End of June

June was a pretty successful month - I didn't miss a Crossfit workout, nor a karate workout, I was pretty good about what I ate, and I lost just about the right amount of weight - possibly even a little more than I'd expected. I'm planning either a one- or a two-triplet Crossfit break next week - I try to do that every 8-10 weeks to give my body a little extra time to recover. With the amount of physical work I did this weekend, plus the fact that I didn't have a full rest day last week at all, I think I could use it.

July will have some interesting challenges - I'm taking a week of vacation, so my normal routine will be disrupted, and the last weekend of the month I'll be out of town, and I fully expect to eat horribly and drink a fair bit of alcohol over those three days. But the real test of a plan like this, for me, is whether it can stand disruptions in the routine. I travel pretty regularly, and over the last few years, travel has been what's broken my rhythm - I feel pretty confident that I'll make it through this time, though.

All in all, I'm very happy with where I am at the moment. I'm looking forward to being able to say that at the end of July, too!

More Drywall!

I went ahead and did my workout - it was just pullups and pushups, and I need as many of those as I can get. I had planned to sleep in a bit, but apparently all this clean living is too much for me, and I was up at my usual time. I'm off to go hang more drywall!

Drywall is Fun!

I did my Crossfit workout this morning, and did make it to the Farmer's Market, but then went and hung drywall for eight hours, had pizza, beer, and a popsicle. I think it was perfectly justified under the circumstances. :)

I may decide to skip the workout tomorrow, since I know we have plenty of work ahead of us. I'm going to wait and see what it is, first. I'm pretty bushed.

Incidentally, even after the cheat meal yesterday, I'm still solidly below Thursday's weight - actually perfectly on the trend. I'm pretty happy with that.

Ow.

Yesterday's karate workout was killer, as Thursdays usually are, and I had trouble sleeping because I was so sore. Then, of course, this morning's Crossfit was a pretty brutal circuit. Fortunately, I have tonight off, and I may or may not work out tomorrow, because I'm going to be helping paint the dojo most of the weekend. In all likelihood, I'll work out tomorrow and then take Sunday off.

I missed my afternoon snack yesterday, and really felt it. I'm also waaay low this morning, weight-wise - another 2.5 pounds down - which means I'm probably at least a little dehydrated. I'm going to have a cheat meal for lunch, I think - I've earned it!

Pictures From the Dojo

One of my fellow students has some pictures from the old dojo - the one without A/C - up here.

I don't have the emotional connection to the place that the more senior students do, but I do like it. It's got a very authentic and unpretentious feel to it. I don't think moving to a new location will change that too much, even if the new location is in a strip mall - but I will miss this place.

A little. Only a little. Yay, A/C!

Milestone #1

Finally, I've broken through that pesky little number that's been bugging me all week. This marks 16 pounds (actually 17.2 pounds) since I started this plan on May 5th - just under eight weeks. I've got 30 or 40 pounds to go, but this is a significant step. Milestone #2 I'm going to set a bit further out - 25 pounds - and expect it to take about three months instead of two. So, my initial estimate will be the very end of September. That will put me in close range of my goal weight (although that goal is sort of fuzzy, depending on how I feel when I get there. My weight always used to range over about 15 pounds depending on how much I was working out and how much muscle I was carrying.)

In other news, the bison ribeye I'd gotten at the farmer's market is divine. I could easily have eaten the entire pound of meat, but I decided to hold off to spread the enjoyment over a few days :)

Once Again

I'm sitting .2 pounds above my current milestone. The good part is, it means that this weekend's unusual bump is over - the bad part is... .2! Again! Really quite annoying.

White belt class is always interesting - the instructor who usually teaches it moves very fast. We tend to cover a lot of ground, but I don't generally get time to focus and perfect the new stuff until one of the general classes. Sort of the reverse of what I expected, but it works out ok anyway.

The morning's Crossfit was one that had a bunch of different exercises back-to-back, very fast - circuit-traning style. I tend not to like them very much, but they're probably pretty much ideal practice. My overall progress at Crossfit is fairly slow these days, but I'm getting so much exercise overall I really can't bring myself to worry too much about it.

Another Day

My theory was correct, and yesterday's spike was entirely water - by noon, it was almost all gone. I'm still up about half a pound from late last week, but I'm not worried about it.

Snatches - proper full-depth snatches - were the order of the day. It's a difficult, very technical lift, and I'm still not very good at it, but I got through it, and even added a little weight. Now if the gym would go back to playing music instead of having the radio with the morning show on, I'd be perfectly happy. I don't particularly enjoy listening to commercials when I'm trying to concentrate.

Karate went reasonably well last night. I feel like I'm getting to the point where I'm going to have to really buckle down and concentrate, because I'm having to do more complicated things, and I don't quite have the basics fully grooved in yet. It's a pretty normal phase for me when learning some new physical activity, and it's not a fun one, but it won't last all that long.

I was looking yesterday at a program for working on pushups - it's sort of interesting, and looks like something I could probably add to my day without killing myself. I may try it starting in July. I'll link to it later if I do decide to commit!

Monday Again

It just keeps coming around, doesn't it? This morning's workout was the dreaded "Run 5k" - I went to the gym and used the treadmill, because there's no point in torturing myself if I don't have to. It was actually a good opportunity to try out my fancy new shoes. I only ended up running 2 miles, because after about a mile and a half my calf started twinging - the new shoes force me much more onto my toes than I'm used to - and I decided not to push my luck. Other than that, though, it went pretty well.

Never did make it to the store last night, but I'll go today during lunch. Instead, I made a garlic shrimp soup, and it was delicious - fresh shrimp from the farmer's market are delightful. I'm even more bloated this morning, but if my body fat calculator is to be believed (which it really isn't) it's just bloat. I looked back through my entries and it's a bit early for my monthly water retention and cravings, but my cycle has never been anything like regular, so I guess we'll see.

Looks like this weekend we'll be preparing the new dojo - it's a no-rest weekend for me, but depending on how much help they need I may swap out painting walls for one workout or the other.

Real Rest

I've got the entire day off today, and while I may go splash around a bit in a pool, that's all I'm going to do, physically. My legs feel better today, but still tired, and they need the recovery time.

I need to tighten up my Zone plannning - I've gotten way too half-assed about it. I'm going to hit the grocery store today and make sure I have everything I need, and try to hit every meal this week with the correct amounts and proportions of everything. I don't regret cheating an extra bit this weekend, but part of the reason for that is I've been really bad about cooking vegetables, and so I just haven't been getting all the carbs I'm supposed to.

Ah, The Weekend

So I'm not below my milestone weight this morning, because yesterday I ended up having not one but two cheat meals (the second being, well, cheating.) I'm not that far off of it, but half a bag of cheese popcorn generally makes me a wee bit bloated. So it goes.

Pullups yesterday and today, en masse, answering my grumbling about not doing enough of them this past month. I suspect I won't be able to raise my arms above my head tomorrow. I don't mind that much, though, because it's my legs that desperately needed the rest.

The rest of the weekend is dedicated to vegging out - I didn't do nearly enough of that last weekend.

Still On the Edge

I'm still hovering just above my milestone - of course, as soon as I start really caring about the daily numbers, they misbehave :P I'm still essentially on track, I just want to cross that line!

Crossfit was not easy this morning, but I did the whole sweaty 15 minutes of it - 90 assisted pullups, 90 thrusters. It's been a while since I did that many pullups, but at max assist they weren't too bad. I could do quite a few with less assist, but the workout was very clearly designed as a light-weight very fast one, so I didn't try to push it.

I was thoroughly trashed for karate last night - it's been a really long week for my poor quads. I'm getting better at getting through the workouts without my legs turning to jelly, but last night was kind of pathetic. I'm hoping we'll get our move date soon - I think that not having to train in 100+ degree heat will improve my endurance overall.

About Crossfit

(I figured I should do a general-purpose explanatory post or two about the things I mention every day, just in case someone other than my mother ever encounters this blog. Hi, Senpai Amy!)

I don't remember where I first encountered Crossfit - probably ask.metafilter.com - but at first glance I was wildly intimidated. The workouts, as written, are HARD. They're aimed at professional athletes, firefighters, Marines, and the like, and my doughy little ass is not of that caliber. But as I read more about the philosophy of it, I decided I liked it.

I've been lifting weights since my freshman year in high school. I've always done some variation of a bodybuilder-style workout - moderate reps, heavy weight, either a three-day split or a full body workout three times a week. It always worked out reasonably well, if I stuck with it, but as I got older (and didn't have regular athletic competitions to keep me motivated) I found it harder and harder to stick to it. I'd been following John Stone's site (worth checking out - his accomplishments are pretty incredible) but I wasn't really finding that philosophy of diet and training to be that successful with my no-longer-teenage body.

Enter Crossfit - a very different style with very different goals. Where John Stone is a bodybuilder, with aesthetics being his primary motivation, Crossfit preaches functional fitness - which is why it's so popular with military and law enforcement types. Instead of worry about "symmetry" and "definition," Crossfit talks about "power" and "endurance." After thinking about it for a while, I decided that I was much more interested in being fit than looking fit, and started doing scaled-down versions of the workouts back in October of last year.

They were hard. No, REALLY hard. But I discovered that I looked forward to the challenge every day, and the variety kept me from getting bored. I worked out consistently through the end of February, and really enjoyed it. I wasn't worrying about diet at all, but I was happy to see my times go down and my weights go up every morning in the gym, and that was good. Then I went out of town for a week, joined a WoW guild, and proceeded to order way too much pizza and drink way too much caffeine through March and April, and lost my rhythm.

There was no question, though, when I set my current goals in May, that Crossfit would be my conditioning program. It challenges me, keeps me interested, and it's also really efficient - I'm in and out of the gym in 20 minutes, most mornings. I'd wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking to get into shape.

Argh

.2! Just .2 away! Most annoying, although I'm pretty confident I'll get it tomorrow. I also did the Crossfit Total this morning, and I went up ten pounds on my squat and five pounds on my press (finally) although my deads were rather pathetic - ten pounds less than my last effort. It's a net gain for the purposes of scoring, but still frustrating.

I'm looking forward more and more to my week off - I'm going to take at least a triplet off of Crossfit that week, possibly two, depending on how I feel. I'm pretty beat up at the moment, although that's mostly because of the 5k throwing my schedule off. But that week will be 8 or 9 weeks into it and that's usually when I take a bit of time to make sure I'm fully recovered - it always helps. Overtraining is not a good thing.

Half Rest

I'm glad of the morning off, as usual. My legs are sore in some new and interesting ways, and they'll be better for the time. This morning's weight drop wasn't exactly precipitous, but it's about half a pound better than anything so far - I'm .8 away from my first major goal. I'm only a little impatient about it :P

Had a good time at karate last night, even if my legs hate it - days where we do mostly slow stance work are getting easier, even if they're not easy yet. I'm feeling pretty good about my progress as a whole, and I just hope that my work schedule doesn't do anything drastic to make it impossible to continue. I think at this point I'd rather cut back on Crossfit than karate, if it comes down to it.

Tired

Adding the 5k this weekend really took it out of me. Fortunately for once Crossfit didn't have any leg component at all, so I got through that just fine, but I'm pretty tired. I confirmed my upcoming vacation, which I'm very much looking forward to - I doubt I'll take time off from working out, but it'll be nice to be able to do whatever I feel like during the day for ten days, sleep in, etc.

I'm holding steady, weight-wise, and this would suggest I'm due another precipitous drop. We'll see how it goes - I've been playing fast and loose with my diet. I've still really only eaten healthy stuff, but I have been moving more towards small amounts of fruit and away from large amounts of greens. Greens are either boring or require cooking, and I have not been feeling energetic enough to cook much lately.

Another Monday

I'm not super excited to start the week, to be honest - I'm looking forward to scheduling some vacation. I have lots and lots waiting for me if I can ever get away long enough to take it.

I was able to do my workout at the park this morning instead of going all the way to the gym, which saves me a ton of time. The gym's only a few miles away, but it's still faster to walk across the street. I did lots and lots of situps and some other bodyweight exercises (lunges, squat thrusts, etc) and while the workout felt almost too fast, I need the ab work - it's one of my weakest points.

Yesterday I decided to try to make up for the carbs I'd been missing in a more-or-less controlled fashion, and I think it helped. Even after that, I'm only up a fraction of a pound, and I feel less drained than I did this time yesterday.

Loooong Days

Yesterday was a extraordinarily long day. Up at 6AM for the race, then to karate for the practice/announcement, then to the farmer's market, then to IKEA for a few things, then a few hours at home before going to see some live music. I slept til noon today, and boy, did I ever need it.

Crossfit this morning was an interesting challenge - a long set of heavy squats in different positions. I pulled it off reasonably well, although I had to drop a couple of attempts towards the end. My legs haven't gotten much of a break lately, but they're getting substantially stronger.

Otherwise, today I'm just going to rest, recover, and possibly do some laundry.

Running

Got up at an outrageous hour this morning and ran a 5k. My time wasn't anything special, but I'm not too displeased, given the heat and the hilliness of the course. It should be within a minute or two of my previous time, which was in much cooler weather and on an almost entirely flat course.

We had a special all-school karate practice and meeting afterwards - the practice was predictably hard, since I was so wiped out, but the meeting revealed the welcome news that the school is moving to a space that a) has air conditioning and b) is actually closer to my house. So overall, I'm very pleased. The only down side is it looks like we won't actually move in for another month or so, so we'll still get most of the summer heat.

Stopped by the farmer's market after that and was tempted into a bison ribeye, which won't be particularly healthy but it will definitely be delicious. The sirloin I got last week is incredibly good, and a fattier cut will only taste better! I'm not terribly worried about the extra fat, though, since my weight loss is still very much on target.

Unexpected Rest

Today wouldn't normally be a rest day, but the workout is mostly running, so I'm just switching it out for tomorrow's rest day - tomorrow, I run a 5k. It would be silly to run a mile and half today and then try to do twice that tomorrow.

I made a point of eating more salty stuff than normal yesterday, and it helped a lot at karate - I need to keep an eye on that, because I'm just sweating so hard. I drink a lot of water anyway, but if I don't have enough salt, my blood pressure gets too low and I get dizzy, which is a bad thing.

Otherwise everything is looking good - happy Friday!

So Close

I'm actually a little disturbed by the speed of my weight loss the last couple of days - I think I'm not eating enough. I'm half a week ahead of schedule as of this morning. I'm not going to make any drastic changes - water retention is just too variable, especially in this heat - but I am going to keep an eye on things.

Last night in karate I was whining about how my quads are not strong enough to do some of the moves at the proper depth. This morning, my karma came to bite me - the Crossfit workout involved single-leg squats. If they're not strong enough, I guess I better get them strong enough, or I'm going to spend a lot of time whining!

I ordered a new pair of shoes yesterday - I tried to buy them at the store so I can maybe use them Saturday in the 5k, but only one store in town carries them, and they didn't have my size. I should get them early next week - I'm excited! They're Vibram Fivefingers - sort of the logical next step in my increasing fondness for barefoot-style shoes. I would have cheerfully stuck with the Nike Free 4.0s but no one carries them any more, and I'm not nearly as happy with the 5.0s.

Late!

I had a pretty typical morning, but somehow got distracted and didn't do any of my morning logging and blogging. This morning's workout was heavy deadlifts, and I was in very good form - my last set of three was only ten pounds under my best single rep in May. That's right about where I was in February, I think, and I should be back up to my previous single-rep max. I really like heavy lifting days - I tend to be better at them, comparatively, than the lighter and faster workouts.

Karate was good last night - I got to learn the first kata. It'll take me a while to get it completely down, but it won't be too difficult. I also decided to run a 5k this weekend with one of the senior students - I ran one back in February, which went quite well, and it's time for me to do another.

I need to get myself to eat more at meals - I've been really bad about getting all my carbs in, and I need to crack down on that. Otherwise, though, I'm very pleased with my progress.

Another Low

Surprisingly light this morning, although I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with missing breakfast yesterday. I went to do the dishes after working out, and discovered that the dishwasher hadn't drained properly - had to call a plumber. Turned out the dishwasher drained into the disposal, which was shot, and I had him just remove it and replace it with regular pipes. I never liked disposals anyway, and I'm happier without one.

This morning is a rest day for Crossfit, which is always nice. Karate wasn't too bad last night - we did enough varied things that I didn't get too tired in any one area. It's really nice to have something to look forward to every day, and it's also nice to be able to get up and walk away from work at the end of the day - it helps with the separation, which is something I've had trouble with, working from home.

Anyway, I should go do those dishes now so I don't miss breakfast again!

Dripping Sweat

This morning's workout was all running, so instead of going all the way to the gym I ran on the little gravel track across the street. It's nice enough, but man, it's hot outside - even at 8AM.

Ended up having a sufficiently relaxing day yesterday, which I enjoyed. I still need to do a few chores today, but it's easy enough to do laundry when I sit around the house all day anyway.

I'm looking forwards to hearing the black belts' stories about their training weekend in New York tonight! They were so excited before they left - I'm sure they'll have good ones.

Sunny Day

Worked out this morning, although I didn't start my timer correctly, which is annoying - if I don't get an accurate time, it's hard to compare the next time I do the exercise. Looking forward to another mellow day today.

I cooked fish last night, although I was too tired - and still full from lunch - to eat any of it, so I'll have that today. It smelled lovely, and I'm looking forward to it. I need to hit the store as well and pick up a few things. Other than that and a bit of housecleaning, I don't have any major plans - and I like it that way!

Ah, Saturdays

Got up this morning, went to the gym with my usual buddy, then went to the pool and swam a couple hundred yards, then had a lovely lunch as my cheat meal for the week. The workout was more legs... sigh. Well, they'll be hard as rocks by the end of the summer, at this rate.

I have plenty of yummy food from the farmer's market, and I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend!

Rest Day

Yay for rest days! I definitely need it. The way the timing worked out, I didn't get a full rest day last week at all, so I'm pretty tired.

I'm at another new low today, weight-wise - it's going down steadily on average, even when the day-to-day weight has its ups and downs. Only four pounds to go to my first milestone! I'm hoping to hit it by the 20th or so.

Karate last night was not very stressful, which was a relief. I'm not sure if I could have handled another hour of stance work. I worked with some instructors I've only seen once before, so that was nice. They are all very different in their teaching styles, so it gives me a mich wider perspective on all the things I'm learning.

Just What I Needed

...more leg work. And cramps. I'm going to keep this short, because I'm just wiped out.

I did my squats, unfun as they were, and Karate last night was good. It was actually much less taxing than Tuesday, because the instructors were switching nights this week. I'm not sure who's teaching tonight - it should be interesting.

Tomorrow is a full rest day - much needed!

Progress

Tomorrow is the official one-month mark since I started this blog - I'm doing pretty well. I'm coming along reasonably well in Karate, and should qualify for my advanced white belt by the end of this week. I haven't missed any Crossfit workouts, and I'm getting back to where I was in February (although it seems like my progress is a bit slower than I expected, probably because I'm dividing my efforts.) I've stuck to the Zone pretty well, and I've only had a couple extra cheats here and there. My weight is actually right where I'd hoped it would be. If I can keep this up for a couple more months, I'll be in really good shape.

A New Low

Officially ten full pounds down today, from my starting date of May 5th. That's perfectly on target, and I'm quite pleased. The morning's workout was heavy snatch singles, which for me is mostly practice on the technical side, since I'm not very good at it - I can barely add weight to the bar at all. It went just fine, though, and I actually feel pretty good about it.

I was very grateful last night for the kinds of intense Crossfit workouts I'm used to, because we did a very similar kicking drill - basically kicking as fast as we could on one target, then running across the room to another target, then back again, for two minutes or so. We divided up by weight class and while my actual kicking was much less competent than my more senior fellows, I kept up with the pace without much difficulty.

I finally used the ground bison I had gotten at the farmer's market a few weeks ago, and the resulting chili is delicious. I may actually get a steak next time, just to try it out.

I Hate Mondays

Even rest day Mondays - I'm just all groggy and confused. I had my usual shake with whole milk instead of skim today, because the dairy stall at the farmer's market was out of skim - man, it's really yummy that way. I was actually adding oil to the shake to make it zone-correct so I just skipped that part, and I'm assuming it works out about the same.

Karate tonight, if I can stay awake that long!

June

I recalculated my blocks using a higher activity factor and my current weight and body fat, and I got 15 blocks - up from twelve. I'll try that for a week or two and see how it goes. The other new thing this month is that I'm doing John Stone's 100 Challenge - the idea is you plan out your food and workout goals, start with 100 points, and deduct one point for each deviation. I'm not sure how much I need the reinforcement right now, but I've done this a few times in the past, and it's been helpful.

This morning's workout was the same type as yesterday's, although I found it slightly less taxing. Lunch yesterday was not particularly clean - a hamburger and grilled potatoes - but it was certainly yummy. I need to get back on the wagon this week, though. My PMS should be mostly over by now, anyway.

Down about 2% body fat in May, according to my (not terribly accurate) scale. That's a good number, although I have quite a ways to go yet. I'm still hoping to hit Milestone 1 in mid-June-ish, and then I'll be able to see where Milestone 2 should fall.