31 May 2014

2 days in a row


For the first time in 6 weeks, I did Crossfit 2 days in a row. I actually did not think much about it, I had one more day this month to use up and I did not want to waste my money. So I had gone yesterday and had to go again today. After yesterday's leg intensive workout, my knee felt pretty good for the rest of the day, so going today didn't seem like a problem. And it wasn't. All the movements were upper body, knees to elbows, cleans, and push presses. No problem. I'm toying with going tomorrow also, just because it is the first of the month and I want June to be crazy workout intensive. But I have the Hawaii Kai dog park walk in the morning with Bella. I'm excited about that and can't wait to take her. So I don't know if I'll be up for Crossfit after that. It's not that far, but still, it will be exciting. So I will see. If not, there is always Monday. I'm going to go back to my regular schedule; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. See how that works out for next week, then if I want to add more days I will. Oh, by the way, the knee feels awesome today too.

Restart #4,509.343.562,333


Had a brief conversation yesterday with my Crossfit coach and it's been banging around inside my head ever since. I gave up on the carb nite because I was having difficulties. I was having trouble sticking to the ultra low carb after a certain point. I could do it for a while but then I would get tired and grumpy and generally feeling crappy. The coach said two things that got me to thinking. First one was what about doing 2 carb nights. I had never thought of that. I could do a Sunday and a Wednesday. They would be smaller than a regular carb nite so maybe just dessert, but I really like that idea. The other thing he asked was if I was eating enough. That thought had crossed my mind repeatedly, but I never followed through with it. When I go ultra low carb I lose my appetite, in general, not completely. Plus with the weird schedule I had at school, sometimes lunch was at 10am and other times not until 1:30pm or 2. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So I think I'm going to give it another try. If I start on Monday, I will hit my first carb night on Wednesday the 11th. I'm going to give it another try. Today I will cut back on the carbs - which I ate with abandon yesterday :( Get back to normal eating this weekend and hit the ultra low carb on Monday. And I will track all my calories and macros to make sure I am eating enough. Good plan!!!!!

30 May 2014

Workload


New classes for me start on Monday. I am getting ever closer to that Ph.D. and it is very exciting. Next quarter I start taking the dissertation courses and start setting up my committee. Yikes!! That means I have to start researching and writing. OMG!!! That is scary. But as I get further along the classes are getting harder and harder. Of course, I say that and yet get A's with minimal effort on my part. Last quarter was when the whole school thing happened and yet I managed to get A's in both classes. But looking at these new classes, I'm not so sure. One class has 7 books. 7!!!! Just the thought of having to read all those makes me cringe. I am trying to be proactive though. I will be starting a new school with a new class - AP chem - in August. School starts about 3 weeks before my classes end. So I need to spend my free time this summer getting all my assignments done. If I can get everything done and then just turn it in and make any corrections necessary, I will have no problem when school starts. Which means I need a plan. A solid plan that I will stick to. Starting on Sunday I am back to Crossfit full time, so that means Crossfit at 8am at least 5 days a week. That means I don't get home until after 9am, by the time I shower and eat it is 10am. I hate starting my day at 10am, but if I sit down and do school work for 2-3 hours, then have lunch, and then do some projects around the house I should be good. I just need to stick to that schedule. On the days I don't Crossfit, I will work from the time I get up for 2-3 hours and then clean house. I also need to devote some time to planning, I will add that in. I don't know. I just know that need a plan and a schedule or I will spend more time screwing off than not.

In other news, my knee felt absolutely fabulous yesterday. So good, I did not wear my knee brace all day. So, here's what happened. On Wednesday I went to Crossfit and as I was loading up a bar for deadlifts a 45# plate fell against my right leg. That would not be a problem but I heard, and felt, my ankle pop. That is the ankle I repeatedly sprain. So I was all crazy, but went ahead and did the WOD anyway. When I got home the ankle was hurting. I was walking funny because of the ankle and that was making my knee hurt. Bad. So I ended up wearing my big brace with the hinges at the knee. When I went to bed I took 4 ibuprofen because both the ankle and knee were hurting. When I got up yesterday, there was still a twinge in the ankle but the knee felt amazing and did all day. When I walked the dogs last night, I got some pain in the knee but nothing serious and it went away. So last night when I went to bed I took 4 ibuprofen and when I woke up this morning the knee felt good. I will gladly take ibuprofen before bed every single night if it will help me. But now I'm off to Crossfit to see how much it really helped. Wish me luck.

Update: I just got back from Crossfit and the WOD was squats, lunges, and box jumps - in other words lots of leg work. I can't squat very low, but did the best I could, and lunges are not the easiest. During the WOD my knee was tweaking a little bit, but I have been home now about 45 minutes and have had no brace on and the knee feels awesome. What is going on??? Does ibuprofen at night help that much? All this time I've been living in agony and that was all I needed to do?? Ugh!!!! Well, I'll keep trying it and keep doing Crossfit and see what happens.

27 May 2014

Time to start anew


I have a friend, I can't really say she is a friend, let's say an acquaintance who has a drug problem. That in itself is bad enough, the real problem stems from the fact that she does not know she has a drug problem. She blames all sorts of things for her problems, but rarely does she take responsibility for them. Oh, she is also a master at playing the victim. The reason I mention her is because I think I have fallen into the same trap. Self pity and victimhood are pretty easy traps to fall into. I have been using 'the incident' as an excuse for eating out of control. I've been using it as a reason to eat because "I deserve it." I've also been using my knee as a reason to not be as active as I should. All excuses, all playing the victim, all bullshit. And the bullshit stops here and now.

I have already developed some short term, mid-term, and long-term goals, and they are as follows:

Long-term: by January 1, 2015 I will do at least 1 unassisted strict pull-up and 10 floor push-ups in a row.

Mid-term: For the next 2 months, June and July, I will eat clean and stick to paleo 90% of the time.

Short-term: No sugar today and 10,000 steps.

Going to start tracking my food again, just to keep me in line, and start working on my pull-up/push-up strength. I am also going to focus on happy. Happy, happy, happy. Enough of this feeling down crap. I'm over it. Happy is the order of the day.

Okay, I'm off to move and be happy :)

26 May 2014

Memorial Day Murph


Every Memorial Day, Crossfitters all over the world do Murph. Here's who Murph is:

Michael Patrick Murphy (May 7, 1976 – June 28, 2005) was a United States Navy SEAL lieutenant who was awarded the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the War in Afghanistan. He was also the first member of the U.S. Navy to receive the award since the Vietnam War. His other posthumous awards included the Silver Star and Purple Heart.
Michael Murphy was born and raised in Suffolk County, New York. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University with honors and dual degrees in political science and psychology. After college he accepted a commission in the United States Navy and became a United States Navy SEAL in July 2002. After participating in several War on Terrorism missions, he was killed on June 28, 2005, after his team was compromised and surrounded by Taliban forces near Asadabad, Afghanistan.

Since his death, a United States Navy destroyer, a post office, a combat training pool at Naval Station Newport, a Sea Cadet unit, a park, and Patchogue-Medford High School have been named in his honor.

The WOD will never come close to the sacrifice the Lt. Murphy made, but I think it is a nice way to honor those who serve. I have the honor of WODing with many military people and it is an honor. Today will be hard for me. My knee is a mess, so I won't be running but rowing. I can't do pull-ups, squats hurt, but I am looking forward to this WOD and I have been all month. It is not a lot, but it is a small tribute to those who serve. While I could never do what they do, I do honor them and appreciate them. I like the thought that Crossfitters everywhere are doing this. It connects us to a larger community and I think Murph would like to know that he's responsible for that. So today I will push myself to my physical limits to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you Murph and all the other soldiers past, present, and future.

Update: I did Murph today and totally rocked it. I walked 800 m instead of running a mile and I modified the moves, but I crushed that workout. I did it in 45:31!! That is 9 minutes faster than last year. 9 minutes!!! Holy Carp!!! 9 minutes. I was very pleased with my performance.

25 May 2014

Support group

Last night I met up with some friends for drinks. It was fun. Talking over old times. Discussing future possibilities. It was good. The one thing about where I worked is that we formed really close bonds with our co-workers rather quickly. I say it was because we had a common enemy and needed to band together to survive. Others agree with me. So even though I haven't seen Aaron in 3 years, it was just like old times. Nice to catch up.

Other than that I did not do much. Ran into a problem with my dog hammock and am noodling on a way to fix it. Started reading a Stephen King book. Did a little cleaning. Oh, I did take some pictures. My favorite photography is macro and I went out in the rain yesterday and took some:


I'm not great, but I love macro photography. Love it.

Other than that, not much happened yesterday. Today I tutor for a couple of hours. Tomorrow we are hoping it is nice because we want to head to the beach for a while. I have not been to the beach in a long, long time. There is a storm hanging around the islands and I hope it passes today and is nice tomorrow. I have a couple of projects I want to do, I guess I will have to get on them so I don't get bored. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it for 2 months not working. I need to find something that will keep me very, very interested and busy. Not sure what that is.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...