Pages

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 15 + Feb 29 WOD: Leap Year

Today's meals

Breakfast: banana (I don't know why, but I wasn't really hungry this morning)
Lunch: grilled eggplant with bagoong and tomatoes, hard boiled egg, banana
Dinner: burgers, green salad with olive oil, pepper and salt
Snacks: paleo banana pancakes, banana, hard boiled egg

WOD

Third head-to-head today and I'm hoping we get this one (Lord, just one win, please!). It was 9 mins AMRAP of:

- 15 wall balls
- 180 ft. shuttle run
- 5 burpee hand-release box jumps

After that, there's a 2 min rest, then cash out was 2 mins of hollow rocks.


I used the 10 lb ball for the wall balls and the 12" box for the burpee-BJs. Looking at the board, I saw that my partner Dorothy almost made it to 5 rounds. She's really strong. I was able to do 3 rounds, and was 2 box jumps shy of 4 rounds. So close!

Anyway, I've been wanting to eat chocolate ever since the challenge started, and I'm now looking at some paleo chocolate cupcake recipes, thinking about how I can add tablea to the ingredients. Because I miss the taste of native hot chocolate made with tablea. I shall work on that this weekend.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 14

Today's meals

Breakfast: paleo banana pancakes, bananas
Lunch: fish and veggies paksiw
Dinner: burgers and stir-fried cauliflower with bell pepper
Snacks: apple, paleo banana pancakes

So we lost the head-to-head yesterday. The other team was able to do a hecka lot more than we did. Kinda disheartening. Wanna know something else that's disheartening? My muffins went bad. Yes, after only two days. Although it's partly my fault because I left them out, and now I realized I should have put them in the fridge.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 13 + Feb 27 WOD: Open 12.1

Today's meals

Breakfast: papaya, paleo banana muffin
Lunch: spiced chicken breast, apple
Dinner: left-over grilled pork, veggies cooked in coconut milk
Snacks: paleo pancakes, bacon, apple, paleo banana muffins, bananas

WOD

On the menu today was 7 mins AMRAP of... burpees. It is the first WOD for the 2012 CrossFit Games Open, which means that everyone who registered for the CF Games Open has to do it and post a video of their WOD on the CF Games website. After the Open, the top athletes go on to compete in the Regionals, and then the top 100 will compete in the CrossFit Games in California in July.


Anyway, we're doing our second head-to-head today, and prior to the WOD, my Paleo Challenge partner Dorothy texted me giving me tips on how to do well. I got there and saw that she'd done 85! So much pressure to do well... I was aiming to do 10 per minute so that I could get at least 70 but in the end, I did 57. And I already felt like dying! I can't believe that the top scores worldwide for girls is 136. I need to get me this shirt, maybe it'll make me faster next time:


Post-WOD, I worked on my double unders. I can do a double under followed by singles now. Progress, at last! And Lady fed us again, and this time she'd brought almond flour banana pancakes and homemade bacon. Yum. After a while the 12:30 class came in and we helped out in counting reps. Till we meet again, burpees!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 12

Today's meals

Breakfast: fried egg and spanish sardines
Lunch: garden salad and minestrone (I didn't eat the pasta and beans in the soup)
Dinner: grilled tilapia, grilled pork, veggies cooked in coconut milk
Snacks: apple, paleo banana muffin

I felt so deprived that I couldn't eat my niece's chocolate cake so I took matters into my own hands and baked paleo banana muffins made with coconut flour. It turned out quite well, if I may say so myself. The original recipe I found here called for maple syrup but I omitted that and added another banana instead. It was moist, cakey, and a little bit coconutty. My father, however, complained that it tastes "different" and lacked sweetness.

Anyway, here's the modified recipe I followed:

Coconut Flour Banana Muffins

3/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
dash of sea salt (about 1/8 tsp)
3 bananas, mashed
6 eggs
4 tablespoons coconut oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Line muffin pans with cupcake liner.

In a bowl, sift together coconut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda. Add the sea salt and whisk them all together. Set aside.

Put mashed bananas in a larger bowl. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add oil and mix well.

Add the coconut flour mixture to the egg mixture and blend well. Mixture should resemble a thick pudding. If it doesn't, consider adding a little more sifted coconut flour. Spoon into the muffin pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Don't look like paleo muffins, do they?

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 11

Today's meals

Breakfast: bananas, scrambled eggs with tomato
Lunch: fried tilapia, banana
Dinner: chicken breast, salad with vinaigrette dressing, banana
Snacks: carrot sticks, coconut water with coconut meat, more bananas

Whoa, is it Day 11 already? Feels like forever since the last time I had bread, pasta, cookies, cake, and chocolates. I miss them when they're right in front of me, like today. My niece celebrated her birthday at Shakey's, and seeing the array of garlic bread, pasta, and cupcakes almost made me forget about the challenge. But whenever I felt like giving in, I reminded myself of how I feel now that I'm eating clean. My partner and I have head-to-heads scheduled next week and I don't want to eat cake and live with the thought that I might have done better had I not had that piece of cake. I know, I'm a nerd like that.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 10 + Feb 24 WOD: ♥ Your Bumper Plates

Today's meals

Breakfast: soft-boiled egg
Lunch: pan-fried cream dory, carrot and cucumber sticks
Dinner: pan-fried cream dory, sauteed spinach
Snacks: carrot and cucumber sticks, hard-boiled eggs, chico fruit, walnuts, grapes, oranges

WOD

We worked with plates today and were given a 25 min cap to do 5 rounds of:

- 15 push ups (with feet on a plate)
- 50 feet of alternating walking lunges and 2 squats (hugging a plate, do a left and right lunge, then squats)
- 20 ground to overhead with a plate (tap the plate on the floor then snatch it overhead)


Since I'm still doing push ups on my knees, Pau made me use a 25 lb plate to elevate the lower part of my body and make sure that as much as possible my thighs don't touch the floor (they still did). For the walking lunges and plate snatches, I used a 15 lb plate. I had just finished my 4th round when time ran out. Boo. Next time, plates!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 9

Today's meals

Breakfast: paleo pancakes (apparently, one recipe goes a long way), chico fruit (sapodilla fruit in English), black coffee
Lunch: hard-boiled egg, carrot and cucumber sticks
Dinner: ground beef with cauliflower "rice" and egg
Snacks: cucumber and carrot sticks, hard-boiled eggs, chico fruit

I cut up the chico fruits and chilled them in the fridge... sooo good!
Wow, Day 9. One of the many good changes I'm liking about this lifestyle is I'm in a good mood most of the time. Does it come from the knowledge that I eat clean all the time? Maybe. All I know is, I like how it makes me feel: clean, light, strong, and chirpy.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 8 + February 22 WOD: Megan

Today's meals

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with tomato
Lunch: chicken and ampalaya with eggs
Dinner: leftover chicken and ampalaya with eggs
Snacks: paleo pancakes, walnuts, and carrot sticks

WOD

I met a new girl today and her name is Megan. Yes, another benchmark! It's also supposed to be our head to head with Team 1, so I really had to bring it. We had to do 21-15-9 of:

- Burpees
- Kettlebell swings (Rx: 16 kg)
- Double unders

Nice to meet you, Megan!
I used the 12 kg kettlebell for the kettlebell swings and did 105-75-45 single unders as I can't do double unders yet. I know, I know, I'll start working on them on Friday. My time: 8:44.

Oh, and in other news, I got on the weighing scale and saw that I lost 4 lbs (down to 111.8 from 116 lbs). How could that be? I thought I'd gained muscle since starting CrossFit. Maybe I'd lost that muscle after going paleo? Or maybe I just need to eat more healthy fat. I'm not really sure, but I know that I need to tweak something in my diet and exercise routine. People have been remarking that I look like I've lost weight. My mother nags me about it every time she sees me dressed for a workout and it's starting to drive me nuts.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 7

Today's meals

Breakfast: paleo coconut flour pancakes and black coffee
Lunch: oven-baked sweet potatoes
Dinner: pan-fried cream dory and eggplant with coconut aminos
Snacks: carrot sticks, coconut flour pancakes, and walnuts

I'm still feeling good and my energy level doesn't dip like it used to before I went paleo. There have been so many opportunities to cheat -- too many! -- but I've learned how to turn a blind eye on them. And I love that I don't get that heavy and full feeling after having a meal. I also rarely feel bloated. I could really learn to love this.

Part of the challenge involves going head-to-head with 4 other teams. The team that gets the lowest time or the most number of rounds (for AMRAP WODs) wins. And tomorrow, my partner and I are doing our first head-to-head with another team. Lord, please don't let the WOD involve running or pull ups or wall balls or sit ups (I still have burns on my butt from doing last Saturday's sit ups)...

Monday, February 20, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 6 + February 20 WOD: Manipulate

Today's meals

Breakfast: banana and 1 piece sweet potato fritter
Lunch: almondigas (meatballs with chinese cabbage in soup) and more sweet potato fritters
Dinner: roast chicken and sauteed spinach
Snacks: bananas, walnuts, carrot sticks

WOD

I didn't feel like such a loser doing today's WOD. We had to do the following every 2 minutes for 30 minutes:

- 1 squat clean (as heavy as you can)
- 3 box jumps (as high as you can)
- 5 ring dips
- 7 wall balls (Rx: 14 lbs)


At the beginning, I set up a 55 lb bar using a 35 lb bar and 2 10 lb plates. Then I thought maybe I should do what Belen did, which was to use a 25 lb bar with 2 15 lb plates (still 55 lbs), so I got 2 15 lb plates. I wanted to be able to go down to 45 lbs if I needed to. But I forgot to get a 25 lb bar, so I ended up doing 65 lbs for the squat cleans -- at least for the first half of the rounds. For the box jumps, I finally got up the nerve to use an 18" box. For the ring dips, I used the parallettes again, and for the wall balls I used the 10 lb ball. I did the 15 rounds! Yay!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 5

Today's meals

Breakfast: bananas, coconut water with coconut meat
Lunch: seared tuna salad with vinaigrette
Dinner: pork barbecue and green salad with olive oil, pepper, and salt
Snacks: more bananas and coconut water with coconut meat

I met up with friends after Sunday service and we had lunch at Borough in Podium. I was kinda already starving by this time so I was glad to devour my salad, which would've been very paleo if not for the potatoes. My friends ordered burgers, sandwiches, and fries. To top it all off, as if to test my will and discipline, they had milk and cookies -- which looked very good and oh-so tempting. But no. I stuck to my resolve and managed not to use one of my 5 cheat cards.

After dinner, I made a quick trip to the supermarket and got some stuff for this week. My cart:

Eggplant, spinach, cauliflower, carrots, bell pepper, coconut milk, olive oil, and eggs
I was excited to see that they had coconut milk, because I'm planning to make paleo pancakes using coconut flour this week.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 4 + February 18 WOD: Paleo baseline

Today's meals

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with tomato and spinach, banana, and coffee
Lunch: sinigang na baboy with okra and kangkong
Dinner: tilapia with eggplant cooked in coconut milk and baked sweet potato fries
Snacks: saging saba, coconut water and coconut meat, carrot sticks

WOD

And the WOD? On the board it looked deceivingly simple. Emphasis on "deceivingly." It was 3 rounds of:

- 400m run
- 10 pull ups (I used the green band)
- 20 push ups
- 30 sit ups
- 40 squats


Today, it was the run that got me. I don't know why, but I felt so heavy running during the first round, and then I think the defeatist in me started winning. My time? Look:


See the slowest time there? That's me - 26:44. The good news is, my time can only go lower from here (I hope) and I should have a much better time when we do the same WOD on March 17.

Post-WOD on the way home, I snacked on carrot sticks, and when I got home I made baked sweet potato fries again. The family loved it. See, paleo food CAN taste good! And they're pleased that I'm more active in the kitchen now that I need to prepare my own food.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Paleo Challenge Days 2 and 3 + February 17 WOD: Chipper

I'm thinking that I better track what I'm eating, so here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with tomato and herbs, saging saba, and black coffee
Lunch: chicken tinola with young papaya
Dinner: spiced chicken breast, fresh cucumber and carrot sticks
Snack: walnuts, saging saba (fresh, not boiled this time)

For today, I didn't have time to prepare breakfast again, so I only had a banana pre-WOD.

Now, on to the WOD... it was awesome! Of course, I didn't think so while I was doing it but I felt so great after! We had to do the following for time:

- 60 double unders or 300 singles
- 50 burpees
- 40 wall balls (Rx: 14 lbs)
- 30 push ups
- 20 kettlebell swings (Rx: 16 kg)
- 10 handstand push ups


I used the 10 lb ball and the 12 kg kettlebell. My time: 18:36.

Post-WOD, Lady treated us to the paleo tacos she'd made and brought. It's just like regular tacos, except you use romaine lettuce leaves instead of taco shells. After that, we had coffee again - iced black Americano, and when I arrived at the office I had 2 hard-boiled eggs with a little salt.

Edit:
My afternoon snack consisted of one fresh saging saba and walnuts. For dinner, I had spiced chicken breast with fresh cucumber and carrot sticks, and fruits. My midnight snack was two pieces fresh saging saba.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 1 + February 15 WOD: Triplet and cleans

And so the Paleo Challenge begins.

I didn't have time to make a decent breakfast this morning so I just had a banana before going to the box.

Today's WOD was short and simple. It was 10 mins AMRAP of:

- 8 chest-to-bar pull ups
- 6 box jumps
- 4 front squats (Rx: 75% 1 RM of your clean/front squat)

After that, there was a 2 min rest, then 1 min AMRAP of cleans using the same weight doing the front squats.


I used the green band for the CTB pull ups, the 12" box for the box jumps, and 45 lbs for the front squats and cleans (my 1 RM for cleans is 65 lbs). No, I'm still not brave enough to try the 18" box. I did 7 rounds and 7 cleans. So-so.

After the workout I had coffee (iced Americano, straight up) at Starbucks with some of the crossfit moms, and when I got to the office I had the scrambled eggs with tomato that I'd made in the morning.

Afternoon snack: 2 pieces saging saba (cardava banana in English)
Dinner: pan fried cream dory fish and sauteed spinach
Evening snack: 1 piece baked sweet potato
Midnight snack: 1 banana and a handful of walnuts

What? The paleo diet says eat when you're hungry! Hence the snacks. Well, so far, so good! Now, only 29 days to gooo!

Monday, February 13, 2012

February 13 WOD: Clean and jerks

Today wasn't strength day but we did lots of cleaning and jerking, plus lots of sit ups, too.

The WOD was:

- 10-8-6-4-2 clean and jerks, alternated with
- 50-40-30-20 sit ups

It would be more complicated than that if you do it Rx, because as the number of reps decrease, your weight is supposed to increase. Such that on the last set, you're supposed to be doing something 1 RM (rep max), or something like that.


For those not doing Rx, the reps for clean and jerks were doubled. So that was 20-16-12-8-4 for us non-Rxers (I used the 35 lb bar). But wait, that's not all. There was a time cap of 15 mins. I made it up to the 30 sit ups, and for the first time in months, I DNFed. Sadness. :( It was the sit ups that got me, which means this is something I really have to work on.

Friday, February 10, 2012

February 10 WOD: AMRAPs galore

Today, we did 5 rounds of 3 min AMRAP of:

- 3 burpees
- 6 box jumps
- 9 kettlebell swings

There was a 1 min rest in between rounds (so that's after every 3 min AMRAP), which brings the total workout duration to 19 mins. I used the 12" box for the box jumps and the 12 kg kettlebell for the kettlebell swings. Our score was the total number of completed rounds that we were able to do in those 5 rounds. My score: a measly 11. :( I must learn to take less rests and push myself more.

Five days before the Paleo Challenge starts! After the WOD, some other crossfitter moms and I had a pre-paleo lunch binge at Old Vine. We had salad, bread, pasta, and meat. And dessert too, of course.

Pudding with vanilla ice cream
That was good. Man, I'm going to miss sugar.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

February 8 WOD: Snatch skills + triplet

Thank God we didn't have to do another benchmark WOD today. We worked on our snatches first before doing the main WOD.

For skills, we did 4 rounds of:

- 3 power snatches
- 3 overhead squats
- 3 snatch balances
- 3 hang squat snatches

I used the 15 lb bar for the power snatches and the 25 lb bar for the other exercises. It made me realize how much work my core still needs.


For the main WOD, we were given a time cap of 15 mins (not 10) to do 5 rounds of:

- 7 dead lifts
- 14 knees to elbows
- 20 double unders

I was supposed to do 95 lbs for the dead lifts, but when Miggy changed the number of rounds from 3 to 5, I went down to 75 lbs. And since I still can't do double unders, I did 80 singles instead.

Exactly 1 week to go before the Paleo Challenge... tick tock, tick tock! I was able to eat clean the whole day yesterday. Let's see if I can do it for 2 days straight. On Friday, some of the girls at the box and I are having a pre-paleo binge after the 10 am class. Can't wait!

Monday, February 6, 2012

February 6 WOD: J.T.

Another benchmark hero WOD today, and it was all about the upper body.

We did "J.T.," which is sets of 21-15-9 of:

- Handstand push ups
- Ring dips
- Push ups


I still don't trust my core enough to try the band-assisted handstand push ups. I tried it once and it felt like my back was breaking. So I did the HSPUs while kneeling on a box with my head upside down. For the ring dips, I used the parallettes with my heels on a 12" box. And for the push ups, I did them on my knees again. My time: 10:41.

More people are starting to come in for the 10 am class so I think the schedule is safe... for now.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Running like a kid

In my desire to encourage my son to continue being active, I told him we'd be running today. Although I'd contemplated going to the box, spending time with my son is still my top priority. I only see him on weekday mornings so I make sure I have time for him on weekends.

He's a member of his school's football team, and thanks to a book I got on football for youth (it was a steal at P98 at a book sale) I learned that he needs to develop his endurance. So this afternoon, we got dressed and went for a (very short) run.


It wasn't a structured running workout - I'm saving that for when he gets accustomed to running. I also didn't want to pressure him into running fast. I just wanted him to have fun and enjoy the outdoors. We did some slow jogging and occasional sprints. All in all, we ran 2.01 km in 18:59 mins (at a 9:27/km pace). Today, I ran like a kid. :)

Friday, February 3, 2012

February 3 WOD: Barbara

Today we did Barbara, which is a "benchmark" WOD. These special WODs are meant for people to test their fitness. People record their time so that the next time they do the same benchmark WOD, they will see if they've improved (or not).

Barbara is 5 rounds of:

- 20 pull ups
- 30 push ups
- 40 sit ups
- 50 squats


At the beginning I was thinking of doing 5 rounds, but I changed my mind after the 2nd round and stayed with mini-Barbara, which is only 3 rounds. Although there was a 3 min rest in between rounds, it was still one of those especially kickass-y WODs. My time (not counting the 3 min rests): 21:21.

In other news, I'm having such an un-paleo day. In the morning, I had peanut butter with my banana. Then I got a salad and cream of mushroom soup with bread from Sbarro for lunch. Now, I'm having cafe mocha. And later, I'm eating chocolate. I'm as far away from paleo as I could get. No matter, I'll get back in the saddle tomorrow!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

February 1 WOD: Triplet

Back when the "renegade" coaches were still there, I remember doing less lifting and more body weight exercises. But I noticed that since I started working with the other coaches, there have been more barbell work. Which is good, in a way... I guess... unless it's an exceptionally kickass workout. It's a love-hate relationship I have with those bars. I love them because I know they're helping to make me strong, but I hate them because they make me feel so weak.

Anyway, today, we were given 20 mins to do 3 rounds of what they call a "triplet":

- 10 ring dips
- 20 overhead squats
- 30 wall balls

I used the parallettes for modified ring dips, the 35 lb bar for the OHS, and the 10 lb ball for the wall balls. My time: 18:31. On the board, I saw that Nickey did it in 9+ mins. Unbelievable.

For a hump day laugh:

Please laugh :)