Monday, April 22, 2013

Stepping Up the Awesome ~ Week 2



I gotta say, I don't feel as awesome this week as I did last.  I'm not freaked by it, though.  It's just another step in my road to Awesome.  I'm getting back into the swing of things now that my husband's vacation is over and juggling the kids alone is getting more and more complicated as they get older.  What?!  You BOTH want to play soccer?  Geesh!

I didn't get all of my workouts in this week, but I did ok:
Monday: Deadlift 5x5 (got up to 213#) followed by met con
Tuesday: rest day (life happened)
Wednesday:  Bear Complex (63#) 5x7
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: Shoulder Pres 3x1, Push Press 3x3, Push Jerk 3x5
Saturday: Fundraiser WOD
Sunday: Rest Day

I continued with approx 2500-3000 calories per day (I didn't count every single day) and my weight continued to stay about the same (a slight gain towards the end of the week, but it's also time for my monthly cycle, so I'm not sure).

Monday, April 15, 2013

Stepping Up the Awesome ~ Week One



Week one of "Stepping Up the Awesome" is officially in the books, and I'm excited about going full steam ahead for week two.

I ate between 2500-3000 calories per day (some days I just couldn't get them all in).  It was mostly whole foods:  meat, veggies, fruit, rice, oatmeal, cheese, milk, and Haagen Dazs.  My weight is essentially the same ~ a 3/10 of a pound difference, but let's be honest.  That's probably just poo!

Monday ~ Tabata + heavy squats
Tuesday ~ Olympic Lifting class
Wednesday ~ heavy overhead squats + muscle up skill work
Thursday ~ rest
Friday ~ Heavy Metcon (cleans, front squats, pistol squats & hand stand pushups)
Saturday ~ rest
Sunday ~ rest

I know it's early in the experiment, and it's quite possibly all psychosomatic, but I swear I'm noticing my muscles are a little more visible in my arms and shoulders.

My plans for this coming week are to do one or two short and fast met con (depending on the programming at my gym), continue with heavy lifts several times over the week and keep up with the calorie intake....and ice cream.  Of course there will be ice cream!

Cheers!

Friday, April 5, 2013

The End of the Open, the Beginning of the New Awesome



....and just like that, with 15 Thrusters and about 10 "you're sssoooo close" chest to bar pull ups (story of my life recently, BTW), my very first Crossfit Open has come to an end.  I have to say, it has been one wild ride.  I had no idea what to expect when I signed up.  I went in with an open mind and just wanted to see what I could do.  Well, I did way more than I ever imagined.  I exceeded my goals (blew them away, actually) for the first three WODs.  13.4 threatened to derail me, mentally, but I rallied back and pushed through 13.5 and I have to say, overall, I'm extremely pleased with my performance, and I learned a lot about myself in these 5 weeks.  I learned that the depths of my determination go further than I ever realized; I learned how to push past the pain and just keep going.  Just. Keep. Going.  Believe it or not, I've never done that.

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have read my recent status about how I've basically ridden my natural athletic talent my entire life.  I've never put much effort into it and I was still mostly successful.  I'm ready for that to be over.  I'm ready to not just "do Crossfit".  I'm ready to train.

While I accomplished more than I could have imagined during the Open, it also shined a glaring spotlight on where my weaknesses are.  I've come a long way, but I still have a long road ahead of me. It's GO TIME, baby!  Enter.....my new plan to "Step Up the Awesome"

Are you familiar with the Lift Big Eat Big crew?  No?  You should be.  I don't believe in comparing myself to other women, but boy hardy have I got a serious girl crush on Streaky.  She's amazing.  Ah-mazing.

(Photos used with permission)

I want to be Streaky when I grow up.  Which is funny, because I'm like a decade older than she is, but whatever.  What I love about Streaky is not her appearance (which, BTW, is smokin') but it's her story. It's a story we've all heard so many times before.  It's a story a lot of us have lived.  She was over weight, unhealthy, and spinning her wheels on the treadmill.  But instead of restricting her calories to a level that barely supports basic metabolic function, she went the opposite way ~ she started eating food.  A lot of food.  And lifting weights.  A lot of weights.  BOOM.

I'm finished with restricting calories.  According to this calculator,  1500 calories (I'm looking at you Zone Diet) isn't even enough to keep my body from cannibalizing itself if I were in a coma (BMR), much less enough to fuel life and my regular old workouts.  I'm done.  From here on out, Jess is EATING THE FOOD.  

Lift Big Eat Big, quite handily, recently wrote an article about how to get big while also doing Crossfit. Hello serendipity

And this brings us to "Stepping Up the Awesome".  

Running Drills & Sprints 1x/week
Lifting Big & Skill Work 2-3x/week
Regular Met Cons 3-4x/week 
Full Rest Days 2x/week

Lots and lots of food.  Real food.  Whole food.  Even some starch and grains (gasp).  

I'll maintain this schedule until the end of May, at which point my regular life schedule will change due to summer break.  I'll take a few days at that point to rest & deload and make any needed adjustments to my training or schedule.  

I plan to weigh and measure myself on Monday and then not again until the end of May, but I'll come back here every weekend and let you know how the week went and my plans for the following week.  

Stepping Up the Awesome in 3...2...1...GO!!!!