Day 50 - Game Day Baby!

Today is the day we complete workout 12.3 for the CrossFit Open.  It looks like it's going to be a doozy.  The Toes-to-Bar move is really tough for me so not sure how many rounds I'm going to be able to do. The best woman so far completed 14 rounds! My goal is to get somewhere around 8 rounds.

12.3 WOD
As Many Reps As Possible In 18 Minutes
15 Box Jumps 20"/24"
12 Push Press 75lbs(women)/115lbs(men)
 9 Toes-To-Bar

Last night I went ahead and made those Harvest-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms   ... they were sooooooo goooooood and really filling. I'm hoping they are going to be the fuel that gets us through the workout this morning.

Day 48 & 49

Watched an extremely interesting documentary last night called Forks Over Knives.  The movie talks about how the current Western diet is not only making people fat (2 out of 3 Americans are overweight!) but it also causes cancer.  The argument is that we need to eat a more plant based diet.  I won't go into detail about the movie because I will not do it justice but I highly recommend giving it a watch.  Matt and I are changing our ways as of today and eating less meat! Going to give it a try anyways....so tonight I make Harvest Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms.  Yesterday before I had watched this documentary I discovered Chef Chloe who just happens to be a vegan chef. She has some amazing recipes on her site and they seem very easy to make.

Eat more greens people! I want you all to live to 100.

Day 47

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins!

There is a great website called Busy But Healthy and the woman who runs it always posts delicious recipes that have been modified to be a healthier version of the real thing.   I gave these muffins a try a few days ago and they turned out great.  Here is the recipe:

Makes 12 muffins

1.5 cups oat flour*
3 x 30 gram scoops whey protein powder (vanilla)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup stevia baking formula (or 12-14 stevia packets)
1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (1 snack pack)
4 egg whites ( I used 1/2 cup liquid egg whites)
1 tsp vanilla

* To make oat flour, just grind up old fashioned or quick oats in a blender or food processor.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix together dry ingredients in one bowl.  Mix together wet ingredients in another bowl.  Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until blended.  Scoop batter into a sprayed muffin tin and/or lined with paper liners.

Bake for 15-16 minutes until a toothpick comes clean.

Nutrition (per muffin)   Calories: 139   Fat: 3.4 g  Carbs: 21.5 g   Fiber: 3.6 g   Sugars: 5.1 g   Sodium: 201 mg   Protein: 9 g

Days 39-46

Another week another CrossFit Open WOD completed.  This week was a tough one...not that last week wasn't but this time it was more power focused.  If you aren't familiar with what a snatch is (get your mind outta the gutter) click here.  The workout was as follows:

30 Snatches (Male 75 / Female 45 lbs)
30 Snatches (Male 135 / Female 75 lbs)
30 Snatches (M 165 / F 100 lbs)
Max Rep Snatch (M 210 / F 120 lbs)

This workout begins from the standing position. The athlete will complete all reps at the first weight before advancing to the next weight. Score is total reps completed in 10min.

Matt and I were both able to complete 60 reps of this workout.  I had finished my first 60 reps in about 4 and a half minutes leaving me 3 minutes to try and get 100lbs over my head but I just couldn't do it.  I have a lot to learn about proper technique and that was definitely holding me back when I got to the heavier weight. I am now ranked 526th out of 2765 in the North West Region and 7206 out of 38593 Worldwide. 

Days 25-38

Whoa! I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post.  New York was AMAZING.  It was everything I had imagined and more.  I can't believe how densely populated that city is and so much to see and do.  We lucked out with the weather and I was able to walk for hours each day going from tourist destination to tourist destination. I was curious how much walking I was doing and so I took the pedometer out with me one day and tracked 24,000 steps which equates to almost 20km! Incredible to think you can walk that much and not see the same thing twice.

While we were there Matt and I managed to get a few workouts in....not as many as we would have liked but you know how it is :)  One of the top things on my list was to run through Central Park and we enjoyed getting lost in the park for 5 miles.  We also visited the NYC Black Box Crossfit gym.  If you can believe it, it's the only Crossfit gym in Manhattan.  They have over 350 members and service over 100 classes per week.  The gym is located on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex. It's old and falling apart. You aren't even allowed to drop your weights because the people below complain! ha.  But we enjoyed working out with the people there and it was great to see what this legendary gym was all about.

Speaking of Crossfit...Matt and I decided to sign up for the Crossfit Games Open. This is an event that is put together to find The Fittest On Earth.  While I know that I am not in that category I thought it would be something fun to try.  The Open is 5 weeks long and there is a workout posted each week that you must complete.  You can either do these workouts at a Crossfit gym OR if you aren't able to get to a gym then you can video tape the workout and post it for submission. It's done this way so that the Open is available to everyone in the world. Matt and I had to opt for the video submission while in NY and it was hilarious trying to find an area where we could film ourselves.  The Week 1 workout was 7 minutes of Burpees. There was a gym at our hotel so we decided that it would be best to do it there.  We didn't expect that there would be a lot of people in the gym (which was 400 sq ft) at 8am on a Sunday but we were wrong.  When we got down there the place was packed and we were very limited to the space we could use to try and set up our camera, timer and area for burpees.  Thankfully there were some wicker hamper baskets in the room that we set up on top of each other so the camera could sit on top of it.  People in the gym were looking at us like what the heck are you two doing?  My budget video is available for you to see right here.  You can see Matt's as well on the right hand side of the screen when you click that link.  I was able to complete 84 burpees in the allotted time. This places me 9770th out of 20,020 women in the world.  The number 1 woman was able to complete 143 burpees! She must be a machine.

Day 24

Using this for motivation.....

Day 23

This is a must try dessert! And one that you don't have to feel guilty about.  It was Matt approved last night.  The base of the dessert was a Sweet Potato and Hazelnut Cake , having a food processor is a bonus because it makes blending these items a lot easier.  I then topped the cake with mixed berries and coconut whipped cream.  Due to my lactose intolerance I have to get creative when a recipe calls for something that includes dairy.  The coconut whipping cream was better than the real thing. All you have to do is put a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight.  When you open up the can you'll have a layer of coconut at the top, you want to scoop that out into a mixing bowl and leave the water at the bottom of the can.  Do not put the water into the mixing bowl. Turn your hand beaters on to high and mix for 3-4 minutes. You can then add some some sugar and/or vanilla to taste and mix again.

Happy Valentines Day!