After I last posted things went a bit downhill. I slept like crap Thursday night so by Friday I was exhausted and felt sick as heck, so I skipped the gym and even had to call out of work. Then spent most of the weekend just trying to recuperate, which I did semi-successfully. It wasn't until Sunday night that I actually slept the whole night....but then had to get up at 415 for the gym on Monday. Life is just unfair that way I guess. I was feeling kind of badly about not getting to the gym, but I managed to stay on track with my nutrition despite it all so I took the small victory.
The one good thing to come out of the weekend was that I made the executive decision to delete the Facebook app off my phone. I wasn't sure why it needed to happen this weekend, other than wanting to focus on getting better instead of staring at my phone screen, but I'm glad I did it. I actually spent time relaxing and doing relaxing things instead of keeping up with the outside world. I still check in every once in awhile when I'm on my computer, but other than that my life no longer revolves around other people's lives. It's nice. You don't realize how much pointless time you waste on Facebook until you stop doing it. I actually read books and stuff now.
Nutrition this week has been interesting, which I expected. I knew it was going to be an adjustment with the new macros and being a daywalker again and it certainly has been. I'm still working at planning my meals a day ahead, it's just tough finding things that perfectly fit into everything. I'm managing but I'm certainly not perfect. We didn't get our usual delivery of balanced body this week for lunches so in that respect we've kind of been winging it. One of our dinner meals was a one pot meatballs, rice and peas that we had made a ton of meals of so I ended up bringing that, but I'm quickly realizing rice is kind of a carb-killer. The other meal we made for this upcoming week was a salsa chicken and rice that we made in the instant pot. It's pretty good! But again, carb-killer. I would like to start working on that a little more because overall I do a little better with less hefty carbs. It's leaving me with like no room for fruit, and I love fruit. Plus it wouldn't hurt to leave extra room for veggies too so I get the fiber. Because my digestive system is becoming a cantankerous little wench.
Speaking of cantankerous digestive systems...there was a lesson on the Precision Nutrition system today about dairy. It talked about how dairy products have a lot more complex nutrition than just protein and calcium and it can create some issues for people because we can't digest the sugar or we can't digest the other nutrients in it. Now most times, if you're lactose intolerant, it becomes apparent by the bloating, diarrhea and overall feeling really crappy. But, sometimes it's not that obvious and can manifest itself in other ways like constipation and acne. Back when I did strict paleo for awhile, when I came off it I found out quickly that I was lactose intolerant. Anytime I would eat anything with a hint of dairy, I would get pretty sick, especially with cheese. Over the years, that seemed to calm down a little because I fully reintroduced myself to it and would stop having such severe reactions. So when I started this journey, I was really excited for cheese because it's a great source of protein and fat. But now I'm starting to think maybe that's not such a great idea. So I'm going to give myself a week off from the cheese. I do ok with yogurt and I don't really eat a ton of it anyway. But cheese can wait for a bit. It's going to make getting my macros even more interesting, but maybe it'll actually leave room for other stuff since it's so heavy in protein and fat. Guess I'll find out!
Monday we got to the gym. Workout was:
6x2-4 front squat with tempo, 75-80% of 1RM
then
15 min EMOM (every minute on the minute)
- Minute 1: 20 double unders (or 20 sec practice)
- Minute 2: 20 sec battle rope
- Minute 3: 150m ski
For me, 75% of my 1RM would be 131 pounds, rounded up to 135. I got up to 125 by my 2nd set and that honestly felt heavy enough. The way I've been going the past couple weeks, I usually get up to the prescribed percentage by like the 2nd to last round so I haven't really been spending much time at the weight I'm supposed to be at. I decided to stay with the 125 and just stick with it for the rest of my sets. They felt good this week and I kept my form solid the whole time so won't hear any complaining from me. The workout went really well. It was hard but borderline fun. I even managed to get a couple double unders! After I whipped myself about 10 times....don't mess with those jump ropes. They do not like to be trifled with.
Tuesday we went back for more fun. Workout was:
6 sets of snatch pull from the floor + hang snatch from below knee
then
7 min AMRAP
- 9 deadlift
- 6 hang power clean
- 3 shoulder to overhead
They wanted us using similar weight to last week, which for me was 55 pounds. I started off this workout feeling like crap. My lower back and pelvis were stiff and nothing I was doing was loosening that up. I stretched like crazy and tried every method I know. Wasn't working. It took until about the 4th set before I could even get into a full squat, which is super not normal for me. Squatting is usually the one thing I can always do no matter what. So that set off warning flags. Not to mention I just didn't feel like my hips were extending as explosively as they should have been. It's not like things hurt. I just felt stiff and immobile. But the show must go on. So we started setting up for the workout. I was so excited for this. The prescribed weight was 95 pounds and I was psyched to give it a try. Our coach was telling us that the limiting part was going to be what we could put overhead, but after the lifting session I'd had, I knew it was going to be the cleans. I threw 85 pounds on the bar. Tried a deadlift - it went great. Tried a clean - I was still super stiff but it was doable. Overhead was fine. So I took the safe route and just left the 85 on. I bumbled through my first round and things really started to not feel good. The deadlifts were fine as long as I kept my mind on my form. The cleans just started to fall apart. I still couldn't move my hips and getting into the hang position was murdering my back. By the 6th rep I was hurting bad. Then I knew I was in for a world of hurt when I clocked myself in the chin putting the bar overhead. Literally, I never do that. I should have taken it as a sign. I got to my 2nd round of cleans, went to try the first one and the moment that bar hit hip height and I tried to extend it felt like someone stabbed me right in the pelvis. I just dropped the bar right then and there. I told the coach there was no way I'd be able to do hangs and she just told me to take it as a sign and stop. So I did.
I spent the rest of the day in so much pain I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry or vomit. Of course, I had to go to work, which I thought would be a blessing since it would keep me moving, but by noon time I was seriously considering checking myself in as a patient. Walking hurt, sitting hurt, standing hurt, I had to physically hold on to something to sneeze. I was miserable. And of course I had to deal with some of the worst people I've met in a long time that demanded attention I just could not give and it all added up to a no good miserable day. Probably one of the worst I've had in a long time. What was really worrisome was that this pain was different from anything I'd had before. It felt like my pelvis was being ripped apart from the inside. It didn't hurt to bend or squat or anything else like that, which usually those things are the first to go when I flare up my back. It was all just very weird.
Thankfully, I was seeing the chiropractor the next day anyway. I honestly think that's what just kept me going. As soon as I described what I was feeling, she told me it was probably a strain of my quadratus lumborum, which attaches at the top of the pelvis and causes a lot of problems once it gets tight. She also goes to the CrossFit gym I go to so she knows what the workouts and movements are like. We think what happened was that I was just tight and doing movements that can put a lot of stress on the back, like hang cleans, and it all added up to a decent muscle strain. So she adjusted me and did this suction cupping thing and I left already feeling better. For all of you that don't believe in chiropractic care, you're nuts. I've slowly gotten better since yesterday. I still feel a lot of spasms, especially when I'm sitting, but I'm more functional than I was and it's no longer excruciating to exist. I guess it goes without saying that I didn't work out today. I may go back tomorrow to do a mobility workout, but we'll see how things feel in the morning.
So this has basically wrecked my week. I'm devastated and pissed off. I'm angry that it always seems to be something trying to hold me back. I'm even angrier that this week I was really excited to hit up these workouts and I got to see maybe 1.5 of them. And I'm pissed to see everyone's happy facebook posts about how they stuck it out through the workouts because I wanted to be doing them and feeling proud of it myself (yeah that one shocked me too, I don't even know myself anymore). It makes me sad to know that I've come so far and tried to get myself stronger, but it's still just as easy to get injured. It's been a tough pill to swallow and I've been doing a fantastic job of wallowing in my self-pity. I want nothing more than to just eat all the bad food, but luckily it still hurts to get in the car so I haven't done that. Although I haven't been an angel with the snacks at home. I just want it to be over so I can go back to the track I was on. I've been feeling really good lately and it just feels unfair that I've got this now. I'm not even really sure how it happened. I know when, obviously, but how I have no idea. My theory is that I was stiff from Monday with the ski-ing and battle ropes and the warm up I thought I needed Tuesday was not actually the one I really needed. And I just need to be really careful with doing things from the hang position apparently.
I'm hoping I'll feel semi back to normal by Monday. I'm working all weekend so that'll at least keep me off the couch, although a little couch time has done me some good in the past couple days. Too much is bad though, I don't recommend that. Guess we'll just have to see what happens. I just need life to go kick someone else in the ass for like a week.
Until next time, folks!
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