Cures severe back pain too

So after yesterdays push presses, could barely walk. I let my core loose(my bad) during the presses and I really felt it in my lower back. I was in so much lower back pain the morning that I could barely get out of bed and considered staying home from work. I went to this morning's 6:30 workout and all pain went away after 10 minutes. Hasn't bothered me since too. SO happy about that. Also, I upgraded shoes. I'm now wearing converse. The problem with the keens is that they smell way too bad. I like the people at the gym too much to put them through the smell of my keens. Today we ran in our workout and they didn't suck as bad as I thought they would. My run sucked but it wasn't the shoe's fault. Todays workout was lots of fun but also hard as hell for me. Its what they call a chipper. Not because we're feeling chipper but because its one time through. I love chippers. Easier to be mentally strong on chippers. I didn't perform all that well today but I was pleased with myself for abandoning my trusty blue kettlebell(20lb) and trying some heavier ones. I ran out of my ready to drink meal replacements. I know they aren't ideal but its a convenient way to ensure I get some fiber, protein, and fat when my days get busy. I have loved the last 7 workouts more than usual. Not sure if the coaches have intentionally changed anything or if I've just found a new appreciation or if I am just feeling good. or maybe its that the class size has been capped. I also like workouts that don't allow me to slack or take the easy way out. Sometimes its a challenge to be self motivating that early in the morning. The stop watch, the tally, and the motivating coaches have been good for me. Now if I can dial in the diet, I may someday be able to fit in my pants again. :)
warmup:
monster walk
latteral crawl in plank
inch worm
frog hop

skill:(3 or 4 times. I forgot)
5Left 5Right
kb snatch 35lb
windmills 35lb
12 jacknife

wod:
1000M Row
4 x double KB Rack Walk 45lb
50 jumping pullups on rope
50 complete sit ups
50 2HKB swings 28K
Run around block for time
Time: 15:46

went for heavier weight than usual for me and I certainly felt it. :)

Diet:

8am meal replacement

9am Maple Bar(IBM rep brought it just for me. woulda been rude to refuse)

2pm turkey sub

4pm smoothie

7pm smoked turkey and lettuce

8:30pm meal replacement(new kind)

got to pull a tire for first time

Today was my first day to pull a tire. That was pretty cool. Felt like I was in a strong man competition or something. Not that I felt all that strong. Plus those guys pull tires attached to the rest of the vehicle. Today was push press day which is usually one of my favorites. My core felt really weak today. Its amazing how important core strength is to so many exercises. When I saw John front squat 5 trillion pounds a few weeks ago, I was in shock. I had never seen anyone front squat the amount of weight he was doing. He reminded me that so much of it has to do with core strength. I'm reminded of how true this is every time we do any Olympic bar lifts. Some exercises I can improve over time without much practice because my core is being strengthened through all the other exercises we do. Pretty cool stuff. I'm now responsible for getting 3 kids to school every morning so I'm cutting it close with my morning workouts. If there's no traffic and I skip out on the stretch, I seem to be ok. I'm trying not to be as much of a mental wimp in workouts now. I seriously used to pick kettlebells by their color. I love that blue one. However, I've decided to change the way I pick kettlebells and just pick heavy ones(heavy for me at least). We'll see how that goes. I'm also going to cut back on the cupcakes for a while. Melissa reminded me that the marathon is in 2 weeks. I should probably try to be as lean as I can for that(too late now I guess). I haven't figured out what it is but I'm feeling abnormally good and optimistic lately. Maybe its because I started eating steak sandwiches after being vegetarian for a bajillion years. It also might be that Hannah's new school is in the hood and that I never have to go to Beaverton ever again. Or it could be that the Office starts next Thursday.

Warmup (I was late. Only got 1.5 rounds of below

Curtis p's 25lb

100 jump rope

Push Press

115/135/145/165(tried for 185 on set 5 but couldn’t even budge it today. Shoulders felt great but core felt really unstable today)

cross chop halos 35lb

did 3 rounds of:

8 goblet squats 32K/32k/32k

8 jump squat

tire drag(lighter of the 2)

did 2 rounds of:

5 dead hang pullups(i chose to also make these slow negatives)

7 dips(only got 5 on 2nd round and even then had to break it into 3 and 2)

15 pushups elevated feet(24inch box)


Diet
8am: Meal replacement shake.

9am: americano

2pm: Perfect foods bar and betty lou pecan butter ball.

More to come I hope.

the oprah line

so yesterday Nadine said that Oprah ran a marathon in a pretty decent time.  i felt a sense of panic take over. my original goal was to beat puff daddy's time since i learned that he only started training 8 weeks out. i could live with myselft if i dont end up beating puff daddy. however, i dont know if i could say the same thing if i dont beat oprah.  i came across an article titled "how oprah ruined the marathon" by making it ok just to stagger across the finish line. I also saw that puff daddy's goal was just to beat oprah. So i've added a goal B to my goal. Goal A is to beat puff daddy. if that aint happening, then i'll be ok just beating oprah.  They call this new benchmark "the Oprah Line".  

This is a little blurb from the article:

When Oprah expanded the sport, she also lowered the bar for excellence. For the previous generation of marathoners, the goal had been qualifying for Boston. Now, it was beating Oprah. Her time of four hours and 29 minutes -- the Oprah Line -- became the new benchmark for a respectable race. (That was P. Diddy's goal when he ran New York.)

Melissa has the car today so i dont know what i'm going to eat. i usually make an event out of saturday breakfast/lunch/dinner and all the snacks in between. My computer was acting up yesterday which didn't allow me to update the diet part of my blog. thats a good thing because it just ended with more pie and one more burrito and 2 scoops of ben and jerry's.  

Workout:

none. sleep. eat. watch a movie maybe

Diet:

nothing yet. hope to eat burritos and something good.

Eating pumpkin pie again

I never stopped eating pumpkin pie but that's what i had for lunch today and realized i haven't had that in a long time. Today was my favorite of all workouts. The dead lift day. Only reason its my favorite is because its the only one i'm not afraid of getting hurt on. Squatting too heavy could hurt. Pressing too heavy could hurt. With the deadlift, my thought is that its either going up or its not. i like that about the deadlift. my next goal besides 20 dead hang pullups is to learn how to run fast. i've been working on chi running which is sustainable for long distances but i dont know how to just run fast anymore. Until a few years ago, i thought i knew how to run fast. If i do my running style faster, its still not fast. AFter the marathon, i'm going to go to the track and work on sprint intervals and limit all runs to 40 minutes max. If i speed up my running, then maybe i could join a ultimate frisbee team or something.


Skill:
Deadlifts
2 x 5 warmup set with 95
work sets
135x3
165x3
225x3
335x3
365x3

wod
3X
power wheel back and forth

Muscle up practice(pullups on rings for me)

med ball throws (12lb) (Stephen and Evan made this pretty damn fun. I really like having those guys around in the morning)

Diet:
8am: RTD Meal Replacement 330Calories(16gF/13gC/32gP)
11am Pumpkin pie
12pm RTD Meal Replacement 330Calories(16gF/13gC/32gP)
1:45pm Pumpkin Pie

Eating red meat again.

so before recreate I was a vegetarian. The thought of meat freaked me out. I started eating chicken a few weeks in. Now I recently started eating a little red meat. My only rule now is that I only eat free range meat. Eating meat has allowed me to get more protein in without a bunch of bloating tofu. Don't want to over do it though. I'm not convinced that I need too much meat. Today was a great workout. Its the kind of workout that made me fall in love with the gym. It was pretty hard but contained most of my favorite exercises.

Warmup:
2 rounds KB complex 35#
standing med ball partner pass 12#

run around block for time
rest 3 min
1:58/1:52 (I'll admit that I didn't go all out on this. Was wearing my keens plus my knees have felt a little fragile from running) With marathon approaching, I'm trying to keep my knees happy.
WOD
As many rounds in 20 minutes
kb clean and squat 35#
H2HKB swing 35#
10 pushups
13 rounds
Nathan prescribed 20K which there weren't enough of for all the guys. By the end I was glad about that. 35# felt plenty heavy for 20 minutes.

diet
meal replacement shake
chicken burrito

vegetarian burrito. Just a small 300 calorie one

2nd vegetarian burrito(first one wasn't enough)

another great day

i’ve really been enjoying the last few workouts. I haven’t really identified what it is but im really enjoying them lately. I’ve always enjoyed them but I think I’m starting to get my second wind with all this. There’s the initial phase of oh my gosh this I kicking my ass, it must be good for me, I should come back. Then there are the few weeks into it feeling of “my old pants fit again and I don’t feel so blah. This is great!!!”. Then there’s a slight plateau accompanied by a feeling of “I’m working really hard and its not getting easier and I’m not losing more weight L ”. Then later there’s a feeling of “hey, I feel good and love this stuff”. That’s where I think I’m at now. I think not being unbearably sore every day is helping me to give it a little more in each workout.  I think I’m also more comfortable and aware of my abilities and limitations.  

 

Warmup

3 x through

5 Curtis P’s(20#/25#/25#)

250Meter Row(rowed about a 1:50500m pace)

In place inchworm

 

Skill:

3 Turkish Getups (35#/35#/35#)

8 Heavy Medball Squat and Carry(60#/80#)

 

Wall ball (20#/28#/28#)

10 KB crosschops (35#/35#/35#)

 

10 half moons with sandbag

1 minute continuous 2hkb swing (35#/35#/35#/35#)

 

 

Diet

9am Lemon Bread from Daily Café

1:00pm Steak Sandwich

More to come I hope.

Hard workout

Today was a great workout. VERY hard for me but felt great when it was done. John was very motivating this morning which was great because I was feeling really tired when I arrived. Smallest class I've been in in a while. I hear buzz of a possible 5:30am class which I would love to do if one ever starts. My body responds so much better to morning workouts on an empty stomach.
Warm up:
2x
10pass thrus
10 squats

skill:
go through round of each before repeating.
10 kb cleans (35#/35#/35#/45#)
dead hang pullups(10/8/6)
ring dips (10/10/6)

workout:
4 round 45work/15 rest
mr. Spectacular 35#
rope whip
heavy jump rope
line drill sprints
bear crawl
dip holds