concretecavewoman

Do you do any other forms of exercise? What is your current base level of fitness? The thing about running is that it's a very complex and (for most people) high-impact mechanical process, and generally people who start off fresh running end up injured in the first few weeks to months due to a lack of structural integrity from years of not doing any high-impact and/or serious muscle-building activities. (Note: some people do manage to pull it off and run injury free for years. I envy them ) If you are set on running first, I'd recommend coupling that with a good full-body strength program to strengthen your legs and hips (squats, lunges, deadlifts etc), run no more than 3 days a week, and spend a lot of time walking around in minimal footwear to strengthen your feet.

Here were my challenges for the week, not overly ambitious; I wanted goals that would get me off on the right foot: - Get through 4x200m. I've been stopping at 3 for the last week or so. --> DONE - Do the armstrong pull-up program Thurs/Fri/Sat. --> DONE

Great before and after photos! Totally dig the finishes in your apartment too, love the brick interior.

Oh wow, great to hear! How was the recovery process? When were you able to read again? I don't have any issue with overtly religious companies (protein-style double double from in 'n out, holla!) but when a company goes mucking around in politics they'd better be ready for angry ex-customers and an impact to the bottom line. Btw, totally taking a page from your book and making it an informal goal for this challenge to be way more conscientious about food wasting! Especially after cleaning out the produce drawer this evening...

Challenge Day 7, 6 May 2012 Rest day. Just kicked around the house, did some sprinting, played Rock Band, cooked rest day food for the week as it's easier for to get food from the company cafeteria on workout days. After posting this I'm going to work on a companion cube sweater that I've been muddling with for a few weeks now. Also, just started reading The Heroes and oh em gee, Joe Abercrombie is George RR Martin should have been by book 4 of Song of Ice and Fire. I'm also debating going to a strength coach acquaintance for a couple sessions because I haven't been able to shake a nagging pain in the hip crease when I squat, no matter how many couch stretches I do, and it's resulting in some sub-optimal squat form. Fitness Walked a few miles Sprints 200x4 @ 6’00 - 6’15†Pushups 10 10 10 Pullups w/band 1 1 Chin-ups w/band 1 1 1 1 1 Parallel grip pull-up w/band 1 1 Wide-grip pull-up w/band 1 Food (Rest Day) Lunch: protein shake with 60g whey, 1/3 c coconut milk, two spoons of peanut butter Snack: 1 tbs coconut manna Dinner: 8 oz turkey meatballs and 1.5 c vegetable marinara (zucchini, carrots, broccoli) Macros: 74F (+15), 79C (+29), 136P (-35) Cals: 1480 Ok day, much better than my prior rest days. Also did a bunch of cooking for rest days because I want to wean off of protein powder. Goal Progress Leangains - 5/42 -- On Track with Risk Goal, 7/7 next week Get Faster - 7'35" / 6'40" -- On Track hopefully I can give another shot at 400s tomorrow to get a new time. Be Consistent - 5/36 -- On Track with Risk 5/6 workouts this week, so pretty good but really, 100% is the goal Save Real Good - 625/2300 -- On Track Final pre-op Tuesday.

Challenge Day 6, 5 May 2012 Much better day, food and exercise-wise. I got lots of sleep last night, about 12 hours, which may be my body's way of saying that the consistent lack of sleep over the past few weeks is sub-optimal (gee whiz). Went out for sushi with friends for dinner. I pity the fools who go out with me for sushi. I tend not to eat much fish for environmental reasons, which results in me being "THAT guy" who has to ask 87 questions about the provenance of the fish we're about to consume (is it local? organic? free range? grass-fed? pole caught? montessori-educated?). Actually, it's basically this: http://youtu.be/l2LBICPEK6w Clearly I've been in Seattle too long. But... oh gosh the fish was tasty. Fitness Squat 45/5 65/5 95/5 85/6 75/8 Barbell Lunge 45/5 60/5 55/7 50/8 Barbell Shoulder Press 30/5 40/5 60/5 55/7 50/8 Pushup 7 10 9 Pullup w/band 1 1 1 Chinup w/band 1 1 1 Pulls and chins are definitely feeling stronger. I'm now using a flimsier band. After next week, I'll step down to the flimsiest band I have, and then hopefully make the transition to pure BW. Food (Rest Day) Lunch: 2 scoops whey protein with 1 c frozen strawberries Dinner: Tuna poke salad with mixed greens, wakame, cucumbers, and about 4 oz of sashimi in sesame vinaigrette. About 6 oz chirashi sashimi with tuna, hamachi, salmon, over 1.5 c sushi rice. 2 oz toro. Green tea. Snack: 1 c. cottage cheese, 1 mango, 1 oz dark chocolate Macros: 37F, 175C (-25), 163P Cals: 1730 Goal Progress Leangains - 4/42 -- On track with Risk Get Faster - 7'35" / 6'40" -- On Track Be Consistent - 4/36 -- On track with Risk I need to get in about 3 mi tomorrow and one short sprinting session after. Save Real Good - 625/2300 -- On Track Other: Finished Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson. It was like a mystery. It was also like a work of literature. It was also pretty boring. Next up: some hack and slash take-that-George-R-R-Martin fantasy by Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes.

Challenge Day 5, 4 May 2012 Friday was kind of a cluster, too. Going on 20 contiguous days of work and I think I was just beat. Got home, ate some oatmeal, fell asleep. My strategy for rest days this week is to prepare rest-day-friendly-macro-meals and leave them in the freezer in case I get stuck at work til 8/9pm. Fortunately today is more on the ball. Fitness Armstrong progression, pushups and pullups Food (Rest Day) Lunch: Pork cutlet, 2 c salad with miso dressing, a little ponzu sauce., 1/2 c white rice. Coffee w/2 tbs heavy cream Dinner: oatmeal, a banana, some raisins, way too many squares of dark chocolate Macros: 90F, 200C, 80P FAIL WHALE Cals: 2000 FAIL WHALE Goal Progress Leangains - 3/42 -- On Track with Risk Get Faster - 7'35" / 6'40" -- On Track Be Consistent - 3/36 -- On Track with Risk Save Real Good - 625/2300 -- On Track

Has anyone tried this? Successes? Failures? Edit: Smartphone.

Sadness. They're the best lifting music evar.

Smear the grease under and over chicken skin before roasting the bird. I also throw some in the cavity. I keep my bacon grease in a wide-mouth jar (for safe pouring) next to the stove. Am I the only one who actually likes the big greasy jar of deliciousness out on display? But I think it's also good to render some high quality (read: pastured) leaf lard for non-savory uses or when you don't want something to have a slight bacon note. I'm not sure when that would be.

What is the particular purpose of trying to hit 200g+ a day?

Love it. I have to ask, do you get any funny looks/questions when practicing squats at work? I want to do squat stretches at work, but I wear dresses pretty often (awkward). Really looking forward to seeing the blog when it's released!

Boss macro manipulation. Have you attempted cheesecake mastery yet? Also, are you feeling recovered from food poisoning? (please consider those to be slightly unrelated questions)

Agh. Cramps. Sucks. So how long have you been on the IF wagon?

Your anti-food wasting challenge is great. What is your strategy for this? Also, have you ever seen the documentary, Dive? It's by a Southern Californian filmmaker who becomes a part-time freegan/dumpster diver for all of his food, but what's terrible/tragic is that all he has to do is pick through the bins outside Trader Joe's for an amazing haul of what is clearly fresh food. Not that I'm advocating freeganism (ew, hipsters) but it was very eye-opening about how much food is wasted in america on a daily basis. Last weekend I got busy and ended up forgetting to run to the grocery store, and have instead done two mini-trips rather than one big weekend haul. Cool by-product: no wasted food.

Nooooo! It's funny cause I actually hate shopping (busy stores, obnoxious music, spending money on frivolous things...) but I adore their aesthetic. I had no idea about the whole misogyny angle. Maybe this is what chick-fil-a fans felt like when they found out the company was homophobic.

Challenge Day 4, 3 May 2012 Good day. Got up early, hit the gym, work was a little nutty but still managed spot on macros. It's now been two weeks since I've been back to regular workouts and I'm starting to see improvement. Fitness Deadlift 45/5 65/5 95/5 (warmup) 135/4 120/5 105/7 Improvement of 1 or two reps per weight this week. Hurrah. Sticking with 135 next week and hopefully will hit 5 reps with good posture. Leg Extension 80/10 (warmup) 155/6 140/7 125/11 Big improvement this week. 170 next week Pushups 20 22 20 Chin-ups w/band 1 2 3 2 1 Happy because I used a flimsier band this week but still eked out the same number of reps. Sprints 400m 2:01 (8’00â€) 300m 1:25 (7’35â€) 300m 1:21 (7’14â€) 7’14†used to be my 2mi pace. Oh well. I’ll get back there. Also, a 300m sprint is really just a 400m where you want to puke 3/4 of the way through. Food (Rest Day) Lunch: 2 grilled chicken breasts over 3 c. mixed green salad, 1tsp caesar dressing. 350g steamed sweet potato Snack: 1 hershey's kiss and 1 square dark chocolate Dinner: 10 oz chicken stir-fried with coconut oil, 3c of cabbage, snow peas, carrots, and mushrooms (plus a dash of chinese cooking wine and sesame oil). 1 c low fat cottage cheese, 1 mango, 1/2 c raspberries and some organic-y peppermint patty knock off to top off my carbs for the evening. (was really having to pack in the last few calories) Macros: 38F, 180C (-20), 170P YES! Cals: 1750 Goal Progress Leangains - 3/42 -- On Track Get Faster - 7'35" / 6'40" -- On Track Be Consistent - 3/36 -- On Track with Risk Need to do two more runs and one more lifting session by end of Sunday Save Real Good - 625/2300 -- On Track

Hey, love the chin up goal! Maybe you could try the Armstrong method to get you past the plateau.

Nice job on the food front! It's awful nice how good habits (like healthful eating) encourage other good habits in turn (like fruitful job hunting). Way to go in week 1!

Reading this made my day. Also, this morning I was getting ready for work in the women's locker room (also at work, it's almost always deserted). A woman comes in and compliments the dress I'm wearing and then says "but you're so beautiful you'd make any dress look good!" That was just a cool random act of niceness.

I've been in meetings since 9 this morning. I went and got 12 oz of grilled chicken over salad, and ate it -while- walking between meetings and snarfing rather loudly while in said meetings. All the while, 500g of perfectly steamed sweet potato sat cooling on my desk for four hours. Oh the humanity!!

Getting Faster, no doubt about it. In the 10+ years I've been running there's been almost no time/effort spend on short-to-middle distance speed (long distance pace, sure, but never like, 400m).

My sweet potato drawer also includes a large jar of sea salt for added noms, and pastured butter kept in break room fridge.

THANK U FOR UR SUPORT IN MAH FITNAS END3AVORS!1!!1!!! OMG WTF Ahem, sorry about that. Why thank you! I've seen that film too many times and bought/play all the Rock Band track packs, oh lordy. Hooray! Thanks!

Challenge Day 3, 2 May 2012 So yesterday was a bit of a cluster. The night before I ended up working late, and for me working late = sleeping in til 7 or so, which is too late for me to workout before work. I was all ready to get out of work on time to go home and sprint, when I got called into a late meeting and ended up staying at the office from 8a-8p. By the time I got home I was cranky and hungry and clawing through the pantry, slightly unhinged. So I busted my macros yesterday too. Ok, so next time I won't keep around any "emergency" gluten-free granola. On the plus side I did get to bed at a very reasonable hour (read: granola coma) and ended up waking bright and early for lifts and sprints this morning. Fitness Office jockey. Food (Rest Day) Lunch: 8 oz chicken breast sautéed with a bunch of sundry vegetables. Two tbs peanut sauce. Two squares dark chocolate, a hershey's kiss from the giant vat of hershey's kisses that are kept in the center of the building. Dinner: 1 c of some creepy uber-organic-y gluten-free granola with 1/2 c of goat's milk. Macros: 72F, 148C (+100), 85P (-85) Cals: 1450 (+50) Goal Progress Leangains - 2/42 -- On Track with Risk Get Faster - 8'00 / 6'40" -- On Track Be Consistent - 1/36 -- On Track with Risk Save Real Good - 625/2300 -- On Track