Dusted....

Boy was I right on Saturday night when I said I may have done too much too fast, and my body was telling me, "you need a rest day." Before going to bed, I'd taken some Advil (which is rare for me as I really try to limit taking any drugs including NSAIDs, but I was sore!). And just crashed. More than 9 hours of much needed, deep, barely interrupted sleep. That felt great. I awoke feeling back like myself. Was calling the the trails hotline before even getting out of bed.

Got ambitious about cooking brunch. Leftover steak, sautéed spinach, poached eggs, homemade Hollandaise. Great ingredients, great real food. Eggs from a local farm that pastures their hens. Kerry Gold Butter. Fresh lemons. Yum.... In future this before a ride, might wanna consider a touch of carbs.

The ride was going to be the first of the year for Hubby and Kiddo. I was feeling cocky because I'd been riding more all winter and of course this past week. That cockiness was quickly brought back to reality on the warm up loop of the Muir Brown trail. I couldn't even clean the freakin' teeny little climb. Holy. Shit. My legs were dead. Kiddo blew ahead. Hubby stuck far too close to my wheel. Told them both to go ahead on the White trail. They dusted me by Richards Revenge, even if I did clean my nemesis that 90 degree turn, rooty little pop up just past the gate. Decided to just take it easy and turn the ride into a photo shoot. Was thrilled when I got back to find a super pumped up Kiddo. He'd cleaned both trails. Not dabs, no stops. Now he's excited to get some real training in. Hubby also had a good first ride. Traditional family post ride stop at LaGrange General Store. Perfect day ( well, maybe more perfect with less dead legs)

But also looking forward to today's rest day ....

Proceed with Caution...

 In typical Kim zero to sixty ASAP fashion, I've gone from months of slug like behavior to biking or lifting weights 6 of the last 7 days. And the strength training program is lower body dominant. I just returned from. Derby party and can barely move. Tired. Sore.

Over training is what lead to my shoulder issues. I feel so damn good when I am working out that I quickly go gung ho. It's something I have to watch. The irony is i burn myself out, start feeling like crap and then forget how doing proper training or regular exercise Right now I'm just exhausted. I've been good about sleep, and food has been pretty spot on. Not trackin food now so have no clue to calories in, but dont hink im in a hard deficit. So far not in a bad place (as if one week of training could affect me that badly this quickly). In the past the first signs of over training  are trouble sleeping. Probably a cortisol stress reaction. A year ago I ignored this sign and the ver increasing shoulder pain until that compounded the keep issues.

Plan now is to kick back and rest tonight, hopefully sleep in tomorrow. Sounds like the boys want to go ride the Kettles. Which is fine. I need to ride demon Bermuda and squash that demon. Neither Hubby nor Kiddo have been riding this year, so shouldn't be at a fast pace, and will include plenty of rest. The big benefit of me doing my own rides is I won't feel so much like we're wasting the ride by not pushing. That feeling has lead to some less thn optimal attitude on family rides in the past. Imagine that, me with my bitch on. Never happens.

Did another strong curves work out yesterday. Oh. My. For what seems very easy simple, low key routines, they sure as hell activat the glutes (and hamstrings and hip flexor) with just enough big muscle upper body work to balance thing out. No stupid bicep o tricep isolation work (as I I need bigger upper arms. Yuck.) Great core work, too.  Both typical abs but also back. Like it so far.

Today's ride was to and from Kiddos baseball game with detours around The Mitchell and Fox Brook trails and an extension over to Calhoun and back.  If I'm gonna ride pavement I do like this route. Was riding Coda, not a mountain bike. Realize I need some cadence sensors. I can tell since getting rid of Dolce (my roadie) I'm fallin back ino my less than optimal but nature 60rpm cadence as opposed to the 85-90 I'd worked so hard to cultivate. Just another thing to work on.

Getting my cook back on....

It's funny how once I get active again, start doing more regular and structured conditioning, it's easier to eat correctly. Which makes me feel better, which makes the conditioning easier, which..... you get it, a virtuous cycle.

So what have I done of interest this week. Hmmm, there's been some grass fed steaks on the grill (and a lunch of leftover gress fed bone-in rib eye from last Friday night at Mr. B's). But best of all was a Bolognese I'd made with half grass fed ground beef and half free range ground veal. Made it Monday night, and we ate it again on Wednesday night. Kiddo and hubby had it over gluten free noodles (I'm trying to convert them to paleo/primal, not having great success, just baby steps). I enjoyed it over spaghetti squash. I've finally figured out how to cook the damn stuff. From 'Practical Paleo' by Diane Sanfilippo (get it, you must). Just cut in half, scoop out seeds, rub a tiny bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet cut side down, into 350* overn for 40 minutes. Scoop out. Easy Peasy.

Hadn't made the stir fry in a while. With all the veggies, spices and shrimp, we never miss rice or noodles.

Trying to eat more veggies. Wonderful lunch today of eggs over bacon/avocado pieces a touch of green salsa with a huge salad (lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, carrots) dressed with one of my quickly thrown together vinagerettes. It's so quick to make your own dressing out of a good olive oil and vinegar, so I stock several infused oils. Garlic, Lemon, Orange, Italian Herb infused EVOO are kitchen staples, as are several balsamic vinegars (regular, Blackberry, Raspberry, Peach White Balsamic) and a good Red wine vinegar. Today was a combo of garlic and Italian herb oils, red wine vinegar and some fresh garlic and Italian herbs. Yummy. 

Rain shortened yesterday's lunch ride, and it appears most of the riding possibilities for the weekend. Did remember to bring a chamois to work along with some riding clothes...just forgot a sports bra. Was a tad wet for rest of afternoon. Oh well, I'll get this riding over lunch thing nailed soon.

Off now to do some strength training. Feeling good.

Lunch ride...

Wednesday wasn't a lifting day, and I knew Kiddo had another Little League game tying up my after work time. I've accepted I am kidding myself to think I will ever work out after dinner, maybe start throwing in some light yoga. But even that is really that's a fantasy. For several reasons, I've been a bit reluctant to pick back up on the bike commuting. The new commuter bike is not as comfortable as I'd hoped. I still need to do some fit tweaking. I've got concerns about fitness and stamina, if I make the round trip. Most of all, I'm still a bit tentative about the traffic, both in that section of State Street, I've had issues in past, and with all the construction.

Yet, I wanted to ride.

Solved it by throwing XCal on he car, and making it "Bring Your Mountain Bike to Work Day". The Oak Hill, Hoyt and Bubba's Woods trails are close to the office. Hoyt is close enough to bike from the office - via that above mentioned section of State Street. I drove over the tosa and parked by the Oak Leaf. Got in a nice 10 mile spin. A combo ot paved path (Oak Leaf) and dirt a lap and a half of Hoyt. Rode about halfway home on the commute to confirm my path was still open despite the construction.

Not sure when I'll start bike commuting again. Still have to work out the traffic scare demon. But damn it felt good to ride over "lunch". Doing it again today. As I continue to strive for consistency in training, his is a great option when I'm not travelling.

Striving for Consistency vs. Perfection

I have this tendency to let a desire to do things perfectly derail me. It shows up sometimes as procrastination (that old fear of failure thing or even a fear of success), other times as built in excuse to stop doing something or to do things I know I shouldn't. After all, you can't do it perfectly, why bother, right? I think everyone struggles a bit with the later. The old, "I just ate a piece of pizza, might as well eat what I want all weekend and get back on track on Monday" thing. The problem for me is that Monday never comes. Or rather comes and goes and goes and goes....

As I re-commit to training, I have to work on making consistency my focus as opposed to getting lost in a desire for perfection. I saw this already starting to happen this week. I'd combined the desire to start this new program with words from Keifer (www.dangerouslyhardcore.com) about late afternoon being best time to work out. I knew Kiddo had his first Little League baseball game at 5:30. Knew that I'd be pushing it to leave work earlier enough to get him to the field, let alone sneak in a workout before. But yet, I still had myself convinced I had to work out in the afternoon. That if I was going to do this, I must do it perfectly.

Obviously, this wasn't happening, and by Monday evening, I was this close to fuck it, I'll never get this right, why bother. My nicely equipped but lonely home gym would continue unused.

Thankfully, Tuesday was another day. Copies made and posted of the workout and warm-up cue sheets. Daily logs printed. Best of all Week1 Workout A accomplished  It felt good to sweat, to lift some weight. The program is interesting in that warm-up includes foam rolling or other myofascial release moves, static stretches, dynamic activation and mobility work. Looking at the work outs, I think I'm going to like this program. Even if I still always feel like a beached whale trying to roll around on that instrument of torture known as a foam roller. Yes, it does hurt so good.

Bottom line, I know I'm going to continue to struggle with finding the "perfect" time to work out. My schedule is never consistent. I travel frequently. Kiddo's activity schedules change. Stuff comes up. Life gets in the way. But I know I must find that time. Be consistent.

The more things change...the more they remain the same

How freaking perfect...I come back to this blog to start bringing some personal, albeit privately public (that makes absolutely perfect sense to me) accountability to my diet, conditioning and general fitness training, and discover my last post was of the exact thing I planned to write about.

#FAIL

So fast forward 15 months. Crossfit was a hoot. I loved it, even if it did not love me. Supraspinatus tendinitis with impingement. Big words to say I screwed up my shoulder by doing too much too fast with less than perfect form and ignored the pain for far too long. Until I basically could not raise my arm, was heading to frozen shoulder territory. Still have twinges of pain in certain positions. 6 months of physical therapy later, I was released to start crossfit or weight training again, but haven't. Tossed around program idea after program idea, but couldn't settle on one. Knew that my competitive nature combined with tendency to injury made Crossfit perhaps not ideal for me.  Couldn't quite pull the trigger and start. Winter training was a few (very, very few) spin classes, and playtime on the bike at Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park. Yesterday's ride on some real trails showed me how far I need to go to get back in riding shape.

Meanwhile clothes a bit too sung. Feel doughy. Weight feels up, but looking at logs nearly exactly the same as it was when I posted that last blog post. Overall diet is decent, not strict paleo...probably too much its of gluten and grain. Not a ton of alcohol, but a martini or beer at night is too much the norm. Generally only one drink, but more habit than need. Mainly real food, very very limited processed crap. Still stuck not making final weight loss goal, still with a long way to go.

Bottom line is getting in shape. Not about the scale, even if I know for optimal performance and self confidence, I must drop a significant number of pounds. I want to feel strong, re-connect with that athlete in me. Sure there's the looking good, feeling sexy bit. But it's the strong, confident, secure in my skin feeling I miss. That I am determined to bring back.

And so back to this blog. To some of the habits that worked so well. Tracking food. Lifting weights. Only this time I am not going to second guess programs. Waffle around. Tweak a trainers program because I'm some kind of special unicorn. Commit to one program, and do it for the entire 12 weeks. Re-asses after that.

The program I've chosen is 'Strong Curves' by Bret Contreras and Kellie Davis. Love that it is a lower body focus but with a decent amount of upper body. Today is the first workout. Kinda pumped to start....

(ha, see what I did there?)

What's missing from this picture.

Simple answer me. A decently stocked weight section in my semi-finished basement. Plates and benches sitting cold and lonely.

But wait there's more......a whole other section of the basement. A treadmill, a trainer for indoor riding on my bike, room for yoga. A variety of kettlebells (and DVD workouts for them), a set of bowflex dumbells. Chalean Extreme DVDs. 

bv

Bottom line, I have no excuse. No one to blame but myself. A strange inertia had set in about a year ago around conditioning (and eating properly if we're honest). The really sad thing is, I like lifting heavy weights - esp. squats and deadlifts (hate, hate hate bicep/tricep curls). This month's Whole30 has gotten me back on track in food. I feel great. IBS symptoms gone. Tons of energy. getting lots of home de-cluttering done, cooking a ton. But yet, no work outs.

And so I realized I need a structure. Something to force me forward. So I finally took the plunge. Spent the money to sign up for the February on-boarding "Elements" class at a Badger Crossfit, a Crossfit gym close to my office. They are going to work with me around my travel schedule. This is good. January was kick the food choices back in gear. February will be get going on Crossfit, on working out. Having a gym structure is good for me. Knowing I can do a couple classes a week in a structured environment, plus bring a WOD or two home a week.

This is good.

And if I get really motivated I can do some bosu squats.....kidding.