hero week

It’s been a week since my last post and it was a crazy one. After doing four hero wods I was completely burnt out going into Friday’s session. It was a really tough week but everyone did an amazing job and pushed themselves beyond their limits. I managed to Rx my first wod with pull ups so I was pretty pumped that day but I also realized I really need to stop second guessing myself. On Tuesday we did ‘Randy’, 75 power snatch for time. The weight was fairly light (can’t exactly remember what it was) and I ended up getting the fastest time for females. I remember thinking to myself “did I count wrong” and went over it a few times in my head thinking there is no way that I could have done 75 power snatch in four and a half minutes. I eventually realized what I was doing and decided to give myself some credit for working so hard and being able to do it really fast. Coach picks up on my self-doubt too. He often says to me “you need to believe you can do it” and how right he is. Believing is half the battle.

Ryan and I had a great long weekend. We went golfing on Friday and shared the course with a few little kangaroos. Anything furry and cute is a huge distraction for me. Ryan had to really work hard to keep my focus on putting since there were people waiting on the tee box, oops!

short week

It’s a short work week here in Australia. Thursday is a public holiday (or stat holiday for my c’nadians) and I’m awaiting an email reply from my boss approving a Friday day of leave as well. Hello three day week! Still getting used to these mid-week days off but it’s a nice way to break up the week, or lengthen your weekend! Its Anzac day on Thursday, which is a day to honor the men and women who are serving/have served in the Australian forces. So in celebration of this, and the fact that our very own Coach Master Craig has served over in the Middle East, we’re doing Hero WODs all week at Crossfit. Fun right? WRONG!

This is what I see on my phone this morning:

Murph. For time:

Run 1600m
100 push ups
200 pull ups
300 squats
Run 1600m

Now that’s just not cool. My legs are still not functioning properly after those runs, lunges and squats last week.

However, we do have a shiny new box to workout in starting today so hopefully that’ll make us a little more excited about today’s shenanigans.

change of heart

I think my feelings for double unders has change from what I had previously expressed in one of my posts. I'm finally getting the hang of them. I never thought I'd see the day.

i'm so preppy

I know a lot of people say they don’t have time for food prep with all they have going on in their lives. Sure Ryan and I don’t have kids to chase around yet but the less time I’m in the kitchen, the happier I will be. I don’t particularly care to spend hours cooking meals for the week, but after doing it a few times I think I have it down to a science. It only takes me between an hour and 1 ½ hours to get it all ready. I don’t prep all my meals, just lunches and snacks for work. Ryan and I cook our suppers each night after we finish working out. Sometimes we eat the same thing, sometimes different (he loves his pasta and bread).

Here is a little run through of my method.

Sunday is our grocery day and my meal prep day. I buy cherry tomatoes and apples for snacks and keep a bag of almonds at my desk, so that doesn’t require any prep at all. I preheat the oven and put four chicken breasts in a baking dish with just a bit of olive oil and some spices. They take about a total of 45 mins. I use a meat thermometer so it makes it a cinch to know when they’re done. I usually take it out when it’s about 10 degrees under the recommended temp because it’s going to be heated up in the microwave at work and I don’t want it overcooked. I only use three of the breasts for four days at work. Friday is pub day!

While the chook is cooking, I hard-boil 5 eggs and chop up my sweet potato and my veggies. The sweet potato goes in the oven for 30 mins after the chicken is finished and I fry up my veggies on the stove at the same time. Everything gets put into containers and that’s it! Lean protein, veggies, nuts, fruit and complex carbs!

ahoy matey!!

a little curry-osity

Who doesn’t love Asian cuisine? I decided to search for a paleo curry sauce recipe and found one that was Jac-friendly (read: fairly simple to find the ingredients and follow) from Bi-Polar Paleo and made a few of my own little tweaks. Let me tell you...I wanted to either just drink this stuff or take a bath in it, it was that good! *Toot toot*...that’s me...tooting my own horn. Now I don’t even know if this tasted how it’s supposed to taste, but I really don’t care. Before I get to the recipe, I used Massaman curry paste bought from the grocery store. The brand I buy is paleo-friendly so make sure you read the ingredients. You can use any type of curry paste you desire with this recipe (http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/education/thai-curries-a-guide/c27601.aspx). Oh, and my measurements were give and take some so this is more just guidelines than actual rules (where are my movie buffs?!):

- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tsp curry paste of choice
- 1 can coconut milk (I used a small can)
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 3 tsp lime juice
- 4 chopped garlic cloves
- Sprinkle of chilli flakes
- Sprinkle of mixed herbs seasoning (basil, oregano, parsley etc)

Heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat in a wok or pan then add the curry paste and let it cook for a few mins. Add in 1/3 of the can of coconut milk and garlic, mix and let cook another 5-10 mins. Add the remaining coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and seasonings and cook another couple of mins. Do some taste testing and adjust to your liking, you may want to add more paste or seasoning or whatever, and then try not to drink it.

Enjoy!

just one

Please just let me get one chest to bar pull-up.

and to close the open

Last week of the open and I have a major challenge ahead of me. 13.5 4 min AMRAP of 15 thrusters and 15 chest to bar pull-ups. Seeing as though this one random time I managed to do one regular unassisted pull-up, my score for this workout will most likely be 15. I’m going to try my darndest to get one C2B unassisted though so stay tuned for results tomorrow!

My eating habits are slowly getting back to where I’d like them to be after our trip to Fiji. I got my meal prep in for the week but all this leftover Easter chocolate is hard to resist! Meh I try not to get bent outta shape over it though; one bad meal isn’t going to make you fat and one good meal isn’t going to make you skinny. I think one of the worst things you can do is get down on yourself if you make a bad nutritional choice here and there. This feeling of guilt will lead to another bad choice which is the start of an unwanted cycle. It’s important to acknowledge that, ok maybe that 12” deep dish pizza washed down with dairy queen probably wasn’t the best idea but it’s not going to change anything if you leave it and move on.

Now I have to forget about those 6 mini chocolate eggs I ate after lunch....