Returning

I know I haven’t blogged in weeks at this point but I thought I’d return this evening and just get right back into daily life.  I have tons of pictures and half written posts, but at this point I might as well just start with today.  I had some extremely busy weeks – and managed to be without my phone cord for a while so I was unable to upload pictures.  I went to lots of 6:30am CrossFit classes and was determined to go to bed as early as possible.  So here I am back again.  

A little more than a week ago I officially completed 100 days on my strict Whole30 eating plan and decided to venture out into some “off-plan” foods.  I started with some amazing ice cream which was a worthwhile treat, but the rest of the week was a struggle.  For me, a little sugar just makes me crave more and right now attempting to be more moderate just isn’t working.  A little treat turns into a major indulgence and a planned exception turns into three more.  

So for better or for worse I’m headed back to another Whole30.  I’ll re-assess in 30 days but in the meantime it’s just much easier for me to be strict. 

After some serious over-eating on Monday evening I wasn’t hungry when I woke up this morning so I just headed out without breakfast.  (Not my usual, but late night eating just counted as breakfast for today.)  

I met up with an old friend of mine to catch up and walk.  We ended up walking 5 miles including some hills.  I distinctly remember those hills being challenging when we used to walk them last spring, but all this CrossFit has definitely increased my fitness level.  

Speaking of CrossFit, I headed over to class after our walk.  Fun workout today.  First we completed 5 sets of single deadlifts  - I used 195 pounds which, while definitely heavy, made me feel like my current max may now be more than my previous 200.  

The WOD included deadlifts and box jumps.  I’ve been working to complete the workouts with the full weights as prescribed whenever possible and today was a success.

9-7-5

• deadlifts 115 pounds
• box jumps 24 inches (yup, I managed all my box jumps on the tall box.)

rest 2 minutes and repeat for a total of 3 rounds

I always enjoy WODs with smaller numbers – even though there were lots of rounds I could stay mentally with it and keep pushing through.  Practiced some handstand push ups and double unders at the end.

 

Starting tomorrow though I’m taking it easy for the rest of the week – half marathon to run on Sunday!  Eeek!

 

When I finally made it to work and showered I put together a quick lunch.  Something like fried rice but without the rice?

 

Using the wok I stir fried broccoli with toasted sesame oil, coconut aminos, and fresh ginger.  Added shrimp and at the very end I cracked an egg on top and stirred everything around.  

Started teaching right away.  Thank goodness these are the final lessons before my students complete their auditions – I’m SO sick of hearing endless scales and excerpts.

A 10 minute break at 6 I snacked on a few strawberries to hold me over for the last three lessons. 

At 9 I spent a while chatting with my Mom and she ended up making me a mini-meal for dinner.  My first time trying pork - cooked with some stewed apricots and prunes.  And a side of mashed cauliflower.  

A good meal – not a very big dinner, but today is a light day after all the excessive eating yesterday.  I was a little hungry arriving home, but the feeling has mostly past and it’s past time for bed anyway.

Goodnight!

Bacon and Tofu

The last two days have included some further meaty experiments as well as some of my more standard vegetarian fare.

My brother visited this weekend and I had him help me into my first foray into cooking meat – we started with bacon.  And on Monday I successfully made it on my own.  (No, it’s not hard, I’m just a little freaked out about handling raw meat still and knowing when it’s cooked.)  

Breakfast included two pieces of bacon, on the side of a 3 egg omelet filled with baby portobello mushrooms, parsley, and topped with avocado.  

Big breakfast, but luckily I had tons of time to digest before heading out.  Exercise part one was kayaking with Dawn!  Her legs are taking too long to heal (grrrr…) but she was able to kayak on the Charles River.  We rented a double kayak using her groupon, so fun!  I think I let her do more of the work… but it was great to finally have an hour to catch up in person.  

We had to push a bit on the way back so she could be on time for her meeting and then  I had a bit of time to kill before CrossFit so I stopped at the grocery store to stock up on some vegetables for the week.  

Monday’s WOD was a tough one: “Jack” – one of the “hero” WODs.  I always find AMRAPs (as many reps as possible) mentally more challenging than having to complete a certain number of rounds and this one was a 20 minute AMRAP!  (Very long in CF terms.)  

• 10 push press
• 10 kettle bell swings
• 10 box jumps

I debated my weight choices for a while but ended up going with 65 pounds for the push press.  That was by far the toughest part for me – half way through I had to start breaking it into groups of 5.  The kettle bells (35 pounds) were no problem unbroken and I kept up a pretty slow but steady pace on the 20 inch box jumps.  Ended up with 8+7 rounds (8 full rounds and 7 extra reps of round 9.)  

Not the 10 I was aiming for, but reasonable – those push presses definitely did me in.

 

Worked on my double unders - though my arms were a little too tired to be very successful – and then off to work.  First shower and lunch:

Baby spinach, yellow and green bell peppers, snow peas, and turkey topped with some especially delicious Spanish olive oil (look for it at TJs) and salt.

Taught a couple lessons and then sadly had to take an emergency pit stop at CrossFit because I left my viola there!  Arg!  I often have my instrument with me and I hide it in a back room to keep it safe but then I must have been too distracted by my workout.  Luckily I just made it to group class on time.  

Our second to last class before the concert – lots of work to do.  

Didn’t get home until 9 and threw together a quick meal – no more meat for me today please.  I was happy with garlic cauliflower puree and leftover marinated tempeh.

This morning I was definitely craving fruit, but I’m trying omitting fruit for just one week to keep my sugar cravings at bay.  I decided on a non-fruit treat for breakfast: sweet potato mash with 2 eggs, coconut milk, and plenty of cinnamon.

YUM.  Filled my carb craving for sure.  

Though despite having two hours to digest I was still a little too full when I started on my run.  I was feeling grumpy and not in the running mood, but meeting up with a friend and heading out together changed my mind quickly.  We covered 8 miles and managed to go at a way faster pace than my usual snail pace.  Averaged 10:15 but the first few were all under 10.  Not sure how to account for my burst of energy, but I’ll take it…

We finished early and stretched in the grass for 20 minutes before heading into CrossFit.  After warming up we worked up to 3 sets of 3 front squats.  Managed to get up to 120 pounds for my last set – another PR!  Not sure what’s happening these days, but I’m increasing weight right and left.  Hooray!

The WOD was way tougher than I thought it was going to be.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

front squats and burpees

I used 75 pounds for my squat weight – 5 pounds away from the Rx, but it allowed me to get through all the sets unbroken.  Finished in a very tough 10:12.

Stuck around with a friend to practice toes to bar and hand stand push ups.  I managed to get my pushups even lower today – I’m definitely going to keep these in regular rotation until I can increase my volume.  

Quick shower and lunch:

Stir fried broccoli and baby shiitake mushrooms  with curried tuna cakes.  (Tuna in oil, 1 egg, 2 T almond flour, curry powder)

Very full, but I had a looong day of teaching ahead.  I’m so ready for my students to be finished with their youth orchestra auditions – I heard an entire afternoon and evening of scales and excerpts.  

At 7:45 I grabbed one spoonful of almond butter to make it through my final hour and then came home and made a real dinner around 9.

Bok choy, snow peas, and roasted tofu topped with a blob of hummus

Now relaxing at home and trying not to go to bed too late…  

Starting May

Having a hard time keeping up with blogging these days.  By the time I’ve been getting into bed I’ve been practically falling asleep standing up and in the morning I’ve been rushing out the door to one activity or another.

Definitely a fair amount of work – I had a big (and fun) concert on Saturday evening with rehearsals all week for that and of course a bunch of teaching on the side.  

Lots of CrossFit thrown in the mix, but less running than the previous week – luckily I have a running date with a friend tomorrow morning to get myself motivated again.  Because of my rehearsal times I missed my usual CrossFit class (with my friends and my favorite coach) but I did manage to go to some early morning classes and a couple of the 9:30 classes too.  

Highlights from the week’s classes involved a sled push/pull (made it up to 235 pounds) and alligator walk (which I was very happy about because I could not make it all 25 meters without stopping last time and this time I finished with no break during all 5 rounds.)  Plus my coach has recently programmed a few more of the named WODs: 

Helen (3 rounds: run 400, 21 kettle bell swings, 12 pull ups)  I finished that one in a not super fast 13:43, but I stuck with the thin red band for my pull-ups.  Slowed me down but I’m was pleased not to have to go up to a stronger band.

Jack (20 minute AMRAP: 10 push press, 10 kettle bell swings, 10 box jumps)  Here I was aiming for 10 rounds but made it to just over 8.  Again, I stuck with my heavier-for-me 65 pound push press which slowed me down but I’m pleased I didn’t drop down in weight.  Plus I had a fellow CrossFitter next to me for this one and we were neck and neck – it was so helpful to keep pushing each other.

Breakfast eats included lots of eggs of course:

Straight up with cinnamon

Filled with sautéed apples

with a side of fruit

Actually there was quite a lot of fruit at the beginning of the week.

Especially a lot of mangos

Just so good, I couldn’t stop eating them!

After feeling a little over-sugared I’m actually experimenting with one week without fruit this week.  Not a permanent change, I just didn’t want to feel so attached to the sugar rush.  And I do find myself drawn to fruit (and especially dried fruit) late at night when I’m really just overtired.

No big new recipes (I’m hoping for more time in the upcoming months to experiment with some new dishes, but in the meantime a bunch of repeats and staples.

Babaganoush with tofu and carrots for dipping.

Lots of roasted green beans with homemade mayonnaise for dipping.

A sort of rice-less fried rice?  Stir fried broccoli and snow peas with two eggs and flavored with toasted sesame oil and coconut aminos plus some shrimp for protein.

Roasted cabbage in coconut oil served with tahini sauce and cannelini beans.

Now that the weather is getting warmer I’m finally (occasionally) in the mood for colder salads.

This one included baby spinach, avocado, and roasted turkey with some very flavorful olive oil and salt.

 

Lots of rehearsals meant lots of packed meals.  I’m getting more efficient at packing and I really am saving a lot of calories and a lot of money by not going out to eat for all those meals.  

Mashed cauliflower with marinated tempeh.

Plus some snacks for rehearsal breaks:

Lots of carrot sticks - these were a perfect pick-me-up for mid rehearsal.

So far the start of May has been pretty successful.  My brother came up to visit for the weekend which was lovely as always, I have to get myself to NYC again soon.  I am very much looking forward to the year winding down, but I have a big gig week next week and another student recital in two weeks.  I will make it though – and really I have lots of down time in the summer so I really shouldn’t complain.  

And on the eating front I’m just so happy with my paleo/Whole 30 eating.  I actually passed 100 days on Tuesday which ended up being pretty anti climactic since I had no great desire to eat off plan on Wednesday.  My idea going forward is to stick with strict Whole30 eating at home but give myself a little more leeway in restaurants and special occasions.  On the one hand I don’t want to be this strict forever and on the other it makes me a little nervous to be flexible.  I did nearly eat cookies at a party on Sunday afternoon, but ultimately decided I’d be happier without.  I have just been feeling so great without the grains, sugar, and dairy it seems a mistake to give that up.  My body is definitely cooperating with this eating plan, but I do have some more weight I’d like to lose (and muscle to gain) so that’s definitely motivating to stick with the plan.  

I’ll keep you posted…

 

Nearly There

The end is in sight.  This has been a busy month (two months?) which ultimately is a good thing (if musicians aren’t working they aren’t getting paid…) but I’m very much looking forward to a slow down in my schedule.  Luckily this seems to be the last of the crazy weeks.  After this there is another 6 weeks or so of teaching (but not concerts) and then summer!  Nearly there.

In the meantime I made it through this weekend with a mix of work and some fun thrown in the mix – and a bunch of CrossFit to help me stay sane.  

Saturday I met up with Emma for our new weekly tradition – yoga followed by CrossFit.  WOD included power snatches, running, and wall balls.  I was able to Rx on this one with 65 pound snatches.  

Rest of the afternoon included a concert with my Harvard students, some last minute practicing, checking in on Dawn with her stitches, more last minute practicing, and then some fun out with a friend.

Sunday morning I signed up for a CrossFit workshop on Olympic Lifting.  A guest coach gave me some very good tips – I’ll definitely be going back for more.  Improving my technique can definitely help me lift heavier.  

Rushed home from that and off to Harvard concert number two.  Lots of work there this weekend, but now my semester there is over – something checked off the list!

Back from that I enjoyed a good date – walking around outside the beautiful weather and looking at various artists during Brookline Open Studios.  

Monday morning I made it to 6:30am CrossFit for a mix of back squats, burpees, and running.  For some reason I was the only female in class that morning – I was glad to be able to keep up!  (Of course I used the women’s weight, but I did stay with the boys for burpees and running.)  

Back home for lots of last minute practicing and then off to an afternoon audition before teaching group class.

Breakfasts have been what you might expect from me.

Eggs with cinnamon

Omelet with sautéed apples inside.

Some sweet potato custard for a change of pace (in a to-go jar to have a few bites between yoga and crossfit.)

(Sweet potato, two eggs, 1/2 small banana, coconut milk (1/2 cup?), salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves.)

There were some more meat experiments for lunches and dinners.

I bought some grilled chicken breasts at Whole Foods (still experimenting with someone else cooking the meat for me – my Mom has promised me a meat-cooking lesson when she returns from her trip…)  With roasted green beans (I ate tons more of these for seconds) and a dipping sauce of homemade mayonnaise blended with parsley.

I chopped up my second grilled chicken breast and made a stir fry with bok choy and snow peas flavored with toasted sesame oil and coconut aminos topped with sesame seeds.

Branched out to some red meat with some roast beef.  I had a little more trouble with the look and texture of this, but it was pretty good in a lettuce wrap with mayo and mustard.

With leftover carrot sticks for a quick and easy meal.

And of course I had to take a few meals to-go.  

Zucchini with shrimp simply cooked with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

And I missed my tofu - this time with roasted broccoli and more of the toasted sesame oil/coconut amino flavoring.

For a treat I ate a ton of these amazing champagne mangos - I’m pretty sure I bought 4 at Whole Foods a couple days ago and now they’re all gone…  Definitely my current favorite fruit.  

Unfortunately I also had two nights which included some late night stress-eating.  Stuck with Whole30 approved foods but definitely too many cashews, raisins, and sweet potatoes.  Nothing terrible, but I have to keep working on just making myself go to bed when I feel like that.  What I really need is sleep not food.  I was anxious about this audition (which ended up going pretty well – though I don’t know any results yet) and just feeling burnt out in general.  Been on some good dates recently, but there is definitely some stress involved in that area too.  Still working on finding non-food related stress relievers.  During the day exercise has definitely done the trick, but still working on the evening.  

Really enjoying this beautiful weather we’ve been having.  Time for summer dresses and sandals!  I’ll leave you with a Boston shot from outside my audition at the Reflecting Pool behind the Christian Science Center.  Sun!

CrossFit Success and Disaster

My refrigerator is running dangerously low these days – must buy more vegetables!

In the meantime I put together a desserty breakfast.

Three eggs filled with defrosted raspberries and a bit of coconut butter.

Very decadent.

My morning got sucked up working on rescheduling students and responding to e-mails.  Arg.  

Met up with Dawn for a super brief but successful shopping trip – new sandals plus super discounted brown boots for next winter.  Oh, and a summer cardigan – I’ve been a bit of a shopping machine recently, but all this Whole30 and CrossFitting requires new clothes…

Off to CrossFit:

After warming up we got into small groups and attempted to reach our max box jumps.

I had no idea how high I could jump, but I made it up to 32.5 inches!  That’s more than half my height!

Dawn took a celebratory picture.

Unfortunately, this lovely day took a terrible turn.  Dawn practiced one final box jump – at a height she had already done three other times! – and not only managed to hit her shins (which would be understandable) but somehow sliced huge gashes down both shins.  I didn’t see until they were all wrapped up, but she ended up going to the hospital and getting many stitches in both legs (10 in each I think.)  Ouch!  Poor Dawn.  :-(

Eventually class continued (Dawn was at the hospital with our friend and her husband)

Started of with a 3 minute AMRAP Russian kettle bell swings (45 pounds.)  This weight was heavier than my usual 35 pounds and I only managed 78 reps, but my forearms were tired from the gripping. 

After a 2 minute rest we continued the WOD:

21-15-9 pull ups (used small red band) and box jumps (20 inch box)

Practiced my double unders and then rushed off to work.  

Showered and threw together a quick lunch:

The nicer weather finally made me want a salad – lettuce, carrots, raisins, turkey, and avocado sauce.

A bunch of students and then was in a rush off to my concert.

I grabbed a mini pack of almonds and a bag of carrots to hold me over before the concert.  

That seemed to hold me over fine, but I was really hungry when I got home (not surprisingly.)

Even though it was late, I threw together a mini snack – better than grazing.

Sweet potato blended with some coconut milk and one egg mixed with cinnamon, allspice, and cloves topped with some salt and a bit of coconut oil.  

Did round one (of many) dishes before crashing.  Now better get started on my day – a typical over-scheduled Emily one for sure…

Many PRs and Food Experiment

This has been an intense week of fitness!

After Monday’s intense CrossFit and 13 mile run I didn’t stop there.

Tuesday CrossFit I achieved a personal record finally reaching a 200 pound deadlift.  Wednesday I PRed with a 110 pound clean.  

Yesterday, I ran a second 13 mile run and then stayed for CrossFit with strict overhead presses, 2000 meters of rowing, 60 lunges holding a 25 pound plate, and I finished up by practicing my handstand pushups which I was finally able to achieve with just one mat!  

I’m really enjoying all this exercise – it feels like a great way to clear my head (and improve my body) and it such a good balance from the cerebralness of music.  However, I better find a bit more practice time in there too – can’t spend my whole day at CrossFit!

Also need to spend way more time sleeping.  I ended up with 5 days in a row with 5 hours sleep or less – that’s not going to work.  Finally the last two days I’ve managed to get more reasonable sleep.

Because of daily 7-10pm rehearsals I ate lots of my meals to-go this week:

Cod and roasted green beans (my new current favorite vegetable)

Carrot sticks with hummus

Tempeh with zucchini ”noodles” and all the other leftover vegetables in my fridge.

The next picture is not one I EVER thought I would put on this blog (or in my stomach):

Yes, that is roasted turkey.  

I’ve been thinning about this for months now, this was not a decision I made out of the blue.

I’m still mulling it all over, but more and more I believe that eating meat is a good idea for me right now.  In some ways the hardest part is changing my identity – I’ve been a pescatarian for more than 20 years!

A few thoughts:

• It has become more and more possible to get organic grass fed meat than ever before.  The farming industry clearly still has many issues, but I feel glad to know I can buy meat from more ethical sources.
• I’ve come to rely on a lot of seafood recently – I love seafood, but in many ways that is harder to get ethically than other meat – farm-raised includes some scary practices and wild-caught are often way over-fished.
• This Whole30/Paleo way of eating is making me feel better than I ever remember feeling in my adult life – and taken away SO much drama around food.  I definitely would like to keep up this as my main eating plan (although I do plan to be slightly less strict after I finish my 100 days at the end of the month.)  I think this is much more easily sustainable if I add meat.
• I’ve noticed in my limited experience so far that the meat helps keep me full for longer without the heavy feeling I got with grains.  
• It is much easier to eat out paleo if I add meat and while I prefer cooking my own food, eating out is important for my social life.
• In order to continue eating paleo I need variety in my meals or I will not want to stick with it.  I believe this opens up many options for me – including many cookbooks worth of paleo meals.

So I do plan to continue adding meat (and try out different types.)  For a short time I’m planning to eat meat that has already been prepared at Whole Foods (I’m not quite ready to start cooking at home – I have no idea what I’m doing!)

 

More meals:

My usual cinnamon eggs and fruit

and then lots of leftovers:

More turkey with a side of roasted asparagus and avocado cream sauce (just avocado, olive oil, lime juice, salt, and water.)

Leftover tempeh and vegetables in a balsamic vinegar sauce

Late night post rehearsal eating: 

Sautteed baby bok choi mixed with hummus

Now one more week of insanity before my schedule slows way down.  Can’t wait!  

Running Motivation

It’s been a strange time here in Boston.  

I spent Friday stuck inside my house glued to NPR and my laptop (and you know how well I do on my own and without exercise…)  It was not a productive day – and I couldn’t bring myself to blog.  Finally got out if the house and had some fun (but got WAY behind on sleep) and then I  squeezed in lots of extra rehearsals over the weekend to make up for the two that got cancelled on Friday.  

I did enjoy an intense CrossFit workout on Saturday.  My coach used the marathon date (4/15/13) to create a tough commemorative WOD and encouraged donations to one of the charities to help the victims of the bombings.  

I had to scale significantly, but I completed 5 rounds of clean and jerks using 75 pounds (I started at 85 and had to drop down), pull ups using a small band (I can do some without the band, but not 75 of them), and lots of burpees.  That final 800 meters was hard.  

I’m not sure if it was assurance from my doctor and PT that my running form still looked okay, beautiful weather, or a new and excited running partner, but I’ve been running up a storm recently.  I’ve thrown in several 4 and 5 mile runs before or after CrossFit – I think realizing I didn’t have to skip CrossFit to also run was key.  

Today I went especially crazy.  Started out by getting myself out of bed to join the 6:30am CrossFit class.  It is a great way to wake up but it is awfully early for someone who never gets to bed before midnight at best…

Today was a set of 3 AMRAPS:

7 minute AMRAP

• 7 kettle bell swings (35 pounds)
• 7 hand release push ups

4 minute rest

 

7 minute AMRAP

• 7 knees to elbows
• 7 box jumps (20 inches)

4 minute rest

 

3 minute AMRAP

• wall balls (13 pound ball)

Whew.  Tiring.  But… I had about 20 minutes to recover (after practicing a few double unders) and then met up with a friend for a run.  I figured we were going to do 5 or 6 miles but the weather was so beautiful and we were having such a good time we ended up running 13 miles!  

I’m so happy to be able to run injury free and so pleased with my new CrossFit muscles which are definitely helping me increase my milage with ease.  For the first time a full marathon does feel like a future possibility?  In the meantime I actually signed up for a second half marathon a week before my first.  This is a run through downtown Boston and I just thought that would be a good thing to do right now.  I was nervous to put in that kind of milage so close together, but after today’s run I’m feeling confident.  

 

Anyway, I was very thirsty by the time we finished and by the time I got home I was also more than ready to eat.  I hadn’t eaten before such an early CF and so this was my first meal of the day.

 

I had to take it to go, but I made roasted asparagus and snow peas with cod. 

I rushed off to Boston University where I was a guest speaker for a professor friend to talk about starting my own private teaching studio.  The college kids asked lots of questions and we had a good discussion.  

Back at my parents’ house I treated myself to a snack.  Dried fruit and nuts can definitely be over-eating triggers for me, but today I stuck with just two and enjoyed them.

Medjool dates and almond butter

Just a short teaching day today and then I had a brief window where I met up with Dawn before my rehearsal.  She helped me find some new summer sandals – now if only the weather would get warm enough for me to wear them!

I ate a quick dinner just before rehearsal began: egg salad (made from 3 hard boiled eggs mixed with guacamole) and carrots.

I’m definitely a big fan of the piece I’m working on this week, but I was also tired and eager to get home.  Speaking of… lights really really need to be off now.  My alarm is set for less than 6 hours from now.  MUST find a way to sleep more soon.