OMG!!! Took 1st place in the No Baby, Leave the Socks On Throw Down!!!!

I am still in shock. I can't believe I took FIRST PLACE in the scaled division today!!! Eat to Perform is DEFINITELY working!
The day I've been dreading/anticipating was finally here. I was hoping for a really solid night of sleep, but, sadly, didn't quite get it. I woke up a little earlier than I wanted, so after a shower and folding some laundry, I finally had 3 eggs and 3 sausage for breakfast and prepped 2 protein shakes with bananas and coconut milk to bring to the competition. I put on my sweet new tall socks (a requirement for this throw down), and I was out the door at 8am. When I got to CrossFit Relentless in West Hartford, I did some warm ups and ate a banana about 30 mins before my first WOD, which was at about 10am. 

The first WOD was to get your max snatch in 6 minutes. I was psyched to PR my snatch for the 2nd time this week - got to 105# today! I made 2 attempts at 110#, but failed both times (should have tried squatting it, but was just doing power snatches). Just not enough time to rest in between attempts when you only have 6 minutes. I tied for 1st place with 3 other girls. 

After the WOD, I had my first protein shake. Then my little cheerleaders showed up with their Daddy, and I hung around with them for a while while they climbed on all the equipment like a couple monkeys. About 30 minutes later, it was time for the second WOD, which was the one I was dreading the most: 8 minute AMRAP OF:

• 10 sumo deadlift high pulls with a 26# kettle bell
• 60 single unders (I thought I could do 20 DUs, so this caught me a little off guard)
• 30 one-handed kettle bell thrusters (26#)
• 40 burpees

It was no surprise that the burpees were a killer for me - I just took them slow and steady. I managed to circle back to the thrusters and got just over half way through them. When those 8 minutes were up, I laid down to catch my breath, and my son instantly jumped on top of me! Ugh! I finished in 15th place (out of 25) for this WOD, which put me as tied for 5th place overall. I really wanted to make the top 5 so I could do the championship WOD. I had high hopes for the last WOD since it was purely strength, which is my strength, but you never know... 

While I was doing the second WOD, the smell of Bear's BBQ wafted through the air. So, once I was done, I went over and got a plate of brisket and pulled pork with some BBQ sauce. Sadly, I couldn't have any of the sides they had today - I wish they had baked sweet potatoes instead of mashed since they put butter in the mashed, and that did not treat me well the last time I had some. I only ate a couple bites of meat since I didn't want too much sitting in my stomach, and a little later, had about half of my remaining protein shake. And another half hour or so later, it was time for the third WOD: 10 minute AMRAP of the following with a 65# barbell:

• 6 deadlifts
• 9 power cleans
• 12 shoulder to overhead

This is the kind of WOD that I probably would have done RX during a normal WOD. However, after a few minutes, I sure was glad that I did the scaled so I wasn't using a 95# bar! My forearms were on FIRE after a few rounds of cleans and presses. But I managed to get through 6 rounds and back into cleans for a total of 173 reps. That was enough to take first place in this WOD, and move me into 2nd overall, securing me a spot in the championship WOD!!! 

Then, the bad news: the first part of the championship WOD was max pull ups. My big goal for this year is to get my first strict pull up. Today was not the day that I made my goal. I gave it a try - even tried kipping a couple times even though I've never tried to kip before (best to have the strength to get a few strict first). Got a little closer with the kip, but still not there. Thankfully, there was a second part to the WOD after a 2 minute rest once the last pull up finisher finished: max kettle bell swings. Since I was scaled, I only had to use a 26# kettle bell, which felt pretty light after using a #35 for the last several months. So, I got to it. 

Instantly, the seam of the kettle bell handle started digging into the sides of my ring fingers, and I was constantly struggling to find a comfortable position to hold it. The rule was that you could stop and rest so long as you didn't put the kettle bell on the ground or support it on your body, so, I kept resting mostly to give my fingers a break. I got the first 100 swings pretty quickly. After a while, I saw a couple of the 5 finalists drop off, and eventually, it was just me and one other girl. Man, she was really starting to piss me off. Every time I did a few reps and rested, I glanced over to see if she was still going, and she was... I didn't know what number she was on, so I just kept going, figuring if I could outlast her, I'd have to get more reps. So, we just kept going for a while... By the time I hit 200 reps, all of the Relentless Nation was gathered around to cheer me on, which was pretty awesome. Although I was getting tired, it was really the chafing pain in my fingers that was doing me in. FINALLY, the other girl dropped her kettle bell, but I decided to do a few extra just to be sure. I thought I got to 225, but it was just 223 (if only I'd done 4 more, I would have been #1 in the country! So close!!!). I finally dropped that damn kettle bell even though I still had enough in the tank to keep going a little while longer so I could check out the damage to my fingers - ouch, the skin was shredded on both fingers. The pain was worth it though - I beat the other girl by 15 swings, and even though she got 8 pull ups (and another girl got 15 pull ups), it was enough for me to move into FIRST PLACE and collect my $100 winnings!!! The fellow Relentless member who was my judge had the nicest post about me later on - this quote is a keeper!

 

The place of honor!

Woo hoo! $100 prize!

I will wear this shirt with pride!

The Relentless Nation Lady Athletes

A margarita was DEFINITELY in order after that! So off to my favorite restaurant for dinner on the deck on a gorgeous night. I must have been pretty beat since I didn't attack my margarita and chips & salsa with my normal gusto.Wow, what a day. I went into it hoping I had a chance to make the final 5, and I was so thrilled to make it. But to actually take FIRST PLACE?! Wow. So proud of myself. Now onto the next Festivus throw down in October! Although I'll be dreading those 50 far facing burpees over bar every day until then!!! UGH.

Breakfast:

• 3 eggs scrambled in coconut oil
• 3 sausage links
• topped with hot sauce

Snack Pre-WOD 1:

• banana

Post WOD 1/Pre WOD 2:

• 8oz protein shake with banana and coconut milk

Post WOD 2:

• ~2 oz pulled pork and brisket w/ bbq sauce

Pre WOD 3:

• 4 oz protein shake with banana and coconut milk

Post WOD 3/Pre WOD 4:

• ~1 oz pulled pork and brisket w/ bbq sauce
• 4 oz protein shake with banana and coconut milk

Post WOD 4:

• remaining pulled pork and brisket w/ bbq sauce (~4oz?)
• banana

Dinner:

• chips & salsa & guac
• 3 tacos (1 chicken, 1 ground beef, 1 pork) with salsa and guac
• 16oz Margarita

These totals are just a guess since I couldn't measure the bbq or dinner. But I'm not too worried if I ate that many calories - I did my fare share of work today!!! And, my true TDEE is 2780, and I've been targeting only 2500 on WOD days, and even less on rest days. So I had a little deficit to make up anyway. ;)

Totals	2,996	264	129	145	35	4,130
Your Daily Goal	2,500	219	97	188	15	2,500
Remaining	-496	-45	-32	43	-20	-1,630
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium

Eat to Perform Day 5: Control Day

Although today was a rest day where I would typically scale back my carbs to ~125 grams, I posted in the Eat to Perform forum about whether I should have some extra carbs in preparation for the No Baby, Leave the Socks On competition tomorrow. They agreed that I should do maybe 150-175g instead of the 125g you would normally do on a control day. So, I planned my day this morning, and stuck to it 95%!

Not sure why I felt compelled to do so, but I hopped on the scale this morning. I expected to see a little gain, but was still a little bummed to see 188 pop up, after finally getting down to 183 last month. But, I'm trying not to freak out about it - Eat to Perform says that it's normal to see a ~5 pound weight gain after adding more carbs back in since carbs make you retain water, and my muscles filling with glycogen. 

I was hungry when I woke up today, hungry before lunch, and still hungry after a big lunch. It's been a long time since I've felt this hungry. When I went low carb, hunger pangs were virtually non-existent. I asked the ETP moderators if it's normal to have this much hunger when first starting out, and they said that yes, it is - it means your metabolism is ramping up. Well, I hope that's true, and it's not just an insulin roller coaster! Although my breakfast and lunch didn't have any fast digesting carbs, so hopefully it wasn't an insulin thing...

My protein portions with lunch and dinner were HUGE today, but I still didn't make my protein goal. I should probably add a third egg to breakfast. And I meant to have another couple oz of deli turkey, but never got around to it. I was pretty close though.

For my pre-bedtime snack, I had something so wonderful, that I haven't had in years. CAPTAIN CRUNCH!!! Oh, it was so sweet and crunchy. It's supposed to give me a big insulin punch to feed my muscles, and then make me crash so I get a good night of sleep. Hope it works!!!

Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled in coconut oil 3 sausage links topped with hot sauce
Lunch: 6.7 oz pork tenderloin medallions with a little bbq sauce 2 oz sweet potatoes cooked (~4oz raw) snow peas with a little coconut oil
Snack 1 (pre-nap): 2 oz Boar's Head Cajun turkey (ignore the fruit in this pic...)
Snack 2 (post-nap): Healthy & Fit Vanilla egg-based protein shake 2 oz lite coconut milk 1 frozen banana
Dinner: 8 oz London Broil topped with onions grilled in coconut oil 4 oz sweet potatoes cooked (~8oz raw) snow peas, onions, and red peppers grilled in coconut oil
Snack 2: 1 cup of Captain Crunch!!! They told me to do it!!! 1/2 cup rice milk 1/2 cup coconut milk 1/4 scoop vanilla protein shake

Totals	2,276	155	96	171	15	2,453
Your Daily Goal	2,500	219	97	188	15	2,500
Remaining	224	64	1	17	0	47
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium

Eat to Perform Day 4: WOD Day

Woke up at 3:30am to a bug crawling on my face, and when I flicked it, it crawled on my chest, which caused a little freak out... Needless to say, that was the end of sleeping for me. So, after an hour of tossing and turning, I finally got up and prepped 3 huge sweet potatoes to throw in the oven after my WOD so I'd have some ready for breakfast. Out of curiosity, I weighed one potato before dicing it, and it was 15oz. But once it was baked, it only amounted to like 8oz. So, that made me wonder if I should be measuring my sweet potatoes based on their raw weight, or cooked weight (which should be much more dense with carbs and calories once all the water evaporates out). I posed the question to the Eat to Perform forum, and they suggested that I look for stats in My Fitness Pal that are based on the cooked version of food if that's how I measured it. However, the example nutrition facts he gave me pretty much lined up with the raw version that I found. So, still stumped.

My hubby usually takes the early morning workout on Thursdays while I stay home with the kids before work, but since I need to rest tomorrow in preparation for my Baby, Leave the Socks On throw down, I asked him if I could take his spot today. Of course, being the awesome hubby he is, he obliged. Then I was doubly excited to see that the WOD involved snatches, which is the first WOD at the competition! Nothing like a little last minute practice! The first part of the WOD was working up to a heavy 1 rep max of a standard (squat) snatch. I've had a tough time with the squatting part of this (I could never get the barbell to land right in the proper place overhead), but it finally seems to be coming together. And I worked up to a new 1RM of 100#! Woo hoo! Snatchtastic! And I think I even had a little more in the tank, but ran out of time to try another lift (like when I'm getting my 1RM at the Socks comp!). Then we moved onto the second part of the WOD, which was a 12 minute EMOM (every minute on the minute) of a power snatch, followed by an overhead squat, followed by a power squat snatch using 60% of the 1RM snatch from earlier. Fun! And such great practice and just the right time.

I actually woke up hungry this morning for the first time this week, which really sucked because, naturally, I had to go in for a fasting blood test to prep for my 1 year anniversary appt with my functional practitioner next week. So, I had a shake waiting for me in the car as soon as I left, although I didn't get to drink it until 8:30. So much for that refueling window when my WOD ended at 6:45.

Had a delicious protein-packed lunch today: Chipotle's! Got a salad with double meat (shredded and cubed steak) with veggies, salsa, and guac. And, BONUS! Didn't get charged for double meat! Was tempted to get some rice and/or corn since I can have more carbs these days, but the plan seems to encourage keeping away from starchy carbs at lunch if you're not WODing around lunch. Just as well though - SO FULL.

I'm pretty proud of my commitment to this eating program in the evening. I went to a friend's house who was hosting a Lia Sophia party with lots of delicious food and booze. The most tempting booze: her fresh raspberry mojitos. So delicious. But, I did not partake. Just sipped my water all night. I did much on some Fritos and potato chips, but I still had almost 100g of carbs left for the day, so I wasn't too worried about it. I got some protein between some yummy pulled pork and kielbasa. I only had about 20 grams of fat left though, and I might have gone over there. But, all in all, pretty successful evening. And I kept finding that I was getting so full from a few bites here and there that I couldn't eat a ton of crap even if I wanted to.

Not sure how accurate this is since I wasn't measuring anything all day. Might have gone a little overboard at the party, but could have been a lot worse! At least I got my protein in. 

Totals	2,719	174	148	194	18	4,688
Your Daily Goal	2,500	219	97	188	15	2,500
Remaining	-219	45	-51	-6	-3	-2,188
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium

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