On the rails, but recovered well... Days 23-25

Not sure how to record what I ate on Thursday, but the quickest way would probably to say that I ate pretty much anything I came into contact with. Sorry if this includes you - I don't actually remember trying to eat anyone, but if I got a bit Luis Suarez on your ass, or any other part of you, then I apologise. It's not my fault you're made of meat...

Just not waaaaaaay too much!!

In my defence, I didn't go beyond the realms of acceptable foods from the challenge food list. But if it was on the list, I probably ate it. Twice. Also in my defence, and to reflect what Laura said in her blog yesterday, if you're gonna go nuts (or bananas - choose your favourite paleo-madness pun) and eat loads, there are far worse choices you can make than fruit, meat, eggs, more fruit, veg, nuts, more meat and even more fruit.

It serves me right, I guess, for getting a bit cocky and talking about feeling in control in my last blog entry. A little bit of a reality check that one of those days can be just around the corner pretty much anytime and when you're least expecting it. And it shows that control is relative - my binge day was another persons healthy day.... Actually, it would still have been a really healthy day for me in another month. 

Full control was regained on Friday, when I didn't feel hungry at all and Saturday has been good, despite being out and about all day.

Thursday Food. (An approximation - I may have missed some stuff)
8:00am, breakfast: 3 eggs, scrambled. Some cashew butter. Espresso with almond/coconut milk
9:30am, snack: 2 satsuma's and about 30g of mixed nuts (brazil, walnut, cashew, almond) and dried coconut
11:00am:, another snack: 5 (yes, 5!) small plums.
1:00pm, lunch: Crossfit Leeds Burger at Zed.
3:30pm, snack: A banana and another 30g of my nuts and coconut
5:30pm, pre-Fab Abs: protein shake, a banana and some cashew butter
7:45pm, snack-in-the-car-on-the-way-home-from-Waitrose: Some cooked jumbo king prawns
8:15pm, er... Starter?: A small piece of thin cut veal, pan-fried, and a fried egg
9:00pm, dinner: Sliced beef (from a joint I had just cooked) with roast veg, salad leaves, loads of olives, sun-dried tomatoes and hot cherry peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, wilted spinach, horseradish, mustard.
9:30pm, dessert: Strawberries.

Wowzers!! I think that's it...

Thursday training: Ferino's Fab Abs at 6pm.


Friday Food
11:00am, snack: 2 satsumas
2:30pm, lunch: sliced beef with some roast veg, salad leaves, tomatoes, peppers and a few olives and hot cherry peppers.
5:30pm, pre-training: 1/2 serving protein shake
7:15pm, post-training: protein shake (full dose)
8:00pm: ?: a couple of teaspoons of cashew butter

Friday Training
6pm CrossFit Class
Power clean and push jerk tekkers and try for a 1RM. I was a bit disappointed with this, as I only made it up to 70kg, which felt fairly easy and I did a couple of times, but failed at 80 (after a hideous clean attempt) and ran out of time before trying 75, so didn't even get to equal my best power clean or push jerk, which are both 75.
Today's WOD was 5 rounds of 7 HPC's and 15 wall balls. Rx weight for the HPC's was 70kg, which I thought was a bit much for me, and I decided to go at 55kg. Absolutely smashed this, putting in a time of 5:53, best time of the day I think, so should probably have gone a bit heavier. Might have to try it in an open gym session with 70kg, see how I get on.

Saturday Food
8:30am, breakfast: 3 egg omlette with 3 rashers bacon, mushroom & spring onion. Espresso with almond/coconut milk
11:30am, snack: An apple
12:30pm, lunch: Roast beef (cold) with salad leaves, tomatoes, spring onion, some olives and hot cherry peppers and a 2 egg scramlette (half scrambled, half omlette!). Followed by 2 plums.
2:30pm, snack: A satsuma.
8:00pm, dinner: A very large sirloin steak, swede mash (just swede with a little coconut oil), salad leaves, 1/2 avacado, tomato a little wilted spinach and a fried egg!


6 eggs today. A PB!

No training for me today.

Between breakfast and lunch I went to HG3 with the Masters team for the Dominance WOD. I was the non-wodding member again this month, as my pull-ups aren't up to scratch yet. Wully, Ferino and Mick put in an awesome team performance.

Between lunch and dinner I went to Old Trafford to watch my struggling team come from behind to beat Stoke 3-2. Decent 2nd half performance and some good substitutions (can taking Nani off ever be a bad thing?!) and a scintillating last 20 minutes contributing to a fab Saturday!

Result!! Much needed...

Cruise Control - Days 21 & 22

Tuesday


Really good day today, despite picking up another BLACK MARK for sleep... Feel like the strict clean eating feels more like the norm now. At work, the lovely folks at the regional Stammering Support Service were having an open morning with  a big cake stall raising some funds. I politely declined the cakes and was only too happy to explain why when asked. It wasn't remotely difficult to resist. Also had a pretty productive meeting in the afternoon that, on paper, looked like it could have been a 3 hour living nightmare. Although actually I hadn't read the memo that the agenda had changed and was told when I arrived, which did feel like being hit in the face with a sledgehammer for a while!!

Training was great today, too, with a morning CF class and a Barbell Club Pure Strength session in the evening, which was the most funny training session I've had (in a 'laughing through your own pain and that of others' type way). A brutal shoulder session with the MASSIVE Hendo!!

Tuesday Food

8:00am, post-workout: Protein shake
8:30am, breakfast: 3 eggs, scrambled with 1tsp coconut oil. Espresso with coconut/almond milk
1:00pm, lunch: Roast chicken, spinach leaves, tomato, cucumber, 1/2 avocado, dressing was olive oil, sesame oil, chilli and balsamic.
2:00 to 5:00pm: Grazed on 50g of mixed nuts and dried coconut that I remembered to take to work. And a an instant coffee to keep me awake through a long afternoon meeting. I felt dirty drinking this...
7:00pm: A banana, 2 satsumas and a plum.
9:00pm, post workout: Protein shake
9:40pm, late dinner: A piece of  white fish baked with tomato and herbs. A very light dinner.

Tuesday Training:

7am CrossFit class: Handstand practice. Holds and HSPU's. Managed 2 HSPU's a couple of times. Tried kipping and managed a set of 3 unbroken. Slowly progressing. WOD was a blast - 2 rounds for reps, 1 min on, 30s rest: box jumps, v-sits, row (cals), press-ups. All Rx'd (surprised myself on the v-sits). 186 reps.
8pm Barbell Club Pure Strength: CRAZY!!! This is basically a chance for Big Sam to get a few people together and have a laugh at how much pain they're in. Underneath it all, there's a MASSIVE SADIST in there!! But it was good fun...
Shoulder press 3x3, then drop sets for max reps. Started at 55kg, worked down thru' 50, 45, 40, 30, 20. Only took 8 reps with an empty bar to reach failure. Funny as!
Pull-ups 3x3, 1 x max. Red band and max was also 3!
Not sure what the next 2 were called, but 2x16kg KB's for each exercise. Supersetted, 3 rounds
1: laying face down on an elevated bench, row type pulls, holding at the top with shoulder blades bleeding squeezed together for a couple of seconds, then KB's lowered slowly.
2: Like a bench press with KB's, only lying on the floor, keeping elbows narrow.
Then we did 3 rounds of max holds: Handstand, pull-up, hollow body.
Great class...


Wednesday (Partner WODnesday!!)

I worked from home today, which makes my eating a little different as I'm less confined to particular times when I can eat, particularly in the morning. I'm often not hungry in the morning, particularly if I've not done a 7am session at the box. So, no breakfast, but a brunchy panlette type concoction, only instead of blending the egg and banana, I just smashed the banana up with my fingers and dropped it into the egg and gave it a bit of a mix with a fork. Working from home also makes it easier to flex my day around a lunchtime workout!!

Wednesday Food
8:45am: espresso with coconut/almond milk
11am, brunch: As above (3 eggs, 1tsp coconut oil, 1 banana). Pour over coffee (V60 method, for anyone interested!)
1:15pm, post-workout: protein shake
3:00pm, late lunch: Broccoli soup (homemade), roast veg, roast chicken.
5:00pm, snacks: Some more roast chicken (picked the last off the carcass), some melon. V60 coffee.
7:00pm, dinner: Smoked peppered mackerel, wilted spinach, salad leaves, tomato, cucumber, spring onion, beetroot, 2 fried eggs. Some more melon and 8 grapes!
8:00pm: Coffee (V60).

Wednesday Training - 12pm CrossFit Class
Great warm up inc. tiggy scarecrows!!
Shoulder press 4x3; Pull-ups 4x3
Pressed 2 sets at 55kg, but needed to drop this to 50 for the other 2!
Pull-ups done with a thin purple band. Getting better.
Partner WOD: 15 min AMRAP, alt rounds:
7 KB swings; 7 KB push press
7 ring rows; 15m broad jumps
I used the Rx weight 2x20kg and worked with fellow 30 dayer Tom Outterside. We completed 14 rounds and 3 KB swings. Happy with this, particularly with completing all my KB work Rx and unbroken, despite all the shoulder work in the previous 16 hours!!

Day 20!

Just a quick update today, with some training analysis. 

Food.

10:30am: espresso with almond / coconut milk

12:30pm, lunch: 3 eggs scrambled with 1tsp coconut oil and a big teaspoon of almond butter. I wouldn't bother with the almond butter again, it added nothing to the experience!! Also had a banana, a satsuma and a plum. 

4:30pm, snack: a Chinese pear and a satsuma

6:00pm, tea: Grilled chicken, 1/2 sweet potato, some romanesco cauliflower, 1/2 avocado, spinach leaves, tomato.

6:40pm: espresso with alm/c'nut milk

9:00, post-training: protein shake. 

Training

7:00pm: attended CrossFit class for warm up and squats

Back squat 5x5. Warm up: 10x20lkg, 5x60kg

Working sets: 87.5, 100, 87.5, 87.5, 87.5kg. The set at 100kg felt like it was pulling me forward so decided to stick at a lighter weight and look for perfect form. Don't quite think I achieved perfection!

9:00pm, Leeds Barbell Club - weightlifting. Work on Split Jerks. Managed to work upto 70kg, ensuring I hit one good rep at each weight before moving up, but there were a few ugly ones on the mix!! Finished with an 8min EMOM: 1 hang clean 2 split jerks. Went for good form again, working 6 at 40kg and finishing with 2 at 50kg.

Key learning: getting a good start position which helps me push my knees out, rather than forward, on the dip. 

Things I Miss, Not Drinking and A Healthy Fridge!

Coming home from town yesterday we once again drove straight past Further North, my favourite little bar. Ordinarily, I'd have suggested to Donna that we stop (it's always me that makes the suggestion!) and I'd have a beer of some description and Donna would have a gin and tonic. I didn't say anything as we drove past yesterday. Donna asked if I was missing beer and this led to talking about the things I miss now, nearly 3 weeks into the challenge.

At first, I was missing load of stuff, mainly sweet stuff. But now, 3 weeks in, the 'craving' for anything sweet has gone and it's easier to see the things that are more important to me. After a while I decided that beer and cheese were at the top of the list, followed by milk to make a decent coffee!* Guess what will be at the front of my 're-introducing' schedule come November!!

So beer dodging ended up being a bit of a theme, as on Friday night I was out at the dog races at Kinsley on a leaving do for one of my team members. Couldn't use the driving excuse, as we all got a minibus together! I ate before we went, although the ticket included food. I had no idea what the food would be, so didn't take any chances! Had 2 pints of soda water (and did get to eat some chicken, too), so job done. Out at a friends on Saturday night, again, I stuck to water - treated myself by taking over a proper glass bottle of San Pellegrino!! The company was really good and not drinking didn't spoil the craic at all, so nothing lost really, and we didn't need to pay for a taxi!

Healthy Fridge!

Yesterday's  food was difficult to get right, too. The morning was easy enough, but a squash match at 6pm and getting over to a friend's in Horsforth  by  7:30 / 8pm made time tight and timings tricky.... Ended up having a late lunch / early dinner, then nothing for hours and hours,  leaving me feeling very hungry before Hill Sprints this morning. A late night also meant I was in no mood to get up early, leaving a  tough decision: have nothing before Hills and risk running on empty or have something and risk seeing it again...

One thing that has certainly changed over the 19 days of the challenge so far is the inside of our fridge! Donna remarked the other day that it was the healthy looking fridge she's ever seen!!

OK, I admit it - I'm a coffee snob...

*Regarding Coffee
I normally drink an espresso based coffee with smaller amounts milk, such as a piccolo or a flat white. I'm passionate about good coffee and have a decent enough set up at home to make something I'm very happy with and that only a few indie coffee shops can match or better. I've just been having espresso at home and either espresso or a brewed coffee (such as a V60 or Aeropress) when out. I don't drink coffee at work, as it's shit. I've experimented with different milk substitutes over the last 3 weeks and have now found that mixing 50/50 almond milk and coconut milk is just about acceptable!! I can't wait to try some organic raw milk next month...


Friday Training: 7am CrossFit class.
Deadlift 6x3:
Warm ups:  5x60, 3x100; Working sets: 120, 120, 130, 130, 130, 130kg
21-15-9:  Box jumps (24", step downs), OH lunge (20kg), press ups.
6m38s, Rx'd. Slowed down by my press ups.

Friday Food
8:00am, post-training shake (tried the Omni-MX leancore today, only 1/2 serving, though - don't think I'd order this as the carb and calorie levels scare me!)
8:30am, breakfast: Omlette with 3 eggs, 2 rashers, mushroom. Coffee: piccolo with almond and coconut milk mix.
1:15pm, lunch: very small piece of grilled chicken, half a sweet potato. A satsuma.
5:00pm, dinner: Thai Green Curry & Cauli rice (leftover from earlier in the week, with chicken, pork, etc)
8:00pm, snack: A chicken leg quarter which had a mexican rub.
Other snacks: A banana, a satsuma, 2 plums.


Saturday Training: 10am CrossFit Class - roll the dice special!
Too complicated to explain!!
6:00pm Squash match. Win. Straightforward.

Saturday Food
9:30, pre-training: Protein shake (IDW)
11:10, post training: Protein shake (tried the Whey Plus ripped core again, to make sure liking strawberry flavour wasn't a fluke - it wasn't and I'll be ordering this one).
1:30pm, fruit flurry: banana, plum, satsuma
3:00pm, snack: A few coconut pieces
4:00pm, main meal: Sirloin steak, 2 fried eggs (coconut oil, obvs), 1/2  avocado, 1/2 sweet potato, tomato, salad leaves. This was very, very good.
8:00pm, snack: satsuma.
1:00am, A piece of hot-smoked salmon and a plum (I was really hungry!).


Sunday Training: Hill Sprints with Spirit Master Wully Bully.

Massive Omlette

I had some issues with this today. As I'd not eaten much in the preceeding 16 or 17 hours, I woke up pretty hungry, but with little time before starting to run. I opted for a beefed up (or rather banana'd up) shake. I don't think it worked fast enough and I ended up with wobbly legs at one stage and had to have a little break and miss one run. Not too bad, but not brilliant.

Sunday Food
8:40am, pre-hills: Protein shake (IDW) with a banana and an egg blended in.
1:00pm, brunch?: A MASSIVE OMLETTE: 4 eggs, 4 rasher, mushroom, 1/2 red onion, a piece of hot smoked salmon (sliced), 1/2 a courgette (fine sliced), cherry tomatoes, spinach (hat tip to Hendo!)
Tonight I'll be having
7:00pm, dinner: Roast chicken (leg qtr), butternut squash, romanesco cauliflower, 1/2 sweet potato.
And some fruit (I'll edit later to insert!).


Black Marks
2 more, both for sleep - Thursday and Saturday nights.

Days 15 & 16: Halfway through!!

A regular paleo lady. Apparently.

Halfway point reached and overall I'm pretty pleased with things.  Certainly pleased with the way I've managed to stick to things and stay clean in my eating. Really pleased with the way it's making me be more organised so that I have decent food around when I need it, rather  than grabbing something 'dirty' because it's quick and easy (like a crappy sandwich)!

Still need to learn a bit more about how to get things right at key times regarding exercise. Losing at squash yesterday after turning a poor start around was pretty painful - can't remember the last time I got a stitch while playing and squash is too fast a game to have enough time to deal with it. Need to be even more organised here and be ready to eat well in advance of a match.

However, I really cant complain in terms of performance in the gym. My pull-ups have really come on (it can't hurt being a few pounds lighter!), getting my first unassisted and using ever thinner bands to hit more reps. And this week, without specifically trying to max out, I hit a new front squat best for 5 reps which was beyond the 3RM I set last month. I PB'd on the Henderson Complex and today I hit a new push press 5RM. Good stuff!

Above all, though, I've been feeling pretty good this week. I been a bit more sensible with my training, dropping the gym on Tuesday when I had a squash match and no doubling up this week. I feel more tired, as in needing sleep, than I normally do, but I'm getting decent sleep which  is a positive thing as normally I tend to survive on the minimum I can get away with. Not feeling physically exhausted, so I may even manage a Saturday sickener for the first time in a while this week!

Weds food
Having said all the above, I wasn't very organised after I got up late on Wednesday!
8:30am, Breakfast: 1/4 Galia melon, a satsuma, espresso.
11:30am, pre-training snack: 1/4 Galia melon, a satsuma.
1:45pm, post-training: protein shake
3:00pm, snack: Dried coconut pieces, satsuma
7:00pm, dinner: Thai green curry with chicken breast, lean pork strips, Spinach and broccoli

The coconut pieces were part of an order from MyProtein which arrived at work this afternoon like a gift from the gods, along with almond butter and coconut oil.

Training - Partner WODnesday!
Push Press 4x5 @ 50, 52.5, 56 & 60kg
Pull ups, max x 4: Used thin red band: 7, 8, 7, 6

Partner WOD with Giles
15min AMRAP, alt rounds
15 Wall Balls (10kg / 10')
10 KB swings (32kg)
5 burpees
Score, 9rnds+8swings (5rnds for me). We both Rx'd this workout and were pleased with our score.

Breakfasty awesomeness

Thursday Food
8:30am, breakfast: 3 egg omlette with 3 rashers bacon and a large flat mushroom, plus a tomato and half an avocado. with a bit of chilli sauce. It was awesome (see picture).
1:30pm, lunch: roast chicken breast (cold) with salad leaves, a large tomato, half an avocado, a few olives, 6 anchovy fillets, capers, cucumber.
4:00pm, snack: a few dried coconut pieces.
4:45pm: pre-training: protein shake
7:10pm, post-training: protein shake*
8:00pm, dinner: (all cold) Grilled chicken breast, roast veg (courgette, aubergine, pepper, red onion, leek, chilli) a tomato, cucumber, a few olives.

* I wouldn't ordinarily have had this, but there were samples of some Sci-Mx stuff I wanted to try (tonight's was Whey Plus RippedCore) in flavours I wouldn't normally go for (this was strawberry). It was lovely. However, I'm not yet ripped.

Training: Ferino's Fab Abs!
This was my third week of trying out Ferino's camply named pain-fest and I've got to say I'm loving it!

Monday and Tuesday. A tweak. Or two...

Had a chat with Mike, and also with the always insightful Mel Gee during the morning session at the box, about my recovery issues and my difficult weekend, challenge wise. Happy to take some advice on-board, so tweak one will be to introduce a little more carbohydrate into my diet this week. I think this will be largely in the form of fruit (maybe a bit more banana) and a bit more sweet potato. And this may even be outside of training windows. But not too much. I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Bradders, our resident Sweet Patato Policeman!! So that's one tweak.

Monday Food

9:00am, Breakfast: Tried the famous banana 'panlette' (2 eggs, 1 banana, 1tsp coconut oil). Espresso.

11:45, snack: An apple

12:45pm, Lunch: Roast chicken breast with salad leaves, tomatoes, a few olives and roast veg (chicken and roast veg leftover from yesterday's dinner).

5:00pm, snack: Protein shake

7:00pm, dinner: Thai green curry and cauliflower rice (this was the last of the TGC & CR I made last week)

8:00pm, not-sure-what-this-is-called: A small apple and two plums.

Training

Front Squat 3x5

Warm up: 8 x 20, 5 x 60kg

Working sets: 80, 90, 95kg (PB). Felt good. Last rep at 90 and last couple at 95 were hard, as they should be.

The Henderson Complex:

Without grounding the bar, perform the following...

5 x Deadlift

4 x HPC

3 x Front squat

2 x Thruster

1 x Push press

Warm up: 20kg, 50kg

Good attempts: 60kg, 67.5kg (PB - Prev: 65kg)

Failed attempt: 72.5kg

On this last failed attempt, on the 3rd front squat, I felt a little something in my back on the left side. I failed on the first thruster. I didn't mention the little something, which was silly. I sometimes think that if I ignore something, it hasn't really happened. Yeah... I know! What I should have done was just put the bar down. I don't think trying the thruster caused any more damage, fortunately, but I can feel it today (Tuesday)! That's the second tweak..!!

Tuesday Food

10:30am, 'Breakfast-ish': Protein shake with 2 eggs, a banana and some cinnamon and nutmeg. I blended the eggs and banana with some water and the cinnnamon and nutmeg at home this morning, decanted into a water botle, then mixed this with the protein powder just before drinking at work.

1:30pm, lunch: 2 pork burgers with salad and lots of tomatoes.

5:00pm, snack: Some nuts

5:30pm, another snack!: 1/4 Galia melon

6:45pm, dinner: Stir fry beef and vegetables

7:45pm, pre-squash: banana, coconut water

10:00pm, post-squash: 1/4 Galia melon

Training

No CrossFit training today because of the back tweak yesterday, but I still played squash for the team. I lost tonight and annoyingly it was a game I thinks should have won. Could have played better and was coming back well after losing the first 2 games, until I got a stitch in the 4th game. I know this is purely because of the food I ate beforehand. I don't normally eat before playing, so my pre-squash nutrition strategy needs a rethink! Think I overdid it tonight, food wise.

Weekend Catch-Up: Achey Saturday and Struggle Sunday.

This weekend was hard.

It was hard in several ways. I was missing a weekend 'treat' of some sort. It felt as though there was a little less to look forward to. I don't think I ask for much. An hour or two in Further North with a couple of pints. Maybe bit of cafe lounging, couple of flat whites... maybe a little piece of cake.

Nothing like that this weekend. Somehow, whatever I could conjure up meal-wise was never quite gonna hit that spot.

And then there was the aching. A chronic, cumulative tiredness that had crept up over a number of days. More achey each day, not quite recovering from training as well as usual. I slept loads on Friday night, but ached all day on Saturday. I slept loads on Saturday night. I skipped training for a rest day on Saturday, but still ached on Sunday morning. I know that sometimes a bit of activity can ease things off nicely, but I was feeling way too broken for Hill Sprints. So I rested again on Sunday.

So, no training, but hard in other ways.


Saturday Food
Super Recovery Shake: Protein powder (chocolate flavour), a banana, 1/2 an avocado, a raw egg, almond milk.
Late Breakfast: 4 rashers bacon, two eggs (double yolkers!!), grilled mushroom, tomatoes.
Afternoon FruitFest: 2 apples, 2 plums, a satsuma, a fig.
Dinner: A very large, very rare sirloin steak, a couple of sweet potato wedges and a little baked sweet potato, rocket leaves and roasted veg (courgette, aubergine, peppers, tomatoes, red onion)
Later: Another protein shake with a banana and almond milk and a raw egg.

Sunday Food
Late Breakfast: Plain omlette (3 eggs).
In Leeds Centre: A coffee (aeropress from La Bottega Milanese - nice, but was a little overbrewed). 
Then I got hungry / desperate and ended up in Holland and Barrett's looking at treats. I came out with a Nak'd bar and 2 9Bar things. On reflection, the Nak'd bar was ok. The 9Bars, with their honey and 'raw palm sugar' and vegetable oil (and one with a carob topping!) were mistakes. Regardless, by the time I went to bed I'd eaten all 3.
Dinner: We roasted a chicken for a later Sunday dinner. I had a leg, a wing and a shit load of the bad stuff that crisped up a treat on the bottom. And some crispy skin. I had this with roasted veg (very similar to last night's) and some steamed broccoli. It was dee-lish... 

I've given myself 2 black marks for the 2 9bars and another for having 2 consecutive rest days. That's now 7 in total....

Choosing sleep over blogging!! A 4 day catch up...

Soooo..... Long time no see!!

It's been a pretty busy week for me and the only time I've really had to update the blog has been late evenings. And I've been tired - far more tired than usual. So face with the choice of sitting and diligently writing my blog or climbing the wooden hill and getting my head down.... SLEEP WINS!!

Here my food and training for the last few days...

Tues 8th (day 7).

Less good sleep. 6 hours. Black mark.

6:30am, pre-training: 1/4 cantaloupe melon, espresso.
8:30am, post-training breakfast: 3 egg omelette, tortilla style, containing 1/2 baked potato, 1/2 red onion, 1 lge flat mushroom, 1 tomato, a chilli and smoked paprika. SO good!!
10:30am, snack: Apple
1:00pm, lunch: Salad with leaves, tomato, cucumber, spring onion, a small avocado, a thick slice of beef and 1/2 a chicken breast. Dressed with olive oil.
5:00pm, snack: 1/4 cantaloupe. Espresso.
6:30pm, pre-squash match dinner: A large piece of smoked haddock, baked with 1/2 a tin of tomatoes and lots of fresh herbs, 1/2 sweet potato, cauliflower rice. I couldn't eat all of this, so kept some for later...
9:30pm, post-squash match something: what I didn't eat at 6:30 with another 1/2 of a sweet potato.

7am CrossFit class: Rope climbs and handstand / HSPU practice. 12 min AMRAP: 10 box jumps, 10 reverse crunches, 10 burpees, 10 sit ups. Score: 4 rnds + 5 burpees. Tough one for me, all body weight stuff. I'm putting more core work in at the moment though, so the rev crunches and sit ups fitted well with that.
During the class, I did a few pull ups with a red band, which felt good, despite the red band feeling like nothing. So after the class I tried some unassisted and got one out. Then another. Then two more. Not the prettiest, but hey..!!

8:15pm, Squash match. This is my regular Tuesday night team game in the Harrogate League. We played the other Chapel A team in our division, so we put out our strongest side (the captain sat out!) which meant I played at 3rd string this week instead of 2nd. It's a shame that the other team weren't able to do the same, as this gave me a pretty straightforward 3-0 win and a relatively short match. Still had to run a fair bit and work for it, though. The team won and we're still top of the division. 

After a  relatively easy match!

Weds 9th

Really good sleep - 8.5 hrs. 

Food

8:30am, breakfast: 3 eggs, scrambled with a tsp coconut oil and a small piece of chicken breast. Espresso. 

9:45, fuddle:  Nuts and pumpkin seeds (lots!) with strawberries. See below.

2:15pm, lunch: Broccoli soup, chicken breast, apple, satsuma.

5:30pm, pre-training: 1/3 sweet potato, tomato, 1/2 chicken breast. Espresso. 

7:30pm, post-training: 2/3 sweet potato, tomato, 1/2 chicken breast

9:00pm, boredom snack: 1 tsp almond butter.

Training: 6pm CrossFit class

Strength: shoulder press 3x8 / pull ups 3x max

I used 40, 45 and 50kg on my 3 sets of presses and only got 6 reps on the last set. For the Pull ups I used a purple band and worked strict, doing 8, 7, 6 reps. Not getting too carried away after yesterday!!

So, this morning at work we had a fuddle. One of my long-standing staff members (and someone I have a lot of time and a great deal of respect for) was leaving. As usual it was a massive carb-fest with every type of bad food choice you can imagine. So much cake and crisps and crap and being told "you can have this, surely" with someone waving a 'healthy' plate of syrup encrusted oats and dried fruit in your face (flapjack). I passed on everything but the strawberries and the nuts and seeds that I'd taken in. I did feel a bit of a spoil-sport but I after a while, people seemed to get it....

Thursday 10th

Good sleep 9 hrs. 

Funny day today as my appetite seemed to just do one.

I was working from home all morning and skipped breakfast. I know this isn't the best idea ever, but I got stuck into some work and just couldn't be arsed. 

9:00am: Espresso.

12:30pm lunch: 3 egg omelette with chicken, beef spring onions and red onion.

2:30pm, snack: Apple, satsuma.

5:00pm, pre-training snack: Apple and some nuts

7:30pm, dinner: Thai Green Curry (chicken thigh) and cauliflower rice

Training todays was Ferino's Fab Abs at 6pm

A cauli the size of my head. From Lincs, so it was awesome! 

Ingredients with no unpronouncables

Friday 11th

Decent sleep again,  8 hours. 

Not really feeling much in the way of an appetite again today and ended up skipping breakfast again.

Food

11:00am snack: Apple, satsuma, small piece of chicken breast.

2:00pm lunch: Broccoli soup with beef.

5:30pm, pre-training snack: Half a sweet potato, tomato, small piece of chicken

7:15pm, between WOD and Strength training: Half a sweet potato, tomato, rocket, half an avocado, half a chicken breast.

11:00pm, very, very late dinner??: Thai Green Curry (chicken thigh) and cauliflower rice

Training

6:00pm, CrossFit class: Clean and Jerk tekkers, inc 10 min EMOM, 2 hang cleans. I worked technique on this, rather than trying to max out, going from 40 to 60kg through the 10 mins. 7 Min AMRAP: 5 x deadlift, 30 x double unders. I chickened out of the Rx weight on the deads, scaling from 100kg to 80. I opted to go 50/50 doubles and singles, so 15 DU's and 30 singles. Still fucked them up, especially the last to or three rounds. Score: 6 + 50su's.

8:00pm, Barbell Club Pure Strength: Basically, an hour of pain doled out by the smiling assassin that is Sam Henderson. Box squats, seated box jumps, weighted step ups, stiff leg deadlifts, jumping back squats and some insane hamstring torture so painful my mind has erased whatever it was called. And to finish, 100 glute bridges in as few sets as possible (2). I could hardly stand up after...

Lifting & Eating. At the same time...

Quick entry tonight - I want my 8 hours!

Loads of sleep last night as I had a day of and didn't get up til 10:30am. Hahahaha! Never meant to sleep in this late, but there ya go.

11:00, Breakfast (?brunch): 3 egg omlette with 1/2 a red onion, a pepper and 4 or 5 chestnut mushrooms.

Mantra. Mmaaantraaa!

Throughout the day I've been grazing. Not too bad though, I hope.

12:30 - 5:00pm, snacks: 2 apples, a plum, a nectarine, 1/4 of a cantaloupe melon, a thick slice of beef (from a joint), half a chicken breast and (out of sheer boredom and wanting to taste something different) a protein shake (Chocolate flavour. Mmmm).

Training.
As I wanted to do the weightlifting Barbell Club class at 8pm, I went to the 7pm CrossFit class, which was the busiest class I've ever seen!
Back squat 4 x 8 (60, 80, 90, 80kg). I only really intended for the 60kg to be a warm up, but with 5 of us rotating on one bar, we ran out of time. I pulled back from 90kg to correct my form.
Then we did Helen. 3 rounds of [400m, 21Kb swings, 12 pull-ups] for time. I used the Rx 24Kg Kb but can't do pull ups so scaled to a green band. I've been using a purple band recently for pull-ups when doing sets of 5 - 8. I can't do any more unbroken with a purple band. I don't know if there are some new green bands with a bit more spring in them, or if I've got much better at pull-ups since I last used a green band, but there was too much assistance to the point where I felt I was bouncing around, did some chest to bars for fun, etc. Time was 10m 25s.
I genuinely think there are some new, more resistant green bands!!

Weightlifting class was snatch practice.

Evening food:  I took along a lunchbox to the box which contained 1/2 a large sweet potato, a thick slice of beef, a third of a chicken breast and one of my breakfast muffins from yesterday. My intention was to stuff my face between classes, or at least get the sweet potato down.  Well, that didn't happen!! Managed (forced down) a piece of SP (I had cut it into 4). Couldn't get the rest down straight away. I kept my luchbox with me and got through the sweet potato and the beef by the time the Barbell class had finished and ate the rest in the car. Not ideal, but didn't want to be eating at 9:30/10:00pm.

At home I had some mixed nuts (6 almonds, 3 walnut halves, 3 cashews and 2 brazils).

I've been drinking carbonated water a lot. I do anyway - I like a bit of fizz!! Is this ok?

Right, off to bed...

Sprints, Muffins & Rice!!

Just about scraped my 8 hours last night before the alarm went of for hill sprints this morning... 8:40am, Pre-training: 1 Plum, 1 fig. Espresso.

9:00am, Training: Hill Sprints.

Always easier to get out of bed when rays of sunshine are bursting through the bedroom curtains!! Great session at Roundhay today. Loved it !! Got muddy, too...

10:30am, post-training: 1 banana, 1 fig.

12.30pm, brunch: Donna's egg, bacon and mushroom muffins* x 2, tomatoes (baked).

The muffins are made by lining around a muffin tin with bacon, pushing a mushroom to the bottom in the middle, today we had a slice of tomato in there. Then crack an egg into the remainder of the hole. Then bake!                                                           

Double Yokers!!

Astonishingly, 5 of the 6 eggs we used for the 'muffins' were double yokers. Get in!!

This afternoon I've done a few jobs around the house that the trouble has been keen for me to do. Watched most of West Brom v. Arsenal match. We've also been watching Homeland series 1 and have got a couple of episodes in today.

3:00pm, Snack: 1 plum, 1 apple

4:30pm, Snack: Another brunch muffin!

7:00pm, Dinner: A Barnsley chop, leftover slow cooked beef (from a couple of days ago) and lots of cauliflower rice**.

Another Homeland or two before bed, I think. And a day off tomorrow!

*not actually muffins!

** not actually rice!!