Deload

After hitting new maxes last week, I was really looking forward to starting up a new cycle in the weightroom.  When I began warming up for my first exercise (cleans) on Monday I was really in for a rude awakening.  My back was telling me to stop.  I realized after such an unexpected improvement on my squat max, my back didn't know what to do.  Enter the "Deload" week.  I continued with the same exercises that I was planning on, but severely decreased the reps, sets and amount of weight.  It took until today to actually feel normal with 135 on the bar for cleans.  Next week starts the fun stuff!  My goal is to get over 380lbs in the squat and 205lbs in bench at then end of the next 4 week cycle...wish me luck!!

It's my birthday...I'll complain if I want to!

I lifted this morning...I felt slow and sluggish.
I attempted to run this morning...I couldn't move and stopped half way through and went inside to finish on the eliptical.

Such a blah day.  Hopefully I have more energy tomorrow, I need to bust my butt after tonight's birthday dinner!  I gave myself some slack for dinner tonight and just ate what I wanted to.  I was really in the mood for pasta, so we tried a new place that we'd been told was tasty.  Georgio's Italian Ristorante.  I consumed copious amounts of bread and olive oil, indulged in a caesar salad, and ate about 1/4 of my actual entree: penne with pesto cream sauce and italian sausage and of course a diet coke.  I WAS STUFFED! Oh Lordy was I stuffed!!!

But what was the one and only thing I had been wanting since my last birthday when we showed up and the shop was closed so I didn't get it?  That's right, Crumb Cake.  I was hoping for blueberry, but they only had strawberry tonight.  Either way, still delectable! I enjoyed each and every crumb.  Now back to reality tomorrow!

I did get some killer workout swag for my birthday though!  More on that later, once I take some pictures!!

So it continues

Source: emptybench.tumblr.com via Jeni on Pinterest

Good morning everybody...all 2 or 3 of you who actually read this!

I started out the morning in the weightroom as usual & then followed it up with some grass running.

• Hang Cleans 5 @ 155; 4 @ 170; 3 @ 180; 2 @ 185 (I was doing percentages of the max 1 rep effort I did last week of 210.  This was 75%, 80%, 85% & 87.5% respectively)
• Cable Low Row 3x8 @ 75, 80, 85lbs.
• Flyes & Reverse Flyes superset 3x8 with 15lb dumbbells
• Russian Twists 3x20 with a 40lb dumbbell
• Week 1 (Day 2) of my running program.  8x 1 min run; 90 sec walk.

The running was definitely easier than yesterday!  Probably the biggest difference was running on our grass rec fields at our university versus pounding the pavement.  I'm almost to the point of looking forward to getting my runs in.  My plan is to run after my lifting workouts Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and get one in on the weekend.  Wednesdays will be dedicated to recovery in both the weightroom and on my runs.

Breakfast: Thomas Multigrain Light English Muffin with half of a banana mashed with PB2 {190cals}
Post-Workout: Vanilla Protein mixed with almond milk {180cals}
Lunch:  Taco Salad (Shredded Lettuce, Deli Chicken, Black Beans, Cottage Cheese, Salsa, Corn) {300cals}

Salads are healthy...right?

Stupid salad, I should have looked it up before eating it.  The hubby and I were running late for work this morning, and we didn't get our snacks/lunches packed for the day {sad face}so we ran over to McAllister's Deli for lunch.  I was wanting a big crunchy salad, so I went for my old standby of the Southwest Cobb Salad.  It consists of mixed greens, a corn relish, chicken breast, tomatoes, guacamole & chipotle ranch dressing with tortilla chips on the side.  I don't care for their guac and I never eat the chips so I handed that over to the hubs.

I started by adding about half of the portion of dressing they give you...and I should have stopped there!  I ended up adding all of it, and found out afterwards that the dressing alone was 420cals!!!! Are you kidding me?  I just ate an 850cal salad, what if I would have eaten the guac & chips???? UGH.  My normal lunch is the same amount of calories as the dressing alone.  Thank goodness it kept me full until just now when I came home for dinner #1.

Today's food consisted of:
Breakfast - 1 whole grain waffle w/ peanut butter, honey, banana & chia seeds {318cals}
PostWorkout - 1/2 of a Svelte Cappuccino Protein shake {130cals}
Lunch - Southwest Cobb Salad minus the chips & guac from McAllister's {850cals}
Dinner #1 - slice of leftover pizza and a huge bowl of watermelon {395cals}
Dinner #2 - 1c. of peas, a serving of deli turkey chopped up, 1/2 a serving of cottage cheese, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese & red pepper flakes {225cals}
Snack - Blackberries {60cals}
Calories left for the rest of the night - {90cals}

In the weightroom I started with 3x4 Hang Cleans {165, 185, 195} Lat Pull Downs 3x10; Low Rows 3x8; Shoulder Press 3x8; Assorted Core.  Felt really good except for the tweak in my shoulder during cleans.  I saw the trainer and started treatment for a strained muscle behind my shoulder blade, but it won't hold me out of anything as long as it doesn't increase pain.

Yesterday was frustrating...

So I did make it back into the weight room for another workout yesterday.  I decided to do some hang cleans (4x4 @ 155, 165, 185, 205).  It felt so good to get back into such heavy weights again...SO GOOD!  But what frustrated me was stepping on the scale.  I know I haven't been counting every calorie I eat like I used to do, but I have been working out daily.  The number was back in the 230's.  I was soooooooo close to being under 200 back in October (201 to be exact) and since then I have put so much weight back on!  I am determined to start losing again.  I really don't know what else to do except start documenting every single calorie I consume once again.  And that was a pain in my backside to do.

Either way, I got back at it this morning.  I hit up the weightroom at 6:00am and crushed some heavy squats, bench press, shoulder series, triceps, biceps & core.  A great total body workout.  I started the day with a banana pre-workout and a Cherry Pie Lara Bar, some dried apricots & almonds post-workout and some tuna & crackers for lunch #1.  I have had 4 bottles (32oz) of water so far and I took all of my vitamins.  I need to do some planning tonight so I can have better meals planned out for the week.