13.4 and 13.5 done and ehh

Well the open wods are finally finished and I must say even though I sucked at 75% of them, it was enjoyable and I actually found out I am a little stronger than I thought. Although, I do always look to the negative so when, or, if I do surpass expectations, it feels much more satisfying. Take for example the last wod 13.5. Everyone that reads this blog knows I despise thrusters immensely let alone the Fran combo. No I do not 'heart' Fran. She's a bitch and we don't get along. And my chance of stringing any pull ups together is only second to getting struck by lightning. Needless to say my expectations were very low. I thought ok, 4 minutes, I can-at-least-should-be-able-may-be-close-not-sure-I-will-get-more-than-possibly-30 reps. Way to be positive. But alas, I came in with 46 reps. Then because I was feeling like 4 minutes wasn't really enough, I did a scaled Diane and went for a slow family bike ride. If only I could have put that extra energy into the wod and pushed harder.

13.4 was another disaster for me. Not that I didn't enjoy the movements and reps, but multiple 95lb clean and jerks are heavy for me. It's only been in the past month or so that I could even get a handful of them off the ground. Maybe it was because it was the first wod I did after vacation and my body was ready to go, unsure but I managed about 26 reps. Oh well, there's always next year. Got a nice 3 mile walk/run in today at the park. Totally spur of the moment but decided I needed to be outside in the great weather rather than in the garage. Practiced the non heel strike motion since I was wearing my minimus sneakers. I have a feeling my calves are not going to be happy later.

On to food. This weekend I made another great recipe from The Domestic Man. Chicken Pad Thai. It was really good and holy hell it was spicy! I even cut back on the peppers and it was still a bit much. My advice is if you like a little spice 1/4 the peppers, if you like spice that makes your nose run do about 3/4 and if you are a hardcore spice fanatic use what the recipe calls for. Seriously. It was HOT. Yeah I know it's supposed to be but damnit, there's a limit. I will definitely try this again with shrimp and zoodles thats for sure. Bob found the Tamarind in Whole Foods. Actually we had to use Tamarind chutney and I believe it was in the Indian Foods section. I didn't even know what it was but I'll tell you it's pretty good and I'm planning on using the rest of it in a BBQ mixture for pork or maybe a burger dip or topper. If I get a recipe together using it I'll post it.

Speaking of recipes, still nothing on the iphoto thing. Not only have I just not had the time, I also seemed to have lost the handful of recipes I had typed up. Damn Pages app won't open. I did however make a pretty delicious, fast and light veggie wrap last night using gluten free wraps. Bob and I are big on salads in the warmer months and am looking forward to trying some new combinations. Because really, who can eat the same ole chef salad over and over.

Need to wrap up and get some more gardening done. Got a great start the past few days and planted tons of veggie seeds, trimmed, weeded, seeded, fertilized and air rated the lawn and still a ton left to do.

On the family front lets see.... kids are playing baseball and softball, 2 nights a week with opening day starting this Saturday. Bob is coaching Bud's team again and I have to fulfill like 4 hours of volunteer duty at some point this season. Should be interesting working around the schedules between both kids games and have a feeling Saturday wods and any other non baseball activities are going to be non existant for the next 8 weeks. At least they are getting outside and playing and having fun. Better than sitting around the house fighting over the ipad.

Road tripping

and the things I learned. Other people's kids are annoying, Disney is grossly overpriced, my kids are pretty damn good travelers and it's not impossible to stay on track and eat clean.

Lets start off by saying my kids can be annoying, I know this and I'll be the first admit it. But after spending 11 hours in Disney, you realize two things. One, your own children are less annoying than most and two, you don't want to have any more children. That being said, we did have a pretty good time in the park. And it was exactly what I expected, overwhelming, overpriced and overcrowded. You really have to know the system to get things done there. We did not, but, we did manage to hit a majority of the big rides and see the light parade and fireworks which were stunning even from a distance. The kids were super excited, over stimulated and exhausted by the end of the night. It was definitely worth it. Ok, maybe not definitely, but it was a good day.

Eating clean in Disney was tough and even I had succumb to a little gluten filled indulgence. I wasn't about to let Bud's $9 chicken and fries go to waste. It was only a few bites and I peeled off most of the breading. Sooo high maintenance. And I also had ketchup, milk chocolate, fries and potato chips. Call the paleo police! Hey, it was one day. Most of the week though I'm happy to say Bob and I did really well keeping to a good healthy Crossfitter/paleo routine. I made a ton of great food for us on the way down so we didn't have to stop and eat crap. Once we were at my mom's we had a great dinner of crock pot pork ribs and sauerkraut. Then about 3 meals out at restaurants, including this greek place Hellas in Tarpon Springs. Yep, it was tacky looking and filled with tons of retirees but the food was delicious and sitting on the open air patio in the warm weather couldn't be beat. I got a Gyro platter (so it wasn't wrapped). Bob got a sampler with stuffed grape leaves, gyro and pastitsio. And as a sidenote, leftover lamb was awesome in our eggs the next morning. No, even I could not finish the whole thing.

We also managed to get some wods done a few days. Day 1 in the hotel was a 10, 9, 8 burpee ladder. Day 2 was a 1.5 mile walk with the kb held in various positions. Day 3 was...800 meters, 10, 9, 8... push up, kbs, 800 meters. I wanna say we did another one but I can't remember. Then that was about it for me. Time was not on our side and we had a few long days and late nights. All in all it was a good trip. The weather was beautiful, palm trees and turquoise water were picturesque, the kids were great in the car and even Easter in the beach side bar with my daughter throwing up wasn't bad. Yes, little princess got a stomach bug Sunday while we were visiting my grandmother in Vero Beach for Easter Sunday. That continued to Monday's travel day home which was fun. Word to the wise, when your 7 year old says 'I'm going to throw up', that means right that second. Yeah, in the car all over her seat. Gah. There is nothing worse than throwing up in the car and trying to pull over to the side of the road while on a bridge doing 75 miles an hour in traffic. Total chaos. At least for Bud, Bob and I, the bug waited until we got home. We're all almost a 100% now, but it wasn't a very good homecoming.

Hoping to bang out last weeks open wod of clean and jerks tomorrow then get on to last nights thruster pull up wod on Sunday. Two of my favorites. Not. I expect that will be a 4 minute wod for me. Oh well. It will feel good to get back on the bar though. Having a week off was probably good for my body but I'm starting to feel the urge to get my ass kicked again. How sick is that?

I've dropped the ball again

For some reason I have no time to do what I want, only what I have to. I still haven't looked into the iphoto issue and have yet to pull myself together to work on another recipe. Actually, I do have them, but no pictures which make the recipe look more appealing, literally. I've also been in a craptastic mood the past few days. Unsure why. Oh right, maybe because some little punk stole my 21-15-9 magnet off my car, it's spring and it's snowing and I can't seem to cook anything right lately. I had a massive superterrificdinnerfail the other night. Bad read: rancid chicken plus sticky mushy over cooked rice noodles lead to a garbage bag full of food and a last minute bacon and eggs dinner. Not that there's anything wrong with bacon and eggs but the wasted time and food bugs the hell out of me.

So the next open wod includes one thing I simply cannot do and other I cannot do rx'd. I don't have a 14# ball. Even went to a few stores looking for one. Nothing. And I refuse to pay $100 for a 'Rage' ball. Sorry Rage, never heard of you. And muscle ups, forget it. Looks like I'll be doing a modified scaled down version. At least I have something to shoot for, beating last years score which was 219 since I am a bit better at double unders this time around.

Other than that, taking the day off. No running walking or otherwise. Haven't had a true rest day in about 5 days so in order to give it my best tomorrow, I need to rest the shoulders which are in pretty sad shape today. With the past few days of wall walks, push jerks, hspu, push presses, muscle ups and kbs my shoulders are mad. But, I will say this, they can take more and more abuse with each passing week. This time last year I would have to take about 2-3 days rest to heal up from hspu and heavy push jerks. Hell, this time last year I couldn't really do hspu without pain let alone anything else.

Still have a ton of stuff to do for Florida. Got some packing started, things put aside and lists made. This weekend I'll probably make a bunch of food like meatballs, protein balls, salad/veggie fixins, chicken breast and banana bread and cookies for the kids. I'de really like to avoid fast food, which it doable on the way down with the exception of Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks of course. The way back may be a bit more challenging since I won't have time to prepare a ton of stuff before we leave. We'll see.

13.2 and randomness

Ok so I have a ton of things I want to mention and I'll try to make it quick... which seems to be the story of my life this past week or so.

Number one. I did 13.2 today and did pretty well. I was hoping to at least get 5 rounds and ended up getting 7+ with a total of 233 reps. Fortunately the Crossfit gods spared me on the box jump rules this time in allowing step ups. I did have to resort to them about the 4th round if for no other reason than to keep going while trying to catch my breath. They were jumping step ups, but step ups none the less. The push jerks and deads went better than expected. They were all unbroken which I think, well, I know, saved me some time to huff and puff thru the box jumps. I liked this wod and felt like I put up a pretty respectable number. Moving on.

Number 2. I apparently lost all my photos from the past 2 years when I updated my laptop. There are a few still there and some videos, but over 400 photos are not showing up in iPhoto. Son of a bitch. They are in my finder but I can't get them to transfer over to iPhoto without an error. So, with that being said, the recipes I was planning on posting will have to take a back seat for a bit until I can figure out how to fix this. Ugh.

Number 3. I've got too much on my plate. Between the stupid stuff like getting my tire fixed, shopping, prepping for painting, reading at my son's story time, workouts and regular everyday house stuff I've been maxed out. Fortunately I've been feeling great energy wise since tightening up the diet and taking my vitamins so I'm able to keep up and get everything done, but shit, I need a break. We're leaving for Florida in about 10 days and I have not one thing done in preparation. Usually I'm well ahead of the game for a big family outting like this. Oh wait, I did buy new bathing suits for myself and the kids. OK, so I have one thing done.

Number 4. At 8pm last night we got a visit from our local policeman saying hey, we chased a robbery suspect behind your house yesterday afternoon and he stole two guns which may or may not have been thrown over your fence as he was escaping, mind if we take a look? UH WHAT? It was just a precaution but still. Yikes. A guy running from the cops with stolen guns behind my house? What is this COPS? I live in yuppyville central not the hood. Anyway, he was caught and there were no guns for my kids to play with.

Well, off to hook the new kitchen tv up, start taping the trim and get some laundry done. It never ends.

13.1 and days gone by

What a week. So I did the first open wod. Eeek. Love it when two of my favorites come up and I finished about where I thought I would. 101 legit, 120 with 19 scaled snatches @65#. Took me 3 attempts to get one snatch at 75 so instead of struggling thru I lowered and banged out 19. I'm only doing this for fun anyway. Riiiight. Fun. Past couple days of wods have been ok, nothing to write home about. Keeping on a good schedule, had a good IF day, cut back on my snacking and have been taking my vitamins D and C. I've been feeling pretty good, no overly sore body parts and have been able to hold off a full blown cold so I guess the immune boosting powers are working for me.

Made a few new recipes over the past few days. One was The Domestic Man's chicken francesca. It was really good if you do dairy and fake pasta. I guess you could technically use the thick part of the coconut milk and serve it over zoodles but I was willing to take one for the team. Another good one was this pork, fennel, apple meatball recipe. I served this with regular homemade sauce over zoodles. The kids weren't crazy for them but my daughter's friend thought they were the shit. No, she did't say that, but she did eat 5 of them. Bob took the leftovers for lunch and ate them with some homemade bbq sauce and said they were great. Oh and I actually used my food grinder attachment for this recipe. No it doesn't call for it but I had a pork tenderloin out when Bob forwarded me the meatball recipe so I figured what the hell, why buy ground pork when I can grind it myself. Two things. Number one, grinding raw meat is disgusting and number two grinding raw meat is disgusting. Not that it will stop me from any future grinding or sausage making endeavors, but it was pretty gross between the sound and smell. Anyway, it was a good quick recipe. I'm always on the lookout for new meatball recipes.

Kids are doing well with the new dinner rules. Well, my daughter is, the dude is not. He's not necessarily eating a full dinner of meat and veggies but he is at least being coaxed into tasting everything. That's all I can ask for right now. My daughter is actually eating most meals including the dreaded bbq coated meatloaf which she was always afraid of.

So with 1 1/2 weeks left before we leave for Florida, what better time than to start painting. I know. Not that smart but I feel like I'm on a roll and need to get it done now before I put it off another 5 years. And besides, we have everything for once. That right there is a small miracle. I'm only painting the ceiling in the front hallway (we had a leak patched) so it's not a huge project but as any type A knows, it always turns into a huge project. We'll see what happens. My luck I'll get it done zippy skippy and while we're gone for the week the noxious paint fumes will kill the parakeet. Eh. He's had a long life already.

Recipe: Mango Pineapple Salsa

Around this time of year, well early February moreso than March, but anyway, this time of year you usually can find plenty of pineapple (or SpongeBob's house as my kids refer to it) and mango on sale at the grocery stores and even the farmer's markets. So what better to make than mango pineapple salsa. I've paired it with salmon, tilapia, tuna and pork. I'm sure it would be wonderful with seared shrimp as well. It's also good as a regular salsa, chip dippin type of salsa that is. Different, colorful, springy.

Mango Pineapple Salsa
Serves 4 or 2 very hungry adults with leftovers for eggs

3-4 slices fresh pineapple, diced
1 mango, peeled, diced
1 small green/red/orange/yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, diced
1 jalepeno, prepared how you like it, diced
handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
glug of extra virgin olive oil
Himalayan sea salt, pinch

Mix all together and let it sit in the fridge at least an hour if you can. You can also use lime juice and yellow onion if that's what you have on hand. For me the lime juice was a little too tangy especially if your mango wasn't terribly sweet. But, if that's all you have and it ends up being too (insert puckered lips sound here) first try to add a little more oil to even it out. If it's still too tangy add a smidge of raw honey or a pinch of your favorite sweetener. Enjoy.

I did it!

I finally found pre-made gluten free frozen meatballs. I know. I can't contain my excitement. Not that I can't make my own meatballs but on those days where I don't really feel like cooking or everything is either frozen or needs to be marinated for hours, dinner usually ends up zoodles or spaghetti squash spaghetti and meatballs or sausage. And let me tell you, it was hard to find frozen meatballs that did not have wheat flour based bread crumbs included. No, I wouldn't make a habit of eating them but it's a nice easy go to when I need it.

Anyway enough about meatballs. Been feeling good lately, back to a good schedule, taking my fish oil and vitamin D. Had a nice IF day yesterday and then loaded up on a white rice/chicken/cheese burrito bowl for dinner. Which was awesome by the way. I'm pretty sure the extra calories and starch helped me smash some high hang power clean and jerks @95 this morning. My hang clean has really improved over the last few months. 95 used to be pretty tough and was weak 1rm, now I can do a few in a row and still feel good about them. Progress. The metcon went well today too. I didn't think it would since it involved one arm kettlebell snatches and pull ups. My left arm kb snatch is pathetic and am pretty sure by the summer I'll look like Popeye with one jacked arm and one weak ass arm if I don't do something about it. Today I actually found the rhythm of the snatch swing which has eluded me in the past. Maybe it was lack of practice since I've only had the 35# bell for a little over 3 months, but something just clicked today. And even my weak ass left arm was able to get it done. No anchor tattoo for me anytime soon.

Got a few more recipes in testing phase. One needs a tweak here and there but it's about 90% yummy. Tomorrow I'll have a nice easy mango pineapple salsa recipe which is great on fish, chicken or pork.

Both kids have been sick the past few days. Thankfully they are both feeling better today and finally went back to school. They really pushed my buttons yesterday. My little guy just got home from school and has passed out in his room. Probably only the 4th or 5th time he has ever willingly turned down the chance to play xbox and crawled into bed instead. Poor Bud. My daughter went on another 6 mile mud trail bike ride with daddy this weekend. Then on Sunday she rode to the grocery store (about 3 miles or so) with dad in 40 degree weather. Think that may have put her over the edge on her cold. She's feeling better though. She took the day yesterday to relax, nap and have some broth which helped a ton. Who doesn't love a good nap? Which is exactly where I'm headed in a few. I'm back to reading The Wheel of Time books, well, the last one that just came out a few weeks ago. It's a good book but can be very sloooow which on some days is the perfect relaxation technique to get me to pass out in my favorite chair only to wake myself up snoring 20 minutes later. Yes, I snore. If you say you don't, you lie like a rug.