MaryStella's Triathlon training crossfit endurance

[MaryStella]

sure things vj!

 

@tattoo514 - thanks so much for your kind words, the positive energy and for taking the time to post on my blog.

 

today's my birthday and it is the least sore my foot has been so far. I am completely off of any meds and i swear that improves the healing process. Spent a lot of time in bed again yesterday but it was also the first time I made it out of the house too. the cast is still a pain literally. im ok on the crutches, not great. So signs of progress to report!

 

having pistols and midline stabilization is helping.

[djshrew]

Glad you're doing well!! Happy birthday

[chewybaws]

Wishing you a quick healing and happy birthday, big foot!

[MaryStella]

thanks!

[vivalasvegans]

hope your birthday was great and you got some extra healing power in there as a result!

[MaryStella]

I do feel like I am healing, the foot is hurting less and I am getting more active with the cast on. Most of the pain I swear if from the cast at this point. Although the cast is keeping me in check as I did completely wipe out already. Im improvising interesting ways to get things done. I was going to go back to work tomorrow but with the snow we're getting I don't know how I am going to get around with crutches in it. Ill have to see in the morning. I go back to the doctor on tuesday. In the fantasy in my head he cuts my cast off and I get back after it. I have been sleeping a ton these last few days.

 

meal 1 - tempeh bacon & 2 whole grain berry waffles, peanut butter

meal 2 - Grit tofu & a slice of vegan vegetable pizza, peanut butter

meal 3 - vega wfo w.coconut water

[MaryStella]

back 2 work

went back to work today. The crutches went ok in the snow. Going to the doctors tomorrow. I am ready to return to training. This will be a full week off which is the longest amount of time i have had off in years.

 

 

meal 1 - vega wfo w/coconut water

meal 2 - tofu, brown rice, broccoli, carrots, onions, mushrooms, clif builder bar

meal 3 - almonds and cashews

meal 4 - salad, rigatoni w/marinara & basil, peanut butter

[MaryStella]

went back to the docs. Still got my cast on. but it is scheduled to come off on tuesday jan 4th! I will get my stitches out then and a soft cast put on. I am going to start doing some exercises tomorrow and see how it goes. I feel ready. Only pain I have now is from the cast.

 

meal 1 - tempeh bacon and a waffle, peanut butter

meal 2 - brown rice, tofu, broccoli, carrots, onions, mushrooms, vega wfo w/coconut water

meal 3 - clif builder bar

meal 4 - tofu, red onion, red cabbage, spinach, carrots, yams ,ruttabagas, black bean, salsa

[MaryStella]

First time with some kind of training since the surgery. It went fine. No problems. Plan on upping the intensity now that I know I can. Probably do a few days of bodyweight stuff then try to get to the gym later in the week. A lot of what I did today are things I wouldn't do but it's what I can do right now so i am getting through it.

 

100 situps for time = 3.52

1 minute plank hold

100 pushups for time = 5.03

Outer Thigh lifts 100 R/100L

25 chair dips

Inner Thigh lifts 100 R/100 L

25 chair dips

50r/50L Twist Situps - didn't have a med ball so used a large paperback book

25 chair dips

Glute Lifts 50R/50L/50R/50L

25 chair dips

Quad lifts 50R/50L/50R/50L

5 sets of 10 Aussie Pullups - using my kitchen table

Hamstring lifts - 50R/50L/50R/50L

1 minute plank hold

5 sets of Jackknife situps (legs in and out)

 

meal 1 - 2 scoops vega wfo w/coconut water

meal 2 - clif builder bar

meal 3 - tofu ravioli w/tomato sauce & cashews

meal 4 - clif builder bar

meal 5 - vegan pot pie, (tofu, carrots, peas, potatoes) 2 vegan burriots( brown rice, tofu, beans, corn)

[vivalasvegans]

50r/50L Twist Situps - didn't have a med ball so used a large paperback book

 

what did you use? i'm thinking chi-running but it's kind of light for you

[Rob PMFF]

Do you feel like the grains negatively impact your energy levels? A lot of these primal/paleo folks do. And honestly, I think I've noticed it as well. They make me feel like crap sometimes, and I think, affected my endurance at CF. Just curious if you've noticed anything, or have an opinion on the matter.

[MaryStella]

@viva - actually it was hardcover book! oops!

 

@robb - i agree the grains are crap. and should have a limited place in any at all in the diet. I haven't been doing my normal cooking because of the cast but I am going for groceries tonight and plan to get back on my more regular routine.

[MaryStella]

my friend was kind enough to drive me to the crossfit gym today. it felt so good to finally be back at it. I was off for too long! I swear I feel weaker when I take extended time off like that. I know it was only a week so I shouldn't but I swear I do. Time to get back to being strong! Just did some thing to see what works and what doesn't. wasn't really any kind of wod.

 

10 kipping pullups - I thought these would feel great after so long off from pullups but i swear they felt harder than normal

 

2 warmup rounds with 15lb dumbbells of

5 Bench Press

5 shoulder press

5 bent over rows.

Then picked up 20lb dumbbells and did 10 rounds of the same circuit. The shoulder press was the hardest movement at that weight for me. The bench and the rows felt light. so I decided to drop the shoulder press and use 25s and do

5 rounds w/25s of

10 bench press

10 row

still light but I figured I did enough of those movements and I can go heavier next time. The shoulder press feels a little weird. I think it is because I am a little off balance with the leg. I think that may have been the issue when kipping my pullups too. I'm holding the leg and it makes it a little weird. Im going to have plenty of practice and I will get it.

 

10 kipping pullups

10 kipping pullups

 

4 x 25 hollow rocks

 

10 kipping pullups

10 kipping pullups

 

Row 510 meters - This felt awkward. I basically pushed off one leg and just dragged the cast on the floor. That's why I only went to 500. it's doable but I am not sure it the best idea. Although I do think without the cast it could be a good run training substitute until I can run again. I will ask the doc.

 

2 x 25 back extensions - this also feel weird. since i am most using the good leg for stability

 

30 negative ring dips

50 hanging leg lifts - i used a bar that i can basically touch the ground from.

Tried some knees to elbows and toes to bar - both of those are ok.

 

Also did muscle up transition practice on the ground. I need to get the ring dips so I can get real muscle up.

 

meal 1 - vega wfo w/coconut water - 2 slices veggie pizza

meal 2 - grit tofu

meal 3 - balck beans soup, salad and bread

[katz]

I was off for too long! I swear I feel weaker when I take extended time off like that. I know it was only a week so I shouldn't but I swear I do.

 

I know what you mean! It almost feels like you are losing strength by the day! Everyone says the body should grow/recuperate after a layoff like that, but for me it almost seems counterproductive, just like you are saying.

 

I would rather be "hittin' it" every day, I don't do good with extended rest periods either.

 

Anyway, glad to hear you are back at it! Doesn't seem that anything can keep you down - you are a machine, lol!

[MaryStella]

I am so happy to find someone that agrees with me on that one and thanks!

[vivalasvegans]

mary, what felt weaker - muscle strength, cardio strength, endurance or what? how much of it was due to down time or the drugs, or the change of diet, or actual detraining? i'm trying to figure this all out for myself right now too...

 

i'm so happy you're getting back to training!

[MaryStella]

When I saw weaker I mean I felt like it took me more effort than normal to pull myself over the pullup bar. As if I didn't have the same muscle strength to pull myself over it. Not sure about cardio and my endurance seemed fine too. Sometimes I almost wonder if it isn't mental because of the injury. meaning it is harder to push yourself to that other place when you know your parts are not right. I don't think it was the drugs because I only took them the day of the surgery and the night after then I was off them completely. The diet has not been the greatest but it hasn't been horrible either so I will say that is part of it but I can not solely say that is the cause. Timewise I should have become detrained yet.

[katz]

Sometimes I almost wonder if it isn't mental because of the injury. meaning it is harder to push yourself to that other place when you know your parts are not right.

 

There is probably a study floating around out there someplace to corroborate this; I highly suspect it may be a psychological thing.

[MaryStella]

@katz - I think I am starting to agree with you. I am going to try to push myself as much as I can and hopefully get through this little block Im feeling today.

 

Did a complex ab workout today. - It was 6 rounds with 6 reps of the following exercises. Counted 6 reps of each exercises as a rep. So each round had 216 crunches and the total wod had 1,296 crunches. I haven't done crunches in forever so it felt a little weird doing them

 

basic crunch

left side crunch (rotation)

right side crunch (rotation)

90 degree toe reach

leg crossover crunch (left twist)

leg crossover crunch (right twist)

 

10 x 3 chair dips - arms were feeling sore from yesterday's lifting on these.

from one dark place to another....

I am questions myself today because as I mentioned before I feel like I am not going after it as much as I normally would and it is depressing, frustrating, unnerving. I feel like a fighter that has been hit too hard or too much and I just don't have my right mind about me. I've done a lot this season. I started out doing a lot of crossfit endurance wods on the rowing or running after my shoulder surgery because it was one of the things I could do. That made me think I want to test this stuff out so I starting racing 5 k's. I ran a ton of those this season and I had some success. 1st, 2nds, 3rds in age group. They were fast, they were fun so I thought hhhmmm if I actually starting training for this stuff I wonder how I could do. I did some longer distance races like 4 - 5 milers but nothing seriously far or out of my reach physically. I always respected triathletes for their physical prowess and really thought it was something that I couldn't do. I'm just not that fit! I'm was a fighter, a crossfitter, someone that could hit it hard for awhile and be done, not someone that possessed the ability to just hit it hard for a little long time. many people told me that I had the physical ability to just go out and do it because of the shape that I was in. I didn't believe them and I needed to wrap my mind around it too. Never liking to feel limited i decided to go for it, got hooked up with jay (the best coach a girl could ever ask for) and went and bought a bike and starting training swimming. This year I completed my first duathlon, my first 3 olympic distance tris, and 2 sprint distance tris. Did my first 10k and my first half-marathon too. ALL of these were trained for and completed with an injury that lead me to the surgery I had a little over a week ago. (and some other injuries along the way - from accidents not overtraining) but I trained around all of them the best I could. I did 2 bike legs of late season triathlons when I really couldn't run anymore placed 1st and 3rd in those. Even picked up a medal for an open water swimming race. My swimming wasn't the greatest during the races. But this is the first time I have ever trained swimming to race. It is the first time I have been in a pool swimming laps in over 20 years. And the first time I have ever been open water swimming. yeah im a city kid. But honestly I feel in love with it all. I thought running would be my strong point since I actually had some previous experience in road racing, cross-country and track back in my school days. However with the injury I was not really running as well as I would have liked and I never came close to numbers I would have seen when I actually trained to run. But I didn't really care because I was out there doing it even with the injuries (and thankfully i had jay who the injuries didn't phase either!). I fell completely in love with my bike (except for when jay dragged me around the hills of ct, I tried to get lost but he wouldn't have it) and I started commuting on it as much as possible just for more time in the saddle. I was addicted to my journeys with stefan (my handsome stud of a road bike) I also came to know the peace that is swimming and I really looked forward to getting in the water and just being free of it all. I miss swimming, I miss riding stefan and I miss running. I wish I could just hit it at crossfit instead of hopping around with a cast on my foot but that is what next season is for. Hopefully I will be injury free (FINALLY!) and see myself completing my 1st - two half-ironman distance races amoung all of the other tris and road races I will undoubtly be packing my season full of. If the foot is finally not a factor I would like to complete my first marathon and my first ironman at some point after all of that. The biggest thing I've come to learn this season is that I can train for and do this endurance shit. So much of it is mental (not that the physical training isn't important) but I think the mental side is equally important. These long races take you to some dark places but that is why I love it. I need to check exactly what i've got. I don't care what i've had in the past, it is all stepping stones to where i'm going. If you believe you can, you do. If you think you can't, you won't. I had some obstacles to overcome in my most of my races this season and I am thankful for all of them. I remember walking out to the swim of my first tri which wasn't wetsuit legal and I while I was nervous about it (really nervous ,right jay?) because I've never done an open water swim without a wetsuit especially of this distance. I told myself I was doing this because not finishing this thing wasn't an option. I headed out on the bike and about a mile before the end I slid in some gravel/dirt when a car was close to me on the road and I put my hand down on a guardrail to stabilize myself while continuing to move forward. I sustained an avulsion fracture in my thumb which saw it immobilized for weeks. But I headed out on the run anyway because not finishing it again wasn't as option. The run went well enough until I was about 2 miles out from the finish and I fell over a rock on the trail. I was way to close now to even care about such things. I refused to look down at my injuries because nothing was coming between me and crossing "the line". Of course I finished and lived not only to tell about it and race again but I had my first trip to the ambulance at a race for photo ops! Having freshly complete my first ever triathlon I began putting jay up the challenge of having train me. How do you program for a post op shoulder, a immobilized hand and a broken foot. I wasn't giving in on any of the races I had scheduled for the season and Jay never gave up on it either. The majority of my races were eventful, often involving all day rain but sometimes even more fun like getting lost on the bike course. But I finished all of them. Even picked up a 3rd place for a tri with my first river swim. During that swim i wondered if I was going to get pulled out by a boat i was struggling with that current. The most painful race of the season had to go to my half-marathon. That is long distance to cover on a broken foot but I wanted that under my belt too. Sometimes the race is about finishing, sometimes it is about racing (yourself and/or others) but it is always about checking exactly who you are under any circumstances. Sometimes it won't feel like fun but your really having some of the best times of your life and I won't give it up for anything. This cast will come off eventually and I will be back at it to the best of my ability. Recovery from injuries is a tough time no doubt and while I don't like it at all. It's always the tough struggles that bring the gains, hill repeat workouts are the best teacher of this for me. Not being able to do something has always been the biggest mental struggle for me. I am considering this working around the injury training as some serious mental training in that regards. well that and plunging yourself in ice-baths. (3-2-1-go!) So while I probably didn't have the best racing season i will see I did have the best racing season I could have with what I was dealt. The challenges will continue to be there next season but hopefully more of the faster and farther variety instead of the broken obstacles. I also challenged myself to take a bike maintainence course. I am not good at dealing with mechanical parts (stefan has jay to thank for staying in running order, my solutions usually involved just yanking at the parts that I didn't know that names for). I've learned a lot and i've come pretty far dragging my broken foot along and pulling with the one good hand but there is so much more out there to learn and experience yet and while you never really feel ready for it, it just becomes your time to go and my time is here.

 

 

meal 1 - vega wfo w/coconut water

meal 2 - carrots & carmelized onion hummus =, clif builder bar

meal 3 - brown rice, tofu, veggies, carrots & hummus

meal 4 - thai tofu and veggies & salad

[MaryStella]

did my first 1 legged biking wod. 10 minute warm up in an easy gear. Then 10 x 40 seconds on 20 second off. I pushed it into a harder gear for these. Then a 10 minute cool down. My garmin wasn't charged so i don't have any distance/ cadence info. The picture above is the position I used for the 40 seconds on as I found it the most effective to really spin the cadence. I also rode the traditional way for the other 20 minutes.

 

20 raised leg push ups

40 scissor kicks

60 second plank hold

40 kickups

20 raised leg pushups

40 leg raises

60 seconds plan

40 push throughs

20 raised leg pushups

 

10 x 5 chair dips

 

As Jay requested I was cursing him during the raised leg pushups. The kickups were fun I liked them. Then again I am partial to anything that involves kicking.

 

meal 1 - sprouted grain bagel & vega wgfo w/coconut water

Meal 2 - celebration roast, roasted yams, banana

meal 3 - granola w/soymilk

[MaryStella]

a call 2 arms?

bike 10 minute - easy gear to warmup

3x 30 seconds on 30 seconds off

3x3min on 3 min off

10x1 minute in easy gear 1 minute in hard gear

5minutes of 40 seconds on 20 second off - used a hard gear

10 minute cool down - easy gear

 

the cooldown even though it is in an easy gear is tough. it is challenge to ride with one leg without a break for awhile. I pushed hard gears on everything but the wu & cd but i can only go so fast with the one leg. I finally get my garmin up to charge today so starting tomorrow i will have that data when riding.

 

 

cf wod

10 rounds of 10 pushups with 30 sec isometric hold at the top, 10 supermans, roll over onto back for 1 dragon flag, 10 crunches and 10 leg lifts. The dragon flags are pretty much impossible without a bench to hold onto but I gave it my best shot. I don't really like supermans. I just think they are bad exercise but since I can't do back extensions or most things these days I just did them.

 

10x7 chair dips. I wanted to add more instability to the dips so I did them off of a mattress instead of a chair but i don't know how much of a difference it really made.

[Lean and Green]

Well hello friend

 

I see you're at it hardcore as usual. Hope the injury recovery went well. Thanks for all of your support when I was struggling. I was really nice and much appreciated.

 

also, what's a dragon flag?

 

[MaryStella]

LnG!! Great 2 have you back! Injury recovery is going ok. Can't wait to get this hard cast off tomorrow. I'll be switching it out for a soft cast but it is still better. A Dragon flag is a great ab exercise that your going to love doing. On a bench roll up until your body is vertical just hold the bench with your hands and then slowly lower your body down to the bench like a drawbridge. Staying in plank the whole time not dropping your butt. Then once your butt hits the bench you come back up to vertical.

 

 

here is a link to a video of me doing them from awhile ago. I am not the greatest at them so you might just want to search youtube and watch someone else that can do them better.

[vivalasvegans]

those look great! hows your foot today?

[MaryStella]

the foot is mostly ok. sometimes it is still sore. curious to see how it will be when I get it out of the cast tomorrow!

 

one leg of course - bike on the trainer

10 minute warmup easy gear

3 x 30 seconds on 30 seconds off - hard gear

1 minute on 1 off

1 on 50 sec off

1 on 40 sec off

1 on 30 sec off

1 on 20 sec off

1 on 10 sec off

1 on 10 sec off

1 on 20 sec off

1 on 30 sec off

1 on 40 sec off

1 on 50 sec off

1 on 1 off

all done in a hard gear. i am actually surprised that i am able to push that hard of a gear with one leg. had my garmin charged today and HR was in the 120 - 130 area. Lower than it should be.

5 minutes spin - easy gear - higher cadence

2 x 5 minte on 1:30 off - hard gear

10 min cooldown - easy gear.

The last 10 minutes were rough. For some reason by the time I get to the cooldown I am ready to be done.

Distance covered was 9.36.

 

Tabata Chair Dips - as many reps as possible in 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds off for 8 rounds. went

15,16,18,15,16,14,14,14.

This is my favorite dip workout so far because it just hurts!

 

5 rounds of:

30 seconds Hollow rock

1 minute left side plank

30 seconds tough the sky hold

1 minute right side plank

30 seconds of leg tucks

1 minute of "clapping" pushups

 

This was a great wod. The clapping pushups didn't really go well. I started out with reg plyometric pushups and with the leg it was like a comedy show i was barely getting the clap done before I was hitting the ground so I switched to clapping pushups on my knees. (i never do knee pushups I dont believe in them but if i thought it would help me get the clap in better but there really didn't work much better either). So then I was just went back to regular pushups which doing for a minute straight were certainly hard enough.

 

Had some extra time so I did some aussie pullups under a table. I am considering that skill work for my muscle up.

 

meal 1 - vega wfo w/coconut water & clif builder bar

meal 2 -tofu, brown rice, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, peppers

snack - clif builder bar

meal 3 - tofu, peppers, onions, lentils