"Chelsea"

Today's Horoscope-Gemini
May 22 - June 21
"Your physical and mental condition is in pleasant equilibrium. You will experience little interference from any outside influences. Instead those around you are making your situation extremely pleasant by proving to be so helpful and approachable. With surplus energy you're able to do anything your heart desires. But be sure to consider where you would like to be in the future when things may not be as easy as they are now."

I had to share that before I go into my spiel.

Today's crossfit WOD was a benchmark. Danielle chose "Chelsea" as the work out. I had been really bad about getting to crossfit work outs lately. The last one I had done was last Monday and it had not gone remarkably well. Plus my eating habits have just been shitty lately-to be quite blatant. Lots of bad carbs, sugar and I discovered last Wednesday that I am officially addicted to caffeine. I experience nasty withdrawals which included cravings for my "drink" as well as an awful, pounding headache. Wednesday was not a pleasant day...
I don't recall if I had posted that I am officially certified as a level 1 crossfit trainer. I went to the Portland, Or. training a couple of weeks ago and it had been such an exhilarating experience that had motivated me to increase my training to the next level. I began pushing myself harder than I had ever done in my life and found that I began beating other people's times and efforts by a huge amount. However, I had been eating out with friend's quite a bit and found my diet was lacking in the right foods, thus this week my work outs had been limited and I'd found my energy level to be insufficient.

Last night I continued reading from where I'd left off in the book, "Enter The Zone," By: Barry Sears-The recommended diet for crossfitters. A few things I read hit me hard and made me realize if I really want to reach my potential as a crossfitter, I have to change my dietary habits.
"If you're eating too much carbohydrate, you can expect the following, even if you're on a judicious program of aerobic exercise: constant hunger, decreased mental alertness, difficulty in losing body fat (if not outright fat gain), decreased oxygen transfer to the muscle cells and decreased endurance." 64
All of those symptoms were exactly what I experienced this week. On top of that, I noticed that after Monday's WOD, my arm pits/pecs were super sore-not a good sore either. It felt like I had torn something. I found another answer to my increased soreness in the book:
There is a growth hormone released during intense anaerobic exercise that increases muscle mass, however, that same hormone is also released during sleep and is ultimately the hormone used to repair muscles. Eating a high-carb meal will decrease the release of the hormone, thus, not allowing muscles to repair for the next day.
Bingo! That was my answer. Reading this book really has given me a wake up call, especially as an athlete.
This morning I began the change.

I made myself a smoothie which included multiple types of fruit-including the bad carb: 1/2 banana.

It was also packed with all sorts of other low glycemic carbs including: spinach, apple, orange, frozen raspberries, peaches, marion-berries, blueberries, etc.

I added protein powder and almond milk

And for some fat-about a tablespoon of almond butter-I am allergic to PB.
Mind you, I didn't drink all of this! I had about 12 oz of the smoothie.

Then I had one egg over a 1/2 slice of Swiss cheese with mustard.

It looks like a healthful meal, but the 1/2 slice of Swiss, almond milk and banana are types of foods I want to start avoiding. At this point, I just want to try to get myself as close to the zone diet as possible without exact measurements.

I also provided myself with "spark" to prevent my caffeine withdrawals again.

Fortunately, Danielle had already warned me yesterday the WOD would probably be Chelsea for today. However, I am never prepared to die during a work out because I always expect that I'll back off when it gets hard.

Do I ever back off when Danielle teaches? Nope...
So why would I think that I might? Probably to get myself to actually go to work out...
To make matters worse, the warm up was: 800 m run + 30 Med ball throws (10lbs) + 800 m row
Intense, leg warm up. I hate anything that involves legs because they are relatively weaker than my arms.
I got my game face on and we started "Chelsea".

"Chelsea" is: 30 minutes of

-5 pull ups

-10 push ups

-15 squats

Ideally, you get those exercises done per minute. Danielle wanted us to keep track of how many minutes we managed to stay on with the gymnastics styled exercises before we went over the minute limit. The last time I'd completed this WOD, I remember only making it to about 8 minutes before I started going over the minute, I remember this wod also being horrendous so I didn't plan on making a whole lot more than that. Danielle's goal for us was to make 30 rounds in 30 minutes. I knew there was no effing way that'd be possible for me... I shouldn't doubt myself.

The first few rounds, I just remember it hurt but I was easily getting 15 to 20 seconds of rest.

By round 10, I was surprised to find I was still getting about 15 seconds of rest before going into the next minute.

At 15 minutes or so, there were only 2 of us who were staying on the minute. I figured that at any moment I would burn out.

20 minutes later and I was still getting time for rest.

Danielle also made note that my squats looked better than they ever had. Drew, Gonzo and a few others came in at around the 20 minute mark. Suddenly I had cheering to keep me going. Talk about motivation, but honestly, the most motivating factor was Danielle. I want her as my coach because she's the only one who is able to push me beyond my limit. It's the way she just doesn't let me stop. Nearing the end she started bragging to Drew that I was going to make the 30 rounds. I kept shaking my head, I could hear my voice crying out when I leapt to the ground from my pull ups or back up into my squats. My legs had never hurt like this during a WOD. They were burning!

"You're gonna make it!" She told me.

"No, I'm not." I argued.

"Yes, you are." She stated without a hint of doubt in her voice.

23 minutes in. I really wanted to stop. My rest time was down to about 10 seconds.

I kept stopping on push ups for mere moments, in which, Danielle was down in my face, yelling at me to go, to keep pushing, to not stop.
25 minutes down. Those last few minutes were the worst. I kept thinking I wasn't going to make the last 30 minutes.

I stumbled moving back to the bar, Danielle saw and asked me if I was ok.

Ha! Was I ok?!

I answered, "Am I ok? Do I look ok?"

She smiled.

And then I was back on the bar.

My hands began to hurt.
At 28 minutes, I felt the wetness of a blister breaking open. I looked down at my hand and saw blood. Excellent.

2 more rounds and I was still at the 1 minute mark. OMG!

The last 2 sets of pull ups hurt and another blood blister formed. Unfortunately it did not pop.
The squats were agonizing as well.

The push ups over all, were my resting period.

Last set I knew I was going to make it and couldn't believe it.

As I finished my last set, I think there was applause from people but I was so far in my own zone and in pain that all I could do was sit down and then lay down on the floor.

High fives and handshakes were given to me, reminding me that we are all in this together. The camaraderie is something I really, really appreciate about this sport. It's what I loved about gymnastics as well.

Danielle posted my time, bubbled it and decorated it

Afterward, I tried to walk and literally, my legs gave out and started cramping up. I've never experienced that. At least, not right after a work out.

I immediately went home, finished up my spark, ate the other 1/2 of the banana, a slice of orange and 2x4oz of the protein smoothie.

As I sat, I thought about the work out. There is nothing in comparison to crossfit. Pushing yourself to the max and doing what you couldn't believe to be possible has to be the sweetest feeling imaginable.