6 Months Later

My little miss was born 6 months ago! Time flies. It just flies. Way too fast. Must. Slow. Down. Anyways I have been majorly sucking with blog posting and I apologize. Work, kids, life, it all just took over. Here's some pics from the past couple of months -

At the start of the year, I took time to write down my fitness, personal and professional goals for this year. I really think it's important to create measurable goals. So saying your goal for the year is to have a nice ass (yes this is one of goals) isn't enough, you need to say how you're going to accomplish that goal. So take "I want a nice ass" and make it "I want to be able to hip thrust 75 lbs." Makes sense? Measurable goals aren't subjective. Today you may think your ass is fantastic while tomorrow you may think it's flatter than Miley Cyrus. But, if you can hip thrust 75 lbs, you better believe it's pretty fantastic.

Okay so here's my goals for 2015. Hold me accountable, I don't mind.

Health & Fitness

Back Squat 1RM > Body weight
Overhead Squat 1RM = 55 lbs
Power Clean 1RM = 75 lbs
Deadlift 1RM = 200 lbs
Drink more water - between 48-65 oz a day

Personal

More Patience
More Me Time
New Organized House

Professional

More than 1 person reporting to me

And that's it. I kept it pretty simple. As the year progresses, I may add to those goals but I will not remove anything because it mattered enough for me to write it down to begin with. Speaking of writing it down, I bought a cute little notebook and wrote down my fitness goals as well as every workout. I also write quotes here and there to give me motivation. Anything helps.

These past couple months I have really made an effort to work out at least 3 times a week and it shows. I am planning to take progress pics sometime this weekend and I will post them. My belly isn't where I want it to be yet but I sure can see a difference in my butt, arms and posture! I have also made sure to drink much more water than I'm used to and while I'm peeing a lot, my skin seems to be getting better. Baby steps.

If you haven't already caught me on IG, follow me @myrunningstart. You'll see my workouts, progress pics and lots of pics of beer. Yea I like beer.

Training: Glutes and Potty

If someone told me that one day I would be sitting on the floor of the bathroom nursing my daughter while urging my son to go potty, I would have looked at them and continued doing drugs. I kid, I kid. It's from that commercial, you know. The one where the guy's in rehab. Okay this totally isn't funny anymore. I'm laughing. Okay so I'm potty training Little Beast and two days ago, he finally got it. He now tells us when he has to pee and then actually pees in the potty! It's a miracle. I'm overjoyed. My little man is all grown up in his Elmo and Thomas the Train undies. So adorable.

Everyone told us to offer rewards when he first starts going potty to encourage him. So one of our rewards was a blue knife. Don't judge. It's a plastic knife that Hubby got him. Totally safe. Anyhow, here's Little Beast after his first successful trip to the potty!

Meanwhile back at mama's (country anyone?), I've been working on my glutes. Back extensions, bulgarian split squats, and squats squats and more squats. Since it will take time for my belly to go down to size, I figured I might as well focus on something else so I can see some gains and boy did I! Here's a pic 30 days ago and one today. I'm going to continue adding glute exercises to my workouts. Check out this article on training your glutes. She's got it right.

Do you see a difference? It's minor but progress is progress and I'll take it!

Little Beast is going to turn 3 next week. I can't believe how fast time flies. We're having his party at Pump it Up and boy is it nice. I don't have to do a thing! Love it. Sadly, a week after his birthday, I will be going back to work, which means I have to leave this beautiful face.

Life's been fantastic lately and I just can't complain. I've been working on eating clean and making sure I work out at least 3 times a week. I've also been spending a TON of time with my kiddos and enjoying every minute of maternity leave! 

Were you able to work out on maternity leave? Was it easier the second time around? How else did you spend your leave, aside from quality time with your beautiful little one?

Life with a Toddler and Newborn

Life seems to be flying by these days. I have less than a month left of maternity leave and am determined to enjoy every single moment of the rest of my leave. Little Beast stays home 2 days a week now and I make sure to take him somewhere - a reading at the library, a Children's Museum, anywhere really. I know I will never get this time back and I want to make sure I'm living with no regrets. So yea, it's been an action packed, sometimes stressful life lately and I wouldn't change it for anything.

Little Diva holds her head pretty well these days. She's got such a strong little grip that I'm sure she's going to be working on her snatches in no time! She coos and oohs and is really a lot of fun. Little Beast is such a mush with her. It's wonderful. Life is wonderful. I am blessed.

See what I mean about his mushiness? I just love it! Seeing them grow makes me want another. But then I think of going through another pregnancy while having two youngins and well, that's a little tough. I'm sure we'd manage but I'm happy with two right now. 

Having two children means less alone time with Hubby. We've been doing pretty well with managing our quality time and the kids. Since I'm a recent country fan, we just got tickets to our first concert together - Florida Georgia Line! I am excited!! Hubby is rock and I'm pop (well used to be, pop music sucks these days) so being able to go to a concert together has taken us all of 7 years! ;)

Workout related, it's been about 7 weeks of consistently working out and I will post progress pics sometime soon. I've taken it slow so I'm not expecting much of a difference but it's always good to see how you progress. My weight is still the same since I started but that's okay with me since I'm focused on building strength. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm breastfeeding so I really do feel my body is holding on to some fat to be able to keep up my milk supply. That and the fact that I eat a lot. I really do need to make an effort to eat cleaner. Hubby and I are expecting an order from the farm later today so that usually helps keep us on track. No point in spending all this money on grassfed meat if you eat crap too! 

The Postpartum Struggle

Every site you look at will tell you that Breastfeeding makes you lose up to 500 calories a day. Since I couldn't exclusively breastfeed Little Beast, I attributed the extra weight to not being able to adding formula. Boy was I wrong. Exclusively Breastfeeding makes you hungry and I mean hungry. Like zombies during the Apocalypse hungry. This morning I was a zombie and raisin bread was my victim. Seriously. You could have shot me in the head and I would have kept eating. 

This hunger is serious business. Regardless of whether I make an effort to eat clean or just eat, I am stuck at 135 pounds. So I did some research on Dr. Google. Apparently tons of women lose weight after they wean their babies. Yea I'm serious. Does the La Leche League tell you that? Is it on Kelly Mom? No and no. People want you to believe you'll lose weight but in fact, it makes it harder to do so. It's fine. I'm going to keep working out and eating as clean as I can (minus the raisin bread indulgence this morning) and then when I and Little Diva are ready to move on, I'll finally get rid of the Postpartum 15. 

My working out has been slacking as well. I did work out yesterday but today it seemed more of a chore so I decided to take the day off and kick ass tomorrow. Yesterday I did Overhead Presses, Bulgarian Split Squats, Back Extensions, Abmat situps and KB swings. I'm good one day and bad the other. As long as there are more good days than bad days, I'm alright. It's hard having the motivation some days and with the weather getting colder, I have to be careful not to go into hibernation mode. I love hibernating. Leggings, an oversized sweater, house slippers and a blanket. Ahh a few of my favorite things!

I've been enjoying my maternity leave and I'm sad this is my last month. Little Beast is home from daycare twice a week now so that I can really soak up time with the kids before I go back. It's been really nice. I feel so sad for mamas that don't get more than 2 months home with their kids. I am lucky to get 4 months paid and wish I had more time. This is where I think the US could make more of an effort. But that's not something I can change, just wish we could have a year paid by law - I believe that's what Canada has. Anyways I digress.

The Postpartum struggle is real. It's hard finding the time and motivation to work out and exercise. It's hard leaving your newborn baby to go back to work. It's just plain hard. But seeing that cute little face smile back up at you is the BEST feeling ever. And for that, I'd eat 6 bags of raisin bread. 

Baby Got Back Extensions

As I mentioned last time, I'm working on my bootay. Seriously. I am. Squats, Bulgarian Split Squats and Bret Contreras's 30 day Back Extension Challenge. Well I am proud to say today I managed 2 sets of 25 back extensions! When I started a little over a week ago I could barely manage 10. Progress. I like it. Especially when it comes to my posterior chain. Nice. But not in a creepy way. Ok I'm a creep. I like big butts and I cannot lie.

Since having a well rounded ass means nothing if you have a big stomach, I have been working on my diet too. With breastfeeding, being on maternity leave and it being Fall, I have a sweet tooth. I usually want something sweet after I eat. So I've been looking for healthy recipes online. This past week, I've made Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies and Date Energy Balls. I substituted coconut flour for almond flour in the cookie recipe and  it was delicious. The date energy balls are equally as good if not better. The Detoxinista really knows what she's talking about. Check her out and make some stuff. You will not be disappointed.

Next week is Diwali, the Indian festival of lights so we'll be going to my parents house. Since the date energy balls sort of taste like mithai but are MUCH healthier, I'm going to make a batch and take it over. I will be indulging in the mithai my mom makes though (you would too, it's that good!) but at least I won't feel too guilty if I snack on some of mine as well.

I'm just about at my pre pregnancy weights for some of my lifts and I'm EXTREMELY happy about that. I did 5X5 at 75lbs for Back Squats today. I had my numbers from before I had Little Diva and a couple days before I found out I was pregnant with her, I did 3 sets of 5 at 90. So I'm getting there. 75 felt easy for me so I'm sure I'll be at 90 in no time.

It's really great to be able to workout like I did before. It's also really great to not worry about what everyone else is doing since I workout alone. I do miss my CrossFit friends and my box but working out at home takes away a lot of wondering how people can lift so much and allows me to focus on me. It also saves me money which is necessary these days with two kiddos.

And I'm Baaccck!

I'm bouncing all over the place, aren't I? My brief stint at Wordpress is over with. The amount of spam comments and inability to track stats was driving me bonkers. Also, for some reason, my homemade yogurt post got way too much attention. Attention I like, attention from non kid friendly websites, no thank you. I much prefer Blogger. Okay moving on.

So far for the month of October, I have worked out all but 4 days! I am proud of myself and getting back on track. I haven't been running much due to Little Diva being a little too young for the jogging stroller but I have been strength training and writing down my weights. I am working on form and hope to be at my pre pregnancy weights soon!

In addition to my regular workouts, I have started Bret Contreras's 30 Day Back Extension Challenge. When I first started, I could barely do 10 in a row. Today I did 3 sets of 20. I already see a difference in my butt. I swear I do. I unfortunately didn't take a before pic but I'll take one today so I have something to compare it too.

The end of this month will mark 3 months since I had Little Diva and a picture update of my progress so far. I haven't seen much movement on the scale but I'm really trying not to focus on that. I'm getting stronger everyday and that's all that matters!

That gave me the motivation to workout this morning. I did overhead presses with 45lbs (5X3) and then did 3 rounds of back extensions, ring rows and wall squats. I ended with pull ups. I am no where near where I used to be with pullups but this time I'm going to work on getting a strict pull up before I start kipping. I honestly think you need to be able to do at least 1 strict pull up before you can kip. Maybe not but I didn't have luck the other way around, so might as well switch it up right?

Non workout related, I am going on month 3 of exclusively breastfeeding. I am thrilled about that. I supplemented with formula my first time around so this is a big deal for me. And for the record, I am not one of those people that think breastfeeding is the only way to go. You have to do what works for you and your little one. It was easy for me this time around so that's why I continued to do it.

Yesterday Hubby and I went outlet shopping and my purchases surprised me. I went to Nike and got some comfortable tops that I can wear with leggings or yoga pants. I then when to Eddie Bauer and got a bunch of fleeces and a plaid shirt. My style has changed and I'm leaning more toward function over fashion these days. Not that I don't make plaid look cute, it's just that I have realized that I never wear heels on the weekend, like ever. So now my mission is to make functional comfortable clothing look cute. Seriously I will not be a frumpy mama. End of story.

What do you wear on the weekends? Are you a mama that rocks heels (I give you credit if you do!) or do you live in yoga pants and make them look cute?

I have Moved

New Year, New Beginnings and a New Blog. Please follow me at My Running Start. (www.my-running-start.com). There's a new post up there waiting for you! 

Sometimes Life Comes First

It's been a long while. A LONG while. I've missed you guys, terribly. But with prepping for vacation, vacation itself, Hubby being in he ER after vacation with a stomach virus and everyone generally not feeling well, life's been busy. Slowly things are going back to normal and I am grateful for that. I wish you all Happy Holidays! Little Beast enjoyed opening his presents yesterday, one after the other. He crawled though the 6 foot Tunnel his uncle bought him, then painted on the Easel Santa got for him and enjoyed playing with his train set. I think I enjoyed it a bit more though. Trains are fun.

My Little Artist

Busy Playing with his Train

Santa decided to spoil Mommy as well, I got the lifting shoes I wanted! I am so excited to break them out for CrossFit.

Speaking of CrossFit, I haven't been since before vacation and I am dying to go back. In addition to all that's going on, my dad had foot surgery during Thanksgiving so I have been helping my Mom with his care. That leaves even less time in the day. It's fine. Life comes first sometimes. When things slow down, I'll return to CrossFit, I'm hoping next week or this weekend! 

So the million dollar question. Not million dollars. Just a question. I exaggerate. Anyways, did you see the Crock Pot in the back of the picture of Little Beast playing with his train set? Santa gave that to me as well! Am I excited? Hell yes! Do you know my love of crock pots? It's a love based on convenience and quality. Crock Pot cooking is easy, stress free and pretty much my favorite way to cook. Since my old one is on it's way out, it was the perfect present. It also has a timer so I can set it in the morning before work and come home to dinner. Ah the life. 

Aside from my family life and working out, I have some blog related news. I am still working on  my new site - it's a slow process. While doing so, I am also writing articles for mommyhotspot.com. Check out my latest article on Sports Bra Reviews. 

Hope you and yours enjoy the holidays! 

Love to Lift

This past Saturday was the Lift-a-thon in honor of our friend Val's family who lost everything in the Philippine Typhoon. I am proud to say that our box raised $2,000 in a matter of 3 hours. We came really together and pitched in. Love my CF fams.

Hubby and I both participated in the Lift-a-Thon. Hubby PR'd on both his bench press and deadlift. Because I'm a proud wife, here's a video of him deadlifting 275. He makes it look easy. I know he has a 300 lb deadlift in him.



Now after you see Hubby's perfect form, check me out. Awkward and funny - all part of my charm. But whatever I PR'd at 180 lbs!



The rest of Saturday was good. Friends came over and brought Little Beast a tool bench for his birthday. He will be 2 this Friday. I honestly can't believe it's been 2 years already. He spent the entire day playing with his tools. Gotta love new toys!

Since this week is an easy week, work wise, I am planning on going to CF at least 3 times this week. I have been going as much as possible lately and I definitely feel stronger. I'm hoping to stay after class and work on kipping either Tuesday or Wednesday. Thanksgiving day I will need to get a run in. We have a 5K coming up on December 8 and I haven't run since I did 10 miles over a month ago. So it's time to get back on track. My goal for the 5K is under 26 minutes.

After the 5K, we will be going to Jamaica for my cousin's wedding. I am looking forward to seeing my family, partying at the wedding AND of course jerk chicken. Y'all don't know my love of Jamaican Jerk Chicken. It's real. I love me some jerk. Add beef patties to that and I'm in heaven. I swear I'm going to come back at least 5 pounds heavier. Oh well, stay calm and eat on vacation...biiiitch. :)

I Can't Clean

Seriously I can't. I have a cleaning lady. She comes every other week and turns my messy house spotless. With Little Beast and the Chubbies, it is impossible to have a spotless house all the time. Lie. With me, it's impossible to have a spotless house all the time. I don't enjoy cleaning and I'm not very good at it. Yes I'm a wife and mom. I still can't clean. Sue me. Actually please don't, I spend all my money on my cleaning lady.

Speaking of cleaning, I can't clean very well at CrossFit either. Two days ago, lunges were part of the WOD and the RX was 95 lbs for girls. I did 65. And after the 3rd round (there were 5), I couldn't even clean 65. The Coach had to give me the bar so I could do lunges and said we'll work on cleans another day. Fast forward to today and since it was free skill work day, I worked on cleans. I practiced my form with the 35 lb bar and then practiced more with 55 lbs. It felt easy. I'm pretty sure I can clean 75 lbs now and with practice, I should be able to power clean more so that I can eventually RX something. I want to be an RX girl.

Once I can do that, I will have truly earned this t-shirt and you better believe I will buy it.

Love this shirt!

This Saturday our box is doing a Lift-a-Thon for one of our members that has family in the Philippines that lost everything in the Typhoon. We basically get to pick a lift (our max) and we get 3 tries to get to our max. Then you either have sponsors or pay up to 10 cents a pound depending on how much you lift. I am going for a 180 lb deadlift. Last week my 1 rep max was 165. I'm really hoping to PR and since the more I lift, the more I give, my motivation is pretty high. I'll keep y'all posted. Apparently I was from the South in my previous life. Y'all!

I'm working on some changes to my blog so you may be redirected to another site in the next couple of weeks. Still me, don't be alarmed. I hope you continue to read my endless babble and continue on this journey with me. It'll be fun...ny, I promise.

CrossFit: Church, Cult or Community?

I've been home the past 3 days, either working from home or taking time off, and I have managed to go to CrossFit all 3 of those days. I've had great workouts and a not so great workout. I've seen my friends, made plans and talked about about fitness goals. I've come home tired, sometimes discouraged, sometimes amped and I always look forward to the next day. Currently my box is planning a Lift-a-Thon for a fellow member who's family lost everything they had in the Philippines. We help each other out, we cheer each other on and we're there for each other when needed. We're family. 

You know my addiction to Google. While I was thinking about this earlier, I googled CrossFit Church to see what came up. I found a blog post from a girl that described what's CrossFit is all about BUT she had never been to CrossFit. No bueno. I stopped reading. So here's my thoughts on whether CrossFit is like Church, a Cult or Community. 

Wikipedia. My other favorite. Yes I'm on the internet a lot. Can't help it. Work sucks sometimes. I love the squirrel. Anyways, Wikipedia defines Church as: A Christian Place of Worship. Since CrossFit is neither religious nor a place of worship, I think it's safe to say that comparison is out. We do have events and bring baked goods (ie the cupcakes I brought to the Snatch Clinic) but we're not worshipping anything, except for the person that recently got a movement we haven't yet, in my case my nemesis Kipping Pull ups! So CrossFit and Church, no. Let's talk Cult. According to my friend Wiki, a Cult is a group of people who workship a diety. Greg Glassman (founder of CrossFit) is a pretty cool guy but we don't sit around in a circle sacrificing our muscles to him, well I guess that's debatable. Anyways Cult has a negative connotation and since CrossFit is anything but, we'll move on. Community, according to Wiki is, a small social unit of any size that shares common values. Ding Ding Ding! That's spot on. Everyday I'm at CrossFit, I'm working to attain my fitness goals. I'm talking about my goals, working towards them and cheering people on when they attain theirs. That's community. I genuinely care about the people at my Box and want them to succeed. We see each other covered in sweat with crazy blisters on our hands and yet we all go back for more. CrossFit is a Community and I am very thankful I am part of it.

So for all of you out there who have googled something or the other and have come across this post - Go out there and sign up for a class. And no, I'm not getting any kickbacks for saying that. Just go out there and try a CrossFit class and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

Back to me! Really I am not that self absorbed.  Okay maybe I am. I PR'd on deadlifts today at 165lbs! Wohoo! This is the week we are all discovering our 1 rep maxes so I was pretty happy with my deadlift. I wasn't happy yesterday with my shoulder press 1 rep max of 55. I had 55 back in July and seem to have plateaued. You win some, you lose some. Now that I know my 1 rep maxes, I know what I need to work on. This handy dandy website has been a tremendous help for me with regard to goal setting. 

I'm curious. Have you done CrossFit? What are your thoughts? 

Me vs Kipping

Life has drastically changed (little exaggeration here) since we bought a squat rack for our garage. Hubby and I have been working on our lifts and kips ever since he and Little Beast assembled the rack. Cute huh? Check them out!

Love my men <3 td="">

Speaking of kips, I am still not there. I have managed the swinging part but don't have the strength to pull myself up. After working on them last night, I realized I'm probably doing something wrong so I googled help with kipping and came across this blog. She's awesome. I have already subscribed to her blog. Anywho, the blog post referred me to Jason Khalipa's tutorial on kipping pull ups. So I watch the tutorial with Mr. and Mrs. Khalipa and after thinking about how cute they are, I realized that I am not bringing my knees up to my chest. I forwarded the video along to Hubby and we have big plans to bring the laptop to the garage with us when we work out. Let's see how that goes. We already have Little Beast using the PVC pipe to practice his version of overhead squats. Yea, that's how we roll.

Today's Friday and usually my Fridays start with the Hell WOD at CF. Unfortunately, I had to come into the office today so I couldn't go to CrossFit. Hubby and I are planning to work on deadlifts tonight in the garage. Last time I deadlifted 135 lbs for a 5X3 so I'm thinking my max is 155-160 lbs. I have no clue how all that math works. What you can lift 5X3 should be 85% of your 1 rep max so that would make my 1 rep max around 160 lbs. Yes I just busted out the calculator. We'll see how I do tonight.

Last night I worked on back squats and did 5X5 with 75lbs. I'm assuming that my 1 rep max is around 100 lbs there. I'm slowly getting stronger. It's tough because in the beginning, you make gains very quickly but now I feel like I am plateauing. It just gives me more motivation to keep working at it though.

Recently I've run into people who have asked me what I've been doing to lose weight. While I'm only 10 lbs lighter than I was last year at this time, my body has definitely changed. I always smile and say CrossFit. Some people know what I'm talking about and some don't. To those that don't, I translate into I lift heavy...hey, it is heavy. Maybe not as heavy as others but this is heavy for me! I'm proud of how far I've come and happy to inspire others to make changes as well.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

I was so tempted to buy these Trick or Treat socks for CF today but I decided against them and chose a pair I'd use more. Bad move. A fellow CFer rocked her Zombie Killa socks today and I was jelly. Next time, I'll follow through.

Today was the first day I went to CrossFit in 6 days. Hubby and I recently bought a rack for the house so now I can do the WOD at home. Woohoo! No more excuses. I worked on back squats, push
press and kipping on Tuesday. Today, the WOD was Front squats (5X3), and then 5 rounds of 15 KB swings, 20 push ups and 25 air squats. I maxed out at 80 lbs for the front squats. I then did the WOD as prescribed. Yes you heard me, as prescribed. I used a 35 lb KB for the swings. I've been using that kettlebell lately so it didn't feel too bad. The push ups killed me though. I suck at push ups. It's next on my list to work on. Well maybe after double unders.

After class, I worked on kipping again and Coach said my kip is good and that I should focus on strength now to be able to pull myself up. He told me to do ring rows and lat pull downs (think that's what they are called) in order to build strength. He also, get this kids, told someone else to look at the way I kip as an example. Totally not kidding. I was in shock. I actually did something right! I came home and read an article on how to quickly build lat strength and found this. I like the Grease the Groove idea for every time you walk in a doorway. We have a pull up bar that I can put up in the bathroom but leaving the bathroom door open 24/7, um that's not happening. I will go out to the garage everyday and work on other exercises to build strength though.

So while I don't have an unassisted kipping pull up yet, I'm well on my way. I'll be back for the crazy Friday Hell WOD tomorrow.

Tonight, it's on like donkey kong. Is that my costume? No and I have no idea why I went back to 1989. Anyways, Little Beast is a boxer and has a parade at daycare this evening. I will update this post with pics later. Yesterday, we carved our pumpkins.

Yea right, these aren't ours! We're not that obsessed. Okay maybe we are.

Our Pumpkin Family :)

Me Against Myself

So this little Miss made it to CrossFit again this morning. I had to go for the 7:30 am class because I had a meeting at 9 am. My hands were blistered out from yesterday's kipping session and this was today's WOD:

10/24 WOD aka Not Good for Blisters

I can't remember the last time I did Squat Cleans. Maybe never? I didn't have anything to work towards but I ended up finishing at 70 lbs. I tried to clean 75 but I'm not there yet. I did however use 55 lbs for the Shoulder to Overhead first two rounds of the WOD. I had to go down to 45 lbs because I was having trouble cleaning 55 lbs towards the end. The worst part of the workout was gripping the Kettlebell for KB swings. OMFG did that hurt! I moved up to a 35lb KB recently and usually have no problem with it. I mean I struggle but it's a good struggle. Today however, it was a bad struggle. My hands were fighting me. My blisters burned. I just wanted to throw the KB down (thankfully I didn't, I'm clumsy as hell and would have probably thrown it on my foot!) and look at my poor gross hand. But I fought the pain and kept on moving. I finished in 15:24 and I was last. I was also lifting the least, at least with regard to Shoulder to Overhead.

When you look around you and you see people lifting much more than you, it's motivating and discouraging all at the same time. I was using the least amount of weight for squat cleans. But when you really think about it, you can only compare yourself to yourself. I am stronger than I was yesterday. A couple posts ago, I was complaining about only push pressing (what I usually choose for Shoulder to Overhead) 35lbs. The fact that I was push pressing 55 lbs today is awesome. Sure I wish I could do as much as some of the girls in my class but I have to be proud of where I am and how far I have come. Eventually I'll lift more.

I'm home again tomorrow and will probably be going for Friday's Hell WOD. I am actually going to pick up some workout gloves tonight so that I can save my hands a little tomorrow.

Ewwwk! Yeaaahh Go me!

Are You Motivated by Workout Gear?

Cause I sure am! There are adorable shirts out there and who doesn't like yoga pants and tights! I'm a frequenter of AMRAP Style and have bought a number of things she puts together. My most recent purchase was Nike Twisted Running Crops. Cute huh? I absolutely cannot wait to wear them, which means I will be going to CrossFit the day they arrive. If that isn't motivating, I don't know what is!

Let's talk about today's WOD -

My 1 rep max for deadlifts is 145lb. Today I did 135lbs for the 5X3 so my 1 rep max should be about 155-160. I am still using a 35 lb bar for power snatches and I really got a chance to work on my form today. Coach says I'm getting better, it's just going to take a lot of practice. I can't wait for the day that I can do a 65 lb snatch. I did 5 rounds and 12 for the WOD and it took me 3 minutes and 26 seconds for the 300 regular jump ropes. I really need to focus on learning how to do double unders. That's next on my list after kipping pull ups.

Speaking of kipping, I stayed after again today to work on it. I ended up losing the band and just worked on my kip and I came about 4 inches from the bar. I'm close. It will happen by the end of November. That's my goal. 

I haven't been feeling that great so I'm happy I pushed myself to go to CrossFit today. Since workout gear is a huge motivator for me, I wore a pair of my new CF socks. You like?

One Love bitchess!

Where I Get My Inspiration

It's easy to get caught up in excuses. My favorite is when people without kids and a full time job say they have no time. Really? After I had Little Beast, my excuse was - I'm a mom now, I can't do that. Or I should accept that I won't have time to work out because I'm a mom. Of course I later realized that was complete and utter bullshit. You make time. No matter where you are in your life, you make time to do the things you want to do.

In a previous post, I mentioned one of my fellow moms at CrossFit. She's extremely strong, looks a lot younger than she is and has two children. When I first saw her, I thought she was single without kids and that's why she had the time to stay in such great shape. Boy was I wrong! A couple days ago, I ran into another fit momma again with two children and the time to work out. When you see people like that, people who have time constraints and full lives yet still manage to take care of themselves, you have inspiration. I truly admire the other women I CrossFit with.

One of the other CF moms is 6 months pregnant and still kicking ass at CrossFit. Words cannot describe how much credit I give her. Yet another one had a baby 4 months ago and is in great shape. The point of all these stories is that when you find yourself coming up with excuses, think of other people in the same or worse situations and continue to push. That's where you'll get your motivation. It's certainly where I get mine.

I've been working from home a couple days this weekend and managed to go to CrossFit yesterday and the day before. I'm taking a rest day today and plan on going back for tomorrow's Hell WOD. My recent goal is a non banded kipping pull up and I have a ways to go. I've gone from 3 bands to 1 and I have been working on getting the motion down for the kip. I still need to build some strength though to be able to pull myself up. It will happen. And when it does, I'm going to thank all my CF chicas for motivating me.

TGIF

Since Hubby's still on furlough (don't get me stahted - yes I said stahted. Love Boston accents. When I lived in Bean Town, a friend of mine once said Renita get in the cah. The what? The cah. What? Come on get in the cah so we can get to the pahty. That really happened. After he picked me up off the floor, I was dying laughing, we made it to the party. Long story short - not really sorry - I love Boston and I love Boston accents.

Let's start over. Since Hubby's on furlough, I convinced him to go to CrossFit for the Friday Hell WOD. Today's WOD was:

100 ft walking lunge (45/25lb overhead)
30 Box Jumps (24/20)
20 Wall balls (20/14)
10 HSPU

I did the workout as prescribed except for hand stand push ups in 34:10. I can't get them yet so I do them off the box. One day. I just love Fridays. The feeling you get after you complete an insanely tough workout is amazing. There's just something about pushing your body to its limits and not giving up. After class, I worked on kipping pull ups. Yes I did more. I figured out the swinging part but haven't managed to pull myself up yet. It will happen. That's my next goal. One thing at a time.

Socks. You know those adorable socks all the extremely fit CF chicks wear. Love. When I'm not dreaming about Indian designer dresses, I'm dreaming about socks. I seriously need to start getting more creative with my dreams. Anyways, a friend of mine told me about SoxBox. Dude Love. No not dude love but dude, I love. I just bought 3.

I realized I've never posted a pic of me doing anything workout-esque, so you may be wondering if in fact I do what I say I do. Here's some proof (these pics weren't from today's WOD btw).

Me doing a Box Jump

Me scared doing a Box Jump

Exhausted Me!

I'm not the greatest but I try my hardest and that's what matters, right? Right.

6 Months Later

As of this morning, the Paleo Challenge is officially over. I just rewarded myself with four cookies. Oops. Anyways, this month also marks 6 months of consistently working out so guess what, I have updated pictures. First things first, let's talk Benchmarking WOD on day 1 of the Paleo Challenge and how I did earlier today.

Front squat 7X1
    Pre Challenge: 90 lbs
    Post Challenge: 95 lbs

Ring Rows - Consecutive
    Pre Challenge: 13
    Post Challenge: 20

15 min AMRAP - 400 m run, 15 KB swings, 15 box jumps
    Pre Challenge: 3 rounds, 400m run, 15 kb, 6 box jumps
    Post Challenge: 4 rounds

Front squats kicked my ass today. My form was off and I had trouble focusing. I just didn't have the I'm going to kick ass mentality. Hard to describe. Anyways I barely did 95 lbs and Coach even said it was the worst front squat he's ever seen. Ahkk! So yea ring rows, I did pretty well. I think I could have done a couple more but I stopped at 20. And then the 15 min AMRAP, I started that with the kick ass mentality. I knew what I did last time around and wanted to finish 4 complete rounds this time..and I did! Woohoo! So yea, while I did better all around, I definitely think I have more in me. I'm excited for the next challenge and the next time we do this particular WOD. 

Picture update. Keep in mind that this is roughly 6 months of working out, I took the two previous pictures towards the end of the month and took this one early in the month. I also didn't fully commit to the Paleo challenge. I was really good for a month and slacked a bit these past couple of weeks. That being said, you can still see a difference. See for yourself.

So can you see a difference? Since July, I have lost about 6 pounds. I also run faster now. I avoid adding sugar to anything but yes, I eat a cookie here and there. I'm human and I like it. 

This challenge has made me realize that I want to focus more on strength building now. I want a 100+ front squat and to build my core. I want to learn how to kip and stop using bands to do pull ups. I want to do a hand stand push up. 

Here's to new goals and making gains. I've come a long way and I'm definitely not done yet. :)

The End is Near

Unfortunately, I'm not referring to the Government Shutdown, I'm referring to the Paleo Challenge! Woohoo, it's almost over!

Today's the last day of eating Paleo and then tomorrow is the benchmarking WOD to see how I have improved since the challenge started. I was pretty strict with eating paleo for the first month of the challenge and have slacked the past couple weeks. I've still lost 6 pounds and discovered a few things. My general stance on eating 100% Paleo after the challenge is that it's a bit stressful and expensive. Hear me out. The stressful part is figuring out a meal that Hubby and Little Beast will eat and then modifying it to be 100% Paleo for me. That's tough. Don't get me wrong, it's doable but it's a lot of my time and energy focused on eating and I'd rather just eat things in moderation and focus on generally eating meats, fruits and veggies. Also the whole grass fed thing, while I love it, it does increase our grocery budget by round $50 a week and some weeks, that's not feasible. I will make an effort to buy grass fed first but I figure grain fed meat is better than pasta! Post challenge, I'm going for 80/20 since it's extremely feasible and allows me to enjoy cheat meals here and there. I will continue to avoid bread and grains since they make me feel icky and I'm sticking with almond milk. Yum!

For Life Biiiitttchhh!

Let's talk about things non paleo, CrossFit and running. Seriously who am I? Anyways, my cuzzo's wedding is in December in Jamaica and no it's not a destination wedding. The lucky bastard lives there. So Hubby, Little Beast and the rest of the nutty clan are all set to go. Except it's an Indian wedding (woohoo!) and figuring out outfits is like a one night stand - both require tons of time and analysis for just one night. This past weekend I went to the Indian Designer mall down the street and I saw the most beautiful outfit I have ever seen - slight exaggeration but it was actually very nice! I'm all about Indian fusion and it was an actual dress with indian touches. Love. Like a lot. I fell in love. It's unhealthy. I have been dreaming about the dress. Hubby's jelly. Buy it? Yea right, it's $1200 which is like $1000 over my budget. So now I'm trying to get a knock off made. #IndianGirlProblems. I hate hash tags yet I use them. Sad. Okay I'm done here. Let's move on.

Guess what? They finally decided to purchase almond milk for the work fridge! When I saw it yesterday, I was ecstatic. I actually ran to the receptionist and gave her a high five!

I can't draw

While I'm excited today is the last official day of the paleo challenge, one huge benefit is that I stopped adding sugar to everything. My morning coffee used to contain around 203 teaspoons of sugar. If I made pasta sauce, I'd add sugar. Now I drink my coffee black or with almond milk. I try to use raw honey instead of sugar or in the case of pasta sauce, I add carrots to give it some sweetness. Yum-o! Err forgot for a second that I'm not Rachel Ray. Thank God.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's benchmarking WOD to see how I improved and will keep you all posted. I'm also due for some more "during" pics so I'll take a couple and post those as well. Stay Classy.

New Found Motivation

As you all know, I have periods where I am completely on track with everything - eating and working out and then I have moments where I completely fall off the truck, track, what's that saying? This past weekend was the CrossFit Open and even though Hubby and I weren't competing, we took Little Beast to go cheer on our fellow box members. Since the Paleo challenge is still going on, I made Pumpkin Swirl Brownies. Dude, they were awesome. I had to tell Hubby not to eat them several times before we went! PaleOMG's Juli created yet another masterpiece. If you haven't checked out our blog, check it out, she's got a great personality and is a great cook! 

So CrossFit Open this weekend, all I have to say is that I was truly inspired. Four girls from my box participated and each one inspired me with her strength and determination. They pushed until they couldn't push anymore. It was amazing to see. The guys kicked ass as well and I was proud of how well our box did. It gave me the motivation I needed to run the next day despite my half marathon being cancelled. I ended up running 10 miles yesterday and felt fantastic after it. Last time I ran 10, I was sore for days. This time I feel a lot better. I never thought I'd be able to run 5 miles, let alone 10!

I am going to switch focus now. I will continue to run 5Ks and will eventually run a half marathon but I want to get better at back squats, double unders, wall balls and pull ups. I want to focus on increasing strength and getting better with the barbell. As I mentioned in my About Me section, my fitness goals are constantly evolving and right now I want to focus on strength. I'll still run but instead of focusing on long distance runs, I want to focus on a faster 5K.

I'm hoping to one day compete in a CrossFit Open but I have a ways to go. The scaled WOD at the competition this past weekend would have been really tough for me. I'll get there, one day.