Comfort Food

Friday, March 27, 2009
Off--158.5#

A little know factoid about me is that I was a literature major in undergrad. I've always enjoyed writing (though med school beat the creativity out of me for a little while), and had hoped one day to be published.
One day has finally come--albeit not the way I thought it would.
I subscribe to a great online magazine put out by the people at Precision Nutrition called Spezzatino. A few months ago I noticed a call for contributions at the end of one volume, and sent the editor a link to my photography portfolio. She really like the image to the left below and wanted to use it with a juxtaposed modern convenience store for a photoessay. So not only did I get to have some writing published but also some pics! It's not much, but it's fun, and I'm quite proud. One funny note is that if you notice, the byline is for Jenny Bryan. I'm not sure where she got the Jenny because I never use it but my family has never called me anything other than Jenny. I'm still debating whether or not to have her correct it.

Click image to enlarge

TODAY'S WORKOUT:
AMAP 16kg snatches in 10 minutes (SSST)=135. I wasn't pushing as hard as I could have, but this is a baseline and I look forward to moving up quickly. I set the bell down only twice in the 10 min and didn't do that for the first time until after the 5 min mark. A friend unwittingly inspired this by doing a 3 min run with 16kg snatches for the first time and sharing the celebration with me. I immediately thought of the SSST, and have been dreading it, knowing darn well I had to do it now that it had crossed my mind.
2 min rest
1 min of 20 kg 3swngs/3cleans/3 highpulls then change sides
2 min 20kg swings
1 min rest
1min 20kg swings
1 min 16kg dip and switch cleans
1 min rest

1 min 16kg swings
1 min 16kg dip and switch cleans (these are a bitch, btw. I LOVE IT)
20sec rest
REpeat x 3 times total then do it 5 more times using 12kg for the dip and switches.

This was a nice challenging workout because of the short rest intervals. I'm trying to shorten the rests in my workouts, and this is actually proving to be as much of a mental challenge as a physical one.

YESTERDAY'S WORKOUT:
I've gotten a little bored with the ladders for pull-ups/pushups and pistols, so I decided that since I had worked my way through the 5 rungs with the green band, I'd shake it up just a little anyway. This is what I came up with...
AMAP pull-up/pushup sets in 2 min which turned out to be 2 to 2.5 sets per 2 min (I started the first 2 rounds with a purple 50# assist band but could only get 2 very difficult pullups done with it. I guess dropping down to that from the 75# was just too much, so I added a black 15# assist for a total of 65# of assist for the last three rounds. This allowed me to get 4 pullups per set. I did 5 pushups per set, but these STILL suck. They really are my cryptonite. I GOTTA get some video up so my buddy can help me out with that.)

Then run ~100yds, do 5 burpees, 1 clean and pushpress per side with the 20kg, run 20yds, do 5 box jumps (about 12inches), then rest for 2 min.

Repeat the whole thing 5 times.

I think I'm going to call this the "I Rock" workout. I was thinking it should be the "I Suck" workout because it focuses on making me better at all the things I totally suck at, but then I felt that was too negative and self-defeating, so I changed it. Right now it feels a little disjointed and I might end up tweaking it some, but I definitely felt the work.