Jun 6 WOD: Partner Angie + Throwdown fever!

I'd been dreading the workout ever since I heard from Tricia and Tere that we were doing Angie today (another benchmark girl). We had to do the following for time:

- 100 pull ups

- 100 hand release push ups

- 100 sit ups

- 100 squats

Turns out that it wasn't so bad because they made it a partner WOD. I was paired with Tere, and only one partner at a time could do the exercise.

My weaknesses are push ups and sit ups so I made sure I did good on the pull ups (using the green band, of course). Our strategy was we did as many as we could, and when we felt like we couldn't do any more the other one would take over. I don't think it worked as well as we hoped it would because of the 3 teams, we finished last. Our time: 11:14.

When we were done, it was the throwdown athletes' turn to workout. First pair up was Jobett and Joanna (who did really well), and after them came Gerard and Hansel, then Ann and Yoshi.

A lot of girls came out to show support for Gerard, who was dying of nervousness from the immense pressure of having to do pull ups with no band. In the end, he was able to do 3 and Hansel did the rest.
Gerard went from using the beginners' black band to using none -- how amazing is that?!

All smiles as we wait for the show (photo grabbed from Tin F.)

We were fairly confident that Ann and Yoshi would do great, and of course, they did. While they were at it, all of us were going wild cheering them on. They absolutely crushed Angie to bits. It was like watching an exciting game up close. This is, after all, the sport of fitness.

Jun 4 WOD: Triplet

Seeing tweets about the throwdown between the Libis and Fort boxes makes me regret not having joined. I think CrossFit has awakened the competitive side of me. Anyway, I didn't join because one of the requirements was that you have to be able to use the blue band for the pull ups, and we all know that I haven't quite graduated from the green band yet. Also, I was too chicken.

Yesterday's workout was 10 rounds of:

- 3 dead lifts (Rx: 70% of 1 RM)
- 6 burpees
- 9 toes to bar

I would've done this workout as prescribed if I had been able to do toes to bar. But I can't even do knees to elbows yet, so I had to settle for doing knees to chest. My 1 RM for dead lifts is 170 lbs, so 70% is 119 lbs but I chose to do 115 lbs instead.

My score: 14:40.

I had paleo "cereal" this morning. Inspired by CupcakesOMG's post, I assembled sliced bananas, raisins, and chopped walnuts in a bowl. Then I poured coconut milk and about a tablespoon of coconut nectar. It made me miss regular cereal less. And really, you can "paleo-fy" regular recipes with a little bit of imagination.

Coconutty coffee

I started taking my coffee black with no sugar when I went paleo, but I discovered something that allowed me to have (somewhat) creamy coffee again: coconut cream!

Creamy looking coffee

Don't be fooled by the photo above, though. The cream doesn't integrate that well with the coffee so it rises to the top. But I like it because I taste the coconutty flavor whenever I take a sip.

I've tried putting a few tablespoons of Ayam coconut cream and a couple of teaspoons of coconut sugar in my coffee and I liked how it turned out. And just today, I tried putting powdered coconut cream instead of liquid coconut cream in my coffee. It tasted just as good. This was the brand I tried:

Kara coconut cream powder

When I was at the grocery, I checked the ingredients of all the available coconut creams and milks there (both liquid and powdered), and none of them were wholly paleo, so I chose the one that had the least number of ingredients.

Contains 80% coconut extract, which isn't bad

This is the coconut sugar I put in my coffee. I also use it for baking paleo goodies.

Benevita organic coconut sugar

A look at the back label:

Coconut sugar is also great for diabetics

Coconuts are my best friend. It's amazing how many food products can come from just one plant. Think about it: coconut sugar, coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut butter, coconut water, coconut meat, coconut flakes, and coconut nectar. It makes me thankful that I live in the Philippines where coconuts are in abundance.

I just wish that producers would make their products widely available locally. As it is, I've had to search far and wide to obtain these products. Like you wouldn't believe. Coconut butter and coconut nectar were more complicated to find, but I was able to source them eventually. The producers probably don't think that the market is big enough here so they prefer to export their products, and that's just too bad.

Jun 1 WOD: Death by couplet

I know the WOD name sounds scary, but really, it's not. The workout took less than 10 minutes and not a few complained that it was bitin. We're masochists, we are.

On the board, the workout looks complicated, but it's really just an ascending ladder workout in 30-second increments. So, on the first 30 secs, you do 1 squat and 1 burpee. On the second 30 secs, 2 squats and 2 burpees. On the third 30 secs, 3 squats and 3 burpees. And this goes on until you're not able to complete a set.

My score: 6. I was done in 3 mins. Lame. The warm up took longer than that!

So after the workout, Soleil and I tried doing yesterday's WOD, which was hang squat cleans. I was disappointed when I maxed out at 75 lbs, since my PR is 95 lbs.

We took a class picture by the pull up bars...

Top row: Isabelle, Ann, me, Soleil, Tin
Bottom row: Doray, Tricia, Gerard, Tere
(photo thanks to Tin)

... then we went to have coffee at Starbucks. Good way to end the work week!

Breakfast

I savor mornings when I don't have to go to the box because I'm able to take my sweet time eating breakfast. Like today.

I fixed myself a plate of scrambled eggs and my leftover almond flour pancakes, which I heated in the toaster. I topped them with coconut butter and coconut nectar. Yuuummm.

Pancakes, eggs, and hot chocolate

I like my scrambled eggs a bit runny

Coconut butter is love

Now, who says the paleo diet is restricting?

May 30 WOD: Jack

My triceps are still seriously sore from Monday's thruster workout. It wasn't so bad yesterday morning, but the arms progressively got more sore as the day wore on. And this morning, I found it difficult to put on my clothes! But I'm not complaining. Well, maybe a little bit. At least I don't whine about it. Pain? Bring.It.On!

We did another benchmark workout today. There are lots of benchmark workouts, as you can see from my log book:

I think the coaches are ticking them off the list one by one!

The workout we did is called Jack, in honor of Army Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III, who died in Jolo, Philippines in September 2009 from the detonation of an improvised explosive device. It is 20 mins AMRAP of:

- 10 push presses (Rx: 75 lbs)
- 10 kettlebell swings (Rx: 16 kg)
- 10 box jumps (Rx: 20")

I used a 45 lb bar, a 12 kg kettlebell, and an 18" box. My score: 10 rounds + 1 push press. All of us were on the floor after that.

(source)

Amen. Jack: done and done! Till we meet again!

P.S. I was able to do 3 pull ups using the blue band today. Yipee! Now I want to work on my dead hang pull ups.

Almond Flour Pancakes

The search is over. I finally found the best paleo pancake recipe. I know that paleo pancakes can never be as fluffy as regular ones, but this comes close. Even Nanay (who is anti-paleo because she thinks I'm being too extreme in my diet) and Tatay were surprised that it tasted good.

I got the recipe from The Urban Poser here. I changed some things but it still turned out well. Here's my version:


Almond Flour Pancakes
(makes about 20 small pancakes)

1 1/2 cups fine ground almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs (room temperature)
5 Tbsp coconut cream (gata in Filipino)
2 Tbsp coconut nectar

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. You could also sift or whisk them together. The important thing is the dry ingredients are well combined.
2. In a smaller, separate bowl, blend together the eggs, coconut cream, honey, and vanilla.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Let rest for 5 mins, then pre-heat your pan over medium heat (I used a non-stick pan).
4. Add about 1/8 cup of batter to the pan. Make sure the pancakes are no bigger than 3" in diameter or you'll have a hard time flipping them. Cook until the surface starts forming a few bubbles and the edges just start to form. Flip and cook the other side.
5. Serve with your choice of toppings. I had mine with butter and coconut nectar.

Almond flour is expensive so you'd want to cook every bit of batter in the bowl. You won't regret making this recipe, though! I'd post a photo, but I was so hungry this morning and they're gone now, though I stored some in the freezer. I'll make sure to take photos next time.

May 28 WOD: Coe (or, Be Careful What You Wish For)

So I got my wish to do a thruster workout.

As the website screamed when I checked the WOD: It's bbbeeeennnnnccchhhhmark day! And since it's Memorial Day in the US and you know how CrossFit boxes just love to honor fallen heroes, we paid tribute to Army Sgt. Keith Adam Coe, who died in Iraq of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an explosive device.

For this hero workout, we had to do 10 rounds of:

- 10 thrusters (Rx: 65 lbs)
- 10 ring push ups

Nice to meet you, Sgt. Coe

I tried using a 55 lb bar for the thrusters during warm up and I knew my form would suffer in the early rounds so I went down to 45. I also attempted to do ring push ups on my knees in the first round but it was like the strength had been drained from my triceps, so I did hand-release push ups instead.

Can I tell you a secret? I wanted to quit after the third round. I had to stop many times because I felt like I was dying. As Tere would say, "Sinusundo na ako ng angel ko!" And I can't tell you how utterly relieved and destroyed I was when I finished.

My score: 22 mins.

Before we started the workout, the folks from Reebok came and delivered stocks of the Reebok CrossFit Nano 2.0.

The green and the red ones look cool, but they're both for men. The ladies have no options, just the black pair (which looks like what people who did aerobics wore in the 1980s!). I tried them on after the WOD, and compared to my new Inov-8 f-lite 195s, they look blah. I wish they'd made the original Nanos available instead. The color I'd have wanted was this:

More styles here

Maybe in the end it's a good thing I didn't like the shoes because I won't feel so bad that I couldn't buy them!

May 25 WOD: TGIF

We had another fun workout today. Or maybe it was fun because it's Friday and people are in a good mood. I was a little bit disappointed, though, because when I checked the site last night, I could've sworn I read that we were going to do thrusters today. Oh, well. We shall meet again one day soon, thrusters.

The WOD was 20 mins AMRAP of:

- 5 chest to bar pull ups
- 5 ring dips
- 15 air squats

There were around 10 of us at the 10 am class today so the box was a little crowded. I couldn't find the two pull up bands I'd used during the last WOD so I went back to the green band, but just for today. I also did paralette dips instead of ring dips.

My score: 15 + 5 ring dips. That means I did 225 squats. Good thing my thunder thighs saw me through.

I miss lifting. In one of her posts, CrossFit Lisbeth says, "When nothing else seemed to work right, be right, feel right - the barbell felt right. You could swear, stomp, smash, and get all sorts of ugly but the barbell just took it. Took all of it." Dear barbell, you never fail to make me feel good.

(source)

May 23 WOD: Leveling up

Remember I promised myself that I will try to do workouts as prescribed whenever possible? Well, I got the chance to fulfill that promise today.

The WOD was 15 mins AMRAP of:

- 10 pull ups
- 20 overhead walking lunges (Rx: 25#)
- 10 sit ups

After days of Jordan encouraging me to move up from the green band when doing pull ups, I finally relented and used 2 thinner bands together (one was purple, the other was a thin black one). It was more challenging than the green band, for sure, but it wasn't that difficult.

For the walking lunges, I used a 25 lb plate as prescribed. It was either that or a 15 lb plate, which is too light. So, my score: 6 rounds + 8 pull ups. Not bad. Not bad at all. Although today's workout wasn't that difficult. Definitely not as difficult as Monday's WOD!

May 21 WOD: Kettlebell swings again?!

I got a rip on my left hand from doing the kettlebell swings last Friday. I don't want to be a baby about it but it hurts so much! I couldn't shampoo my hair or put lotion properly because I avoid using that part of my hand. And I remember dreading the WOD because I was afraid of aggravating it. But I still went. When do I ever not go?

I got my hand taped (I'm hardcore like that, ha.) and warmed up. Today, we were given a time cap of 20 mins to do 6 rounds of:

- 40 Double unders or 200m run or 200m row
- 16 KBS (Rx: 16 kg)
- 16 Box jumps (Rx: 20")

I went for the row, used a 12 kg kettlebell, and an 18" box. Cray-cray! My time: 19:01.

After the workout, Tere and I promised ourselves that from then on, we will try to go Rx whenever possible. We could've done today's workout as Rx'd but we were just too chicken. As Jordan would say, it's okay to DNF as long as you're working to get stronger. And how else would we be able to do workouts as Rx'd if we don't do it? Duh. Gotta start somewhere.

May 18 WOD: CrossFit Total and then some

I really wanted to go to the box yesterday because I saw on the website that the WOD was CrossFit Total.

I read up on it and found a simple definition on CrossFit.com. According to Mark Rippetoe, the CrossFit Total reflects an athlete's functional strength capacity more accurately than any other test. It is the sum of the best of three attempts at the squat (back squat), the press (strict, no kipping), and the dead lift.

Since I love lifting, I tweeted my request to CrossFit MNL, asking if I could do it today. Coach Pau responded and set the time (9 am), and so I found myself at the box at 8:45 am. Excited! Tere arrived shortly after, then Pau explained how we should warm up. After the warm up, Tere and I went to work.

Back squat
Attempt 1: 105#
Attempt 2: 115#
Attempt 3: 120#

Press
Attempt 1: 45#
Attempt 2: 55#
Attempt 3: 65# (a fail, so that means my score for the press is 55#)

Dead lift
For this one, I don't know how I got to my final score. I just knew that Pau kept adding weight until he told me that I was doing my last attempt. What was going on in my mind? Shins to the bar, tight hams, tight core, chest up, and pull! When I succeeded, he told me that I did 170#. One hundred seventy pounds (yes, I really have to spell that out). I couldn't help squealing and jumping for joy. A PR!

Our totals. Look at Tere's score! She's a beast! Rawr.

I'm happy with my score, though. I googled the CrossFit Total score chart and found this:

(Source)

Since my body weight is 112 and my score was 345, that means I'm somewhere in between intermediate and advanced. Heck, yeah!

For the "cash out," we did the regular WOD, which wasn't a piece of cake at all. I wanted to quit halfway through it. It was 15 rounds of:

- 30 secs max reps KBS
- 30 secs max reps air squats
- 30 secs rest

You get your score by adding up all the reps you'd done.

My quads were in agony after those 22 mins. To think I only used an 8 kg kettlebell. Anyway, my score: 461.

May 16 WOD: Power cleans

Oh, SWOD Wednesdays, I love you!

We worked on our cleans today. First, we were given 10 mins to find our 1RM. I started with 55# and worked my way up in 10s until I reached 95#. Whoa. Yes. Ninety five pounds! I was surprised and amazed, because the last time we did a strength WOD on cleans, my 1RM was 65#. I almost couldn't believe it. I had to double check the plates I used to make sure that I'd computed correctly.

After the 10 mins, cash out was 8 mins AMRAP of:

- 5 Power cleans at 65% of 1RM
- 5 Hand release push ups

I used a 60# bar for the cleans. I must admit that I was very tempted to use a 55# bar, but then I decided that I should challenge myself. It was becoming a struggle to rack the bar towards the end of the 8 minutes, but I did it. By George, I did it!

Yes, we do!
(This isn't me, by the way. Got the photo here: source)

I still need to work on my form but I'm getting there. My score: 10 + 2 push ups.

May 14 WOD: The Seven

I'm on vacation the whole week so instead of going to the 10 am class, I attended the 12:30 one. I missed the camaraderie in my "Moms' Class," but the people I worked out with today were also cool.

Anyway, on to the WOD called The Seven. I know, it sounds ominous, right? Like the Seven Deadly Sins kind of ominous. Apparently, it's a benchmark workout that was created in honor of seven CIA officers and one Jordanian officer who were killed in Afghanistan in 2009.

It is 7 rounds of:

- 7 handstand push ups
- 7 thrusters (Rx: 135/95)
- 7 knees to elbows
- 7 dead lifts (Rx: 245/165)
- 7 burpees
- 7 KBS (Rx: 32/24)
- 7 pull ups

Seven reps for each of the seven exercises, done for seven rounds. Whew! Since I was doing it non-Rx'd, we were given a 25 minute cap. I used a box and did the HSPUs on my knees; used a 45# barbell for the thursters; did knees to chest; used 95# for the dead lifts; used the 12 kg kettlebell for the KBS; and used the green band for the pull ups. At the end of the 25 mins, I'd done 5 rounds + 3 burpees. It was so hard! Somewhere in between the 4th and the 5th round, I started feeling faint but I willed myself to keep going. I survived!

And now, I leave you with this image, taken after the WOD:

CrossFit hands!

May 11 WOD: TGIF back squats!

Today's WOD was simple:

- 4 mins AMRAP of back squats
- Rest 1 min
- 1000m row for time

My scores: 40 reps at 65# and 5:08 mins for the row. Ugh! Halfway through the row my thighs were burning. Burninggg!

As if that wasn't enough, Tere had this bright idea of joining the bootcamp class that was scheduled right after our 10 am class. It was a 3-person team WOD. We had to do:

- 100 burpees
- 200 sit ups
- 300 squats

Only 2 people are supposed to work at the same time, and when one of them gets tired, the third team member subs for her. This continues until the team completes the required number of reps. I hadn't done burpees for the longest time, so that was good. I teamed with Belen and Trisha, and we finished first with 13:25 (I think).

TGIF!!!

May 9 WOD: Split jerks

It's Wednesday, and we did a strength WOD again today. I have to say, since the coaches moved strength day to Wednesdays, I'm starting to love this day of the week.

It was my first time to do split jerks. I was nervous because when I looked at the board, the lowest score was 60#. My fear was starting to get the better of me again when I thought about all the shoulder to overhead lifts I'd done, because the maximum was 45 or 55# -- I'm not so sure now. It's a good thing Tere and I were sharing a bar because she gave me the push I needed.

We warmed up with the 35# bar, then worked our way up. Finally, we reached 85#... and I did it! I tried going further up to 95# but I couldn't push it up anymore, and there was a fraction of a second when I was sure the bar was going to hit my head. Good thing I was able to bail or I'm pretty sure it would've been a bloody day at the box.

After the SWOD, we did alternate tabata push ups and sit ups. That is, 20 secs push ups, 10 secs rest, 20 sec sit ups, and so on until the end of 8 mins. Overall good day today!

Motivation

The CrossFit Games Asia Regional is over, and although our Coaches Pau and John didn't make it, I'm positive that this is just the beginning of Filipino CrossFitters entering the CF Games scene. Several girls and I at the box were joking that we're going to the Open as a team next year. Yeah, one day.

I'm inspired by a co-parent who told me that he started doing CrossFit 5 years ago, when he was 40. And he said he still gets amazed whenever he sets a PR. That's where I wanna be when I'm in my mid-40s.

This is a video I saw sometime ago, and although the visuals don't appeal that much to me, it's the voiceover that gives me goosies and makes me tear up (I'm a sap like that).

"Here’s the thing that makes life so interesting. The theory of evolution claims only the strong shall survive. Maybe so. Maybe so. But the theory of competition says just because they're the strong doesn’t mean they can't get their asses kicked. That's right.

See, what every long-shot, come-from-behind underdog will tell you is this: the other guy may in fact be the favorite. The odds maybe stacked against you, fair enough. But what the odds don’t know is this isn’t a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic. So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows, and the clock starts ticking, just remember out here the results don’t always add up. No matter what the stats may say, and the experts may think, and the commentators may have predicted, when the race is on all bets are off. Don’t be surprised if someone decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling "Uncle." And then suddenly, as the old saying goes, we got ourselves a game!"

May 7 WOD: Partner WOD

Today's WOD wasn't too difficult, but I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic about working out. Felt so heavy! It was a partner WOD (PWOD) and together we had to do:

- 100 pull ups
- 100 kettlebell swings
- 100 hand-release push ups

I was partnered with Lady, and she kindly volunteered to go at it first. We broke it up by doing 30 reps, then the remaining 20. I used an 8 kg kettlebell while Lady used a 12 kg one (wow!). Our time: 12:45. We were surprised when we looked at the board and saw that the slowest pair in our class (that's us) still did better than the fastest in the morning classes.

Anyway, cashout was 50 medicine ball sit ups. I used 10#. And now my biceps hurt.

Post-challenge Day 51 + May 4 WOD: Do your weakness

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bread with peanut butter (non-paleo)
Lunch: Pan-fried cream dory, stir-fried eggplant, sweet potato hash, fudge babies
Dinner: Same as lunch
Snack: Orange, vanilla milkshake (non-paleo)

WOD

We had to do the following for time:

- 150 double unders OR 800m run
- 50 wall balls
- 150 double unders OR 800m run

I chose to do the run first, and when I was done with the wall balls I chose to do the 750 single unders. I almost didn't make the 20 min cap! Darn those 750 singles. Halfway through it I was wishing I'd chosen to run instead. Ah well. My time: 19:04.

The thing I love most about doing CrossFit is I learn to push myself further every workout. Well, okay, maybe not every workout, but most workouts I'm able to do it. I want to reach that point where I leave everything on the floor, and I walk out of the box feeling like I couldn't have done better because I'd given it my best shot.

Give it up for the WOD. Every. Time.
Source

Post-challenge Day 49 + May 2 WOD: The Bear

Today's meals

Breakfast: Banana with coconut butter, coffee
Lunch: Sweet potato hash, stir-fried eggplant, chicken fingers
Dinner: Sweet potato hash, stir-fried eggplant, chicken nuggets
Snacks: Bananas with coconut butter

WOD

Well, that was a hairy WOD. As soon as I saw the demo of The Bear Complex, it got me scurred. It is 5 rounds of 7 cycles of these:

- Dead lift
- Hang power clean
- Front squat
- Push press
- Back squat
- Press
- Down

There is no resting during the set. You cannot put down the bar at all until you're done with the 7 cycles. If you do, it's a fail. However, you can (and probably should) take as long as you want because it's not a timed workout.

Darn it was hard!!! I was able to work up to 45# on the 3rd round but I failed on the 6th cycle. So I went down to 40# and used that for the 5th round as well. So that was my final score.

Chocolate-Covered Katie's Fudge Babies

I've been wanting a paleo treat that doesn't need a lot of time to prepare (i.e. no baking), and I finally stumbled across these fudge babies by Chocolate-Covered Katie.

Now, for the longest time, I've avoided making anything with dates. Why? Because we don't have a food processor, and almost all the recipes I've found require the use of it for the dates. But I've had a pack of dates sitting in the fridge for some weeks now, so I thought the fudge babies would be a good recipe to use it in.

I have to say that they were perfect. I think I need to buy dates regularly now. Here's the slightly modified recipe that I followed:


Fudge Balls

1 cup walnuts
1 1/3 cups pitted dates
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1. Chop walnuts very finely, then set aside.
2. Place dates in a shallow dish and sprinkle with some water (about 1 to 2 Tbsp). Microwave on a low setting for about a minute, mash with a fork and sprinkle with more water if needed, then microwave again for about 2 minutes and mash very well using a fork. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
3. Add cocoa, walnuts, and salt to the mashed dates. Use your hands to mix everything together very well, and when everything's mixed, form into 1 to 1.5" balls. Be warned: the mixture will be very sticky but it's so gonna be worth it. Trust me.

I almost wasn't able to take this photo because I couldn't help
eating them all!

Post-challenge Day 47 + Apr 30 WOD: Dead lift couplet

Today's meals

Breakfast: Banana with coconut butter, fudge babies
Lunch: Sweet potato hash, stir-fried eggplant with adobo seasoning, chicken fingers, fudge babies
Dinner: Sweet potato hash, stir-fried eggplant with adobo seasoning, chicken fingers, carrot sticks
Snacks: Singkamas

WOD

Dead lifts again, yay! Today was 10 rounds of:

- 5 dead lifts
- 10 hand release push ups (with feet on a 45 lb plate)

I Rx'd on the dead lifts (115#) but did the push ups on my knees on a 25# plate. My time: 11:46.

Whoa. A lift that I Rx'd!

CrossFit Games 2012

Source

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...

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!

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!

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.

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#.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.