July 3 2015

Woke tiredly to alarm at 4:15am but feeling refreshed too.  Not 8 hours though.

Breakfast
Chicken & spicy radish, berries & coconut milk, unsweetened cranberry juice (+2)
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Walked to work feeling good and rested (-1).  Today’s group classes were doing the 3 rep max Snatch.  Dangers, Music Man & Super Mario put up the best men’s score at 125#.  Captain, The Viking, MK & Big Cat all made triple digits!  The Calm ruled the women with 65# but Fe Prof & G-Money were close behind with 60#.

Breakfast #2
Chicken burger, berries & coconut milk
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Sunghee came to join me for my CrossFit WOD.

3 Rounds
400m Run
21 DB Thrusters @35#

Not a heavy weight or long workout but painful looking.  The Touch completed in under 10 minutes!  To get close to that time I would need to complete all the thrusters unbroken, a real mental challenge.  DB thrusters are generally safe and the weight wasn’t too heavy so I wasn’t worried.  Hit round one at a good pace and thrusters felt fine but on the last rep I felt my back tweak.  It was really minor.  Had it happened mid-set I probably would not have stopped.  Luckily it happened on the final rep.  I took a few steps toward the next 400m run and felt my back tightening up.

If there is something I’ve become expert in it is back tweaks.  I know I could finish the WOD.  I also know my back will be in terrible pain tomorrow if I do so.  Frustrated, I walked up & down Dunbar street disappointed but also congratulating myself on the wisdom & self restraint to stop instead of inflict worse damage.

After I calmed down and assessed the tweak – very minor, I stopped before it got worse –  I realized that I have worked too hard and come too far to just give up.  SO I did for myself what I would do for any client in the same situation.  I redesigned the WOD to something that I could do safely without further aggravating my back:

3 Rounds
21 DB Shoulder Press @35#
200m DB Farmer’s Carry @35#

These movements would allow me to keep my back in a safe upright neutral position and both would challenge my midline stabilization.  Farmer’s carry would be as painful as the original WOD while being great back rehab and a test of grip endurance one of my many weaknesses.  It was as awful as the first WOD but did not irritate my back at all.  16:17. (-1)

So why did my back tweak?  I did eat poorly Wednesday.  And spent a lot of time sitting.  I thought Thursday’s clean eating would provide a buffer.  Think again.  I have never tweaked my back in a week that I didn’t eat badly.

After a shower snack
Banana (+1), Paleo Muffin from Sunghee (+2)
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The bright side of my day was Kaelin spent it with me like old times.  I know he would rather be at school but I love having him here.  We worked side-by-side and when I stopped for lunch we watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine together.

Lunch
Pork & spicy radish, berries & coconut milk
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In the afternoon The Touch came by to do 100 L-Pull Ups.  I joined him.  Didn’t seem to bother my back.  My previous best 14:50, The Touch 19+ minutes.  Both of us aiming to improve.  Started off strong.  I used a kip, The Touch did not.  Part way through my hand ripped.  By the end it was a mess.  But it didn’t slow me down.  The Touch got a massive personal best finishing at 13:41, I was a disappointing 14 seconds (2 reps) slower than my best finishing at 15:04.  (-1)

Losing is no fun at all but it is fun to have someone else to WOD with.  We made plans to do it again tomorrow.

Coconut water (+1)
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A productive day as I forged through my workload and Kaelin did his math.

Dinner
Chicken & spicy radish, berries & coconut milk
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Coached the evening classes then our second Nutrition talk for the 21-Day Real Food Challenge.  I enjoyed it.  Afterwards Big Cat & Mint offered us a lift home but my back needed the walk.

Kaelin and I had a great conversation as we walked along Dunbar Street.  Easily the highlight of an otherwise somewhat disappointing day.  And my back though stiff at first loosened up as we walked.  There was a refreshing Vancouver breeze as we caught the day’s last rays of sun (-2).

Ate again before bedtime
Chicken, pork, cucumber salad, berries & coconut milk
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Daily Totals:
Food +6
Walk -2
Sun -1
WOD -2
Sleep 0

Balance: +1