Let them eat cake...

Gluten free, paleo approved, of course!

I feel I have neglected you again, blog. I've actually been busy at work and when I wasn't at work I was working on birthday presents and this fabulous cake for BF!

I seem to have lost this recipe...Seriously, I might cry if it doesn't show up. All I know is I used a total of 10 eggs for 2 layers and I used apple cider vinegar. :(

Speaking of BF and birthday....

We had breakfast at Illium Cafe...this is all that was left after I devoured my omelet :) Toast, a little of my black coffee, and fatty bacon pieces. Good job sticking to paleo here!

 We went out to a fancy dinner at Taste! (We look cute, huh?) They have a very good gluten-free menu (actually the normal menu is gluten free) We weren't strict paleo, but the mozzerella cheese and mashed potatoes were worth it! MMmm

In between all the fantastic food, we had a friendly competition with Collar City Crossfit. My team did fantastic! It was so much fun competing with new people. The workout was rough, but it was broken up among the team so it wasn't too bad.

Today is definitely a well deserved rest day for me. I didn't even realize I had gone non-stop for 6 days! eek...I'm trying hard to build upper body strength, I need to allow those muscles to build! Next week starts competitors classes, I can't wait to work on some harder skills!

P.S.- Exciting news :) I get to do my first paid blog! I'm pretty pumped about it and I know it will be fun to write on the topic, so happy dance!!!!

Happy Fit Friday! Get active or if you're like me, RELAX AND RECOVER!!!!!!

Weekends are for Breakfast

Another great weekend has come to an end and is welcomed by a sleepy Monday. Eeek. This weekend was relaxing, partially by doctor's orders and partially because after a fabulous massage, you aren't capable of doing anything BUT relaxing!

 Saturday morning, post minor medical "event" BF made this for me while I rested on the couch (he's pretty wonderful)

Sunday morning pre-massage breakfast buffet. This was round 2, I was starving after a 30 min row WOD at 7am and couldn't even think about taking pictures until my belly was happy :) Round one was an omelette with bacon and peppers, sausage and MORE FRUIT! The fruit was sooo fresh.

ROW WOD:

30min total

30 seconds of continuous rowing, 30 seconds rest

My bum is still feeling this. And thats AFTER a serious massage!

It's BF's birthday week so I started it off by treating him to his first ever real massage!

I love random things in omelettes. Like raspberries. Bacon, goat cheese and raspberries...YUM!

I love breakfast...can you tell?

Let me explain...

I guess when I first started writing this I didn't think much about who would be reading it. I do a lot more than just CrossFit, so I hope I can relate to more people! Unfortunately, I get a little caught up in my CrossfFt jargon and forget to explain what it all means! So here's a bit about CrossFit and my paleo lifestyle.

CrossFit is really just high intensity interval training, mixed with olympic lifting. What makes it different is the competition with yourself and the atmosphere of a box. Having your fellow crossfitters cheer you on or not judge you when you couldn't quite get that weight up and let it slam against the floor. (it's energizing!)

Box= a CrossFit gym
WOD= Workout of the Day
PR= Personal Record
AMRAP (I haven't used this yet!) = as many reps as possible
Rx'd; as Rx'd= As prescribed; as written. WOD done without any adjustments
# = Pounds
Other things you might be confused about are lift names (ie: snatch, deadlift, clean, jerk, press)

Now a bit about Paleo! If you have heard of the paleo or caveman diet or lifestyle, you may be wondering WTH that means. No, I don't kill animals with clubs and eat them with my hands. Well, I do eat with my hands a lot, but that's out of convenience and laziness! The paleo diet is a diet that is commonly followed by crossfitters. Basically, you only eat things that were available to cavemen! (no processed foods!!) You want to focus on your protein and then add your veggies, nuts and seeds, then fruits. You want to cut out sugar (there is sugar in fruit, so keep that to a minimum!) Keep in mind you want to focus on eating nutrient dense foods over nutrient poor foods. "but but but...where will I get my fiber?! or my calcium?!" Well friend, guess what? Veggies are FULL of fiber and those dark greens, they're full of nutrients including calcium! HA! Go ahead, find a nutrient in your bread or pasta that ISN'T found in meat or vegetables. Most people that follow the paleo lifestyle do an 80% perfect 20% not-so-perfect way. Just figure out what your body can handle, what makes you function and feel best, then run with it. Calories in vs. calories out is a bunch of bologna....how anyone can believe that eating 100 calories of crappy synthetic food is beyond me! Oh wait...I used to think that way :-P Ok, so listen up, quit counting calories, if you are eating nutrient dense quality foods, and adequate protein, you will feel full and you will feel great! STOP EATING "low-fat" "low-cal" processed junk food. I swear to you, if nothing else, eating a CLEAN DIET will do wonders for you. Paleo worked for me after, I dont know, years of trying to eat "healthy" and failing at losing weight! This is not a fad, this is a way of life :)

My Caveman store!  <-- check out some of the yummy paleo approved things I eat!

Please ask me about it! otherwise ignore this post, because if you know me outside of this blog, I've already annoyed you with my CrossFit and Paleo talk :)

Fit mind and body

Fit...describes more than just how I feel after a workout. I feel like my life is a perfect fit for me. Things are falling into place and I know I have a looooong road to travel before I'm where I want to be, I can at least say I have direction. I will talk more about all of the exciting things that are happening in my life as they happen! Just know there is a lot going on and you will hear about it and you will be excited for me too! (If you aren't, well then why are you reading my blog silly?!)

I need to update my progress page...like a major overhaul. It just doesn't make sense. I'm working on a better format, again, you have to wait!

Yesterday at CrossFit we did push jerk max. I've never done JUST the push jerk from a rack (we like to train ground to overhead usually...makes sense since it's rare you will find a heavy object chilling at the perfect level with you shoulders, right?) Anywho, we did it and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could throw 150# over my head and hold it there. I am 100% sure that wasn't my max, but alas, class was only an hour and I had to stop because at that point it was taking at least 2 tries to throw the weight up. I love when I get a lift and set my weight down and proceed to taunt the bar as if I just beat it in a fight...I probably look like an idiot especially because, even though I'm tall, I'm not intimidating when I smile or do a happy dance. If the bar could laugh in my face...it would.

Tonight, I'm making boyfriend take pictures of me lifting for future blogs, etc that require pics of me. I should probably practice my lift face. Maybe I'll just smile.

I find that nights where I'm not busy, I make myself busy by turning food item in my apt into a paleo dish, then putting it into the fridge for later consumption. Last night I made paleo banana bread, paleo pizza, and a paleo beef and sweet potato casserole. I need another oven, this took over 3 hours! What did I eat for dinner? 3 links of breakfast sausage....I was too focused and didn't want to ruin my creations!

Hmm, sorry this was quite a wordy post :-X

Travels, cheats, and PRs!

I know August is still going, but so much has happened that I need to tell you about!

First, I went home to Pittsburgh August 10th-12th for a good friend's wedding! It was beautiful and I cried and then cured my emotions with a handful of grandma made, gluten packed, farthest from paleo cookies! OMG it was great. BUT, I also go the opportunity to train with some really awesome people at R.A.W. Training! (If you didn't know they came in 3rd in the team events of the 2012 CrossFit Games) The facility is HUGE! I had such an amazing time getting my ass kicked by Coach Amy, the owner. (I actually was so sore, dancing at the wedding was quite a challenge and I nearly fell doing the cupid shuffle...though it could have been my natural tendency to trip and fall coming out)

^ Coach Amy and me being goofy

 ^ Look! I do wear something other than spandex workout clothes!

I wanted to win :)

So let's talk PR's. First I PR'd a 5K! CrossFit Beyond went out to support the Boys and Girls Club of Albany and we all did amazing! It's great to show off how much CrossFit helps ALL sports when we all finished at the top, wearing our new CrossFit Beyond T'-Shirts!

^I was dancing

Speaking of PR's, I did a 195# back squat last night. Ok, I know thats nothing compared to what some people can do, but compared to my last 1-rep max (of 170ish?) this is great! I love seeing improvement! I am getting there. Get after it!

PR'd Run!

I need to get back on my blog horse! I've been a bit distracted, taking on other blog duties and roles (did I tell you about them?!)

I blog for my CrossFit box (crossfitbeyond.com) and I am a co-director of the Albany Branch of Girlnetic (girlnetic.com) and I also get to blog and host events with Girlnetic. I've been busy! Anywho, I of course have not been too busy to do crossfit or eat paleo because, well thats my life and my happy place. I haven't run more than 2-3 miles in a long time (3miles is really pushing it, I probably haven't run more than 1.5...shh!) Wednesday night, though, somehow I miraculously PR'd my 5k time by finishing at 24:20 (ish, no chips, but it was a small race and I was at the front of the starting line). I am pretty pumped to say I did this thanks to CrossFit! I have not been training to run and yet with cramps and sore muscles, I ran a 5k and PR'd. Heck yes. It was also super awesome to have my fellow crossfitters there and for the majority of us to finish at the front of the race! Go team!

Oo next blog I'm going back in time a bit, I forgot to write all about RAW! Ugh, silly me!

Wake up and do it!!

I love morning workouts! I managed to get enough sleep last night that when I woke up at 4:30am I was ready to go! I did a pre-workout before my actual crossfit WOD at 6am. The first workout was "Elizabeth" which is 21-15-9 of cleans and ring dips. I used a dip machine? stand? I don't really know the correct term, but that was how I scaled while building up to rung dips! My time was 7:11 but it appears that I was not completing full ROM :(

Let's talk food....last night I made my favorite food that I ate while in Aruba...Coconut shrimp! (I'm not sick of coconut yet!) It was surprisingly good, and it was baked then flash fried to brown up the coating. I didn't get a chance to take a picture...it was completely gone before I remembered that I like to post pictures of it . BUT I assure you, it was pretty darn good! I wanted to make a sauce for it too, but I already had chili lime chicken, garlic roasted broccoli and cauliflower, sugar detox carrot cake pudding, and coconut bread all cooking as well. It was slightly overwhelming, but turned out fantastic!

Check the food section!