Goodbye March!

 

March Miles. As March comes to a close, I look forward to what April will bring. I am hoping for some sunshine, snow-free sidewalks, and non-frigid temperatures. The FitFluential 100 Miles in March challenge is over and I must admit I am very happy about that. Due to slacking a bit in the earlier part of the month (snow, cold, dark outside, etc.), I really had to cram in higher mileage as the month went on. Unfortunately, I am still waiting on my new running shoes and my old ones are so bad I am limited to walking in them vs. running. Walking is a SLOW way to accomplish 100 miles. I got it done, but I logged some serious time on the treadmill. The few times that I braved the natural elements and went outside, I enjoyed the fresh air. If I had not committed to this challenge, I most likely would have stayed in bed, so it certainly served a purpose.

SBBC Week 2. Week 2 went well for the Spring Bootie Buster Challenge. I racked up some serious activity points and continued to dominate in water consumption. Vegetables still seem to be low on my priority list, so I started today with a big salad topped with chicken and a paleo vinaigrette. It was an odd breakfast choice, but it hit the spot.

Bricks. I don’t know if I will take on any April challenges, but I will be working on those perfect bricks. For 2014, I have completed 37 perfect bricks, which is about a 37% success rate—not so hot! The plan for April is to commit to at least 5-6 per week as I still have 113 to complete by the summer (hopefully early rather than later). This was how I achieved optimal results in 2012, but it is very difficult. Then, the wedding dress was the motivation. Now, I’m not sure other than wanting to look and feel good—which should be strong enough motivators!

Races. I’ve signed up for my first 5K of the season! The Merrimack County Savings Bank RockN’ Race happens in May and is a great team building event. I’ve registered with our White Mountain Crossfit team for a second year and am looking forward to it. I’d like to beat my time from last year 28:69, but I know that will take some training on my part. I may attempt to get back into the track workouts with GSRT on Tuesdays. My struggle with this group is that while very positive and friendly, they are just sooooo fast! I do not enjoy finishing last and each week is humbling. Nonetheless, I cannot improve without adding in some speed training. In 2012, I had a 26:37, but I was coming off half marathon training and an intense crossfit challenge. I am signing up for Pumpkinman Sprint Triathlon in April. I’ve found some workout buddies, and it gives plenty of time to train throughout the summer.

14.5 Recap. The 2014 Crossfit Open has been rough. It would not be fitting for it to end with something less than gruesome. For 14.5 we had to complete a thruster and burpee over bar combination. 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 as fast as possible. The weight requirement for women was 65lbs and I had to drop to 55lbs pretty fast. Due to a scheduling conflict on Saturday (I attended a Whole 30 seminar-very cool!); I had to complete the workout this afternoon. I had some dread about it most of the day as I had already heard the stories from friends, but I made it the WMCF and faced the challenge. The workout took me 21 minutes and it was horrible. But it is done and I can say that I completed the open to the best of my ability. I have some serious areas for improvement and hope to work on those over the spring, summer, and fall.

~Laura

SBBC Challenge: Week 1

Amanda over at Run to the Finish is sponsoring a Spring Booty Buster Challenge. I needed an activity to get back into the swing of things after a LONG winter. After week one, I learned a few things about myself. Vegetables are a test, but I can get the 5 servings in if I prepare them in different ways. I made a stir fry, roasted sweet potato and summer squash, boiled a chicken and vegetable soup, etc. I am envious of my husband who likes plain steamed vegetables. Gross—I can’t do it! I’ll watch him devour a heaping bowl of steamed broccoli with just a little salt and pepper. This must be a gene I did not get. In any case, with a little creativity, I hit the vegetable and fruit goal for six of the seven days.

Water was not something I had to focus on as I have been drinking a gallon of water nearly every day for the past two years. I usually start out my morning with at least 16-32oz of water right when I wake up.

Exercise. I did a much better job last week getting up and walking at the YMCA for the FitFluential MarchMiles and my points for the SBBC Challenge. For the 7 days, I completed at least an hour of exercise. Crossfit took a back seat, except on Saturday for 14.4 (I’ll recap that below). For some reason, I feel I have hit another plateau. When I went running on Friday, my mile average had slowed substantially from the last few years. Nearly the entire run, I wondered if I had peaked around age 30/31 and am now doomed to slowly lose my fitness. I sure hope not! It may require some changes, which are on the horizon, so stay tuned. The exercises included in the SBBC challenge seemed helpful, but I know why I go to crossfit. I need someone to demo and then demand effort from me. If it was up to me, I’d probably sit and veg all day, but I find races and coaches who push me. However, the tracking of the exercise points has motivated me to keep pushing forward over the next few months. I definitely flourish in a specific fitness environment.



14.4 Crossfit Open Recap:

This was another brutal workout. I knew I could get a few points on it, but the sacrifice was the skin on my hand during the toe to bars.

Here was the prescribed workout- 14 minute AMRAP: 60-calorie row 50 toes-to-bars 40 wall-ball shots, 20 / 14 lb. 30 cleans, 135 / 95 lb. 20 muscle-ups

By the end of the 14 minutes I had completed the 60 calorie row and 18 toe to bars. It was something… I think since I could not get any points in Week 2 that I no longer have a ranking. Oh well, I am still getting a workout.

The first real run of spring. On Friday, I took a personal day and used it for an opportunity to get out on the pavement. Oops! My shoes from last season probably should have remained in the closet. I felt every step going up into my knee. I have since ordered a new pair and probably will not try to do five miles for future inaugural runs. I sought out feedback on narrow stability runners but did not get much in response. Therefore, I opted to go with my Asics GT-2000 2A again this season. Hopefully those will arrive soon and I can start hitting the road. I also just purchased some new INOV-8 crosstrainers and I love them!

FFMARCHMILES & 14.2 Recap

If you have been an avid follower of I Tri Training, you might notice a bit of an update to the space. I’ve been working on my social media presence through Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest (I have not yet given in to the requests to rejoin Facebook ). Since it is my fourth year of blogging, I wanted to change it up and hopefully draw in some new followers. I’ve benefitted tremendously from inspirational tweets and photos on Instagram and hope to share that passion with my followers. So, if you are so inclined, please join me in some or all of those forums!

Recently, I was selected to be an I’m Fit Possible Ambassador, which encourages a social fitness community. I am super excited to be a member of this awesome space for dialogue and inspiration! The next addition to my blog will be some race PRs and hopefully a race calendar. I need to commit to some 2014 races ASAP, but I want to choose them carefully so that I can put full effort into a training schedule. Some of the races I am considering are the Big Lake Half Marathon, Cape Cod Half Marathon, Pumpkinman Sprint Triathlon, Smuttynose Half Marathon (to beat last year!), and some local 5Ks. How do you select your races for the year? If you have any fantastic New England recommendations, please share in the comments section.

Finally, here is my recap of the 14.2 Crossfit Open workout. After 14.1, I was thrilled with my standing and the fact that I had even earned some points in my first round of the competition. However, 14.2 quickly humbled me. Workout 14.2 consisted of 3 minute increments for as long as possible of 2 rounds overhead squats @ 65lbs and 10 chest to bars. Each 3 minutes you increased the reps by 2 and went as long as possible. When I read the workout the day before, I knew I was in trouble. I can’t do chest to bars. I don’t know a lot of women who can (but props off to those ladies!), so that was a discouraging element. My friend Erica suggested going for the overhead squats in round 1 to at least get 10 points. Not a bad idea—it gave me some type of goal. When I went to set up for the OHS and snatched the 65lbs up, I knew it was not going to happen. This was not a move I had worked on for the past 20 weeks. Had it been a back squat, bench press, deadlift, or possibly a military press, I might have had a shot. I had to scale before the workout even began which was deflating. Nonetheless, I made it through two rounds of the scaled version (35lbs and banded chest to bars). I made an attempt, but all in all, I was very disappointed with my performance. It was awesome to cheer on some of the other athletes at White Mountain Crossfit because they crushed the workout which helped the team overall. We are currently ranked 186th in the North East region.

To date, I’ve logged 16 miles for the #FFMARCHMILES Challenge, so I’ll need to step it up over the next week to hit that target of 100 miles running or walking by March 31st.

14.1 Recap

When I saw the announcement on Thursday for the 14.1 Crossfit Games workout, I was concerned. 30 double unders seemed doable; however, the 15 power snatches were intimidating. The snatch movement and I are not exactly on the best of terms. Nonetheless, I had registered and committed to the workouts for March.

Prior to the 9am competition workout, I spent some time foam rolling my quads and using the lacrosse ball on my shoulder. With my rotator being a bit off, I wanted to be sure everything was nice and loose. Once I arrived at the gym, I spent about 15 more minutes stretching, rolling, and warming up. The excitement and nerves radiated throughout the group. It was an opportunity to test our skills and catch up with gym buddies we might not see on a daily basis. I chatted with friends and tried to drink in as many demos as possible while warming up.

Due to my discomfort with the snatch movement, I opted to wait a few rounds to participate. It was a ton of fun cheering and watching the athletes in the first two rounds. As my round (3) approached, I became more and more nervous. I stared at that bar (55lbs) with a bit of fear, but knew I could not quit at this point.

Jon started the clock and as the countdown to 10 minutes ticked down, I thought to myself "I don't know what is going to happen, but I have to try." Once I started cranking out the first round of double unders, my confidence picked up a bit. But then, I headed over to the barbell and had thoughts of doubt. Much to my surprise, I completed the first power snatch with no issues! And then a second and a third! They were not easy, but I was actually completing them. After that, the remaining time became a blur. I had to listen for my counter to announce the reps as I moved into a state of complete concentration on movement.

In the end, I completed 3 full rounds of the movements with an additional 20 double unders. The total count for 14.1 was 155 reps! This was so much more than I ever thought I could do going into the workout. There was a fabulous group of ladies (Breanne, Corinne, and Erica) cheering me on, so thanks to them! I know I pushed myself because immediately following the workout, I had extreme abdominal distress, which luckily subsided with enough time for me to cheer on some of the other athletes in round four.

Therefore, I can say that my first crossfit games workout was challenging, inspiring, and memorable. These movements are not things I would have even considered possible 2 years ago, but here I am crushing my goals!

Crossfit Games 2014

2014 marks my first attempt at the Reebok Crossfit Games. I am signed up to participate at White Mountain Crossfit. I have a bit of a shoulder issue as of the past week, but hopefully I can push through and have a fun time throughout the month. Each Saturday, we have the workout on Saturday mornings. It is an opportunity to cheer on some of the amazing athletes at our gym.

Another exciting update for the month of March--I signed up for the Spring Bootie Buster Challenge. I've recently been focusing on more of a social media presence for my blog, so part of that will come with being involved in other events sponsored through fitness blogs. Be sure to follow me, LauraS29 on Twitter and lauraebeaudoin on Instagram.

Whole 30 Days 14-30

Well I survived my 3rd Whole 30 experience! I think this time truly was a charm, as it seemed to be the easiest one. Part of this may have been due to the timing. January is an easy time of the year for me to reset and tighten up on food choices. It is cold and I don't feel compelled to drive to Starbucks for an iced chai latte. With my busy schedule, it was easy to focus on work, school, and the gym. I have no idea how much weight I lost, but since I coincidentally had a physical scheduled for Day 30, I knew where I was by the end. When I saw that number, I was REALLY glad I did not weigh myself at the beginning because I would have been so discouraged. Now I know I still have plenty of work to do, but I've managed to accomplish it in the past and am certain I can be successful again this year.

For the month of January, I had 22 perfect bricks--so awesome! The days that were not perfect were only due to missed AM cardio. I still ate well those days, so I don't consider those to be total wasted days. Nonetheless, 22 was a solid number and if I average this number consistently, I should hit 150 bricks by mid-July. Some of those mornings were very difficult. This past week, I woke up at 4:30AM three days to get to boot camp, and spin classes. With the freezing cold temps, I could have easily remained snuggled in bed, but I gave myself a pep talk each morning and managed to get to the classes. Every time I did, I felt better. It may not have been the desirable action, but I was so pleased once I completed the classes.

At Crossfit, I saw some significant gains by cleaning up my diet. I recently switched back to the whole class programming. The Wendler plan was awesome; however, it was taking too long. One of the reasons I enjoy crossfit is the ability to accomplish a lot in an hour. I'm thrilled I made the switch, as the programming has been challenging and fun. Somehow, I figured out how to do double-unders and banded kipped pull ups. These movements had been evading me for many months, so I am going to attribute these gains to a cleaner diet. Mentally and physically, Whole 30 does the job.

Would I do this again? Absolutely. Did it leave me craving tons of cheat foods and drink? No, not really. I did have some delicious port tonight. However, I'll be happy to return to healthy choices tomorrow. Last year, I was not in the right state of mind to be successful with Whole 30 or clean eating. 2014 is different and I've started it with a solid foundation.

Up next...I signed up for the 2014 Crossfit Games! Also, Melissa Hartwig of Whole 9 is presenting a seminar at CrossfitFree in Salem, NH. I'm signed up and ready to hear her tips for clean eating!

For the 2014 season, I am tossing around ideas of sprint triathlons, half marathons, and some other events. Stay tuned! What is your race plan for 2014? Or fitness/health goals? I'd love to read about your goals in the comments section.

Congrats to my co-workers and gym buddies who successfully met their Whole 30 goals--you are amazing :)

Here are some meals and images from Days 14-30:

Whole 30 Days 1-13

As I anticipated, I've found 2014 to be super busy and therefore a struggle to fit in my blogging. The good news is that I have been busy eating well, completing my fasted cardio, and getting prepped for my college course. I'm thrilled to write that all 14 days of 2014 have been clean eating days and I've had 12 perfect bricks to start out January. Was it hard to get back into? Absolutely. I chose not to celebrate 2014 with champagne so I could begin the new year with a session of fasted cardio. It has been smooth sailing since that evening!

The boot camp class I started at the YMCA in the mornings is great and amps up the energy early. And as always, the Tuesday morning spin class kicks my butt. On days I don't want to go to the gym, I pop in my trusty yoga/pilates/Jillian Michael's shred videos and those wake me right up. I'm actually surprised by how hard some of Jillian's moves are after 2+ years of crossfit. It just shows there are always some muscles that don't get enough attention. I'm still continuing with 3-4 days sessions of crossfit which is always a positive end to my day.

For this round of Whole 30 I did not weigh myself. During Whole 30, some people weigh themselves at the beginning and end (during is discouraged); however, I did not need the scale to tell me what I already knew. I slacked in 2013 and my clothes were tight. Just thirteen days into the program (I started "officially" on 1/2), I already feel the difference. My clothes are looser, my skin is clearer, and my mind is sharper. If that is not proof of the positive effects of clean eating, I'm not sure what other information a person would need. My energy levels have moved around a bit depending on the day, but overall I have more energy because I am sleeping better. Of course early on I had the sugar withdrawal headaches, but made it through with the help of some asprin and tea.

Prepping and cooking for Whole 30 is very time consuming, so that has taken over much of my weekend. This is fine though as I need to stick around home to monitor my online course, add content, and grade submissions. I'm in a routine and as a creature of habit, I am enjoying the routine. It would be nice to have more free time, but I stay out of trouble when I am booked to the brim. I did drop down my pushups reps to focus on quality. I'll continue to add a rep to each set of 5 every week.

Workouts for 2014-

1/1: Fasted AM Jillian Shred & The Method Boot Camp
1/2: Fasted AM Crunch Pilates/Jillian
1/3: Fasted AM Jillian/ Crunch Pilates
1/4: Fasted AM Crunch Pilates & Method Boot Camp
1/5: Fasted AM Crunch Yoga & Jillian Shred
1/6: Fasted AM Boot Camp @ YMCA
1/7: Fasted AM Spin @ YMCA & PM Xfit
1/8: PM Xfit
1/9: Full Rest Day
1/10: Fasted AM Boot Camp @ YMCA & PM Xfit
1/11: Fasted AM Elliptical
1/12: Fasted AM Crunch Pilates & Jillian Shred & Yoga @ Living Yoga
1/13: Fasted AM Boot Camp @ YMCA
1/14: Fasted AM Spin @ YMCA

Here are some images from the first 1/3 of the Whole 30: