Happy hump day!
Worked the overnight last night so I'm in the process of re-acclimating myself to the land of the living again.
It's been a busy week for us! We both worked a bunch and had the Catalyst Games on Saturday so we've been playing a little catch up but nothing too bad. I got myself to the gym a couple times, which felt pretty good. My back continues to recover. Really the worst times for me now are in the morning. I still wake up feeling super stiff, which I hate because it gets bad enough that it makes me very apprehensive about going to the gym to the point that I've just said no a couple times. Then the one day I sucked it up and went, I ended up feeling fine halfway through the warm up. So fuck you, spine. It's just rude to play a person like that.
Eating last week we lost a little of our focus and went out a bit more than we intended. Towards the end of the week the stress levels were pretty high and the last thing on my mind was chicken and roasted veggies. There was no behaving to be had there. Then Catalyst Games day we ended up getting out late so we just went and grabbed something quickly so we could go home and assume a horizontal position as soon as possible. But now we're happily back on track and life is ok. I surprisingly didn't feel nearly as guilty as I usually do. Huge change from a little over a month ago where I guilt-tripped the shit out of myself for like a week straight. Sure, it set me back a little bit and I'm a little bummed I didn't push myself just a little harder to keep my goals in mind. It was definitely impulsive and I was fully focused on the instant gratification of comfort food. But I kept myself on track all the other meals of the day and it meant getting to keep just a little shred of sanity. There are just some days that cannot be fixed by chicken and veggies. Think that'll be my quote of the month.
Eventually, if I ever update this blog more than once in a week, I plan to talk about foods I've tried and loved lately. If anything it'll be something I can look back at when I need some inspiration. At some point too I'd love to explore the healthy options that Rochester has. I know they're hiding somewhere. I think it'll be a good way to expand our palates and have somewhere we can go where we don't feel guilty doing it.
Catalyst Games on Saturday was an absolute blast. Matt and I started volunteering for it last year and fell in love. It's fun to help with setting up and getting everything ready. The judging is kind of eh. I feel pretty confident with knowing the movement standards. But it's still tough judging someone on things you can't do yourself. Sometimes you feel like "who am I to tell someone they didn't complete the chest to bar pull up when I can't even do a pull up." But then there's also athletes that refuse to listen to you no matter what you have to say. Is it really that hard to just squat one more inch??? Regardless, it's really fun to be on the competition floor amongst some pretty amazing people. It gets you pumped up and makes you want to work your ass off so you can be just as good someday. I got to see some pretty incredible things happen and it was so worth the sore feet and back...and having to wear my compression socks the next day. I'm toying with the goal of competing again in 2020. We'll see. The competition is a lot more tough than it was back in 2013 when I did it so I'm nervous about if I'd even be ready for it, but 2 years should be more than enough time if I keep myself motivated.
So let's see. Workout days. For it being my first week back last week I'd say it went pretty well! Thankfully a lot of the workouts were pretty low impact so I didn't have to do an excessive amount of modifying. I was pretty close to going the 4th day on Friday but the stiffness got the best of me. That whole "listen to your body" thing doesn't work very well when your body isn't sending clear signals. But I kinda sorta worked out Saturday with moving equipment. We'll call it half a workout. The truck packing WOD.
Anywho, Tuesday. I'll just write down the things I modified to.
5x2 snatch balance
then...
For time:
30 cal row
0.3 mile bike
30 cal row
I felt really good with this one. I did snatch balances instead of full out snatches, which is fine because I love snatch balances. I maxed out at 75 pounds. I took the time to really focus on using my legs as much as possible and keep my form solid. My legs were sore as heck from the split squats but they felt good. It's so weird to feel like I'm completely restrengthening my entire lower body. It had to happen at some point. I loved the workout. Calories are so much more fun than distance. Then the bike was instead of a run. My final time was 5:43. I started off kind of strong with the first row with a pace I couldn't keep up in the 2nd round, but for the most part I maintained and kept moving the whole time. After just about dying the day before, it was a good feeling.
Then endurance Thursday came along. Such a love hate relationship.
(3) 10 min AMRAPs
21 cal bike
7 burpee box jump overs
3 min rest
The total score for this one was rounds + reps but the overall goal was to just maintain the same number of reps each round. I was pretty apprehensive about that goal with this one....because burpees. I don't burpee often, because they suck and now they're adding a box to hop over at the same time. But...shockingly....it went really well. I was slow as hell, I certainly wasn't winning any competitions, but it was a pace that I could keep up with just about the whole time. The first two rounds I got 2 rounds + 11 reps, then the last round I got 2 rounds + 4 reps, so I was about a minute behind on that last one. As soon as I hopped on the bike my quads were like Nope so I ended up slugging through it.
Monday we woke up......and went back to sleep. We were both exhausted so we took the extra 2 hours of shut-eye. We were back at it on Tuesday though. I'll just put in the modifications I made again because Tuesdays are still snatch days.
3x3 muscle snatch
3x3 snatch balance
then...
For time:
45 cal row
15 deadlift
30 cal bike
15 box jumps
I did the muscle snatches from hip level and kept them at 55 pounds. It was mostly just to get my hips and back reacclimated to doing that quick extension to get the bar overhead but with less impact than if I was doing a power snatch. Didn't cause any pain so I was happy with that. Snatch balances I did only 65 pounds. I was feeling a little off balance. Probably could have warmed up a little more than I did but I got through it. The workout went well. Those damn box jumps slowed me down though. For the deadlifts I kept it at 65 pounds even though prescribed was like 135. It was light, but it was my first time deadlifting since I came back so I needed to make sure I was doing it right. I'm definitely getting much stronger with my rowing and biking. It's still taking me just as long to do certain distances, but I don't feel as much like death afterwards. It's pretty cool! The box jumps they wanted us pushing the height a little bit, which for me is a whopping 15" Box jumps are that one thing that I really want to be better at and I will never figure out how to do it. At my best I was able to do 20" and that was about my limit. I can't imagine ever being at a point in my life where I can just go up to a box and jump on it. But I'd love to be there some day.
Tuesday was a gloomy as hell, rainy day and I loved every minute of it. I don't know what it is but sometimes I just need a gloomy day at home to just decompress and relax. Yes I do that plenty when it's nice outside, but it's different when it's dark and moody. It's like the universe giving me permission to just exist for a day. It always makes me feel so much more relaxed after days like that. I'm definitely not someone that could live out on the West Coast. Sun all day 365 days of the year would just piss me off. I need the nice rainy days to just get cozy on the couch with the dog and pick an activity that involves minimal brain usage. Only for a day though, more than that and I just become lazy and sluggy and it's not a good look on me.
Well I must run off to work now. Just wanted to make sure I got everything updated this week! I should just call this the Every 7-10 Day Blog.
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