mars or bust

Whether or not you’ve noticed, lately the food element of my blog has been MIA.  I think I have a decent explanation…

First, I went through a period of indecision in terms of whether or not I would like to continue with the Zone approach.  Pre-vacation, I bought in 110% but struggled with it.  I’m the kind of person that when I get it in my mind that I want to do something, I’m all in.  I give my best effort and don’t give up until I succeed.  Great quality to have, but it’s bit me in the ass more than once.  How do you reason with yourself that sometimes, even though you put everything you’ve got into something, it may not work out.  A fellow foodie who I work with joined me on a little “life’s not fair” rant today.  We are both into the “just eat real food” mentality.  We make all our own meals, bring our lunches to work daily, take the time to consider proper portion sizes and a good balance of carbs/proteins/fats, but both have gone through periods of struggling with our weight.  There have been so many times I’ve stood in line at the grocery store with my basket of fresh veggies and meats and wondered how the cart load in front of me of cookies, chips, pop and freezer dinners can be possible.  Life’s not fair.  People fill their bodies with garbage and neglect them of any physical activity, yet they still fit in to skinny jeans.  Dave and I concluded that we needed to find a different angle to look at things before we both went postal.  We need to stop hating our bodies for not being the pictures you see in the media.  We need to appreciate all the things they allow us to DO.  We need to recognize that the healthy foods we choose to involve in our lives will allow us to live longer and healthier lives.  We need to make a CHOICE.  Back to the important lessons I’ve learned from Crossfit – I will stop comparing myself to others.  Cause life is never going to be “fair”, but it is worth living.

AND… tonight I’m making chili 🙂  My creativity is coming back.  My food lately has been less than exciting even to me, and incredibly un-photogenic.  While I chowed this morning’s chopped sweet potato, scrambled egg whites and crumbled sausage I realized that it somewhat resembles the dog’s breakfast…  smells amazing, but I haven’t figured out how to represent that in a photo.

Crossfit rest day, can you tell??  :p  First Crossfit Games Open WOD will be announced tomorrow night!

between the ears

CrossFit is and always will be challenging.  Focus on the good instead of what we feel we could have done better. There will always be room for improvement! Work on strengthening not only your body but what is between your ears!!!  Coach Sharon

Today was a fresh start for me.  The last few days I’ve been letting my own self-doubt get in the way of doing the things my body is capable of.  The things I LOVE to do.  Instead of waking up and putting on my usual positive game face when walking into the box, I was down on myself for my lack of achievement.  Maybe it was a lack of sleep.  Maybe it was due to a day or two of water and nutrition not being spot on.  Whatever it was, it was just another challenge to overcome.  Part of Sunday’s WOD included finding a 1RM for power clean.  I got pretty frustrated when I just couldn’t seem to get the bar up, but what I should have been appreciating was the fact that I did my highest ever box jump 🙂 3x 10lb plates stacked on the 24″ box.  WOOT!  I also allowed myself to compare to others.  A practice I try hard to avoid, but when you pair up for a WOD with someone who started around the same time as you and is now lifting way more, the temptation is there.  It was a dark few days in my brain, but I’ve emerged stronger because of it.

At the end of every WOD, write down one thing you did ‘amazingly’ and one thing you’d like to improve on.  Coach Sharon

Last night I spent a little time re-reading some of the inspirational wisdom that oozes from the amazing CF Division coaches.  I will spend more time celebrating my own victories, even if they seem miniscule at first.  I will set goals, and I will work hard to achieve them.  And I will stop comparing myself to others.  The only person I need to be better than is the person I was yesterday.

Concentrate on your own performance. After all that is who you are actually competing against. Don’t worry how many burpees the guy next door can do in a minute. Instead, practice your technique, push yourself as hard as you can, and try to beat your own score the next time you have to fulfill that particular exercise. Improve your times, your skills, your weights – improve your fitness.  Coach Dave

Today is a GREAT day 🙂  I got my butt out of bed before the sun for the 6:00am WOD:

3 Rounds for time:
15- Chest-Bar Pull ups    ring pulls
12- Lateral Burpee Jump Overs
9- Back Squats, #225/#145 – From the ground.    #85

time – 8:43

This was a super-fun one.  The lateral burpee jump overs (of the bar) were a new move for me and as much of a mental challenge as physical.  I’m the kid who trips over nothing when running in a straight line and ya better believe my concentration was intense to not send myself into a tangled mess jumping over the little bar.  Forget the scrapes and bruises it could provide, that would hurt my time for sure.  Understand something… I’m not crying, but try sitting on one of your feet for a few minutes.  When it gets nice and numb, then try a WOD.  See how that works out for ya :p  Over time, you get used to it.  But when the game is changed from the norm of jumping up or forward to jumping sideways, the mental element is challenged.  Today, I kicked ass and took names.

Better late than never.

While I think the week of no posted WODs was a good challenge, I’m happy it’s over.  Not saying the WODs weren’t great ones, cause they totally were!  It’s just that it has thrown me off my blogging groove for sure with not being able to talk about the workouts the day they happen :p  Quick re-cap, more for my own records than anything…

Thurs Feb 20, 6:00am

AMRAP 20 Minutes of:
50- Wallballs, 20/14
50- Double Unders
40- Box Jumps, 24/20
40- Toes- bar
30- Chest- Bar Pullups  ring rows
30- Burpees
20- Cleans #145/#100  #75
20- Jerks #145/#100    #75
10- Snatches #145/3100    #75
10- Muscle ups

Result – made it to 2x snatch 🙂

Fri Feb 21, 7:30am

For time:
1K Row
30- Deadlifts, #185/#135   #75
20- Front Squats, #185/#135   #75
30- Deadlifts, #185/#135   #75
1K Row

Result – 16:21 😀

Thursday was my night at the Chek.  Pretty much the whole staff, and a bunch of customers too, hung out in the hockey section to watch the Canadian women’s gold medal hockey game 🙂  GO CANADA GO!

note… there were more than the 3 of us watching 😉  Some tense moments for sure, but way to go ladies 🙂  Now we just have to wait till Sunday morning to see if the men can clinch the double-gold for Canada 🙂  Once the game was over, we all returned back to our regularly scheduled activities…  I have received aproval from Coach Sharon that my box monkey work counts as snatch practice 😀  Doesn’t show off any photographical skills though!  See?  Smartphones just don’t cut it sometimes.

Yesterday we spent a good ten minutes pre-WOD working on our deadlifts.  Sweet mother of gawd, my hamstrings are tiiiiight today!  Who knew, after 7+ months of crossfitting, I was doing one of my favourite lifts wrong!  😮  Comfort came in learning I was certainly not alone!  Pretty much everyone in the class had a similar problem, but there were 3 of us in particular who have experienced a deadlift-related injury in the past.  Coach Sharon took a new approach to getting us to understand engaging our hammys and what it should feel like.  A light bulb went off!!  Perfect timing too, since the WOD served up 60 of ’em.

Post WOD I was asked to help out with the filming of an outdoor fitness activity that Coach Sharon and D were nominated for.  Started out that I was to film this, but somehow I got roped into riding the prowler while they pushed :p  too funny!!  It was a wild ride and kinda WET, but I’ll take one for the team any time 😉

accepting the unknown

Good weekend 🙂  Still a little sore from Sunday’s AWESOME WOD.  Haven’t done a Crossfit Total in a while, and as a partner WOD – D & I pushed each other and kicked ASS.  Love it 😀

Teams of 2 Complete:
0:00- 10:00 Minutes
50- Burpees AFAP (as fast as possible)
*with the remainder of the 10 minutes…Establish a 1RM Back Squat
Beginning  10:00- 20:00 Minutes
50- Burpees AFAP
*with the remainder of the 10 minutes…Establish a 1RM Strict Press
Beginning 20:00- 30:00 Minutes:
50- Burpees AFAP
*with the remainder of the 10 minutes…Establish a 1RM Deadlift.

NEW PRs!!  1RM back squat – #175   1RM deadlift – #225  😀

Monday was family day, and another team WOD with… MORE squats.  Yup.

In Teams of 3:
AMRAP in 6 Minutes:
Clean and Jerk ladder#135/#95  #75
1/1- 2/2- 3/3 etc….  we made it to 7
Rest 1 Minute
In Teams of 3:
AMRAP in 6 Minutes:
3- Front Squats #165/#105 (No Racks)  #85
Rest 1 Minute
In Teams of 3
Pullup ladder
1/1-2/2-3/3 etc…   we made it to 9

Good times 🙂  Especially happy to clean 85lbs.

As for the rest of this week, Coach Dave has decided it’s a great time to NOT post any of the WODs.  Instead, every day will be a surprise and no one will be able to cherry pick their favourites.  Not my style anyway, but expecting the unexpected is something I found challenging from the start so I will benefit from this experience as well 😉  This being said, I will wait until tomorrow to share anything about today’s WOD, just in case anyone happens to read my sh*t.

Instead, I will leave you with a little more Dominican fitness.

Practicing the pistol squat in the sand at least provides a softer landing for the many times I ended up on my butt…

happy friday :)

Back from vacay and already I’m a blog slacker.  However… I haven’t had heaps of free time between working both jobs, getting to the box every day, restocking my depressingly empty fridge, doing post-trip laundry, etc.  Not complaining though 🙂 after a killer week in the sun, I’m happy to get back into the swing of my life.  Amazing what a little time away from the every day grind of life can do for a person’s mind and soul.  I’m a happy person again and it feels great 🙂

Post-vacay WOD summary:

Wednesday 6:30pm – Back in the game!!

“Fight Gone Bad”
3 Rounds for max reps of:
1 min- Wallballs
1 min- SDHP 75/55
1 min- Box Jumps, 20″
1 min- Push Press 75/55
1 min- Row for calories
1 min Rest

PR b*thches!!  308 reps total 🙂  The wallballs were awful, but thankfully I was relatively efficient enough through the box jumps and SDHP (sumo deadlift high pulls).  Wednesday evening is not a common WOD time for me, but I was super eager to get back into things that I wasn’t bothered at all.  It was a good group at the box and Coach Dave’s class was very nearly high-jacked by Coach Sharon!  No way that was gonna happen :p  I had to call her out on that sh*t!  haha!  I’ve got her back when the tables are turned on Friday mornings, but this time I had to come to Dave’s defense.

Thursday 6:00am – bright and early

30-20-10 reps for time of:
Power Snatch #95/#65
Handstand Pushups

Ok, I worked on handstand holds while on vacay.  Not quite at the handstand push-up stage yet.  Especially 60 REPS!  Went with hand-release push-ups for this one.

Time – 9:40

haha funny :p  One day this will be true 😉

Friday 7:30am – coffee day 🙂

After Coach Sharon gave us the option to suggest what our warm-up should be and none of us could come up with anything, she made one up with sprints and burpees and jumping jacks and rowing that had us all groaning.  Of all the days for Coach Dave to not try to bud in?!  I tried calling him to come to our rescue, but he had already left to get the Friday coffees 🙂  Good thing!  Turns out the warm-up he had assigned the 6:00am class was way worse than the one we received!  Coach Sharon, you’re awesome 😀

3 Rounds for time:
75- Double Unders
50- Air Squats
25 Calories on Rower

Sounds easy enough, right?  As usual… that means it’s gonna suck :p  Actually, the first round I was thinking “oh good GOD! I should have stayed in BED!” but I told that part of my brain to shut up and keep going.  Actually loved it 🙂  even the wobbly legs that carried me each round from the squats to the rower made me laugh.  Although I wasn’t laughing when I got to work and stood at the bottom of the stairs to the lunch room… sigh…  haha

Time – 14:49

recharged

I’m baaaack 🙂  where to begin…

My week of soaking up the sunshine in the Dominican was exactly what this kid needed after the craziness of the Christmas season in retail and all the other work-related stresses that have been thrown my way thus far in 2014.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather!  7 days of sunny skies and the thermostat hovering around 29 degrees celsius, before the humidex.  🙂  This was the first time I’ve gone on vacation since switching from the daily MS injections and man was it nice to not have to explain the pack of needles stashed in my carry-on!  I did manage somehow to set off the metal detector in the Dominican airport coming home though and got patted down quite thoroughly.  Also met a Dominican at the swim up bar who was determined to grab my hand and stare longingly into my eyes at every chance he got.  Mom told him I had a boyfriend.  Guess in some cases it is better to tell a lie…

Riu Bachata, Puerto Plata D.R.

It was a week of relaxation and good food, but I also did find the resources to enjoy a little exercise as well.  The morning we flew out of Toronto, of course I had to check the CF Division website to see what the WOD was.  :p  OCD?  maybe.  It was Grace.  Not all that often that we get to measure our progress with one of the “ladies”, so I decided that one of my vacational conquests would be to do the WOD in paradise.  Lucky for me the hotel had a gym!  It was nothing special, but it did the trick.

Dominican GRACE 3:31 #75

No PR set with this one, and I got some looks from the others using the little gym when I’d set the non-bumper weights down with anything less than grace, but I was happy with the result 🙂  Also worked on pistol squats on the beach 🙂 but the pics of that will have to wait.  Landed my butt in the sand quite a few times, but made progress over the week.

The resort was nestled into its own private little cove that had a nice 2km ish boardwalk along the ocean that provided the perfect path for morning runs.  My mom being the run-fanatic that she is, was more than happy to lace up the runners several times during our vacation too.  As suggested by Coach Dave on the last WOD before I left, I spent some time working on my handstand holds too.  My goal had been to practice on the beach and get a pic of handstanding against a palm tree, but that goal will have to wait until the next Caribbean adventure.  :p  Against the wall in the hotel room is one thing, but I’m still a bit of a chicken.

The food at the resort was fantastic!!  Even with my goal to remain as loyal to my Paleo lifestyle as possible, I was still able to find tons of great options to eat.  The fish was incredible, which is something I very rarely make for myself at home.  There was also often beef, pork or chicken “fajita” stir fry with onions and peppers that I popped on a bed of lettuce and topped with avocado.  It was so good!  Bonus in my mind, cause now I have some new ideas to try to add a little variety to my home cooking :p  Even with the great food and hours spent just lounging in the sun, I still lost weight while away.  I don’t get why that happens.  I mean, I ran some, lifted some, snorkeled some, but nowhere near the activity level I get at home?  Not that I’m complaining…

My flight got in late afternoon yesterday and by the time I got home, it was nearly 8 pm.  Spent the morning sitting enjoying my Dominican coffee by the ocean in shorts and a tank top, boarded the plane, and spent the evening scraping more than a foot of snow off my car!  Back to reality!  Today being Wednesday, there was no 7:30am WOD, but you can bet I’ll be back at the box for tonight’s 6:30 class 😀  While I was away I didn’t miss home, didn’t miss work, certainly didn’t miss the Canadian winter, but I DID miss my crossfit family!  Can’t wait to get back into the routine of things when it comes to the box.  First day back will be a good challenge:

“Fight Gone Bad”
3 Rounds for max reps of:
1 min- Wallballs
1 min- SDHP 75/55
1 min- Box Jumps, 20″
1 min- Push Press 75/55
1 min- Row for calories
1 min Rest

I’ve done this one before, so I know the level of suck to look forward to, but I can’t wait to get back at it!!  🙂

Confession time

Can’t believe I’m even admitting this, but I had a moment of weakness the other day 😦 I was craving chocolate something fierce, which is totally out of character, so I decided to make a recipe for chocolate cashew butter that I saw forever ago.  SO GOOD!  Problem was, it was too good!  To the point I had to throw it out to stop myself from eating it.  Like, all of it.  😦  Ever bought cashews?  That was like a $10 batch of pure heavenly bliss, in the trash.  Ah well.  Better there than squeezed in a bikini.

Can anyone explain this one to me?  Are the gluten-free being mocked here?  I guess I never would have considered heading to East Side Mario’s and expecting to find anything moderately Paleo-friendly on the menu anyway…

picking up the slack

Lately I’ve been slacking!  Here’s a quick little “catch-up” session.

Tuesday January 28 was a double WOD day.  Went to try out a different box in the morning with a friend, then made it to my own for an evening class.  It felt great, but after all was said and done, I was SPENT!  :p  Thanks to the last pre-finale episode of The Biggest Loser being on, I managed to stay awake till 9:00 pm, but barely.

Checking out a different box was cool 🙂  The WOD was:

4 minute AMRAP:

– 15 hand-release push-ups

– 15 SDHP #65

rest 2 minutes, repeat.  First round, I got through 2 full rounds + 15 push-ups, 13 SDHP.  Round two, I completed 3 full rounds.  🙂  Rx weight kids!  Ok, so it wasn’t crazy, but I’ll take it.  Where things were a little different from what I’m used to here was the sumo deadlift high pull (SDHP) were done with a bar instead of a kettle bell.  More of a challenge to keep the bar steady!  I liked it.

Then the evening at CF Division was full of Coach Dave and his little “treats”.

100 Burpees for time –
Every minute on the minute complete 8- Toes to Bar
Start with burpees.

Time: 8:59

Part 2 – back squats,  spend 10-15 minutes to work up to a HEAVY 1 rep.  #155

Part 3 – 60 second AMRAP: back squats  #95   result – 17

This one went on forever it seemed :p  Part 1 I had interpreted as complete the 100 burpees, then the OTM begins.  WRONG.  The first 60 seconds was like a burpee head start to get in as many as possible before your first toes to bar.  Then it was all about racking up the burpee count as quickly as possible to avoid doing endless rounds.  I cranked out 28 in the first minute, then worked to find a pace that I could maintain to get it done.  Made it through 6 rounds on the bar before scaling the toes to bar (which had turned to knees to elbows) to sit-ups when I was only able to get about 5 burpees in per round.  My lungs were on fire!  But I loved it :p

Wednesday was a rest day.  Also another of the hungry, hungry hippo days.  BUT, I have to give a big 2 thumbs up to the Zone!  Two weeks ago I was kinda dreading slipping into my bikini, but my hard work is paying off 🙂

Thursday January 30 I crammed 1,000 things into my day off from Henry’s including the 6am WOD:

AMRAP 3 Minutes:
10- Thrusters, #95/#65   #55
10- Pullups  black band 🙂
Rest :30
AMRAP 3 Mintues:
10- Power Cleans, #95/#65   #55
10- Burpees
Rest :30
AMRAP 3 MInutes:
10- Jerks, #95/#65   #55
10- Box Jumps

Rounds+reps = 2+10, 2+10, 2+5

Box jumps were great.  Even did a few 24″ ones after the WOD just to prove to myself that I can. WITHOUT #boxeatsshinsforbreakfast 😀

 

Friday January 31, back to my normal 7:30am WOD:

Part 1. 100- Wallballs in the least amount of sets and for time.. as per requested by C.F.!

Result: 4:50 (I think!) w/4 sets of 25 reps

Part 2. OTM x 12 Minutes

Odd Minutes: 1- Power Snatch + 1- Squat Snatch    #55

Even Minutes: 4- Back Squats   #105

Accomplished another of one of the goals on my list today 🙂  Snatch a whole WOD with weight on the bar — CHECK!  Only landed on my BUTT 3 times during the warm-up trying to get the squat snatch to happen, but BOO-YA!!  There was some serious progress today!  Nailed the power snatch too with only a slight “pulling early” comment from Coach Sharon 🙂

Off topic, but always on my mind… I’ve been craving steak lately.  Without reprieve.  Even my fav. chicken dishes haven’t made the craving subside at ALL.  Weird.  The only thoughts that are keeping me from a trip to The Keg for a nice Sirloin are a: I’d look a bit odd out for dinner with just myself, and b: a good steak is BIG $$$.  My plan was to get like a 10oz and cut it in 4 so I’d at least get a bunch of meals out of it.  Still might happen.  Or I might sucker one of my staff into firing up the bbq 🙂