Rizzo's World

A cry for help

2011-09-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

Guys,

Anyone who reads this, I'm in desperate need of help.

As some of you know, I injured myself in 2009 at a weightlifting meet that qualified me for every national meet. I was on my way to worlds. I havne't clean and jerked a bar since then.

I am going to post my history on here; if anyone is kind enough to do so, I ask you to please show this to anyone who might be able to help me figure out what's wrong with me body.

Currently I'm entering Clear Passage Therapy's Unstuck giveaway -- free treatment for adhesions, which I'm hoping would help my cause (http://www.clearpassage.com/unstuck.php). If I do not get to go to this place, I am not sure what to do. Please, spread the word around that I desperately need help. I will be eternally grateful.

Current symptoms
• Body is twisted (per current physical therapist) ie rotated pelvis, shoulders etc
• Pain at C1 on L and R
• Scapular winging (hasn’t improved even with enormous amount of strengthening exercises)
• Terrible trigger point superior angle of scapula
• Knots in upper back and in between shoulder blades (been present since injury in 2009)
• Trigger points in rotator cuff muscles, and shoulder girdle muscles in general
• First rib pain
• Pain on R side of spinous processes of cervical spine and thoracic
• Can’t raise arm laterally or else feels like my fingers are going to rip (this is rectified when serratus is ‘adjusted’) => mostly just right
• Pain/tenderness at base of skull (posterior)
• TMJ
• Constant need to crack my shoulder blades (do this by violently retracting one shoulder blade); both sides
• Subscapularis pain/tightness on right side
• Grinding/clicking of collarbone when I move my arm behind me along sagittal plane (right side)
• Grinding at T1
• Weakness in right hand and lack of strength in arm (used to do planks, arm would fatigue and shake)
• Trigger point on one of ribs (serratus? Intercostals?)
• Tightness/cramping/tenderness in right forearm (slightly on left)
• Extreme lack of mobility – cannot extend my fingers when arms are abducted
• The things that always aggravates this condition are 1) sitting in a slouched position (in a chair – I always have to sit either straight up or put a pillow that aligns my head); any kind of lifting or overhead movement of arms (even putting dishes away)
• Other things that aggravate: carrying a backpack on my shoulders (even one that has nothing in it), overhead movements, any weight bearing activities on my arm;
• RELATION TO PELVIS/HIP ISSUE????????? FEET????!!!! (arch on left foot = awful)
Note: I am overwhelmed at the diversity of these symptoms. I feel they are all related somehow but no one has been able to tell me how. I did sports all through high school: gymnastics, soccer, lacrosse, and crossfit, and started Olympic weightlifting in 2008 (training 5 days a week, heavy), and now I cannot even perform household chores.
General
• What I know:
o I have no curve in my neck and lumbar spine (?)
o There was nothing torn nor any breaks, fractures, etc, nor torn labrum
o I had foot surgery on my left foot, so I overpronate even with orthotics (which causes my knee to cave in, shifting my whole pelvis – effect?!)
o My pelvis is twisted, and tends to get stuck in twisted positions (per my chiropractor)
o I have weak glute medius on my left side
o Shoulder and hip must be related
o Spine has slight twists in it (in each vertebrae)
o Lack of serratus strength

History of Shoulder and neck pain
• November 2008
o Broke wrist was put in a full arm cast without a sling
o Inadequate PT – didn’t rehab shoulder, only wrist
o Didn’t start lifting again fully until June 2009 – heavy snatch and heavy clean and jerk, no pain, felt great
• July 2009 – bench press leaves shoulder in pain; 2 weeks before a meet, have to decrease load dramatically, can’t put bar over head
o Upper back is in spasms/knots
o Goes away in time for meet – do really well at meet, only mild pain
o After that, everything goes downhill: all up upper back (between scapula and spine) into right shoulder is in excruciating spasms; can’t look over the seat in the car without being sent into spasms; tightness/spasm in bicep/tricep; pain in neck (around first rib); can’t wear a halter top without causing everything to seize up
o Notice winging of scapula that hadn’t been present before injury
o Superior angle of scapula very tender when pressed on
• Fall 2009
o Nothing relieves it at all; in intense pain like this for a few months; if I crack neck (around first rib), relieves symptoms briefly
o Intensity dies down, but constant knots in back and neck are still there constantly, with no relief
o receive trigger point injections, x rays, MRI of upper back and shoulder, nothing is clinically wrong; doctor tells me to deal with it
• Winter 2010
o Symptoms stay constant
o Tightness/spasming in supscap and serratus
• Spring 2010
o Symptoms improve after seeing positional release therapist; start working out lightly overhead, start cleaning again (no jerking), but I break my left wrist in March
o Symptoms are still better, so I do a heavy squat program (light knotting/spasming still in upper back between scapula and spine)
o TMJ starts acting up pretty badly
• May 2010
o Hurt lower back, can’t lift or run, so I start swimming, mess my shoulder up again
• Summer 2010
o Shoulder pain is worse than before; same symptoms, feel it in anterior part of shoulder as well
o Some relief when I saw pilates specialist in NYC over summer, but as soon as I stopped seeing him, symptoms returned worse than ever (low back and shoulder)
o Notice weakness in right arm (distinct trembling if I try to hold myself up in a plank position)
• Fall 2010
o Same symtpoms as bad as ever
o New symptom: I start getting bad pain in neck, and I notice on R side superior angle always EXTREMELY tender until it became constantly painful without pressing on it; posterior shoulder extremely tender (greater tubercle of humerus)
• At this point I have stopped lifting and am only doing body weight exercises for legs (lunges etc), stair running, and stationary biking
o Relief from cracking neck (same as before, around first rib)
o New symptom: forceful retracting of right scapula relieves pressure that bulids, cracking rib back into place
• Minimal relief from chiropractor (applied kinesiologist)
o SCM tone and tightness, as well as scalenes
o Tightness/dysfunction that goes down whole arm (imitates irritated brachial plexus)
o Tenderness at base of skull/C1 and C2
• Winter 2011
o Take 3 months off of any activity
o Symptoms get worse, not better
o Left side starts acting up, some times just as bad as right side (after receiving a terrible massage)
o Now: need to sit completely erect with back and neck fully supported
• Spring 2011
o Extreme limitation in range of motion of neck; scalenes and SCM excruciatingly painful; other symptoms are still present
o No relief from trigger point specialist
o Pain on superior angle of scapula so bad that I can hardly carry a very light back pack
o Am told I can do yoga and bike; leaves me in terrible pain, worse than ever, so I have to stop
• June through July 2011
o Symptoms progress to where I cannot hold anything on my back at all
o Scalenes are in such enormous pain I almost go to the ER
o Cannot carry a blender to make smoothies (lose my job as a barista/smoothie maker because of it)
o Cannot even put dishes away, pain in neck and arm and back is so great
o Cannot rotate neck
o Jaw feels like its been pulled diagonally to left when I hyperextend my neck
o Cannot put either arm behind me
o Scalene tightness rectified by putting something under my armpit while I walk
• August 2011
o See a chiropractor who adjusts occiput and first rib; scalene and SCM pain and tightness improve remarkably, as well as TMJ symptoms
o See a postural specialist, feel really good the day after I see her, but I rapidly decline once I start doing normal household chores (cleaning, putting dishes away etc), and have not been able to get myself back to where I was
o See current symptoms list

Treatment History
• Nov 2008: Cheryl Parker, PA, Children’s Hospital, for fractured scaphoid (full arm cast)
• Jan, Feb, March, April, May 2009: PT for wrist in Walla Walla (not full arm)
• May, June, July 2009: PT for wrist, Children’s Hospital
• July, August 2009: PT for shoulder, Children’s hospital
• July 2009: Chiropractor and acupuncture (Madison Park)
• July through December 2009: Dr. Krabak (EMG, MRI with arthrogram, trigger point injections)
• August, September, October 2009: chiropractor care (Eastside)
• January through March 2010: Ballard Sports medicine clinic (x-ray, PT)
• April 2010 through May 2010: SRT (like positional release therapy) (Taya; feels better, hurt lower back, gets worse again)
• May and June 2010: community acupuncture
• May and June 2010: ART chiropractic for my back (Neno Pribic)
• July through August 2010: Alec Hellner, Pilates (twisted pelvis, serratus and lower trap weakness, glute medius weakness)
• October 2010 through December 2010: Vital Energy Center (X-rays, C-spine MRI; loss of curve of neck) => applied kinesiologist
• November 2010: Seattle Spine and Sports Medicine: trigger point dry needling
• April 2011 through May 2011: Laurie Connolly at TherapyWorks, Trigger Point work and myofascial release
• May and June 2011: nutritional healing chiropractor
• May 2011 through August 2011: Nolana, movement systems physical therapy
• June 2011: Dr. Cheung , physiatrist, tested for TOS (negative)
• June and July 2011: Starr Chiropractic
• August 2011: Perry Nickelston, DC, used laser
• August 2011: Vance Bonner: postural specialist
• Others: random massage and acupuncture here and there

the 'Looking-Glass Self'

2011-05-11T01:36:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been extremely challenging for me. It's around this point in recovery that a lot of my friends have had or are having relapses at this time. Each day it gets harder and harder, but each day I wake up and put one foot in front of the other and keep on chugging along.

Right now I'm taking a sociology psychology class that attempts to answer the question of why we are the way we are. Coming out of the Ranch, I've had a LOT of experience examining myself and digging deep into the underlying issues that have led to my disease. But one thing I haven't done is explore it from a scientific perspective. And that's the exact thing that this class has done.

I actually have an exam tomorrow, so maybe this is my attempt at studying, but I found this unit particularly thought provoking. The overarching questions of this unit is: why do we behave the way we do?

That's a BIG question, and one that provoked a bit of mental distress for me.

In sociology, there are theories of development that describe how we begin to form our values separate from those who raised us. In the beginning, kids are subjected to their parents as their 'significant others.' The first stage of their development involves the 'play' stage, where kids begin to take on roles, mimicking significant people in their lives. But the next stage is absolutely vital, which is the game stage. At this stage, children develop empathy, and are able to learn how there are different roles in the script of life, and that they all interconnect somehow. The third and final stage is of the "generalized other" -- the 'generalized other' is a set of values and attitudes that makes up society; in short, it is 'society.'

So what does this mean for who and what shapes us to become the people we are?

As individuals, the Generalized Other gets into our minds through social interaction; we are able to piece together the puzzles that make up society and know that there are certain rules that are necessary (for example, we know that it would be inappropriate to walk up to a handsome guy on the street, and kiss him passionately, even though we really want to!). But shaping us as individuals requires interaction from significant others in our lives, and reference groups. Reference groups are specific groups that we associate with, and whose values we try to live by (ie if you're Christian, you may try to live by the norms of Christianity, or Judaism or what have you). Both shape us; I will give a personal example below.

Significant others have a huge impact on ossifying our identity. If I have a particular person I really look up to, and they name and identify a behavior they see in me, I am more likely to begin to start identifying myself by that behavior, because I value the opinion of the other person. For example, if a professor told me I am a really good writer, I may start to pursue more writing, enter poetry contests, etc, until I identify myself as a writer. Following me?

Lastly, our behavior is shaped by how we think other people are responding to us. For example, say I go in to ask a professor to gain points back on an exam. Depending on the way she responds, I interpret her response in a specific way, internalize it, and judge myself based on her response. If she seems annoyed and frustrated, I may internalize that as embarrassment for asking such a question of her, and feel shame because of that.

Make sense?

So the big question is ... why does all this matter?!

As I was learning this, I took a really hard look at myself, and was able to connect some of my previous recovery work to a different and deeper level of understanding because of these concepts.

First off, the way that I grew up was centered around exercise, especially during the crucial high school years, when self esteem is a roller coaster, and where eating disorders run rampant, especially at an all girls Catholic private school. Probably the hardest part of all was the reference group I associated with -- CrossFit.

I love CrossFit to death; I think it's a great mode of fitness and has awesome concepts of working out. But for a girl predisposed to an eating disorder (perfectionism, etc), it was one of the worst things I could have done for myself.

CrossFit is all about the competitive nature. This is fantastic for most people, but for me it proved to be my downfall. I became obsessed with the competitiveness, not only of the times on our workouts, but of the bodies. I came to see CrossFit as THE reference group of all reference groups; all of my values were based on this group of people. That, combined with my perfectionism, meant that I had to be the best at EVERYTHING -- the best body, eat the most perfect diet, and be the best athlete. I needed it all.

I began to seek out those who I knew would reflect my newfound principles back. I sought those 'reflected appraisals' from people who began to solidify my identity as an athlete and a body. See where this is leading?

As this solidified my identity, I became more obsessed with perfection and athletic ability. My mentors and friends, my 'significant others,' had solidified my identity; there was no turning back. So I sought out more people who would reflect back what I wanted. But some of them were much harder on me than I could ever have imagined.

Since I had to be the best, if I get any reflections back at me that said otherwise, I beat myself up terribly. And that's just what happened. I received many a harsh comment, action, or word (or that's how I perceived them), which shot my self esteem further into the ground. I internalized those reactions and began to hate myself, despise myself because of these judgments I was laying on myself.

I became deeper entrenched in this cycle of self-hate; nothing was ever good enough now. I needed more and more exercise to feel accomplished; I was envious of the person I loved the most because of what he had and what I couldn't do. I saw reflected back from him everything that I wasn't, because of judgments that I had perceived before I even knew him.

And I further declined.

Because exercise took up my whole identity, I was nothing without it. When I hurt my shoulder in 2009 due to being pushed beyond my limits, I hated myself, my life, and those who had what I didn't. And I took it out again on the one I loved the most, which wasn't fair to him. But in my world it made perfect sense -- I saw in him everything that I couldn't be, everything that I had to be in order to be happy in this world.

This cycle continued to get worse and worse until I hit my absolute rock bottom this past December.

Now, when I was at the Ranch, I learned a lot about codependence, trauma, and the deep predispositions to addictions and disorders. And I hope you can see how much deeper this can go, completely based on our socialization as we grow up. If I had been brought up in a different 'world' in high school, would i be different right now? Would my identify have been solidified into something else besides what it is now? It's hard to say, but I have my beliefs that it very well could have been different. But at this point, I can't dwell on the could'ves, would'ves, should'ves. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know whatchya gonna get, right?

If you've made it this far through my post, congrats! I know that all of us have our demons ... if anyone is up for a little reflecting time, I highly encourage you to think about these concepts. It's been extremely eye opening to me and informative on how and why I developed my disorder; it's just another piece to the puzzle.

Now all I have to do is learn to re-define myself ... ossify new identities ... and that's what my life in recovery is going to be!

In Loving Memory

2011-05-11T01:25:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to insert a quick memorial. On May 6, 2006, my soccer team mate Maren took her own life by jumping off the Aurora Bridge. The anniversary was this past Friday, 5 years ago.

She was a beautiful, incredibly girl who had so much going for her. Her friends, family, and soccer team miss her very much.

We will always remember her for her beautiful smile, her amazing athletic ability, and the ribbon she always wore in her hair.

We will always miss and love you, forever and always.

I'm back

2011-04-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

Well I've been gone for quite a few months now. For everyone viewing this, I'll give you a little update on the past 7 months.

Coming back from New York in the summer hit me hard. After I wrote my last post, my life started to go downhill fast. I have struggled with an eating disorder for many years now, using CrossFit, sports, lifting, anything active as my coping mechanisms. Perfection was necessary in my food, to be the best at everything.

I had had a pretty good summer; there were some very bad moments, but food wise, everything was manageable. Coming home, I became extremely isolated and depressed. After getting an iPhone for the first time, I downloaded a calorie counter, 'just to see' what I was eating, thinking I was completely in control. I wasn't.

As my physical health (my shoulders and back) began to deteriorate, I began to be swallowed up by my disorder. The number of calories I was eating became less and less, as my mental state declined dramatically. I became a shell of myself, a monster to anyone who stood in my way. I put a mask on for my family, but took my anguish out on other people. I refused to believe that I was 'really that sick,' that I could stop if I wanted to. Every addict believes that.

Everyone says that you have to hit bottom before you seek true help. My bottom came in December of this past year, when my boyfriend, the love of my life, decided to break up with me, 3 weeks before I was supposed to leave and spend a semester with him.

I crashed hard. I was absolutely at the lowest point of my entire life; after two weeks of ball jerking, he broke up with me on Christmas Eve, 3 days before our 2 year anniversary. I honestly hardly remember anything from December 9 until I went to treatment. I somehow managed to hold myself together to survive the week after he broke up with me. I lived through the one year anniversary of my miscarriage. I lived through running my body into the ground until it broke. I fed off the high of exercise, the rush I got, the one moment where everything truly felt ok, that life was good. But then after each session, I crashed, and needed another fix. But the next fix was never enough, because I was still stuck in the shittiest of all shittiest situation, hopeless beyond all measure, not caring about if I lived or died the next day. My food kept decreasing, first from 2 meals a day, then to one meal a day and one snack, finally to just snacking and maybe a small meal. The starvation was a way to cope; it felt so much better to feel the hunger pain than to feel the reality of losing the one I love the most. The restricting distracted me, and the exercise gave me a high. As the calories got lower and lower, my physical and mental beings wasted away, until I didn't want to live anymore.

But then on January 1st, I entered treatment at Rosewood Ranch, a center for eating disorders in Wickenburg Arizona. Then the true journey began, a journey that I never want to go through again. A good friend told me before I went into treatment that rehab will be the hardest thing I'll ever have to do. I didn't believe her, because what could be harder than the life I was living in this moment, so full of pain and despair that I didn't care about life?

Well I was wrong. Because in the 2 months in Arizona and the 1 month in California, I had to confront and face every single demon within me, every painful event in my life, examine past trauma and abuse that I pushed down for so long, tell people my deepest darkest secrets ... words cannot describe what an immensely diffult process this is. Each and every day was a mental workout, confronting not only fear foods, exercise withdrawals, and anxiety that reached the stars, but also everything internally. We had to peel back the layers of ourselves until we reached the core of our soul, the true source of the pain and fear and suffering.

I came back to Seattle on March 27th. On March 30th, my 21st birthday, I celebrated 90 days of sobriety. The past 6 months have absolutely been the hardest months of my entire life, and I honestly don't think anything will rival this (trust me, if you go to treatment, you'll see what I mean!)

As for this blog, I have to change the nature of it. I can no longer define myself by weightlifting; that kept me so deeply entrenched in my disorder that I could not find a way out. So I'm sorry if anyone was only looking at my blog to see my numbers, my lifting body, or comment on how good of an athlete I was, but you won't find that here anymore. Instead, I want to share my experiences with anyone who is willing to listen, and hopefully gain insight and knowledge from me.

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the different."

Peace.

The curse of the "I don't know" Syndrome

2010-09-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

The past year has been an incredibly tough one for me: physically, emotionally, mentally, the whole 9 yards. But if there's one thing I've learned is, put simply, never settle for "I don't know." Here is my story:

Starting last July, I became plagued by incessant shoulder pain. The entire right side of my back, from mid back through my trap and up into my neck, was in excruciating spasms. I couldn't put my hand on the seat of the car without my entire back seizing up and sending me into excruciating pain. No matter what I did, nothing seemed to relieve the pain – hot, cold, pressure, acupuncture, chiropractor, nothing. I had my doctor stumped. He did basic examinations to test for thoracic outlet syndrome, gave me trigger point injections, and put me on Lyrica (used to treat trigger point pain and fibromyalgia). I finally got an MRI in October, praying it would show something, ANYTHING. The results? Everything is normal.

At that point, the shoulder pain was considerably better, but nowhere near where it should be. I still at these awful knots, my shoulder clicked and popped, and I always had this incessant ‘tightness’ feeling in my whole right side. But what did my doctor say?

“Well there’s nothing wrong with it, so I’d just start lifting on it again and not worry about the knots.”

The “I don’t know” saga had begun.

Here I was, still in pain every moment of the day, and yet my doctor was telling me to start loading it again. Common sense told me that this wasn’t right, yet I obliged because I didn’t know what else to do. So I started lifting on it again, thinking that maybe this was all in my head, that maybe I had always been in pain. There comes a point when, after you’ve been in constant pain for long enough, you forget what it feels like to be pain free. By December, I was at that point.

By January, the pain and tightness in my shoulder had leveled out. It was not any better than it had been in November, but it wasn’t getting worse. So I kept loading it, slowly snatching and cleaning more and more. At the end of January I snatched 50 kg – the most I’d snatched since July. But it didn’t feel right, and the tightness in my shoulder increased after that one snatch. My aunt, who is a physical therapist specializing in shoulders, said that I had most likely stretched the joint capsule and that I had to refrain from any movements that involved forward protrusion of the humeral head, stretching, and pressing.

Hoping I was on the road to figuring out what was wrong, I again obliged to this new regimen in the hopes I was on the road to recovery. Every day of my winter quarter at school, I’d wake up and have the hopes that that day would be the day my shoulder would feel better. Day after day after day, I was disappointed. And that wears on the human spirit.

Someone recommended that I see a doctor at a sports medicine clinic in Seattle. I saw this doctor, who I was not impressed by because of his rush to get in and out of the room with me, but listened to him and followed his prescription for physical therapy 1-3 times a week. Hour upon hour was subsequently spent at this physical therapy office, doing exercise after exercise to ‘strengthen’ my instable shoulder. 6 weeks later, I was in the same amount of pain as I had been when I first set foot in their doors. Sure my shoulder was apparently more ‘stable,’ but how much progress could I have actually made if I was still in pain? I asked why it still hurt so badly. “I’m not sure,” my physical therapist had said. That boosted my confidence.

By March, I had been in pain for seven and a half months, and I was getting desperate. I then discovered the magic of structural relief therapy, or positional relief therapy. This type of therapy involves placing the muscle in a contracted position until the trigger point pain disappears. I saw a wonderful therapist in Lake Stevens, who said I would be an easy fix. One treatment later, my shoulder felt better than it had in seven months. My neck was no longer contracted so terribly to one side that I was lopsided. The trigger points that had been in my shoulder blades felt nearly normal. For the first time in seven months, I had hopes of recovery.

Although the few treatments I received helped a ton, I still had problems that were not going away. During each workout, my trainer would have me do presses and retraction exercises. My shoulder still clicked and popped constantly, and I’d still get a recurring tightness in the same areas each time I worked out. My shoulders felt ‘off’ each time I pressed, like they weren’t moving properly. Yet I had been told that I was an easy fix, so I kept chugging along with the same drills, thinking they were making me better.

Except they weren’t.

In May, I was back squatting 90 kg for reps when I felt a pop in my back. I immediately thought I had herniated a disc, and was sent into excruciating spasms. With the shoulder pain still mildly present, now coupled with the EXCRUCIATING back pain, I was once again desperate for answers. And an ER and doctor visit later, I was once again without answers. Pushed beyond my physical and mental limits with pain, I became bitter towards anyone and anything that came in my path. I resolved that I was always going to be in pain, that NO ONE could fix my shoulder or my lower back and hip (all on my right side).

Until I was introduced to Alec Helner and Debbie Parsons.

Both movement specialists and certified in nearly everything imaginable, Alec and Debbie dissected my movement patterns from head to toe. From June through August of this past summer, I worked tirelessly (and drained my entire summer’s earnings) trying to fix my hip and shoulder (details on how this occurred will appear in a future post). Finally, FINALLY, I had some answers.

Now before you all ask yourselves why I bored you with this incredibly long story of my shoulder and hip injuries, I wanted to lay this all out for you so you can learn from my mistakes and not make them yourselves. Because I learned some very valuable lessons throughout this whole ordeal.

-Never listen to a doctor who tells you you’re ok when you feel that you are not. Each and every time a doctor said that there was nothing visibly wrong, I listened to them and went about my lifting, which ended up pushing me back even further. If something doesn’t feel right, listen to your body and find someone else who can give you answer. If you can’t find one immediately, don’t stop until you do.

-“Probably’s,” “maybe’s,” and “most likely’s” are code words for: “I have no f-ing clue.” Once doctors, therapists or homeopaths start using these words, it’s time to think about finding alternative treatment, because it is a huge hint that the person treating you really has no clue what’s going on. I learned this the incredibly hard way of spending 3 months in physical therapy from May through August of 2009, 4 months listening to my doctor’s advice to get back into lifting, 2 months of listening to my aunt, 6 weeks of doing useless physical therapy exercises at another place, and 1 month of positional release therapy. Precious time, precious money, and precious mental energy completely wasted.

-If you do not get relief within a few weeks of therapy, go somewhere else. I don’t even like to think about how many hours (2+ hours each visit) and how much money was spent on the useless physical therapy. The fact that I saw no progress in 3 weeks should have been a big clue for me to leave. Any good therapy should make progress; even if it’s slow (say, over the course of a few weeks to a month or two), it should still be noticeable. If it’s not, it’s time to find something else.

-Consistency is key. Once you find the right person or therapy, stick with it. At first, when I first met Alec, I was trying to follow advice from 2 or 3 different people. It’s hard to do, and takes away from the main person who’s trying to solve your issues. Make a decision to listen to one person, and then stick with it.

-You are WORTH the time and the money. I felt SO incredibly guilty this past year spending my parent’s money and my own on finding someone or something to fix my injuries. But no matter what, a life lived in pain is a miserable life to live … and solving the issue is of the utmost importance. Once you find the right fix, keep seeking treatment as long as you can. Brian and I (who helped me pay for my sessions, thank you baby) used most of our earnings from the summer to pay for my sessions with Alec. But in the end, it is completely worth it.

-There is always in answer. This was probably the absolute hardest thing for me to learn. By the time June came around, I was completely hopeless. I had been in terrible pain for almost an entire year. But if I got that way, then there had to be a way to fix it. Even if you give up and lose hope, surround yourself with those you haven’t given up (thank you to Brian, the love of my life, who did this for me. I am so grateful).

-Do what it takes to keep the progress going. Now that I’m back in Seattle, and Alec is in New York, I’m worried about continuing progress or what I’ll do if something acts up again. But now I at least have a resource who can help me … and if worst comes to worst, I’ll book a trip to New York to see him again. The resource is there, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get better.

I think these are all important lessons to learn, and I hope this post can help others suffering from anything from chronic back pain to debilitating pain. No one should have to live in pain. I refuse to; and you should too.

I'm still here ...

2010-05-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

I apologize to anyone who actually reads this blog -- I haven't disappeared (yet). Things have been INSANELY busy with school and relationship issues (death in boyfriend's family). But I'm on the homestretch with school right now, so in a few weeks I'll draft up some articles.

Just some food for thought: this is what heavy lifting can do. Beware women, you may turn into a man.

Skinny me ... (Jan 09)

Manly me (May 2010)

Oh my aching feet ...

2010-01-29T17:44:00.000-08:00

I’m pretty sure EVERYONE knows someone with flat feet. Pronation, knee pain, hip pain … flat feet can cause a multitude of problems for an athlete, but surprisingly enough, not many people know the mechanics of flat feet.

The feet, legs, and hips are obviously vital in human movement and motion, and the body likes to keep everything aligned properly, especially the knees and pelvis. Notice how people tend to have many knee problems if their knees are not aligned with their hips (excessive inward or outward rotation of the knees can be quite painful in running, squatting, or what have you).

What does this have to do with feet? Well do this little experiment: lie on your back and stick your legs straight up in the air. Most likely, you will notice that your feet do not align at a perfect 90° angle to your legs, and that this angle keeps your knees in line with your hips. The angle that your feet deviate from the ‘ideal’ foot is specific to each and every person, and usually differs slightly between feet. My feet, for example, are slightly supinated in this position. What this means is that in an ideal world, the ground would be sloped at this specific angle so that my feet would be in their ideal position, and my knees would be aligned with my pelvis.

However, we all know that the ground doesn’t magically conform to make everyone’s feet happy. So in order for my feet to be able to reach the ground, they have to dramatically pronate. Now if you have flat feet, you can also try this: let one of your feet gently roll down onto the ground (without putting full weight on it), and watch what your knees do. They most likely roll inward, because that ideal angle is now lost on the flat ground. Now stand with your full weight on your feet; your knee most likely is better aligned with your hips now. This is because other muscles in your thighs and hips have to actively pull your knees back into place in order to keep the alignment correct. This later develops into painful foot problems, duck feet, hip problems, and general muscle tightness in the upper lower body.

It is important to correct pronation early on, because children are still growing, and can develop major foot problems during adolescence. Excessive pronation during childhood and growth can cause the bones in the leg to grow and fuse according to that pronation, resulting in a duck-foot appearance. Similarly, more serious consequences can manifest themselves later on. Take my story for example: I did gymnastics and soccer growing up in elementary school, but when I started 5th grade, something was not correct with my left foot. I started getting bad pain in my foot when I played soccer and did gymnastics, and it was determined that I had an accessory navicular. Months in orthotics did nothing to help the pain, so I had to get surgery to remove the bone on my arch.

Notice that the tendon that runs over the navicular in this photo:

When a child’s foot excessively pronates during adolescence, this ligament is put under constant stretching. The feet pronate, this ligament has to pull harder, and thus pull on the bones that it attaches to. Because the growth plates in the bones are not yet fused, this constant pulling eventually pulls the bone completely apart, resulting in an accessory navicular.

In short, is it absolutely vital for parents to be aware of their child’s feet in growth and development. I know for me personally, my flat feet have given me more anguish and disappointment during my athletic career than I care to admit. And sadly enough, most of it could have been avoided by early detection and gait analyses. For those of you suffering the plight of flat feet, do not fear! Invest in an intensive gait analysis and some hearty orthotics. Insurance doesn’t always cover it (and it’s extremely expensive), but it’s well worth the price.

Why wait any longer? Go out and get help now! It’s never too late.

If anyone in Seattle wants a good resource, Shari from http://www.biosportsnorthwest.com/ is a fantastic gait analyzer, and helped me get some spectacular orthotics.

Plane and Simple

2010-01-20T07:56:00.000-08:00

The human body is a strong, complex device. It is baffling to think about how much stress our body goes through each and every day, especially through sports and physical activity, and the complex movements each and every bone, muscle and joint is put through.
Describing human motion is essential for bettering sports performance. But how do you classify such movements? The human body can be divided into 3 reference planes called the cardinal planes:
•The sagittal plane divides the body into left and right segments
•The frontal plane divides the body into a ‘front’ and a ‘back’
•The transverse plane divides the body into an upper and lower portion

Along with these planes are the anatomical axes, which are three axes perpendicular to the anatomical planes.
•The transverse axis runs left to right and is perpendicular to the sagittal
plane
•The anteroposterior axis runs from the front to the back, and is perpendicular
to the frontal plane
•The longidudanal axis runs from the top to the bottom, and is perpendicular to
the transverse plane.

Now, what does this mean for human motion, and, more importantly, for sports performance?
Take a sprinter, for example. While a sprinter is running, his legs are moving along the sagittal plane. If a sprinter is efficient, healthy, and has no major problem areas, his arms should be pumping forcefully, also along the sagittal plane. However, many times sprinters’ arms are not moving along the sagittal plane the entire time, but rather the frontal plane as the runner completes the backwards pump of his arm. This is an indicator of a tight pectoralis -- a common issue with too much bench pressing!
While this may seem like a minor issue, the reference planes can be vital in analyzing human motion, and determining weakness and problem areas – something as simple as a tight pec muscle to complex gait analyses and correcting improper technique, which is important for anyone, be it elite athletics, or CrossFitting.

shoulder update

2010-01-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

I was in Baltimore this past weekend, and my cousin's Aunt is a PT who specializes in shoulders. I explained to her what's been going on with my shoulder the past 6 months and she came to a very simple and surprisingly quick conclusion: I stretched the joint capsule of my right shoulder (probably doing a bench press, way back in July).

What that means is no overhead work for at least 6 weeks, and do nothing where I can't see my elbows.

So that means, all I can do is:
-Front squat
-clean
-pull
-Deadlift

Not bad. What'll I be doing for the next 3+ months? Working the hell out of my FS.

FS
20/5
50/3
60/2
70/1
72.5/1
75/1
80/1
85/0
65/2
65/2
65/2

Cleans
45/3
45/3
55/2
60/1

Clean Pulls
65/3
70/3
70/3
70/3

hypers: 3x10, 16 kg

Bicep curls: 2x10, 10 lbs

Not bad, considering my best EVER front squat is 85.

Food for thought ...

2010-01-06T21:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting, got some great things to post (including tips some interesting tips on exercise and movement), been busy with school. But here is something fun.

High school, Dec 2005, and now, Jan 2010. Crazy what squatting can do :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

RIZZO style!

2009-12-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

Snatch -- warmup for squats, just 30 kg

BS
50/5
60/5
72.5/5
72.5/5
72.5/5
72.5/5
72.5/5
72.5/5

Snatch
30/2
35/1
40/1 x a lot (didnt keep track)

Hang cleans
40/3
45/2
45/2
45/2
45/2

2009-12-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday

BS
20/10
20/10
42/10
52/10
60/10
60/10
60/10

Press
20/5
30/5
30/5
30/5

hypers: 3x20

OW. That's all I can say.

Today's workout:
Shoveling snow :)

2009-12-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's workout:

BS
20/10
20/10
42/10
55/10
55/10
55/10

DL
45/5
65/5
70/5
70/5
70/5

Press
20/5
30/5
32.5/5
30/5

hypers: 3x20

Legs were a wreck.

On my way to New York right now, posts will be sporadic but hopefully the squats will continue to improve.

First day squatting

2009-12-14T19:55:00.001-08:00

Well not really, I've been playing around with a bar and some light weight for a week or two, but today I had real plates on. And the first time I've backsquatted since ... July.

BS
20/10
20/10
40/10
45/10
50/10
50/10
50/10

Weight is pitiful. I was FSing that (and more) for 10 reps in October. Oy.

DL
45/5
55/5
65/5
65/5
65/5

Press
20/5
30/5
30/5
30/5

Hypers: 2x10, 16 kg; 2x10, 10 kg

Foot was ok. Toe got sore towards the end so I took off my lifting shoes and it was ok. Back is still so-so but getting better I think.

But I'm weak :(

2009-12-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

AM
rowing sprints 15x200m

PM
more rowing sprints
200 m 30s rest 200 m
250 m 40s rest 150 m
300 m 40s rest 100 m

PT exercises (included 3x12 squats with a 20 kg bar with a tight band around my ankles)

2009-12-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

Swim workout
30 s sprints, 15 s rest:
flutter kicks
straddles
splits
frog kicks
kicks facing ceiling
x4 times

3x20 hypers
3x10 GHD situps, 11 kg

2009-12-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

Max dips: 20, 13, 7
Bent over rows: 3x8, idk the weight
Tricep pushdowns: 2x15, 17 lbs
: 2x15, 22 or 25 lbs
GHD Situps: 3x10, idk the weight
Hypers: 3x15, same as GHD

3x500m row:
1:55
2:02
2:05

Thought I was gonna puke on those.

Foot is nearly completely better. Gonna give it a week before I start squatting with (minimal) weight. Been walking around, feels good. Squatting actually feels better than walking, so we'll see how it goes in a week.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. A year ago I was in a bright orange cast up to my shoulder. I'm quite glad that's not the case right now.

I'm thankful for ...
*My awesome gym friends and the good times
*Opportunity for education
*Good life
*Family
*Friends
*Awesome soccer team
*Walking

And most of all, I'm thankful that I've found the love of my life. Thank you Brian for being in my life, for being my number one fan and supporter, for always being there, for never giving up on me, and, most of all, for loving me unconditionally. I love you, honey.

So. Tired.

2009-11-18T09:31:00.001-08:00

SO
DAMN
TIRED
OF
F-ING
INJURIES.

I kind of want to just quit life right now. Ugh.

Rest day-ish

2009-11-14T19:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went for a bike ride. Beautiful day, I was lucky I caught the sunshine.

Legs were beat up from the other day, so today I did some light rowing:
4x200 m (sorta fast, but it was slow)
and then a couple of light 500s.

4x6 dead hangs
3x5 HSPU
3x10 sn grip presses (w/ bar)

Nice and light.

FOOT PLEASE HEAL

2009-11-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

No one judge me for my exercise habits right now. I will shoot anyone who thinks less of me as a lifter for what I'm doing. I physically cannot do anything else so in order to keep myself sane (and I'm 100% dead serious with that), I do what I can.

DO
NOT
JUDGE
ME
Because I know those who will.

Did rowing sprints today. Felt good and hard. Almost like a hard squat work out ... but not quite.

6x250m
300-200-100 x3
500-400-300-200

People would be mad at this. Well news flash -- I have a TON of shit going on right now, and this is a healthier way to let the anger and frustration out then doing something else stupid. So, there you go.

Anyways, I thought I was going to die. Splits aren't that much different than when I was doing CrossFit. Goes to show you lifting is all around awesome.

Bodyweight hasn't changed, which is good. Still maintaining muscle so when I'm ready to start squatting again, I'll be ready.

2009-11-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

Well I'm pretty royally f'ed up now, so lifting is pretty much out of the question for now. Just my luck. Been doing what I can to keep myself sane. That pretty much involves bike sprints and rowing sprints. Plus pull ups, push ups, dips etc. That's it.

Today I did a short bike sprint work out, some rowing sprints (10x150m, love those), and then some pull ups and pushups, and played around with some handstands (soooo glad I can do those again). That's about it.

Just trying to push through ...

2009-11-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

"You're better than OK, you're just right."

Sometimes it's nice to hear things like that.
Thanks Fran!

I wish ...

2009-11-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

Do you ever smell a certain smell, hear a certain song, or see something that just takes you back to a specific moment in time, so intensely and so acutely that it's almost as if you were there?

I wasn't in Seattle last year for fall because I was at Whitman. Now I am ... and I'm wishing. Remembering. I miss high school. I never thought I'd say that, but I do. I miss my soccer team. Running in the pouring rain, bright orange jerseys flying around, our unstoppable trio on defense ... winning the championship ... feeling like I was good at something, unstoppable. Running around Greenlake in the cold, rainy nights. Running the Jingle Bell Dash in December, in freezing weather. Then school. The Christmas spirit. Deck the Dome. Pacific Place. Hallelujah. I miss it. I miss it all. I was ok back then. What happened to me? Why? Sometimes I wish ... I wish I could go back there. To those moments. I miss those moments. Everything was good back then.

My life ...

sigh

2009-10-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

Well an update. I've been in Scotland for the past week. I'm taking a quarter off from school (for various reasons) and my family's in Scotland for a year, so I'm here for a week visiting.

It's been an ... interesting week. Fun, yes, but also tiring, painful, and so very frustrating. I have an 'almost' stress fracture in my foot. In medical terms, it's a stress reaction, which means it's everything leading up to a fracture, but not fractured yet -- irritation, swelling, inflammation, etc. Lucky I stopped doing everything when I did.

This week has been so frustrating -- I'm in Scotland. Therefore I should be able to walk. A lot. And I haven't been able to because of my damn foot. So it's been hard. Not to mention the University of Edinburgh has a freakin FANTASTIC weightroom. And I mean FANTASTIC. 5+ platforms and squat racks, eleiko bumpers, competition bars, and a female competition bar. I have NEVER seen a 15 kg competition bar in a weightroom, not even in the Syracuse Varsity weightroom. It pretty much made me cry every time I walked in there because I couldn't use it. I did my pullups, dips, pressing, some rowing (fantastic room for rowing/crossfit style workouts) etc. I was seriously in love with this place. Lifting aside, this fitness center is amazing -- cardio room, weight machine room, lifting room, climbing wall, "circuit" room (I like to call it the CrossFit room because they have a track and pull up bars etc) ... it's amazing.

I'm frustrated with life. My foot's messed up. I'm not going to the American Open. I'm probably not going to Junior Nationals. I'm definitely not going to Junior Worlds. All my goals for the year, out the door. Am I ever going to get better? (see other post).

That aside, I'm going to start a diet detox. Well more like a 'get back on top if it' period. I haven't really been eating well (or enough) for the past month because of all the stuff that's been going on. Mostly paleo, but I've allowed chocolate to sneak back into my daily food, which isn't terrible in itself, but not a good habit to get into. I also think I'm starting to become allergic to dairy ... so I'm also gonna try to cut out dairy and see how I feel.

So the next month-ish (until Thanksgiving):
*no dairy
*NO chocolate
*at least 3 normal meals -- breakfast, lunch, dinner

See how it goes in a month. Hopefully my foot will be better by then and I can at least start squatting and deadlifting again. *sigh.*

What's good?

2009-10-21T12:29:00.001-07:00

What is good in my life right now? Like seriously?
The past year has been injury after injury after injury for me. It's wearing on me. Too much.
My back is still messed up.
Last night the person I love most in the world broke my heart.
And now my foot is in a boot; for no reason, I might have a stress fracture.
What else? Seriously? What else?
All I want is to be a good lifter.
To be happy with the person I love. To lift.
Lifting. That's all I want. It feels like my dreams are slowly slipping away. I have not accomplished a single goal this year I had in mind. Slowly slipping away ...

Why? Why can't I just move on? Just be healthy? Just be ok? I want to be good. Why is this all happening?

/end rant. But not really.

2009-10-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

No water today, which is good. But I hate the world. My foot is messed up. Great.

Snatch
35/1
35/1
35/1

Clean
45/3
45/3
55/2
60/1
65/1
65/1
65/1
65/1
65/1

FS
50/3
60/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3

DL
70/3
80/3
87.5/3
87.5/3
87.5/3

Press
20/5
22.5/10
22.5/10

hypers: 3x12, 16 kg

bent over rows: 3x10, 22.5 kg

Mother Nature Blows

2009-10-17T16:07:00.001-07:00

Well that and the city/location of our gym.

Needless to say my workout sucked today. It was hard to concentrate with the given circumstances. Cleans were sucky, like REALLY sucky, not even worth writing down. FS were ok. Didn't DL bc my back was hurting. Grrr.

2009-10-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

Cleans are feeling better. That's good.

Snatch work: 15 lb plates, sets of 3 (these are stuck here)

FS
20/5
20/10
55/10
55/10
55/10

Cleans
45/3
50/2
50/2
50/2
50/2
50/2
50/2

DL
70/3
70/3
70/3

Press
20/10
20/10

hypers: 3x20
pushups: 3x5 (first time I've done these in a LONG time)

Cleans are moving along more than snatches. Think I'm gonna try some light jerks this weekend.

Happy One Year, my love

2009-10-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

Today is a special day -- me and Brian's one year! Granted it's not your typical one year ... it happened over email, but it was that email that changed the rest of the year (and our lives) forever.

Last year, we 'met' on Aug 2, 2008, via email (thanks to Sarena!!:). Over the next few days, then a break, and then the subsequent months, we chatted via email. We slowly began to realize how alike we were, how we've had similar problems, and how it was just so amazingly easy to talk to one another. When we found out we both went on Search/Kairos retreats, that was the catalyzing agent in an enormous trust bond. After that, we shared things with each other neither one of us had told (almost) anyone before. After that email, Brian proceeded to woo me via email, and I was COMPLETELY oblivious. Going back through those emails, I can see how obvious he was being! I'm sorry, honey, it went over my head!

Then finally, on October 6, he sent the one email that changed everything. I remember sitting in my dorm room at around 9 pm at Whitman, getting this email, and just crying. Crying because deep down, I knew it had been coming, crying because it was time for me to let go of someone else, and crying because it was him saying these things.

Here is part of his email he sent:

Hey, Rachel, I’ve been meaning to write this e-mail for a while to you and I think now is the time. I don’t know how to come out because there’s so much I want to say. I’ll be blunt, as usual: I like you a lot, and not just in the Platonic sense of the word. This is the first time I’ve ever felt so strongly about someone. I want to be with you very much. We are a great pair.

I have never connected to someone as much as I have with you. I love getting to know you, love knowing you as much as I do already, and look forward to getting to know you better. I think this is going to be the best Christmas break I’ve ever had.

I’ve never felt this way so strongly towards anyone before. I told myself I would never feel so head over heels for someone but that’s exactly how I feel right now. I am trying to be=2 0as rational as I can be.
I want to hold your hand, snuggle with you and watch movies, lift together, run together, just be together.

Love,
Brian

PS – by the way, that picture of you holding the toad in Hawaii is my favorite. You look gorgeous.

After that, I cried, and had to think about what to say. Instead of writing right away, I used good ole facebook and changed my profile picture to that one that was his favorite.

In the past year, we have been through hell and high water together, from afar. Brian has been by my side (not always physically) every step of the way, through the good, the bad, school, lifting, everything. Never could I have EVER imagined that I would meet my future husband in such an unusual way. Because, yes, this is unusual! We had all of our firsts from afar ... and as hard and as painful (because it is SO painful) this distance is, Brian, I would never, ever EVER give you up for the entire world. Ever.

I love you, honey, mi amor, my baby. Happy anniversary.

slowly

2009-09-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

Slowly getting back into things. This week has been rough, though: too stressed out, no sleep.

Snatch
15/3
15/3
27/3
29/2
29/2
35/1
35/1
35/1
35/1

Clean
35/3
45/2
45/2
50/2
50/2
55/1
55/1
55/1

FS
50/5
60/5
60/5
50/10
50/10

Hypers: 3x20

Bent over rows: 2x10, 20 kg

PT exercises

New place ...

2009-09-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

Well it felt weird moving into a dorm with 3 other people, and not seeing ANYBODY I knew. It's weird being IN Seattle and knowing less people than when I was at Whitman.

Didn't get to go to SPG today since I had to move into my dorm. Had to work out in the fitness center. Yikes. I can not BELIEVE how good we had it at Whitman: platforms, bumpers, everything. Here: nada. Normal 'fitness center' stuff and rules. Grr. Too bad. I wanted to clean and snatch today.

FS
20/5
20/10
42/10 (everything is in lbs grrrr)
52/10
52/10
52/10

DL
60/8
60/5
60/5

hypers: 2x10, 11 kg (haven't done those in a while)

Fooled around with some lat pulls; I'm supposed to do those for my back/shoulder.

The end.

Each day ...

2009-09-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

Without excruciating pain, is a good one.
I am angry; SO angry. My chiropractor summed it up yesterday -- "It must be frustrating, because you would've been progressing for this whole time." Bingo. I would've probably been snatching 70 at this point. Maybe cleaning 85 or 90. It pisses me off. It makes me want to kick a wall in. Especially because i want to go to junior worlds. I need to do well at Junior Nationals for that to happen. And I should've been progressing at this time.

But ... I have learned some things.

What I've Learned
*I can take easy weeks/time off and not lose what I have
*walking is a gift
*running/sprinting even more so
*any day I can lift is a blessing
*I can do the minimum amount of work and be ok
*I do not need CrossFit
*I don't need to do a million pullups to have a good upper body

I Will (try to)
*not take ANY weight for granted -- light days are light days, heavy days are heavy days
*not over train
*do EXACTLY what is written for a workout
*listen to my body; if something hurts, I will stop
*not let someone else's attitude dictate what I do; if I hurt, and I'm being pushed, I will stop.

Yesterday:

Clean -- floor + hang
35/1+1
35/1+1
45/1+1
50/1+1
50/1+1
50/1+1
Clean
50/3
50/3

FS
20/5
20/5
50/5
60/5
60/5
50/10
50/10
FS Have never felt so miserable before. And I did the calculation of how much work (or not really, just how much weight) I lift between my work sets of 5 and 10 -- 1600 kg! Ha crazy. Funny because weight is light, but the volume is killer. That's more work than when I did sets of 5 at 72.5.

Saturday is a big day; move into the dorm. Start a new college life. I'm worried/excited/worried/stressed/worried ... yikes.

My back is not better. But it's getting there.

finally ...

2009-09-14T19:35:00.001-07:00

Before I rejoice, my back isn't better ... but I was finally able to lift today. I am grateful for that. I will never ever complain about a light day or something like that ever ever again. I can lift; I'm grateful.

Did light clean work, since it was my first time cleaning in 2 months.

Cleans
15/3
15/3
37/3
37/3
45/3
50/3
55/3
50/3
50/3
50/3
50/3

FS
Same thing, high rep, low weight.
20/5
20/10
50/5
60/5
60/5
50/10
50/10

hypers: 2x20

Nice and simple. Easy. No complaints (besides the back pain.)

Please ... let's keep it this way.

paleo chocolate cake

2009-08-28T18:54:00.001-07:00

This is absolutely delicious, ESPECIALLY the frosting.

CAKE
3 cups of walnuts
2/3 c raw cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 c dates

FROSTING
Ok this is HANDS DOWN the BEST chocolate frosting I have EVER had. Never mind the fact that it's paleo!
1/4 c agave nectar
1/3 c dates
1/3 cocoa powder
1/2 an avocado (yes an avocado)

Yes it's sweet. yes it's sugary. But DAMN it's good. And at least the sources are better than the processed crap.

Fill with raspberries and VOILE. Here is the creation.

update

2009-08-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a sucky few weeks. Shoulder/back are still messed up. Now I sprained my foot and am on crutches. What a lovely world.

2009-08-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

You know how things build and build and build, and there's one little thing that just sends you over the edge? yeah, that was me yesterday ... And then a savior! Cara Groden you SAVED me in that moment! I <3 uuuuuuuu

AM

FS
20/5
20/5
50/5
60/3
70/1
72.5/5
72.5/5
72.5/5

SN DL
50/5
60/6
75/5
75/5
75/5

I was wiped. Yesterday was a bad day :(

2009-08-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Has it really only been one week since I was in New York?

Did tabata abs last night at CF Bellevue so I was HELLA sore today. Ouch. No extra core work.

AM/AFTERNOON

FS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
70/3
75/3
80/3
80/3
80/3
80/3

SN DL
45/3
55/3
65/3
70/3
80/3
80/3
80/3

CL DL
75/3
90/3
95/3
95/3
95/3

PM

Sprint 100m, run backwards 100m, sprint 100m, run backwards 100m; repeat 2x.

10 squat jumps, 50m sprint; repeat 3x.

2009-08-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

Doing what I can. Need to keep up my speed since I can only squat and DL, so I did some sprints today.

"Death by 10 m"
1st min: 10 m sprint, back and forth
2nd min: 2 10 m sprints, back and forth
3rd min: 3 10 m sprints, back and forth
and so on until you run over a minute.
I got 6 minutes, but I realized I'd wayyyy over estimated what 10 m was (it was more like 20 or 30 m one way). Oops.

Rested.

Did it again, 7 rounds.

Rested.

Did it again, 7 rounds.

So a nice chunk of speed work, I guess. As RX'd (10 m), would've been about 1540 m total, although that was more because of the first set.

This is kinda cool, check out this section of the USAW rankings site. First one is juniors, second is overall in the nation. Cool!

Change of pace

2009-08-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well it seems to always be the case with me -- I'm injured, as usual. Well at least slightly. My shoulder/back/traps have been bugging me forever, since May. Been pushing through too much, too hard. Last week my back was in such knots I was on the verge of tears 24/7.

Couple of highlights from last week:
I finally met Sam Aurelio! I feel like I've known her forever (that seems to be a trend with CF...). She was wonderful enough to meet me at the Newark airport and not let me get lost on my way to NYC to (attempt to) surprise Brian. Although the surprise was an epic failure (grrrrrr) it was still great spending time with two awesome people.

And Brian, my baby, I got to spend 5 days with him. This whole trip was supposed to be a surprise for him, and even know the surprise part failed (and I was more than a little upset with that), I still hope he can appreciate what I tried to do. I love you, baby.

So.

Last week I didn't do anything -- squatted twice in 7 days. I can't do anything with my upper body; even the pressure of a bar on my back for squats is iffy. But I did squat, and dead lift. Yesterday I went for a relaxing bike ride to loosen up my muscles from the plane ride, and did some short sprints. Today I squatted light and DL'ed.

BS
20/5
20/5
50/5
60/5
70/5
80/5
80/5
80/5

Sn DL
45/3
55/3
65/3
75/3
75/3
75/3
75/3

hypers: 3x10, 15 kg
weighted situps: 3x10, 12 kg

Couldn't do much else. Ugh.

a BLESSED Day

2009-07-27T06:23:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!!!!

Today is a very special day -- Brian's 19th birthday! Happy birthday, my love! Today is cause for great celebration because without Brian in my life, I would not be where I am today, no doubt about it.

Brian is my soul mate. He is basically my twin, the male version of me. We were both put on this earth to find each other. Hell, we led parallel lives! We're both weightlifters, ex-gymnasts, ex-CrossFitters, are both Italian (our families are even from the same area!), we both went to single-sex Catholic private schools, and even better, we both LOVE LOVE LOVE bugs, animals, and thunderstorms! The first phone conversation we had lasted about 2 hours as we discovered all of this.

Brian is a fantastic, talented, and motivated athlete. With little to no coaching, he is already excelling in weightlifting after only a year in the sport. His dedication, ability to read his own body, and knowledge with regards to programming and the sport overall are amazingly impressive and I strive to be like him every day.

He has the absolute biggest and understanding heart you could ever imagine. I have NEVER EVER trusted someone so quickly in my entire life, nor divulged my deepest darkest secrets to someone in such a short time in the greatest of confidence. He puts out an air of trustworthiness that was immediately noticeable when we first started talking.

Brian is my rock, the most supportive and understanding person in my life. We have both been through hell and high water the past year, and never once has he doubted me or left me. He is always by my side, through thick and thin, supporting me through all the shit that's happened this year, encouraging me, loving me, cheering me on through lifting, laughing with me, crying with me, screaming with me (THE STRANGERS = SCARIEST MOVIE EVER). He tells me he's proud of my lifting, of what I've done in the sport, in school, in my life. He devotes every ounce of energy and love inside his muscular body into helping me get through the tough times, and I can never, ever thank him enough for the immense amount of time, effort, and love he has put into me.

My baby, mi amor, I love you more than anything in this entire world. You are my world: the best coach, best training partner, best friend, best boyfriend, best future husband; I would be nothing without you. GOD BLESS this day, the day you were brought into this world, because it was meant to be, WE were meant to be, everything in our lives has been guiding us to one another. I hope I hope I hope you love the present that will be delivered to you in a few hours, and I hope it shows you how much I love you and how much you mean to me.

Happy birthday, mi amor. I love you. <3 <3 <3

Damn arm

2009-07-25T14:39:00.001-07:00

I am so tired of injuries. My stupid wrist is totally fine now, but noooo, the problem HAD to migrate up to my ENTIRE arm. Grrrr.

FS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
70/3
77.5/3
77.5/3
80/3
90/0
82.5/2

Tied my old PRs. Whoopee.

Interesting ...

2009-07-23T17:47:00.000-07:00

So I've been doing some memory-walking the past few days and going over old photos from the past year or so. Came up with some pretty interesting comparisons.

Comparison one: Me this past June, vs. me in March

Comparison two: me in June, vs. me July 08

Interesting, isn't it? HUGE differences. Couple of things caught my attention with this.
#1. I did NOT increase the amount of upper body work I was doing from March to June. Actually, I decreased it because my wrist started acting up, so I couldn't do as many push ups etc as I wanted to. Also, I didn't even have as much time to even do as much extra stuff as I wanted when I got back to Seattle; that meant less push ups, less dips, even less pressing.
#2. My back pretty much doubled in size, no joke! This also baffled me, because yes, I'm lifting more weight now than I was last summer, but all the activity I did outside lifting was pretty much the same -- walking, biking to and from the gym, etc. And I was doing more extra stuff last summer than I am right now.

So. What gives?

The biggest thing that has changed for me is my food. Last summer I was doing zone, eating about 1200-1400 calories a day. On a good day now, I'm probably eating double that (although I should probably be eating more). That means WAY more protein (at least 1 g/lb of bodyweight), less carbs, and probably a good amount of fat.

The other thing: I lift heavy weights all the fucking time. No, I don't over train (or I try not to at least), I don't hit my maxes every single day. But I lift HEAVY and explosively. Which brings me to my next point: people do not need 'cardio' to lean out. I HATE it when people say "Oh I'm gonna start running so I can lose weight." WTF???? I'm pretty muscular, right? Do I do excessive amounts of cardio? HELLLLL no. It bugs the HELL out of me when people say that they start jogging to lose weight. What I do is this:
-I lift heavy and explosively: snatch, clean + jerk, squat, pressing (occasionally), occasional sprinting
-I lead an active lifestyle (WALKING = cardio, and it's not hard on the body at all)
-I eat clean and WAY more food than I used to

The conclusion:
I am way more muscular than I was a year ago, and even more so than I was 5 months ago. Why? Lifting heavy, eating, and being active. Seriously, that's all you need. I wasn't like that when I was zoning, doing CF, and running long distances. Do I miss that? No way. Do I long for a short run occasionally? yeah, I do, of course. And when I stop lifting (wayyyy down the road), sure I'll add some SHORT (like 5k) runs occasionally. But I believe the bulk of my exercise routine for the rest of my life will be heavy lifting, sprinting, occasional CF, occasional runs, and lots of walking. Because that's a life style that suits me.

OK enough of the random thoughts for the day :)

Bad Mutha 2009

2009-07-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was the meet. Didn't do too badly; I missed my openers for both the snatch and the clean and jerk but came back to make the last 2 attempts in each.

My first snatch felt so incredibly light that I WAY overpulled it and it went flying over my head. Next two snatches were decent; ended with 60 kg, which felt insanely easy. I was just way too much of a mental case, oh well.

Clean and jerks were decent, too. Started with 71, but just freaked out and missed the clean for some reason. Came back, made it, and then did 76 kg, for a c+j PR.

Afterwards, I went back and did my squats (normal back squats, not stop), and got 2 new PR's: 92.5/3, and 100/1 (finally). The 100 was fairly easy, but I was so spent I didn't have it in me to do any more.

So I ended up totalling 136 kg, qualifying me for collegiate nationals, the American Open, and Junior Nationals (and possibly senior nationals). Sweet!

Over all, it was a great day! Meets make me a mental case (I can never feel the adrenaline and nerves rising in me as much as I do when I compete, and it's EXHAUSTING), but it's so nice to be in such an amazingly supportive atmosphere like these local meets. I need more experience locally before I go national, and these are good experiences, even if I don't do as well as I want.

Here are some videos of the meet; full quality ones can be found here

2009-07-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

Last work out!

power C&J
15/3
35/3
35/2
45/2
50/2
55/1
55/1
55/1
55/1
55/1

Pulls -- blocks
(75/3)x3

Bring it!

who's counting

2009-07-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

3 days ... but who's counting?

Another light day. Tomorrow will be the last, SUPER light. Yesterday was power clean + jerk, and I also worked on some snatch technique.

Snatch
35/3 (power)
35/2 (power)
45/1
45/0 (over pulled)
45/1
50/1
50/0 (wtf? my head...)
50/1
50/1
50/1

Pulls
(60/3)x3

FS
20/5
50/3
70/3
70/3
70/3

Hypers: 3x10, 12 kg

Played around with some handstands, too. Doesn't hurt the wrist too badly.

Had a talk about mental preparedness with Sam. Trying to have a cool head and stay calm. Getting nervous and getting my heard racing are two of my biggest problems. Need to slow the heart rate down, and then I'm calmer.

One more work out to go!

5 days out

2009-07-13T20:38:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been kind of a messed up week -- tweaked my shoulder and back last week, so the past few work outs have been kinda non existent.

This is the week of the meet, so it's a taper week. Had a semi-normal work out today, just less extra stuff afterwards and less weight on the pulls and squats.

Snatch
15/3
37.5/3
37.5/2
42/2
50/0+1
55/1
55/1
55/1
57.5/0
57.5/1

Pulls
(60/3)x3

BS
20/5
60/5
80/5
80/5

3 sets
10 hypers, 16 kg
5 dead hangs

5 days outttttt

Oh snatches

2009-07-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

I have to say snatches are the most frustrating thing ever. Period. The end. I've found that if there is ONE little tiny thing that is off either in my body or my technique, good bye snatches! Oh well. Cleans were spectacular, though.

Snatch
Nothing even really worth posting here. Missed a bunch of reps; barely made 55, missed my last rep at 57.5. I was not a happy camper.

C&J
Made up for it here.
45/3
55/2
65/1
70/1
75/1 -- 5 kg PR! (at least for the jerk)
77.5 (no jerk)
The last one was unbelievable. I cleaned 77.5! HUGE mental accomplishment for me, seeing as how I used to FREAK out on my cleans. Almost got the jerk, it was so close! Oh well. I was happy after that. And freakin EXHAUSTED. Like every muscle in my legs was trembling. So squats sucked ...

Stop squats
20/5
60/3
80/3
90/1
90/1
90/1
Yeah 80 felt heavy. Grrr. Oh well. At least the cleans were good.

hypers: 3x10, 16 kg
Got kicked out of the gym after that.

Meet's in 2 weeks; I'd like to make at least 65 and 75; hopefully 80 on the c&j. Hopefully my snatches won't keep sucking either :(

Here's my 75 kg c&j

And my 77.5 clean

The most amazing person in the entire world ...

2009-07-03T23:25:00.001-07:00

http://mrdegee.blogspot.com/2009/07/proud.html

crapppppy

2009-07-02T22:21:00.001-07:00

Well I've had a pretty terrible week. Day 1 of eating more ... we'll see how that goes.

cleans
45/3
45/2
55/2
65/1
65/1
65/1
65/1
65/1

cleans -- blocks
45/2
55/1
65/1
70/1

pulls -- blocks
85/3
85/3
85/3
85/3

FS
20/5
60/3
70/3
70/3
70/3

Bench press
Ha this was fun, I've NEVER done bench press in my life before.
20/5
40/3
40/5
45/5
50/3
55/3
60/2
Technically this is a PR because I've never done bench press before.

More fun: practiced some long jump, 3x3 attempts. 7.5 feet was my record.

hypers: 2x20

3 sets:
10 KB side bends, 12 kg
5 dead hangs

Bike home; I was wiped even though the weights were light. grrr.

siiiiick

2009-06-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

First off, who the hell gets sick in summer? Oh wait. Me. Ok. I get it; I've been working my ass off the past few weeks, using 85-90+% on my lifts almost every day and then BAM Wednesday morning comes around and I'm sick as a dog.

Solution? What everyone has been telling me: eat more. I had no idea I was under eating enough to get sick (because there's no such thing as over training, only under recovering, and part of recovering is eating, which I was not doing enough of). So I must eat more.

I did a super light work out on Thursday, but today was the first real day back since Tuesday night. Not bad for being sick, although snatches sucked.

Snatch
37/3
37/3
45/2
50/1
55/1
60/0
55/0
55/1
55/1
grrr sucky

C&J
45/3
55/1
65/1
70/1
72.5/1 (no jerk)
72.5/1 -- no jerk here, but it was hella close

Stop squat
60/3
80/3
90/2
90/2
95/1
Felt terrible, but I still got a PR on my stop squat even when I was feeling shitty.

Good Mornings
20/5
35/5
35/5
35/5
35/5

weighted pull ups: 4, 3, 3 (8 kg)

weighted dips: 5, 5, 5 (8 kg)

2009-06-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

Cleans
45/3
45/3
55/2
60/1
65/1
65/1
65/1
65/1

Cleans from blocks
45/2
55/2
60/1
65/1
70/1
72.5/1
75/1
77.5/1

Pulls -- blocks
95/3
95/3
95/3
95/3

FS
20/5
60/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3

3 sets:
10 hypers, 12 kg
10 push ups

Video of my clean

2009-06-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

I think this is the last week of PR's for me. I'm cool with that, it's been a great few weeks of progression. Another PR for me today, though!

Sn -- knee
35/2
35/2
42/2
50/2
55/2
55/2
55/0
55/2
55/2
55/1+0

Pulls -- knee
65/3 x3

BS
20/5
60/5
75/5
85/1
87.5/5
87.5/4
Tried sooooo hard to get that last rep but I couldn't squeeze it out.

hypers: 3x10, 16 kg

4 sets
10 wt situps 15 kg
7 dips
5 dead hangs

Rizzo's back

2009-06-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Before I launch into my insane day, I need to recap. The past few posts have been pretty hurried and rushed, plus I've been crying all week because Brian's gone (no joke.) The past few weeks have been the absolute best weeks of my entire life. Brian and I were in California for a week, training with Greg and Aimee (who are amazingly awesome and I can't wait to go back and visit again). Then Brian was here for two weeks. Those 3 total weeks went by in a flash; I cherished every second of them, and miss Brian more than my words can express. He is not only the most amazing boyfriend ever, he is the best training partner, 'coach' (ie keeps me on track mentally with food and exercise), and my best friend. I miss you.

Today = wow. I technically didn't break any PR's but I was DAMN close. And I broke the biggest mental PR of my life.

Snatch
35/3
45/2
50/2
55/1
60/1
55/1
60/0
55/1
60/1
65/0 -- sooooooo freakin close. I got under it, it was a bit out front, I could've saved it, but I stood up too soon and it fell forward.

C&J -- YES I actually jerked today, first time since I broke my wrist
45/2
55/2
60/1
65/1
70/1 (tied old PR but it was way better this time)
75/0 -- OMG FREAKIN GOD I got under the damn freakin weight, started standing up with it, got half way, felt like I was gonna faint, and dropped it
72.5/1 (no jerk, or kinda, but it was a press out)
WOWWWW I FREAKIN CLEANED 75 AND DIDN'T FLIP OUT. 75 was the weight I broke my wrist on. And I fucking GOT it. Sure I didn't stand up with it but fuck that! I got underneath it, which is all that matters, and when I was done, Sam said that's all he wanted was for me to get under it.

Stop Squats
60/3
80/3
90/1
90/2
90/2
90/2
95/0
95/0

hypers: 3x10, 16 kg

weighted dips: 3x5, 8 kg

2 sets:
10 HLR
5 pullups
(was gonna do more but I could barely move I was so tired)

After my c&j, I was so incredibly wiped, I felt like I was gonna pass out after every squat attempt. Like it was really the worst I've ever felt physically during a work out, I have NEVER been that wiped. But I was so happy; I tied my c&j PR when I haven't done that in over 6 months, I freakin almost snatched 65 and almost cleaned 75 and I DIDN'T freak out. Hot damn!

And coolest thing of all? If I can get a 150 total or above (like 151) ... I'll be the #1 junior lifter in America.

When I left, Sam said that was the best he'd ever seen me lift. Watch out America.

a huge mental PR

2009-06-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Brian went home on Sunday night. Pretty much one of the worst days of my life. I won't go into it, it'll probably make me start crying.

Aside from that, got some nice PR's this week. 85/5 BS on Monday (two sets), 82.5/2 FS, so it's lookin good. Best one was today, though.

Cleans
15/3
15/3
35/2
45/2
55/2
65/2
67.5/1
70/1
72.5/0
72.5/0
72.5/1
Never ever ever been able to get passed 70 before.

Pulls
(75/3)x3

FS
60/3
65/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
Felt like 80 I was so tired. My body is fried from the week.

Hypers: 3x10, 12 kg
Was too tired to do anything else.

another PR

2009-06-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

Wow this week has been full of PR's. Brian's doing, I'm sure :) Thursday I had a PR triple in my FS: 80/3.

Snatch
35/2
40/1
45/1
50/1
52.5/1
57.5/0
57.5/1
62.5/1

Cleans
15/3
35/2
40/2

Clean Pulls
80/3
80/3
80/3
80/3

Stop Squats
20/5
60/3
80/3
90/2
90/1
90/1
90/1
92.5/1

GM
20/5
32.5/5
32.5/5
32.5/5

weighted pull ups: 4, 4, 3 with 8 kg

push ups; 3x10

Brian's last day today :( I won't be a happy camper tomorrow.

update

2009-06-07T12:58:00.001-07:00

So I haven't disappeared, but the past few weeks have been crazy! Brian's here in Seattle right now; we were in California training with Greg Everett at Catalyst Athletics from May 25th through June 1st. Now we're back in Seattle, training at SPG.

And yes I am FINALLY back in the groove with my snatches.

Snatch
27/3
35/2
40/1
45/1
50/1
52.5/1
55/1
57.5/1
60/0
60/1
wahooooooooo all time PR! Never gotten 60 before and it was easy.

Cleans are still slow-going, but are getting better.

Cleans
15/3
27/3
37/2
42/2
47/2
52/1
55/1
55/1
55/1

Stop Squats
20/5
50/3
70/3
80/3
90/3
90/1
90/1
92/0
90/1
Never did 90 for a triple, let alone for a stop squat triple. Tired me out, though.

Good mornings:
20/5
30/5
30/5
30/5
30/5

L-sit rope climbs: 3ish

10 HLR, 10 pushups, 7 dips

Here's a video of my 60 kg snatch yayyyyyy

wow

2009-05-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

Wow. I didn't know lifting without actually doing the Olympic lifts could tire me out so much.

Stop Squats
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
70/3
80/3
80/3
80/3
80/3
80/3
90/1
90/1
92.5/1
I don't think I've ever done that many stop squats in my life. Last time I did them was before I broke my wrist. I had trouble getting 80 for 3x3, so I'm definitely way stronger now. And I've never done 92.5 before, so that was cool. But damn after that my legs were fried.

SN Pulls
55/3
60/3
60/3
60/3
60/3
60/3

Sn Pulls from blocks
75/3
75/3
75/3
75/3
75/3

3 L-sit rope climbs (these REALLY surprised me; I've never been able to make a full ascent before)

hypers: 3x10, 16 kg

Pushups: 60 total

3x10 HLR

5x5 dips

3x5 dead hangs

I was so done after those dead hangs. Biked down and back which was NOT a good idea. Went home and devoured my meal.

Another note: the s&c coach from OSU was hanging out with us today (friends with Sam I guess) and when Sam introduced me he introduced me as SPG's "up and coming lifter." That was nice.

back home!

2009-05-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well I'm officially done with my first year of college. Scary. Made the trek back home last night, almost got killed when we almost hit a deer (scariest moment of my life), but we made it back ok.

Sooo nice lifting with people again. I miss it and I'm glad to be back.

FS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
65/3
65/3
70/3
75/3

Cl pulls from blocks
55/3
75/3
95/3
95/3
95/3
95/3
95/3

RDLs
60/3
70/3
80/3
95/2
95/2

Hypers alt w/ kB side bends (16 kg): 2x20 hypers, 3x10 sidebends

Pull up/HLR ladder: (not on minute)
1, 2
2, 4
3, 6
4, 4
5, 5
6, 6
7, 7
8, 8
9, 9
10, 10

sprints

5x5

2009-05-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've ever done 5x5 heavy before, only 3x5 and 4x5. My thoughts? GOOD LORD JESUS I was wiped.

BS
20/5
20/5
50/5
60/5
70/3
75/1
77.2/5
77.2/5
77.2/5
77.2/5
77.2/5
Wow.

Sn Pulls
40/3
50/3
55/3
55/3
55/3
55/3
55/3

dowel work

hypers: 3x10, 15 kg

weighted pull ups (8 kg): 7, 6, 5

weighted situps: 3x10, 15 kg

5 sets:
5 HLR
5 Pull ups
5 dips

I am absolutely exhausted.

back to old ways

2009-05-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well it's back to the old ways of things. At least Sam Maxwell's way. Nice to be back; will be nice when I'm home for good.

Sn pulls
45/3
55/3
55/3
55/3
55/3
55/3

Cl pulls
65/3
75/3
75/3
75/3
75/3
75/3

FS
20/5
20/5
60/3
70/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
72.5/3
Wow i was tired after that.

Pull ups: 15 total

Good mornings
20/5
30/5
35/5
35/5
35/5

L-sits: 60 sec, 30, 30

KTE: 3x10

5 sets:
5 pull ups
5 dips

Written down it doesn't look like that much, but I was actually really tired after that.

FOOD
Breakfast: yogurt, PP, almonds, cocoa powder; handful of blackberries; coffee and cream
Lunch: huge plate of chicken wings, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, and sauteed cabbage w/ olive oil and vinegar; couple sips of a smoothie (I was freakin starving)
Dinner: salmon, tons of cauliflower and broccoli, olive oil, vinegar; some melon
Snack: some bites of salmon/meat, cauliflower, some sips of smoothie

Quote of the Day

2009-05-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

"You need to work smart this summer -- 5 hour workouts arn't better than smart 2 hour ones."

'Nuff said.

201 posting

2009-05-14T23:09:00.000-07:00

Cool, didn't know I'd written that much.

Back in Seattle for the weekend. I had to make an emergency trip home to get to the doctor for my wrist (thanks to my PT who nearly gave me a heart attack yesterday when he said he thought there was a problem with the bone). But good news -- bone is completely fine and healed. I have some irritation in the synovial membrane that covers those joints. My doc said that's really common for lifters who are healing from this injury. She's even confident that I'll be able to compete in July. We'll see.

Sn Pulls
45/3
55/3
60/3
60/3
60/3
60/3
60/3

BS
20/5
20/5
60/3
70/3
80/3
85/2
90/2
90/2
90/2
80/2
80/2

hypers: 2x20

dead hangs: 10, 9, 9

weighted situps: 3x10, 20 kg

5 sets:
5 HLR
5 dead hangs (no letting go over bar b/t HLR and dead hangs)
5 dips

2009-05-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Jump squat
20/3
50/3
60/3
70/3
80/3
90/3
100/3
100/3
100/3
100/3
100/3

Jerk dips
50/3
60/3
70/3
80/3
90/3
100/3
100/3
100/3
100/3
100/3

DB PP
30 lb DB: 4x5

hypers: 3x10, 10 kg

max pushups (on fist): 30, 15

Russian twistsL 4x20

ab wheel: 3x10

5 rounds:
5 kb swings (24 kg)
10 situps
100 m row
30 sec rest

FOOD
Breakfast: couple spoonfuls of yogurt; cappacino
Lunch: lots of grilled steak, cauliflower, broccoli, and some asparagus; pesto; bites of sweet potato and watermelon; coffee and cream
Dinner: handful of almonds; smoothie

2009-05-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

BS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
70/3
75/1
81/3
81/3
81/3

Clean rack walk out
(held for 10 sec)
80
90
100
105
110
115
120
120
120

Sn pull
(50/3)x5

Cl pull
(75/3)x5

Sn DL
(62/5)x3

Push ups: 40 total

Hypers: 3x10, 15 kg

weighted pull ups: (8 kg) 6, 5, 4

Weighted situps: 3x10, 15 kg

3 sets:
5 HLR
5 pull ups
5 pushups

2009-05-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Wrist is messed up again. No over head work :(

BS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/2
70/2
80/2
85/1
87/1
90/2
90/2
80/3
70/5

90 is getting easier. Yay.

Sn Pulls
50/3
(60/3)x5

Clean Pulls
65/3
(75/3)x5

GM
20/5
30/5
35/5
35/5
35/5

pushups: 70 total

Dead hangs: 16, 11

L-sits: 60 sec, 30, 30 (these became tucks because my hip flexors were too sore)

So have you ever been so incredibly low, because everything is going wrong, there's no one to talk to, and you just want to cry forever and always? And then out of nowhere a guardian angel comes along and completely saves you? Well I had one of those last night, and it absolutely amazes me how ONE person doing ONE thing can make all the difference in the world at that ONE point in time.
BZ thank you, you mean the world to me.
<3

three years

2009-05-06T08:07:00.001-07:00

Three years. Three years. Has it really been that long? Three years ago I was sitting in a room at UW, taking a subject test. It was a beautiful day. A beautiful spring day. And I didn’t know. I didn’t know that an amazing, wonderful, beautiful life was ending at that very moment. At the moment I walked out of that room. I didn’t know. I remember looking around the gorgeous campus, at how pretty of a day it was. A beautiful day. But I didn’t know.

What were you doing? What was going through your head? I was stressed from bio. So stressed. If I would’ve only known. But how could I? It was a beautiful day. So beautiful. You were beautiful. You were probably still at home right now. Or maybe you had already left. I don’t know. I don’t like to think about it. But it haunts me.

Anniversaries. I hate and love them. I don’t love them at all, actually, I hate them. But there’s a time and a place for everything, and anniversaries have their purpose.
Pain. That’s what the anniversary. It allows pain to resurface, pain that’s been hidden for the rest of the year, besides birthdays. The pain stays hidden; it creeps up the sides of your soul, but you don’t let it out. Not until this day. And that’s when it boils over the insides of your soul, bubbling out and dripping all over you, covering you entirely. That’s what anniversaries are for. That’s how the pain comes out.

Pain. There’s still so much pain. I don’t think about it. But on this day I let the redness of my soul ooze out. And how can I not think? I hate remembering, but damn for remembering every detail. I remember. I didn’t find out until a whole day from now. That still baffles me. How did I not know? God I remember. Going to the game. Stan sitting us down. Is he crying? No, why would Stan cry? Jumped … what? The bridge that night. The gathering. All crying. So much love for you. Why? Then that whole week. Hiding in Mr. Bachhuber’s room, crying. I never imagined I would say what I did. You jumped. Why?

I want to erase that whole week from my memory. But I can’t. You in a box. Your face. It wasn’t yours. I hate remembering. Why does memory work this way? When something terrible happens, you remember every single damn detail of it. Every single one. If I tried to remember something that clearly, I don’t think I could. I went to Jamba Juice that day, before our game we were supposed to have. I called Matt as soon as I got back to my room and broke down. My mom came in crying. Should I go tonight? Yes, you should. Shoot my AP Bio exam … who cares. Who the f*ck cares. I didn’t any more.

It would be different if you died in a car accident. You know that's the first thing that came to my mind? But no. You didn't. It's the fact that you chose to end your own life, you made the CHOICE. That's what hurts most of all. Because we don't know why. We will never know why. We can speculate, we can postulate, we can wonder. But we will never know.

I think about you. Still. How can I not? I realize more and more you were like me. So much like me. I’m sure you had some of the same problems I did. We were so alike. I now realize that. I wish we could’ve been better friends; we would’ve made good friends. You were so kind t o all. You did so much, academically and athletically. How did you do it? Ha I still laugh at your insanity. Track then soccer then gymnastics … craziness. And your crazy hair and piercings. My last image of you … that was not you. Your face was soft and cold. It looked like wax. It didn’t look like you. It wasn’t you. It couldn’t have been. I won’t believe it.

Pain. Still so much. How to forgive? How to forget? I didn’t know you well. But I still hurt. This day will always hurt, I think. Because it brings it all back. Every single detail of that terrible, terrible week. Everything. I want to forget. Not you. But your death. I want to forget it all. But I can’t.

I miss and love you. I always will.

final stretch

2009-05-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

1 week of classes. 2 weeks till the end. Final pushhh

Power snatch
20 (warm up)
20 (warm up)
30/2
35/1
40/1
40/1
40/1

Power jerk + jerk
20/2
30/1+1
35/1+1
40/1+1
45/1+1
45/1+1
45/1+1
45/1+1
45/1+1

PP
20/5
40/5
(45/5)

hypers: 3x10, 10 kg

max db push ups: 31, 20

superman planks: 50 sec, 60 sec, 60 sec

ab wheel: 3x10

Russian twists: 4x20, 10 kg

3 sets:
10 pull ups
10 burpees

sprints

FOOD
Breakfast: couple spoonfuls of yogurt (~1/4) w/ PP + cocoa powder etc, 7 almonds, cappaccino
Lunch: 3 slices of turkey, asparagus, ratatouille, broccoli, bowl of maple roasted sweet potatoes; coffee and cream
Dinner: same as lunch, minus the sweet potatoes

2009-05-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

BS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
70/3
79/3
79/3
79/3

Clean rack walk out (10 sec hold)
80
90
100
105
110 x 3

Muscle Sn
20/3
29/2
31/1
34/1
Cl pull
60/3
(72/3)x5 (WOWSA my back was tired from the rack holds)

SN DL
60/5
60/5
60/5 (felt like I could've snatched that right then and there)

40 pushups throughout the workout

Hypers: 3x10, 15 kg

weighted situps: 3x10, 15 kg

weighted dead hangs: 5, 4, 4 with 8 kg KB

5 sets:
5 HLR
5 dead hangs
5 pushups

FOOD
Breakfast: ~1 c cottage cheese, 1 tbs olive oil, kombucha
Lunch: scoop of pork stew, broccoli, bites of sweet potato and watermelon; coffee and cream
Dinner: 2 scoops of chicken stew and a small scoop of turkey, broccoli, asparagus salad, olive oil, some bites of sweet potato and water melon; coffee and cream; couple bites of my yogurt

Who's on YOUR side?

2009-05-03T12:41:00.001-07:00

Ever since I started training full time as an Olympic weightlifter, I have realized the importance and necessity of having someone on my side. Not just someone to push me, motivate me, and to give me feedback on my lifting, but someone who is there by my side through the highs and lows of training, the frustration and disappointment associated with injury, and who is always there to support me in my decisions, no matter what.

Having someone like this -- a mentor, a brother, a boyfriend, a friend, whomever – is absolutely vital to success as an athlete. Although this is true in any sport, and for life in general, I find this especially applicable to weightlifting. Because lifting is so taxing mentally, it is pretty much certain that we will all reach a breaking point. Maybe it will happen to you – whether it’s just a slump in training, a severe injury (like me), or just mental fatigue, having someone to push you through those tough moments is as important as having a coach to coach you through the snatch and the clean and jerk.

If you are a serious athlete and you do not have a person like this in your life, please find one! Someone you can trust, rely on, complain to, cry with, etc; someone who will support you through the thick and thin of your training no matter what, who understands your nuances as an athlete and as a person in gernal. We all need shoulders to lean on in life, so why is training any different? Just because we’re strong as an athlete doesn’t mean we need to be on our own in the sport. So find that person who will always be on your side no matter what.

Happy training!

:(

2009-05-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

Wrist was not feelin good today :(

BS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/2
70/2
80/2
85/1
87/1
90/2
90/2
80/3
70/5
Tied my old PR altho I've never done 2 sets there before.

Snatch
Dowel and barbell warm up, then 25 kg
30/1
37/1
37/1
37/1

C&J
barbell warm up
30/1
35/1
I had to stop because I got a shooting pain in my wrist. Not good :(

Throughout the workout I did a total of 60 push ups (sets of 10 here and there)

GM
20/5
30/5
35/5
35/5
35/5

Dead hangs: 9, 10

L-sits: 60 sec, 30 sec, 30 sec

Dip ladder: 1 1st min, 2 2nd min etc, for 10 minutes

Sprints

FOOD
Breakfast: half a container of yogurt, PP, cocoa powder; americano with cream
Lunch: salad w/ turkey and olive oil; big bowl of chickpea-seitan soup (it was cold and rainy); coffee and cream
Dinner: 3 slices of ham, broccoli and pesto, scoop of mushroom/pepper saute, big bowl of candied yams w/ butter and cinnamon (yeah so sue me); couple spoonfuls of yogurt

2009-04-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

FS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
65/3
65/3
65/3

Snatch
20/3
20/3
30/2
35/1
35/1
35/1
35/1

Muscle Snatch
25/3
25/3
25/3
25/3
25/3

Sn Pull
50/3
(55/3)x5

Clean DL
60/1
70/1
80/1
90/1
95/1
100/1
105/1

hypers: 2x20

TGU: 3x5, 40 lbs

3 rounds:
8 PP (20 lb dumbells)
12 kipping pullups
16 v-ups

FOOD
Breakfast: 1/2 container chobani yogurt, almonds, PP, cocoa powder
Lunch: 3 meatballs, turkey, lots of asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower and pesto
Dinner: 2 pieces of shrimp stuffed sole, broccoli, mushrooms, cauliflower

2009-04-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

FS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
70/3
72/3
72/3
72/3

Power Snatch
20/3
30/2
37/1
37/1
37/1

Power clean and jerk
20/3
30/2
40/1
45/1
45/1
45/1

PP
20/5
30/5
40/2
42/5
42/5
42/5

2 x max set of pushups: 42, 20 (new max baby)

hypers: 3x10, 15 kg

Weighted planks
Top: (20 kg) 80, 60
L: (5 kg) 60, 45
R: (5 kg) 60, 45
(Was gonna do 3 sets but on the last set with the 20 kg I dropped it on my head and then gave up)

Russian twists: 4x20, 9 kg

3 rounds:
10 kipping pull ups
10 burpees

FOOD
Breakfast: fage greek yogurt w/ PP and cocoa powder
Lunch: 2 sm pieces of chicken, sauteed spinach, broccoli, olive oil; coffee and cream; couple bites of fruit
Dinner: 3 HUGE slices of pork roast w/ cherry chutney reduction, broccoli and grilled veggies, olive oil, some cheese, couple bites of fruit, coffee and cream

Crazy week

2009-04-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

So the more and more I look at this week, the more insanely tough it seems. I'm still tired and sore from Saturday. YIKES.

BS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/3
70/3
75/3
75/3
75/3

Clean
YAYYY my wrist is finally starting to feel ok. No pain whatsoever! (knock on wood)
20/3
20/3
30/2
35/1
40/1
40/1
40/1
40/1
40/1
(slowly but surely...)

Muscle Sn
20/3
25/3
25/3
25/3
25/3
25/3

Cl pull
50/3
(75/3)x5

Sn DL
70/1
80/2
85/1
90/1
92/1
(I guess that's a PR? Sure, whatever)

hypers: 2x20

Weighted sit ups: 2x10, 20 kg

5 Sets:
5 HLR
5 dead hangs
5 pushups
5 dips

I was so tired and so famished by the end I didn't do much of my normal conditioning.

FOOD
Breakfast: (less than) half a container of Fage yogurt, PP, cocoa powder; coffee and cream
Lunch: pork stirfry with veggies; coffee and cream
Dinner: 4 huge ribs (yes they had BBQ sauce on them, so sue me), cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, pesto, vinegar; coffee and cream; couple bites of fruit

I love dead hangs!

2009-04-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Melissa Byers did a post on girls and dead hang pullups. After that I wanted to do a max, so I videotaped it and sent it to her.

Take a look at her blog today!

Seattle

2009-04-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

Yay back in Seattle for a day! I miss lifting with people soooooo much. Great times.

AM

BS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/2
70/2
80/1
85/1
90/1
92/1
83/1
78/2
78/2
70/5
70/5

Snatch
15/5
25/2
35/2
35/2
35/2

C&J
35/2
40/2
40/2
40/2

Good Mornings
20/8
30/8
30/8
30/8

L sits: 1 min, 30 sec, 30 sec

PM
sprints

FOOD
Breakfast: small container of Fage 2% greek yogurt, protein powder, cocoa powder
Lunch: small container of chard salad, piece of catfish, scoop of broccoli salad
Snack: 1/3 of a smoothie
Dinner:

2009-04-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

FS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/2
70/1
75/1
77/1
70/1
67/2
67/2

OHS
20/2
30/2
40/2
35/2
35/2
35/2

Box jumps: 4x5

GHD situps: 3x15, 30 lbs

GHD Raises: 3x10, 9 kg

100 burpees

FOOD
Breakfast: 1/2 can of salmon, kombucha
Snack: 12 oz cappuccino
Lunch: asparagus, broccoli, 4 or 5 small turkey meatballs, scoop of turkey, olive oil, 1 strawberry, bite of watermelon; coffee and cream
Dinner: bit of broccoli, asparagus, 4 turkey meatballs, 1/4 can salmon, some cheese and avocado, salad w/ vinegar and olive oil

2009-04-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

SN
20/3
20/3
30/1
30/1
30/1
30/1

Muscle SN
(25/3)x5

SN Pull
(55/3)x5

Cl DL
(75/3)x3

hypers: 3x10, 10 kg

TGU: 3x5 per side, 40 lbs

2 x max dead hangs: 13, then 10

pushups: 3x10

Sprints: 5 times up and down grassy area

FOOD
Breakfast: yogurt, protein powder, cocoa powder
Lunch: one chicken wing, asparagus salad, veggies, etc
Dinner: 1/2 plate of cod, tons of asparagus and broccoli, olive oil, etc, some sweet potatoes, couple bites of fruit, coffee with milk, couple spoonfuls of my yogurt concoction

2009-04-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

BS
20/5
20/5
50/2
60/2
70/2
80/1
85/1
90/1
82/1
77/2
77/2
70/5

Split Squat (per leg)
20/5
40/5
40/5
40/5

PP
20/5
30/5
40/5
40/5
40/5

Hypers: 3x10, 15 kg

Russian twists: 4x20, 9 kg

Planks
Top (20 kg): 90, 60, 60
L: 80, 70, 60
R: 80, 60, 60

21 15 9
jumping dips, pushups, v-ups

FOOD
Breakfast: chocolate pudding
Lunch: turkey salad with asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, etc; pesto, vinegar; couple bites of fruit; coffee and milk
Dinner turkey, broccoli, sauteed chinese spinach, some almond-sweet potato sauce thing, asparagus, vinegar (big plate); 3 strawberries, bite of water melon; coffee and milk

2009-04-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. God. Today was hell; I'm still sore from Saturday, UNBEARABLY sore, and it took everything in me to get through it.

Clean
20/5
20/5
30/2
35/1
(37/1)x5

Muscle Snatch
15/3
20/3
(25/3)x5

CL Pull
50/3
(67/3)x5

SN DL
50/3
60/3
60/3
60/3

hypers: 2x20
weighted situps: 3x10, 15 kg
HLR: 3x10
Pull up ladder: 1 1st min, 2 2nd min, 3 etc => 10 min
Sprints: 6 lengths of the soccer field

FOOD
Breakfast: yogurt w/ PP and cocoa powder
Lunch: beef stroganoff with a scoop of turkey, broccoli, bites of sweet potato and water melon
Dinner: 2 pieces of chicken, lots of asparagus, huge scoop of mixed veggies, broccoli, bowl of maple glazed parsnips; couple bites of water melon (yeah I was hungry)

wow

2009-04-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

Double max day. I'm wiped.

FS
20/5
20/5
50/2
60/2
70/1
75/1
80/1
84.6 miss
82.2 miss
80/1
82.2/1
84.6 miss
85 miss

Rest 15 min

BS
50/3
60/2
70/1
80/1
85/1
90/1
92.2/1
95/1
97.2 miss
97.2 miss

Tied my two PR's; was pretty mad that I didn't get a new FS PR, but was happy about BS because of the fact that I was absolutely wiped after the FS and probably could've done more if I was fresh. That and my form felt really solid (first time EVER), and this was the first rep I've missed from actually being tired/heavy; all other times it was because of me being a mental case.

Hypers: 3x10, 15 kg
L-Sits: 30 sec, 30, 30, 30

3 sets:
10 HLR
5 dead hangs

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Pushups
dips (went to negatives because I tweaked my tricep)

Jeez I was tired. After the FS I was so tired my abs were fatigued. Not too bad.

FOOD
Snack: 16 oz cappaccino
Lunch: beef stir fry with some extra scoops of turkey, olive oil, vinegar, broccoli; coffee and cream
Snack: couple spoonfuls of yogurt
Dinner: 3 huge slices of turkey, sauteed swiss chard w/ edamame, broccoli with pesto; vinegar; 3 halves of acorn squash with cinnamon; some water melon; coffee and cream (I was famished)

2009-04-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

BS
20/5
20/5
40/3
50/3
50/3
50/3

SN PP
20/5
30/5
30/5
30/5

hypers: 3x10, 10 kg
TGU: 3x5 per side, 40 lbs

5 rounds:
5 dips
5 dead hangs
5 PP
5 pushups

Springs on the soccer field: 6 lengths

FOOD
Snack: whole milk latte
Lunch: turkey salad (LOTS of turkey), pesto sauce, broccoli, green beans; bowl and a half of sweet potatoes (soooo good, my 'cheat' for the week)
Dinner: plate and a half of lots of chicken (in some sort of sauce), greens with onions and bacon, broccoli, pesto sauce; bowl of melon

2009-04-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

FS
20/5
20/5
50/3
60/2
65/2
70/1

SN Pulls
(35/4)x5

Cleans
15/5
15/5
15/5
20/3
20/3
20/3
25/3
25/3

GHD Sit ups: 3x15, 10 kg
GHD Raises: 3x10, 9 kg
Ab wheel: 3x10

Dip/Pullup compled (on the minute)
1, 2
2, 4
3, 6
4, 8
5, 10
6, 12
7, 7
8, 8
4, 4
5, 5

FOOD
Breakfast: 1/2 container chobani nonfat yogurt, PP, cocoa powder, 20 almonds
Lunch: raw spinach, some broccoli/cauliflower, olive oil, 1/2 can of salmon, scoop of curried veggie soup, couple bites of fruit
Dinner: broccoli, scoop of soup, half a can of salmon, olive oil
Misc: coffee with cream

2009-04-14T18:50:00.001-07:00

CL Pulls
(45/4)x4

OHS
20/3
(35/1)x8 -- wrist felt good

Planks
L: 65 s, 60, 50
R: 65, 60, 50
Front: (with 20 kg) 80, 60, 70

Russian twists: 4x20, 15 kg

hypers: 2x20

Sprints: suicides on the grassy area outside (1/2 and back, 3/4 and back, full and back), 5 times

Dead hangs: 2 times max set (10, 10)

21 15 9
dip negatives
burpees
V-ups

Here's my second set of dead hangs.

Easy week

2009-04-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

I hate easy weeks. I really do. I never feel like I'm doing enough. Grrr.

BS
20/5
20/5
50/2
60/2
70/2
80/2
85/1
85/1
85/1

Cleans\
Slowly getting back into it. Very slowly.
15/5
15/5
15/5
20/3
20/3
20/3
25/3
25/3
25/2

PP
20/5
30/5
40/5
45/5
45/5 (this started to hurt, so I dropped down)
40/5
40/5

Hypers: 3x10, 15 kg
weighted sit ups: 3x10, 15 kg
HLR: 3x10
Max set of push ups: 40 (chest to floor, without stopping)

does it ever stop?

2009-04-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

Wow. I was gone like ALL day today. I am so tired!

Worked out in the AM; I need to stop doing that cuz I always feel too groggy and still half a sleep. Grrr.

FS
20/5
20/5
50/2
60/1
65/1
70/1

SN Pulls
50/2
60/2
60/2
60/2

SN DL
65/2
65/2
65/2

BS
50/2
60/2
70/1
80/1
90/1
95 miss
95 miss
85/1
80/3
70/5
GARRRRRR GIVE ME MY DAMN 100 KG BACKSQUATTTTTTT

L sits: 30 sec, 30, 30, 30
HLR: 3x10
Good mornings: 20/8, (35/5)x3

On the minute:
5 pullups
5 pushups
5 dips (ended up being jumping dips)
10 min

Grrr.

It was beautiful today. I needed a mental break. So a friend and I went on a gorgeous bike ride. Made a friend a long the way.

Whoa

2009-04-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

Jeez what's happened to the time this week? Life is a busy mess right now ...

Good news is I got the OK from my PT to start doing light stuff again. And I don't need to go to PT next week, which is a good sign.

Got to the gym at 1, and didn't leave till 3:30. Spent the first hour teaching a friend how to squat and do KB swings etc.

Clean Pulls
(50/3)x7

KB Swings: 3x15, 24 kg

TGU: 3x5 per side, 40 lbs (wow these were a workout)

5 sets:
5 dips
5 dead hangs
10 PP (25 lbs each side)
5 burpees

Hypers: 3x8, 20 kg

Sprints: length of a soccer field (about 100 m), 6 times

Beautiful day

2009-04-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous day today. I wish we had platforms outside.

AM

Snatch pulls
40/3
50/3
(57.5/3)x3

Sn DL
(65/3)x3

BS
20/5
50/2
60/2
70/1
80/1
85/1
90/1
These felt so heavy today.

5 pullups, 5 HLR: every minute for 10 min
L-Sits: 30 sec, 30, 30, 15, 15 (these felt 10x harder than last week)
Pushups: 3x10
Hypers: 3x12, 10 kg

PM
sprints -- sets of suicides on the lawn, 5 or 6 times total

I had absolutely no juice in me today :(

Just another Thursday

2009-04-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

Clean pulls
(45/3)x7

KB swings: 3x15

TGU: 3x5 per side (weight was all over the place, started with a 16 kg KB, went to 25 lbs, went to 30 lbs)

Good Mornings: 20/8, (30/8)x3

10 minutes of burpees: 100 total

FOOD
Snack: 16 oz cappaccino
Lunch: salmon, small piece of turkey, broccoli, green beans and peppers, pesto, bowl of sweet potatoes, couple bites of fruit; coffee and cream
Dinner: big scoops of seitan stir fry, big scoops of chicken stir fry, broccoli; couple bites of sweet potato and melon; coffee and cream

oh jeez

2009-04-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

God school is stressful. I'm exhausted, too.

BS
20/5
20/5
50/2
60/2
70/1
80/1
86.5/2
86.5/2
86.5/2
86.5/2
86.5/1
86.5/2
Miss what was supposed to be the last rep of the last set, so did an extra one.

Snatch Pulls
(36/3)x7

Hypers: 3x10, 15 kg
GHD Situps: 3x15, 9 kg

1st minute: 1 pull up, 2 pushups
2nd minutes: 2 pull ups, 4 pushups
etc
Did as RX'ed until the 7th minute, where I did 7 pullups and 10 pushups
8th: 8 pull ups, 8 pushups
9th: 4, 8
10th:5, 10

FOOD
Breakfast: 2/3 c cottage cheese, handful mixed berries, handful almonds
Lunch: couple HUGE scoops of BBQ chicken, lots of broccoli, some peas and onions; couple bites of sweet potato and watermelon; coffee w/ cream
Dinner: small piece of trout, bit of broccoli, swiss chard and onions; couple bites of sweet potato and melon; coffee and cream

Another year older

2009-03-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

Heh well I'm 19 today. As of 4:23 PM to be exact. Nothing too special. First day of classes which is kinda sucky but oh well could be worse. Me and my friend Rachel (who also has a birthday today) went out to a fancy restaurant for dessert, which was tons of fun.

And I just want to say I have the most amazing, thoughtful, and kind boyfriend in the entire world. Everyone should check out Brian's log: http://mrdegee.blogspot.com/

Anywho. Workout.

FS
20/5
20/5
40/2
50/2
60/1
70/1
(75/2)x8
Ok so what I realized is that my percentages are way off. Like today I was supposed to be using 86%. 86% of 85 is about 73. BUT last week I had no fractionals and had to do my sets at 72.5. I didn't want to do 72.5 again this week (again, no fractionals, but I have 1.25 plates) so I bumped it up to 75 which is definitely more than 86%. Oh well. But anyways it SUCKED.

GHD situps: 3x10, 9 kg
Weighted situps: 4x10, 10 kg

15 minute "Chelsea" hybrid:
5 pull ups
10 pushups
15 V-ups
(I ended up doing 5 pushups and 10 knees to chest)

Ha two of my friends wanted to do a CrossFit workout, so I chose this one. I ran through it with them; we were gonna do 20 min but they had never done this type of workout before so they were dying. At 4:23 PM, my friend Brendan shouted to the world that it was my birthday and that I was abusing the body my mother gave me haha. So true.

FOOD
No more bad eating, I'm done with cheats for a while.
Breakfast: some smoked salmon, couple stalks of celery
Snack: 12 oz latte
Lunch: 4.5 slices of pork (I ate the slices my friend didn't eat), broccoli w/ pesto, butternut squash
Dinner: 1 slice of meatloaf, cauliflower with tahini, broccoli w/ pesto, sugar snap peas
Cheat: birthday dessert -- an amazing Irish chocolate pudding with brandied cherries and a toffee sauce. Yummmm

Lesson of the week

2009-03-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

Do NOT do push presses with a powerlifting bar. Period.
Why?
Check this out.

Yeah it hurts, just a tiny bit.

Workouts the past few days have been ok. Got into Seattle Thursday morning at 11:30 am, had been up since 3:30 EDT, but still managed to squat ok.

AM

Today I lifted at the good old SPG. I forgot how much I missed that place. Yes I even miss Sam Maxwell's strange/odd sense of humor. But it's all good; it was today. Just like old times.

Muscle Snatches
20/3
20/3
(30/3)x3
Then I threw in some power snatches at that weight.

Clean Pulls
(55/3)x4

BS
20/5
50/3
70/1
80/1
85/1
90/1
95/1
100/0
100/0
100/0 (got half way up)
85/1
80/3
BS were SO easy today; 95 felt like nothing. I just freaked out when I got to 100. I totally had 100 and perhaps even more in me, but after the third try, I was just tired. Grrrrrr.

After that I threw in a bunch of really light cleans. Cleaned 42 a few times, did a few clean and jerks, then called it a day.

Hypers: 3x10, 10 kg
L sits: 2 min combined (45b sec, 30 sec, 30 sec, 15 sec)
Pushups: 10 on the minute for 10 min

PM
Wanted to do some sprints today, but the weather was miserable. So I went out and did them anyway, just not as long as I wanted.
4x100, 25 sec rest in between x 2 sets
Run 100, walk 50 (400 m total)
200 (30 sec rest) 200
2x400 (full recovery in between)

Did that on a slightly full stomach which did NOT feel go0d.

FOOD
Food was kinda all over the place today. I wasn't hungry before lifting (10 am) so I didn't eat, but I didn't get a chance to eat until 2, and by then I was STARVING.
Snack: (9:30) 12 oz latte
Lunch: (2 pm) some smoked salmon, bowl of broccoli, chicken breast, left over stroganoff (small container); part of a leftover smoothie (might have been more, I picked a bit here and there afterwards, too); americano with cream
Dinner:

Back to reality

2009-03-23T18:37:00.001-07:00

Well kinda. I'm in Baltimore now, visiting family and my cousin's new baby girl. I hate it, though. I hate being away. Best two weeks of my life, hands down.

Workout today was at 7:30 pm at a Balley total Fitness. Ugh. Not amazing, but what can you do. I was COMPLETELY wiped, too, cuz I didn't get in til late last night and didn't sleep much.

All the weights were in lbs, so the kg conversion is gonna be funky.

FS
20/5
20/5
52.3/2
61.4/2
65.9/1
(72.7/2)x10

Clean Pull
61.4/3
(70.5/3)x3

Clean DL
(79.5/3)x3

weighted situps: 3x10, 25 lbs
DB side bends: 3x10, 30 lbs

Workout was HELL. Everything felt heavy.

FOOD
Breakfast: 1/2 c Fage greek yogurt, 1 scoop protein powder, some almonds
Lunch: greek omelette
Snack: chocolate pudding
Dinner: big plate of chicken fajita mix (lots of chicken, sauteed peppers and onions), couple big scoops of guacamole (homemade), lettuce
Snack (after lifting) 1 c Fage greek yogurt w/ 1 scoop protein powder

Lifting at Syracuse

2009-03-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

Whew the past few days have been a whirlwind. Red eye flight on Sunday night, no sleep for the past couple of nights (DAMN YOU DORM ROOM BEDS AND NOISY ROOM MATES) ... so it's been crazy. But we're still lifting, as usual.

BS
20/5
20/5
50/2
60/1
70/1
80/1
90 miss
85/1
90/1
92.5 miss
(72/2)x3

SN Pulls
50/3
(55/3)x3

SN DL
(62.5/3)x3

hypers: 3x20
deadhangs: 3x5
L sits: 3x15 sec

I was hoping to get up to 100 for the BS today; didn't happen. Oh well. I haven't had 90 on my back since November, so it's a start.

Here are some vids/pics of the past few days. Fun stuff :)

Hola

2009-03-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

Been busy because Brian's been here all week, but now I'm back in Seattle for 2 days and then off to NY.

I'm on Greg Everett's training program now -- he's been programming my training and is now my coach.
Today we went and worked out at CF Seattle, and Robb Wolf was there, which was cool.

Other news: snatched 45 kg the other day. Hurt like hell but I did it. Then I had to stop.

Muscle Snatch
15/2
20/2
30/2
30/2
30/2

Snatch
35/1
40/1 x 10: on the minute

OHS
20/5
40/2
45/1
50/1
55/1
60/1
62/1
45/2
45/2
45/2
That was cool, PR in my overhead. I felt like I could've gone up to 70, but my wrist was starting to hurt.

Ended with 2 min worth of L-sits, a few rope climbs, then just fooling around with gymnastics stuff.

Oh, and it felt SOOOO good to use a women's bar again.

Here's a video of some of the stuff from the past week.

Here's my OHS at 62 kg

Food's been all over the place; couple cheats etc. Tonight we're going out to dinner, so another cheat.

2009-03-05T15:15:00.000-08:00

Grr wrist was sore today. Couldn't go as heavy as I wanted to on PP and jerks :(

AM

PP+Jerk
20/1+1
20/1+1
30/1+1
35/1+1
(30/1+1)x3

Sn high hang, knee, floor
20/1+1+1
30/1+1+1
(35/1+1+1)x5 -- felt good to do those again.

hypers: 2x20
GHD Situps: 2x20
dips: 3x5
push ups: 3x10

4 sets:
15 v-ups
15 leg lowers
15 cherry pickers

PM
1 hr lacrosse

FOOD
Breakfast: chocolate pudding, swig of milk
Snack: hard boiled egg
Lunch: 2 small chicken breasts, ~1-1.5 c broccoli, pesto, vinegar; small bowl of butternut squash soup
Dinner: 3 big pork ribs, broccoli and cauliflower, some sweet potato oven fries, olive oil, vinegar; scoop of tempeh stew; 1/2 bowl of butternut squash soup (I was freakin STARVING and i hate a ton of food)

flat

2009-03-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

I had absolutely NO juice today whatsoever. I felt limp, dizzy, weak, and light headed and thought I was going to pass out a few times while I was lifting. Ew.

AFTERNOON

BS
20/5
20/5
50/2
60/2
70/2
(75/2)x5

Snatch Pulls
(50/3)x3

Sn DL
(55/3)x5

Hypers: 3x10, 15 kg
Weighted plank holds: 3x1 min, 10 kg on my back
Pushups: 3x10 (first time on the ground)
Dips: 2x5 (as requested by PT -- need to work on these)

EVENING
~1-1.5 hours of lacrosse (scrimmage, mostly)

FOOD
Breakfast: chocolate pudding, swig of milk; coffee and cream
Lunch: 1 c beef brisket, ~1-1.5 c broccoli, pesto, vinegar
Snack: chocolate pudding
Dinner: ~1 c cod, scoop of seitan/mushroom stroganoff, ~1 c broccoli, 1 tbs pesto, vinegar, couple bites of yam, small scoop of greek salad (1 plate)

grrr

2009-03-03T21:49:00.000-08:00

Ugh my foot hurts. A lot :(

AM

Muscle Snatch
15/3
15/3
20/3
20/3
20/3

Snatch
20/2
(35/2)x5

Snatch PP
20/5
30/5
(32.5/5)

HLR: 3x10
V-ups: 3x15

PM
A bit of lacrosse. Foot hurt too much and my legs were really stiff and tired. And then a storm blew over so we ended early.

FOOD
Breakfast: 1 c yogurt, scoop of protein powder
Snack: 1/4 c almonds
Lunch: 1 c chicken, salad, 1 tbs olive oil, vinegar
Snack bio lab feast ie the leftovers from a lab on angiosperms and gymnosperms (lots of nuts, seeds, avocado, and fruit -- so it was free fruit, you think i'd pass that up? yummy)
Dinner: ~1 c beef brisket, broccoli; 1 tbs pesto; olive oil, vinegar; coffee and cream

craziness

2009-03-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

Took a nice (3 hour) jaunt to Spokane this weekend for our lacrosse game. We won, but I got my finger smashed and my foot's in a lot of pain. No sleep either. But it was fun! and freaking cold.

FS
20/5
20/5
40/3
50/3
60/3
(65/3)x10

Clean Pulls
(65/3)x3

CL DL
65/3
(72.5/3)x3

Hypers: 3x8, 20 kg
GHD Sit ups: 3x15, 9 kg.

I got a massage on Saturday, which was nice, but DAMN my IT band up into my glutes were SO FREAKING tight today that it was actually painful when I was resting in between squat sets. Did the foam roller after, which seemed to help but jeez it hurt.

Did a bit of lacrosse, hardly anything at all though, because I was late getting there, and then my finger got re-smashed and my foot got cleated so I called it quits.

FOOD
Breakfast: 3 hardboiled eggs
Snack: 1/4 c almonds
Lunch: ~1 c moroccan beef stew; 1.5ish c broccoli; 1 tbs pesto; vinegar; coffee and cream
Dinner: 1 c chicken, 1 c broccoli, ~1/4 parsnips, ~1/4 marinated mushrooms, couple bites of this yummy broccoli-raisin salad; pesto, vinegar

Rizzo's World

A cry for help

the 'Looking-Glass Self'

In Loving Memory

I'm back

The curse of the "I don't know" Syndrome

I'm still here ...

Oh my aching feet ...

Plane and Simple

shoulder update

Food for thought ...

Merry Christmas!

First day squatting

Happy Thanksgiving

So. Tired.

Rest day-ish

I wish ...

*sigh*

What's good?

Mother Nature Blows

Happy One Year, my love

slowly

New place ...

Each day ...

finally ...

paleo chocolate cake

update

Change of pace

a BLESSED Day

Damn arm

Interesting ...

Bad Mutha 2009

who's counting

5 days out

Oh snatches

The most amazing person in the entire world ...

crapppppy

siiiiick

Rizzo's back

a huge mental PR

another PR

update

wow

back home!

5x5

back to old ways

Quote of the Day

201 posting

three years

final stretch

Who's on YOUR side?

:(

Crazy week

I love dead hangs!

Seattle

wow

Easy week

does it ever stop?

Whoa

Beautiful day

Just another Thursday

oh jeez

Another year older

Lesson of the week

Back to reality

Lifting at Syracuse

Hola

flat

grrr

craziness

sigh