Lauren's Photo Journal May/June

Hi Friends! It has been quite some time since I have posted and I miss it. I want to catch everyone up on the past month of my life and we all know that good ole saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed living it!

Crossfit Dirty South Regionals Jax Fl

























































































































NIGHTS OUT ON THE TOWN
Katie and Emily Visit the ATL! -- FLUX PARTY

















































































CROSSFIT EAST DECATUR WODS
























































CROSSFIT DAHLONEGA CHALLENGE









































































































Took 1st PLACE in the Scale Division
(Scaled = 65 lbs instead of 95 lbs)

Two Days in a Row! I'm Back!

I feel really good to be X-Fitting again. Today's workout involved running and so I immediately caught myself about to say "I don't like running", but during my week at the women's personal development vacation in May one of the best things I learned was to Switch. That is, when I realize I'm giving me a negative message...switch! It is amazing the control my mind has over the rest of me! It worked so I ran 400 m x2 for time. First was 2.56, second was 3.0. I was surprised I didn't slow very much at all on the second one. I love the feeling of crossing the finish line! The other X-Fitters are running for their best time, and they are fast! I'm running to finish and I'm last and lovin' it. Occasionally one of them will cheer me on...it's fun and it simply elevates how confident I feel.

The rest of the workout was 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10 each pullups-them (jumping pullups-me), box jumps (box stepups), situps (real ones) and double unders. Lamarr had me do 30, 20, 10 then on the jump rope 90, 60, 30. Someday I'm going to do double unders. My stamina has increased immensely. When I started 5 months ago I barely could complete 10 jumps then had to rest and breath. Now I can go to 60 (with a little tripping but still pushing it). Overall Lamarr is telling me to work on form, not to add or increase anything for a while. Probably in a month or so it will be time for me to evaluate and up some of my 'moves'.
Well, bed time...I'm tired. I stopped on the way home and bought fruit, veggies and skinny pork chops which I cut in half and use as my morning protein at breakfast. I can eat it cold and snack on the way to work. Then at work I start the morning with fruit and cottage cheese. Also, in the spirit of healthy eating I'm spacing my little meals about four hours apart so I'm never starved. That really helps me eliminate temptation.
Well, as I said, it's bed time and I'm ready. Good night, l-m

Mental Attitude Counts for so Much!!!!

It's only been 14 days since my last blog. It feels like months. Since my great trip in May I've really fallen off the wagon going only about 3 times. And eating so poorly that today I was really feeling like my old self...not my new self (I like that feeling). My old self, lethargic, depressed, dull, mental confusion...low energy. Yuk!! So I did the 6:30 pm. workout and it was really tough. Not physically, mentally I mean. I was feeling negative and having trouble concentrating on what the sequence of exercises was. I could feel myself responding the way it did way back around my fourth week when I had a melt down and walked out. Zionna caught me that time and got me back on track. This time my awesome coach Lamarr spoted my confusion and lack of focus and got me focused on what I needed to do. I am so grateful for his intervention. I'm working out Tues, Thurs and Sat this week and I think that will put me back into the workout routine that I was enjoing so much up until I brok for vacation.

The positive news is that I am running regularly now when the W/out requires it. Monday last week the WOD was 200 m run, then 20 sandbag ...things..., then another 200 m run. I did six rounds and was surprised when I realized I ran 1200 m!!! Tonight it was a 450 m run and I opted for 300 m. I think it is prudent for me to ease into the running. But so far so good!!

I didn't tell you about the new expended box! NLP has rented the space next to the existing box and cut out the wall separating the two. Now it's one large really great box with two roll up doors...lots of air circulating and best of all two bathrooms! I heard there is going to be a 'ladies' room!! Thank God for small favors...although I must say the men at the box are very considerate, if you know what I mean.!!

Well, I'm filthy and sweaty so I'll close now and hit the shower. It really was fun and I'm looking forward to getting my glow back. I've got 23 more days to build up my stamina for my kayaking trip and to workout at East Decatur CrossFit when I visit with Lauren. l-m

Getting Back on the X-Fit Wagon

It's June 2nd and I'm suffering from the lack of organization that occurs when I take a nine day vacation. Nine days worth of work at work, junk mail at home, missed workouts, and of course my all time favorite unhealthy eating!! So, I must set at least two doable goals to work toward. Ok, here its is....#1 workout 4 x a week till July 8th when I leave for a kayaking trip in Savannah GA. (Oh good one!!). Next, #2, this is the longer term goal... Hmmm, ok let's back into this goal...The goal date is Labor Day...the goal is to be able to do the following with a 2 min. recovery between each exercise: run a 200 meters, 30 situps, 25 pushups, 50 wallball squats. Hmm, that's definitely a challenge! Ok, so back to my Mon/Tues/Thurs/Sat schedule. Just as a reminder, workouts keep me feeling clear minded, happy, energetic, enthusiastic, healthy, euphoric. I better print this blog and tape it to the dashboard of my car, till I get back into the routine again! Oh yeah, another serious motivator is that I'm paying for it whether I go or not!!!
Did you hear that ZOOM....that's me running to the car to go to the box on Thursday night! L-m

CrossFit Made Made My Trip Awesome

Where to start! I had an awesome nine day trip to N. CA, with 70+ awesome women ranging in age from 18 to 72! The days were filled with extreme physical activities, and growth seminars that pushed me to my limit physically, mentally and emotionally. I loved it! Four and a half months of serious CrossFit WODs really paid off for me. I was mostly able to physically keep up with women in their 20's and 30's (remember I'm 60). I felt no fear about the extreme sports activities we did and in fact, at times volunteered to 'go first'. I was mentally prepared!! When I was winded I was able to recover in about 30 to 45 seconds (all that rowing!!) and proceed with the activity. I ROCK!! The facilitators of the seminar asked that we not ruin the experience for future attendees by sharing the specifics, so I won't, but I can tell you my stamina is greatly improved and when I ran out, my mental stength kicked in and I was able to go just a little further!! The first couple of days I did stretching, and warm-up exercises, then 20 situps, 15 push ups and 20 squats. It felt real good. After that the 'program' was strenuous enough that I was getting a fierce workout everyday without my modified XF WOD and there was no time. I'm home now ready for the Tuesday WOD. I plan to continue to w/o 4x week. It just feels so good!
Oh yeah I can tell you about the pole, because it's in the organization's advertising. At the Oct. seminar, I climbed a 66 foot telephone pole by grasping 3 inch metal handhold/toeholds, then stepping up and grabbing the next metal handhold/toehold. It was super hard for me cause I'm short with short legs that were fat and weak. Part of that climb I literally pulled my body up with my arms, so my legs would reach a toehold. I did it out of sheer stubborness and determination! The front of my legs each had 3 x 10 inch bruises from losing my toehold, swinging my legs to get another toehold and banging my shins against the pole. Not Pretty! Well, this time I went up the pole like a spider monkey!! Stopped one time to strategize, then I was at the top, not winded, not afraid. CrossFit stengthened my body and my mind! Wish I could tell you about everything but integrity and courage are two of the promises I made to myself last week so mums the word. Last week opened my eyes to all the great things I can do! CrossFit workouts are making it physically possible. If you can't reach me this Saturday, it's cause I'm at the beach taking a kayaking lesson! Till next time, L-m .

Crossfit Imporving My "Game" in So Many Ways!

Some Background:
I have played sports my entire life. In high school when I had to make the decision between sports and marching band (I played the trumpet) it was no contest. I am by no mean athletically gifted in any way. I like to think of my self more as the "Rudy" type, barley a speck of athletic ability but a whole lot of Heart. I played volleyball up until I was around 21. I still coaching volleyball and totally love it but when I moved to Atlanta I wanted to get involved in a team sport. A friend told me about a sport called Gaelic Football. Gaelic Football is a mix between soccer,basketball and rugby with no tackling. It is a great adult sport because not matter your background (soccer, volleyball, rugby ect) everyone has some basic skill that they are not familiar with and have to work on mastering. For me it was using my feet. This will be my fourth year playing for Clan na nGael and I absolutely love it. I recommend everyone comes out and tries it! We are sponsored by Fado's Irish Pub and the girls on the team are all amazing women.

Coaching Volleyball















Gaelic Football season is starting up and I am very excited to report on the effects my 5 months of Crossfit training has done for my game.

- Recovery time is ridiculous! No like really really ridiculous. There are a lot of soccer like sprints in Gaelic and I never felt winded.

-Stamina is freaking amazing! I could have run for days.

-My kick has gotten so much stronger. I am booting line drives into teammates chest harder than ever.

-I have always been a slow kid and this season I am catching and passing people!

It is almost hard to believe this is my body.

The last practice I went to I had some gnarly rope burn on my right ankle, of course I am right footed. Kicking and planting didn't feel great but I can wait til it is healed up and I can give another progress report.

Gaelic 2009



















One more week til the CFED team leaves for Regionals in Jacksonville, Fl! This weekend I am off to Boston for my sister graduation and to visit Crossfit Providence. My Mom gets back on Sunday and will be posting again. . . I cant wait to hear some of her story about her trip.

Thanks to everyone who is reading and commenting! I love hearing your feedback =)

Heres to Health!!!

Minding your Mind

The longer I Crossfit the better I am getting at overriding the message my brain is sending to my body that I can go no further, I can push no harder. This weekend I hit a place I have never been with Crossfit, true fear. My fight or flight response kicked in and was telling me to fly away, I wanted to cry. . . and I almost did, it was close. My mind was telling me I was going to fall off the rope and I believe it for a second and was really scared. A moment of truth, do I tell my self I can do it and push on or slowly lower myself to the ground and give up. I dont even remember make the decision before I had taken a few deep breaths and lifted up my legs to inch closer to the top of the rope climb. Victory. . . in more ways than one!

Shana, my trainer, reminds me to "commit" to what I am doing whether is a lift or working on muscle ups. I am understanding what that really means. Committing mind and body. With only 1 you are only 1/2 as strong. Pumping out those last 2 pull ups when you think you have nothing left. Not dropping the bar when you only have 2 OHS left. Finishing!

Not only in Crossfit but in my everyday work and home life I am seeing the effects of learning this "commit"/keep pushing mentality. I bet many of you reading this know exactly what I am talking about. . .

My outside appearance has definitely change, (I am going to take some update pics before regionals) but what is not see on the outside is my confidence level and this understanding of my ability to finish ANYTHING!

Looking great in your bathing suit is nice, being healthy and not having to go to the doctor is fabulous but when I talk about Crossfit one of the first things I mention is the confidence and strength in mind you gain.

I have more work to do both mind and body but I wanted to share this with you because it is important to identify it then work on it. Time to get to work!

A Brutal Weekend of WODs

Here it is Sunday night ALREADY!

Let's talk about some brutal WODs---

Saturday 5/15

Each person does 3 rounds (while you work your partner rests)

5 clean and jerks 85 lbs
10 chest to bar pull ups
1 ladder run/suicide run/cone run
5 Dead Lifts 155 lbs
20 Double Unders
10 wall balls 14 lbs
1 rope climb

This is the most brutal WOD I have EVER done in my crossfit career!
Forget the heavy lifts, the rope climb was a major commitment when there was a whole lot of fatigue.

The second round I push hard through the running and the lifts, THEN I got to the rope climb and for a few seconds of being 20ft (or so) up on the rope I thought I might fall. My arms were burning and my right leg was getting rub raw. Well I didn't fall but once I got down I was not sure if I could finish the last round. No workout have ever made me feel that way. This workout, no joke, a mental and physical challenge. I am proud to say I finished my 3rd round and even felt strong on my last rope climb. Oh and forgot to mention this was the first time Aimee, Brooke or I have ever done a rope climb and we all got through it well. It is good to know how far you can push. Scary at the moment but good to know what the edge feels like. =)

Rope burn:




















Sunday 5/16

Break into teams of 2, each member completes 4 two minute rounds
While one team member is working the other is resting.

50 meter 50+ lbs sand bag lung walk carry
5 Macgyver Burpees (Hit the deck, roll under rope, jump up and lateral hope over rope)
50 lbs kettle bell swings (as many as you can get before your 2 mins is up)

Bwah and I got 92 points (poor guy, I only got 17 of those 92 points)















This WOD doesnt look horrible on paper but WOW the weights were heavy! My legs were shot with the sand bag carries, the Macgyver Burpees just hurt then to try to swing 50 lbs over head was rough. Shana was telling me to tighten my core and use my hips but with almost half my body weight there was just no pop in my hips. LOL something else to add to my list to work on "heavy ass kettle bell swing form"

Here are some FUN Photos I have been wanting to share:

85 lbs Over Head Squat (21 times ie my PR has to be pushing near at least 95-100lbs)





















Oregano Chicken:
Chicken (whatever cut you like will work)
EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
Salt
Pepper
Fresh Oregano

Chicken goes into a pan, put some EVOO on the Chicken, add salt, pepper and oregano.
I go light on the salt, medium on the pepper and heavy on the fresh oregano.
Bake until chicken is done and enjoy!

My sides, a yummy salad with balsamic vinegar and grated zucchini with onion and bacon.

The night before my trip

Well, I'm ready! Just finished packing for the nine day seminar. What a job that was! It was like packing for two separate trips. Gear and clothes for three days of hiking and camping, rock climing and who knows what else. Plus four days of business casual clothes for the seminar part, and also a cocktail dress and the shoes and stuff that goes with that! But the most important part of being ready is my physical condition due to the regular workouts. I joined CrossFit to improve my physical fitness so that I could get the most out of this nine day adventure. And I'm ready now. I can feel the improvement in my strength, stamina, endurance, breathing, energy, mental outlook and overall happiness. I am content with myself now as I have never been before. Not that I intend to 'park' here for very long...now I have several new goals! No more weigh ins for me, now I'm watching my dress size drop and my arms and legs get stronger! So I have two new goals to accomplish by Christmas. Wear size 12 jeans, and start to volunteer at a local horse rescue. It may mean shoveling a littl sh_t, but that's fine. I just love being around the animals.
Well all this yapping about how great CrossFit is and I have to confess that I haven't done a WOD for a week. Life just got so busy this week with work, home, the condo, packing and you know...I can feel the glow diminishing! I won't be back to the gym till Monday 5-24, and I can't wait. I'm planning to do a short daily w/o next week...you know something like 20 situps, 15 pushups, and jump rope x 50. That should keep me from getting too soft next week! Yes, I actually invested in my own rope. It has weighted handles and it's really cool!

Wonderful Red Wine Chicken Deliciousness!

What a Wonderful Day! I started it off with at 630AM WOD at CFED:

Warm Up:
Stretching
50 double unders (I seem to be off in the past two day, need to get some coaching my my rope turning)
2 rounds of Cindy- 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 air squats
Stretching

WOD

3 rounds:
2 mins for max reps – Push Press (w:55 m:75)
2 mins for max reps – Wall Ball Shots (w:14 m:20)
2 mins for max reps – Burpees
2 mins rest.


RX Scores:
99 Push Press Total
67 Burpee Total
48 Wall Ball Total

Felt good through the PP and Burpees but those dang wall balls where horrible especially with my arm, shoulders and legs already smoked.

** Cash Out **
2 attempts at max bar hang from the pullup bars.
Time- 2:11
The second longest time in the box today!


































I usually dont blog about work but today was an important day I have been looking forward to for the past 7 months. . . the school I have been working with had their Native Plant Garden Dedication! The students did a fabulous job over the past 7 months to be ready for this day. I am not going to lie there were days during the process that I was way stress that we may not be able to pull it off but one day at a time one step at a time and here we are. . . The plants are in, the students gained some knowledge and are budding environmental stewards, and everyone had a great time this afternoon at the dedication. We had speeches, a plaque presentation, ribbon cutting and CAKE. I know what you are thinking "so not paleo" but I have great news. . I didnt have a single bite, not even a lick of the frosting that got on my fingers from cutting the cake =) If feels so good to be STRONG mind and body!





















You know we joke about it but Crossfitting and eating healthy really make you more confident, a much better problem solver and less likely to freak out when something challenging pops up. Not to mention to look better naked. =)

I ended my day with an AMAZING meal! I am the hardest critic when it comes to my own cooking and I have to say this is one of the most DELICIOUS meals I have made in quite some time. Ok so here is the recipe:

Chicken (I used 8 boneless thighs but anything boneless will work)
1 whole organic onion sliced
2 cloves of organic garlic chopped
8-10 organic mushrooms
1 cup red wine
1 cup almond flour
5 chopped organic dates (this is my secret folk shhhhhhh)
salt and pepper
EVOO

1) Carmalize onions (put in a skillet on low- med heat with lots of EVOO and cook for about 30 mins will you prep everything else) Make sure to stir them occasionally or they will burn

2) Use your crossfit muscles to pound chicken thin (i lay the chicken flat in a plastic bag and beat with a rolling pin)

3) Mix Almond flour 4-5 shakes of salt 4-5 shakes of pepper together

4) Start another skillet on med-high heat. Put in enough EVOO to cover bottom.

5) Dip chicken into almond flour mix, cover thoroughly the shake of excess. Add chicken to hot EVOO. Cook for about 5 mins on each side. Then set aside

6) Add mushrooms and garlic some salt and pepper to onions. Let brown for 3-4 mins. Onions should be getting nicely browned.
(I kept my mushrooms and garlic separate from my onions but mixing them in together would be fine too) (I only added

7) Add red wine and chopped dates to mushrooms/garlic. Let simmer for 4-5 mins

8) Squeeze in 1/2 a lemons juice into the red wine sauce

9) Add almond flour chicken to red wine sauce, let simmer together for 1 min on each side.

10) Serve with some delicious veggies (we had zucchini but asparagus would have been nice), a primal salad with red peppers, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, dried apricots and Fig mustard dressing and a big glass of wata!

No joke folks this was a phenomenal meal, got compliments from all guests who are all dear friends and tell me the bitter truth. If you are a primal eater you should already have most of the ingredients , if not go stock up then get to cooking!

What a wonderful day, hope yours was good as well.
Time to finish off my last round of fish oil the hit the hay. . .
Tomorrows FRIDAY!

Lots of Love Going Out to ALL the AMAZING People in My Life!

CFED Booty Cam 2010

Sand Bagging It!

I had an interesting end to my day, little did I know I would be making sand bags and then carrying them around. . . why because I can! Can you tell I am still a bit jacked up from the WOD. I love this high I get after a WOD. I am just so happy, Crossfit is my medicine.

So I get to CFED and proceed to make three 50lbs sand bags for the ladies and one 75 lbs bag for our Dude Bwah (thank Bwah, Aimee and Jonathan for you help). I make it sound like it was easy but creating a usable sand bag was some work folks. Shana did her magical WOD creation and we were off:

Warm Up

Stretch
50 double unders (could not find my dang rhythm today)
Stretch
Pull Ups
Push Ups

WOD

3 rounds

5 Chest to bar pull ups
6 step up holding 50 lbs sand bag
7 Over Head Squats at 85 lbs
8 Burpees
100 meter sand bag run (50lbs)

My time was 19:37 ( I know i was sub 20 mins for sure, can remember the seconds)
This was a great WOD it pushed me to the limit, the last round of OHS I was seeing some stars but pushed through. I really need to get more mentally tough. I could have broken the OHS into 4 and 3 instead of sets of 2's. My last round I did 3 then 4. If I can do that on my last round of this brutal workout I know I can do it all the way through. Overall the hardest things about this WOD was cleaning the 85 lbs bar (my form sucks need to work on my arms as straps and stop pulling) and the 50 lbs step ups (my left leg is so much weaker than my right).


Cash Out
Worked on Pull Up form and Hand Stand Push Ups using some purple bands.
Shana and Jonathan has some great tips for my pull ups. My kip has gotten super big but they showed me how to have more power and control by using my hips in a different way (it is hard to explain sorry I am trying). They also work with me on the way I push off the bar. Man it totally works, I was really over kipping and my back was hurting. The less kip but more hip control and a quicker push method is great. I was breezing through some pull up even after that rough WOD.
The hand stand push ups using the purple bands sure looks funny but it is helping me get full range of motion and work all the muscles. After about 3 of them with those bands on my shoulders and being upside down I felt like my back molars were going to pop out. LOL

Big Props to my girl Aimee for getting her handstand push up this evening. You are a rock star! She will have her muscle up before regionals, I have zero doubts.
Awesome job to Shana as well for getting her inverted burpee move on the first try!
I am loving working out with these amazingly strong women.


I am finishing my day with some Chicken Stir Fry

Chicken cubed
Any Veggie you like (Broc, zucchini, onion, garlic, carrots, ginger)
EVOO
Hot sauce
Cashews

I cooked the chicken with the EVOO and Hot Sauce.
Sauteed my veggies then added the cooked chicken and cashews.

Had a 1/2 baked sweet potato and 3 olives on the side.
Side note eat the skin people all the good stuff is in the skin of your sweet potato, so eat it!

Not the best meal I have ever created but pretty yummy and easy.

I have been taking fish oil for 6 days now, almost a week, and one difference I am definitely noticing is my skin. I am usually so dry but the past two days my skin looks great! No flakiness. The jury is still out on if the fish oil is helping recovery, I will keep you posted.
Used the chucks again today and they felt good. I put my running shoes back on and they are very mushy. So far the only thing I dont like about wearing the chucks is jumping down from the pull up bar. Other than that they seem to be doing their job. I will keep you posted.

Oh and I wanted to say congrats to Maggie who is just starting her journey with eating Paleo. You have lots of support Maggie dont be afraid to use us. =)

Big love going out to my CFED family and teammates. I am having a blast!

Little Bit of This - Little Bit of That

Hi All! Welcome to the new folks who are reading the blog, it is good to have you and always good to get your feed back and questions. My Mom or I are by no means experts on nutrition or crossfit but we are living it and loving sharing our journey's through crossfitting, eating and living a happier healthier life.

Back to business. . .

Today was a day of rest, a well deserved day of (active) rest. The weekend was filled with CFED team work outs and yesterday I finished my three day cycle with a 6:30am WOD:

Warm Up:
Stretching
50 double unders (they are getting sooooo. . . much faster, dont even need a single jump in between any more!)
2 rounds of Cindy
Stretching


Take 12 minutes to find your 1-rep Deadlift max
then…
Brooke and I work together to find our DL max. I PR at 175! I was using my new chucks w/ skulls on them and they seemed to do the trick. I didnt have to think about my feet at all. I will keep you posted on the use of lifting shoes vs. running shoes. Shana also gave me some great tips on lining up my spine, and squeezing my hamstrings. I am having some trouble feeling how to squeeze my hamstring but the lifting felt easier today after she did some corrections to my form. Keeping my head down is also helping. Brooke was in a rush to get her last lift in and didnt realize it until after she had complete the lift that she PR 275! Awesome Job Brooke!!!















This pic is to dang funny not to post in as many places as possible, Love ya Brooke!

The WOD:

5 Rounds for time:
5 Deadlifts (75% 1-rep max) I used 135lbs
7 Inverted Burpees
9 Toes-to-Bar

Time: 14:33

DL are all mental for me, Shana started yelling that another gym was catching up to CFED and I pumped through 3 of em in the final round. I need to stop letting my breaks take up so much time, do the dang lift and move on.
The inverted Burpees were a fun change, love incorporating hand stands into the workout.
Toes-to-bar are always brutal, my kip is getting smaller so I am guessing that mean my abs are getting stronger!

This is your friendly reminder to take good care of your hands and calluses. I have been a bit lazy over the past week and really paid for it during this workout. No rips but man my hands were burning. I like to pumice in the shower and then put some shea butter on them. There is a great little African store in Little 5 that sells pure shea butter. Cant remember the name but it is right next to the Porter Bar.













I am excited to get into the gym tomorrow night to work on my muscle up form. Aimee posted a great video on how to practice them, good stuff! Cant wait to try it. I am also meeting a friend for her first CF WOD tomorrow at 6pm. I am so excited for her, I can remember my first time walking into a CF gym and thinking holy sh*t I dunno if I am going to make it. Amazing how much her world might change, learning what a burpee is was life altering for me. LOL!

Sport Bra May Pic! Good Looking Bad Asses ;)
Lt to Rt: Shana, Aimee and Lauren

Happy Mother's Day!

I feel like the earth rewarded us with the most beautiful Mothers Day. It was perfect!

I am working on my first nutritional blog but it is taking time to go through all the great notes from the Whole 9 workshop. Be patient, I am trying to really make is user friendly and basic. We need to connect all this fabulous informational/scientific dots into usable knowledge for everyone!

Quick Mother Day recap:

I got to Sleep In, hooray. Always a nice thing. Have a good Team WOD:

1 min max reps with each exercise with partner- 3 rounds

Hand Stand Push Ups (I worked the negatives)
DB squat clean 30lbs women 40lbs men
Toes to bar
Ring Dips ( I worked the negatives)
Chest to bar pull ups

I teamed up with Bwah, we scored in the 220's
Amiee and Jonathon scored in the 260's
Shana and her partner (sorry cant remember his name) scored in the 240's

Not to shabby especially working all those elite moves ;)
Just in case you are wondering my shoulders are still feeling like dog meat LOL. Excited and nervous for the heavy lifting I think is coming in tomorrows WOD.

Had a delicious Mother Day meal with my roomies family. Thanks Cate's fam for letting me join in the wonderful evening.

Isabelle (my cat) and I are off to bed, this is a big week at work with our first garden dedication!

Lots of Love to all the Grandmothers, Mothers and Expecting Mothers!

Shortest Blog Yet

Attended the X-Fit Regionals yesterday at UCI, Irvine, CA. What a spectical! Hundreds of spectators supporting their favorite althletes and teams! It's a two day event so I don't know yet if my team placed, but it was looking like second place as of the end of yesterday. Four of the 70+ teams will be selected to attend the Cross Fit Nationals in July. AND, best of all, the venue is right here in So. Cal.!! I'm there! More on that next blog. Gotta go, it's Mother's Day and since I'm a Muther, its time to yack on at dinner with family about my latest CrossFit stories. Before I log off though I want to say this... of all the great benefits I constantly experience THE most wonderful is the connection with my daughter that my new lifestyle has created!! Happy Mother's day to all the moms out there. l-m

Whole 9 Workshop and so much more. . .

What a great day! Started if off by attending a Whole 9 nutritional workshop.





Let me tell you folks it was worth every penny. I weep for the folks who had the chance and did not attend. I now have the knowledge to answer questions like. . . "but why is gluten bad" "what do you mean by 'good' fat?" and "but beans are good for me." Unfortunately it is late and I can't tell you every thing I learned tonight but I am going to leave you with some of the key messages to think about and then blog more on the workshop tomorrow. . .

1- Make informed decisions on what you put in your mouth





















2-You are what you eat eats

3-Feed lot meat vs. Organic or Grass Fed meat

4- Carbs = insulin- storage hormone

5- Protien = glucagon- allows access to nutrient store

6- Balance is Key!















7- Bad foods: Sugar (no but literally everything, even agave and honey), processed food (duhhh), Alcohol, Grains, Dairy,and Legumes

8-Good foods: Meat (grassfed and organic is best, reread #2),Vegetables, Fruit, Good Fats (to be discussed tomorrow)

9- Lectins: one of the compounds found in grains that causes inflammation.

10- Micropurferation: Holes in your intestinal wall

11- Alzheimer's as the new Type 3 Diabetes (Holy Cow PEOPLE think on that!)

12- The milk you buy at the market is created by cows for growing strong COWS.















13- We are the only mammal that continues to drink milk in adulthood (weird)

14- Eat veggies with every mean and for snacks! Ramp it UP

15- Eat about abut 2-3 serving of fruit daily

16- Coconut oil is the SHIT. Use it as a delicious good fat when cooking everything.

17- Take your fish oil!














18- Food is not a reward or a punishment

19- Dont let feeling bad (unhappy belly, sore joints, stuffy nose) become your norm.




















That is a preview of the 10 pages of notes I took today! Much more to come on healthy eating and why some foods are healthy and other are not. Got some great ammo to pass out to all my paleo friends =)

Funny I started my day with CFED and ended it with CFED. We had a team training. My part was:

9 chest to bar pullups
9 thurster 65lbs
5 deadlifts 155lbs
10 burpees
6 Squat Clean and Jerks 85 lbs

As a team we finished the WOD in under 9 mins. I had to do some mods on the weights, that wont fly at regionals but I am getting stronger every day. Friday I could only do 1 ring dip today I did 3! My jumping muscle up form is getting more fluid. I PR my Squat Clean and Jerk 95lb and my deadlift is over my old PR of 155 if I can do 155 5x. I am going to get some chucks to lift in tomorrow! Time to get serious. =)

Finish my great day with some delicious steak, caramelized onions, asparagus and conversation! I love my CFED team, thanks for all the support and help. You guys rock!

Have another workout in less than 12 hours. . . time for bed!

Here's to Health!

What’s for Dinner?

Today was a Rest Day and thank goodness it was needed! I started it off with a good breakfast of bacon and an egg covered with tomatoes, carrots and onions. I worked for a few hours then was lucky enough to get to lay by the pool for a few hours with some friends from the gym. Work for a few more hours then came home to make a delicious meal for two of my favorite ladies.

The menu for this evening was turkey burgers smothered with homemade pineapple salsa, fried green tomatoes and zucchini, strawberries, raspberries and dark chocolate.

Turkey Burgers

1lbs ground turkey
1-2 table spoons fresh grated organic ginger ( I like a lot of ginger!)
½ an organic onion chopped up
4 organic mushrooms chopped up
½ an organic green bell pepper
salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt the ginger already gives a ton of flavor)
Mix all ingredients, make patties then grill or fry them (makes about 6)

Pineapple Salsa

There is a lot of chopping so recruit friends!
4 large organic tomatoes or 6 small ones
½ an organic onion diced
½ an organic green bell pepper diced
¼ an organic Jalapeño diced (the more you add the hotter it gets, I am a sissy)
2 cloves of organic garlic diced
handful of organic diced cilantro (add more to taste)
8 slices of FRESH (not canned!!!) pineapple diced
½ a lemon’s juice
½ a lime’s juice
salt and pepper to taste

Start boiling a pot of water – once boiling add tomatoes for 2 minutes, skin should start to peel off.
Take out of water, cut in ½ and let cool
Dice all veggies/fruit and put into bowl with lemon and lime juice . Add all spices
Once tomatoes have cooled pull skin off (it should come of very easily) and take out seeds and juices. You only want the meaty part of the tomato. Chop into small pieces and add to mix.

Once all ingredients are mix into the bowl chill and serve.
The longer you chill the better it gets but even 15 -20 minutes while your burgers are cooking is good.

What a great Friday and a delicious meal. Summer is the perfect time for a fruity salsa on everything! Cant wait to try the salsa tomorrow after it marinates in itself all night.

For a quick side story:
I asked my roomie if she needed anything from the market and she asked me to get some corn mean for the fried green tomatoes. I am walking down the market aisles scanning for the corn meal I realize that I am down an aisle that I have not visited in about 6 months. I finally find the corn meal and as I reach for it I stop and have a moment of reflection on my eating habits – Inner monolog “Boy it sure seems weird to be down this aisle. Everything down here is not a part of my life style any more. I understand the effects that things like corn meal have on my body and choose not to eat them any more. Does this mean I should stand my ground and not buy this for my roommate since I know it is not healthy for her. . . “ End of Inner monolog. In the end I bought the corn meal but it sure felt like i was buying a pack of cancer causing cigarettes. LOL I am paleo through and through. We ended up not even using the corn meal and instead used almond flour and eggs to coat or tomatoes and zucchini.

Should only be another week or so until I receive my new paleo cookbook from Mark’s Daily Apple. Cant wait to share some recipes!

Tomorrow is the Whole 9 nutritional workshop, volleyball picnic, and CFED Team WOD. It is going to be a Great day. . . I look forward to sharing my gained knowledge with you again tomorrow night.

Here’s to being healthy!

SHOULDERS SHOULDERS SHOULDERS

I am hoping if I say it 3 times and click my workout shoes my shoulders will still work in the morning. Holy Cow I feel like I have a ginormous shoulder pads on but nope it my very own shoulders pressed against my ears LOL. So let me tell you have this has happened. . .



















Yesterday, we did a cash out of 50 ft of hand stands so my poor shoulders are already feel not so much sore as Tight. I get to the gym at 5:45pm for the 6pm class and Shana (my trainer, gym owner, and all around bad ass) says "Do you want to hang around Aimee (another bad ass aka Schwarzenegger) and I are going to do a different WOD?" So of course I stay and "warm up" for 2 hours. My "warm up" consisted of:

10 minutes of stretching
50 double unders
50 minutes of muscle up practice on the rings
5 pullups
10 minutes of stretching

Needless to say my shoulders are burned out from all the muscle up practice. Here is what a muscle up succession looks like:









After all that "warming up" Shana, Aimee and myself made up a brutal WOD. Shana asked us what we need to work on and our favorite numbers and violla we had our WOD.

13 minutes AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible)

7 Over Head Squats 75lbs (my make is 85lbs)
10 Wall Balls 14 lbs
7 Ring Dips (Shana did 3 muscle ups)

ALL SHOULDERS. . .READY?

3,2,1 GO!

Well in 13 minutes I did 1 full round plus 7 OHS and 2 wall balls. The OHS of 75 lbs really slowed me down! I could not hold my shoulders in a shrug position any more. Pretty much 11 minutes of the WOD I was working on my 14 OHS.
I was just out of shoulder juice. Below is a pic of an OHS:





















It was a tough day at the CFED working on things that really push me to my limits and I keep right on pushing that limit, getting stronger and better at weird gymnastic moves on a daily basis. I am hoping to get some photos of the WOD to share. It is work out in your sports bra month and the three of us had fun looking thick during our WOD today LOL.

Urban Dictionary Definition of "Thick"
nice ass, nice legs, not skinny, with meat on your bones. thickness is the shit.
Damn that girl is thick yo!


Tomorrow is my day of rest, even thinking of hitting up the pool with Shana and Aimee. I need to just chill it has been a long 7 days and this weekend is super busy and full of brutal team workouts.

Oh I did want to share one more thing, my new Favorite paleo salad dressing. Don't let "paleo" scare you all my non paleo friends love it too. . .

2 pressed garlic cloves
1 spoon full fig mustard
fresh rosemary (I use the leaves from 10 stems)
3/4 of a lemons juice
pepper 7 shakes
Add EVOO to a good consistency. . . Delicious

Another great addition for your salad is to add some chopped dried apricots and some sunflower seeds. . . AMAZING you will never go back to bottled dressings.


I am spent and off to bed! =)

Cornea Pressure - Glacoma - CrossFit....What?

Awesome News! The pressure in my cornea (a sort of pre-glacoma symptom) is down to 22 and 24 right and left eye respectively (from the 27-28 range).
Translation: Last fall the opthalmologist (eyeball doctor) ran the routine puff of air test to determine the pressure on my corneas. The high results (27-28 range) caused the doc. to talk about medication to avoid Glacoma. It's a sneaky disease that gradually eats away your peripheral vision and ultimately can cause blindness. So what's all this eyeball talk have to do with my workout you ask?? While he's talking I'm thinking, hmm, all my exercise and healthy eating, could this be the reason for the lower numbers. So I casually asked if the lower numbers could be the result of my exercise program. He said, "Well..., yes..., it could be. But losing weight would reduce the numbers." Jackpot!! I wanted to jump on his lap and yell I've lost 28 pounds since joining the CrossFit cult!! But I restrained myself and exclaimed OMG, I've lost almost 30 pounds since November! Now this guy is pretty serious and somewhat dull (a great doctor, but .... well you know) and he's old, must be at least 61 or 62, but this revelation produced a big smile, and uplifted voice as he congratulated me! Even the nurse in the hall heard our conversation! Naturally as a member of the CrossFit cult I began to expound upon the blah, blah, blah hi Tut of CrossFit!!! He was almost as happy as I am.

Another happy ending, and today I didn't even workout! Good night, l-m

Full Speed Ahead

Only three weeks until the CFED Team leaves for Jacksonville to compete in the South Eastern Regionals. Training is in high gear. . . and it is no joke! I did a regular WOD last Friday, brutal team WODs on Sat and Sun, Gaelic Football practice on Monday, Tuesday was my attempt at a Rest Day but I ended up having to shovel and pull weeds for 3 hours at a school planting, and today's Cinco De Mayo WOD was very challenging not to mention my warm up, buy in and extra cash outs. The arches of my feet are tender LOL but I am sure feeling GREAT!

Here is the run down on my WOD (Work Out of the Day):

Warm Up:
Stretching
50 double unders
15 ring dip practice
10 pull ups
10 push ups
More Stretching

WOD:
53 24" box jumps (3 mins)
2 min rest
13 135lbs deadlifts (2 mins)
2 min rest
90 ft lung walk with 15lbs plate over head (1 min)
2 min rest
36 24" box jumps (2 mins)
1 min rest
10 135lbs deadlifts (90 secs)
1 min rest
90ft lung walk with 15lbs plate over head (1 min)

Cash Out
Sweat Angels on the floor
50 feet of walking handstands (using the wall for balance)
30 14lbs wallball shots
More sweat angels

My double unders are getting stronger. The ring dips are rough but I will keep on working on the negatives (slowly lowering my weight down). The wallballs suck and dont feel like I improved much today on them but it was a hard WOD and my arm were shot after the walking handstands.

Bar Dip Pain





The rings you see hanging in the background are what I am working on now. . . grrrr!



















I am so glad so many of my friends are enjoying the blog. I am loving sharing my crossfit adventure as well as getting to be a part of my Mom's journey, she cracks me up daily. Her hardwork and dedication are also giving me the evidence I need to say that anyone can do it, no offense to my Mom but she is such a great example! She is already saving money on doctor visits and meds because she is no longer at risk for glaucoma. It is really working AND she is loving it.

I talked with her on the phone this evening and we are going to need to plan a girls day of shopping! Help get her some new clothing =) She is so excited to visit.

Ok, well I am spent! Off to bed for me, Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone.