Making Progress

I'll start with the two main highlights of my day --

First of all, our warm-up at CrossFit was either 150 regular jump rope skips or 100 double-unders. I felt like I needed to get warmed-up with my skipping before starting the double-unders so I went ahead and did the 150 skips (I'm definitely improving) ... and then slowly but surely I worked up to 100 double-unders!! The maximum number of unbroken double-unders I could do was 8, but nonetheless, I'm so proud of myself for actually completing 100 in a session. I just gotta keep working at it!

The second highlight of my day was buying UFC tickets for UFC 162 in Las Vegas for this summer!!

I'm so excited!! :)


I spent some time trying to figure out my routine for the upcoming few weeks. I've got a lot of stuff going on (as usual). I'm going to try to take advantage of my time in Kuwait during my summer vacation to really workout hard. When I first did my schedule I calculated that I was working out for almost 5 hours a day ... that didn't seem reasonable or sustainable, so I've had to modify the plan a little.

Wednesdays are going to be my easy days. I'll use the mornings to get stuff done around the house, catch up on blogging, and maybe do some of my Personal Training studies. Then I'll head to Body Balance class and get a good stretch in. It's been 2 weeks since I did a balance or yoga class so it felt good to get back into the studio.

A shadowed snapshot of me in class today (before class started) 

Since I stayed home, my eating was a bit off in terms of timing. I only had my date and peanut butter in the morning, along with a cup of green tea, before heading to the gym. I had my banana before I went to CrossFit in the afternoon.

Breakfast/Pre-CrossFit snack - broken up through the day

After getting home at around noon, I was starving. I had a bigger lunch than usual - but still leftovers from yesterday - the last bit of fish soup (though a much larger serving because I wanted to finish it) plus the last bit of vegetables from Monday night's veggie mix.

Lunch: Fish soup and a Side of Vegetables

I had my banana and another cup of green tea just before heading to CrossFit.

Our CrossFit WOD sounded simple enough (they always do) ... and then you get started and you think, how in the world will I survive? Today's WOD: 15 minutes AMRAP -- 10 deadlifts (50 kg/110 lb), 15 box jumps, 20 burpees. I only managed to complete 4 rounds, and let me tell you, it was exhausting! [The strength portion for the day was push presses - 10, 8, 6, 6, 6 @ 20 kg, 30 kg, 40 kg x 3 ... I tried 45 and 50 but I couldn't complete the reps of 6 -- max I did was 3 reps at 45 ... disappointing!]


After I got home from CrossFit I was starving! My stomach was growling like crazy. I hadn't planned on that and I wasn't sure what to eat. I ended up grabbing 1/2 cup of raw cashews and 1/4 cup of raisins. It finished all too quickly, and it didn't really satisfy my hunger. I may need to work on coming up with a better small protein snack for times like that. It's tricky because dinner time is close, but a light snack just doesn't cut it in terms of taking care of my hunger!

Snack: Mix of cashews and raisins

I've come to realize that once Wednesday comes around, I'm feeling tired and I'm not really in the mood to cook. I need to prepare for this in advance and have stuff ready either from the day before or pull something out of the freezer. Luckily I had frozen a batch of shrimp and vegetables that I had cooked from a previous dinner. I know that frozen is not as good as fresh, but home cooked meals (even after being defrosted) are definitely a better option than order in or other types of packaged frozen dinners. The dinner tasted ok, though by the time I had heated it up, the shrimp were kind of overdone so they were a bit rubbery. The vegetables, however, were yummy.

Dinner: Shrimp with sweet potato, red bell pepper, peas, mushrooms, and some pine nuts

I'm definitely going to have some emergency meals handy so that I can at least have 1 cooking break during the week.

Dessert: 10 grapes

Today:
- Workouts:

• Body Balance at the gym (1 hour)
• CrossFit at CrossFit Q8 (1 hour)
• Burpees: 80 {total: 3,610/20,130}
• Squats Day 4: Rest

- Food:

• Breakfast: date + 1 tablespoon all natural peanut butter, 1 cup of green tea
• Lunch: big bowl of fish soup (2 1/2 cups); mixed vegetables (leftovers) about 1 1/2 cups
• Dinner: shrimp and vegetables
• Snacks: banana, green tea, 10 grapes

- Other: I made some progress on bookings for this summer. Still lots to book and schedules to coordinate!

A Bit of Positivity

I enjoy getting ready for my workouts.

I like choosing my workout clothes - kinda boring, usually a black t-shirt and black/grey/dark purple capris, but I have a much more fun collection of sneakers :) - and then packing up my gym bag. I try to have these things ready several hours before my workout so that I don't have to rush just before leaving the house and risk forgetting something, or worse yet, run so late that I miss my workout.

I used to approach going to CrossFit with a lot of apprehension. As I would drive to the Box my heart would race and I would feel so nervous - Will I be able to succeed today? What if the WOD is something that I just can't accomplish? Will I fail?

Over time, the anxiety has lessened, and now, I look forward to each challenge. I used to think that if I knew what the WOD would be from beforehand, then I'd be able to mentally prepare. Now, I'm glad I don't know. The mystery is part of the fun.

Just before the WOD I still feel nervous though, but it's being channeled in a much more positive way than one of negative thoughts. I try not to think about not completing or not being able to do the workout. Instead I tell myself that I can. Even if I'm slow, I can do it ...

It's still taking some practice, but I definitely feel like I'm gaining control over my mental blocks.

Our warm-up today was 250 jump rope skips. Some of the girls started doing double-unders and I thought to myself, 'Man, I really want to do those! When will I be able to do it?' I picked up my jump rope and started to jump and then gave a double under a go -- fully expecting the rope to lash at my shins as it has always happened in the past - but suddenly, the rope went under my feet a second time!

I was so shocked I gasped aloud and said - OMG, I did it!

I had to stop and laugh a bit (as did the other girls) as it truly did catch me off guard. Did I really do that or was it in my imagination? The true test will be to do it again ... and I did! I still haven't been able to do them in a row, but I did do 12 today ... and that's 12 more than I've ever done!

I'm still grinning!

Seeing the sudden accomplishment when you weren't expecting it gives me such a high!!

Our WOD today was 21-15-9 reps of thrusters (deep squat and then pushing the bar to an overhead press) followed by sprint burpees (sprint in place for 10 sec and then drop to a burpee, repeat for the reps).

When we did FRAN back in June, I did the thrusters with a 20 kg (44 lbs.) and it was tough ... today I moved up to 30 kg (66 lbs.) for the thrusters ... OMG - really, really tough. I had to really, really focus and think positively each time I went towards the bar. I tried to block everyone around me out and just focus on finishing the exercise. It was brutal, but I did it and I felt great after finishing that WOD!

The 'After Party' was 3 rounds of 15 crunches, 15 side-to-side planks, and 15 leg presses.

I left a lot of sweat on that gym floor tonight -- and left the Box with a huge smile on my face :)

Several Attempts

I only got 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night. I spent a good 3 hours tossing and turning, practically in tears that I couldn't fall asleep. WTF? I'm on vacation. I have no stress. Nothing that needs my immediate attention. Nothing that was distracting me ... and I was still tossing and turning.

The lack of sleep is really fucking with me. There's no other way to put it. I can feel the impact on my body immediately. I'm not lethargic, but there's something inside that doesn't feel right. It's almost as if my organs haven't rested. I know that sounds strange, but I don't have any other way to describe the feeling.

Despite the lack of sleep I still made it to the gym this morning. Today was going to be the only day before traveling that I would have to get a boxing session in. So somehow or the other I dragged my truly hurtin' ass to the gym and headed straight to the boxing bag - didn't even drop my bags at my locker.

I had four goals for my workout this morning:
1) Boxing
2) Practice double unders
3) Practice box jumps
4) Practice pull ups

The last 3 were mainly to help me with my CrossFit training.

My boxing session started off a bit shaky. I found it hard to get the force into my arms, but by the end of it, I had a really good combo set to worn on and the power came out. My poor knuckles! They're still  red, but it was worth it!

I've really improved on my jump rope skips. I can easily jump for about 2 minutes straight. So, the next thing to try is double unders - when you have the rope go under your feet twice in one jump. I must have tried 50 times -- and all I got were 50 whips on my shins from where the rope hit me. So - regular skips, about 800, double under attempts, 50. Successful completion - 0! Not yet ... but soon.

I think I've become obsessed with box jumps. I am so mad that I couldn't do the double box jump! Still, I'm not going to accomplish it just by being frustrated - I gotta practice. I actually started this yesterday (forgot to write about it). This is what I jumped yesterday: [About 17 inches high/44 cm]

I managed to jump that (both feet up at the same time from standing position) 5 or 6 times.

This morning I added another step - after a few false starts, I succeeded at doing that ... and then added one more. It was a no go. I tried so many times - I must have attempted it at least 25 times. :( Fail.
I would take it down a bit, jump that a few times, and then quickly add the step to psych myself into jumping again - ugh. No go!! WTF. I know it's in my head. Anyway. I ended by taking 2 quick steps towards the bench and jumping up one leg at a time. I did that several times. It's not a proper box jump, but I'm working on it. I really want to do this!

Finally, my pull-ups. I used the assisted pull up machine to help me out. I just want to continue to practice so that my body gets used to the motion. I'm doing much better than I did before. It was good to see some progress.