deadlifts

Day 3 SUGAR DETOX – Oh so SLEEPY!

Ok I was just trying to rhyme but I am sleepy! My eyes are sooooooo heavy :/ And I completely sucked at the BOOM Box today! Is it the heat? Is it my complete lack of AWESOME? I have no answers. I was struggling today.

It doesn’t help that Toes To Bar was on the agenda. If anything sucks the life out of me the most I do believe it’s these bad boys. I watch videos and I see people just knockthese out as if they are EASY or something.

I visualize myself doing the same… unfortunately my visualizations are just that and my actual movement is CRAPTASTIC! I did manage to get 2 in a row. Woohoo for me. Mel who works out with me in the AM said I should take that small victory and I know I should but I’m just not as positive as her. I was just pissed. I think it’s the pain that creeps in my hands that kills my mental focus to just do the dang TTB! YES COACH I’ll be purchasing gloves soon–real soon!

And TTB was just part of the workout today. The skill/strength was hamstring mobility to help us loosen up to be ready for TTB. The MetCon was 10 min AMRAP of 7 TTB, 9 Dead Lifts, 12 Kettle Bell Swings (1Pood). If I didn’t suck so bad at TTB then I may have had a better count but I spent a long time on my first round of TTB. Only got 3 and a lot of No Reps before I was allowed to do Knees to Elbows (those still suck by the way). I finished 4 rounds, 7 TTB and got to 4 DLs. I will master you TTB! I will OWN you TTB! I promise.

Day 2 of the Sugar Detox is down. I’ll be honest and say that I probably ate more sweet potato than I should have for dinner but REALLY if that’s the worse I did then I’m OK with it. I did feel bad but it was so good.

The little nagging headaches come and go at small intervals but I’ve either learned to ignore them or they are not as strong. I’ve been really enjoying my Refresh Tea. If you like mint this is the tea to get. But I also tried ZEN by TAZO. It’s a blend of green tea, lemon verena leaves, spearmint leaves, lemongrass, lemon essence oil. It’s pretty tasty and was a nice afternoon treat at work. I will say at about 3:30 though my EYELIDS were oh so heavy. I was tired. I just keep drinking cool, sometimes ice cold water and hoping I WAKE up.

I still see the fruit in my fridge and I want it. Why is there fruit in your house you ask…well the kids still eat fruit and I’m not going taking it away all together. They love fruit too! And I really don’t think it’s a bad thing. I’m just trying to do the right thing. It’s taken great restraint not to tear into a peach or handful of strawberries. Yet somehow I’m managing to stay strong. I know I gotta stick with this and I know I will win.

Post WOD I had 1 egg, some chicken sausage and a green tipped banana. It was on the verge of being ripe and I’m afraid the other two bananas will have to go to the kiddos. I do have green apples though to get me through the weekend. My snacks and lunch are planned out nicely and for dinner I will roast a chicken and cook up some broccoli and asparagus.

I still think May 21st is a LONG LONG away but hanging in there one day at a time.

Happy Thursday folks!

WTH was I thinking? PiZza?!?!?!

I will begin with my Paleo FAIL-EO first then bounce all around from that point! It all began Saturday after the Boom Beasts finished the 12.5 WOD. We all go to Texas Roadhouse for a celebratory CrossFit Games Open IS OVER lunch. I know Ernie and Coach are going to partake in badness and I truly thought I would hold strong.

That lasted 2 minutes maybe 3 minutes. As soon as HOT ROLLS hit the table I was out for the count. Kudos to Jess and Annette for holding strong! But that wasn’t the end of my indulgences. I went on to have pizza at BJs Brewhouse later that day.

And even later had chips and ranch dip as well… and er uhmmm cookies! I was indeed trying to put myself into a food induced coma. It was bad, all sorts of bad and it all left me with an upset stomach and took me out cold. It was like passing out from drinking too much. And let me tell you alcohol did cross our mind but we held back. Over a year of no booze, we didn’t cross that line! Besides having a stomach ache, I was extra bloated and heavy feeling even up till today. It’s not worth it people. I don’t know why I even tried. I thought I learned my lesson on Christmas, apparently I did not. Was it good? Ya it was good. Was it GREAT? Not really. Do I regret? At first I didn’t but today I really do. But I feel better getting it out there. It’s done, It’s over and it’s time to eat clean and start over!

Now that confession time is over I want to talk about Hunger Games. After days of deciding if I should take my 12 year old to the midnight premiere of Hunger Games I finally bit the bullet and bought the tickets. We arrived at 9pm to an already seated theater with all the good seat disappearing. Good thing we got there at 9 (thanks Ernie). I had planned on going at 10 and we would have had crappy seats. I’m not going to give a movie review because well I’m not a movie critic. I read the books and I thought the movie did the books justice. I’ve read and heard mixed reviews. If anyone thinks a movie can catch all the detail of a book they will surely always be disappointed. There’s not enough time to explain the details the book will have to offer. I thought they did great and I enjoyed every minute of the movie! Go watch it! But first read the books.

With me being an old maid and not getting home till 3am I wasn’t about to pretend to go to my 5 am workout or even go to work. So I took kids to school, came back home, and took a nap. I arranged to get my WOD in at 1pm which was GREAT! I wish I could hit up the box at 1 in the afternoon all the time. I forgot to take a picture of the board because I wasn’t in my normal routine. I just plain ol forgot. We weren’t putting our efforts on the board anyways so maybe that’s why I really forgot! Hehe. It was TABATA of craziness though. So we had to do 4 rounds of burpees. What does that mean? 20 seconds of burpees, 10 sec rest, 20 seconds on, 10 sec rest. Then we moved on to 4 rounds on the AIRDYNE bike. If you’ve never had the privilege of working on this little GEM of equipment let me tell you IT SUCKS! It burns, it hurts, I had not very nice names for the airdyne. And in the 2 minutes I had to endure it I barely burned 31 calories. That was the goal 30 calories in the 2 minutes. It sucked! We then moved onto ROWING… as if my body isn’t dead already. I missed out on the calorie mark we were supposed to hit till after I did my turn. I missed it by 1 calorie! I’ll take it in my extra calorie on the bike. And then it was onto to 4 rounds of DU’s. My first go was 28 and it was downhill from there. My legs had no bounce. So in our little 8 minutes of hell we got a lot of work in. It was good and hell I had the rest of the day off. Can’t really be complaining now can I? 😀

That evening it was baseball time for us. Two kids playing at the same time – Different fields. We had one team lose and the other team win to move on in the tournament. So instead of hitting my Saturday morning workouts I was at the baseball fields. Our first year hodge podge team pulled off a win and they now play in the championship game tomorrow night! WOOOHOOOO, GO CUBS! I have to boast a little bit about Justice as he held his composure Friday night and lasted 4 innings pitching allowing only 2 runs. It was awesomeness. I’m a proud mama for sure!

So with all the busy and all the bad eating that leaves me to today. MONDAY morning WOD at the BOOM BOX! Front Squat 1 RM and 5 rounds of 12 Deadlifts and 6 Front Squats with weight that is 50% of our Front Squat 1 RM. Make sense? I hope so!

3/26/12 WOD

If we’ve done a front squat max then I failed to record it and/or I have forgotten. So we started from scratch. Worked my way up to 135lbs. I failed at 140 and I feel that somewhere inside of me I may have been able to get that weight up I just sat at the bottom instead of exploding up. I didn’t try again as we get pressed for time, maybe with some oly shoes I would have pulled it off! Hehe, who knows. I truly do think I got to 135 due to the fact that I finally ordered STRENGTH WRAPS as suggested by a wonderful CrossFit buddy. Thanks Sally! THESE BAD BOYS are awesome and NOT ONCE did I feel pain in my wrists! I suggest if you have any wrist issues that you get some ASAP! I have yet to test them out with OHS or snatch but just helping in the front squat changed my world. I do really hope that they help in my other lifts. It’s such a simple idea using those wraps and makes a world of difference. LOVE THEM! HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM! www.strengthwraps.com

Onto the MetCon. Using half the weight of our Front Squat seemed fairly doable. I have learned that it will never be easy but 70lbs at DL and front squat is doable, right? The catch was DON’T drop the bar or you owe 3 burpees right then and there. SO now added pressure! ARGH! Dropping the bar between lifts can’t happen, will I survive? WHY YES, YES I WILL! I didn’t drop that bar once! I held onto it even though I badly wanted to let go. By the 5th round noises were coming out of me that would scare babies and the elderly. But I finished, NO BURPEES – Time 5:11! It felt good to not have sore wrists and to finish strongly!

Post MetCon I worked on pull ups and DUs. I’m bound and determined to get that damn pull up! I will get it and I will get it soon.

Happy Happy Monday! Hope you have a great start to your week! And thanks for sticking with me to till the end of this long and random post 🙂

Legs Are Jello!

Happy EARLY St. Patrick's Day!

I know I’m a little late in getting my FRIDAY post out. To be honest I just wasn’t feeling the blogger in me. But she is kind of here right now, so I figured I’d get to it before I lose her.

Sooooo, my legs are wasted. BAD! I’m moving around like a super old lady. Slow rollin right now. Wall Balls killed my legs 😦 I wasn’t sure if my legs would even support me when I hopped out of bed this morning. WAIT HOPPED? Hell to the no…It was more of a fall out of bed and hope that my feet hit the ground first and the rest of me just follow.

I was not looking forward to the BOOM BOX at all. I nervously looked up the WOD and was saddened to see DEADLIFTS and DEATH by Kettle Bell Swing! Ah well, better get to it right? I’m glad I did go even though I was pretty worthless. I don’t think Coach would ever say that to my face but if I were him I would have been thinking it for sure. Everything about me was off today.

The skill/strength was a 3 @155lbs, 3 @ 160lbs and 3+ @165lbs. I managed to get 5 reps in for the last round. I could have probably got 1 or 2 more but my grip was KILLING ME. This grip issue did not help me out either when it came to the MetCon!!

DEATH BY KETTLE BELL SWINGS! It was 35lbs or 1 POOD if you want to be official. I typically can kill KB Swings. I feel very solid doing them. Today … NOT AT ALL! I was letting my chest fall forward, I didn’t have control at the top overhead, my feet wouldn’t stay planted to the ground… I WAS A HOT MESS! I was very defeated in the heat of the moment. I think I just had a good dose of fatigue and my brain wasn’t tough enough today. I’m just being extra hard on myself so no worries. I’m fine. I just know this morning was OFF. I only managed to get 14 minutes completed. Ah well. I’ll bring my A game next time, I PROMISE.

That’s pretty much it. I’m looking foward to the kick off of baseball season for my kiddos. The two that are playing have their first games at the EXACT same time! How not fun is that? At least the fields are next to each other but still!!! Also don’t forget to rock out your GREEN!!!! It’s St. Patty’s Day! Have a GREENILICIOUS weekend 🙂 See y’all on Monday!!!

Yes this was me last year being FESTIVE at work! I'll be bustin out that badass head thingy tomorrow... if I can find it!

Burpees Coach? Really?

I still have nightmares from 12.1 and here we are with a MetCon that involves burpees! Hehe, they were fine I guess, just being a baby as usual 🙂

Whining aside, the MetCon was a quick doozie of a workout. 5 rounds of 5 Deadlifts @ 125lbs and 10 burpees. By the 3rd round of burpees I could feel my wind and energy zap right out of me. But I tried to keep up on pace and finished with 4:28. WOOO! Not so bad I suppose. I did rest a little too much on rounds 3, 4 and 5 of burpees. I thought to myself after the fact – shoot I just did 50 burpees in less than 5 minutes with DL in between…. why didn’t i DO BETTER on 12.1!!!??!!! Dang Burpees and the misery they bring!

3/13/12 WOD

Before our little beatdown we worked on Snatch Push Press. Anything snatch related brings me down. I suck at the Snatch as I have previously mentioned. Not only do I suck, it takes a toll on my wrists BAD! I managed to get 65lb reps but they were weak. My wrists were burning badly and I had a new issue arise…. Popping Shoulder or Popping something in my right should area. I’ve never had this rear it’s ugly head, but it’s not nice and it surely didn’t help me in the Snatch Push Press. Why you ask? Well getting the weight up is fine, it’s getting the weight back down that it hurts like a mofo. I have gotten my leg mobility down, now I need to focus on shoulders. It’s never ending isn’t it? Coach did show me how to better tape up my sad pathetic wrists. Hopefully next time around it will help me.

I also worked on some DUs. We are having a contest at the BOOM Box. Get 100 consecutive DUs, get a month FREE 🙂 If more than 1 person gets 100 then it’s a DU off for the most in a row! Should be fun but the most I have put together is 49. But mostly I only get 14-20 strung together on average. I need to practice!

Thanks for tuning in on this short, random and whatever else you want to call it Tuesday blog! The time change has me all messed up. It’s only an hour I know but it’s affected me big time this year! Have a crazy fun day!

Much Better Than Yesterday!

My day is already tons better than yesterday. Although I did leave my house without my purse and I needed to get gas for my ginormous vehicle. AND it wasn’t until I dropped the kids off at school that I realized I had to go back home! NO fun to say the least but it’s FRIDAY! So I can’t be too upset.

I also forgot to take a picture of the whiteboard today. I’m just all kinds of forgetful but I’m feeling pretty good!! At last the little things aren’t bringing me down today. That’s always a good way to start the weekend. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Today’s agenda at the BOOM Box was deadlifts and sprints! I don’t mind deadlifts but my hip has been achy so I wasn’t sure where I’d end up. We did a 5, 5, 5+ series starting at 140 for me. All in all my hip really didn’t hinder me but surprisingly my pinky fingers were killing me. Like the gap between your pinky and ring finger were on fire. On my last 5 I was dying. I don’t know what was different about my grip or what but it was painful. ON BOTH HANDS. My goal was 10 reps before the pain kicked in but I only made it to 6. It was definitely weird but at hopefully it was just a weirdo moment and not something that will recur.

Katie Hogan deadlifting 315lbs! WOWSERS! I think my max rep is 185, I have a long ways to go!

The MetCon was sprints uphill. Who doesn’t love an uphill sprint? I’m not sure of the distance we actually ran. 50 yrds? 60 yds. I have no idea. I’m not a good judge of distnace in the darkness. But we did 12 overall sprints. Run up, walk back, then pretty much 3,2,1 and sprint again. It was a much needed push to end my week! Who am I kidding I still have one more day of torture! Tomorrow is iChooseFit bootcamp and funday Saturday at the box. But it was a much needed push to end my work week!

In other news… the cleanse seems to be keeping me “regular” if you will. If this is TMI I’m sorry. It is what it is. I do believe my clean eating has done exactly what it’s supposed to do so I don’t have so much “crap” built up in my intestines. But I defintely think it’s important to still follow through with the cleanse. I haven’t been the PERFECT eater.

I have however lost 1.5 lbs. Yay me! I don’t weigh regularly anymore because I’m a scale addict but I did have to weigh when I went to the Advocare Mixer. Now there I was fully clothed, jeans and everything and I weighed heavy. I did not like it one bit! It was also that time of the month so even more so to not want to weigh. Well I weighed the day before the challenge to base my weight from. I weighed less on Tuesday than I did on Saturday but I didn’t count that as a weight loss. So I’m just going off what I weighed on Tuesday on my scale. And this morning a whopping 1.5 lbs was gone!

Is It Friday Yet?? (I wonder how many blogs have that as a title… ORIGINAL, I KNOW)

It’s been a busy busy week and it’s only Tuesday. It’s been busy work wise and at home.

I’ve never know where to start when I begin typing. Do I start with last night’s dinner or with the WOD this morning? Blah Blah Blah… y’all don’t even care I’m sure! I understand it’s a trivial decision but I don’t like leaving anyone confused.

So I’ll start with last night’s dinner – SPINACH STUFFED CHICKEN with BACON which turned out excellent! I found the recipe online (http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=4574737) and I’m sure it’s been posted, reposted and modified to anyone’s liking so please NOTE you can be as creative as you want to be with this recipe.

Sizzlin Bacon


Garlic, Onions (washed out :(), and Spinach


Stuffing the Chicken Breast


A Lil Blurry... But Seasoned and Ready to Bake


Voila! Stuffed Chicken, Brocolli and Guacamole


All That Stuffing.... Yummmy!

Spinach Stuffed Chicken With Bacon

INGREDIENTS:
10 slices of “clean” bacon, (nitrate, nitrite free, etc.), divided
1/2 cup red onion chopped (I used yellow onion)
4 large garlic cloves chopped
3/4 pound of spinach, chopped
4-5 boneless skinless, organic, free range chicken breast

METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take 6 slices of bacon and chop them up into about 1/2 inch pieces and fry them in a med-large skillet until nice and brown. Then remove the bacon from the pan and saute the red onion in the bacon grease for a few minutes. Add in the garlic cloves and saute until the onion is translucent. Add the spinach, sprinkle with salt and pepper, simmer just until the spinach is wilted nicely, and remove from heat to cool slightly.

Then taking your chicken butterfly each chicken breast and spread filling evenly on one half of each chicken breast. Then flip the other side of the chicken back over to cover the spinach filling, and wrap each with an additional slice of bacon. Place in a glass baking dish, sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper and dried Thyme leaves.

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, then increase temperature to 500 and bake for 10 minutes more to brown the bacon. If it is not brown enough you can broil the chicken for a few minutes, but be sure to watch it! Serve and enjoy.

For more recipes visit: CrossFit Eureka’s Paleo Made Easy

Made for a good dinner and I was ready for bed not to long after. This morning was my “first” Tuesday workout in my new 4 day week at the Boom Box and I feel great!

I feel a little better at Snatch and besides not getting low enough on either snatch or cleans, I’m getting better at it in general.

01/10/12 WOD

The MetCon was fun! Yes FUN! I was giving myself a time of around 7 minutes because I haven’t really been doing any deadlifts lately. The weight was 85lbs to help ensure speed but it felt super light. Time 3:55! We have a newcomer that was there with me but he had a modified workout so it was just me on the board that early in the morning. I’m sure the rest of the day will put me to shame ESPECIALLY the high school BOYS… they blew my MetCon out of the water yesterday! Oh to be young 😀

01/09/12 WOD... Those Dang High Schoolers!

When I got home this morning post WOD I got a little ambitious with breakfast and took on some Coconut Pancakes from Mark Sissons “The Primal Blueprint Cookbook”. And they turned out quite dandy and the boys devoured the few I did make! Another win 🙂 I don’t have the book with me as I type this so I don’t have the recipe. But it’s simple and good. I did have to play with the liquids as it was a rather thick batter at first. But in the end they came out YUM-O!

Batter cookin' up - Treat like regular pancakes!


Doesn't look to shabby!


Finished Pancake! You can top with anything... Blackberries and Maple Syrup shown here.

There you have it! Not so sure I’ll be as ambitious tomorrow… but you never know! Happy Tuesday… SMILE! 🙂