Playing Around Pays Off

Because my back injury had been acting up, I recently decided to “take a break from powerlifting”. This hasn’t actually been a break, more just… a little time away from heavy lifting. After two weeks of avoiding heavy work, focusing on speed, working on technique, and trying to remember how to do double-unders — My body felt amazing! I wasn’t achy and tense all the time. My back didn’t hurt. I felt…. light…. and tall. It was weird — and great!! I will say however, the amount of pent up energy within me got a little overwhelming. I wanted to run instead of walk, I couldn’t WAIT for my CrossFit classes, I WANTED TO PICK UP HEAVY THINGS AGAIN!

Upon noticing that this is how I was feeling, I decided to cancel my CrossFit class on Saturday and do some heavy volume work instead. I FELT SO STRONG! It is absolutely amazing what a bit of time away from heavy work did for me. Never before has heavy volume felt so easy!

My eyes have definitely been opened to training with a bit more variation, speed, explosive power, and agility. Also, to giving myself a bit of time to recover. I know I need to do this more, but it’s hard to see the forest through the trees sometimes.

I am so happy with how great this workout felt that I think I am going to try this again. Planning to do a bench session tomorrow (since I haven’t done one in a while) and then, I will go back to doing some CrossFit/speed/technique work for a couple weeks. Then, once I feel like my head will explode if I don’t do some heavy lifting… I’ll hit a heavy day again.

I’m looking forward to see how this un-programmed programming goes.

#feelingconfident

I also got to hang out with my sister this weekend! Woo!!

Lifting Log for Saturday:

Squats:
45# x 5
95# x 5
135# x 3
155# x 3
185# x 8
185# x 8
185# x 8
all of this felt insanely easy. I could feel the sets of 8 in my heart, but my muscles felt ready to kick ass the entire time.

Deadlifts:
135# x  5
185# x 3
225# x 1
250# x 5 (pr!) I probably had 7 or 8 here today. The most I have ever done 250# for is 2, I believe.

Deficit Deadlifts:
225# x 3 from 3 inches

Chins:
a zillion singles over the course of a couple hours while coaching

Walking Lunges:
24kg – 10 steps each leg

My diet has been dog shit the past couple days. I had family in town and I just haven’t been that motivated to eat well. I’m sure my motivation will come back soon.

Sleep, Food, & Powerlifting

The past couple weeks have really been kicking my ass. I’m trying to get my head back in the game but am having  a really hard time with my recovery habits. My job has been pretty nuts the past two weeks, with non stop deadlines and late late late nights. I have been barely eeking by with 7 hours of sleep a night and I am usually a 8-10/night type of girl. I can feel it effecting my lifts – everything feels heavy and it takes me 40 minutes of warm ups before I finally feel like I have some strength.

Mmmmmm architecture for breakfast 😉 

I can also feel the strict paleo diet effecting my lifts negatively. I know I’m not eating enough calories & carbs lately but I haven’t been able to make the time to prep the food I need to get through the day, so it’s been… salads, salads, and more salads lately.  They are tasty and healthy, but they are not helping me get my deadlifts off the ground. I love eating paleo because I love focusing of food quality so intensely, but when training hard, it requires a LOT of attention to make sure you are eating enough food. And I know I haven’t been.

Strawberries, Arugula & Fennel (…chicken & pecans too)

I am currently weighing around 152 in the mornings (this about 4 pounds less than my morning weight a month ago, and about 15 pounds less than my morning weight a year ago) . On one hand I’m really happy being a bit lighter because I am feeling more confident I will be able to compete in the 148 weight class in December. On the other hand, I am feeling sluggish in the gym. All of my lifts (except my bench press, weirdly) have been feeling really heavy and I am missing lifts I would normally consider well within my strength range.

Anyway, I know this is what happens, when you don’t focus enough on recovery. I see it happen to my lifters all the time and I don’t know why I think I should get to be an exception. I have been working really hard at the office and I haven’t been putting the energy I need into getting enough sleep and food. But seriously, missing these lifts is such a bummer. And it’s mentally exhausting.

I am going to focus a lot more of my energy this week on making sure I get at LEAST 8 hours of sleep a night, and at least 2000 calories a day (with a big portion of that being healthy carbs). I went grocery shopping today and stocked up on plantains, sweet potatoes, apple, parsnips and carrots — planning to put them to good use!

I have 9 weeks until my next meet and it’s time to get my game face on and start eating like a mother fucking powerlifter!!

Thursday 9/26

Active recovery & mobility work

Breakfast: 2 eggs & Sausage
Lunch: Chicken breast & brussel sprouts
Dinner: 18 pieces sashimi, ginger dressing salad, 1 cup of rice (I cheated because I thought I was deadlifting friday morning and knew I didn’t eat enough)
Worked super late, got home at like midnight, went to bed, slept through the gym.

Friday 9/27

Push-up program & mobility work

Breakfast: Chicken & Spinach omelette. 1 mango. 1 banana
Lunch: Salad pictured above
Dinner: Indian feast knowing I was going to deadlift Saturday morning.
Worked late again, got home did my push-up program and some stretching. Went to bed. Max push-ups 17.

Saturday 9/28

Breakfast: 3 eggs & sausage

Heavy Deadlift Day

Stretching & mobility: 10-15 minutes rumble roller, lacrosse ball, shoulder stretches
Deadlifts: I was feeling strong and ambitious when I first got to the gym so I wanted to pull some heavy singles before starting my work. I was expecting to work up to 275-300ish… I was wrong. After 2 weeks of no sleep or food, I was nowhere near strong.
135#x5
185#x3
225#x2
245#xF So, this is a weight I don’t think I have missed in YEARS so this sucked. I felt super dizzy and faint, and was seeing stars. (please see my… “not enough food/sleep” theory above)
245#x1 A little ammonia and a yell to clear my head helped get me ready to go. This was smooth and easy once I got it moving, but I was not happy that I missed it the first time
265#xF
… then I gave up on deadlifts because this was just… frustrating.

About half way through my powercleans I realized I had never put my belt on during my deadlifts and that was probably why everything was so shockingly heavy. (Duh.)  Turns out, 245# is a beltless PR. So, that made me feel a bit better, but not hugely so. I was still bummed out about everything feeling heavy. I moved on to cleans for a while because I was mad at deadlifting. (don’t worry, I forgave and forgot after moving around for a bit 😉 )

Cleans: 5 sets of 3 @ 35 kilos, 3 sets of 3 at 40 kilos

Powercleans: 2 sets of 1 @45kilos

Deadlifts off 6″ blocks: I wore my belt for these and everything felt much better. Worked up to 275# for 3 sets of 2.

Snatch Grip Deadlifts off blocks: 1 set of 8 @ 135… stupid easy.

Lunch: Chicken breasts. 1 fried plantain.
Dinner: 1/2# ground beef with tomato sauce. Giant pile of roasted sweet potatoes (so good). Grilled radicchio with lemon & balsalmic (also awesome).

 

 

Whole Life Challenge Update

Hey all, not much going on today, just writing a little post with what’s been going on with me lately.

I’ve been participating in the Whole Life Challenge with my family and co-workers for the past week. It’s going really well! I am in 3rd place for points within my team —  getting beat by my sister-in-laws, Becky and Karen. I am beating my entire office, however, but my good friend/co-worker Lena is giving me a run for my money.

I would be doing better if the challenge didn’t start the same day as the GORUCK challenge (I ate cliff bars to survive the 12 hours, so I lost points). Also, I’d be doing better if I could resist my husband’s home made sourdough, bacon, and corned beef. Oh well. I signed up for the challenge RX, so that means no sugars/processed foods AT ALL. Choosing my sacrifices wisely here 😉

A couple of missed points assice, I am really enjoying the challenge.  I really respect how it’s designed to help participants incorporate small changes  to their life every day. I love that it’s based around slowly making life more healthful overall. I am an avid believer that being a healthy individual doesn’t take a lot of time or money, just a little patience, persistence, and consistency. The Whole Life Challenge makes mobilizing and working out every day feel totally possible — it only takes 10 minutes of each to get your points!  I have been so much more reliable with my active recovery, my mobilization, and my cardio because of setting these small achievable goals rather than big annoying feats. Really enjoying everything about it so far, and I feel like all the small changes are making me feel/perform better physically and mentally.

Today, for example, (a rest day from lifting) I went for a light 10 minute jog with my dog. I mobilized. I took my fish oil. I drank 75oz of water. and I had an amazing steak & salad for lunch! This is much better for me than my usual “couch + chimichanga” rest-day routine… MUCH BETTER.

With all this attention to nutrition/hydration/mobility/rest… my body and my mood have been feeling completely amazing (weirdly, I’m on my period too… which makes my good mood extra impressive)!! Anyway, I’m totally ready to kick some ass in the gym tomorrow.

P.S. Hope ya’ll have been enjoying the posts from my other blogs. It’s been nice to re-read all of those interviews.

Food Log:

Breakfast: 3 eggs, butter, spices.

Lunch: 8oz Rib Eye, Greens, arugula, apples, lemon juice.

Snack: banana & blueberries

Dinner: Chicken & veggie soup

Lots and lots of sleep. Just what I needed!

8 hours of good sleep. YESSSSSS 🙂

Breakfast/Pre-lifting:
4 eggs, in olive oil. with hot sauce (note to self, cook sweet potatoes the night before, or have some bananas on hand for volume day)

Texas Method, Week 3: Volume Day

Oof! And then volume day starts to get rough. These squats were brutal today, I think I just didn’t eat enough carbs (any) at breakfast, I felt like I was running on fumes.
Squat
5×5 @ 190# Focusing on getting depth for all 5 because I could feel my hips didn’t want to go there for #4 and 5. Keeping chest up tight so that I don’t do a good morning getting out of the hole.
Bench
5×5 @ 80# These were smooth today. Did them with very little rest and felt really good about them.
Deadlift
1×5 @ 240 HO! Here we go! 1,2, and 3 were stupid easy. 4 sucked. 5 was HARD. I think this is a volume PR though, so that makes me happy 

Post-lifting:

• 2 scoops whey
• 4 sweet potato latkes – These are fucking AWESOME by the way. 
  • 2 small sweet potatoes
  • 1 egg
  • butter (for the pan)
  • tiny bit of maple syrup (on top)

1 hour nap. mMmmmmmmmmmm ZZzzzzzzz

Snack:
1 cup ground beef/eggplant marinara

Lunch:

• 8oz burger w/ bacon, cheddar, and an egg. No bun. 
• Fries (ordered sweet potato fries, got regular fries, didn’t object because lets face it, sweet potato fries really aren’t any better and I know it)

2 hour nap. mMmmmmmmmmmm ZZzzzzzzz

Snack:
1 cup ground beef/eggplant marinara

Dinner:

• Protein smoothy
  • 2 scoops whey
  • Ice
  • banana
  • vanilla

Double Chocolate Banana Nut Muffins

There’s something really fucking awesome about Sunday afternoons in the Fall. Isn’t there? You’re chillin’ at home, all the chores were finished in the morning, all the social niceties of Friday and Saturday night are in the past, you’re done your heavy lifting for the week… it’s just you, your family, some well deserved recovery time and …  a whoooole lot of football!

::sigh:: It’s Magical.

Anyway… today, to take advantage of this magical fall afternoon feeling, I decided to make some muffins! I was craving chocolate AND banana nut muffins, so I decided to merge the two into one amazing paleo masterpiece! Initially, I was worried that my health bent decision to add protein powder to the batter would ruin the deliciousness, but man was I wrong! It couldn’t have gone over better – So much rich chocolatey goodness! In general, I’m often a little nervous about Paleo baked goods (I’ve made a few that have ended up dry and disgusting) but these muffins were absolutely fantastic — moist, rich, nutty, and just… really fucking good. Plus, now that I’m not trying to lose weight the nuts and carbs aren’t as scary as they used to be 😉

These muffins make a fantastic snack or on-the-go breakfast option.

This recipe makes 12 muffins – Each has about 225 calories, 9g of protein, 15g of carbs & 15g of fat.

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 3 eggs
• 5 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
• 3 tbsp maple syrup

• 2 tbsp coconut flour
• 2 scoops whey protein powder (I used Double Rich Chocolate)
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 4oz chopped dark chocolate (I used 85%, but in hindsight it was perhaps too bitter — 65% might have helped bring out the subtle sweetness of the muffins better)

Method

Preheat the oven to 325F. This batter seems to be very heat sensitive — the butter and chocolate will burn before the almond flour cooks all the way through if the oven is too hot, so I recommend keeping it a bit cooler than your usual muffins.

Melt the butter and chop/grind all your ingredients.

Mix all the wet ingredients together. Then add all the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Once mixed, add the walnuts and chocolate chunks.

Pour the batter into a well greased muffin tin and place it in the oven. Cook for 25-30 minutes. When the muffins are finished they will be browned on the sides and top and a toothpick will pull out clean (be sure to test!).