Mornings or Evenings

As you all know I’m trying to get back to my consistent workouts and slowly but surely I am getting there. (Too bad my blogging is still struggling, but I’m working on that too!) The biggest thing I’ve struggled with though is getting back to the EARLY MORNING workouts. I used to be so good. Getting up and getting to the box at 5 am was a no brainer. Just get up and go. Then I got lazy and chunky and sleep just sounded so much better.

Then there’s the evenings… those are oh so nice. My brain and body are awake. I’m way more limber and it’s not as hard to get moving and warmed up. My performance may not be better but I feel better! It does, however suck up my whole evening. And well that’s no fun.

But I did finally show up at 5 am today and boy oh boy I feel GRAND! I have energy. I’m ready to go and tackle the day. And in truth, I know I’m more of a morning person. But as with anything, you fall out of routine and it’s hard to get back. Yes this morning, I was achy and groggy. But by the time I was done and showered up, I was all woooooo!

I’ve been a slacker at the blogging so here are some quick recaps from the week!

4/18/14
Skill: Kipping HSPU Progression
We did a lot of stuff I couldn’t do, so this was mainly a sideline event for me.

4/18/14 WOD

MetCon: 400 Total Reps AFAP – 1 minute at each station of Burpess, Step Ups, Jumping Air Squats and Walking Lunges.
You just keep rotation until you get your 400 reps in. Or die. Thankfully no one died but I sure did feel like it at various times. There’s not much to say except my hips were smoked. This was not a FUN workout Time: 21:15

4/22/14
Skill: Muscle Ups
Ya, still not good at this.

4/21/14 WOD

MetCon: 10 rounds of 6 Cleans and 3 Front Squats, every 90 seconds do 3 HSPU or 1 Wall Walk.
Boy do I love me some Cleans. And the wrist is getting better everyday so I was excited for this workout all except for the HSPU or Wall Walk part. My wrist can’t handle Wall Walks just yet so Coach had me do 6 ring dips (band assisted). So I was back to happy place. That was until about round 4. I was over Cleans, my wrist was getting fatigued and I thought crap I still have 6 more rounds. There’s no way. But I hung in there and just chipped away. Time: 13:12

4/23/14
Game: Wall Ball Bowling
Well this was different. There were plates ranging from 15lbs to 45lbs set up like pins but flat and a medball. We split up into teams and got to roll medball for two frames. Whatever plate our ball landed on determined what movement the other team had to do. So if you landed on 25, it was 25 Push Ups for the other team. 15 = Wall Balls, 25 = Push Ups, 35 = KB Swings and 45 = Sit Ups. Thankfully our opponents weren’t very good so we only had 1 round of Sit Ups and and 1 round of Push Ups! It was fun though.

4/23/14 WOD

MetCon: 3 Turns of 2 rounds of 10 Dumbbell Snatches and 250ft Sprint.
We were supposed to get timed but that didn’t happen so we just did 3 rounds of hell AFAP. Except my fast as possible sprint included a slow trot by the end. We had 40lb dumbbells and had to alternate 10 reps. I actually got better as the rounds went on when I wasn’t dying from the “trot”. But 40lbs is still heavy for me. This workout was pretty much evil. But still a good one.

4/25/14
Woooo I finally made a 5am class.

Skill: Snatch
It’s been a while and my whole body hurts from the week so I wasn’t sure how I’d do, but besides a few rusty warm ups, I got back into this movement pretty ok. Not perfect or anything, but good enough.

4/25/14 WOD

MetCon: “Isabel” 30 Snatches for time
Coach didn’t want us to go so heavy we lost form and even though I’ve hit 85lbs just a handful of times, I wasn’t prepared for 85lbs or even 75lbs. So I went with 65lbs. That ended up not being too bad. Coach didn’t want us going light and finishing under 3 minutes, but he didn’t really want us going over 6 minutes either. I busted out two sets of 5, then sets of 2 then singles. Time: 4:14

That’s a Wrap!
So like I said it was slow rolling. A grumbly stomach prevented from hitting the box up on Monday and an unexpected ER visit for one of my kiddos prevented me from going on Thursday. But all is well and I’m still eating tons better than I had been last month. So yay for small steps! It’s possible for all of you on the bubble. You can do it! There’s not one day that’s better than any other day to getting back on track. You just gotta do it! So whatever that is… eating clean, getting active or anything to a healthier life, you got this! Have a great weekend!

BOOM! Whole30 Complete!

And guess what? I’m just going to keep on keeping on. Like I’ve mentioned before, I may not be PERFECT but I’m going to try and hit 90% weekly. That allows me to have two OFF ROAD meals a week if I desire. But right now at this moment, I can’t even imagine eating junk! I was talking about it to my box mates and I was saying, I’ve only put “clean” food in my body for 30 days. My stomach is going to hate me if I stray from that. So the desire to eat out or eat junk is not there for me. At least not for the now. Heck this is only DAY ONE of post Whole30. A lot can change. Let’s just hope it doesn’t change too much!

I didn’t take measurements, which I should have! DANG IT. But I did lose 10lbs! SCORE! I still have many more pounds to shed but it’s a good start. This keeps me motivated to keep eating clean. I did take some before and after pics but I decided I will take them in 30 day intervals until I hit a weight that I know I should be around. Then I should, no promises, share my progress. One of my kiddos who helped me take pics could definitely see the difference from my pictures 30 days ago. I’m excited what another 30 days will look like.

You too can do this! So look up Whole30, download their free pdfs, scour the forums, and get to it already. Someone mentioned that it seemed like it went fast. And I’ll say at around day 12 is when it seemed like the days just ticked along at a nice pace. The first couple of days are EXCITING. Wooo! I’m doing this, but after a few days in, it’s like OH CRAP I’m doing this :/. By day 12, I was definitely more in control. The mind isn’t so stubborn. You just DO! You do what you have to in order to make this work. Before you know it, it’s Day 30!

But you have to make that commitment. You can’t let Birthday Parties, family from out of town, office functions, etc. get in your way! Your family is NOT going to fall down dead because you didn’t have birthday cake at your grandpa’s 99th birthday. Your boss shouldn’t fire you for not having happy hour drinks. And your Mom, sister, brother or WHOEVER is not going to disown you if they come to town and you are doing Whole30. Sure you may get questions, weird looks, exclamations of insanity, but it’s your choice to be a healthier you. You are a grown up. You are an adult. You can make your bed if you want or not. You can eat and drink till you want to explode. But the minute you decide to cut “bad” foods out of your life, it’s like, ” OH $hI†, I can’t give up wine. And eating out, not possible. I can’t do this.” And you go into panic mode. Well I’m here to tell you, YOU CAN give it up for 30 days. You WILL feel better. You WILL feel a difference. So suck it up buttercup. Stop sitting on the fence. On Day 31 you can revert to all the unhealthy foods and habits. But I’m thinking/hoping that won’t be the case. Hopefully, you’ll see the forest through the trees! Don’t forget, I’m here for you as a cheerleader or as a listener. I will support you. You got this!

Boom Box
2/4/14
Strength: 50 heavy Russian Swings
1.5 Pood. Booo!

Skill: HandStand Push Ups
My wrist isn’t supporting me right now, so I just watched from the sidelines.

2/4/14 WOD

MetCon: 4 rounds of 400m Run, 30 KB Swings, 15 Strict Pull Ups
Oh man, running and pull ups! Not my kind of fun at all. But if I try and cherry pick my WODs, then I won’t get better at my weaknesses. It wasn’t pretty. My runs were slow and my Pull Ups even slower. The only thing I had going for me were the KB Swings. I don’t really even have much to say except that I finished. Time: 26:42

2/5/14
Strength: Turkish Get Ups for weight & 3 sets max Ring Dips
A couple of weeks ago we did a MetCon with TGU and my wrist couldn’t handle the kettle bell. Today I could at least do the 25lb KB. I didn’t try pushing more because the good ol’ wrist is a little worn out and I want it to heal up, not get worse!

Skill: Pistols
It is what it is. I’m not there yet. But we worked on them to get warmed up for the MetCon.

2/5/14 WOD

MetCon: For time – 200 Sit Ups, 4 alt Pistols EMOM. Start with Pistols
My modified pistols were done by holding on to a bar on the Pull Up rig. With all my clean eating, my knee didn’t even cause the tiniest of pain. I’m always scared with my left leg because it HURTS. But today I was able to bust them out quickly. And fortunately I was able to do Sit Ups in a good time. Well, a good time for me! I did 31 in my first minute. But I couldn’t keep that pace, but from then on out I did anywhere from 18-26 reps per minute. Doing Pistols EMOM is a little break, but not a big one. And for once, I just kept a good pace with Sit Ups. I didn’t pause for anything. I would just go slower or faster, but no stopping! Time: 9:46.

That’s a Wrap!
I feel good. My brain is ALERT. My energy is up. And my overall recovery from workouts is at it’s best. Wooooooo! I wish I could give everyone a taste of how I feel, so you can experience the feeling! That would, without a doubt push you to make changes. But, alas, I have no magical skills to do such things. You’ll just have to take my word for it!

Have a Happy HUMP Day! Do something out of your comfort zone today, like 200 Sit Ups or hold a Plank for as long as you can. Or just drink half your body weight in ounces of water (200lbs = 100 oz water). Do Something!

Also, if you are in DFW, CrossFit Boom is hosting another Community WOD, this Saturday at 9am. Yoga at 10am. Don’t be scared or intimidated. We have all levels of fitness that show up. It’s fun, laid back and then some more fun. Coach works around injuries and limitations. There’s something for everyone. Come on out and play with us!

The Games aka the OLYMPICS for CrossFit

If watching the CrossFit Games over the weekend just doesn’t want to make you start training and becoming a MONSTER right now I don’t know what will. (I promise I won’t bore you with my recap of the games.) And if you haven’t watched them you can log onto ESPN3 and watch recaps. Do it! NOW! But to me the CrossFit Games are a lot like when the Olympics come around and everyone is rallying for USA, wishing they had grown up their whole lives being a gymnast or track star. It’s that motivating. It’s that inspirational. Yet super defeating all at the same time! It’s all dreams for me at least. The I wish, I want, and the I could have been had I started 10 years ago!

Lindsey Valenzuela (photo: CrossFit)

I’ll be honest, I don’t know everyone’s story. I’m sure there might be someone like me out there that made it to the games, but on average, these ELITE athletes are young, fit phenoms or they were college athletes or heck even former professional athletes. I however am none of the above. Just a dreamer. But it still puts that little bit of excitement for me to want to push a little harder than just trying to be fit. To get that next PR or better finish.

Team Hack’s Pack UTE (photo: CrossFit)

Then I wake up and realize everything hurts. The muscles, tendons and ligaments aren’t youthful and immortal. I realize that I can’t even do any of the movements that these top CrossFit athletes are executing. So I drudge on, just hoping to be able to do a fraction of what they do, sometime, in the future, a long long time from now. It’s fun and I feel great but I’m not a spring chicken. I’m not a professional athlete! I joke that in 4 years I’ll be eligible for the Masters age group and maybe just maybe by then I’ll have it all down.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (photo: CrossFit)

For now I’ll just stick with trying to be a stronger me, no matter how long it takes!

7/26/13
Strength: Front squats 3rm
PR in the house for 3RM! Woooo! So we warmed up for a few rounds then got to business. I was feeling pretty good the whole way and finally got to 135lbs. This is my 1RM. 3 reps and I would be happy, happy, happy! And BOOM I hit it. So why not jump to 145lbs? It would be icing on the cake. But then I got nervous! This shit is gonna be heavy. I got under the bar and went to work. One didn’t seem so bad. I got this! 2nd one felt a little heavy but manageable. Number 3 was a NO GO. I got stuck and had to bail on it. DANG IT! I was so close to 3RM at 145lbs! I am, however, happy that I hit a new PR of 145lbs. That’s at 2 reps too folks! I’m excited for a new 1RM!

7/26/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 rounds of 400m Run, 100ft Yoke push, 3 Power Cleans 225/135, Rest 90 seconds between rounds
The only thing I like about this MetCon is the Power Cleans and the RX weight is above and beyond my max so I’m not even happy about those now. RUNNING and YOKE PUSH… double ick! My runs were mostly a trot/walk. And I hadn’t even ever pushed the Yoke on my own for that kind of distance. I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to do the workout. But I had a strategy. There’s a slight incline in the parking lot so I figured I’d make sure I’d come around so I would have to push the YOKE downhill. Hoping it would be easier. And my first time around it worked out. And although it sucked donkey balls, I survived. Got through my cleans (105lbs) and went back out for my run. Turns out my plan was ruined. With everyone else out running me the YOKE wasn’t in position for me to push it downhill so I had to push it up the incline! That’s what I get for trying to manipulate the situation. Total FAIL! I still got the YOKE going but my calves were on FIRE. I had to stop several times and thought I might die. It was a fight to the end on the 2nd and 3rd Yoke pushes. But the 105lbs weren’t so bad. Maybe this extra layer of fluff I’m carrying is helping. Time: 23:06

7/27/13 Community WOD
I don’t know why I keep showing up for these things! I get all excited because I do have fun in the end but I feel bad for my teammates, seriously! This WOD was no exception. We got into groups of 3 before we knew what was in store. As soon as it was broken down I wanted to sneak out and go back home. I apologized immediately for my suckiness and I’m pretty sure no one would want to pair up with me anymore!

3 rounds of Running around the complex (distance unknown, maybe 1000m), 75 Wall Balls, 75 strict Pull Ups

We all had to do the run, then we could split up the Wall Balls and Pull Ups. If only we could have split up the run. My team probably had to wait a good 3-4 minutes on me to just finish the Run. We tried splitting everything else up evenly. The problem with our team is that no one has a strict Pull Up. And we couldn’t use bands. So guess what? We pretty much had to lift each other up to get the movement completed. That’s a lot of lifting for all of us! We were smoked and I was feeling like a complete loser due to my running. Time: 43:00 something.

Maybe this Saturday I won’t be dragging the team down

7/28/13
Strength: Squats 8@65% 6@75% 4@85% 4@90%
Mondays I typically feel a little weak and the weight always feels a LOT heavy. But today I felt good under the bar. Maybe all of this consistency is finally paying off. Don’t get me wrong I KNOW it is paying off but I can see it and feel it now. So hitting those percentages and weights weren’t so bad and dreadful. Definitely a confidence booster, especially after that brutal Saturday showing.

7/29/13 WOD

MetCon: 75 HSPU Every time you drop you must run 400 m 20 minute cap. (the mod is 125 push-ups)
Well, well, well… Coach must be crazy or something. Or he just saw too many HSPU in the games. Handstand Push Ups are a reachable goal but I seriously need to drop some LBS off this body o’ mine. Once upon a time I could do a couple of Kipping HSPUs but now it’s just a laughable goal. I went with Push Ups. But guess what? I’m only good at Hand Release Push Ups. Where my whole body touches the ground. And this WOD had us doing regular Push Ups. Where my legs can’t touch the ground at all. That’s a whole new story and although once upon a time I could do a handful of regular Push Ups, it appears that I’ve lost it. I didn’t even manage to get 6 push ups before I failed and had to run 400m. UGH! All my squat confidence is now wittled down to nothing. The only upside is that I finally ran a 400 without stopping. But only that first one. All the rest were trot/walks. I struggled so bad with getting those push ups in. We had a 20 minute time cap to complete 150 and well I only completed 33. FAIL. I gotta work on those short range push ups now!

That’s all my recap for now. Can you believe it’s almost August? Holy crap! Where did this year go? It’s definitely been an off year for me. I’m trying to tighten everything up so I can finish 2013 strong but it’s flying by and my tightening is moving slower than I had hoped! I just gotta keep pushing and not look back! I encourage you to do the same. Today is as good as any day to start something new. Challenge yourself! Make a plan to come out to the BOOM Box this Saturday. I promise my feelings won’t get hurt if you don’t want to be part of my team. Just show up and have some fun! Eat Clean, Do Work and Be Awesome!

My brain is sleepy

I gotta get to bed at a decent time! It’s been so hard to wake up this week. And to add to that, MY WHOLE BODY is sore. From head to toe. Monday and Tuesday have taken me out. Maybe it was the quick turnaround workout that got me. Whatever it is, I haven’t been this sore ALL over for a long time. I’m looking forward to my day off tomorrow. Right now I could just use a good nap! But here I am recapping my BOOM Box morning ツ

Skill/Strength: Handstand Push Ups
I had nothing in me today to do HSPUs. I feel like I’ve made some progress but today was just a bunch of crap. After we worked on technique AND warmed up our Overhead Squat for the MetCon we had to do a 2 minute AMRAP of these bad boys. I got 3. I just had no UMPH in me today. We got a 4 minute break and then it was onto the MetCon.

3/13/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 rounds of 10 Overhead Squats (65lbs), 200m run with plates.
In my defeated state of mind I REALLY REALLY didn’t want to do OHS and run! I really have no choice at this point so I must do it, I’m just not going to be happy about it. Which I guess is fine as long as it’s not everyday. 3-2-1 GO! I knocked out the 10 OHS in good time. Broke down the bar and went on my merry way for the 200m. There isn’t really a GOOD way to carry the plates. 15lbs in each hand. Hugging both plates. It all wore you out no matter which way you decided. My runs (walks) sucked really bad. Other than that I might have had a decent time. Finally for once I didn’t drop the bar when I rested. I held on to that sucker because I didn’t want to have to get it up again. Time: 11:55 and those RX’s keep on comin’.

Is it better to stay home when you really really are just tired? Or is it good to at least get some work done? On the days I don’t want to show up, it’s just me being lazy and I typically wake up, amp up or something. Today was different. I’m sure had I skipped out, I’d regret it later but I didn’t get the typical I’m glad I came after all feeling. I’m just tired. I’m hoping it’s just a sleep issue. NEED MORE SLEEP! And a good massage!

How’s that for short and not so sweet?!? Who’s excited for 13.2? NOT IT! Ok I really am, just curious as to what CrossFit HQ has up their sleeve and to see Annie Thorisdottir and Lindsey Valenzuela duke it out!

Have a great day ladies and gents. It’s WEDNESDAY and I’m working for the weekend! Dont’ forget to go out and be A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Jump Around, Jump Around!

It’s Friday – Jump Up, Jump up and Get Down! Ya that song has been stuck in my head all morning because we had some Jump testing today at the BOOM Box!

The dreaded Box Jump was one of the movements we were doing. I see people jump on these things like kangaroos but not me, I have FEAR. If you’ve kept up with me you know it. I is SCARED, stupid scared and I still haven’t figured out why. BUT TODAY, I finally got up on the 30″ Box!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOO! That’s a big step for me. But add some 10lb plates and I’m out. I just couldn’t get it done. I’ll just take the 30″ jump and hold on to that for a while.

Our other JUMP test was for Broad Jump. I don’t think I’ve ever been tested for such and I’ve never TRIED for best broad jump so I had no idea where I’d end up. Well my first jump was weak and Coach showed me what I did which was try to jump straight as a board and that got me a whole lot of nowhere. I think I got 57″ on that jump. For my second try I bent my knees more and ended with at 60.5″ jump. I doubt that’s a GREAT but it’s a number that I can reference for future testing.

8/3/12 WOD – Coach didn’t write the agenda for the day but he wrote our results at least!

NO MetCon today, SAY WHAT? Yup we worked on Gymnastics Skills. We were going to Bar Work along with working on Handstand Push Ups but ended up only working on HSPUs. Instead of our normal set up with putting a 25lb or 35lb bumper plate under and abmat we went for a BAND Contraption to hold us up so we could practice full depth. I think saying full depth for a HSPU is correct but if it’s not I hope you understand what I mean. If we have a plate under our abmat our range of motion is limited which is still helpful but today Coach set us up in something along the lines of the images below. It was definitely ODD at first but it made sense and I felt like I worked at it a little better.

Not having a MetCon you would think we wouldn’t bust out a drenched sweat but we did. It was a different kind of work today and a much needed break on the body!

Park WOD
I didn’t want to do this WOD at all. I just wanted to sit in my little camping chair and hang out and watch football practice but I said to myself suck it up buttercup and then made my NOW 13 year old kick it into high gear with me. Ok so not high gear but at least we were kicking it into gear.

We started with a run/jog around the fields we were at. I don’t estimate distance very well but it was about a 6-7 minute run. We then used the XFIT Global App on my phone to randomly choose a WOD. The app has a nice little “on the go” feature and you can set it to randomly give you WODs that requires no equipment, for the most part. So it popped up with 8 rounds of 30 second Handstand Hold and 10 Air Squats. In reality I should have finished this in about 4 minutes. But it took me a little over 5 minutes because I was sucking wind and holding a handstand proved to more taxing that I thought it would. And after the 3rd round I dropped to a 20 second handstand. So I should have finished way under 5 minutes. Ah well. Once we were done with that we decided or I decided we should run the perimeter of fields again. Jonas was not happy and after what seemed like 200 yds I was thinking it was a bad idea as well. Instead of keeping with the running we stopped and started lunging. I started counting but then lost track so just kept lunging to a point we both agreed on. After we lunged, we back peddled to another point, then jogged about 50 yds to a nicer part of field. At the point we did Broad Jump Burpees for about 40 yds and then walked it in the rest of the way. It wasn’t hardcore but it was good work. Hopefully we’ll get more work done this evening.

Hip Hip HOOOOooooray for Friday! I hope everyone has the best weekend ever. Play outside! (YES I KNOW IT’S HOT, so WHAT??!!!??) And of course BE AWESOME!!

MED BALLS can SUCK IT!

I knoowwww, when will she ever shut up about medicine balls… well probably NEVER! I learned today that it’s not just wall balls that suck big ol’ donkey balls, but doing PUSH UPs on these miserable balls of NOT MEDICINE suck as well. Or should I say I SUCK at them! You could seriously play a drinking game for every time you read the word suck on this post! I will complain more I’m sure but I need to get to the full agenda of this morning.

So here’s the dirty WHITEBOARD for the day. Gymnastics for the skill/strength. I chose to work on Handstand Pushups for a couple of reasons. 1. We’ve had too many pull up workouts in a week so if that’s not practice I don’t know what is. 2. My IT band was EXTRA painful so no PISTOL work for me. 3. Dare I say Muscle Ups without giggling…well I’m no where close to that. AND 4. I’m closest to actually getting a HSPU so that makes most sense.

6/14/12 WOD

Besides still having a plate under the mat, I am having a hard time tapping my head to the mat and busting right back up. I have to get the timing down. I can do 5 pretty ok but then I fatigue and I struggle waiting for contact with the mat and then rest instantly once my head touches. I know it takes work and that’s all I can do for the moment. I do feel stronger with this movement in general.

MetCon – Ah yes by big ol suckfest MedBallalooza. 10 minute AMRAP of 5 Wall Balls (14lbs), 8 Ball Push Ups. My thought process going into this is I HATE WALL BALLS, BUT 5 is doable. I can do 5 Wall Balls! What I underestimated was doing 8 Push Ups on the sucky gray and red med ball. You have no idea how bad I wanted to let my knees hit the ground to make it easier. But I didn’t I held tough though and stuck through it. This was not easy for me at all. Final: 7 rounds + 5 wall balls + 1 pushup

These Med Balls + Form in next image is what my Push Ups looked like.

Ok maybe I wasn’t a SOLID BOARD but I tried!

In other news:
I’m still doing good at limiting my sugar. I won’t lie I’ve had some dark chocolate and some extra fruit intake but I’ve kept it limited. It’s not daily and I still stick to the 21-Day Sugar Detox ideals. I feel pretty good and when I do eat a little fruit or the yummy chocolate I have no apparent issues mostly because I’m not inhaling it by the pound. No sugar comas, upset stomach or headaches. I did eat a burrito the other day which equaled INSTANT HEADACHE. I don’t know why I do dumb things like that STILL but I do and one day hopefully I won’t! Processed foods are no bueno for you.

Eating Clean is the best thing you can do for yourself. I know it’s hard to wrap your brain around it if you days are filled with kids, busy lives, fast food, boxed foods, or tons of grains. But when you do the research, make the time and test it out for 30 days AT LEAST, you will notice a difference.

I found this on Facebook yesterday. I don’t have research statistics to back it… it is Facebook people. But at the end of the day a lot of these ailments that are treated with unnecessary medications are reduced with fat loss. True Story.

In one month I’ll be on a beach relaxing (and CrossFitting).

Maui

Also, I’ll have a certified TEENAGER. In two months I’ll be in my first ever TEAM WOD Competition at Europa in Dallas and I’ll be the big THREE FIVE. So much to look forward to this summer.

Start Moving if you haven’t, Keep Moving if you already started…. be AWESOME.

Suck It Up ButterCup!

Found this and LOVE it... so if anyone wants to buy it for me, feel free! Hahah!

Yup I need to SUCK IT UP! I’ve been a bag of whine and defeat lately. My body was so spent that I was leaning against the wall while blow drying my hair this morning! I do hit my WODs the best I can and I do want change but I’ve been letting my brain discourage me lately. I realized that this morning, hence the SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP. Am I still complaining on here… HELL YES! It’s what I do best but I understand I’m just hurting myself this way. So I am putting forth the effort after this post to stop beating myself up!

1/31/12

Today’s WOD did get me…. DAMN YOU BAR PUSHUPS! Let me begin with skill/strength first which gave me a boost of confidence for a whole minute… IF THAT! Handstand Push Ups! I have yet to master this skill. So we practice and we practice by stacking some bumper plates and throw and abmat on top. So we stacked it high enough for me to feel pretty confident in myself. Easy. I had to drop a whole centimeter, LOL, Jokes but it was rather easy and definitely confidence boosting. Well it can never just stop at easy so we replace one plate with a thinner plate and attempt more HSPUs. I still got it! Wooo… but again nothing close to full depth. Now I must rest with my head on the abmat and push from there. Guess what? I did it! 5 reps NO Problem! And now we remove the thinner plate to just the one plate and the abmat. I got 1 sad little “strict” push up and I was out for the count. Still a little confidence but when put to push past my limits I was at a fail. I know I have made major progress towards this movement so I’m not completely defeated but my HIGH was taken down a notch. And we’re only on skill/strength!

Yes these KILLED me today!

The MetCon (key in dramatic music). 5 rounds for time… 5 Power Cleans (75lbs) 10 Bar Pushups! And this is when weakness overcame and I was sucking bad. Power Cleans – I got those. Towards the end I wasn’t getting my elbows up high enough so it took a little work but I was feeling pretty good and looked forward to the Power Cleans! I knocked out my first 10 bar pushups pretty ok. It’s the rest that killed me. It’s the rest that sucked up all the time and all my energy. What is a Bar Pushup? Well it’s when you put your hands on the barbell (pushup position), stabilize yourself (cause it rolls) and you knock out pushups. Chest must touch bar for it to count. I had about 7 NO REPS! ARGH! Misery! By the 5th round I had to do them one at a time. I had no strength left. I finished just under 10 minutes! I wasn’t even looking at clock because that would have brought me down more Finished in 9:59. And then I just laid there. I thought I was learning to appreciate pushups and I wouldn’t say I love them but I don’t despise them… NOW after bar pushups I am reevaluating my relationship with the pushup in general!

Dinner! Such a Dull Pic but NOT Dull in Flavor!

I am not however reevaluating my love for food! I tried out a couple of new recipes! And they were yummo! I had ground beef out for dinner and had a couple of acorn squash. There must be something wonderful to make and I did find a recipe on the Whole9 Blog. They had stolen it from someone and now I have stolen it from them. I did not have dried cranberries but I did have dried cherries. So I replaced that one ingredient 🙂 And I doubled the recipe so we would have leftovers.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 acorn squash
1 pound grass-fed, organic ground beef (ground turkey would work, too)
1 chopped onion
1 finely-chopped apple (we used a Braeburn, but find something local-ish)
½ cup chopped cranberries (fresh, not dried)
¼ cup chopped pecans
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp sage
unrefined coconut oil
salt, pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to ~400 degrees.
Cut the acorn squash in half, and scoop out the seeds and any stringy stuff.
Place the squash cut side up in a large baking pan, and put a tablespoon of water into each “cup”, and pour ¼ cup of water into the bottom of the pan.
Loosely “tent” the pan with aluminum foil, and bake for 30-35 minutes.
While squash is baking, chop the onion, apple, pecans and cranberries.
Saute the beef and onion in a little coconut oil for 2-3 minutes, then add pecans, cranberries, and herbs. Add salt and pepper. Do not completely cook this mixture.
Pull squash out of the oven, spoon the mixture into the “cups” (heaped to overflowing is okay).
Bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes.

Acorn Squash Getting Prepped to Bake

My Horrible Tent – I did fix it a bit but did not take pic

BEEF - It's what's for dinner!

Ingredients to Go with Ground Beef (that apple sure did brown super quick)

Everything sizzling and cookin' - YUM

Acorn Squash FILLED! Excuse my DIRTY oven. I just cleaned that thing a month ago1

Mine came a little overcooked on top. I should have paid better attention. But the rest of the meat mixture was perfect!

In addition the squash I had some Kale. I had never made Kale other than in “chip” form so I searched the interwebs yet again. Nom Nom Paleo had a good simple recipe. I did add mushrooms because I LOVE mushrooms and it turned out quite well!

Quick and Simple Stir-Fried Kale and Bacon

Here’s what I gathered for the recipe:

1 bunch of lancinato kale, leaves removed and thinly chopped
3 slices of bacon, cut in 1/4” strips
splash of Banyuls vinegar (the original recipe uses a squeeze of lemon)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

Cook bacon till crispy, Add Mushrooms and let sautee for a couple of minutes. Add Kale in a bit at a time, letting it wilt some before adding more. Once it’s all wilted, add a dash of vinegar (I USED RED WINE VINEGAR). Voila! It’s done. Simple enough right?

Experimenting with the Kale

All Nice and Wilty... Really Vibrant Green... Love It

I was ambitious last night but not too ambitious so I wanted to make a quick sweet treat. I found a gluten free recipe for NO BAKE COOKIES. NO offense to the creator but I’d rather just call them No Bake Treats as they aren’t really “cookie” like. But still super tasty and addictive. I found this recipe on Gluten Free Fix. I substituted ALMOND BUTTER for the peanut butter.

New Treat - No Bake Cookie

Gluten Free No Bake Cookies

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil
1 cup honey
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (ALMOND BUTTER)
3 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a pot, combine butter, honey and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat.
Stir in peanut butter, salt and vanilla.
Stir in coconut flakes.
Scoop cookies onto a parchment lined sheet tray.
Refrigerate to set.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge up to 1 week and freezer up to 1 month.

*yields 3 dozen gluten free no bake cookies

No Bake Cookie, More like NO BAKE TREAT - Addicting!

I’m pretty sure you could add just about anything to these that compliments the main ingredients and you will win. So give them a try. Big win in our house and easy to eat more than one so you gotta be careful!

Alrighty then, that’s it for this Tuesday. Remember to SUCK IT UP and just DO WORK! There’s no whining in CrossFit and there shouldn’t be any in LIFE. See ya mañana!

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

handstand push ups

Mornings or Evenings

BOOM! Whole30 Complete!

The Games aka the OLYMPICS for CrossFit

My brain is sleepy

Jump Around, Jump Around!

MED BALLS can SUCK IT!

Suck It Up ButterCup!

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