And then I got tired

I was feeling pretty good Day ONE and Day TWO. But it caught up to me. The HANGOVER as Whole30 states may happen in Days TWO & THREE. And I felt it this morning at the BOOM Box. Normally after the warm up, especially in the mornings, I finally wake up. The blood is flowing, the heart rate is up and my brain starts to work. But today, I was like a slug. Moving slow. Spaced out. Eventually adrenaline kicked in but the rest of the morning has been so blah. I know this will pass but right now I just want to crawl into bed. The good thing is that I truly believe the Clean Eating is instantly helping my sad muscles recover much more quickly. I’m not near as sore as I have been the past couple of months and my body is overall feeling better for the most part.

Many Whole30ers report headaches, fatigue, and general malaise during this part of the program. This, my friends, is completely normal. Your body is working its way through a whole host of junk it stored from the foods (or food-like-products) you used to eat. This process lasts a day for some folks, but for others it can take a few days longer. Relax, drink a lot of water, and keep making good choices. And do your best to earn sympathy and support from friends and family,
– www.whole30.com

And even though I’m feeling like the only thing I should do is sleep right now, let me tell you how excited I am that my meals are turning out great. That’s like the bright side to this nasty food hangover. The meals from Weeknight Paleo by Amber Beam are tasty and aren’t taking up much of my time. And no, I’m not getting compensated for plugging this book! LOL I WISH! Seriously though, the meals are great. And a success among all of my family… ages 10-29! Hehe.

I still am struggling with eating breakfast after my Post Workout Meal. And I fear that I always will. I have a good time frame of 1 1/2 – 2 hours after my PWO and it’s still so hard. It’s like I don’t want to chew. And part of Whole30’s thought process tells you to not drink shakes/smoothies! Chew your food! UGH! My face hurts!

Day TWO Everything
I decided to just give you all a run down of the day instead of splitting it all up! Maybe this will be better and less boring. I hope. Maybe. Don’t leave me! 😀

You should have already seen my beautiful breakfast in yesterday’s post and I only described Lunch. Got home, hit the BOOM Box and reheated some pork for the Carnitas–Style Taco Tower. But also remembered I had Salmon I did not throw in the freezer and needed to cook that ASAP. Turned out lovely, just lovely!

BOOM Box 1/714
30 heavy Russian Swings
Used the 1.5 POOD. Not fun, but did the work

Skill: Pull Up progressions
So Coach wanted us working on the Rings! Ugh, me and rings. I have dumb fears, Hanging from those is another one of them. But I almost got Toes to Bar on those. Just need to practice.

1/7/14 WOD

MetCon: 8 rounds for reps of 1 min Over Head Lunges w/plate 45/35 and 1 min Burpees to the plate
Ya, I knew this was gonna hurt! I wasn’t sure how the OVER HEAD part was going to work with my wrist and well I learned real quick it wasn’t going to work. I did about 10 reps with the 35lb plate but my wrist won’t bend all the way, so I was off balance. I tried going to a 25lb plate and it was still a NO GO. So I just did lunges. I felt bad I was scaling way bad. But I totally sucked without weight too! The burpees got me. BAD. Final: 214 reps.

DINNER
So I said I came home to reheat some pork. I made the Cole Slaw that goes with it the night before. SUPER EASY. And I improvised on the “tower” part. I didn’t purchase the metal ring thing that was suggested. But I had this handy dandy cup/measure thing that I used to attempt a tower. As you will see in the pictures, it came out OK, nothing restaurant worthy but I just want to eat!

My contraption, nothing like what the cookbook asks for!

Hehe, my LEANING Carnitas tower! May not be purty but it sure is tasty!

And what the cookbook shows! (Weeknight Paleo) As you can see I was a little heavy handed with the guacamole in the pic above!

In between reheating and trying to create a masterpiece, I cooked up the Salmon for the Herbes de Provence-Crusted Salmon with a Citrus-Herb Sauce and Asparagus in Weeknight Paleo. Besides the “juicing” of the citrus fruit, this was quick and easy. Maybe 20 minutes from start to finish. Seriously EASY and QUICK and kind of fancy looking! So yummy!

Fresh out of the oven.

My attempt at making it more presentable.

SLEEP
Working out in the evenings makes it a little harder to sleep but once I did fall asleep I was out! I woke up fine when my alarm went off at 4 am but ended up hitting snooze till 4:35! Doh!

Day THREE
So I rolled in a few minutes late to the BOOM Box…. you can’t fault me for that when I’m showing up at 5 a.m.! Coach T already has his wheels turning on what I would be substituting for the WOD. Cause it was Thrusters and Hang Cleans on the board.

Midline: 30 evil wheels
With my wrist and lack of core strength I could only roll out so far, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t putting a beating on me!

Strength: EMOM 20min 3 thrusters AHAP. Once you have past 5 minutes you must keep that weight.
I am soooo glad I can’t do Thrusters with a BAR! They are misery! But I did get the opportunity to use 20lb Dumbbells. Of course the weight wasn’t there but I’m still working up my upper body strength since it’s been slow rolling. Still sweating and still a good heart rate.

1/8/14 WOD

MetCon: TABATA of Air Squats, Hang Cleans 115/75, C2B Pull Ups
Sometimes I love TABATA and sometimes, like today, I don’t care so much for it. Maybe cause I was already feeling drained after the Evil Wheels. So tired! 3-2-1 GO. I started off OK with Air Squats getting 20 in the first 20 seconds, then 16, then 14, then 12… I stayed at 12. Instead of Hang Cleans, I did Power Snatch with the 35lb bar. I did like 7 on the first 20 seconds, then held out with 5 for the rest of the time. By the time I got to my BANDED Pull Ups, I was just happy to be alive. I struggled a lot and ended up with a score of 2! Boooo! Final: 12, 5, 2

PWO MEAL
A serving of pork and a serving of Sweet Potato Puree. As exhausted as I felt, the food was good and went down easy. But as soon as I got home, I was already dreading breakfast!

BREAKFAST
Bone Broth! I’ve made the broth before but with less chicken carcasses and only used it for soups and seasoning veggies. But now I’ve made it properly and now I know that drinking it by itself is beautiful. And knowing all the health benefits makes it that much more the reason to drink it! Click HERE for more info!

I also had boiled some Eggs on Sunday, so this was going to be my breakfast. I was moving slower than normal and was glad I had this back up for food. I packed 3 eggs up, a sandwich bag full of spinach and a handful of cherry tomatoes. I figured I would eat this around 7:45 a.m. on my drive in to work. OH MY the spinach was so hard to eat as well as the EGGS. I was tired of eating that I failed to eat one of the eggs. I realized I was missing my “healthy” fat also but was so over it. I think/hope I’ll survive till lunch!

That’s a Wrap!
So there you have it for this lovely HUMP DAY. I’ll have REST until Friday morning! How sweet it is! This gives me time to cook up some chicken and ground beefs to hold me through Friday and maybe through the WEEKEND. I’ll be checking in tomorrow, hoping I’m not sooo tired and let you know how any food prep went down. Until then, take that step to cleaner eating, more physical activity or just getting more sleep! Do Something! Make a Change!

Love/Hate CrossFit

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve read articles bashing CrossFit and articles praising CrossFit. And everything in between.

I’m pretty sure a lot of the CrossFit haters have never even attended an event or walked into a box. And maybe the few that have ran with the wrong folks. But on the flipside a lot of the CrossFit die hards are badass mofo’s that are so elite, I can only wish to be like them. They are those beautiful bodied people. The kind of people that belong in magazines. They are never average joe’s such as myself – With lots of flaws and lots of weaknesses. A few months ago, I wrote a post on Why I (still) CrossFit. I wish I was more “popular” in the blog world because I think my experience and who I am caters more to the AVERAGE person who is just looking for an active and healthy lifestyle but may never grace the covers of magazines.

Truly, if you need/want a great EVERYTHING workout and you want a supportive community then CrossFit is something you should check out. There are lots of people out there with goals and a group is out there for every walk of life, but I really believe that the community I have found is one that is solid and that keeps growing. You can have so many different types of people connect on the same level even if you aren’t on the same physical level. Sure you’re gonna see silliness and sure you may see some instances of absolute ridiculousness, but as a competent human being you should be able to discern good coaching over poor coaching. Click here for what you should look for in a good box.

If the group thing isn’t your cup of tea, you can do CrossFit anywhere. But for me, I like sharing my success and failures with those who are learning and growing with me. Some folks have flown right by me, but are still there in support, cheering on to the last rep and some folks commiserate with me as we work towards our sometimes lofty goals.

Regardless of what our goals are, or where you are at on your health journey, I believe that you gotta do something that works for you. But if you’re gonna bash CrossFit, you better have participated. And if you’ve read someone’s love for CrossFit but are intimidated because they have beyond the 6 pack abs, just know it’s not all about outrageous workouts or insanely perfect people. There’s a lot of people similar to me. The girl next door. Or in my case the mom next door.

11/13 – 11/14 WODs
My body hates me, For real! Everything hurts. I told myself on Tuesday when I finally hit up the BOOM Box after a tiny hiatus that I would go Tu/Th and then baby step my way back into everything. I’m still a wounded birdy so I’m still limited. But by last night, I was so achy that I knew I had to WORK the soreness out. I was glad I did but I wasn’t sure if my bed would keep me hostage or if I would be able to walk this morning. I set my alarm anyways. Barely by the hair on my chiny chin chin did I make it in. Only to find out I’d be the lone ranger today.

It’s been cold in the mornings and it takes a while to get these old bones ready to go. My ankles, hips and shoulders are sooooo tight. And well everything else is sore.

11/13/13
Strength: Max distance sled pull in 30 seconds x3 3plates/2plates
Well it was still cold at 7pm but probably not near as cold as 5am! I have never like sled pushes, sled pulls, sled anything! And as refreshing as cool air can be, it can also burn your lungs. Whew it was bittersweet. In 30 seconds, my first and best run was for 220 yds. After that I got close but my butt was on fire! That pretty much felt like that was all the workout I needed. Time to go home.

11/13/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 min EMOM of 5 Box Jumps, 10 Push Ups, 15 Air Squats; 5 min EMOM 2 Power Cleans 225/135; 3 min EMOM 5 Box Jumps, 10 Push Ups, 15 Air Squats
But we had 11 whole minutes more of MetCon to complete. While 11 minutes doesn’t sound like a long time, why don’t you do the above work. I was barely finishing the reps in the minute. I’d get 5-10 seconds of rest and then bam, start again. No I can’t do Push Ups right now so I did Hollow Rocks. And to substitute for Power Cleans, I did Deadlifts. I completed all my rounds, but some of them were too close for comfort.

11/14/13
Lone ranger this morning! Boooooo! Who knows I may have had the best time. Ok really, I know I didn’t but one can hope.

Midline: 30 evil wheels
Not knowing what my wrist is capable of is scary. Just nerve-racking. I realized I could do 30 evil wheels, damn it! My abs will be dead in the morning.

Strength: Strict Press 5,5,5
This a no go so I did rows. I didn’t do too much weight. Started at 65lbs and ended at 80lbs. It did feel good to work my back vs. LEGS. Even though squatting is the best and deadlifting is nice… sometimes the lower body needs a break!

11/14/13 WOD

MetCon: 5 rounds of 10 Burpees, 20 Lunges and 25 Double Unders
Ya, not bad for 1 round. 5 rounds is a different story. Remember folks you want to kill this workout As Fast As Possible. To substitute for Burpees I did GHD situps. I thought the time it would take to get up and down from the GHD would hinder me, but who am I kidding, Burpees would hinder me just as much. The lunges were killer. Halfway through each round, my hips would just ignite and burn soooo bad. I just had to chip away and put that pain elsewhere. DUs weren’t too bad. I’d be so close to getting unbroken each time but would trip up close to 20. Doh! So frustrating. Time: 9:26

The End
That’s a little bit of everything don’t ya think? It’s almost the weekend y’all. Smile and be happy! Get active, eat clean, sleep and as always be AWESOME!

Diary of a Wimpy HIP

My Hips don’t LIE. They BURN! Well just my right side.

Back in 2011 when I started my journey of better health and fitness, my lame-o right HIP started giving me issues. I thought I had injured my hip flexor but never really checked it out as it wasn’t severe pain and it was intermittent. Then CrossFit came into my life and my sad BIG HIP was just always nagging at me. It hurt sitting, it hurt standing, it was always hurting. It didn’t hurt when I was working out though at first. Then I could feel it limiting me in my squats. Coach gave me some mobility exercises but it wasn’t going away. So I went to Airrosti which was heaven on earth. They worked my whole hip/glute area. It was painful but relief at the end of my sessions. They asked if my HIP popped randomly and I said YES my whole life. Aha, they said. They asked if it just started hurting now that I’ve become super active. Of course my answer was YES. I mean the popping sometimes hurts but I wasn’t doing much by way of regular beatdowns prior to 2011 for quite some years. They told me I had an impingement. And that all of this new activity was taking it’s toll. Yay ME! I guess YOUTH is golden because I was super active all through high school and never had any problems. They said I would probably always have HIP flexiblity issues. BUT with proper stretching, foam rolling, etc I should be fine and I should be able to manage any future issues.

Of course after focusing on the stretches they gave me I was feeling much better and I was such a go getter in general with my mobility. Then I got to feeling better more often, got bored sticking with the mobility and just became reliant on the necessary post WOD mobility at the box. And guess what? All that HIP pain is creeping it’s way back in. Why oh why am I such a glutton for punishment? Why can’t I just roll out and stretch when I’m watching TV? The past several WODs at the BOOM box have brought my HIP issues back to life and now I need to focus on being better at mobility. I just need to stop being lazy and get back to it! I sure as hell could eat a tub of ice cream while sitting in front of the TV so why won’t I just get on the ground and get to it!!??!!

8/1/13 WOD
Skill: Double Unders
Easy breezy! I got these. I’m learning to pace myself and have them under control whether it be fast and knock them out or go slower and take my time. I’m not great at doing more than 50 UNBROKEN but that comes with lots of practice. And lots of practice is something I don’t do! It’s my one superpower in CrossFit and I don’t focus on extra work with DUs because I have so much more to figure out!

8/1/13 WOD

MetCon: AMRAP 7 min, Up Ladder by 5 of Jumping Lunges and DU; Rest 3 minutes; Max Effort Unbroken Pull Ups
I’m feeling good about this WOD. My knee is less inflammed due to proper CLEAN eating so I even feel good about JUMPING LUNGES which when on a poor diet hurt like hell. The goal is to do 5 of each for Round 1 and increase 5 reps for each round after. So Round 2 will be 10 reps each, Round 3 will be 15 reps each and so on. It was round 3 when I was into the lunges that my HIP started to shut down on me. It was burning no matter what I did. I had to slow my roll. I had no explosion. I kept going just at a much slower pace. Fortunately I can knock DUs out so. And as long as I didn’t stop on the Jumping Lunges I felt like I would still do well.

When the 7 minutes was up we got a 3 minute rest and then it was onto max effort Pull Ups. I got my bands up there and waited for our rest to be over. My max effort was only 10 Pull Ups. I wasn’t feeling it and it showed. Final: 7 rounds + 6 Lunges + 10 Pull Ups

8/2/13
Strength: Front Squat 5@65% 4@75% 3@85% 3@90%
With my new PR weight that puts me at 95lbs, 110lbs, 125lbs and 130lbs. And amazingly I did pretty well through all the sets. The last few do get heavy but not impossible. It really does feel good to know I am getting stronger.

8/2/13 WOD

MetCon: 10 Rounds Team WOD 5 DL (275/185) 10 HR Burpees
Deadlifts YAY, Burpees BOOOO. This was a team WOD, so 1 person does a round, then your partner does a round. We had 3 folks on our team which had two of working at once. I opted for 155lbs because well my Hamstring is achy and my Hip is achy and there’s not a need for injury. I felt like the first 3 rounds of Deadlifts were smooth and quick, but my last two sets were pretty slow. As far as Burpees went, I only did OK on the first two rounds. The last three rounds I would get 5 reps easily then struggle with the last 5. Burpees are not my friend. Time: 9:50

8/5/13
Strength: Squats 6@70% 6@80% 3@90% 2@90%
I grouped up with some stronger ladies today which helps get me through all the reps mentally. As the saying goes “Iron sharpens Iron”, it helps to watch others move heavier weight. It helps me focus on my goals and that I too am capable. With time and work, I’ll get there.

8/5/13 WOD

MetCon: For time – Lunge 300ft, 400m Run and 50 Jumping Air Squats
Sigh! Lunging is not my strength. I can manage to get through them but I never enjoy them. This however, was going to kick my ass and that my friends, it did! So we go outside and Coach says we’re going to lunge around the parking lot and showed us the route we should take. THAT IS NOT 300ft Coach! And he responds, no probably more but that’s the route you’re taking. It may be 450ft. Who knows. GREAT! So lunge distance is UNDEFINED and all I know is that it’s a long ass distance. Talk about HIP being on FIRE. I wasn’t even halfway around and I was not happy. How could this suck sooo much?!? I don’t have an answer except that I need to work on that HIP mobility ASAP so lunges aren’t so brutal. Add a 400m CRAWL to that and I was just ready to call it quits. But wait, there’s more! 50 JUMPING Air Squats. Just that extra evil that I needed added to the workout. I busted out 10 and 10, then 5’s. I only took short rests in between but my overall time was so slow. Time: 14:18

That’s all for now ladies and gents. Eating clean is becoming more, eating junk is becoming LESS. Consistency at the BOOM Box is paying off! I just need to add MOBILITY back into the equation. Have a super duper TUESDAY and don’t forget to be Awesome!

Breaking Point

I finally gained enough weight to have a breakdown and stop stuffing my face hole. I’ve been in a funk as of late and I’m been eating like crap. It’s amazing how much weigh I can gain in 2 months. I haven’t been on top of my BOOM Box attendance and overall I’ve been a slacker. Instead of diving into the deep end of the pool, I’m just making small changes right now. I figure in the past I’ve been SUPER great about jumping in, going 100%, balls to the wall and being successful. But it doesn’t take me long to jump into the JUNK FOOD JUNKY pool either. So I’m making the changes back to being good and Paleo in small increments. Hopefully I can work myself back into my better Paleo days and drop some of this extra fluff I’ve acquired. Once I can get that dialed back in, I’ll go back to looking into Eating to Perform. Enough about my poor poor petri moment and onto my Boom Box recaps.

5/1/13 WOD
Last week was the week for some longer workouts and they were a beating. Wednesday was no different. We didn’t even have a Skill/Strength. We went straight to the WOD after warming up.

300 REPS
1 min @ each
Burpees, Step Ups, Axel Thrusters (70lbs/50lbs), Push Ups, Wall Balls

5/1/13 WOD

Yikes. That’s a lot of reps. Go through each movement for a minute and keep going through until you’ve reached 300 reps! Whew! Prior to the clock starting I had guessed I could at least get 75 reps in the first round. And I actually made it through 83 reps. And round and round we went. Wall Balls were the worst for me and Step Ups were the easiest. My upper body has been dead from Mon and Tues workouts. So Thrusters and Push Ups weren’t a lovely sight. Although I love using the AXEL, I struggled. I was on my fourth round and so close to 300. The goal for me was to finish before wall balls! And I did. I got to 300 reps during the Push Ups, thank goodness! Time 18:41

5/2 and 5/3. Pretty much 5/2 was freezing cold and the workout was RUNNING. So basically I punked out. Friday presented a much more fun opportunity that involved baseball so that was lame-o act number 2. And I probably stuffed my face too with a bunch of junk! Oh wait there was no probably I DID stuff my face. UGH.

5/4 Community WOD
The BOOM Box has moved and we had our first WOD at the new place. It’s so much more spacious than our old box and nicer. So it was exciting. We did some fun things, like flip tires, wall balls, 3 legged runs, TABATA and just some post WOD hanging out.

There was a 300lb tire already living in the vicinity outside the box so we took the opportunity to work on proper technique to lift the tire. Low and behold we even got pics and video. Thank you Annette!

It was a fun time and I’m looking forward to calling this new spot home.

5/6/13 WOD

My initial goal was to make Mondays at 5 a.m. and mix it up during the rest of the week with 7 p.m. as well. Well I had some falling asleep issues Sunday night and stayed up way too late to be getting up at 4:30 a.m. What lied ahead was a doozy and I knew I wouldn’t have survived. So I went in the evening hoping I would make it through. The numbers on the board proved that I could finish within the time cap but I wasn’t sure if I actually would.

Skill/Strength: BackSquat 5, 5, 5+ @ 65%, 75% and 85% of our 1RM

It’s been a while since I squatted, or at least it feels that way so I wasn’t sure how I would hold up in the last set. Especially when 75% started feeling heavy. I get to my last set which is 140lbs and get through 3 feeling good. It was 4, 5 and beyond where I was still putting in the work but I just wasn’t sure how long I could go. I managed to get 7 reps. Went for my 8th but bottomed out. That’s the worst feeling! To just be stuck in the bottom of the squat.

MetCon: 400m run, 30 HRPU, 50 Jumping Air Squats, 40 Toes To Bar, 50 JAS, 40 Walking Lunges, 50 JAS, 50 Sit Ups, 400m run

Welp, this was a beating in the making for sure. And all I was worried about was the run and those TTB! Before I got out of my car, I took a deep breath and I just said KILL THE TTB! As I knew it would be, the run was miserable. It’s better than the old box for sure without that hill, but I still am not friends with the running. It took me longer than I had hoped on the Push Ups because I couldn’t catch my breath. So I went in short increments to get to the 30 although I feel I probably should have done them UNBROKEN. Went to the Jumping Air Squats and I had a goal to do 25 and 25. WRONG. I did 10s, and 5s till I got to 50. My legs were dead from the run I suppose. Now to my nemesis, TTB. Like I said before I walked into the box my mind was set to kill those things and that I did! One at a time mind you but I attacked the bar and went. Went through without having to NO REP myself. That in itself is a small miracle. The next 100 JAS and lunges in the middle were killer on the quads. Thankfully the sit ups were a little bit of leg rest before the final run. I didn’t run the whole 400m which is not good but I just didn’t have any more run in me. I did however make it under the 25 minute cap and came in at 23:13!

And there you have it. Almost a week of recap. Tonight’s WOD doesn’t look pretty but I’ll have to go and make the most of it. Need y’all to rally behind me for some support to get back to clean eating and discipline. I know I’ve been saying it for weeks now but like I said, I had my moment. It happened in a Kohl’s dressing room to be more specific, trying on clothes. And it left me in a blah mood for the weekend, but I snapped out of it and know I have to get my shit together and focus. Other than that, I’m being my AWESOME self. Have a super duper Tuesday and go be AWESOME for you!

Made it!

Woooo I woke up on a Thursday morning to go workout! Typically Thursday is a rest day for me because it was OLY Class day and 5 am was not an option. But starting last week Thursdays became available for regular workouts and of course the first go round I slept in! Not today, Jack!

Eat to Perform
So far I’ve also been a champ on eating to perform! At least getting 90-95% on target. Probably a lil closer but I don’t want to do the math. I have also just started getting used to drinking my coffee black so now I’m considering going bulletproof by adding the butter and the MCT oil. I’m not well versed in what it’s all about yet but once I get it all researched I’ll share some more. If you already do this and have seen some positive OR negative things, PLEASE PLEASE let me know. I think it will help me hit my FAT intake target much better. I finally restocked on coconut flakes as well and if I would remember to pack them in my lunch I’d probably be better off!

The eating test is ON starting NOW. From NOW till Wednesday next week we will be NON-STOP all over the place with little to no time to cook, eat, breathe, etc. So I gotta be crafty with the food and not let LIFE get in the way. And even more than life getting in the way, I need my slacker side of my brain to co-operate with the disciplined side of my brain and take care of business! If anyone wants to just cook for me and deliver for the next 6 days, it’d be greatly appreciated!

Today’s WOD
Skill/Strength: Free Handstand Holds and/or Pistol work
Pistols are a super weakness for me and I should work on them but my IT band has been on the mend. Hopefully with the cleaner eating I will clear that up. I opted for Free Handstands. Once upon a time I could hold handstands, not forever, but for a long time. Oh to be young or to have just stuck with it! I can still easily get upside down but we use the wall regularly and that has become my safety net. It’s nice to work on Handstands today because I don’t typically do this on my free time. I managed to get a few seconds of freestanding, which I guess is better than NO seconds. Just one more thing to add to my list of mini goals!

4/11/13 WOD

MetCon: 4 rounds of 4 Back Squats (225lbs, 135lbs), 10 One Arm KB Snatch (1.5pood/1pood), and 16 lunges
As I was warming up to 135 lbs I was thinking this is heavy! And it felt heavy. It’s about 82% of my 1RM. Coach was confident I could do the weight for all the rounds and I really wanted the RX so I did it. But I wasn’t sure about the 1 POOD Snatch. I know I can do it but not sure if I can do all the reps in good time. I still don’t have the best timing when it comes to KB Snatch and I still got bruises on my forearms from the workout but I do feel I did better overall. There’s not much to say about the Lunges except they smoke you just in time for the Back Squats! And boy was I smoked. I spent too much time contemplating if my legs were ready for the Squats. I did the first and last round of Squats UnBroken but I racked the weight and split up the reps for the 2nd and 3rd rounds. I knew I wasn’t moving fast but at the same time I wasn’t really stopping except for the moments right before the squats. It was a slow but good butt whoopin! Hahah. SLOW, a sub 10 minute workout! I guess SLOW isn’t the best word, but a heavy squat for me takes some time to focus. Time: 9:35.

Giveaway
Also I have a little Facebook bribery/giveaway going on. Head on over to my FB page, LIKE me and share me with your friends. Tell you friends to like me and comment telling me who sent them over. When and IF I get to 200 likes…. BIG IF I know, then I will select a lucky fan and their referral person to each win a pair of my handy dandy AWESOME socks. You know you want ’em!

So go right now, click right HERE and like me. Then share idrankthecfkoolaid with all the people! Have a great THURSDAY, the weekend is in sight! And you know the drill – BE AWESOME!

Hi

In case you haven’t noticed, I was MIA for the past week. For those of you who did notice, my apologies! For you new followers, HI. I’m a hot mess and you probably want to unfollow, turn around and run! Hehe. Jokes. Well it’s true I’m a hot mess but I’m just your average 30 something trying to figure out how to live healthy, stay healthy and enjoy life. I’m up, I’m down. I’m BEAST and then I suck. It’s a roller coaster around here but I keep on keepin on. Hopefully those who have stuck with me “get” me and hopefully you new folks will as well!

So back to my M.I.A. I’m pretty sure my brain/body was telling me to shut it down last week and that my friends is what I did. I seriously could not wake up on time and I was extra sleepy all week. It doesn’t help that I was eating like crap either. So I’m pretty sure I just got a 1 -2 punch to my GUT (literally), my Head and my Soul.

In my funk, I did get much needed rest and hopefully sorted through some my insane mental maze. And it’s insane indeed. I was doubting CrossFit, Paleo and pretty much everything else. As I don’t get super personal outside of workouts and eating, I’ll keep it at that but overall I was just feeling blah. Everyday that I skipped out on my Boom Box check-ins, I thought I should try to make it to an evening class. Or maybe I should just run around the neighborhood. None of those “plans” ever panned out though. And as for food, my only CLEAN meals were lunch. I guess it’s better than ZERO clean meals but bad eating is something that I can feel mentally and physically and it sucks you in like quicksand! You know it’s bad, you know you aren’t feeling at your best but there you are eating the crap like it’s the best thing ever!

3/28/2013 SKILLS SESSION
Although I was still feeling bleh and wasn’t too keen on going to the Skills Class at the Boom Box on Thursday evening, I still showed up. The much anticipated CrossFit Games Open WOD 13.4 was announced on Wednesday and it had Toes to Bar. UGH. My enemy. I figured I need to absorb all I could so that I could become a TTB master. Once upon a time back in my “lighter” days and not so beat down days, I could string a few together. Lately I’ve barely been able to do 1 rep much less MULTIPLES. And I missed a whole week of WODs where TTB were integrated, Coach must see into the future. I didn’t leave the skills session with TTB as my superpower but I was feeling ok that I would survive 13.4 in the morning.

3/29/13 WOD

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:
95 pound Clean and jerk, 3 reps
3 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 6 reps
6 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 9 reps
9 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 12 reps
12 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 15 reps
15 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 18 reps
18 Toes-to-bar…

A week off, little practice on TTB and there I stood at 5 a.m. ~~ready~~ NOT ready to go. HOLY COW was I going to survive the 7 minutes? HELL NO is all I could think!

We warmed up and got to setting up our bars. 95lbs wasn’t feeling heavy for my Clean & Jerks and I got a couple of Toes to Bar even though my hands were HURTING so bad. I was starting to feel a little bit better and it was just about GO time.

3/29/13 WOD

3-2-1 GO. My brain stopped working. I had the 3 worst Clean and Jerks EVER. Even failed on my 2nd clean. I was pissed. I had just done several and felt good and now I am doing everything WRONG. I still made it through the first 3 and was ready to tackle TTB no matter how slow I went. And only ONE TTB ever showed up. Oh I’d get one foot to touch, but not my stupid left foot. I’d be an inch away from touching the bar but not ever get to the bar. Oh I was mad. I kept on trying till that dumb clock buzzed. I felt so defeated. So sad. That’s what you get, I scolded myself. That’s what you get for being lazy and eating junk. Way to GO with your 4 reps. Are you serious??!!?? UGH I was not happy. But there wasn’t much more I could do.

I stuck around and watched everyone kill it for the 6 a.m. class and boy was that fun. After all my self hate, it was nice to turn it around and cheer on everyone else. Still not happy with myself but I had to get over that. Later in the day, we went to watch the evening classes and witnessed more awesomeness come out of folks. And then the bug of wanting a do-over started creeping in my head. It was just a thought as it was for 13.3 and I left it at that.

3/30/13 WOD
I have missed a couple of Saturday WODs already and was determined to not miss another one. Plus I couldn’t just show up on Friday for one workout for the week. I was glad when I showed up and then I was convinced that Coach was trying to kill us when it came down to the MetCon.

Skill/Strength: Front Squats: 1X5 @ 80%, 2X3 @ 85%, 3X1 @ 90% – rest 1:00-2:00 between setsIt’s been a while since I have worked on Front Squats so I wasn’t feeling confident with my weights going in. Even though my front squat isn’t super heavy, I was feeling pretty weak (1RM 135lbs). My workload ended up being 110lbs, 115lbs and 120lbs. Turns out I felt pretty good after I knocked each set down.

3/30/13 WOD

MetCon: 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 10 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 30 Burpees, 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 8 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 20 Burpees, 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 6 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 10 Burpees

I pretty much laughed when I read strict press at 60% of my bodyweight! I definitely need to lose weight because my 1RM is way less than that! And I need to get stronger! But weight loss would be a better goal for now, haha. So Coach determined that I would use my 1RM – 75lbs for my strict press and somehow that sounded alright.

Little did I know that the Overhead Lunges were going to kill me and strict press was going to be damn near impossible. Keeping a 35lb plate locked out over head for 100 ft is nuts, 100 ft isn’t even that far but it was HARD. The pizza I had for dinner the night before was bogging me down. I was struggling. I got to the bar for my strict press and it was a FAIL x 5. So I took off 10lbs and finally got the bar overhead. My shoulders were SMOKED! It took me a while but I knocked out those 10 reps. And what was waiting in the wings… BURPEES. My wrists are dead, my shoulders are fried and now burpees. 30 of them! And back to lunges I went. The distance was a measured 50 ft turn around and come back for the 100 ft. I made it about 25 ft and threw the plate down. I wanted to cry it sucked so bad. Got back to the bar eventually and picked up the bar. FAIL! Holy shit are you kidding me? Picked it back up and managed to get 4. Took a break. Then got 4 more! Wooooo. But I did the 20 burpees probably the slowest ever in the world. My muscles were quitting and I still had one more round to go! I was slow on the first 50 ft of the lunges but really powered through (which was probably still slow) the last 50 ft. Back on the BAR and FAIL again. This FAIL nonsense has got to stop! Finally got 2 reps, then 2 more, then 1 more. THEN FAIL! It took me 3 attempts to get the last rep in. By then everyone else had finished so I’m the one they are staring at/cheering on. Those last 10 burpees were probably my best set just cause everyone was in my face. It sucked. Time: 20:20.

3/30/13 Part 2 – the Afternoon
Ernie was half ass debating redoing 13.4 and I had the idea that maybe I would. 3pm rolls around and Ernie is OUT, he has decided he won’t do it but he wanted to go up to the Box to watch anyone who needs to get it in at 5pm. So we go up there. I half ass hang on the bar and work on TTB but I don’t have much. I kinda sorta want to redo it but not really. But while I’m there, I might as well work on the TTB. Eventually I get a whopping 2 in a row and Coach told me to get a bar and start warming up. Nah! I’m good. Get a bar! OK I guess. So I start warming up Clean and Jerks and feel good at least with that. I probably won’t do worse than 4. So I should be fine.

It’s only 7 minutes and who cares that my body is dying from the morning! It appears that little food and extra work are the key to me being more successful (jokes) because I ended up getting through a total of 9 TTB, hahaha. That’s not amazing by any means to an AWESOME athlete but it was amazing for my chunky butt self to get those toes up there. I struggled. They didn’t come easy and I did one at a time. I had a few NO REPS in there but I got the first 3 down and thought I’m good with that. At least I got one round in. Once I finished my 6 C&J, I thought “even better”. My score is a little higher. But those 6 TTB were a big struggle for me. But I had enough time for C&J. I got through the 9 Clean and Jerks and time was up. WHEW, that was NOT easy! I can no longer say I “CAN’T” do TTB. This was a REDO that I’m proud of. Score: 27 reps.

4/1/13

I’m still a little LOT sore from the weekend. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to roll out of bed. Slowly but surely I did even though I was feeling the pain in all of my body.

Coach tried to be a little April Fool’s sneaky on us and put SURPRISE WOD on the board and then try to tell us it was 60 minutes of Burpees. I half heartedly believed it. I was still sleeping! Thank goodness it was a joke.

Skill/Strength: Squat 5,5,5+ @65,75,85%. The + is for max reps over 5.
I don’t think I’ve worked on Back Squat since I PR’d so my percentages are a little different than I’m used to seeing. And it felt heavy! Even 65% felt heavy. I was reminded how missing a week can do that to you, sigh! I’m back. I’m back! No more missing days at a time! Worked up to the 85% and got 6 reps in. Went for the 7th but bottomed out. My legs are dead from Saturday. I felt ok with my 6 reps.

4/1/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 rounds – 20 kbs 1.5/1 (American), 15 C2B, 10 Thrusters 115/85
Doesn’t sound like much, but I know better. That’s a lot! Especially those Chest to Bar Pull Ups.

I started off with KB Swings and those weren’t to bad to get through 20. Since I don’t have a pull up yet, I clearly don’t have a Chest to Bar, I double banded up and got to work. Being able to kip and use bands was good for my first round. I still struggled but got through the 15 faster than I thought. It was the Thrusters that would get in my head. I didn’t do the RX weight of 85lbs because warming up I felt a twinge in my lats on my right side. I didn’t want to hurt myself doing a heavier weight. So I stuck with 65lbs. Weak I know but this was supposed to be a quick workout. I broke my first round up too much: 3, 3, 2, 2. Got back to the KB and did 12 unbroken. I had to put it down before finishing. My forearms were fading fast. Got back on the bar for C2B and I could only do 2 at a time, then 1 at a time. This took forever. I knew I had to step it up for Thrusters. I managed 5 and 5. And only managed 10 and 10 for the KB swings. By the 3rd round of C2B I could only do 1 at a time. My forearms were on FIRE! When I got through that 15, I wasn’t sure how I would survive the last set of Thrusters and something in me clicked. I did those UNBROKEN! Time: 16:42. I was spent. That workout was brutal….for me!

Well if you made it this far I applaud you. That’s a lot of recap and probably not all that exciting. But I had a lot to report on from the weekend! Hopefully I’m back and back with a vengeance, in the box and in my kitchen. Today I started off with showing up to the Boom Box, clean cooking and eating.

Got one foot in, now lets see if the other will follow and stay! It’s a mental battle I know. I just gotta suck it up and go forward. I hope all of y’all are making the steps to a healthier life. If you fallen off the radar, now’s a good time to find your way back! Have a Happy Monday! And you know the drill…BE AWESOME!!

Get UP and Get it DONE

In all my boo-hooing, up and down roller coaster of a fitness journey, the fact of the matter is that 95% of the time, maybe more, I SHOW UP. I do the work. I strive for better. I’m proud of myself for doing just that. I’m not perfect and it’s hard to NOT want to be perfect when it seems like so many other people out there have it figured out. They probably don’t, but it appears that way to me and I’m so far off the mark and sometimes I let that get to me. I’m learning not to do that but it’s hard.

I’m just a small fleck in the fitness universe. A pixel in the blogosphere and just a mere mortal to all others. I have no superpowers or special skills. I’m a 35 year old woman. A mom who isn’t sure she always does the right things for her kids but does her best to make it work. A girl, yes, there is a uncertain little girl in me that wants the world but is scared. Scared of what, she’s not sure but the fear is there. But in the end, I’m a person who is just trying to live healthy. To be strong – physically and emotionally.

To be someone my kids can look up to. To be an inspiration to others who want the same things. And I hope that when it’s all said and done, all you folks that do follow along get that. That you all truly understand this is my small space in the world for me to cry, rant, rave, laugh, goof off, do whatever. I’m not the next CrossFit Games Athlete. I’m not your next fitness superstar. Just a girl!

Today this girl (slightly inspired by Biggest Loser) has decided to push through, to get the work done and just be the best I can in each moment that I can. Will I always be that? HELL NO. It’s hard as hell. It’s so much easier to be half ass. It’s easy to just not put the effort but I’m gonna try so much harder than I ever tried before.

I think that with that mindset it helped me get through the BOOM Box this morning. Cause guess what? It was the BOOM BOX’s FILTHY FIFTY and it was downright dirty. I’ve never participated in this and it’s been over a year since I started CrossFit-ing. Here we go!

50 Box Jumps
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45/35#
50 Hip extensions with green band
50 Wall ball shots, 20/14#
50 Burpees
50 Double Unders

So I somehow hit snooze twice, ALMOST didn’t get up. But on the third time my alarm went off, had no idea! I see the clock and go OH SHIT. I’m LATE! It’s 4:47. Uh I need to be leaving at that time. Not just now brushing my teeth! UGH. I didn’t even know the WOD. Double UGH when I saw it. Go BACK TO BED STEPHANIE! Find your happy place. SLEEP! No, Get dressed and go. You’ll be late but go. And that I was, but only like 5 minutes late. I was GONE and in a hurry. I still had plenty of time to warm up and I was wide awake by then. We went over all the movements and set up our areas. It was go time and it was better attitude time and it was don’t worry about the work ahead just knock out the reps.

Box Jumps kind of hurt this morning. It was cold and all of a sudden I didn’t feel warmed up but it didn’t take long. I really struggled with the first 15 though. After that I just knocked them out in sets of 5. I really didn’t have negative self talk or poor expectations. Surprisingly I don’t think I’ve ever done Jumping Pull Ups either so i had nothing to reference. Those weren’t so bad. I busted out 10, then 5, then random numbers but always more than 5. Done! Kettlebell swings – overhead. I was a little tired and the KB was a little cold. I typically can do this unbroken but today not so much. I did 15, 10, 5, 5, 10. I wasn’t happy with that but it happened that way. Walking Lunges is where I thought I would fall apart. My hips were burning around 30 lunges in. And negative self talk started creeping in because I knew Wall Balls were coming up and coming soon! UGH.

Thankfully Knees to Elbows, which in my case was just get Knees UP took my focus off the Wall Balls. I was actually looking forward to the Push Press and knocked out 30 and then realized this is burning. I put the bar down, rested for like 10 seconds then did 10 more, rested again, then finished. We only have one GHD so we did hip extensions with a band. You step on the band, put head through band and up and down you go like a Good Morning without the bar. This was a great relief and a warm up for those Wall Balls! YIKES! I started off Wall Balls really slow. Someone asked about burpees and I was all “say what??? did I skip that, what burpees. I completely forgot about burpees but I didn’t skip them. They were just NEXT. I just thought I’ll end it all here with Wall Balls, I won’t finish! I wasn’t getting a good rhythm either but once I did, I just took them 5 at a time. I felt like much less cry baby once I got through them and even though I was slow I was still in a good place mentally. I’m almost done. Burpees up next. Burpees party of 50! They just have to get done. UP, down, UP, down and on and on and on. Will it ever end? YES YES the end is near. 50 DUs and it’s all over. I got 30 out of the way before my forearms and shoulders gave out. Then I got 9, then 11. TIME: 31:53 GOOD? BAD? NO CLUE. But after I regained my composure I felt good about the whole WOD in general. I kept thinking I could have done this better or faster but in the end that was a hell of a lotta reps so I’m good. If I was better at Knees to Elbows I might have had an RX by my name but that’s for another day I suppose.

Wooo, we made it to Wednesday! And it’s almost March. WOW! I’m just looking forward to that time change. I need my sunshine in the evenings! And I need warm weather. So let’s hurry up on that. As always have a beautiful day and BE SUPER AWESOME because I said so!

I HURT … EVERYWHERE!

Yes boys and girls the ACHE set in and it’s so much more than an ache. My body was glued to the bed this morning. It was crippling and probably pretty hilarious (if you were watching me at least) as I got out of my car this morning! My legs are fried. And when I sit down at my desk I try and support myself by holding on to my desk but that’s a mess because my shoulders are dead. I’m a mess folks. I even went light weight yesterday, but squats and GRACE did me in! Was the little fat girl in me telling me to sleep in this morning? She sure was but the slim and trim imaginary girl was telling me I better get moving if I was going to get back on track.

Skill/Strength: Press 6, 6, 6, 6
Of course the idea is to push ourselves here and being all weak and pathetic I still gave it a go. I worked my way up to 65lbs for my last set of 6 and I was doing so well until the 5th rep and I just bailed. I think my brain just quit on me. I know I had more in the tank but I didn’t push. Overall I felt much better at press than I did squats yesterday… and press is my weakness! Just patiently waiting for that PR that’s due on this movement already!

12/18/12 WOD

MetCon: Fight Gone Bad Style 3 Rounds – 1 minute DUs, 1 minute HR Push Ups, 1 minute Plate Burpees, 1 minute Lunges, 1 minute Rest
As I have proclaimed in the past, double unders are my superpower. A weak superpower but it’s the one movement I know I can do with success. I still have a long way to be badass at them but I can knock a few out rather quickly. My whole upper body is dead from Grace yesterday so Push Ups and Burpees sucked. Burpees were extra sucky because we had to jump on a plate which isn’t as bad as burpee Box Jumps but still not fun. I was quite slow in that minute. Because I did suck so much on push ups and burpees, I really tried to pick up the pace with the lunges. I could only do so many before my legs were on fire each minute but I did the best I could. Total Reps: 305 (thank goodness for DUs!)

Now I sit here typing away and every inch of my body aches. Part of it, I know! Welcome back to the JUNGLE right?!?

Please take this advice and NEVER EVER take more than a week off EVER. Unless of course you are injured, then heal up. It seriously feels like I’ve been off for months. Hopefully I bounce back stronger than ever but for now I still feel weaksauce! Tomorrow is a rest day…woohooo… but I have a Christmas DIY project that I hope to share with y’all. Until then continue to be AWESOME.

Struggling Today

Having Halloween in the middle of the week is tough on the brain. So much to do and it’s only the middle of the week! Now I feel like it’s FRIDAY or even Saturday and it’s only Thursday. Sorry Thursday for giving you the bad rap today but it’s true. And to top it off it’s NOVEMBER! So not ready for the year to be over. The countdown is on! At least I got up on time for the BOOM Box, my shoulders were trying to keep me in bed but I just had to say NO to sleeping in and YES to getting my ass kicked.

11/1/12 WOD
Sorry for the blurriness, it was light ink, bad lighting, etc.

MetCon:There was no Skill/Strength portion to today just an extra long warm up and mobility work. But there was a 16 minute AMRAP of 20 lunges and 20 Knee Hugs with a 100 Double Under buy in. I got those DU just fine or so I thought! My rope went bezerko. Only one handle was spinning properly and the other one would turn but felt like it was building up tension because it was all jacked up. It was bad. I was only knocking out 10-15 in a row. Took me almost 3 minutes maybe more to finish. I was not happy. Move on to lunges. I went as fast as I could for each round I did but I felt like that wasn’t going to cut it for the whiteboard standings. Knee Hugs are what dragged me down most. My right hip was on fire and every time I extended my legs out it was super uncomfortable. I’d start out with 6-10 reps each go and then drag way down to 1-2 reps at a time. Just an overall crappy performance. Final: 7 rounds, 20 Lunges, 11 Knee Hugs

Definitely not me and my abs but this was the best image sequence I could find visually describing Knee Hugs.

FOOD REPORT: Instead of making something with the PUMPKIN that is now 3 days old in my fridge I ended up helping one of my kiddos with his school project. So I still got NOTHIN’!

Another short post, who have I become? I hope everyone doesn’t stuff their face on Halloween candy for the next few days. MODERATION folks. Thanks all of you for the Costume love, I did win BEST Costume at work! Woooo! I guess that’s it for today. Be AWESOME!

Mission Accomplished!

If you’re new to reading my blog or just don’t ever finish it all the way through then you won’t know I’ve been trying to raise money for Barbells for Boobs. I didn’t set a super lofty goal but I wanted to raise $100 for the B4B event we are having at CrossFit Boom tomorrow at 6pm. Low and behold a few folks stepped up to the call and helped me out. I am very thankful to you all! I’ve given you all shout outs on Facebook but THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN: Shelley, Mel, Shawn, Sherrie, Rose, Jill and Jenn!

If you are in the DFW area and would like to spectate or participate tomorrow at 6pm, then please do. Check us out at CrossFit Boom or find our team link here to donate. Help our team raise as much money as possible for B4B!

Barbells for Boobs is a non-profit breast cancer organization whose mission is to provide funding through the Mammograms in Action @ Grant Program for qualified low income and uninsured women and men who need screening and/or diagnostic procedures in the prevention of breast cancer.

#OccupyBoom
Like I’ve been telling you all, right after B4B is completed we are going to have some friendly WOD throwdowns! It will be a lot of fun and we will have foods to eat! BYOB(eef) or any other protein you’d like grilled up. Not sure how long we will go but it’s sure to be a good time!

Today’s WOD
It was a lil chilly this morning and hard to roll out of bed but once you get movin in the BOOM Box you warm up pretty quickly.

10/26/12 WOD

Skill/Strength: 4 x 5 Good Mornings 55lbs
I’m pretty sure I’ve only ever perf0rmed this with PVC pipe during a warm up session. Today we warmed up with the bar then added some weight. Overall this felt alright. I don’t think I ever had bad from and we went through our sets pretty easily. My left hamstring wasn’t too happy by the end but nothing serious.

MetCon: TEAM WOD 100 Back Squats OR 75 Front Squats OR 50 OHS @85lbs with 2 Shoulder to Overhead EMOM
My partner and I clearly wanted to do the Overhead Squats due to less reps, but it is a little more difficult movement. After some warming up and putting weight on the bar, we opted for Front Squats. We both had to do the same weight so we ended up at 65lbs. I got 20 knocked out in the first minute and did the first two Push Presses. We were able to rack bar before switching out which was nice. It was great to have a little rest. We ended up with a time of 3:56. I think Coach was surprised we all finished rather quickly so we had a POPWOD. POPWOD???!!!???? This is new to us what ever could it be? Well he had us get the bar up into a overhead position as if you were doing an overhead squat.

We then had to do lunges in place for 50 reps, per person. I’m not the best at lunges. Pair that with awkward overhead position, I was a little scared! 3-2-1 GO – I got this! It wasn’t near as hard as I thought it would be. My legs were a little JELLO-like towards the end. We broke our sets up into 2 sets each. Time: 4:05

It’s FRIDAY! WOOOOO and it’s COLD – BOOOOO! (cold for me and my wussy Texan self) If you can come out tomorrow evening then please come out! I would love for y’all to be there. Other than that, have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND and make it super AWESOME!!!

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