My February Whole30: Days 17 - 20

Here's a quick update since I couldn't wait to post about 16.1!

Day 17 - Friday 2/26/16

• Breakfast: Bacon Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust from the Against All Grain cookbook, coffee, and 2 clementines
• Lunch: Leftover Korean Noodle Bowl from the Against All Grain cookbook and a peach 
• Dinner: Ended up getting Chipotle for dinner because I really did not feel like cooking after the Open workout.  I will be planning better for next week.
• Sleep: 7 hours
• Workout: CrossFit Open 16.1
• 20 Minute AMRAP
• 25 ft Overhead Walking Lunges (95/65)
• 8 Bar Facing Burpees
• 25 ft Overhead Walking Lunges
• 8 Chest to Bar Pull Ups

I'm not sure how I went an entire year completely not considering that the standard pull up in the Open would be chest to bar.  I'm still trying to connect my regular kipping pull ups and that has been my focus.  I spent a few minutes attempting C2B on Monday night without much success, but didn't really think much of it until the workout was announced Thursday night with, you guessed it, chest to bar pull ups!  Since 1 Rx rep is ranked higher than any amount of scaled reps, I knew I was going to complete the beginning of the workout and then spend the remaining time trying to get my dang chest to touch that bar.  I watched a bunch of videos online on Friday but I didn't really have any expectations for myself.

Until I tried one during my warm up and I did it!!!!  At that point I started to feel less anxious and more excited.  But I still thought I wasn't going to be able to maintain the Rx standards through the 20 minutes.  I insisted on stacking my bar in a way that I could pull some weight off once I could no longer hit the C2B pull ups.

But that never happened.  My pull ups were super strong the entire work out.  Whenever I came back to the pull up bar I was so worried about getting no repped that I would end up doing this crazy high pull up and slamming my chest off the bar.  The lunges were hard, especially the section directly after the burpees.  Since it was such a long WOD, I knew I wanted to pace myself and I felt like I did a good job not burning out too early.  The worst part was my butt started to seriously hurt half way through, my cheeks were cramping up!  My friend Jeff counted for me and was a great coach throughout the workout.  It was so helpful.  So many people were cheering and when I finished I was just in disbelief.  I still can't believe I completed 4 rounds + 18 reps Rx!  I love the Open and I love my gym!

• Thoughts: My back felt great, huzzah!

Day 18 - Saturday 2/27/16

• Breakfast: Coffee and a banana
• Lunch: Whole30 Potluck!  I had been planning this event for a few weeks and even though we had some last minute cancellations, it ended up being a wonderful get together.  We started with chorizo stuffed dates wrapped in bacon (OMG I'm obsessed & hoping to share the recipe with you soon!) and avocados topped with bacon and a balsamic reduction, both of which I totally forgot to take pics of.  For our main course we had sun dried tomato meatballs, Asian lettuce wraps, and a chopped salad with tomato, cucumber, onion, bell peppers, and avocado.  We also sampled a bunch of different kombucha flavors with the sweetest strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.  Everything was so delicious and it was great having a bunch of my best girl friends come together for a lovely ladies lunch :) 

• Dinner: Fish taco lettuce wraps with pineapple guacamole and cabbage slaw, inspired by a recipe in Juli Bauer's Paleo Cookbook
• Sleep: 8.5 hours
• Workout: 1.1 miles with the dogs
• Thoughts: My butt is SO sore!  But my legs actually don't feel too terrible otherwise, I'm shocked.

Day 19 - Sunday 2/28/16

• Breakfast: Coffee and the last piece of the Bacon Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust from the Against All Grain cookbook
• Lunch: I made a salad and topped it with some of the Asian lettuce wrap leftovers and ate it outside in the sunshine :)
• Snacks: A clementine, a kombucha, some almond stuffed olives, and 2 leftover chorizo stuffed dates
• Dinner: Steaks seared in the cast iron pan and cucumber tomato salad
• Sleep: 8.5 hours
• Workout: 0.9 mile walk with the dogs and my dad
• Thoughts: My mom cooked a big batch of stuffed peppers while I was hanging out there and they smelled insane (but included rice and cheese).  I pretty much hung out until right when they came out of the oven and then I had to go.

Day 20 - Monday 2/29/16

• Breakfast: Leftover avocado with bacon and a balsamic reduction and coffee
• Lunch: Grandma Barbara's Stuffed Mushrooms from Practical Paleo that I made Sunday night
• Appetizer: Basically a taste of the leftover Asian lettuce wraps and the sun dried tomato meatballs from the potluck and another avocado with bacon and balsamic reduction
• Dinner: Pan fried chicken with an almond meal crust (I didn't really follow a recipe, but similar to this) served with zucchini noodles tossed in a pesto sauce
• Sleep: 7.5 hours
• Workout: 3.0 miles running and walking with the dogs at the park
• Thoughts: I actually didn't feel horrible getting out of bed on a Monday morning!  I'm considering quitting coffee for the rest of my Whole30 just to see how I feel without it.  The amount I've been drinking is so minimal and I feel great.  I cooked up a storm and made dinner for tonight, breakfast for the week, and prepped a crockpot meal for tomorrow.  Boom!

So I guess calling it my February Whole30 was kind of short sighted, since 1/3 of it will be happening in March haha.  Whoops!

How was your weekend?