Summary of the last fortnight

So, I'm ashamed to say it's been a couple of weeks since i posted anything in here so wanted to update you all with a quick summary of what's been going on over the last fortnight. You'll be pleased to know you won't be getting a run down of fourteen days worth of meals but wanted to document how I've been getting on with the Challenge.

Two weekends ago I was away on a course at the EIS in Sheffield - training centre of Jess Ennis (good excuse for a photo) - learning all about how to make people accelerate quicker, run faster, jump higher and become better prepared physically for their sport. It was an excellent weekend of coaching and education but did unfortunately mean I had to miss the CrossFit Invitational in London that weekend. I knew this was going to be a challenge food-wise as I was based at a sports centre throughout the day, so prepared pretty well on the Friday. Got through the Saturday no problem on Egg muffins, a massive chicken salad, roasted veggies and plenty of fruit and nuts. Stayed with my sister in Sheffield on the Saturday evening and she made a delicious combination of halibut, green beans, brussels sprouts, potatoes and mushrooms. Hadn't told her I was doing this challenge so got lucky that there was no nasties in there. Though when it came to dessert my mum and dad (who were also visiting) had made a large fruit cake that everyone had with ice cream and mixed berries. I declined and ate my coconut bites (that i made with some banana protein powder) with the mixed berries which turned out to be a delightful mix.

Day 2 was a lot harder as I'd eaten everything I prepared for the weekend! Had 4 eggs scrambled on the morning. With an hour for lunch I was pretty stuck. There was nothing substantial I could eat at the sports centre cafe or in the vending machines (no surprise there) so went for a drive in the hope of finding a supermarket. Managed to come across a little corner shop and bought a litre of milk, 200g ham and got a banana and apple from the sports centre. Not ideal but saw me through until the course finished at 5pm.

I usually catch up on a load of work on the weekend but having been away on a course for two days meant I was a bit behind. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are my busiest coaching days at the gym so I built up a back log of work over the week which is why i started to get behind with my blog.

I generally reply to everyone who enquires about CrossFit Leeds within a couple of days but had enquiries from up to 5 days earlier that hadn't been responded too. This was one of the emails I received from one of the less patient individuals who contacted me by email just 3 days earlier:

"Hi

I thought CrossFit test the individuals fitness, strength, and endurance. However, i am surprised that it also test individuals patience!

Regards"

Nice play on words! Didn't think the individual would fit in at the gym with that attitude so apologised and let him know as much.


Over that week (Day 15-21) i didn't accrue any black marks for food but got 3 for lack of sleep. This has been standard for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday as I'm up by 6am and have only managed to get to bed before 10am once since the Challenge started. Got another 2 for poor fruit and veg eaten through the day, which would put me at 13 total black marks. Food highlights for the week were a delicious grass fed beef casserole made by Plowhead and a genuine Spanish Omelette and Spanish ham very kindly prepared and brought to the box by our resident Spanish fitness machine Javier. The Spanish omelette was delicious and couldn't have come at a better time after 5 hours straight of coaching. Javier, Smudge and myself had a little feast after the 7pm class. Awesome!

Had a decent training week too which included a new PB Clean on the Saturday. I hadn't cleaned more than 90kg since May and now that I was doing the movement pain free again I wanted to test where I was at. Built up to 100kg which felt like it was flying up. Tried 105kg which was my current PB and again seemed to move up comfortably. Would normally add 2.5kg when going for a PB but 105 felt so good i decided to go straight for 110kg. Received the bar sweetly and had to fight a bit to stand it up but again a good lift and really surprised myself. Time for smaller increments now so loaded 112.5kg on the bar. I have a habit of talking myself out of big lifts in training so tried some self motivating thoughts before stepping up to the bar. Must've worked as the clean went up nicely again. Standing it out of the squat was harder but managed to get up without losing the bar in front. Set 115kg on the bar but talked myself out of it and never actually attempted the lift. Next time! My PB clean is now the same as my PB Jerk at 112.5kg. Could be a while before I put the two together though as I haven't lifted overhead for 5 months.

My old school friend, Kren, who now trains at CrossFit Teesside kindly put together this little video of my return to training post shoulder dislocations.

This last week (days 22-28) have been busy again. The CrossFit Leeds website being hacked was a pretty scary time. Spoke to the guy who originally set it up for me and he thought I'd lost everything at first. The hackers did a right job on it but luckily managed to restore the website to its original state minus the photos. Thankfully I have all the main photos saved on my laptop and have just got round to re-uploading them, so if you see anything out of place please let me know. Biggest annoyance is I've lost over two years worth of pictures from previous blog posts.

Similar to last week, food has been good. Still haven't eaten anything I shouldn't have during the challenge and have never really had the urge to. I've been hungry a few times when I've been caught out unprepared without access to good food choices, but haven't had any cravings for grains, sweet foods or alcohol. Collected another 3 black marks for lack of sleep on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and just the single black mark for poor veg intake on Tuesday.

Current Black Mark total = 17

Training hasn't been what I'd like this week but will need to step it up a little over the next few days as I'm now going to be competing at DWF Games next weekend. Looking forward to getting involved but will have to be careful not to get carried away in the competitive atmosphere as I know my shoulders are far from fully healed.

I'm giving myself a black mark for each day I missed a blog post and setting a bad example so that's another 13 to add to the total making it a nice round 30. 90 Burpees plus whatever I earn in the next two days - might have a go at the 100 burpees for time record at the box!

So that brings us up to date with just a couple of days left of the 30 Day Challenge. Looking forward to a good meal with a great group of people at Fazenda on Wednesday evening.

Friday 12th October

Sleep = 9 hours

11pm until 8am seems optimal for me but can generally only do that on a Thursday and Friday.

9.00
Egg, banana, almond pancake with almond butter and 200g mixed berries
10g BCAAs

11.00
Handful mixed nuts
Apple
400ml FF Milk

14.30
4 rashers of bacon, 4 scrambled eggs, handful cherry tomatoes, 100g spinach.

16.30
2 Figs
Large Handful Mixed nuts
400ml FF Milk

20.00
4 Sausages, 200g Roast Veg (Courgette, carrots, red and white onions) in cumin seeds and sweet potato mash (used the sausage fat in the mash which was delicious).

22.00
Egg, banana, almond pancake with almond butter and 200g mixed berries

No training today.

F&V = 9
Black Marks = 0
Total BM = 8

Sorry about the brief blog posts. Playing catch up and just trying to get all the food and training down. Will be away all this weekend on a course in Sheffield so updates may be limited again. Still no black marks for naughty food and not had any real cravings for anything. On the whole I've been feeling great and really enjoying the challenge so far.

Thursday 11th October

Sleep = 9 hours

 

9.00
Stuck for breakfast this morning. Ran out of eggs!!! If it had been 6am I probably wouldn't have done this but decided to have last nights leftover spicy bolognaise and cooked some veggies to go with it. Went down surprisingly well for 9am, even with extra cayenne pepper.

12.00
A few Depth Jumps with Marcelo
EMOM 10
3 x Box Squat with 70kg (Safety Squat bar)
Joined Niki for a repeat of the WOD I did on Monday but changed the exercises up a little:

3 rounds for max reps:
1 minute max Ring Press Ups
1 minute max Front Squats 70kg
1 minute max Box Jumps 30"
Rest 1 minute

Press Ups = 22/22/20
Front Squats 15/10/13
Box Jumps = 14/13/11

Banana
Recovery Shake
Half Roast chicken brought down to the box by Plowhead. Hot food at the gym seems like a luxury.

15.00
4 egg Omelette in butter with chicken, tomatoes and spinach
2 figs

17.00
1 hour shoulder rehab

18.00
200g Chicken
Apple
500ml FF milk

Competition Training this evening was absolutely brilliant. Went through a few kettlebell snatches and finished with what looked like a classic workout. Didn't join in but was loving watching everyone push through. The WOD was:
In teams of 3 complete:
Row 2k
100 Bench Press @ 70kg
9 x 30m Prowler Push @ 100kg

21.30
A late one at the gym and was feeling pretty tired so had the same for tea as for breakfast! Leftover bolognaise from last night with 250g mixed veg.

F&V = 7
Black Marks = 0
Total BM = 8

Wednesday 10th October

Sleep = 7.5 hours

6.20
3 Egg Muffins
Apple
10g BCAAs

10.00
Banana
40 minutes Shoulder rehab

11.30
Leftover chicken, peppers and onions on a salad of spinach, lettuce, rocket, tomato and avocado with home made vinaigrette
Apple
400ml FF Milk

15.00
3 egg omelette cooked in butter with chicken, spinach, tomato

17.00
10g BCAAs
Bulgarian Split Squats 5 x 5 each leg with 15kg DBs
3 rounds:
90m Sled Pull @ 50kg
5 minutes handstand practice
Recovery shake

19.00
Banana
Nuts and currants

21.30
Beef mince, onions and tomatoes in loads of spices (and too much cayenne), 250g mixed veg.

F&V = 11
Black Marks = 1
Total BM = 8

Tuesday 9th October 2012

Been very slack on the blogging front of late. Have written everything down in my phone but not had a good chance to get everything written up on here. As Nick Butters kindly pointed out this afternoon it would've been much easier to download an app and write everything straight onto my blog on my phone - never thought of that! Ideally would like to write everything up every evening but that eats into my sleep time and the fact I'm trying to keep electronics off just before bed. Got to prioritise these things :)

Sleep = 7.5 hours

Think I'll be getting black marks every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for lack of sleep as I have to be up at 6am and struggle to get to bed by 10pm.

Breakfast

6.20
3 Egg Muffins
Apple
10g BCAAs

10.30
Gammon Salad
Apple
400ml FF Milk

Training and lunch

 

13.00
Banana

14.00
WOD with Niki from Outlaw - Run 1 mile then 30 Muscle Ups.
Did the mile in 6.40, had a stroll to the rings, chalked up and got on the rings at 7.20. Finished in 12.08. Was hoping for sub 12. Muscle ups didn't feel as good as they have at other times recently (run must've taken its toll!) but pretty pleased all the same. Was great having Niki right in front of me. Seemed like she was doing hers faster than me which made me get back in the rings quicker.

Banana
Recovery shake

Knew I'd be staying at the gym all afternoon so was very organised and brought food in to eat. Hadn't planned on the leftover Thai chicken broth being disgusting when eaten cold. Ate the chicken and left the soggy veggies and sauce. Settled for 200g ham, 500g grapes and an apple.

17.00
More training - this time it was today's Outlaw WOD with Sazzle and Simpson.
3 rounds of Row 500m/75 Double Unders
9.42
Did all the rows at 1.50 and only missed 1 double under. Did stop once in each of the second and third rounds to let arms recover though. Could've pushed a little harder on the rows in hindsight.

Recovery shake

19.00
Handful of nuts and currants

20.30
5 small pieces of coconut bites

Tea

21.30
Chicken, onion, peppers chilli, paprika, garlic and cayenne cooked in coconut oil with tomatoes and avocado.
400ml FF milk

F&V = 13 (fruit severley outweighing veg!)
Black Marks =1
Total BM = 7

Monday 8th October

 

Sleep = 7.5 hours

Got to bed for 22.30 and slept through until alarm at 6.00. Not quite the 8 hours i set myself but happy at a full nights sleep and felt great getting up.

Breakfast

6.20
3 Egg muffins
Apple
10g BCAAs

Couple of hours coaching then 1 hour of shoulder rehab.

10.30
Final portion of leftover chicken chettinad. Cooked this on Thursday - never sure how many days to give things in the fridge after cooking but this is over three days and still tasted good, and no ill effects so far!
200g mixed veg with coconut oil and lemon juice.

Training and Lunch 

1300
Modified an Outlaw WOD  and did it with Plowhead which is always good for my competitive nature!
3 rounds for max reps:
1 minute max HSPUs
1 minute max Front Squats 60kg
1 minute max Chest to ring strict pull ups
Rest 1 minute

HSPUS = 19/13/10
Front Squats = 13/12/13
Pull Ups = 13/9/8

Plowhead beat me by 1 on the HSPUs. Smashed her on the front squats!

Banana
Recovery shake

15.30
Leftover Thai chicken broth

16.15
Egg, banana, almond flour pancake with mixed berries

Worked some back squats during a 20 minute slot in the open gym. Haven't back squatted more than 80kg since doing my shoulders. It's only in the last couple of weeks I've been able to rack a bar on my back properly. Built up to a heavy single high bar back squat.
10 @ 80kg
5 @ 100kg
1 @ 120kg
1 @ 130kg
1 @ 135kg
1 @ 140kg
Stopped there and happy with that. PB is 145kg so no complaints. Bar felt pretty uncomfortable on my back. Not sure if its just in my head and I'm conscious of loading weight through my shoulders or if it's just because I haven't loaded a bar on my back for ages.

1900
Handful of nuts and currants to keep me going. Was going to have a couple of egg muffins but Rosie decided to eat all 4 that we took to the gym!

Tea

21.00
250g Sirloin steak, 250g mixed veg, half a sweet potato and fried onion, garlic, cream and almond sauce.

F&V = 11 (best so far!)
Black Marks =1 (sleep again!)
Total BM = 6

Sunday 7th October

 

Sleep = 8 hours

 

Breakfast

 

8.00
Egg, almond flour and banana pancake with loads of mixed berries. Made enough batter for two but only had time to cook and eat one :(
10g BCAAs

Coaching and a bit of training

11.00
Protein shake

Did 3 hours of coaching at the gym this morning (9-12). Don't normally work Sundays but struggling to fit people in through the week. Gutted to miss hill sprints - looked like a great session competently led by Coach Wully Bully. Can't make the next two weekends either due to work :(

Was nicely warmed up by the time I finished last coaching session so got a quick set of deadlifts in:
10 @ 50kg
10 @ 80kg
5 @ 100kg
AMRAP @ 125kg = 10 reps

13.00
3 Egg muffins freshly baked by Plowhead.

1400
Cottage Pie and 200g mixed veg
Apple

15.30
Handful of nuts and currants

18.30
Was going to leave the pancake batter until tomorrow but the banana was starting to brown and didn't want to see it go to waste so had another pancake with mixed berries and added a blob of almond butter which was certainly a good addition.

Watched TV for the first time since starting the challenge - can't miss The Chase for a great quiz show with a high questions per minute ratio (unlike Who wants To Be a Millionaire where you get about 8 questions in an hour!). Here's one of the questions from The Chase:

What do the Germans call the cartoon character Andy Capp
A) Dick Tingeler
B) Helmut Schuffler
C) Willi Wacker

Can't beat a programme with questions like that. Oh, and if you haven't seen it already check out another great moment below

Tea

21.00
Big portion of Thai Chicken broth. This was delicious and I'll be making it again. Heres what's in it.
800g chicken breast sealed in coconut oil with half a packet of Green Curry Paste (see picture - all natural ingredients and takes the hassle out of making your own paste), thumb sized piece of ginger, 5 garlic cloves, spring onions, 4 green/yellow peppers, 150g broccoli, 150g cabbage, 2 tins coconut milk. Took about half an hour to make and there's a good 4 portions there.

Another hour of TV watching Homeland 9-10pm then straight to bed.

F&V = 8
Black Marks = 0
Total BM =5