Day 16

Usually my "rest days" end up in some kind of eating disaster, but not today!  So good.  I had eggs etc for breakfast (4), moroccan chicken etc (4) mid-morning, salmon and veggies from Olive Pit Grill (4) around 2pm, protein shake and an apple at 5:30 (4), and lettuce wraps with turkey, 2 cucumbers and a banana at 9:30 (4).  So that's a lot of blocks, but I was hungry.  I guess there was also a 2 or so block latte in there.  I don't think caffeine does a whole lot for me because I was still pretty tired at the basketball games.  It was nice to realize that I can drink coffee (with milk) without sugar.  So, day 2 with no sugar = done!  I decided to go ahead and keep track of days with no sugar after Laura suggested that and I had thought about it as well.  I'm putting the marks on the back of the picture I'm carting with me wherever I go.

Tomorrow my plan says to row 20 minutes and since it's a late start day in Brea, I may actually drag myself to 24 in the morning.  We'll see.

Day 15

First day of second semester.  Ehh.  It went alright.  I figured out at at the end of zero period that there are 90 days until graduation.  I love these kids.  But it's also nice to see them graduate and move on with their lives.  They will do amazing things.

I rowed 5000m this evening and it took 23:41.  I wasn't going for a p.r. at all.  I rowed at a damper of 5 wanting to keep my strokes per minute at 30 or above.  That part went alright.  So day 3 is done.  Tomorrow is a rest day.  Yay...i'm going to watch the kids play basketball at Canyon out in Anaheim Hills so that should be fun.

Hmm, so blocks...if I'm eating 4 blocks that means I'm having 4 protein blocks, 4 carb blocks, and 4 fat blocks.  7 grams is a protein block.  9 grams is a carb block.  1.5 grams is a fat block.  So today I had 4, 4, 4, 3, and 4-6 at Lucilles.

The moroccan chicken that I like so much is 4 blocks...4 ounces of chicken (uncooked weight), 1 cup (raw) of cooked carrots and 4 cups (raw) of cooked broccoli along with about 12 green olives.  I eat that almost everyday.  Thank goodness it hasn't gotten old yet.

No sugar day one = done.

Day 14

I did day 2:  Row 6 by 500m with 2 minutes rest between rounds.  When I got to 24 hour this morning both rowers were being used.  I did other things for 25 minutes.  People were finally done and I set the damper at 5 and went for it.  Here are my times:  1:52.6, 1:51.3, 1:51.8, 1:52.9, 1:54.2, and 1:54.5.  Pretty consistent so that was good.  I started to feel my legs screaming sooner and sooner each time.  It took between 65 and 70 pulls each time to go the 500m.  It kinda helped to close my eyes and count.  Then I didn't have to stare at the monitor watching my average time fluctuate.  Having some sort of consistent breathing pattern would probably be good but I can't quite figure that out right now.  I rowed between 37 and 39 strokes per minute which is way more than when I was rowing with the damper set at 10.  That was all probably too much information.

Hmm, about the food stuff.  So talking with Laura has helped me understand a lot about myself but the food stuff is still a bit of a mystery to me.  I didn't experience these nose dives into eating oblivion until 18 months ago.  Something happened...or didn't happen...or ???.  I don't know.  What I know is this battle with dessert foods is a fight I'm never going to win.  I tell myself that I should be more "powerful" than sugar...but I'm not.  It wins every time.  And I really do hate to lose.  So I don't know why I keep agreeing to play this game with sugar.  I should just say no, I don't want to play anymore.  There is a book titled something like, "Sugar, the good girls drug".  So true!  I was telling someone tonight, "I'm just going to pretend that sugar will kill me" and he replied something like, "I don't think you need to pretend".  Wow.  That's going to stay with me for awhile, but not in a bad way.  People aren't honest very often.  I think I appreciate honesty more than I realize.  I'm trying to be more honest.

Day 13

I finally started the 24 week beginning rowing plan I found online.  Day 1 was to row 5000m.  Done.  We'll see about tomorrow.

I ebb and flow with the food.  Sometimes I want to talk about it and sometimes I don't.  This is a don't day. Oh well.

I'm ready for the new semester to start.  New starts are good.

Day 12 Update

Friday from 9:30pm til 12:30am...

This was not a binge so that's a plus.  I went to Lucille's and had catfish, sweet potato fries and crunchy peanut slaw.  I also had the roll.  Not the best choice but yeah.  Then I've been wanting a Diddy Riese cookie for about 3 months, so this was the night I decided to drive to Westwood to get it.  The line was huge...like 40 minutes.  I got a cookie/ice cream sandwich for $1.50.  Two chocolate chip cookies and a small scoop of mint chip ice cream smashed in-between.  I could have eaten oh so much more.

I finally printed out the 24 week beginning rowing plan.  It's a lot of rowing.  I know I'll be losing some weight.  I'm not mentally prepared for the comments that may ensue.  Losing weight is not my goal this time...rowing fast is.  If I'm rowing tomorrow morning, I need sleep now.

Days 11 and 12

Thursday and Friday:

Thursday was a rest day from the gym.  I drove up north to see my parents, grandpa and watch UOP at Cal Poly women's basketball.  I went to Starbucks twice, once for caffeine and once because I was stressed.  My grandpa made me sad.  It was fun to see 4 former students though so that helped make up for it, kinda.

Today I woke up at 4:30am, without an alarm, and ventured out to a Starbucks to correct AP Stats finals for 3 hours.  Two more medium skinny vanilla lattes later I was done.  But I think the milk upsets my stomach.  Didn't eat very well when I got back to my condo.  I do dumb things sometimes.  I need to commit to eating "real" food and not "convenience" food.

And the reason I know that is because I ventured out to the gym to try and row a "faster" 2k than I did in November.  Well afterwards I felt sick...because I rowed 7 seconds faster than before and because I ate less than ideally from 2-3.

Lesson learned???  We'll see.

Day 10

Eating ok until 8pm when I felt super stressed and ate 9 blocks instead of 3 or 4.  Ugh.  I'm just going to go to sleep cuz if I stay up I could probably eat some more.

I must say though that this is nothing like it was a year ago.  I don't feel sick at all and the 9 blocks was "only" 720 calories.

I rowed 500m as a warm-up at the gym.  No rowing tomorrow.  Maybe Friday.

Day 9

I only did a 500m row as a warm-up.  I want to get a more structured row thing going but it's not easy right now because our semester at school is ending.  I want to see where my 2K time is in the next few weeks.

Ate ok today:  4, 4, 4, 3, 4.  I'm pretty much eating the same thing everyday:  eggs, more muscle, recovery on the days I go to the gym.  Then the other meals are two of the following:  moroccan chicken, lettuce  wraps and veggies, salmon "hash" and veggies or eat out at Olive Pit Grill or Lucilles.

Day 8

Today I went to the gym at 5pm and did overhead squats and then did something called "death by calorie row".  So that was my rowing for the day.  I set the damper at 7.  You row 1 calorie the first minute and then rest.  When minute two begins you row 2 calories and then rest for the remainder of the minute.  You go until you can't finish the calories in the allotted time frame.  I've gotten through round 18 before at damper 10.  Today I finished 15.  I know I could've gotten 16 if I had pushed, but my legs were feeling done.

Blocks today:  4, 4, 3, 3, 4.  Ok, 100% paleo.

Days 6 and 7

Hmm, I was out of town in Colorado for a basketball game so I didn't row yesterday or today and I ate ok, but not 100% great.  I had a great time though so I feel ok about diverging from my plan.  Since I had it in my brain that that would probably happen it hasn't messed me up since I've been home.  i.e., I haven't been doing a tailspin eating chocolate or cookies since I got back this afternoon.

The eating non-paleo stuff entailed two english muffins, a hamburger bun, and some tortilla chips.  No desserts though so that also helped no crazy eating this evening.

I didn't cook my moroccan chicken tonight like I had planned so that will make tomorrow a bit interesting...but it will be fine.

Day 5

Fine day.  No rowing really, just 500m as a warm-up.  Did other things at the gym instead: Annie in 9:28, and 5 sets of 3 hang squat cleans at 95, 105, 115, 115, and 120.  My old max was 110 so I was happy.  I've never cleaned 120 before, any way I've tried, so that was fun too.

Eating good.  In the interest of time...4, 4, 4, 3, 4.

Day 4

I rowed at Atlas tonight as part of the workout (wod)...2000m.  It took about 8:09 and it was set at a 10.  I'm never rowing a 2k at a 10 again.  Not good.

Then for "fun" I did do some sprints.  One 250m warmup at :59 and then 4 "faster" at :51.3, :55.7, :55.1, and :54.6.  I rested 1 minute between each of the faster sprints.  I was tired after all that.

Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow yet.

Eating good except the banana I tried to eat wasn't ripe enough to peel.  Oh well.  4(eggs/veg), 4(pro-mm/apple), 4(salmon/veg), 3(pro-r), 4(ham/veg).

Day 3

No working out today.  Days off are good.  I believe this 80% of the time.

Anyways, tomorrow I'm supposed to row 6 by 500m, according to the plan.  Doing 500m intervals makes my legs want to scream.  I dunno how it's going to go.

Eating today was ok - 4(eggs/veg), 4(pro-mm/apple), 4(moroccan chicken), 3(lamb kebab/veg), 4(leftover sirloin/veg).

I know I said I wanted to eat 18 blocks and everyday I seem to be eating 19.  As long as I'm not gaining a ton of weight, I'm ok with this.

Day 2

I've decided to follow the beginner "pete plan" found here...
http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/beginner-training/

So today I went to 24 hour after school and rowed 5000m pretty slowly.  One of the rowers faces a mirror and it's hard to not watch yourself row.  I don't know if I'm supposed to keep my elbows tucked in or if I can let them flail to the outside.  I'll find out.

Food good today. 4(lettuce wraps and veg), 4(moroccan chicken), 4(progenex-mm and apple), 3(progenex - r and banana), 4(take out from Lucille's and apple).

Tomorrow will be a challenge eating-wise because I'm going to be gone all day.

Day 1...I'm starting over and doing this right.

I tried out the 24 hour fitness on beach blvd.  They have two rowers that are the older model.  They're upstairs and no one was using them.  I rowed 500m to warm-up.  It was so hot in there.  Since my abs are still done from doing ghd sit-ups on Friday with an 8lb medicine ball, I rowed 500m as fast as I could two times and then 1000m to end so I could get some feeling back in my legs.  I wanted to make sure I could walk down the stairs without falling.  Yeah, good times.

Technical side notes - I set the damper at 5.  The 500m times were 1:51.6 and 1:49.5.  Nowhere near my best time of 1:43.  Ugh.  My last 1000m I rowed at 32spm so I can get used to that.  It's not a "walk in the park" pace.  Nice to know.

Tonight at Atlas I also tested out damper settings vs. drag.  At 3 the drag is 102, 4 = 114, 5 = 129, 6 = 144, 7 = 157, and 8 = 179.  So I'm going to go with 5 for awhile and see what happens.

Blocks for the day:  4(lettuce wraps/apple), 4(salmon/veg), 4(progenex-mm/apple), 3(progenex-rec/banana), 4(chicken/veg)

Sunday January 15, 2012

I didn't eat that well today and I didn't row at all.  I'm going to 24 hour tomorrow morning and my plan is to row 4 sets of 1000m with 5 minutes rest.  A site I looked at online suggested rowing at 32spm at a pace of 2K minus 3 or 4 seconds.  Hmm, so for me that would be 1:59/2:00 pace.  I haven't rowed at 32spm in awhile so I don't know how that's going to go.