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Sunday, April 29, 2012

CrossFit Games 2012

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It's Week 1 of the CrossFit Games Regionals. Two regions in the US and one in Canada are going first, and next week, Asia will be doing the regional workouts next week. Aaannndddd... the Philippines makes CrossFit history this year because our very own Coach Pau qualified for the Regionals! Exciting times for CrossFit MNL.

I checked out the workouts on the website. As expected, they look grueling.


I have this feeling that we'll be doing scaled versions of these soon...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Post-challenge Day 42 + Apr 25 WOD: SWOD

Today's meals

Breakfast: Singkamas, coconut water with coconut meat
Lunch: Sweet potato hash, singkamas
Dinner: Stir-fried veggies in adobo seasoning, sweet potato hash, non-paleo milk tea
Snacks: Boiled saba banana

WOD

A strength WOD, finally! And we got to do my favorite lift: the dead lift!

We did 3 sets of 5 reps for warm up, then for the WOD we did sets of 5-5-3-3-1 working up to our 1RM. My weights: 75#, 95#, 115#, 135#, 155#.

Cash out was sets of 12-9-6 of:

- Dead lifts
- Chest to bar pull ups


I did 115# for the dead lifts and used the green band for the pull ups. My time: 3:16.

Oooh, and lookie lookie what I got at the box:

A journal for me to keep track of my workouts!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Post-challenge Day 37 + Apr 20 WOD: Fran!

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Burgers, stir-fried squash with adobo seasoning, iced americano
Dinner: Burgers, stir-fried squash with adobo seasoning
Snacks: Apples, oranges, singkamas

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I could live on singkamas forever! That, and chocolate. I could be as paleo as I like, but I cannot live without chocolate.

WOD

What's a great way to end the week? Do Fran!!! To a newbie like me, I didn't get what the fuss is all about. Fran is a simple couplet WOD -- thrusters and pull ups. I thought Josh would be tougher. But why do CrossFitters fret when they find out they're doing her? I guess I finally found my answer today. And if there's one thing I've learned from 4 months of doing CrossFit, it's that you should never, never, (one more time) never underestimate the WOD.


I was wiped after doing Fran. I don't know why, but I found her to be more brutal than Josh. Anyway, I wanted to use a 35 lb bar for the thrusters but somehow Tere and Jordan convinced me to do 45 lbs instead. And of course, I used the green band for the pull ups. My time: 8:00.

I think I've finally gotten the hang of doing pull ups. I was able to do 21 unbroken! I'm a beast! A teeny tiny baby beast! Meow!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Post-challenge Day 35 + Apr 18 WOD: Quick

Today's meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with spinach, 1 chocolate square
Lunch: Sweet potato hash, singkamas
Dinner: Sweet potato hash, grilled chicken, stir-fried squash with adobo seasoning
Snacks: Singkamas, papaya

Yesterday would've been a perfectly paleo day had it not been for the Royce chocolate boxes I saw sitting in the fridge. They are sooo good though. I don't think I'll ever regret eating excellent chocolate. It's always worth it. But I have to say, I got a tummy ache about 20 mins after eating the chocolate.

WOD

For non-Rxers, we had a 15 min cap to do 5 rounds of:

- 10 pull ups
- 15 hand release push ups
- 20 double unders


I used the green band for the pull ups, and did 100 single unders instead of 20 DUs or tuck jumps. Before starting, I'd briefly considered doing the tuck jumps, but I remembered one WOD where we did tuck jumps and they absolutely drained me. My time: 11:00.

Today's coach, Jordan, remarked that using the green band for pull ups doesn't seem challenging for me anymore, and suggested that I move up to using the blue or purple band. Hmm. I'll practice using it first.

Tere and I continued working on our dead lifts again, and I think we've found our 1RM (1 rep max): 150# (!!!). I think she could've gone heavier, but that was probably the limit for me.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Post-challenge Day 33 + Apr 16 WOD: Twofer wall balls

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar
Lunch: Chicken fingers, stir-fried eggplant slices with adobo seasoning
Dinner: Same as lunch, plus sauteed spinach
Snacks: Singkamas, paleo cupcakes, apples

Again, yesterday I did the faileo diet. Hence, no post about my meals because it just makes me feel bad. But in other food-related news, an aunt is arriving from the US at the end of the month and I'm planning to order the donut maker I've been eyeing on Amazon. So excited to make paleo donuts!

WOD


For the 2-4-1 wall balls, you bounce the ball off the wall and do an extra squat before catching the ball. I tried it out but maybe I'm just too uncoordinated to do it so I scaled down. But I used a 10# ball so I wouldn't feel too bad about scaling.

For the burpee broad jumps, we had to do a burpee first then leap forward until we do 60 feet (3 laps across the box). My time: 11:10.

After the workout, Tere and I worked on our jump ropes then our dead lifts. My dead lift PR last year was 125#. But this morning we worked up until 135#! I think I could do a teensy bit more though, because I was able to lift it 3 times. So maybe my 1RM now is around 140#.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Post-challenge Day 31 + Apr 14 WOD: AMRAP-ing

Today's meals

On second thought, let's forget about today's meals. All I want to say is that it wasn't a clean day. At all. I tried to be as paleo as possible, but in the evening I went to a party. Although I didn't eat rice, I did have dessert. Oh, and before going to the party I had a scoop of cookie dough ice cream (which I don't regret at all).

WOD

I went to the box with a friend who wanted to do the trial. Trial class on Saturdays is at 2:30 pm so we had to be there a bit earlier. Watching the trial class made me think of my trial session. I'm quite sure they'd all be getting to know DOMS pretty well tomorrow.

Anyway, on to the WOD. It was 30 mins AMRAP of:

- 3 squat clean to thrusters
- 6 knees to elbows
- 100m sprint

* 45 sec rest


Before the workout, Miggy was telling us to go heavy because it's only 3 reps. Uh, yes, but it's a 30 min AMRAP so no, thanks. Ladies' Rx for the clusters (coz aren't they clusters?) was 95; I used a 45 lb bar. My score: 14 rounds. It wouldn't have been so bad had it not been for the intense heat and humidity. That's probably why the "sprint" turned into a jog for a lot of us.

After WOD-ing, a few of us went to Reebok Eastwood to check if they already had the CrossFit Nanos. We were disappointed to find out that they won't be available till May or June. Bummer.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Post-challenge Day 30 + Apr 13 WOD: Josh

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo pancakes with coconut butter, coconut nectar, and banana
Lunch: Sweet potato hash with fried eggs
Dinner: Sweet potato hash with pork sisig
Snacks: Singkamas, apple and pear slices

Hoping that when I come home tonight I'll be strong enough to resist the temptation of that Bizu Mango Chiboust Cake in the fridge...

WOD

I missed the box too much! The past three days I hadn't worked out felt like a month (ok, exaggeration) and it was sooo good to be back. Even though it was benchmark day and I met this boy named Josh. Since I wasn't doing the workout Rx'd, there was a 20 min time cap to do:

- 21 overhead squats
- 42 pull ups
- 15 overhead squats
- 30 pull ups
- 9 overhead squats
- 18 pull ups

Nice to meet you, Josh!
I used a 35 lb bar for the OHS and the ever-reliable green band for the pull ups. That's a lot of gosh-darned pull ups there. My time: 9:01.

The coaches probably thought that 35 lbs was too light for me and Miggy thought that I could probably increase my OHS weight so I tried using Lala's 55 lb bar but I couldn't stabilize it. Maybe a 45 lb bar would've been better. Till next time, Josh!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Post-challenge Day 29

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo pancakes with coconut butter, coconut nectar, and sliced bananas
Lunch: Singkamas, black coffee
Dinner: Chicken fingers, stir-fried eggplant slices with adobo seasoning
Snacks: Paleo tablea cupcakes, walnuts, apple and pear slices, paleo pancakes, non-paleo crepe cake

Yesterday was a big fat faileo diet day. My father celebrated his 80th birthday, and in the morning some of his friends came and prepared a surprise breakfast for him. They brought lots of cake, native bread products, coffee, and dinuguan (everybody loves this stuff but I can't eat it because the thought of eating pork with pig's blood is just... I can't).

In the evening, there was a big party and again, lots of faileo food there. My biggest transgression was eating chocolate cake and buko pandan salad. When we came home, my sisters decided to have some slices of this very special crepe cake that we received. Man, I need to get back on track!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Post-challenge Day 27

Today's meals

Breakfast: Singkamas, orange juice
Lunch: Meatballs, green salad, black coffee
Dinner: Burgers, ampalaya with scrambled eggs
Snacks: Singkamas, paleo tablea cupcakes, carrot sticks, apples, banana

I've gotten lazy about preparing my meals. Need to do something about it quick.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Post-challenge Day 26 + Apr 9 WOD: Partner WOD

Today's meals

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash with fried egg, black coffee
Lunch: Sweet potato hash, pork chops, paleo tablea cupcake
Dinner: Non-paleo savory and dessert crepes
Snacks: Singkamas, paleo cupcakes, almond milk, coconut water with coconut meat

WOD

I almost didn't go to the box today out of laziness. But I forced myself to go because I knew I'd regret not working out if I didn't. I guess a lot of people had missed WOD-ing too, because the box was full! Today's WOD was fun, though. Hard as always, but fun. We were partnered up and had to do 3 different AMRAPs.

1) 6 mins AMRAP of:

- 100m sprint
- Kettlebell swings

* 3 min rest

2) 6 mins AMRAP of:

- 7 lateral burpees
- 10 hand-release push ups

* 3 min rest

3) 6 mins AMRAP of:

- 15 box jumps
- 10 pull ups

At the end of the first AMRAP, my partner Gil and I were able to do a total of 144 kettlebell swings. For the second AMRAP, we were able to complete 6 rounds + 2 lateral burpees and 9 hand-release push ups (113 reps). For the last AMRAP, we were able to do 9 rounds (225 reps). Our total score was 482. Not bad... I probably wouldn't have pushed myself as hard as I did if I wasn't partnered with someone I'd just met. It would've been way too embarrassing if we got a low score because of me!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Post-challenge Day 24

Today's meals

Breakfast: Non-paleo waffles with butter and honey, black coffee
Lunch: Sweet potato hash, chicken afritada, singkamas
Dinner: Chicken and pork adobo, stir-fried bean sprouts, non-paleo crepes with apple filling topped with vanilla ice cream
Snacks: Saba con hielo (non-paleo), bananas, singkamas

I feel so bad from eating all this non-paleo stuff. I've also developed itchiness on my shoulders, neck, and even my scalp. I still don't know if it's from the very hot and humid weather we've been having or if it's an allergy I've developed from eating stuff I hadn't eaten in a month. Will observe it for a week.

Workout

After a gazillion years, I ran again this afternoon. It was just a short 3 km run. I've found that I get bored with running now that I do CrossFit. When I run, I find myself running faster than I used to because I want to get the workout over and done with. I think I need to rediscover the joy of running.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Post-challenge Day 22

Today's meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with leftover ground beef lettuce wrap, black coffee, singkamas
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, banana, singkamas
Dinner: Burgers, stir-fried eggplant with seasoning, ampalaya with scrambled eggs
Snacks: Oranges, banana, paleo carrot cupcakes

My tummy got mad at me yesterday for having 2 pieces of non-paleo pancakes. I got an awful tummy ache, which totally made me regret having those pancakes. So this morning, even though I was very tempted to have a piece of chocolate, I stopped and reminded myself about what's going to happen if I did.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The sport of fitness

I've been reading a lot of tweets about the recently sealed partnership deal between CFMNL and Reebok Philippines. At the box this morning, our coach was sporting new Reebok apparel, and then a while ago I saw this on twitter:


Woohoo!

Post-challenge Day 21 + Apr 4 WOD: SWOD (shoulder press)

Today's meals

Breakfast: Non-paleo pancakes with butter and honey
Lunch: Burgers, stir-fried kalabasa (squash) with adobo seasoning, singkamas
Dinner: Ground beef lettuce wraps
Snacks: Boiled sweet potatoes, paleo carrot cupcakes

I couldn't resist the lure of non-paleo pancakes this morning. I just couldn't.

So I discovered a new way to eat kalabasa. Just stir-fry it and season with adobo seasoning. I got the adobo seasoning recipe from allrecipes.com and it can pretty much go with anything. It makes stuff so tasty.

WOD

Finally, a day when strength is the focus! I'm guessing they programmed the SWOD today because tomorrow is a holiday, which means the WOD will probably be more challenging than usual (gulp!).

We worked on shoulder presses today and had to do 3 sets of heavy 5 reps. And for me, "heavy" was 45 lbs. What? They were strict presses -- no dipping -- so they were more difficult!

After that, cash out was 5 rounds (with 12 min cap) of:

- 12 dead lifts
- 20 double unders


I used a 105 lb bar for the dead lifts and did 80 singles instead of 20 double unders. My time: 10:33.

How great is it that I can dead lift 105 lbs for 5 sets of 12 reps?! My 1RM for dead lifts last year was 115 lbs, so I must be getting stronger!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Post-challenge Day 20

Today's meals

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash with fried egg, a piece of chocolate, black coffee
Lunch: Hard boiled eggs, banana fritters
Dinner: Sweet potato hash, seasoned squash with leftover ground beef, orange
Snacks: Paleo carrot cupcakes, bananas

I could eat sweet potato hash for breakfast everyday. I had a late breakfast so I wasn't hungry yet when lunchtime rolled around.

I'm currently reading Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution. So far, so good. I like the funny and interesting way he writes.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Post-challenge Day 19 + Apr 2 WOD: Monday Mash

Today's meals

Breakfast: Homemade bacon, fried egg
Lunch: Burgers, curried cauliflower, chicken fingers, banana
Dinner: Ground beef lettuce wrap, curried cauliflower
Snacks: Hard boiled eggs, carrot sticks, paleo carrot cupcakes

Homemade bacon was a success! I'd bought a few pork bacon cut slices a while ago and couldn't figure out how to turn them into bacon. Finally, our cook suggested simply rubbing salt and sugar on them after they've defrosted. So that's what I did. Once they'd defrosted, I laid them flat then rubbed salt on one side. I flipped them over then rubbed salt on the other side. Then, I rubbed coconut sugar on that side, flipped them over and rubbed sugar again on the other side. I put them back in the ref and in the morning I had them cooked like regular bacon. It was good. I must buy more bacon slices next time.

WOD

I wasn't really in the mood to workout today. I felt tired and heavy (I blame those cookies), but I still went. It seems not a lot of people felt like working out either, because there were only 4 names on the board this morning. Anyway, we were given a time cap of 15 mins to do 4 rounds of:

- 45 ft. shuttle run
- 5 ground-to-overheads (clean and jerk or snatch)
- 10 overhead squats
- 5 box jumps up and overs
- 45 ft. shuttle run

We were also given a 45 second rest after each round. It was actually supposed to be a team WOD, but since there were only 3 of us in the class, we did it individually.


I used a 45 lb bar for the ground-to-OH, and was able to use it for the OHS for a few reps but it felt wobbly so I settled for the 35 lb bar. For the box jumps, I used a 12" box. My time: 11:39.

After the class, I practiced doing double unders a little bit. I also practiced kipping so that next time I'd be able to do knees-to-elbows!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Post-challenge Day 18

Today's meals

Breakfast: Non-paleo waffles with butter and honey
Lunch: Grilled chicken with veggies
Dinner: Meatballs in tomato sauce
Snacks: Non-paleo cookies, singkamas, bananas, cassava cake

It's a good thing I save my cheat cards for the weekend or I'd feel totally horrible about indulging. I got the usual tummy ache after eating sweets, but it's always worth it. See, this is why I can't get my body fat percentage below 20...

I also made paleo carrot cupcakes yesterday but I still can't decide if I like it. I tasted it after consuming cookie upon cookie, so of course I couldn't help but compare it to non-paleo goodies.