Day 10 - Paleo Eating Challenge

Well, here we are 10 days in to this Paleo eating challenge, and despite the scale not fulfilling my hopes and dreams yesterday, I stuck with the plan and continued to eat clean.  Really there's very little temptation at the house, so not much trouble I could get into anyway without some effort on my part.  I'm too lazy to cheat.  ;)  I can do this for 20 more days! 

So this morning I decided that rather than going through this prescribed level of Hell...

3 Rounds for time of:
3 Rope climbs
7 Wall climbs
15 Jumps over a bench

...I would go for a run.  So I headed down to the Aquarium trail and ran a 5k.  It was a great morning for running; just a slight breeze, and somewhere around 68° - perfect!  When my runmeter started calling out splits I was surprised at my pace, so I consciously tried to maintain it.  I ended up with a really decent time of 31:15.  This is just 25 seconds behind my PR for a 5k!  Some day, I hope to get under 30 minutes, but for now I'm celebrating this one!

Run Time: 31:15 
Stopped Time: 0:00 
Distance: 3.12 miles 
Average: 10:01 /mile 
Fastest Pace: 8:36 /mile 
Ascent: 115 feet 
Descent: 100 feet 
Calories: 399 

Paleo Sucks. Gimme back my cheese!

Okay seriously.  It has taken me all day now to get past what the scale said to me this morning.  This Paleo nonsense is for the birds.  I have lost a half pound in 8 days.  That is EIGHT OUNCES.  Are you freaking kidding me?  That's less an ounce a day.  Really?  I gave up cheese and beer and Greek yogurt and Diet Mountain Dew for THIS?  See...I shouldn't even be blogging now, since I'm obviously not over the outrage of it all just yet.  But I will be.  I'll stick to my thirty day prison camp starvation diet Paleo Challenge, religiously, like I have been. While my dear husband has cheated (beer on the weekend!!) and lost seven POUNDS.  He's lucky I love him so much.  The unfairness of that is just overwhelming.  Anyway...

In other news, we had a really fun WOD today! 

4 Rounds for time of:

5 Weighted pull-ups (Men 45 lb dumbbell, Women 25 lb dumbbell)
10 Right arm overhead walking lunge steps (Men 45 lb dumbbell, Women 25 lb dumbbell)
10 Left arm overhead walking lunge steps
15 Kettlebell swings (Men 55 lbs, Women 35 lbs)

My time:  11:35, scaled pull ups to 5lbs, all else as Rx

I loved this workout.  It was just hard enough, but also fast.  If I could manage a kipping pull up with a heavier weight between my legs, I would have gone as Rx'd on the whole deal, but I have issues.  (Obviously!)

Immediately after the WOD was bench press, 5 sets of 10

My loads:  35-55-65-75-80
I failed on the 8th rep at 80 lbs. 

A pretty good morning, all things considered.  Maybe I just lost another ounce, typing this!

Insert Title Here

As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:

200 Meter run
15 Dumbbell push press (Men 45 lb dumbbells, Women 30 lb dumbbells)
50 Double unders

My rounds:  2 + 46 double unders, scaled DB to 20#

See that?  46 double unders.  That's FOUR reps shy of a third round.  Man...those rest breaks got me today.  I wanted three rounds pretty badly, but when I was missing double unders like crazy, and getting so winded, I wasn't thinking that rest break would cost me a round, I was thinking "can't breathe...need air".  So much for breathing, eh?

Strength today was Split Snatch 2-2-2-2-2-2-2
My loads:  55-60-65-70-75-75-75

Practiced kipping toes to bar in between, and  actually managed to KIP a few time, though my feet weren't getting back up to the bar...but I got a feel for the motion and can see how to do it now.  Baby steps! 

CFJ anniversary WOD

5 Rounds for time of:

9 Ring dips
10 Front squats (Men 115 lbs, Women 75 lbs)
7 Bar facing burpees

My time:  11:56, Rx weight, bar dips

This went a lot faster than I thought it would.  The main thing was to keep moving on the burpees.  That was my slow point.  I did all the front squats unbroken.  Thankfully the weight wasn't too heavy and squats are a strong point for me.  Dips still need a considerable amount of work before they are deep enough.  I just keep trying...some day I'll get there.

Strength today was Dead Lifts  10 sets of 2, alternating with a rope climb

warm up sets:  5-3-2 @ 125, 155, 175
work sets:  10 x 2 @ 200

Instead of rope climbs, I did a reclining to standing decent, ascent.  I need to bring long pants to keep at the gym for rope climbs.  I need to learn to do this skill.

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So, today is day 7 of my 30 day paleo challenge.  So far I'm doing pretty well.  No cheats except for a couple glasses of red wine on the weekend, which I don't really consider a cheat.  Everything else has been legit - meat, fish, chicken, veggies, fruit.  No butter.  No cheese.  No yogurt.  No grains of any kind.  And damn...I really miss the dairy products horribly!  I'm over the grains, honestly.  I've been so long without them on a regular basis, that I don't miss them so much, but the diary products, I will immediately add back in to my diet after 30 days.  But I'll try to keep it limited and not just go wild.

The other thing I'm missing is my Diet Mountain Dew.  I'm going to try to leave that out after the 30 days is up.  Maybe the occasional one on the weekend or something, but not ever back to a daily habit. 

I just wonder when my energy level is going to return?  I'm so drowsy every morning after the workout, I feel like I'm going to fall asleep driving.  Anyone who has gone strict paleo out there have any advice for me on energy level?

TGIF!

“White Out with a Row”

For time:
1000 Meter row
30 Kettlebell swings (Men 70 lbs, Women 45 lbs)
30 Box jumps (Men 30” box, Women 24” box)
30 Overhead walking lunge steps (Men 45 lb bumper plate, Women 25 lb bumper plate)
1000 Meter row

My time: 16:36, scaled box to 20", all else as Rx (about a 6min PR)

I love Kettlebells, so I was glad to see this.  I was just super glad it wasn't 55# for women.  Usually it's 35 and that seems pretty easy to me most times.  Wish I could've done them unbroken today but I didn't.  My box jumps are getting better/faster, but still need improvement.

Strength today was Back Squats:

warm up sets:  5-3-2 @ 85-105-135
work sets:  3-3-3 @ 155-170-180

These felt really solid today, and I honestly could've gone heavier.  But the instructions were 90% of 1RM, so that's what I did.  I believe I need to find a new 1RM one of these days.  Anyway, I love back squats, and this was a good way to end the week.

Tomorrow I hope to get out for either a run or a bike ride.  We shall see!

Is it over yet?

I am ready for a day to sleep in!  I am so tired.  I was super sluggish this morning to the point of feeling like I was falling asleep driving.  And that was after the WOD!  I think I'm missing my Diet Mountain Dew! 

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

5 Thrusters (Men 135 lbs, Women 95 lbs)
10 Pull-ups
15 Box jumps (Men 24” box, Women 20” box)

My score:  3 rounds + 5 Thrusters, scaled to 70#

As I said...sluggish.  I would've had far fewer rounds if I had tried to do 95# on this one, so I scaled it.  Pull ups felt good, although super slow, and my sluggishness did not help me on the box jumps at all.  But I got a decent workout and tomorrow will hopefully be better!

Strength today was, of course, Thrusters.  7 sets of 3, ascending, with muscle ups or false grip ring pull-ups between sets. 

My loads:  55-60-65-70-75-80-85

Oh, those damn double-unders!

For time:

50 Double unders
10 Squat snatches (Men 95 lbs, Women 65 lbs)
40 Double unders
8 Squat snatches
30 Double unders
6 Squat snatches
20 Double unders
4 Squat snatches
10 Double unders
2 Squat snatches

My time: 15:33, Rx

So, here's the deal.  If this had been reversed, where the high numbers were a lift and the low numbers were double-unders, I might have finished faster.  Ha!  Kidding of course, but the doubles killed me today.  Some days they feel awesome and I have a nice smooth jump and a decent rhythm, but not today.  Not until the set of 10 did I string together 10 doubles.   The squat snatches felt pretty good.  I got through them as fast as I could because the doubles were eating up the clock. 

Strength today was alternating Squat Snatch and 20 double unders every minute for a cumulative weight of successful lifts.  I did 10 doubles between instead of 20.

my loads:  45-50-55-60-65-70-75(f)-75-80-85
my cumulative load:  585

Day One - Thirty Day Challenge

Today is finally the day!  I'm doing it.  I guess you'd call it Paleo.  That's the closest description I can come up with:  grain-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, nothing processed or artificial, beer-free.  Ouch, that last one hurts.  I've been needing to do this in order to get myself back on track and get rid of some body fat I've gained over the summer.  I've been doing Primal Blueprint for a while, but have gotten so far off track it would be ridiculous to claim that I was anywhere near 80/20.

Summer time is the hardest for me in terms of eating properly, and most of all the excessive beer consumption. Beer just goes with all the pool parties, barbeques and ball games.  But I have a pretty long stretch of calendar ahead of me where I don't have any social engagements to trip me up with temptations. (Yes, I am that weak!)


Anyway, my goals are this:

• lose excess body fat
• feel better
• perform better at CrossFit
• maintain 80/20 after 30 days are up

Nothing too lofty there.  So, away we go!


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 And now, the WOD:

5 Rounds, each for time of:
500 Meter row
Rest 5 minutes between each round.

My times:
1:59.4
2:01.9
2:04.5
2:08.0
2:04.2

I went back several "compare to" dates and these are some of my best row times!  No PR's but overall more consistent and faster.  Rest assured this has nothing to do with what I've been eating and everything to do with me actually listening to Breck's rowing tips today.  I just got back from a binge weekend in Galveston and my nutrition was horrible.  I knew this challenge was coming up and I abused all the forbidden food groups to the extreme.  And yeah, I felt like crap this morning. But a decent workout, some good clean food and lots of water have me feeling better.

Strength today was Bench Press:  5-3-2-5-5-5
my loads:  35-45-65-75-85-85