Holiday Treats: Frenemy

From freerangetalk.com

Help, I am losing my battle against holiday treats. Yesterday, I ate nearly an entire loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

Problem #1: In my mind, there’s no point to life unless you can have treats sometimes.

Problem # 2: If you’re going to have some treats, as my son would say, “How much is some?” It’s easier if you’re saying no to all treats. Then you don’t have to decide which treats are worth it or which are okay or when you should stop.

Problem #3: People are hand delivering the treats to my door. Homemade, warm, yummy, calling my name.

Problem #4: I can’t deny my kids treats so I’ve got treats in the house.

Problem #5: My family tradition/culture says holidays are more fun with yummy treats.

Problem #6: I’m making treats. So I have to try them to make sure they are okay right?

I can find a million ways to rationalize, but the fact is, I don’t want an enormous butt come January. We’ll see how I do, but I promise I won’t post pictures.

PRs

Rope climbing is super-dy, duper-dy fun except that you get blisters on your hands and rope burns on your inner thighs and side of your lower leg. I need to perfect my rope climbing outfit. These shorts did not prevent rope burn. I tried boot cut pants, but I would step on the bottoms and pull my pants down as I climbed. Not good. Long socks work well and maybe I need to wear soccer shorts? I'll find out at the next rope climbing fest...

Here are a few of my personal records. I’m not feeling braggy as I write this because I most certainly get my can kicked in a big way by most people, but this is pretty good for me. I’ve come a long way in the 10 months that I’ve been at crossfit. Just want to record where I am, and see if I continue improving.

500 m row 2:01 min.

2000 m row 9:35 min.

1 mile run 8:52 min (course with some hills)

max push ups in 2 min.: 47

max 15’ rope climbs in 2 min.: 3

1 rep max:

back squat 135 pounds

front squat 120 pounds

shoulder press 70 pounds

bench press 85 pounds

deadlift 175 pounds

overhead squat 75 pounds

Olympic lifts:

Clean 90 pounds

Snatch 65 pounds

Jerk 105 pounds

Clean and jerk 95 pounds

Stuff I really need to work on: double unders, wall ball

I should write down what the women’s records are for our gym. It blows my mind. I’ll have to get that info.

P.S. Today's workout was craaazy. By the end we had done 150 reps of kettlebells swings, burpees, and GHD sit ups. Ahhhhh:

Warm Up

• 3 minute Row
• Kettlebell Complex
• Dynamic Stretches

Strength

• Back Squat 5-3-1

Met Con

"Hansen"

Complete 5 rounds for time of:

• 30 Kettlebell Swings, 2/1.5 pood
• 30 Burpees
• 30 GHD Sit Ups

How to Not Stink

While chitchatting about this in the gym, I was thronged by interested people. So here’s the lowdown. If you stink, don’t feel badly. Workout clothes that are made of drifit and other wicking/polyester/groovy stuff tend to embrace B.O. and never let go. Even regular cotton clothes can smell after a while when in them, you are daily sweating like a horse/pig/ dog (Choose one as there is always a debate as to which one truly sweats the most.).

So you can wash your workout clothes in baking soda. Just throw some in the wash with the regular soap. Or you can try special laundry soap just for workout clothes, like Tide with Febreeze Sport or Win Sport detergent. My sister got hers at her local Trek store. And hang ‘em up to dry. A hot dryer just seals in the stench.

Now, what if you stink at clean and jerks? What if you don’t even know what a clean and jerk is, like I didn’t a few months ago? Well, I can’t help you with the former, but I can help you with the latter. We did clean and jerks yesterday and I kind of stunk.

Just throwin in a picture of our yoga class, which I love. I'll write about that later.

 The clean and jerk is an Olympic lift. You start with the bar on the floor, sort of jump, and lift it to your clavicles while turning your forearms up so that the bar rests in your fingers and palms, which are now facing the ceiling. Then you push the bar overhead by pushing with your legs and jumping into a squat underneath the bar. If that’s not clear, check out YouTube. Anyway, we tried to do our max weight for one repetition. I did 95 pounds but that was only 5 pounds more than I had done before. I thought I really stunk. But I guess that happens to people all the time. You can only lift a bit more than before, or you can’t even lift the same as what you’ve done before.

I was making such great strides as I progressed from nothing to having some upper body strength. Now I’m on the “somewhat strong plateau”. I’m not going to be progressing by leaps and bounds unless I get insane and start working out seven times a week, training for an Ironman, and living off nothing but muscle milk. Not going to happen. So I’m happy with a 5 pound improvement. I guess I didn’t really stink that bad.  

Pre-Holiday 24-Day Challenge

Fresh eggs. Yummy.

Tomorrow I am starting another 24-day nutrition challenge. That means a 10-day cleanse followed by a 14-day diet of paleo/zone eating. I’m not sure if the pre-holiday timing is meant to get me on the right track so that I won’t go crazy over the holidays or to help me not feel guilty for chowing down on turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and pumpkin pie. Cause I’m just saying right now, that I’m going to—chow down that is. Eating well is great, but so are traditional holiday meals. Food is a huge part of holidays (and any party in general) with my family, so I will be indulging in some good stuff. I mean food is part of the beauty and deliciousness of life for me, and sometimes the traditional holiday food is soooo yummy.

But here is some healthier stuff that is also yummy: fresh eggs. Raising chickens seems to be all the rage these days, and I was genuinely thinking about it. I even took my kids down to IFA to see the newborn chicks last spring. I was on the verge of buying some feathered friends with a coop and all, when my friend told me that she has chickens and sells their eggs. So I’m getting eggs from her. They taste amazing, and I don’t have chicken poop in my yard.

If you look closely, you can see the cream at the top of the fresh milk. That's fresh, baby.

I have also started getting fresh milk from her. (She lives outside town on a little land and has a few cows, chickens, cats, dogs, etc.) My kids have never had fresh milk, and they were surprised by the taste. It is a little bit different—kind of earthy. Or as my first-grader would say, “That milk tastes like the cow’s butt.” Trust kids to be tactful. I have started mixing the fresh milk with the store-bought milk. My two-year old loves it, and the others still think I am a terrible mom for not feeding them twinkies and dino-nuggets.

Here’s a paleo dinner if you want to try one. This is what we had last night and it was yummy:

Chili lime pork tenderloin

Spinach salad with roasted pecans, peppers, and balsamic vinaigrette (I had feta too, not strictly paleo)

Steamed broccoli

PS You can roast the peppers (10 min) and pecans (1 min) on the bbq while the pork cooks.

Greens for Breaky

Photo from Crossfit Cedar City

Here’s a pic of the 6 am class doing pull ups. I am using one band because we had to do something insane like 100 pull ups, but (drum roll, please) I can do three pull ups with no bands. I think I could do more if I could just hold on. That’s half the problem. But I’ll talk about that another time.

What I really want to talk about is breakfast. I took a baby step to eating “eggs and greens” for breakfast. This week I threw onions, spinach, and sweet peppers into my eggs. I know that’s not “2 cups of broccoli” but like I said, baby steps. I congratulate myself for not eating jelly donuts at least. (Not that I ever did, but there was a lot of Life and Quaker Oat Squares cereal—basically simple carbs—going on.)

I did some prep on Saturday and that helped me eat healthier. I hit Costco and got fruit and veggies, including the small sweet peppers, the big tub of spinach, and onions. I love that Earthbound spinach. It’s cheap, fresh, organic, and already washed. I love the little peppers, too. I put them in everything: chili, tomato sauce, salads. They are a bit milder than green peppers, so my kids like them more. On Saturday night I made fajitas, and I fried up a lot of extra onions and peppers in just a bit of olive oil. I prefer them sautéed to raw. Then I put the spinach in individual servings in little baggies. It’s a lot of spinach so I froze some and put the rest in the fridge. Then on Sunday morning I just grabbed a baggy of spinach, and a scoop of onions and peppers and threw that in my eggs. Voila—a veggie scramble with greens in it. I’ll also use the spinach for shakes. If you throw a little in you can’t even tell it’s there. I just have to make sure my kids aren’t looking when I throw it in!

Gnarly One-Week Meal Plan

Photo from Cedar City Crossfit Blog

Here is a weekly meal plan from .Ute CrossFit. It is pretty hard core and pretty boring, but I can see how much better it would be to eat this way--eggs and GREENS for breakfast. I'm not sure I could get used to broccoli for breakfast, but I do want to give it a try. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. I can surely throw some spinach into my eggs. And here's the thing: I feel so energetic when I eat really well. It's kind of crazy how often I eat poorly, considering. But our whole world eats poorly, so that makes it very difficult. Don't you think? Okay, this is just something to peruse. I'll report in if I actually follow the whole meal plan.

THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF GREAT MEAL PLANS, THE BEST ONE YOU CAN 

FOLLOW IS THE ONE YOU STICK WITH AND DON’T GIVE UP ON!!!!! 

1 WEEK MEAL PLAN, BUILT AROUND WORKING OUT: m, t, w, f, sat. (th, sun off) 

Serving sizes are for a muscular female.  If you are female but need to lose weight then 

start with this and monitor your weight, you might need to cut out 1 snack a day or use 

slightly smaller serving sizes.  Most males will need to use larger portion sizes.  When 

searching for the optimal diet it is important to monitor weight once a week, no more, no 

less.  Daily weighing can make you neurotic and doesn’t take into account normal 

fluctuations throughout the day.  Also journal your sleep and workout patterns, as these 

can affect your body’s hormonal levels and energy levels.   

MONDAY 

 Breakfast: 2 eggs w/ lots of greens.  2 cups broccoli, spinach, bell peppers etc.   

 Snack: 2/3 cup Greek yogurt w/ berries. (3/4 cup strawberries, blueberries etc.) 

Lunch: Chicken Salad: 2 cups lettuce or spinach, 1 chicken breast, ½ cup black 

beans and oil and vinegar for dressing. 

Snack: After workout: 1 cup chocolate milk and 1 apple or banana. (or protein 

shake with fruit) 

Dinner:  1 serving meat (about 8 oz. steak, venison, chicken breast, turkey meat, 

salmon) along with lots of greens (2 cups) and 1/3 avocado or 10 almonds or 

cashews for fat. 

TUESDAY 

 Breakfast:  2 eggs w/ greens. 

Snack: 2/3 cup low fat cottage cheese w/ ¾ cup berries. 

Lunch: 1 serving meat (ground turkey patty, chicken breast, turkey) and lots of 

fresh veggies with hummus. 

Snack: After workout: 1 cup chocolate milk and 1 apple or banana. (or protein 

shake with fruit) or 10 oz. sweet potato fries. 

Dinner:  1 serving meat (about 8 oz. steak, venison, chicken breast, turkey meat, 

salmon) along with lots of greens (2 cups) and 1/3 avocado or 10 almonds or 

cashews for fat. 

WEDNESDAY 

 Breakfast:  2 eggs w/ greens. 

 Snack: 2/3 cup Greek yogurt w/ berries. (3/4 cup strawberries, blueberries etc.) 

Lunch: Chicken Salad: 2 cups lettuce or spinach, 1 chicken breast, ½ cup black 

beans and oil and vinegar for dressing. 

Snack: After workout: 1 cup chocolate milk and 1 apple or banana. (or protein 

shake with fruit) 

Dinner:  1 serving meat (about 8 oz. steak, venison, chicken breast, turkey meat, 

salmon) along with sweet potatoes (10 oz.) and some pistachios  (10-15) 

THURSDAY 

 Breakfast:  2 eggs w/ greens. 

 Snack: 2/3 cup Greek yogurt w/ berries. (3/4 cup strawberries, blueberries etc.) 

Lunch: Chicken Salad: 2 cups lettuce or spinach, 1 chicken breast, ½ cup black 

beans and oil and vinegar for dressing. 

Snack: afternoon or later at night.  2/3 cup cottage cheese w/ fruit and a few nuts 

Dinner:  1 serving meat (about 8 oz. steak, venison, chicken breast, turkey meat, 

salmon) along with lots of greens (2 cups) and 1/3 avocado or 10 almonds or 

cashews for fat. 

FRIDAY 

 Breakfast:  2 eggs w/ greens. 

 Snack: 2/3 cup Greek yogurt w/ berries. (3/4 cup strawberries, blueberries etc.) 

Lunch: Chicken Salad: 2 cups lettuce or spinach, 1 chicken breast, ½ cup black 

beans and oil and vinegar for dressing. 

Snack: After workout: 1 cup chocolate milk and 1 apple or banana. (or protein 

shake with fruit)  

Dinner:  1 serving meat (about 8 oz. steak, venison, chicken breast, turkey meat, 

salmon) along with lots of greens (2 cups) and 1/3 avocado or 10 almonds or 

cashews for fat. 

SATURDAY 

 Breakfast:  1.5 cups fresh fruit with 4 pieces bacon or 2/3 cup cottage cheese. 

 Snack: 2/3 cup Greek yogurt w/ berries. (3/4 cup strawberries, blueberries etc.) 

Lunch: Tuna Salad: 2 cups lettuce or spinach, 1 can tuna mix in some 

mayonnaise and mustard, ½ cup black beans and oil and vinegar for dressing. 

Snack: After workout: 1 cup chocolate milk and 1 apple or banana. (or protein 

shake with fruit) 

Dinner:  Cheat meal. Eat whatever you want (try to avoid grains and starches) go 

to town on sweets like ice cream or chocolate ☺  Whatever you need to eat to 

keep your sanity…do it. 

SUNDAY 

 Breakfast:  2 eggs w/ greens. 

 Snack: 2/3 cup Greek yogurt w/ berries. (3/4 cup strawberries, blueberries etc.) 

Lunch: Chicken Salad: 2 cups lettuce or spinach, 1 chicken breast, ½ cup black 

beans and oil and vinegar for dressing. 

Snack: 5 oz. beef jerky, 1 apple and 12 nuts 

Dinner:  1 serving meat (about 8 oz. steak, venison, chicken breast, turkey meat, 

salmon) along with lots of greens (2 cups) or sweet potatoes and 1/3 avocado or 

10 almonds or cashews for fat. 

Supplements: Take fish oil (1000mg) 3-5 times per day.  Best taken w/ meals. 

Notes:  Feel free to sub cottage cheese for Greek yogurt and vice versa.  Use whatever 

you prefer to eat.  

 Easiest to prepare lots of meat portions at once i.e. grill a bunch of chicken breasts then 

store in fridge in Tupperware.  Ground turkey burger patties work well, also store bought 

rotisserie chickens will provide you with enough chicken for 3-5 meals.  Great for 

making chicken salads. 

Any snack can be subbed for another snack you prefer.  Any lunch can be subbed for 

another lunch or dinner.  These are ideas, do whatever is easiest for you personally and 

you will have more success sticking with it.   

Muscle milk is best protein shake I know of, get whey protein if you’re going to drink 

shakes for post workout recovery. 

For more ideas on meals, copy and paste this web address to your browser to view the 

article in the CrossFit Journal:  http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/cfjissue21_May04.pdf 

This information is also available in your Ute CrossFit student handbooks in the nutrition 

section.  Note not all of the meals in the article use the best choice of foods.  Those meals 

are in zone proportions, but not necessarily made with all natural whole foods.  For other 

ideas Google search “paleo recipes” and you should be able to find a ton of recipes. 

Red Rock Relay

Destination 360
View of Cedar Breaks on Snow Van's First Leg

Last weekend I ran the Red Rock Relay. It’s a 186-mile, 12-person relay from Brian Head ski resort to Cedar City to St. George to Zion’s National Park. Each person runs three legs of the course, and your team keeps going throughout the night. We began on Friday morning and finished on Saturday afternoon. The 12 team members are divided into two vans, so one van can take some time to rest while the other van is supporting runners. 

I was in van #1 (snow van), and I was runner #6. My legs were 5.5, 5.5, and 2.1 miles long (my running distances, not my leg-legs). I think that was pretty easy compared with some other people’s legs. I think the longest single leg was 8.2 miles. None of my runs were at particularly hot times of the day either. My first leg was at about 11 am, but we were still up in the mountains at about 8,000 feet, so it was cool and windy. The headwind was actually a pain, but at least it kept me cool. That leg was kind of tough because it was all uphill, and the thin air made me breathe a lot harder. I think I ate too much before that run because my stomach felt kind of gurgly. I ate a couple of shot bloks and had some water as I ran because I didn’t want to bonk. It’s hard for me to find the balance with my eating. If I don’t eat enough, I don’t have enough energy, but if I eat too much, my stomach rebels.

My second leg was at about 11pm in the middle of the desert between Newcastle and Veyo (the middle of nowhere). The stars were incredible. I kept covering my headlamp and looking up so I could get a good look at the sky. That leg had a lot of downhill, so I kept a good pace. I think I did 5.5 miles in 47 minutes. It was not too hot and not too cold. I wore shorts and a long-sleeved shirt, which I peeled off (to short sleeves underneath!) after a couple of miles. I didn’t eat much before and had just a few chugs of water during that run. Tummy was better.

My third leg was pretty much cake, except for a steep hill, some ups and downs, and the rising sun blinding me. I thought I would have done it faster than my 19-minute time. I was really not good at pacing myself in any of my runs. I usually start out slow and do a negative split, but the race adrenaline always has me going out too fast and then not increasing my pace too much because I’m already tired.

So the important questions are: Was it fun? and Would I do it again? Yep, it was fun. That had a lot to do with the people in my van. You do not want to do this race with party-poopers, boring lugs, or crabby patties. The worst part was probably getting up at 3 am to go out and run again. Also, you really don’t run with anyone else. There are not a lot of people in this race. It’s just you and your deep thoughts. One leg is even called “Desert Solitude.” Would I do it again? Yes, I’d probably do it once a year. That’s enough getting up in the middle of the night to run for me. If I do it again next year, I won’t eat as much. (Running and riding races definitely have different food requirements. My running stomach is much more sensitive and should probably have less food in it.) And maybe I’ll actually train a little bit more. My crossfit legs weren’t tired, but my lungs were. Wow, that was a lot of detail, but if you’re ever van #1, runner #6 in the Red Rock Relay, it might help.