See-Food Diet and Weight Gains

So I’m on the “see-food” diet, which basically means I need to be constantly eating.  And eating never seem like so much of a chore…

But, there have been some slow (albeit faster than previous) and steady weight gains.

As of yesterday, I had past the buck-fifty mark.  Yup, spider monkey now weighs 151#!  While this may be trivial, perhaps even amusing to some of you reading this, for someone of my build and metabolism, I find this to be a small reason for celebration.  In a little over a week, I have gained ~5 lbs.  Over the course of the year that I’ve been at PCF, I’ve gained ~15 lbs (including this past week).  So, in about 9 days I’ve been able to gain a third of weight gained in a year.  I hope I’ll be able to keep it on and continue to make gains.  Hopefully by the end of the month or early next, I’ll be at 155# and can top out soon after that around 160#.  This progression will be highly dependent on the amount (and quality) of food I can eat while I’m in Hawaii over the holidays.

There have been some benefits and drawbacks to this.  Benefits:  I feel like I can lift more (also helps that I’m consciensious about rehabbing my back) and physically look bigger (as mentioned by others and my mirror).  My shirts either fit better or are too small.  Drawbacks:  my pants are getting tighter, mostly around my leg.  I even fill out my jeans, which have a straight leg cut.  Good thing I didn’t get into the skinny jean trend.  My shorts are also tighter around the waist.  This problem does give me a good excuse to get a whole new wardrobe, but I think I’ll wait until I’ve gained all the weight I’d like to before I make that investment (I’d better hold off buying a new suit, too).

Games Prep WOD – 12.09.09

5 rounds:

• 21 KB swings, unbroken (rx’d was 2 pood, scaled to 1.5 pood)
• 10 seconds rest
• AMRAP GHD sit-ups 30 seconds (13-13-13-10-11)
• 3 minutes rest

Then, 10 rounds:

1 minute max double unders, 30 seconds rest (59-49-49-45-32-42-36-35-35-54)

KB swings were okay – grip was becoming a limiting factor, but I got through all 5 rounds unbroken.  I probably could have gone 10# heavier and still gotten through it.  Not so sure about handling that massive 2 pood though…  GHD sit-ups were also okay, but boy do my abs hurt (still, two-days afterwards).  This was heavy/ hard, but not impossible to do.

Double unders, on the other hand, was harder than anticipated, mostly due to my arms being tired from swinging the KB, but also due to some calf muscle cramps, and a blistering headache that started on round 4.  The headache has remained with me, albeit intermittent and triggered by exertion, through present, so I hope I’m alright…

Strength WOD – 12.08.09

You might be wondering why there’s no Monday entry.  Let’s just say there are days I have at work that are completely out of my control and it ends up consuming the entire day…  Yesterday was particularly bad because I didn’t get a chance to eat lunch.  That meant I was stuffing my face with almonds throughout the day.  Some of it is on me to establish some baseline expectations with colleagues (“hey let’s take a 30 minute break so we all can grab something to eat”, or the more suggestive “I have to eat, constantly, so I’m taking a break”).  I’d like to say that this prep take priority over work, but then I wouldn’t have an income…

Okay, back into the groove of things…

Today’s Strength WOD:

• 5 x 3 Power Snatches (95-95-115-115-115)
• 3 x 5 Front Squats  (155-185-185)
• 3 x5 Shoulder Press  (105-110-115)
• 3 x (just under) AMRAP strict pullups  (13-10-10)

Was informed that today is also a “no-drop” day.  In trying to be a good PCF’er and not drop from overhead after power snatching, I ended up dropping the bar anyway on the very last power snatch after continually hitting a bruise on my thigh.  The bar ended up scraping my shins, so I had to clean up and then continue with the other lifts – fun times.

On the lift that I had done before, I hit the targeted increase in weight (SP +5), and I managed to crank out one more strict pullup (though I was trying for three more).  I definitely could lift heavier on the power snatches if I didn’t have to worry about carefully setting the bar back down.  May need to switch to a Thursday – Sunday lifting pattern to not have to worry about the “no-drop” policy.

Weekend Food Update

Since my home laptop has been acting up, I haven’t been posting as regularly on the weekends on food intake and WODs.  I’ve tried to do reasonably well for breakfast as that was the meal Jon had tasked me to work on.  Saturday and Sunday breakfasts consisted of eggs, bacon, raisins, pecans. 

However, that’s where the food intake starts to degrade.  Saturday lunch was a Chipotle bowl with black beans, pork, salsa, some corn, lettuce, and guac.  It’s my quick fix solution when I realize I don’t have anything in my fridge and I need to eat.  Dinner was a french dip sandwich I had at Velocity Five.  Sunday’s breakfast turned into a brunch as I was running around doing some errands; dinner that night was a muffaletta with french onion soup and fries.

Clearly I need to focus on planning for the weekends as I do for the weekdays.  I feel more regimented during the week and have a general rhythm to eating – on the weekends, my plans are somewhat impromptu and I may not know where I am when I should be eating.

Lumberjack 20 WOD – 12.05.09

Lumberjack 20
20 Deadlifts (275lbs) /Run 400m (Scaled DL to 205#)
20 KB swings (2pood) /Run 400m (Scaled KB swings to 1.5 pood)
20 Overhead Squats (115lbs) /Run 400m (Scaled OHS to 95#)
20 Burpees /Run 400m
20 Pullups (Chest to Bar) /Run 400m
20 Box jumps (24″) /Run 400m
20 DB Squat Cleans (45lbs each) /Run 400m (Scaled DB Squat Cleans to 40#)

Time: 30:56

Probably should have tried 225# on the DLs, but given I didn’t warm up much, it ended up alright.  The OHS felt good (did them in two sets of 10), so I probably could have tried that at 115# or 105#.  Surprisingly, the CTB pullups and box jumps were the easiest part of the WOD.  Those DB squat cleans, though, are the devil.  I just picked up whatever was closest to me, which turned out to be 40# DBs.  Though I was tired, Chris K. noted that my form was still intact.  Perhaps I could have tried the 45# DBs.

It was a great event and a kicker of a WOD.  Major kudos to Erika for putting the event on and running the show.

Strength WOD – 12/03/09

In addition to the Games Prep WODs, I’ll be focusing on a strength program designed by Jon M. (with input from other coaches).

Power Clean 3 x 5:  135-155-135 (Aaron PCF told me to lower the weight for the last set so that I can focus on really accelerating the bar) (1RM = 175)

Back Squat 3 x 5:  185-205-215 (1RM = 255)

Press 3 x 5:  95-105-110 (1RM = 130)

Strict Pullups 3 x (just below) AMRAP:  12-10-10  (my 1RM on this was 18, but that was also when I probably weighed 135-ish)

I guess this is a reasonable baseline with tons of room for improvement.  The goal is to increase the weight each strength day.

Food Log – 12/03/09

Breakfast:

• 7 oz chicken breast (I got tired after eating the first 7 oz last night, so saved this portion for this morning)
• 3 thick slices of bacon
• English muffin with cream cheese and strawberry preserve

Didn’t get the guac or avocado in like I had originally wanted to.

Snack 1:

• 42 almonds

Lunch:

• ~ 1/3 lb butternut squash w/ onion, cranberries
• ~ 3 oz of catfish w/ roasted peppers
• ~ 11 oz of meatloaf
• 30 olives

Snack 2:

• Rest of olives (15)
• 30 almonds

Post-WOD:

• Protein shake (whey protein powder, coconut milk = 67 g protein)
• 1/2 lb butternut squash w/ onions cranberries

Dinner:

• Yet another 7 oz portion of chicken breast
• 4 oz of grilled skirt steak (got it from Whole Foods and is delicious)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 34 pecans
• Pint of milk (lactaid)

Games Prep WOD – 12/02/09

Skill: Clean-thruster (good hybrid movement if you need to go from ground-to-overhead passing through a squat).

Hang power cleans: 3 x 3 – Worked up to 145#

70 ground-to-overhead anyhow @ 75# (needed to do 10 touch-and-gos for the set to count) – somewhere around 10 min.

25 back extensions on GHD

The weight for the ground-to-overhead wasn’t too much of a problem; it was my grip that gave out in round 5.  I started round 6, and couldn’t hold on by the 6th rep and dropped the bar.  I failed twice on the 7th round at the 5th rep – on the second fail, the bar slipped right out as I was going for the 6th rep.  I resorted to resting with the bar in a squat position for the touch-and-go aspect to apply.

Did 2 rounds with power snatches, then moved to the hybrid C&J where as soon as I clean I jumped again to jerk the bar.  That was really helpful in terms of cycle time.  Now if I can just improve my grip strength…

Food Log – 12/02/09

A caveat before posting food:

I am currently on the “eat everything you can in sight” program.  This is not 100% paleo, strict-zone.  My understanding of this diet (as prescribed by Jon M. and Aaron Mo-Jo) is to eat as much paleo food as possible, but don’t be afraid of having bagels, brown rice, chicken parm, to attain the appropriate carb intake.  With that, here we go:

Breakfast:

4 eggs (dash of milk, 4/3 tbsp butter)

2 thick slices of bacon (from Whole Foods)

3 heaping tbsp of guacamole

1 english muffin, with cream cheese and strawberry preserve

Pint of whole milk, cup of coffee, cup of tea (not all at once, thankfully)

.

Snack 1:

42 almonds

.

Lunch:

~ 10 oz of catfish with roasted red peppers

1/2 cup of maple sweet potatoes (I wish Whole Foods would stop adding the maple syrup)

1/2 cup of steamed vegetables

30 olives

Pint of orange juice

.

Snack 2:

15 olives (rest of them)

30 almonds

1 cup of coconut milk

.

Post-WOD snack:

Protein shake with coconut milk (60+ g protein)

1/2 lb butternut squash with onions and cranberries

1/4 cup of raisins

.

Dinner:

7 oz of chicken breast

7 tbsp olive oil (with dash of basalmic vinegar and salt to make it palatable)

1/2 lb butternut squash with onions and dried cranberries

First Post! – Orientation

So I finally thought I’d jump on the blogging bandwagon for several reasons:

1) Today (12/2/09) marks the one-year anniversary of Crossfit for me.  A year ago, I walked into PCF, anxious to start my Foundations class.  I had just ended my year of running (which culminated in me running the Chicago Marathon) and was at a skinny 133 lbs.  All the cardio and globo gym weightlifting had given me nice abs and great muscle definition, but I soon found out that vanity wasn’t functional.  In the past year I certainly have come quite a way in improving functional fitness across broad domains.  But there is still much more to achieve…

2)  Following the Mid-Atlantic regional qualifier this past April, I had stated I wanted to compete in next year’s qualifier (which has been turned into Sectionals for next year).  My progress has been slow and steady, interrupted with a back injury that plagued me for 3-4 months; I now am at a point where I need to drastically accelerate progress to accomplish this goal.  This blog marks what I hope to be a tipping point in the way I approach and train in Crossfit.

3)  Having everything in one place makes it easier for me (and others) to track my progress.  It’s bizarre that given my data-centric nature, I haven’t done a great job at tracking things (other than posting on the PCF blog).   I was asked what my benchmark times were, and because I haven’t done some in awhile, I couldn’t remember.  I can also start tracking my nutrition.  This blog should help me and others see what I’ve done and where I’m headed.

4)  Now my PCF blog posts will be short and concise when referring to the WODs.  I guess I’ll take up more PCF blog space harrassing the usual suspects and encouraging shenanigans.

Hopefully my learning curve is steep and I’ll be posting rapid-fire throughout the day in no time.