I need a plan

I woke up this morning and wished the hubs a happy hump day.  Doh.  Clearly, I have no idea what day it is, and while I love being closer to the weekend, I can’t believe this much of the week is gone already.

Last Thursday was the last time I did a planned workout.

I’ve skipped everything on my training calendar since then.

Do I have a hundred excuses?  Yup.  Are a few of them actually pretty good?  Of course.

But the fact remains that as of today it has been 1 week since I’ve done anything to help me reach my goals.

And since you all know me, you realize this also means I’ve been eating and drinking too much and have just generally been a hot mess.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about Crossfit and felt like such a fake.  Last time I went I PRed my clean and jerk, and haven’t set foot in the box since.

Thanksgiving is in one week.  Christmas just over a month.  Vegas right after that.

Not to mention I’m doing a freaking TRIATHLON in around 5 months.

I don’t have the time to skip training, and good excuses or not, I need to find a way.

This morning I woke up and my first thought was, “I don’t need more excuses, I need a plan.”

Part of me just wants to pick up the training that I was supposed to do this week starting with today, but because of the upcoming race I really do need to prioritize some workouts over others.

I need to get on the bike at least twice before Sunday, and one of those needs to be a long ride of at least 25 miles.  I need to run at least twice as well.  Swimming twice would be a good thing too.  I don’t want to ignore Crossfit, but with all of that to fit into 4 days, I’ve got my work cut out for me.

So for the sake of accountability, I give you my readers, my training schedule for the remainder of the week.  Feel free to check in with me, to keep me accountable, or to just cheer me on and I cross the workouts off the list.

Thursday 11/21
Lunch Ride- 10 miles @15-18 mph pace (group)
**Done- 10.3 miles @16.5 mph average by myself on tri bike
After Work- 2 mile run @ easy pace
**Done- on treadmill @13:30 pace

Friday 11/22
6 am- 1500+m swim
**Done- 2000 m in approx. 45 mins
7 am- 9 mile bike ride @ 14-15 mph pace (group)
**Done 9 miles @ 14 average pace

Saturday 11/23
AM- Long ride 25 miles @15-17 mph pace
**Done on the NEW BIKE at 15 mph pace exactly (1:40)
PM- 1500 swim
**Moved to Sunday- Done 1500 in about 35 mins, bricked with run

Sunday 11/24
AM-  3 mile run
**Done, right after run.  On the treadmill.  First mile really had trouble convincing my body that it actually wanted to run, but smooth sailing after that.  41:30

That looks like a lot, but really it’s not at all.  I need to just gently remind myself that it’s well within both my comfort zone and my abilities.  When I successfully complete this, while some damage will have been done from my week of laziness, I still will have logged some miles towards my tri training and won’t be in as bad of shape as I could if I let this lazy streak keep going.

I already have next week planned out, and will really need to stick to the plan as there is a holiday and travel in there.  Skipping a workout early in the week won’t help me one bit, and I will do my very best to hold myself accountable.

What about you?  Have you ever just not wanted to workout?  How long did it last?  How did you get yourself back into the swing of things?

11.12.2013 Workouts

Crossfit:

The alarm went off this morning and I turned it off, got right out of bed, and went straight to Crossfit.

At least, that’s what I dreamt that I did.  In fact, I turned it off and dozed back off for 15 minutes before I sat bolt upright in bed and realized I had fallen back to sleep.

I ended up 5 minutes late, and I hate being late SO much (pet peeve of mine) that I almost considered not going.  But once I was in the parking lot I didn’t have much of a choice.

Coach was actually pretty cool about it, no burpee punishment or anything like that.  The only thing I missed was the warm up lap.

Warm up:  The usual.  I did a minute on the airdyne and then jumped in with everyone else.

SWOD:  Jerk Technique
2×3 @ 33
3×3@ 53

The point of today was to really work on our split jerk technique.  Getting under the bar and being stable while we’re there.

This actually went really well for me.  I used to have a lot of issues getting low enough, but not so much anymore.  I do need to concentrate to get my feet wide enough when I split though, otherwise I get wobbly.

Coach let it slip that tomorrow are 1 RM clean and jerks.  We rarely do 1 RM anything, so I’m going to try to change around my schedule so that I can go in the morning.  I know I can clean 85, and I know I can get it overhead… I wonder if I can do more?

WOD:
20-15-10-5
Push Ups
Toes to bar
Back Squat

Score: 11:24 @ k2e and 53 lbs

I really REALLY didn’t want to use weight on this workout.  My legs are already a bit sore this week, but after debating with myself up until about a minute before we started the WOD, I went ahead and added 10s to each side.

In hindsight I’m glad I did.   It was challenging, but not so much so that I struggled in a way I didn’t expect.  I know not every day will be a PR, and that it’s important to push myself, but I’m still working on understanding my body to know just how far I can push before things start getting cranky.

Swim:

Again immediately following Crossfit I went to the gym for some quality time in the chlorine.

Apparently, they are having some issues with the sauna and it smelled like something literally DIED in there.  Honestly, every time I went to breathe it smelled and tasted like I was sucking on a moldy pee covered penny.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the “issue” they were having with the sauna was that someone peed in it.

Ew.  So gross.  People are so gross.

Anyway, the swim today was supposed to be an endurance workout.  And it technically was, though I couldn’t bring myself to actually stop swimming and breathe with my head above water for any significant amount of time so it ended up:

1x1500m in about 30 minutes

Yeah, no sets or anything.  Lame.

Here’s hoping they have that fixed tomorrow!

Run: PLANNED

Not sure how my day is going to go today and I may not have time to update this but I wanted to log the run I have planned over lunch as I pinky promise I will do it.

It should come out to be around 1.7 miles in about 20-25 minutes.  The plan is to just run a quick lap around the business park where I work.  Since I’ve only recently started running again, I want to keep them sort and easy to get my body used to it.  Obviously, coming from zero mileage base at the moment, this means 2-3 miles at a time tops.

11.11.2013 Workouts

Crossfit:

Full day of training for me today.  I was up when my alarm went off this morning but really had to fight myself to actually get out of bed and get to it.  I even went so far as to get up and pee, and then crawl back into bed with the hubs for a minute.  Once I realized there was no way I was going to fall back to sleep though, I got up.

In hindisight, I’m really glad I did.  I wasn’t at all excited about the origional WOD that was posted last night, but once I got to the box this morning it had changed to one of my favorite hero WOD’s. 

Warm Up:  The usual.  I biked instead of ran and I have no idea why.  Duh, foot feels better Nicole, it’s ok to run now.  I guess I wasn’t awake yet?

SWOD:  Front Rack Step Ups 3×8
1×10 each leg @ 33 “warm up”
2×8 each leg @ 33
1×8 each leg @ 43

Man I effing hate these.  I might actually hate these worse than wall balls.  I’m already klutzy, so lets put me in a position where I’m panting and gasping for air while at the same time choking myself and have me step up and down onto a box that I can’t actually look down and see while holding even more than my already elephanesque weight.

Yeah, that sounds like fun.

Whatever, I did them.  Didn’t fall either.

WOD: “DT”
5 RFT
12 Deadlift
9 hang power clean
6 push press

Time: 11:42 @63 lbs

I went 10 lbs heavier than I did the last time I did this WOD and was glad that I did.  This is always a hard one, but lots of fun too.  And like all hero WOD’s, every time I wondered if I could get away with just not finishing, I pushed a little harder for this guy who gave his all.

Happy Veteran’s Day.

Swim:

Right after CF I drove over to the gym with the pool for my swim workout for the day.  Frankly, I think wrestling my sweaty post-DT body into the bathing suit should count as a workout in and of itself.

At this point, I’m still just base building on the swim.  It had been some time since I had been in the water, so my workouts are structured as one for speed, one for endurance, and one for drills each week.

Today was speed.

300 warm up
+ 200 steady for a total set of 500 (still flushing some latic acid from the workout so kept the pace gradually building thru last 200)

2×500 with 50 sprint/50 recovery.  2 minutes rest between sets

Took about 40 minutes total.  Man I’ve become SO slow.

Bike:

Lunch ride with work crew.  I brought the tri-bike today but didn’t ride down on the aerobars at all as it’s not safe to do in the paceline.  Not being able to be down on the bars makes for one uncomfortable ass ride, I’ll tell ya that.

Regardless, it was great.  Slight wind from the east so the way out was tough, but the tailwind was glorious and we had a great sprint as well.  A newer cyclist joined us today too and did so great!  It’s exciting to see someone learn and grow.  I wonder if the people who encouraged me to get back on my bike a year ago feel that way about me?

12 miles in around 48 minutes.  Good stuff.

5.6.2013

Yay I DID something today, and my back didn’t hurt at all!  Granted, it’s not Crossfit, but baby steps back are the key here.

Lunch: 30 minute run on the dreadmill

2 miles working + warm up and cool down for 2.2 miles total.

After work: 33 minute swim

3×500

For not having been in the pool for probably a year, the swim was remarkable.  It took me a solid 300 to figure out my stroke and breathing and find that sweet spot with my rhythm, but once I did it was smooth sailing.  I’ve absolutely lost some speed, but it’s more technical than it is fitness, which I’m thrilled with.

And like I always realize after swimming, I REALLY enjoy swimming.  I never want to do it, but once I’m in there, I’m a happy little porpoise.

As far as the run goes, it sucked.  I mean, not in a painful kind of way, but take a few months off of running and your body knows it!

However, my foot felt great.  It was a little twingey by the end, but I spent some time on the lacrosse ball last night and it feels great this morning.  I kept somewhere between a 11-12 minute mile pace pretty much the entire time, which for me is pretty fast, so I wasn’t unhappy.

It was also awesome to get out of the office for a bit during lunch and clear my head.  I’m going to keep up lunchtime activities moving forward for sure.

 

Since I called myself out in my post yesterday I will confirm here that my eating was fan freaking tastic yesterday.  I ate clean all day, and avoided wine and chocolate at night, which is a great step as well.

I also cooked last night and made enough leftovers that I have lunches through Thursday of lean protein, lots of greens and cinnamon sweet potatoes.  If I bring lunch I am a thousand times more likely to stick on the healthy upswing for dinner, so I’ve completely set the state for my success this week.

All or nothing doesn’t mean you can eat the whole cake Nicole

I injured my back on Monday of last week.  Since then I’ve been following my doctor’s advice and resting, icing and taking muscle relaxers.  I have not been going to Crossfit.

Not part of my doctor’s advice, however, has been that I’ve also been eating like a lumberjack working overtime in the middle of winter.

Yes, that includes pancakes.

After an entire week of what can only be described as gluttony, I NEED to rein myself in.  I believe this so strongly that I’m blogging about it in the hopes of giving myself extra accountability.  I have worked too damn hard to have it all undone because I have to take a few weeks off of Crossfit and I can’t keep it together psychologically during that time.

In case it isn’t obvious by now, I’m very much an all-or-nothing kind of girl.

When I’m committed to something, I am committed 100%.  If I’m exercising, I’m eating well, and if I’m eating well I’m exercising.

Unfortunately, with that mindset the opposite is also true.  So if I’m NOT training, I’m taking my gluttony to an extreme.  And if I’m eating like pewp, I’m definitely not exercising.

It’s an ugly cycle.  But with knowledge comes power.  I KNOW that these are my tendencies, so it is up to me to identify this problem and break my own bad habits by finding a solution.

While it might seem to someone outside my brain like this is a simple fix, for me it really isn’t.  The fix to get back on track is to be active.  It won’t matter how little, but as long as I’m motivated to do something daily, my diet will fall back into place.

With my new fancy globo gym membership, I have access to a pool, and plan to use it beginning today.  Swimming is a 100% doctor approved activity, and given the location of my back injury, I’m confident that I will be able to do it without any pain.  I’m also going to give the lunch ride a go tomorrow, as I’m fairly certain that the positioning on the bike should not irritate my back either.  It’s only a 10 mile commitment, so if it DOES hurt, it’ll be over quickly.  I also know the route very well and could cut it much shorter if I needed to.

The key for me this week is going to be planning.  I need to determine what I CAN do, and then plan my day around those activities.  I also need to do a good job of planning my meals, packing lunches, and having dinners ready to go to help avoid situations where a box of mac and cheese or just eating out at our local burger joint become the most appealing options.

I recognize the next few weeks are probably going to be a struggle for me.  But my goal for myself is that the struggle is what it should be, a physical one where I work to heal and rehab my back… NOT a psychological one where I sabotage my success.

So here’s day 1 of beating my own crazy.  I got this.