This week. 294-298.

Posted on October 25, 2013 by HaleyComet

Well, this week has been pretty bad. I did a number on myself by doing the double marathons while sick. I knew it was going to happen. I don’t even want to say it was a risk, because I’m not stupid and doing heavy training, much less a race, much less 2 while sick…won’t lead to anything good.

I only went to one of my classes this week and that was because we had a test. After that test I stopped by CVS to get more tissues and I locked my keys in the car. Awesome. Waited there about 40min for AAA. So fun when you’re sick and just want to go home. I tried to go to another class yesterday. My professor kicked me out because I looked so bad and I couldn’t stop coughing. I was clammy. So, I left. I had missed her class on Tues, so I really didn’t want to miss again yesterday. I’m glad I showed up; I earned brownie points for showing up that sick and she didn’t think I was being a shitbag.

So, I’ve basically stayed inside all week. I only got out of my pajamas to go to class.
I think I turned a corner yesterday. I could breathe a little easier yesterday afternoon. My cough is productive; green stuff is coming out! Yay! I finally washed dishes. I picked up a little of my mess of tissues, OTC (can’t survive without NyQuil and DayQuil right now!) wrappers, and the mess of sweatshirts and blankets strewn about.

I’m going to meet a friend for lunch today. This is the highlight of my week. I look like absolute crap, but thankfully friends don’t care. It’ll feel good to get out. I hope I can handle it. If not, I’ll come home and sleep, like I have every other day this week.

I even painted my nails.
And of course, when I took out my camera to take a picture (the only one I’ve taken of anything this week), I messed it up.
Hope you enjoyed this boring post. Not much to report this week. Time for more Mucinex.

Messed up nail.

Day 294: Walked at school. This was painful.
Day 295: Stretching. “yoga” type stuff. Foam roller. I couldn’t manage anything else. Hurts to breathe.
Day 296: Walked at school. Killing time. Was too cold to do it outside, as the cold air is painful.
Day 297: Tried some pistol squats (ahhahahah, no energy!). I just fell over. Did some easy air squats and lunges. Went outside and swept the porches -COVERED IN LEAVES-picked up small sticks and started a fire in the fire pit. Felt good to be outside and move around.
Day 298: Walk. Outside. Yes. I will! Might do it while shopping, if I have enough energy for errands. Priority: lunch with a real human!

My First Double (marathons)!

Posted on October 22, 2013 by HaleyComet

Day 292 & 293

Friday: Drove to Indy, picked up my friend Big Al from the airport (flew in from outside of El Paso). We went to the expo, had great thai food for dinner. Great to see him, I ran 3 marathons with him in 2008-09 the first time I lived there. Went back to the hotel and I waited for Jenn & her friends to arrive.

Day 292: Indianapolis Marathon! Woke up and it was cold and raining. Horrible marathon weather. My shoes were SOAKED before I even got to the race site. It was windy. And cold. The only thing that made it tolerable was having friends to run with. Al and I hadn’t run a marathon since Bataan ’09, our paths have come close, but haven’t passed since. Our marathon times are usually in the 4:30-5:30 range depending on difficulty, but I knew I was going to be slow today since I was sick. I told him to go on by mile 1. I hung with Jenn, Shawn, & Alex for a while. For the first half we all kind of flip-flopped, me and Alex for a while. I ran with Halbert & Peter (Maniac friends) for a little bit. Then Alex & Jenn made a CVS pit-stop so Shawn and I continued for a while. Then someone else went to the bathroom, etc. etc. I kept feeling worse and worse. Our group pace was slowing and it was hurting me more. Finally at mile 16 when it had stopped raining and the sun was peeking out, Shawn and me left our pack and forged ahead. At mile 19 I needed a big porta-potty stop, so I told Shawn to go ahead. I was actually looking forward to the last miles alone, at my pace. I did some sort of 3-4:1 interval and got it done.
5:27:48. Definitely not a good showing for me, but I was conservative with being sick and having another marathon the next day. Nothing really ‘hurt’ though. I was just tired and BEAT UP from the bad weather the first half of the race.

^ I really don’t know what I’m doing with my arm here. Also, not a real smile. (Got this pic from Jenn)

POST RACE: I dropped Al off at his airport hotel so he could catch his Sunday flight back to ELP. I drove on down to Louisville, about 1hr 45min.
I took Halbert’s advice and ate ALL of the post race fare (3 pieces pizza, 1 hamburger, beans, cookie), then had another big meal for dinner (hamburger & fries & beer) at Kentucky BBC brewery in downtown Louisville.
I got to my hotel, took an ice bath, laid in bed with ice cream and medicine to knock me out of my misery.

SAT NIGHT

(I was really worried about getting enough calories in, for real) The Aquaphor is for my nose and lips, which are raw from 3 days of constant drainage.

Day 293: Louisville Marathon!
Another poor night of sleep. My cold had gotten worse. I woke up in cold sweats at midnight and 0130. Woke up again at 0200, 3 and finally for good at 4. I was preparing for a miserably long day.
Got to the race, got my packet, and stayed extremely overdressed: tech shirt, long sleeve t-shirt & fleece jacket.
I had a plan and I was going to stick with it. If I could focus on the ‘plan’, it would give my mind something to worry about rather than how I felt (bad) or my legs (heavy!). 2:1. Run 2, walk 1. For the whole 26.2 miles. I had done this Galloway method with my friend Denis at St. Louis marathon 2 weeks ago (it was his plan) and it worked really well. So, I was glad to have this distraction. I usually walk aid stations in races, but not this often. My legs didn’t feel ‘good’ until almost mile 6. Took a while to warm up and shake out yesterday’s marathon. I kept my jacket on until mile 14! I knew my body wasn’t responding well to being sick, but I wasn’t having trouble breathing, so I wasn’t worried. 2:1, 2:1 for hours and hours…hahaha. Bathroom at mile 4 & 12. Again at mile 16. At least I was hydrated. The aid stations were every 2.5mi so I’m glad I had my handheld bottle.

I never got down. I never got lonely. It was a gorgeous fall day. Many times it was like I wasn’t even running a marathon, I was just a person running along a path. Sure, it’s much more fun running with friends, but when it counts, I know I can dig it out. There were no spectators, no one cheering me on. Definitely no friends to fill the miles with laughter. Just me and a gorgeous fall day. And my runny ass nose.
Misery.

I leapfrogged with a woman, running about a 11:45 pace. She NEVER took a walk break (that I saw). She never wanted to chat, but I told her I was run/walking and eventually she would drop me (haha, not). At mile 17ish, I passed her and never saw her again. I stopped the 2:1 at mile 25.5ish. I didn’t want to push too hard since I was sick.

I could not be more pleased with how it went. I went into this weekend with the only goal of, “survive.” After Indy’s 5:27, I wanted to keep Louisville at 5:30 or under, as close to even split as possible. I figured being sick that this was a big enough goal. My “secret”, “if everything goes perfect” goal was to run 5:25, a small negative split.

Indianapolis: 2:40 half, 5:27
Louisville: 2:39:39 half, 5:07:32 TWENTY MINUTES FASTER!! HOLYSHIT!!
I’m not putting all my splits, because no one cares, not even me.
I am very pleased I negative split the second marathon, and even more pleased I negative split the weekend. AND, while sick. Sure, I’m paying for it now, but dang, that’s a confidence booster.

Then this happened.
I went to Whole Foods after the race and had a big bowl of chicken noodle soup & salad. Stocked up on veggies for the week. And this is all I wanted for dinner. See that kale? It was on sale and I washed it. Sat right there on the counter while I ate my ice cream.
2 marathons = 2 beers.

Where I’m at

Posted on October 18, 2013 by HaleyComet

Gosh, I’m really kicking myself for abandoning WP for so long! I’ve missed it here. I’ve enjoyed catching up with my Reader this week.
Day 289-290 (Oct. 16 & 17): easy walking. Not feeling great (sore throat & a slight cold) and making sure my ankle is healing.
Day 291 (today): some KB, couple pullups, light weights & walking (at packet pickup in Indy)

So, where am I at? I’ve been exploring what I really love, realizing things I miss and what I may want to focus on for next year:

I’m considering doing 365 again for next year! There’s always room to grow and change. I was trying to decide what direction to take this blog and/or my life after this year of great changes, and well, I don’t want to stop. If I stop 365, where does that take my blog title? Easy solution: do it again since it hasn’t been a burden.
Physically: I’m in Ohio, away from my partner. (And yes, I usually use ‘partner’ instead of ‘husband’. We each hold each other with a high level of respect, and room to each be our own person. While I do believe he possesses many great qualities I do not, I don’t like the term ‘better half’. I don’t sell myself short! I bring many things to our partnership. We each have our own athletic and life pursuits, different hobbies. The most important thing: by being secure in MYSELF, I respect his choices and don’t ‘need’ him to be happy with myself. He enhances my life, the one I make for myself. But gosh, I do miss him.)...Many twisted things fell into place (or fell out of place) and I ended up here, practically in the frozen tundra of Canada (I like to live south of the Mason-Dixon unless I’m in the mountains or the NE), and he is living next door to my family eating things like deer stew and crab stuffed flounder. Twisted and cruel I tell you! I get to go back in Dec, and we don’t plan on doing a geo-bachelor situation again. Life is too short, and while 3-4mo isn’t that long and we have seen each other, it’s not cool.

That’s my driveway. Good luck finding it.

Running: I’ve logged more miles, and more races, this year than ever before. Still not a ton of training miles, but I’ve registered and done almost every marathon or ultra I could this year. I surpassed last years running mileage in Aug or Sept. Pretty awesome.
CrossFit: I don’t have access to a CF gym here in Ohio. The closest ones are an hour away. SUCKS. Since I’m traveling or doing races almost every weekend, I do not want to drive to the Box a couple times during the week. The week is downtime and catching up on school time. Definitely something I miss and will fiercely start up when I get back to LA! I have a real pullup bar, a small amount of weights, a KB and plenty of room to run. Fitness can happen anywhere!
Friends: doing so many races has made me closer to a lot of my running friends, and I’ve met some great new ones. Being here away from him has given me time and a vigor to see people I haven’t seen in years! I’ve seen my best friend more in these 2 months than the last 4 years. Race pain and suffering can help you find your new best Race Friend. Or, even better, when you can click off 26miles with someone you met the day before and talk the whole way! St. Louis marathon 2 weeks ago was just that, and even better, a solid 4:53 marathon the week after a TOUGH 50k. That was done at a very comfortable effort and 20min faster than what we were expecting. So awesome that our brains turned off what we thought we were going to do, and look what happened. It was only 9min slower than my fastest race of the year, with just a month & 2 50k’s in between.
Denis and I ran the whole way together, and it was great! Oh, stories that come out after 4hrs of sharing pain.

Have a great weekend! I hope my first “Double” goes well. That’s 2 marathons. In 2 different states. Forecast is 38-55 degrees tomorrow morning…with rain. Yuck! Ciao!

Oct 12-16th (285-290): another race weekend!

Posted on October 16, 2013 by HaleyComet

On Sat, Oct 12 I drove to Chattanooga to meet one of my best friends for a ‘girl day’ of a nice lunch and strolling and shopping. We hit 2 parts of town, parking once and walking.
Day 285: walking, 1hr (was about 4hrs in Chatt, but logging one ‘purposeful’ hour)

Day 287: RACE! Georgia Mystery Mountain Marathon

I’m being lazy and copying what I wrote on my other site (that I complained about yesterday). If you’re coming from there…skip over this.

I knew it was highly technical, steep climbs, etc. It’s called “Mystery Mountain Marathon”. I bought some new shoes on Sat as I didn’t think my Minimus would be a good idea for the various types of rocky terrain, and I have Upchuck coming up. Anyway, the shoes were great (Inov8)! My feet felt great. However, I think I’m not used to the higher treads (still a more minimal shoe). I fell twice in the first 2.5mi Hit aid station at mile 3. Feeling ok…mile 4 on a downhill, I hit some rocks wrong and completely tumbled over, with my ankle rolling. It was bad.

Fast forward to me shoo-ing off some guys who offered to try to help me limp along to the aid station, leaned against a tree for several minutes as I could put no weight on it. Thankfully they said going back 1 mile to quit at the mile 3 aid station was a bad idea (since it was a big climb back up)…because hey, it might not be broken and if it’s not, then I’d be pissed if I quit….

So, I limped along until I got to the mile 7-8ish aid station, where I was going to decide if I was going to quit. But, I made it! So, since I made it I decided that my ankle was already F*CKED to hell, and I was finishing this damn state, especially if my year is over (bye, bye Upchuck, bye bye CC100 or another 50m).

I laugh now because I know to most people it’s ridiculous logic (or not logic at all), but I will probably tell people, “if you’re debating for hours if you should go to the ER after the race, the middle of the night when it’s not crowded, or Urgent Care tomorrow…” then maybe you shouldn’t be running. Yes, I’d probably tell people that. But apparently I won’t follow my own advice! I may or may not have decided that “I will not tell Kurt, or anyone what happened. I’ll finish, then go to the Dr, as it won’t change anything now. I have to get off the mountain and drive home anyway.”

Today: my ankle is feeling much better! I now know it’s not broken. Tons of ice (on the 6hr drive home), elevated it on the dashboard, slept with it elevated the last 2 nights. I have a little more ROM this morning, but it’s still stiff. Not as tender to walk on. And no, I don’t follow the “if it was broken you couldn’t walk on it” rule, because when I broke the same ankle in 2008, I walked on it for 2-3 days and went to work, before going to the ER and finding out it was broken.

Day 288: Recovery day. I took it easy in the morning as I didn’t get much sleep. I then drove into town to retrieve my computer from the Apple store repair shop (everything is ok, whew!). I parked on the opposite side of the mall, in the last row of parking spots so I could have the farthest walk to the store as possible. When I got home I did a slow stroll up and down the street as well. So, I more than covered my ’20 min purposeful walk’ requirement.

Day 289: Walked before class. Ankle doesn’t hurt with every step! Just sore and stiff.

Day 290: Raining. Kettlebells and pushups and pullups. Various weights & bodyweight stuff.

The More You Know…

Posted on October 15, 2013 by HaleyComet

The strange part of the internet/blog world, is that it provides a great cloak for people to hide behind, intentionally or not. Sure, I could go into stories of Catfishing, other friends dating people they met online only to find out after months or years of long-distance that they are drunks, or were cheating the whole time. I have so much I can write here, but this is a more workout related blog, so lets get back to that….

I’ve been a part of an athletic based website that has forums and logs for workouts, for many years now. I’ve met some great people via that place, many of whom are real-life friends, and not ‘internet’ ones. However, I still frequent that site (it’s an internal struggle, as it really doesn’t have a place in my life anymore). There are many friends, friends-of-friends. But, as with all communities, including online ones, things change. The clientele changes. I noticed this with my first marathon running group, in 2004. It was a great community and family. In 2005…things started to be different. The “clique” went from a fun-loving, clean, ‘good friends’ vibe, to a ‘party, sleep around, the Head Coach taking advantage and cheating at races’ one. I left the group. Some friends stayed for another year, then they left in 2006 as it got too disgusting. It grew too much, got incestuous amongst members (married or not) and the Head Coach got another coach to carry her timing chip in a marathon, to get her a BQ time. I’ve been finding the same trends, with the internet site, as the circles of who knows whom grows.

What’s been bothering more lately, and this could be a whole different blog post, are people who do anything to ‘fit in’. They don’t want to make waves. They kiss ass to even the most vile of people (I can’t even begin to elaborate as some of the examples are violations of LAW), completely disregarding the behavior of these jerks. Do these people have no self respect? They abandon any morals or values of their own, just to fit in. Or WORSE, they never bother to even think about who they are, how they fit in the world, what kind of life they lead…all to ‘fit in’. Now, I’m not saying I’m a lone ranger who points out everyone’s character flaws, and I definitely don’t live a perfect life. I’ve made bad choices, but I try to own them and fix them, OR at least be aware of them, so I can decide if my choices and actions are fitting into my moral framework. I could elaborate and say I see, or know, women who are not empowered. They don’t have self-confidence. They place their identity into working out, they don’t know who they are, or what they stand for. Some so desperately want to be ‘liked’. Its sad for them. And do they realize it’s the INTERNET? That there probably is no way you would be ‘friends’ with this many people in real life?! Would you try desperately to pump up the most depressive of people, day in and day out, if you saw them regularly? Would you actively try to be friends with people who are serial cheaters? Or would you actively try to be friends-hang out with them?!- with people your partner has slept with? No. Probably not. They probably wouldn’t be your friend.

I really did not like Ethics and Morals at the time, but I did learn from it.

So, I’ve taken way too long a break from my little blog here at WordPress. I’m coming back! I’m still on my 365 streak! There is NO way I can go back and fill in…but I can change my mistake of abandoning this, and move forward.

Enough of this heavy shit, here’s a funny!

May 1: new month, new goals

Posted on May 1, 2013 by HaleyComet

I’m here. I’m not dead. I haven’t quit my 365 workouts challenge. Although, I did seem to “quit” the blog for a while. Then when I kept realizing I needed to blog, I kept putting it off. Oh well, such is life of a procrastinator. I will go back and finish my entries for the past…what, 60 or so days? More? Eeeek.

In the meantime I have been focusing on school (all A’s this semester!), my food, and my workouts. I’m seeing great gains in my body. Now, I’m no low body-fat bodybuilder, or superstar Crossfitter, but I *NEVER* thought my 1 year ago 175lb self would be where I am today. I never would have thought I would be my smallest since high school.

This has been my motivation to blog again. If I never would have imagined being where I am today, where can I be at the end of this year? I still have 8 months to go! That’s TONS of time to change a body.

Here is your warning: there are pictures of me in a bathing suit on this post. They’re not great. I’m not perfect. This is a huge step for me, part of me still can’t believe I’m going to post them. I am not looking to ‘brag’ or show off (far from it!), but rather try to celebrate and embrace the body I have now and continue to work on making myself healthier. And that means mental health too. So, say it with me, “I love my body. I love my body.” This brings me to, Day 1…

This month I’m doing a little photography challenge, that’s fitness related. Disclaimer: I have NO photography skills. My iPhone sucks because it’s been dropped so many times, including submerged in the toilet once. That said, it’s fitness related and will keep me motivated to improve myself and to blog.

What else…I’m at the end of my 2nd Whole30 of the year! It’s going well. I didn’t document the food as much as I did last time. I will do another recap though.

Today for my exercise, SINCE THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG, I took a walk with my cousin. We went 30min, 2.31 miles. 13:20 pace. Being the beginning of the month, I probably should have done more, but I wasn’t feeling it. Since this month has been food focused and 50miler recovery, my workouts have been much lighter. That’s ok, I’ve got big things coming! Doing a marathon in 2 weeks, then a 50k June 1, probably another marathon in the summer as well. Upping my run mileage!

Back to MAY.

Lets start my food today, Paleo/Whole30 stuff:
I had venison cabbage rolls for breakfast w/sauteed greens. No pic, sorry. They don’t look that great, but they taste good.

Lunch was a kale & salmon omelette with 2 pieces of bacon. Delicious!

Dinner was smoked chicken legs and more sautéed greens.
I’ve had so many greens lately, this has been a staple.

Now, for my May 1 fitness pic challenge. Entries, “BEFORE.”
(be nice people, no photoshop or editing! How many of you are putting non-covered up bathing suit pictures on the interwebs? Not many.)

Unfortunately, I do not think I’ll ever have a complete hard midsection. Being 175lbs a little over a year ago, and also 9 years ago, I think I wrecked my body in that way. Oh well, I guess I’ll always have a little pouch of loose skin around my belly button.
Or, get a tummy tuck when I win the lottery.

I call this, “my tire.” Get it? Heh. I love it. Not my stomach, but the picture.

This, my Photoshop-talented, friend TJ made artsy for me!

And finally, here is a progress pic. My handstands are improving, as is my midsection!

Welcome to May! Kick it’s ass everyone!

Days 59-66: My New Toy!

Posted on March 8, 2013 by HaleyComet

I solely wanted to write a post about my new workout toy, but then I realized I should probably go ahead and blog my workouts, because, well, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing here.

SOOO, since I get super excited about anything, I want to talk about my toy!

My friend Jacob sent a picture of a tire drag he made. I was floored. BRILLIANT! And who already has a tire junk yard in her backyard for flipping, for hitting with sledgehammers, for throwing…this girl! How had I not thought of this?! So, this week I was preoccupied with making the perfect tire drag(s) – plural because every girl needs assorted sizes.

Who wants to know how to make a tire drag? Or a drag tire? Whatever. Call it what you want.

First, go to your local junkyard. Or semi-busy highway. A road where you see tires! If you start keeping an eye out, you’ll start to see discarded tires everywhere! Ok, not everywhere, but pretty often. All my tires were free! 2 came from the junkyard, but the rest were discarded tractor & 18wheeler tires.

Next, get them home and clean them. This isn’t a necessary step, but you’ll be glad you did. Otherwise, you get nasty junk all over you and your clothes whenever you handle it. I suggest a bucket of water and bleach, some light scrubbing with a brush or rag. Pretty easy! Hose it off. Take about 5min for a small tire (regular car tire) or…a lot longer for a 300lb tractor tire 🙂

Then, weigh your tire(s). I prefer to do this after cleaning. You can do it before, and save you a step or two… as I ended up taking one back to the junkyard in pristine condition because it was too big. However, it was better than getting really dirty.

Also, weighing your tires in your pajamas–purple skull pants and hot pink tie-dye Honey Badger shirt–is essential.

Then, have a strapping man drill a hole in your tire. Or, do it yourself if you don’t have one of those handy. It’s not hard.

Here are the rest of your materials: rope. A 1/4in washer. A carabiner. A bungee rope with the carabiner attached to it. A weight lifting belt OR harness.
Put the washer inside the tire, tie off a knot in the rope.
Make a loop around the belt, attach to carabiner. Attach the bungee between the belt and the tire rope.
That’s it!

Final product!

(photo courtesy of Jacob: I don’t take pictures that pretty)

Then…try it out! Up and down the street! It’s FUN!
(oh, and super hard. ugh)

Going to a gravel path is a little easier. Also, the levee is our ONLY hill for many miles. At least 50. We’d have to drive several towns NE or W to find some things people would call “hills”.
I’ve since made the rope a little shorter. In these pictures, I have the bungee attached, that’s why it looks REALLLLLY long.
The backside of the levee, as you can see it’s reinforced with concrete. It’s really steep and terribly hard to pull the tire up that concrete wall. I had to go up at an angle.

And finally….

When you get really tired, tie a dog to the front of the belt!
It’s ok, he really liked it.

Felt pretty lazy this past week with my workouts. There wasn’t much of a focus, but I had 2 tests to prepare for. I felt tired as well, I think the 2-a-day CF workouts caught up with me. Of course, today (the 7th) my legs are really tired from the tire work the past several days!

Day 59 (feb 28): treadmill desk walking. 2hr 50min. Watched several tv shows from the night before. I love walking early in the AM to catch up on the shows I sleep through at night; since I go to bed well before 10!

Day 60 (mar 1): treadmill desk walking: 2hr. Working on schoolwork.

Day 61 (mar 2): Run.
1.5mi with the dogs. 15min, 10min/mi. Ridiculous. My other half is out of town for several days and I just can’t handle going out with the dogs–together–by myself. They’re just too big and run too fast!
(Oh, take them one at a time you say? Sure. Then whomever is left will CRY and whine very loudly! It’s pathetic. They *KNOW* the leash and collar and knows that means A RUN!, and they are very upset when they are left. Dog people problems.)

Day 62 (mar 3): Kettlebell. 15min. 10 sets of: 10 swings, 10 goblet squats to push press (kind of like a KB thruster)

Day 63: (mar 4) CrossFit, sorta. 15min. + stretching, 15min total for the day.
Warmup: 50 jumping jacks, 20 lunges, 10 burpees, stretching: 5min @ CF.
Strength: 1 RPM. Warmup & build up: bar, 65lb, 95lb, 120lbs. Stopped at 120, my hip was killing me. Aggravating an old injury I guess.
Since the WOD was more squats, I called it a day.

Day 64: (mar 5) Tire drag “run” x2, treadmill desk walking.
Tire Drag, 46lb small tractor tire:
First try (10am): .5mi, 10min. Up and down the street. Too heavy. Cement isn’t optimal.
2nd run: 2mi, time: 27:23, 13:41min/mi. On the Mississippi River levee. The gravel is a better terrain for pulling the tires.
Treadmill walking: 45min while watching Biggest Loser from the night before.

Practically falling over trying to get up the levee. Horrible.

Day 65: (mar 6) Tire drag run, home CrossFit, treadmill desk walking
Run: 1.2mi, 12:33, 10:28 pace. Pulled the 25lb tire. Much easier than the 46lb, but still hard! Planned on running 2-3, but my legs were TI-RED. They were more tired from yesterday than I thought.
CrossFit @ home: 5 rounds: 10 sledgehammer (5 each arm), 15kb swings. Time: 4:41.
Treadmill desk Walking: 1hr 15min. Watched some TV in the morning while walking.

Day 66 (mar 7): CrossFit @ home. Felt like a cop-out. Really feeling like I need some purpose rather than throwing stuff together.
3 rounds
10 sledgehammer (5 each arm)
10 KB swings
10 burpees
5 tire flips (the smaller tire, too tired for the huge one)
time: 5:52
These are my big tires, the ones I hit and flip. I hit, do box jumps and (sometimes) flip the huge one. The smaller one is for flipping and throwing when I’m tired.

Week in review: LOVE my new toy. I think trying new things, changing things up, and just keeping it fresh, is going to be key for the rest of the year. Every couple of months I’ll have to put a new life into this. Even with the excitement of the tire, I’m feeling very…without purpose this week. I can’t go back hard into workouts as I’ve got a big race in 2 weeks. So, this feeling will continue as I “rest” for that. I won’t use the word “taper” since I don’t actually train in a race specific way. 🙂

FOOD! Since we all love it…

Posted on March 1, 2013 by HaleyComet

Time for another food post. Things I’ve made or eaten the last several weeks…er, month! Oops, another realization I’ve waited too long!
Recipes when available. (Ok, I lied. I only have links to 4 recipes. I usually just throw meats & veggies together! Roasts: I use tons of garlic & onion & spices. Hamburgers. Nothing fancy.) Usually, I just throw things together, or alter recipes to make them Paleo compliant, or just better!

The day after Whole30 ended (Jan 31), we loaded up the car and headed to Houston for my first 50miler. Since I’m originally from the area, I had lots of places to stop. We wanted to hit a museum, Central Market (best grocery store, ever!), see family. My cousins live right across the street—well, dirt road and a short walk–from a raw milk farm! We brought the big cooler and really stocked up. Dairy isn’t Whole30 at all, but if I’m going to have it, it’s going to be this stuff: pastured, no grains, no hormones, antibiotics. Just…love! No dairy from the grocery store for me. Chemicals, hormones, and whoknowswhatelse in that factory stuff. It’s taken a couple years to get to this point of not wanting store bought dairy, but I love this raw stuff. I’m really glad this farm is several hours away.
EatWild is a great site to find local farmers!

When we got home after the weekend, we used the tremendous amount of cream to make our own butter! It’s actually pretty easy, I encourage everyone to try it! You don’t need a big KitchenAid to do it, a hand mixer works fine. It’ll just take a little longer. This is the blog/instructions we usually follow. (her pics are MUCH better than mine) However, the pics & instructions below are all it takes. It’s really simple. I usually divide the butter up and make salted, unsalted and herb varieties. This time was chive, rosemary & thyme.

To start: pour cream in mixer and mix! That’s it. Just mix, mix, & mix some more.

After about 8-10min it goes past ‘whipped cream’ and starts clumping into butter! You’re left with butter and buttermilk. Delicious.
Separate it out with a mesh strainer, squeeze the liquid out, and you’re left with a butter ball. Or log. Whatever shape you like.

Now, lots of food collages! Things I’ve eaten this month.

Lets start with some breakfast.

We have sautéed veggies & bacon frittata. Then, my usual, scrambled eggs (usually with some type of veggies) w/salsa, and home cured bacon.
Marks Daily Apple has some good frittata recipes, but they’re just like scrambled egg: throw whatever you have in there! I had yellow squash, red pepper & spinach. Garlic and onion too, of course. Then bacon on top.

Lets get to lunches! Usually some type of salads or leftovers, that I eat at school. Hence the leftover containers. Here we have kale salad w/apples, radish, pine nuts & almonds, yellow beets, mint & parsley, olive oil & lemon. Delicious. Top right is roast hog and salad. Bottom right is salad with buffalo burger, I think. And then a plain ‘ol salad.

Here I wanted to show some portion sizes. I try to get a TON of volume of veggies. The top left is an egg salad. Veggies piled high with egg dumped on top. I forced myself to eat it all! (the plates are huge) Then roasted veggies w/deer & regular salad. Oyster happy hour (YUM!), I ate 3 doz. Finally, sometimes I get desperate. I *NEEDED* to eat something, and I had an orange. I was in the car. Nowhere to let the juices drip & to put the peel….
SO, an orange in a shoe box it is!

Got my first sack of crawfish for the season (it’s still a little early), and the dogs were VERY interested in them. They thought the mudbugs were delicious, btw.

Let’s address eating out!

Went out several times, especially when we were in Houston. My dining partner got some scallops over risotto (I did not try). When we were leaving the Museum of Fine Arts, the food trucks were parked outside! I was so excited. I got some kind of meat wrapped in bacon. It came with a wonderfully spicy guac. I also got some kind of taco, sans shell. Both were delicious! Finally, some BBQ in a cup.

Now, some dinners!
Fall off the bone crock pot wild hog. (no recipe)
Hog & asparagus
PaleoOMG bacon ‘alfredo’. I altered this and added tons of brocoli, lots of spices. It was really good. I’ll probably make it again.

Here’s more meat pictures.
I think this is deer or hog with caramelized onions & garlic.
On the right, is sausage stuffed pork chop and steamed broccoli. YUM.

And finally, the roast chicken I made this week. I adapted Thomas Kellers Ad Hoc recipe. I used rutabaga, turnips, carrots, leek, onion, garlic, sweet potato. Used some homemade raw butter, rosemary, thyme and tons of S&P. It was so good, I wanted to give you three views. The veggies were out of this world. I love roasted vegetables.

And, there you go! Things I’ve eaten this month! I’d like to do a food post once a week, but I don’t think I have the variety for that. I make 2-3 ‘bigger’ meals a week, and the rest of the time it’s either eggs, big salad or leftovers. The leftovers go pretty far. I’d like to try a new recipe every week, but I don’t think I’d actually take the time for that.

I’ve GOT to be a better blogger.

Posted on February 27, 2013 by HaleyComet

Days 45-58.

I’ve got no excuses. I just haven’t felt like blogging. School is in full swing and it feels like a luxury to ‘waste time’ and blog. I don’t believe it’s a time waster, it’s a creative outlet I need to continue.

It took me forever to write this post, because I’m so far behind. Putting the pictures into Layout, formatting and using the right ones, sending them to Flickr, then uploading here…takes a long time! ANYWAY, tons of catching up to do! So, read if you like, or just look at the goofy pictures. I’m caught up and will NOT be letting myself get this far behind. New rule: 1-2 posts per week!

Day 45 (feb 14): CrossFit, home workout. Felt good! Finally starting to feel ‘recovered’ from the race.
4 rounds:
25kb swings (25lbs)
565m run (around the big block, mapped it out!)
Time: 14:40. The run totaled 1.4mi.

Some Valentines CrossFit love:

Day 46 (feb 15): CrossFit, home again. Walk.
Walked the dogs 2miles at the dog park.
CF
Warmup: 400m jog, bodyweight stuff (squats, pushups, etc)
3 rounds
1130m run (.7mi)
5 burpees
10 thrusters (45lb bar)
Time: 16:57. Run total: 2.1miles.

Lets ignore the tissue on the ground, shall we? My dog likes to pull them out of the trash.

Day 47 (feb 16): Benchmark WOD. Stretching/Foam roller (10min).
9min AMRAP
7 KB swing
7 burpees
50m run.
Again, the burpees are always my limiter. Ugh
TOTAL: 7 rounds, +7 KB swing +2 burpees.
In Sept. I did 6 rounds + 7 swings. Decent improvement.

Day 48: (feb 17) Kettlebell. Handstands. Stretching.
KB: 50 sumo deadlift high pull, 50 swings
Handstands: Practice. MAJOR breakthrough. All of a sudden, I was “getting” it and able to hold them, without a wall, for much longer than before! WHOOO HOO!
Stretching: splits practice & foam roller.
Now I want to get my splits since my handstands are getting better. I have a long way to go though.

Day 49 (feb 18): CrossFit x2! (at the Box & at home). Stretching.
Warmup: 400m run, 20 push press w/25lb plate, 20 air squats, 20 burpees, stretching…
WOD:
13min AMRAP
“FUN WITH SANDBAGS”
100m run
5 ground-to-overhead
5 front squat
5 push press
5 back squat
Total: 8 2/3 rounds. AWESOME WOD. Finally feel 100% again.

(SOMEONE forgot their workout clothes and had to wear my short shorts! Ha! Lets point and laugh!!)
WOD #2 (home):
as much in 11min as possible:
800m run
50 situps
75 air squats
100 pushups
I did:
800m run
50 situps
75 squats
70 pushups.
I bet in a couple months I can get through all of it, doing the 100 pushups. They were all “real”, no modified, no knees, etc.
Stretching: Foam roller.

Day 50 (feb 19): Run. Stretching.
Run: 2.01 miles, 18:25, pace: 9:10. Easy little jog to move my legs in a running-type motion.
Mile 1: 9:13
Mile 2: 8:57
Felt like I could have easily kept a faster pace or sustained what I was doing.
Stretching: Foam roller. My legs needed it! Owwwie!

Day 51 (feb 20): Swim! Stretching.
Swim: 750m, 15min, 2:00/100m.
100, 100 breast, 550 pull.
Shoulder wasn’t feeling great. So sore from sandbags Monday.
Stretching: light stretching.

Day 52 (feb 21): CrossFit x2 (Box & home). Stretching. Treadmill walking.
Walk: treadmill while watching The Americans. Love my treadmill desk!
@Box:
Warmup: run 400m, samson stretch, duck walk, 50 jumping jacks, 10 burpees
STRENGTH: 4×4 front squat (did some bar & 65lb warmup)
85, 95, 105, 110! Whoop. Haven’t done that in a long time. Felt pretty easy. Should try my 1RM soon.
WOD:
100m run
15 burpees
30 wall ball (12lb)
Time: 13:09. Second fastest female, RX, as of 5p. Whoo. Couldn’t have caught #1 girl, she did 11:19.
CF @ home:
3 rounds
15 kb swings (44lbs)
10 double unders
0.3mi run
Time: 12:49
Was going to do 5 rounds but this was taking longer than I liked. Wasn’t feeling “fresh”.
+2min for warmup (DU’s, some swings, & K taking pics for blog)
Stretching: light stretching & foam roller.

Annnnnnd, as proof I don’t just use the “best” pictures, here’s some…notsogood ones:

Day 53 (feb 22): Treadmill walking. Kettlebell. Travel day to my brothers. Will be a “minimum” day.
Treadmill: 30minutes. Walked while doing some computer work in case I couldn’t get a real workout in.
Kettlebell: 35lbs
5 Sets of 10’s:
Deadlift high pull
Swings
R & L arm snatch

Day 54 (feb 23): CrossFit 318, Monroe. Drop in at the Box by my brothers house.
Warmup: run 400m, bunch of sprints: high knees, butt kicks, side shuffles, duck walk, skips, etc etc. Don’t remember what else. Some other stuff.
Saturdays at this gym are “Partner WOD’s”. Pretty fun. K was my partner, his weight was 135lbs, so he had to walk with his 40lb weights and put them on the bar after I did my 100m walk. (it was out-and-back)
3 rounds:
42 wall balls (12lb for female)
36 box jump
24 burpees
100m front rack walk (95lbs)
Time: 20:56
One person working at a time. It was BRUTAL! Love it. My quads are FRIED. We did these same exercises on Thursday at my Box and I was already a little tired. Now…they hurt. Oh Rhabdo!

None of the pictures from the workout came out (blame the photog), so, you get ones of me playing on the rope swing! Let me just say again, that WOD was BRUTAL! Also, it’s not my fault that races give out neon shirts. I do have other colors, promise. I guess I just don’t wear them.

Day 55 (feb 24): Yoga. Stretching. Two different ‘stretching’ times. Drove back home from my brothers, then had a family party for my late grandmothers birthday.
Yoga: 20min. practice poses, splits work, handstands.
Stretching: focused on hamstring stuff w/foam roller.

Day 56 (feb 25): Swim. Run. Stretching.
Swim: 850m. 15min. 1:46/100m.
Fast swim! My 50’s were 40-45sec, my 100’s were around 1:40! I don’t think I’ve been this fast…ever.
100 warmup. Mostly setting up lane ropes for the lifeguard, she didn’t want to get in the pool.
2 sets of:
50, 100, 200. Rest same amount of time each set took.
50cd
Run: 1.47miles. Sprints.
30 sec sprint, 2-3min rest (walking back to the start). Usually around 3. I think I did 8 sets.
Felt great!
Made or exceeded my distance on every set.
Stretching: nothing special. Just stretching.

Day 57 (feb 26): Walk: 1.5hrs. 30min sets throughout the day.
Not feeling well. I’ve been having “major” digestive issues. Felt exhausted and never confident to do a hard workout without having bad side effects!

Day 58 (feb 27): Walk. CrossFit.
Walk: 1hr 40min on the treadmill.
CrossFit: Warmup: 20 lunges, 50 jumping jacks, 20 GHD situps, 10 air squats, 10 squat jumps
WOD: 175 box jumps. Oh dear. This was horrible! Well, it was fine really, but mentally very hard to get excited about just doing box jumps. Probably how many people feel about just doing a 5k for time and such.
Time: 11:29

ALL CAUGHT UP!!!! YAY! I still need to write some food posts and a race report. Eeek! I should do that before my next race…

Day 34-44. Procrastination & race recovery.

Posted on February 14, 2013 by HaleyComet

Feb. 3-13
I knew I wouldn’t blog for a while after my 50miler, as the week would be focused on rest & recovery. Very light workouts, thus, a boring blog entry. Well, then I just never felt like writing it up since it was so boring.

Now, I *have* to write this or I’ll be too far behind. So, sludge through it if you like, or don’t. It’s pretty boring! I purposely skipped writing day 33, as I’ll be following this up with my Rocky Raccoon race report (Feb 2) and another food entry.

Day 34: (feb 3) home CrossFit & foam roller
Day 1 post race! My body is TIRED.
Tabata KB swings, went light, 25lbs
Tried a couple pushups, could only do about 3! My body wouldn’t let me do them.
10min of foam roller. OW!

Day 35: Swim.
600yds, 13min, 2:10/100. Kept my 100’s under 2:00. 450 pull, 150 kick board.

(driveway recovery-proven method, post-swim hair. walking the dog)

Day 36: slow jog & walk.
1/2mi jog in my Luna sandals! They feel good. Then, walked the dogs for 20min. Legs felt good after I loosened them up with the jog.

Day 37: Swim & massage* (I am not counting “massage” was a workout, FYI, just logging here as part of recovery)
700yd, 16min, 2:17/100.
Post massage swim. Felt pretty good.
100wu, 450pull, 150kickboard.

*massage with feet. She walked on me. Stood one me, while holding those bars. Ouch! Felt fabulous.

Day 38: CrossFit @ home, Walk & “dancing” at the parade!
CF: tabata snatch, alternating arms each set, 25lbs (4min)
Walk: 30min walk with the dogs. Jogged about 1/4mi in there too.
Dancing: danced my butt off at the Muses parade. Carried kids on my shoulders for a couple hours too. Definitely a fun ‘workout’!

Day 39: Walk & foam roller (stretching)
1hr walk at the park w/the dogs. Lovely day!
Stretching & foam roller in the evening.

Day 40: Run
1mi, 9:26. In my Luna sandals!

Day 41: CrossFit @ home
4 rounds:
15 kb swings
300m run
20 air squats
Time: 9:38
+ 20 more squats to make it an even 100
end time: 10:06

Here we have my lovely outfit: bright green shoes, black & hot pink calf socks, bright orange compression shorts under purple shorts, a maroon race shirt, AND a gold sequin headband. Classy, people. Classy.

Day 42: CrossFit @ home
20min
Didn’t feel like driving to the Box since we don’t have school this week.
Warmup: bar & low weight squat cleans
WOD:
6min AMRAP, 1 min rest, 6min AMRAP (13min total)
6 squat cleans (75lbs first round, 65lb second round)
6 pushups
7 situps
Never, ever think “Oh, those are low numbers, that’s not very long, this will be quick and easy.” NOT. No. No.

Day 43: Walk & stretching
Didn’t feel good today, I slept SO much! Made myself walk the dogs.
30min, usual 1.5-2mile loop.
Foam roller.

Day 44: (feb 13) RUN. I ran to get my moms car from the repair shop. I *LOVE* running to run errands. It feels so free and with purpose. One of my favorite things rather than just get in the car!
5.52mi, 55:43, pace: 10:05
Splits
1: 11:00
2: 10:26
3: 9:58
4: 9:48
5: 9:34
.52: 8:55
I didn’t feel great, but I am pleased with my negative splits. Started to feel better after mile 2.

Ran to the levee, the Mississippi River levee, 4 miles to the next town to the repair shop. Here we have one of the several plantations in our Parish (the only state to call counties, parishes) and the river. It was a nice afternoon.

haleycomet365

365 days of workouts, Food, and hopefully some fun!