“Me” Day

I’ve been spending some quality time with the girls over the past few days and I think Rina has appreciated spending a bit more one-on-one time with her Mommy and Daddy. Last night, she came to me with this sweet love note:

Rina <3<3<3<3 maman

Last night, I was getting ready to not be able to sleep before my night shift tonight, but the husband had arranged for the girls to spend most of the day with his parents so that I could get some alone time and do whatever I wanted with my day, including nap before night shift! #hesawesome ! I quickly changed gears and planned my day accordingly! On my to-do list:

• cook a healthy meal for night shift. During the holidays, I see a crazy amount of treats in (and out) of our break room and if I don’t plan my meals accordingly, it’s easier to fall off the wagon. Although my Whole30 is officially over since last Saturday, I have yet to have a “cheat meal”. It’s going to happen tonight with this recipe from Inspiralized

Image taken from  inspiralized.com

• Do a little laundry
• Tidy up the house
• Wrap-up Christmas presents
• knit, if I have time left-over!

While I was slowly enjoying a late breakfast, the doorbell rang. I went to open the door and it was a flower delivery!

The husband surprised me with a nice floral arrangement “just because” this morning! <3! More brownie points for him! I cleaned up breakfast, helped getting the girls ready and packed for the day and Ben drove them to my in-laws. I got going on the laundry and just finished cooking the Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potato Noodle Bowl with Pomegranate and Maple-Sesame Vinaigrette (long title, delicious meal!) hence, where I will be breaking my Whole30 (maple syrup isn’t compliant to the Whole30). I did add some cooked chicken to the recipe for my night snack in order to bump up the protein content of the meal. I cleaned up my dishes and am now about to wrap up some presents all while attending to the laundry, and it’s not even noon yet! #score

I begged Ben to bring the girls back home for dinner as I will otherwise be away from them for close to 24hrs and I can’t remember when I’ve been apart from them for so long. At the same time, it makes me realize that maybe I SHOULD make it a point to take more time for myself once-in-a-while… Food for thought!

Enough blogging, I have a full day ahead and I plan on making the most of it!

 

 

So Close I Can Taste It

I’m tired. I have been on mommy duty by myself since Friday and I’m pooped. The girls are good, but I’m exhausted and trying to get the last-minute purchases done for the girls while I am married-single-parenting is exhausting. Thank goodness I had planned ahead and booked Nanny to the rescue for today. She came in just in time for me to go to Crossfit and since she was curious about the whole thing, we packed everybody in the car and Béa and Nanny came to watch me workout!

I did my usual solo warm-up and then I went onto the rig to try some TTB. I managed the usual 2 and went for an extra one and managed this one as well! I got greedy and tried for a 4th, but no luck. Still, a PR during the warm-up was nice! I teased Rob about it on Facebook (we have a bet as to whom will get to 10 TTB first. Although, now that I think of it, I don’t think we’ve ever established what the winner gets… Rob, if you’re reading, I say bragging rights!) and then moved onto the team warm-up:

Source

I teamed up with Marie who recently graduated from the OnRamp and since we’re about the same height, I figured it would take us similar time to get through the erg.

 

Skill: Back Squat 5×3 E90s

I was trying to PR on this one and go for 140#. It would have been a 5# PR. It didn’t happen, but I was close and considering I was still feeling my new depth at the bottom of the squat, it felt REALLY good. I felt strong, more able to keep my chest up and didn’t feel like I was “butt-stripping” getting out of the squat. Here was my progression:

120#-125#-130#-135#-140# (managed 1 rep and bailed coming out of my 2nd).

I think there was a lot happening for me on these:

1. I was seeing stars coming up from my 1st rep @ 140# and I didn’t take a long enough pause to breathe and recoup at the top
2. I was in my head a lot. I knew that if I managed to do this today, I was literally 5# away from my bodyweight back squat and I’ve been chasing this one for close to 2 years now. My heart was pumping fast and I could tell I was in a hyper mode.

I may not have PR’d my 5×3 and I don’t have a 1RM, but I’m confident that 140# was an amazing 1RM for me! The fact that I felt so good and strong during my reps gave me a ton of confidence. Also, being able to bail out of the lift safely made me feel good too. It’s nice to know that I not only have the technique to do my lifts in a safe manner, but I also have the knowledge to get out of them if I can’t complete a rep.

WOD: 4 Hundred

I paired up with Marie again and even though she was doing the FG+, I firmly believe that we both were working equally hard at it. I decided to try this one RX and it did not disappoint! I started us off on the wallballs because, well, in all honesty, I just wanted to get them done and over with! Lol! We broke them up in sets of 10 and I then had to break my sets into 2×5, pretty early in the game. Marie was doing squats while holding the med ball because of shoulder issues, which meant that she was done a lot quicker for her sets and I had less time to recover. She was nice enough to get us started on the push-ups and surprisingly to me, I was really struggling through those. We both did them all RX and Marie was so strong and straight throughout them all, I was super impressed! We split them up into sets of 5.

I took over for the reverse lunges and I was apprehensive about those as any split movement is usually what gives me sciatic pain. I tried my best to brace my deep abdominals and so far, *knocks on wood*, no butt pain! We split those up into 10s and got through them fairly quick.

I started us off for the Plates ground to overhead and it was my 1st time using the 25# plate for those. They felt really strong. It felt like I was really able to keep the plate close to my body and really use my hips to get it overhead. There were two reps towards the end where I struggled to get the plate to actually touched the ground, but even if we finished last, I felt really good about our work today.

Once I was done, I clean dup quickly in the bathroom and BeZU, Nanny and I were off to hit the stores. I managed to find one item on the girls’ Santa list and I was happy with that. I hid my purchases in the trunk and Béa was none the wiser.

After lunch, we came back home where I finished laundry and relaxed a bit on the couch. We then went to pick-up Rina at themes stop and we trooped everyone to a smaller mall where I was hoping to get the girls’ picture taken with Santa.  I had scoped the hours ahead of time and I knew the big guy was supposed to be there until 5pm. To my surprise, there was nobody in line when we got there. I forked out the $14 for one 5×7 pic (not without some grumbling) and approached the jolly red dude. Béatrice was scared to death and wanted nothing to do with him. She kept hiding behind my legs and I could feel her little body shaking against my leg. I asked Santa if I could sit next to him to warm her up to him and once he said it was fine, she climbed on my lap. I tried to get her to sit on his lap: No. I tried to get her to sit next to him: No. I tried to get her to stand in front of here sister (who was, by then, telling Santa everything she wanted for Christmas): No. In the end, I decided it was going to be a family picture and I got in there with the girls. After all, I wanted them both to have their picture taken, but I wasn’t gonna hang around there forever!

It turned out much better than I thought and at least both girls are smiling. I look like an exhausted, sweaty mom (because I am), but I couldn’t care less!

Once we were done, I went to get the envelope with the picture and noticed there was another sheet in there. At first I thought it was an order sheet to order extras, but when I took it out, I saw this:

Rina, handing Santa a drawing she had done

I was so unaware that the photographer had taken this one and I was really touched that she had included it in the envelope. I thanked her profusely and we all went on our merry way home, where we had dinner, I bathed everyone, made lunches for tomorrow, took my work clothes out and now, I’m about to make myself a cup of broth with my hot water bottle on my back and do my version of #NetflixandChill which is #Netflixandbroth 🙂

 

Feeling Accomplished

I came home last night and French Nanny had done the laundry, baked a cake and cupcakes with the girls, cleaned the 1st floor, went to the pool with the little ones and played basketball with them. I could get used to that!

I went to bed exhausted and was looking forward to sleeping in until 0600, except our smoke detector chirped twice at 0515 for no reason. Of course, nobody but me work up from he smoke detector… So much for sleeping in!

I went to the 0700 WOD this morning and was surprised to see another 0600-er! Bo had missed the WOD yesterday so he was there to do it today, just like me.

Source

Skill: Kipping pull-ups practice

As per Coach AJ, if we were using band, she wanted us to do strict pull-ups and work on our swing instead. I tried using the red and purple bands, but had to increase to red and blue since I couldn’t do a single rep. I managed well considering and felt good doing those. Below are my reps:

5-6-7-7-7

WOD: Deadlimp

I had done this one back in May and had used 115# for the DL and had to go down from 35# to 26# for the reverse lunges as well as do step up box because my quads were seizing back then. My goal for today was to use 120# for the DL and 35# for the reverse lunges for all rounds. I had the 26# KB next to me, just in case. Midway through, I had to resort to doing step up boxes again, for fear of face planting on the box. I ploughed through with the reverse lunges and even though I had to break them into 2 sets of 6 for most rounds, I managed all rounds with that 35#KB! I was so happy! It was the 1st time I ever managed a full WOD with weighted lunges at that weight. For some reason, I’m still pretty weak on those and they are a struggle, but I pushed through and managed to finish it all with an average of 45s rest for each intervals!

I came back home and text Kathleen about the WOD. We had been texting back and forth about it last night and she wanted to know how I fared this morning (she had done it yesterday). I love how we can be “juiceheads” together and discuss and strategize over WODs! Strong women unite! I ate myself a lovely breakfast and got to work cleaning the rest of the house that French Nanny didn’t have time to do yesterday. I managed to do that while Ben finished the laundry (Thanks Babe! You rock!) and then got cooking. I am adapting this Beef Stroganoff recipe from The Paleo Mama for my slow cooker. I used ground beef and threw the beef, onions, garlic, mushrooms and seasonings in my InstantPot and sautéd it until the beef was cooked. I then shut off the sauté function, added 1 can coconut milk, 2 tsp of vegetable Better Than Bouillon, about 1-2 tsp of arrowroot powder, and about 2-3 tbsp of tomato paste (I usually freeze my left-overs from the can flat in a ziplock bag and cut whatever I need for recipes. Today, I just threw in whatever I had left in the freezer). Turn on my InstantPot on the slow cooker function on high for 4hrs. While this is stewing and filling the house with lovely comfort-food fragrance, I prepped a cauliflower head into rice and stir-fried my “rice” in the Wok. Now, everything will be ready for me to pack into work tonight when I get up from my nap! I’ll add some frozen kale in my container when I pack it up and that will be perfect, convenient and healthy! I’ll update with a picture once everything is ready to be photographed!

The girls have been absolute angels all morning. They’ve been playing together quietly while I was cleaning and I didn’t have to discipline them once! They sure are growing up!

How Do They Do It?

I woke up and made my way to the Box for the 0600 class this morning. I was sore from my little adventures with Kathleen yesterday (Thanks for the torture! 😉 ) and I could definitely feel a very tender spot in my glutes. I looked up the WOD and was sad to see wallballs in the warm-up and squats in the WOD. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle all that squatting action with such a sore bum. Oh well, better drag that sore bum to the gym anyway.

The warm-up was ok. It was my 1st time doing wallballs in the new space on the rafters and it was an adjustment. I stopped trying after my 7th rep on the 2nd round since everybody was warming up the presses for the skill portion

Source

Skill: Strict press 5×3 E90s

My weights were all screwed up for this as I was looking at my push press numbers. Yeah, not doing 100# strict press anytime soon! I scaled it back down to the appropriate weight and here’s what I did. I was trying to get to 65#, but it didn’t happen:

55#-60#-65# failed my last rep – 65# failed my last rep – 62#. New PR by 2#! Lol!

WOD: Escalator 2

I was thinking of trying to do the FG1+ with 75#, but I reloaded my bar after the 1st round. It was a lot to clean from the ground and there was no way I would be able to squat that weight for 55 reps total. I lost some precious time removing the plates and settled for 65#. My SDBJ were all done at 20″, although I did a few practice jumps at 24″ and managed 3-4 without any problem. I just didn’t think I could do so after squatting and with exertion and I didn’t want to repeat a fall on my shins, so I settled for 20″. My pull-ups were all done with the red band and around round 7, I realized I could easily get back onto the bar without having to use the box or even the clip on the rig. Woot! Woot! Been waiting 2 years to be able to do assisted pull-ups with a band that offered enough resistance to help me do my reps, but without struggling to get onto the rig. Apparently, the red band or thinner is the one! 🙂 Time was called when just as I was making my way to the bar (pretty sure I was the only one left working) for my squats on the round of 9. We were to add 1 second to the 18:00 time cap for each rep missing. I ended up with 18:39 (missed all my reps for the round of 10 + my 9 squats = 39).

I was pretty bummed about my score as I felt I was totally cheating. It would have taken me much longer to finish my reps, but them’s are the rules and I did like everyone else. It’s only now that I entered my score online that I realize I, in fact, did FG1+ because FG1 was only up to 8 reps and I managed to get almost all of the 9 reps done! Yay! Not too bad after all!

I came back home and was not looking forward to the rest of my day. Ben has been leaving early everyday this week as he’s running his camps and that means I’ve been pulling extra weight with the girls. I was already exhausted from 3 WODs in 3 days and my hands have been sore and sensitive ever since I came back home this morning. I have some subcutaneous blisters from all the erg and pull-ups I’ve done this week and it means I have a hard time making a fist with my hands.

Blisters under the skin. They haven’t “popped” yet, but they are still painful

Ben must have felt something was off, he made me a coffee. The man truly knows the way to my heart. I was sad to see him leave for the day!

I managed to muster enough energy to take the girls to the playground on their scooters (that meant me having to carry both scooters and helmets back, since they refused to ride them home, lovely), make them a decent lunch and I was really hoping to be able to nap during their quiet time. I slept for maybe 15 minutes before they started screaming at one another. Nap time was over and I didn’t feel rested at all. I was sore everywhere and über grumpy. It got me thinking: how do athletes do this, day in and day out? Most of them not only train like beasts, they also need to work in order to make a living and they also have families! I had only done 3 little WODs in 3 days and my body was clearly letting me know it was done. I cannot imagine doing this 5-6 days/ week for 4-6hrs everyday! Hats off to the Games athletes!

I managed to cook some more food to prepare my return to work and I made this delicious paleo / Whole30 compliant Butter Chicken from The Primal Desire. The only modification I made was this one: dump everything in the slow cooker uncooked, set for 6hrs on high and voilà! Delicious Butter Chicken for dinner, served on top of cauliflower rice with some bell pepper.

Mandatory picture because it was delicious!

My lunch bag is packed full of Whole30 foods for tomorrow, my scrubs are out and waiting for me in the bathroom, the house is somewhat clean and I’m just waiting for the girls to be asleep before I can totally relax for the evening. Let’s pray I don’t have to wait too long!

Sorry this post is a bit late, I just didn’t have it in me to blog before now! 😉

Winning All Around

But really, I’ve also been losing all around. Proof in number and in pictures below:

 

In 31 days, I’ve lost 3.4lbs and lost 4.5″ overall. I’ve also lost some cellulite, some bloating and some sluggishness.

In 31 days, I’ve gained 2 guns (I’ve been waiting 2 years to see my biceps bulge and today, they’re very visible and I couldn’t be happier!), there’s a faint sighting of abs beginning to show, my back fat has decreased a lot, my shoulders are more defined and my butt has also lifted (soon, it’ll be right by my neck!)

Whole30 has done some wonderful things for me: I sleep better, I don’t crave processed foods (most days), I’ve dropped under 2:00/500m on the erg (huge for me) and I’ve created bonds with Kathleen, Telsey and Tracey who have joined and supported me through this crazy idea of doing the Whole30. Other than the 1st week, it’s been awesome and I plan on keeping it strict until July 15. That was our little group’s official end date (I started early) and I will stick by my girls through the end. Afterwards, I plan on maybe adding 1-2 cheat meals/week, but no more than that. It will be hard as I’ll be vacationing in Cuba, but I’ll try to make healthy and smart decisions about my food choices.

For the first time in years (we’re talking almost a decade here) I feel comfortable in my body. I know some parts are sagging and not as toned as they could be, but I’ve also had 2 humans take over my body for 18.5 months and I’m pretty stoked with how I look today. I have this newfound confidence and I feel like nothing can stop me. It’s onwards and upwards from here!

Kathleen was gracious enough to invite me to her garage gym (aka Jim’s Gym) for a WOD in order to get extra fitness in. I was nice to be able to have the girls play alongside us while we were working out in the sun. Here’s what we did:

Here’s what Kath had planned for us!

 

This WOD was hard for me and I used a 25# plate for it. I now know another weakness of mine is lunges with added weight. My quads and glutes were burning after this one! I finished in 9:12 and Kath was done way before me!

Following the WOD, we took some rest (I needed it!) and then did some work on the erg. Gotta work on those weaknesses!

We did 3x200m on the erg with rest of 1:30 in-between. It was closer to 2:30 rest since we were alternating between the two of us on the erg. You can see I kept my splits all below 2:00/500m for all 3 attempts, so yesterday wasn’t just a fluke! Apparently, I really have improved my fitness! Kathleen destroyed this, just like she did the WOD before. That woman is seriously fit and an inspiration, I tell you! Once we were done, Rina hopped on the erg and was trying to row so hard. She had pretty decent technique for a 4-year-old. She was complaining that she “wasn’t making any wind”. Already has a competitive side to her… I wonder where she gets this from?!?

Mandatory post-WOD’s sweaty selfie of Kathleen and I with Jim’s Gym sign in the background!

So happy to have made new friends with whom I can share a passion with and the friendships are not drama-related! Tomorrow, Telsey and I have planned to get together so the kiddos can have a play-date while we mamas can hang out! Very thankful for having all those new people in my life! Couldn’t ask for a better day to have it, really!

Higher Intensity, Lower Reps

My alarm woke me up this morning and I felt like I could have used another 5hrs of sleep. Meh! I got up and instantly felt the soreness in my hamstrings, shoulders and butt from yesterday’s Beach WOD. I could also feel the bruises on my biceps and forearms from the KB thrusters. I had a feeling today was gonna be a little ugly at the gym!

Source

Skill: Back Squat 6×3 E90S

I had worked up to 130# the last time I did these and I was determined to attempt 135# today, but my body had other plans. Here were my reps:

110#-115#-120#-125# up to then, I had no problem. I then loaded my bar with 130# did my 1st squat and, although I struggled to come up from it, I managed my 1st rep. I couldn’t get out from the bottom on the second, so I bailed out safely. Coach Caleb came by to help me re-rack my bar and after we chatted about the weight, He suggested I go back to 125#. I did just that, did my 1st rep successfully, but had to bail out of my 2nd rep because I couldn’t come out of the bottom. It’s all good, I know my body was tired and I had that piece of cake as well yesterday… 😉

WOD: Over Under Up

I decided to go with FG1+ on this one with the following modifications in order to challenge myself:

• 75# Shoulder to overhead (I did press jerks). We had to clean the bar up from the ground and I had never used that weight for a WOD until today. My 3RM for push jerks was 80# back in January and I knew using 75# today would be really hard, but I was determined to give it a go.
• DUs (I had a feeling I would struggle to get any reps on these, but still wanted to challenge myself to doing them Rx)
• banded pull-ups with the red band only (1st time I let go of the red and purple bands combined)

To say my score was very low is the understatement of the year. I ended up with a combined total of 58, but I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone. The DUs really killed me. Here’s how my rounds broke down:

1. 5 push jerks, 3 DUs, 3 pull-ups
2. 7 push jerks, 7 DUs, 4 pull-ups
3. 5 push jerks, 6 DUs, 4 pull-ups
4. 7 push jerks, 2 DUs, 5 pull-ups

Like I said, not the best numbers, but I managed to increase my pull-ups on each rounds and finished strong with the push jerks, so I’m happy with that.

Since Rina is now done with preschool for the summer, I had the luxury of taking my time after the WOD and I even went to get some groceries. I had a plan in mind and, boy, am I glad I stuck to my plan. Ever since Tracey had us over for our little Whole30 girls’ night, I have been craving ribs (she had made a delicious recipe on that night). I perused my cookbooks and the internet and finally settled on this recipe, from Holly Would If She Could, since it is Whole30-compliant AND slow-cooker friendly. We had a bit of a break in the heat wave yesterday, but it came back in full swing today and there is no way I would turn on the oven to cook anything in this heat. The girls are having quiet time in their rooms, fans are blasting on full-speed and Béa even asked that she just stays in her diaper. Poor munchkin is HOT! As I was driving to the grocery store in the early morning, I rolled down my windows and there was a faint breeze coming in from the ocean and you could smell the sea breeze in the air. It lingered around until around 10am and every time the wind would pick up gently, you could smell the ocean. It was lovely and it made me thankful I get to live so close to the ocean that I get to smell it in the air, once in a while, without having to leave my house!

The ribs are filling the house with a lovely scent (I didn’t change anything to the recipe and used the same BBQ sauce. The only difference is I didn’t boil the sauce. Nobody got time for that and I figured the slow cooker would take care of that step for me! 😉 I will serve this on a bed of lettuce because it’s too hot to eat anything else. Tomorrow, I plan on making Salmon À l’Afrique Du Nord that was recommended from Kathleen. You can find the recipe in Well Fed by Melissa Joulwan, or on her blog here. I have everything at home to make it and using the BBQ means avoiding turning on the oven = WIN! I also plan on grilling Blueberry Breakfast Sausage on the BBQ, but I will replace the pork with ground turkey. You can find the recipe on the Whole30 FB page, in their photo album.

That’s it! The girls have decided that quiet time is over and I must go back to being a mom! See you all in a few days!

Beach And Birthday Love

Phew! What a fund day we had today!

It all started with a fun Beach WOD that was held by our Box at Willows Beach. The setting was so pretty. Mt. Baker was so very visible in the distance and the ocean was just lying down in front of it. I really should have taken pictures, but I was too busy having fun with my Crossfit family. My real family was also there to cheer me on as Ben and the girls played on the beach while I worked a good sweat

The WOD was a team one that consisted of this:

In teams of 2 partners, 3 rounds for time:

• 50 double KB thrusters
• 50 burpees
• 1km run

Uhm yeah! That was totally Kathleen and I when the team WOD was announced!

The thruster and burpees were 1 partner at-a-time and the run was both partners together. We started strong with the KB thrusters (2×26#) and that got heavy fast. Coach AJ said that was probably close to a 70# traditional thruster. I did my half and then moved onto the burpees. I still can’t believe I did all my burpees Rx! Who knew I could be good at burpees!?! I sure didn’t! Then we went out on the beach for the run. Rina was keeping pace with us. I was amazed at her form and stamina and also, at the fact that I could barely keep up with her. 😦 My 4 year-old is better at running than I am! Kathleen was nice enough to slllloooooooowwwwww down her pace by a lot and she stayed with me, even after I urged her to go on without me.

For our second round, Kathleen ran ahead to our KB spot and started us off strong. She looked so good doing the double KB thrusters! Fierce! I did 3 and then switched to 35# KB taters. I tried again and did 2, then switched back to KB taters. I was having some bladder issues doing the double KB thrusters, so yeah, that was fun! Not! I ploughed through the burpees though and those felt good. Kathleen’s shoulder started to bug her by the end of the thrusters and she decided to modify them on the last round. Off we went onto the beach for our second run. I was worn out, but Kathleen kept motivating me by urging me to take deep belly breath, pace my steps on my breaths and to use my “long, light legs”. I tried to imagine my legs being long and light, but had a really difficult time. Still, We took only a few breaks and went back to the KB.

Once again, Kathleen started us off strong and I just resolved to do my taters. Burpees were good and I just couldn’t believe how good I felt doing them Rx. Not only that, but since Kath had modified them to a plank burpee, I figured I’d give her shoulders a break and did 10 on my last set so she would only have one last set to do. She urged me to run to the stairs leading to the beach and I obliged. Once we made our way to the compact sand, she also suggested we run to the “first log on the beach” that was almost at our turnaround point. Had I been alone, I would have quit much before that point, but because she was by my side, I kept moving forward, one step at a time. She let me walk from the log to the rock and then we turned around. I had made up my mind to run back to the stairs and I even managed to pick up my pace! Kathleen was such a good coach. I told her many times to take off ahead of me, but she wouldn’t leave my side! Best. Partner. Ever! I made my way up the stairs and then, with Kathleen’s encouragement, I sprinted back to our KB before falling on all fours. We came in last in 37:50, but I was pretty happy with how I had done overall!

I was a bit stressed about making our way back home as I had planned a surprise birthday party for Ben’s 40th. There was no way I wouldn’t celebrate this special occasion and I had to rush back home as I had told people to come around 1215.

There was a screw-up with my food platters order and they weren’t ready when my SIL went to pick them up 😦 We had to wait an hour before they were ready for pick-up and other than that little hiccup, I think the lunch party was a success. Ben seemed genuinely surprised (he thought I had something planned at the beach) and he thanked me a bunch of times after everyone left. Now if you know my husband, you know he’s not a man of many words, so for him to be so thankful meant a lot to me! I guess I did good!

Birthday boy and his girls!

You see that cake? It was a hazelnut/chocolate cheesecake. Now, I’ve been resisting all the temptations since starting my Whole30, but today, I allowed myself to have a slice of that cake. On day 22, I made the full decision to have something non-Whole30 compliant. Will I start back my Whole30 from day one? Nope! I knew full well my husband’s birthday was in the middle of my Whole30 challenge and I had made the decision when I started it that I would have a slice of his birthday cake. I fully assume this decision and I refuse to stress about it. I will keep it going as strong as I can until I leave for Cuba in August, but until then, I feel better not having the processed stuff. Not sure I have more energy, but I sure sleep better and I seem to perform better when I do my WODs. Also, I haven’t had to rely on these since I started, and that is a huge bonus!

So long, trustee crutch!

I posted this yesterday:

Said no to Bite-size brownies in order to rock my bikini in Cuba!

I may not have abs yet, but I have nice obliques and I,m so darn proud of my traps! The slice of cake was good, but I can feel it sitting in my throat now and although I’m glad I had it, it just goes to show that this much sugar doesn’t agree with me at all! Back on the Whole30 wagon as of now! 😉 I have given some of the cheesecake away to our guests and there’s about 1/4 of it left for Ben and the girls to have if they choose to have any. As for me, I’m more than happy to go back to my meat, veggies and fruits, nuts and seeds!

 

Being Bloated Blows

Notice the nice alliteration in the title?!? Yep! That’s what you get from someone who almost finished her B.A in English Lit! Nice to see those 3 years of university REALLY paid off! Lol!

 

Yep, if you refer to the Whole30 timeline, I’ve hit the bloated stage, right on target! Bleh! My abdomen is already not the smallest to begin with, now I look like a stuffed sausage when I try to fit in my workout pants and shorts. Still, it didn’t deter me from going to the 0600 WOD for this:

Source

Skill: (Hang power clean x2 + Push press/ jerk x2) EMOM x10

I may have been bloated, but dang, I was ready for this fun stuff. My left shoulder and trap have been bugging me lately, but I still wanted to work somewhat hard on theses. I settled for 65#  and did Push jerks all the way and it felt really, really good. I felt like I could have kept going for more rounds when we were done and I managed to correct my landing on the power clean after Coach Caleb gave me tips. I wasn’t landing wider than my beginning stance and felt comfortable correcting that little thing!

WOD: Pulp

There were 14 of us so we split up into two random heats and I was into the 1st one. I decided on FG with the red and orange bands for the pull-ups and made the mental commitment to do all my HRPU Rx. Here’s how it went.

First round of HRPU I did 10, rested and then did sets of 5 to the end. My left shoulder was getting unnerved and I was happy when I was done this round. Onto the rig I went and I split up my reps as such:

4-3-3-3-3-2-2

Those were hard, I won’t lie. Back on the floor I went for my second round of HRPU:

5-5-5-5-5-5

Onto the rig I went. I split up my pull-ups like this:

2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2

I was the last one of my heat to finish (not surprisingly) at 8:44. Not bad. My shoulder was really bugging me by then and I was glad I was done. Ryan killed it doing it the Comp version with the weighted vest and Tracey was simply amazing to watch as she fought for every pull-up Rx. She was doing them with a 2-kip motion and she was out of this world!

I came back home and felt like I had a ton of energy left. I showered, made breakfast for the girls while my other half made me coffee (with Whole30 unsweetened almond milk!) and once everybody was good for breakfast, I made myself this wonderful plate:

That was the perfect breakfast. AS you can see, I had already started to eat it but still wanted to capture all the gorgeous colours of this plate! My breakfast consisted of:

• 2 eggs, over easy
• unsweetened salsa
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• my hubby-made coffee

It was perfect and it hit the spot. I have no problem getting my pre-WOD snack in (usually chicken and a few nuts) in the optimal time range, but I really struggle to get my post-WOD one in on time. It’s usually around 1hr post WOD that I’m able to sit down and get some fuel in my body. Meh! I’m a busy mom/wife and will always make sure the little ones are fed so my hubby can get out the door on time for school drop-off or gymnastics. When they’re older and more autonomous, I’ll work on getting my recovery meal in on time! 🙂

Once I was done with breakfast, I loaded up the dishwasher, finished the laundry and cleaned upstairs. That took 2hrs and then it was time for school pick-up! Phew! I think I will crash when I nap before work tonight!

 

Something New

Remember last week when I said to you all that Rachel Siemens might start a weightlifting class at CFVC? Well, she did and her first class was today. I signed up for 3 classes, to see how it would feel like to be coached by a different coach on my Oly lifting. Some different things:

• the class today was at 1230, therefore, I am a little more awake than my 0600 class, but it also means I have to manage my meals accordingly.
• I have to “check with the husband” before I go. If we’re both off on weekends, it’s unspoken knowledge that we normally have “family-time” for most of the weekend. I just wanted to make sure he was ok with me going to lift heavy things for 1hr on a Sunday when we’re both home.
• Coach Rachel isn’t Coach Caleb. Duh. No kidding. They both have a different approach at Oly lifting and it’s nice to have a different perspective, or cues on my lifts. Some of the things are very similar, but some are very different.

Overall, I had fun (that is, until Rachel brought out the whip because I was being a smart a**. That got me to shut up quickly! 😉 )! The class was very fast-paced, yet it felt like we really worked on plenty of things. Here’s what I ended up doing for reps and weights:

Pause OHS: Rachel wanted us all to start light for these and she went according to our 1RM Snatch, so I had to start with the training bar with 2×5#. That felt light. Pausing at the bottom of the squat for 3secs was easy.

Hang Power Snatch: Again, I started with an empty bar and worked my way up to 50#. I think I could have gone up to 55# easily, but we ran out of time. Rachel gave me a good tip to start on my toes and curl my wrists towards my legs, elbows slightly facing forward on my last rep. That felt weird, but she said she was pleased with the results. She also said I would be able to do 65# Squat Snatch in no time. What she doesn’t know is my hesitation to drop into the squat has been my major issue all along and she didn’t get to see that in the power snatch. We’ll see! 😉

Hang Power Clean: Those felt good. Again, I just need to remind myself of keeping contact on my legs with the bar on the pull. Still struggling with this as the weight goes up.

Snatch Grip DL: Those were hard, but I did manage to go up to 65# which is technically 100% of my snatch weight (although I have never successfully managed a squat snatch at that weight). You could really feel your posterior chain working hard and I had to drop my butt much lower on my set-up. It felt weird at the beginning, but then I kind of got used to it. Something to keep working on.

 

In other news:

I officially start the Whole30 tomorrow! Yay! Although, it will probably end up being a Whole60 or maybe even a Whole100 (with some modifications when we go to Cuba for a week). I’m really hoping this will be a new way of living for me and not just a fad. I know I already feel better and I sleep so much more soundly at night (that is, when BeZU isn’t puking in her bed at 0400… Which happened last night, ugh!) and, already, I feel like I have more energy.

But why doing the Whole30 and why now you might ask? Here are my reasons:

So long, trustee crutch!

I have been popping one of these bad boys pretty much on a daily basis ever since I got pregnant with Rina, 4 1/2 years ago. Heartburn is something I’ve come to consider normal for me. THEY AREN’T! I have been doing the Whole30 unofficially since last Sunday and haven’t had the need to take a Zantac since Tuesday. It may not be much for you all, but that’s a whole 5 days without me resorting to medication to relieve my upset stomach. WIN!

I already have talked about it previously, but energy levels are a big thing for me. I’m usually up at or around 0500. Every day. Whether I have to be or not. I also do Crossfit and have  2 daughters who like to be on the move (as should they, at 2 and 4)! Sometimes, I admit that keeping up with them is a struggle. However, since starting my Whole30, I’m usually in bed at 2130 (on a good night when I stay up late), which means I get close to my 8hrs of Zzzz. It also means that I have the energy to, let’s say, take them to the playground, go for an Oly lifting class (by myself) and then take them to the pool before putting them to bed. (Exactly what we did today). All that, on top of laundry and only having coffee this morning (no caffeine after noon, except on night shift duty). So yes, higher energy levels will always be welcome for me!

The third one is particular to me. Don’t be afraid by the picture below, but I’m trying something here. Here’s a picture of me, no make-up.

Not smiling because when I do, you can’t see my dark circles…

Notice the dark circles under my eyes? They have lived there pretty much since my early 20’s and I’m just curious to find out if doing the Whole30 will help lose those. Maybe it won’t, but I’ll check back in 30 days. 😉

Another reason is purely about gainz. I want to see if I’ll be able to PR on certain lifts or WODs at Crossfit. I’ll also keep you posted on these as we go along!

Finally, let’s face it: losing some weight or some pudge would be awesome! I’ve always said that I will be wearing a bikini on the beaches of Cuba (I am very comfortable with who I am thanks to Crossfit and self-confidence), but if I could really rock that bikini, that would be gravy on top, right?!?

So there. Those are my reasons for doing the Whole30 now. My “pre-Whole30” pictures and measurements are done. I will keep them to myself until I do the comparison in 31 days! I hope you stick around for the joyride! 🙂

Warning Signs

I’ve been getting a few warning signs lately and I have been paying attention. Yesterday, on my way home from work, I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection. My car decided to just completely stop. Nothing was lit up on my dashboard. Panic hit me like a ton of brick as I tried a few times to restart my engine without any luck. Great. I’ll be the dumba** stuck in the left lane and not moving. Luckily, I gave my car a little rest and was able to restart my car and drive home. This morning, it started but my radio was playing static on every station. I’m pretty sure it is my battery dying and I took my car in after lifting class to get a new one and get my car serviced.

After a little sleep yesterday, I still felt dizzy and spinning and was glad I took a sick day from work. I’ve had a hard week with more lady-problems than usual and I just felt so tired from the previous night at work. I went to bed early after a massive allergy attack hit me around 2100. Loaded myself up with anti-histamines and was hoping to wake up refreshed. No such luck, unfortunately. I woke up feeling like this:

Totally empty

Waking up and feeling like I could use a whole other night of sleep isn’t great. Knowing I mentally committed to going to Oly class made it just that much worst. I was still extremely sore from Tuesday’s Boulder Shoulder WOD and I haven’t been able to pick up the girls since then. I was hoping that moving for the lifting class would help get rid of the soreness so I got up at 0500 and showed up.

The warmup almost did me in and I didn’t have any expectations for the lifts.

Snatch Balance + 2 OHS (7×2 E2M @87.5%): I had missed this set 3 weeks ago and I did 85% for the hang snatch (turns out it would have been my 87.5% as well).

I chose 55# and stuck to it. I was really trying to commit and landing the bar over my head while at the bottom of my squat. The OHS were mostly good, except for 2 that were wobbly, but I’m really getting comfortable at this weight! 🙂

Power Clean & Jerk 6×2 E3M: I was aiming to finish at 80# on this lift and worked my weights backwards from that. It felt really good until I hit 75#.

55#-60#-65#-70#-75#-80#

The power cleans were getting hard and I totally screwed up my last rep at 80# on both the clean and the jerk. Meh! I was done! Had absolutely nothing left! I did, however felt like I could at least raise my arms overhead, so that was a win on mobility, compared to how sore I was when I first walked in the gym this morning!

6am and already at the bar (almost feeling hungover too)!

Now. Confession time. I’ve been cheating. I know I said I was starting my Whole30 on June 15, but I have slowly been weaning myself into it. I have to say, I did read about the timeline and quickly discarded it to the back of my already full little brain. I am probably on day 5 today and now, my week and how I’ve been feeling is all starting to make sense.

The feeling hungover on Tuesday, me being short-tempered with Béatrice at bedtime last night and the absolute zero energy this morning. It’s all starting to make sense now. I hadn’t thought about it, but now it all makes sense. I am a day ahead of “schedule”, but it still makes sense. Let’s just say I am very much looking forward to “Tiger blood” day.