Surf City Civil War

This past weekend I participated in my first CrossFit competition in Huntington Beach.  A local Box hosted an event called the “Surf City Civil War.”  It allowed co-ed teams from various SoCal Boxes to compete against each other in three different WODs.  Surf City CrossFit did an amazing job running this competition.  They were very organized and kept the long day moving at a pretty consistent “on-time” pace. 

I paired up with Alex Petrie from my gym.  This guy is a beast and an all around amazing person.  His passion for health and fitness are impressive - he is my Paleo guru.  At first, I was ridiculously intimidated to be competing with him.  Our athletic abilities are no where near the same level and I hated the thought of slowing him down.  But as everyone kept assuring me, this was supposed to be a fun event.  We even had matching socks!

The first WOD was entitled “Cannon Fodder.”  This was a two part workout. 

Part A (25% of the total score):  Each team will have 4 minutes to establish a max snatch with the total score being the total of the max weight lifted by the male and female. Only one athlete may attempt a lift at a time. Should either athlete or both athletes fail to establish a successful lift the athletes will use 90% of the highest weight attempted for Part B.

2 Min Rest and Transition Period

Part B (25% of the total score):  Using 90% of the highest successful lift from Part A each team will have 4 minutes to establish as many reps as possible of snatch. The score for Part B will be the total of the max reps from each athlete. Only one athlete may lift at a time.

Alex maxed out his snatch at 200# (as I said earlier, he is a beast!) which meant he was repping out 180#.  I sandbagged it and maxed out at 75# (85# is my actual 1RM) which gave me a 70# snatch for the rep portion.  Let me tell you - that got heavy, quick.  I actually got a "no-rep" (thanks Joey!) about 4 times.  We did well in this WOD.  Our combined weight was 275# and we repped out 50 snatches! 

The Second WOD was “Ironclad.”  It was a 5 min AMRAP of rowing for calories and thrusters (65#).  

Watching the teams finish this WOD was not a good idea.  They were completely wiped out.  Alex and I had originally planned that I would row and he would thrust, yet at the last minute, he decided to switch it up.  Thank god he sprung the news on me about 5 minutes before our heat began.  I didn’t have time to stress out.  Have I mentioned that I hate thrusters?  Anything involving overhead squatting is pure evil in my book. 

We actually did amazing on this WOD.  Alex (the beast) rowed for 121 calories and I got 48 thrusters.  It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life.  I literally faced my mirror (Jamie Cannon) and listened to her yell at me “three more sister, you can do three more.”  I put my WOD face on (which let me tell you, it’s not a pretty one) and thrusted as hard as I could.  As Alex always says, “learn to feel that suck.”  Trust me, I felt it. 

The third and final WOD of the day was called “Bull Run” and it was an evil 10 min AMRAP Chipper.  50 deadlifts (205#/135#), 50 bar-over burpees, 50 box jumps, 50 KB swings (1.5 pood/1 pood), and finally (when you are completely exhausted) 50 toes-to-bars.  

This is what killed us…or rather, what I killed for us.  Toes-to-bars are my enemy.  Not only am I slow at them, I’m also still recovering from a popped out rib.  The fear of the pain aftermath made me even slower and more hesitant.  I only got 4 so poor Alex had to carry us with 46.  We ran out of time before we could get to the deadlifts again.  Watching Alex get his "game face" on is an impressive thing to behold.  Nothing stops him. 

The bummer part is that we were in the top 3 after the first two WODs.  If I hadn’t been so completely useless at the toes-to-bars, we probably could have made the podium.  Unfortunately, we lost our lead and slipped down to 10th place.  

After getting over my initial anger and disappointment with myself for losing and letting Alex down, I realized that we did pretty well.  10th place out of 40 teams is a solid performance for my first competition.  

Our gym (CrossFit 714) put up an awesome showing.  The owner and his beautiful wife hung onto 1st throughout the entire competition, but ended up slipping down to 4th place when all was said and done.  The weights they put up in the first WOD were incredible.  The other 2 competing teams in the Intermediate Division snagged 6th and 16th place.  Rachyl and her partner took 1st place in the Beginner division, and our team in the RX division took 6th. 

I’m not sure if I want to compete again.  On one hand, it felt good to push myself beyond my comfort zone, yet on the other hand, the anxious “I’m going to puke I’m so nervous” feeling really sucked.  

I do know that my new goal is to tackle toes-to-bar and kick it’s ass!

p.s.  My my mom and sister surprised me by flying down on to support me at the competition.  I honestly couldn't have done it without them.  My sister knows me better than anyone.  With that knowledge, she was able to help push me to get "just one more."  Thanks guys! 

p.s.s.  And a special thanks to my incredible hubby for wrangling our spawn all day and taking a bunch of great action shots.  He captured Alex's beast face perfectly! 

Success!!! 1st Crossfit Competition

So, this last weekend I competed in my first Crossfit Competition.  It was a local event - Adrenaline Crossfit Chico vs. Feather River Crossfit in Yuba City.

After watching another competition in January, my WOD buddy and I decided, we can do this!  We began bruising up our bodies with additional training and mentally readied ourselves for the big event.  Both my buddy and I decided to compete in the Intermediate level, as the RX level required a sequence of deadlift reps at 185#.  No thank you!  My PR is 215# - I can't imagine having to bang out more than two 185# deadlifts!!

The competition consisted of three WODs -

WOD 1
12 min cap:
3 minute cumulative handstand
200 meter pinch grip plate run (25#)
25 wall ball shots (14#)
100 meter medicine ball run (14#)
wall ball shots for the remainder of time

The WOD was scored via the amount of completed wall ball shots.

At the conclusion of the first WOD, I was in 3rd place (out of 10 athletes) with 83 Wall Ball shots.  Let me tell you, this WOD was far harder than it sounds.  The 3 minute handstand took me just under 5 minutes to complete... and by that point, the sinus pressure in my head was cray cray!

WOD 2
6 min cap:
Athletes will have six minutes to find their max 3 rep snatch complex.  The snatch complex will consist of 3 reps: snatch with a lunge on each leg - knee must kiss the ground.  Once an athlete finds their max, they can finish out the time by repping as many snatch grip high pulls as possible.  The high pull count will be used to differentiate same weight lifts.

At the conclusion of the second WOD, I was tied for second place.  I was able to snatch 80# and pump out 50 high pulls.  Another athlete also snatched 80#, but she only got in 30 high pulls.  The winner of this heat was my WOD buddy, Cassy.  She snatched 85#. Bastard.  She had the sweet advantage of watching me compete in the heat before hers.. and then one up me!  (She is an amazing athlete!)

WOD 3
8 min cap:
Deadlift (135#) and toes to bar ladder: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12...
At the conclusion of each set, an athlete is eligible to complete a 15 ft rope climb.  Each rep is worth 1 point; however, the rope climb is worth 20 pts.

I was able to knock out the ladder to set 12; with 6 toes to bar.  I attempted one rope climb; however, I had just learned the mechanics of the rope climb the day before.  Needless to say, I only made it up about 10 feet before I had a mental panic attack.  Well, at least I tried!!

And, then we waited for the results...

I came in THIRD!!!!  My WOD bestie came in First - cause she is a rockstar, and a gal from the competing box came in second (that crazy athlete got 4 rope climbs - 80 pts).

Overall, it was an amazing experience.  I walked into the event hoping for anything better than "dead last" - and I achieved it.  

Side bar:  My bestie and I made super silly shirts that said, "Two Reasons: Bitches and Drinks" in honor of one of our favorite Coaches: Tisha Ellis.  Almost every time we work out with Coach Ellis, we have to listen to that stupid song... Needless to say, our shirts got a LOT of comments - love it!!

Banana Pecan Bread

OMG Amazing!!!!!  I seriously couldn't keep this in my house.  I had to cut up in cute little pieces and take it to my box.  It was deliciously sweet with a nice crunchy crust.

3 ripe bananas
4 Tablespoons ghee, melted
3 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
2 Tablespoons flax meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease your loaf pan with coconut oil.  Mash the bananas and mix the wet ingredients together.  Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to the wet mixture.  Mix well and pour into your pan.

My loaf cooked for 58 minutes and possibly could have gone a little less.  But then again, I have a tendency to overcook everything:)

Sweet Potato Chai Muffins

Something about the taste of Chai makes me ridiculously happy.  I borrowed this amazing recipe from PaleOMG (man, I love that girl).

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato or yam, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 banana, peeled
• 2 chai tea bags (no sugar added)
• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup pecans
• ⅓ cup flax seed meal
• ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
• 3 tablespoons coconut nectar (or other sweetener – add more if you want sweeter muffins)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 3-4 tablespoons coconut crystals (to garnish muffins)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 405 degrees. Cut sweet potato in half, place on baking sheet, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until super soft. Remove skin.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.
3. Place soft sweet potato and banana in the food processor and puree. Then add chai tea herbs from two bags (discarding the chai bags), pecans, flaxseed meal, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon. Puree until completely broken down and smooth.
4. Then add the wet ingredients: coconut oil, eggs, coconut nectar, and vanilla extract.
5. Puree until smooth.
6. Line muffin tin with paper or silicone liners and use an ice cream scoop to scoop out and pour ingredients into each cup. The ice cream scoop keeps the muffins equal in size.
7. Sprinkle each muffins with a bit of coconut crystals.
8. Bake muffins for 25-30 minutes or until you poke them with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
9. Let muffins cool before consuming, it helps the muffins meld together a bit more.

Body Fat (take 2)

At the beginning of this month my Box hosted a hormone/nutrition seminar given by Dr. Sean Breen.  Each person that attended got an InBodyAnalysis read done.  It measured your weight, water weight, lean mass, etc.  I was really pleased with the results.

Weight:                147.2
Water Weight:      91.51
Lean Body Mass: 125.2
Fat Body Mass:    22.31
BMI:                      22.4
BFP:                     15.2

Can you believe it?  15.2 body fat percentage.  This report put a smile on my face for the past month.  Not only that, but it has motivated me to keep doing what I'm doing: 

Eating clean and working out hard!!!

Two whole days...

Due to feeling under the weather on Saturday morning (damn you Nicki Bluhm concert and vodka-sodas), I decided to take it easy... i.e., sitting on the couch in my robe until 1:00 p.m.  With Sunday being my sweet girl's 3rd birthday party, needless to say, I haven't done anything in two days.  I hate taking two days off in a row.  I generally only allow myself one rest day (Sunday) a week, and even while I'm "resting," I'm still running around like the multi-taskin' girl that I am, squeezing in a few sit ups and air squats along the way.

I'm ready to hit the gym hard today, but I think my body is secretly thanking me. 

p.s.  I need to start practicing what I preach.  Remember that "self-inflicted allergy" post I did a few days ago...  threw that out the window along with three delicious cupcakes yesterday.  Ouch.

Back in the Saddle again...

Well, here we go again.  The Whole Life Challenge has been over since November; however, Christie and I are still pushing ourselves in healthy eating (that isn't to say that the occasional animal cracker binge does not occur) and crossfit. 

I've been crossfitting at IMF Crossfit for almost a year.  Each week I feel myself getting stronger and stronger...  Since November I have PR'd the following:

Deadlift:       215 lbs
Backsquat:   165 lbs
Strict Press:   75 lbs

In addition, I accomplished a ring dip and the kipping pull ups. 

What's next you ask? 

Stringing together more than 1 double under in a row.  What the hell is wrong with me?  Each time I actually get a double under, I'm so excited, I stop.  C'mon Jamie... its all in the wrists!!!