PaleoZone Day 1

I've been eating well, about 80% paleo, but with some stupid cheats. As an experiment to see if I can drop a few %s of body fat, I'm going full bore PaleoZone for two weeks or a bit more. I'm interested to see how metabolic conditioning performance is enhanced as well.

I'll be eating 4 or 5 block meals and enjoying 1 block snacks. Target calories = about only 1800.

BREAKFAST - 9am

5P 5C 5F



5P = 5 eggs
5C = 4 cups of raw broccoli, 1 apple, 1.5 cups red pepper
5F = 1tsp olive oil, few pine nuts

Nutritional breakdown:
44g P (32%)
58g C (42%)
34g F (26%)
667 calories

The carbs seem a bit high, but the veg/fruit have a low glycemic index (apple being borderline).

NOTES
The above isn't really accurate because I couldn't finish all of the food. I will reserve the veggies for later on in the day, for an extra snack or part of a meal. I estimate my calories at 550 for this meal.

LUNCH - 1:50pm

5P 5C 5F = goal

5P = 4.5oz bison sirloin
3C = (2.5 blocks remaining veggies) + (2 cups cooked spinach)
4F = 1tsp olive oil

Nutritional breakdown:
52g P (44%)
50g C (42%)
16g F (14%)
118g total
509 calories

NOTES
Slightly confused when comparing the actual macronutrient breakdown of my meal to how I imagined it in blocks. This likely has to do with the fat in the meat, and protein in places other than the meat.

happy friday!

FUEL
7am - coffee, banana, almond butter, milk
10am - cabbage, red/orange pepper, thai chicken breast, avocado
2pm - small piece of pizza
3pm - big pork chop!
8pm - good veggie snacks, a few crackers, and more than a few beers :/

Hill said she doesn't think I was eating enough. Just to clarify, when I report something like my 10am meal above, this is what I mean:



My portions can be pretty serious! Ideally I'd like to be eating about 21 or so zone blocks with correct proportions, but for now I'm working on getting very solid with the types of foods I eat rather than portions. A GREAT article on the zone diet for athletes is found in the CrossFit journal [pdf!]


BURNING
5 rounds for time ---> 17:52
5/5 one arm db snatch to left & right lunges @ 35#
15 knees to elbows
1 bear crawl down the gym/back

long, slow training = pointless and harmful

Jack Blatherwick, the conditioning coach for the Washington Capitols and conditioning coach for six American Olympic Ice Hockey teams including the 1980 “Miracle Team” talks about the ineffectualness of base training with long, slow distances.

This question comes up often: is it appropriate for young sprinters and athletes in sprint-interval team sports to establish an aerobic base with long, slow distances?

With few exceptions -- perhaps professional athletes recovering from an intense season -- the answer is "NO," for the following reasons:

Read the rest on Functional Path Training

I really liked the following bits:

If marathoners do too much long distance training, they establish a comfort zone, running below their anaerobic threshold. To improve times, they must run faster, of course, above their threshold -- and there are quite severe respiratory and cardiovascular consequences. This is a physiological habit, not a psychological one, and "speed" work must incorporate intervals to elevate the comfort zone.

Patterns of slow strides are imprinted just as "permanently" into our neuromuscular memory as the quick strides that a sprinter would like to record. Just as a golfer would not intend to include repetition after repetition of "bad" swings when he practices, neither would a sprinter.

...

the mistake made by many fitness coaches is to "compartmentalize" the training into separate workouts -- aerobic endurance, anaerobic power, anaerobic endurance, skill, agility, strength, etc. etc. etc. Of course in a game, all of these attributes are required at the same time, so we should be looking for more ways to incorporate the various elements into "integrated workouts."

Compartmentalizing the metabolic training is analogous to isolating each muscle separately in our strength workouts, and it is just as non-productive.

...

Furthermore, anaerobic interval training is highly aerobic, and can be a more intense cardiovascular workout than what fitness gurus would call a "cardio" workout. College hockey players doing six weeks of dryland training composed of "anaerobic intervals" for quickness and power made greater gains in aerobic and cardiovascular measures than if they had trained with aerobic distances for the same period

CrossFit for the win!! Don't abuse your body with LSD training. Go hard!

rest/cheat day

FUEL
8am - banana w/ almond butter
12pm - grass fed sausage, 3 eggs, artichoke, spinach, red pepper, olive oil
5pm - BURGERVILLE!!!!! including fries and shake.
6pm - coffee
7pm and beyond - cabbage, olive oil, balsamic...maybe a cider.

Interesting thing about my Burgerville is that it didn't fill me up for very long. Probably the carbs!

BURNING
nothing besides some good stretching and joint mobility while i led my crossfit class. and some rope turns. here's what it looked like:

nerves

What's with me? We're going to do a mile run test today and I'm already getting nervous. I'd like to beat my previous PR of 6:29. I think I'll aim for a 1:34 quarter mile pace which will result in a 6:16 mile. TIME TO SUFFER, but not for too long, really. Then we'll have our workout...

FUEL
8am - 3 eggs, coffee (forgot to eat the avocado!)
2pm - small carne asada burrito, no rice
3pm - almond butter, one slice whole wheat bread
9pm - chicken breast, grass fed sage breakfast sausage, broccoli, spinach, artichoke hearts, little sweet potato, 1/2 avocado, olive oil, spices. GOOD POST WORKOUT RECOVERY MEAL

BURNING (7:30pm)
-Mile run test ---> 6:14 !! (new PR). I can't believe I know what a 1:34 400 pace feels like. I'm pretty sure on track, during a dry day I could get a :58 400m and 6:00 mile, though not in the same effort.
-pretty easy deadlifting 5x5 @ 185#
-stick stirs with the 45# bar and 25# plate. CORE BUSTER.

double under madness

FUEL
7:30am - coffee
10am - 6oz chicken breast, small head broccoli, 5 big kale leafs, pine nuts, olive oil, 2 small shamrock cookies (damn you nice people brining treats to work!), coffee!!!
3pm - more coffee!!!!!!
6pm - HUGE omelette (6 eggs, sausage, asparagus, artichoke hearts, orange pepper, bit of cheese, hot sauce) that was so good
7pm - one beer

BURNING - 8:30am (worked out on a fast)
Four rounds for time: ---> 16:30
100 double unders
10 standing two arm russian twists
10 uneven pushups

I've had a few workouts with double unders recently. They've improved quite a bit partially because of practice and partially because of a new wrist technique and some coaching from XX. My first set today I linked 50. Why the double unders? It would be cool to do all jump rope workouts with double unders instead of single turns. Also, I need to be prepared just in case triple unders become the new double unders. Kinda like 135# being the new 95#. OUCH.

I'm starting to feel within reach of where I was before my forced time off this fall. Would like to test pullups soon.

happy b-day bill

BURNING




Also, Overhead squats. YES! A personal record:
195# at 180 body weight.
155# for 11 reps. ROCK.


FUEL
9:00am - 3 eggs, a bit of cheese, coffee
2pm - various fruits, veggies, string cheese, almond butter
5pm - big rice krispie treat (BILL'S BDAY), salami + one slice bread

Another not so good fuel day :[ There's always tomorrow!