My CrossFit 6-month anniversary - big accomplishments and big changes!

Wow, I can't believe it's already been 6 months since starting CrossFit. I am so proud of what I have accomplished in those 6 months. 

I had a huge CrossFit success today, which was the perfect way to celebrate! My latest fixation has been getting my first toes-to-bar (T2B). In the past couple weeks, I'd progressed to getting my feet about a foot away from the bar, and seemed to be getting the hang of the kipping movement when doing knees-to-elbows (or somewhere close, anyway). But now I REALLY wanted one because T2B were included in the fourth CrossFit Opens WOD. After obsessively watching every video on the interweb for tips since the WOD announcement on Thursday, and getting some coaching during yesterday's WOD (and getting soooo close - mere inches away!), I walked into the box today hoping for just ONE T2B. After one more dose of advice from another coach (stand on a couple plates to give a little more leverage into the swing), and BAM! First T2B!!! And then a couple more during warm-up! AND THEN 23 DURING THE WOD! I'm so psyched! 

Some of my accomplishments since starting CrossFit 6 months ago:

• Movements:
• Deadlift: never done other than straight leg --> 235# in Dec (probably more now)
• Squat Snatch: never done before --> 90#
• Power Clean & Jerk: never done before --> 135#
• Box Jump: never done before --> 28"
• Rope Climb: never done before --> 3 in a matter of minutes!
• Toes to Bar: never done before --> 23 in 10 minutes!
• Handstand Push-ups: never done before --> getting down a few inches for several reps
• Turkish Get-ups: never done before --> 35#
• Overhead Squat: never done before --> 85# in Oct (probably more now)
• Double Unders: never done before --> 21 strung together; 76 in 2 mins
• Strict Press: 45# --> 90#
• Pull-ups: using green & blue band in Sept --> got one with only blue band
• Mile Run: pretty slow... --> 8:48!

• Throw downs
• Placed just about last in my first throw down
• Placed solidly in the middle of the pack at my second on in Dec
• High hope for my third one next month, and in the Intermediate division instead of novice!

It's been quite a ride for the past 2.5 years. But I'm proud to report that I'm down 69 pounds in that time!!! And CrossFit has made all the difference in my body composition.

• On 12/7/10, after 3 months of recuperation from my repeat c-section for my son, I got back on the Jillian Michael's circuit training wagon. That day, I weighed 256 (down about 20 from the day I walked into the OR, well, including a baby).
• Over the next couple years, I fought hard to get my weight down to a low of 205, but it was a constant roller coaster. For my son's sake, I stuck to a dairy-free diet for the first 10 months postpartum, which helped, but then I gained some back when I added dairy back in (come on, 9 months without pizza and ice cream?!! Payback time!). This is the story of my life - always yo-yo-ing. 
• On 5/19/13, I ran my first 5K. I got the 5K bug, and did a few more that summer, including a couple obstacle courses. But, despite all that running, the weight just would not come off.
• On 8/11/13, my 38th birthday, I was back up to 221.5 after a couple back-to-back vacations (and lots of ice cream). Typical.
• On 8/12/13, I started my first month of really a strict Whole30 Auto-immune Protocol. My body was SOOO happy to have gluten and dairy eliminated, and in that month alone, I dropped 14.5 pounds down to 207. Wow. Finally finding out about my food intolerances made ALL the difference.
• On 9/24/13, I started CrossFit at 204.5 pounds (I'm still amazed that I LOST WEIGHT during our Disney vacation the previous week). 
• On 3/24/14, 6 months later, I've lost another 17.5 pounds, down to 187. Granted, the rate of loss has slowed down A LOT, but I've also been putting on some muscle at the same time, and I love that I'm getting stronger. Steady progress.

3/25/13 - 3/14/14

I am definitely the fittest I've even been in my life, and on the path to keep getting better! For the first time in my life, I feel I am in control of my body, and can achieve the goals I set for myself, and not backslide like I've always done in the past. Paleo + CrossFit is my answer. Only ~20 pounds away from my goal! Fittest by 40 should be an easy road from here on out!!! 

So much for a 30-day Challenge...

Well, that 30-day Challenge didn't go as well as hoped. I was going really strong for the first almost 12 days, until Valentine's Day came up, and I really wanted to have a nice date night with Brian. That delicious evening of chips & salsa and margaritas marked the beginning of my downfall, which was very disappointing since I was really on a roll - I'd hit a new low of 189.5, which was amazing! Then I bounced back up into the low 190s again...seem to be stuck there.

I was a little afraid to look at the scale after returning from a girls' weekend away at the Cape with some friends. A fair amount of booze and salty snack food was consumed. However, I didn't risk getting any fried wings at the bar we went to - I've learned my lesson on that. So maybe it wasn't not too bad...

My right knee is finally feeling 95% better after 4 weeks of PT. However, now my left side is all jacked up. I've got lateral pain on my left knee, and it seems to be affecting my left hip (feels like I've been jogging) and my left calf has been sore for 5 days now, so something is pulling there too. Hoping to visit my chiropractor friend this week to see if she can straighten me out. I also tweaked the lower left side of my back during some heavy deadlifts on 3/1, and that seems to be taking a little while to get back to 100% too. Why the hell am I such a mess?!!!

My knees felt pretty good on Fri 3/7, so I did some deep squats in the CrossFit Open WOD. You had 3 minutes to do 2 rounds of a couplet of 10 overhead squats (65# RX for women) followed by 10 chest to bar. And then repeat that every 3 minutes, but adding 2 reps to each part of the couplet. I still don't have chest to bar, so I was just hoping to get all 10 overhead squats, and I did (maybe it was because I was wearing my brand new Oly Lifters - oooooh!!!)! So I was pretty pleased about that since I've never done that many OHSs with that much weight. I tried for one unassisted CTB (got about 1/2 way), then I did some pull ups with a green band. I wish I'd used a red band too since I fizzled out on the pull ups with just the green - I only got 8 pull ups in the second round. So, I just hung around and cheered on everyone else who was doing the WOD, including my sister who got in a ton of rounds!

Had an appt with my functional practitioner on Thurs 3/6. Typical news - not much change in my thyroid. My cholesterol did increase a little after laying off the fish oil supplements a little, so he said to stay on that dose. The big news was with my bodyfat analysis though. I'M FINALLY ONLY OVERWEIGHT!!! My bodyfat % dropped to 29.1 - woo hoo! And my BMI is 28.65. Back in August, they were 38.5 and 33.3 respectively - big change!!! That's almost a 10% loss of bodyfat, which is awesome. I've lost about 13% of my bodyweight, so having 10% of that as fat is awesome - I know I've lost at least 5 pounds of water weight, so that means I've definitely gained some muscle since starting CrossFit.

I finally bit the bullet and invested in a good jump rope: RX rope with a heavier Buff weight rope. The heavier rope is supposed to help me get the timing of DUs more easily since I'll be able to feel the turnover of the rope better. Can't wait until it arrives so I can start practicing! The countdown to Festivus is on! I like this pretty coral color - hope it matches my Nanos. ;) It was a little pricey to get into this calibur of rope, but at least the replacement cables are only like $10. I'll probably get a slightly lighter weight rope once I've mastered my timing.

Day 26 of 2nd Whole30/Strict Paleo Challenge

IT'S CROSSFIT OPEN TIME! OMG!!!!!!!!

Apparently, this is a really big deal in the world of CrossFit. Last night, CrossFit HQ announced the first of 5 weekly WODs where people can try to place into the Regionals, the winners of which qualify you for the CrossFit Games. The part that's kind of cool is that ANYONE can do the Open WODs, and see how you rank in your box, your state, your region, and the world. So, Brian and I signed up so we can track ourselves to see how we measure up since we'll be doing the Open WODs at our box anyway. You can only enter a score in the Open if you can do the RX workout, so I won't be able to log and WODs with pull ups or toes to bar, but I should be able to do everything else RX (maybe not do it WELL, but do it...). I hope we get to see some of our coaches in action, some of whom may actually have a shot of making it to Regionals. They would be amazing to see in action.

Brian did the first Open WOD today: 10 minute AMRAP of 30 double unders followed by 15 snatches (75# guys/55# girls). He was able to string together a few DUs here and there, and was eventually able to get through 132 reps. Not bad for a relative CrossFit newbie! 

And I've officially turned into a crazy person... After work, I took the kids to the Y to go swimming (which is not my favorite thing to do my myself because the trials in the changing room really grate on my nerves) all because I wanted to practice some double unders before hopping in the pool! And man, were my arms and hands covered in lash marks when I was done! And I got a big blister on my right palm - ouch. But I finally seem to be getting some of my timing back. For a while, I got a decent run every time I practiced (somewhere between 10-20 jumps strung together), and then I lost it after doing a WOD with 3 sets of 100 single unders (which I rocked, but it killed my DU timing!). For the first time, I finally strung together a few DUs with my own jump rope, which has been eluding me for some reason, even though it's the SAME rope that they have at the box. I don't know why, but it seemed to help to be able to see myself in a mirror there (no mirrors in the Box). So, I anticipate the sets of 30 DUs being painful tomorrow, but I should be able to get through them, anyway.

Brian made a delicious dinner while we were wrapping up at the Y. I've been dreaming about sweet potato fries for a while, and was so excited to open the door and smell them baking when I got home. And he fried up some salmon cakes. In the past, he used 5 oz of salmon for each of us, and I always found it so filling that I could barely finish my second cake. But, tonight, he only used 3.75 oz apiece, and that was perfect. He whipped up an avocado mayo to put on top, but some fresh dill or something would have really made the topping spectacular.

Food: 1885 calories  22% carbs (105g)/ 20% (95g) protein/ 58% fat

• -
• Breakfast: 
• 3 eggs scrambled with spinach, onions, and bell peppers
• 2 sausage patties
• hot sauce on everything
• Lunch: 
• salad with chicken and avocado with homemade dressing
• Dinner:


• Salmon cakes (Chicken of the Sea Pink Salmon) topped with an avocado mayo
• baked sweet potato fries (1/2 potato)
• Snacks:

• Boar's Head buffalo chicken
• cantaloupe
• homemade applesauce
• bit of banana
• 2 wedges of a mandarin orange

Exercise: 

• practiced double unders until I was all sweaty, and did one set of 45# snatches

Sleep:

• 8 hours, but was awoken by alarm clock at 6am before hitting snooze - could have slept more!

Day 24 of 2nd Whole30/Strict Paleo Challenge

So, yeah, I bought those Oly lifting shoes. Could not pass up the deal - they're usually $150, and I got them for only $93! They must have been last year's model or something - I'll take it! Now I just have to wait an eternal 5 days until they are shipped to my local Lady Foot Locker (got free shipping that way). 

Wednesdays used to be my second day off of the week, when I could just hang out with my kids and do fun stuff (and maybe some chores around the house). Then, last summer,  my boss asked me to start working 4 hours on Wednesdays. I begrudgingly agreed provided I didn't have to start until we got back from our Disney trip in late September. Despite it only being a 4-hour day instead of a full day, it has not possibly become my most crappy, rushed day of the week. It's been 5 months now, and I still can't get used to it - I really miss having that extra day to run errands and clean. Now, I usually have just enough time to get the kids off to school, catch the 9:30 WOD, get to work around 11, work until 3ish, get my daughter off the bus and pick up my son at preschool, bring them both to my daughter's gymnastics class at 5, and then come home for dinner. Exhausting enough on a regular Wednesday. But today was extra craptacular because I had to go to our office that's 90 minutes away instead of my regular office that's only 30 mins away, and then had 2 appts in the evening. So, I had to arrange (and pay extra) for after school care for my daughter, and get the hubby to do the gymnastics run so I could do all the following craziness:

• 6am: Woke to alarm and left my sleeping babies in the warm bed so I could prep lunches for all of us and clean the kitchen
• 8:30: Dropped my son off at daycare
• 8:45: Waited at the bus stop with my daughter
• 9am: WOD - So nice to have my sister back from her vacation (got a pic of us in our t-shirts from the nice guy who donated 2 months of CrossFit to her - now we are walking billboards)! We did another round of the Wendler WOD for shoulder presses - the last round is getting heavier - maxed out at 4 reps this time! Then we did a metcon of 20 55# push presses (I did RX with no breaks!), and then it was supposed to be 20 burpee/pull-ups, but I did 20 burpees (no breaks!), and then climbed onto a box and did 20 jumping pull-ups (had to take some rests there). Then we repeated the sequence doing only 10 reps. I was pretty pleased with my time. Then I finished with some double under practice and FINALLY got a good string of 17! FINALLY! Have to remember to just hold the very ends of the rope - that seems to work best for me.
• 10:10: Hop in the shower and get dressed
• 10:50: Blood test for functional practitioner appt coming up next week. Got cholesterol, thyroid, and D tested since we tweaked my supplements for those.
• 11:15: Gassed up the car - it was crazy empty - fit almost 18.5 gallons in!
• 11:30: Headed out to our office in Westwood, MA to do some testing that would take all of 30 minutes. Frustrating that I had to drive all the way there to do it. Made myself some little turkey wraps so that I could eat them while driving. Save the one avocado slice that slipped out and slithered down my coat onto my pants leaving a green streak behind, it was a successful, tasty lunch on the road.
• 1:00: arrive at Westwood - at least my testing went well, and then ended up hanging around for a little while
• 3:00: left Westwood office and drove to the Walpole office to do more testing...all for nothing since the test couldn't be completed. Frustrating. 
• 4:00: left Walpole and had incredible luck with traffic during rush hour, passing 2 accidents that were holding up all kinds of traffic
• 5:40: arrived at PT appointment early in hopes they could see me early - and they did! Did some balance-type exercises while standing on my right leg to work all the little muscles around my knee, hip, and ankle, then got some ultrasound on the sore spot. Hips got tired from all that work.
• 6:43: left for chiro appt that's 20 mins away
• 7:02: chiro appt - she said my hip alignment still looked pretty good (a lot better then when I first saw her!). Did a minor adjustment to hips/lower back, and cracked my ankles again. Short and sweet. I mentioned how I've been making a conscious effort to sit straight at my desk, and my left hip is KILLING me from doing that by the end of the day! It will take some time to readjust now... 
• 7:50: finally got home
• 9:45: got into bed and read a a little bit/caught up on Facebook

Ugh, what a day. Ended up spending over 4 hours driving around in my minivan (good thing I love my minivan!). My 4 hour work day turned into 6 hours including all the driving. At least I can knock off a couple hours early later this week then. 

Despite all the craziness, I still had a good nutrition day thanks to some good planning. I never got a real dinner in though, but I really wasn't hungry when I got home, so I decided to skip it. Might need a good snack in the morning before my WOD though!

Our coach got a nice pic of the 4 of us who rocked the 9am WOD today. :) 

Food: 1350 calories  22% carbs (73g)/ 32% (108g) protein/ 46% fat

• -
• Breakfast: 
• 2 eggs
• 3 Jones sausage patty sauteed in a little coconut oil
• Lunch: 
• Boar's Head Cajun turkey roll-ups with avocado, red bell pepper and lettuce
• Dinner:


• Boar's head chicken 
• mixed berries
• Snacks:
• post-WOD shake with banana
• mandarin orange
• a few licks of Sunbutter

Exercise: 

• CrossFit Wendler shoulder presses and 5 minute metcon

Sleep:

• nice 8 hours, but was awoken by alarm clock at 6am

Day 22 of 2nd Whole30/Strict Paleo Challenge

The scale was a tease this morning, but it finally rewarded me with a return to 189.5 - so, back, where I was a week ago Thursday. Now to get down further into those 180s!

really really want these -
definitely treating myself 
when I get my bonus

Slept like crap last night. Got to bed late because I was finishing up our taxes (very torn about TurboTax's option to get part of the rebate as an Amazon.com gift card since Amazon would give you an extra 10% - had to contemplate buying some Oly lifters with that bonus cash! But didn't...some day...). Then woke up at 2:30, meaning I'm stressed about something - this time it's a bunch of crappy issues at work that are out of my control, but I'm still responsible to resolve. UGH. So, finally got up and shot out a bunch of emails that made me feel better enough to be able to go back to sleep around 4. Then snuggled with the kids until 7ish. And then TOTALLY took a nap with my son in the afternoon. 

Despite the crappy night of sleep, I still had perfect nutrition today. Yay! So glad all the cravings are gone - sure does make it easier. I even went to CVS to get a refill on my anti-inflammatories for my knee, and I wasn't even tempted to but a bag of gummi bears (my weakness).

Glad today was a rest/grow day. My knees were bugging me, partially because my hammies are really tight and sore from all the deadlifting on Saturday. Growing! So I just did a lot of stretching - while folding laundry, while watching my son at gymnastics, while watching the kids at swim lessons, while standing in line at CVS...felt a lot better each time, until they tightened up again. I had delusions of going for a jog on the treadmill while my kids had their swim lessons at the Y, but that was NOT happening. 

Food: 1814 calories  15% carbs (70g)/ 24% (107g) protein/ 61% fat

• -
• Breakfast: 
• 2 eggs
• 3 Jones sausage patty sauteed in a little bacon fat
• Lunch: 
• big salad with a chicken, veggies, avocado, and homemade EVOO balsamic dressing
• Dinner:


• big bone-in pork chop
• sauteed asparagus with applesauce/onion/bacon topping
• homemade sugar-free applesauce
• Snacks:
• a couple strips of homemade beef jerky
• mandarin orange
• baby carrots
• shared a banana with my son
• a few licks of Sunbutter

Exercise: 

• rest/grow day

Sleep:

• REALLY crappy. About 3.5 hours, then woke up, then finally got maybe 2 hours. Then took a 2 hour nap with my son.

Day 21 of 2nd Whole30/Strict Paleo Challenge

Okay, I'm back. Got lazy about tracking and blogging last week. I blame being bummed that my little date night on Valentine's Day seemed to have put the breaks on all my good progress. Here it is, a week later, and I'm still up half 1.5 pounds from my all-time low of 189.5 10 days ago. :( 

I haven't been hideously bad all week, but I haven't been perfect either (ended up having a couple margaritas on Thursday and Friday too, although I tried to make them somewhat better my adding mango coconut water instead of sour mix...). I was crazy craving sweets early in the week - not sure if it was PMS or what... I'm pretty sure I had a gluten exposure from the tortilla chips on Friday night - maybe that contributed to the cravings. My stomach felt HUGE for a few days. I took a picture a few nights ago, and another this morning, and there is a major difference. I swear I looked a few months pregnant! My body retains water SO easily these days. Although despite some bloating, I felt pretty good in this cute new SIZE 12 sweater dress I bought (for $12 on clearance!) when we went out Thursday night!

Had some good WODs this week after taking 2 "grow" days in a row on Sun & Mon. Had a little "snow WOD" one night after work - had to clear the driveway before my hubby got home so his little car could get in! On Tuesday, the coach called me out for not using a 53# kettle bell in a metcon - so I did. That was really heavy. Wednesday: 100 BURPEES FOR TIME!!! Ugh, that was a killer. Made it in just under 10 mins though. On Friday night, we had the inaugural "Ladies' Night" WOD - only for ladies, coached by ladies. It was a fun team WOD, and I partnered up with someone I hadn't met before. Before the partner WOD started, we had to choose one exercise from a list to do for 5 minutes. I chose double unders since I really need to get my rhythm back before Festivus! In 5 minutes, I only got a very frustrating 38. Aaaargh!!! Then, for the partner WOD, we did the following. It was pretty exhausting! We didn't win since we chose somewhat later weights for everything (my partner was on the more petite side, but strong!), but we did pretty well. And then the potluck and drinking began. :) 

• 70# farmer carries (apiece)
• 100 ground to overhead with 55# bar (I did lots of snatches, and my partner did some snatches and clean & jerks)
• 70# farmer carries (apiece)
• 21/15/9 couplets of thrusters then 26# KB swings
• 70# farmer carries (apiece)
• 55# OHS while the partner is rowing
• 70# farmer carries (apiece)

On Saturday, I made up my Wendler Strength program deadlifts with some of the other girls. This time, I worked my way up to 200 pounds and cranked out 10 reps (and still had enough in the tank for a couple more). And then, on Sunday, I went back to the box where we had ladies night since I left my beloved water bottle there. And it was a strict metcon there - 3 rounds of 10 strict pull-ups followed by 2 mins max meters rowing, then 3 rounds of 10 push-ups and 2 min max burpees. Ugh.  But at least I finally got to meet the guy who donated 2 months of CrossFit membership to my sister in exchange for wearing t-shirts advertising his business. Now we have our shirts, and are ready to be walking billboards!

So, back on the strict bandwagon for the next couple weeks until I go away for my ladies' weekend with some coworkers on March 7. Only a couple weeks away!!! Want to drop a pound or 2 by then!

 Food: 1867 calories  18% carbs (84g)/ 28% (128g) protein/ 54% fat

• -
• Breakfast: 
• 2 eggs
• 1 Jones sausage patty sauteed in a little coconut oil
• Lunch: 
• big salad with a grassfed burger sauteed in coconut oil, veggies, avocado, and homemade EVOO balsamic dressing
• Dinner:


• swiss steak
• Snacks:
• post-WOD shake with banana
• small handful of blueberries
• baby carrots with guacamole dip
• shared an apple with my son

Exercise: 

• CrossFit metcon

Sleep:

• Solid 8 hours

Day 14 of 2nd Whole30/Strict Paleo Challenge

I normally do a WOD on Sundays, but last night, I decided my body needed a break. I've been sore in some place or another since waking up with crazy sore abs on Wednesday. Then added crazy sore quads on Thursday, and then crazy sore forearms last night and today from Friday's & Saturday's WODs. My abs are FINALLY better today, and my quads are ALMOST all better, but my arms are still sore. It was a good day for a grow day, especially since today's WOD was more pull-ups which would have killed my forearms further.

Today I saw a friend of mine who's a chiropractor about the muscle imbalance in my legs that is causing me problems in my left IT band when I jog. She said my hips were very off-balance - the right side was much higher than the left. And my ankles were very stiff. So, she did lots of massage on my legs, and adjustments on my hips and ankles (I was not expecting that first huge POP from my ankle!). When she was done, she said my hips looked much more even (and felt a bit looser), and I had so much more flexibility in my ankles that I just wanted to keep doing circles with my feet in the air! She said I may have thrown things out of whack by always carrying the kids on my left hip for so long. I also mentioned that I don't tend to sit straight ahead at work, so she said that I should make a conscious effort to do so. I'll go back for a follow-up adjustment in a couple weeks. 

My knee has been bugging me a little today. I guess I pushed it a little too far with all the squats yesterday, even though I stopped doing squats before they got really heavy. Maybe it was those headcutters - I was getting pretty beat by them!

I went to a couple stores today looking for a skirt to wear with my brown boots. Doesn't seem to be brown skirt season. But I ended up finding a cute sweater dress at Dress Barn and got it for only $12.50! It was on the 60% off rack, and then I had a 30% off coupon! And, best of all, it was only a medium! :) Looking forward to wearing it Thursday night - celebrating a friend's birthday. Not sure I can resist a drink that night either...UGH. I am going to pass on wings though - don't want any gluten cross-contamination! 

Food: 1930 calories  19% carbs (93g)/ 21% (103g) protein/ 60% fat

• -
• Breakfast: 
• 3 eggs
• 2 Jones sausage
• sweet potato hash
• Lunch: 
• big salad with chicken, veggies, avocado, and homemade EVOO balsamic dressing
• Dinner:


• Almost 5 Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie
• Snacks:
• 2 pieces of Orbit BubbleMint to get rid of my onion breath from my salad
• a couple spoonfuls of SunButter
• some pepperoni (the bad kind)

Exercise: 

• grow day with some sledding with the kids

Sleep:

• Heavenly 9 hours :)