Going Heavy

Warmup: ME, partner Squats & hip openers, 20 V-ups, 20 pushups, pullup practice, KB swing practice.

WOD:
21-15-9

2P KB Swing *1.25P
Pull-Ups (Men C2B) *kip attempts

Results:
7:31

Comments:
I totally failed at watch management today. I didn't start it until I was waiting for a spot on the bar for my first set of pullups, I hit the timer once, after my first set of pullups, and only remembered to stop it when I was in the locker room long after the WOD ended. So no data re: rounds.

Due to the low volume of reps, I decided to go for it and try to do my swings with the 1.25P (grey) KB. Not the Rx Weight, but closer than the 1P. Unfortunately the swings were so heavy that it was hard to get a real metabolic hit with them; Daniel told everyone not to take more than 5 breaths if you absolutely had to put the weight down, but 2-3 breaths always felt like plenty - i just had to wait for my hips to be ready to fire again. My best reps (and there were only a few per round) were nearly eye level. most of my reps were about rib cage level. So - not anywhere near full ROM for full american swings, and even a little short of russian swings, but it felt like the right decision to try to work with heavier weight.

I also feel really good about my kip attempts. My first set (once I finally got a spot on the bar) was 15 unbroken. One or two were REALLY close. I probably need to sacrifice some momentum and consecutive attempts for trying harder to get higher up on each rep. I feel like i have the kip movement down really well - but either I'm not getting enough power out of opening my hips (and my powerless squats lead me to believe that this is entirely possible) - or(probably 'and') I am just not strong enough to pull myself that last bit up to the bar. But I think I am closer on these than I was a week or two ago.

Overall I was happy with the way thiw workout went.Also, I really liked stetching out after class. I think it makes a big difference. Thanks sweetie ;-) *AND Daniel makes an awesome coach.

Sleep:
11:45 - 7:50 - only woke up once on my own, but was awakened several times by cats - one who was trying his damnedest to scratch his abscessing cheek through a plastic collar (which is damned noisy), and the other one who wanted to be let outside since the collared kitty can still get outside with his collar on if the cat door is open. Stupid cats.

Food:
8:45 1 multi v, 2 omega-3, 2, glucosamine
8:50 8 oz milk
10:00 12 oz coffee w/2/3 cup 2% milk
1:15 1.25 cups cottage cheese with almonds & cinnamon
3:30 2 oz spiced cashews
4:30 2/3 svg of green curry w/ chicken & cashews.
8:15 Regular Carnitas burrito w/ cheese, black beans & guacamole, 16 oz milk
9:00 2 omega-3
11:00 2 zma

Keeping up with the details

Hooray for rest days!

I was able to to get my chin over our pullup bar at home twice today and relatively close a few times after that - which I haven't been able to do for a few weeks now. So those seem to be coming back. Daniel's working on a post talking about embarking on a hybrid strength program. I will definitely be joining him. Strength is far and away my limiting factor on all exercises. I am not genetically built for strength, and I will admit to some envy of those who just HAVE strength, but I am sure that if I just keep working at it it will come - some will, some already has (I am certainly stronger than I was a year ago), I just want more. I just have to be focused ... and patient.

Sleep:

12:22 - 8:08 only woke up once around 4:30 - slept really soundly the rest of the night. Was not ready to get out of bed when the alarm went off.

Food:

9:00 3 egg cheesy scramble, 2 pieces veggie bacon, 12 oz coffee w/ 2/3 cup 2% milk

2:20 1 cup cottage cheese, 2 oz slivered almonds, 1 tsp cinnamon

3:30 1.5 oz spiced cashews
8:30 1 bowl green curry w/ chicken, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, broth & coconut milk, 16 oz milk
10:30 1 multiv, 4 omega-3, 2 glucosamine
11:15 2 zma

Climbing and squating

Climbing:
5.9 (o), 10a/b (o), 10a(f), 10a (f++)

Tonight's climbing went pretty well. It felt strong. All of these climbs were new to me. The setters have been busy in IW since the last time i climbed there. It was great to get the first two climbs clean. The 5.9 was pretty straight forward. So was the 10 a/b. It had one slightly tricky sport, but I had watched Ynez climb it first, so I had a good sense of how to get past it.

The first 10a was a green one facing west on the first pillar. It's a little slabby to start, but about half way up it gets pretty negative incliny. It had one really tough move right in the transition from slab to -incline where I had to hang and think about how to do it, but after that I didn't hang again. Though i sort of speed climbed my way up the last half trying to get to the top before my arms failed.

The last climb was on the first pillar facing south. I've never climbed on this part of this pillar before - the climbs set here are usually more advanced climbs. This one had two little overhangs, and a small bit of negative incline, too. There was one part just before getting to the first overhang that stumped me and I had to try a bunch of times to get past it - and then i fell a couple times after that - but it was mostly due to pumped arms ... I don't think there was another spot that would have stumped fresher muscles.

Squats:
After climbing, I decided to work just a little bit on back squats. The dismal thrusters and front squats from saturday are fresh in my mind, and i figure the only way to find the power in my squats is to do a lot more squats. I did 5 or 6 sets of 5 with the empty bar. On rep 4 of just about every set I had to really struggle to complete the rep ... with the EMPTY bar. I know there was probably some fatigue from the climbing but ... honestly ... that was just embarassing. Once I stood and took a couple breaths, rep 5 was usually easy enough.

One thing that seems guaranteed to bring my power and momentum to a grinding halt is the thought of and the act of pushing my knees out. I suspect weak adductors are a major cause of the lameness of my squats. I think my form has gotten pretty good, and my knees don't wobble as much as they used to - though the still will if i don't constantly think about sending them out - but I still have a long way to go. *sigh* i'm thinking maybe I'll try to thrown in a set of 10-15 squats whenever I get a chance during the day. Can't hurt as long as I'm using good form.

Sleep:

11:53-8:05 - only woke up once a little after 1 am.

Food:

9:15 12 oz coffee 2/3 cup 2% milk

12:30 1 cup cottage cheese w/ 2 oz slivered almonds and 1 tsp cinamon

2:20 1.5 oz spiced cashews

4:45 1 svg (1.75 cups?) kale & veggie sausage & black beans w/ walnuts and parmesean, 8 oz water

10:00 2 Tbs Almond butter
10:30 1 multiv, 4 omega-3, 2 glucosamine
11:30 2 magn/zinc/calc

Didn't really get a chance to eat dinner - not quite enough food today, but tomorrow is a full breakfast day so I should get plenty of calories tomorrow.

Keeping it fun.

Salsa: 2.5 hours of aerobic Latin (mostly) fun.
Went dancing with Ev and Elisa @ Allegro. I can dance pretty well with the right partner. With the wrong partner I am absolute crap. I need to learn how to turn better. I think I am better at it than I used to be, but not enough to keep it together if I'm having a hard time reading the leader's signals, and/or they're not good at keeping me over my center of gravity. It's probably worth taking a class on turns and spins - but not soon. I think I need a break from salsa because I can feel my "GET IT RIGHT" tendencies surfacing. Maybe in a month or two.

Sleep:
1:05 - 9:50 only woke up a couple of times - though once was with a bad foot cramp around 2:45. Fortunately I got it to go away without having to take a bath.

Food:
10:30 am- cheesy 3 egg scramble with veggie sausage patty, 12oz coffee w/2/3 cup milk
2:30 2oz spiced cashews
3:00 12 oz milk
5:00 - 3 Tbs peanut butter on a low carb tortilla with cinnamon, 6oz coffee w 1/3 cup milk
7:30 - 1 oz spiced cashews, 1 multiv, 4 omega-3, 2 glucosamine
11:00 - 2 magn/calc/zinc

Lifting weight/ improving mood

Warmup: 20 pushups, 5 hopping pushups, 15 parallette dips, 5 kip attempts

WOD:
Floor Press 5x5

Results:
(5) 5-5-5-5-5
(45) 65(f r5)-60-65-65-70(f r3)

Comments:
This was a strange night of lifting. The warmup at 45# felt heavy. I failed 65# on the 5th rep. I went down to 60 - it was hard but doable. I went back up to 65 - it was hard but doable. I stayed at 65, it was EASY, i moved up to 70, i got it up solidly with good form twice and couldn't budge it on rep 3.

But the main thiong is that i was in a FOUL mood before the workout (it was a particularly stressful and irritating day at work), and I was in a much better mood afterwards, so I will say the night was a success.

Sleep:

11:50 - 8:02 only woke up every 2 hours. Had to get up around 5:30 to herd annoying uninjured cat outside while keeping injured can inside. Headache on waking up. Third time since monday.

Food:

8:30 Multivitamin, 2 glucosamine, 1 magnesim/zinc, 4 fishoil capsules

9:30 Coffee w/.75 cup 2% milk

10:30 .75 cup cottage chese, 1.5 oz slivered almonds, 1tsp cinnamon

11:45 2 oz spiced cashews
1:30 1/2 a chicken patty sandwich on multi-grain bread w/ lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickle, mayo mustard (this was billed as a chicken breast sandwich but it was a gross processed patty - i couldn't eat the other half - no idea what was in that thing)
4:30 2 oz spiced cashwes
8:00 1 fried imperial roll, 1 bowl yellow chicken curry with carrots and potatoes and okra, .5 cup cooked brown rice, 12oz iced green tea
12:15 2 Magnesium/calcium/zinc tablets

One more week of beginner salsa.

Salsa was fine today. Not exciting, not horrible. I do like my new shoes - although the snap on elastic bands are a little tight. I need to get that remedied. I've started looking forward to the class being over. I enjoy helping the confused new leaders try to figure out how to signal what they'd like me to do - up to a point. It's a lot more fun to dance with someone who really knows what they're doing though - and I'm just not going to find that at a beginner class. One more week. I'm looking forward to just going dancing, and not taking a class beforehand, so all the newbie leaders feel like they know me, so I am a safe target to ask to dance later. That sounds horribly selfish doesn't it? Well. Sometimes I am.


Sleep:

11:48 - 7:48 - woke up nearly every hour on the hour starting @ 1:42.

Food:
Breakfast: 3 egg scramble with cheese & butter, 2 strips veggie bacon, 1 cup coffee w/2/3 cup milk
Morning snack 12:20: 1 cup cottage cheese 2 oz slivered almonds 1 tsp cinnamon

Afternoon Snack 2:30: 1.5 oz Spiced Cashews
Lunch 4:2o 1 helping of Tofusagna
Dinner 6:20: 2 slices of Meat lovers pizza from wholefoods.
Post Dancing snack 9:45: 12 oz glass of 2% milk

Just finish it.

Warmup: 5 squats, 10 jumping squats, 5 burpees, 10 KB swings.

WOD:
For Time:

100 Squats
25 Pull-Ups* (Men C2B)
75 Squats
25 KB Swing* 2P/1.5P
25 Pull-Ups (Men C2B)
50 Squats
50 Push-Ups
25 Pull-Ups (Men C2B)
25 Squats
75 Double-Unders*
25 Pull-Ups (Men C2B)

*subs:
pullups - some jumping - whichever box was available, some kip attempts.
KB swings = 1 pood.
DU = 4x single skips

Results:

Exercise	Time	Elapsed
100 Squats	4:50	4:50
25 Pullups	2:01	6:51
75 Squats	4:51	11:42
25 KB Swing	5:10	16:52
25 Pullups	2:14	19:06
50 Squats	3:59	23:05
50 Pushups	6:07	29:12
25 Pullups	7:53*
25 Squats		37:05
300 Skips	4:21	41:26
25 Pullups	5:10	46:36

*I forgot to hit my lap time until I was on skip #60 so 7:53 is the time for 25 pullups, 25 squats and 60 skips.

Comments:
This workout REALLY REALLY sucked. By the time I was done with the second set of squats, my knees were quivering so bad I had a hard time standing. It made the KB swings stupidly hard. It made jumping pullups near impossible. I alternated between kipping attempts and jumping pullups ... there's a funnk click or pop in my back when i do the kip attempts that makes me a little nervous. I actually looked forward to the pushups because it would give my legs a bit of a break. Everything was so so hard with the wobbly knees that I often didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. I did a good bit of both.

I knew going in to the workout that it was going to be brutal. I usually get one intense day of PMS where my hormones rule my reason, and workouts on these days usually bring frustration and tears. Today was not an exception. I tried to do everything I could to mitigate - I made sure I ate sufficiently and regularly throughout the day, and I even managed to get a relatively decent amount of sleep (7h 40m). I was even very nearly on-time to class (only a few minutes late instead of 10). Frequently, historically, I've used the hormonal onslaught as an excuse to do 50%. Today, I was determined to soldier on, and get the damn thing done, regardless of whether the performance was a poor one. I did make a very conscious effort to keep my form as clean as possible, though I suspect it suffered some towards the end.

When class ended I only had 10 pullups left, but there was a yoga class that gets very putout if we go over, so Max kicked us out. That really sent me over the edge, but I pulled myself together, got myself over to the pneumatic gravitron in the weight area, waited for the damn thing to pressurize, and did my last 10 reps. I was NOT going to accept a DNF after all the work I did.

Food:
9:00a 8oz coffee w 3/4 cup milk
11:30 1.25 c small curd cottage cheese w/ 2oz slivered almonds & 1tsp cinnamon
4:00 left over mongolian beef 1.25 cups?
4:30 1 oz spiced cashews
8:10 regular chile verde burrito & 12oz milk

Sleep:
12:27a-8:05am

A new Resolution

I've been frustrated lately feeling like i get overtrained really easily. I feel like i am consatntly doing a half volume week to try to get my energy back up, and I don't really know what the cause is so I've decided to make a conscious effort to a) get a full night's sleep (which I am currently failing at as I write this), and b) start using fit day to track what I eat, and my moods and my sleep to see if I can find a correlation between what worksto help keep me feeling strong, and what does not. Fit day is also not going to help me get to bed on time, especially if I take the tiem, as my OCD tendencies want me to, to set up all the custom foods I eat. SO i'm going to try to deny the worst of those tendencies, and approximate where I can to begin with and just add stuff slowly as I can when I have time. Although with my approximations it looks like I ate about 2100 calories today and 55% of it was fat ... which seems like a lot of calories and a lot of fat ... so ... I have no idea.

Last night I managed to get into bed @ 12:05. It is 12:05 right now - so I guess tonight will be a little bit later. (But not much - signing off)