It could just be the raging fever.

It could just be the raging fever I have going on, but I'm kind of enjoying the new baby carrots marketing strategy. The Twitter feed is all kinds of amusing and the three ads they've debuted are good times (the one below is my favourite).

A.S. Byatt has nothing to do with CrossFit

I really enjoyed her latest interview and want to keep the link handy.

So I got up the nerve to email Robb Wolf

I've been meaning to send Robb Wolf a question for a while since he is super smart scientist and I am only a lowly professional bullshitter.  Here's what I emailed him:

"Hi Robb,

Sorry for the length of this email... 

I have tardive generalized dystonia.  I was diagnosed about seven years ago.  When I was diagnosed, I was pretty pissed off and spent a few years wallowing in self pity and take out pizza on my couch.  As you can expect, my health declined even further and I ended up all metabolically deranged.  My PCOS symptoms went from bad to worse and I also ended up with insulin resistance. 

Fast forward through the next couple of years.  I did the whole Body for Life thing on the days I wasn’t too symptomatic with the dystonia.  I eventually graduated to Alwyn Cosgrove-designed workouts and Berardi’s Precision Nutrition.  This all improved my health overall and I lost 60lbs, upped my insulin sensitivity big time and saw most of my PCOS symptoms disappear.  Two years ago, I joined CrossFit Regina and then a year ago I decided to give 30 days of the paleo diet a shot a la Urban’s Whole 30.  What’s your saying?  Oh yeah… Holy cats!  Not sure why, probably because I don’t have a doctorate in neuroscience, but my dystonia improved.  Like, a lot. 

This used to be my life.  Most days, I was functional and could even work out in the evening but demonstrated some messed up movements on occasion throughout the day.  About a week out of every month, I spent my waking hours curled up in a posture, unable to walk and, on those really terrible days, even unable to dress or feed myself.   Yay!  I’d like to say I was all stoic and brave and whatnot but I wasn’t.  I really suck at having a disability. 

Nowadays, I have a few mornings where I’m a bit slower than usual and walk with a bit of a messed up gait.  That’s pretty much it.  Most days I'm just like everyone else.  At the gym, I might find it hard to find my rhythm on box jumps and switching from movement to movement in a WOD can sometimes also mess me up a bit.  This is not exactly a hardship.  And it's certainly not always.  For example, a couple of months ago I got 23 rounds as rx’d on Cindy.  That's three very different movements, done quickly, with no time wasted during transitions.  That’s kind of a night and day difference from not being able to dress yourself.

Now, I’m also starting to figure out that the improvements aren’t static either.  Since I’ve returned from the 2010 Games (I was on CrossFit Regina’s affiliate team… see, I told you I’ve really seen improvements) I’ve kind of let the diet slide a bit. There have been a couple of accidental gluten hits, some deliberate dairy and rice exposures in the form of ice cream and sushi (yummy), and I’ve been mildly symptomatic pretty much every day.  For the last week I’m back to happy paleo eating and starting to pull out of it and feeling a bit better every day.

Any idea why paleo+CrossFit (and especially the paleo part) is making such a huge difference?  They say dystonia isn’t progressive but it can change over time.  And tardive cases are expected to see improvement up to two years after development.  I’m kind of past that.  Is it just because, when I’m eating well, my digestive system is all pleased and my body is happier so I’m just less inclined to be symptomatic?  Or is there some kind of magic happening to my brain chemistry thanks to the pseudo-science?  Or is it some kind of combo of the two?  And what about the process of learning and then repeating, ad nauseum, functional movements all with a messed up brain.  Is that doing fun and funky things to my gray matter?  Because I swear thrusters are easier when I’m symptomatic than is a more unstructured, random activity like walking leisurely through my neighbourhood to get to work. 

Any insight you could provide would be awesome.  I mean, I know what I’m doing is working for me so I’m just going to keep doing it.  But it would be fun to know if there’s any info out there that might explain WHY it’s working. 

Thanks for reading my email..."

I really hope my email piques his curiosity.  I'm kind of curious to know why the heck it's made a difference.

Luxury

I'm just taking a moment to be very, very grateful to have the luxury of eating delicious, high quality food that promotes health and performance.  Because it is a luxury.

I don't have to worry about whether or not I'm going to be able to procure food for myself tomorrow or next week.  I also don't have to make a choice of either eating food that has gone bad or to starve.  And it's not hard for me to get food that tastes good and won't result in me developing diabetes five years from now.  The stores I can easily get to carry more than just five flavours of Ichiban, some stale white bread, a few cans of Chef Boyardee and Froot Loops.  And the stuff I buy can be both tastey AND good for me.

It's a luxury to care that the food I put into my body helps me look, feel and perform at my best.
It's a luxury to care that the food I can buy was raised ethically and in a way I feel good about.

Maybe it shouldn't be.  But it is.  And I am grateful.

If only poor people understood nutrition from The Fat Nutritionist

PS.  I've been reading through The Fat Nutritionist today and found a few fantabulous posts that I thought were brazilliant (am I annoying you to an appropriate extent with an overusage of made up 'words' that are simply two words denoting similar characteritics all mooshed together?... excellent!).  Go, read and enjoy!

Eat food.  Stuff you like.  As much as you want.
The rules of nutrition.

Back when I was doing "Fit to Strip" as exercise and eating 1300 cals a day of whole wheat muffins and fat free yogurt...

Back when I was doing "Fit to Strip" as exercise and eating 1300 calories a day of whole wheat muffins and fat free yogurt, I set some goals for myself.  No, no, I didn't want a muscle up or an HSPU or to do Fran in under 4:00 minutes or a double body weight deadlift (410lbs, baby - now there's a fucking goal!).  Silly, silly you for thinking that!  No, back when I gauged all my progress on the scale, there was nothing I wanted more than to be 135lbs.

Yes, how exciting.  To go through life with gravity exerting just enough pressure upon me so that a calibrated scale would note in the morning, immediately after getting up and peeing, and while wearing no clothes, that there was exactly 135lbs of pressure being exerted on the ground underneath my stationary feet was a thrilling thought. Imagine that accomplishment!  There could be nothing sweeter!

Well, it's taken five years but today I finally got to experience that tingling thrill.  And let me tell you, it doesn't really mean a damn thing.  I am sorry to report that there really is nothing different about today than yesterday.  Or the day before that when I weighed something other than 135lbs.  Robin, did point out one special and exciting benefit.  When I'm doing body weight squats, it's super easy putting a pair of 45's on a bar. I'll let you know if she's right.

Edited to add:
I can't believe I actually typed the following sentence. 

"Since I am a couch potato with no lung capacity, I’ve been sticking with the 40 minute basic routine and will add in stripper moves when I’m ready."

Sometimes I kind of make sense...

Really, it sometimes happens. Not, like, all the time or anything. Actually, I talk out of my ass a lot - it's a skill I put to work quite often on the job site. Heh! Anyways, I belong to a couple of message boards that get traffic from people who trying to make some lifestyle changes.  And sometimes I write shit that kind of makes some sense. Or, at least it does to me, based on what I've learned over the past five years.  And then it gets bumped down the threads and eventually lost in the ether.

A few months later, I run across a similar question and have to retype whatever response I've come up with and it's never as good the second time around.

I've made a few posts over the past few days that I don't want to lose in case I want to use them again.

On Body for Life's binge/starve inducing "Free Day" concept:
Don't freaking binge then starve yourself. You're doing this to get fit and healthy. You're not doing this as a punishment for being overweight or unfit. So, stop treating food as a reward or punishment. It's neither. Food is good. It's life, it's community, it's sharing and it's fun. Celebrate food by eating good, real food. Starving yourself is just stupid and it's not going to make up for an earlier binge. It's telling yourself you're not worthy of life. And, to be honest, isn't binging just more punishment on your body? It's telling yourself you're worthless and someone to disrespect. Neither behaviour is going to bring you joy. And neither is certainly going to get you where you want to go.

On attempting to accurately gauge calories burned to calories consumed to ensure perfect two-pound losses each week on the scale:
Dr. Mat Lalonde, who is both exceedingly hot and smart, has a great quote. "You are not a bomb calorimeter."

You can't just weigh and measure the inputs and outputs and then get perfect results. Our bodies are way too exciting, interesting and complex for that. There is a whole host of wacky hormonal things going on as your body does this thing called living. On top of that, your scale weighs EVERYTHING. It doesn't show you body composition shifts. It doesn't tell you if you're retaining water that day. Yep, even those expensive ones that use bio-impedance (horribly inaccurate - FYI). It just tells you how much force gravity is asserting on you at any given time.

Stop doing math.

Your body is giving you feedback all the time. Now you need to start learning to listen to it. Focus on your actions. Are you eating food that is high in nutrients and that nutures your body? Are you constantly hungry? Preoccupied with eating? Are you gassy, bloated or constipated? These are all signs you need to tweak what you're eating. Or do you feel pretty good (i.e. hungry when you should be hungry, comfortable after meals with happy digestion). Are you moving your body and challenging yourself in ways to improve your fitness? Are you lifting weights to get and stay strong (you should be... weights improve insulin sensitivity, bone density and darn if they don't make you look pretty!)? How`s your cardio-endurance? Do you have lots of energy throughout the day? Do you feel pretty positive? Are you having fun? How do your joints feel? Are you getting stronger? Are you getting faster? If not, you might need to tweak your workouts. You'll want to make sure you're getting enough rest and recovery between workouts so you are seeing improved performance. And you'll want to make sure you're bringing it to your workouts. Lots of people make the mistake of working out longer and longer instead of just upping the intensity of what they're doing. Longer just means more wear and tear on your joints. Harder generally results in improved fitness.

The weirdest thing starts happening as you stop doing math and, instead, just get consistent with all those behaviours that promote health and fitness. Eventually, you start looking like a healthy and fit person. And that's because you are. Surprisingly, the number on the scale generally goes down as well.

Seven days!

Yep, seven days! That's all that's left to go. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Leave it all on the floor.

I wish I could find a video that included more of OPT's speech at the start of Regionals.  He talked a lot about leaving it all on the floor at the competition.  I've been thinking a lot about that this weekend.  I think to be really happy with how I do down in California, I'm going to have to leave it all on the floor.  But it's not going to be just what I do down there that weekend.  It's also what I'm doing here beforehand.

With Regionals, I worked recovery pretty hard.  I prioritized rest, my diet was spot on for a good chunk of it and I'm so happy with how I did.  I did all I could to do as well as I could when I was there and that's all you can ask of yourself.  And it paid off with faster body weight movements, better run times and that helped my team.  For sectionals, I can't say that.  While I busted my ass on the training, looking back at the other aspects of preparation, things weren't anywhere close to ideal.  While it provided valuable information that I can use to better plan for next year, a part of me is still a bit disapointed that I didn't really go all out with nutrition, rest and recovery.  Lately, while I've been doing well with the training, I know I haven't been trying as hard as I can with keeping the nutrition in line.  I mean, it hasn't been bad, but it hasn't been as good as it can be, either.

For the Affiliate Cup, I don't want to second guess what I did to prepare.  I want to know I left it all on the floor.  So it's ON.

Also, did you hear the news about breakfast?  Not so high and mighty now, are you breakfast?

Next up, HSPUs and 95lb snatches for reps...

Got my first muscle up last night.  Could only snag the one.  Will try for two on Friday.  This was after 3x210lb back squats - something I wasn't feeling too confident about given all the cardio madness.  It was a good night in the gym all around. 


Also, 5k in vibrams may be a bit too much of a jump.  My left foot is a cranky biotch today.

Sex-ay!

My inner douchbag is coming out. This morning, I woke up with a soul patch.  It's awesome.  I may have taken a wall ball to the face yesterday and, combined with my newfound ability to bruise like a mofo at the mearest hint of a touch, I now have a purple and red bruise in the middle of my chin.

(Author's soul patch may not quite resemble photo.)

It goes really well with the bruise on my collar bone and legs from the hang power cleans yesterday as well as the gashes on my shin from failed box jumps and the rope burn on the top of my foot.  Kurt says I look like a very fit heroin addict.

Too much fish oil (I need some grass fed meat stat so I can drop my dose down) combined with hard training and general clumsiness...  *sigh*

In other news, I almost got a muscle up last night.  Must work on keeping arms in tight to the body.  Trying again tomorrow.

This has nothing to do with anything CrossFit related...

It's just awesome.  That is all.

Hey, it's Dystonia Awareness Week!

Pretty much everyone who reads my blog knows me so also knows what dystonia is but I thought I'd put something up about Dystonia Awareness Week, anyways. This common neurological disorder negatively impacts something most of us take for granted every day... the ability to move.

National Geographic is airing an episode of Extraordinary Humans that talks about dystonia. Here is a preview.

I am stupidly lucky. I maybe have a few days a month where I am symptomatic. I go from being able to bust my butt in the gym to not being able to do up my bra without help (seriously, there's something about figuring out how to get that little clasp together that gets me every stinking time... so annoying). There are many others with dystonia who are symptomatic every waking moment. Personally, I don't know how they do it. As Dunn said in the preview, dystonia is the most annoying thing EVER. It's like your body turns into a recalcitrant toddler having a temper tantrum. You tell it to do one thing, it does another. Then there is the fatigue and fog and the feeling of being trapped.

Treatment options for dystonia suck. We've got Botox (yep, we're to blame for the development of the drug that has immobilized the faces of half of Hollywood) and a bucketful of antiParkinsons meds that sort of work but not really (don't get me started on side effects - my memory has never come back properly post Artane) and there's always the super fun option of deep brain stimulation (hey, lets drill a hole in your skull!). We're kind of the red headed stepchild of the disorders when it comes to research dollars so a donation to the DMRF (DMRF Canada, DMRF US) would be awesome. That or you could just be understanding the next time you see someone moving in an odd way down the street. One of the hardest things about dystonia is how isolating it is. Part of that is logistics (it isn't so easy to get around) but mostly it's how we're treated when we're out and about while symptomatic. I think if more people knew what dystonia looked like, we'd feel more comfortable being seen that way.

And one of the bestest ways you can recognize Dystonia Awareness Week? The next time you're in the middle of a WOD (for any non CrossFitters, that's what we call a workout) and you want to die or are getting frustrated or you're not happy with your performance or whatever. Remember that it's just cool that you can do this stuff. It's just good, plain FUN!

Sweet merciful crap! CFR made it to the 2010 Games!

Regionals was another awesome experience.  Seeing so many athletes competing at such a high level and giving it their all was really motivating and exciting.  It was a different vibe than sectionals, for sure.  The venues felt a bit more charged up and you could tell the stakes were higher.  I am so proud of how our individual competitors did over the course of the three days.  Each one gave it their all and fought as hard as they could.  The represented the gym and themselves so well.

For us affiliate team peeps, the workload was a lot lighter than in individual competition and I found I was way less nervous.  It was so good knowing that I was out there with three other team members and two more were cheering from the sidelines.  I just had to go hard with light weight in short bursts, which is so different from my comfort zone of longer, heavier and being able to just keep going.  The toughest time for me was WOD 2 and watching the team kick serious ass without me!  And they did kick some serious ass, coming in third with gorgeous, consistent cleans and ring dips. 

(CrossFit Regina’s Affiliate Team... love this pic of Julie's)

So, now that we’ve earned a spot to the 2010 Games with a 5^th place finish for all of Canada (yep, pretty cool!), I’m trying to figure out what I can do over the next 40 or so days to be ready for whatever CFHQ decides to throw at us. 

I’m doing another quick lean out for the next four weeks to see if I can snag a muscle up or HSPU with another 8lbs off my frame.  What I managed to drop between sectionals and regionals made a big difference in the amount of speed I could toss into bodyweight movements.  Burpees suck way less and things like pull ups and ring dips have taken a nice, big jump. Like, a few months ago, I could manage ring dips in a WOD in singles with lots of rest in between.  Here I am post Isabel and 3x400m sprints.  It's not a PR but I'm happy with eight consecutive for shits and giggles while fatigued.