Tough Mudder Pocono

OK.. you know a Tough Mudder race is bad or... good, depending on your perspective, when you get home and the last thing you want to do is take a shower because the thought of being wet, again, is about as appealing as eating a shit sandwich. Which by the way is what I felt like last night.

Rewind to 5:30 am Sunday morning. I woke up with a stiff neck and Bob just realized he forgot to pack his shorts. After a few f bombs and a terribly slow internet connection we found a 24 hour Walmart 1 mile down the road from the hotel. Problem solved. Bob bought some Angry Birds board shorts and I popped some Advil and hoped for the best.

There is no describing the energy level associated with opening ceremonies at a Mudder. The music was blasting, people were jumping up and down, screaming, yelling, chanting, and probably praying. (that would be me). The excitement level is thru the roof. They made us climb an 8' wall into the starting area with the MC chanting if you can't get over this wall you shouldn't be here people! I guess they figured they would pen us up like the caged animals we were. The MC did a nice job of building us up only to slowly crush our will as the day went on.

April in the mountains, yeah, it's pretty damn chilly at 8 am. After a nice run thru the woods (sarcasm) we came up to the first obstacle Kiss of Mud. Alligator crawls under barbed wire, which was covered in icicles thanks to the 24 hour sprinkler system they set up. Yup. Cold. Then there was more running up and down the side of a mountain which felt like miles to the Arctic Enema where you jump into a trash dumpster filled with colored ice water. Well, ours was more like a mud slushy by the time we got there, but colored none the less. Yup. Cold. Luckily I remembered to take my hat off so it would stay dry because I believe my ears just may have fallen off due to frost bite if I didn't. After some more running I'm pretty sure Death March was next. Up hill climb. Way up hill. Heard a lot of panting, whining, asthmatics and possibly a puker. Next may have been the underground tunnels, not too bad, followed by Devil's Beard which is crawling under a cargo net. At least this group had a system, go in backwards holding the net up for people to get thru easily until someone comes up and takes your place while you move up further. It was quite an effort and worked out pretty well. I can't really remember these in order but there was a ton more hilly, rocky, slippery running, maybe the medium Berlin Walls were next. With a good ass shove from the boys, they were no problem. More running into the Mud Mile, thick deep smelly lose your shoes mud. Next was Electric Eel. Crawling on your belly under low hanging shock wires. Oh, in the water. Bob and I made it thru without one hit which was awesome because I was a little concerned. I heard a lot of 'fucks', 'ouches', 'god dammits' and 'mother fuckers' which worried me a bit. Luckily between the drill instructor yelling 'don't even think about it, go go go!' and the skinny mudder in front of me who I noticed wasn't getting hit at all, what do you think I did? Of course I flopped down and followed him, I'm not stupid. Well, not that stupid.

There was a lot more hill running to the Fire Walk. The fire pit was nasty, but I welcomed the warmth. By the time we got there I was freezing cold. It was a pretty nice sunny day, but windy. After that I was wrapped in a mylar blanket and remained that way for the next 6 miles, looking and sounding like a Jiffy Pop container. Running across those open fields was no fun. I don't think I gained the feeling back in my hands until about mile 7 or the Hold Your Wood obstacle. I'm guessing my log was about 50lbs. Not too bad for me. Bob of course carried one that he thought may have been about 120. ha. Silly silly Bob. Next came the Walk the Plank. My worst nightmare. The 15' plunge into the water. At least this time you jumped in and swam 25' out to the side. Huge relief. Didn't make it any less scary when I was up top though. I took 5-6 seconds and two looks, heard the military guy shouting 'go go go!' So as not to anger him, I screamed and jumped or jumped and screamed. Doesn't matter. I almost peed my pants. Same as last time. Although the sense of accomplishment was much greater this time for some reason. I was pumped up after that. I found myself screaming encouraging words to other terrified teammates and random mudders. We hung around there for a while watching a guy we called 'Orange Shirt Guy'. He stood up there for what seemed like forever, at least 10-15 minutes looking over the edge, almost puking, shaking his head, walking back, leaning over, walking back. Military man #2 was doing his best to talk him into it, even started to undress as if to jump with him. The crowd of hundreds were shouting 'jump! jump! jump!'. There were a few cries of 'push him in' and 'jump you mother fucker!' One of them was me. Snicker snicker. It was quite a scene. When we left he was still standing up there. Not sure if he ever jumped. When I saw him a few miles later on the course I should have asked.

After some more running I think Everest was next. The 1/4 pipe. Bob was first up again, no problem. I think someone referred to him as Spider Monkey. Mike went then Carlos. He struggled a bit but finally made it. I was the first girl to take off of course and I made it on the first try. Got a great jump and was able to grab Bob and Mike with both hands. And I actually was able to get my own leg up without them literally dragging me. Awesome. After a few more miles, some more Berlin Walls, 12' this time, and a rope ladder, I was getting beat up. By mile 10 the cold was wreaking havoc on my body, my calves were tightening up to the point I couldn't really run any more, and I could not stop shivering. We came to the Funky Monkey (Bob's nemesis, which he and Mike successfully accomplished on their first try!) and the rings which I could not do. Didn't have it in me. I'm really mad at myself for that but at that point my body was done. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I didn't drink enough water or just the cold, probably a little of both. After that it was the Trenches I believe. 50 yards or so of thigh/waist deep water and mud to climb over. Slow going for me. I was trying not to extend my left foot to avoid a cramp. Then to the Boa Constrictor. Tubes partially filled with water. Yep, cold water. My calf tightened up  in there too, but I got up on my knees and crawled out. I'm pretty sure Twinkle Toes was next. Walking across a beam over, you guessed it, cold water. I think only 2 or 3 of us made it across. My only goal was to not fall in the water. And last but not least, Electric Shock Therapy. Bob's favorite. When I saw him standing there waiting for us there was a look of dread on his face which can only be duplicated when I tell him it's his turn to give the kids a shower. This was the only obstacle he was worried about. I was resigned to the fact that I will probably fall on my face while jumping over the hay bails when my calf gives out halfway thru and end up like a smoked sausage. As our team gathered, with a few moans and sighs, we all took off. Bob ran thru pretty fast and finished with a look of complete satisfaction. Peggy tried crawling under and got stuck and some other guy fell on his face so I had to wait for the carnage to clear because I knew that if I started I wasn't stopping for anyone. So I just bolted, again. Anyone in the Pennsylvania area smell smoke yesterday around 1pm? That was me, I got lit up like a fucking Christmas tree, again. Not as bad as last year, but it was still awful. When you hear buzzing in your ear, you know you've been zapped pretty good. I didn't fall thank the lord, but it wasn't pretty.

I'm sure I missed some obstacles, but thats the general gist of the day. The mood of my rookie teammate just about summed it up. It went like this 9am 'this is fucking awesome whoohoo!' to 10am 'wow I haven't run this far in a while', 10:30 'oh man, I'm not sure if I can do that', 12pm 'My hips are killing me I can barely walk', 'I'm in so much pain right now', 1pm 'last obstacle oh thank you god.' Our team was great again. The course was tough as hell this time around but I think we all did a fantastic job.

The Pocono course made Englishtown look like a cake walk but we all got thru it, relatively unscathed. (I'm sure a few would disagree) I'm feeling pretty good today, calves are healing up, I have a few bruises in odd places and some sore knees but overall not too bad. Would I do it again, right now my answer would be hell no but in 6 months it may change to fuck yeah!

Sunday
Tough Mudder

Monday
Rest Day
breakfast - oatmeal
lunch - egg muffin, larabar, hummus
dinner - sausage stuffed portabellas, broccoli slaw salad

let the countdown begin

Well the salmon dish from the other night was a hit. It didn't stick and had some beautiful carmelization thanks to the honey/aminos/rice vinegar marinade. And the sweet marinade went well with the tangy lime salsa perfectly. The key was a very well preheated cast iron pan (dry and on medium heat) then to add the coconut oil right before you put the fish in. And DO NOT MOVE IT for at least 3-4 minutes.

Can't say I've ever been a fan of cauliflower maybe because it smells like garbage and has the texture of a used sponge but last night I decided to give it a try... again. After scanning and disregarding anything with curry, blech, I came across a recipe for cauliflower tossed in cocoa powder. What could be better than coating veggies in chocolate? We gave it a try and it actually came out pretty good. Could have used a bit more salt to bring out the spices but overall it was a tasty way to enhance a much unloved veggie in this house. The kids didn't touch it of course but one day....

Taking another rest day today just to completely heal up the sore upper body and my mildly tweaked lower back. Usually after 2 rest days I'm like a caged animal so I'm hoping these days work to my advantage. Saturday I'll probably do something light like run or jump rope, but thats about it. Won't have much time in the morning to do much anyway between getting the kids and ourselves packed and take Bud to his baseball game.

I've been watching a ton of Mudder videos trying to get myself revved up for the challenge but I think it's really just freaking me out. Second night in a row I haven't been able to sleep without Lunesta. Probably should skip them today and watch games videos instead. They always seem to do the trick.

Well off to make my egg 'muffins' and get some stuff done. Wish me luck and fingers crossed for warm weather and water.


Thursday
Rest Day
breakfast - ground beef w/collards and tomatoes
lunch - hummus and crackers, protein balls, lara bar
dinner - bbq chicken breasts, roasted cauliflower w/cocoa, paprika and garlic powder, salad


Friday
Rest Day
breakfast - oatmeal w/almond butter, walnuts, coconut, flax
lunch - ??
dinner - mini turkey burgers w/mushrooms, onions & green peppers, guacamole & bbq, cucs & yogurt side

Seafood recipes

Didn't have much to report on the crossfit other than I can actually dead hang on my once bad shoulder. Yahoo! Only took a year. It's not 100% but it's a good 90. So instead I thought I'de share a decent shrimp recipe I made last night for those of you that can cook. It's quick and easy. And remember frozen shrimp is your friend. We always keep a bag of it in the freezer for last minute dinners.

In a cast iron pan I sauteed some sliced mushrooms in coconut oil until the liquid boiled off. Then added some proscuitto, broccoli and sliced green onions and cooked until the broccoli was bright green but not soggy and the proscuitto was a little crispy. I removed everything and added more coconut oil to the pan and the shrimp, which was seasoned in cumin, garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, ground ginger and salt and pepper. Cook the shrimp about 1-1:30 min on each side then add the veggies back in for a few seconds to reheat. Done. It was pretty good but wasn't very filling. If you're starving, I would suggest doing the cauliflower rice side or maybe exchanging the shrimp with sliced beef or chicken.

Tonight I'm making pan seared salmon with a lime, avocado, orange salsa. Not sure how I'm going to season the fish, but was thinking I may go honey/coconut aminos to compliment the tangy lime orange flavor from the salsa. Hope this turns out ok and the fish doesn't end up looking like it had already been eaten and spit back out. I know gross but sometimes it sticks and falls apart.

Back squats went well today. Got my 5@155. Legs felt good and squatted to the medicine ball to make sure I was getting down all the way but not too far to get stuck. Felt a little tweak in my lower left side at first.. think I may have done it yesterday when I was leaning over to pick up the 35lb dumbbell from the bench. Doesn't necessarily hurt, but I know it's there when I stretch. Taking two rest days tomorrow and Friday to heal up and get some food prep done.

Since we will be staying in a hotel Saturday night, I'm brining food with us instead of relying on the hotel breakfast...which is probably carbo loaded bagels, cereal and donuts. Tomorrow I'll make some egg 'muffins' and protein balls and get some oatmeal, almonds, larabars and jerky prepped and packed. Gotta have the right fuel. Don't want to end up hitting the vending machine for junk Saturday night. Hopefully we can find a good place for dinner that doesn't include covering every meat in either bread crumbs or a creamy sauce. mmmmm alfredo. That would probably kill me but it would taste so good.

Wednesday
breakfast - oatmeal
lunch - bacon and fried eggs
snack - larabar, almonds
dinner - pan seared salmon w/avocado orange salsa, sauteed collards w/onions

warm:
squats
kb swings
burpees
stretching/mobility/rolling

CFSB C1/W15
Back Squats
warm: 3x95, 115
work: 3x135, 5x145, 5x155#

cashout:
monkey bar practice
hand over hand across pull up bar 5x47”
dead hangs
one handed dead hangs
muscle up attempts (ha!)
ninja warrior fingertip grip practice (no other way to describe it) on kids’ swing set rails

Happy with shoulder performance. Can’t hang long on right arm alone, but much improved. There is still hope I can a least attempt the funky monkey bar obstacle.

Pull ups are hard

As someone who couldn't do a pull up to save my life, I'm pretty proud of myself today. 22 months ago if I were hanging off the edge of a cliff, I'de surely plummet to my death. So when Bob said he had to do weighted pull ups today I thought eh, what the hell I'll give it a shot. I dug out my 20 year old Jansport backpack and loaded it up. I got up to 30 pounds. Couldn't quite get 35 unless you count nose to bar. Pretty sure they don't count.

The dumbbell bench presses went well. Actually got up to 35#. When I got them up to my chest I thought there was no fucking way in hell I was going to lift them up but I did it. I kept thinking really, it's only 70 pounds. I can bench press 90, this is a piece of cake. Yeah OK. It wasn't but I got thru it. Starting to think this strength bias thing is working after all. Hell, it better, I've been doing it for the better part of a year.

Mudder day is creeping up. My hopes for nice warm weather are diminishing. Looks like it won't be any warmer than last time we did it in November. 50, cloudy, may rain. Yuck. Not much I can do about it, but still hoping the weather channel will bring me better news like some freak hot spell for a day. Time to break out the sausage casing thermal shirt and long pants again. Bummer.


Tuesday
breakfast - eggs w/collards and leftover grilled chicken
lunch - larabar
dinner - sauteed shrimp and veggies

warm:
squats
presses
good mornings
burpees
stretching/baseball rolling

WOD
Modified to incline DB press
3-3-3-3-3
15-20-25-30-35#

cashout:
1RM weighted pull ups - 10-15-20-25-30(PR)-35(f)
10x20# med ball sit ups

Oh that doesn't look bad

is what I heard while signing up some people for Bob's 'fitness challenge' on Saturday. We volunteered at a benefit 5k race for a friend of ours who passed away last year and had a little Crossfit style challenge after the race. While signing them up I was thinking, oh just you wait. The wod was 6 rounds 10 push ups, 10 sit ups and a 72' bear crawl. No, it doesn't look bad on paper, but what do they know. Those of us that have done the bear crawls for mudder training knew. After the second round I heard a lot of whining and 'what do you mean I have to do this 6 times!' I think there were only about 6 or 7 of us that actually finished all 6 rounds but overall it was a good turnout and hopefully turned some people on to look into Crossfit. And for the record, I don't like bear crawls. And bear crawls into push ups are terrible.

Even though it was a beautiful day outside to attend an event like that, it was long. We were out the door with the kids at 4:30am, home around 12 then back to the normal Saturday craziness of baseball practice, random rope climbs and cleaning. Then that night Bob and I stayed up til 12:30am to watch the Jones/Evans fight... So needless to say Sunday turned out to be a rest day for me. I'll probably go light this week anyway with only 2 strength days, today's front squats and Wednesday's back squats. I'm skipping heavy deadlifts and only doing puppy scale metcons since the Mudder is on Sunday. DOMS is the last thing I need for the race. Not going to lie, starting to get a little pre race jitters, but I'll get over it.

And yay! I got my little guy to eat the egg 'muffin'. I guess because they look like corn muffins, who knows but he ate 3/4's of it without hesitation. At least he's eating something clean and getting protein. Definitely have to keep some of them in the fridge from now on.

Front squats felt really heavy today. Not sure if it was because my abs and back are a little sore or I just wasn't feelin it, but they were hard. Almost had to dump the second @145, got stuck in the hole for a split second but muscled thru it. Need to practice those squat holds I guess.

Thursday
breakfast - bacon and eggs
lunch - hummus and crackers, turkey slice, almonds
dinner - grilled chicken, brussle sprouts w/apples and bacon, tomato salad


warm:
jump rope
ohs - 16# bar
good mornings
stretching/lacrosse ball

CFSB C1/W14
Deadlifts
warm: 3x115, 135, 155
work: 5x165, 5x170, 3x175#
high rep @115 (21-15-9) F@16 finished 5-15-9

WOD
Puppies
For time:
First:
Run 400 meters
Then:
5 rounds of the couplet:
Handstand push-up, 7 reps - 20#db press
One legged squat, 7 reps - w/lawnmower assist
Finally;
Run 400 meters

9:22

getting better w/one legged squats, still need to hold on for balance, but not pushing or pulling up with help. 

Friday

Rest day

breakfast - oatmeal 
lunch - ??
dinner - sausage, peppers and onions, salad w/toms, cucs


Saturday
breakfast - oatmeal
lunch/snack - jerky, half soft pretzel, protein balls, cereal bar, hummus & crackers
dinner - turkey sliders w/sweet potato fries


"Jimbo"
6 rounds
10 hand release push ups
10 sit ups
72' bear crawl

NFT but around 9 min


Sunday
Rest day
breakfast - bacon and eggs
lunch - nothing
dinner - leftover sliders w/roasted broccoli, proscuitto, balsamic 


Monday
breakfast - oatmeal w/bananas, coconut, flax, walnuts
lunch - 
dinner - strip steak w/roasted veggies

warm:

ohs - stick

squats

stretching/mobility

CFSB C1/W14
Front Squats
warm: 3x95, 3x115#
work: 5x135, 3x140, 3x145#
high rep back squats @100 (20)

Can't stop talking about food

Looks like my two 54oz tubs of coconut oil will be delivered today. Yahoo! Next on the list to order from Amazon in big quantities, almond flour and ghee. I may try to make my own ghee this weekend since it's really not that difficult. Luckily our local grocery store always has KerryGold so I may just go that route if I have time.

So the paleo nuggets were a bust. Both kids cried and basically refused to eat them. My son gave in after about an hour of convincing, arguing, threatening... whatever you want to call it. I know, nice parenting. But hey, he tried it and now when it's on his plate he knows that it actually is chicken, just a different color and shape. My daughter on the other hand put it in her mouth and spit it back out. Sigh. Oh well. I'll keep trying, there has  to be something to this persistence thing.

Happy with my metcon today. First time in quite a while I didn't have to either sub, scale down or use assistance. Didn't do it as rx'd, but full pack is great for me. I don't really have to scale down weights that much anymore since they list a recommended women's weight, but 90% of the time I need to use assistance on the pull ups or sub for lack of equipment. My initial decision was to do all the pull ups unassisted even if it took me 15 minutes to get thru. Luckily Bob took the blue and green bands to work so I couldn't use them even if I wanted to. Back squats felt ok at 150. Next week I'll shoot for 160 then do a 1RM retest to see where I'm at after this SB round. My current is 170, I'm hoping for at least 180.

May try to make some egg frittata 'muffins' today. They would be great for the kids, and us, but it may be a way I can sneak more protein into my little guy without him knowing. They have a 'muffiny' texture to them since there is a bit of coconut flour so he may not shun them quite as much as the nuggets. Fingers crossed.


The Asian chicken salad was awesome last night. Bob and I used to make this cold sesame noodle dish all the time which was basically chicken and noodles in a spicy peanut butter, soy, ginger, garlic based sauce. Awesome, but very paleo unfriendly. The dressing nom nom uses is very similar to that so it was a big hit with us. Love it.


Wednesday
breakfast - oatmeal w/flax, coconut
lunch - 
dinner - garbage stir fry

warm:
one arm kb swings
ohs - stick
10 stair climbs
stretching/lacrosse ball

CFSB C1/W14
Back Squats
warm: 3x95, 3x115
work: 5x130, 5x140, 5x150#

WOD
Pack:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet:
Pull-up
Box jump, 20-24 inch box - 22”
Sit-up

10:53

More food talk

With my new found energy thanks to cleaning up my diet a smidge more and my constant love of cooking, I've decided to make paleo nuggets and yet some more crackers. My son can't get off the chicken nugget train so my thought was just to do some research on how to make them paleo friendly. At the very least, I know it's good chicken and not loaded with wheat products and god knows what. We'll see what happens.

Fast forward 4 hours. Chicken nuggets are cooked and pretty damn tasty. Not too happy with the way the almond flour baked, seemed to be a little too crumbly and fell off in a few spots, but overall they came out ok. I'll have to try them again, maybe tweak something like coating the aluminum foil with coconut oil or butter so they crisp up a little better and don't stick. I'll let my daughter try them since she's a little more adventurous when it comes to new foods. My son will immediately shun them since they don't look like the frozen ones, but I may be able to fake him out by toasting them a bit in the toaster oven to get them crispy and golden brown.

This batch of crackers came out great. Rolled them a bit thinner and added 2 minutes to the cooking time. I also added a few shakes of shredded coconut. Barely detectable but you know it's there and it adds another layer of savory/sweet to them. Awesome with almond butter I might add.

Tonight we will be trying the Asian almond chicken salad. I'll have to use my rice vinegar instead of the coconut but it will still be a good clean salad. Coconut vinegar will warrant a trip to the health food store and I'm not making that trip until friday.

Last nights cabbage/bacon/mushroom side dish was a hit. I wasn't sure about cabbage since it brings back memories of the terribly smelly boiled ham and cabbage my grandmother used to make. Shudder. Just the thought of boiled meat makes my skin crawl. But, it was pretty damn good and will probably work it into the rotation for dinner.

If you haven't watched Anthony Bourdain's food/travel show, you must. As Bob would say it's like food porn. Last night was a bit on Kansas BBQ. OMFG. Everything looked delicious. Ribs, chicken, brisket... all charred to perfection. I may need to pick up some ribs this weekend. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Tuesday
Rest Day
brunch - eggs w/leftover pork, collards and tomatoes
snack - crackers w/hummus
dinner - asian almond chicken salad

Keeping my fingers crossed

for good weather the next 2 weekends. We had mudder training yesterday morning and it was pretty decent at 7am and 60+ degrees. I didn't even wimp out on the creek crossing, well, I did when we supposed to go in again at the water fall. It's too deep and rough. No thank you. Overall it was perfect weather, just warm enough not to be shivering when you're wet but not hot enough to make you overheat and dehydrate. I'm hoping on the 29th mother nature will bring us at least 70 degrees... maybe I shouldn't jinx it by talking about it.

We didn't climb as many hills this time around so I'm not really sore today with the exception of my elbow pits... sorry, I'm no KStarr, don't know the technical name for those muscles. It may have been from the monkey bar practice on Saturday or just all the pull ups I did yesterday. Don't know but they hurt like a mother right now. Tough Mudder posted some new pics from the race this past weekend and I saw two interesting shots, one of someone using the super ninja fingertip hold on the wood rail of the monkey bar obstacle (instead of actually using the monkey bars since they're greased). Wouldn't have thought to do that... not that I could, but still. And two, a shot of about 100 rings hanging from some structure over water. Hmmm, I know Rogue is a big sponsor this time around, wondering if they influenced that one. My brain went into immediate overdrive, which made me practice hanging from the ring today with one arm while trying to swing to the other one. I made some pretty successful attempts but don't think I have enough strength to get more than 3. My shoulder has been feeling great lately but I'm still scared to hang and swing freely with that arm. It's probably more of a lack of confidence than anything. I'll give it a go if they do indeed have that obstacle just because, but I have a feeling it will be one swing and a miss then a huge splash. Hey, I'm a realist.

Food/energy wise, been feeling great. Saturday night was a bit iffy since I had real pasta, stomach did not like it one bit but I thought the extra carbs would help out the next morning for the run, which they did. Took one for the team there. Haven't had a bite of anything with wheat or dairy since and already feel so much better. I know, stop eating it then. I am unless it's completely unavoidable. Like when I'm in the mood for pizza. Sometimes I just can't help myself.

Saturday
Rest Day
breakfast - oatmeal
lunch - ??
dinner - spaghetti w/sausage


Sunday
breakfast - oatmeal
lunch - bacon and eggs
dinner - flank steak, ginger/garlic roasted carrots, salad
recipe note - I used melted pasture butter instead of evoo or coconut oil for the roasted carrots. would prefer the c oil but just don't have any at the moment. still waiting for my two 54oz tubs to be delivered from amazon. (which is a great deal by the way)

Mudder Training - 3 hours
6 miles with:
elevated push ups
bear crawls
alligator crawls
fence hops
hill runs/climbs
carry heavy log up hill
stair climbs
ramp walks (hands on one rail, feet bridged on other)
pull ups
burpees
balance beam walk
water stuff
drainage pipe crawl
carry heavy log down hill

Monday

breakfast - oatmeal w/coconut, flax, almonds

lunch - leftover flank steak, hummus, banana chips

dinner - pork tenderloin w/stir fried nappa cabbage, mushrooms & bacon and tomato basil salad

warm:
200m
ohs - stick
squats
stretching/mobility

CFSB C1/W13
Front Squats
warm: 3x95, 115#
work: 5x125, 130#
high rep back squats @95# (21-15-9)

cashout:
swinging ring practice
hangs

Happy friday

Decided to phone it in today and just use today's snatch wod as practice more or less. I think I actually did pretty well on them today. Stuck with 45# and felt like my form has definitely improved over the past few months. I don't practice them like I should but at least I'm not fanning the bar by not using the shrug like I used too. Didn't take long and didn't really tax me at all so I felt kinda guilty afterwards. I normally take a rest day on Fridays, which is usually needed after squats and deadlift strength days. Tomorrow will be a busy day with my son's little league parade and game then my daughter has a birthday party...no time for a workout.

The spinach/mushroom/coconut milk mini sliders were AWESOME. Try them when you can. Also very yummy out of the fridge the next morning.

Have a good one.

Friday
breakfast/lunch - (after wod) leftover mini burgers, paleo crackers, larabar, banana
dinner - chicken tacos w/lettuce wrap, guacamole


warm

kb swings
one arm kb swings
ohs - stick
jump rope
snatch - stick & 16# bar
stretching/baseball rolling

Snatch
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
45# for all

notes - form felt good at 45 so stuck with it. took some video to watch, will show bob later for critique. much better than i used to be. back and legs are a little tired today from squats and deads. 

Food talk

So I was looking for some new paleo recipes to work into the dinner mix since what I've been making is getting a bit boring. I've known about Nom Nom Paleo for a while, just haven't really studied the recipes. Well, I have to tell you, I love Primal Palate but I think nom nom may be better. I made the slow cooker chicken and gravy last night and it was delicious. Easy as hell if you have the time to prepare around noon to make sure the 4-5 hour cooking time ends up being close to dinner. Chicken is not something that can cook longer than it needs to like most stuff you throw in a slow cooker, so timing is key. Tonight I'm going to try the mushroom/spinach/coconut milk beef sliders. We always always have a supply of ground beef in the freezer so this seems like a good recipe for us.

Deadlifts felt good today. Made sure I lined up correctly each time and they seemed a bit easier at 165#. Not so sure my legs are going to be happy with me tomorrow considering I did about 65 deadlifts and 150 squats but eh, I made my bed and now I'll have to lie in it... if I can get up the stairs.


Wednesday
breakfast - oatmeal
snack/lunch - larabar, turkey, egglpant hummus and crackers
dinner - slow cooker whole chicken and sauteed onion gravy
*recipe note the gravy ended up being a bit thin for my taste, could be that I had to use a food processor instead of an immersion blender, unsure, but if you put the gravy in a sauce pan, heat up to almost boiling and add a teaspoon of arrowroot mixed in a teaspoon of cold water, it will thicken up a bit. Arrowroot can be found in most supermarkets' spice section and is a thickening sub for corn starch/flour. 


warm:
ohs - stick
good mornings (low bar for chest stretch)
lunges w/10# plate oh
jumping jacks
HPCs
push jerks (focusing on feet/leg placement)
stretching/mobility

CFSB C1/W13
Back Squat
warm: 3x95, 3x115#
work: 5x125, 3x135, 5x145#

Clean & Jerk
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
55-65-75-85-90-95-100#(2)

Cashout - push jerk 1rm - 115# (little sloppy on getting feet together at finish)

notes - Form was crappy @100 so tried twice, still crappy. Work on cleans more often. HPC’s thru 75, squat cleans 85-100. 


Thursday
breakfast - leftover chicken, eggplant hummus, paleo crackers
snack/lunch - 
dinner - mini beef sliders and brussle sprouts


warm:
ohs - 16#
lbbs
good mornings
jump rope
stretching/mobility

CFSB C1/W13
Deadlifts
warm: 3x115, 6x135
work: 5x155, 5x165#
high rep @115 (15-12-9)

Puppies: scaled
Three rounds for time of:
Handstand walk 5-10 yards - plank walks 20 (right up/down, left up/down counted as 1 ‘step’)
50 Squats

7:23

I love crackers

Todays rest day included a walk to the farmer's market to get some lemons for dinner and I ended up buying almond flour (which thank god someone local other than the health food store sells it) and an eggplant to make some paleo friendly sesame/flax crackers and 'hummus'. My all things Crossfit paleo loving friend pointed them out to me the other day and said they were great, and they are. Especially for someone like me who could survive on crackers alone. Easy to make if you have the ingredients which I'm sure most of us do anyway. I did not however use the hummus recipe since I didn't have tahini and could not find a zucchini. Instead I just peeled and roasted some eggplant and a half of a head of garlic in evoo, stuck them in a food processor and added some s&p and a little more evoo to smooth it out. It's pretty damn good considering I just made it up to have something to dip my crackers in. I have a feeling this will become a weekly recipe.

Didn't make the salmon last night since I didn't have lemons so I just made a big ole salad with hard boiled eggs, ham, tomatoes and cucs. Salmon will be tonight.

Nothing new to report. Looking forward to the warm weather heading our way in a few. Need to get out and run at some point this week since the mudder is in 2 weeks. Yikes. Hopefully I'm not underestimating the course this time around since last time it wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. Last November I was sick to my stomach by this point agonizing over every obstacle and how hard the running would be. Maybe this time I will actually take it all in and have fun... let the competitive side relax... nah, I'm a type A, can't do that.


Tuesday
Active Rest Day
2 mile walk w/stroller


breakfast - eggs w/ham
lunch - paleo friendly crackers and roasted garlic/eggplant 'hummus'
dinner - salmon w/roasted veggie

shoulder presses

Excuse me for a second, god damn mother effin shoulder presses. WTF?! OK. For the love of god why can't I get past 80?! It is easier, but still can't get 85 all the way up. May be a mental block at this point. Don't know, but very frustrated. Bob recommended I try some hspu's and bench press work for a while. We'll see how that goes. I like the handstand stuff but my shoulders don't.

Easter was nice. Watch The Ten Commandments of course and didn't completely gorge myself on goodies with the exception of a slice of apple pie, some pineapple stuffing and a little bit of candy. Fasting today to make up for it and feel better already. Felt really crappy last night because of the sugar. Back on the horse today, salmon, salad, veggies for dinner. May make some paleo crackers and hummus tomorrow. And I will hide the candy. Not that it's as inviting as it used to be, but out of boredom, it may find it's way into my belly.


Saturday
breakfast - bacon and eggs
lunch - ??
dinner - filet w/sweet pots and broccoli

“Pheezy”
Pack
Three rounds for time of:
115 pound Front squat, 5 reps - 85#
18 Pull-ups - blue band assist
155 pound Deadlift, 5 reps - 115#
18 Toes-to-bar
115 pound Push jerk, 5 reps - 85#
18 Hand-release push-ups
Women - 85/115/85

18:10 w/weight transitions

*notes - ttb and push ups slow as usual. lifts felt good. 


Sunday
breakfast - oatmeal
brunch - ham, pineapple stuffing, green beans, salad, apple crisp, jelly beans, m&m's
snack - cereal bar, hummus, turkey 
Rest Day

Monday
breakfast - none
dinner - salmon w/lemon, salad, veggie

CFSB C1/W12
Shoulder Press
1RM Retest
5x45, 3x55, 1x65, 75, 80, 85(fx2)
Still stuck @ 80#

CFSB C1/W12
Front Squat
warm: 5x95
work: 5x115, 3x120, 5x125#

15-12-9
95# back squat
pull ups

*notes - pull ups unassisted. NFT 

Form check check

So after almost 2 years I put a video up on my forum for the coaches to see my deadlift form. Don't know why it took me so long... I guess I just never thought about it much and since I have Bob to help me, I felt pretty confident he was keeping me on the right track. But he can't always be here and since my deadlifts are getting heavier and starting to put some strain on form for me, I thought I'de video and see where my errors are. I know most of them already like not setting my shoulders over the bar correctly, sometimes I round my shoulders/back and pull (very rarely) as opposed to guiding and using my legs, my touch and go isn't as smooth as it should be (although thats not a priority for me right now). I guess a fair question would be well, if I know this stuff, then correct it. Right. It's not as easy as it sounds. It's a lot of stuff to remember! But I'm getting there. There's always room for improvement.

Wednesday
breakfast - eggs w/turkey meat
lunch - yogurt w/honey, turkey
dinner - grilled chicken w/lemon, rosemary, sauteed squash, salad


CFSB C1/W12
Back Squats
warm: 5x95, 105#
work: 5x120, 5x125, 5x130#

Thrusters
3-3-3-3-3 (thought it was 5 sets)
65-75-85-95-100#(PR)

Previous 3RM was 95#.

Thursday
breakfast - oatmeal
lunch - turkey, banana, yogurt
dinner - turkey burger on a portabello, cuc and tomato salad

CFSB C1/W12
Deadlifts
warm: 5x95, 3x115#
work: 5x145, 5x150, 5x155#
high rep @115# (12-9-6)

*no wod, no time

Friday

Rest Day

Everything is so heavy

<Insert best whiny voice here> If there's one thing I learned from keeping a workout blog it's that taking any more than 3 days off strength work is no good for me. It definitely helps when the body is beat up from metcons, but not for strength. All I could think of today was 'shit this feels fucken heavy.' Mentally I struggled with wanting to move some weight today since I'm still feeling pretty beat up after Sundays Mudder run; but didn't really want to take another day off. Motivation is at an all time low. Lack of vitamin B I suppose. Haven't taken it since Saturday. See I told you I would forget. That didn't take long. I'll try to remember at lunch. I'm really not a scatter brain, in fact, I'm usually pretty organized... well, in all fairness, I guess I should say I used to be. Now my attention span is about the same as my 4 year olds.

Ohhh, I see something shiny, gotta go.

Monday
dinner - turkey meatloaf w/mashed sweet pots, salad
snack - cinnamon graham cracker w/nutella (sooo wrong but so good)
Rest Day

Tuesday
breakfast - oatmeal
lunch - eggs or leftover chicken
dinner - tilapia and shrimp w/broccoli rabe, maybe brown rice
warm:
yep

CFSB C1/W11
Shoulder Press
warm: 10x16, 5x45, 3x55#
work: 5x65, 3x70, 3x75#
high rep @45 (15-12-9) cut back since I failed 18-15-12 last week

C1/W11
Front Squat
warm: 5x95
work: 5x115, 5x120, 5x125#
*no high rep back squats today since I do heavy squats tomorrow. didn't want to fry the legs completely.

Mudder training

Ugh. Did my first Mudder training run yesterday and I'm fried. I haven't run that far since.... errr, the last Mudder in November. Hips, knees, ass, arms... so sore today. But, I did well considering 10 miles is a long ass run for me. We did so much hill climbing this time which was brutal. Also found out that I can wall walk. Well, the modified version of it. We used the hand rails on one of the wheelchair ramps at a train station in the park to simulate something you only see on Ninja Warrior. Hands on one bar, feet across on the other and inch along sideways. Hard on the wrists but I was able to do about 10'. Considering I've never done that before, it was a win for me. I did wuss out on the water stuff though. Been there, cold, wet, muddy, got it. Last thing I need is to get sick 3 weeks before the race.

Overall it was a fun few hours and glad I got to torture the other members of my team by doing bear and alligator crawls, which they hated and cursed Bob's name since it was under his recommendation I make them do it. Snicker snicker.

Schedule is all f'd up since I took extra rest days but looking to catch up on my strength work tomorrow.

Friday & Saturday
Rest Days

Sunday
breakfast - oatmeal
lunch - larabar, gatorade, turkey, almonds
dinner - baked ziti w/turkey meatballs


Mudder Training

10 mile trail run including
20-25 push ups
20 pull ups
hill sprints
large log shoulder carry w/partner
rock and mud hill climbs
tunnel crawls
bear crawls
alligator crawls
carry heavy ass rock uphill
fence/wall climbing
stair climbing
tree climbing