Face the truth
I'm going to get straight into the workout of the day before I blabber on about myself....I had a great workout today! Set 4 PRs in the 400m distance. It was supposed to be a rest day, but the weather was great so Meriah and I took the opportunity to do some interval runs instead.
WOD 090405
4x400m Run with 2:00 rest.
1:17/1:17/1:21/1:20
I only got 1:39 rest after round 2. Our timekeeper got confused...I ran these at the gym, NOT at a track, but we have measured it. It's a teeny bit short but it's an out-and-back so I think the turn-around time kinda levels the playing field. I can't wait to run these at a track. Last year I was running around 1:30-1:35 for 400m repeats. Very stoked on this.
Here's my "feeling sorry for myself" rant::
I have been feeling sort of...big, lately. On that note, my boyfriend instituted a rule where I have to do 10 burpees if I ever use the "f" word. I figure, at least I'll lose weight because I'll be doing about 100 burpees a day! Just kidding....sort of.
Anyway, today was the first day of our "I Am CrossFit" Challenge, so we weighed and measured our clients. I have seriously been avoiding my scale lately because I know the numbers it gives me will be less-than-desirable. I've been trying really hard to focus on performance only, but there's a huge part of me that wonders if I could perform even better if I were 5 pounds lighter.
I decided to suck it up and use the scale.
Last fall I was:
Weight: about 123/125, maybe 128
Body Fat %: 18-20, depending on hydration level
Muscle Mass: about 98lbs
Weight: 134.6 (yikes!!!!)
Body Fat %: 22.9% (double yikes!!!), a little under-hydrated, so maybe it's not as bad as I think.
Muscle Mass: about 98lbs (um, triple yikes!!!)
I have no idea why my performance has increased so much even though I've basically gained 7 pounds, or more, of fat. I don't feel that much fatter. I can only hope that a large part of that is the fact that maybe I was a little dehydrated. Also, I used to only weigh myself first thing in the morning, and today it was about 1/2 hour after eating lunch.
Anyway, now I am even more motivated to keep better track of my food and make better food choices. But, at the end of the day, I keep setting PR after PR, and I am really happy with that. I just can't help but wonder what if I were 5 or 7 lbs lighter. I also wonder what will happen as the sun stays out more and it isn't so cold here. Maybe the weight will just melt off!
Food today:
WOD 090405
4x400m Run with 2:00 rest.
1:17/1:17/1:21/1:20
I only got 1:39 rest after round 2. Our timekeeper got confused...I ran these at the gym, NOT at a track, but we have measured it. It's a teeny bit short but it's an out-and-back so I think the turn-around time kinda levels the playing field. I can't wait to run these at a track. Last year I was running around 1:30-1:35 for 400m repeats. Very stoked on this.
Here's my "feeling sorry for myself" rant::
I have been feeling sort of...big, lately. On that note, my boyfriend instituted a rule where I have to do 10 burpees if I ever use the "f" word. I figure, at least I'll lose weight because I'll be doing about 100 burpees a day! Just kidding....sort of.
Anyway, today was the first day of our "I Am CrossFit" Challenge, so we weighed and measured our clients. I have seriously been avoiding my scale lately because I know the numbers it gives me will be less-than-desirable. I've been trying really hard to focus on performance only, but there's a huge part of me that wonders if I could perform even better if I were 5 pounds lighter.
I decided to suck it up and use the scale.
Last fall I was:
Weight: about 123/125, maybe 128
Body Fat %: 18-20, depending on hydration level
Muscle Mass: about 98lbs
Weight: 134.6 (yikes!!!!)
Body Fat %: 22.9% (double yikes!!!), a little under-hydrated, so maybe it's not as bad as I think.
Muscle Mass: about 98lbs (um, triple yikes!!!)
I have no idea why my performance has increased so much even though I've basically gained 7 pounds, or more, of fat. I don't feel that much fatter. I can only hope that a large part of that is the fact that maybe I was a little dehydrated. Also, I used to only weigh myself first thing in the morning, and today it was about 1/2 hour after eating lunch.
Anyway, now I am even more motivated to keep better track of my food and make better food choices. But, at the end of the day, I keep setting PR after PR, and I am really happy with that. I just can't help but wonder what if I were 5 or 7 lbs lighter. I also wonder what will happen as the sun stays out more and it isn't so cold here. Maybe the weight will just melt off!
Food today:
- Calories: 2052
- Protein: 97 g (19.57%)
- Carbs: 105 g (21.21%)
- Fat: 131 g (59.22%)
posted by jenna at
8:43 PM
4 Comments:
First, that's damn fast and ridiculously consistent. I don't think I've ever gotten four 400s under 1:20 on that WOD. I can blaze through one, but 2:00 rest is barely enough for me to get under 1:30 the next time out. That kind of speed under duress is going to serve you well in the Games.
How confident are you in BF measurements? Given the error associated with most measurement techniques, I'm betting that a bunch of that new weight is muscle mass. Fat comes with the territory when you're building strength. It's your future muscle.
Just an FYI, you should know that when you're super-lean, you will actually lose strength simply by loss of intra-muscular fat. The muscles become smaller and therefore lose some of their leverage, based solely on their geometry on the bone.
Obviously, the important thing is your performance. Cutting back on calories across the board might be tricky and hurt more than it helps, but you could tweak macronutrient ratios. Yesterday's diet looks like it would benefit from subbing in some meat for dairy (if that's still on the menu) or nuts and fruit, upping your protein to replace some carbs and a little of the fat. You won't increase muscle mass on 0.7g Prot/lb BW.
First, thank you! I had no idea I would run so fast, either. I'm excited to see what I can do on a track.
I'm not very confident in my BF measurements, except that I used the same technique (i.e. same scale) both times. I'm fine if my fat is my future muscle....but I'd like it soon!
And, yeah, I know that about the intra-muscular fat. I'm just wondering if I have found my "fighting weight" or not. I'm getting a little nervous to play around with it since the games are coming up in, oh, about 6 weeks.
Yeah, yesterday was pretty weird for food. I wasn't very hungry all day, plus I got a late start to my eating, so I knew I was a little low in the protein. I think 2k calories a day is a good number, maybe even a bit low, and I agree that I need to eat more protein.
Eating animal fat actually helps the absorption of protein, so I guess I'm a little reluctant to get rid of any fat. I'm definitely looking to get rid of some of those carbs...I like to keep it more around 75g. Damn that last (half a) beer and my PWO apple + PB snack.
Just for clarity...are you saying replace some meat with dairy or nuts and fruit? Like, eat less meat and eat more dairy, nuts, and fruit? Cause that's kind of the opposite of what I would expect.
No, I'm saying replace dairy with meat. Fats are good and protein is essential. It's when carbs come along with the protein that causes trouble, so cheese is better than nuts, which are better than yoghurt, which is better than milk in that trade-off. Half and half is of course, essential to the proper delivery of caffeine, so you can leave that out of the equation.
Six weeks is a good amount of time to tweak and dial in diet, as long as you don't make changes so wholesale that they upset your training. You'll want to be on a routine for the last two to three weeks, however. I'm seldom one to advocate forgoing beer and other treats altogether, but as the competition gets closer, the training becomes more serious and we put away some of our simple pleasures for the sake of performance. (At least I plan on doing that come May.)
Okay, that makes more sense, and is more what I am thinking.
I've pretty much only been eating dairy as a caffeine-enhancement, and actually for a while there I was going with whipping cream instead of half and half. It's harder to clean out of the mug though if you forget about it and leave it overnight.
I've been thinking about adding raw milk cheese back into the equation, and maybe even that fatty, protein-rich greek yogurt I love so much. It makes a good snack.
Other than that, I'm trying to eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds...
I did notice that peanut butter is actually kind of high in carb, at least when you eat as much of it as I do. I'm going to cut back on that and see if that helps.
Thank you, as always, for your advice. And, oh yeah, I am planning on cutting back on alcohol/misc. treats as competition nears. Definitely.
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