Claudia's 1 Week Down Update

Okay Big Mike. I am posting, hello!!!

Last week I posted my goals for this challenge and here is how week #1 went.

1) Kipping pull-ups -- I have practiced after class. I used to be anti-kipping or a kipping hater, and only practice deadhang. The swinging and high reps cause hand pain. Yes, I'm a hand-pain weenie. The deadhangs did help me get better at WODS with pull-ups but they were slow and after a few super sloppy. So for this challenge I'm determined to incorporate kipping pull-up practice into my routine. I've stayed after class and worked on them and have done my regular pull-ups at home. I almost got a butterfly pull-up at the clinic. It was more of a moth, with a broken wing. I am seeing some overall endurance and strength improvement, so I'd say things are going well in this department.

2) Push-ups -- I generally suck at these. When I started Crossfit I could maybe 3 in a row on my knees with horrible form. I am practicing every day and this week I'm upping my number to 35 per day. I'm struggling with full range of motion. Every time I think I'm doing awesome by bringing my not so voluptuous chest to what I think is very close to the ground, one of the two Mikes calls me out and tells me to get lower. So I think I need a more voluptuous chest. Not really, but really. So goal this week is to slow my push-ups down and really focus on getting full range of motion.

3) Box Jumps -- did WOD today with 12 inch box. Didn't go to badly. Next week up to slow 20 inch jumps. Hopefully.

4) Metabolic conditioning -- Did two hill runs this week. One long run and one with 400 m sprints (I'm using the work "sprint" very loosely here). I haven't run since I broke my ankle, so it was slow but not as bad as I thought. I will repeat this again this week and add in some short sprint work as well.

Diet-- I'm good with the paleo as far as food goes mainly by default since I'm intolerant to gluten and all dairy. My problem is mainly with sugar. I love it!!! Prior to the I AM Challenge I gave up sweets in general but replaced with fruit, a lot of it all day, and I thought I was doing well. At the nutrition meeting Carey said that really you should only have one serving of fruit a day. I was at first stunned, then immediately devasted and then hit all the stages of loss-- denial, anger, sadness, etc. I just really couldn't picture a life without 8 servings of fruit a day. I wasn't sure I wanted to live in a world like that. (kidding, mostly). I did eventually give in and now I only eat a very small amount and usually only after a hard workout. I exchanged my fruit for raw vege snacks. It has helped my energy level and body fat loss. My diet goal for this challenge is to focus on getting sufficient protein to build more muscle and drinking way more water.

That turned out longer than I intended.

Claudia :-)