Pushin’

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Yesterday, Big Dave asked me if I could come in for a WOD. I think that he only wanted me to do a Tabata Run, but he told me to jump in on the strength WOD first. It was:

1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1: Strict Press
3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3: Push Press
5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5: Push Jerk

My numbers came out like this:

	1	2	3	4	5
SP	115#	135#	155#	165#	175#
PP	135#	145#	155#	165#	175#
PJ	155#	165#	175#	180#	185#

I was really happy with these results and I think that next time, I will go for heavier weights on the push presses and jerks. V posted some videos of my last 2 sets of push jerks. In case you are interested, here they are. I don’t know which is which:

The above was followed up with a Tabata Run on the treadmill. Thank goodness Dave stayed there the whole time. I was breathing REALLY hard around round 6 and probably would have rested more if not for his coaching.

What I’ve Been Eating

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I meant to post this a few days ago, but since I have been logging food for the “I Do The Impossible” challenge, I thought I’d post it. WODs are in yellow and cheats are in red. NOM!

Sunday 1/09/2011 (Traveling to Lincoln, NE, got laid over in Chicago)

7:30am: Wake Up + H20 w Greens powdery stuff

7:45am: Breakfast: 3 eggs w/ organic ham

11:20am: Lunch: Chicken Salad from Terra Burger (chicken, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, santa fe dressing)

3:20pm: Snack: 1/3c of paleo trail mix (almond, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, coconut flakes)

8:20pm: Dinner (ordered from crappy place that would deliver to hotel): Nasty Salad (lettuce, spinach, chicken, pepperoni, tomato, eggs, pepperoncini, bacon, salsa ranch)

Monday 1/10/2011 (In Lincoln, NE)

5:00am: Wake Up + H20 w Greens powdery stuff

6:00am: Breakfast in the airport: 2 scrambled eggs + 4 pieces of bacon from Chili’s to go. It was disgusting and ate 1/2 the eggs. Bought an apple after and ate it.

1:00pm: Lunch: 1/2c taco meat w/tomato + salad (lettuce, tomato, peppers, eggs, sunflower seeds, tiny bit of ranch), coffee black

6:30pm: Dinner: 1.5c ground beef w/spices & rotelle + whole bag of broccoli w/ pastured butter

WOD – 150 pushups w 65 singles on every break… about 12 breaks & scaled push ups after about 50.

Tuesday 1/11/2011 (In Lincoln, NE)

8:00am Wake Up + H20 w Greens powdery stuff

8:15am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with rest of dinner from last night + spinach; coffee w/heavy cream

12:00pm: Lunch: Salad (greens, egg, tomato, cucumber, turkey, ham, & roast beef with a tiny bit of blue cheese dressing)

5:40pm: Dinner: 6 Chicken tenders with spices cooked with a red pepper + 2c broccoli w pastured butter + 1/2 avocado

WOD – Tabata sit ups in hotel room: 81

Wednesday 1/12/2011 (In Lincoln, NE)

8:20am: Wake Up + H20 w Greens powdery stuff

8:40am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with spinach and Italian sausage + 2 slices of bacon.

1:15pm: Lunch: Cup of chili (removed beans) + chopped salad (lettuce, bacon, chicken, peppers, tomato, green onion, & vinaigrette)

WOD @ ~6pm: FGB 263 (PR)

7:30pm: Dinner: Cup of French onion soup (no crouton/cheese thing) + NY Strip steak w/asparagus

Thursday 1/13/2011 (Traveling home from Lincoln, NE)

4:00am: Wake Up + H20 w Greens powdery stuff

4:20am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with spinach and Italian sausage + 2 slices of bacon.

9:30am: Second Breakfast: Omelet with ham, mushrooms, red pepper, & Swiss cheese (I asked for no cheese, but they put it in anyway, I hate sending food back). There was a cup of fruit but I only ate like 2 pieces of it.

12:10pm: Lunch: Chef’s Salad (greens, tomato, egg, avocado, carrots, bacon, blue cheese dressing, used the fork dip method and used very little dressing)

9:00pm: Dinner: 1.5c paleo chicken salad + spices, 1/3c artichoke hearts

Friday 1/14/2011 (back home)

8:00am: Wake up + H20 w Greens powdery stuff

9:20am: Breakfast: 2 eggs w/ spinach, peppers, & onions

1:15pm: Lunch: 1c ground beef cooked in tomato sauce with ~2c broccoli.

7:45pm: Dinner: Chipotle Salad (Greens, carnitas, peppers, onions, salsa, guac, tobasco (no dressing))

WOD 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 (muscle snatch, hang squat snatch, full squat snatch) – weights were 75#, 95#, 105#, 115#, 135#, then 15 minutes to find 1 RM snatch – 155#, then 100 jack knives for time (3:40, PR)

Saturday 1/15/2011

8:00am: Wake up + H20 w Greens powdery stuff

8:25am: Breakfast: 2c paleo chicken salad & coffee with heavy cream

9:30am: WOD – Buddy Workout (1000m row, 150 {squats, sit ups, push ups, pull ups}, 1200m row) Jody and I took 28:51 to do it.

12:20pm: Lunch: 1c ground beef cooked in tomato sauce with ~2c broccol + more H20 with greens.

7:30pm: Dinner: Cheat meal @ Plucker’s followed by Amy’s Ice cream. 1/2 tabata burpees before and 1.5 hr after.

Sunday, 1/16/2011

10:00am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with spinach, red peppers, and ground beef

2:00pm: Lunch: TerraBurger Chili with mixed green/spinach salad

6:00pm: Dinner: Home made chicken soup with 1.5c broccoli w/butter

8:30pm: Dinner (again): 1c chuck roast with carrots and celery

Monday, 1/17/2011

8:00am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with ground yak and spinach, coffee with heavy cream

1:40pm: Lunch: 2c paleo chicken salad with spinach added in

6:00pm: WOD – Tabata This – 321

7:00pm: Post WOD Shake: 1/2 can coconut milk, Greens, 6 raspberries, 1 scoop egg protein

8:00pm: Dinner: (Foraging at my Grandmother’s house) 2c iceberg lettuce with EVOO & red wine vinegar + 2 slices pork roast with spinach, mushrooms, & tomatoes

Tuesday, 1/18/2011

8:00am: Breakfast: ground beef cooked in tomatoes and mushrooms with broccoli

1:00pm: Lunch: 2c chuck roast with carrots and celery

7:30pm: Dinner: TerraBurger chili (asked for no cheese, but they put it on anyway, bastards) & large mixed greens and spinach salad + 1/2 avocado

Wednesday, 1/19/2011

8:00am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with spinach and mushrooms

12:30pm: Lunch: 2c chuck roast with carrots and celery

6:00pm: WOD: 10-1 push jerks, 1-10 pullups, 135#, 12:48

7:30pm: Dinner: 6 chicken strips cooked in spices, 1/2 red pepper, 1/2 avocado, 1.5c broccoli

Thursday, 1/20/2011

8:30am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with spinach and mushrooms

12:40pm: Lunch: 2c paleo chicken salad with spinach added in

5:00pm: Snack: 1/4 cup of paleo trail mix (nothing sweet.. nuts and coconut flakes)

9:20pm: Dinner: 2c chuck roast with carrots and celery + spinach and greens salad with EVOO & red wine vinegar

Friday, 1/21/2011

8:00am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with spinach and mushrooms

12:20pm: Lunch: @ Perry’s: Iceberg Chopped salad, then Perry’s pork chop. DNF’d.

8:15pm: Dinner: @ Serrano’s for Carson’s bday: Fajitas (beef, chicken, pork, & sausage) with peppers/onions. Ate it only with lettuce and guac.

Saturday, 1/22/2011

8:20am: Breakfast: 2c paleo chicken salad with spinach added in

9:45am: WOD: Tabata Row (854), Tabata KB swings (didn’t count), Weighted (25#) 400m run

12:30pm: Lunch @ 24 Diner: Chopped Salad (romaine, chicken, ham, eggs, avocado, tomato, shallot vinaigrette)

8:30pm: Dinner @ Antonio’s: Fajitas (beef & chicken), ate it only with lettuce and guac

Sunday, 1/23/2011

9:00am: Breakfast: 2c paleo chicken salad with spinach added in

1:30pm: Lunch Cheat @ Original Pancake House: Grits followed by meat lover’s scramble with 3 small GF chocolate chip pancakes. 1/2 tabata burpees before & 1.5 hr after

8:00pm: Dinner Cheat @ TerraBurger: Hill country burger + bacon with sweet potato fries & vanilla shake 1/2 tabata burpees before & 1.5 hr after

Monday, 1/24/2011

7:50am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with spinach and mushrooms

12:10pm: Lunch: 1.5c paleo chicken salad + mixed greens and spinach with balsamic vinaigrette

6:30pm: WOD: 5x {20 wall ball, 400m run}: 18:56

8:15pm: Dinner: Sliced flank steak with lots of broccoli and 1/2 avocado

Tuesday, 1/25/2011

8:30am: Breakfast: 2 eggs with spinach and mushrooms

12:30pm: Lunch: Steak salad (mixed greens, spinach, steak, tomato, avocado, EVOO, red wine vinegar)

4:30pm: Snack: 1/4c paleo trail mix w/ 2 tbs coconut milk

5:30pm: WOD: 1-1-1-1-1 strict press, 3-3-3-3-3, push press, 5-5-5-5-5 push jerk. Finished with 175#, 175# and 183# respectively. Follow this up with Tabata Run on treadmill.

7:45pm: Dinner: Broccoli soup with 1 chicken breast with mixed green/spinach salad.

Running & Wall Ball

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I was dreading my workout all day yesterday (Monday, 1/25/2011). The second I found out what it was, I didn’t want to do it, even though I know that the things that I don’t want to do are the things that I SHOULD be doing. Pretty good allegory for life, eh?

After Fio’s crazy warm up, the WOD was 5x:

20 wall ball @ 20#
400m run

I did the first 3 rounds unbroken, but my running is still abysmally slow. I tried to push my “speed”, if you want to even call it that, on the first few rounds before my energy had left. Overall, I was shooting for a sub 30 minute time, which, I think would have been excessive. I would have been more accurate in saying a sub 20 minute time, but either way, I win.

I finished in 18:56.

WODs

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Been way too busy to blog, so this is going to be really short.

Monday, 1/17/2011 – “Tabata Something Else” which is 8x, 20s on all out, 10s off of the following (scored by total reps):

Pull Ups
Push Ups
Sit Ups
Squats

My total was 321. I didn’t record what I got on every set, but my totals respective to the above list are 45, 85, 78, and 113. Not too shabby.

Wednesday, 1/19/2011 – Pull up/Push Jerk Ladder (10-1, 1-10)

This one was rough and I really thought about Rx’ing, but after Fio’s warm up, I guess I just didn’t have it in me, so I used 135#. It took me 12:48.

Saturday, 1/21/2011 (Open Gym) – Tabata Row (854), Tabata KB Swing, and Weighted (25#) 400m run – untimed

Sunday, 1/22/2011 – Tabata burpees and squats before and after each cheat meal (1/2 before and 1/2 1.5hr after)

Above: Original Pancake House (Note, NOT IHOP) – Meat Lover’s Scramble with Pepperjack accompanied by 3 gluten free chocolate pancakes.

Below: Hill Country Burger from TerraBurger on a GF bun with sweet potato fries.

Things seem to be going very well on the “I Do The Impossible” challenge. We are just over 2 weeks in and I am down a notch on my belt, which has historically been pretty impossible for me. I am starting to do better on WODs as well i.e. not burning out as quickly. Things are coming along. Saturday night at dinner, Dave told this week would be “Tabata Week” for me, so we shall soon find out what that means.

Paleo Pork Chops & Apples

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Here’s another recipe that I thought we be good to share. We make this one pretty often and it’s delicious! As soon as I make it again, I will update with a picture, but for now, here it is:

What you need:

2 bone-in pork chops (from a farmer’s market if possible)
2 green apples (diced or wedged)
1/2 medium onion
Butter (pastured if possible)
Coconut oil
Chicken stock
Salt, pepper, thyme
Dutch oven or heavy pot
Tongs
Wooden spoon
Potato masher

How you do it:

Get your pan going over medium heat. Let it heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add in some butter and some coconut oil.
Season the pork chops (both sides, please) with salt and pepper.
Brown each pork chop (again, both sides, please). It will take 2-4 minutes depending on your pot. Once they are both browned, set them aside.
Add some more butter and coconut oil.
Add onions. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme.
Cook until the onions are translucent and start to brown.
Add in the apples. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the apples start to brown.
Add enough chicken stock to just come up to the top of the apples/onions.
Add the pork chops back in. Cover and reduce heat.
Cook for 15-20 minutes.
Remove pork chops.
Mash up the apples. You can cook them a little longer if there’s still too much liquid.

Near the end, you have a few options with the mashed up apple sauce. You can add some heavy cream if you like, leave it just as it is, or add anything else that you think might make it delicious.

More WODs

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Friday (1/14/2011) was all about snatching. The WOD was:

3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 {Muscle Snatch, Hang Squat Snatch, Full Squat Snatch}

The weights I used were 75#, 95#, 105#, 115#, and 135#. Then, we had 15 minutes to find out 1RM for snatch. I was able to meet my current PR of 155#, but failed repeatedly on 165#. Thing is, I pretty much muscle snatched that 155#, so I think I have the potential to do a lot more. The thing that scares me, honestly, is getting under that weight. I don’t think I have ever OHS more than #135.

Saturday (1/15/2011), Carson had some nastiness planned for us for open gym. It was a buddy workout and you could split it up however you wanted:

1000m row
150 squats
150 sit ups
150 push ups
150 pull ups
1200m row

Jody and I pulled this one off in 28:51. Mean, Carson… very mean.

It’s a bit over a week and I am starting to notice some changes in adhering to what Dave has told me to do for the “I Do The Impossible” challenge. I am down a notch on my belt, I am not as sore from WODs, and I am feeling pretty good.

Fight Gone Bad On The Road

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I got to drop into CrossFit Lincoln tonight. I had to admit that I had second thoughts about going b/c the WOD was Fight Gone Bad. I didn’t want to be a wuss and cherry pick. So I decided to suck it up and go.

The people were really nice and I got a bad ass new CrossFit t-shirt! Also, I PR’d my Fight Gone Bad score by over 40 points. The last 2 times I had the pleasure of getting my ass kicked by FGB, my scores were 218 and 216. This time, I got 263. WOT! I thought I added wrong, so I just dropped it all into Excel (I know… I know) and wow, I added correctly. Here’s how my sets broke down:

				Totals
Wall Ball	20	12	10	42
SDHP	18	14	13	45
Box Jump	16	20	16	52
Push Press	25	20	22	67
Row	23	19	15	57
				263

I started on the rower… not sure if that had much to do with it. Maybe the fact that it wasn’t 105 degrees helped. I don’t know. I still felt like I was going to die.

Anyway, I get to come home tomorrow to see V and my baby to be. It’s been a cold, cold few day’s here in Lincoln and I am ready to get back to the warm 40’s of Texas.

Spicy Chicken Tenders with Peppers

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I am on the road this week for business, staying at a hotel here in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that my hotel room had a kitchen. I have to admit, I had researched the restaurant situation before coming out and it’s pretty abysmal. Being that I am like 3 days into the “I Do The Impossible” challenge, I am being really particular about food and trying to follow my coach’s instructions to the letter. Going out to restaurants doesn’t really work too well because you really just never know what’s in the food. Hence, I am doing what most people think is impossible… cooking away from home in a hotel room.

Anyway, there’s a grocery store pretty close to where I am staying, so I have been buying things as I need them. I whipped this up tonight and it was delicious. Just thought I would share the recipe for a quick paleo meal:

What you need:

Chicken tenders (I used 8 for this)
Frozen Broccoli
1 Red Pepper
1 Avocado
1 Lemon
1 Lime
Salt
Pepper
Dried Onion
Chili Powder
Olive Oil
Butter (I used pastured butter)
Large Pan
Small Mixing Bowl

How you do it:

Prep the pepper by cutting it into strips. Set aside.
Place the tenders into the mixing bowl. Drizzle with olive oil.
Add salt, pepper, chili powder, and dried onion. Mix well.
Get your pan going over med/high heat. Let warm for 1-2 minutes.
Add some butter and some olive oil. You can use coconut oil here too, I just didn’t have any.
Add in the chicken tenders. Brown them, then flip them. About 2 minutes on each side.
Add in the red pepper & stir.
Drizzle in 1/2 the lemon and 1/2 the lime.
Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 10 minute or until the peppers are caramelized and the chicken is cooked through.
Steam the broccoli. Add butter and salt if desired to taste.
Cut the avocado in half & scoop out. Slice.
Plate it all, then drizzle with some more lemon and lime juice.

Veggie Cakes

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I make lots of food that friends ask about sometimes, so I thought I’d start posting some of them here. This one is for veggie cakes.

There are lots of variations on this, but here’s how I do mine. Feel free to steal, use, and enjoy!

What you need:

2 zucchini
2 carrots
3 eggs
1/4 – 1/2c of almond flour
Oil to cook in (I use 1/2 coconut 1/2 grape seed)
A large pan
Spatula
Cooling rack lined with paper towels
Shredder or food processor with shredder blade
Ice cream scooper or tablespoon

How you do it:

Shred up the veggies however you like. If you are using a shredder, like, by hand, use the larger side.
Dump the shredded veggies into a large mixing bowl. If you have the time and feel like doing it, you can put the veggies into a cheese cloth and squeeze out the moisture. I never do and they always seem to turn out a-ok.
Crack the 3 eggs into the veggies and mix.
Add 1/4c of the almond flour, mix, then check it. Is it still really wet? Add some more if so. You want it to where it will hold together.
**Do no season at this point as it will just turn it into a watery mess as the salt will draw moisture out of the veggies. Wait until later.**
Get your large pan going over medium heat. Get about 1/4″ of oil in the pan. Let it heat for a good 2 minutes or so (depending on how thick your cookware is, you might wait less or more).
Using an ice cream scooper or table spoon, get a blob of the mixture and put it in the pan. Flatten it with the spatula. Don’t crowd them.
Cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until goldeny brown. Yum!
Remove from pan and place on your draining station.
Sprinkle with salt or whatever other spices you might like.

Yield: This should make about 18, give or take a few.

These will keep for about a week in the fridge and are great with breakfasts to get some extra veggies in. You can also do use another root vegetable combination that you might find appealing.

If you are interested in nutritional data on these, here’s what they look like, but keep in mind that I didn’t know how to accurately represent how much of the cooking fat made it in, so I would guess they would be slightly higher in fat than this site indicates.

Here’s what the finished product looks like:

WODs

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Wednesday night (1/5/2011) was rough. I was sore as hell and the WOD was tough. We also did a lot of stuff prior to the WOD, which tired me out. Here’s how it went down:

Warm Up

Run to the end of the block & back. It was about 1/2 mile.
Stretches
25 GHD Sit ups/Back Extensions

Skill

5 minutes of handstand walking practice

WOD

7 cleans (I used 115#)
30 double unders

This took a little over 18 minutes for me. I don’t remember my exact time, but I was being really careful on the cleans to not hurt my back. The double unders went really well for me. Aside from the fact that I just don’t have the lungs for them, I completed the workout without getting mad, throwing the rope, or using lots of bad words. I got to ring the PR bell for that =)

The “I do the Impossible” challenge kicked off today! I went into the clinic yesterday (1/7/2011) to get measured, weighed, and to have my body fat calculated (a sorry 23.6%). I sat with Dave and talked a little bit about what I wanted to accomplish and we listed out 5 goals:

See a downward trending in body fat analysis.
Cycle 10 butterfly pull ups.
Get a sub 9 minute mile.
Go up in weight on snatch.
Go up in weight on dead lift.

The last 2 goals are a bit iffy and depend a lot on how my back does over the course of the next 8 weeks. Additionally, we talked a lot about diet and food, so, if I’m at a party at your house in the next 8 weeks and you don’t see me eatin’ it up, that’s why.

The WOD that they put us through was pretty tiring. Didn’t look so bad on the board, but I was pretty beat when it was over. It was:

7 minutes to find your 1RM dead lift. I stopped at 315# as I was starting to lead with my back and I didn’t want to push my luck. I haven’t d/l’d more than 135# since injuring.
1 min rest
1 min max thrusters @ 95# – I got 20.
1 min rest
1 min max pull ups – I got 20.
2 min rest
2 min max distance on C2 – I got 523m.
2 min rest
3x (5 burpees, 10 push ups, 15 squats) – I did this in 4:15.

I am looking forward to seeing what I can do in the next 8 weeks. Wish me luck!