Gotta start somewhere

I started..  Again..  Stayed on top of things for a couple of days and then motivation and focus dropped.  Seems like a weekly cycle now.  A vicious cycle that I need to break. 

I might as well post my progress (or lack of)  pictures over the past 60 days.  1st pic:day 1 ,  2nd pic:day 30, 3rd pic:day 60.

This challenge kept me mindful of what I was putting in my mouth and my (lack of) exercise.  And that’s OK, I knew that the progress wouldn’t be significant because I wasn’t eating well. 

But I have a starting point and I need to find a way to remind myself of my goals.  

Let’s try this again…

Over the past year, I’ve been pretty much non-existent on my blog and I must admit I miss it.  Decided today would be the day that I start back with my blogging.  I miss typing out my thoughts and then having something to read back on.  So where am I today?

Well the kids have started school and most of their activities and they’re definitely keeping me busy.  Dance, gymnastics, soccer, karate, and more..

My membership at Sublime Crossfit expired earlier this month and honestly in the past few months it was a struggle to make it to the gym.  There really was no excuse, except lack of motivation 😦

Now I’m looking at the kids schedule and my schedule trying to figure out a way to  justify a crossfit membership.  The only way I see it working out, is if I start working out in the mornings (@ 6am), but I’ve never been a morning workout person, so I don’t know if it would work out for me.

I’ve been trying to train for a 1/2 marathon on October 16th.  I’ve got less than 4 weeks and the furthest I’ve gone is 8 miles.  Again, no real excuse just lack of motivation and laziness on my end.  My original goal was to run a sub-2hr 1/2 marathon but as I progressed in my training, I modified my goal to simply running the 1/2 marathon.  DH will be joining me, and it will be very challenging for both of us, but we’ll be doing it together.

I want to use this entry as a reset to get re-focused.  I’ve done it numerous times before and even though I’ve stopped and lost motivation/focus, I’ve always started back up again.

I got this.

Slowly back into the swing of things

It’s been a pretty good week so far.  Eating well, although I was munching quite a bit on Monday (it’s under control now) and I’ve made it to crossfit twice with plans of making it to class tomorrow right after work (sssh..  I may sneak out of work early to go to an earlier class)
On Tuesday when I couldn’t make it to crossfit, I did an Insanity Max cardio workout at home.
On Monday we worked on snatches and although I felt like I was starting at the beginning, they felt good and I managed to work up to 65lbs.  Still working on power snatches and not getting into a full squat,  but we have been working on our snatch balances to get more confident dropping under the weight.
Next week I’m hoping to make it to 4 classes but I’ll make sure to listen to my body. 
I’ve also joined a 90 day Challenge group.  Basically it’s a group of 18 ladies on Facebook, supporting and motivating each other.  There’s no specific workouts or meal plan, just the goal of being active for at least 30 minutes each day and making healthier food choices. 90 days sounds like a long time, but as last year proved,  I’m sure the days will fly by.

Back at square 1

Wow.. 2 months since my last post.  Feels like so much has happened, but really just one major event that halted my progress and actually set me back.

 

Without getting into too much detail, I ended up in the operating room on December 8th, due to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.  The events that led up to the operation happened very quickly: finding out I was pregnant, experiencing bleeding and cramping, a visit to the ER with no definite results (doctor said it was a threatened miscarriage), a follow up ultrasound 2 days later, finding out it was an ectopic pregnancy, THEN finding out it had already ruptured and I’d need to go into surgery later that day.

So while experiencing the cramping/bleeding, I stopped all working out and then after the surgery I was recovering for 3 weeks and couldn’t work out, even though I really wanted to.

Today, I’ve made it to a few Crossfit WODs but my energy levels aren’t back and I definitely don’t have much strength.  Plus I haven’t actually gotten clearance from my doctor to start working out again, so I’ve been taking it really easy.  This week I’ve been feeling drained of energy and in need of a nap in the afternoon.  I’m back at work but staying energized is a challenge.  It’s definitely most likely due to the fact that my food intake has been awful and I’m lacking vegetables and lean protein in my diet.

I used my surgery/recovery and the holidays as an excuse to eat poorly. On top of that were all the family/friend gatherings, the late nights, the running around, and it just wasn’t good for me.

So now I’m struggling to get back on track.  I don’t want to be too hard on myself, some might say it’s only been 1 month since the surgery and I should be taking it easy.

But it’s so frustrating because I know that with each day I take to allow for recovery, it’s another day where I’m losing progress (at least that’s how it feels)  I know that once I’m back at Crossfit on a regular basis, the strength will come back, but it’s going to suck at first

I’m hoping I can catch up on rest this weekend and get back on track on Monday.  Even though I’m back to square one, I just want to be back.

Weightlifting competition.. me?

Yeah, okay … why not!?  My box Sublime Strength and Conditioning is hosting an in-house weightlifting competition.  Coach Kyle asked if I’d be participating.  I asked him if he was sure he was asking the right person.  I’m not very good at the Olympic lifts (snatch, clean & jerk) and told him I wouldn’t be able to lift close to any of the other ladies at the box, but he said it would still be a fun event and that I should give it a try.

So I said.. OK! hehe.. it’s on December 12th and even though I know it’s for fun, and I’m not going into the competition with expectations of big numbers, I’m nervous.  I did ask the hubby to come and watch me, so I think that’s exciting that I get to have him there (possibly the kids too) as my little cheering squad 🙂

So from now until the competition, I’m hoping to get alot of practice with the lifts and I know I need to push myself a little more when it comes to adding weight and being confident with the lifts.  Especially with snatches, I always hesitate when it comes to adding weight to the bar.  There are times when I’ve added weight to the bar, overthink the lift for a couple minutes and then remove the weight I just added because I’m scared or not confident that I can do the lift.  Thing is, I won’t even try… how silly is that?

Heavy Duty Weights.. Oh My!

One of the admin assistants here at work is a fitness fanatic and very conscious of what she eats.  I stopped by her desk on Monday and she asked me to try one of the fitness classes offered at our work gym.  I’m very fortunate to have a work gym available, the cost is $10/month and there are daily classes offered, ranging from cardio to cycling, weightlifting and circuits.  I do have a membership but unfortunately don’t make it there very often.  So I agreed to try the Heavy Duty Weights class, which was at 7am this morning.  I rarely workout in the mornings, it’s always a bit of a challenge to get out of bed, even though I’m getting to bed at a decent time, I still struggle.

But I made it this morning and it was a very challenging workout.  I couldn’t help but think.. how am I able to jerk 115lbs, yet 1 minutes of shoulder presses @ 8lbs is killing me!?  It’s possible that my body is sore/tired from working out the past couple days, but I really had to scale down on weights today.  And my body is just aching!  Later tonight, I do have  Pilates workout planned, so that’ll be a nice low-impact, no weights workout.

So glad that I made it to the class and got to try something a little different.  I may try to incorporate additional workout classes at my work gym but I don’t want to risk over doing it and burning out.

Snatches.. Ugh

Snatches have always been my  hardest lift.  I know alot of it had to do with my fear to drop under the bar.  Then again even my power snatches haven’t been great.  Last year I PR’d my snatch at 85lbs. This year I know that I’ve been away from crossfit for a few months and I’m just relearning the technique but tonight was tough.

The WOD started off with a snatch cluster.  1-1-1 x 3 sets.  All reps starting from the floor and landing in full squat snatch. I was okay power snatching to 65lbs. Coach kyle instructed me to continue to catch the snatch in a power snatch and then ride the weight down into an overhead squat,  to get comfortable with the weight above my head.  So here’s to hoping I can continue to work on it and see improvements.

Meals today went well with the exception of the dark chocolate I snacked on.  It’s going to be a tough first few days adjusting to no sugar. But I’ve done it before so I know I can do it again.

Just wish there wasn’t so much Halloween candy and chips in the house.

Halfway back to my routine..

I think I’ve got the fitness part set. It’s the clean eating that I’m still struggling with.  But I am starting another round of the 21 day fix extreme (beachbody) so I know that will help me with my meal planning.
Last week I was in London Ontario for work and although I did eat more food than usual, I also made it to the hotel gym everyday.  And I actually got back on the treadmill. It’s been so long since I’ve run (indoors or outside) so it was definitely tough at first, but after the first couple runs, I felt comfortable running 2-3 miles.  Felt great! And this week I’ve already been to crossfit 3 times, today will be the 4th class.  So far so good.

I do hope to post my progress.  I really have no excuse not to. 

Yesterday’s WOD :

4 sets –  3 position clean
EMOTM x4: 10 goblet squats
Scap pull ups: 15 reps x 2

20 minutes @75%:
400m row
2 Turkish get ups / side
Farmer walk x2

I wasn’t sure how the cleans were going to go.  It’s been awhile since I’ve done them.  I warmed up @ 65# and managed to work my way up to  90#. The high hang definitely was tough and coach kyle said if I found myself dipping too low,  it was an indication the weight was too heavy.  So 90# was it. Felt great from the hang and floor positions.

The rest of the WOD was uneventful.  35# kettlebell for the squats,  12# for the TGU and 30# for the farmer walks.  The 400m rows felt good and I was able to stay fairly consistent at a 2:20 pace.

Looking forward to today’s WOD and then enjoying a Halloween treat (or two 😜)

1st day back

Tonight was my first time back at Sublime since my membership expired back in August.  July and August kicked my butt at work. Then came the craziness of back to school and the kids activities.  Then there was work travel. So I decided I would renew my membership one life settled down a bit.  It finally has and today I made it back to the Box.  It felt like my first class again.  I was nervous that I wouldn’t know what to do or couldn’t make it through the wod.  First part of our wod consisted of working towards our Jerk 1RM.  Instead I worked on my technique and I felt pretty good.  Worked up to 80#.  The rest of the wod consisted of push ups, hip ext iso hold, handstand holds, hollow rocks,  kettlebell swings and 30s on the assault bike.  It was a tough workout but I felt great once it was done.

So glad to be back.

Day 17.. still no Crossfit

I can’t believe it’s been close to 3 weeks since I went to Crossfit.  And actually it may a WOD at Sublime may not happen anytime soon, since my membership has officially expired, and I haven’t decided if I’m going to renew.  Work and life has been so busy, that I put Crossfit on the back burner.  And I’m okay with that, but I really do miss it.  So I’ll need to figure something

It’s also Day 17 of my 21 day fix extreme challenge… so that means 17 days with no sugar (except for 1g that is found in the bread I have most mornings) and the fruit that I’m having.  It’s also 17 days without any processed foods, sweets/treats or any junk food.  I cannot believe I’ve made it this long without my beloved hashbrowns or dark chocolate.  It really is a great feeling to know that I can walk away from the treats and not feel deprived or sad.

Along with following an eating plan, I’ve been working out every day.  The workouts are 30 minutes long which is great and I can always squeeze in my workout.  Surprisingly the workouts are quite tough.. which really surprised me.  Last time we tested for PRs, I hit a 150lb back squat PR.  But weighted squat jumps (10lb each hand) for one minute, are even harder.. or being able to press 75lbs, but shoulder presses (10lb each hand) for one minute?  my shoulders are burning!!  There are 7 workouts, one for each day of the week, so it’s a great variety.

In 4 days, I take another set of pictures and compare to my Day 1 photos.  I see myself every day, so I’m not noticing a difference, but I hope the photos will show something different.