Hey everyone!
This past week has been really really stressful. In my last post I told you all about some abnormally dividing cells, and that I had had a biopsy done. For whatever reason, my biopsy site has taken a week to heal enough so that I can get a solid pump with out turning back into weepy bloodiness. I wrote a few days ago that I was going to do a short non bouncy workout. Once I realized the state of affairs of the site, I knew that wasn't going to happen.
I switched my focus to just trying to do SOMETHING every day. Tuesday afternoon MKBBF and Seamus (my chocolate lab) and Sully (MKBBFs half pint great dane mix) went for a 5 mile hike around Kennesaw Mountain. Honestly, I knew better than to go because I thought the impact of the downhills would be . . . bad and burny for my wound. Anyway, miles 1-3 easy peasy - no pain - no sweat - all gravy. Mile 4 - my wound hurts. Mile 5 - get me off of this God forsaken trail I need to SIT DOWN in the car already!
Then yesterday we headed to Stone Summit, which was amazing. I did 9 climbs - the highest I attempted was a 5.10 and the highest I completed was a 5.9+. I was proud of myself for being able to negotiate upside down overhang type of stuff, and progress beyond it to the rest of the climb. Rock climbing: does it get MORE paleo than that?? Talk about building functional strength! I am seriously considering joining the gym, because I could see it being something that I become very very passionate about, and would be a good way to mix up my workout style.
Anyway, apologies for not blogging. I know you all wait with baited breath for each installment of my wellness drivel :). I haven't had much desire to sit down in front of my computer and get into sharing mode. I haven't been able to exercise intensely, and have been kind of a swirling black hole of negativity and shitty moods without it. Have I mentioned for the five thousandth time my main perk of exercising like a madwoman is the mood boost and concomitant anxiety relief? The 6 pack and the tighter tush are just a nice side effect. But seriously, I depend on movement for my happiness. DEPEND.
So that's what's been going on around here. I got the results of my biopsy yesterday and they were:
BENIGN!
WOOOOOHOOOOOOO! Thank you preservative free living :).
Alright so, now that I've explained my absence, onward with the workout of the day!
You Push Me Workout
Counter Strike Fat Workout
A quick note on my progress with my latest batch of wellness optimizing dietary restrictions: I am still completely salt free. I did have a bit of chocolate with my Biopsy Negative celebration small decaf coffee, and I had one banana on Sunday. Those have been my only transgressions, so I think it's coming along nicely :). I have been HOUSING green tea - triple brewed to make it taste like anything - because it's a warm liquid and staves off my coffee cravings on a regular basis.
I have also eaten kale or spinach for lunch everyday for a week and a half. Usually I sauté half an onion and a clove of garlic in a little water, wilt 4-5 cups of spinach or kale into it, add a little coconut milk and some organic no salt tikka masala spice. I like it really spicy, so I pretty much dump the spice right on there, but for a more mellow palate I'd suggest adding it half a teaspoon at a time to taste.
Today I made my kale with a more southwestern flair. Started out the same way with the garlic and onion being sauteed then wilting the kale. Then I added a diced tomato, and cooked for about 2 more minutes. Then I added 2 tsp of lime juice, half of a diced avocado, 1 tbsp chili powder (again, I like mine REALLY smoky) and 1/4 tsp cumin. For desert I had a small grapefruit and a few frozen blueberries. YUM!
Okay, I need to get ready to go to Biochem now. By that I mean, brew tea, floss, put on pants. The basics :). I'll do the workout when I get back and post my scores.
ROCK!
Oh, and here's a ridiculous and inappropriate video one of my friends from college made. Yes, he's actually this funny in real life too. But if you're ultra PC and can't take a joke, probably shouldn't watch it. As we all know, I'm pretty offensive, so I loved it.
*******UPDATE*******
You Push Me Workout Scores:
Kick Over and Knee Raise: 14/13/12
Side Lunge Jump: 41/38/38 (these are NOT my favorite)
Reptile Push Ups: 23/21/20
35 lb bar Clean and Squat: 9/8/8
High Knees: 100/110/125 (tried these with the rope in the first set but after tripping twice I did the rest without the rope to keep up the intensity.)
Counter Strike Fat Exercise Challenge:
39.
Old score? 36.
So I did 6 more side lunges, 6 more sideways jumps, and 9 more walking pushups in the same amount of time as my last attempt at this challenge. AND I did it straight after another workout! SWEET!
Showing posts with label Stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stress. Show all posts
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Pitiful blogging week!
Hey everyone!
Sorry for being MIA for the last few days, life has thrown me kind of a huge curveball. I'll just say I have a very small highly localized cluster of abnormally dividing cells. The doctor said in 90% of cases it's totally reversable and the immune system squashes it. But I'm not messing around with it. I'm going to kill it mother fucking DEAD. So I'm having to really turn my life on it's head by sleeping A LOT. RELAXING. And last but certainly not least, super alkalizing my diet and upping my intake of anti-oxidants. Abnormally dividing cells can't survive in a pH above 8, so the goal is to eat foods that have a net alkaline effect on the blood and cut those which have a net acidic effect.
Basically, I am having to go to an end point on the continuum of healthy eating and cut out all of my favorite treats. Things that are alkaline are raw fruits and veggies, some cooked fruits and veggies, coconut milk and oil, flax seed and flaxseed oil, and almonds. Meats, any other high fat food (nuts/oils) besides the ones I just listed, fish, and COFFEE all cause the blood to be more acidic. Egg whites and shellfish are the least acid causing sources of protein so I'll have my three egg whites every day, and maybe a few scallops or shrimp here and there.
The thing that sucks the most is the coffee and the lack of bananas. Switching from yummy flavorful organic super dark roast black coffee to plain GREEN TEA is just not okay. I have to use three tea bags and let them steep for 5 minutes to make it taste like anything at all! BLECH. But it's full of anti-oxidants so I'll be choking that down once a day indefinitely. Bananas are indeed a fruit I'd eat raw and they are alkalizing, but they are also SUPER high on the glycemic index scale. Seems like it'd be a net of zero by contributing a good thing to the blood alkalinity, but giving the bad cells the sugar they feed on. So I'm skipping them for now.
Okay, so onto the workouts I've been doing. I got the news Wednesday, and had already done my workout, but I spent the better part of the day off and on sobbing.
Thursday I woke up and EVERYTHING hurt. Especially my head. And knees. And chest. And stomach. And eyes. Okay, so everything especially hurt hah. That is what acute stress will do. MKBBF ordered me to relax and drink some tea and take the day off from exercise since I had pretty clearly already put my body through the ringer. I obliged, guiltily.
The thing is, the guilt of not working out did not outweigh the potential injury I faced if I had half- assed it and done the exercises with poor form. Also, it was a good opportunity to allow my knees to right themselves. Going on Injured Reserve and being out for two weeks would have put a much greater damper on my training than allowing myself the rest day.
For the next couple of weeks I'm going to take it easy, and get back to the first workout strategy I used when I started to get in really good shape and see excellent results.
Short. SUPER Intense. Interval. Workouts. Did I mention short? They're short.
Here's what I did yesterday:
Survivor Workout
20 rounds of 10 seconds rest 20 seconds maximum effort jump roping.
Total time: 25 minutes
Survivor Workout Score:
Backward Lunge and Kick Up
L) 27/25
R) 25/25
1 Arm Press Up
11/12
2 Kick Ups and Breakdance Push Up
7/7
Pike Jump and Squat Jump
9/9
One Leg Squat and Jump Tuck Max Reps in 5 minutes:
40
Today I did:
10 rounds of 10 seconds rest 20 seconds max effort jump roping
On The Floor Abs Challenge
10 rounds of 10 seconds rest 20 seconds max effort jump roping
20 In Outs, 20 Squats, 20 Lunge Pulses (each leg) x5 rounds for time.
Scores:
On the Floor Abs Challenge: 8 sets - 160 mountain climbers 160 leg raise to toe touch
Time Challenge: 8:24
Total Workout Time: 26:24
Okay, hope you guys are all doing well, I'll be back on the daily wagon tomorrow.
ROCK!
Sorry for being MIA for the last few days, life has thrown me kind of a huge curveball. I'll just say I have a very small highly localized cluster of abnormally dividing cells. The doctor said in 90% of cases it's totally reversable and the immune system squashes it. But I'm not messing around with it. I'm going to kill it mother fucking DEAD. So I'm having to really turn my life on it's head by sleeping A LOT. RELAXING. And last but certainly not least, super alkalizing my diet and upping my intake of anti-oxidants. Abnormally dividing cells can't survive in a pH above 8, so the goal is to eat foods that have a net alkaline effect on the blood and cut those which have a net acidic effect.
Basically, I am having to go to an end point on the continuum of healthy eating and cut out all of my favorite treats. Things that are alkaline are raw fruits and veggies, some cooked fruits and veggies, coconut milk and oil, flax seed and flaxseed oil, and almonds. Meats, any other high fat food (nuts/oils) besides the ones I just listed, fish, and COFFEE all cause the blood to be more acidic. Egg whites and shellfish are the least acid causing sources of protein so I'll have my three egg whites every day, and maybe a few scallops or shrimp here and there.
The thing that sucks the most is the coffee and the lack of bananas. Switching from yummy flavorful organic super dark roast black coffee to plain GREEN TEA is just not okay. I have to use three tea bags and let them steep for 5 minutes to make it taste like anything at all! BLECH. But it's full of anti-oxidants so I'll be choking that down once a day indefinitely. Bananas are indeed a fruit I'd eat raw and they are alkalizing, but they are also SUPER high on the glycemic index scale. Seems like it'd be a net of zero by contributing a good thing to the blood alkalinity, but giving the bad cells the sugar they feed on. So I'm skipping them for now.
Okay, so onto the workouts I've been doing. I got the news Wednesday, and had already done my workout, but I spent the better part of the day off and on sobbing.
Thursday I woke up and EVERYTHING hurt. Especially my head. And knees. And chest. And stomach. And eyes. Okay, so everything especially hurt hah. That is what acute stress will do. MKBBF ordered me to relax and drink some tea and take the day off from exercise since I had pretty clearly already put my body through the ringer. I obliged, guiltily.
The thing is, the guilt of not working out did not outweigh the potential injury I faced if I had half- assed it and done the exercises with poor form. Also, it was a good opportunity to allow my knees to right themselves. Going on Injured Reserve and being out for two weeks would have put a much greater damper on my training than allowing myself the rest day.
For the next couple of weeks I'm going to take it easy, and get back to the first workout strategy I used when I started to get in really good shape and see excellent results.
Short. SUPER Intense. Interval. Workouts. Did I mention short? They're short.
Here's what I did yesterday:
Survivor Workout
20 rounds of 10 seconds rest 20 seconds maximum effort jump roping.
Total time: 25 minutes
Survivor Workout Score:
Backward Lunge and Kick Up
L) 27/25
R) 25/25
1 Arm Press Up
11/12
2 Kick Ups and Breakdance Push Up
7/7
Pike Jump and Squat Jump
9/9
One Leg Squat and Jump Tuck Max Reps in 5 minutes:
40
Today I did:
10 rounds of 10 seconds rest 20 seconds max effort jump roping
On The Floor Abs Challenge
10 rounds of 10 seconds rest 20 seconds max effort jump roping
20 In Outs, 20 Squats, 20 Lunge Pulses (each leg) x5 rounds for time.
Scores:
On the Floor Abs Challenge: 8 sets - 160 mountain climbers 160 leg raise to toe touch
Time Challenge: 8:24
Total Workout Time: 26:24
Okay, hope you guys are all doing well, I'll be back on the daily wagon tomorrow.
ROCK!
Friday, February 04, 2011
I'm unwell! Boooooo
So I didn't get to yesterdays workouts and I'm not sure I'll get to them today either. I'd love to write a sonnet about how crappy I feel, but I'm too exhausted for that.
Ah, to be in the sweet grips of adrenal fatigue.
*******UPDATE*******
Without going into too much detail, I've been REALLY stressed for the last 36 hours. As in can't seem to stop crying, have feelings of the world falling down around my ears etc. This emotional turmoil has left me in a LOT of physical pain from a burny stomach and no appetite to swollen stingy eyes. Then all of that stopped, and I became listless. Not even sad anymore, not angry, not human.
When something hurts physically like a stubbed toe the natural response is to move somehow. I usually drop the F bomb and sit on my butt and rock back and forth. Same thing with most headaches I get - I usually rock or sway or move somehow. Then it occurred to me, if movement is magic for physical pain, maybe it could alleviate my emotional pain as well. So you know what I did? Workout 1 from yesterday. I wiped the floor with myself, and you know what?
I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!
Then I had a Big Ass Salad with herb greens, red bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, carrot, onion, a few raisins, egg and chicken breast. For the dressing I used the juice of a lemon, about a quarter cup of olive oil and 2 hefty cloves of garlic and Magic Bullet-ed it together. Usually when I do a BAS, I put it in a huge metal bowl and MKBBF and I eat right from the bowl, as was the case tonight.
I also made pumpkin soup which is really tough. 1 can of organic pumpkin, 3/4 cup organic chicken stock. Heat. Eat.
Rock!
Ah, to be in the sweet grips of adrenal fatigue.
*******UPDATE*******
Without going into too much detail, I've been REALLY stressed for the last 36 hours. As in can't seem to stop crying, have feelings of the world falling down around my ears etc. This emotional turmoil has left me in a LOT of physical pain from a burny stomach and no appetite to swollen stingy eyes. Then all of that stopped, and I became listless. Not even sad anymore, not angry, not human.
When something hurts physically like a stubbed toe the natural response is to move somehow. I usually drop the F bomb and sit on my butt and rock back and forth. Same thing with most headaches I get - I usually rock or sway or move somehow. Then it occurred to me, if movement is magic for physical pain, maybe it could alleviate my emotional pain as well. So you know what I did? Workout 1 from yesterday. I wiped the floor with myself, and you know what?
I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!
Then I had a Big Ass Salad with herb greens, red bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, carrot, onion, a few raisins, egg and chicken breast. For the dressing I used the juice of a lemon, about a quarter cup of olive oil and 2 hefty cloves of garlic and Magic Bullet-ed it together. Usually when I do a BAS, I put it in a huge metal bowl and MKBBF and I eat right from the bowl, as was the case tonight.
I also made pumpkin soup which is really tough. 1 can of organic pumpkin, 3/4 cup organic chicken stock. Heat. Eat.
Rock!
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