Whole30 – Day 9

I feel like I have not sat down today at all.

This morning I rushed around to get the little man ready for school and then I headed off to the gym for an elliptical session. I did an hour on the machine while watching a documentary on Netflix called Killer at Large: Why Obesity is America’s Greatest Threat. If there is one thing that will keep your ass on the elliptical for an entire hour its a documentary about being fat. Eye opening.

Lincoln begged to go to his grandma’s house after school, so I had the whole afternoon to play on the internet clean the house. Lately I’ve been turning cleaning into “WODs”, if you will. I call this one – AMRAIT. As many rounds as it takes. I set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes and I clean as hard as fast as I can for 30 minutes, when the alarm goes off I reset it for 5 minutes and take a break. It took me 6 rounds to get the house completely clean from top to bottom. … That’s right … 3 freakin’ hours.

I should log that shit in my WOD book.

Speaking of …

That was my real WOD tonight.

The loop runs are basically running around the parking lot of the building. I estimate that its between a quarter mile and a half a mile. One day I’ll have to take my Garmin and find out for sure.

I finished in 13:41 (Rx).

Several people have asked me what “Rx” means. It just means that I used the prescribed weight for the exercises instead of scaling down to a lower weight.

I’m pretty sure that would have been a killer workout even if I hadn’t already done the elliptical and my AMRAIT …

That’s what I think of that.

Eats today have included:

Breakfast – 3 scrambled eggs topped with sautéed spinach and smoked salmon. I have to admit, this one was even a little too weird for me. I absolutely adore smoked salmon, you might even say I’m obsessed with it … but not on eggs. Oh well, you win some – you lose some.

Lunch – Waldorf Chicken Salad with Homemade Olive Oil Mayo. I used 2 leftover Mustard Sage Chicken Thighs and added:

• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 celery stalk – chopped
• 1/4 red onion – chopped
• 15-ish red grapes – halved (yes, the picture below says 35, I was overestimating)
• 1 oz chopped walnuts
• salt & pepper to taste

Dinner was the spiciest thing I think I’ve ever put in my mouth.

Beef and Butternut Squash Cocoa Chili – from you guessed it, Practical Paleo.

This is the first time I’ve ever made chili with cocoa powder and cinnamon in the ingredients list. It also featured a tablespoon of chipotle powder in addition to the chili powder and paprika.

I would have killed for some sour cream and a beer to go with it. Instead I settled for a dollop of guacamole to cool it off a bit.

Do you play any games or have any tricks when it comes to housework to make it more tolerable? What is the spiciest thing you’ve ever eaten?

CF Total, “Helen” and Days 6&7

I’m totally tired tonight, so this will most likely be short and sweet. Tonight’s benchmark workout at CrossFit wore me out!

We did “Helen” which is 3 rounds for time of: 400m run, 21 Kettlebell swings and 12 Pull-Ups. This was actually the first benchmark WOD I ever did. My results tonight aren’t really comparable with my previous results though because of my increase in weight in the kettlebell and decrease in bands for assistance with the pull-ups.

I completed the WOD in 12:22. I used the Rx weight Kettlebell (35#) and used red & blue bands (not sure of the resistance). Whatever. Sounds simple, but was killer.

This will be one of the WODs that we will repeat at the end of our challenge in 6 weeks. Right now I’m not looking forward to it 🙂

Yesterday we did our CrossFit Total, which is the sum of a 1 rep max on backsquat, strict press (no assistance from the legs) and deadlift.

My total was 410 … Backsquat 135#, Press 70# and Deadlift 205#. All new PRs!

Yeah!

Eats lately:

Tomorrow I attempt to tackle running. Today I played it safe and did an elliptical workout in light of my recent hip pain. No hip pain at all today though, so I’m feeling optimistic.

A Long Run & Whole30 Day 5

I haven’t written as much about running lately, but I swear I’m still out there. Most runs are fairly mundane and not blogworthy. Of course I’ve been spending a lot of time talking about my love affair with CrossFit and Paleo eating, but I’m still married to running. No worries!

Today’s run was a big question mark. The last run I did was on Wednesday and it was pretty disastrous with my hip pain and an Upper Respiratory Infection. Yuck! I rested my leg and my body for 2 full days, and then did a short CrossFit workout yesterday before trying to run again today.

My hip has continued to be mildly annoying the last few days, so I wasn’t feeling super confident about completing my 20-miler today. I went out there with the intention of running as far as I possibly could without causing any further damage, even if that meant I had to quit after 2 miles.

At about mile 6 I started being aware of my hip, although I wouldn’t say it hurt. I stopped at mile 7 and did some Downward Facing Dog and Pigeon Pose in the median of the road to loosen my hamstrings and hip. It helped a lot! So when someone in the group had to take a potty break at mile 9 I used that as another opportunity for some stretching.

“Stacked Firewood” is another good hip stretcher.

The hilly terrain between miles 11 and 13.5 really got the hip angry. I decided at that point to cap the run at 16 miles. I stretched it out one more good time at 13.5 and finished up. I actually felt much better once I got off the hills, but decided to play it conservatively.

I thought about my New Year’s Resolution and focused on “accepting myself unconditionally right now”. Right then, that was the right choice. I didn’t take the “unfinished” last 4 miles home with me, so to speak. Something that would have driven me crazy and put me in a bad mood in the past. I felt accomplished and happy with my best today! 🙂

I finished 16.13 miles in 2 hours and 25 minutes.

I iced, foam rolled and stretched my hip like it was my J-O-B once I got home. And then I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon playing “Ninjas” with my son.

My food today was pretty special, especially lunch and dinner.

Pre-run: Cashew Cookie Larabar
Mid-run: A handful of dates
Post-run: 2 hardboiled eggs (brought these in a cooler bag in my car so I could have the protein immediately after my run).

Lunch:

Sweet Potato Pancakes, Sausage and Grilled Brussel Sprouts.

I’m telling you, these pancakes are something special.

For my afternoon snack, I attempted to eat sardines:

Dinner was Lemony Lamb Dolmas and Cilantro Cauliflower “Rice” from Practical Paleo. This cauliflower is life changing, and the dolmas were EVEN better.

This was one of those meals where I had to say “day-um” every couple of bites. It was that good.

It turned out to be a really great day!

Health/Performance Challenge & Whole30 Day 4

Turkey legs are weird.

You’d think eating a turkey leg would be like eating a giant chicken leg, but it’s not.

Tonight’s dinner was Sage Baked Turkey Legs and Sweet Potato Pancakes from Practical Paleo with a small spinach salad.

I felt like I went straight CAVEMAN on that turkey leg. It wasn’t pretty. The meat is tougher and more difficult to eat than chicken legs. The flavor was great, but next time I’ll stick to chicken.

The potato pancakes on the other hand were “Oh Em Gee” good. I was supposed to save a couple for breakfast in the morning, but I couldn’t.

I finally got to workout today. Today was the beginning to the Health and Performance Challenge at CrossFit Intrigue that I talked about previously.

My starting stats are as follows (I know I said I wasn’t weighing myself during Whole30, but I obviously had to for this challenge):

Weight – 149
Body Fat % – 29.88

I also had several body measurements done. Our WOD was:

Unfortunately, the clock stopped running in the middle of the WOD so we won’t be able to use this for part of our challenge to reassess in 6 weeks. We’ll have a make-up WOD on Thursday instead.

I played around with some numbers on this website today to try to figure out what I thought I might be able to accomplish for the challenge. I’d love to get to 24% body fat, which according to my calculations would mean losing 9 pounds, which correlates to 1.5 pounds per week. I think that’s totally doable! Seriously though … I’m not worried one way or another. I’ll do my best and see what happens.

On a final note, I made a Facebook page for my blog Eat to Live, Live to Run so you guys can “like” it and follow me there also. It’s a work in progress, but it’s coming along.

Have a great night!

Whole30 – Day 3

Did you know that red and yellow bell peppers have 3 times as much vitamin C as an orange? Crazy, huh?

As a matter of fact I’ve found out in the last couple of days that there are lots of foods that have more Vitamin C than citrus fruits, like broccoli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower.

My cold symptoms hit me with full effect yesterday and I was feeling miserable, especially after I spent the entire morning out in the cold, grocery shopping with my 4-year old. So I’ve been making myself these “Feel Better Juices” …

I pulled out my handy dandy juicer that I bought last December after I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead …

1 1/2  Yellow or Red Bell Peppers
1 Orange
1 Grapefruit
1 inch of Ginger

Makes 2 servings.

I actually left out the grapefruit today and liked it a little better, but its still totally a “chug it! chug it!” kind of drink.

Here’s hoping it works. I do think I’m feeling a little better after my homemade concoction remedy, some healthy food and some rest time.

Tomorrow I’ll be back at it either way. My Health & Fitness Challenge at CrossFit Intrigue begins tomorrow. I’ll be weighed, measured and body fat percentaged <— totally technical term there. And then I’ll perform one timed WOD.

On Monday, I’ll perform a CrossFit Total which is the sum of the amount of weight for a 1 rep max deadlift, back squat and strict press.

On Tuesday the participants will do another timed WOD.

Six weeks from now we will repeat the CrossFit Total and both of the WODs to measure improvement. We will also be re-weighed, re-measured and re-body fat percentaged. (Yeah, I’m gonna keep saying that).

These change in numbers in addition to our daily food log and our accountability by signing in to class when we come will help the judges determine the winners for the challenge.

I’m kind of excited. I obviously like challenges.

Aaaaanyway, speaking of bell peppers and oranges and vitamin C and such … I had a double dose today because they were also a part of our dinner.

Garlic Grilled Flank Steak with Peppers and Onions and Baked Beets with Fennel & Oranges from Practical Paleo.

I’ve never cooked or eaten fennel before, mainly because my husband told me it tasted like licorice. But it was on the meal plan for tonight, so I decided to give it a try. I actually really liked it! The mixture of the beets, fennel and oranges just screamed to be on a salad though so I put it on a bed of spinach with a drizzle of Balsamic Vinaigrette.
Ah-mazing!

One of the things I really love about the Practical Paleo book is that it has several 30-day meal plan options that you can choose from for different focuses …

(source)

I thought this time around I’d try out one of the meal plans to help me branch out and get a good cross-section of some of the recipes in the book. I had a hard time choosing between Squeaky Clean Paleo and Athletic Performance, which incorporates much more starchy veggies. Ultimately I decided to start with Squeaky Clean and if I’m feeling like I’m dragging on my runs or at CrossFit I’ll change.

It’s kind of nice to be able to look ahead and see what I’ll be eating soon. In addition, there are printable weekly grocery lists for each plan online at Balanced Bites as well as a printable pantry item list.

It made my grocery shopping in the cold, sick and with my 4-year old a little more bearable than it would have been otherwise. 🙂

Whole30 – Day 1 (Again)

Yep, Whole30 day 1 .. again. Like I said yesterday I’m starting my new year off right with another Whole30. Waited until today to start since I was on the road for most of the day yesterday.

My day started off with a sore throat, some major sinus congestion and an internal moral dilemma about whether or not it would be ok for me to take some Emergen-C on Whole30. (It contains artificial ingredients and sweeteners). Once I woke up and got my head on straight I decided that would definitely be a “no”.

I thought I might feel better once I got up and got moving, which is often the case when I’m feeling a little puny. So I threw on my running clothes and headed out for my scheduled 7-mile tempo run. The cold symptoms didn’t bother me too much during my run, but my left hip starting complaining about halfway through the run. I’ve had this same pain off and on since I started running, it’ll bother me for a while and then it will go away. Today it was in full effect.

I was able to finish up my run, mostly because it was an out and back so I didn’t have any other choice, but I decided I need to take a few days off and re-assess. It happens.

Breakfast after my run was some Puerto Rican beef that I made before I went out of town for New Years. Usually I don’t eat leftovers that have been in the fridge for more than a day or two, but I made an exception today. Puerto Rican beef is definitely becoming a staple in my Paleo recipe book.

Lunch was super simple; chorizo sausage with roasted cauliflower and wilted balsamic spinach.

I debated with myself all day about going to CrossFit tonight. Because of the holiday and traveling I haven’t been able to go since last Thursday. On one hand I figured my body could use the rest and on the other hand I was thinking things like, “but what if I’m really sick tomorrow and can’t go then? Today might be the better day” … and “I’m paying for it, I might as well go”. Ultimately I decided it wasn’t a good idea. So instead I stayed home and cleaned out my fridge, freezer and pantry.

I couldn’t believe all the absolute CRAP I had in the house.

Just about every sauce and seasoning I had in the pantry had to go because of either artificial ingredients, soy ingredients or sweeteners.

Now my kitchen is officially Whole30 compliant!

For dinner I made a quick chicken stir-fry with a homemade paleo-friendly sauce and a side of avocado. Any excuse to eat avocado.

The sauce consisted of:

• 1/4 cup Coconut Aminos
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• a couple drops of spicy Chili Oil
• 1/4 tsp of Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

It was about enough for 4 servings. Mmmmmm, sweet and spicy!

I’m doing things a little differently this time around on my Whole30. Firstly, I didn’t weigh myself before I started and I won’t weigh myself at all during the process this time. No cheats!

This is part of my resolution to accept myself unconditionally right now! Because I know that I’m eating healthy foods, controlling my portions and getting plenty of exercise the number on the scale doesn’t define me.

I am however logging my food in a food diary in order to be aware of my portions, snacking, cravings, and overall nutrient intake. I’m not strictly paying attention to calories, but I’m being aware of them.

I’m planning on branching out more in my cooking this time around. I’m considering doing a Meal Plan from Practical Paleo to incorporate some different dishes in my rotation so that I don’t fall back on the same ones over and over again. I already see myself relying too heavily on a few things (sweet potatoes, anyone?).

More on that tomorrow. Have a great night!

Old Year – New Year

2012 was a really great year! I’m so excited to see what 2013 will have in store!

I rang in the New Year in Nashville, Tennessee with some great friends. New Years Eve started off with 7 mile run down the Natchez Trace Parkway with Drew.

 
                                (Image sources here and here).

Then last night we went out on the town in Downtown Nashville, ate some good food, had a few drinks and watched the ball drop.

In 2012 I completed 9 Half Marathons and 1 Full Marathon. I got new PRs in both distances and accomplished my goal of running a sub-4 hr marathon. I gave up my vegetarianism for a Paleo lifestyle and joined a CrossFit box. I celebrated a year of practicing yoga. I quit my job as a Labor and Delivery nurse to be able to spend more time at home with my family and pursue other interests. I began teaching nursing school clinicals at a local college on a part time basis. I made some great new friendships, did quite a bit of traveling including a family trip to Disney World and celebrated 11 years of marriage.

I ran over 1800 miles in 2012. That’s more than 500 miles more than I ran in 2011!

It really was a great year!

Now its time to set my intentions for 2013 to make sure that it is even better. I’m honestly not a big fan of really specific resolutions such as, “I will run 2000 miles” or “I will run a 1:39 half marathon”. While those types of goals serve a certain purpose and are definitely measurable, I feel that there is only so much that is within human control. What if I break my leg this year and am unable to meet those goals? I prefer more generalized resolutions that give me something to strive towards daily and in the end make me a better, happier person.

My 2013 resolutions are:

To let go of the things in the past that have hurt me and to not carry that pain into the new year.

To accept myself unconditionally right now.  Every. single. day.

And to live with as much passion, dedication, commitment and peace as I possibly can.

I’m starting off the year with another Whole30 program. Day 1 will be tomorrow!

Other exciting things that I already have on the calendar for 2013 include:

• The Louisiana Half Marathon on January 20th
• Wetumpka Indians Half Marathon on January 26th
• Mississippi River Marathon on February 9th
• Mercedes Half Marathon on February 17th
• Centerpoint Half Marathon on March 16th
• Publix Georgia Half Marathon on March 17th
  (Doing back to backs to get a new Half Fanatic level)

aaaand one that I’m really excited about …

• Cherry Blossom 10-miler in Washington, DC on April 7th.

My friend Hilary and I both registered for the lottery for the Cherry Blossom race and we were both chosen! I’ve actually never been to D.C. so I’m really excited to experience it. We will be turning it in to a mini family vacation!

The new year is already looking promising with lots of new challenges and adventures on the horizon.

The hubby and I are also joining CrossFit Intrigue’s Health and Performance Challenge beginning on January 5th.

Happy New Year! Make it great!

Day 31 – What Now?

I got a text this morning from my friend, Danyalle, who wanted me to come try a new class at the Y called AMRAP. So I rushed off to take the little man to school and had just enough time to hit the treadmill for the “meat” portion of my scheduled 7-mile tempo run before the class started. I ditched the warm-up and cooldown and just did the 5 mile fast part of the run.

I forgot my iPod, so I had a chance to spend some time thinking about what I want to do next as far as eating goes. Changing from being a vegetarian to eating Paleo then to the Whole30 has been a big adjustment. I have really enjoyed both ways of eating. I enjoyed the vegetarian cooking more I think, but I feel physically better with the Paleo eating.

So I think where I want to go from here is what my friend Barb refers to as “Paleo Light”. Basically I want to eat Paleo whenever possible but adding back in a couple of things that the Whole30 program didn’t allow: natural sweeteners like honey, agave and maple syrup. I also want to add back in wine and cheese occasionally. Well, wine regularly… cheese occasionally.

Things that I haven’t missed, I see no reason in re-introducing at all.

I don’t want to schedule cheat days or meals. When I do cheat I want to make sure that it’s something so totally worth it and special that I won’t feel guilty. Guilt is no longer allowed in my life in regard to food.

My husband lost 18 pounds during his Whole30, but he still has a significant amount of weight to lose. For that reason, I might decide to do the Whole30 program again soon to support him in his weight loss efforts. Or anytime I’m feeling like I’m getting off track.

And then you’ll get to read my day by day accounts all over again. Yay! … Just kidding! I wouldn’t do that to you.

Today’s breakfast was a Steve’s Original Paleo Krunch Bar:

I ordered a few items and a seasonal sampler pack from their website to try.

After my run and the AMRAP class I went to, I decided to take myself on a lunch date to Zoe’s kitchen. I ordered the Steak Kabobs with roasted veggies and substituted slaw for the roasted potatoes it normally comes with.

I had some time after lunch before the little man got home from school, so I thought I’d run around and do some Christmas shopping, but I actually ended up deciding that I really just needed some time to rest. Resting and relaxing are not things that come easily to me, but they are still important things. I’ve worked really hard lately, so I’m taking the next 24 hours and having myself a “lay down day”.

I’m playing Wii with my son, making Christmas cookies (that I don’t plan on eating), watching movies and laying around. I don’t even plan on changing out of my pajamas.

As a matter of fact I’m laying in the yard right now…

Oh, and I almost forgot … for those who are wondering, I lost 8 pounds during my Whole30.

Whole30 Done.

Daaaaaaay 30. I survived. I might even dare to say I thrived.

Although I won’t know the official scale results until tomorrow I already outlined the great benefits I’ve noticed. Tomorrow I’ll give you the results and talk about what I’m going to do from this point. Today I’ll just talk about today.

I woke up this morning with some pretty gnarly bruises.

The clavicle bruise I totally understand. I have a really prominent left clavicle and yesterday’s Clean & Jerks were the devil on that. I’m kind of concerned that my shins bruised so easily. Must remember to mention to a doctor.

Anyway … my schedule today called for an easy 6 mile run. I wore my heart rate monitor and made it my mission to keep my heart rate just below 140.

The first couple miles were awesome, but the longer I ran the more my heart rate increased and the more I had to slow my pace. Super frustrating on a day my legs were ready to GO! I fought the urge to sprint out my last half mile.

9:06, 9:04, 9:13, 9:21, 9:28, 9:33

I ended up finishing with a average heart rate of exactly 139.

Breakfast was the last of my leftover Puerto Rican Beef. I’m sad to see it go.

I had a late lunch of Tuna Salad before heading to CrossFit.

Tonight’s WOD was:

20 Minute AMRAP Teams of 4
a. 200M Run
b. Pullups
c. Weighted Situps
d. Rest
*There will be a team member at each station posted above. Each member will work on the movement they are stationed at until the person running returns. Once the runner is back everyone will rotate to the next station.

We only had a team of 3, so it made it a little bit confusing. Not my favorite WOD of all time, but still a good workout.

I rushed home afterwards to meet my friend Drew, who came over for dinner tonight and to keep me company while the hubby is out of town. Stand-in hubby, if you will. I even made him take out the trash.

We made: Mustard Sage Baked Chicken Thighs from Practical Paleo, roasted butternut squash and asparagus.

I had a banana later for “dessert”.

And with that, my Whole30 is done. See you tomorrow!

Whole30 – Day 29

I haven’t posted my Whole30 day info the last couple of days because my meals have been a little bit repetitive. Today is no different, but being that it’s day 29 (eeeeek) I thought I should check in.

The hubby left today for a business trip and won’t be back before Day 31, so he went ahead and weighed himself this morning. He lost 18 pounds!! I can’t wait to see what my results on the scale will be.

In all honesty, I don’t think I’ve lost very much. Regardless of that though, I really feel like I’m already seeing the true results.

These are the things that I have seen a significant noticeable difference in:

1. Quality of sleep – I’ve been sleeping better than I have in atleast 10 years. I’m falling asleep easier and waking up much more easily than is typical for me. I’d say I’ve woken up before my alarm and feeling refreshed atleast 80% of the time during my Whole30. This is huge for me!
2. Recovery from exercise – Other than normal muscle soreness the day or two following a particularly difficult CrossFit day, I have had virtually no exercise related pain. ZERO soreness after my 16, 18 and 20 mile runs! No injuries to speak of, no nagging pain in my shins, feet or ankles like I have from time to time.
3. Endurance – The first week as my body was adjusting to the decrease in carbs my legs felt heavier and more tired than usual during my runs, but starting the second week I noticed significant improvement in my endurance. I used to use energy gels every 45 minutes – hour during runs. I have not used 1 single energy gel during my Whole30 and I’ve done atleast 3 runs which were over 2 hours long.
4. Energy Level – Off the charts! I used to be a regular mid-day napper. I don’t believe I’ve taken a nap at all during the past 30 days, except during yoga relaxation. 🙂

Those are the biggies that are most important to me and the reason I started the Whole30 in the first place. I’ve also noticed my clothes fitting better and I can tell a difference in muscle definition, particulary in my arms.

Today’s eats were:

Meal 1: Leftover Puerto Rican Beef topped with a sunny side up egg. I’ve discovered you can make just about anything breakfast food by topping it with an egg.

Meal 2: Steak Close Talker from Moe’s with black olives, cilantro, lots of salsa and guacamole. Tip: On Mondays I order the exact same thing, except I call it a “Naked Homewrecker” so that I get the special $5 burrito Monday price. 😉

Moe’s steak is grass-fed.

Meal 3: Zucchini “pasta” salad with bacon, red onion, tomatoes, avocado and kalamata olives.

One of my Christmas presents to myself came in the mail today. A CrossFit log book.

Because I definitely need one more place to log my shit.

What I like about this book though is that is has a place to track your day to day WODs as well as PRs, Benchmarks and even has a Paleo grocery shopping guide, explanation of all exercises, Travel WODs, blah blah blah.

Today’s workout was INTENSE.

Strength: EMOM (Every minute on the minute) x 8 – 3 Clean and Jerks (55#)

WOD: 21-15-9 Thrusters & Burpees

I probably should have apologized for the number of times I said “the F word” during that 9 minutes before I left. But hey … atleast I got to write it in my new log book.

Atleast there’s that.