 2 eggs, Almonds/walnuts
Lunch: Shaved turkey, 1/2 avocado, lettuce, olive oil mayo, cucumber, pistachios, 1/3 apple with almond butter
Snack: pistachios, celery w/ almond butter
Dinner: drake sausage, raw bell peppers, and cucumber

CrossFit
I rode my bike to work again this morning! The mainsite WOD today was run 5k and after all the running that happened in the last few days, my calves thought that idea was flat out hilarious. So I caught up on one I missed on Saturday, which was:
Walking lunge 100 ft.
21 Pull-ups
21 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
18 Pull-ups
18 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
15 Pull-ups
15 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
12 Pull-ups
12 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
9 Pull-ups
9 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge 100 ft.
6 Pull-ups
6 Sit-ups

I did this one with real pullups (chin OVER the bar) and GHD sit ups, a rather gnarly scale-up. My time was 23:37. Not bad, not bad, but room for improvement.

In Feb I did this one with jumping pullups in 10:42. In April, I did it with the first 21 real pullups, then used a band for the remaining and got a time of 18:something. So, improvements are made in my ability, although my times don't necessarily reflect the increased work capacity. But that's to be expected as I jump to new levels in these workouts.

Rehab Day 7

Still in Edmonton and still running drills and watching ourselves frame by frame on the screen all day long. Vast improvements have been made over yesterday!

Omelet, Bacon, and a little fruit. Now that's a breakfast!

Food Log
Breakfast - 3 egg omelet with ham and green peppers, a side of bacon, a few pieces of melon and grapes
Snack - Larabar
Lunch - Shaved turkey, pistachios, cucumbers, blueberries
Snack - Trail mix, dark chocolate
Dinner - at Original Joe's in Lloydminster: Burger (no bun) with bacon and guacamole, side Caesar (no cheese), and raw veggies

CrossFit
No official WOD today, just a lot of drills and running around outside.

Rehab Day 6

David and Coach Carl heading outside for some running drills

Today we're in Edmonton and will be running around at Spark Sport Conditioning / CrossFit Alberta getting berated and corrected on our awful running form all day long!

Food Log
Breakfast Buffet - scrambled eggs, bacon, 1 sausage, a few grapes

Mmmmm... Breakfast!

Snack - Larabar
Lunch - walked to a grocery store for broccoli slaw, shaved turkey, pistachios, and blueberries

Blueberries, broccoli, and turkey

Snack - turkey, blueberries, trailmix
Dinner - in a pub, I ordered a turkey burger (no bun) with a side ceasar with no cheese. Not bad!

Dad and David show off their paleo lunch choices as well. Dad, on the left has a big salad with 1/2 a roasted chicken. David, on the right, chokes down some salad and turkey. He's not too keen on meat or veggies today after regurgitating chicken and broccolli just yesterday! ewwww...

CrossFit
The morning started off with an easy jog, then 4 x 400m while they filmed us for later review and critique. Later we ran loads of different drils to correct said awful form. Finally, the day concluded with a WOD that looked like this:

100m repeats, every 30 seconds on the mark for:
6 min
3 min rest
3 min
2 min rest
2 min
A total of 22 x 100m sprints. It was hot and we were all complaining loudly!

Rehab Day 5

Weight: 123.0 (that's a 5.2lb drop in 4 days)

I woke up today to the pleasant sound of David tossing his cookies. Oh dear... Food poisoning? The Flu? A rebellious gallbladder purging the toxins accumulated in the last few months of crappy eating? Who knows... Poor guy.

This afternoon we are driving to Edmonton for the CrossFit Endurance Running Cert this weekend. Road trips always present special challenges and temptations. I will take pics and post how we navigate gas stations, buffets, lunch breaks, and restaurants.

Food Log
2 eggs
4oz Chicken
4oz chicken with olive oil mayo, mustard, and celery
Almonds/Walnuts
Pecan Lara Bar
Pepperoni Stick
Almonds and raisins
Too many sips of David's booster juice
Trail mix (nuts, seeds, and cranberries)
Beef Jerky

2 squares dark chocolate

Today was a lot higher in carbs that I would like. Between the larabar, the dried fruit, and the booster juice I would guess today came in well over 100g. I am aiming for carbs during this rehab phase. I could also still use a LOT more veggies.

CrossFit
Rest day!

Rehab Day 4

Weight - 124.0

To be honest, I'm catching up on a few of these blogs in arrears, so I don't remember what exactly was eaten on this day. Oops! I do know no cheat have taken place yet, so my diet was the usual fare of chicken, veggies, and nuts.


CrossFit
AMRAP in 20 min of:
81lb Hang Squat Clean
12 Ring dips
21 Sit ups

I did 4 rounds + 1 clean. The screw came out of the bar in round 4, so I lost a couple of minutes to repair duties. Doh! This is a new workout, as far as I know, and it was tough!

Rehab Day 3

Weight: 124.8

Day 3 had me feeling a little sleepy and low energy - to be expected during the first few days of sugar withdrawal. It's important not to get discouraged during this phase. With physical addictions to all things, it gets worse before it gets better but we tough it out to kick a bad habit and know we'll be better off for it on the other side.

Food Log
Morning - 5oz roasted chicken, almonds, walnuts
Midday - 1/2 Apple, almond butter
3pm ish - 4oz grilled salmon, olive oil mayo, celery, cucumber, pistachios
7:30pm - Baked chicken thighs with Frank's Red Hot, a giant pile of raw broccoli

CrossFit
Today's WOD was 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 back squats. Which means 7 attempts for the single rep maximum weight you can squat. This is a "strength day" and there's a lot of sitting around with 3-4 min rests between attempts. I got to a max of 185, which is about 20lbs off my all time personal record. I biked to the gym again today this morning.

Rehab Day 2

Weight: 127.2

Day two on the wagon and all is well! Today I used some mid-day free time to hit up Costco for loads of meats, vegetables, and nuts. I spent about an hour when I got home BBQing a side of salmon, about 14 chicken breasts, and stripped the meat off 2 whole roasted chickens. Those little pre-cooked chickens are probably the best deal in town. $6.99 at Costco, one bird yields a tremendous amount of meat and it tastes yummy. Yes, its cooked with the skin on and no, I don't care about the extra fat.

Food Log
8:00AM - two whole eggs, almonds/walnuts, 2 fish oil capsules
1:00PM - Roasted chicken (I picked at it while prepping), pistachios
6:00PM - More chicken, 1/2 apple with loads of almond butter
9:00PM - A pepperoni stick (oops), more nuts, broccoli and cauliflower

Overall, not bad. The lack of carbs definitely kills my appetite, so I have to be careful to actually get enough calories some days. I'm not eating enough vegetables yet, so that's next on the list of improvements.

I avoided a temptation involving lasagna and brownies at a family gathering, since luckily I had to work late.

CrossFit

"Mary"
AMRAP in 20 mins of:

5 Handstand Pushups
10 single leg squats, alternating
15 pullups

Attacked this one as Rx'd, other than the depth on my HSPUs which is about 2" off the floor. I used a stack of 4 DVD as the target for my bean. Things were going really well until round 7 when I ripped a little spot on each hand open and spent a few minutes administering first aid. Overall I got 8 rounds done.



Oh, and I pedaled my way to work again today in the afternoon.




Gross!

Rehab Day 1

Weight: 128.2 (ouch)

Day one of rehab starts with intermittent fasting. I've consumed enough calories in the last few days to fuel a small army, so going until dinner without any food should be no big deal. Long story short intermittent fasting help increase insulin sensitivity, encourages calories to be released from the fat tissue, and directs energy toward cellular repair. Read more about it here, here, or here.

Food Log
4pm - Dijon chicken breast, mixed nuts
8:30pm - left over ribs (dry rub, no sugary BBQ sauce), broccoli, pistachios



CrossFit
David and I follow the CrossFit main site WODs (Workout Of the Day) and today is rest day. I did ride my bike to the studio today, as promised!

Enough is Enough

As I confessed on my regular blog, my nutrition has gotten highly out of control. It's true, I'm human. I've fallen out of the paleo tree and hit every branch on the way down. Cheat days have become plentiful and my poor system is full of trans fats, MSG, preservatives, artifical flavors, and toxic industrial vegetable oils. And sugar. Lets not forget the sugar.

Gross.

I won't go into detail about what all has been consumed lately, but if you want to know, visit David's blog.

So, starting tomorrow (diet starts Monday, don't you know...) I'm putting myself in a self-enforced Cavegirl Rehab program. 30 days of strict "detox" to kick my bad habits. I'm like a junkie taking another turn at kicking my heroin habit. Okay, well maybe now I'm being dramatic... When the 30 days is done, not much will change, but I will grant myself ONE cheat per week, as per usual. Don't misunderstand me here and think that this is just a short term, quick fix dealie. Cavegirl is a permanent lifestyle.

30 Day Caveman Rehab

mmmmm... meat and vegetables!

• Caveman food - This one is a given. This means plenty of meat, fish, and eggs, preferably wild, organic, or grass fed. Lots of veggies, anyway, anyhow. Nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, and coconut oil for fats. Noticeably absent are all grains (yes rice and oats are grains), dairy, legumes, sugar, and industrial vegetable oils. To break my carb addiction, I'll be doing the first few weeks of this plan as a very low carb diet, but will add back fruit later on once I've broken the glucose dependence.
• Intermittent Fasting - The human body is supremely adapted to dealing with short term periods of stress. Small bouts of fasting (no food until dinner, for example) leads to increased insulin sensitivity, better fat utilization, and directs energy towards cellular repair. I set aside 1-2 days per week for fasting, usually on the CrossFit rest days. Read more about this here, here, or here.
• CrossFit - I love working out, so sticking to exercise is no problem. I follow the 3 days on, 1 day off plan on the crossfit.com main page. The constant variation of functional movements has me getting fit just like a caveman. In the spirit of attacking what your weaknesses, I'm working on all my "pushing" movements: Pushups, handstand pushups, and ring dips.
• Be my own car - The snow is gone and my bike has been retrieved from it's hanging place on the garage ceiling. My aim this month is to ride my bike whenever and where ever possible.