Muffinhead!

As a follow up to my post last Friday, here is ANOTHER local company making AWESOME outwear for dogs: Muffinhead.  Plus, if you buy between now and the end of the year they will donate $5 of every purchase to Family Dogs New Life Shelter, our favorite local shelter!  They have awesome jackets for dogs of all sizes!  You can't buy online but you can buy at a few local stores, so check them out!!

Just a few more miles

Time has literally flown by, however the miles have not!  Counting today there are 12 days left of 2010.  As of this very moment, I have 22.8 miles left to run in order to complete the 7 week winter challenge.  Lets do some math.  First, 22.8 miles/12 day s= 1.9.  I need to run 1.9 miles every day, including today (beyond the mile I already ran this morning).

Here's some more math: I WILL NOT RUN ON CHRISTMAS, that's a fact.  I also can't run every single day, my shins and body can't keep up with it.  So 12 days - 3 days = 9 days.  22.8 miles/9 days = 2.53 miles.  I need to run 2.53 miles 9 days out of the next 12 days in order to complete the challenge.  I know this is doable, I know I can make it but I don't have room for error...err drinking too much and staying up too late to run the next day!

I also still need to row 9500 meters!  I can't wait for this challenge to be over!!!

Woman's Best Friend

Let me start by stating the obvious, I LOVE DOGS!  The bigger the better, the more misunderstood, the more I love them!  Matt and I both have a soft spot for the bully breeds, the 'aggressive' breeds, the breeds least likely to be adopted.  That's why we have a Rottweiler and a Pit Bull and fostered a Rottweiler last year.  If I had my way I would have many more dogs!  Some permanent, some foster, all loveable dogs needing a second, or third chance!  However, our house is a bit small and our current work schedule doesn't allow for time to give a foster dog the love and attention it would need to shine!  HOPEFULLY once Matt falls in to a normal, semi-predictable schedule, we can foster a bully!  Since I can't foster/adopt right now, I figured I would share my favorites no-kill shelters, blogs and websites for dogs dogs dogs!

First, our favorite local no-kill shelter in Family Dogs New Life Shelter.  Yes, this is where Mary and Brian recently adopted Murphy and no, we have not adopted a dog from them.....yet!  Why do we love them so much?  Well there are several reasons, first, they love pit bull mixes!  In fact, they make videos about all of the pit, called piteos!  Here are a favorites (yes I've watched them all, yes I love them all!)


Boomer's Piteo from Family Dogs New Life on Vimeo.




Braden's Piteo from Family Dogs New Life on Vimeo.



Sallie's Piteo from Family Dogs New Life on Vimeo.



Second, we love them because they have a pack of dogs rather than dogs in individual kennels.  This helps them socialize the dogs, relieve shelter stress and let the dogs have fun!  We think this is awesome!  Third, we LOVE their mascot dog and the dogs on their homepage, we love everything about this shelter!

FDNL Mascot Triffi

Our favorite dog blog....BAD RAP!  It stands for Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls.  We love them because they rescue pit bulls, educate the community about responsible dog ownership and how loving and sweet pitbulls can be, fight bully breed legislation AND helped rescue and rehabilitate many of the Michael Vick dogs!  Take some time and check them out, they are on Facebook as well!  LOVE them!!

My favorite dog book would be The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption.  Not an easy read, made me angry, made me cry, but also made my smile!  I am so thankful to everyone involved in saving those dogs and cheer against the Eagles every time they play!  Any team playing the Eagles is my favorite team of the week!

Favorite dog accessory companies...I have a few!  First, locally run RuffWear.  Why?  Well lets start with the fact that their logo dog is a Rottweiler named Ursula!  Yupp, love it!  Second, because they are located in Bend, OR!  What's not to love about a local company?! Third because their products rock!  We have a backpack and boots for Po!  Remi doesn't have anything yet, but give us some time!

My second pick is a new one, but I already love them because they are donating 10% of their sales to BadRap PLUS giving you 10% off your purchase.  PLUS they are located in Seattle!!  All you have to do is enter the code BADRAP.  The company is called Idawg and they sell awesome cold weather/rainy weather clothes for dogs!!  I want to get this for Remi:

 And I want to get this for Po!

I hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it together!  Cheers!

Pancakes.Dogs.ChristmasCards

This post really has nothing to do with fitness, in fact it has more to do with eating, adopting dogs (not us, sadly) and getting in the Christmas spirit!

However, before I continue with my random thoughts for the day, I ask that if you read my blog that you follow me!  I'd love to know how many people are actually reading this little blog, I know it's more than 3, so click that little button and let me know my words go out to more than 3 people!

So all week I had been craving pancakes!  I know, super random, but I eat eggs every day for  breakfast and I just wanted PANCAKES!  So Sunday we headed out to OPH in Portland (for all you Salem folks so know how wonderful OPH is!).  I ordered blueberry pancakes, Matt got banana pancakes and we shared.  SO WORTH THE CALORIES!!  We then headed over the Family Dogs New Life shelter in Portland to look at a dog for Matt's mom and stepdad.  Check out their website here: Family Dogs New Life Shelter.  They are such a wonderful, no-kill shelter that LOVES PITBULLS!  They post fabulous videos, called piteos, of all the pits they rescue and we love every last one of them!  Here's a truth, I asked for a puppy for Christmas (an adopted, pit bull puppy).  Matt said not until we have a bigger house, then I can rescue all the dogs I want (or something close to that, but sounds good to me!).

Here is the dog Mary and Brian adopted!!!

 His name was Tad, but the renamed him Murphy!  So freaking cute, and yes that is one mean underbite!  I'm so excited for them and for Murphy, the perfect happy ending to our Sunday!

At the half way point

This 7 week challenge has consumed my life lately.  Each day I wake up thinking about how many miles I need to run and how many meters I need to row.  I usually plan to wake up early and run before work, but then hit snooze 5-10 times and wake up later than I would have normally.  I then figure out how many miles I can convince the dogs to run after work before heading to the gym.  The weekends are a good time to catch up on the miles I planned to run during the week, but didn't.

Today I hit 50.5 miles and 27,000 meters, I have offically half way there.  I'm also about halfway through the challenge, so I'm really excited I'm half way there, otherwise I would be in big trouble!

Po has been pretty good with the running, for a big guy he finds a decent, slow pace and stays steady for about 3 miles, with a little encouragement at the end.  Remi needs a pep rally before we even leave the house, but if you get her excited enough, she's a pretty decent runner.  Otherwise, it takes her about 1/2 mile to actually start running.

I'll update my progress on the weight loss at the end of the week.  Happy Holidays!

I have a problem

Step one - Admit you have a problem!

Yesterday I cheated on my diet which is not horrible, everyone should have a cheat day/meal whatever you like.  That's not my problem.  My problem is that now I can't stop thinking about how I'm going to undo the cheat!  I set my alarm to go running this morning before work, but lets be honest, I hit snooze 17 times and didn't run at all.  So now I'm sitting here at work thinking, damn!  I should have run this morning because it would mean less running tonight.  The dogs honestly suck at running, my next dog will have mad running skills!  They need the exercise as much as I do, so I will end up taking them after work, before the gym.  Problem is they run between a 10:30-12:30 pace, which although isn't bad and sometimes I enjoy a nice stroll, will take extra time to complete my miles tonight.  I'm actually ahead of my schedule for my goal, but since I cheated last night I feel like to HAVE to run today.  I literally wrote on my plan for undoing my cheat last night, in full anticipation that when I step on the scale tomorrow I'll see something I like!

In other news, Go Ducks!  We've planned a little civil war party for this weekend and invited Ducks and Beavs alike.  Our house is going to be packed to the brim and it's stressing Matt out.  HOWEVER, I am super excited to have friends over and of course am hoping for a Duck victory!

That is all.

Quick Update

I've neglected my blog for a few days so figured it was time for a quick update.  First things first, I reached one of my goals, in fact blew it out of the water!  My goal was to do 10 pull-ups on my own (a secondary goal was to do 10 without stopping, which I haven't tried just yet but am sure I could do it).  We had a workout on Monday that was 5 Thrusters, 10 pull-ups, AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) for 20 minutes.  I almost finished 10 rounds which resulted in 95 pull-ups!  Many people asked, well how many were consecutive.  Does it matter?  In my opinion, no!  I did 95 pull-ups, no they weren't consecutive and I often broke them down to 4-3-3 to get to 10, but again, does it matter?!  Crossfitters know that it doesn't matter, its an achievement and is awesome!  That is why I have not responded to anyone on Facebook who wanted to know how many were consecutive, as if that changes whether or not I achieved my goal, as if everyone is trying to qualify my achievement.  It doesn't matter, I'm not saying I did 95 straight pull-ups, but it was a hard workout and I did 95 pull-ups.  Whew, guess I needed to vent a bit!

Next, all those miles!  I got some new running shoes yesterday and I've already clocked 6 miles in them, yay!  I've made pretty good progress against the 100 mile goal, I'm currently at 39 mile, 61 more to go!  It hasn't been hard to get motivated to run because I have this goal I need to achieve.  What I'm worried about is that after the challenge is over, I won't have the motivation to run anymore.  I'll tackle that one when we get there, but I know I need to keep running, it's been helping me with my next goal, to lose weight/fat! 

I have lost 6.8 lbs and its been about 2 1/2 weeks!  I am so happy, I have never been able to lose weight this quickly.  The zone diet combined with 12-14 miles of running a week and 5-6 Crossfit workouts a week have helped with this goal.  It would take me a lot longer if I wasn't working out so hard and I'd probably have to be stricter with my diet, but it is so motivating!

I'm still working on the rowing, I've logged about 18,000 meters, so I have quite a ways to still go with that one, but it's still doable. 

Anyways, that's my quick update!  Have a great day!

Thanksgiving

For the first time ever, I actually worked out before Thanksgiving, twice!  We started by running in the Give 'N Gobble 5k in Sherwood.  The CFA family had a pretty good showing even though it was freezing outside!!

Trying to keep warm!

Once we all finished the 5k we headed over to Starbucks for some much deserved and needed coffee to warm us up.  Work out #1 was done and #2 was just around the corner.  We headed back to CFA and dug deep to find the motivation to finish a second workout.  Coach Rich had us do a team WOD which helped all of us work harder than if we were on our own.  The workout consisted of: 20 deadlifts (135 lbs for women), 100 pull-ups, 20 thrusters (75 pounds for women), 100 box jumps, 20 hang cleans (95 pounds for women but I did 75), 100 situps.  Only one person of the two person team could be doing a lift at a time and all reps had to be complete in order to move on to the next.  My teammate and I decided to split everything pretty evenly, which made for a tough workout!

Thrusters! 

Matt and Kerri working on their box jumps

I love this picture, I look like I'm levitating!

Kerri's turn!

Janessa working on the box jumps

Hang cleans....no fun!

Kicking butt on the hang cleans!

Powering through the sit-ups!

The group that did the second workout of the day!

Also, for probably the first time ever, I woke up early and did a post-thanksgiving workout the morning, called the Filthy Fifty.  It sucked so bad and made me not ever want to stray away from my healthy eating :)  Well not ever, but I was paying for it this morning.  We had to do 50 box jumps, 50 jumping pull-ups, 50 kettlebell swings, 50 walking lunges, 50 knees to elbows (think hanging from a pullup bar and bringing your knees to your elbows),  50 push press (35 pounds for women), 50 wall balls (14 pounds for women), 50 burpees, 50 double unders (with the jump rope).  Then we all had the wise idea of running a mile afterwards, just for fun. 

I'm sitting here with ice on my shin, but I'm proud of everyone that came in to CFA these past two days!  It is so motivating to have a group of people right there with you, pushing you and encouraging you to finish when it was hard enough just getting out of bed on time.

So while I may have strayed from my diet yesterday, I am so thankful for my CFA family, as well as my friends and family who I got to spend Thanksgiving with.  Now its time to get ready for a day filled with college football, Go Ducks!!

Oh - PS: I have now run 28.1 miles, 71.9 more to go and have rowed 13,500 meters, 36,500 more to go.  I was also down 6 pounds as of yesterday and my goal is to be back to that number within a day or two.  Have a great weekend everyone!!

This is what happens when I take a day off!

You know what I love about Crossfit?! As soon as you get good at something, or feel you are good at something, coach introduces the next challenge and brings you back down to planet earth!  I can finally do pull-ups and what does coach Rich ask us to do yesterday, chest to bar pull-ups.  You'll notice in my pull-up post the other day that my chin is above the bar, my chest is far below the bar.  In order to complete these (70 when all was said and done) I had to go back to the green band and do one at a time.  Talk about feeling crushed!  I took it well though, I may have cursed the band a few times but I only punched it once and pushed through the workout.  On a positive note, I did double-unders with the jump rope instead of singles (this means the rope passes under your feet twice before your feet touch the bar again, vs. just once.)  I remember in elementary school doing the jump rope for heart (or something like that) fundraiser and I'm pretty sure I could do any fancy jump rope trick out there.  Now, well I've been working on getting the double-under down since I started over a month ago and was finally able to do it for the whole workout!

Anyways, I am rambling.  However, my point here is that there is always room for improvement.  The challenge, and what I'm learning to accept and nuture, is to be okay with knowing you will never be the best at something (well the majority of us won't) but you can work at being your best and that fitness doesn't occur over night, in a few months or even in a year.  Fitness is a lifestyle and everytime I achieve a goal, I need to set another one in order to keep pushing myself.  I need to learn to live with and appreciate when things are hard or difficult because that is where I learn to grow.  I, like many others, tend to hit the freak out button when I start to get out of breath, get tired, feel like I'm going to pass out.  I am trying to learn to live in that moment and push myself a bit harder because it only lasts for a moment.  The workout will end, but if I don't learn to push myself beyond that freak out point, I'll only be okay at most things, but never good, or great.  What I find motivating is learning what my weaknesses are (and trust me pretty much everything is a weakness right now!) and going home, thinking about them, watching videos, studying how to do it better the next time, then going back to the gym and tackeling it head on. 

I have tons of mini goals right now and things I'm trying to improve so I can build a strong base for crossfit.  I need to be able to do several non-assisted pull-ups.  I need to be able to do several non-assisted ring dips (yeah, the Olympic type rings), I need to be able to do a few handstand push-ups (I'm a soccer player, I like my feet firmly planted on the ground so this is a big one for me!), I need to perfect my overhead squat technique and my squat clean, I need to lose weight, I need to get faster, I need to run more, row more, jump more, lift more....  Normally this is the point where I would get discouraged.  I've said it before, I want overnight results.  I want to try something and be instantly good at it, otherwise why try it at all, right?!  I want to lose weight instantly.  If I work hard for 1 week I feel my body owes me something more than it's giving me.  This is where I am learning to grow, it's been a month and I've achieved some small goals, but what I'm most excited about it taking on the challenge of identifying all of my weaknesses and then figuring out a plan to improve upon them.

Long post, I know.  I had to take today off from the gym (I was at 8 days in a row, WAY too much for healthy recovery) so now I have all this energy and all I can think about it getting back in to the gym tomorrow.  For now I'll end with this commerical for the 2010 Crossfit Games.  I love it!  It inspires me and hopefully one year (2012?!) I'll get to go to sectionals and get a small taste of the Crossfit Games!

Progress

So it's been a week (+2 days but who is really counting) since embarking on the new diet as well as the 7 week challenge from the gym (only +1 day for the challenge).  I think what I'm most excited about is the amount of miles I've run!  I'm really proud of myself and Matt.  I've clocked in 20.25 miles so far, which is way more than I've ever run in a given week, even when I was pretending to train for the marathon!  I have 79.75 miles more to go and about 6 weeks to do it in, I'm not at all worried I won't be able to achieve that goal.  Matt is only 4 miles behind me, and given his work/training schedule it is amazing he found the time to run at all!  Below are a few pictures from Warrior Dash this year, hopefully we'll get to do this race next year as well.  We'll be ready for it with all this running!

Warrior Dash 2010

I felt I needed to jump as high as possible to not get burned!

Effortless

The second thing I'm most proud of is that I can now do 6 pull-ups in a row!  I need to be able to do 10 on Dec 3 (if you remember it was originally the 4th but now we'll be doing the challenge on the 3rd).  I'm pretty confident I can do it, I just need to get over this cold so I can be strong and focused!

The third thing I'm most proud of is that I've lost 3.8 lbs!  What's odd is that this normally would have been the 1st thing I was most proud of...but now I have so many other goals the weight is just another goal vs. my primary goal, very refreshing!

Pull-ups

**Update - I wrote this post several weeks ago, but REALLY wanted to get some pictures of me doing pull-ups before I posted it.  As an update, I can now do 6 pull-ups ALL ON MY OWN!  My goal is to do 10 by Dec 4th, and it's looking like I'll be able to achieve that goal.  Also, I only use the small purple band now and try to start every workout without it until I can't do anymore!!  I've added REAL pictures from the gym below, enjoy!**

For years I've been telling Matt I want to be able to do a pull-up.  For whatever reason, being able to do a pull-up was a symbol of strength to me.  Over the years I never really focused on it until this past year when I started working out at Team Quest.  I was banished to doing negatives (jump up and slowly lower yourself down) because I couldn't do the real thing.  When I started Crossfit, my first workout ever, had a pull-up combo of 21-18-15-9-6 (or something like that).  There are all kinds of resistance bands that you can use to help with doing pull-ups.  There is a BIG purple one which I think provides the most assistance followed by a BIG black one.  Then its goes something like green band, small purple band, small red band. 

My first workout was with the black band and it took me quite some time to do the pull-ups with that band.  My next two workouts with pull-ups also used the black band.  I then went to a combo of green and red bands and at this point started to watch YouTube videos to learn how to do kipping pull-ups.  I studied and starting trying to learn at the gym.  Each day I was there I would practice just a little bit, ask for advice and watch in amazement as others busted out pull-ups like it was nothing!  Next thing I know I'm only using the green band and I'm stringing together 5-10 at once.

From right to left: Mr. Black Band the mac daddy (well there is one bigger one but I never used it), slimmed down green band and my long time friend small purple band!

I practiced kipping some more, and after being called out for not 'really' trying, I tried.  I got 1 then 2 all on my own!  I had to ask, were those real?  Did those count?  Yupp, those were REAL pull-ups!  I can now do 3 pull-ups with NO assistance, no bands!  My goal is to do 10 by December and I am hell bent on getting there!  Granted I still need to use bands during workouts, especially ones like max pull-ups in 2 minutes.  However, I have graduated to a combo of small purple and small red and soon, very soon, just small purple and then hopefully nothing!

Here is me, yesterday, AFTER doing 6 pull-ups in a row as part of my WOD.  Mind you the WOD included 30 pull-ups!

The kip....



...and the PULL-UP!



Badass Women!

Just some videos that inspire me and should be what girls should aspire to be, strong, fit, healthy, powerful women!

What Is Fitness

I am a Crossfit junkie.  I have printed out calendars for November and December so I can plan how I'm going to achieve 100 miles and 50,000 meters (row).  Side note, I've run 5 miles and rowed 1500 meters so far (challenge started on Monday and I haven't worked out yet today).  I watch YouTube videos of amazingly strong men and women doing what I can only hope to be able to do half as well.  I read articles and subscribed to the Crossfit Journal so I could read even more.  One article is often referred to and that is the article titled What Is Fitness.  You can download it for free (by clicking on the title) and read it, which I recommend if you are a Crossfit junkie like me, or interested in fitness, want to understand what Crossfit is about etc. 

I've had a few people ask me what Crossfit is and here is a quick breakdown of World-Class Fitness broken down in to 100 words (from the Crossfit Journal):

World-Class Fitness in 100 Words:

■ Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds,
some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep
intake to levels that will support exercise but
not body fat.

■ Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean,
squat, presses, Clean & Jerk, and snatch. Similarly,
master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups,
dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to
handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds.
Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.

■ Five or six days per week mix these elements
in as many combinations and patterns
as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy.
Keep workouts short and intense.

■ Regularly learn and play new sports.

That pretty much sums up Crossfit :)  Now as for fitness.  The article talks about how endurance athletes are often hailed as being the fittest people (think Ironman etc).  However these people often sacrifice strength for endurance and although can run for days, likely can't do a a decent overhead squat, clean and jerk or deadlift. So how do you figure out who the fittest person it?  It probably isn't one of the strongman competitors either because although they are really strong, they likely couldn't compete in 3 back-to-back WOD's at the level elite Crossfitters can. 

So how does Crossfit define fitness?  Well read the article! It pretty much covers all areas I can think of and is a great motivating factor as it shows everything I need to work on it order to achieve true fitness.  As I said, I'm a junkie, give it a try and you will be to!  Thoughts/comments?  Bored yet with my Crossfit posts?! 

Look for my week 1 summary of the new zone diet, focusing on myself rather than what others can do, my progress against the 7 week challenge etc this weekend. 

PS - Attempted my first hand-stand push-ups last night.  I can't do a hand-stand, yet, so had to modify the workout.  It was a killer though!  21 handstand push-ups, 21 ring dips, 21 push-ups, then do everything again for 15 reps, then do everything again for 9 reps.  Then hey, why not run 1 mile for fun?!  I am taking today off from lifting (although plan on working on form/technique with no weight) and will be rowing 6500 meters since I didn't row quite as much as I needed to yesterday.

Since this post needs some pictures, here are a few more of my pictures from Crossfit Absolute. Please note although I'm wearing the same thing I do have other workout clothes :)







Burpees at 5:30 am!



Ring dips as part of last nights workout.  I look crazy because it was a CRAZY tough workout :)

Goals - Part 4

Okay, so as promised, below is a snapshot of what I ate yesterday as part of the Zone Diet, prescribed by Crossfit.com.  Now this isn't perfect and probably isn't quite ideal, yet.  But its a start.  I'd like to highlight that I opted to have hot chocolate (made with fat-free milk) for my evening snack as I needed some chocolate.  That is not a Zone snack and is not recommended, however one day at a time right?! 

One thing I'd like to point out is that I try to underestimate how many calories I've burned while working out.  I would rather underestimate than assume I burned more and in turn eat more than I should.  So when all was said and done yesterday, I netted just under 1000 calories, and felt pretty good.  I did drink a bunch of water, just didn't feel the need to track it. 

The target is that each meal, and therefore the total for the day, is comprised of 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat.  I'd say I was pretty dang close to hitting the target.  My protein percentage was a little low and my fat a little high, but that's okay.  From what I've learned by researching nutrition, especially nutrition around trying to also build a strong body, that fat is a key element.  So you'll likely see me adjust my fat consumption and possibly sub out cards for fat.  For now I'm going to stick to the plan as much as possible for the next few weeks to see how my body adjusts. 

I've included the link to the article I read and have been following (note there are new block suggestions around veggies (cards) which basically means you can eat more (volume) of veggies) The Zone Diet

Taking the Zone to Work

To me it's easier to stick to a diet when I'm not at work, not in front of a computer, not stressed.  I started the Zone (Crossfit) diet on Sunday and didn't have to work (much) on Monday.  So I got two days at home to learn about and try to adjust to the new diet.  Today is the first day I take it to work.  Its 10:15 and guess what, I'm hungry.  Well, I'm probably not hungry, rather my normal habits would have me eating a snack right now.  I'm not going to cave though, instead I'm writing a quick blog and going to fill up my water bottle!

On another note, today's workout sounds horrible and awful and did I mention, horrible!  Tabata sit-ups, then tabata burpees - that's just the challenge before the workout.  Then the workout, 21-15-9 hand-stand push-ups, ring dips, push-ups.  That means you do 21 reps of all three, then 15 reps, then 9.  I'm not even sure I can do a handstand to begin with.  On top of that I need to row for about 15 minutes in order to make a dent in the 50,000 meter row challenge.  I'm excited for the challenge though.  I'm really working on staying positive and focusing on myself and what I can do, and NOT what everyone else is doing (although its nice to be pushed by stronger, faster people). 

Hope everyone has a good day!

Goals - Part 3

The 7 Week Crossfit Challenge started today!  Run 100 miles and row 50,000 meters by Dec 31st.  I started off by running to/from the gym which totals 4 miles.  Seemed like a great idea until I had to do the challenge (max deadlift) and the WOD (21 back squats (95lbs), 21 pull-ups, 15 front squats (95 lbs) 15 pull-ups, 9 overhead squats (65 lbs) 9 pull-ups.  Yikes!  I ran home though, even if it was barely faster than a walk!  4 miles down, 96 to go!

Running isn't something new to me, I've ran a few 5k's, less 10k's and three half marathons.  However, I've never been good at maintaining weekly miles so this will be a great challenge and will force me to get in better shape ASAP!

All the girls before the race.  We look so happy because we don't realize how bad the Helvetia 1/2 marathon is going to hurt!

This was from the Helvetia 1/2 marathon last year, right before the finish line!



Today is day 2 on the zone diet and honestly, I feel pretty good.  I wasn't able to PR on my max deadlift, but I did lift my max, which is 225 lbs.  I'm prepared that for the next few weeks I may lose some strength as my body adjusts.  I am still going to work hard and push myself and can't wait to come out on the other side of this with my weight down and my strength up!

I wanted to put up a screenshot of my meals, but I don't have wireless internet at my house and the nifty tool to take a full, scrolling screenshot is on my laptop.  Off to Best Buy I go to get a wireless modem and hopefully I'll post more tomorrow.

PS - My shortest term goal is to do 10 pull-ups without assistance by Dec 4.  Today I did all of the pull-ups using the small purple band, which doesn't provide much help at all.  I can do 2-3 unassisted in a row and could probably do 10 with taking breaks.  However I want to do 10 without taking breaks, so obviously my focus over the next two weeks will be PULL-UPS!  I PROMISE to get some picture of me doing my pull-ups because I am REALLY proud of what I can already do and am going to be even more proud of myself when I achieve this goal!

Goals - Part 2

Another quick post as I am waiting for the oven to preheat and we are taking a dinner break from our endless day of tiling.

So I have been struggling with measuring myself against the successes and times and weights lifted of others instead of feeling proud of myself for what I succeeded at, what I lifted and how fast I was able to complete a workout.  I also struggle with feeling that I have to watch what I eat so much more carefully than others.  All of this is a mindset I am working on overcoming, one day at a time.

Crossfit recommends a diet called the Zone Diet.  I hate diets and dieting but I KNOW without a doubt that I need to get control over my nutrition in order to continue making personal strides at CFA.  The diet breaks everything down in to blocks, which in my opinion actually makes it really easy to put together a balanced meal.  Today is day 1 of trying this approach and although the food we've eaten has been really good, I feel like I'm never quite full and always just a little bit hungry.  Its an adjustment and will take some fine tuning, however as part of my goals I need to lose the weight that slowly crept back on since last year.

My goal is to lose at least 1 pound  a week while maintaining my strength at the gym.  Losing weight just to lose weight isn't quite as hard as losing fat while trying to build lean muscle, all while trying to run 100 miles and row 50,000 meters and make it to the gym 5 days a week :)

Time to get serious!!!

Goals - Part 1

So when I walked in to the gym Friday evening after being gone for only 4 days, I noticed a lot had changed.  Most important was a section on the white board regarding goals.  I quickly knew my first goal would be to do 10 unassisted pull-ups by Dec 4 (our next baseline, I'll explain more in a later post).  I got to thinking and quickly thought about all the lifts I can't do at the prescribed weight yet and made another note as a long term goal (again, I'll go in to this on another post as well).

Then there was another section of the wall which said 7 Week Challenge (Nov 15-Dec 31).  One side had 100 miles, the other had 50,000 meter row.  Wait, WHAT?!?!  After quickly doing the math we all realized we would have to run a little over 2 miles every day from Nov 15th until New Years Eve to achieve this.  CRAP!  As for the row, if you haven't rowed on the C2 machines then this won't mean much to you.  However, rowing is hard!  It took me 21 minutes to do 5000 meters and I was working my ass off!!

At dinner tonight I sat down with Matt and started playing around with the numbers to see what it would really take to meet these two targets.  Its not going to be easy, it's going to take up a decent amount of extra time OUTSIDE the normal time spent at the gym and when combined with my other goals which I'll discuss later, it means its time to get serious!

Over the next week or so I'll go in to my game plan for hitting 100 miles run and 50,000 meters row by Dec 31st as well as dive in to some of the goals I know I have and some of the goals I am discovering I need to have. 

Have a great weekend and Go Ducks!!

The Crossfit Addiction

Whenever I tell people I workout at a Crossfit gym, most ask "What is Crossfit".  Better yet, some say "What is a Crossfit"  as if it is a singular thing rather than a concept, a community, a place, an addiction!  I'm an active person, but not until I joined Crossfit Absolute did I feel addicted to what I was doing.  Its a weird thing to say, that I'm addicted, but I know I'm not the only one.  Almost everyone at our gym is addicted.  How do I know this?  They come back in, day after day, sore as can be, ready for the next challenge, the next WOD (Workout of the Day). 

How do I know I'm addicted, I did the unthinkable!  I asked for a make-up workout since we couldn't go on Saturday and actually went to the local track and did the workout!  I know this doesn't sound that amazing, but for me it is!  One, I hate running!  Two, I hate running on tracks even more than just plain running (left over from my middle school/high school track days).  Three, it was Sunday, I usually rest on Sundays!

It's not easy to explain what Crossfit is because its not just one thing.  However, what makes it addicting is the ability to push yourself every day, the community cheering you on as you do something you never though possible (think pull-ups, to come in another post once I can get a picture taken!), its tracking and recording what you are doing so you can actually measure your progress by something OTHER than a scale, it's your coach telling you to stop sand bagging (that's for you Rich) even if you are working your hardest and for sure when you aren't.  It's a feeling and something that no one seems to be able to get enough of.  And no, Rich is not paying me for this post.  I just realized how addicted I am because I asked for some hotel friendly workouts for when I'm gone and know I will for sure do them.  Had this been BC (before Crossfit) I would have packed my workout clothes but would have probably only worked out once, for like 10 minutes, enough to be able to say I worked out but not enough for it to make any differece.

Muscle Milk and Ducks

This weekend Matt and I got to go to the UO/UW game, our second game this year!  Having weekends off together has been such a blessing, it's hard to believe its been about 6 years since we've had weekends off together, without someone having to take time off work.  I love Duck games, and not just because they are currently ranked #1 (was asked this while donating blood, not cool!).  This weekend did not disappoint.  Played a few beer pong games, BBQ'd, spent time with good friends and even managed to work out!  Now if only I could find tickets to the UO/Arizona game...anyone?  ANYONE?

This is my favorite picture from the weekend, yes that is a yellow keg cup filled with Coors Light and yes I am holding the push-up position for this photo op, love it!

Also, love this people!  While we may only hang out with Luke and Sara for sporting events (think Duck's and Blazers) we still love them, haha!  Sad but true we have only hung out together in the last two years it was was related to the Ducks or Blazers, we intend on changing that this year!



Oh yeah, also doesn't hurt that we're #1!!  Go Ducks!!

Healthy Recipe Alert - Slow Cooker Italian Pot Roast

I got this one from the Primal Blueprint Cookbook.  I made alterations to it and it has fast become a weekly staple in our house!  In fact, I am leaving Monday morning, SUPER early, so whipped this up real quick and put it in the crock pot so Matt will have a nice home cooked meal for the entire week while I'm gone! Its funny though, when I was a kid I would have thrown a fit if I had to eat this for dinner. 
Ingredients

4 lbs chuck roast, removed from refrigeration 1 hour before cooking (I've been using 3-3.5 lbs)
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed (I buy canned, minced garlic, so much easier!)
4 inch sprig fresh Rosemary (I use more because I love Rosemary!)
1 cup beef or chicken stock (I've used both, I add more if I am going to add red potatoes to the pot)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups finely chopped tomatoes (I use 2 cans)

Put everything in the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.  That's it!

I have added potatoes that past two times and I put them on the bottom/around the side of the meat.  I usually add a bit more chicken/beef stock when I do to ensure nothing burns.  You can't ruin this though, the longer it cooks the better it tastes!  Enjoy!!



Everything in the crockpot, now just have to wait 8 hours!



Healthy Recipe Alert - Slow Cooker Fajita Stew

My fajita stew turned out amazing, in my opinion, the hubbs said it was good as well!  Its super healthy: lean protein, veggies, low carb, what's not to love?!

Below is the recipe and then my modifications to it:

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs boneless beef top round steak
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
14 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 oz. fajita seasoning mix
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup water

Preparation
Trim excess fat from beef and cut in to 2 inch pieces (I did this the night before so I wouldn't have to deal with it in the morning).  Combine with onion and garlic in a 4-5 quart slow cooker.  Mix together fajita mix and undrained tomatoes and pour over beef.  Place peppers on top.  Cover crockpot and cook on low 7-9 hours.

Combine flour with water in a small bowl and stir well to mix.  Add gradually to crockpot and stir well.  Cover slow cooker and cook on high for 15-20 minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally.  Serve stew with hot cooked rice or hot couscous.

My changes - I added 1 can reduced sodium black beans and 1 can no sugar added corn.  I mixed this with the tomatoes and fajita seasoning.  I also added cayenne pepper and red chili pepper flakes to the sauce mixture.  Instead of 1/4 cup water I used chicken stock (the rest of my container which was probably 1/3-1/2 cup) and poured it in with everything else instead of waiting (didn't want anything to burn).  I then added about 1/2 cup flour total and poured it directly in the crock pot and stirred.  Turned out GREAT!!!!  Hope you enjoy!!



Not my picture and I didn't serve mine with cheese, however this is pretty much what it looked like, yum!



Stall Selection - Really?!

Okay, so I know this is a random post, however this is something I've been wanting to write about for awhile, public restroom etiquette, specifically stall selection! 

In my opinion, stall selection is something that everyone should understand.  Lets use the picture below to illustrate stall selection

For sake of illustration, lets pretend this restroom has 4 total stalls, three in view, the one on the far left is cut off and is a large/handicapped stall.
Scenario 1 - You are the first person to walk in to the restroom. The correct stall to select is the one on the far right, which has a wall for one side and shares a side with the stall next to it. This stall provides the most privacy and allows for proper stall selection for the next people to join you.

Scenario 2 - You are the second person to walk in to the restroom. The ideal stall is taken so you take the next best choice, the third stall from the right. It creates a 1 stall buffer between you and the other person and does not take up the large stall reserved for people who may need a larger stall.

Scenario 3 - You are the third person to walk in to the restroom. You have a choice to make, if this is a true public restroom at a store, you should take the 2nd stall from the right. It puts you right in the middle of two people, but you are doing the politically correct thing. Your choice is to take the large stall as it also have a wall and only creeps in on one person, not two. Take this stall if it's your work and you know that no one needs it, you only have to pee and will be really quick, or could care less about being politically correct.

Scenario 4 - You are the 4th person, there is only one stall left, so you take it.

This logic applies to men and women, children and grown-ups. Its not rocket science. I may post this in our restroom at work because a lot of women don't understand this logic. I hope I'm not the only one with these standards!

I also am a firm believer of walking on the right side, just like we drive.  Grocery stores, malls, public events.  I want to punch people who elect to walk on the wrong side, its annoying, so just stop! 
That is all.

I'm back!

Sorry for the long time away from my blog.  I honestly lost motivation, direction and didn't feel like I had anything interesting to post. 

What I learned about myself is that I need change, I like change but sometimes it takes me awhile to figure out what that certain change is that I need.  I recently joined Crossfit Absolute in Sherwood and let me tell you, I am addicted!  I love it!  I am challenged each day, I learn new lifts, surprise myself at what I can do, am humbled by what I can't do and am encouraged by everyone else at CFA to push myself to do more.

For a few years now I've been telling Matt I want to be able to do a pull-up.  Just one measly pull-up without assistance.  Well guess what, after about 3 weeks at CFA I did 3, count it 1...2...3 pull-ups in a row WITHOUT any kind of assistance!  I am so excited.  It makes me want to go back in each day and see how many more I can do.  The goal is to get 10 together before our next baseline test sometime in December. 

If you have not heard about Crossfit, google it, watch some YouTube videos and most of all come try it out.  You can come do a free workout at Crossfit Abolsute (and probably most Crossfit gyms).  Once you try it you'll get addicted.  Who doesn't like bettering themselves and seeing progress on almost a weekly basis!?  We recently did a fundraiser called Barbells for Boobs in which over 300 Crossfit affiliates participated.  The workout was called Amazing 'Grace' and was 30 clean and jerks for time.  Such a fun day!

The group after the Barbells for Boobs Fundraiser.  30 Clean and Jerks for time!

Me doing 85lbs, my face shows the pain but it was a blast!



My good friend Janessa doing 95lbs (prescribed weight and badass!)

A quick summary to the changes in my life lately, I am no longer teaching cycle classes.  I have to travel a bit for work and it was difficult to find subs at the Hillsboro location.  If something else opens up I may be able to get another class and I may try to sub every now and then for as long as they let me.  I also had to take a break some my soccer team.  I was struggling with a knee/IT band injury that just wouldn't go away.  Its now been 2-3 weeks since I've played soccer and cycled and its feeling a lot better.  Matt now works for Salem rather than LO, so we're just beginning the process of adjusting to that.  I am very proud of him and excited for the opportunities he'll be presented with at Salem.  We are on a remodeling binge at the house and I am excited to finish everything up and take pictures for everyone to see! 

Of course I'm still obsessed with our animals and have been trying to convince Matt to let me adopt a deaf pitty mix puppy....guess we need a bigger house first.  Here is beast and mini beast dressed up for Halloween:



Po is not happy because he'd rather be wearing the tutu and fairy wings instead of the devil wig!

 So you can expect a lot of Crossfit posts, and dog posts, and house remodeling posts and I'll probably change the name of my blog again....hope you enjoy!

Ride 2 - Hill Ya Doin

This is the second ride I taught.  You'll notice the first couple of rides are similar.  I like to think that my rides have improved greatly, with my last two being very tough and challenging!  I've been teaching quite a bit lately and pushing myself really hard.  I used to run a lot and with that came injuries, so I switched to cycling.  I've let myself think that because cycling doesn't have the impact on my body that running does, I wouldn't get hurt.  I FORGOT however, that overuse without proper maintenance can result in injury.  Recently I've been dealing with IT band issues.  So let this be a note to everyone out there, make sure you take good care of yourself!  Use the foam rollers to stretch out your IT band, ice when something starts to hurt.  Don't let it lag on until you are forced to take time off!

This ride is broken in to 6 work blocks and includes recovery songs (something you'll see disappear in my later rides!)

Block 1

Bounce With Me (Kressha Turner) - Warm up, this is an easy flat, slowly add gear as you start to warm up

California Gurls (Katy Perry) - We are still warming up and starting to work at the same time.  This is a gradual hill, add gear to slow legs down to tempo.  Add 3-4 gears in the saddle, stand and add another 3-4.  These are small gears, enough to notice a change in resistance

Block 2

Bulletproof (Zinc remix La Roux) and Uprising (Muse)- For these two songs we are going to climb a hill that just won't quit!  To start, slow legs to tempo (that doesn't count as adding gear, just gets us on the base of the hill).  We will add gear every 15 seconds x 1:00.  Hold the gear for 1:00, recovery for 1:00.  Try this seated first, then standing

Gone Daddy Gone (Gnarls Barkley) - Recovery if needed, otherwise treat as an endurance flat.  As much gear as you can handle while keeping tempo

Block 3

E-Pro (Beck) and Midnight on the Bridge (Ming and Ping) - These are work intervals, should be around tempo, add enough gear during intervals to add a drastic change in effort.  Standing recovery, seated work. Alternate between 30/30 and 1:00/1:00 work/rest intervals

Block 4

Tea Party (Kerli) and Faster kill Pussycat (Oakenfold) - TABATAS!!!  These are my favorite and a great way to challenege the class!  To do tabatas correctly, make sure you class works hard during the work portion and slows their legs to recover.  There is not enough time to mess with the gears.  Tabatas are 20 seconds of hard work followed by 10 seconds of rest.  I repeat 4 times through and then give 30 sec - 1 minute recovery depending on how my class is doing.  You can do them seated, standing, whatever fits!  Just remember, work hard during the 20 second work bursts, otherwise this won't be challenging!

Block 5

Cooler Than Me (Mike Posner) - Standing flat, this can be used as recovery.  As the class recovers have them add gear to take on a moderate head wind.

Somewhere I Belong (Linkin Park) - Seated climb, gradually add gear to the point of a heavy hill.

Block 6

Candyman (Jason Nevins feat Greg Nice) - These are standing sprints to the end.  The song is a little over 6 minutes long, alternate between 30/15, 45/15, 1:00/30 work/rest intervals.  Make them work hard!!

COOL DOWN!!!

Ride 1 - Nice to Meet You, Now Work!

I have been neglecting my blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working out and working hard!  I've been teaching a minimum of 2 cycle classes a week, sometimes up to 5 a week!  My hope is to get most of my rides published so I can share them with everyone!

I had some grand ideas of what my first ride would be, and now that several months have passed I've finally found 1 minute to get some of these rides published!  This was the first ride I taught and I think it was pretty tough! 

Warm-up: Danger Zone
This is a seated flat, slowly add gear and get the blood flowing!  I always start with a seated flat, I don't do stretches on the bike before class but leave it as an option

All The Right Moves - Here is where we start working!  This is a combination hill, seated in to standing.  Add about 2-3 gears seated, then stand halfway through and add a few more gears. 

Love and Wonder (You can find this mashup at http://www.djearworm.com/)- Standing climb.  Ride a tempo, we're going to take 4 big turns every 15 seconds, take the gear back off and start all over!  Make sure each gear is held for 15 seconds, and they should be big gears, don't let your legs slow down

Dashboard - HEAVY climb!!  Keep your legs at tempo, add gear every 45 seconds, reach standing point but DON'T stand, hold the gear in the saddle.  Have the class keep adding gear until they can't take anymore.  Some will quit early, some will be able to keep adding

Roll To Me - Lets grab a quick recovery here.  This is a fast flat, make sure your class still has some gear left on the bike, we are still working just catching our breath a bit!

Ghost Town - Work intervals!  Rather than an increase in leg speed this should be a dramatic increase in effort/work.  To do this, keep tempe during the non-work portion, then add gear during the work portion.  These are 30 sec off/30 second on to the end of the song!

Pretender/Kick Start My Heart - More work intervals!  Divide the class in two, group A and Group B.  While one group is working the other is keeping their leg speed up to tempo with moderate resistance, and is cheering on the group that is working!!  This goes through both songs, ride through the transition!
Group A 1:00, Group B 1:00, Group A 1:00, Group B 1:00, Instructor for 1:00, Group A 30 sec, Group B 30 sec, all together for the last 1:00 of the last song. 

Rock That Body / Bring The Noise (mashup I found, can't remember where) - More work intervals, last set!  These are zone intervals.  The way I explained this was we're going to start standing and we'll be just slightly below tempo, we'll then get to tempo and for the last part get above tempo.  When done right they likely won't need to change the gear so long as they start with enough gear to begin with.  The work intervals are 30 below tempo, 30 sec at tempo, 15 above tempo (optional max effort) followed by 15-30 sec recovery then repeat through both songs!

Be Somebody - Standing hill, gradually gets steeper, keep tempo

Boys of Summer - Seated endurance to the end.  I instructed the class to take as much gear as they could and keep tempo.  If done right they will likely need to back some gear off as their legs get tired and thats okay

COOL DOWN!!  I use different cool down music each time, but give enough time to bring their heart rates down and slow the breathing.  I do most stretches off of the bike,

Last Chance Workout

This past weekend I taught my second cycle class and I am LOVING it!  I had several people come up afterwards and thank me for a tough workout.  I got thanked for making them work hard!  In that moment I felt so proud of myself, that I had gotten to such a level in my own personal fitness that I can push and motivate people to work hard.  24 Hour branded some of their classes on Saturday as Last Chance Workout (Biggest Loser Finale is tomorrow).  Although I thought this was great, it got me thinking.

Why last chance?  Why all or nothing?  Why are we all so inclined to say tomorrow is the day I change.  I was like that, everytime I made a bad choice I would say to myself, thats okay because tomorrow you'll start making better choices.  Tomorrow would turn in to next week, next month and so on.  It is such a backwards way of thinking about our health and well being.  Instead it should be I just made a bad decision, my next decision will be to do something good for myself.  It should be, I'll go to the gym today and tomorrow!  It should be, I want start my healthy lifestyle right now!

To me, the biggest culprit in why we think this way is mainstream media.  Everything related to health and fitness has a time table attached to it.  This causes us to either think its okay to wait until tomorrow OR set such unrealistic goals for ourselves that we're bound to fail.

I am not where I'd like to be right now, however I think a big part of why is because I set such unrealistic goals for myself, I set myself up for failure.  When I didn't lose that next 5 lbs I started to give up, give in.  I've focused so much on that stupid number on that stupid scale.  The batteries have been dead for 2 weeks now and I'm slowly learning that its okay not to weight myself everyday.  I'm looking in the mirror more, but rather than looking at my flaws looking for postive changes.  I'm looking to see results rather than looking to see where I failed. 

Teaching cycle classes has given me that next bit of encouragement and empowerment to become a healthier me.  I feel so strong after I teach, like I could do anything!  After teaching I've been going to FIT classes at Team Quest, which are VERY hard workouts.  I've been completing them and when I go home, I feel so accomplished because each week I find myself pushing myself that much harder.  I find myself looking to the gym and to physical activities as a way to deal with stress.  I won't have 6 pack abs when I go to Mexico, I likely will never have them, ever!  However, when I step out on the beach I am going to feel strong and beautiful knowing I've pushed myself to reach my best potential.  I will continue to push myself, to get in better shape, but not because I want to look like a model.  Because I want to go teach a cycle class and then go to a FIT class and then go play a soccer game, all in the same day, and feel great doing it!

PS - I ordered the Primal Cookbook and am hoping to get it soon!  I have been sticking to the paleo diet about 80% of the time and I feel great.  I have avoided getting sick, I have plenty of energy.  I just need new food ideas because I am in a food rut!  I'll post some ideas and pictures once I get the book!