Tips On Life: Being Awesome Is...

Being awesome is a lot of things.

It's:

 Always owning your actions

Sticking to classy

Sarcasm 

Colorful language... and socks

Supporting others in triumph, even when they out-do yours

Standing by those you hold most dear

Wearing your workout clothes to the grocery store and totally rocking your dirty spanky pants and filthy tshirt

Dancing in the rain

Filing up the gas tank before the E...

Being Awesome is not:

Sticking your finger in a moving fan without a protective cover at 2am the night before rope climbs

Sending your best friend the Golden Lasso in the mail disguised as a gift (actually it was halarious and most awesome)

And most of all, being awesome is NOT showing up to a distress call 1 hour after a water main breaks in the front yard during a stage 5 water restriction!! Thanks City Water Guy...how NOT awesome of you. Lesson learned.

(But Andre the amazing handyman WAS awesome in helping repair the pipe in our front yard using $4 in supplies and a few old pull-up bar pipes. Ingenious!!)

Most awesome of the day was this:

Nothing like a random kid giving a personalized portrait in a most flattering resemblance during your favorite part of the day. Yay CrossFit Kids Goofballs.

Clean Eating Roast Beef Summer Salad

Not long ago I was rummaging through some books at a church yard sale. I came across a copy of one of those Weight Watchers cookbooks and was surprised at how many recipes could easily be converted to fit my cleaner eating. I happily paid the .25 and have been planning my menu choices since. Now that we are almost settled in our new house, I have calmed down enough to where every meal is almost planned. It is a good effort on my part to plan a menu for the week but inevitably, we screw it up somehow. However, Mondays menu for dinner actually happened!

I have had a wedge of Amish Gorgonzola cheese waiting to be used and I think the roast beef would be good with any cheese. What do the Amish do to cheese to make it different? The ol' butter churn must be magic because it was awesome. Does that make me a person who stereotypes? I'm totally envisioning the Amish ladies standing around churning my Gorgonzola. I did not envision them wearing wooden shoes. I am one of those worldly educated types.

Have you ever eaten capers? The Weight Watchers folks called for capers in their recipe and I ignored them. Capers look gross. They look like little alien pods and I am sure they taste really bad. I'm an adventure girl with food but capers gross me out.
Anyway, here is what I did:
chop-
2 cucumbers
3 tomatoes
1/3 large onion
1/4 cup fresh mint

Then I added:
2 tbsp balsamic
1 tbsp EVOO
A few pinches Himalayan Pink Sea Salt...to make it fancy
Cracked pepper
4oz sliced roast beef (per serving
1 oz crumbled Gorgonzola (per serving)

The WW recipe called for bread cubes to soak up the extra balsamic and I didn't add that in. I found it to be a little runny so I cut down the amount of balsamic and oil to make up for that. I think it did need a little texture so if you like orzo pasta, it would be a nice mix. I considered black beans too...but ultimately didn't put them in

While looking at my new cookbook I also pulled out (proudly offensive) my Paula Dean cookbooks: The Lady and Sons and The Lady and Sons Too! cookbooks. I am totally frying up some chicken this week in the collection of bacon fat I have. If I'm going to have a "sometimes meal" (a better name for a cheat meal) I want it to be a song from the south. Summer screams fried chicken to me and ever since the cold chicken I had on the fourth of July, I have been craving some real stuff.
I am going to have me a Sunday Dinner y'all!
Maybe on Thursday, but who's counting?

Mobility Mondays: Front Rack Mobility Sequence From Eat Big Lift Big

I have been following the most fantastic blog recently, Eat Big Lift Big is a solid instruction mobility weightlifting nutrition site devoted to getting you better at stuff.
 I came across this mobility sequence on the site last week and used it in my mobility class Saturday. In addition, Mr. Dad has agreed to let me build him from the ground up in proper Olympic lifting and Power lifting. We have begun by focusing primarily on good form and muscle memory through the technical aspects of lifting. His hip mobility and upper thoracic spin are limited but surprisingly, the front rack positioning has improved ten fold in a week. I will attribute it to the following video and my mean nature, contorting him into uncomfortable stretches.
Having a high front rack position is essential for front squat, cleans, and general awesomeness.
Here is the video:



Some of these moves will take some serious dedication to have the range of motion exhibited, but almost anyone can get started on the sequence. It takes about 20 minutes to get through with proper technique and I added a foot and LAX ball roll at the end for good measure. Now that I roll my feet everyday, I can tell when I really need it. My poor feet thank me as soon as they even ctch a hint of the LAX ball coming near them.

In other news, a friend and I are signing up for the 31 Heroes WOD competition on August 3rd.
I am so honored to be a part of this movement for our first competition. Mr. Dad and I have lost several friends over the years due to their heroic work in the Armed forces and I want to give back to those families.
Here is a quick write-up on the event:

The WOD

31 Heroes 2013 – August 3, 2013 at a Crossfit Affiliate Near You.

“31 Heroes”

AMRAP 31 minutes (As Many Reps As Possible)
8 Thrusters (155/105#)
6 Rope Climbs (15 ft. ascent)
11 Box Jumps (30/24″)

This is a Partner WOD – Partner #1 will perform the work listed above. Partner #2 will run 400m with a sandbag (45/25). Once Partner #2 returns from the run, Partner #1 will grab the sandbag and begin their 400m, while Partner #2 continues work wherever #1 left off.

Score is your total # of reps

This WOD was created specifically to honor the 30 men and one dog that gave their lives for our country on August 6, 2011. It is 31 minutes long—one minute in remembrance of each hero. The rep scheme is 8-6-11—the date of their ultimate sacrifice. Finally, this is a partner WOD. The men who gave their lives were from multiple branches of our military, working together as a team.  In the workout you and your team member will constantly be taking the load from each other providing much needed support and relief. We realize that no physical sacrifice made during a workout can come close to the sacrifice our brave heroes made, but we consider this WOD a CrossFitters “moment of silence.” This is how we can honor those that gave all in the name of freedom.

We have been working hard to perfect the rope climb foot holds and decents allong with those super heavy thrusters! Holy cow that is a lot of weight. Anyway, training continues. 

Food soon!

Mobility Monday: Have Happy Feet!

Hey there!
Yay it's Monday again. I have been neglecting my mobility posts for many obvious reasons (vacation, move, giant fire, CrossFit Kids classes...) and I found a quick minute to do my first ever VLOG!
Now, keep in mind, it is too hot to wear makeup (I rarely do anyway) and I am no actress so my video is raw and simple.
Many of my Mobility/ Yoga participants have been telling me how much working with a ball on the feet is improving their overall well being. Much of the imbalances we have and pain we feel are tied to the feet in some way or another. Mobilizing the joints and ligaments along with loosening up all those little muscles will put you on the path to a more pain free day.

I noticed my little nervous quirk of fluttering my eyelids showed up on the vlog too. Just chalk that up to my unique personality and ignore it.
Anyway, get a lacrosse ball! Start with the feet and roll them everyday!!

A Long Month Update

To say the last month was eventful would be the largest understatement of my life. In addition to a long trip to Colorado, a new home purchase, a move, and the onset of summer, life has twisted and turned in good ways and bad. Thankfully, we are settling into a grove for the summer and life is returning to a slower pace. I forgot how much I love small town life. So, with that, I will give you a picture highlight reel of many of the events in our lives during June. I will be posting on a regular schedule now that we have wifi and time to breathe!!

After my experience at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, I spent a few days at CrossFit SoCo with this pretty lady. Loree is my favorite trainer in Colorado Springs and I visit her when I can. She talks about poop.

Here is one of the WODs I completed while there. I loved being able to keep up with all the high altitude athletes!!

While in Colorado, I was missing Texas. We ate at Rudy's BBQ often. Its one of the few TRUE Texas BBQs outside of the great state.

I worked on Double Unders and plenty of cool afternoon WODs in the back yard

Ate some amazing  Paleo hamburger set ups in Denver...

Did some impromptu yoga moves to impress the in laws

Then this happened.

This smoke plume is the very beginning of the Black Forrest Fire in Colorado this summer. This picture was taken as I raced back to help evacuate the home my husband knew his whole life. His family had lived there for 40 years and it was quickly looking like it would not make it through the blaze.

Fortunately, my husband and his parents were home at the time. They were able (in a somewhat dazed fashion) to get a few pictures and a suitcase of clothes. They truly did not think the forest would burn the 5 miles  down the road from its origin to their home.They escaped just as the fire was cresting the hill east to their part of the forest. I stayed in town because all roads were blocked going into the forest. We met up at a restaurant thinking the sprinkler running on the roof might save it. I had bought a select pack of craft beer in the mountains and figured it was not enough to take the edge off the stress of the situation. I never went to buy more beer and we didn't drink that six pack. We just hoped. We slept on living room floors in hopes of good news in the morning.

 We didn't get good news.
The picture below marks where the 10 acre home site of our family is. The circle is where the home used to stand. To the right is another home site of our family. In all, 9 of our family members lost 99% of there belongings and their homes burned completely.

What was amazing about the people of Colorado Springs, the Facebook Community, and my extended family and friends is, we were saturated with overwhelming support from the moment people heard the news. It is a testimony to the kindness of others and the realization for my family...we are worth helping. Faith in humanity restored! We received so many donations in the form of clothes, toys, toiletries, and monetary funds. My cousin in Seattle sent over 200 pounds of children and women's clothing!
Paninos Restaurant extended a warm welcome to us the day we got the news. Random people heard our story and handed money from there pocket in the check out line...not allowing anyone to pay for toothpaste or new underwear.

On a lighter note, that same day, we were treated to the long awaited news of our new niece or nephew. We have been hoping for a child for my brother and sister in law for close to ten years and FINALLY, the are expecting. The news it is a girl is a shock (family of all boys for Mr. Dad) and huge smiles erupted as the pink balloons jumped from the box at the reveal BBQ we attended (a very cute idea for Mom and Dad to Be).

We had to leave to return home to Texas the day after the news about the fire. It was a blessing, because we felt like we could not help the situation. The family had to start the process of finding a place to stay, insurance, and rebuilding some sense of normal...

My welcome home WOD was awesome!

Letting off stress from our devastating news was necessary. 

We went to a wedding on the Mexican border

I wore my first red dress. I also had heels on making me at least 6'6. For a wedding on the boarder, that made me the tallest person in town by about 5 inches.

I began going to the 5am class at the gym because CrossFit Kids takes up so much of my day. It is impossible to workout, coach, teach, and keep my own children sane for 5 hours at the gym. I don't mind early...

We like hanging around the gym...

We try and do some hiking when the mornings are cool.

Giant turkey cube and avocado salads with pico are a weekly MUST!!

We moved into our new home last week. We picked the day it was 107 to do it! My sweet friend Miss Janice took the kids on an outing to lunch and got their toes done at the salon. That's something I would never do with them and they loved it.

We made three trips with a 26 foot truck. Our awesome new neighbor Andre came by and helped load and unload the second trip. Had he not, I think we would still be transporting. It was awful. Good thing my headband was epic.

We went to another wedding. I wish I got more pictures at this one. I wore a great little blue dress that didn't touch my body (amazing and required because it was outside and 104 at the reception! But they had cocktails during the ceremony under the trees. Best wedding ever!

since our move I have only been able to find ONE Awesome sock. I'm heartbroken. Calling all Awesome Sock providers!! I need a new pair!

I have these till then. I wore them a few times, and of course on the fourth of July!

The Fourth was filled with a Holiday WOD at the gym, a few hours of needed rest, chicken, and FIREWORKS!! our town put on the first display in a VERY long time last night. It was so fun to see the kids enjoy the show. Good friends, good food, and a great night!

Life has been a roller coaster. Tears, sweat, and smiles a plenty in the last month. All I can say is I have missed you my dear readers! You all inspire me to keep pushing to be my best and to learn more. To cook better meals, to write better stories, and create the best NOT SO PALEO life I can. Thanks for taking a look at the update and have a great weekend!

USA Weightlifting Level 1 Certification At The Olympic Training Center In Colorado Springs, CO

There is no way I can put into words the full experience of this past weekend at The Olympic Training Center. It was a whirlwind of information, food, inspiring athletes, lifts to perfect and impress others with, and new friends. AND FOOD. Lots of FOOD.

I'll start with my arrival; Thursday night I drove over to the OTC from my In-laws house to check in to the dorms and begin my weekend as an athlete. Yes, I was there to gain more training as a coach but selfishly, I just wanted the fantasy of training for the Olympics. Thankfully, I was thrust into athlete life upon hitting the dorm. Four white walls and three beds per room...with no potty. I found out I would be sharing with two other women and that left me a little anxious. I don't share well with others.
I was the first to arrive and I made myself at home putting my stuff on the best bed and arranging things on the chest of drawers in a most anal retentive way.

Here I am prepping to sleep with two strange women. 

Since I didn't have class until the morning, I headed over to the athlete center to figure out how food worked and to start my review of the course materials. Since I had a certification only days prior, I had not had much chance to look at the curriculum. 

The food at the OTC is your standard government issue food pyramid stuff. Lots of grains and dairy, but I was able to create a pretty tasty paleo meal from the salad bar and meat station. Everyone say YAY for asparagus and funny smelling pee!

They had cherry tomatoes. I love cherry tomatoes.

I was a little intimidated about eating with the athletes and maybe they would judge my choices. I stayed super clean. Then I noticed all of the Paraolympic basketball team guzzling soft serve ice cream.  Athletes do not eat clean. Most are just REALLY LUCKY!

The athlete center was beautiful and awe inspiring. And loud. sports were on every one of the 10 TVs in the area and almost everyone was engaged in some event or another. Athletes...

After dinner I went back to the dorm to look at Facebook for hours and stretch my hamstrings. Inverted wall stretches loosened me up for bedtime. By 11pm, my roommates still had not shown. I had hopes of getting lucky and having a room alone.

At 11:45pm I heard a rustling at the door and knew my luck had run out. I DID have roommates after all. Boo!! 

A quick meet and greet and we all turned in for the night. Awkward... 

It was a long night in the dorms my friends. Athletes must have more than the backpack full I brought along because my one pillow and faulty air conditioner did not supply me with comfort. By daybreak i was questioning the whole "ON Campus" thing. 

Class started at 8am so I booked it over to be first in line at the cafe. I like food a lot and I was hoping for eggs and bacon.

Powdered eggs were on the menu. Bleh...oh well, I ate them and the turkey bacon on my own and people watched the other coaches arriving to breakfast. I also noticed the fantastic spinach omelets they were carrying!! WTF?! 

How did I miss omelets with real eggs? Apparently, there was a grill station. Fail.

As 8am wandered around I got up to work my way to the classroom. I decided to follow the tall people. they are easy to keep in my line of sight. 

No one really knew where to go, but thankfully we did find the right place a few minutes after 8. 

Unlike the CrossFit Olympic Certification program with Mike Burgener, there was a lot of class time with this course. We spent about an hour in class with Coach Conroy (head of USAW Coaching...name drop) then it was time to do some practical with the no-weight bars.

I have to say, If I had not trained with coach B, I would have been lost. It was apparent, many of the others in my course had not had formal training in the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. The resident athletes in the course helped tweak a few of my little things and I practiced while some instruction went on with the less experienced athlete/coaches. I used some of the time to train my eye to the things I had been missing in my own lifts...and people watch some more.

THEN, it was time to see the big dogs in action. 

Im beginning to notice that Olympic lifting is for the small people. I don't think one athlete in the gym was over 5'7...very different from Crossfit. Jared Fleming was in the house front squatting 241k. girls half my height were snatching 95k.

Short arms and legs make it easier to lift so, sucks to be yours truly! Pulling weight three more feet takes skill too!

After the athletes, it was our turn.

Stop looking at my buttwink...

Snatch work was on deck first and I teamed up with a perfect match with a girl who carried a lacrosse ball in her backpack (soulmate!)

Querivin (Q) and I made fast friends and I was so happy to see her a bad ass! She had NEVER snatched before and was throwing weight up like she owned it! My kind of girl. we spent the rest of the day eating and taking videos of our crappy snatch receiving. Best evening I have had in a long time.

We may or may not have broken into the Boxing gym to find a pull up bar. Q is just learning about CrossFit and works in a Globo Gym. She Wods on her own and needed a little cleaning up in the kipping technique. 

I felt like a teenager out late on a Friday night...naughty, naughty.

Q and I also made fast friends with CrossFit Finrir from Lakeland, FL. 

solid  group of folks with a decent amount of sarcasm and humor to keep me entertained. I decided they would be my secret alliance.

If I was ever on the Island, this group would carry me to the million dollars people. Anitra, Olly, Jamie, and Q were the fast friends I was missing at my last cert.

Decent form too. You can tell Olly the owner of Crossfit Finrir cares  about correct instruction.

They were nice enough to take a few pics of me too!

But could not help but HAM IT UP

In between lifting and destroying the classroom. We ate. 

I had soda.

I had Ice Cream. 

I had a muffin.

No wonder athletes eat like crap...I WAS HUNGRY!

To wrap things up, I will say, I loved the people here at the OTC. I made amazing connections and am so inspired. I also have some great plans for programming and a clearer path with my coaching and what I want to do with it. 

Is it the best cert? NO. It was a little disorganized. We had to work around the athletes schedules. The course had not been taught in 5 years. There was a lot of class time and I hoped for more programming and teaching cues BUT, I was honored to be a part of it.
I had a once in a lifetime experience as an Olympic athlete/coach. I wonder what amazing things are in store for my future now that I have these experiences and people in my life. It was the best weekend I have had in a long time. I feel like I found a piece of me I was missing. I laughed a lot. I learned a lot. It was something worth doing. 

Next post...food porn and Colorado Wods.

My CrossFit Kids Certification Experience

Hi Everyone! Life has been crazy lately and so much has been going on. This past week I was lucky enough to be a part of two different and very special experiences starting with my CrossFit Kids Certification at CrossFit Verve in Denver, CO.

 If you didn't already know, Verve is co-owned by none other than the fantastic Matt and Cherie Chan. Mr. Chan just placed #1 in the South West Regionals and is going on to the games along with a huge list of amazing athletes from Verve.

Anyway, It was awesome to check out the facility and see what crazy success these two people have brought to the Denver area. I arrived early for the first session in hopes of getting in a lift but alas, the Regional competitors were finishing up there last workout before heading to SLC. No pics allowed, but It was impressive to watch! It did not however, keep me from snapping a selfie in the mobility area. BTW, the facility had really clean bathrooms.

This was my third CrossFit certification and I have to say, I have never walked out of a class with a question unanswered or a complaint in the least. The CrossFit Kids program did not disappoint. I learned so much from these very knowledgeable people. The cues given for the kids course was transferable to adults and seamlessly, I see the whole concept of our sport for every age group. I guess, If I had one thing to change, it would be to have the opportunity to get to know my fellow students better. I go to these things alone and always hope to meet new folks and make a new connection in the world. This one was a little lonely...maybe I scared them all with my shameless lifting display at lunchtime.

So here is the breakdown:
We focus on the 9 basic exercises that all Crossfit is created around. CrossFit Kids adds thruster as number ten so as to teach it as its own lift...something kids have trouble coordinating without specific instruction.
We played basic, low organization gym games I have used for years and twisted them to meet the needs and abilities of diverse student age and ability ranges. For example, we played dodgeball in different body positions like crab walks and knee level throwing. You are never out but gain exercises with each tag by the ball. By varying the stances and expectations across ability levels, we level the playing field so 7 year olds can play the game competitively with 12 years olds. I wish I had pictures of this super fun activity. It was over way before we lost interest.  FUN!
We spent a good bit of time in break out sessions practicing cues and standards of coaching. We broke down skills into successful variations. I plan on using these keys with my adult athletes too.

Throughout the day we would spend time in classroom learning about programming and various standards for different age levels. Being a nonconformist, I just could not sit in that chair next to people all day. I spread out on the floor and used that metal chair as my desk. I had a few followers so I know it was a good idea.

I'm never quite sure what to think of instructors as an adult student. Clearly we are the same age and in the same field of expertise. Then there is the student-teacher relation that I have always viewed as a wall much like the military views officers and soldiers. They just don't mix much or well. It never fails, there is always one or two people in the crowd that picks the instructors brain for minute details about some random related subject just to monopolize there attention. This makes me both CRAZY and a little jealous. I want to know our instructor and for them to know me too! I guess the monopolizer just wants some credibility bestowed by authority? What do you think? I spent much of the afternoon session spitting imaginary tissue wads at the monopolizer.

During lunch on both days many people went out for the hour. I feel this is a huge mistake at a Crossfit Cert. Not only do the instructors stick around and work out at lunch but THIS is the time they will talk to you like a real person! Mike Burgener and I had wonderful lunches together during my Oly certification simply because he loves to know people and I was the only one who stuck around. I shoved some Questbar and apple in my mouth and got my lifting done early in lunch so I could watch the action around me. I will admit, I am no better than the rest of the lunch crowd. I purposely planned my power cleans and jerk practice for the workout to complement my strength cycle (which was deload week...no way could I just lift deload in VERVE!) I love making people a little scared with my best moves.
 All around me there were people strutting best moves too. And watchers...lots of watchers. The butterfly pullup girl was pretty good and her friend double under queen strutted 100 skips before a snag. Hotdog gymnast guy showed his bar muscle ups and rower dude pulled for a long time. It was a circus people. A circus.
It was pretty paleo and no peanuts were found in the stands.

As for the rest of the cert, it was so enjoyable. I got some great resources and programming ideas for our developing teen program and have been planning the summer kids wods everyday since.
I wish I could say I made those people connections and I walked away with some CF community spirit but I didn't. Maybe it was the group dynamic but I was left wanting more warm fuzzies than I got. Good thing that was not the goal of the certification.
 I know the kids in our community are going to be inspired and motivated by what we do and learn from our great mentors at CrossFit. I totally walked away with a head full of usable information and creative juices flowing into my wod planner. If you are considering taking this course, do it. Not for potential money sources in your gym or a new best buddy. This course is for our little people, and changing the old school methods that clearly never worked into experiences kids will hold onto throughout there lives.
Coming Soon:

Olympics...