Eat to Perform Day 3: WOD Day

Well, I don't know if it's just a coincidence, but I was able to do a forward leaning rest (aka straight-armed plank) for 2 minutes straight for the first time ever today! Could Eat to Perform be working already???

Since I didn't WOD until 9am, I had some breakfast at 8am instead of going in fasting. I still had 4oz of sweet potatoes in the fridge, so I ate those along with 3 sausages. I intended to eat 3 eggs too, but I just wasn't that hungry, and didn't want to be too full for my WOD. I really need to have breakfast a couple hours before my WOD if I want a big breakfast (but sleeping in is SO nice...).

Then the day got tricky. We spent the day at the beach. I didn't plan my food before leaving, so I winged it, but not too well... I packed 4oz of turkey and some grapes for a snack, and some baby carrots to go with my lunch, so that part was good. For lunch, I got 2 hot dogs (no buns) figuring that should be a good dose of protein...however, I didn't realize how little protein they had. I should have had a burger instead - lesson learned. For the trip home, while the kids had ice cream, I got a raspberry smoothie. Well holy crap, that 16oz drink had 76g of carbs!!! But I guess that's ok since I'm supposed to be eating ~225g of carbs today...

Got home from the beach just when my hubby got home, and neither of us felt like cooking. So, got pizza for the kids and Thai for us (his new addiction). I don't really know the macro breakdown for the Prik King I got, so I just went with one I found on MyFitnessPal. But I treated myself to a full cup of rice - so yummy!!! 

I had gone to the store to buy some sugary cereal since one of the coaches on Eat To Perform had the following recommendation for bed time nutrition. Seems to good to be true, but again, taking a leap of faith here! Got some rice milk too in case I don't want it dry. I felt like such a loser with those cereals in my basket (along with 1.5 pounds of deli meat, bananas, and 5 sweet potatoes - interesting assortment!). However, I didn't get to indulge tonight since I already hit my carb target at dinner. Boo. 

Depends on what macros you have left for the day, but generally speaking it's recommended to have fast digesting carbs with little protein/fat before bed. The carbs will help you sleep better and recover better, regardless of if you WO the next day or not. My favorite cereals are Rice Krispies, Cocoa Krispies, Fruity Pebbles, all Chex varieties, Rice Krispy Treat cereal(best stuff ever) and Cocoa Pebbles.

So, after I finally sat down and calculated my macros for the day, I found I was right on target with protein and fat, but REALLY short on protein. Skipping eggs at breakfast and having hot dogs for lunch really hurt me. So, I doubled up on protein shake right before bed to get as close as I could, mixing it with just coconut milk and water (no banana) to avoid more carbs. Still came up 30g short on protein, but, hey, tomorrow's another day. And it's still more than I used to eat!

Totals	2,424	222	102	155	19	3,882
Your Daily Goal	2,500	219	97	188	15	2,500
Remaining	76	-3	-5	33	-4	-1,382
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium

Eat to Perform Day 2: WOD Day

I planned my first Eat to Perform WOD day meals last night while I was baking up a batch of diced sweet potato for the week (which, it turns out, will only be 2 days' worth! Gotta make a lot more if I want to batch cook for the week!). I basically did a repeat of yesterday except I added a post-WOD shake with a full banana, added a sweet potato with breakfast (big breakfast!), and then fiddled around my dinner portions and added another dessert snack of a banana with Sunbutter to meet my macros for the day (having another protein shake was TOO much protein). 

I was so full after my big breakfast that I didn't have lunch until almost 2pm. Then I didn't have my snack until almost 4. So, I wasn't too hungry for supper and had that late too. I had planned to have some baby carrots with dinner and some grapes afterward to reach the full 250 grams of carbs, but I was just TOO FULL. So, only ended up at about 200 grams of carbs, but still hit my protein and fat (and had over 3 liters of water!). SO FULL THOUGH.

I really need to buckle down on my sleep, and go to sleep earlier. I was nodding off before dinner tonight. Can't get my naps in with my son on the days I work. :( So, off to bed, and looking forward to sleeping in a bit tomorrow before heading to the beach for the afternoon!

Post-WOD: Healthy & Fit Chocolate egg-based protein shake 2 oz lite coconut milk 1 frozen banana
Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with spinach, green pepper, and onions sausage patty    topped with hot sauce 6 oz baked sweet potato 1/2 grapefruit
Lunch: 6 oz pulled pork tenderloin topped with BBQ sauce 1 cup broccoli
Snack 1: 4 oz Boar's Head Cajun turkey/chicken with 1/2 T coconut oil 1 cup strawberries & blueberries
Dinner: 5 oz London Broil Broccoli 1 sweet potato (as oven baked fries with coconut oil) 10 baby carrots
Snack 2: banana 1.5 T Sunbutter It was not easy to make this look NOT phallic.

Totals	2,376	197	98	190	36	4,771
Your Daily Goal	2,500	219	97	188	15	2,500
Remaining	124	22	-1	-2	-21	-2,271
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium

New progress pics and a new eating plan: Eat to Perform: Day 1 Control Day

I can't believe that it's almost been a year since I started this journey. I'm so proud of how far I've come - I feel so much better, I'm so much stronger, and I never would have thought I'd be wearing medium tops/dresses, and size 10 pants (still having a blast shopping for a brand new summer wardrobe)! What's even more amazing is how EASY it's been to maintain my progress so far instead of sliding back into old habits and regressing after a few months like I've done EVERY TIME in the past that I've had some success. I'm finding it so easy to avoid dairy and gluten and limit most other refined stuff - just knowing how crappy it makes me feel makes it easier not to crave it. Not gonna lie though - pizza still smells amazing, and it kills me a little not to dig in to my kids' pie!!!

I finally took some updated progress photos. I can see a little change between my last 2 sets of pics - I think there's a little more definition in my arms and back, and a little less muffin top. I have to say that I do love seeing some definition in my arms - for the first time in my life, my wardrobe consists of LOTS of sleeveless tops instead of hiding my arms under 3/4 sleeves all summer.

  

However, I feel like I've plateaued lately. For the first few months, I saw such amazing changes in my body so quickly. However, for the past 8 months, I've only averaged about a pound/month of weight loss. Although I know that my body composition has still slowly been changing for the better (definitely been packing on some lean muscle mass), it's still frustrating to see such slow results now. I try not to weight myself too often since I know that the scale isn't a true reflection of health. But I also feel like my progress at CrossFit has been plateauing. I've tried twice over the past few months to hit a new PR for my power clean and missed (came so close to 145#, but just not there yet). And I'm frustrated that I haven't been able to do any heavy squatting due to the knee pain I've been battling (which is slowly getting better too - seems like time is the answer more than physical therapy). 

So, after trying to Zone my meals for the last couple months without much success (too much work to figure out every meal in the exact macro ratio, and I feel like I've been eating less protein), I've decided to change up my diet a little. I'm going to try a program called "Eat to Perform" which basically theorizes that you need to properly fuel your body to gain lean muscle mass, which in turn will burn more calories, causing you to lean out. For almost a year now, I've been trying to keep under 2000 calories and 100 grams/day of carbs, but according to ETP, I need almost a third more calories and at least twice the carbs to have enough energy to perform fully and make gains. They also want you to eat your body weight in ounces of protein. Based on those factors, you fill the rest in with fats and try to maintain a specific macro ratio within your calories as calculated by your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) (but throughout the day, not Zoning each meal). So, I signed up for a month-long trial in their "science lab" which gave me access to a forum with coaches, research, and a community of people doing the same thing. For me, they suggested the following:

• 2500 calories (which is slightly less than my TDEE/Total Daily Energy Expenditure of 2780, but I'll work my way up to it)
• 225g carbs on the days I do WODs, and drop to 100-125g on rest (control) days
• 185g protein
• 95g fat

So, it's a small leap of faith to eat more calories and carbs after seeing such success with the low-carb way I have been eating for a year, but I'm going to give it a try for a few months. I think the tricky part will be getting all that protein in each day, and to get into the practice of leaving out those extra 100g of carbs on my "control" days once I get accustomed to eating them again (especially since they encourage "white" carbs like cereal, rice, white potatoes, and even rice krispie treats - all things I've considered off limits for so long!). I'm going to try to stick to the program really well this week so that I have lots of fuel in the tank for my No Baby, Leave the Socks On throw down on Sat 7/12. After much debate (specifically dreading of the 2nd WOD), I finally signed up for the scaled version since I just haven't been feeling very RX-y lately. Hoping to really kill the scaled division! Also focusing on drinking a full 3 liters of water/day (half my bodyweight in oz).

Here's my first day on ETP, which is a "control" day since I didn't WOD today. However, I'm supposed to load up on some carbs for dinner and right before bed so that I'll have enough fuel to WOD at 5:30 am in a fasted state to maximize fat burning.

Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with spinach, green pepper, and onions (the line cook added a little butter - hope that doesn't wreck my stomach!) sausage patty    topped with hot sauce 1/2 grapefruit
Lunch: 6 oz pulled pork tenderloin topped with BBQ sauce 1 cup broccoli
Snack 1: 4 oz Boar's Head Cajun turkey/chicken with 1/2 T coconut oil 1 cup strawberries & blueberries
Dinner: 6 oz London Broil Grilled asparagus 1 sweet potato (as oven baked fries with coconut oil)
Snack 2: Healthy & Fit Chocolate egg-based protein shake 4 oz lite coconut milk 1 frozen banana

Totals	2,077	122	96	192	24	4,631
Your Daily Goal	2,500	219	97	188	15	2,500
Remaining	423	97	1	-4	-9	-2,131
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium

Huge 5k progress in a year!

May 2013 vs May 2014

It's been a full year now since I ran my very first race in May 2013: the Ten Penny Shamrock 3.3 miler. Since I was NEVER a runner my entire life, I remember being so proud of myself that day, particularly that I was able to jog the entire time and never had to stop to walk (except for a quick water break here and there). A couple months earlier, I didn't think that was possible! But my sister's trainer convinced her to try it, and she asked me to come too, so I jumped in. That race marked the beginning of a little addition to races, and I did 4 other 5Ks after it last year, improving my time slightly each time. I also incorporated a lot of jogging into my workout routine (lots of 5K jogs around the neighborhood, and even on 2 vacations!), so I was really getting into a running mode. All that stopped when I started CrossFit in September though! 

On May 18th, I ran the same Ten Penny Shamrock 3.3 miler course again so that I could see just how much I've improved in a year, and I am so pleased with the results! I beat last year's time by 6:20! That's huge! I took off almost 2 mins/mile! I was particularly pleased since I haven't run more than a mile straight since my last 5K in October (where I averaged ~11:50/mile). But I've definitely been strengthening my endurance in CrossFit WODs.

2013: 40:56 (~12:40 mile)

2014: 34:36 (~10:48/mile)

I weighed 214 when I ran the race in 2013, and was about 187 this time. So that's "only" a 27 pound difference, but I know my body composition is so much different now than it was then - so much stronger, thanks to CrossFit. And I think my cardio system has improved too - although my heart rate was up, I was able to carry on conversations with some fellow runners into the 3rd mile. CrossFit is doing amazing things for me.

Although we have signed up for some obstacle courses this year and a couple 5K fun runs, I don't really feel that compelled to sign up for lots of timed 5Ks like I did last year. I'd rather focus on CrossFit and the CrossFit throwdowns (like No Baby, Leave the Socks On coming up in July!). Maybe I'll try one more 5K at the end of the year - perhaps repeat the Y's 5K Spooktacular on the same course to see how that time improves from last October. And hopefully, I'll have dropped a few more pounds and gotten even stronger by then!

However, I do plan to run the  Ten Penny Shamrock 3.3 miler again in 2015. Goal: sub-10-minute miles! 

Team Human Cone kicks off 2014 with our third FitAthlon

Team Human Cone has big plans for 2014. We have 6 events planned (in orange below). And I have another 5 events (mostly CrossFit). Busy year! Love these challenges! 

Unfortunately, our first event, Color Me Rad, got rained out (well, for Team Human Cone, anyway). The event still went forward, but we opted not to do it in 45-degree rain because that just didn't sound like fun (lesson learned - don't sign up for races in April). So, since I wasn't running a 5K, I decided to go to CrossFit and do that WOD...which included running 1.5 miles in the rain (some of which while carrying 2 53# kettle bells!). Couldn't win!!! But now I feel silly wearing the Color Me Rad t-shirt I picked up... However, we then signed up for the Color in Motion 5K on 6/14 (same idea). So we'll get our color run in after all.

So, Team Human Cone reunited at FitAthlon as our first event, albeit a much smaller team than last year. One teammate was sick, and 2 others decided they were done with FitAthlons after last year's event. So, it was just the 3 of us this time.

This year, we decided to up the ante and signed up for the Challenger division. It wasn't too much different from the Beginner division that we did the first two times last year - just added a couple more rounds of push ups/sprint/burpees at the start and a little more distance to things like the lunge walk. Our team ended up in different heats since we arrived a little late. Brian and I ended up in a heat of only 5 people after our teammate's heat, which was a little silly. And I really felt like a dork when I was the last one on the field finishing up my final round of push ups/sprint/burpees while everyone was cheering me on. Oh well, I know I was doing the movements with proper CrossFit form, which takes a little longer.  

O M G, THE LUNGE WALK. It HAD to be a lot longer than previous years. It had to be at least 300 meters, and, as Challengers, we had to do an extra 20 yards or so. Brian and I both started the walk doing proper lunges - hands behind head, and knees fully to the ground. Our legs were burning after a while, so we had to take breaks after seats of 10 or so. But we slowly made progress. One of the volunteers even complimented us on our form. But soon the next wave of Beginners started catching up to us, mainly because the majority of them were doing some of the most pathetic lunges possible. More like just walking with a little dip. I stuck with my good form for about 3/5ths, and then I figured, if you can't beat them, join them. Even still, my legs were wasted from so many good lunges already that I was still slow. At this point, I envied the decision the other Cones made to skip FitAthlon this year!!!

I definitely felt stronger in a few of the events due to all of my CrossFitting. The tire flips were a breeze, as were the backpedaling chain pulls thanks to my better grip strength. And I found the rope slams to be really easy, and then I noticed that I was subconsciously really driving the motion with my hips to use more power (definitely Oly lifting experience at work there!). Climbing the 10 ft walls with ropes was a breeze too, although the fact that they were nice and dry helped a lot there too. I still wussed out on the 5' walls though - instead of trying to just launch myself over, I still used the little steps. But I definitely got over them more easily since I didn't end up with the huge bruises on my legs that I had in previous years. And, I did a lot more jogging between obstacles, so my endurance was definitely better. 

The highlight of my day was that I actually did the monkey bars!!! The volunteer there said he would help me, to which I replied, "You mean like I help my kids?!!!" Well, I wasn't about to let him do that! So, I did it all by myself! Woo hoo!!!  And at the end, I still had enough in the tank to do a really good sprint to the finish line (I even heard someone say, "Whoa, look at that girl go!"). Very proud of those 2 accomplishments.

I ended up finishing in about 1 hour 25 minutes. Although somehow, I missed the ruck sack run. Oops. My watch said I burned about 1120 calories. Not bad for a morning's work. 

I knew while I was doing the lunge walk that it was going to hurt on Sunday. And I was definitely right... My quads and glutes were already getting a little stiff Saturday night, and were KILLING me by Sunday morning. Once I got moving though, they stretched out, and I was able to handle the WOD "Annie" which is 50-40-30-20-10 reps of alternating DUs and sit ups. And I even chased my son around the soccer field a little right afterward (but should have worn knee sleeve since that really hurt my left knee - the knee sleeves are really making a huge difference in supporting my knees). But after taking a nice nap with him in the afternoon, they were a mess. And continued to be a mess throughout Monday and into Tuesday. Ouch. Did some major growing!!!

Another CrossFit throw down in the books

Did the Festivus Throw Down on 4/19/14, and had a blast! It was so nice to have both Brian AND my sister Amy there competing together! Loved seeing them push themselves to the limit!

This was my 3rd throw down. Definitely  seeing improvement:

• 10/19/13 - Festivus (Novice division - came in 26th out of 29)
• 12/7/13 - No Baby, Leave the Stockings On (Scaled division - came in 40th out of 72)
• 4/19/14 - Festivus (Intermediate division - came in 11th out of 22 - top half!)

The WODs:

• WOD 1:
• 1k row for time. 6 min cap
• Once the running clock hits 6 minutes move on to WOD 2:
• WOD 2
• Athlete must establish a 1 Rep Max clean in 6 minutes.
• This will be scored as 2 separate WODs. The athlete may rest as needed after finishing row before the 6 min mark. If an athlete does not finished the row in the 6 min they will be penalized :01 for every METER under 1k
• WOD 3:
• •10 KB swing 53# male/35# female (intermediate) and 35# male/26# female (novice)
• •20 sit ups
• •30 Box overs 24″ male/20″ female
• •8 min AMRAP
• Score is reps
• WOD 4:
• 2 minutes max wallball 20# male/14# female (intermediate) and 14# male/10# female (novice)
• Rest 1 minute
• 2 minutes max double unders (intermediate) and singles (novice)
• Rest 1 minute
• 2 minutes max burpees
• Score is total combined reps from all 3 movements

I started off really strong since the first event was a 1K row for time. I'm a pretty decent rower, so I decided to go all out to see what I could do. I finished in 3:45. By the end of my heat (which was the 5th heat), I had the #1 row score - woo hoo!!! Then 2 girls in subsequent heats beat me by a few seconds, so I dropped into third. But I was pretty psyched about that while it lasted!

But I think I used a little too much gas in the row since I couldn't hit my current PR in the clean, which is 140#. In fact, I only got to 125#, which I was a bit bummed about. I tried 135# twice, and just barely failed the second time. A fellow boxmate asked to borrow my 2.5# plates, so I couldn't try for 130#, which I think I could have gotten. If I'd gotten to #130, I would have tied for 10th place (and landing in 9th because my row time was better). Oh well. My friend hit a new PR which is pretty awesome.

The box overs in the 3rd heat killed me. Although I was happy that I was able to do them at all since my left knee had been bugging me for a couple months. It was finally feeling decent enough to do these just a few days prior, and mostly thanks to the Rehband knee sleeves (these things are life savers!!!). One of my favorite coaches, Jill, was my judge, and she kept cheering me on to go faster, but I just couldn't. Maybe if I'd been able to practice the technique over the previous couple months... So got a pretty crappy score on that WOD (3rd to last). 

However, I was thrilled to watch my sister do WOD 3. She'd been having quite a hard time stepping onto a 20" box with her short legs and the amount of body she had to get up there. Since starting CrossFit 4 months prior, she'd been stepping onto piles of plates, slowly working her way up to 20". She'd just finally stepped up onto on 20" box a few days prior, but with a little help from a coach to catch her hands at the top. So, Coach Tim ("Mr. Festivus" himself) allowed her to step up onto a 20" stack of plates instead of the box (after he put the kibosh on her attempt to withdraw from the Games for fear of this very WOD). And she did! Again and again!!! It was definitely mind over matter. And the more times she did it, the more confident and faster she got! So many people were gathered around to cheer her on - it was awesome. Huge physical and mental progress for her!

In the 4th WOD, I was pretty happy with my wall balls (almost completely unbroken) and burpees (unbroken), but the DUs were not with me! So frustrating! I'd been practicing DUs quite a lot over the previous 2 months, and had gotten to the point where I'd hit 30+ unbroken a few times, and could consistently do runs in the teens. But they just weren't coming together. So, that dragged my score down a bit. 

So, in the end, that row really saved me in the rankings to get me into the top half (BARELY since I was tied 11th of 22, but just edged ahead since my row time was the tie breaker). I was really concerned about entering as a Intermediate instead of a Novice since I certainly don't meet all the Intermediate criteria (can't do pull-ups, can't deadlift 1.5x my body weight, just barely 6 months of CrossFitting, >10 min mile...). But, in the end, I think I was in the right division. I would have taken 1st in the first 2 WODs, and done really well in the 4th WOD doing single unders. The box overs still would have slowed me down a bit though. But I think I would have ended up in 2nd place, and feeling like I shouldn't have been there when most of the other girls I WOD with regularly were in the Intermediate division.

I really enjoyed watching my husband compete too. That was the part I really missed when I did the Stockings competition since it was only girls and he stayed home with the kids instead of coming with me. I liked sharing the day with him and watching him, and having him cheer me on too. And having my sister there made it even better! My Dad even stopped by, but he just missed our heats in the first 2 WODs, and didn't stick around log enough for the next WOD. Oh well. 

So, all in all, another great event. Looking forward to moving into the top quartile in my next event (Baby, Leave the Socks on in July!)