I am about 10 days in on my new macro plan. Less protein and more carbs....not too far off of my calorie intake I had before but definitely different that what I have been doing. It seems to be working so far. I am down about 3.5lbs and I can see my body starting to change again! So nice to make progress once again. However, I have had a very TIRED week of working out. Not sure if I am just in recovery mode after two back to back competitions...or if it's the new diet or BOTH!?!?
The nutrition coach wants me to add some grains back into my diet (oats, whole grain tortillas, brown rice, and potatoes). I am not really liking that part. I just don't feel that good eating these foods...so I am still keeping them to a minimal but I am adding them back in SOME. We will continue to tweak the program until we find where my body best performs and best reacts to positive changes.
Speaking of performing.....this would be a good time to tell y'all about my most recent competition. A lot of you are aware that I filled in for an injured girl from another box in a team competition last weekend. I was nervous about it, as I didn't want to let some complete strangers down (which I did).
Now, before I tell y'all how bad this went....let me also start by saying that when they called, they had originally thought I would be doing all the "barbell lifting" while the other girl did all the "gymnastics" stuff. The team members didn't realize that we ALL had to do the movements of the WOD. So this threw our game plan from the beginning.
The competition was one of the slowest ran competitions ever! And it was full of lots of young people. I felt very OLD here! LOL!!! My new team members were super supportive and super nice. And the rest of the crossfit Sanctum family was great!! They were a great group and I hope to meet up with them again soon.. I may even do some Saturday workouts with them sometime since my gym doesn't offer Saturday WODing.
SO----WOD #1- EVERY TEAM MEMBER was to do 10-8-6-4-2 pull-ups and power snatches. These are probably the two hardest skills in crossfit (except muscle ups). The snatch is the most complex olympic lift, too!
We originally thought I would do all the girl snatches while the other girl did all the pull ups. But, like I said before, that was not the case. We ALL had to do these movements. And you couldn't move on to the next sequence until everyone completed a sequence as a team. I knew I would need to break the pull-ups up most likely. I have been doing about 5 at a time since post surgery.
We started and we came out super strong! Like totally strong! We were flying thru the pull-ups and snatches like maniacs. We were the team to beat those first sets.....until I hit a big fat wall!!!! My first set of 10 pull-ups were totally chest over the bar pull-ups (all 10 in a row-unbroken)...same thing with my 8. At that point I knew we were golden cos if I could do 10 and 8 unbroken- with chest OVER the bar, we were all good.!!!
****That was far from the case here. I did 6 (broke them up cos I could tell I was wearing down a little---so three at a time). Then when we got to four, I did ONE and then I couldn't do anymore! I did about 15 no rep pull-ups and I couldn't get my chin over the bar...I could only get my chin AT the bar...which wasn't enough. It was the strangest thing that I have ever encountered. I have never done to FAILURE on an exercise before, but I believe that is what happened here. I think I went out too fast, too hard, and too strong there at the beginning and then my body just crapped out. I did manage to get the 4 and 2 pull-ups done, but it slowed us down BIG TIME!!! I am pretty sure we would have been a top team in the competition if we would have been able to keep our pace up. DANG IT ME!!!
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| WOD #1 in action! That second pull up rig is where I went to failure!! :-( |
The second WOD (10-20-30-40-50 of double unders and KBell Swings)we were allowed to break up into partners. The other girl would do all the double unders because she said she was super good at those. I can do them too, but knowing she was not as "strong" as me and more of the "gymnast" type, this would be a better strategy for us. (And honestly, I had been the reason we messed up on the first WOD--so I was going to do whatever they wanted to make up for it). And let me tell you, I was determined to do ALL I could to swing those KBells as fast as I could and to not STOP at all!!!
We got started on WOD 2...and guess what?? She couldn't even string more than one or two double unders at a time!!! Bless her heart! (I now know what it feels like to suddenly not be able to do something you KNOW you can do!! ) Not knowing her well enough, I didn't know if I should step in and save her. So I waited thinking she would eventually get into her routine. She struggled with the 10rep, 20 rep, and 30rep. I, however, was back in beastmode (THANK GOD). I swung that KBell awesomely and unbroken until we got to the 40 set. She stepped in and did 10rep in the middle to give me a quick break (which we planned). In the seven minutes we got through all 10-20-30-40-and almost through 50. But this WOD actually put us even further behind :-(.
I will admit...there was a small part of me that was a little bit happy that I wasn't the only one that messed up!!! UGH! It's a terrible feeling! I really wanted to cry when it happened to me! Just terrible!!
At the time, I was so disappointed in myself for letting this team down. But then again, I am so proud of how well I did at the beginning of the WOD. I don't know why I crapped out when I did...maybe not enough pre-fuel, maybe two competitions back to back isn't wise, maybe I went out too hard and too strong!?!?! I don't know if I will ever know. But I am proud that I never did give up on my pull-ups even when it took me about 20-25 no reps to get those last 3 and 2 reps.
Do I have some regrets looking back: YES!!! I wish I would have just reversed my grip and done strict pull-ups those last few sets. I had a mental block and didn't remember that that would have counted, as well!! And I wish I would have eaten more carbs the day/night before.
Was it fun? Yes!! I enjoyed being a part of a whole new gym family that day! Everyone was super nice and cool!! :-). And I did learn from the experience!!
Will I compete again! ABSOLUTELY!!! Even more of a reason to compete now!!! But gonna rest a few weeks first! LOL!
