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

Back squat 2rm pr

Ahh, where to begin. Saturday's wod was terrible. Not sure if the humidity had anything to do with it but it wasn't fun at all and it was a struggle to get thru. The stopping and holding the bar overhead for 30 seconds in the snatch grip position was tough on the already tired arms but my fear of the 20 burpee penalty on top of the 80 I already had to do kept me from dropping it. I was however able to manage a new PR on my 2rm back squat this weekend. 180. I haven't done 2rm in a while and can't remember what it was before but it sure wasn't 180. Amazing how the Outlaw program is tricking me into pr's. And it's funny how much easier it seems when you're not knowingly trying for a pr. The mental game is a tricky one.

The rest of Saturday turned out nice though. We took the kids to their first baseball game, a minor league team in NJ. We had great seats, 9 rows behind home plate, all the cousins were there and everyone was really well behaved. Most of the food was your typical ball park food with a few exceptions of a pulled pork and chicken cart and a fish taco stand, which was what I went for. Grilled mahi over brown rice, avocado, tomato salsa and pineapple. I was going to go for the pulled bbq pork but had a feeling the sauce would have been jarred and full of stuff I just can't eat anymore. My mahi salad was good although I think they put a light breading on the fish then blackened it. It wasn't much, but I tasted it immediately. Between that, the few pieces of chicken tenders my son didn't finish (I peeled as much of the breading off that I could) and the few sips of beer, my stomach was in for a wild ride that night. Ugh.

Not much else happening in the Chase household. Trying to keep the kids busy with play dates, park and library trips, sleepovers and VBS camp again this week. Luckily the preschool I'm trying to get Bud in the fall has camp this week and they said I was more than welcome to bring the kids over for the rest of this week and next. YAHOOO! More free hours for me and most of all fun activities for them.

A bit disappointed we can't make the 31 Heros challenge this weekend at our friends box. It's a 31 minute amrap of some pretty crushing moves including thrusters, rope climbs (I think) and running. Would have been nice to get involved but we're already scheduled this weekend with other stuff. Bob may still do it if he can find a partner.

No new recipes, been a bit uninspired as of late. Meat sauce over spaghetti squash, salmon last night, grilled chicken tonight, probably some form of pork tomorrow. Nothing post worthy as far as I'm concerned. Also been feeling a bit sluggish and lazy lately not sure if it's lack of calories, sleep, which has been lousy the past week or so, overtraining or just because my schedule with the kids has been crazy. I've been reading a lot again too. 3 books in 2 weeks. Can't help myself. I'm such a nerd when it comes to the vampire/witch/supernatural/thriller stories and I have a feeling that is working against me at night and keeping me up. Looks like it may be a Lunesta night if I don't get a chance to take a quick nap this afternoon.

Tuesday (7/31)
Outlaw Crossfit
15 minutes to establish a 1RM Hi-Hang (with hip) Snatch.
45(2)-55(2)-60-65(2)-70(F)-65
*10# increase from last time
-then-

3 rounds for time of:
5 KB Snatches Left Arm 24/16kg - 30# dumbbell
5 KB OH Walking Lunges 24/16kg
5 KB Snatches Right Arm 24/16kg
5 KB OH Walking Lunges 24/16kg
20 T2B
Run 200m
14:40

Sunday (7/29)
Outlaw Crossfit
15 minutes to establish a 2RM High-Bar Back Squat.
115-135-155-165-175-180# (new 2RM PR)
-then-

10 minute AMRAP of:
12 Pullups
12 Pistols
12 HR Pushups
4 rounds + 12 pull ups + 3 pistols

cashout:
approx 50m tire drag

Saturday (7/28)
Outlaw Crossfit
12 minutes to establish a 3RM Behind the Neck Snatch Grip Push Press.
45 -55-60-65-70-75-75#
*too much dip per my coach, so corrected @ 75.
-then-

4 rounds for time of:
5 Power Snatches 115/75# - 55#
10 BB Step-ups 20″ 115/75# - 15”
20 Lateral Burpees
*Every 3 minutes beginning on the 3rd minute, no matter where the athlete is on the WOD, the BB must be held overhead (using a snatch grip) for 30 seconds. If the bar is dropped at any time during the 30 seconds, there is a 20 penalty Burpee to be performed after the WOD is complete.
19:58 (no burpee penalties)

Pork and front squats

The slow cooker pork was a winner. Very rich and satisfying. But... there's always a but, next time I would buy real ginger root. I used jarred stuff, which is usually great and good to have on hand, but I think this recipe would have worked better with the fresh stuff. It didn't have that ginger punch I was hoping for. Otherwise it was a great slow cooker recipe.

Nothing fancy on the menu last night, in fact it's a 'this is all I have in the house before I go food shopping tomorrow' dinner. Modified and clean chicken picata (since it calls for regular flour), sauted cabbage in bacon fat and garlic ginger roasted carrots. Tonight it's looking to be spicy shrimp, sausage and collards. Nothing to fancy, Bob has a garbage disposal to fix. It's always something.

Workout was tough yesterday, felt slow and everything felt really heavy. On paper it looked tough enough considering the front squats were almost bodyweight for me and the kettlebell swings were supposed to be 50#. Yeah, no. I lowered that to 40# and that was enough. I did manage the 120# front squats even though some were a little lame, not far enough down or ending up with too much weight on my toes, which I usually never do. My calves were tightening up between the kb swings and the run... not sure what's up with that. One thing is for sure, I'm paying for it today. I'm walking like I've been riding a horse for 2 days and am having a hard time sitting on the pot. Eh, nothing I haven't dealt with before so time to move on and take the rest day today. Normally sore legs wouldn't necessarily stop me since I've learned that 90% of the time they feel better once warmed up but I had too much on the plate today to get finished while the kids were at camp for the morning. Now it's lunch, pool, chill and finishing off the night with a little or a lot of mexican water.

Thursday (7/26)
Outlaw Crossfit
EMOM for 7 minutes:
2 Back Squats @ 90% - 165#
-then-

3 rounds for time of:
7 Front Squats 185/120#
21 KB Swings 32/24kg - 40#
Run 400m
16:20

Wednesday (7/25)
1.5 mile easy jog/walk
*needed another day to rest the sore shoulder

shit, where did I leave off?

Hmm, weekend was good. The Chase family got to spend some time at a gymnastics gym on Sunday at the crack of dawn. Yep, dragged the kids out of the house by 6am sleepy eyed, pillow pets in hand and told them they were going to have fun playing at a gym. The kids loved it of course. They didn't care, they're used to it. I loved it too. I was able to do a flip off the high mat into the foam pit. Which by the way is no fun to get out of. It's huge and deep! It was like swimming in quick sand for christs sake. There were two ropes which I was able to get up with both hands and no feet. Not all the way up mind you but up none the less. We made up a few short wods, which killed my arms and shoulders for the next 3 days. Fun stuff.

Trying a new slow cooker pork recipe today from MDA. Pork, coconut milk, ginger, corriander, garlic, onions. I'll let you know how it is. It smells awesome and literally took 5 minutes to put together. Love when dinner is basically done at 9am.

Kids are in camp for the week, 3 hours a day of an empty house. What on earth will I do with my free time? N o t h i n g. Well, not nothing of course, but I won't have to make fog out of Legos, or draw zombies or listen to hours of Nickelodeon cartoons and Taylor Swift songs. It's the little things.

Workouts have been good. My shoulders are pretty f'd and my arms and upper body are really sore from the dips, pull ups, rope climbs, hand stands and rings practice, my calves are a bit tight from the sprints but other than that I feel great. Went for a 10 mile bike ride by myself yesterday and it was fabulous. I love the family bike rides but with my daughter, they are slow. It was nice to be able to push myself and not stop peddling... even up hill. Hopefully when we buy her a new bike for her birthday next month she'll be able to push it a little faster. Today's snatches were hard since my arms are sore. Couldn't quite get under the bar fast enough. Oh well. And to top it off the metcon was handstand shoulder touches and pull ups! Ugh. The handstand touches were out of the question, I got up, got one touch and that was it. Arms could not support me today. Had to modify and put my feet on the bench. I did however manage 2 rounds of 30 unbroken double unders though. Horray! Thats the most I've been able to do. Well, I did get 31 once before, but never 2 rounds. See what happens when you practice? Ok, forced to practice because I hate them and avoid them like beets. Blech hate beets.

Bob found an interesting article which I am going to post everywhere. I can't believe people would be forced to get their nutritional info from 'registered dieticians' that are funded by Coke and Kellogs. Really? They want to keep us FAT and UNHEALTHY! And I wouldn't be surprised to find they are also funded by big pharma too but I haven't dug that deep yet. For fuck sake when are people going to wake up.

Tuesday (7/24)
Outlaw Crossfit

15 minutes to establish a 1RM 3-Position Snatch (High-Hang, Hang, Full).
45(2) - 55(3)
-then-

12 minute AMRAP of:
30 Double-Unders
20 Shoulder Touches
10 Strict Pullups - blue band

5 rounds + 30 du + 17 shoulder touches

Monday (7/23)
10 mile bike ride - 38 min

Sunday (7/22)
Mudder Training @ gymnastics gym

gymnastics warmup:
forward rolls
lunges
bear crawls
toe and heel walks
yoga stretches

wod 1
3 rounds
10 pull ups
10 dips
10 parallette pass thrus
1 rope climb

wod 2
3 rounds
50# sand bag carry (approx 10-12 yards each way)
jump in foam pit
3 hurdles
jump in foam pit
20 jumping squats

wod 3
10x 10 yard sprints

cash out/practice
hand stand push ups
ring work
trampolene
mat flips (approx 40-50 lbs)