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.