The Fun Continues!

This past week I really turned the heat up with the workouts. I went to the gym Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday; ran on Tuesday and Thursday. They came up with a new plan at the gym because of the way some people were getting scheduled for classes. If you were a person that only gets to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you got a lot of the skill work while the Monday, Wednesday, Friday people got strength. So they changed it up so it's a little more balanced.

Monday's Workout:

Skill:
3 rounds
2 min handstand work
8-12 knees to elbow, working on unbroken
1 min double-under practice

MetCon:
3 rounds
10 DB clean and jerk
10 DB goblet squats
200m run

Midline:
100 abmat sit-ups

My handstand work got quite hysterical at some points. I spent a lot of time almost getting it and then falling in a heap on the floor at the last minute. It was very graceful work lemme tell ya. With the knees to elbow, I know I'm not getting a toes to bar anytime soon so I just worked on trying to get that range of motion with my hips. It's hard work so I couldn't necessarily get them unbroken. Double unders...those damn things are pissing me off. They just haven't clicked with me yet. Kind of frustrating since I almost had them that one time a few weeks ago but I had to stop since I was getting tired. Almost wish I'd just kept going.

They're really killing us with the running lately. Luckily this MetCon only had a 200m run. Prescribed for the dumbbells was 50 pounds. I think I ended up using 40. I wanted to go prescribed again, but the problem with dumbbells is that I really start to notice how uneven my arms still are. I'm strong with a barbell but when you isolate my left arm, I'm still fairly weak. I forget what my exact time was but it put me about in the middle of the pack. I was feeling a little sluggish that day. Having a case of the Mondays. I felt a little better after doing the sit-ups. I'm getting pretty good at those. Now if only I could get rid of the pudge that's covering the muscles I'm building. Grr.

After that workout I decided I wanted to work on handstands a little more. So I gave it a few more tries and finally got it! I could even hold it for a short amount of time! I made sure to do it a few more times just to solidify it. It's actually kind of funny. Doing a wall walk into a handstand hurts so much more than actually doing the handstand. I don't know why I just didn't start handstands sooner. Don't know how soon I'll be doing push-ups though.

Tuesday I went back to the gym for the early morning workout. I decided to start going Tuesdays instead of Thursdays since it got progressively harder and harder for me to leave RITA on Thursday morning and head to the gym.

Strength:
5 x 5 bench press -- every 2 min.

MetCon:
AMRAP 15 minutes
10 pull ups
15 box jumps
20 unbroken front squat -- 5 burpees for dropping the bar

The strength was interesting. I hadn't done a single bench press in god knows how long. I partnered up with Karen, who also is about the same strength level as me. I think I finally maxed out at 95 pounds? I forget/I didn't count very well.

The MetCon was kind of fun in a sick and twisted sort of way. I love Tuesdays since it means we get Chad yelling at us. To some it may be terrifying, to others it just spurs us on some more. I had my green band for the pull ups, but everything else I did as prescribed (20" box jumps and 65 pounds for the front squats). I was kind of worried about the box jumps since Chad caught me getting my running head start and he told me to try not to since I was more likely to fall on my face as I got tired. I thought it was solid logic. The front squats I knew were going to be tough. Front squats are not my strong point and doing 20 of them was going to be rough, but I was determined that I would not be doing any burpees. Nay nay I say! In 15 minutes, I did 3 complete rounds plus 5 pull ups. My goal was 3, so I surpassed it a little bit. I was taking big breaks between the box jumps and squats since I didn't want to do any burpees. I surprised myself with the box jumps though. I actually started doing them without any kind of head start. I just jumped on the box. I don't know if I'm just getting better with jumps, but they really didn't seem that bad at all. Once I got a rhythm I just kept going. And I didn't do a single burpee!

Melissa and I went running a few hours later. It was our first day of doing Week 3, which is 2 rounds of jog a minute and a half, walk a minute and a half, jog 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes. We went about the same distance and pace that we have been doing lately. The jogging for 3 minutes part was tough, but it's about the same amount of time that it takes me to run 400m at the gym so I wasn't like really pushing myself past my limit.

Wednesday's workout was rough. It was my third day in a row, plus my body hadn't really been feeling very well all week.

Skill:
3 rounds
30-40 sec L sit
10-15 KB walking lunges
8-12 ring rows

MetCon:
EMOM 10 minutes
5 push presses
10 sit ups

Midline:
3 x 8 GHD back extensions (very slow!)

I knew I was really sluggish when the skill work came and I just was dragging through it. I did a lot better at the L sits than I thought I would. I used the dip bar so my legs wouldn't be dragging on the ground. I modified it and instead of straightening my legs, I kept them bent. I was able to hold myself up a lot longer than I thought I could. The walking lunges were terrible. My legs were so tired. Same with the ring rows.

The MetCon really pushed me past my limit. What they did with this one was that if you fell behind, your score was the number of rounds you completed within the one minute. I got 7 out of 10, which wasn't very bad at all. I was a little disappointed with the push presses because I knew I was capable of lifting more. Prescribed was 115, which I should have been able to do, but I ended up going with 95. My left shoulder hurt so badly and I just dragged my way through it. I felt awful. Probably the worst I've felt during a workout in a long time.

Afterwards, I went and talked to a chiropractor that's a member and helps us all out whenever we've got issues. I could feel this huge knot in the front of my shoulder. So he checked it out and apparently the problem was that my pec muscles were so tight that they were rubbing against my bicep tendon and irritating it. So I got told to ice, and roll with a tennis ball, and mobilize better next time. It's since gone away but that pain was terrible.

Thursday I took a "day off." And by day off I mean I just took a day off from the gym, not being active. Since I had the day completely off from work and everything else I dedicated it to trying to tackle my to-do list. Later on in the afternoon, Melissa and I went running. It was day 2 of the two rounds of minute and a half jog, minute and a half walk, 3 minute jog, 3 minute walk. I definitely feel like running is starting to get a lot easier for me. I'm still jogging, but it's a little faster and I'm not dying towards the end. It's really cool! I missed being a runner. It's also kind of nice that they're making us run during our workouts in the gym since I get a true high intensity workout with that, which is starting to transfer into when I just run.

After that I went over to Rothberg's to have spaghetti and then we ended up going on a 6 mile walk (<_<). Definitely hadn't planned on that one. It was a nice scenic route with a lot of hills. I was done by the time I got back home. It felt like another day at the gym. Not to mention, I had some serious water baby and carb baby going on. It felt like I'd put back on every single one of the 30 pounds I'd lost over the past 6 months. Felt gross. I'd spent the entire week retaining water, and then I put spaghetti on top of it. Never again.

Friday I went back to the gym, and let me tell you, I dragged just as badly as Wednesday.

Strength:
5 x 5 - 1 power snatch + 1 overhead squat

MetCon:
5 KB snatches
100 singles
7 KB snatches
100 singles
9 KB snatches
100 singles
11 KB snatches

It was a little less painful than Wednesday, but my body was not happy with me. I struggled through the snatch/overhead squat complex, only used 53 pounds even though I'm more than capable of doing more than that. It was kind of ok because I really needed to work on form anyway, but it still sucked.

The MetCon wasn't too bad. It could have been worse. I'd never done KB snatches before. It's almost the same as when you're using a barbell except you're doing it one-handed. It was a little bit awkward, especially with my left arm, but it was pretty fun. Had to use the 26 pound kettlebell since my left arm is still so much weaker on its own. One day I'll get double unders, mostly because I'm tired of having to do double the amount of singles.

The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful. I definitely found my motivation to get back on track though. My body is literally rejecting anything I give it. I don't know what it is. I give it any kind of gluten and it gets mad. Some lactose is ok, but it depends on the source. Like I can have cheese, and that's about it. I've had migraines for the past 2 days and I just feel awful. So I guess my body decided to give me its own piece of motivation. I'm going food shopping tomorrow. I think I'm going to strategize a little better this time. Instead of making the big huge meals first and then trying to scrounge up some ideas of what to eat as a side the day of, I'm going to start with the sides first. Grill up some veggies, and make a big batch of roasted cauliflower/broccoli, along with some mashed sweet potatoes. I'm hoping just making everything all at once instead of piecemealing it will keep me from guessing. I should probably start portioning things out all at once too. I might stop at Walmart and grab some of those sectioned containers so that I can portion things out and call it a day. We'll see how ambitious I get with things.

Either way I've decided to take the week off from the gym. I'll still run with Melissa a couple times, but other than that I want to take this week and focus on my eating. It became clear to me last week that if I don't do something soon I'm going to crash and burn. Plus, I've been working myself hard for the past 2 months. I can't remember the last time I took an actual break from working out, but with me pushing myself past my limits every workout, on top of running, on top of emotional stress, my poor body needs some R&R, and decent nutrition. So this week nutrition is going to be my focus, and getting myself out of this toxic hangover I've put myself in.

I can officially say I'm all caught up! Phew. Time for a (healthy) snack.