Elizabeth, It WAS…

Posted on February 12, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

not a pleasure to meet you! For those of you new to CrossFit or have no clue as to why there are workouts named after people, mostly women or in honor of Heroes, I’ll share what I’ve found:

Many have asked, “Why are the workouts named after Girls?” Since 1953 storms have been assigned female names by the National Weather Service as a quick identification method. It is this convenient and logic approach that inspired Coach Glassman to name the original 6: Angie, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane, Fran and Elizabeth after storms.

Coach Glassman, the founder and President of CrossFit explained it further. “I want to explain the workout once and then give it a name. I thought that anything that left you flat on your back, looking up at the sky asking ‘what just happened to me?’ deserved a females name. Workouts are just like storms, they wreak havoc on towns.”

The workouts named after GIRLS are benchmark workouts. You don’t do them all of the time but each time you do them over months, years, etc, the idea or hope is that you get better. Improved fitness. They are quantifiable and create this shared sense of ~~misery~~ happiness within each and every CrossFit Box.

And today I met Elizabeth. And me no likey! I have mentioned in the past how much I love to Clean! Clean the BAR that is and today I wasn’t feeling the same love.

Elizabeth

21-15-9 of Squat Cleans and Ring Dips (135/95)

I know I can clean the 95lbs but not sure if I can do that for 21-15-9 so I dropped to 85lbs. And I was a big ol baby. More than EVER. I didn’t even want to pick up the bar. I finally did and got through 11 like a champ. And then more BABY showed up. It took for what seemed like forever to get to 21. I moved to the ring dips and used a green band. I knocked out 15 pretty quickly then weakly busted out the last 6. If you thought I was a baby for 21 I was for sure a baby for the 15. I did 3 at a time but was out of energy and slow. I mentally hit every roadblock imaginable. I felt my wrists crying, I felt my back on a sloppy rep, I felt the FOOD, the BAD FOOD and it’s side effects. And that’s all I kept doing is reminding myself of my craptabulous weekend eating and how it was affecting me. I was a headcase. Finally finished 15 and moved to ring dips. For some reason even though my triceps were spent I wasn’t having as hard a time with the ring dips. Granted I’m using a band for assistance but it wasn’t feeling super rough. Finally got to the last round and I knocked them out in in 2 sets of 3 and then in singles! I did 7 ring dips, then 2, TIME: 13:30. Coach said the weight looked easy for me and it was all mental. And I believe that to be true. But I also felt like crap. Don’t F*** up your eating folks. It sucks donkey balls!

2/12/13 WOD

In rebuttal to eating so poorly over the weekend, I was on the push for getting food prepped last night so I had food ready to eat and cook. As soon as we walked in the door from baseball practice I was Johnny on the GO. It did not help however that there was a request for Cake Balls for the boy’s Valentine’s Day parties at school. So there I am baking away and sometimes tasting! I got it out of my system quick though cause when you have a lot of irons in the fire it’s hard to focus on indulging While cakes baked, I cooked asparagus, and cut up broccoli. I put some pasta sauce to simmer. Browned ground beef. Cut up sweet potatoes and made Paleo Mayo. I was a busy bee and it was well worth it!

2/11/13 Lunch – Sauteed Chicken, Mixed Veggies, Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes and Coconut Flakes

Hope everyone has a SWELL day! It’s rainy and icky here. Perfect for staying inside and finishing those cake balls I am committed to make! But first I have to survive the traffic home that is destined to come later this afternoon! You know the drill… BE AWESOME!

Broad Jumps are EVIL!

Posted on February 8, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

Whether it’s a warm up or an actual MetCon, I always find myself dying after Broad Jumps. It doesn’t help that I suck at them either. Man, you suck at everything! I hear your thoughts people. It is true but I get a little better each and every day. One day I may be able to say cause I’m awesome at Pull Ups or I’m awesome at Broad Jumps but today folks is not the day.

Skill/Strength: Deadlift 5 x 4 @ 80% of 1RM
As I have mentioned previously I am in fact feeling stronger in my Deadlifts. See I can be positive! And today was no different, I just wish my hands didn’t hurt so much holding on to that dang bar. 160lbs felt heavy at first but as I went along it was feeling pretty good.

2/8/13 WOD

MetCon: 8 rounds of Broad Jumps for 50yds, Sprint 50yds, REST 1 minute as a group
Good thing about this MetCon is that there wasn’t time or reps to be recorded. But there was plenty of pain to be had! I am not good at the Broad Jump. I don’t cover great distances and I only did decent on the first two rounds. After that it was just silly. 50yds doesn’t seem that far until you are jumping. Deadlifts then broad jumps, then SPRINTING (jogging) I seriously thought my ass was going to fall off of my body. By round 4 I was ready to QUIT CrossFit!

Eats, Ups and Downs.
So here I am telling you I was strong and doing it all right and last night I go eat a sandwich from Chick-fil-a and I’m not going to lie it was good and I savored it. I did. And just like at the Super Bowl party, it’s totally not necessary. I didn’t feel bad or anything but my stomach was not liking me this morning! TMI? Nah, it’s life people. It’s like I just want to have to say I had it. I ate the food, the bad food that tastes oh so good. And then I’m all, eh, it was good but not worth it. SUSHI is worth it though! Anyhow. Sometimes you don’t feel like cooking and Chipotle does not sound good. After much mumbling and grumbling from Ernie trying to will me out of eating the sandwich I still ate it. I don’t have any further plans to go rogue as I like feeling good before, during and after my workouts. I like feeling good all day. At the same time I can’t sit here and say I’m perfect when I am not. I want to be transparent with y’all. I don’t think I’ve ever purposely not shared anything with you all in the first place but I’m just putting it out there. I’m an open book.

See, still eating well! Chicken & broccoli, asparagus, sweet potato, avocado and kiwi!

This week I hope to be more adventurous in cooking foods. I need to mix it up. Try new things. Anyone else mixing it up? Going outside their normal routines? Got some recipes to share?

I do hope everyone has a great weekend! Might rain around here…boooo, but we’ll still make it great! And make it AWESOME!

It’s One of Those Days

Posted on February 5, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

You know the ones where you just have nothing in the tank. No more juice. My bones felt heavy today and even though I put in work at the BOOM Box it was just a dragging kind of morning. I blame it on the drizzle and fog. It felt like it infiltrated my body and was weighing me down. Or maybe I just didn’t eat enough carbs or something, who knows. Just felt like I was swimming in molasses!

Skill/Strength: Squat Cleans
I’m a CLEAN kind of girl. Love me some Cleans: Power, Squat, Hang (kind of). I <3 cleaning the bar. There wasn’t a weight goal, rep scheme. Just work on technique, work up in weight and well have fun. Too bad I felt super heavy today. I still worked up to 95lbs and felt fine. There are so many tiny things to think about. Hips extended, drop under bar, elbows up, etc. Some lifts I get easy breezy, then I turn around and mess everything up. I felt productive though.

MetCon: 5 rounds of max reps on DL,WB; 40 seconds on 20 sec off; DL Axel 200/130, Plank push-ups (do a push-up every 5 seconds), Wall Ball 20/14
The good ol Axel. I love this thing! It’s about an inch thicker than a regular barbell. But I really prefer this over a barbell. Although after a while it’s hard to hold onto it because it is so thick. My hands didn’t hurt near as much either. I know it wasn’t super heavy weight but still it was nice on the hands. So we had to do as many reps as possible in 40 seconds, rest/transition to next movement which was Plank Push Ups for 40 seconds, rest/transition to Wall Balls. 5 freakin rounds! This sucked by round 4, no round 3. It was a beating. It was mostly the wall balls that were a beating. My first couple of throws didn’t even make the cut. So after getting a few NO REPS I knew I had to stop wasting energy but it was so hard today to get that ball up! It didn’t help we were holding a plank position right before the wall balls. On top of that doing a push up every 5 seconds. Yup shoulders still smoked, now they are extra crispy. In the end it was still a fun MetCon. Total reps: 85. If I could have just sucked up Wall Balls a little more I know I could have done way better. Ah well.

2/5/13 WOD

My WAY Better (IMO) Mexi-Cauli Rice
I’ve made Cauli Rice several ways and I have a Mexi version already but I made a new version and I love it. I hope you love it too!

Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower
1 cup chicken broth or water (I prefer the broth)
1 can tomato paste (small can)
1 TBS Chili Powder
Salt/Pepper (to your liking)
Cumin (to your liking)
Cayenne (to your liking)
half an onion (diced)
garlic clove (minced)
2 tsp cooking fat (I prefer GHEE)

Mexi-Cauli Rice – Ernie was kind enough to snap a pic for me, since I forgot to take pictures while I was making this.

Cook it up:
Chop up cauliflower into flowerettes. Then Shred cauliflower in food processor using the pulse function until Cauliflower is shredded to rice consistency.

While you are doing that have GHEE heating up over MED heat in skillet. Add your onion and garlic, saute till Golden. Add Cauliflower. Stir and add all spices. You can toss in whatever to meet your ideal flavor profile. Then add chicken broth. If you are low on chicken broth substitute with water. I only had 1/2 broth so I added a 1/2 cup water. Stir some more. Add tomato paste and Stir once more. Cover and simmer till a desired consistency. 15-20 minutes is what I have found best. If you’re in a hurry like I always am, I don’t turn down the heat right away. I just cover it and let it cook at a higher heat for a few minutes before turning heat to a simmer temp.

Serve with Ground beef, chicken, steak, WHATEVER protein you like. Add some guacamole and maybe a salad. It’s great stuff.

WholeLIFE
Back on track with the Whole30 mindset and boy does it feel good. Food tastes better and I’m full of energy until around 8:30 pm. Then I feel the tired hitting. Which is perfect. Relax a bit, watch some TV and night night! One of my fellow BOOMers, Mel, is taking on the Whole30 and asked me to be her SPONSOR per se. I’m more than happy to be her supporter and help her out along the way! Yay MEL! I know you will kill it and I know you won’t be happy probably this first week but next week you should start feeling awesome.

Superbowl Party Eats – I forgot to add this pic yesterday! doh! Paleo Deviled Eggs and Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potatoes

If anyone else is considering the Whole30, by all means, I’m an OPEN BOOK! I want to help you out!

Woooo, oh wait it’s only TUESDAY?!? That’s no fun! Ah well, make it a great day! Be Awesome!

Skills to pay the bills – NOPE

Posted on February 1, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

So if I HAD to do Pull Ups to pay bills, I would be broke forever. I have no PULL UP skills! And today was all about SKILLS, no lifting, no MetCon. Yes I know I probably should do some movement homework but I don’t. SO YES it’s my fault. I just want to get that out of the way in case some of you have some smart remarks for me It’s just defeating mentally. I’m getting better (at least for the most part) at everything else even if it’s in small increments and I’m not practicing those skills outside of the box. So why is it that Pull Ups are such a burden for me? UGH! Pull UP fairy where are you?

Is she only using like 2 fingers to hold herself up? Crazy! I suck!

Today at the BOOM box we only worked on Pull Ups and Muscle Ups. And when I say Muscle Ups I don’t mean I really worked on those but I worked on movements that fall into line with the movement. For Pull Ups, I pretty much only worked on kipping. It hurts to hold on to the bar no matter if I have grips, or just bare hands. I know I can be a baby but come on. IT HURTS my hands. I don’t want to hold on to the bar. Regardless of the pain, I have kipping down. I could be a professional kipper maybe. I just have no UP :/

After Pull Ups, like I said MUs! UGH. I worked on Ring Dips since that is what I need to get first. And low and behold I went from using the green band to the tiny blue band. I think I will have those pretty soon. My shoulders, rotator cuff is forever sore/tight/etc. But I could manage to get some work in. Once our time was up, I really worked on my shoulder mobility. It is much needed. So I’m glad I got that in. I even worked at home on my shoulders. It’s just hard to make it a priority at home, when I have 7897897 things to do in the evenings. Still taking sponsorships so I can stay at home! I’m scared for what tomorrow brings at the box especially since today wasn’t a beat down. Although Skill work is a beatdown to me when I can’t do the skill!

Getting my Boxing On
Since I missed my WOD this past Wednesday, I decided I needed to make up for it. I can’t make the BOOM Box other than 5 am due to my commute so I hit up a semi-new Boxing franchise that has been popping up in the DFW area. They offer a free class for first time visitors, SCORE for me. Back before my boot camp and CrossFit journey, I took boxing lessons from a local Boxing/MMA club. While this was an awesome thing for me, I wasn’t committing to proper nutrition and it was hitting my pocket book pretty hard, so I took a hiatus and never returned. With that said I love boxing, not real boxing because I don’t want to get hit but boxing against a bag.

What I liked about Title Boxing Club is that the particular instructor I had wasn’t about just having a little aerobics class. He wanted you to really throw punches, real kicks and get a workout in. He worked with everyone in regards to technique and making sure people were not half-assing it. We started with about a 15 minute warm up which consisted of running, push ups, lunges and high knees.. Small 1 minute water breaks were incorporated. 30 minutes of boxing, kick boxing, with drills in the middle. So we might do Jump Squats, Jumping Jacks, Up Downs, etc. in between boxing combinations. For the last 10-15 minutes we did a lot of core work such as sit ups, butterfly kicks, push ups, etc. Overall my boxing endurance SUCKED but it felt good to hit something! This would never be BETTER than CrossFit for me, but definitely something I would consider doing a few times a month.

What I didn’t like is that there isn’t a drop in option. You pay for a month at a time which isn’t incredibly expensive, but with their limited times, my commitment to CrossFit and kids schedules, I’m not sure if it’s worth it for me. It was a good workout, I sweat my butt off and let out some aggression. Lifting weights seems to do the trick as well but again I love boxing and doing something different was fun!

Whole(30)LIFE

Yup I gave you the review yesterday and I am OFFICIALLY through with 30 days. And I still made my Whole30 compliant breakfast today, brought leftovers for lunch and plan on eating just the same as I have been the past 30 days. Not a big deal in my book. I worked hard for this and I’m gonna stick to it. I feel good. I don’t want to go back to feeling icky. And when it’s all said and done, FOOD doesn’t run my world, no matter how delicious, decadent or savory it can be. WholeLIFE folks!

Dinner I almost finished before I remembered to take a pic: Chopped up sirloin, mixed veggies, avocado.

All the positive results have been great and on top of that I LOST 8.2LBS without even trying. I wasn’t counting calories, I was eating till I was satiated. I was eating good grass-fed meats, veggies and healthy fats. 3 times a day. PWO meals if needed.

Happy Friday! It’s FEBRUARY… if you fell apart in January, start over now! Don’t throw in the towel! Be Awesome this weekend!

Day 30 – Whole30

Posted on January 31, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

Hooray! My last day of Whole30 has finally arrived! I’m quite confident I’ll finish the day on a good note and just keep going on tomorrow as if I’m still in it. I feel really good. I feel fantastic. Words can not express how GREAT it feels to feel good all day, EVERYDAY!

I just wish I could let everyone have a mental and physical peek into a world where you aren’t drained midday. Where you can get good sleep. Where you aren’t consumed by tired, pain and headaches. Then you could know and then you would just do it! I’ve recapped my joureny so you can read about it but I want you to really FEEL it! Because I KNOW it’s HARD. It’s time consuming. It’s whatever excuse you can possibly dream of that suits your need at the moment. I get it. I’ve been there a BAZILLION times! But rebooting, starting with a CLEAN (food) slate and working the program WORKS! Whole30 gives you the support to make it through.

If you are just joining me, please know, this isn’t my first rodeo as it might have been for some of you readers, or maybe you’re still researching if it’s worth it! I can tell you it’s worth it. But for me, I’ve been eating Paleo for over a year now. I did the 21-Day Sugar Detox back in May which helped me tremendously because although I was Paleo, I was still eating too much fruit, honey and maple syrup because I was trying to Paleo-fy all sorts of desserts. I was a sugar addict. I held strong for a few months but I went off the rails at the end of 2012. I needed a reboot. I needed to reprogram. Whole30 is exactly what I needed. I jumped into the deep end of the pool. I bought their success guide, I subscribed to the emails. I went out and bought It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig (founders of Whole30). You don’t have to do all of that, you can follow everything they have online, on their blog and on the forums. But for me, being armed with as much literature and reference is what I needed. I carried around my success guide for the first 2 weeks along with my ISWF book. Also it helps me tell other people who inquire what it is that I’m doing and most of all WHY I am doing it.

I’ve documented my days, foods and moods in my posts starting January 2. Some days I was detailed and some days I just gave a general outline. In a week I was out of my “fat girl” pants. That’s when I knew I had to change something in the first place. My “fat girl” pants were getting snug. How SAD is that? But it’s true. I was so bloated. So filled with junk that I was just expanding. After the first week, I was feeling pretty fantastic. That’s how quick it happened for me. But remember again, my body already KNEW what this change was like. It just missed it and I think I bounced back much more quickly than others that are new to this kind of change might feel in a week. A lot of is mental as well. You want your wine, your dessert, your fast food. It’s so good and life isn’t worth living if you can’t enjoy those treasures, right? WRONG! Your life isn’t over because you cut out that stuff for 30 days. It’s 30 days folks! The #1 thing that stood out to me in ISWF is that Dallas and Melissa say “CANCER is hard, QUITTING a drug habit is hard, etc.” Giving up some foods for 30 days is not hard. We are all adults. It’s true. Start acting like one.

And let me tell you food doesn’t have to be “bleh”. It can be awesome. Some of the foods I’ve made this past month have been some of my kids favorite meals! Sure you may NOT WANT to cook and you figure a plain piece of baked chicken is fine then great for you. But that plain chicken is going to get old fast! Add some cumin, garlic, FLAVOR. Add some Whole30 approved ingredient salsa. Spice it up. You can still LOVE food while cutting out grains, legumes, dairy and alcohol. I’ve been honest with y’all in my posts. I did lose the motivation to cook and prep day in and day out! I’m not the kind of prep person who does it all on Sunday and then I’m set for the week. I prep 1-2 days ahead because I’m just that way. And it has worked for me! You will have to experiment what will work for you. It can be done.

1/30/13 Lunch – spinach salad with tomatoes and bacon, grassfed chili, strawberries.

Day 30 Breakfast – Chicken Thighs, Sweet Potato Latkes, Asparagus.

Whole30 is strict. They are serious! They want you to have positive results! I WANT YOU TO HAVE POSITIVE results! I know you will if you plan for this. 30 days! I have had ZERO brain fog. My ankles and wrists were hurting every morning and now it’s GONE! I was getting headaches, more specifically MIGRAINES that I hadn’t had in a year and now they are GONE! I’m not bloated all day, every day. I don’t feel bloated after I eat. I have ENERGY. So much energy my kids think I have become crazy. Dancing in the kitchen. Making up songs for me to dance too. Laughing more and enjoying life just a little more. Not everyday is rainbows and unicorns because life does happen but it’s not a result of my body quitting on me. It’s just a result of outside factors. And well that’s just LIFE! Don’t let food run your life. Let you run your life!

As far as working out. Let me tell you, you don’t have to be hardcore. You just need to be active. 80% of losing weight and maintaining weight is in the nutrition. That other 20% just boosts it. Not to mention that you’ll feel better because you’ll have even more energy, even better sleep and just feel like a better person. I do CrossFit. I love CrossFit. I have become stronger than I could have imagined. And I believe although I COMPLAIN alot that I have become better at my workouts with the clean eating. If you’ve recently read, last year we had to do 7 minutes of burpees. I finished with 74 a year ago and I was eating Paleo but pushing the boundaries. Just this past Saturday we did the same workout and I did 112! WTH? It’s almost unbelievable but I had witnesses to the work I was putting in. I was on a happy high the whole weekend. It felt good. It was AWESOME! I PR’d my Strict Press as well. 5lbs. Doesn’t sound like a lot but I’ve been stuck at 70lbs FOREVER!

I give Whole30 credit for all the positive things that have happened this past month. Too bad they can’t help me win the LOTTERY. But I feel like a BADASS, clean eating, Happy person! I took a “before” picture which I’m hesitant to share, and I weighed. I’ll weigh tomorrow since I still have to make it through today and hopefully take an after picture. I’m not perfect by any means, I don’t have ABS of steel. Just lots of pregnancy damage from having 3 kids. I don’t have perfectly toned cellulite free legs but they are thinner than they were 30 days ago. I don’t have GUNS for biceps either. I’m still flawed but I’ve learned slowly over the past year to let go of it. It still creeps in every now and then. But feeling good and feeling strong helps trump those negative “self” feelings.

I really give It Starts With Food credit for the information that I’m armed with to help me to stay on track. The Hartwigs really put the “sciencey” stuff into terms that made sense to me. They give you the info to understand how our body works after we’ve wrecked it with processed, sugary and chemical foods. They break it down. They give you examples that related to me, so I’m sure they would relate to you. They taught me about FOOD with NO BRAKES! They taught me how to balance my eating. They taught me to love healthy fats. They taught me how the food industry is SNEAKY! They gave me the armor to deal with my mental issues and to enjoy cleaning my slate. It’s a book I’ll probably reference forever. I highly suggest you go out and buy it.

Alright, alright. I’m done. If you want to know what I’ve been eating then please peruse my previous posts. I can’t give you all the Whole30 deets. I’m sure the Hartwigs wouldn’t want that. But I’m here if you have questions. I would love to be your support system. I want change for you! I really do! I’m ready to finish Day 30 just to say I did it! But I know Day 31 will be Whole30 and hopefully I can just go until I have that special event or moment where I can enjoy something decadent and sinful. But until that moment comes I’ll stay clean the best I can.

Back to the box tomorrow and for those of you who read yesterday, I did go check out the Boxing place. I’ll report on that tomorrow. Have a beautiful Thursday! Can you believe it’s February tomorrow?!? Wow! Well you know the drill go out and BE AWESOME in all that you do!

Sleep WOD – I WIN!

Posted on January 30, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

I win the SLACKER award :/ Yup slept right through ALARM! No CrossFit Boom for me today. After having a great start to my day yesterday, the drive home, the traffic, the rain, the errand running finally got to me. I got home drained, watched some TV, prepped some food, actually did some mobility and went to bed. I seriously could have slept a few more hours if it wasn’t for kids having school and me having a job I have to attend. And now it’s cold outside, AGAIN. Two days of shorts and flip flop weather and now COLD. Bleh.

Whole30 Days 28 & 29
In between my errand running last night, I found some raw trail mix. All good stuff – Raisins, Almonds, Cashews, Pumpkin Seed, Sunflower Seeds. Of course all of those ingredients fall into the eat occassionaly category but it still QUALIFIES for Whole30. As I was waiting at the pharmacy FOREVER, I found myself eating said trail mix. And eating way too much! It was boredom, tired, eating. I wasn’t starving or anything but BAD habits still live, ARGH! I figured I ate enough to not NEED dinner. I still cooked foods and made sure the chicken thighs were acceptable but I didn’t have a full blown sit down and eat meal. So I didn’t hit the perfect mark for dinner but at least I stayed compliant in regards to the foods I ate.

1/29/13 Lunch – Skirt Steak, Kale, Asparagus, Berries

This morning, I had a nice mix of Sweet Potato Latkes, Skirt Steak and Spinach. Besides sleeping extra heavily, I still feel good. The cool weather makes me want to crawl back into bed but that’s just the lazy part of me talking. Tomorrow is my last day of the Whole30. Wooo. Is it sad that all I keep thinking about is “will I or won’t I eat those Chick-fil-a nuggets that we are serving at my son’s birthday party on Sat?” I hope I don’t. I know they won’t kill me but I hope I can rise above that. Not to mention cupcakes and cookies! Hahahah. Y’all will be the first to know of course. Well other than those witnessing me!

That’s it for this SLACKER Wednesday. Maybe I can hit up a kickboxing place at a nearby Boxing place tonight. They are fairly new in the area and I have been interested in checking it out! We’ll see. Other than that, I encourage you to get moving! Walk a little. Do some squats. Has anybody been making changes at all? I hope so! You know the drill BE AWESOME!

FUN Fun FuN

Posted on January 29, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

This morning at the BOOM Box was FUN! I can honestly say that and I’m happy to say that. I love getting a good workout it but I love it more when it’s something new and I didn’t completely suck at it! I also think all this clean eating has cycled it’s way through all the ups and downs and I’m on an UPSWING.

Skill/Strength: Handstand Push Ups
I want to be good at these so bad. And little by little I’m getting there. We started out with just a few handstand holds. When you don’t do handstands often, it takes a while to feel comfortable. I can always pop into one, but over and over, I get dizzy fast. Of course I can’t do a full one YET but getting there. With some stacking of foam, I don’t have to go down as far but eventually I’ll have to do them without modification. The highlight of our working through them is that I got kipping down pretty good. I was one foam pad away from doing it properly but I think by then I was just fatigued.

1/29/13 WOD

MetCon: 30 AXLE Ground to Overhead
AXLE??!!?? WTH? Big ol fat bars is what that is and I saw them on Saturday but didn’t bother asking because I feared it was insanity. Turns out I kind of liked them… shhhh, don’t tell my Coach! So this is GRACE with a fat bar. NERVES activated. Coach suggested for us to put our thumbs over the bar since it is so fat and hard to get a grip on it. On top of that it doesn’t have the spin that a Barbell has so it’s a much different feeling. So the positive on this is that we should gain grip strength and should really learn to explode from the hips. The bonus about this bar is that it’s smooth and it felt much better in my hands. No need for taping up my thumbs! The video below shows a guy working on Ground To Overhead. His first grip is what we worked on. The second grip that he uses is the Continental grip that I just learned about via the WEBS. It’s awkward and I watched a lot of videos where I think that grip is not fun at all. So I’m glad we stuck with something more simple. Maybe when there’s more weight on the bar it’s necessary? I’m not sure. I’ll cross that bridge (hopefully NEVER) when it gets here.

So I was a little bit nervous. Holding a new bar with a new grip. I like to let fear get into my brain if you haven’t figured that out. Surprisingly with 50lbs it wasn’t so bad. I struggled getting centered at first but I got it down. Jumped up to 70lbs as prescribed for the MetCon and really thought, OH SHIT it’s going to be a brick wall. But it wasn’t. Now it was time to do 30 in a row. I pushed out 6, then 6 more, then the wrists started fading, forearms, I’m exhausted now and I’m not even halfway. Started chipping away 3 at time till I finished. Time: 5:09 I was spent but I was happy I did it. Confidence is that you? Where have you been all this time? Please stay a while!

HOLY BRUISES BATMAN! Had no idea this happened to my collar bone Cleaning the BAR until I go home, see my reflection. Typically my shoulders might get some bruising with the regular bar. My thighs for sure catching the bar on the way down. But this hurts! OUCHY MAMA!

Whole30 Days 27 & 28
Man… DDay is almost here! I’m so excited for my completion. Not so I can dive off the deep end into a big ol pie but just to say I completed it –100%, although that salmon from PF Changs could make that less but seriously, WILLINGLY 100%. No justifications. No swerving off the path. And not half ass. I worked at eating balanced meals, getting my fat in. Getting in a variety of veggies. Working the plan.

1/28/13 Dinner – Skirt Steak, Mixed Veggies, Coconut Flakes

You saw lunch yesterday and dinner was some skirt steak with mixed veggies. I had also cooked asparagus but I wasn’t that hungry last night. Which is fine by me. So I saved asparagus for today. I also made some Kale for lunch today to go with my left over skirt steak. I’ve been having trouble getting it to tender up. So I had one of my kids massage it for a good while before I left it overnight to marinate. It turned out a little less tough/chewy so hopefully that was the key.

I’m feeling a little better about getting prepped at least a day ahead. So I guess I was just in a mental(hormonal) funk! Tonight will be Chicken Thighs and maybe a salad. We’ll see.

Happy Tuesday! Despite the cloudy, windy, gloomy day, I FEEL GREAT! I know some of you must think I’m a loon ball but I can’t tell you enough how amazing it feels to FEEL good! All day. Bright eyed. NO brain fog. Wooooooo! Love it! Go now, be awesome!

Home Stretch

Posted on January 28, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

It’s so close – Day 27 of the WHOLE30 and you know what? This train isn’t stopping! I still wish I had a chef to alleviate some of the burden that goes into it all but I’m not holding my breath on that one. The big challenge will be Birthday Cupcakes at my son’s birthday party this weekend! I think I’ll be fine since at this moment that doesn’t even sound good. But who knows by then. I should be fine.

Whole30 Days 24-27
The weekends have become easier to manage. In the past I either skipped meals or lived on fruit and junk of some form but I’m managing well with 3 meals a day. It helped that I made chili this weekend. Yesterday was the first day I felt a nap was in order, I think I was just spent from my CrossFit workout the day before but who knows. My hormones are still changing so it’s been all sorts of chaos on my mental state. I wish that would go away ASAP!

Went to PF Changs for my baby boy’s birthday. Risky I know. I googled it of course and partakers of Whole30 suggested the Gluten Free, Steamed Salmon and Ginger. So that’s what I ordered, no sauces on anything. Of course the server looked at me funny and said well the Chicken Lettuce Wraps you ordered weren’t special, I said I know, those are for them, not me OH how I LOVE the lettuce wraps. They would have been fine if they weren’t cooked in a sauce that has rice wine and sugar :/

I patiently waited for my food as it was the last to come out. Took a few bites and it was delicious! Flavorful and I’m not a huge fan of salmon. All the veggies were steamed as well. I busted out my bottle of Coconut Aminos, YES I DID! and splashed some on my foods. I probably would have been fine without but it was good anyways. Not too bad, even watched the family all get dessert. Although I wish I could had a sample, I powered through. Got home, started prepping my Chili for dinner and I had to rush, RUN to the bathroom. Not sure if there was something in that Salmon or if it was just fish itself but I fear it wasn’t Whole30 compliant. I won’t ever know though and I’m not quitting or starting over based on that. I felt fine the rest of the day.

As you can see or NOT see, I haven’t been taking any GOOD pics of my meals but I’ll share my Chili Pic with you. It’s not impressive but the actual food was good.

Not the best pic, Chili with sweet potato, avocado on top. YUM!

1/28/13 Lunch – Chili, Spinach Salad, Broccoli, Kiwi

Chili Ingredients:
2lbs grassfed ground beef (chili cut, Burgandy Beef has a less ground beef just for chili, good stuff)
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 onion
1 garlic glove
1 sweet potato (cubed)
1 TBS cooking fat
Spices: cumin, salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne, red chili flakes, cinnamon ( I have no measurement as I just pour to my liking. I like heavy on the spice.

Saute onions and garlic in cooking fat, ghee for me, until onions start getting soft. Add ground beef. Add spices. Cook through. All the while I have the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and sweet potato warming up in my crockpot. You could do this all on stove as well. Once the ground beef is browned, dump into crockpot. Cook on high for 1-2 hours, check sweet potatoes. If they are soft, then you are good to go, If not let cook on low for another hour.

I would have added red, green and yellow peppers if I had them but I didn’t. It’s chili, add what you want. Turned out great! And sweet due to those sweet potatoes! Good stuff.

1/26/13 WOD
I was very sore walking into the BOOM Box Saturday morning. REALLY sore. My shoulders were dead, my hamstrings were dead and what was on the board: deadlifts and burpees!

Skill/Strength: 3 x 5 Deadlift @ 75% of 1RM
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve deadlifted. I think the last time is when I PR’d. And that was a while back now. So getting back to this lift was awkward but nice to do. 150lbs is my weight and overall I felt good. Had some small items to work on but didn’t lose all technique, thank goodness.

1/26/13 WOD

MetCon: 12.1! For those of you who don’t know, that was WOD 1 for the CrossFit Games Open last year. 7 minutes of Burpees! Oh the hell! We looked up our reps from last year and I got 74. Coach went around asking what our goals were for this time around and I said 75! Seriously. I’d be good with that. 3-2-1 GO! I was determined not to burn out too fast like I did last year. So I just went with the goal of “DON’T STOP”. Coaches were yelling out time left but it wasn’t really registering. I just thought this is the longest 7 minutes ever. I finally hit 75 reps and thought well shit I gotta keep going. Then I just said go and went H.A.M till I got to 90.

Then I thought I was going to die but there was still 2 minutes left. I just kept going up and down, making all kinds of mad noises. Final: 112! WOOOOOO! I don’t know where that came from but I was all sorts of Happy. Made my day indeed! After I stopped rolling on the ground like a flailing weirdo, I sat up and said Whole30! Strict clean eating!

1/28/13 WOD
Still dead from the Burpees. My shoulders are TOAST! Today was nice and HUMID. 62° and HUMID! We aren’t used to this right now. So much better than FREEZING! I fear February will bring us SUPER COLD though. We need it to kill the buggies but I don’t like it!

Skill/Strength: 3 x 3 Back Squat @ 90% of 1RM
Yup that got heavy fast. My shoulder mobility sucked so bad holding on to the bar. UGH! My hips were dead too. I worked on my hip mobility after my first set and Coach noticed a big difference. I could feel it and knew then that I should have done both sides, but my right side is the painful side. Ah well. Got through the lifts ok. I’m not feeling explosive on the way back up. Hopefully that’s just a side effect of being smoked!

1/28/13 WOD

MetCon: 100 Double Unders, 75 HR Push Ups, 50 TTB, 25 Pull Ups. You have 5 minutes to complete each movement. If you finish early in your 5 minutes of one movement, you get to rest! Record time finished.
So we have 5 minutes to do 100 DUs, 5 minutes to do the Push Ups and so forth. A timed chipper I guess is best to describe it. I was already scare of DUs just because my shoulders are so tight, sore, etc. Shoulders go fast when they are already useless to you. Then PUSH UPS next. Not good! I finished DU’s in a little over 2 minutes, I can’t recall specific times but I know it was 2 something. It was a good rest till HR Push UPs. I struggled but managed to finish in a little over 4 minutes. Enough time to get handguards on for TTB, errr Knees to Elbow for me. I found my kip and got 10 in a row. Went back for another 10, then hit a wall. Only getting 5 at a time, then only 3, then 2. Finished under 4 minutes on this one though! Only 25 Pull Ups but it’s still alot in my book. Did 5, 5, 3, 2, 1, 2 and 1′d and 2′d it till the end. Finished in 4:20 I think, not sure, Final time (added up): 14:25.

There you have it folks. My weekend wrap up! Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. It’s a whole new week. Make that change you are thinking about, stop thinking about it! And be Awesome all the while!

Pressing On

Posted on January 25, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

Yup I’m pressing on. I have been feeling weak. It’s true. But in the end I know I’m getting better. It may not be as huge as others but I know that slowly but surely things are clicking (except for pull ups of course). And this morning in the car I heard an old favorite song of mine by RelientK and it just got me amped that I just have to Press On. Leave all my crap behind. So here goes it. If you’ve stuck around with me long enough you know I have these ups and downs. I realize it. But it’s still gonna happen. I’m pretty sure that’s just a part of being human.

We’ve had unusual warm temps and it’s been quite nice showing up to the BOOM Box not freezing to death. I definitely think it helps that we are warmed up much more quickly.

Skill/Strength: Press 1,1,1,1,1
With Press my weight is low so there’s not much in regards to jumping through weight. After several rounds of warm up, Leigh and I decided to start at 55lbs for our first 1 rep. The goal was to do 55, 65, 70, 75, 80. Being that 70lbs is my 1RM that I’ve been stuck at that would give me two attempts to PR. When we got to 70lbs we traded out the 10lb and 5lb plates for 15lb plates and 2.5lb plates. Oh but I wasn’t paying attention. And the 5lbs were on there. So I go for my 3rd attempt and think wow this isn’t easy and it’s 70lbs which I tend to do fine. WOW I SUCK! Well I get it up and rack it. Notice the 5lbs and realize I just PR’d! Finally! I broke that damn 70lb wall I’ve been hitting for so long. Of course a PR gets you all excited so you want to see if you can jump even more, but that didn’t happen. 80lbs was not in my cards today. Still happy for my little PR.

1/25/13 WOD

MetCon: 20 EMOM – Even Minutes 2 MU, 6 CTB, 8 Chin Ups, 10 Ring Rows; Odd minutes 5 Press @65% of your heaviest in the strength portion. If you didn’t go RX then you had a buyout of 40 Ring Dips.
Leave it to me to screw up in the first round! I thought I had to do 2 Pull Ups because I saw the 2 in front of MU and wasn’t using my brain. So I was done really fast not realizing I owed 6 more reps. I moved on to minute 2 clueless and proceeded with Press. Went back to Pull Ups and everyone realized I didn’t do 8, doh! It wasn’t on purpose. I went and finished my 8. It definitely was not on purpose. But that first round was failed :/ because I didn’t finish Pull Ups. As the minutes wound down. I had 3 more failed rounds due to Pull Ups. I finished all my Presses at 50lbs. So I had a total of 6 rounds completed. I still put Pull Up effort in managing about 5 each round I failed at. I proceeded to do my ring dips in sets of 10′s. That gave us enough time to rotate with everyone else. I feel better at those, band assisted of course, but dang my shoulders were DEAD! I’m hoping tomorrow involves Cleans or something I’m good at!

Whole30 Days 23 & 24
Still not excited about cooking but still plugging away at it. I can’t imagine myself eating anything else though. So even though I’m still having a hard time finding the excitement in cooking you still will find me in the kitchen prepping away. And the kids seem to find some fun in helping me every now and then. I think they are more about the sampling than anything but if they are going to be in the kitchen they know they will be put to work. So it’s a WIN/WIN situation!

1/24/13 Lunch – Sauteed Chicken, tomatoes adn spinach, with sweet potato chips and kiwi.

Last night, I was really at a loss on what to eat. I did remember to portion out some chicken for me for dinner since I knew Ernie would be gone for the evening. Whew. Saved my day right there, because by the time I got home from work and baseball I forgot. I was seriously stressing over what I was gonna eat. I had a whole chicken defrosted but I like to roast those and I didn’t want to wait the hour for it to cook. So after I got the whole chicken cooking. I got some onions, tomatoes and chicken warming up in a skillet. Added some red chard and dinner was done! My favorite way of eating has become this skillet meal of proteins and leafy greens. It works. Eat some coconut flakes, guac or sunflower butter and I’m good. It’s quick easy and it always tastes good.

1/24/13 Dinner – More sauteed chicken, onions, tomatoes, red chard, guacamole.

Once the whole chicken was done roasting I portioned it out for Ernie, me and extras. Unfortunately before I portioned it out, I ate pretty much all of the skin. It was extra tasty last night and I just couldn’t help myself. How bad am I?

This morning, I ate some of the roast chicken for my PWO meal and a carrot. While I was eating all of that, I had some bone broth heating up and I was adding the rest of the chicken to that along with sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and spinach. My oldest wanted some so I got out more chicken broth, doubled the veggies and we both had lunch cooking away. Now’s the time I wish I would invest in a thermos!

24 Days and I’m killing it! I’m feeling really awesome. Even when I did the 21-Day Sugar Detox I caved for Mother’s Day. I paid for it and fell into a sugar coma. But on Whole30 that 1-2 servings of fruit is good for me. I don’t eat fruit everyday but knowing it’s not restricted I think is better for me mentally. I just found Dare You to Blog yesterday and Meredith wrote about her sugar detox experience. And the one thing that stuck out most was her comment that food will always be there:

Food will always be there. I am fortunate enough to be in a place where the treats and cheats I may be tempted by, such as the frozen yogurt mentioned above, will always be available to me. I don’t need to have this froyo now, or those chocolate-covered almonds today. I don’t need to dig in to the free bagel breakfast or the rice-rolled sushi at this very moment. When I want it, when I’m ready for it, it will be there waiting for me. With that in mind…

She’s so right! Why haven’t I implemented this same thought process! I mean it’s not like it’s wiped off the face of the planet. It’s not going ANYWHERE. For me those little words were like a breath of fresh air. A new perspective. Cleaning up is good for you. It’s not gonna hurt you and if you don’t like it, ah well. Go back to your ways of dirty, processed, sugary, chemical eating. I keep telling you I feel great though. I haven’t felt bloated or achy in any regards beside sore muscles. In December I was waking up with pains in my wrists. Now all that pain is gone. I have had one headache but that was on my major cleaning day and I’m pretty sure it was chemical induced from cleaners. There is ZERO brain fog which is great.

If you’ve ever eaten clean for an extended period of time and then went off the rails then you must be able to relate. It’s almost like you’re hungover or under the influence for sure. It’s bad and so weird how eating one or two meals that aren’t clean can do that to you. No one has any idea that they too are living in brain fog until you clean up your eating! It’s crazy. 6 days to go but I’m in a good groove. Let’s hope the groove keeps on rolling!

Friday! Deep Breath In! Yay for Friday! Have a magnificent weekend! My youngest will be 10 tomorrow! Double Digits. Young men I have, 3 young men! Aaahhhh. I wish they wouldn’t grow up so fast! Anyhoo, BE AWESOME in all that you DO! Press ON!

yawn!

Posted on January 22, 2013 by idrankthecfkoolaid

I probably could have used one more hour of sleep last night. I’m sleepy today. I was really sad when my alarm went off this morning even though I knew the WOD for the day would be – Double Unders!

I underestimated how smoked my shoulders would be after the beating I took from Cindy yesterday! And smoked they were and extra crispy now sitting here typing away. Skill/Strength consisted of DU work. I got this! NOT!

1/22/13 WOD

MetCon: 300 DUs, with 3 burpees EMOM OR 100 burpees with 2 Box Jumps EMOM
I don’t think I would choose burpees as my first option ever but after the way I struggled with the DUs this morning, it may have been a better decision! 3-2-1 GO 3 burpees. Whoa those hurt! It took me a little bit to get into the groove for DUs. Seriously a few minutes. I was struggling for some reason. Then the burpees. I ended having to do 30 but those wore on me fast! I thought I may have cried if I didn’t finish within the minute. Thankfully I busted out my last 30 before 11 minutes came up. Time 10:52 :/ I really thought I’d do much better than that. Ah well.

Whole 30 Days 20-21
Feeling a little more motivated to cook again. Although last night I was pushing it to a little later than I would like. After running some errands and sadly picking up the boys some fast food, I finally got home to cook my dinner. Turns out I really cooked my lunch and ate leftovers for dinner because I didn’t want to be eating at 9pm. It worked out well as I reheated and crispified some delicious Chicken Thighs. Threw the thighs together on top of a spinach salad with tomatoes and blackberries. Had a side of sweet potatoes and some coconut flakes and I was golden! While I was doing all of that I was baking Ernie a sweet potato, cooking asparagus and two hefty steaks. All is done son!

Lunch 1/21/13 – Cut up steak marinated in coconut aminos and other spices, roasted cauliflower, sauteed mixed veggies.

Dinner 1/22/13 – Chicken thighs on a bed of spinach, grape tomatoes and blackberries.

Day 21
Sleep is oh so important. It’s taking me a while to wind up for the day. My eyes are droopy and my body is beat down. It doesn’t help I sit at a desk all day. I’m tired! Post workout I had some egg whites and chicken sausage (so delightful). For breakfast I cooked up some cubed sweet potato, threw that in with some beef I had for lunch yesterday and inhaled a ziplock baggie full of baby spinach. My kids think I’m totally insane because I’m just stuffing raw spinach in my face as we are en route to school! Good times, Good times indeed! I’ve been feeling good, never having those HANGRY pains. Just happy to eat. Satiated and good to go until the next meal. Water is KEY and I can tell when I get behind on that. It’s been rare, but it does happen. I haven’t had one craving to snack, munch or nibble on something. And I definitely am not wishing for a power nap in the middle of the afternoon.

To top it off I gotta figure out what kind of treat to get my youngest for his upcoming BIG 10YR Birthday, but none of the sweet temptations are even tempting on my brain or salivary glands. So I feel pretty confident I won’t just dive into a pile of cupcakes or cookies. So far Whole30 is treating me fairly well. Only 9 more days of super STRICT everything, but I’m not opposed to keep on keepin on. And just save any badness for events that are worthy! I don’t know what reintroducing bad foods will do to me either and sure don’t want to screw it up. After reading ISWF I really wish I could go on in perfect la la land forever! For those of you that don’t know – 80% of our immune system comes from our GUT so why do I want to screw that up after I’ve been eating so well to clean it up! You would think that decision would be easy. Clean HEALTHY living or take a gamble. But you say OH FOOD IS SO GOOD! ENJOY LIFE! TAKE THE GAMBLE! But really? Is it that great having MIGRAINES?!? I had more than my fare share in the month of December. There’s so much more rewarding stuff out there that doesn’t have to do with food. I’m not perfect. I’m not saying I won’t indulge in some ice cream at some point or a cupcake, I’m just saying I really am hoping I can be stronger than I have been in the past! Keep Calm and Whole30 On, Right?

Nobody was all that interested in my silly little 30 day $30 prize, but I’ll tell you my teenager was like I’ll do it. I told him if no one showed interest by Friday then I would let him and Ernie duke it out. See who stays on target, IF THEY CAN STAY ON TARGET! $30 is still a lot to a 13 yr old. If I could give away $300 I would. One day, One day!

Have a pleasant day. Relax a little. Breathe! and Be Awesome!

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

Tag Archives: paleo

Elizabeth, It WAS…

Broad Jumps are EVIL!

It’s One of Those Days

Skills to pay the bills – NOPE

Day 30 – Whole30

Sleep WOD – I WIN!

FUN Fun FuN

Home Stretch

Pressing On

yawn!

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