So I’ve been trying to figure out what my next blog post should be. In the last one I kind of indicated I’d be addressing some other elements of Preparation, Recovery and Nutrition. Well, I think I’m going to veer away from that for the moment as it just doesn’t feel as pressing to me right now. And this is my blog, so…. :)
I just love irony. Here I am trying to figure out what I should write about when a theme pops into my head for a potential blog idea for a friend of mine! I didn’t feel like I had the answer to the question that was floating around my head so I sent the idea to her hoping she could answer my question in her blog. To my immense surprise and gratitude she answered me right away and I had the thought ‘well why don’t I use that as my blog post then??’
The woman in the post below is Sheila Unique. I met Sheila almost 2 years ago when she was offering free Yuen seminars. I loved what she was able to provide and chose to pursue the training. Yuen energetics is a time of energetic healing that could be easiest compared in concept to Reiki. There are 3 levels of basic instruction and I took them all from Sheila at that time, which allows me to practice this method of energetic healing. I practice Yuen Method on the side, really just when it comes up or is requested, very much just trusting that when someone needs it, events will converge to present it to them.
So, back to the question that started it all. I considered trying to reframe and explain the email exchange and then I thought I’d just post the whole email directly as it contains everything I wanted to say already! Then I immediately thought ‘well I CAN’T post all of it, it contains (gasp!!) personal information!!’. One of the things I’m working on myself is letting more of myself show through in all interactions, including business, so GULP here it is!!!!
MY EMAIL TO SHEILA
Hi Sheila!!
Hope you’ve been well!
I’ve been on an interesting journey lately. I began a seminar series in Calgary called ‘Choices’. I did 5 days in march then I go back for 3 days in April and 3 in June also. It’s been wonderful so far! http://www.choicesseminars.com/ One of the really neat things is we create a ‘contract’ for ourselves in the first one and a statement of purpose in the upcoming series. My contract is ‘I am a Vulnerable and Transparent Woman’. My husband’s is (he went through the series last year) ‘I am a Loving, Caring Man’. It’s been an amazing journey so far and Jay (my hubby) is going back to coach (help facilitate the next group) in June!
So, my blog idea :) Not sure what your experience has been, but around here there are SOOOOOO many people getting sick, REALLY sick. Seems to be different kinds of flus but anyone who gets sick is missing work for several days and taking weeks and weeks to get over it. Of course, everyone talks about ‘the flus that are going around’ and snow mold and allergies etc etc but with the energetic perspective, I imagine there is a widespread or collective energy block of some kind. I’m actually surprised, I thought people would be excited and energized by the new life of spring and more light and all that other good stuff. Instead, people are REALLY dragged down and getting very ill. There appears to be more illness at this time of year than any other time over the past year that I can recall.
Do you notice the same kinds of things around you? Do you have any thoughts or insights around why this might be or if there is a common thought catching?
Peace and love to you my sister!
Have a wonderful day!
Sharleen
SHEILA’S RESPONSE
Hey you…thanks for sharing all of that with me. Right on! Wow…a vulnerable and transparent woman. What a gift to have you and Jay working on something like that together. Right on! Lots of right on’s today….woooooo whooooo.
The Universe has such wonderful ways of getting the attention of people. The Universe gets people’s attention through messages and then physically. It is a time where ‘stuff’ is really being felt because people are being called to deal with their stuff. If I could put it this way…if someone is in their relationship with an abuser of some kind…it will be accelerated so a decision is made to either ‘right it’ or ‘walk away from it’ or whatever it is for them. they won’t feel comfortable anymore because people are being called to deal with their stuff.
Also, when people recognize that medication isn’t the ‘remedy’ and they have to start to look inwards for what is really there…they will start to see things differently in a wonderful way…maybe see that money isn’t the only thing in life that matters – causing them to find value in their relationships or causing them to not give power to money but to what ‘feels right’.
Its all perfect what is happening – I know you probably expected to hear that. yes people aren’t feeling great….they will find their way one day when people like you show up to share with them another wonderful way to move through life.
Another quick angle on your question….you may be seeing that in others – being called to step up in the world in a new empowering way.
Happy day Sharleen….much love and light to you my friend. I’m so glad for you and Jay.
Sheila Unique, Master Energetic Intuitive We clear the ‘work’ out of what You love to do! 306-543-4804 or 306-541-7275 (cell) www.UniqueEnergy.ca
Sheila is One Unique Coach, Trainer, Speaker and Best-Selling Author
As always, I LOVED Sheila’s response. Sheila has had such a HUGE positive influence on me and how I see the world around me and how I perceive myself, my relationships, and my level of influence in all my experiences and interactions. And I agree with her perspective on what illness may be showing so many people and I also agree that I am likely being called to help shift that in some way as well — otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed all this flu and illness business nor would it have become an ‘issue’ for me.
So, sometimes a flu is just a flu….except when it’s not :)
Hopefully this prompts someone to look at any discomfort that occurs in their life and think about what energetic disturbance may be at the root of it. In the flu example, nasty viruses don’t suddenly converge upon us, something (a thought, experience, emotion) occurred to disrupt our natural strong flow of energy which makes us susceptible to the viruses and other critters that are ALWAYS around us. And until we deal with whatever the issue is, we’ll continue to get sick or feel uncomfortable or get hurt or argue or feel whatever form the discomfort takes. Maybe it’s something as simple as ignoring the cue for rest!
While this post wasn’t directly related to exercise or CrossFit, other areas of our health are just as, if not more, important to our overall health and deserve our attention.
When themes pop up around you once, twice, three times or more, there’s probably something to it and it’s time to pay attention. What seems to be popping up around me lately is the them of injuries, patience, positive mindset and self-care. This is in my life and the lives of those around me.
Anyone who pursues CrossFit is not ok with the status quo, baseline health or ‘good enough’. Not everyone competes, but almost to a ‘T’ everyone at CFMJ wants to be the best possible version of themselves and just wouldn’t be satisfied with a ‘nice walk’ or ‘good stretch’ alone. Those are good things, but not enough for the average member.
The trouble, or potential problem, is that when you CrossFit, because it is more demanding than any of those aforementioned activities above, it cannot be undertaken alone. You cannot simply add CrossFit to your weekly routine and be done with it. Unless you want this to be a short-term or frustrating dabble, ending in ‘CrossFit is just to intense for me’ or ‘it was great until I hurt my shoulder’. If you are truly interested long-term in becoming the best version of your self (your body, with its unique capabilities, tendencies and needs) then you need to add other aspects to your routine.
There are 3 other elements (well more like 6, but 3 pretty important ones) that make a significant difference in how you train on a daily basis, but on a long-term basis as well. Those things are Preparation, Recovery and Nutrition. And if you are not paying attention to those things in a serious way as an integral part of your training, I’m going to make a bold statement — “You have no business complaining about your lack of progress or recurring injuries”. To me this is like someone complaining ferociously about the frustrations and limitations of living with a chronic migraine while bouncing their forehead off a wall. Really?
I’d like to talk about Recovery first. I started this post by saying I’m learning these lessons as well. I’ve been humbled this past year, repeatedly, and while hard on the ego, frustrating, and discouraging at first, when I’ve calmed down and looked for the lesson, there has always been one and I’ve become a better athlete and coach as a result.
I approached the goal of improvement in my fitness with increased training volume only as my plan. I did not (at first) refine my nutrition enough, and I definitely did not address my recovery properly. The result over this past year was a back strain that took a few weeks to work through and took me out of a competition, and chronic back tightness, a rotator cuff strain that required deliberate rehab, and general muscle stiffness that hindered and altered my training schedule repeatedly. For me, it became clear that working harder, pushing through the pain, etc etc was not what I needed to learn. And in hindsight, of course that wasn’t it, that’s my go-to response to a challenge in general — hunker down, work harder, be more stringent and committed. I don’t need to work on that, that’s my default response. I do not have a default setting of ‘relax and withdraw’.
What I learned that my body needed to be able to handle training volume was the slow stuff — the relaxation and release stuff. I needed to incorporate REGULAR mobility. I now go through a mobility series EVERY night for 20min at least in addition to finishing my wkouts with mobility. I’ve also added a weekly Yoga class. Lots of times I would really skimp on my cooldown in the past.
At risk of making this too long, I’m going to address Preparation and Nutrition later, so for now I just want to make reference to a couple of nuggets that have really struck a chord with me and sort of took down whatever veil of illusion I held about the effort I was truly putting into my sport.
The first I mentioned last post ‘If you are not addressing Nutrition, you are not a serious athlete’. Simple and it went straight to my heart.
The second was a reference to cooldown that was something to the effect of:Michael Phelps immediately goes to the cool-down pool after he races and swims 40laps if he just raced 20.and Even racehorses are cooled down thoroughly after racing. Most horses are cared for better than you care for your body.
Now, I am not a male Olympic swim champion, nor a race horse, but perhaps it was the divergent examples that drove home the point for me. THE BEST IN THE WORLD still does the boring, mundane maintenance stuff (it’s not all flash and performance), and in truth, we often treat animals better than we treat ourselves.
So now that I’ve been performing regular maintenance, mobility and cooldown the result is astounding. Stiffness has been minimized, lactic acid is moving and my training overall is improving because it doesn’t hurt to train and I don’t have to modify my training schedule because of soreness. My back is hardly stiff anymore, but if it is I know exactly how to take care of it. My shoulder rehab is going really well and I’m at about 70% capacity now.
I am feeling much more confident about understanding what my body needs specifically for long-term maintenance and to be able to do CrossFit and continue to improve for a long long time, without being hindered by recurring injuries.
Hopefully this encourages others to take their recovery a little more seriously as well!
Avoiding. Definitely avoiding. I’m clearly not dead and I’m sure no one thought so as a result of my lack of posting. I’ve wanted to post but I’ve chickened out at every turn. I’ll get to that story after I avoid it for a while longer.
The biggest thing that’s been going on for me (well two big things, but only one of my choosing) fitness-wise has been a nutrition focus lately. And that focus probably came about partly because of the other ‘thing’. Long-winded. Anyways, here’s the back-story with the forewarning I probably give waaay to much backstory but that’s how I roll.
I hurt my shoulder a few months ago. yup, MONTHS ago. I was playing recreational volleyball for the first time this winter and it REALLY bothered me when I was serving overhead. So logically I continued to do the same thing with tremendous force about 30 more times. I had convinced myself that it wasn’t actually hurting me, but just a minor irritation that just needed the standard 2 days rest like any other sore muscle. Wrong.
Crikey, I’ve never had an injury that took this long, with the exception of a knee injury when I was 16. I dont’ believe I am a patient person, which is why I’ve probably gotten this injury, to help me learn patience. Thanks Universe. So the first inklings of this injury began last winter when my right shoulder started to ‘tweak’ a little with snatch and overhead squats and the occasional pushup. (I finally put it together that I had played volleyball for the first time in 15 years last winter. Can you even believe I have a 15-year reference point for something?? That’s just wrong in itself) Then this winter it got to the point that following any upper body work my entire right side from about my neck under my ear to the bottom of my lat (bottom of ribs) would tighten up and pain over night. it was a regular occurrence to wake up in pain because I dared attempt to roll over or lift my arm forward in my sleep. Bet you didn’t know how many times you do that a night? It’s about 6.
My thoracic spine would also lock up and make it tough to breathe. I was always able to warm it up enough to work out but then the aftermath got worse and worse. Okay, time for self care. Off to Doc McMaster I went. Just as I suspected — rotator cuff strain (supraspinatus) for anyone who cares. The reason the stiffness was so widespread was massive irritation. The more localized the discomfort, the less serious the injury, generally. Doc figured 6 weeks and I’d be good to go — a few ultrasound and chiropractic treatments and NO upper body strength training at all. Boo.
So I grudgingly followed his advice and started treatment. Here we are, almost 3 months later and I’m still not 100%. Very annoying. No fault of his, the treatments with him were incredibly relieving. Just the long-term rehab stuff is taking a long time. Lots of improvement but I still get knots in all the muscles by my shoulder blade and am not at full load on any upper body movements. And I know I’m really cautious with it in general as I hesitate to do demos at the gym still when I’m not fully warm. Just used weight with snatch for the first time last week. These are all improvements, but I steadily struggle with keeping a positive mindframe. All signs point to healing but I really had anticipated a faster recovery. I don’t know why. When I was 16 my knee injury (subluxed — rapid dislocate and relocated — my right kneecap playing basketball) took years to be completely healed. I wore a knee brace for a long time after. And really, my shoulder is totally functional for day-to-day living. But what CrossFitter is ok not being able to lift big loads overhead??
Also, my ego is bothered by missing 3 months of upper body work as others in the gym make improvements weekly. That part of my brain makes me believe I need to stay ahead of all members in order to be taken seriously as a coach. Stupid brain. Even as I type it I see the folly, yet I still think it on occasion.
So there I am with this shoulder injury that compromises parts of my training. The positive thing about that is that I’ve been able to focus on nutrition for several months. And there we also get to the avoiding. SEE?? I’ve even managed to avoid addressing the real subject for several paragraphs. Lots of backstory right?
So the thing that I’ve avoided posting about, nutrition. I came across a random statement via CrossFit posts in October, “If you’re not addressing your nutrition you are not a serious athlete”. Crap. Sometimes there is just nowhere to hide. I’ve never been off the rails but if someone asked me how many calories I was consuming or what ratio of macronutrients or how many servings of fruits and veggies i was consuming per day I couldn’t have told you. That’s not a very serious focus. And for a long time I was training pretty hard and eating a lot. Then the shoulder injury happened yet I kept eating. So I decided to get serious and really assess where I was at.
First step, weight and measurements. Crap again. I had GAINED 8 pounds since I last checked 3 months earlier. I’m sure that is in large part to the less training with the injury. But still. Jeez. Get on the ball lady. That’s a whole lot of not paying attention for 3 months.
Good opportunity to go Paleo, which I did right away. I’ve now been tracking my nutrition for 4 months. I took off those 8lbs pretty quick and have sort of stalled out. I was great over Christmas but even that threw my system off which was really discouraging. The weight I am at is really easy for me to maintain, it’s where I’ve been for a couple of years so I’ve been hanging out here for the past month or so. Bodyfat’s in a healthy range, so no big deal then right?
Well, athletic bodyfat is one of my goals. My goal is 15% bodyfat, which is 6% less than what I am right now, which is almost 13lbs less also, which is actually A LOT of weight. 13lbs isn’t a lot if you way 250lbs but when you are at a healthy weight it makes a very big difference in appearance and performance.
Paleo works great and it works for my body. I just need to be incredibly consistent and dedicated to make changes at this point. Using myfitnesspal on my iPhone is a HUGE tool for me. It keeps my nutrition at the top of consciousness. When I’m not that conscious I forget my ratios and just reach for quick fuel. For me to be successful I need to plan, in a big sense and in a day-to-day sense.
I resent that. I resent that I have to work so hard (what feels hard to me) for nutrition. I don’t come by it naturally. I wasn’t raised with good nutritional principles and carried extra weight for a lot of my younger life. Enough extra weight as a kid that led to teasing and lots of tears. I’ve had to learn on my own, lots of trial and error, and use discipline my whole life to maintain a healthy weight. That sounds whiny, and that’s not the intention, the intention is to show that I don’t leap through flowery fields when it comes to fitness and health. There are ways in which I struggle as much or more than others even though this is my profession.
I’ve progressed to the point where my journey now is beyond basic health and I’m learning about excellent or peak health and performance through nutrition. It’s not been an easy path but then, anything where you need to grow rarely is.
Part of why I avoided posting about this was also because I didn’t want it to be another ‘rah-rah I’m gonna totally do this, THIS time’ kind of post. So I wanted to wait a bit to see if I was as serious as I thought. Only time tells that story. It hasn’t been perfect. I’m up and down, I’m on the wagon and I’m off. But the past 4 months have shown me I can do this long-term and that it really does work. Previously I was using it as a ‘training diet’ and ended up rather off the wagon for way too long afterwards, in fact even going so far as to give myself a dietary ‘free pass’ for a couple of weeks after competition. That, to my incredible surprise, didn’t feel good and so I evolved and learned again.
I decided I was ready to work this more long-term. As a result my skin is clearer, recovery is always better and my digestion is much better when I am careful with Paleo. This ties into my shoulder as well — nutrition for healing. I have no intention of entertaining another overuse injury like this ever again and so I’m very willing to fuel my body to speed healing as much as possible.
Let me say again though, I’m on and off. Last weekend I was OFF in a big way and hung out at Burger King and Dairy Queen. It was ridiculously tasty at the time but by the end of those two meals (supper on both days) the craving was TOTALLY out of my system and I was begging for fresh food. And in case I want to reminisce I have 6 new zits as lovely reminders. I seem to have issues with adopting an ‘all or nothing’ mentality so the 80/20 rule works for me. When I go ‘all in’ I’m more likely to fall ‘all out’. More learning points over the past 10 years of paying attention to nutrition.
Myfitnesspal is awesome for me because it has nothing to do with emotion — you are either over or under budget, the proof is there in black and white. So, you can either overspend, or choose wisely and reap the rewards. The worse thing I can do is lie to myself either deliberately or by omission (not recording).
So there’s the last 4 months in a nutshell. Hopefully this hasn’t sounded as self-indulgent as it felt writing it. And hopefully there are some nuggets in there that resonate with and help someone else.
Now that I’ve stopped avoiding, maybe I’ll actually update this more often now!
Headed out to Gutheridge field today for a little self-inflicted torture with my ‘favorite’ sprints WOD — 2x800m, 2x400m,4x100m. Resting the same amount of time between runs as it takes to run them. And I actually came away pleasantly surprised.
A little backstory first, suspenseful, I know; the last time I ran this WOD was July and had little to no improvement over April — disappointing to say the least. Running, for me, takes me to the dark place that rowing and burpees seem to take others. Nausea, headaches, the works. So, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my run improvements seem to come slowly….if at all.
Today, I started the WOD with stiff hammies STILL from 3-4 days ago (skipping Michael) so was just expecting to perform the WOD for the sake of working on running and cardio and not necessarily to see any gains. I didn’t even look up my previous results before heading out.
The biggest thing I am impressed with my results today is my tolerance to this WOD. The first time I did it a couple years ago, I didn’t finish due to nausea. Second time, nausea came later but still came and really affected my second runs at each distance. Today, I completed everything except the last 100m which was when the nausea hit. Decided it just wasn’t worth the nausea to finish another few seconds of work.
Initially I felt a little disappointed b/c one of my Goals is to get an 800m run under 4min and my best today was 4:16 and based on rough memory was no better than 6 months ago. Boohoo :(
Anyways, I jotted all my run times down and headed home to look up comparison, and color me surprised!
I PR’d my 800m by 2 sec, my 400m by 8 sec and my 100m by almost 2 sec!
These are my best times; 800m 4:16, 400m 1:50 100m 17.46sec
Under my running goals I was aiming for an 800m run under 4min, a 400m run under 2min and a 100m sprint under 18sec. WOW!!! 2/3 goals ACHIEVED today!! I couldn’t believe it. Quite a contrast to the disappointment in July when I had virtually zero improvement over April!
My next goals for running are: (still) 800m under 4min, 400m under 1:45 and 100 in 15sec and change.
It’s interesting to see people’s strengths and weaknesses in the gym. I really don’t mind rowing and burpees the way other people seem to loathe them but running always elicits an internal groan for me, but especially if I have to run more than about 60sec. 60-90 sec, I’m your girl. After that, UGH!! (another reason I seem to be more disappointed as time goes on that I wasn’t able to compete in Saskatoon — most events were REALLY short, my kind of day!) Energy systems and muscle fiber distribution are interesting things to see in action.
I’ve challenged the gym to set out their goals in writing. Lots of great talk, but when it came time to put pen to paper I’ve found myself surprised at the hesitation and lack of awareness of how to create goals. I’m going to repost an email exchange and my (rather) long response. Later I’ll actually post my personal goals as well.
Email that sparked the discussion:
“Also, just wondering a bit about the goal board that you are working on. When we are deciding on our goals – what is the time frame we should be looking at? I am thinking of higher over-arching goals like persistence – keep coming, keep fine-tuning my diet even when I don’t see the immediate results, stretch more to improve recovery… I know this isn’t performance specific but I know it is achievable. Does this make sense or are you looking more for some measure like body fat, inches lost, full push-up, etc… My hesitancy to do this is I know that if I don’t succeed I will tend to get “a little” frustrated :) “
My (long-winded) response:
“Your over-arching goals definitely make sense and you might want to have a conversation with [another member] about this, she was really finding it hard to create ‘smaller’ goals when what she describes as the ‘deeper’ goals are more foundational to anything else. She finds that by spending time defining the ‘outcomes’ distracts her from working on the things that are….well, deeper. And also, some of those deeper things feel to personal to post up on a board, or perhaps even speak of to anyone.
So, if I’ve understood you correctly, you could shift how you define your goals. For example, I have one member for whom ‘consistency’ is a goal — attending class 3x/wk. [Another member] has chosen smaller increments like a 2-week window of eating with a particular nutritional focus.
This whole process is interesting to see how different people approach goal-setting and the different things it triggers. For me, I have never actually set a timeline on anything. I just took my existing capabilities and added little steps to them then found myself pleasantly surprised as each came to fruition. In the meantime I just showed up at the gym and did the work for it’s own sake and enjoyed the rewards that came with simply executing the workouts.
Some of my first goals specific were: Ex) getting one unassisted pullup, getting 10 consecutive standard pushups, doing 10% of the benchmark girls as Rx’d, getting under 2min on a 500m row, etc etc
All I did was take where I was, and quantified what the next step was, then wrote the date at which I achieved that next step.
For a long time improvement just happened naturally and it was really fun and interesting, and it kept me motivated because sometime we just don’t feel like we are improving when workouts seem to hurt no matter what. And I really just worked out about 3x/wk for the first couple of years.
Then, last year I noticed gains were really slowing, if not plateauing. If I hadn’t had measures and understanding of exactly where I was I wouldn’t have the tools to assess that plateau, and be able to figure out what I wanted to do about it. I also had concrete evidence of my improvement even if I had days that really hurt or I questioned my body comp, I could look at my training log and know for sure I was still improving and know that a fit body was a beautiful body, in whatever form it was taking.
When i saw my plateau, I had a choice — I could decide to either stick with what I was doing and be satisfied with what I had achieved from a fitness and body comp standpoint or I could choose to take the next steps towards improvement. I decided I wanted to continue to see improvements, see what I was capable of. For me, it meant getting better at programming my training, not cherry-picking the things and types of workouts I preferred, getting really honest and diligent about nutrition and increasing my days training per week and setting out a training schedule and sticking to it. No more, going with ‘how I felt’ on any given day — I was going to set a plan and execute it. This does mean it raises up a level in priority in your life, for sure. If you truly want something, you do what it takes to get it. You can’t make choices then complain about the results. I had to either accept what I had and be happy or take the steps to change it.
So, if for you, ‘better than yesterday’ means sticking to a program for 6 or 8 or 12 consecutive months that’s AWESOME! And once you reach that goal, you can decide FOR YOU, what the next step would be — would it be improving your performance, reading the Paleo Solution all the way through? Adding 1 new nutritional strategy? Or maybe it would be sticking for 18months then….whatever it is, just understanding where you are and what constitutes an improvement is important.
I have also set goals that I have not achieved yet — 15% bodyfat and ranking top 5 in my division in competition. I gave a solid run at both already and made tremendous strides but DEFINITELY have not hit either and am still probably a ways off. Oh well, I’m not going to stop working, it didn’t even slow me down, I just realized they were bigger goals than I realized and the amount of work is now VERY clear to me what people do who have what I seek. They work their ASSES off.
Understanding is a powerful tool as well, it removes all excuses, and lights the way towards the possibility of a lifestyle and level of achievement you were not currently experiencing.
As always, at the end of the day, this is just how I feel about a particular subject. If it doesn’t resonate with you, find your own way to improvement and take the approach that fits you best. There is no right or wrong, just common threads in approaches that get results.
Nothing earth-shaking here but thought I would post something new I learned about myself.
I think I isolated what gave me back problems before the competition — the Mobility WOD ‘Couch stretch’. If I have any Achilles Heel, it’s my hip flexors — no pun intended….although I really think only an Anatomy geek would get that joke.
So 3 days before the competition I stretch the bejeezes out of my hip flexors with that stupid stretch and I think the recoil and contraction on my hip flexors in reaction to the ridiculous stretch pulled my pelvis forward and strained my low back. Fun.
I figured this out because after I was finally able to work out again, I thought I was also well enough to start pushing the mobility again and had a relapse. Took me a couple days (jock at heart) but very glad to finally put 2+2 together, and no more couch stretch for me.
Obviously, my hip flexors need work, but I need to take the remedial approach to that area. We’ve all got goats, for most of the guys it’s hamstrings, and there is an awful lot of upper back/shoulder tightness in a lot of people, but for me it’s my hip flexors. Very powerful, but also very tight….
Cool to still be learning about my body though….my approach to competition continues to be fine-tuned.
I really don’t want to wait all the way till Spring to compete in Regina so I may have to bite the bullet and travel to WinterPig to get my fix in January….feeling pretty pouty about missing the S’toon event!
That’s all for now, I think I might post again about Goal-setting though…
So the rest of my training went really well. I played with my tapering a little bit — did 4/1 right up until 2 days before competition and felt FANTASTIC right up until Day 4. I forced myself to do that WOD and just mailed it in.
The reason I played with the taper was because last time I ended with 3 2/1 cycles and felt really tired and groggy before the competition, I think it was too much rest!
The 1st rest day was great then the second day of rest I woke up with a sore back! Thinking it would resolve itself I just left it then woke up that way the morning of the competition.
The heavy lift was first event and even in my warmups by back didn’t feel good. Any weight would have bothered it so I decided to go for it. PR’d the lifts 125lbs, which was my target. And they went up easy enough that I tried 135 2x then 130 1x. 2 of those I bailed backwards and could feel my back. Finished the WOD with a 90sec row for meters and got 413. In the gym I got 407 so in both events I was really pleased with my performance.
I think those events placed me at 10th and 15th or so out of 51 competitors. Huge field and was basically D2 and D3 combined. The competition appears to be getting more advanced as I develop so I’m sure not seeing my results placings improve over time. Also, more competitors from more affiliates as the sport itself grows. Interesting, keeps me pushing.
About 10min after the row my low back started to stiffen until I was in full spasm. Tried a mini massage with the on-site RMT but that provided zero relief so I had to pull myself from competition. Very disappointing, but the worst part was being so uncomfortable the whole rest of the day while watching the other girls. Kind of hard to enjoy the event when you’re in pain. then never mind the 2 hour drive home alone after that!
I saw the chiropractor 2 times the following week and was back gently after about 6 days then completely after 10 days. In those few days though I felt like CRAP. Exhausted, cranky, lethargic, unmotivated, needing extra sleep ALL THE TIME. I realized if I don’t work out I have serious withdrawals! I can handle one rest day, but if I leave it to 2 or give into that groggy feeling with a nap, I’m hooped! Really not sure if that is good or bad!! I hate to feel reliant on anything, even if that thing is positive!
So in hindsight I would change a couple of things next time around; 1. I really should have listened to my body on that last training day. I clearly was ready for rest and pushed past it. 2. Maybe 1 2/1 taper would be best. three was too much, zero was too little. Next time I’ll try one. 3. If I wake up that stiff prior to competition BOOK A CHIRO APPT, or contact my favorite energy practitioner. Either way, I now know to NOT take any level of discomfort prior to competition lightly, I need to address it. 4. If I have to lift heavy in the morning, I need to be more diligent about rest (I got to bed at 11pm b/c of coaching schedule) and warmup. I was in one of the first heats and all the opening ceremony stuff got in the way of my warming up.
When I look back on it, I realize I’ve only actually ‘trained’ for 2 competitions so I am learning what is best for my body. I think I rode that fine line between peaking and overtraining just one session too far and paid for it.
I also know now how critical the consistent training is for my system, I’m officially ‘hooked’. I am getting better at distinguishing legitimate fatigue from groggy lack of training fatigue.
This past training period I was not as strict with my diet as the first time. Partly because of the mental effort of it and partly because I was SO ravenous that I felt really driven to add some breads and more fats into my diet. My training felt good and my weight remained stable so I didn’t worry about it. I didn’t want to feel cranky or uncomfortable which I often do when I’m trying to be very strict with my diet. I am noticing that I virtually never feel out of control or deprived in any way. I cannot remember the last time I’ve ever felt like I’ve overeaten, and I definitely don’t have food on my mind all the time. With my job I am able to eat when I want/need so sometimes I have my biggest meal at 3pm if I’m feeling like it. I love being able to listen to my own daily cues and do whatever it feels like I need at that time. Not that I never indulge in sweets or junk but I am satisfied quickly and certainly don’t feel compelled or controlled by them at all. I prefer really healthy nutritious fulfilling fare, but will indulge in a little junk if I fell like it. I’m sure I could do better but I like the balance right now.
The other thing I changed about training was my approach to AFTER the event, particularly around food. Last time I gave myself 1 month to eat whatever. After a few days, I hated it. I almost felt like I was forcing myself to eat badly. This time I just allowed myself some indulgences but definitely nowhere near the dietary permission I had before. I want this to a lifestyle, not a bandwagon journey. and like I’ve said, I’ve had more consistent stretches in the past, but overall I am happy with my diet.
In pictures however, I notice continued improvement, most notably this time through my butt (finally!!). Just overall smaller and higher. And overall a bit of a leaner look. I notice many of my exercise pants are not staying up very well so i’m excited that I actually need to buy smaller pants!
My plan for training maintenance is to do 5 days per week; 3/1 and 2/1. With 8 months of that pattern I’m sure I’ll see an improvement next competition. Also, if the Regional qualifiers for the Games have the same format, I will participate in that as well. There is a ‘FrostFit’ in Winnipeg in January, but that just doesn’t sound appealing whatsoever. Winnipeg?? In January?? Sorry my Winnipeg counterparts… Who knows though, maybe by January I’ll be begging for an event to train for. We’ll see. I do want to see if any other crazy folks will participate in the Calgary Death Race in August though….:)
Totally delinquent on the blog this time around. Would like to believe it’s because business has really been picking up, doesn’t feel like much spare time ever!!
Training feels like it is going really well. Only 1 or 2 times did I end up missing a day so according to my pattern I’m actually on day 43 or something like that.
Nutrition is decent. I’m not recording really but really sticking to fruits and veggies as much as possible. if I ever feel like indulging it’s hot buttered toast or something like that. The organic bin from body fuel has been awesome and I’ve been doing a lot more green smoothies lately also.
So nutrition is good, but not phenomenal. did not continue with points recording. Many members did and results are great so far. Post-measurement WOD is Tues (day 47) so should be interesting. I’ve noticed a few improvements for myself — overhead squat is stronger, front squat felt stronger, pr’d Annie.
Looking forward to resuming regular programming, haven’t been doing much heavy work as we’ve been following the Games workouts over the past 7 or 8 days.
Realized it’s less than a month to competition. Exciting!! 3 members going for sure. more each time :)
So far so good. Training’s going well. On plan so far. Stiff today, so hopefully ok for workout tomorrow. Yesterday was a heavy day plus a moderately heavy metcon so I’m gassed.
Noticed the nutrition challenge with the points made me make a couple of different choices already today. Was pretty disappointed with myself with 3 measley little points yesterday! I didn’t even get the fruit/veg point! And I couldn’t get a point for staying away from junk! So today I resisted the urge to munge on choc chips while waiting for meals to cook and when i went for lunch w/ hubby I LOADED on the veg into a pita so I got about 4 servings with that. AND I made sure I got my sleep! Already that’ll be 3 more points than yesterday heehee :)
So I’m glad to see the spirit of the nutrition challenge is working in me, so I hope it’s doing the same for others.
July 1 was officially the start of my 10-week training until the PCFC in S’toon.
July 1 I ran 5K in the Moose Jawg with my son Brendan as my first workout. He is 11 and this was his first 5k. He ran the whole thing and even had enough gas to outsprint Mom at the end! He loved every minute of it and is already excited for next year!! I love watching my kids get excited about being active. Our time was around 34min.
I’ve already talked to him about coming to CFMJ 3 mornings per week in the summer to stay fit and get a little stronger. Today I issued the challenge of getting a full pullup by the end of the summer, he accepted ;)
I’m SO eager to start Kids programming at CFMJ….I digress….
So July 1 was WOD#1 and it really did feel great. Way back in Feb I had sketched out my last 90day training pattern and left the end of June as much more of a light activity and rest period before starting back in July.
I wrestled A LOT with guilt about not being 100% active for the end of June. My head was full of ‘shoulds’, especially as my clients were working out but my name wasn’t posted on the board. Feels a little hypocrytical in the moment, even though I know the reason is legitimate. Basically my body felt fine so I tried working out a few times and felt wrecked afterwards. Obviously I wasn’t ready to come back. The training, competing and first 3 months of business were intense and I don’t think I give credit to how hard I work in general and so I figure I shouldn’t need the rest. Also, I was wrestling fears about body comp and undoing ALL my work in just a few weeks. I haven’t weighed myself since start of June but will do so in another week or so once I’m mid-cycle.
By July1 I KNEW I was ready to get back, I could feel it and so far I feel great! I also realized I had basically forgotten to take any of my supplements for the past couple of months. I got diligent about that about a week ago and truly feel an improvement in energy throughout the day.
Nutrition is very much NOT on point. Most of day is fine then way too much food in evening, often including sugar. I know I’m undereating during the day as I tell myself I am too busy coaching and running around. I simply need to plan and prep better as I’m away from home. I’ve continued to keep excess fat out of my diet and I find that’s really helpful for me to keep my weight down. No nuts!
Today I did 3 rounds of 200mrun, 12pullups (blue band), 12vertical jumps, 12 pushpress(55#) and 12 burpees in 20:40min
This is the rough sketch of my training for the next 70 days:
Day 1-15 regular WOD 3-4x/wk — 1-2 rest days between each WOD, Day 16 rest
(4x regular 2/1) Day 17/18 Regular WOD,Day 19 rest, Day 20/21 regular WOD, Day 22 rest, Day 23/24 regular WOD,Day 25 rest,Day 26/27 regular WOD,Day 28 rest
(5x regular 3/1), Day 29-31 regular WOD, Day 32 rest, Day 33-35 regular WOD, Day 36 rest, Day 37-39 regular WOD, Day 40 rest, Day 41-43 regular WOD, Day 44 rest, Day 45-47 regular WOD, day 48 rest,
(3x intense 4/1) Day 49-52 heavy/intense, Day 53 rest, Day 55-58 heavy/intense, Day, 59 rest, Day 60-63 heavy/intense, Day 64 rest,day
(2x light 2/1 b4 competition) 65/66 light WOD, Day 67 rest, Day 68/69 light WOD, Day 70 will be rest
DAY 71 is competition
this makes 46 total training days before competition.
