Paleo in the Morning, Paleo in the Evening, Paleo at Suppertime

When Paleo's on a bagel, you can eat Paleo anytime! Sorry I had to say it. Anyways, today is the start of my CrossFit box's Paleo Challenge. The challenge is effective from August 14 to October 9, roughly 8 weeks of eating paleo, counting points if I cheat, and working out. Challenge accepted.

So as part 1 of the challenge, today's WOD was a benchmarking WOD that I will repeat in 8 weeks. Here's how I did today:

Benchmark 1: Front squats - 90 lbs (prior to today, 70 was my max)
Benchmark 2: Ring Rows - 13
Benchmark 3:
               15 AMRAP (as many reps as possible)
               400 m run
               15 kettlebell swings (26 lb)
               15 box jumps

I did 3 complete rounds and nearly finished the fourth, I was at box jump #6. Let's see how those stats compare to what I do in 8 weeks. I am definitely looking forward to being stronger and leaner.

My fear of box jumps returned today and I actually had my first box jump accident. It was my second box jump of the first set. I had no choice but to overcome my fear and keep on moving and that's exactly what I did. My shins are all messed up anyways from rubbing the bar against them so what's another dent?

Box Jump Fail

With all the bruises I have (you should see my caloused hands), people must think Hubby beats me. I seriously need to wear this sign around my neck!

Because is spelled wrong the second time :)

I will keep blogging about the Paleo challenge and how I'm doing. At the end of the challenge, which is a couple days after my 1st half marathon, I will post before and after pictures so stay tuned and wish me luck!

Are 30's the new 20's?

I just turned 32 a couple days ago (yes I realize my About Me section still says 31, let's just leave it like that for now, mmkay?). Anyways, I'm in my 30's. I just finished a Hero WOD at CrossFit and was high fived by a fellow mom in her 30's. She is in unbelievable shape and does not look like she's in her 30's at all. When I first saw her, I actually thought she was in her 20's. But she's 35 and has two children. It just goes to show that if you work hard and keep yourself in shape, you'll look and feel a lot younger! With CrossFit, 30's are definitely the new 20's.

So let's backtrack to yesterday's WOD:

Strength - Overhead Squats 7x1

800m run
3 rounds:
   20 knees to chest
   30 push ups
   40 air squats
800m run

Sounds tough right? Well get this, Coach decided to do something special for my birthday. So for my class he added another WOD to the one we were already doing. Yesterday's WOD turned out to be this:

32 burpees
32 lunges
32 box jumps
32 KB swings

10 minutes rest

800m run
3 rounds:
   20 knees to chest
   30 push ups
   40 air squats
800m run

Absolutely insanity. I apologized to everyone in my class multiple times. We braved through it though and on that last run, my legs were butter. Yet I still signed up for this morning's class and here's what we did today:

10 rounds:
3 hand stand push ups (I did them off the box, can't do the hand stand ones yet)
6 deadlifts (I did 95lbs)
12 pull ups (I used 3 bands, hoping to go down to 2 next time)
24 double unders or 72 regular jump rope (I did regular)

It was tough but easier than yesterday. You actually have to work through the workout to know what's easy for you and what isn't. Next time there's a deadlift in a WOD, I can probably add another 10 pounds. And next time there are pull ups, I'm going to try my best to use 2 bands instead of 3. Hand stand push ups and double unders are on my list as well.

Deadlifts and pull ups result in man hands. Here's a picture of my hand post workout.

Very lady like huh? Oh well blisters and callouses make strong hands and I would rather strong hands than weak ones!

I am also very excited to announce my new purchase. I recently bought Reebok CrossFit Nano 3.0's. I heard they are awesome for box jumps as well as lifting so I'm excited to try them out at my next class. I'll also write a review and let you all know how much I like them!

Guest Post: Paleo Must-Haves for the Pantry

You may think keeping a stocked pantry is not possible when living a Paleo lifestyle and while there aren't many non perishable things you can keep, Becky Reece (founder of Sexy Mom's Running Club) does have some great ideas. Here's what she has to say about Paleo Must-Haves for the Pantry.

As a busy mom of five, I know how important it is to keep a properly stocked kitchen!  With kids who have diet issues (my 6’2” son is 40 pounds underweight due to his previous diet of white foods and my oldest daughter has IBS and misc. allergies), you could say I learned my lesson with the first two kids and the rest I have introduced to a much cleaner, back to basics diet.

My first suggestion is to ALWAYS have fresh fruit.  I keep a fruit bowl on the counter and in the fridge I always keep single serving washed fruits and vegetables.  It’s easy and healthy for them to grab berries, carrot sticks, or even hard-boiled eggs from the refrigerator. This way, when the kids come home from school and open the fridge or put their bag on the counter, fresh fruit or veggies is the first thing they see!

I also suggest keeping zip lock baggies with nuts in the pantry.  By having individual snack packs of nuts available they get some protein to help fill them up before dinner.

Simple treats like the power bar recipe listed below are also great alternatives to keep your pantry not only healthy, but satisfying.

Here’s a Power Bar recipe courtesy of elanaspantry.com:

.      2 cups almonds (raw)

.      ½ cup golden flaxmeal

.      ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

.      ½ cup creamy roasted almond butter

.      ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt

.      ½ cup coconut oil

.      4 drops stevia

.      1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey

.      1 tablespoon vanilla extract

.      1 cup chocolate chunks (optional)

1.      Place almonds, flax meal, shredded coconut, almond butter and salt in a food processor

2.      Pulse briefly, about 10 seconds

3.      In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil over very low heat

4.      Remove coconut oil from stove, stir stevia, agave and vanilla into oil

5.      Add coconut oil mixture to food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste

6.      Press mixture into an 8 x 8 inch baking dish

7.      Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture hardens

8.      In a small saucepan, melt chocolate over very low heat, stirring continuously

9.      Spread melted chocolate over bars; return to refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate hardens

10.  Remove from refrigerator, cut into bars and serve

Makes 20 bars

Armed with a mission to empower moms across the country to feel beautiful no matter what their size, mother-of-five Becky Reece founded Sexy Mom's Running Club to help busy women make themselves a priority again, while still balancing career and family.

Many thanks to Becky for writing this post! Feel free to leave a comment with any questions you may have for her.

Stats and Challenges

I finished July strong with working out a total of 14/31 days (6 of those days in the last week and a half!). I slacked somewhere in the middle but I got right back on track. So here are the workout totals for the last couple of months -

April 2013: 9/30 days
May 2013: 21/31 days
June 2013: 14/30 days
July 2013: 14/31 days

May was by far my best month and I'm hoping August will come close to that. I will have to incorporate more running because I signed up for my first half marathon! Woohoo! I will be running the Jersey Shore Half Marathon on October 6. I have also signed up for another challenge in August - the Smoothie challenge - one smoothie a day for the month of August. I figured it was a good idea since I have been on such a smoothie kick lately. What's better than a cold refreshing smoothie on a hot day? Okay you got me - a cold refreshing beer on a hot day. But I can't do a beer challenge. I did enough of those in college!

So here's the link to the Smoothie Challenge.

We're already a couple days into August so go ahead and get your smoothie on. This morning's smoothie was a banana, frozen berries, a little bit of almond milk, 1/2 scoop of protein powder and spinach and kale. Yes, spinach and kale. You can't even taste them in the smoothie!

Regarding half marathon training, I ran 4 miles last Sunday and my knee started hurting a little bit. I'm taking a couple days off and then tomorrow I will go back to CrossFit. I'm hoping to go tomorrow, Thursday and Friday and then take Saturday off and go for a 5 mile run on Sunday. I feel really good about my training plan and I'm excited to meet my goals for the week. 

I'll be 32 tomorrow and whenever I get older, I ask myself if I am where I want to be in life. I'm married to an amazing husband, have an adorable son, two cuddly dogs and I am getting stronger everyday. So yes, I am definitely where I want to be and I'm looking forward to all that 32 has to bring!

Thank you!

This is a quick one just to thank you all for your support. I have been on the Top Mommy Blogs list for a couple months now and I owe that all to you!

Please click the badge below to continue to support me. Thank you!

Terribly Active

On Friday, I took Little Beast to the park after I picked him up from daycare. We played on the slide and he sat in the swing for a while and then he picked up my keys and was ready to go. I put him in the car and put the keys in the front seat - not realizing that he had hit the lock button. Yes, I locked my son in the car and I felt awful about it. I ran into the street and flagged this car down (this was my 3rd attempt, the first 2 were unsuccessful). Anyways, the woman called the police department for me and within 10 minutes, we had the car door open. By then I was in tears and apologizing to Little Beast for being a bad mama. The police officer calmed me down and told me to put on the AC and everything would be fine. Absolutely terrible. We go home and I start working on Paleo Cupcakes for the Snatch Clinic at CrossFit on Saturday. Little Beast manages to get into the wine rack and before I know it, he's crying and his hand is gushing blood. I pick him up and clean him off. Hubby comes home to wine and glass everywhere, blood spots all over the floor and me frantically saying today's a bad day! His response after seeing Little Beast was okay - What bottle of wine was it? Ha! I'm laughing now because Little Beast is fine but I was NOT laughing then. Terrible. 

Earlier on Friday is where the active part comes in. I went to CrossFit and this was the WOD:

7 rds for time

7 handstand push ups (I did them off the bench)
7 thruster 135/95 (45 lb bar)
7 knees to elbows (knees to chest)
7 deadlifts 245/185 (65 lb)
7 burpees
7 kb swings 2/1.5 pood (26lb KB)7 pull ups (2-3 bands)

My time was 32:03. Not too shabby. It's hard to know how much weight to use for lifts since I still don't know what's comfortable for me yet. I can safely say that next time Thrusters are in the WOD, I can probably up to 55lbs. Saturday, Hubby and I went to the Snatch Clinic - nope I'm not talking about going to the Gyno (I had to say it). The snatch is one of two Olympic Weightlifting events (the other is the clean and jerk). The clinic was about two and a half hours and was exhausting. I managed to learn how to snatch with a 15lb bar. When I added weight, for a total of 25 lbs, I couldn't get up from the squat. Practice Practice Practice.

Snatch Progression

So yea, Friday and Saturday were both active. Sunday as well! We ran the JFK Miles for the Minds 5K - my 3rd official 5K. It was my first event with my running group - Edison Moms RUN This Town. Moms Run This Town is a National Running group and I'm Edison's Chapter Leader. There was a total of 4 of us that ran. We're now working on training for our 1st Half Marathon.

Edison Moms RUN This Town

Hubby with the MRTT shirt on!

Hubby is so supportive, he even ran with the MRTT group instead of running with our CrossFit group. They also ran the same 5K. 

With our CrossFit Family

Prior to the 5K, I hadn't run in about a month so I wasn't really expecting to run a sub 30min 5K. During the race, I just ran my best and ended up finishing in 28:29. This morning I found out that I placed 3rd in my age group! I never even thought to stick around for the awards ceremony. I can't believe I placed 3rd, especially with a 28 min 5K! Anyways, I'm proud of myself. Despite, the accidents with Little Beast on Friday, it was a really great active weekend. 

My horoscope today is - "You may think you're in over your head but seriously, you're not. Relax." I often think I'm in over my head with going to CrossFit and running and now training for a half marathon. But where there's a will, there's a way. I'm just going to relax, work hard and enjoy every step of this journey.

3 Months Later

Yesterday was a sad day - my last session with Trainer. In the 3 months I've been working with her, I've grown to look forward to our workouts and we've become friends. I'm going to miss her. But in commemoration of completing my first phase (building a foundation), I have decided to post some before and "during" pictures. I don't know when my after pictures will be posted since I don't think I'll ever be done with this journey.

Anywho, forewarned is forearmed - these pictures are not pretty. I never in my life thought I would share them with friends, let alone publicly. However, I want to document my journey to show people that with dedication, anything can be accomplished. A previously unathletic person can be an athlete.

I do have a little bit of a lean, I always favor one side so you can see one hip elevated over the other - that's just me, nothing to do with exercise. Keep in mind that these pictures are after 3 month of consistently working out (about 3 days a week) and with 1 month of focusing on eating clean (roughly 70% paleo).  I am also the same weight in both pictures - 125 lbs. Looking at these pictures, here's some things I notice:

1. My belly is flatter
2. My back is more toned
3. My arms are more toned
4. My butt is rounder

What does this all mean? Nothing. I'm more concerned with the things you can't see:

5. Increased confidence in my abilities
6. Increased energy
7. I'm happier

Combine what you can see and what you can't and I'm winning. I'm happier, I feel better and I'm more confident. My next "during" picture will be after 3 months of CrossFit and with the continued focus of eating clean. I'm excited to see the results!