Crossfit Confessions....

"Aint it Nifty Karens 50"
(This is a birthday WOD, Karen turned 50"

50 Wall balls
50 double unders
50 push presses 35/55
50 supermans
50 walking lunges
50 jumping pull ups
50 knees to elbows
50 burpees
50 kettle bell swings 35/53
50 box jumps 20/24

(must complete 50 reps of one exercise before moving on to the next. 50 min time limit)

(for those of you who are reading this and don't do crossfit the numbers behind a movement are the RX weight or height of the box for that movement) RX = prescribed weight.

So I thought it would be fun to have a post of members of our box's crossfit confessions... Yes, I still need to get around to asking folks what theirs are but here is one of mine.


Crossfit Confession numero uno.


If I miss a WOD I wonder all day..... and the next day how I would of done. What would my time have been?  What would have been my challenges and what movements would I have kicked ass on?

(don't try to hide that when you hear what the WOD is and its your day off you go in cause you can kick ass!)

You ask, why am I positing one of mine now... Well I can't seem to shake yesterdays WOD out of my brain and how I would of done. I live for these types of WOD's.  I love the long ones that involve not only cardio but technique like double unders and rapid fire box jumps, but lifting movements as well. Like push presses and kettle bell swings Those movements are energy sponges....  Kettle bell swings at 35lbs and knees to elbows.  That $%-t is hard! Wall balls at 14lbs....hitting the white above the red on the wall is no joke. ( what is that anyway 20 feet?? OK, I know its more like 10 or 14 feet)

Yes, Yes, I check the white board on the website and see what every ones times are, who RX'd the WOD.... Who doesn't check??

So the times ranged anywhere from 20 mins to 50.

My back is feeling much better now, but to be on the safe side Im trying to take a week off.... Its killing me!

This is what Crossfit does to the brain.

GRACE!

So for those of you who live under a rock October is breast cancer awareness month!

Kirkland Crossfit among I'm sure Crossfit boxes across the country were participating in Barbells for Boobs!

I was inspired Saturday morning when I walked into Kirkland Crossfit North as saw it was standing room only. Not only is Grace a benchmark workout but it is a true test of mental and physical toughness. 30 ground to overhead is no joke! RX is 95lbs for women 135lbs for men. I am so proud of all of our members (and non-members) who showed up to support the cause. All of us have in some way been touched by someone with breast cancer. It is such an inspiration to be part of a family that helps the community!

Ive included a couple of videos that I think are awesome. The first is a video that KCF has on their website. The other is of Saturday. My handsome husband did amazing!  Yes thats him in the video from Saturday. He did a personal best of 4:20! I on the other hand didn't get to participate...... um, I was pissed! I was sick all of the 5 days before the event and then when I went in to practice my clean and jerks I tweaked something in my back. So I played it safe and just sat it out and went to cheer on my friends! ( I would rant for so much longer but Ill save that for my crossfit friends that I am boring to death with my self pity)

I just want to say great job to everyone who showed up! 

Hope to see you all on Nov 3rd for our grand opening for Kirkland Crossfit North. If for nothing else than taste testing some of the fine Paleo meals our members are bringing.

(Michelle dont be pissed that I included you a video.... ;)

Kirkland CrossFit Barbells for Boobs

3-2-1 Go!  Find a partner and clear your calendar because on Saturday, November 3rd we will be having a “Minute to Win it” grand opening party at Kirkland CrossFit North.

This party will kick off at at 11:30 with food, drinks and some minute to win it games and prizes.  Everyone is invited.  That includes you, your family and any friends.

If you have a delicious dish you have been wanting to share please bring it as we never turn down good food.

Hope to see all of you there!!

Paleo Oatmeal.....say what!

                                                                  Paleo Oatmeal

So this gem of a recipe was introduced to me last week by Jer and Monica Ingersoll. It took me a couple attempts to get it just right but it is totally worth the attempts! I have been eating this post WOD as a recovery meal because of the amount of protein in it but Monica says shes been having it for breakfast for a while. Its so yummy!

So here goes:

1/2 cup egg whites (store bought or 3 to 4 eggs without the yolk)
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 T unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other liquid)
1 T almond meal
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 banana well mashed
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp butter extract (I didn't have this so I didn't add this)

Place all the items in a sauce pan, mix together then turn stove on.
As this heats up you will notice it thickening up. Cook until you see the consistency you like. (on my stove this is about 5 mins) I over cooked this the first couple times and it was a little dry. After that I cooked until still moist.

As you can see I topped mine with two fresh strawberries cut into small pieces.

Its a timing thing

Or is it?

Timing, Technique and Strength..... oh my!


I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one that has some sort of crossfit dialogue going on inside of my head, off and on all day.
Depending on what the WOD is for the day I will think, work through my head and almost always google how to preform a movement better.

When I began crossfit I was  bombarded with so many new movements that I was  really just trying to learn and remember how to do them correctly.  Being a athletic person to begin with and competitive at that, I wanted to make sure I didn't get hurt, and at the same time I wanted to get a great time. This is where I think Kirkland Crossfit really excels cause even though I came in as an athlete they still made me scale all of the weights until I preformed them correctly..... Believe me even after a year I still scale a lot of the weights.

So this is when I decided to work on any movements, that I see as the bread and butter of getting a good time, that didn't require lifting weight. Why you ask??? Well it just seemed like as I observed the best athletes at Kirkland Crossfit get AMAZING  times, it was the pull ups, double unders, box jumps, burpees, push ups, hand stand push ups, toes to bar and knees to elbows to name a few that they would do at record speed. All of these movements require excellent timing!

So I embarked on a quest to improve these movements that took first and foremost timing, which in turn comes down to technique and then the strength and stamina to not rest.

Lets take a moment to talk about resting....

I remember early on Michelle telling me if I need to rest to count down...... 3...2...1 then GO! I took that advice and still use it. The other expert advice she told me early on was when you move from one movement to the other, no matter how tired you are just start. (think of your rest as the time it takes to get from where you are doing one movement to the next movement) I know some of you are thinking that doesn't make sense because you need to take a breath to get more in at one time. For instance, if you are doing thrusters and pull ups. Get your thrusters done and go to the pull up bar, don't think about it, just jump up and go! If you only get 10 in or as little as two and you feel like you cant go again. Jump off and use your 3...2...1 then GO again! Not taking a rest between movements was huge for me and my times!

So now back to the timing.

 Ive been thinking about this because my friend Jacqueline is trying to learn to do double unders. Not to mention I had two guests come with me last week to crossfit and they both struggled with double unders. Once you learn them and can become efficient at them they don't seem so bad and I actually look forward to WODS with them.

 I'm no expert but getting your own rope is important. Why?? because becoming familiar with how your rope feels is important. Having the right fit is also important. In learning double unders, understanding that the movement is in the wrists and not the shoulders was great advice.  Staying tight and narrow and finding a spot a head of me was helpful. I think what helped me the most was learning the jump...  It didn't need to be an over exaggerated jump. (that just makes you more tired, which = more rest, which = worst time) Just a little higher than a normal jump rope jump is all you need. That's where the timing comes in!! Learning the timing of your wrists turning, and the pacing of our jump. Thats when the magic happens! Once you get it and feel it,  they are not so bad.

I have been working on butterfly pull ups for some time now and can not get past doing 6 or 7 in a row because my timing gets off.  I believe I have the technique down and Ive been know to be able to do 100 kipping pull ups.( with minimal rest) So my strength is there. So its gotta come down to timing. I will continue to practice these until my timing is perfect and I can do more than 10 in a row. I love to watch those in our box that make it look effortless. I wanna do that!

This is one of the reasons I love crossfit. No matter how long you have been going, there is always something you can learn and get better at. All the while getting in better shape and living a healthier lifestyle

Yummy Paleo Crunch

                                       ************  WARNING  *************

This recipe is copied from Paleo Table.  Its called Pam's Paleo Crunch.  I have put a warning on it because it is so good you will want to gobble it up. But you cant because it has a ton of calories. A little goes a long way.

Dry
1/2 cup flax seeds ( I didn't add these cause I didn't have them in the house)
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups almond meal
3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
4 cups raw slivered almonds
1 tsp baking soda

Wet
1 cup liquefied coconut oil
1/2 cup raw organic honey
3 tsp pure vanilla extract (I also forgot to add this and its still yummy!)

Optional
1/2 cup unsweetened dried fruit

1. Preheat oven to 250.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well!
3. In a medium bowl, add wet ingredients and whisk together until well combined.
4. Mix the wet ingredients thoroughly into the dry ingredients.
5. Divide the mixture in a thin layer onto two rimmed baking sheets. It will fill about 1 1/2 jelly roll pans.
6. Press mixture down with your hands or the back of a large spoon.
7. Bake until lightly toasted, approximately 1 hour. Remove pans from oven and gently stir with a large spoon. Carefully return warm pans to the oven and continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes.
8. Let mixture cool completely in pans
9. Store in a lidded storage container with a paper towel placed at bottom to absorb any excess coconut oil
10. Enjoy plain or with coconut or almond milk (my kids like it in their yogurt)

Octsober!

What does Octsober mean to you? Ive been asking myself this question all this week AND last week, what it means to me.... 

So here goes.

I'm not a big drinker and I don't do drugs...... (if you don't count sugar as a drug) I'm pretty much 90/10-80/20  Paleo. 

So in thinking about this for a bit, cause I had all but thrown it out the door thinking I didn't need to do it, (sober = no drinking, I don't really drink) OK lets just be clear about something my husband and friends tease me, that I NEVER drink. That's not really true. I can enjoy a vodka crystal light drink every now and then. I just don't like how I feel the next day so I almost always just choose not to drink. OK back on topic... 

I had decided I didn't need to do this Octsober Challenge.

Enter Dan Carnahan! Damn you Dan Carnahan! So on Monday after doing Barbara (you crossfitters know what I mean) While I could hardly point to the white board cause my arms felt like they were going to fall off. I somehow got caught up in a conversation about doing it. He quickly pointed out that its not just about not drinking...  We went back and forth and I summed up to him my normal day of eating. "Dan, like I do this whole paleo thing and have for almost two years now, but to stay on track I'm more of a 90/10 - 80/20 girlie." So that the rest of you understand that means I eat Paleo all day and then sometime after dinner I eat a small snack. A cake ball or two. A couple of homemade cookies..... Something along those lines, you get it right? He just looked at me like I had a two heads and said,  "well then this should be easy for you, what can it hurt to try?"

Now lets jump to Monday afternoon. Jacqueline, my good friend and neighbor asked me what I eat on a daily basis. She mentioned to me her sister went Paleo a couple of months ago and has lost 14lbs. She wanted me to write down everything I eat in a day.

I would like to take a break in my writing to say, for anyone who is interested in doing the paleo style of eating you should first read "The Paleo Solution" My husband and I both read it. We both needed to understand why were were changing our way of eating. So I'm a very routine person. I'm like that with myself, my kids and my home. I find something that works and I run with it. I'm not the re-invent the wheel kind of person. So that basically says I have no problem eating my protein applesauce in the morning with a few almonds on the side before heading to the bus stop to drop off my kids. For lunch I love hard boiled eggs a banana and a few more nuts. Or a paleo crunch of some sort. ( I just made a great home made one) Ill list it in my recipes as soon as I make a tab for that..... Dinner my friends is usually an awesome recipe taken from paleomg.com or paleotable.com. My two favorite websites for paleo meals, snacks and desserts.  Everyday Paleo is another good one! Dinner always includes a lean meat and either a bunch of veggies either cooked in coconut oil or baked. Or what I like to call "the kitchen sink salad" cause it has every veggie you can think up. I do change it up now and then and eat scrambled eggs in the morning with turkey bacon and a small fruit. If I do eggs in the morning I then will have left over chicken for lunch with a veggie and a few nuts. Then dinner is as I mentioned above. Its not rocket science but I strongly believe you need to understand why you are making the choices you are.

So Rich and I started eating Paleo for a couple of reasons. Ive always been a busy person. Whether it was at work or in my personal life. Rich calls it my busybody mode... I hardly sit. I could go from doing a Olympic triathlon in the morning to coming home, mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, detailing my car inside and out, all the while running 5 loads of laundry. 

Then all of the sudden as I turned 40 I began to feel more tired. I would be mid training season for tri's and I was struggling to get through a workout much less the day. So, I went to the doctor! Something had to be wrong. I had put on weight..... Even though I was training up to 4 hours a day. I was eating what I thought was healthy. Granola, yogurt, etc... So what gives! There had to be something wrong. I remember talking to my best friend Janis and I told her that maybe something was wrong with my thyroid?? Or something worse...

Well,  the doctor couldn't find a single thing wrong with me!! Nothing! He actually said I was one of the healthiest people he has seen according to all the tests they take. I'm like, "but I don't have any energy! I have put on 10 lbs of puff!!" No joke, he looked me straight in the eyes and said welcome to aging. 

Well for those of you who know me, know, and those of you that don't know me, Ill tell ya, that doesn't apply to me. I have always thought of myself as the exception to the rule. I work hard and it pays off.

So that was when we started talking to my brother in law Ryan about going paleo. I have to say I was extremely resistant because I was convinced I needed my carbs for my long workouts. So Rich and I read the book and began Jan of 2010. I have posted some pictures of myself. before and after.. (a little embarrassed to be posting a picture of me in my swimsuit) Rich took that picture as I was walking back to my lounge chair in Palm springs 3 months after starting paleo. The triathlon pictures were taken the summer before we began eating Paleo. I lost 13lbs of puff that I was carrying around and I didn't even realize it had happened. By the way, I never thought I would see my abs after having two almost 10lb babies!  My energy has been completely restored. I'm that crazy can't sit for very long girl! Ive never felt better in my life! My workouts, and I say workouts cause I WOD 3-4 times a week and run the others, are enjoyable and I feel powerful.  Here we are almost two years later and I weigh about the same as I did after we started eating paleo I'm just a lot stronger cause I get to move somewhat heavy weight around at crossfit! I'm getting stronger everyday!