deep squats

I can totally feel my strength coming back after being ill.  Yay!  It kinda freaked me out on Monday when my muscles literally wouldn't work.  Today's workout at crossfit was great.  It was hard, it's always hard, but I felt really good by the time it was over. 

We did ankle and hip mobility for our warm up.  Whew, very difficult for me to do some of those moves.  Although the cool part was I was actually able to do them, where as two months ago I couldn't.  Literally couldn't.  I can feel my squats are getting a lot deeper.  When I first started my deep squats were more like super shallow ones for everyone else.  My hip mobility was awful.  I'm slowly getting my hips in good working order and am getting stronger so my squats are getting closer and closer to what they should be. 

Our skill set was stepping off a box and landing in a deep squat and then jumping up and high as we could with one strong thrust.  We also did Turkish getups and kettle bell windmills. 

Our WOD was a 10 min. AMRAP.

10 kettle bell power cleans

5 ab rollers

15 wall balls

I actually just looked at our WOD online and realized we were supposed to be doing 15 wall balls and I was only doing 10 per round....OOOPS!  Apparently I wasn't with it when they explained the WOD. 

I finished 5 complete rounds (with my 10 wall balls vs. the 15 we were supposed to do). 


Today is a busy day.  I have 1st grade open house for my daughter and 6th grade open house for my son.  I have a house that needs to be cleaned and picked up.  The 6th grade open house is from 5:30-7:00pm.  So we either eat a super early dinner or a fairly late one.  Ugh!  I should get my crap together and put something in the crockpot so I don't have to scamper and scurry to get dinner out as soon as we get home. 

Tomorrow is another running day.  Woohoo, bring it!

sprinting

Today was a running day.  I'm still using the Couch to 5K program and am totally loving it.  So in general you have a warm up, which is brisk walking, then intervals of running and walking followed up by a cool down walk.  Each week you run a bit more and walk a bit less until you are basically running the whole time.  Anyhoo....today on my last interval I decided to sprint.  I'm obviously the most tired by the time I get to the last running interval but I wanted to see what I could do.  Oh My Goodness, it felt like I was going to die!!  I just kept telling myself that it was only a couple minutes and that I can do anything for a couple of minutes.  I did it and it felt great!  Woohoo!!!!!  I go see my sister in 10 weeks.  I'm looking forward to running this 5K with her.  =)  I feel like I'm doing everything in my power to be physically ready. 

I'm going to make that sweet and spicy paleo hash again for lunch like I had yesterday.  I've been dreaming about it all morning.  mmmmmmmm!!! 

Tomorrow is crossfit.  I'm crossing my fingers that I have a bit more energy that I did on Monday. 

Weak Sauce

Went to crossfit this morning and it was awful.  I think having the flu last week really took it's toll.  I had no energy to get through my workout.  Even during the warm up I could feel my leg muscles just stop.  They literally gave out on me.  FUDGE!  The skill set was overhead, back and front squats.  I was using less weight than I did two weeks ago.  Again, it wasn't just hard because it was heavy, it was hard because my body just couldn't seem to get it's crap together and work properly. 

The WOD was

15 overhead squats
100 double unders or if you can't do DU then 30 down and ups

10 OH squats
75 DU/20 down and ups

5 OH squats
50 DU/10 down and ups

I used a super light 20 lb weighted pvc pipe for my overhead squats.  I would've used a 25 lb bar, but they were all taken.  (big class today)

The down and ups killed me.  I actually can't do them properly because of the fat on my stomach getting in the way.  I ended up just doing my modified version of the burpee. 

As I was doing my 1st set of 30 burpees, I started feeling uber nauseous. I took a 15 second breather and got right back down to business.  I lost count somewhere around 20 burpees.  So I did another 5 just to be safe. 

I felt slow, tired, and insanely weak today.  I wanted to stomp my feet on the ground just like a toddler throwing a fit.  It's not fair!!

Anyhoo afterwards I drank my protein shake and came home. 

For lunch I remembered I had some leftover crustless bacon and spinach quiche.  I went to the fridge only to discover that my husband took it to work for his lunch.  Grrrr.....since when does he like paleo food?  Hmmph!

Instead I created a new recipe that rocked my socks off.  It was so insanely yummy!  I wish I hadn't horked it down as soon as it was finished cooking because it was quite pretty with all the colors. 

Sweet and Spicy Paleo Hash

4 strips of bacon cut up in tiny strips
1/2 jalapeno pepper minced
1/4 cup onion
1/2 cup minced cremini  mushrooms  (baby Portobello's)
1/2 cup shredded sweet potato
2 Tbs chopped green onion
2 eggs
1 tsp coconut oil
salt/pepper to taste

I cooked the bacon in a nonstick skillet until crispy.  Next I added the jalapeno, onion, mushrooms and sweet potato and cooked until heated through.  I added a little salt and pepper to the hash and then cooked the eggs.  In a separate nonstick pan I heated the coconut oil and then cooked my eggs over medium.  Once the eggs were cooked, I added them to the top of the hash, sprinkled on the green onions and dug in. 
It was sweet, it was spicy, it was delicious!

This is something I will defninitely make again, but hopefully next time I take a moment to snap a picture before I inhale it.  =)

feeling lazy

I have not exercised once this week.  I've been battling the flu and just overall not feeling very good.  I can tell my body has been fighting something.  *sigh*  Oh well.  I can't do anything about it.  I'm just going to continue to eat well, drink lots of water, and let my body get better.

I took my daughter to the fair for a few hours yesterday.  Smelling all the food just hurt my stomach.  It made me feel super nauseous.  This is another reason I know I'm not totally well.  Normally I'd be drooling at all the wonderful smells of kettle corn, elephant ears, and corn dogs.  *shudder*  Also seeing the animals and SMELLING the animals just about did me in.  I had to take a break, to drink some water and chew some peppermint gum to keep my tummy happy.  I promised I'd take my daughter since all the boys are at camp.  She's never ever been to the fair and not going just wasn't an option.  I'm super thankful I didn't toss my cookies while out in public. 

Today my mother is taking my daughter and I to go look at granite.  My parents are remodeling their house and she wants my opinion on colors.  I'm looking forward to picking up my husband and sons tomorrow I miss them terribly.  I will continue to rest up for the remainder of this week and hit my running and crossfit hard next week.

I saw that my crossfit is going to have a Fall Paleo Challenge coming up soon.  I'm not sure when it starts, how long it lasts or what the rules are, but I'll be doing it no matter what.  I know the winners can earn some nice cash.  I could use to lose quite a bit of weight and the cash would help pay for, what else, crossfit! 

All alone and not feeling very well

Today I packed up both my boys and my hubby and dropped them off at church camp.  They'll be gone for the remainder of the week.  It's just me and my 6 year old daughter at home.  We've never been able to spend much time alone before, so this should be quite nice.

I haven't felt very good the last couple of days.  Achy, tired, migraines, just feel like poo.  I hope that whatever this is, passes soon.  I don't want it to hinder my workouts or time spent with my daughter. 

I'm signed up to go to crossfit tomorrow, but if I wake up feeling anything like I do today, then I'll have to cancel. 

Time to get the kiddo in the bath and then off to bed early. 

50 burpees.....third time around

Last night was awful.  I barely slept due to a horrible migraine.  I'm allowing the stresses of life get to me and it's dragging me under.  Significant stress always seems to manifest itself into migraines for me.  Ugh!!

I didn't go to crossfit.  I instead took some medication and stayed in bed until it was just a mild headache. 

After I felt better I decided to do what Derek told me to do a few months ago when I couldn't make it into the gym.  50 burpees.   I set my stopwatch and started.  I was able to complete 50 burpees in 6 minutes and 21 seconds.  Now this is the 3rd time I've timed myself doing 50 burpees. 

April 26th ~  I completed 50 burpees in 11 minutes 51 seconds.

May 29th ~ 9 minutes 31 seconds

August 16th ~ 6 minutes 21 seconds

What a huge difference!!  I've almost cut my first time in half.  Woot woot!!    I followed the burpees with 10 minutes of kettle bell exercises.  I'm bummed I couldn't make it in today, but I'm proud of myself for at least doing something. 

My goal for this weekend is just try to let go of the things in my life that I can't control.  My health is more important than stressing over every little thing. 

Have a happy and healthy weekend!

It's not fun.

Today I got up and sat on the couch, sipping my morning coffee.  I didn't want to go running.  It's not fun.  It's physically painful and it's humiliating to run out in public when I feel so ugly and fat.  The problem is nothing changes when I choose to be lazy. 

I laced up my shoes and went for my second run this week.  I definitely felt more tired and sore today than I did on Monday.  Maybe because on Monday I'd rested a couple days and today was the day after back to back Crossfit sessions.  Whatever the reason, I struggled a bit. 

I'm anxious to really start seeing some changes in my body.  I want to see my pants start getting so loose that I need to go down another size.....same with my shirts.  I know I'm building muscle.  I can feel it in my arms and can tell a huge difference in what I can do at crossfit.  I just feel like the fat is taking it's sweet time to melt away.  I'm sure if I was eating 100% paleo it would speed up the process.  I'm just not sure if I'm willing to do that.  I eat mostly paleo, but definitely not 100%.  I wish this losing weight and getting stronger was an easier process.

I think for lunch I'm going to have a big salad with grilled chicken and bacon, andtonight I'm going to make salmon and steamed broccoli for dinner.  It's all about planning. 

Have a good day!

More owie shoulders

Today our warm up and skill set was more shoulder exercises.  Ouch ouch ouch!  They were incredibly tender after yesterday's workout. 

Our WOD was a 10 minute AMRAP

10 toes in the hole ( I did 10 ab rollers)

10 box hops

10 down/ups

 I was 3 down/ups away from getting in 5 full rounds.  (4 + 27)


I'm thankful that tomorrow is a running day and I won't have to go to crossfit.  I'm so very tired! 

Shoulders on fire!

We started off in groups of two for our warm up.  We each did 4 rounds of junkyard dog and bear crawls back and forth across the gym.  I did three rounds before we moved on to the skill sets.  I'm so flipping slow.  ARGG!  So annoying!

Our skill set was approx. 20 minutes of various kettle bell exercises.  This was literally nonstop.  I was a sweaty mess going into the WOD.

The WOD today was 50 pull ups, then run 1/2 mile, then a total of 20 kettle bell movements per arm.  We then ran another 1/2 mile and then did another 20 kettle bell movements per arm. 

I was the slowest person today but I finished.  I didn't take a modified run, I did exactly what was asked of me.  I have no idea what my time was because Meagan thought everyone had finished and she turned off the timer on the wall.  Oh well.  At this point I don't even care what my time was, I just care that I finished. 

During our kettle bell skill set a new gal had to stop, went to the restroom, and then came out and started crying.  She went outside and Jonathan went to go talk w/ her.  I felt bad.  I so know how it feels.  I wanted to pull her aside and talk with her after class, but she was gone by the time I finished my workout.  I hope she doesn't let today get her down.  I don't even know her name.  =(   Next time I see her, I need to make a point to say  hi and tell her I've had many of those experiences myself and that it gets better. 

Today's after workout protein shake consisted of coconut water, protein powder, stevia, and some frozen organic berries.  Delish!!!!  I'm loving the coconut water.  ♥

Let me count the ways......

Crossfit this week will be Tues, Wed, and Friday.  I'll be running today (Monday), Thurs, and Saturday.  I have it written on the calendar.  Yesterday I also made a dinner menu for the week and went to the store to purchase all the needed ingredients.  I will not need to go to the grocery store for the remainder of the week.  This saves me time and also the headache of trying to come up with a plan for dinner at 5:30pm.  I've been so bad at being organized for dinner that my poor family has been eating lots of meals that are a little unconventional.  Anyway, I've been feeling a little guilty and decided that I needed to get my rear in gear and plan it out.  It sounds so easy, why is it so hard to do sometimes?

I've been thinking a lot recently about my past weight loss endeavors.  There have been quite a few!

*STARVATION

I've done this one many times.  I think I started it in middle school.  I got quite good at it when I was about 19 & 20yrs of age and I lost about 70 lbs in 5 months. 

*EXCESSIVE EXERCISE

This one never seemed to do anything.  I figured that if I was going to exercise like a fiend then I would allow myself to eat whatever I wanted.  Of course I'd eat fast food and junk instead of healthy choices that would've filled me up and kept me satisfied.  This weight loss endeavor never ever worked.  I never lost anything more than 5 lbs. 

*BINGING AND PURGING

Looking back now I'm super thankful I was terrible at making myself throw up.  I just could never get the hang of it.  I tried it probably a hundred times throughout the years.  I have been quite a rock star at binging though. 

*LAXATIVES

Ugh, this was the worst!  I used a laxative that caused extreme cramping.  I hated how it made me feel so I soon realized that if I didn't eat at all I wouldn't have to go through the pain.  I tried this method for about a year and lost 25 lbs or so.  Once I stopped taking them and started eating again, the weight came right back.

*CABBAGE SOUP DIET

*CALORIE RESTRICTION

*HCG DIET

*WEIGHT WATCHERS

*LOW CARB DIET

*THE BIGGEST LOSER DIET

*CHRIS POWELL'S CHOOSE TO LOSE DIET

*THE BELLY FAT CURE

*JUICING

*NO SUGAR, FLOUR, OR FAT DIET

Most of these diets, I tried multiple times.  The sad part is, I lost the most weight by just starving myself.  Although I lost a lot of weight, I was still quite flabby.  I'm guessing because I lost a lot of muscle and not a lot of fat.  I was tired all the time, couldn't think straight, had zero zeal for life at all. 

I feel like since I was in 3rd grade, my life has revolved around my weight and what food I put in my mouth.  It's been a battle for 25 years.  I've hated myself for 25 freaking years.  LITERALLY!  I was a failure!  I couldn't lose weight, I couldn't seem to make smart food choices, I was stuck in a rut and felt miserable.  I remember my mother telling me when I was in middle school that boys do not like fat girls and would never ever marry one.  She said I was pretty but had the potential to be beautiful if I could ever lose the weight. 

I hated school because I felt so awkward and different from all the other girls.  No guys paid any attention to me.  No one asked me to prom.  Most of my friends were also chubby and we'd spend the weekends going to movies and eating.  Us fatties had to stick together.

I became a mom who didn't do anything with the kids.  I didn't want to go outside with them, I didn't want to play with them, I just wanted to be left alone.

I fly to Boise once a year to visit my sister.  When I went last summer I couldnt' buckle the seat belt on the plane.  It didn't fit.  I was too humiliated to ask for an extension.  I put the unbuckled belt across my lap and folded my arms over it so you couldn't tell it wasn't latched. 

It literally wasn't  until I was sitting on the couch this past March and started thinking that if I had another chance at starting my life over that I'd be an athlete.  I'd eat like an athlete, work out like an athlete and be around others who were like me. As I was feeling sorry for myself that I couldn't push rewind on my life, it hit me.........
WHO SAYS I CAN'T START BEING WHO I WANT TO BE?

It was like someone slapped me across the face.  It was that day that I emailed Jonathan from CrossFitCDA and asked for help.  My life has never been the same.  I feel different.  I feel......alive.  I feel like there is hope.  I feel proud of who I'm becoming as a person, as a wife and as a mother.  I am so very far from perfect, but I'm starting to like who I am becoming. 

I still have bad days where I'm lazy or I eat junk.  But my good choices are starting to add up and my bad choices are becoming less and less.  Every person who is important in my life have made comments on how they see a different Erica, one they've never seen before.  I can't even tell you how happy that makes me. 

All of this to say that you can do this.  You can pull yourself out of the ruts.  You can change your life for the positive starting today.  Find that one thing you want more than anything and go for it.  Pour yourself into what you want.  You can never regret trying your best, but you will regret never trying.  You are not in this alone.  Find others to help encourage you and go out there and claim your life back!

Went to the Dr. and the Dr. said....

I didn't get much sleep last night, and I woke up at 6:30 am and was wide awake.  I started making a list of all the things that needed to get done today and I soon found myself trying to find ways to get out of going to crossfit.  I told myself to shut up and I went to crossfit instead. 

Yesterday was one of my very favorite workouts.  Today was definitely one of the worst.  No, I didn't cry....I know you were thinking it.

The warm up was done in teams of two.  We had to do 20 meter bear crawls, 20 meter lunges, and 20 meter burpee long jumps.  We did all those things twice.  I was gasping for air by the end of the warm up.  I'd much rather of just ran 400 meters because that was brutal. 

The skill set was working on skull crushers, and hanging from the pull up bar in a "hollow" position and practicing font squat cleans.  I started getting slightly dizzy during the skill sets.  My body just didn't feel like it was cooling itself off very well.  I felt overheated and a little sick to the stomach. 

Our WOD was one I don't ever want to do again.  Haha....seriously. 

We did 90 seconds of burpees as fast as we could, then we had 90 seconds to catch our breath, then 60 seconds of front squat cleans as fast as we could and then we rested another 90 seconds.  Next was 30 seconds of push ups as fast as we could and again rested for 90 seconds.  We then did them all once more.  Derek then told us he had a surprise for each and every one of us since we did so well.  I'm always skeptical when it comes to "surprises".  He told us we had to no another 90 second burpee AMRAP.  Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  What a craptastic surprise!  I was dead to the world when it was all over. 

I'm SO SO SO happy that I get a two day weekend to rest and relax.  I have ZERO plans on running this weekend.  Three days of crossfit back to back was enough. 

On another note.........I had to take my son to the Dr. because his ear has been hurting for the past week.  Since it wasn't getting any better I figured it was time to take him in.  I haven't seen our Dr. for about 6 months.  Well the Dr. walked in the room and started asking some questions about my son and his ear when he looked up me.  He all of a sudden stood up and said, "Erica, you look amazing!  How much weight have you lost?".  I told him I wasn't sure since our scale was thrown away, but that I've lost over 30 some odd inches in the last 4 months since starting CrossFit.  He just went on and on about how I looked so radiant and healthy.  I was a bit taken aback.  I don't really feel a whole lot different but apparently I've changed a lot in the last 6 months since he last saw me.  It felt awesome to have someone gush....especially my Dr!  So anyway after he was done bathing me in compliments we got back to why we went there in the first place.  =)

I still have a mountain of things I need to get done today, but had to quickly blog about what happened at the Dr. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. 

sled dragging = best WOD ever!

I went online last night and looked at today's WOD.  It looked so good, I had to go to crossfit today even though I don't normally go on Thursdays.  I've been wanting to try my hand at sled dragging/pulling and haven't been able to make it when they've done it in the past. 

So I've been trying different things for breakfast to see what feels the best when I crossfit.  I'm surprised to say that carbs give me the best endurance through my workouts.  I used to only eat things like eggs, bacon, protein packed things but would constantly feel sick during the WOD's.  I tried cereals, but the small amount of sugars seemed to upset my stomach as well.  I've finally settled on a super small bowl of organic oatmeal.  It's just enough to keep me from getting hungry, I have a nice constant flow of energy during the workouts and I never feel sick.  I bring along a protein shake in a small cooler that I keep in the car and drink on the way home.  Having protein directly after a workout is one of the fastest ways to replenish your muscles.  It also greatly helps decrease soreness that we feel the next day after a grueling workout. 

Anyhoo so today we started off with a 400 meter run.  Instead of trying to stay with the group, I stuck to a comfortable pace and really worked on my breathing and keeping good form.  I was definitely the slowest out of the group, but for the first time I didn't feel like I was gasping for air and going to die.  I felt fairly comfortable.  What a nice change of pace!! 

Our skill set was Romanian Deadlifts.  These really work the back of your legs and your bum.  We did 3 sets of 10.  Ohhh I could definitely feel the burn.  Then we did 3 sets of 10 hip thrusters.  You lay on the ground the place the barbell on your hips.  Then you put your feet on the ground, so your knees are up in the air at about a 90 degree angle.  Then you push up with your hips and clench your bum and lift the barbell off the ground.  This was quick exhausting.  My legs were shaking they were so tired. 

Next we got in groups of 3 and started our WOD.  We used a sled.  It looks similar to this.

 

 

 

We had to pull it down the alley, walking backwards.  Then turn around and drag it back up the alley, walking forwards.  You can definitely feel the different muscle groups it takes to pull it backwards, vs dragging it forwards.  Next we did 20 toes to bar, but for those who aren't able to do those, we'd do 10 ab wheels.  Then 20 wall balls.  We each had to do those three stations, three times.  So basically we did 9 stations in all.  It took our group a total of 25 minutes to complete the WOD.  We were right with the rest of the groups.  It was great to feel like I wasn't slowing my group down. 

 

I loved the sleds.  I've seen them being used on shows like The Biggest Loser and Extreme Weight Loss Edition.  I felt powerful, strong, and accomplished.  They are definitely my new favorite at crossfit. 

 

 

My husband is out of town on business, which means I can get away with super simple, kid friendly meals.  Time to figure out a healthy lunch and dinner before the day gets away from me.

Fat Girl Walk of Shame at the Amusment Park

I've been in a bit of a depression the last couple days.  On Monday we went to Silverwood Theme Park with the kids.  It's like a smaller version of Six Flags in North Idaho.  I was nervous and didn't really want to go.  My kids all earned free tickets from a reading program they did at school last year and we promised we'd take them this summer.

As a child my parents would buy us family season passes every year.  And every year I remember seeing fat people get turned away after they couldn't fit in the rides.  I never wanted to be that person. 

I was super hesitant to even try a ride.  I chose to try the umbrellas first.  They were a little more forgiving as far as large people go.  The attendant had to wedge the bar deep into my thighs to get the bar to close properly.  I was absolutely mortified.  Here I'd just lost 5 inches off of each thigh and yet I still was no where near where I should be (size wise) to fit on the ride.  I was in physical pain the entire ride.  It hurt my legs so bad that I couldn't feel my feet by the time it was over.  It was everything I could do to hold it together and not cry.

I tried a couple more rides that I knew I could do, but 90% of the rides were totally off limits.  I just knew I'd be kicked off the ride for not being able to fit my fat ass in the seat.  I HATE BEING FAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT!  I would just walk around to different rides with the family and then wait while they stood in line.  It's humiliating to have to explain to my kids why I couldn't join them on the roller coasters. 

Instead of using Monday to fuel my desire to continue getting healthier, I stumbled.  I ate poorly yesterday.  I ate a pancake for breakfast, then for lunch ate about 10 cookies, and for dinner I had a small bowl of baked beans and a plate full of pasta salad.  No protein, no fruit or veggies, nothing healthy what so ever. Instead I ate nothing but carbs that left me feeling sick and lethargic. 

This morning I hit the snooze and figured I'd just skip my crossfit workout.  Somewhere around 8:30 I got up and decided that enough was enough.  I grabbed my workout clothes, ate a super quick breakfast, and got to crossfit just in the nick of time.  I'm so glad I went.  It helps keep my focus when I force myself and go.  I can't let a bad day at the amusement park ruin all that I have accomplished so far.  I have to keep fighting for what I want.

Our warm up and skill set was all arm and shoulder movements.  Ooooh my shoulders were burning!

Our WOD was a 12 minute AMRAP.

10 pushups
10 box hops (up and over the box)
10 overhead kettle bell swings

I was able to get 6 rounds in and 9 reps. 

Tomorrow is another day.  I will make smart choices tomorrow and get in my couch to 5k run in. 

Next year I'm going to go back to Silverwood and ride every single ride and I'll fit with ease!  Watch me!

Ohhh it BURNS!

Today was a butt kicker.  I think I sweat more today than I ever have in my life.  I'm exhausted, but need to get the kids some lunch and then I will be heading off to donate plasma.  I need more money, YO!

Our wam up was line drills.  Long jumps, lunges, inch worms, blah blah, blah back and forth across the gym. 

Our skill set was various kettle bell moves and then practicing pistol squats.

 

 

 

I am no where near light enough or strong enough to do this move.  I had to use the olympic rings to hold onto while practicing these hellish squats.  These freaking BURN!

 

 

Our WOD was  a 10 minute AMRAP. 

 

5 pistol squats on each leg or for those who are not strong enough ( umm ME!) we did 20 lunges

 

7 kettle bell snatches with each arm

 

10 ab rollers

 

 

I love the kettle bell snatches.  They make me feel strong and powerful.  I hate lunges, they make me feel like I want to karate chop the trainers in the neck.  The ab roller is SO much harder than it looks.  We did them on Tuesday and my abs are still sore.

 

 

After our WOD we some other various moves and if we didn't do them properly we'd have to do burpees.  Ummmmm we all owed burpees because we were so tired from the WOD.  blah

 

 

I'm SO thankful it's Friday.  I will run tomorrow and just rest and relax with my family on Sunday.