Movember!

                                                                       Movember

Take a close look at all these men..... Yes they all are sporting mustaches to help raise awareness for prostate cancer.

This is your last week to enjoy gazing at these handsome men and donate to the cause they have all full heartily supported for the month of November!

As much as I want to be a supportive wife, looking at my husband with that hair on his upper lip has been quite difficult. Who would of thought a little facial hair would make such a big difference in how he looks to me... (lets all be real for a minute, part of the reason we married our men is because we were attracted to them) So needless to say I'm looking forward to Dec 1st. Although Rich threatened to keep it to the end of Dec.... He actually thinks it looks good. Not! I told him if he keeps it till the end of Dec. I get to pluck each and every one of those mustache hairs with tweezers. As you all know I love my husband dearly and I think he is absolutely handsome....... just not as much with a mustache.

I think he believes it looks good because he has had a few people tell him he "looks sexy" or "really handsome" COME ON..... really! What are people gonna say to your face...?

So here are a few men from our Crossfit Box who have joined the cause and raised money! Go to their facebook pages and donate now.

Enjoy!

                                                                          Rich (my husband)

                                                                       Jer and Leif

                                                                             Pat

                                                                             Dave

                                                                    Walt and Ryan

                                                                           Ryan

                                                                  Our dog Chewy

Murph!

Me, My beautiful sister Lucita in the middle and one of our besties, and awesome crossfit coach Michelle after doing Murph.

First and foremost I want to thank every single one of our veterans for their service!

Then I want to thank our veterans for the WOD Crossfit calls Murph....
Murph is a bench mark WOD.

This WOD is named In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.

It is done every year on veterans day across the country, but for some reason this is the first time I have had the opportunity to enjoy the pain. I most likely looked at this workout last year, (I started crossfit in Nov) and had to modify it or I missed that day.

This is Murph:

1 mile run
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 squats
1 mile run

Time: 47:56

I lay on the floor of our box for at least 10 Min's after wondering if I was gonna be sick...
I loved it and hated it at the same time. I sometimes wonder whats wrong with me in that I enjoy the pain so much?

Rich suggested that I do it Cindy style... (another WOD)
So I did it by doing :
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats
20 times

I have to say that I am so thankful that my hands didn't rip from the pull ups.  I was able to do all my pull ups butterfly. (yeah for me)

I will say that the push ups were my Achilles tendon in this WOD. I was reduced to doing singles on the last 8 rounds. Every once in a while I did two in a row. But not very often that deep into the WOD. I just told myself that if I did one at a time I had to keep moving.

The squats were not so bad.... with that being said I like to play mind tricks with myself and tell myself that they are active rest.....

Once the work load was done the first 800 of the last mile was HARD.... but being that running is my thang I was able to push it all the way in for the last 800 and promptly collapse once back in the box.

This is my story of Murph. So to all of those of you out there doing Murph today. Enjoy and Kick Ass! (and remember what our service folks have done for us)

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