Girls Can Drink Protein, Too!

My first protein shake from my new blender bottle!

Wow - what a week!

I had been feeling a little overwhelmed, so I took Tuesday off work as a total Self Day.  It was so relaxing and restoring that I already picked Self Days for September and October and put them on the calendar at work.  This has been such a good habit for me...a big thank you to Self Magazine for suggesting it!  (My very first Self Day started with my very first CrossFit WOD - pretty sweet.)

Monday - CrossFit Class (Official Start of Paleo)

Jared and I actually started Paleo on Sunday, and I'd been sorta doing Paleo for a few weeks now.  But our box provided these spreadsheets to track what we're eating, along with our sleep, water intake, and whether we worked out.  I'm a spreadsheet nerd so I was stoked!  Although the perfectionist in me thinks some of the formulas are not what they could be...

I started my day at Mercer Island CrossFit, and intended to do the Paleo Baseline Workout.  We'll be doing this twice, once at the beginning of the challenge, and again at the end.  In addition to weighing or testing body fat, our performance in the WOD can give another metric of improvement on Paleo.

We started out with strength:

Strength

3 Power cleans on the minute every minute for 10 minutes
start at ~75% of your 1 RM and increase every 2 rounds

I don't have any fancy photos...because things kinda went south for me on Monday.

My previous one rep max was #80, so I started with #60.  By the 8th round, I had done 2 sets of 3 reps with #80 and felt great!  I went up to #85, but on the 9th round I only did 2 reps and wimped out of trying a third.  I realized that we were almost done and I had only one round left to try and get 3 with the #85.  I did two reps and felt good...and somehow on the third ended up arched over backwards with the bar slamming into my right clavicle and shoulder as I yelled like a banshee from the effort (not from pain).

My back did not feel good and I sat down against the wall, more than a little freaked.  Coach Corey told me he recommended I take the rest of the day off and do the baseline WOD another day.  This seemed wise, since I didn't want to get hurt, and I also didn't want a slow time just cause I was babying my back.

I took it easy for the rest of the day and only did a little walking and a little shoulder stability work.

Paleo went pretty well - lots of prep, but honestly that's not much different from our normal life.

Tuesday - CrossFit Class

Tuesday was my glorious Self Day, and so I got to come in and workout with the hubby while he did his Invictus WOD!  Seriously, not many things in life are more fun than hitting on your husband while doing CrossFit. 

I did a thorough warm-up, spending a little extra time on double-unders.  I think I'm getting close to having them "click"!

Then I did power snatch work (based on the power cleans from the day before) but stopped after 6 rounds to make sure I didn't push it too far.  My back honestly felt good but I didn't think it was worth the risk.

Then I was ready for the Paleo Baseline WOD!

I was stoked because I knew I could RX this one.  My goal was to finish under 10 minutes.

The row went pretty well, as did the squats.  I broke the pushups in half, and then I was facing down my nemesis: wall balls.

I don't know why I struggle so much with these - maybe because I'm short and the target is farther away from me?  Anyhow, I feel like I spent half my time on these!  I kept having to no-rep my self and do them over and over.  Argh.

Next it was on to pullups which are quickly becoming a strong point for me!  I made it through 6 linked, a PR, and it didn't take me too long to finish out.  Hang power cleans and burpees I love...but even speeding through them both unbroken, I still finished at 10:26, almost 30 seconds short of my goal.

I was really excited to use my blender bottle that came on Monday afternoon!  I pre-prepped it by putting two scoops in before I left the house and just added water at the gym.  (Yes, I realize whey protein is not Paleo.  I ordered some egg protein that should arrive soon.)

I did my PT work, five minutes of core, and some mobility.  I got to take a little break before playing racquetball with my dad!

 Wednesday - Rest Day

Thank God.  Slept in and got about 20 minutes of mobility work and yoga in, along with my shoulder stability exercises.  Oh yeah, and good food on this Paleo thing:

Thursday - CrossFit Class

I got up a little earlier than usual and was able to get my PT and core work in before we left for the gym.  Good thing, because our skill work was all core!

My mom was doing her back extensions, and Coach Allison says to me, "Meghan, your mom's such a badass!"  Yup, she is!

Next we were on to the WOD.  I was really intimidated by the power snatches, but decided I would give it a shot anyway. 

It was harder mentally than physically, I think.  My first round was actually the worst - after that, Coach Allison encouraged me to do 5 reps at once for the power snatch, and I did!

I just found Tina's breakup letter with fear - it's a great read if you're like me and struggle with the "I can't do this" mind game.

This is the fifth official day of Paleo...and I'm starting to get kinda tired of it.  I am so not a big meat eater and I'm getting a little meat-ed out.  I do have a fun snack packed for this afternoon...hopefully that'll help...

You tell me: Have you tried Paleo?  Any good tips?  (Or did you hate it?)  Do you have mind games where you talk trash to yourself?  How do you switch to cheering yourself on?