Taryn is the meat queen

I thought I could eat meat.  Just like I thought I could power clean.  Then Taryn comes along and smokes me like, well, a delicious brisket.

Sleep: 10:30 until 7:30... 9 hours and pretty much all solid sleep.  Woke up almost feeling like I'd had too much.  Body felt good and recovered after a couple of hard days of workouts so I`m pleased.  Who knew that meat could induce such a fugue-like state.

Today`s a rest day.  So here goes with the meals.

Beef+orange tomatoes with mayo and fresh cracked pepper... oh, wait, I have no photo.  Oh, wait, I eat this pretty much all the time.  Here's an old photo.  Imagine the tomato as orange instead of red.  It's okay.  Then, imagine it in a square plastic container.  And then imagine three meals of it.  Exciting, huh?

I just finished roasting up two pans of kale.  Damn this stuff is good.  Here's how you make it.  Chop up your kale.  Douse it in butter (clarified would be preferable and coconut oil would be an even better choice but just not as tastey - and don't be stingy... you're a cave person, you EAT FAT) and a bit of sea salt and cracked pepper, then roast until crispy in a hot oven (405 degrees F if you don't have convection).  Delicious.  I ate a bowl.\

Then I ate another bowl.  See how lovingly I am staring at the kale?

Also, I am quite shiny.

I'm now roasting up sweet potatoes, likewise doused in butter.  I should likely NOT eat them as this is not a WOD day (Precision Nutrition habits die hard with me...Dr. John Berardi would be pleased).  A few might end up sneaking onto my plate along with my last amount of delicious roast beast.

I think I have the meat sweats.

Got home from the gym after 9:00 and bloody starving.  Loaded up the plate with sweet potatoes, orange tomatoes with mayo and a shitload of slow cooked beef.  I couldn't eat it all.  I'm sitting here with the meat sweats and the desire is there but I just can't eat anymore.  So yummy.  But so full.

I ate the same beef with baby carrots for breakfast, lunch and moar lunch.  Here's moar lunch, I do believe, while at my desk.

Quick math...  28 ounces of beef at about 7g of protein per ounce so... yeah, 182 g of protein.  I'm a 140lb (at last glance) 36 year old disabled female government office worker.  And this is me leaning out a bit.  Gotta love doing squats.  It's a license to eat.

As for the training, here's what I did today.
Front squats 175, 185, 195 (depth was iffy so I’m repeating next week)
90×2 @ 175
85x3x3 @ 165
Good morning 5-5-5@ 105
Toes to bar 10-10-10-10-10
Metcon as rx’d in 12:19
Weighted DHPLU 2-2-2 @ 5, 7.5, 10lbs

I was at the gym messing around for at least two and a half hours tonight.  Granted, there was a meeting in there, I took my time with the squats and then I did a bunch of mobility stuff after on my shoulders and chest but, still, that a lot of work.  Felt good, though, and I had a really fun night.

Sleep:  11:45-8:00 so less than 8 hours and the last half hour was spent mashing the snooze button on my phone.

STRESSED...

Now it's The Sneak who overnighted at the vet clinic.  Suspected UTI but they are ruling out other stuff. Am pretty freaked out.  Keep telling myself not to worry but Otis was just a little case of gastro and it ended up being the worst case scenario.

Ate three meals of pork stir fry with ground pork, matchstick carrots, coloured peppers, mushrooms, pea pods and bean sprouts. This stuff looks really gross but it's not too bad.  Don't know if I'll make it again.

Then I wodded, coached strength club for Harlan and then ate more pork with a side of sweet potato mash.

Training was as follows:
2 position clean x 5 @ 75% (115lbs)
Clean 1-1-1 @ 145, 155 (F), 155, 160 (F but sooo close - quicker elbows and staying tight as I catch the bar)
Clean pullsx3x2@ 155lbs
Clean deadlifts 3x2 @ 160lbs
Rack Jerks 1-1-1 @ 110, 115, 115 (these were messy)
Metcon of 1000m row, 50 burpees, 500m row, 25 burpees in 12:35 (disgusting) and then 30 unbroken box jumps 3 minutes after (easy!)

Sleep 11:00p.m. until 8:00 a.m. (hitting the snooze button from 7:20 until 8:00... gee, do you think stress plays a factor?)

Ps.  The Sneak is okay.  UTI and bladder stones.  She's on a food to try and dissolve them so here's hoping it works and she doesn't need surgery.  Here's a photo of her:

Rest day.

I actually feel pretty good this morning.  Not really stiff or sore.  Nothing's really inflamed.  Great first week of Games training!

Breakfast, Moar Lunch AND Supper looked like this

Not Really Sushi at lunch

Sleep: 12:15 a.m. until I woke without an alarm at 8:15 a.m.  And it's rest day.  Spent a lot of it with friends, which made a stressful day far less so. 

Double day

Today's a double day.  Taryn and Lela are coming into town so, obviously, we must WOD.

Bowl of slow cooked beast in reduction with tomatoes and home-made mayo (an hour pre-WOD)

WOD 1 was the following:

1000m row (blech)

30 hand release push ups (floor hump styles)

15 chest to bar pull ups (dear sweet hell but I suck at these)

500m row (only half as blechy as 1000m)

20 hand release push ups (I am good at humping the floor)

10 chest to bar pull ups (these just got worse and worse)

250m row (whee!)

10 hand release push ups (the two pump chump round)

5 chest to bar pull ups (deplorable)

My time was 13:25.  With all but the first four of my chest to bar pull ups as pained singles, you know, I have to say I likely have a lot of room for improvement in this WOD.  I used to be able to do these just fine.  Taryn thinks it's my kip that blows goats.  She's likely right.

  

PWO meal: THIS + (THIS - tomato) No photo of actual meal

At 2:00, we did WOD 2, which was seriously just disgusting.  But I enjoyed it.  Invictus makes some fun little metcons.

20 minutes, as many rounds as possible of:
20 95lb thrusters
20 burpees
20 pull ups

Managed 2 rounds + 50 reps.  I wanted three and I'm sure I could have found another 20 seconds somewhere to give myself enough time to mash in other 10 pull ups.  Kinda pissed at myself.

After getting home, I thought about having more sweet potato but the idea of it made me want to choke either myself or someone else.  So I ate this instead with a couple cups of coffee.   Get ready for it...


Ready?  Guess what it was?


I WARNED YOU THIS WOULD BE THE MOST BORING OF ALL BLOG POST SERIES.

Roast beast with tomato, home made mayo and fresh ground pepper

 Ate beast with carrots before going to Tunisons'

The Tunisons' served dark chocolate and bacon (they are wonderful people)

Then I ate MOAR beast when I got home (same photo... different meal)

This morning, I came in at a kilo away from the 63 kilo weight class and I'm over a month away from my meet.  It'll be nice not to freak out and have to cut water a couple weeks before.  I want to work in a bit of a buffer so I can still be a water-retaining, bloated mess come meet day and not really have to worry.  Not that I'm planning to be this.  It's just... Murphy's Law.

Sleep: 1:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. (in reality about 7.5 hours but I feel decently rested and recovered despite a little tossing and turning and a weird dream).

Meh... stew.

Meh... stew.  Have three one and a half cup servings of it to take to lunch.  It's pretty much gone.  Bored of it.  Maybe sushi in a bowl this evening and I'll slow cook a couple of roasts over night.  That sounds pretty good.

Meh... stew.  Ate something that looked like this three times

Sweet potato mash post work out... switching to some other sweet potato thing soon

Something I call sushi in a bowl which is really not at all like sushi (PWO as well)

Today's training felt good.  PR'd on the lift and the metcon.  Metcon is still lagging behind where I hoped it would be.  That'll learn me for shitting all over my cardio for a year.  Loving my recovery these days.  Dang.  I forgot that I recovered well when everything was all lined up.

Front squat 3's @ 115, 2's @ 145, 1's @ 160, 170, 180, 190lbs (PR -felt good), 200 (F - next time!)
x 2 @ 90 percent (170lbs)
x3x3 @ 85 percent (160lbs)
Christine (3 rounds of 500m row, 12 body weight deadlifts, 21 20" box jumps) as rx'd with 140lb deads in  10:57

Then I rolled around on a field hockey ball on the floor for a bit looking a lot like when Otis had an itchy arse and then dug the ball into my chest and arm pits for a bit.  Holy snot that hurts.  Then I cleaned the ball.  Because, eww. 

Sleep: 11:20 to 6:30, fell asleep pretty quick so I'd say seven hours.  Woke up without an alarm this morning.  That NEVER happens.

And then there was... more Italian Stew

Do I have to take another picture?  No, I can just reuse the other one.  This whole taking photos of 30 days of strict, low carb paleo + my tendencies for eating the same thing forever = easy!

The lunch bag that's coming with me to work.  Imagine that the level on the pot of stew is now at the half way point.  Which, I guess means more stew tomorrow.  After that, short ribs!  Nom, nom, nom.

Oh, and because I work at the gym tonight so won't be doing my workout until 8:00 p.m., I'm going to take an extra smaller, round container of food to eat at about 7:00 so I'm not crashing when I'm trying to lift.

Empty Container of Stew at the Gym

Sweet Potatoes PWO

8 sad looking deviled eggs, carrots and cucumber (also PWO)

Coached from 6:00-8:00pm and then fit my training in after.  Landon is also doing competition training and he was scheduled for 8:00 so it was good having someone to do it with!

3 position clean @ 65 percent (105lbs) x 3

clean pulls @ 90 percent (140lbs) 3x2

clean grip deadlift @ 100 percent (160lbs) 4x2

behind the head rack jerks 1-1-1 @ 65, 90, 115 (fx4), 105 - these I suck royally at.  Shoulders felt achy and my low back is really tight.  Dallas said I was hyper extended and acting like I was afraid just to get under it and then, when I did, was refusing to lock out.  *sigh*  Why do I suck at these so badly?

Metcon 5-4-3-2-1 muscle ups with 50 unbroken DU's after each set.  Not for time.  I liked it!  The MU were all singles but felt good.  Weak part seems to be the dip at the end but they were better than when I did Nate or that 9-7-5 WOD of 135lb power cleans and MU.  This is likely due to being a bit lighter.  Still 4lbs off my weight class but I'm down 4lbs from a couple of weeks ago. 

Sleep: 11:15 p.m. to 7:50 but, again, had a hard time falling asleep.  I'd say 7.5 hours?  Maybe a bit more.

Out of soup. Next up... Italian Stew

It's not quite as good as the soup but it's still pretty yummy.

 Italian stew, it's what's for breakfast, lunch and moar lunch.

Massive Pot of Italian Stew

In a pot, saute:
1.5kg lean ground beef
1/4 cup coconut oil
one diced red onion.

Reduce heat. and add:
2 coloured bell peppers
6 diced zucchini
1 large container sliced mushrooms
3 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato paste
1 jar sundried tomatoes, diced (packed in OLIVE oil)
6 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp chili garlic paste
3 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp dried basil

Cover and allow to simmer on the stove until the veggies are soft and the flavours have mingled.  Adjust seasoning as needed (I like it quite flavourful with some heat). Makes a massive pot.  Really.  I have an oversized Lagostina dutch oven and it filled it to the brim.

And for supper (at 10:30 at night...) I had my last bowl of soup.  Mmmm...

Sleep: 11:00 p.m. until 7:40 but around 8 hours as I tossed and turned for a bit before being able to fall asleep.  I will adjust to an 11:00 bedtime, dammit!

REST DAY!  I feel really good.  Not stiff at all.  Good energy.  Hammie is a bit tight from yesterday's squats but no aching or any pain.  Going to do some mobility work tonight to loosen it up a bit.

I eat the same thing all day long for days on end.

Yes, I do.  Two reasons - I'm really lazy.  I don't like to have to cook everyday.  That and once I make something yummy that I enjoy, I want to enjoy it ad nauseam.  Well, at least until I'm really, really bored of the food.  Last week, it was slow cooked roast beef in red wine reduction with baby carrots.  Mmm, that was good.  Making that this weekend.  This week, it's the soup.  I am set to run out of it midway through tomorrow so Wednesday/Thursday, I'll move on to the next big pot of food.  But the soup will likely show up next week as well since I'm really enjoying the hell out of it. 

The soup... again.

PWO Meal of 6 eggs fried in coconut oil with salsa, a tomato with home made mayo and pepper and a bowl of mashed yams.  The tomato was so good I had a second one.

Today was day two of competition training.  LOVED IT.

Squat 3's @ 135, 2's @ 185, 1's @ 215, 225, 235, 245lbs
x2 @ 90% (220)
x3x3 @ 85% (210)
Good mornings 5's @ 75, 85, 95
50 25lb weighted sit ups
"Metcon" of 5-4-3-2-1 HSPU/35 unbroken double unders (used green and purple band for strict HSPUs, DUs unbroken and I did them while holding a convo with Steve V.  LOL!)

Sleep: 11:00 p.m. until 7:40 a.m. but I had a hard time falling asleep so likely closer to 8 hours than 8.5.

The never ending excitement continues

More photos of food.  This exciting train to Awesomeville just never stops!  Um, until it reaches Awesomeville.  Otherwise, it would just be an exciting train...

My containers of coconut chicken soup for breakfast, lunch and moar lunch.

PWO meal after getting back from Tunison's (more soup and yam mash)

While I was at Kelly's I also had a piece of roast beast and some baby carrots.  I didn't take a photo because that's just weird.

Training Stuff
We're starting competition training today.  So, so excited for this!  I love just getting my WODs handed to me and not thinking about it and just doing what I'm told and not second guessing if what I'm doing is going to prepare me or if I'm doing too much/not enough, etc.  This is the one exception to my "no one, not even myself, can tell me what to do" stubborn streak.   Hear that, Aaron?  You are the only person on earth I have ever listened to. Revel in that power, dude.

Here's what I did at Kelly's:

3 position snatch @ 73lbs
Snatch singles @ 83, 88, 93, 98 (fx3 – wasn’t finishing my pull so the bar was out in front)
Snatch pull @ 103 (good height on these - got one up to my chin)
Snatch deadlift @ 108
Snatch push press @ 68 (these felt like I was going to rip off my shoulder.. more mobility work to open up chest and get shoulders working is required because this is ridiculously light)

Helen on a treadmill, 55lb bell swings and DHPLU – 19:42 (bell swings were unbroken, runs felt good, pull ups felt like I was having an aneurism)

Sleep: 8 hours (11:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.)

30 days of what paleo looks like... take two

In what could be the most boring collection of blog posts ever compiled, I'm trying this again.  I've seen a few questions about what "paleo" meals actually look like.  For the next 30 days, or until I get horribly bored, I'll post photos of what I eat. 

5 omega eggs fried in coconut oil, 1 tomato, half an avocado and some salsa

bowl of coconut chicken soup  (<--link to recipe... you know you want to click it!)

Another bowl of awesome (MOAR!!!!)

Jacob asked me tonight what kind of veggies I eat.  Today, I've eaten quite a few plants including tomato, red pepper, yellow pepper, broccoli, carrots, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, mushrooms, zucchini and cilantro. Plants=delicious.  Especially when they're floating in a zesty coconut milk broth.  I made a big ass pot of this stuff so tomorrow and the next day are going to be really boring to look at.  I'm going to enjoy the hell out of the soup, though.  It really is that good. 

Ps. Today=Rest Day
Slept 8.5 hours (1:00 a.m. until 9:30 a.m.)

This was either going to be really good or disgusting...

I was craving sushi the other day but was a) in mourning and b) wanting to avoid rice since it makes me cranky (really, it does...).  And rice now contains bitter, bitter memories.  Screw you, safe starch.  Anyways. combining mourning with cranky and then covering it with a sauce of bitter memories seemed like a bad idea.  So instead I tried to approximate what I like about sushi with no rice.  As I was making it, I thought to myself that this was either going to be the grossest thing ever concocted or kind of yummy.  It was yummy.

Take some mixed veggies (in this case red onion, peppers, carrots, mushrooms, bean sprouts and pea pods*) and saute them bitches all up in some coconut oil, rice wine vinegar** and sesame oil* and put it in a bowl.

Top with a whole lot of roasted chicken (really, any kind of fish or fowl will do) half an avocado, wasabi, pickled ginger and a dollop of home-made mayo (yes, I make my own and it's way yummier than store bought so worth the five minutes it takes to make it).  Mix it up and eat it.   

Ps.  I really miss Otis.

*Not really paleo (OMFG IT'S A LENTIL AND A SEED OIL!!!!!) but it's not going to make your tight junctions explode or cause you to die from omega 6 induced oxidative stress or anything if you eat either of these in moderation.  The sesame oil is just a touch for the flavour and pea pods are more veggie than anything else.

** I know it's made of rice.  My bitter memories and crankiness are only with ricey rice and not a liquid made of fermented rice juice. 

All of a sudden, I really didn't care about taking pictures of my food.

Otis, requiring a hair cut. He had to be knocked out at the vet's to be groomed.

On Thursday, my dog Otis blarked up all over the floor. His appetite had been off since starting him on a different food. That evening, after going to town on some (according to him) very delicious tripe we picked up to settle his stomach, he went down with some pretty spectacular GI upset. By Friday morning, he wasn't keeping down water and there were some blood spots in what he was bringing up. We rushed him to the vet to get the nausea under control and to get some fluids into him. He also got a shot of antibiotics. Bloodwork checked out. Vet said it was just a GI thing and to bring him back if he didn't start eating by Sunday. He seemed to be rallying and was able to keep down water. Yay! Saturday evening, he started to really worry me, though. His breathing was not good and he refused to eat. Sunday morning, there was specks of blood on his towel and on the floor. He was still drinking and keeping the water down so I was crossing my fingers that was a good sign. We, again, rushed him to the vet. This time, they admitted him. X-rays showed his lungs were filled with fluid. The vet said it could be pneumonia, blasto or something with his heart but, after talking through the options, we settled on pneumonia as most likely and started treating for that. That meant oxygen, and fluids and antibiotics by IV along with sedation and pain management. Eight hours later we got the call. He wasn't responding and was only getting worse. He'd brought up a lot of blood. His breathing was shallow. We didn't want him to die alone in the night. Our vet was great and it was peaceful. I got to hold him, tell him how awesome he was and give him a good ear rub as she administered the needle into his IV.

Otis when he was about eight. This was the last time we could convince a groomer to touch him. Seriously, look how cute he is! And sweet! And love-able. He was all of those things.Except when you attempted to groom him.

He was an older dog - almost 15 - but he'd been healthy. I couldn't understand how the hell this could happen. What had I missed? How didn't I know that something was going wrong? How could he be fine on Wednesday, barking like a goofball when Jill came to pick me up for work that morning, and dead from pneumonia by Sunday. Turns out it was very likely aspiration pneumonia, which can develop if you accidentally bring gastric fluid into the lungs when vomiting. It's serious and life-threatening. For Otis, it was catastrophic.

Otis with some of his most favourite people.

I miss my buddy so much already and it hasn't even really hit yet that he has died. He was an awesome dog. A complete and utter character. I'm dreading the day that it snows again and all of the tracks he made in the snow in the backyard last week are covered and there won't be any new ones. Because that's going to mean he's really gone.

Otis, on the best day of his life.  Of course it's the best day.  He's on a boat!  In the mountains!  With his family.

I heart various things...

But I will eat the same thing all day long, which really doesn't demonstrate variety.

This will be my breakfast, lunch, second lunch and supper tomorrow. 

I'm in training with muckety mucks tomorrow who, apparently, ARE NEVER SEEN EATING.  My boss has advised me to attempt some level of professional behaviour (hahahahahahahahaha) and I am to eat my many meat meals not in the training room because it freaks out the muckety mucks too much.  *sigh*

Edited to add:
It wasn't my supper.  Here's my supper - six fried eggs with salsa with two tomatoes done up in slices.  You can't see the tomatoes, though.  They're hiding under all that egg.  And my cholesterol is more than just fine, FYI.  This is post workout.  I'm now contemplating what kind of fruit something I'd like to eat with whipped cream.  Hmm...

 

I also take a couple of supplements every day.  If I bought all grass-fed meat and didn't enjoy the perpetual darkness of the frozen Canadian hinterland (horrible exaggeration... I'm no where near the actual far North), I probably wouldn't have to take anything. There's 4g of fish oil, some vitamin D and magnesium.

Edited to add: And it was strawberries for a GIANT BOWL OF WIN!

It was a really big roast.

It was a massive roast.  Still eating it!  This time, I'm having it with horseradish and garlic mashed cauliflower (tastes just like mashed potatoes, only better because there's a massive amount of butter in these babies).

Having this for three different meals.  Supper will be some kind of chili-like deal-eo, since I'll be out of roast at that point.

 

It's yummier than it looks. 

I squatted yesterday for the first time since July.  Kept it light with 3x5's at 185lbs.  And my ass isn't falling off today.  Yay!!  I think my ass injury may finally be healed!

Edited to add:

I did have the chili deal-eo and it was very tasty.  I also had a small banana with about a third of a cup of home-made whipped cream while I was cooking said chili after I got back from the gym.  I should have taken a photo because it was devine.  Less devine was a misshapen hard boiled egg that I scarfed in advance of my workout. 

I also haven't taken the before pictures I said that I would.  Tomorrow, I'll find the camera.  Besides, at this point I'm coated in bruises so, hell, why not?  I'm already back to my fourth belt hole from the third that I'd been using for the past few weeks.  And I PR'd on both The Bear @ 105lbs and my weighted DHPLU at 20lbs today. 

Nom, nom, nom

I'm feeling ready to tackle phase two of my plan to snort fire and shit rainbows, CrossFit-wise.  This season will not be last season.  At the end of this season, I'm going to know that I really, actually tried and gave it my full effort instead of spending a good chunk of it shitting the bed.

So, yeah, phase two.  Get back to a decent fighting weight.  I don't have many muscle ups in the tank right now and HSPUs are nothing but a daydream.   I've got this notion to post what my meals look like over the next little bit and then do a little before/after comparison to gauge how well I did with the cleaned-up nutrition.

Beef - it's what's for breakfast (and lunch, and second lunch and then supper)...

Slow cooked black angus baron of beef roast in a red wine reduction with zucchini and coloured bell peppers sauteed in white wine, garlic and butter.  Yes, my food contains two kinds of wine.  Delicious!

I'm also going to have sliced strawberries with home-made whipped cream when I get back from the gym tonight.  Edited to add the photo.  These were delicious.