Simon Says

What a fun weekend! Friday afternoon I headed to Ft. Worth to watch the CF South Central Regionals. I love watching amazing athletes compete. It has always been inspirational and this weekend was no different. Hell's Half Acres lived up to it's name as it was HOT! I suncreened up enough to not get completely burned and ended up slightly pink. All of the CF Central athletes were amazing to watch and 2 of the women ended up placing in the top 4 to qualify for the CF Games in July.

The gym was closed today so I headed to the apartment gym to play around with my kettlebell, work on squats, freestanding handstands, and hand stand push ups. Squats are getting slightly better! I've been peeking over at the KB class at CF Central and played around with some of the stuff I've seen. Way harder than it looks. I think I'm going to start spending 5 minutes after CF class playing around with that.

After all of that I headed to a Vinyasa yoga class at Bodhi at the suggestion of my Bikram yoga instructor. He said it would help a lot with stretching my hips. Vinyasa was interesting. It was kinda like Simon Says except at super duper speed and I had no idea what the commands were so I was 3 commands behind everyone. It was so hard! Bikram hot yoga is hard but a little more about holding poses where Vinyasa was all about flowey movements. We kept flowing into different positions and then ended up in downward facing dog about every minute. My triceps were on fire. I don't think practicing handstands and HSPU's was a good pre-Vinyasa workout. I didn't like Vinyasa as much as Bikram but only because I was HORRIBLE at it, which probably means I should go back so I can get better. Vinyasa once a week it is. Hot Yoga (Bikram) hopefully 3 times a week. I'll see how that goes. I like that I've found this whole world of yoga that I'm horrible at so I can get better. I must have looked at the clock 20 times wishing it was time to end the class. It was probably one of the hardest 60 minutes I've endured in a long time. At least I'm at the point with Crossfit where I know the movements and what to expect. With this class, every minute was something new and challenging. I think yoga and CF go together like almond butter and celery.

Tomorrow is an *exciting* day. It's the start of my 30 Day Paleo Challenge. I did this in January with CF Ramstein and they are doing it again so I thought I would join in. My little cheats have grown and mostly come in the form of cookies and chocolate. So for 30 days I will stick to veggies, some fruits, lean meats, eggs, and nuts. No alcohol or dark chocolate. One 8 oz cup of black coffee a day. Minus the occasional cookie from drug reps at work and chocolate I eat pretty darn healthy so hopefully after a few days of sugar cravings I will be OK. The biggest annoyance will be the large amounts of free food brought into my office. I think Ill just have to stay out of the break room when the food is there.

I know you think, Kellie you are crazy. To which I say, "IT'S ONLY 30 DAYS!" I can do ANYTHING for 30 days and so can you. I challenge you to make healthier choices for the next 30 days. It doesn't have to be extreme. It could be giving up soda, french fries, or cream in your coffee. The first few days will probably be rough but after a week I guarantee you will feel better and really not even miss what you gave up. Just give it some thought. If I can do it, you can do it.

What am I eating today on my last day of unhealthy eating?? Veggies, some fruit, lean meat, nuts, eggs and 3 chocolate truffles! Yeah, I don't crave too much but some yummy chocolate truffles sounded like a good last treat. : )

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to everyone that has sacrificed for our country.

Some of my favorite advice from the Whole 30 Blog...

TOUGH LOVE

Here comes the tough love. This is for those of you who are considering taking on this life-changing month, but aren’t sure you can actually pull it off, cheat free, for a full 30 days. This is for the people who have tried this before, but who “slipped” or “fell off the wagon” or “just HAD to eat (fill in food here) because of this (fill in event here)”. This is for you.

1. It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Giving up heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You won’t get any coddling, and you won’t get any sympathy for your “struggles”. Because if we (Dallas and Melissa) can do this while living out of a car on our road trip, relying on a restaurant or a cooler for 90% of our meals, while constantly socializing for business, YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE.It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime. So suck it up and join us.

2. Don’t tell us you “slipped”. Unless you physically tripped and your face landed in a box of Krispy Kremes, you DID NOT SLIP. You made a choice to eat something of poor quality. It’s always a choice, so do not phrase it as if you had an accident. Commit here, 100%, for the full 30 days, or go somewhere else.

3. You never, ever, ever HAVE to eat anything you don’t want to eat. You’re all big boys and girls. Toughen up. Learn to say no (or make your Mom proud and say, “No, thank you”). Learn to stick up for yourself. Just because it’s your sister’s birthday, or your best friend’s wedding, or your company outing or the Fourth of July does not mean you have to eat anything. It’s always a choice, and we would hope that you stopped succumbing to peer pressure in 10th grade.

4. This does require a bit of effort, people. If you’re cutting grains, legumes and dairy for the first time, you have to replace those calories with something. You have to make sure you’re eating enough, that your vitamins and nutrients are balanced, that you’re getting enough protein, fat and carbohydrates. You’ll have to figure out what to eat for lunch, how to order at a restaurant and how often you’ll need to grocery shop. There are a ton of good resources search-able on this site, and Googling “Paleo Recipes” is a great place to start. We’ll give you plenty of resources here, but take responsibility for your own plan. Improved health, fitness and performance doesn’t happen just because you’re now taking a pass on chocolate milk.

a quick 12 minutes

AMRAP in 12 minutes of:
5 Deadlifts
10 GHD Sit Ups
15 Squats

Used 155 for DL. Completed 6 rounds + 3 DL. Had to wait quite a bit in between rounds for the GHD since there are only 5. Good, quick one though.

Headed off to the South Central Regionals in Ft. Worth. Woohoo.

You got something on your booty

No CF today. Six AM came too soon but it felt awesome to get 8 solid hours of sleep.

Today at work one of my employees came up to me and whispered in my ear, "you have something on your booty." So I ran to the bathroom and it turns out I sat on a black sharpie marker and had strange marks on my butt. At that point there was nothing to do so I walked around half of the day with a marker butt. Oh well. Hopefully the black marker comes out in the wash because I like those pants.

I work in a physician office and so every once in a while I step on the scale. Well I stepped on a scale today and I've gained 4 lbs in the last week! I might be OK if I could reason it was muscle weight but thinking back on the week I'm sure it is cookie weight. You see every day there are drug reps that come in and bring lunch or breakfast. I can resist all of the meal type food but have a huge cookie weakness. I can even resist crappy store bought cookies but these vendors keep bringing in amazing gourmet cookies. It's just cruel and I eat a few and then get mad at myself. So, Lauren asked me a few weeks ago about joining CF Ramstein in their 30 day Paleo Challenge (which I did back in January). I originally said I would pass but after seeing the cookie weight, I'm all in. June 1 here I come. I've had too many cheats lately and it has turned into sneaking in something everyday vs sneaking something in a few times a week.

After work I headed to 9o minutes of hot yoga. Super hot again but super awesome. I'm loving it and loving the teacher. I spoke with him after class for a bit and he suggested I try a Vinyasa class to work on really opening up my hips. I think I will try one of those Monday.

Tomorrow I leave work a bit early to drive to Ft. Worth for the Crossfit South Central Regionals! I'm looking forward to cheering on the CF Central athletes. Hopefully Ill have some fun pics to post Monday. I think seeing all the amazing athletes will also help give my 30 day Paleo Challenge a nice kick start.

Everyone have a great weekend!

Eating myself out of house and home

WOD
Weighted PullUps
3-3-3-3-3

Then,
400m Run, 21 DB Push Jerk, 21 Box Jump
400m Run, 15 DB Push Jerk, 15 Box Jump
400m Run, 9 DB Push Jerk, 9 Box Jumps
M:55 F:35

I can't do weighted pull ups. My own bodyweight is enough to haul over the bar at this point. I can do 3 deadhangs in a row. Hopefully the 'weighted' part will come.

Metcon: 12:00- I enjoyed this WOD because I like running short distances. The box jumps were fun and I'm starting to notice myself jumping "lighter." I always get yelled at for stomping on the box too much. I'm still not awesome at the jerking motion so I used 30 lb DBs.

This entire day I have felt very draggy. My body is tired after 3 CF 'on' days and a bikram yoga class. I'm so looking forward to sleeping in until 0600 tomorrow. I left work late and was feeling lazy so I stopped by Snap Kitchen and picked up a Paleo dinner. I ate that and then went through an eating spree at my apartment. I think the term 'eating yourself out of house and home' might have applied tonight. I was soooo hungry! Luckily everything in my house is Paleo for occasions such as this so I didn't eat anything too horrible. I pretty much hunted for anything that could be dipped in almond butter and after running out of edible dipping instruments I turned to my fingers. They work almost as well. After a while I realized that I wasn't really eating out of hunger, I was just eating.

Oh well. At least I didn't go on a mad dash for food at Taco Bell. Plus, after thinking about my crazy day I realized that my 'lunch' consisted of 2 bites of grilled chicken and 5 green beans. Then I had to run to a meeting and throw it away.

This week is going by quick! Can't wait until this weekend.

Really, really, really HOT yoga

WOD
AMRAP in 12 minutes of:
3 HSPU
6 KB Swings
12 Clapping PushUps

5 rounds + 6 Pushups. I did HSPU's with a blue/red band on a bar. That gets tricky when you get tired because you can't just throw your feet up on the wall. It was fun though and took some more concentration and time to get focused. Clapping Pushups...wowzers! Never done those and had to do most of them from my knees so I wouldn't smack myself in the face.

I went to bikram yoga after work. It is usually hot but this evening it was really, really, really HOT yoga. I kinda felt like I was going to vomit near the end and had to sit back a few minutes. It was still awesome and felt amazing afterwards.

I hate you thrusters

WOD
For time:
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of
Thruster
Hip Extensions
M:95 F:65

Thrusters...probably the move in Crossfit I hate the most. I pretty much hated this workout from start to finish. I spent way too much time staring at the bar.

15 minute time limit and I completed 5 of the 6 thrusters for the '6' round.

Tomorrow's another workout. Hopefully one I don't totally hate. : )

The weekend report

Friday's WOD:

5 rounds for time:
30 Squats
20 KB Snatch
30 Double Unders
M:24kg F:16kg

We had a 15 minute time limit and I got through 4 rds + 12 KB Snatches. The KB snatches took a lot time. I couldn't get the grip and kept having to stop and reposition so the KB wouldn't end up coming out of my hands. Double Unders were a breeze though and squats were so so.

Went out to Cru Wine Bar last night with Susan and Lisa. It was a perfect evening to sit outside on the patio and drink wine. I had 1 glass too many but luckily there was lots of walking and water drinking to be had before I needed to drive home.

I grocery shopped this morning at Central Market. Here is what I got...1 bunch kale, 3 servings of brussel sprouts, asparagus, cherries, blackberries, zucchini, 3 bananas, 4 lemons, 1 avocado, spinach, cherry tomatoes, portabella mushrooms, baby bella mushrooms, 1 head of broccoli, beansprouts, 1 sirloin steak, 3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, 1 lb gulf shrimp, 1 piece salmon, 1 lb ground sirloin, 1 1/2 lb bison sausage, 1 tub fresh roasted almond butter, 1 bar 85% dark chocolate, 3 lara bars, 2 kombucha teas, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The groceries will last me the better part of the week. As soon as I get home I partition the meat into freezer bags (that I reuse) so that I have single servings of meat I can grab and cook. This works out well for me and keeps me eating Paleo while having a busy week. I cook lunch for the next day while I'm cooking dinner.

I also picked up breakfast for Monday-Wednesday at Snap Kitchen. I don't have too much time after my morning workout so being able to have a Paleo friendly quick and delicious breakfast is great.

This afternoon I headed to visit my friend Carmen who was in town from LA. Carmen was my freshman year roomie at Trinity. Herndon room 212 rocked! We loved rooming together so much we continued up until Senior year when we had to part because we became RAs. Carmen was in town because her sister graduated from UT Law School (go Dani!) and her family was nice enough to invite me to the afternoon party. I love Carmen. Carmen's hubby Will was in town as well. Carmen had a mad crush on Will ever since freshman year but they didn't start dating until years later. They are both awesome. Will is Carmen's second best roomie ever. ; )

This afternoon I headed to Bodhi Yoga for the Hot 26 class. I went yesterday as well and thought 2 days in a row would be fab since I had the time. Turns out I was the only one who thought that, or maybe all the UT grads were partying too much? The 9o minute Hot 26 class turned into a 90 minute Hot 26 private training, for the price of the group class of course. Talk about intimidating. Luckily the teacher was outstanding and gave tons of great tips. When you have someone watching you so intently they really point out everything you are doing wrong and then it becomes much harder. : ) Even the things I thought I was 'ok' with, it turns out not so much. Just when you thought you were fit. This only makes me want to get much better so 3 times a week yoga here I come. She confirmed the ridiculous tightness/inflexibility I have in my hips. Maybe 7 years of long distance running without sufficient stretching wasn't such a great idea. Let's hope lots of yoga can reverse it.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Scratching an itch with my mind...

15,3,9,6,12 reps of

Pullups
Box Jump
calories (rower)

Uh..no clue on time. Under 10 but this day has been a blur.

Hump Day

This week is going by so quickly.

Workout this morning was...

Press
3-3-3-3-3

Then,
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 reps of:
MB Clean to Wallball (20/14 lbs)
Burpee Pullups

Press: Got to 75, failed at rep 2 of 80.

Metcon: There was a 12 min time limit. I got to '4.' This sucked.

I've been pretty good at bringing my lunch so I can make sure to keep to my Paleo lifestyle. I try to cook lunch for the next day while I'm cooking dinner. Below is my lunch tomorrow- ground beef, kale, and mushrooms. I'll also have some blackberries and cherries along with some almonds.

Snatch and Squat

This morning...

21-15-9

Hang Power Snatch

Overhead Squat

Rx'd 95 lbs for men/65 lbs for women

I scaled this down to 45 lbs. Mostly for the OH Squat. Still working at getting these solid. I was a little sluggish and then I noticed that 2 people in front of me was the 6 month pregnant woman in our class using the same weight and kicking my butt. So I sped up and ended up beating her by about a minute. GO ME! : ) Props to her. I hope one day if/when I am with child, I am that kick ass.

The awesome thing about CF- I wake up at 0430 a little sad to be out of bed and wishing it was Saturday so I could sleep in. Then on the way back from CF I'm like a firecracker all excited to start the day and explore the adventures that Austin has to offer. Plus, it's nice to know I've started my day off to a healthy start and almost always leaves me with a kick ass feeling of accomplishment. Even if it's for something silly like beating a pregnant woman. I was happy with my own performance today with both the snatch and squat. I'm starting to get the hang of this stuff.

Margarita Monday

Today's WOD:

20 min AMRAP

100 m row

10 box jumps (20 inch)

15 push ups

7 + 10 box jumps. Push ups slowed me down. To get full range of motion from my toes gets rough after a while and I have to take a lot of breaks. Exhausting workout though.

Made a new tradition with a co worker. Went out and ate pretty Paleo at a Mexican restaurant. Green salad with steak fajita meat, avocado slices, and pico de gallo. Margarita was made with fresh squeezed lime juice vs any sort of sweet mix. This made the margarita very tart but after a few sips it wasn't so bad. : ) A margarita is a nice thing to look forward to after a crazy Monday. New tradition. Done and done.

Relaxing weekend

It's been a few days. Week 2 of work is complete and the good news is I love it. The bad thing is I caught my first (of probably but hopefully not) many illnesses from working in a doc office. I'm hoping I will catch a few bugs and then all will be well. My immune system normally kicks ass. Just gotta make sure I'm getting enough sleep and eating healthy so it can kill any germs.

Friday's WOD

5 Rounds for time:

7 SDHP M:135 F:95
10 GHD Sit Ups
20 V-Twist M:45 F:25

Scaled to 75 lbs for the SDHP and completed in 8:40. I never got that winded and I found the V twits to be pretty simple/fun. The SDHP's were heavy for me which was what slowed me down. The combo of the V twist and GHD Sit Ups was killer. It's Sunday and my core is still sore. It also sucks to have a cold with very sore abs. Every time I sneeze it hurts.

Saturday I took off and this morning I did a few random things in the gym of the apartment. Overall I was trying to spend the weekend recovering since I wasn't feeling great.

This afternoon I treated myself to a massage and then took the Hot 26 class here. So, hot yoga. When I first walked in the door I thought I must have been crazy. The room was heated to 100 degrees and on top of Austin heat and humidity outside it was HOT. Ten minutes in I was in love. Ninety (yes, ninety!) minutes later I was still in love, drenched in sweat, and feeling incredibly relaxed and stretchy. I even felt pretty accomplished. My flexibility isn't horrible and I have pretty good balance and strength. My hip flexibilty needs ALOT of work though. I'm making it a goal to attend that class twice a week. With Crossfitting 4/5 times a week getting some good stretching in to balance it sounds like a good idea.

I'm going to chill on the couch before another week begins. I'm exhausted!

Got served a piece of humble pie

The best thing about CF is that it shows your weaknesses. This is hard to face sometimes but that is also what I love about it. Needless to say this morning's workout was one of those days when I walked away feeling a little defeated and in fact humbled.

Today's WOD:

3 RFT

10 weighted pull ups (30/45 lbs)

10 kipping pull ups

10 hspus

For the weighted pull ups I did deadhangs with a thin purple band. I can do a few deadhangs but certainly not that many. For the hspus I used 2 ab mats. I need something between 1 and 2. The time was called at 11:30 and I had 5 hspus left. Mentally I wasn't feeling it today so I was just happy to continue working out the entire time. If I was by myself I'm pretty sure I would have stopped and walked away.

Anyhow, I did not have humble pie for dinner. Instead I had this... Brussel Sprouts, mushrooms, and gulf shrimp sauteed in EVOO. This meal took 5 minutes to prep and cook and was UBER yummy. It get's 8 out of 10 Kellie Food Stars.

Workin' it

Woke up at 0430. Did this...

1000 meter row

50 KB Swings (1 pood)

30 Thrusters (65 lbs)

11 something. I so hated this workout.

Then worked 12 hours and lost my car in the parking garage again. Damn.

Where did I park?

Possibly the longest Monday ever. I'm still orienting at work and my brain hurts. I spent 11 hours at work and by the time I walked out to the 8 level parking garage I felt like a few days had passed and I had absolutely no memory of where I had parked. I spent 15 minutes searching. I kept thinking of the Seinfeld episode where the gang gets lost in the NJ mall parking garage and Elaine's fish dies and Jerry pees in a corner. I held my bladder. I think I'm going to have to start writing down what floor I park on.

I took the weekend off from CF. Back to it this morning...
3 RFT
400 m run
21 ring dips
12 deadlifts (155 lbs)

11:50. Ring dips killed me and I even did negatives.

One of my fav after dinner treats below...

Dark Chocolate + Fresh Squeezed Almond Butter = YUMMYNESS!

Happy Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to some of the most amazing mom's I know. Of course, these are just a few of the wonderful mom's, but they are all inspirations to me.

This weekend I went to Houston to go to my cousin's 3rd birthday and to see my own awesome mom. I also went to lunch with Kristen. It was a quick trip home but nice to be able to make a quick trip now that I'm living in Austin.

I'm finally getting around to reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," recommended to me by my former boss. So far; pretty good. Granted, I'm only on habit one. "Be Proactive" I think I'm good at this one but it is nice to be reminded that you always have a choice as to how you react to the world around you.

Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. Reactive people are often affected by their physicial environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude and their performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn't a function of whether the weather is conducive to it or not.

Until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, " I choose otherwise."

I think this is important to remember. Although we are not always in control of life, we still control the choices we make. I'm going to make an extra effort this week to change my state of mind. How about you?

Good Luck to Europe

First of all... GOOD LUCK to Lauren, Buck, and JB from CF Ramstein. They will be competing at the CF European Regionals this weekend in Sweden. I wish I could be there to cheer you on but I will be doing so from Texas! Kick some butt. I can't wait to hear/read all about it.

My bike ride this morning was a little shaky. I am not a good bike rider. Hopefully this will change with time on the bike. Lucky for me the 2 times I ride it's still so early in the morning that there is no one on the road so I have some space to be bad. It was fun riding to CF this morning. The ride back wasn't quite as fun after some front squats but the wind in my face was a great cool down.

5 x 5 Front Squats

Warmed up with 45 and 55

65, 75, 85, 95, 105

Then

Some workout that didn't really go as planned. I won't explain it in detail but essentially in 9 minutes I performed 100 pushups, 56 push jerks (55#), and 10 front squats (55#). That was exhausting.

Strange day at work. Glad tomorrow is Friday. It's been a good week though. It's nice to be back contributing to society.

On the coffee front I have concluded that 3/4 of a 'tall' Starbucks Pike Peak Blend (no cream/sugar) provides the perfect amount of morning pep while still allowing me to sleep wonderfully. I have a reusable mug that is a 'grande' so I ask the baristas to fill it halfway which is normally no issue. This morning I asked for a 'tall' and the guy filled it up all the way to the top, handed it to me, and winked. I was like 'noooooo!' in my head but said a polite and enthusiastic 'thank you'. Then I went to the bathroom and poured half of it out in the sink. No coffee or wink is worth a wink of sleep to me.

I'm infected!

Well, went into work today. Another few hours of training but we got out early again so I headed to the Occupational Health Office to get my TB test checked. Getting extensive testing like this done is common when working in a healthcare setting. It turns out my TB test was positive. Considering I have no symptoms and am super healthy, it's clear I don't have the Active TB. I have something called a TB Infection or latent TB. Basically I have TB Bacteria in my lungs but they are just kinda chilling out there. It's not contagious and it might never present itself but if my immune system were to ever become compromised it could spring back to life. I was sent to the hospital to get a chest X ray to confirm that indeed my lungs are healthy. I have to go to the Travis County Dept of Health Services to meet with a doctor who will more than likely prescribe me 9 months of antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Although TB has had outbreaks in the US in recent years, I more than likely 'caught it' while traveling around Egypt or Turkey as outbreaks there are much more common. So, below are my chest X rays. I love looking at this type of stuff even though I can't really tell what any of it really means. There are probably people you run into everyday that have this type of latent TB so don't get freaked out. In fact, YOU might have it.

The best part about contracting TB was the fact that I found a local bicycle store near the hospital that sold "commuter bikes." Since I've been in the market for a bike for a while that fit my budget, when I found one I jumped on it...literally! It is sitting in my apartment right now because the bike is so new I feel bad leaving him outside in the elements. Yes, it's a him. No name yet. Since my first ride on him will be tomorrow morning to CF, I figure I might think of a good name once we get to know each other a little better. I also got an awesome pink helmet! My plan is to ride the bike to and from CF for now. If I get brave I might start riding around the city more often.

Speaking of CF, today's WOD with trainers Mike and Mike:

5x5 deadlifts

Warm up sets of 95 and 115.

135, 155, 175, 185, 195 - probably should have made the jump to 205 for the last reps

Then

AMRAP 12 minutes

7 Burpees

9 Med Ball Cleans (14 lb)

11 Pull Ups

5 rounds + 11 Pull Ups. I did this workout backwards. My hands are now pretty ripped up.

In case you are wondering how the coffee experiment is going, it's still in the trial phase. Yesterday morning I had about 1/2 as much as usual and I did not sleep very last last night. This morning I had half as much as that so I'm hoping I sleep better. More to come. I know you are all on the edge of your seats. Experimentation is fun!

Excitement!

So, exciting things first. I sat through 6 hours of computer training today and loved it. The training was for a computer system that I will use quite frequently for my job and I guess after 3 1/2 months of unemployment learning new things for my job was just thrilling. It was also a good confirmation for me that this will be a good job. To find exciting what I found exciting today takes a 'special' person. Two more days of training and then finally my first day in the office. Perhaps the most exciting part of the day was getting out at 2. I was able to run some errands and then chill out at the apartment. I'm certain leaving the office in the early afternoon will be a very rare occurrence.

Since cutting out coffee was my experiment, I decided I was allowed to alter it. Today I had 1 cup of coffee and will see how that affects my sleep tonight. I am crossing my fingers that I sleep splendidly because just the 1 little cup really did put an extra spring in my step.

WOD:

CF Central does Benchmark WODs at the beginning of every month. This means the T/Tr class did Fight Gone Bad as well. Another guy and I did this little not so fun WOD that Zach made up on the spot.

5 RFT

20 Russian KB Swings (1.5 pood/24 kg)

15 Push Ups

10 Dead Hang Pull Ups

18:31. My first time using 1.5 pood and my first time ever doing dead hang pull ups (vs. kipping pull ups) in a WOD. I completed 2 or 3 of each round with dead hang and then did the remaining reps using a thin purple band. Not too shabby. This took way longer than I thought it would.

I hope tomorrow is as exciting as today was. On the agenda is patient scheduling, referrals, and charge capture. : )

First day of 'work'

In case I nod off during this post I will first say that giving up coffee, a 4:30 alarm clock, and a day of sitting in PowerPoint presentations is a bad mix. I'm planning an early dinner so I can go to sleep at a time that I'm too embarrased to even type on my own blog.

Anyhow, CF workout was Fight Gone Bad.

Two rounds. 1 minute each of:

Rowing (count calories)

Wall Balls (14 lb ball)

Sumo Deadlift Highpull (65 lbs)

Box Jumps (20 inch)

Push Press (55 lbs)

So for those that do not know CF, you do each of those movements for 1 minute. So it's 5 minutes of work. Then you take a 1 minute break and do the entire 5 minutes all over again. The official "Fight Gone Bad" is 3 rounds, but due to time limitations we did 2 rounds this morning. I totaled 167 reps. I have done this workout before but it has always been 3 rounds so I don't feel right comparing them. But, overall I was a little disappointed. Afterwards I felt like I could have given more; mostly with the push presses and SDLHP. My wall ball reps were horrible but that is due to horrible squating technique. It was nice to get back to my early morning workout routine and it was super nice to workout with 15 other people. Makes you feel not so crazy when you are out there in the dark.

I had my first day of work today except it was employee orientation so it was a lot of sitting around hearing about health benefits, retirement benefits, mission, vision, etc. Not super fun but I suppose necessary and I got all of that figured out and my name badge so I'm official looking. The next 3 days I will be training on some of the computer programs. Friday I finally get to the office that Ill be working at. So if I can make it to Friday without falling asleep in a training class Ill be good to go.

Off to prep for dinner.

Lazy Sunday

Today was pretty lazy with the exception of practicing squats in my kitchen for quite a while. Tomorrow is not only my first day of work but also my first 0530 class at CF Central. Which means a 0445 alarm. Yay! I can't wait. The trick is laying everything out the night before so I don't have to think too much.

I passed a place around the corner from my apartment called Snap Kitchen and wandered in to check it out. They actually have things on their menu that are marked *Paleo and I was like "holy cow!" So after talking to the owner for a bit I found out the lowdown. They cook food, portion it out, and then refrigerate it. So you can buy 'take home' style meals and microwave them. In honor of 'lazy Sunday' I decided to try it out. Above is turkey meatloaf with green beans and sweet potatoes. The portion size looked a little small in the recyclable plastic container, but it turned out to be more than I could eat. And taste= yummy! Definitely a place to check out again when I'm feeling lazy. They also had a *Paleo breakfast that I decided to buy and check out tomorrow AM. I'll report back on that.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Sunday!

I'm ready...

I let myself sleep in until 7 today. It is Saturday after all. : )

I headed to the apt gym for a workout.

AMRAP 12 mins:

5 Anyhow from Ground to Overhead (30# Dumbells)

10 Push Ups

15 Back Extenstions

5 Rounds Even. Those 30 # DBs are a killer for me. And I still suck at Push Ups. Getting lots better though.

I rested 5 mins then did this...

3 RFT

10 burpees

10 Thrusters (20# Dumbells)

5:01. I am working to do squats correctly so it turned out to be a box squat standing into a press with the DBs.

Afterwards I ate an amazing breakfast and then headed out of the apartment by 0930. Tomorrow I head to church and then have to be in the apt to wait for the cable man so I tried to get as much done today as possible.

I've always been a $10 pair of sunglasses from Target type of girl but last year I spent the most I've ever spent on shades on a pair of Oakleys. After a full year, the sunglasses have traveled cross continental twice, all across Europe and never been lost or damaged. So I thought that after a year I needed another pair of shades. Especially since the sun is starting to get serious in Austin. I'm ready...