Step Away From the Cake

I have reached a point in my fitness journey where I am really seeing improvement. I work a tank top today that I haven't worn in at least a year, probably longer. In my workout tonight I was able to hold a handstand for 30 seconds 4 times. Not that long ago I couldn't even do a handstand. I'm seeing improvement every day and that makes me want to push harder and the harder I push the more improvements I see...It's a vicious cycle that I love. Absolutely love. Today's WOD: 5 rounds for max reps: 30 sec knees 2 elbows 60 sec front squat (50#) 30 sec handstand hold 30 sec rest I ended up doing 119 reps total in 5 rounds. I held the handstand for 4 of the 5 rounds. I also overhead squatted 75# - my max to date..... Warm-up was an 800 meter run. I did it in 4:13. Last week I did 400 meters in 4:09, so that's less then double the time. Pretty good. According to this I should be able to run an 8:50 mile. Of course I would have to keep that up for ano...

I now have 2 really good days under my belt and I'm going to continue to build on that. Crossfit 2 days in a row and sticking to Paleo for 2 days. Definitely feeling better. I have been doing a whole lot of computer stuff though and my body is feeling it. Too much sitting.... My butt and low back are paying the price for it. But it's nice to be able to sit and do the things I want to do instead of running around working. Oh well, such is life. I just don't have much to say today. I need to get on the treadmill. I didn't run yesterday because my knee was acting up. I haven't been wearing my cushioned running shoes to run and I think that I need to. Okay, that's it. I'm off to get dressed and hop on the treadmill. Workout update: Run. Walked first .25 miles; ran .50 miles @ 5mph; walk .25 miles @ 3.3mph; Run .50 miles at 5.0-5.2mph; walk .25 miles @ 3.3mph; Run .25miles @ 5.0mph and .25 miles @ 6.0mph; walk .25 miles @ 3.0mph for cool down. ...

I posted the other day about my goals for 2013 . Those were some pretty broad goals, nothing specific. Since then I've been doing some thinking and reading and I've decided one of the goals for 2013 is to go paperless. I use Evernote but not to it's full potential. I am going to start moving everything to Evernote.. Eveerything. I will be scanning all my receipts and bills and anything I find on the Internet into it. I will be doing all my school planning and organizing on it. I will be doing everything. I am going to make it a priority to keep my desk clean both here and at school. It will be a challenge for me but I think I'm up to it.....

One thing that has always worked for me is recording my workouts. I am extremely competitive with myself and keeping track of what I do plays into that. Also, I don't realize when I'm improving so this shows me I really am making progress. Right now though, I have no real workout journal. Crossfit gives us a composition notebook that we keep there to record what we do and I bought this cool new one for home for the new year. But right now, only my monthly calendar has my workouts and, since space is limited, not much detail. So I think I'll log my last few workouts of the year here until I start my cool new journal. Today I ran: 2.7 miles in 45 minutes. Not far and not fast, but I ran the vast majority of it. I did have to stop a couple of times and hit the rest room. Seems my 5 days of gluttony are getting me back. But otherwise I mostly ran. Start with a 3 minute walk at 2-3mph. Then ran 4mph until 1.7 miles. Then 4.2mph, 4.4mph, 4.5mph, 5.0mph for the last tent...

It started on Friday night with a dinner out with friends. Continued on Saturday with a wedding lunch. Took a break on Sunday, but picked up again on Monday with a lunch out with friends and an evening Christmas party. Then ended yesterday with Christmas itself. When I was getting ready for bed last night I said to myself, that's it, I am done eating junk. Woke up this morning with a great attitude and ready to get back on track. I laid out some of my 2013 goals yesterday and I actually have a few more. All of my goals this year revolve around doing what makes me happy. Crossfit and paleo make me happy so I'll be doing it. Getting my finances in order, make me happy. Being focused and organized make me happy. Starting today though I'm going to wean myself off some of the restricted paleo stuff. For example, dairy. I've been drinking full fat milk but once what I have is gone - no more. No more dairy. I've also been fudging on some of the condiments, well that a...

On to more upbeat things..... My goals for 2013..... Side note: This used to be my thing. New beginnings, looking forward to making goals and achieving them, working towards something. When my whole why bother attitude over came me I let all that go by the wayside and just let life drag me along. No more. I am back in control and plan to take the drivers seat. So 2013... What is going to happen this year.... A number of things. I'm going to get back into running. I've already started and need to continue and push myself.  I'm going to continue Crossfit and the Paleo diet, they both make me feel too good to stop,  I'm going to gain control of the finances again.  Another thing I've let kind of take care of itself. No more.  I'm going to pursue interests I enjoy; cooking, photography, crafts.Maybe I'll even download mp3 audio books like I used to.  I will do things that make me happy.  That is really about it. I have started on a good journe...

I went through a period in my life where that's what I thought about most things. Why bother? Why bother when we are all going to die anyway. I know it sounds very morbid and fatalistic, but that's what I thought. About almost everything. Why bother to create things? Why bother to worry and plan for the future? Why bother to celebrate holidays? Just why bother? I think a lot of it stemmed from my mother passing away. I loved my Mom and her dying was hard on me, in ways I don't think I really expressed. I think I internalized a lot of the pain and redirected it. One of those ways was in my whole Why Bother attitude. I think I also battle a touch of depression and that was part of it also. Anyway, the point of this post is not to be all morbid and depressing on Christmas day. The point is to explain how I don't feel that way anymore. I like to bother. Intellectually I realize that we are all going to die someday and there is nothing we can do about that. We can, howe...

For the first time in a long time I do not have all these grandiose plans for the new year. I did not have plans to lose an outrageous amount of weight this break. I did not set myself up with impossible goals only to fall short and feel bad. I did plan on working out and wanted to lose some weight, but I really didn't have a number in mind. I wanted to start running again, and I basically have. I have been going to Crossfit every chance I can. And my eating has been okay. It's nice to actually have a break that I can relax and enjoy for a change. On the notes of working out and eating, things haven't been going as well as I'd hoped. On Friday night we had dinner with friends. I did get Crossfit in then raced to dinner.Dinner was nice except I had a drink, lava flow, and ate some dessert. I did pretty well on the meal, it was grilled salmon on a spinach salad with balsamic dressing. Then I had a couple of bites of creme brulee for dessert. Saturday that same frien...

Last night I watched that show Unwrapped, which is usually fun to watch. They show how things we eat are made. Last night was the holiday issue so they were showing cookies, peanut brittle, gingerbread houses, champagne, etc. And it was interesting, like always. But something different hit me this time. As I was watching them pour ingredients into giant mixers and run dough through machines, all I could think of was "I don't want to eat that." Now I've worked in a food lab and I've seen outbreaks of e.coli, listeria, etc. Many of these things are due to improper cleaning of equipment and/or people. One outbreak was directly traced to a person who worked in the plant. They took care of a sick grand-baby and brought something into the factory where it contaminated the food. Lovely. Also, I do not care who you are, what you do, or how much you are paid, you do not care as much about some piece of machinery as you should. That machinery is cleaned, probably daily, b...