back squat

STAY FOCUSED!

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Short (normal) weekends are NO fun after two 4 day weekends in a row. It’s really Monday! Geesh. I vote for 3 day work weeks year round! It seems like I have so much to report on but I know by the time I’m done, it won’t seem like very much at all. Let me just preview that I did (but barely) make it to the BOOM Box on Saturday and I stayed on point for Whole30 which is a HUGE accomplishment for me (especially since Ernie was not so good)! I guess I’ll recap my WODs first then got through the Whole30, days 3-6.

1/5/13 WOD
I can tell you it took everything in me to show up for this EVIL workout. Seriously! And I set my alarm for 6:30 PM instead of AM so it’s surprising I woke up minutes before I had to leave. Why was it so EVIL, I’ll tell you why. RUNNING, 2 miles of RUNNING!

1/5/13 WOD

1/5/13 WOD

MetCon: 1 mile, 150 Double Unders, Red Gate Run (approx 1200m), 100 Double Unders, 400m run, 50 Double Unders
There was not Skill/Strength because this was going to take FOREVER if not longer. I had already joked that I’d probably be dead on the side of the road before we even started. For those of you NEW to my blog, I DESPISE RUNNING! It does nothing for me except make me want to cry. When I first started my fitness journey 2 years ago I went from a 11:47 mile to an 8:08 mile in a about a year but that 8:08 mile is long gone, a faded memory. And although that saddens me a bit, I’m not losing sleep over it. So for my first run, 1 MILE run, I took off with high hopes. Those hopes just dissipated before I hit the half mile mark. The only good thing going for me is that I didn’t STOP at all. Which in the recent past was something I couldn’t do. So if I can take anything positive I can say I ran it without stopping to walk. It wasn’t pretty tough though. I know it took me about 11 minutes to get through it! NOT GOOD AT ALL! Try to do a good string of double unders after you fell like DYING and you’re I’m screwed. I was hoping I would just pass out before I had to take off for the Red Gate Run but I didn’t. So I dragged my not so happy ass out the door and onto the pavement. This run was NOT GOOD, I did more of a TABATA run, 20 seconds run, 10 seconds walk. I would sometimes go for longer in the run but try to keep my walk to around 10 seconds. I didn’t even look at the time when I got back. The 100 DUs were easier for some reason than the 150. Went out for my 400m run and there was Chris ahead of me by 200m. I could catch him in the DUs, I really could. I just had a hard time stringing more than 10-15 together. I made it to 45 and hit a wall, I was having a hard time breathing but realized Chris wasn’t done. So I busted out the 5 reps and we both said TIME at the same time! Go figure, we tied. It was a race/struggle to the end. Time: 34:28

My calves did not love me the rest of the weekend and they are still pretty ridiculously sore :/ But I did survive all that running no matter what my pace was, I’m glad I showed up. Even though I dread running, I do hope I can get back to those 8 minute miles.

1/7/13 WOD
Can someone call up Spring and tell it I’m ready for some warmer weather. I know it’s not dreadfully cold here in Texas but it’s too cold for me. I’m tired of these 20/30° temps. Especially at 5 AM! The BOX thermometer said it was 41° inside but it felt much colder! It seemed to take me longer to warm up this morning.

Skill/Strength: 5 x 5 Back Squat @82.5% of 1RM
Last week we did Back Squat at 80% and that felt good. Just a little more weight for this week and it felt HEAVY. I blame the cold air today cause my body just didn’t want to warm up. I worked up to 120lbs which is my 82.5% and chugged my way through the sets. Not one set felt awesome although I did complete them all. I just didn’t feel power or speed. I didn’t feel strong. Maybe it’s me dragging from Whole30, maybe it really is the COLD, maybe it just was how it was supposed to be today.

1/7/13 WOD

1/7/13 WOD

MetCon: 12 minutes on the minute 1 Full Clean + 1 Hang Clean AHAP. Score will be weight x 12 rounds.
This was a nice break to our typical cardio/lift MetCon. With my lack of commitment from last month, it’s been a hard come-back. I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park but I knew I wasn’t going to be on death’s bed either. I haven’t SQUAT Cleaned OR HANG CLEANED in a very long time so I took my time with light weight working the movement. I worked my way up to 85lbs and failed 3 times in a row with the HANG CLEAN. UGH! I’m not a fan of this movement. I’m sure there’s something good and positive about it but I didn’t ask nor am I that intrigued at the moment. Just get the work done. Right?!? Finally 4th time’s a CHARM and I freaking Hang Cleaned 85lbs. I was good with this weight for 24 reps. It was nice to have the rest of the minute to rest, rethink the movement in my head, elbows up, elbows up, drop under the bar, etc. By the last couple of rounds I was dreading picking up the bar but I knew I had no choice but to attack it each time. With that said, I felt GOOD at the end of this MetCon, thank goodness! Total weight 1020lbs. No Failed Reps though! Yay! Getting back to feeling good. Itty Bitty Baby Steps!

Whole30 Days 3-6
So I left off with only documenting part of my Day 3. We had baseball practice so I figured I would probably get home and do something with ground beef. Low and behold my oldest son who is 13 prepared the chicken I had out defrosting. He ROASTED it for us so it would be ready by the time we got home from baseball practice! I was amazed. I have learned that roasting a chicken doesn’t take advanced culinary skills but for him to be so proactive and do all the right things, like rinsing it, cutting the neck off, drying it off, salting it, prepping the pan, preheating the oven and following through… I was quite impressed with him. That was a time-saver indeed! So now all I had to do was come up withe some sides. Wooo! I finished out the meal with some asparagus and some Bacon Fried Cabbage! I’ve never cooked cabbage so I wasn’t sure of the outcome, but it was a winner all around.

Bacon Fried Cabbage: (from Fast Paleo)
Ingredients:

  • 12 ounces bacon
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 bag prepackaged coleslaw mix (without dressing), or one head chopped cabbage

Cook bacon in a deep skillet over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove bacon from skillet and drain on a paper. Reserve bacon drippings in skillet and add olive oil.
Cook and stir cabbage in olive oil and bacon drippings, over medium heat, until cabbage wilts, 5 to 7 minutes.
Crumble bacon over cabbage. Stir and simmer until bacon is warmed, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with black pepper.

Roasted Chicken, Asparagus, Bacon Fried Cabbage. Not the prettiest pic but it was good and I promise it was good!

Roasted Chicken, Asparagus, Bacon Fried Cabbage. Not the prettiest pic but it was good and I promise it was good!

Day 4
I was dreading the weekend. Those are the days that you just want to eat whatever/whenever. I started off by not setting my alarm properly as previously mentioned. That means I didn’t get a PRE Workout Meal in. So far I suck at this meal. I knew I had to be quick at getting something good in POST WORKOUT. I had hardboiled eggs prepped so I ate those with some sweet potato. EASY! For breakfast I went ahead and had 2 over medium eggs, with some broccoli stir fried in coconut aminos and some Red Boat Fish Sauce. YUMMO. Add a piece of PORK BELLY and some avocado and BAM! Breakfast is done son!

Breakfast Day 4!

Breakfast Day 4!

Lunch Day 4

Lunch Day 4

So far I’ve been feeling pretty great about eating and not having cravings. Water intake is great! Time for lunch and by now it’s getting boring if you will cause it’s leftovers after leftovers. That’s not the point right now, the point is to stick to the program. And I’m doing just that! At the last minute we decide to go to a movie. Lunch wasn’t that long ago. But the gap the movie will take up may be too long. Kids were hungry, me not so much so we decide Chipotle. Then everyone sees Smashburger! ARGH! Well I drop everyone off at the burger place and I go to Chipotle with one kid. I got the Carnitas Salad Bowl, after doing a quick google and seeing that it was Whole30 acceptable. NO GUAC cause it looked like death and I was sad for it. It was not the greatest dinner but I got veggies and protein in.

Day 5
Sunday was the hardest day in regard to cravings and boredom and not wanting to cook. I can’t even recall what I ate for breakfast. Ah but I do recall, I had pork belly, hard boiled eggs and some avocado. For lunch we did our normal grocery shopping. I ate a beef frankfurter at Burgandy Pasture Beef after double checking the ingredients on the frankfurters. I had to make sure they didn’t add sugar for some reason. And they don’t so that was good. I ate that bunless and ate the lettuce, tomato and onion that typically goes with the burgers. On our shopping excursions for the day included a couple of stops for Mountain Dew and CHOCOLATE! Ernie got in the car with a Mr. Goodbar??!!?? I looked at him like are you serious? And you’re gonna eat it in front of me. And he did and that chocolate smelled oh so good. The DEVIL I tell you. And I looked at him and said I guess I’ll just chug some water! Stayed Strong! Go ME! But wait there’s more. He proceeded to buy Reese’s Peanut Butter Squares at Target cause he’d never seen them. REALLLY???!!???

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And then for dinner he chose McDonald’s SUPERSIZED with Sweet Tea…. OH MY GOODNESS the FRIES… THE FRIES! But I just went home and cooked me up a steak, ate leftover sweet potatoes, leftover cabbage and more avocado!

I also prepped a grass fed chuck roast, acorn squash, hard boiled eggs, and kale chips. I was ready for Monday at least!

Day 6
Had a hard time waking up this AM. So AGAIN no Pre-Workout Meal :/ But came home, threw down some hardboiled eggs and acorn squash. I was full and it wasn’t a lot! I knew I had to eat in 60-90 minutes but wasn’t feeling it. I still got some roast, spinach, kale chips and cherries in easy to eat containers because YES I would be eating this in the car on the way to work. My oven sucks so some of my Kale Chips were pretty tasty and some were NOT SO MUCH. I finished them off though and got through most of my protein and all of my spinach and cherries.

I’m feeling tired today but not sure if that’s WHOLE30 workin on my system or what. Lunch was pretty splendid. I had leftover steak, acorn squash, spinach salad with tomatoes and more pork belly. I should be set till dinner time. Ground beef is the only thing defrosted so we’ll see what happens.

Post Workout Meal
2 hard boiled eggs
1/4 acorn squash

Breakfast
4oz Roast
1/4 cup spinach
Sandwich size baggie full of Kale Chips
6 Cherries

Yes it's KALE!

Yes it’s KALE!

Lunch
6 oz Steak
1/4 acorn squash
1/4 cup mushrooms
2 cups spinach
5 cherry tomatoes
1 slice pork belly
Avocado

Again another NOT so pretty pic but it's what I'm eating and it does have flavor :)

Again another NOT so pretty pic but it’s what I’m eating and it does have flavor 🙂

Dinner
TBD

All in all I feel good. The bloat is gone but the clothes are still a lil snug. I know this isn’t a WEIGHT LOSS program but I figure eating this clean would have some results quick-like. Patience grasshopper. I know! I know this is to RESTART good eating habits. Just anxious to lose some of this fluff! I’m sure by the end I will have lost a few pounds (I HOPE). Headache hasn’t resurfaced. Aches other than soreness are dissipating! 1/5 of the way there right? Hahah. It seems like forever to go. Will I make it? I sure as hell hope so. I do not want to start over.

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I guess that’s it for now. Oh I did go to Barnes & Noble to buy “It Starts with Food” by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig from the Whole30 and it’s sold out! Good for them, booo for me! Ordering it today. I tell so many people to buy it but I have yet to buy it for me! It should be nothing less than AWESOME! I’ll let you know how it is once I get it 🙂 Go forth and be AWESOME on this Monday. See y’all tomorrow.

I should have bought this but in the end I did not :/

I should have bought this but in the end I did not :/

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I’m done with the COLD already

And it’s only just begun! I know it’s only the second morning with temps in the 30s but it makes it really hard to get out of bed! And it makes it really hard to want to go hit the box early in the A.M.!

Skill/Strength: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 Back Squat
The goal was to start heavy and work towards a PR. If any of you recall I had an “accidental” PR with my squat cause I’m a dingleberry who used her DEADLIFT max to base her SQUAT %! Who does that? Yup that’s right – me :/ So I got a 10lb PR at 155lbs. This morning I set up my attempts so that 150lbs was my 3rd squat. That was fine so I decided to go for 160lbs on my 4th rep. FAIL-EO! I still felt like I had it in me so I went for my 5th rep at 160lbs again. Coach had to give me like an ounce of support for me to get up. I know I can do it without that but today it didn’t happen! Finally I’m making gains, and I LIKE IT!

11/13/12 WOD

MetCon: FRAN (collective sigh, grunt, etc.)
If you have no clue about CrossFit then you don’t know how brutal FRAN can be! FRAN is a dirty girl workout and a well known benchmark for CrossFitters all over. It’s 21-15-9 of Thrusters and Pullups. And it’s a go balls to the wall kind of workout! The really great folks have this workout COMPLETED in the 2 minute range. I don’t even think I can DREAM of such achievements anytime soon. For me it’s band assisted pull ups that I STILL suck at and typically I can do the RX 65lb Thruster but I’m still having shoulder issues so I was given 15lb dumbbells. I was able to do all the Thrusters unbroken, if it were otherwise then I think something would seriously be wrong with me. Unfortunately I was not able to do Pull Ups unbroken, those are miserable and the BAR was FREEZING! Time: 7:50

It’s a REST DAY tomorrow. I’m hoping I can catch up on some cooking/cleaning that needs to get done. I know I’ve been slacking at the posts but we’ve been so busy and I don’t have any wonderful INSPIRATION or RECIPES for you at the moment. And I feel I can only tell everyone to SUCK IT UP, TOUGHEN UP and DO SOMETHING GOOD for YOURSELF like EATING CLEAN and LIFTING HEAVY SHIT before you all run away cause you are sick and tired of those kinds of posts. At this point I wish I could just hibernate till Spring! Until Thursday…. BE AWESOME!

200 CONTINUED

Friday was my 200th Post which for me was an accomplishment but this morning I FINALLY broke through my Deadlift plateau of 185lbs! If you follow me on the twitter (77txgrl) or are a friend of mine on FB then you know that I hit the MAGICAL (for me) 200lb MARK! Bittersweet – because I feel like I should have hit that number months ago but still stoked that I finally made some gains!

As far as the rest of the BOOM Box morning. Here goes it:
Skill/Strength: 2, 2, 2 @ 95% of 1RM Back Squat
I’ve been feeling pretty strong lately, which is a GOOD thing because normally I feel weak. After last weeks accidental PR on Back Squat, I made sure I did my math right using the CORRECT 1RM! This put me at 137lbs. So I decided I would work up to 135lbs and do 1 set of 2 at that weight, then move up to 140lbs and finish out with that. My second set was the most difficult but I really fought for it. My last set was a little easier but my form started giving out. I have a hard time keeping my chest up, I suppose that it’s not hard, I just don’t REALIZE I’m letting my chest fall forward. Breath, knees out, etc, etc. CHEST UP! Some days I’m on it, some days I lack. Overall I felt good.

11/5/12 WOD

More Strength: 1,1,1,1,1 Press (15 minutes) and 1,1,1,1,1 Deadlift (15 minutes)
The goal here is to start heavy, after warming up of course. So ideally Coach wanted us to start our first rep at 90% of our 1RM and work past our 1RM in hopes of a PR. My shoulders have been my weakness lately and I wasn’t sure where I would go. I only have a 70lb Press so I started at 60lbs and decided I would work up 5lbs at a time. Got to 70lbs and felt good, moved to 75lbs and failed. Coach had me try to move more quick like when approaching bar and I did for my last set but a big NO GO for 75lbs. Next time I will get that PR!

Moving on to DL I was hesitant. I knew I had to start heavy but I always hit 185lbs and don’t ever go up from there. So I started at 165, moved on to 175, made another jump to 185, then got gun shy. I baby stepped to 190 and I did it! Now where do I go? Coach saw me debating and said let’s go for it, jump up to 200lbs. Well HOLY CRAPOLA I pulled it off the ground and it was ALMOST EASY! It wasn’t really EASY but it wasn’t as hard as I though it was going to be!!! That being my 5th rep I stopped but looking back I wish I had been more aggressive. But who doesn’t wish for more looking back, I just didn’t want to be disappointed AGAIN. I would have been perfectly happy at 190lbs but 200lbs was the icing on the cake for a Monday!

A great day at the BOOM Box after a weekend of laziness and poor eating. And I wasted a Pefectly Cooked Pumpkin as well by doing NOTHING. Ah well, it was nice to get some sleep, naps and comfort foods. Seriously time to kick myself in the ASS and get serious about the clean eating.

On a different personal note… Does anyone have good fundraising ideas or contributions to help support my kids football team getting to the National Championships? I’ve never been good at fundraising but the team is doing well in playoffs. They need money to travel. It’s not cheap and I’m not rich. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great MONDAY folks! Be Awesome!!!!

Getting Back on Track … uh on monday?

Isn’t that the good ol excuse? The weekend is here, I already screwed up. Let’s keep this party rolling. I keep telling myself and you all “you’ve only been eating not so great for a few days, a week maybe”. Well that week turns into two which WAM BAM turns into a month quickly. How does that happen so fast?!? Seriously Whole30, 21 day Sugar Detox, Paleo Challenges are short and feel like forever. But eating like crap feels short term and ends up being too long. It’s crazy how that works! I fall down too people, I’m not perfect. But I get back up!

Now I haven’t been weighing myself regularly because I’m getting over that scale addiction, and truly I was feeling good about me – physically and mentally. The past few days I have really felt poorly with my self image and I have felt and seen where I’m starting to expand/jiggle and I know exactly why, it’s not rocket science. And I’ve been in a mental fog as well. Some of that is emotional stress but I think a lot of it is junk fogging up my brain. Just eating poor dinners can really f*^! things up. Then add some poor weekends…And now it’s all catching up to me. So I gave in to that damn scale and weighed! Which is no real judgment I know, I’m stronger, I’m healthier… the scale doesn’t determine that at all, but I stepped on it anyways. And although I’m not in a super bad place, I’m not in a super great place about it either.

So I declare a Sugar Detox is much needed! The good folks at 21 Day Sugar Detox have a monthly start date and it starts Monday as will I. Who’s with me? ………. I think I hear crickets. I know it’s daunting people but you can do it! Only 21 days! That’s it. I hear you, “but you just said it feels like forever.” That I did, that I did but it’s mental. It’s still only 21 days. And now is perfect! Right before the holidays, then you can be strong to resist all the office/school/social function temptations! Let me know if you’re on board. The link is right there to the right! Let’s do this! 

Now that I’ve got that out of the way I will share my morning at the BOOM Box.

Skill/Strength: 4 x 6 Back Squat @ 80% of 1RM and Band Sprints
I felt pretty good with my Back Squat, maybe that extra weight I’m carrying is giving me a boost. Or maybe I’m just getting stronger! Hehehe. I ended up at 115lbs for the 4 sets. Coach had me work on bringing my hands in closer on the bar. I tend to have trouble with this because my shoulder flexibility isn’t great but this really helped my drive back up.

9/28/12 WOD

Band Sprint were short and sweet. This is where you take a band and put it around your waist. You have a partner that holds onto the band and anchors down creating a fair amount of resistance making you work for short sprints. We did 6 sprints each. Nothing super special about these. It’s work that’s for sure.

MetCon: Team WOD Death by Pull Ups x 2 … woohooo… yay… fun.. i love pull ups. Say It, Believe It right? Ah heck I want to love pull ups, I really do. Pull ups just don’t love me. So Death by… means do a rep on minute one, add a rep each minute, go until you can’t meet the reps required for that minute. Well by 2’s means just that, instead of adding ONE every minute you must add two. 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. TEAM means YAY I have someone to struggle with me and pull my weight! Hehe, only the first part is really true and hopefully the 2nd part is only because I am weak. My partner, Andrea, knows of my weakness. It did help that we got to split up the reps. When we got 5 reps each I slowed down bad. I’m pretty sure by 6 reps each, Andrea did 1 extra one for me. By 7 reps each, I’m pretty sure she did 2 extra reps to make up for me. And by 8 it was 3 but I ended up coming back to do 1 of them. We didn’t make it for 9 reps each and I wouldn’t have made it without her, so THANK YOU Andrea! Final round counted 16 total pullups, so 8 minutes. Can I get new arms now? Please? Pretty Please?

Well that’s it for this week. I’m already looking forward to 2013. Maybe then I can have a year of goodness. But I’ll take this weekend for sure right now. Texas is due for some cooler weather so the weekend should be good! Enjoy yourselves and BE AWESOME!

it is what it is

Holy moly… After yesterdays fatigue on the good ol’ TRICEPS I thought they would be dead but they were not. It’s my chest and rotator cuffs (maybe) that are FRIED. Which in turn probably hindered me this morning at the BOOM Box.

Our scheduled programming was … drum roll please … CROSSFIT TOTAL! I recall sometime in my early days of CrossFit that I did this once. I could not find it written down or blogged anywhere. And I can’t recall for the life of me what I did. Today however was loud and clear. I had high hopes and left with disappointment then came to terms with it and hope that in 8 weeks when we do this again that I’ll have higher numbers.

8/31/12 WOD

For all my lovely readers who don’t know what CFT is then I’ll explain. You do 1 Rep Max of Back Squat, Press and Deadlift. You get 3 attempts at each movement to get the biggest lift. At the end you add up your lifts and voila, whatever number you have is your CrossFit Total.

With each movement we started out with a solid warm up at lighter weights. I have been struggling with Back Squat recently and decided to do my 1st attempt 135lbs which lower than my current PR. My 2nd attempt was at 145lbs (current PR) and I used a weight belt which was wonderful! I felt really good at 145lbs. So I jumped to 155 for my 3rd attempt. Got down to the bottom and gave everything I had to get up but couldn’t do it.

With Press I was feeling a 5lb PR was on it’s way and boy oh boy was I wrong. I didn’t eve get to my current PR which was really lame-o. I had trouble with getting my breathing timed right with the press. 65 seemed simple. 70 was HARD today.

We finish with Deadlift. Dude I’ve been stuck at 185 Deadlift for what seems like FOREVER! Today was going to be the day to break it. But NOOOOO! 195 was not budging. I guess my LIES to myself aren’t good enough yet. But they will be and I will finally move some weight DAMN IT!

With all of that said and explained, KNOW this isn’t a poor poor petri session. This is a I GET it and I MISSED it today but I’m NOT giving up or throwing in the towel or even settling for being subpar. Just gotta move on and work harder!

I will say I witnessed and have been reading FB posts of other BOOM Box ladies AND they are killing it! PR Factory at the BOOM! Even though I’m a little envious, I’m super proud of them all! Way to go LADIES, and MEN too if you are crushing it. I can tell you it’s truly amazing to see the progress in everyone and I hope to find some strength from that!

It’s the weekend y’all! Football and REST for us. Go ARLINGTON THUNDER! Yay for 3 DAY WEEKENDS! If you’re local…. BOOM BOX COMMUNITY WOD 9am MONDAY!!!!!! COME OUT and PLAY with US! and BE so AWESOME that it makes others sick!

Yay Friday!

Silly boys…couldn’t stay awake this morning!

As you can see we are a sleepy people today! But it’s FRIDAY! My kids are nuts! Who falls asleep leaning on the fridge like that? Geesh! And my youngest dead on the chair. It was a good laugh this morning though!

I was so exhausted from yesterday as soon as I laid in bed I was out! My alarm was going off this morning and I seriously thought it was Saturday. It took me a few minutes to realize it wasn’t and that I had to get moving fast! And it’s hard to go fast when all your muscles have melted to the bed. I’m not a morning person but I’m a good morning person as in once I start moving, I’m UP. When I’m sleep deprived I drag a bit but other than I’m awake.

At the BOOM Box it was all about preparing for the our Competition next week. We were doing one of the WODs that our team will have to do at Europa. But before that we worked on our Skill/Strength which was TABATA Handstand Holds. TABATA is where you do work for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and repeat over the course of 4 minutes. The idea is that you will put in more work with those 10 sec breaks than you would if you did work for an entire 4 minutes. With handstand holds this holds true. I know I could not hold a handstand straight for 2:40. The 6th and 7th round were weak for me. My wrists started killing me. I probably on stayed up for 15 seconds on the 7th round but fought hard to stay up on the 8th round. Definitely KILLER on the wrists.

8/10/12 WOD

MetCon: Team Effort 50 Back Squats per person for time. For the upcoming competition the WOD is 200 Backsquats, 50 per person for time. Kicker is you can’t put bar down. Your team has to hold the weight and change plates between male and females. Well there were only 2 of us this morning so we weren’t able to hold the bar for each other so we modified. We had to add/subtract weight while person held the bar across their back. Then the person holding the weight could rack it for next person. It wasn’t too bad for us, we just had to take on and off 10lb plates each time we switched. My teammate Ahmad busted out 25 reps right away. When he was done, I was like I dont’ think I can do that many. So I did 15 at 95lbs. Then we knocked them out in 10’s for two turns. He only 5 to go and then it was all me to finish out 15. So I did 3 sets of 5. While I rested, Ahmad and Coach held the weight. The last 15 sucked. Fatigue sets in bad. I already have wonky hips and that weakness was a long gone thought because the back was yelling at me to stop! I feel fine now of course but at that moment I did not want to finish! Time: 10:27

Last Night’s Outdoor WOD
I really didn’t know what I should do. I don’t want to do anything insane but I do want to get some work put in. After flipping through the XFit App, Jonas and I ended up doing our own little combo. After a jog around the fields we did 10 rounds of 3 Tuck Jumps, 3 Squats and 3 Broad Jumps. It doesn’t sound like much but all those JUMPS will take you out! I don’t have a good time for this because my MOUTHY teenager was being, well was being a teenager. So we had some points where we weren’t doing the movements. I finished under 6 minutes but had I not stopped I might have finished under 4 minutes. WHO KNOWS! After that we did 5 rounds of Baby Suicides. I say baby because it wasn’t a long distance and we had 3 lines to run back and forth from. We rested 1 minute between each round. The sprints took us anywhere from 25-30 seconds. By then we were drenched and walked/jog back to our chairs. Chugged a lot of water and then sat back and watched practice.

I won’t be doing an outdoor WOD tonight because I feel like 3 evenings of extra work is good for me at the moment. Plus we have a COMMUNITY WOD at the BOOM Box and I have an OLY Class after that! Better rest and recover this evening.

Food Intake Evaluation


You all know I whine and cry about all my FAILS when I don’t do so hot or I feel like I’m not improving like I feel I should. Well Ernie has to live with it! And he really thinks that my performance boils down to I don’t eat enough food and I disagree. I eat even when I’m not hungry just to fuel my body because I know it needs it. We decided I should talk to Grant (Coach) and see what he thinks. I went over with him my typical day of eating and he didn’t seem to think I didn’t eat enough but that I should add more fat to my meals, i.e. avocado. For example here is a “typical” day in my life. It’s a little more exciting than what you read but I’m not going to go into super detail and bore you. Just know my food is tasty and I like eating!
5 a.m. – BOOM BOX
6:30 a.m. – Eat  1-2 eggs and some fruit, sometimes some sort of animal
9:45 a.m. – Eat 1-2 hard boiled eggs, 2 pieces of pork belly, sometimes a veggie or fruit
1:00 p.m. – Animal, Veggies, sometimes fruit
4:00 p.m. – Green apple with Almond Butter (Yummo)
9:00 p.m. – Animal, Veggies

This schedule is pretty much the same M-F. Saturday and Sunday is less structured. So with that said I will add more fat in. I also know I could add more veggies, so that’s a goal as well.  He also suggested if I’m not hungry in the morning to just eat a bigger breakfast and skip the mid morning snack. We’ll see how it goes.

Breakfast this morning ツ

Hooray for FRIDAY! If you’re local come and play with us at CrossFit Boom – 9am! If you’re not then go to the park and play. Whatever you do, I hope it’s fun. Have a great weekend and Be full of AWESOME!

Mopey Monday

We had a pretty chill laid back did a lot of nothing weekend. It’s nice and not so nice all at the same time. I felt really unproductive and lazy but in turn I felt like I got rest physically and mentally. But it leads to a MOPEY MONDAY indeed.

As I had mentioned on Friday, the plan was to hit up the Downtown Arlington Farmer’s Market and that is what we did. We got there a few minutes before the official open hours but everyone was pleasant and welcoming. Overall I imagined it to be bigger than it actually turned out to be but they had plenty for us to look at. Veggies, all types of Honey, relishes, sauces, spices, jams, breads, some grassfed beef, tamales, jewelry, wood carved items, etc. I failed you all again and did not take pictures while I was there. I just get so wrapped up into the moment, I FORGET to take pictures. I did take one of the stuff we bought once we got home if that helps. :/

We ended up buying some bell peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, plums and peaches. I’ve tried everything but the bell peppers so far and everything was fantastic. We also bought some Amaranth Chips from one of the vendors there (Unhinged Homestead). Better than kale chips! We also bought some Watermelon Jam from her because I sampled some and had buyer’s impulse. We have no idea what we’ll put it on at the moment since we don’t eat bread. It was very YUMMY though and  I’ll just have to make some almond flour biscuits or something!

If you live in Arlington, you should definitely go check it out and support local farmers and businesses.

After the market, we vegged. Monday morning rolls around and I suck at life in
regards to CrossFit BOOM! Actually I only sucked with the running but it was a
big ol bag of suck.

Skill/Strength: 3 x 5 Back Squat at 105lbs and 3 x 5 Press at 50lbs. I felt good doing this today which should mean I’m getting stronger. It’s not a lot of weight but the higher reps is still sweat inducing work. I don’t really inquire as to why we lift how we do, I just trust that it all works out in the end. Does that make me a bad student for not inquiring or does that make me a good student for just doing? HMMMM.

MetCon: 400m Relay. So more running you say? Why YES, MORE RUNNING. We team up in teams of 2, in our case this morning, team of 3. One person runs UPHILL and back for 400m. When they get back, the next person goes. We do this until all parties have run 1 mile each. We had 3, so two of us ran together which probably helped me run a little faster than I typically would have as not to appear loserish. But after the first 400, I dragged ass. BAD! Did I mention it’s uphill? Everything burned and I felt like I couldn’t inhale properly. Not sure if that’s poor eating, humidity, combo of both? But it sucked! My ears started to hurt like they do when it’s cold outside. I was a mess, but I wasn’t feeling sickly so I kept on. We finished in 15:38. I don’t even know if that’s good or bad but it was bad compared to the guys 😦

I really really really HOPE that tomorrow doesn’t involve any sort of running. Seriously. I did let the weekend sneak in some bad eating. Not jumping off the deep end kind of eating but nothing to be proud of either. I have less than three weeks for vacation so STRICT MODE is enabled. I know I can survive the week… it’s the weekend I’m more concerned about!!!

Since the day is almost over, I hope your day has been good. Enjoy your evening. See you mañana. BE AWESOME!!!

What is it about Mondays?

Seriously I feel sorry for this day. It takes blame for everything! It can make or break your week sometimes. It can make your Sunday sad just knowing Monday is lurking right around the corner. I’m sure there’s some Betty Crocker mom or some overachiever suck up out there that thinks Monday’s are FABULOUS but I know it’s not…my weekend is over…my stupid commute is waiting for me and back to work I go. Today is no different. Another Monday and another case of the blahs!

But enough of my crybaby self. Lets get to the work I put in at the BOOM BOX. My IT band was already giving me grief! Skill/Strength was Back Squat at 65% of our max + 5lbs 3 x 5. I worked up to 100lbs and did 3 sets of 5 reps. I could have had better form on all 3 sets. I was giving in to the IT band and not getting full depth. Then when I got full depth I leaned too far forward. Not the greatest of moments but I knew what needed to be corrected. Definitely need icing and extra mobility work on my left leg.

6/18/12 WOD

MetCon – Curtis P’s 30 for time!
I had no clue what a Curtis P is but I soon found out. I still don’t know the story if any behind it but I know this series of movements is no JOKE.


So what you have here is a Power Clean, Lunge on each leg and the finish with a Push Press. That’s one rep! Now the goal is to do 30! I’ve never tried lunging with a bar racked across my shoulders so that movement alone was a new and stressful thought. With my IT Band already giving me grief I wasn’t making full depth in my lunge on that side and this was just with the bar, let alone weight added to it. But I still added weight. So I gave 65lbs a go and it’s not so bad to clean and I can get my right knee to the ground but I really can’t get my left knee down so MODIFICATION here we come. First Coach had me do a front squat after I cleaned the bar. This wasn’t so bad so that turned into Power Clean, Thruster for me. The weight wasn’t too heavy but I messed up too many times forgetting to clean the bar each time. I wanted to just bust out thrusters and this actually slowed me down and gave me extra work. That was with the first 10 that I was low functioning mentally. The second set of 10 went fairly quickly and I had a good rhythm. By the last 10 I was now feeling fatigued… I busted out 6, 2 and then 2. Time 6:33

I was drained but still wished I could have done the actual Curtis P’s. It’s fine I know. There will be a next time I’m sure. Never hurts to get Thruster work in.

Other Crap
Ok so it’s not crap. We had a busy busy weekend. Kid baseball = WIN. Movie: That’s My Boy = WIN (yes I thought it was hilarious and I don’t care what anyone else thinks). RANGERS GAME for Father’s Day = WIN.

After the AllStar game on Saturday, Jakob got to meet Jim Sundberg, one of the greatest Catchers ever and title name to the tournament they are playing in.

The MEN in my life enjoying the game.

Yup that’s the BOOMSTICK, huge ass HOT DOG. And Yes we all ate it, including me 😦

What no KNIFE… only a fork? We had troubles cutting into the ginormous hot dog and no one wanted to run down and get a knife!

I didn’t eat all that fantastic this weekend as you can see but it wasn’t all that BAD either. A little bit of everything. I most definitely went over my 20% in the 80/20 rule of Paleo lines of thinking. Maybe that’s why my knee was giving me so much grief. A little inflammation from poor eating? Probably so.

I’m good at cleaning things up in regards to food. Actually I’m super great at it. I know how to buckle down and take care of business. It helps that I follow Paleo more on the 90/10 scale if not even better than that. 100% is what I need to do because the beach awaits me in 3 1/2 weeks but 100% sometimes is little too much, even for me.

Ready for this Monday to be over! Hope you all are having a better go at it. Trying to feel awesome but all I fell is BLEH! Hehe. Until tomorrow!

Tired Tuesday & Tex-Mex Hash Breakfast Casserole

Yup I’m tired, sleepy, and more tired. I’ve been watching Game of Thrones Season 1 and I’m allowing it to interfere with my sleep habits. Not good and I’ll probably have to slow my roll cause I fear a Crash and Burn is coming. Rest is key to recovery and I’m eating into my rest. Darn series!!

6/5/12 WOD

I still woke up for the BOOM BOX and put my work in. Back Squats were the skill/strength today. We did 6 sets of 3 at 80% of our 1 RM getting around 2 minutes rest between sets. This wasn’t too bad. I did lose strength on the last set but still pushed through the sets at 115lbs. My first set was slightly lighter because at 5am, I can’t count!

The MetCon rang a familiar tune. Plyo Push Ups and Sled Pulls!
I found a very similar workout from Feb. 21 and I remember it about killed me! If you read that post then you should really know I don’t want to do this workout. But it didn’t kill me last time so I’m thinking it won’t kill me this time around.

 

This morning we didn’t go for time, we just did work for the sake of putting in work. I recall last time we did this I thought my ass fell off during one of the pulls. But this time wasn’t as strenuous. Looking back at that MetCon in February I saw we did heavier weight, not much heavier but indeed a bigger load. I am a little stronger 3 months later so that probably helped this time around but I’m telling you SLED PULLS may be the death of me at some point. I was not made for that movement at all! I’m just glad there was no times kept today. It would have been a sad day for me on the whiteboard!

Tex-Mex Hash Breakfast Casserole
So I had some extra ground beef and I wasn’t feeling meatloaf or meatballs, what can I make? I went to the good ol google for paleo and ground beef recipes and I stumbled across two recipes that sounded great from PaleOMG. (Yes you should follow this blog, always good stuff!) The first recipe I found was Sweet Potato Enchiladas and the second was the Tex-Mex Hash Breakfast Casserole. Well I was all set to make enchiladas. I had the sweet potatoes but they were a pain in the ass to get thin sliced as the recipe called for so I bailed on that recipe and chose the casserole. My food processor can shred those sweet potatoes right up! It was quite tasty and definitely different than the rut I’ve been stuck in food-wise. I did make the homemade sauce from the Enchilada recipe and it’s below as well. We ate it for dinner but it could be for any meal really. I’m really hoping it’s good for lunch. Leftover casserole can either be AWESOME or just plain ol blah. We shall see! I also gave some leftovers to my dad. He’s been going Paleo-ish. I hope he liked it as well 🙂 I did fail to take a picture so unless lunch looks beautiful you may have to wait till the next time I make this dish.

I know shut up and give us the recipe! Here it is:

Tex-Mex Hash Breakfast Casserole

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Total time: 40 mins
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

  • 1lb Grass fed Ground Beef
  • 2 sweet potatoes, shredded
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced
  • 6 eggs, whisked
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon bacon fat (or other fat)
  • 1 (14oz) can of El Pato Enchilada Sauce or homemade
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Pull out a large skillet or oven proof cooking dish. (aka cast iron skillet, etc)
  3. Place skillet over medium heat, add a tablespoon of fat then add your minced garlic and diced onion.
  4. When onion just begins to soften, add your ground beef and use a spoon or spatula to break it up and combine with onion.
  5. Now use your shredding attachment on your food processor to shred you sweet potatoes. If you don’t have a food processor, just use a grater then go to the store and buy a food processor for next time. Life will be better with one.
  6. When your meat is almost cook through, add all your spices to the meat and onions and mix to combine the flavors.
  7. Now pour your shredded sweet potatoes on top of the meat and pat down then add your enchilada sauce on top.
  8. Cover and let simmer for around 8-10 minutes.
  9. Once sweet potato begins to soften, remove from heat, add your whisked eggs and stir to combine it all together.
  10. Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until eggs are cooked through.
  11. Let cool, this b*tch is gonna be hot!! The enjoy! For breakfast, lunch or dinner!!

For the sauce

Pulled from Sweet Potato Enchilada Recipe

  • 1 (14oz) can tomato sauce
  • 1/4 yellow onion, minced
  • 1/3 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • salt and black pepper, to taste
  1. Place a saucepan over medium heat for your sauce. Add your tablespoon of oil along with your minced onion.
  2. When the onion becomes translucent, add your tomato sauce and vegetable broth, as well as all your seasonings. Let that cook down until it thickens just a bit.

That’s it for this Tuesday. Hopefully I won’t let Game of Thrones consume my night and I’ll get some sleep!!! Have a tremendously terrific day 🙂

The Running NEVER Ends!

WOD
We are on a running mode at the BOOM BOX which is great for me because I dislike it so much. Maybe I’ll learn to love it! I highly doubt such things but it only helps me out, makes me better, etc. RIGHT?!? I sure as heckola hope so!

Let me first get to the Skill/Strength of my morning at the CFB. It was Back Squats with more percentage math today. 5, 5, 5+. The weight seemed fairly light at first but don’t let it fool you. It’s catches up to you quicklike. After a few warm up rounds and building up to the weight I was slated to do 100, 105 and 110. I managed to get 8 full reps on my last 5+ which is GREAT for me. Me and the back squat don’t always turn out so well. However this morning I got past that 5th rep and carried on. It was a good feeling. Baby steps and I’ll take them 🙂

5/8/12 WOD

The MetCon was 3 rounds of 400m run, 25 Hand Release Push UPs and 50 Double Unders. My first 400 was smooth and felt good and my first 25 push ups SUCKED! I was dragging, my chest, arms, everything was burning. I struggled big time. Once I got those knocked out it was onto DU’s which I figured I had and I was WRONG! I couldn’t find a rhythm! I was pissed! I finally got 50 completed and took off for the next run. That 400 was the worst 400 in the history of time. But in that 400 I got my whiny attitude out of the way and got a little better for the last two rounds. My Double Unders came back to me and I felt mentally I redeemed myself. I still sucked at the push ups, just not as bad as the firsts round! Time: 16:07

Day 8 Sugar Detox
Even though I still really really want fruit I have finally gotten in the groove of this detox. I’m totally killing it and I’m proud of myself for doing such. Going Paleo in general wasn’t such an easy transition either but you set your limits and that’s all there is to it. Now with Paleo, we haven’t ever been 100% full on Paleo (80-90%) but we really work to put the best foods we can into our bodies and avoid all NO-NO’s in regards to the Paleo standards. We have our goodies every now and then but they are a rare appearance. With that said eliminating fruit has been HUGE for me. It’s natural and good for you but in the same turn it’s kept me hooked on wanting sweet stuff. Hence me doing this detox. And now at Day 8, although my brain still tells me I want the dang fruit and a little bit of pasture half and half with my coffee I know my limits are set and I just can’t go past them. THANK GOODNESS for MINT TEA! I might die without you!

It’s totally feasible to do, just a little extra work but nothing major. I’ve been boring with the meals but that’s ok as long as I’m hitting the mark. Great time to do a detox when you’re week is filled with super busy! Hahaha. But it’s doable even when you are super busy and on the go. Added bonus I drink more water which is never a bad thing! And I just keep on keepin on!

Have a FABULOUS TUESDAY! Be awesome in every way you can.