Day 10

The END!  Yeah, that's right...it's the end of the cleans! I feel great and my tummy is HAPPY. Other than that today was pretty uneventful.

Tomorrow is the first day of the MNS3 and got some pointers today from Christi, my adviser. It might take a day or two to feel a difference if I feel a difference at all.I can't WAIT for got my Catalyst!!! I hear it's fabulous!!

I've been improving at my workout and been sleeping better. I hope that continues! 

OK, I'm tired and have to unwind. Goodnight!

Day 9

DAY 9!!!!  Yahoo!

Today was great. Nothing to new! Nothing to bad. I couldn't had a better workout but..whatcha gonna do?!

I have not been on the scale on 3 day's :-) it better have gone down and not up! Or I'll kick IT'S butt! I am getting stuck on my self image again though and that becomes a problem sometimes. I was talking to a person at the gym today and said to her "People are just born to be a certain size."  Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh........WHAT! This is what people say when they are in a no-go RUT! I don't want to be in a no-go rut! i want to look like an athlete for crying out loud. My friend said "Your legs look athletic." ....No! No! NO! That wont work, that's not good enough for me. I want to LIKE my pictures, and I want to like my active pictures.

So here I am...day 9 is over and was good. Movin' on..........

Day 8

Welcome to the almost end of the cleans. Day 8

So you know what I said about working out Monday through Friday and running Saturday as lone as I great good/well/great? Well I meant it but it just so happens that this morning I tweeked my back do absolulty nothing, I mean it, I put my bag (not heavy) into my truck and came back out of the truck and my back got really tight, I felt a little some think funny but I didn't really think of it. Until the tightness didn't go away. Good thing I didn't cancel my chiropractor apt like I was going to, to go to CFW. Which brings me to the next thing that I was thinking about earlier and wanted to share.

Just because your taking care of the inside by eating right and exercising doesn't mean that your done. You have to make sure your body is inline and well adjusted. With your exercising and workin' your body hard your body moves, which might be the reason why you have that pain in the hip, back or where ever.  Right now I go just about every week, I'm not sure why my back tightened up, but apparently it's telling me something and I should probably listen, like 'don't even think about missing your chiropractic appointment sucker!', and it's freaking cold outside sometimes your body just doesn't like IT!

On that note....today wasn't the best day. I had my meal replacement shake with the fiber in it and my probiotics 20 minutes before, got to work, had my oatmeal even though I wasn't hungry because of my shake (man that sucker is thick!) and then came lunch......yuck! WARNING if you have a squeamish stomach move on to the next paragraph! About a third way through there was a hair in my salad (without going any grosser) and it WASN'T mine! I'm really glad that I didn't hurl in my plate!!! So I got the manager and I was done!

I went to my chiropractor apt, then grocery shopping and had chicken for dinner. I'm still a little nauseous!!

I just realized that I don't have anymore nighttime pills (cleansing) to take, I just have the morning probiotics and the fiber to add in my meal replacement shake for the next two day's, then I start the MSN. I gotta say that I do love those probiotics :-)

Is this blog helping anyone or do you have any comments or questions? Feel free to ask in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

Day 7

MY Goodness! I'm not sure if I should be doing this through the holiday's but I'm glad I am. I like challenges, would this be working better if I were eating completely 'clean'? Maybe. I could do this again and see but hopefully wont have as much to lose/gain (gain muscle) but right here and right now, lets see what happens. I really need to stay off the scale. Along with making my insides better it's making my outsides better too. It usually takes me a LONG time for my bad skin go get better but while taking just this 10 day cleanse,my skin is healing faster and looking better (I think), and I'm on 7, so I can only see things getting better. I also haven't been eating as clean as I should be, I don't really enjoy eating clean 100% of the time. It all comes within time, and I can see and feel some of the benefits.'It starts working from the inside out,' I heard before I started this, and that's how I'm feeling.

Last week I was able to workout the whole week, M-F, because I felt good, thank goodness! I took the weekend off and will be back at CFW tomorrow and will workout this next full week as well. As long as I feel good I will workout as much as I can, Crossfit Woodbridge Monday through Friday and run on Saturday off on Sunday. That's my plan anyway.

Tomorrow I will be back on the fiber drink along with probiotics and the meal replacement. Yes, by the way, I forgot to mention that 3 day's ago I started drinking the meal replacement instead of my own protein. It tastes good and it's thicker than my normal protein. 

Day 7 was good....lets see what day 8 brings. I kinda can't wait for day 11 :-) a whole new step.

Day 6

Merry Christmas! 

So today is Christmas and I ate a great Christmas dinner and some M&M's and desert...That's the end of the day, just wanted to get that out of the way ;-)

This morning I had my meal replacement shake 20 minutes after taking my ProBiotics. I had coffee and some of my Christmas gift from my grandmother, zucchini bread :-/, it's a small one so I'm not to worried about it. I had Veggies and hummus. Then after the I went over to my parents house for Christmas. I didn't have as much water as I needed and didn't need or have a spark. My stomach is a little...ummm. irregular feeling. It will be better tomorrow.

See you tomorrow...Day 7.

Day 5

Merry Christmas Eve.

Today started out the same as the others. I had a great workout at CFW, I ate pretty well through the day and felt pretty good. I had two places to go for Christmas Eve, I went to church with my high school friend Jessica and then we went to my parents house for some wine and food, not a advocare friendly environment but ... it's Christmas and I knew that was coming.

Not  much going on on day 5, half way through the cleansing part of the 24 day challenge.

See ya on day 6...

Day 4

Lets call today ....great!

Yeah today was great, no bloating, hardly any gas, finally feeling 'regular' (people with IBS knows what that means, FABULOUS) and I felt awake...until the 3 hour drive home from work :-/ that was awful!

I made it to CFW for the 6 o'clock class and I think I had a great workout, I'm getting better at my burpees but my box jumps are getting worse, I hear it's a mental block, well I don't want to EAT it (aka face plant on the box) after all I want to keep my fabulous teeth.

Today was this first day of the little white pills in the am before anything else (empty tummy). ProBiotic Restore

Simply put, probiotics are good bacteria that confer a health benefit and are essential for many vital body functions, including healthy digestion. The word "probiotic" means "for life." Probiotics are increasingly being used and evaluated in the management of digestive balance. However, probiotics are strain specific, and thus different probiotics may have unique benefits. Your body needs beneficial bacteria for a number of things, including healthy digestion. But these bacteria are fragile. Common issues such as diet, changes in schedule, travel, and stress can disrupt your natural balance of good bacteria. Align® contains Bifantis®, a probiotic that helps restore your natural balance.*

 I've been taking the CorePlex (since the beginning):

KEY BENEFITS:

• Provides a strong nutritional foundation*
• Contains a synergistic blend of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and botanicals
• Promotes a healthy immune system*
• Supports healthy muscle and connective tissue*
• Contains antioxidants to help combat the effects of free radicals*
• Supports healthy bone structure and growth*
• Provides a comprehensive package of B vitamins
• Serves as a superior nutritional supplement
• Contains chelated amino acid-bound minerals for better absorption*

 The only thing I'm waiting on is for my afternoon sweet tooth to go away, I'm getting better but I AM a chocaholic and have a major sweet tooth so this one is going to take some time. Holiday's don't help but I'm working with what I got and doing the best I can.

See y'all on day 5.....

Day 3

Lets call today......WTF! I never said this blog would be G rated people!

This morning was good, this after noon was ok. I took the full fiber packet in my normal protein shake and ate pretty normal throughout the day. No problems, not even really tired, had my SPARK. 

I had a great workout at CFW, I'm getting stronger, it may not look pretty yet but I'm workin' on it.

All went well until I went to weigh in at Max Muscle...here is where the WTF comes in. Gained 7 pounds in one week and almost 1%+ body fat (not in a good way)! That has GOT to be wrong, wrong, WRONG!!!!! Yeah ok I had a bad weekend and some Christmas goodies once and a while but not 7 freaking pounds worth!!! FUCK! I've been doing Crossfit better and more....OK so it's day 3 and I've got to let this stuff work. Let see if this will work or if my body just REALLY doesn't like me.

My adviser said "will you stop counting numbers?!" ...Well I'm a number girl, I say. But I'll let it work for me. Apparently it works for everyone else but then again so did the Paleo challenge.....I'm putting my negative self to bed....Goodnight.

Day 2.

Let's call today...flatulence!

Day two was better than day one because at least your tummy starts to feel better, use your imagination, how do you get rid of gas... 

Today's eating looks a lot like yesterday, I had the full fiber mix in my protein stake, coffee and when I got to work I had oatmeal. but for lunch I had Pho, Vietnamese soup (YUMMY) and for a snack I had veggies and hummus.  Oh and I have a SLAM (YUCK) and had so much more energy, still a bit tired and I had my normal nap on the way home from work (car pool) but I had a great Crossfit workout which consisted of:

 Warm up; 25 Jumping jacks, 10 Burpee's, 2 sets of 15 squats, 5 pull ups, 10 lunges, push ups, run 400 meters and row 500 meters ....I can't remember what the rest of the warm up was.

WOD; 3 rounds of.... 100 meters, 50 squats, run 100 meters, 40 sit ups, run 100 meters, 30 push ups, run 100 meters, 20 pull ups.

Tonight I had sweet potato 'stew' and now I'm hungry again :-/

I also did my measurements today, with the measuring tape. I'm going to get my body fat and weight tomorrow at Max Muscle (part of the Max Muscle maintain not gain challenge) I know what my home scale say's. 

Day 2 went well, as soon as this flatulence goes away completely I'm going to feel amazing....lets see what day 3 brings.

Day 1

This morning started with my protein shake with half of the fiber citrus packet, because I have a sensitive system so I wanted to be careful at first. Chocolate protein, water, 4 frozen strawberry's and the fiber stuff. Coffee with my vitamins, joint health, C, lots of fish oil, and D. I felt pretty good all morning, not bloated, I had oatmeal when I got to work a banana a little bit later and lunch at 11:30, a HUGE salad, I love salad. I did have a skim hot coco at lunch too (it was freezing out!). After lunch I got SUPER tired, like I could have took a nap under my desk right then tired, so I had my spark (just call me sparky) with the rest of my fiber stuff. Then I started getting bloated. I ate my apple at about 3. Then went to crossfit after work (I PRed too, probably had nothing to do with Advocare at this point), I was going to get measured tonight but traffic was so bad that I could get there today. I came home, walked the dogs, fed the dogs, put some laundry in and ate dinner myself. Which was chili with steak.  So today I might have had a little bit to much of what I'm not suppose to eat BUT it was a LOT less then it has been. I didn't have any chocolate and instead of having too many sweets and feeding into it with many sweets trying to stay awake. I had one.  Don't judge me!
Tonight I'll take the 3 brown pills and see how I feel tomorrow. I'll probably take the full fiber packet with my own protein tomorrow and see how that feels. Tonight, I'm still bloated. 


Today's work out:
Push Press; 3, 2, 1, 1, 1 my PR was 65 lbs
Then:
3 rounds of 15 deadlift (w/ 105 lbs) and 50 sit ups. 10 minute cut off and I finished in 8:40

24 Day Advocare Challenge

Welcome to another one of my challenges. My name is Kerry and I am a food-aholic.


I had second and third thoughts about this challenge in the first place because it was so expensive and I've never done a cleans before, I've never used this stuff before but my brother talked me into it and it seems to work for everyone else :-/ So I thought, 'fine I'll try it and see if it works.'. 

So I have to say that this Advocare has not started out very well. I ordered my distribution kit and then my 24 day challenge kit. Well it seems that my package got stolen right from my door. I was suppose to start 2 weeks ago but I've had trouble with the re-order and it's still not in my hands YET. So I thought that I'd share a little bit about my trouble area's. My trouble area's are FOOD. Eating makes me happy. Others have other addictions; drugs, alcohol...I have chocolate, pizza and the HOLIDAY'S! I just enjoy food, whether I'm hungry or not...my brother eats to live and I live to eat. That's a PROBLEM. I'm tired of being round, feeling round and having a not so healthy self image....I do everything for crying out loud, why do I have a bad self image your asking yourself. That's easy...I want to be better at everything, I want to LOOK like a Triathlete, a Marathoner and a Crossfitter. I should have MAD abs, SICK arms and bad ASS legs, not to mention a high tight ass. I should have TONS of energy and I don't. If I lose more fat, and gain more muscle I can get faster and have a successful Ironman Triathlon in 2012 and a spectacular half Ironman in July 2011. I did the Paleo challenge and did everything that I was suppose to do and lost 1%, in like a month and a half....WHAT only 1%, next to everyone's 3% +.  Yeah, yeah I hear ya "Your not everyone else Kerry." forget that mess I'm busting my ass and NOT eating the stuff I love and EATING all paleo food...BLAH...so lets try something to kick start my body and see what the hell is up. I hear that it will change my addictions and afternoon cravings. We'll see what happens.

I'm going to try and keep this blog up again and be painfully honest with how I feel and what's going on. Other people reading this might have the same problems as me and are afraid to mention things...so I'll do it :-/ I have a few limitations and issues but I try really hard not to dwell on them.

1. 1. I have firbomialga (sp?) (that has TONS of symptoms)
2. 2. I'm hypoglycemic (blood sugar)
3. 3. I had my gallbladder removed in 2007 ... (major stomach problem sometimes. READ #1)
4. 4. ...right after I shattered my elbow and had to get a brand new shiny radial head (elbow) installed ;-/ (less strength on right side and can't straighten my arm. Painful)
5. 5. My shoulder still gives me problems from where I got THAT sewn back together (mostly due to weather)
6. IBS (READ #1)

Feel free to ask question.


My stuff SHOULD be here tomorrow or Saturday. Michele and I are starting (probably) Monday.


Good night for now. 

The race report that you've been waiting for...70.3 miles Half Ironman

Your wait is over...welcome to my race report for my very first Half Ironman Triathlon: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run = 70.3 miles
A few days before the race I got my carbs and electrolytes in and got pretty quiet (more than normal I think)...my mind was racing. Time to pack. Friday afternoon Rohini and I left from work, RIGHT on time, thank goodness. Ate right, got plenty of sleep, I'm good, I'm ready!!
Flash forward to race morning 4:15- I'm up...5:10 am saw Mary. She asked me how I was, I quietly choked back some tears and said "I'm fine." It was dark so she couldn't tell that I wanted to crawl under a rock and cry, ha ha. 5:15 - We are at the tent, awesome! Go rack the bike, set up transition, get chip, check, check, check....now...FOOD! I need to eat, so I went to the tent to get some food and a little bit of coffee. I didn't talk to many people (I hope people don't think I'm unsocial!).
6:45am - I'm finally in my wet suit, thank you Michele Tucker. :-) The wet suit pro!! Es whispers to me "count your strokes, it will calm you down." We walk into the water and the gun went off. We walked to the first buoy, YES!!! Water was beautiful and I could swim so I was good, right?! NOPE, wrong......yes I can swim, but not in the OCEAN-like lake. Every time I went to try again to swim normally I either got a mouth FULL of water, mouth AND nose full of water or a foot getting ready to kick me. So I swam the first half on my back, as I still got kicked, grabbed and smacked. I got to a kayak, told the guy my chest hurt. He started to call someone and I said, "NO, no, no, do NOT take me out of this water, I have to finish! I just have to catch my breath and burp." And holy smokes, he loosened up the wet suit and I just let it rip (such a lady), and after we were done laughing, he zipped me back up and off I go. After all there were no more waves to pass me. They were all past me (except another guy who said "we can do this, come on"), so off I/we go. I swam the rest of the way just fine. Then I heard my Dad, who was at my first swim/triathlon. (Someday ask him about it, ha ha! Not a good swim.) I think when I told him that I had to swim 1.2 miles he wanted to see me do it with his very own eyes, so he came to NY a day early (for work) to see me. So I heard him and started to swim a little faster. I just wanted to get the hell out of the water before the cut-off. I heard a couple of cow bells and FINALLY was at out of the water, an hour and sixteen minutes. Ugh, just made the cut-off by 20 minutes, I think. Said hello to my Dad and chat while making my way to....
T1. Get wet suit off, go potty, get the rest of my stuff and I'm out. Say goodbye to my Dad and I'm on my way. Thanking GOD that I'm out of the water (yes still)...
The bike: Pretty uneventful, I LOVED the bike! I was aero for most of it, rockin’ the hills until the road told me to slow down (literally, chalk on the road said 'slow down'). Then came mile 42-ish. I think that was the hill that was a killer. I was thinking, "I'm not getting of this bike, keep going, pull, PULL, pull, almost there"...ah, thank God (again). YES, I made it without getting off. I was starting to hurt but I wasn’t stopping, unless I hit a water stop, I did stop at those to keep up my nutrition. Oh and speaking of nutrition, I ate blocks and GU's without stopping. :-) Which may sound lame to y'all but that’s another big step for me, as someone who couldn't even take her hands off her handle bars a year ago. I'm still SUPER glad that I got an aero water bottle from my friend Andrew. That thing has saved me in so many ways. Then came mile 48-ish! Who decided to put potholes and gravel at the END of 56 miles??!! REALLY!!! Ouchy, OMG ouch!! Then came the finish of the bike. Ed met me right before my dismount and stopped me. He said, "Kerry, if they take your chip, run and meet me outside of transition." I was in tears. “OMG I didn't make it!" Ed said, "I don't know yet, just get your sneakers on and meet me outside of transition!" I get to the dismount area (no one is there). I get off of the bike and walk towards transition, and a guy walks up to me. He says, "Hi, how are you?" (“How do you think I am, asshole??!” is what I was thinking in my head. He's got such an awful job, I get it.) I said, "I'm fine." He said, "I'm sorry, but I have to take your chip." As I am in tears, I hear Ed in the background saying something. I walk to rack my bike, and I got myself and my stuff together. I'm putting my shoes on and some lady walks up to me. "Are you # 650?" (Me, inside voice again – “WELL DUH I'M THE ONLY ONE HERE!!!”). I say "yes". She says, "well I don't know how long they are going to keep the course open for you." Another athlete says to me "Just get your stuff and GO, run!" The girl leaves. I got up and ran out, met Ed and got a strong pep talk while I ran out. Passing all of those who are finishing, I'm running out. I ran the first mile pretty fast, I had my water bottle because I wasn’t sure if I'd get the things that everyone else got. I stopped at all the open water stops, got some ice to chew on and ice for my water bottle. There was no food and no salt. I ran and ran for as long as I could. Passed a few Z’ers and some great volunteers! I saw Michele Tucker, gave her a hug and moved on. I asked her to save me some ice cream. Then came that hill…am I supposed to go up there? Well the arrows say to do it, so I guess I do! Did I sign up for X-Terra (a off road Triathlon) by accident? NO! I made it up surprisingly well. A lovely volunteer was on top of that hill (who was still there when I went past again). I started walking briskly, until I couldn’t run anymore. Then I realized that I was alone. Nobody else was passing me (coming IN). I couldn’t run. I had no idea what mile I was at on the course. I just told myself to keep moving forward, and don't stop. So I didn't stop, I kept moving forward. I wondered if I was cut out for this, why I was doing this, what time it was, what mile I was at, oh this is embarrassing, and I'm hungry! Then came this gravel road. "Oh for GOD’S SAKE!!! REALLY??! Ugh, ok I can do this. I did Savageman. I can do this, just walk. So I walked, and walked…does this road end? It must, since everyone else did it. At the end of the road this little girl ran up to me. Oh gosh what is she going to tell me? The little girl said, "I brought you some ice and water. My mom said that if you want to stop and give up she can call someone to come get you. We were looking for you." I said, "Oh, thanks hun! No, I'm ok, I don't want to quit. I have 5 miles or so to go." The little girl said "Ok, I'll go tell my mom. (She screams at the top of her lungs running to her mom…) “MOM, SHE DOESN’T WANT TO QUIT. SHE DOESN’T WANT TO QUIT. SHE WANTS TO KEEP ON GOING!" OMG, this is so embarrassing! I passed them and thanked them for the support. Kept walking. Three miles to the finish. Random guy rolls up to me on his bike (non-race bike) and starts chatting. "Hi, how are you?" I said, "I'm just trying to finish this race!" Blah blah blah, we keep talking since he's keeping my mind off of things. One mile from the finish I see Ed rolling up on someone’s bike (Oh for God’s sake), “I'M COMING!" I yelled. “Got some cold Gatorade and water!", Ed says and we all walk down to the finish. Ed rolls his head, and I see the tent and start running. I see and hear everyone hanging out and cheering on the sidelines and I hear Emily Wyant yell from the water. I see Ed bent down with a finisher’s medal yelling at me, so I ran to Ed. He gave me a HUGE hug and then told me to go run to my finish line. I ran to/through my finish line (everything from the race was taken down) made out of caution tape. (Kind of fitting, don’tcha think? ;-)) I got my finishers pics that Kevin Alvey took for me. I got huge hugs and ice cream! :-) My best guess for my time is 9.5 hours of racing. I learned a lot that day! And I learned a lot about myself.
I've thought about this a lot. Do I count as being a half Ironman finisher? Maybe not, according to the books, but I did the distance. All of it, every step of it. How many other people can say that? I'll do it again, and I'll do it faster, better and on time!! This makes it easy to get a PR, huh? I'm not sure how many people cried with me that day but I sure did feel the love from people that I didn't even know as well as all of my friends. Thank you, Team Z. Thank you for waiting for me when you could have left on the bike course, and thank you for taking pictures when all of the camera people have left and moved on. Thank you for the cow bells and horns. Thank you for the ICE CREAM!! Thank you for my finisher’s medal. Thank you all who waited for me (a little embarrassing…), and thank you for my finish line. Thank you for my pep talks and the advice. I'm not very talkative in groups and usually stay by myself or hang out with the people that I already know, so if you stayed just to hang out and ended up cheering for me, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Though it sounds corny, it was totally worth the 9.5 hours, the tired body, the tears and the loss of toenails (Ok, TMI! Sorry! LOL). If you are still reading this, you are a trooper too! :-) Thank you!! EVERYONE!
It was a long day!!!
Kerry Broughton
"To get something that you've never had, you must do something that you've never done."

Getting back to it.

It's been two weeks of recovery and basicly eating what I want, I feel ready to get back to it!!  Get ready to rock it! The weather is great, the days are long and its time to sweat my ass off and work hard.  These past two weeks havent been bad, the first week I was sick anyway, and the second week I recovered from the week before and the marathon.  I ate what I normally wouldn't eat, limited of course, I took walks and got some much needed sleep. Now I am read to get movin' again and see friends that I havent seen in two weeks.  Summers comin' and it's going to be bikini time!!!  Time to think about what I'm eating and cook more, getting back to the basics. I'm going to re-read The Paleo Diet for Athletes. Help is welcome. :-)

Shamrock Marathon Race Report.

Here we go with the good ol' race report. This might be long so I apology's ahead of time and I'll try not to bore you :-)
I road down to Va Beach with the best group of girls! Teaka and her friend, had fun riding down, traffic was a bear but all I had to do was break out the chocolate :-) and we were all in a good mood again!! We settled in to our rooms and went to dinner. Saturday was awesome as well, I got to sleep in, we went to packet pick up at about noon, enjoyed some of the great weather and get to bed early that night.

Sunday morning I got up at 4am and it must be said that I've never gotten up at 4am with so much easy in my life. I was feeling great, well rested and ready to run!! I met Wanda down at her room for some breakfast and we all road down to the race start. The walk was a little bit long but not to bad, a nice warm up. I got settled and ready in the Team Z tent, tried to just relax and chill out a bit.

Time go get to the race start. I met up with Wanda again and we met up with Jason, and Mark and a few other Zer's. After chatting it up for a few, it's time to start running as the group of people start moving forward.

My first 10 to 13 miles ROCKED, I was on time, running strong, enjoying the view, the best part of the first half was running on the board walk. That part wasn't long, it was a short part of the run but absolutely beautiful!!! I love the beach!!! I kept looking for the Team Z tent at the half way point but didn't find it. It was getting warm out, but I took in plenty of fluid, and nutrition (GU's and Bee's chews), but I wasn't used to running in warm, beautiful weather. Between mile 15-17 I hit the wall hard!! At about mile 18 or 19 Linda Rumsey came behind me gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and help me by chatting with me (thank you so much guys!!!), I forget who else was with her (I'm sorry) but they were helpful and nice to see as well. It was such a huge surprise to see her and so inspiring!!! My legs were starting to cramp like I've never felt before, my hips hurt, my groin muscle was starting to get tight and it was starting to get boring. Then at the very moment I hear some noise of a crowd, even through the music that was was in my ears, I turned the corner (still running at this point) and BAM!!! A sea of yummy-ness, men in there military uniforms cheering everyone on :-) that helped!!! I gotta say though, that military base was so hard and so boring, no crowds (except for the yummy-ness that one time), nothing interesting to look at (refer to previous yummy-ness comment), I could wait for this to be over. At the end of the Military base (mile 22) there was another water stop and by that time I was stopping every so often to stretch out my pained, hot and tired legs trying to keep it together. A nice very helpful, pretty cute banana (guy in a banana costume) came and walked with me and help me stretch out. If I wasn't in so much pain I would've had to flirt with him ;-), he was very helpful too. So was the cute Gecko. So out of the base I go, walking as fast as I could go, trying so hard to run but it wasn't there, I could not longer run so I thought that I'd walk until that last mile so I'd have some energy to run into the finish. At mile 23 I was losing my emotions again, and a lady was there cheering and telling us that we're almost there and I cried, she walked with me for a second as she said that it was going to be ok, asked if I was ok, I think I had her crying by the time she left me. I was in so much pain and just wanted to get to that finish line, I was thinking of everyone at the finish, everyone at home that I wish was there, I was thinking about my crossfit training, ANYTHING to help me get to that finish line in one piece. I felt like I had to stop every 20 steps to stretch at this point, it felt ridiculous and it was pissing me off. Finally I was at mile 25, I stopped, I stretched again, I took my headphone out and shut my Ipod off and I started to run, I dug deep and kept on going, turn to the left and then turn to the right and I was on the board walk!! Run, run, run!!! I see Teaka and her friend running to me with such great words to me and ran part way to the finish with me as I lose all emotion I cross the finish line!!!!! In tears and pain I bent over put my hands to my knees and just thanked God that I was done in tears and took my medal. The volunteers told me nicely to keep walking, so with Teaka and her friend's help I walked through the finishers shoot (I guess that's what its called), they picked up my finishers T-shirt and food and stuff. Then I heard Coach Ed call my name and came over...the whole finish was such an emotional process this time. I also ended up at the med tent because I could barely walk, I pulled my groin muscle and I think that i was just exhausted. I spent about 15 minutes maybe, in the med tent, came out and it was so cold (the clouds come in at about mile 23), Teaka and friends have gotten my stuff from the team tent and we went back to the hotel, I got a quick shower and we were on the road home after we stopped for food :-). The rest is history :-) Thanks for driving us all home DJ!!!!!

What did I learn from this marathon? 1) Flatter is NOT always better. 2) Weather has a lot to do with cramps and race conditions. 3) Music from my Ipod helps! 4) Even if you feel awesome at the beginning and you feel like you can crush your last marathon time, it can change in an instant. You can be doing everything right, everything to your plan, but sometimes your plan doesnt work and you have to resort to speed walking, stretching every 20 steps, ANYTHING to get to that finish line. I still finished 2 minutes behind my Marine Corps marathon time. Weather can put a wrench in your plan, and you may have to adjust your plan as the miles pass. Your thoughts, friends, coach's and training can pull you through when you need it. Don't stop thinking of the good things, keep positive and you'll make it to the finish line!!! Cry if you need to...it feels good!

Finish time; 6:33

Marathon anyone???

Well the week after the Paleo challenge ended I still have done OK. I've added somethings back into my diet this week because my marathon was coming up and I needed to carb up, but not to much.  I still like eating CLEAN, so I'll continue.  This week is my taper week and so I havent done much, no Crossfit after this last weekends workout, I've taken the dogs for some nice walks and caught up on other things that slip by when your training so much, like laundry and house work. Monday I'm going to go back to Max Muscle to see if my numbers change, to do a before and after.
Lotsa stuff going on the weekend. I'm going down to Va Beach today and will test my eating out healthy style, I'll have fun and I'm interested in seeing how I'll feel during and after this marathon. I hope I feel better, seeing how I'll be at the beach and want to enjoy some of the after party :-)
I hope to have a long entertaining blog on Monday. I'll write something while I'm sitting on the couch with ice strapped to my knee's.

Check back soon....

Write it down. Your goals, your dreams your accomplishments.

So they say that you should write your goals down and tell people because THEN you'll most likely accomplish your goal. It's true, ya know. For example, write down that you want to loss X amount of weight, I did it! I told everyone that I wanted to run in a races starting with small 5k's to 10 milers and I did it! I told everyone that I wanted and could do Triathlon, the look on peoples faces was priceless but I did it! Then comes wanting to do my first marathon and I did that! When it comes to CFW I said that I wanted to be able to do push ups and now I can, not a TON but that's not the point, it's something to improve. I've wanted to do pull ups and now I can and slowing moving through that assistance bands. This stuff isn't easy people! It hurts, it's frustrating, blood sweat and tears, sometime more tears and pain but if you'd ask me if it's worth it I'd say TOTALLY WORTH IT!! It take time and rest when you don't want to rest, sometimes I think that I need more rest than others but that's what works for me. I'm not always positive and sometimes needs a sanity check from my wonderful friends, new and old, the more tired I get the more help I need I've noticed. So have I struggled? Yes! But I've written most everything down or told some one no matter how crazy they may think I am. I wont ever be the fastest but I'll be damned if I'm going to quit, I'll finish!

 My goals now have changed a little bit (or have they). This year I want to get more toned up, I want to get my nutrition right and get faster and tackle new and existing fears. Seems like I've been trying to work on the for years but this year I will get better. I can control this part of my life, I'd like to find the right person to marry too but I can't control that now can I, THIS; training, my body, myself, I CAN control. I wouldn't say that I'm a control freak BUT....hmmm well I like to be in control :-) Don't you? I want my arm to get better, it's a SLLLOOWWWW process and incredibly frustrating but it's nothing that I can't accomplish and work through. Do you ever wonder sometimes why you can't listen to yourself and take your OWN advice when you'd down and pissed off? Sometimes you just have to take the weekend off and decompress and start fresh and strong on Monday, this was my weekend off, even though I have a marathon in two weeks, sounds like a good time to recover and decompress before the big race.


So how am I going to get better? By getting enough rest and recovery, by doing CFW, by going to my Triathlon team training, but surrounding myself with athletes, the healthy community and by meeting new people and by having fun. To stop worrying about the small stuff, stop being sad with what I don't have or have lost. Start looking at what I do have and how far I have come and to the people that I have lost, well to the people that I have lost, I think that they would be proud of me too, and/or kicking themselves for losing me :-)


It's true, my confidence in myself has soared, sometimes it sounds cocky but I am damn proud of myself and sometimes I want to celebrate that. For those of you who know me know that I haven't always felt so good about myself so a little bit of cocky-ness, ah, no big deal. Because sometimes I'm not so happy with myself and that feeling sucks, sometime I have to lift myself up. I've worked damn hard for this body and it's not my problem if others take my comments the wrong way.


After this paleo challenge I'm going to keep this blog, just change the name if I can. This blag can help me, and maybe even help others. I like to read the comments left by friends and share my stories. If I type it or write it down I'll accomplish it, or I'm more likely to accomplish it :-)


**And now for the big news. Saturday morning I signed up for my first Half Ironman Triathlon that will take place in up state NY on July 11th.

Bad day's happen...

...Today happends to be one of mine. This week has been hard at work, I've been running out of food and unable to go to the store for more. Choices have been hard to come by.  Today, I've made a couple of bad choice, I didn't have enough for lunch and someone had potato soup she had brought in for people, I was stressed out and hungry and I had some, it was so good too.  I also had chocolate....so needless to say today was a test of many things in life and didn't do so well.  I also had Subway for dinner.  GOD what a bad day...not because I consider Subway a cheat meal but because today was so busy and stressful that if i hadnt planned it an off day it would have been an automatic all day.  I'm not even explaning my feelings correctly for crying-out-loud.  I'm going to bed to wake up to a better day tomorrow....Goodnight....

Ps. my body still feels stronger all around, but my arm still hurts. I needed these past two day's off!!

Weekend

I would say that I've had a good weekend! Friday nights WOD wasnt great BUT my pull ups are getting better. I just hate the wall balls because they hit me in my face, I just don't have the rhythm yet I guess. My squats were really rough because my hip flexors were so so tight!! So all and all, not the best night but LOVED my pull ups. Saturday morning I went to my friends house and we spun for and hour and a half (a half hour more then I planned, but it was good.) the last half hour was a bear but that's just because my butt was in pain. Saturday's meals were, a protein shake for breakfast, and bar (non paleo) right after my spin and on my way home I got Subway, also not paleo but again, I didn't have anything prepared at home for lunch and I was STARVING. Dinner was tuna fish on Lettuce, I'm running out of food and have to go food shopping next pay day!!! I also made a VERY yummy strawberry smoothy, strawberry's and water blended together, with a bit of honey. I don't think I ate enough Saturday, I also got a 2 hour nap :-) ahhh naps!!



Today Maggie (one of my dogs) and I went to the group run with my teammates and friends and we ran 8 miles, 3 more then I intended but I felt good so did another round of 4 miles, totals 8. And AGAIN didn't have anything prepared at home so I got Subway. I had 3 scrambled eggs with veggies for breakfast. So I understand that Subway is not paleo but when all else fails, it works. At last I didn't go to BK or McDonald's or some crap like that. I also feel that when I'm doing things like my weekend sports I need more carbs.



I'm also trying to not stress about things like nutrition or stress out TO much about food choices because stress can cause weight gain and /or not being able to loss body fat. So I'm doing my best and eating right, mostly paleo. I'm have to prepare for this weeks lunch's soon, right now I'll just stick with chillin' for the moment :-)



How was your weekend?

I don't get it..........

I don't understand why someone who has fibromyalgia and other issues that I have over come and now can do triathlon, can run 26.2 miles and who barely stays still because it seems that I'm addicted to training (by my standards) and love to move now, I barely cheat and I can't loss anymore than one % of body fat and lose a little bit of lean muscle, WHAT! I'm stronger but I lost lean muscle mass, how does that work exactly? I've started drinking protein shakes, I eat nuts, almond butter (sometimes), chicken like it's going out of style, I've cut down my fruit intake because that's to much sugar, I have tons of veggies and I'm still at 155 lbs (down 5 lbs from start) and only lost 1 % off body fat and lost lean muscle (a little bit). As Ally would say on the biggest Loser, "Kerry, I'm sorry to tell you that, you are NOT the Biggest Loser....". I'm doing everything that everyone else is doing plus some. Well you know that I'm not going to give up (I never do), or stop eating Paleo but tonight I am very disappointed and comparing myself to others. I'm always the low man on the to-tum pole, ugh!!!




*Rant over.*

Much needed recovery week...

Monday i forced myself to take the day off from everything but work. No gym! This week is recovery week on my triathlon/marathon schedule and this time I'm going to recover, usually I just keep plugging away by doing crossfit, running and whatever else comes along. Not this time, it's to close to my marathon to get injured, so I'm in recovery week, I took Monday off, today I ran for 50 minutes which felt great, I'm still sore but the run went well once I got into the grove, that took a while but once I got there I didn't want to stop. Wed I'll be at crossfit, Thursday I'll take off, Friday I'll be at crossfit, Saturday isnt planned yet and Sunday I'm going to take Maggie to my group run, I might bring Lilly too. My diet has been ok, Shelby wrote back and said to add more protien.  On Sunday I did my 15 mile run and didn't eat ver well, meaning I didn't eat enough during the day but had my cheat meal and it was SOOOO yummy.  Monday I was sore as hell and today I'm sore but in better sperates.

I'm going to bed to get plenty of rest this week.  Goodnight.

Busy, busy, busy.

My GOODNESS I've been busy!  I have been working out and training non stop since the snow storm and I'm feeling it!  I actually had Thursday off unexpectedly, I did go to the gym but it didn't workout so I didn't WORKOUT/swim instead I went to the food store to replenish my fridge. 
After I went to Max Muscel and spoke to Shelby I wrote down what I ate for 3 day's to email Shebly so she could see if I'm missing anything or doing anything wrong.  She hasnt wrote back yet but I'm interested in what she has to say.  I've added a protein shake in the morning because Dan says that I'm not eating early enough in the morning and I want to get some calories in me to get my motabolisam started again (in so many words).. We'll see if it changes anything. I lost 1 % of body fat but thought that with everything that I do I thought that it would have been higher, but I'm happy with 1%. I want more next time!
So this weekend was....hmmmm....busy, challenging, and a bit hard.  Saturday I went to my nutitionist appointment and then got back to Woodbridge in time for an amazing WOD of which I didn't think that I'd finish and I did an extra 2 sets by accedent so I guess I did better than I thought I would do, in the long run, I guess.  Then I painted for the rest of the day.  Sunday I went to do my 20 mile run, I was an hour late becasue I got lost :-/ getting there.  So when I got to Rock Creet Park I started my oun run, to try and catch up with my friends, which I did, at mile 4.5, it was an out and back course and we had to do it twice, the second time out I had to cut it short because I had to be someplace at 2 so I missed about 5 miles and ended up doing 15 miles. I feel worse now than when I did when I did my 21 mile run for the Marine Corps Marathon, I think it's because of Saturday's WOD because I was sore before I stated running and my legs were not moving well until the last half of my run.  Now I'm just hurting all over.  I did not get home until 8:30 tonight, I'm such a bad doggy mommy sometimes.  It has been brought to my attention that during recovery weeks with my Triathlon teams schedule and Marathon schedule I should back off on my crossfit to, to really recovery on my recovery week and let my body recover. It was also brought to my attention that my Marathon in one month from TODAY. I need to let my body recover and after this weekend, I think MONDAY would be a great day to recover, I'm tired!  This week is recovery week and so I'm going to treat it as such; Monday and Thursday will be my off day's, Tuesday I'll run for a little bit, Wed I'll go to Crossfit and Friday I will too, Saturday I'm going to do my team recovery run and Sunday I take off too.  I need to be ready for my Marathon and tonight I'm so tired and sore!!  I did have a great cheat meal tongiht though!!  Of course it was the only REAL meal today after a half of almond butter sandwhich before my run, sport bean, Clif chomps, a banana, Cytomax and a nice recovery protien drink, YES lots of sugar but I needed it to finish my run, have you ever tried to chew on some almonds during a run, YUCK! 

I gotta go to bed!!!  Goodnight.  Zzzzzzzzzz.......

Progress

Today went good. I ate well and felt OK. I ran for 30 minutes today then went to Max Muscle to get my numbers again.  What I saw was; Body fat is 28.5, Fat Mass is 44 (not real sure what it WAS), Lean Mass 112, and weight is 156. Which equals LOWER NUMBERS than the last time :-D.
For the next 3 day's I'll record what I'm eating to see if I can tweek anything to lower those numbers a little bit faster/better.  I don't really have much to say tonight. I'm happy with those numbers and will be interested in waht I can do to make them better.

Keeping up

I haven't been doing so great about keeping this blog up. Sorry. Things have been going well. This past weekend I did have more 'cheat' items then usual, but I also had one of my hardest runs this winter this Sunday and finally got back on the trainer on Saturday so I thought that it would be ok. Also Saturday night I went out to dinner and did ok, I think the only thing that wasn't paleo was the beer :-) Sunday I went out for dinner too, we went to The Outback that was very yummy but not so much paleo, well dinner was but not the appetizer or dessert. Surprisingly enough, I felt fine. I did take a nap today but kept busy yesterday so yesterday canceled today's nap out :-) Tonight's workout was good, I felt strong and my pull ups and burpies are getting better. I had subway today, because I got hungry on the road and needed something fast, they don't have lettuce wraps ;-). Oh and considering that I fell on the ice during my horrible run on Sunday, right on my bad elbow and it's a nice shade of purple and hurts like hell I also think that I did pretty well on tonight WOD.
Has anyone else ever noticed that when you have a half of a stuff neck you feel kinda funny, a little 'off' or is this just me? I'm also very happy that Valentines day is OVER. I hate that day (this/most year(s)!). Hoping for a better one next year.

I'll try to keep this a daily/bi-daily blog but sometime all the days run in together and I don't feel that anything different has happened that day, but I'll try to keep up :-)

Is spring coming YET?

WOD

5, 5, 3, 3, 1, 1, Push Press 35 lbs, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60,
and 3 rounds of
10 Power Cleans (40 lbs)
10 Burpies
TIME 5:54

More SNOW?!?! Are you kidding?

So, the Super Bowl Sunday evening, ah it was a beautiful thing! Durning the day I did very well because I know that I was going to have a 'cheat meal' during the game. And that I did, I think I had at least one over everything (not really everything), but I don't think that I had a thing that was paleo, execpt for maybe the egg? Did I feel the differance you ask?  Yes! My stomach hurt and was bloated for the rest of the night, but the next day I felt fine.  I did step back on the scale and didn't like what it had to say to me, but I'm thinking that it might have been caused by soduim, I don't know.  Let me just say that being snowed in and not being able to have comfort food sucks!!  I'm a little moody. This little vacation is great I guess but it can make a person lazy. Sure I've been making the workout and shoveling but haven't been running, biking or swimming. I have to get my trainer and bike out of my truck but that is really so borring, it just sucks doing this by yourself and being stuck in your home!! I'd like some ice cream please. Yes, at these times I miss my comfort food!
Yesterday's WOD was:
OHS
5, 5, 3, 3, 1, 1  > I'm getting better at this I guess.  I lifted the womans bar tonight, but still have to get lower.
Then we did a mini "Kelly". I was suppose to do 4 rounds but thought that it was as many as you can is 15 minutes, I was wrong, I did 5 rounds before I realized this :-/
200 meter run (?)
15 box jumps
15 Wall Balls

2-6-10 WOD

I'm glad I got a WOD in today!! 

As many round you can do within 20 mimutes:
5 Pull-ups
5 Inclined Push-ups
40 jump rope

Total: 10 rounds

I'd like to point out the the first 8 rounds of pull ups I used the blue and purple assistance bands and the last two rounds I used the green band. Also I think a few times I did the 'swing thing' correctly :-)

Now today I did have my cheat meal, because I didn't have lunch before CFW (I left work at 12) so I was starving by the time I was done with my WOD and didn't have anything ready to eat at home so I went to Boston Market, I'm not getting a date night this weekend either so I thought that I'd take myself out  :-). I got the white chicken, steamed veggies, (ehem) mashed potatos and corn bread (1 small piece).  I think I did ok as a cheat meals goes, I could have done worse. I do tend to feel guilty when I have cheat meals, buts it's only one meal a week and I think I do really well during the week.  OK enough justification, LOL.

Lets take a snow day...

So after I decided to take a snow say, it actually ended up being a mental health day. After a VERY sad day (for reasons not needed to be talked about) but it was a very emotional day. Someone told me the following that I'm about to share with you and I think it is very true.

"Kerry - you're making dramatic changes to yourself right now. You are facing and taking control over what you put in your body and how you move through the world. Is it any wonder your emotions are also coming under scrutiny? Putting old wounds in the past is as much a part of the process as putting old eating habits or poor exercise habits in the past. Feel the pain and rejoice in it just like you now appreciate a good muscle burn."

I believe that the "something" that has been bothering me and other emotions have come to the surface, has do to the change of my diet. Almost just as I realized this the show The Dr's came on and they were talking about what you show be eating at what age and then it ran into talking about eating more fruits, veggies, seeds and fish/meats, sounds familiar I thought to myself. They went on to say that eating to much processed foods and sugar and fat leads to depression (HA! I thought, than why am I so sad and feeling things that I haven't felt in a long time? Things coming to the surface) by 58%, shouldn't I be happy as a clam then no matter what happens? I cannot explain that part. I'm just not crying tears of happiness like I should be. Am I the only one feeling like this?

I am however happy that I can do 10 pull-ups in a row with the green assistance band now. I've been practicing after class, and I'd like to be able to do a un-assistanced pull-up in a few months, maybe by summer. Class was ok too but I have SO much to get better at, BUT on another note I've come SO far. Before I started Crossfit I was working on trying to straighten my right arm, lift the milk carton into the refrigerator (with my right arm), swimming, getting comfortable on my bike, I could not carry heave things, do a push-up, lift a bar over my head, I couldn't even do pass through's correctly all because I shattered my elbow on a training ride in 2007 (2007 was NOT a good year!!!), which caused other problems with my already repaired shoulder. Now I'm doing pass through's, lifting bars over my head, doing push ups (on my toes push ups) and now...doing pull-ups with assistance. I'm a lucky girl in so many other way's! I've had to over come a lot of stuff in life, whats a few more things? Believe me, that is easier said than done, UGH! The story of my freaking life, LOL!

Tonight's dinner: Steak, onions, peppers, mushrooms (I have to work on cooking steak, ick!), and baked brusle sprouts. I also chose to have some red wine, it's good for the heart (HA, coincidence? I'll let you be the judge, LOL). Tonights WOD was good, but with no added weight:

Today: 5 rounds

12 snatch grip deadlifts 35 lbs bar

9 power snatch -  20 lbs bar

6 OHS - PVC 

Food and feelings

Ok so I've had a few bad day's and nights but I think I've got it now (not bad as in cheating), last night I got pissed at not being able to do something, of which I should be used to, but for some reason last night really got to me BUT I had a great dinner!  I made sweet potato fries (saves the freaking day), and baked brusle sprouts and chicken.  YUMMY!!!

Tonight was good I guess.  I went swimming but when I got out to go pee they closed my lane for the water arobics class by the time I got back. I was pissed because I wasnt DONE and really wanted to pay attention to my stroke and let out some steam, but I did get in a 20-30 minutes swim I guess. Tonight I had a shrimp salad, saute some shrimp and through in some avacado in a salad and some basalmic vinagar and apple cider vinagar salad dressing. I just wish a made it bigger. Now what can I eat?

Off to better day's!!!

What can I say about today?

Today! Ha! Ha! Ha! Lets start with this morning's run....


This morning I woke up at 6:30 (ish) to get ready for my long run, a little slugish like normal. I looked outside to see if it started snowing yet, nope not yet. I made coffee and a protein shake with strawberries, YUMMY! Put my running tights on and what I thought was going to be a warm enough running top on. Let the girls do what they had to do outside, warmed up the truck, girls in their beds and out the door I go to meet my teammates at Hains Point for my long run.
It's 8:15 and we're off!! It was snowing in Woodbridge by the time I left, so mile 1 into the run I say to the group "I wish it would snow on this run, it would be so pretty to run in DC while its snowing.". A few minutes later, it started snowing...YEAH! So I thought! Did I happen to mention that I was going long, long meaning 13 miles. I think by mile 10 I couldn't even speak correctly, trying to tell my friends about paleo, ugh, I think my mouth was frozen my friend said that I was dehydrated...Bygones. Well it was very pretty running in DC while it was snowing, true! However, I agree with my new found friend, I wish the snow started at maybe mile 6 or 8, or so. Because my butt and feet were freezing, laterally...did you know that the fat on your butt can freeze and feel like your carrying an extra water bottle or GU packet on your butt? ROFL!!! by the time we finished I think there was about 3 or 4 inch's on the ground. Coach Ed had some hot coffee and/or Hot chocolate when we finished, oh he ROCKS!!
Driving home was not fun, I don't like driving in the snow BUT I had to get home. It took me an hour, it shouldve taken me 25 to 30 minutes. The heat was blasting all the way home and I was still cold, I did not get warm until I took a HOT shower. Then I sat on the couch for some R&R and started to feel nauseous, oh yeah I have to EAT!!! So I made eggs, but I didn't really have much else to eat today because I didn't get to go to the food store, and I didn't have anything to snack on, I couldve used something salty. That's fo' sure! Dinner will be a cheat meal tonight! I'm starving, STARVING I tell you!! Tomorrow I will be planted on the couch, maybe I'll do some yoga but not much more than that (oh crap I have to go get FOOD).

Right now I still feel sick but I'll feel better after I eat dinner I hope.  Today was so much fun!!!

Friday...Thank GOD it's Friday!!

I went to the morning clossfit class and everytime I do I say "I really like working out in the morning." the problem start when getting UP in the morning!  UGH!!  The fact is, is I DO like getting my workout in the morning. My big news of the day...wait fot it....I did the workout with PULL UPS, not ring rows :-) First I used the green band, the second rep I did green and red, 3rd I did green and purple, 4th I did green and red, and 5th I did green but only got up half way so I did 5 more with the green and red.  Today was busy at work and went out to get a salad, which brings the question...why isn't vinigar (salad dressing) paleo?

WOD:

• 15 DL 95 lbs
• 30 pull ups Green band
• 12 DL 95 lbs
• 20 Pull ups Green and red
• 9 DL 95 lbs
• 10 Pull ups Green and purple
• 6 DL 95 lbs
• 5 Pull ups Green and Red
• 3 DL 95 lbs
• 5 Pull ups Green (half ups)
• 5 Pull ups (lets try it again) Green and red band.

I did well with my food today, nothing special to report.  Except for I ahve to start cooking more to have better, more filling lunch's.  I'm prettery happy with today.

It's getting better, today (1/27/10) was a good day.

I didn't get much more sleep last (1/27/10) night because of my lovely Beagle wanting to pace the floor :-/, figures! The day wasn't too bad though, I think my mood is improving a bit. I wasn't as tired this afternoon and I drank more water, which made me get up and move more throughout the day :-) . I tried something new for lunch today that was surprisingly SO good...tuna in a bag (bumblebee, in water) and put a half of avocado in the bag, mix it up and POOF a scrumptious lunch! I also had grapes :-). I also wasn't as hungry through the day, (hence the mood improvement maybe :-)). I think I have to up my veggies instead of upping my fruits, but I have to figure out what I like and how to do that, I like more fruits than veggies I think (of course, I'm drawn to sugar naturally :-/ ).
I went to Crossfit hungry (not on purpose) but did surprisingly well. I didn't get any PR's but let me let you what I DID get :-)! I got my press's up easier, 3 in a row, I ALMOST got a PR but couldn't get that extra 5 lbs up for a 3rd, I tried twice and got 55 lbs up twice and STILL could NOT get the 3rd one Grrrrr! So I had to go back down 5 lbs for the 4th and 5th set :-( But I still got 55 lbs up 4 times just not in a row so I couldn't count it, BUMMER! (*note; when I started I couldn't even lift the bar above my head).
After class I thought that I'd try an assisted (gray band) pull up, so with AP's help I got set up and did a few, HA no problem! Let's try the 'swing thing', AP showed me a little and I have some work to do one that but I think it's because the gray band is so thick it's kinda hard to swing (fun! but hard), I'm thinking that I'll try the green band Friday for a few. I see pull ups in my future :-) ! AWESOME :-)! So I think I had a good night last night,

hee hee hee!

Dinner was a boneless pork chop, asparagus and sweet potatoes (sing with me, Hallelujah!!!)! Hot tea for dessert. Nothing special (except for my sweet potato ).

My day in a nutshell. I hope you had a good day!

So today I will call an Evil Test....

.....but let start with last night. I went to bed to late again because my mind and body was racing and suddenly I was NOT tired, Grrrrr! I finally fell asleep at 11ish, AANNNDDD woke up again at about 2am starving! Thinking to myself, 'should I go get a hard boiled egg? No...to tired just go back to sleep.' and didn't sleep well all night :-( So when I did finally wake up for the day (late of course because I'm exhausted) I had a protein shake, that worked until I got to work and could eat breakfast; 1 hard boiled egg and some strawberries. Today we had a All Hands, food and drinks will be provided (Uh-oh) meeting, BUT I am happy to report that I did not give in, I went and got a salad with all paleo foods and olive oil (Where's The Taste?!), thank goodness for a coworker who knows what I'm doing and does it herself (eating paleo), she's a body builder and has competed (awesome!). So she doesn't know it but she helped me a lot today at lunch just by being there (corny I know but deal with it :-)) BTW if your wondering lunch that was provided was pizza and soda.

This after noon I was going back and forth with the idea of going to the gym and struggle through a run or just go home and recover so I don't get sick or hurt. I am less sore then I was yesterday but tired and emotional today. So I came home and made dinner, of which I do not suggest :-). It wasn't awful, just not great :-P . Next time I go food shopping I'm getting and following some of Elton and Es stuff and follow those recipes (I havent seen anyone else's, to be fair :-)). We should have a pot luck cooking class (I have nothing so far, nothing good enough to share yet). I have to adjust my schedule to fit in more runs, I have a marathon March 21 and I have to get more sleep to be able to recover so I can do all of this stuff/training.  Geeesh!!

We're having a weight lose challenge at work at I'm winning :-) I've lost 4 lbs :-) TIme for the biggest loser. Have a good night everyone.

3 down...42 day's to go...

Today I am tired and very sore. Nothing special happened today, just another busy day. I brought plenty of paleo food to work so I wouldn't go to crazy. 1 Hard boiled egg & and Orange; almonds for snack; chicken with lemon and Ms Dash, Pea's (yes I know it's not paleo but I had to finish them), celery w/ almond butter; apple and almonds for snack. I think I'm probably eating to many almonds but until I can finds something else that crunches for a snack, that's it for now. I don't like walnuts. I'll have to do some testing and be creative. For dinner; dinner was LATE and I had to have something quick and simple, so I pulled chicken off of a rotisserie and had some asparagus.  Tea for after dinner :-)  I'm going to have to take stock in Icey Hot.  Goodnight!

1-25-10
WOD: 3 rounds for time.
10 Clean and Jerk  40lbs  (PR)
30 sit ups getting easier
Time 13:43

almost threw up 

Day two...WOD two

I hope you all had a good day today. What are you missing already?


Last night, going out to dinner was very hard. Steve wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings (really, tonight?!) so my choice's were chicken salad or blackened chicken salad, so I chose the blackened chicken salad with extra chicken, NO cheese and Italian dressing (dressing not paleo; known after I ate it :-( ), it came with cheese on the side :-( I should have had her take it back but I was already starving and feeling irritable. So I didn't eat that part. I have to say that I finished dinner unsatisfied and still felt hungry. I asked the waitress if they had and steamed veggies and she looked at me like I was craze, "well ya little *twerp, I've never been here AND cant really eat anything here so THAT is why I'm asking." I wanted to say but stuck with what I got. HAPPY TIMES.

Today, day two. At the TOTAL WOD today I PRed twice, awesome! My Press was the same weight, my squat PRed by 20 lbs, and my Dead-lift I PRed by 5 lbs. I'm totally happy with but now my neck is stiff, oh well that's that Advil is for, right?


Today I'm hungry, sore and tired. I took a great nap and ate almonds, an apple, and celery with almond butter, lean ham sandwiched in lettuce...scrumptious (sarcasm) I'm about to eat a orange. I need MORE for lunch and snacks. I've been thinking 'Am I really hungry or just THINK I'm hungry' ...I'm hungry. Tonight I'll be making steak, with sauteed mushrooms and onions with broccoli and maybe something else I don't know yet. I'd like some potato's but its not paleo. I'm missing carbs, it's day 2 of 45 and I miss carbs!!!! I'm also missing my simple cereal for breakfast, soup or sandwich for lunch, stuff that you don't have to COOK because I am not a cook! So I have to think of and look up more snacks (easy and filling) and better lunch's that do NOT include eggs. This is were living with another palio person would help.


Today I'm moody and going through with drawls.

Day one.....bum-da-da-dum

OK, so here I am on day one, after the Be FIT class at Crossfit, after the WOD and after braving Wegmans and spent my life savings on veggies, fruits, meats, and I found my almond better, though I have not tasted it yet and I'm just kidding on the money part it wasn't THAT bad, just don't let yourself run out of food at home is the key :-) My first problem was going to the food store hungry (don't let yourself get hungry!), so when I was done shopping I went over to the sushi guy and had him make me a sushi roll with NO rice (did you know that they could do that? hmmm?) and ate it on my way home (seaweed is very hard to eat!). I bought one of those whole chickens too of which I had to have some after I got home and put all of my CLEAN food away. YES I took off all of the skin first and then had some, it's still very good with no skin.
I'm feeling pretty good about this. This morning I had 4 eggs with 4 cut up asparagus in the eggs, and that kept me full for all morning until I had to go to the food store, lunch was 2 sushi rolls with salmon, cucumber and avocado and some chicken a bit later, snack (because I'm hungry again) will be celery with a little bit of almond butter (I hope I like it) and I'm going out to eat with Steve tonight for dinner...I don't know where we are going yet but I'm going to have to learn how to do this at some point, we go out, it's life and this is called a CHALLENGE right? YIPES! I think I can do this. Tomorrow I might try sering (SP?) some salmon to make a egg and salmon omelet (per Abby's advice :-)) I'm also going to keep some almonds in my truck for when I get hungry by accident, to have something healthy to have instead of having the urge to try a drive thru because I was dumb and didn't/forgot to eat. Don't forget to eat!
Today was a good day....so far. It was also a good day to talk to people that I've seen before, just haven't spoken to yet at Crossfit.

2 Day's before the "Official" Challenge...

I'd say that I have been practicing the paleo diet this week. My down fall is after lunch and dinner. Before Thanksgiving I was perfectly happy with just a little bit of chocolate or sweetness once and a while, then that once and a while became everyday, then that everyday just about became after lunch I'd have a piece of chocolate and after dinner I'd have a piece of chocolate and when co-workers asked if I wanted a piece of cake, "sure" I'd say. WHAT?! Where did this person come from again? I've started the cycle again...the one that got me to 206 pounds (minus the just sitting on the couch), oh I'm still doing my workouts and training, just not seeing results...well DUH! SO, as much as it pains me to say goodbye to bread, grains, pasta, carbs, starch, sugars (candy), processed (A.K.A simple foods), dairy, and cereal; I'll probably love the results and how I feel (so I've been told). I'm looking forward to seeing a leaner more toned me. But it wont work unless I DO IT. I can do this. This might teach me how to cook better, my taste buds might change so I'll taste 'real' food and get all of it's health benefits. I have a lot of support and lots of resources to go to. Another down fall might be that buying REALLY healthy foods all the time could get expensive, I guess we'll see. Who knows it could save me money in the long run (after I buy all the spices). So this week I've been practicing, and my downfall is at night, after dinner, when I want something sweet (a.k.a chocolate). TEA! I'll try hot tea, that will be my dessert! I've been struggling with my weight my entire life, there is no time to fall apart, not now and not later. Here is to a new way of eating, you eat to live, not live to eat. That's hard for some people :-(


Goodnight.

Preparing for the challenge,

Preparing for the challenge,
In the preparation of this challenge I've begun to feel a relapse of my bad eating habits sneaking up on me, due to nerves and thinking about all that I will NOT be able to have. Today I'm tired and my patients are VERY thin! Someone told me not to think of what I canNOT have but all of what I can eat. I've gotten ride of most of my NON Paleo foods, either by making dinners with them or giving them to friends but still have some stuff because after all the challenge doesn't start until Saturday. The goal here is NOT to eat yourself silly until the challenge, it's not like I'm going to be WITHOUT food for-crying-out-loud! I've made a few changes this month, down-grading to save money, changing my training workout a little, and changing my eating habits; all to try to be a better person and have a better future. To many changes for one month? It doesn't have to be....

I have to learn to eat to live, not to live to eat, again. Why do smokers smoke? Why do alcoholics drink? Why do I eat?