Another reason to hate overhead squats

Ok I'll admit it, sometimes I'm a real dummy. Instead of dumping my wobbly overhead squat like a good crossfitter, I tried to save it instead. Which I did, but at the expense of pulling a muscle in my neck that screamed down to my shoulder blade like the fires of hell. I'm sure we've all done that at some point but the dummy in me decided to finish the next 3 rounds. Hey, I lowered the weight 10 pounds. I'm not that stupid. Eh. So, I'm taking a stupidity induced rest day or two. Today is number 2. My neck is feeling a lot better but I'm not able to lift anything heavy overhead or even rest the bar on my back for a squat. Believe me, I tried. I hate consecutive rest days even when I'm hurt.

At least the day wasn't a total loss though. I did score at Old Navy for the kids back to school clothes. I found a tank top for .47. Crazy. Even if my daughter wipes her ass with it, it's still a good deal.

Zero motivation on the cooking front lately. Chef salad with flat iron steak last night, shrimp and sausage tonight. Lame but easy and tasty. I haven't even made any treats which is actually a good thing.   I need to drop a few extra pounds that found their way back to me. Guess that means I'll have to hold off on the double mocha chocolate chip cookies I saw last week.

Now to get the pool cleaned up. It turned green a few days ago and I've been trying my best to get it cleared up. With the amount of chemicals I've used over the past 2 days I can't believe it doesn't look like the fucking Carribean. I'll give it one more round of chemicals if that doesn't work it's getting drained and put away for the season. I mean at this point, I'm not even sure if we should go in it. I don't want my children to end up looking like the swamp thing for christ's sake. Wasn't he a product of toxic water? No, I don't know my comic books, I'm not that much of a nerd. Give me some credit.

Sweet and spicy shrimp

Wow. Another week gone by and no posts. I just can't keep up. So much to cover, where do I begin.  Well, I've decided to buy a journal to actually write down my wods. I know, write, with a pencil? What? I don't know why, but I like it. I think it's because since I've started Outlaw's program and they do a lot of different strength work, I was forgetting what weights I had done previously. Between the cleans and snatches there are 12-14 different movements they work on... crazy confusing some days especially when they say 'go heavier than last week' or base off of 'x' date... yeah, ok, how the hell am I supposed to keep track of that unless I write it down AND more importantly it's easy to find. Duh, journal. I was keeping a ton of sticky post it notes on the fridge in the garage but that was an unorganized mess. And as a self proclaimed control freak, I can't have that.

Wods have been a bit challenging lately. I think I've fallen into a vicious cycle between upping my metcon weights, lack of sleep, not enough calories, no mobility work, extra snack foods and constantly on the move with the kids is leading to poor recovery.... eh, hopefully once they go back to school next week I'll be able to fall into a better schedule.

I did make a somewhat 'new' recipe, sweet and spicy shrimp, last week. It's from Clean Eating magazine which is awesome for those of us who eat clean but are not necessarily paleo, although this recipe is. Shame I didn't get a picture because it did look pretty. You can serve it with any green, spinach, cabbage, kale, collards... or make a taco out of it like the original recipe with shredded radicchio, carrot and cilantro. I served it over some shredded baby spinach and cabbage. The warm shrimp wilts the greens nicely.

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp
In a blender or food processor add:
1-1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen pitted cherries/raspberries/blackberries/blueberries (unsweetened if frozen)
1-2 sliced jalapenos (use depending on how much spice you want)
1- 2" piece of fresh ginger or 1 tbsp jarred
4 tsp raw honey
1/4 water

Season 20-24 raw shrimp (peeled, tails removed) with S&P,  add some oil (whatever you like) and sear 1 minute each side on high heat. Reduce heat to medium and add the cherry mixture. Heat thru about 2 minutes. Done. Oh and you can use red pepper flakes for the spice if you don't have peppers. Works just as well. 

A few days ago I made the same sauce with blackberries and served it over some salmon then used the leftover the next day for a shredded chicken salad. Both were great.

Nothing else new on the recipe front. Bob has been fighting a stomach bug for a few days so dinners have been chicken soup and a turkey avocado sandwich for me. On gluten free bread of course.

I'm not posting my wods here anymore. What's the use really. I can't search them and it's a pain in the ass to re write and/or format them from BrandX. And now that I have my handy dandy notebook (cue the Blue's Clues voiceover) I don't need to have my workouts logged in 3 different places. I may be organized to a fault but I know that that is overkill.

zucchini baseball bat and plyo box

Well where do I begin. Oh yeah, I suck. What a crappy wod today. Let me rephrase, I was crappy. I should have just listened to my body and took the rest day. My shoulders and traps are sore to the point I'm not sleeping well, eh. I shouldn't have gone with 85# on the GTO and instead of giving up, I should have lowered the weight, gotten my shit together and tried to finish out. I guess mentally I wasn't in it today. Oh well, enough complaining. At least I finished out 5 rounds. At least. 

With only 2 weeks left of summer vacation for the kids, we have been trying to make the most of it by packing lunch and heading out to the park. Fortunately we have a ton of parks and playgrounds around here to keep us from getting bored. 

On Saturday we went to a friends' house for a wod n' grill with a bunch of other crossfitters. The wod was sucky but good. Got my butt kicked which is always awesome. Nice to have a little reality check. I don't have the  advantage of working out in a box so I have to push myself. Obviously, I need to work a little harder. Noted. Food was good of course pulled pork, beef, burgers, guacamole, salad, fruit, veggies. Then there was the chocolate covered marshmallow, angel food cake, cookie and strawberry skewers. I almost went into shock just smelling all the sugar. But, I guess we all need our cheat days. I'll stick with the blueberry jam covered goat cheese thank you very much. It was a nice time and thanks to a friend of a friend, we got a new homemade plyo box too. 20, 24 and 30" I believe. Yay no more stacking plates or jumping on the old wobbly bench. Although, now I have no more excuses. Shit.

Made some breakfast bars the other day and they are great. I subbed a few things like maple syrup for the agave, coconut oil for the grapeseed and since I didn't have raisins I added chopped dried apricots and some dates. My daughter wasn't impressed, said it was too 'seedy'. My son liked them even though he said they needed chocolate chips and not the 'brown things'. (the dates) Sigh. I did try one new side dish. Fried zucchini strips. I used coconut oil, almond flour etc.. paleo friendly. They were ugly as sin but tasted pretty good. They definitely need some tweaking before I post a recipe and picture. Short of using them as baseball bats, I'm running out of ideas for all this dam zucchini. 

Wednesday (8/22)

Outlaw Crossfit
5X2,2,2,1,1 Back Squats @ 100% – rest 2 minutes.
170#
*based off 3rm

-then-
Every 90 seconds for 15 minutes (10 total rounds):
21 Double-Unders
7 Pullups
3 Ground to Overhead - 85#

Notes: The goal is to finish the effort having completed each round within the time limit, and to have done it with the heaviest possible weight on the bar. Do not use a weight so heavy that you will not be able to finish a round, but also do not underestimate. You may take weight off, but you MAY NOT add weight at any time. Score is the weight used for the final round.
1 round + 21 du + 7 pull up + 2 GTO (in the 90 second round completion effort)

finished 5 rounds - 13 min or so

Tuesday (8/21)
Outlaw Crossfit
20 minutes to establish a 1RM Snatch.
45(5) -55(5) - 65(5)
*shoulders hurt, used as practice

-then-
Run 800m
75 Wall Balls 20/14# - 12#
Run 800m
13:43

Monday (8/20)
Rest day

Sunday (8/19)
Outlaw Crossfit
7X2 Pause Front Squats (3 seconds at bottom) – heaviest possible, rest 60 sec.
125#

-then-
5 rounds for total working time:
100m Shuttle Run (10m sections)
15 HR Pushups
10 Hang Squat Clean to Thrusters @ 95/65#
*Rest 1:1

1. 3:33
2. 3:23
3. 3:26
4. 3:29
5. 3:36 = approx 17:30 working time

Saturday (8/18)

BBQ wod
3x
5 snatch - 55#
10 OHS
15 over bar burpees
20 jumping lunges
10 min

Friday (8/17)
Rest Day

Average summer day

As I sit here chowing down on my post wod eggs, bacon and cabbage, I'm really starting to regret buying my daughter a flute for Christmas last year. When played by a 6 and 4 year old, it's the most torturous sound in the world, well, maybe after 'mommy I just threw up in my bed'.

Actually did a mainsite wod today. First time in weeks. And to my surprise I almost did it as rx'd. Unfortunately I didn't realize the women's kettlebell weight was 1.5 pood, not 1 pood like I did. Bummer. My new approach to mainsite is if I have to do it, don't even look at the scaling. It's too easy for me to say, eh, I'll do 55# cleans instead of 85# like I can do. They may be a little slower, but I won't get any better if I don't force myself to work thru it. At least that is my approach and I'm sticking with it. Also did some Outlaw Way's barbell gymnastics today. Only half of it actually. The Way programming is a bit too intense for me but I still needed to do some strength before the wod. So it was snatches... again. Shoulders are a bit sore so I wasn't feeling great with the power snatch but even slightly hobbled, they are so much better than they used to be. If only I could make them look as effortless as Sage. When I grow up I want to be her.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood so fff for a bike ride to get the kids moving and out of the house, then yardwork and swimming.

Thursday (8/16)
Outlaw BB gymnastics
7X1 1 Hang Power Snatch + 1 Power Snatch – heaviest possible, rest 60 sec (exactly)
45(3)-55-65#(3)
*shoulders not feeling great today

Complete as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
10 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood - 35#
10 Box jumps, 24 inch box
10 Ring dips

7 rounds even

Pulled pork

If there is anything better than the smell of a slow cooking pork roast in the oven, I don't know what it is. Ok, maybe the Thanksgiving Day turkey may be a formidable opponent but, for those of us who love that bacon smell, the pork was a winner hands down. I used this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo since I had that nice big shoulder roast I bought at the farm the other day.

The crust that formed on top was fantastic, smokey, sweet and spicy. I did miss the juice that comes along with a crock pot pork but a little leftover bbq sauce did the trick. Tonight I'm going with honey tamari marinated salmon, brussle sprouts and cucumbers and yogurt.

Not much else going on in the Chase household. Happy that AGT is back and the Olympics are finished. I'm Olympicked out. If I see Gabby or Michael Phelps again, I may just throw up.

Wednesday (8/15)
Outlaw Crossfit
12 minutes to establish a 1RM Heaving Snatch Balance.
45-55#
*stuck with 55 since I’m having a problem with the feet position. Keep kicking out even with wider beginning stance.

-then-
1a) 3XME Strict Pullups – rest 45 sec. - 10-9-5
1b) 3X10 2 Arm KB Snatches – rest 45 sec. - 20#
1c) 3X25 – Med Ball Ab-Mat Situps 20/14# (anchored), rest 45 sec. - 15# dumbbell
1d) 3X5 Snatch Grip Behind the Neck Press – heavier than last week, rest 45 sec. - 60#

Days gone by.... and meat!

Needless to say it was another busy weekend. We didn't have any plans per se, but all I know is from the minute we got out of bed Friday it was non stop for the rest of the weekend. Friday we started off the day by dropping the kids off at VBS, a trip to the meat farm to pick up some grassfed bacon, pork butt, New York strips, beef snack sticks and some eggs. (I'll post more on that in a minute). Off for the rest of the food shopping, picked up the kids, had some lunch then we took the kids, err... ourselves to see Batman. The kids just happened to be with us. They've seen all the other ones and there was no cursing and no sex, although violence aplenty. Eh, they've seen Alien, Resident Evil and the like, what's a little ass kicking? After that we followed it up with vacation bible school closing ceremonies.... which is pretty funny when I think of it now. Violence then church. Maybe we aren't such bad parents after all. By the time we got home it was 8, the kids were sugared up and smelly and we were starving for our New York strip and some tequila.

It was fabulous. Although, truth told, I did not taste much of a difference. I was under the impression grassfed meats had a little 'earthier' 'meatier' taste? Maybe it depends on the cut? Not sure, either way it was fantastic and worth the little extra. We also picked up a pound of bacon. Now there I could definitely taste a difference. I have bought uncured, nitrate free bacon before so I know what decent bacon tastes like compared to regular store bought, but damn, this stuff was even better. A definite treat.  The beef snack sticks are great too. I could eat them all day long. The farm also makes it's own raw milk cheeses which of course I had to sample. Wow. As much as I wanted too, I didn't buy any. I can't have a block of cheese in the house that is that good and not eat it. I'll have to do some research on if raw milk cheese is a little easier on the system than the regular processed crap in the store. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

Saturday and Sunday was a blur of Target, Dicks', Toys r Us, Home Depot, Giant and the dreaded mall between back to school shopping and finding a new bike for my daughter. We actually did end up buying her one and happy to say she loves it. Obviously we had multiple test rides both days as well. Nothing like squats, running and biking a few miles to get the legs going. 

Workouts have been tough lately with the exception of Sunday. Outlaw and mainsite were a rest days and I wasn't in the mood for an ass kicking hero or heavy 1RM squat test so I just did some warmup stuff, ran a few sprints and biked of course. Today's wod was killer endurance for me. Burpees and double unders. Blech. Luckily the weather is beautiful today so I didn't have the heat and humidity to deal with, just my own lack of will. It goes without saying I hate both double unders and burpees but oddly enough I was able to string together 33 du's and multiples of 15 and 20 so.. not bad. Overall it was a good one even though I hated every second. Only a Crossfitter would understand that last statement. 

No new recipes other than zucchini bread (I made them into muffins) courtesy of Elana's Pantry. The kids actually really liked them and I'm surprised considering they knew there was a vegetable in it. Now that I have about 20 pounds of zucchini in the garden I'll definitely be making more once my 5lb bag of Honeyville almond flour gets here. Yep, had to order another one already. Today I decided to make some cupcake size meatloafs... meatloaves? thanks to PaleOmg. Little disappointed they didn't come out looking like cupcakes but at least I have some quick mini protein snacks in the fridge. Why do I insist on making this stuff on IF days. 

Monday (8/13)
Outlaw Crossfit
15 minutes to practice or test a Tall Snatch.
16(5)-45(5)-55(4)-65#(3)

12 minute AMRAP of:
50 Double-Unders
7 Burpees
*Add 7 Burpees every round (Rd. 2-14 Burpees, Rd. 3-21 Burpees, etc).
3 rounds + 50 du + 15 burpees

Sunday (8/12)
10 kte
5 ohs 45#
10 kte
10 back squat 45#
10 kte
15 front squats 45# (with bottom holds)

1/2 mile 50m on 50m off sprints
4 mile bike ride

Saturday (8/11)
Outlaw Crossfit
12 minutes to establish a 1RM Snatch Drop.
60#

-then-
1a) 3XME T2B – rest 45 sec. - 23-20-13
1b) 3XME HSPU – kipping is allowed, rest 45 sec. - 11-7-8
1c) 3X20 KBS – heaviest possible, rest 45 sec. - 35#
1d) 3X5 Snatch Grip Behind the Neck Press – heaviest possible, rest 45 sec. - 45-55-55#

Afternoon - 7 mile family bike ride

Banana bread cupcakes

Two more days of camp for the kiddos and the last few hours of freedom for me. Had to take advantage of it today by going for a ride. Legs are a little tight from the squats yesterday so the hills were a little more challenging today. I also got stuck waiting for traffic a few times so that pushed my last mile over 5 minutes. All in all a pretty good pace considering. Yesterday's wod was a good one. I'm pretty sure it was the first Outlaw wod I didn't have to scale or use assistance. Finally! The front squats at 120 were hard, had to break them into 3's the last 2 rounds but I did all my pull ups without the band and managed to squeak in a few 15-20 rep consecutive double unders. Last round was 1-1-1-2-2-2-1 etc. That sucked. At least all my rounds weren't like that so that is progress. During the 8 rep back squats I had to keep telling myself it's only 135 it's only 135, thats light get your ass up! Not sure that I've done any more than 5 consecutive at bodyweight plus.

Not much new on the recipe front with the exception of some banana bread cupcakes from Elayna's Pantry the other day. I subbed the agave with maple syrup and coconut oil for the grapeseed oil. And instead of making a cake I just poured it into a cupcake pan since they were for the kids. Ever since I made PaleOmg's fantastic banana bread the kids always beg me for more... especially when they see I have some brownish bananas. They are smart cookies and I love that they are really starting to enjoy the paleo treats even though they are not filled with red #40 and high fructose corn syrup. Not that I buy any of that shit anymore anyway, I guess it comes down to options. If I don't buy it they can't eat it. Duh. If you haven't checked out Elayna's Pantry, you should. It's been great so far for making paleo and gluten free snacks and treats for the kids. Yeah, it costs me when it comes to almond flour and eggs, but I'de rather spend the extra time and money there than buying packaged treats that are filled with a lot of unpronounceable words.


Thursday (8/9)
5.21 mile bike - 27:33

Wednesday (8/8)
Outlaw Crossfit
4X8 Back Squats @ 80% – rest 2 minutes.
*The Back Squats are based off of YOUR THREE REP MAX
Off of 170# - 135#

-then-
3 rounds for time of:
9 Front Squats 185/120#
12 Strict Pullups
50 Double-Unders
15:08

Finding a farm

This past weekend much to my surprise I was able to find a farm 20 minutes from our house that raises, processes and sells it's own grassfed cow, chicken, turkey and pig right on the premisis. Most of the farms around here bring in their meat from other farms. Not that it's a bad thing, but there is a part of me that would rather support the growers rather than sharing it with the seller. Bob has been by the place many times on his bike but we weren't really sure what their deal was. Now I know. They are only open a few days a week so I'll have to head over there on Friday. There is also a dairy farm less than a mile away for fresh eggs and she gave me a heads up that in 2 weeks or so they will be getting in fresh chicken and duck. They raise them then send them out to be prepared. I really can't wait to try some GF filet and bacon. And another discovery we made while visiting another farm down the road that sells bison, was the overabundance of huge tractor tires laying in their warehouse. Hopefully I can talk them into letting us take one off their hands. And maybe I'll try to catch one of their free roaming chickens. Ha. 

I'm going thru this 'I hate corporate america (thanks in part to Anthos), politicians are dirty, we need to be self sustaining, eat no hormones, taking care to recycle and be more efficient' thing right now. I'm usually pretty conscious about this stuff on a normal day, but Bob and I were watching a documentary on the evils of the FDA the other night and it really drove the point home that we as a nation are continually sliding down the rabbit hole of obesity, greed, lies and destruction. Do I sound dramatic? Maybe, but it doesn't take a genius to see big bank, big pharma and big government have their greedy hands in just about all aspects of our lives. As I told my husband when I start thinking about selling our house and buying a farm to raise our own food, you know there is something wrong. Me, who can't grow proper cucumbers, loves her air conditioning, xbox, iphone and big tv wants to grow vegetables, raise animals then kill them for food? I'm getting worried and I don't think it has anything to do with my hormones. 

Well, enough of that for right now before I get all worked up and end up calling my financial advisor and withdrawing all our money and shoving it in the mattress. 

On a brighter note, my wods have been good considering I'm feeling a little run down. My little guy has a cold so I'm sure it will run it's course thru everyone in the house within the next few days. Yay! Love the summer cold. I was able to get my 100# squat clean and jerk. I did clean 100 before (maybe a few months ago) but couldn't get it since. My snatch (snicker snicker) is improving. Was able to get 65 on the 3 position method fairly easily today. Although on the last attempt I couldn't get under quick enough so it was more like a high hang then ohs. Oh well. At least my ohs felt solid. Gotta look at the positive side and move on sometimes.

Tuesday (8/7)
Outlaw Crossfit
15 minutes to practice (or test if proficient) the 3 Position Snatch (high to low).
45(5)-55(5)-65(3)

-then-
1 minute ME Slapping Pushups
-rest 1 minute
8 minute AMRAP of:
16 KB Snatches 24/16kg (8L/8R) - 20#
12 KB Thrusters 24/16kg (6L/6R) - 35#
8 Burpee Box Jumps 24/20″
-rest 1 minute
1 minute ME Slapping Pushups

1. ME push ups - 12
2. 2 rounds + 16 kb snatch
3. ME push ups - 13

Monday (8/6)

Rest day

Sunday (8/5)
Outlaw Crossfit: bb gymnastics
20 min to establish a 1RM clean & jerk

65(2)-75-80-85(2)-90-95(2)-100(PR)-105(f)

Saturday (8/4)
Outlaw Crossfit
5X3 Pause Front Squats (3 seconds at bottom) – heaviest possible, rest 90 sec.
125#
*tried 135 couldn’t quite manage the 3rd today without losing stability in my core

-then-
4 rounds for time of:
6 Box Jumps 36/28″ - 26”
12 C2B Pullups - one leg blue band
24 OHS 65/45# - 35#
16:33

'There's no such thing as a stupid question'

I'm sure everyone has heard that statement throughout their lives at least once and honestly, I couldn't disagree more. Yes, my friend, there are stupid questions. Lots of them, every day, all the time. I don't know how the admins on the forum can stand it quite frankly. But I guess that's why they do what they do and I don't. And for the love of all things holy, doesn't anyone know how to use Google? Anyone? See, there's this thing called the internet, and although you may believe it's main purpose may be facebook and watching videos of cats in costumes, but I'm here to tell you there is so much more. Trust me. Don't know what a snatch balance is? Google it. Hey whats the difference between a push press and a push jerk? Google it. Are marshmallows paleo? GOOGLE. All you're questions will be answered I swear. Now to get down from my plyo box.

Woke up with some terrible shoulder pain this morning which bothered me since I took a rest day yesterday to let it heal up. Was thinking about just going about my day but my Outlaw wod was 80+ ohs and pull ups and snatches I believe... not happening. Main site was a plethera of cleans, snatches, thrusters, eh. So I decided after I dropped the kids off that I was going to either run or bike. Can't take another rest day. Rest days usually make me feel like a lazy slug as it is let alone 2 in a row. Once I got geared up I figured I would just do 1 mile, then hop on the bike and do 5. Once I got close to home I thought what the hell, I'll finish it off with a mile. Unfortunately my legs were already finished. It was a slow mile to say the least. Felt good to get it done though. I haven't done the run/bike thing in a long time.

Off to another busy weekend filled with little girl sleepover fun, fixing our now dead stereo receiver, yardwork and cheering Bob on thru his hero charity wod tomorrow.

Friday (8/3)
1 mile run
4.87 bike
1 mile run

43 min

Thursday (8/2)
Rest Day