cacodaemonia

Hey guys, sorry I've been MIA for so long! I have no excuse for not letting you all know that I'm fine and still working out. I just got bored with the challenge and tired of logging my workouts in three different places, as well as keeping track of doing certain things every day. That said, I've been more active now that I'm not spending as much time on the computer every day. Been doing a lot of Crossfit, trail running, road running, some yoga, and of course walking the dogs and volunteering. I've got a bit of a hamstring injury at the moment, but I'm seeing a doctor about it and have an MRI scheduled for this evening, so I imagine it will clear up soon. I'll be in Salt Lake City June 21-24 for a conference and plan to stop in at one of the local Crossfit boxes on Friday and Saturday. Wish me luck! I miss you guys, but I have to say I'm enjoying spending less time on the computer. I was starting to get a bit obsessive about tracking every little thing and I think I just need a break for a while. I hope you're all doing well! Hugs and kisses through the internet for you! xoxo Okay, off to make some quinoa burgers and roasted veggies!

Hey, I'm finally checking in again. It looks like you're doing really well! Nice job on the plank and handstand.

Woo, nice workout! I hope you have an awesome time for your anniversary.

Wow, you are making such great progress! Seems like I've been gone longer than a week and a half. Your lifts are looking awesome.

Oh, you're starting Crossfit?? Exciting! And what is up with that sweet NF glass? I want.

Conqueration is a fantabulous word. Sorry for being gone for so long. I've missed checking up on you! Anyway, I know what you mean about feeling sucky compared to others. There are so many girls at my Crossfit who can lift waaaay more than me, and it's hard not to compare myself. Obviously, you've got all the intellectual bits in place, so hopefully if you keep thinking logical thoughts and sticking with your program things will work out. What am I saying? You're awesome! You will conquer.

Hey, I'm finally checking in on your thread! Sorry about missing so much, but it looks like you're low on vitamin D? Have you tried adding more mushrooms to your diet? Those have lots of D.

Hey, I'm finally checking in, and it looks like you're doing really well! Awesome job on the freestanding handstand.

Just popping in for a sec. The trail run last night was great! The first half - the uphill part - was really tough, but after that it was just a nice cruise to the end. My right calf is still a little tender, but not too bad. Rest day today. Cleaned the house like whoa because my mom is coming in tonight. I'll be heading to the airport in a bit to pick her up. I hope you guys all have a great week! Even though I haven't been able to keep up, I'm wishing you luck on all your challenges. You guys are awesome. <3 +++ I've only been scaled up two or three times - just with things involving abs/core strength - but it makes me feel so tough. :3 Thanks so much! Haha, thanks! I feel as though it's my civic duty to share her cuteness with the world. Let me know how it goes. I'll probably be trying it tomorrow, assuming I'm able to get to CF. When is your birthday????? The Firefly I'm thinking of is with straight arms: http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2470 Crow/Crane generally has slightly bent arms, but there may be a version of Firefly that does as well. I can't really imagine keeping my arms bent, with the pressure of my legs squeezing my arms together, but I'm sure it's possible. Good point about the shoulder thing. I'm not really sure if I should be rounding my shoulders that much, as this is a newish pose for me. I'll have to research it! Thanks. As for the straight legs thing, dancers and gymnasts do it all the time, so I think it's just a matter of quad strength. Again, it's something else I need to research, as there may be certain exercises or stretches that help with it. Azu's challenge: be awesome. Outcome: she wins. Let me know if you post it! I need to get ma'self on video too.

Monday, May 7 Warmup 400m run 2 x (20 banded good mornings, 15 banded side steps, 5 banded scarecrows, 5 supermans) inch worm w/ pushups samson stretch Back squat 3x5 @ 70% of 2rm 5x35 5x55 5x75 5x95 5x95 5x95 These felt pretty easy. Apparently I squat REALLY deeply, so the coaches were saying I should try squatting over a medicine ball when we do heavier lifts. The depth of mobility is good to have, but for things like heavy back squats it can compromise the spine and make it much harder to get up out of the bottom. Vaughn, one of the coaches, said he wants to video tape me to show me how deep I go, so if I can get the video from him I'll post it here. WOD 8 rounds: 2 wall-and-back sprints (a total of about 60m) 8 kettlebell swings (graduated to 1 pood!) 16 air squats rest 20 seconds Time - 14:00 Since the number of KBS reps was pretty low for this workout, I asked Everett if I should go up to 1 pood (35#) from the 3/4 pood (26#) KB I usually use. He agreed, and I guess because I was able to do all the rounds unbroken I'm not allowed to go back down to 3/4 pood, hehe. Cool down arrested stretch forearm stretch couch stretch 1 minute each leg lacrosse ball on hip flexors Meditated and practiced Firefly. Did fine with sweets. Positive thing: I took a nap. It was glorious. +++ Tuesday May 8 Hiked the White Rock Loop at Red Rock again, this time with Nick and Azu (Storm was at daycare). It's 6.3 miles but I ended up doing maybe another half mile because I had to run and grab a poop bag that we left about 1/4 mile from the beginning of the trail. We didn't want to bring it with us the whole time, so left it behind. Here are some photos! Nick took these last two: Went to the noon Crossfit class. Warmup 2 x (100 single skips, 5 shoot throughs w/ pushups and dips, 15 banded pull-aparts, 10 banded scarecrows) plyos - broad jumps, power skips, inch worm w/ pushups Push Press 3×5 5x35# 5x40 5x45 5x50 5x50 5x50 5x50 (felt fine so I did an extra set to work on form) WOD 800m run 50 Burpee Box Jumps 800m run EXCEPT my calves were sore from the hike so Everett had me do this instead: 800m row Pushup/Situp Ladder: 10/20, 9/18, 8/16, etc. down to 1/2. 800m row That SUCKED. I hate rowing. But at least I didn't stress my calves any more. Finished in 15:20, I think. Meditated and practiced Firefly pose. Did fine with sweets. Positive thing: Nick made the most delicious "Boston Creme" dessert: cashew cream with cocoa powder, vanilla, agave nectar, and stevia. Nom. +++ Wednesday, May 9 Warmup 2 x (100 single skips, wall-and-back jog, 20 banded good mornings, 10 banded scarecrows, 5 ball slams, down dog, cobra) Power Clean Technique Worked on this for about 15 minutes, first with PVC pipes but mostly with empty barbells. My hands and forearms got really fatigued from holding the bar in a hook grip for so long! All the form practice clearly helped, though, as I was able to add 10# to my hang power clean! Last time I tried 75 I failed, so my PR was 70, but I was able to do 80 several times today! WOD 10 rounds: 3 Hang Power Cleans* 15 Sit-ups** Rest :20 b/w rounds. Time - 13:25 *I did the first 2 reps with 80# (PR) but couldn't get it up after that so switched to 75# for the rest of the WOD. **Scaled up: 7 Evil Wheels instead of sit-ups. Woo, I got scaled up! My abs are KILLING me after two days of abuse. Cool down 200m walk psoas stretch on bench lacrosse ball on lats and traps foam roll Very short walk with the dogs - .9 miles. Meditated and practiced Firefly pose. Did fine with sweets. Positive thing: We went to the Erotic Heritage Museum, which was really interesting! Got to see lots of naked people and penises made out of pennies and such. +++ Thursday, May 10 Walked the dogs 3.1 miles. Still have to meditate and practice Firefly, but I'm good on the sweets. Normally Thirsdays are my rest days, but some people from a Meetup group of which I'm a member are doing a trail run on the White Rock Loop I hiked the other day. I'm a little concerned about how my calves will feel after such a long trail run, but I'll make sure to stretch and ice them afterward. Wish me luck!

Friday, May 4 Warmup 200m run forward, 200m run backward 2 x (20 banded good mornings, 15 banded side steps, 5 banded scarecrows, 10 hollow rocks, 10 bar kip swings) plyos WOD Max Rounds in 3:00 of: *Rounds 1, 3, and 5: 5 Thrusters (60# for me) 7 Pull-ups Wall-and-Back Sprints **Rounds 2 and 4: 25 HR Push-ups 25 In and Outs (15#) Max Double Unders in remaining time (I did single skips) ***Rest for 1:00 b/w rounds. This was tough! For round 1 I got 2 full cycles plus 4 thrusters. Round 2 = 51 single skips. Round 3 = 2 full cycles. Round 4 = only 6 single skips! Round 5 = 2 full cycles. Cool down 200m walk banded pigeon stretch banded sampson stretch psoas stretch on bencg lacrosse ball as needed I was looking through the Fitocracy quests and "Wax On, Wax Off" made me miss kung fu. I haven't practiced it in years so I looked up some basic stance videos to refresh my memory. Now I miss it even more! Practiced for about 34 minutes. Meditated and practiced Firefly pose. Did fine with sweets. Positive thing: Whoops, forgot! +++ Saturday, May 5 Hiked the Icebox Canyon trail at Red Rock with Azu and some friends. It's quite a short hike, distance-wise, but it was very strenuous. You spend about 3/4 of the hike scrambling over rocks and boulders, and there several sections where you have to climb over some pretty big rocks. It was challenging getting Azu up and down some of these; hands are very useful, so she had some trouble. I didn't want to chance hauling her over the last couple big scrambles, so she and I waited for everyone else about 500-1000 feet from the end of the trail. On the way back we missed the trail leading out of the wash so had to backtrack then climb up a very deep, unstable hillside. Everyone survived though! I had to do a lot of driving on Saturday, so my back was killing me by the end of the day. I did about 15 minutes of yoga and lacrosse-ball-rolling, and it was all better! I also did 10 pushups and 20 kneeling pushups to get some extra points on Fitocracy. Meditated and practiced Firefly pose. Had a bunch of vegan cookies at the Nevada Political Action for Animals meeting I attended. I should have packed a snack but was running late. Still, I limited the sweets to one "meal", hehe. Positive thing: My dogs are just awesome. I love them so much and was struck by that today while meditating. Azu was a champ on the hike even though the scrambling was really hard. And Storm was a very good boy at daycare. +++ Sunday, May 6 I was so busy last week that I completely forgot about getting in 7 miles of running by the end of the week. Plus, I needed to time my half-mile for the Ranger mini quest. My GPS was acting up, so it's not exact, but I ran about 5.2 miles in 48 minutes. I had to stop a lot to let Azu pee and poo, and for traffic lights. After that I timed my half-mile. Obviously doing so after a long run wasn't the best time to do it, but I didn't really have a choice. I finished .5 miles in 3:41, which works out to a 7:22 mile. My best to date is 7:05, so I need to work on getting below 7! After that I headed to Crossif and taught yoga for an hour. Azu helped: Meditated and practiced Firefly pose. Did fine with sweets. Positive thing: Felt good about getting my 7 miles in for the week. The run was tiring, but I did it!

Hey guys! Sorry I've been MIA! I'm dying to catch up on all your threads and blogs. Just been busy with non-internet stuff: volunteering at Vegas Veg events, hanging out with Nick, hiking, and getting ready for my mom to visit. She'll be flying in late tomorrow night and staying for a week, so I don't imagine I'll have too much time to post then, either. Talk about NF withdrawal! Anyway, thanks for all your love (hugs and kisses all around), and here comes an update bomb. +++ Yeah, sheets are easier to clean than the couches, so I just leave sheets over them and wash the former about once a week.

'Tis true. :> +++ Meditated. One positive thing about my day: I walked the dogs over to Starbucks and sat outside with them for a couple hours while I read National Geographic. Practiced firefly, though I realized I forgot to do so yesterday! D: Had some chocolate chips in the banana "ice cream" I made for dessert. So that was my one allowed "sweet." I'll post my workout tomorrow, since I'm heading to bed soon.

Damn, nice squat workout! I'm glad you posted the link to this on your blog so now I can follow you here.