GOAL CRUSHER!!!

After an e-mail from the gym went out about only being allowed to attend one Strength and Conditioning class per day, I inquired with our Endurance coach as to why.  The take away from the discussion in my own words was this: "If you feel like you need another workout, you're doing it wrong.  Your body needs the rest, especially if you're keeping with the mentality and following through with the work load of go big or go home."

That really lit the fire under my ass.  I didn't realize I was basically sabotaging my success.  Not this week.

Thursday's WOD consisted of 3 rounds of 20 (10 each arm) single arm kettlebell swings (KBS), 20 (10 each arm) shoulder to over head (STOH) KBS, and then 20 goblet squats.  Instead of taking the easy road and using a 20# kettlebell, I decided to grab the 25 and go with it.  There were some STOHs that I thought, "there's no way this is getting above your ear".  But I pushed through and even though I was the last one done, I still finished the WOD strong and tired.

Friday turned a new page in the workout log.  We worked on 3x6 Romanian deadlifts (RDL), and 3x4 deadlifts (DLs).  My RDL ended with 123#s and my DLs ended with 143#!  That was 16lbs over my body weight...FOUR TIMES!  And then we had death by 10Ms.  The last time I did DB10Ms I only made it to 12 before getting caught by the clock back on 9.6.2012.  Friday I made it to 13 and got caught right at the end.

As if Friday and Thursday weren't enough, Saturday just put the ghee on my sweet potato!  Jan 1, 2013 I decided to embark on the Whole30 challenge.  Stricter than Paleo for 30 days.  Granted I made it to Thursday 1.31.2013 and had Yo My Goodness (ick) and then again until Saturday 2.9.2013 where I had Orange Leaf (much better!) and trashed Sunday's diet (41 days) had cake batter, vanilla wafers and peanut butter, and then the following day a piece of cake and my No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter bars.  BUT 2.16 became the game changer, weigh in and retest.

Here are the before and after measurements from the very organized Stephanie Teague, CrossFit Endurance extraordinaire who encouraged me and others to join her in this journey.

73# push press just wasn't happening, so I stripped the 10s and added the 5s and knocked it out with some encouragement from my Whole30 buddy Laura.  I initially tried 143# on the back squat but had to dump it for the first time ever.  That was a fun experience.  Then I tried 133# and almost stopped.

"You wanna add the 2.5s?" - Laura
"You're not done till you dump it?" - Me.

So we threw on the 2.5s and knocked out the 138.  Body weight + 13. Goal.Crushed.

And the Fight Gone Bad test and retest results:


I went big and then home today!  I did it right, left everything on the gym floor. A huge thank you to CrossFit Valley Park for providing an awesome facility with a positive and encouraging atmosphere! I owe a lot of my success to all the coaches who have pushed me to be my best.

To my Whole30 buddy Laura who was just so demanding throughout the FBG workout, pushing me to increase my FBG Score by 66 points (do one more..just one more!).  She was incredible throughout this entire journey!  I am so proud of her and thankful for her encouragement this year!  Everyone needs a Laura in their life.

It's amazing what one month, goals and a lot of encouragement will get you.  As for Whole30, I found it wasn't that horrible to follow; however, I will become a human experiment over the next few weeks as I try to add back protein powder, honey and the occasional Paleo desert.  I will definitely stick with Paleo though, it's not nearly as challenging as I initially thought it would be.

 Make a goal and go for it. Today!

WHOLE30...and then some.

One thing I have realized over the past 30+ days is that I've never had a positive relationship with food.  Even though I've known this for quite sometime, I've recently realized how it has impacted my life.  Growing up, I was a pretty active kid.  Riding my bike, swimming at my grandparents, and softball every summer.

Looking back my eating habits were horrible.  Nothing was consistent, ate whatever was quick, and often times would over indulge on junk.  I didn't learn to really cook until my 20's.  Around the time my parents divorced I had put on quite a bit of weight.  Sure the bag of Reeses peanut butter cups would disappear in a matter of a week, and as for the Cheetos Puffs, consider them gone.  Then junior high came around and it was not a pretty sight.  I started becoming very self conscious about people seeing me eat.  Not that people were watching, but they might.  Logically it doesn't make sense; however, I nearly stopped eating lunch.  I dropped to a very nasty weight.  I was too thin.

In high school, I still had horrible habits, but started getting comfortable eating in front of people.  Usually lunch consisted of 2 cookies and chocolate milk...healthy? Wrong.  Then after high school and in parts of college, I started gaining weight.  I was a home owner at 19, still going to school full time and beyond stressed out, without healthy eating habits.  By 22, I was probably at my highest weight in the low 130's.  I turned my life around and ended a relationship with my boyfriend, let him keep the house and in turn I lost a lot of stress.  I started working out on a regular basis and found running.  Again, trying to live making the same crappy food decisions and trying to burn off the calories was not producing the results I wanted.  By 26, I ran my first marathon and many half marathons; however, I still had not changed my food decisions.  Got up to my all time high in April of 2012 at 133.8.  

July 2013 I decided the week of my birthday, that it was time to take a drastic leap forward. I joined CrossFit Valley Park and haven't stopped since.  It was in December when Stephanie Teague started a conversation about Whole30 and how the gym was going to do a weigh in, measurements and baseline testing.  So I downloaded the book to my Kindle and was enthralled with "It Starts With Food".  I started December 26th by trying Paleo, and January 1, I started my Whole30 Challenge.  Ever since, my life has been turned upside down.  I'm preparing healthy food that tastes amazing, I've been in contact with my Whole 30 buddy Laura, who has been absolutely amazing throughout this whole process.  I'm at the weight I want to be and I think I'm shaving off substantial amounts of time in my workouts.  I've set some goals that I'm looking forward to crushing this year, and some of them are about to be accomplished ahead of schedule.

My skin has done a complete 180, I don't feel sluggish and bloated all the time.  I've even noticed that my pallet has changed.  I went from eating cookies and cakes to loving the natural sweetness of fruit and the amazing world of sweet potatoes!  My first "experiment" after day 31, was to eat YoMy Goodness with my husband since he just got home from training.  In all honesty, all I could taste was this sugary syrup taste.  That next day, I didn't feel HORRIBLE; however, I did not feel great like I had the past 30 days.  Frozen yogurt has definitely made it to my "Not Worth It" list.  This journey has been amazing so far.  I'm going to keep on the Whole 30 until after the CrossFit Open.  After that point, I will be following a Paleo diet only to venture outside of the Paleo realm for special occasions.  I mean really.special.occasions.

I have to say thank you to Stephanie for introducing me to a new life, Laura for helping me overcome these insane cravings, and my husband for putting up with me during my transition and listening to me on my soap box about why cereal is crap (as he eats a bite of dinner in the form of Lucky Charms).