February 2016 Goals

I didn't realize how accomplished my friend Trevor was until I attended his funeral. I knew he was brilliant because it was nearly impossible to speak with him and not notice his intelligence, wit, and kindness. I knew he had a job he was passionate about and that he was also attending school. I knew he was a good student because I had friends attend high school with him. I knew he was a great friend because he put up with my shenanigans and checked in on me regularly. I had no idea what he was really up to. He excelled at his job and changed people's lives as a mental health professional. He was a straight A student (honestly not surprised but very proud.) He made the internet laugh and mentored a bunch of people and made time for the literally hundreds of people who considered him a best friend. He also had an awesome girlfriend who lives in LA, which meant time zones and travel. As I sat at the service and I listened to family and friends describe Trevor, I was struck by the impact he had on so many people in such a short time. I would do anything to have more time with him, but he lived his life in a way that somehow quadrupled time. His "free time" activities included beautiful art and creating hysterical videos. My free time activities include panicking on the couch about something I have to do in 3 weeks. Trevor is my motivation for 2016 and all of my goals. I want to make him proud. His life was cut tragically short and I feel compelled to step up my own to honor him. So here's my February check in.

Life and Wellness goals: I had my first Veritas Prep GMAT class last night. Oh my goodness am I behind in math. Like sooooo far behind in math. I have a lot of studying to do and I am going to take it seriously. I have three hours of arithmetic review tonight. If you are any good at algebra, please send words of encouragement!

I've been trying to sleep more but I am experiencing something that feels a lot like exhaustion. The past month has been really rough. It's no secret that I have problems with insomnia. Lately I've been falling asleep immediately and pretty much anywhere. I've passed out on my boyfriend within the first 5 minutes of about 8 movies. I find myself falling asleep on phone calls. I'm going to start taking a multi-vitamin more regularly and avoiding early AM workouts whenever possible. I'll go to a doctor if I don't see an improvement soon.

Last week I skipped Pure Barre to have brunch with my new friend Myra. Most people shouldn't skip workouts. I was proud of myself for putting life into perspective and spending some quality time with someone I really like. I consider this living in the moment.

Pure Barre goal: I took class 5 times in February. I decided to adjust my goal from 10 classes a month to 120 classes in 2016 because some months are challenge months. I'm at 21/120. March's challenge is 20 classes in 31 days. I think I'm going to aim for this challenge because I already ripped my hands in the Open and need to heal this mits up. More Pure Barre means less stress on the hands for the foreseeable future.

CrossFit goal: 22/200 WODs. I went to CrossFit 14 times in February. I dropped in at CrossFit and Fearless in Austin, Texas and loved it. Talk about a welcoming community!

Mileage: The Garmin's official count is 4.9 miles. The boyfriend and I decided to run to brunch on Saturday and I lost satellite reception. The round trip was about 2 miles but we walked some of it, so I'm okay with the official total.

Half Marathon Training and Strava

Yesterday I started my half marathon training plan. I have attempted to train for a few races, but if I am being entirely honest, I haven't actually followed a plan since the 2011 NYC Marathon. So I pulled up the Runner's World Smart Coach app, filled in my race information and my time from the 2014 Area 13.1, and now I have a sweet little plan with minimal mileage that should prepare me for my 1/2 in June.

For the next few weeks, I am supposed to run 2 miles at 10 minute mile pace three times a week. Usually I would look at that and scoff at the lack of a workout and then I wouldn't even bother. But this time I am committed to actually training. Clearly I'm not going to be satisfied with a 2 mile run so I have decided to do these as warm-ups before CrossFit. We have a nice little loop around CrossFit Identity and I ran that three times before the WOD. I ran it a little faster than 10 minute mile pace because I just wanted to get my legs moving.

I recently signed myself up for Strava because I want something new to track my data. I used to use Running Ahead but that website isn't keeping up with Garmin connect changes. Annoying, but it's a new year so I'm okay with switching to a new platform. My only complaint so far is that I can't add existing mileage to my sneakers, which I can do on Running Ahead. Those red Brooks Adrenalines have like 2 plus 280 more miles on them.



Strava seems pretty easy to use. I connected my Garmin Forerunner 305 to Garmin Connect and synced my Garmin Connect to Strava. The Forerunner 305 is a pretty old model so it doesn't sync wirelessly, meaning that I have to connect it to my laptop to add any new runs to Garmin Connect/Strava.

The coolest thing I've noticed about Strava so far are these segments. Apparently there's something called the Floataway Quarter Mile (there's an office community called Floatway right near my box) and Strava automatically gave me some stats on my performance.

New York

So I started this post in December when I started my new job and then I promptly forgot about it until now. 

photo courtesy of CrossFit Hell's Kitchen

Last Monday I started my new job as the Manager of AmeriCorps Residency Programs at Relay Graduate School of Education. I am so very excited to take on this work because I am passionate about AmeriCorps, and I know that this is the way that I can have a positive impact on education. I just also really enjoy managing AmeriCorps programs - everything from service events to making sure we're in compliance.

Relay has campuses across the United States, but the home office is in New York. I feel really fortunate that they found me such a strong candidate for the role that I get to work remotely with regular travel to New York. I flew up Monday morning (after driving back from Tampa on Sunday, ugh) and stayed through Friday. I got to drop in at CrossFit Hell's Kitchen for a debilitating workout - 50 front squats at 50% back squat 1 RM, followed by 5 rounds of 20 wallballs, 10 hang snatches, and 10 chest to bar pull-ups. I was walking funny all week. 

As thrilled as I always am to make it to CFHK, I was nervous to come back to New York.

I was nervous that I'd come back to New York and use my new job as an excuse to move back. I was pretty sure I really loved living in Atlanta, but it's hard moving somewhere, making all new friends, being hundreds of miles away from your nearest family member, and leaving the only company you've ever really worked for. When I came up in December, I kind of entertained the idea of moving back to NYC, getting to go to CFHK all the time, and seeing my parents every other weekend because I am a helicopter child. And then I snapped out of it. I dislike New York. Frank hates Manhattan. We'd end up living at my parents' house and I'd have to change the title of my memoir to Alone with Dogs. (Type alone with cats in the search bar at the top of my blog.)

MindBody Brand Ambassador

I have been selected to be a MindBody Brand Ambassador so I can share my fitness journey on Instagram and other social media. This means I have to start posting some legit photos of myself and not my awkward selfies, so I recruited my friend Nicole to take some photos of me after the WOD yesterday.

I felt like a pretty Dalmatian in my new Fabletics outfit. Since the workout was EMOM hang snatches followed by rowing and snatches, I really should have worn my lifters, but they don't match this outfit so I went Nanos. Looking good is 3/4 the battle.

I am making a dumb face but you can see the pants a lot better in this shot.

Facebook tells me that I hit a 55# snatch on this day two years ago. Yesterday I did 3 high hang squat snatches every minute on the minute for 7 minutes at 55#. High hang is more difficult because you have less momentum to get under the bar. I also used 55# for the metcon: 500 m row, 15 power snatches, 750 m row, 12 power snatches, 1000 m row, 9 power snatches. I love CrossFit because progress can be clearly measured.

Speaking of progress - I am focused on my macros and getting used to high carb days. Yesterday I had some pasta with my lunch and I measured out 1 serving according to the box. That's 1 serving. It's like a garnish. I don't usually eat a lot of carbs at lunch so buttered noodles with my chicken chick pea salad seemed pretty decadent but I easily eat like four of these when my dad makes pasta. Remember when I was obsessed with informercials? I totally used my Pasta Boat to cook this linguine.

Tex Mex Breakfast

When I was in Houston I had this most delicious breakfast from My Fit Foods, and I knew that I could recreate it at home. I prep white rice in my rice cooker and cook up a pound of ground turkey using Flavor God Spicy Everything seasoning. When I'm ready to eat this delicious meal, I heat up the rice and turkey in the microwave while I scramble an egg (or two). I layer the eggs on top of the turkey, sprinkle some Mexican blend cheese, and top it with 2 tablespoons of salsa. IT IS SO EFFING DELICIOUS. And it's filling, without being excessive.

Breakfast Portion

1/2 cup white rice

3 oz cooked ground turkey

1 extra large egg

1/2 oz Mexican blend cheese

2 tablespoons salsa

CAL: 418, P: 35g C: 25g F: 18g

Dinner Portion

1/2 cup white rice

5 oz cooked ground turkey

2 extra large eggs

1/2 oz Mexican blend cheese

2 tablespoons salsa

CAL: 613, P: 58g C: 25g F: 29g

Some tricks of the trade: Measure in grams whenever possible, otherwise use ounces. A half cup of white rice is approximately 100 g. This is a bajillion times easier to track using a food scale instead of a measuring cup. I track cooked ground turkey because it's annoying to cook ground meat in bulk and track raw measurements. An ounce of shredded cheese is 28 g so I weigh out 14 g for this dish. Two tablespoons of salsa is 30 g. I avoid using measuring cups and measuring spoons whenever possible.

First Week of Carb Cycling

Jenna, my nutrition coach, recommended that I try a 2-week carb cycling plan. At first I was all, Nah, I'm good. I like my macros and after 3 months I'm finally following them consistently, but then I remembered that I pay Jenna for her expertise and I should listen to her. She made a very compelling argument - carb cycling can be beneficial for people who have varying activity levels. Some days I CrossFit and squat heavy, some days I CrossFit and run eleventy 400s and do a bajillion doubleunders, some days I tuck at Pure Barre and don't sweat at all but my fucking abs shake like I'm hooked up to one of those electrode ab shredder belts. (Those things don't work, so don't even think I'm recommending them.)

And some days, usually Wednesdays, I wake up at 4 AM to open the Pure Barre studio and check my lovely ladies into class. (Working at Pure Barre really warrants its own post, but I must say that I get really psyched to greet my 5:30/6 AM and 6:45/7:15 AM regulars.) I am always starving on Wednesdays because I'm up for at least an extra 3 hours and I can never seem to fall asleep early the night before a 4 AM wake up. So I'm hoping carb cycling works for me.

work with Jenna

Sustainable Goals

I've gained and lost 20 lbs several times. I'm really good at all or nothing, and my methods for weight loss were unsustainable. My workouts were long, high rep, low weight, and extremely cardio-focused. I am surprised I managed to function on what I was eating, now that I know more about nutrition. I am not surprised that I wrecked my metabolism. I've gotten some comments and I want to clarify - I do not think I am fat. I am working with a nutrition coach to lose body fat. For the amount that I workout, I think that I should have an athletic amount of body fat, 16-18%, opposed to the 20%+ I've got going on. This is both an aesthetic and performance goal. I want some visibly defined abs. It's also easier to pull up less body weight if you maintain your strength.

If your goal is not to have visibly defined abs, do you. If you think women should look soft and find a muscular physique to be manly, keep it to yourself. Luckily for you, you will probably never wake up and accidentally find yourself with abs. If you do, I'd like a detailed log of everything you did the day before.

Goals are not bad. Goals are not just for fat people, or slow people, or unsuccessful people. Successful people, in all aspects of life, have goals and work to attain them. A major reason that my weight yo-yo'd so much was that I didn't properly understand goals. I would work so incredibly hard to lose the weight, cut out food groups, panic at the thought of restaurants, and spend hours at the gym (no joke, I used to take 3-4 hour-long workout classes in a row), but then I'd be down 20 lbs and I wouldn't know what to do. Just because you reach a goal weight, you step off the scale and revert back to whatever terrible eating habits you had? No! By that point I was usually so exhausted, I would just crash and burn. Long-term and short-term goals are great. Having a plan to transition from one long-term goal to another will help you from feeling lost like I felt when I finally found my holy grail number staring back at me.

Fitbit emailed me this badge to congratulate me on losing 5 lbs. It's 7 lbs. Fitbit. It's 7.