Our #TGIBF themed workouts

Posted on December 4, 2015 by chatty

Ohai. It’s been a while. Something like three months or so. I don’t know, I guess we got kind of busy. School started for the kid. Then work got nut-so. Then work moved to a new building closer to the mothership. And then I blinked and it was Thanksgiving.

What else? Oh, I sorta tried this thing called hot yoga. It’s all the rage and I kind of like it. Also, I have tendinitis in my ankle which makes my ankle not like yoga sometimes. Balancing on my left foot sometimes hurts, or sometimes is very difficult or nearly impossible. But you gotta do it, says the PT. You’re strong enough to do it without the wobbly arms thing going on. But when in life do you stand on one leg, says the yoga instructor (I mean, besides yoga class, I suppose). So, I’m trying to do these PT exercises, hoping it gets better. I suppose after three-plus years of doing this crossfit/not-CF thing, some tendinitis is the biggest injury? I’m doing ok, I guess.

I have four months of workouts that I could log here, but I’m not going to. Instead I’m going highlight our Blue Friday workouts. Since Seahawks pre-season started our (Blue!) Friday workouts have been themed around football and the Seahawks. That makes it a little more interesting, though sometimes annoying.

You ain’t Russell WIlson, Bro! If you recall, that’s what Clay Matthews said to Colin Kapernick when the Packers played the 49ers. You know, before Kap got benched. All the 7s!

Play Clock

DangeRUSS (I see you 3s)

“Largent” My fave because Steve Largent is one of the husband’s favorite players. Plus, very cool numbers and stats

“Cut 75” was one of our pre-season workouts.

“Pick 6” At first I thought we would be able to pick one of these as the workout. Hahaha. Not. All of them

12s! Have you noticed this year we’re the 12s and we’re no longer “The 12th Man”. Gender equality!

“Beast Mode” of course.

“Finish The Game.” Yeah. Like, just pour a little lemon juice on that cut, why don’t you

Ka-Kaw! Go Hawks!

Workouts of July 2015

Posted on December 1, 2015 by chatty

Well. THIS has been sitting in Drafts for a while, now.

Happy December! 🙂

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Healthy snacks for the first day of school, whenever that is

Posted on September 8, 2015 by chatty

This is my contribution to my soon-to-be-first-grader’s lunch box: healthy peanut oat cookies and healthy raw brownies courtesy of TriumphWellness.com. Thanks Pinterest for conjuring up posts from 2012. Anyway, the raw brownies are so-so, though the kid really likes them. The peanut butter ones got a family thumbs up, so we made them again tonight.

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Ingredients: rolled oats, medjool dates, raisins, peanut butter, salt, vanilla, cinnamon. Super easy, but go to the site for measurements, etc. I let the dates sit it hot water for a few minutes before adding them to the Cuisinart, instead of adding water gradually as needed, which I did a little bit, too. I also added chia seeds because I can.

I was brainstorming these for a school lunch that is not happening, as the Teachers of the Seattle Public Schools are going on strike, beginning tomorrow, formerly known as the first day of school.

The strike is a bummer, as the kid is so ready to be back. But I do believe teachers are not always recognized for their tireless efforts, and I want them to be compensated fairly. I also don’t want to have school in session in July, so …. Let’s get this started!

Workouts of June 2015

Posted on July 12, 2015 by chatty

Lots of routines as of late. I’m definitely a Mon-Wed-Fri Not-WODster. The crew around me is pretty regular, with a few change-ups here and there. Right now I have a different coach each day: Andy on Mondays, Mitch on Wednesdays, Jess on Fridays (also Jess on Tuesdays for Yoga). It makes for a varied experience when you rotate coaches. This has been good, too.

This was the day Rina and I got a talking to by the Coach. The “You’re stronger than you think you are” talking. Increase the weight to challenge yourself and your muscles. I think I did 60#. It’s the front squats. Those things scare me into thinking I’m going to do something that kills my back.

Jeez, Andy, can you write any smaller?? Does this look familiar? It is Not-Helen. Actually it is exactly Helen. My time was in the 11 – 12 minute range.

Which would you rather: Doubleunders or Squat Jumps? Believe it or not, I’d take DUs over SJs. Plus, 30 seconds is nothing. Then again, 5 times 30 seconds is …

More ring plank. 🙁

The Sprints were a drag. It is an alley behind a bunch of houses, it has a slight incline. It is sprinting. The Strength, was just a get’r’done kind of thing. Kickin’ it old school, as I like to say.

Yep.

Side Plank is the worst!

Least faves

How many Burpees can you do in 30 seconds? Not a lot. Maybe 7. That’s manageable.

Wall Walks. Kinda fun, kinda scary.

And then there were a couple of days where I forgot to take a pic, but I remembered to take a screengrab.
A lot of pics this month. A lot of workouts.

First strawberries

Posted on July 11, 2015 by chatty

In what’s becoming a sorta tradition, back in June we did some strawberry picking on the first weekend the U-Pick was open to the public. Difference between last year and this year? Last year there were signs everywhere that was like, “Don’t eat the strawberries!” and this year everyone was like “Eat all you want!”

Must have been a bumper crop this year. Is that what you call it? When there’s like an avalanche of strawberries? We didn’t go crazy, bought just enough to pig out on half our loot and freeze the other half.

Hmm. Now that I think about it, a strawberry smoothie sounds like a great idea right about now …

(Thanks, Biringer Farm! Fun was had by all.)

National Doughnut Day (and a Finisher)

Posted on July 10, 2015 by chatty

This is a real thing, people. One of my favorite days. I innocently asked our work admin if there was a thing planned for work for this epic made-up holiday, because if there wasn’t, then I was going to buy a dozen for my little pod of worker bees. Could I help it if I planted an idea in our awesome admin team’s heads and then this happened: Dozens and dozens of doughnuts from Frost:

I’m not going to lie. It was ridiculous, and I probably tasted at least 6 different ones. And I probably would have been perfectly content with one. THE one, my favorite doughnut of all time that I just don’t get very often because Top Pot* where I usualy go doesn’t make them.

I’m talking about the cruller. The French Cruller.

I thought an extra cup of coffee would be in order to enjoy the cruller, this one stuffed with unnecessary frosting, but still. Incredible:

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(Memo to self, second cup of coffee is NOT a good idea)

Oh, and, sometime this month, this happened. I was heading to the very healthy and good-for-you Evolution Fresh with my pal, let’s call her “Sam”, when I bumped into my work spouse in the elevator. “I’m going to the food trucks,” said the work spouse. I was torn. “Oh go, already,” said Sam. So I did. And accidently ordered a bag of beignets.

WP_20150610_002 That won’t happen again! I said to myself. Except it did, when work spouse and I went back to the food trucks a week or so later. Beignets are from Where Ya At, Matt?

*(And, sorry Top Pot for not going to your establishment on this day of all days, but you see me so very often on all the other days, and besides it’s very likely you didn’t even know I wasn’t there. I did wear your shirt in honor of the day, okay?)

Workouts of May 2015

Posted on July 9, 2015 by chatty

This is around where we started doing weird Wendler-ness. Previously we’d concentrate on 2 – 4 lifts, depending on when or how often you went to class per week (I go three times per week, therefore I could practice three lifts). However, new coach Andy rigged the schedule so that people who went thrice weekly could somehow fit all of the lifts in. I’m still not quite sure how it worked out, but yes, I was doing squats, deadlifts, bench press, press, and maybe another one? Because bench is new. I love bench. It’s my favorite, and I’m so much better at it than I was 10 (or 15) years ago, when I didn’t know what I was doing. As I won’t remember to write this when I review July’s workouts, I PR’d my bench press today, at 95# (I tried and failed 100#). “95 pounds is respectable,” Ruth, my partner said to me. It is.

Gah! Running. Always with the running.

Gah! Rowing. Always with the rowing.

I’m pretty sure the “Finisher” was, like, “Do it again!” There was at least one Not-WOD like that. I’ll have to find it …

Wait, maybe THIS was that “Do it again” one … Coach Andy has a pesky way of not sharing everything at the beginning.

I did Half-Murph. It was long. My push ups were crap near the end. My time was around 20-25 minutes.

What is Ring Plank, you ask? No, not some weird disease. It’s a plank, on rings! It’s hard. Arms are shaking and balance is iffy.

I don’t think I did more than 2 rounds.

“Alt Pull Ups” are the “commando” ones, very G.I. Jane. Tricky Coach Andy secretly replaced my 15# plate with a 25# plate while I was out running. “You’re stronger than you think you are” is a comment I have received on more than one occasion. “I don’t want to injure myself” is a reply I have given on more than one occasion. This was okay, though.

Not-Fran. Really, it’s not Fran, because there are these nutty box jumps in the middle.

These are not a few of my favorite things.

Father’s Day Ribs

Posted on July 8, 2015 by chatty

I asked the husband what he wanted for dinner on Father’s Day. He started talking about the BBQ, grilling this or that.

“Yes, we could do that,” I said. “Or, I could throw some ribs into the slow cooker and –”

“Oh yeah. Let’s do that.”

Happy Father’s Day. Not the greatest pic, as I nearly forgot to take it before the last of ’em was gone.

Good choice. And so easy. I used a Hawaiian BBQ sauce I found at the store, complementing the trip to Kona Kitchen we had done the day before, and the Spam Fried Rice the husband cooked up earlier in the day for lunch. Obviously we were in a Hawaiian stae of mind. Sauce + Ribs + 8 hours on low. Set it and forget it.

Workouts of April 2015

Posted on July 7, 2015 by chatty

So, Crossfit is now “Not-Crossfit”, as we’re moving away from that whole Crossfit craziness. So on this blog, I guess WODs will be Workouts (or Not-WODs). New look! Same ingredients.

Here’s a look at April. I had a week off for vacation. Not WODs seem lower than normal? Maybe I forgot to take pics. Who knows, it’s been like three months, already.

Vacation means taking the 9:30 am class instead of the 5:30 am. I always wonder if my times/scores would be better slightly later in the morning, on account of not always being fully awake so early in the morning, but my time at 9:30 seems pretty much on par with the people I’m usually aligned with in my usual class. So there’s that.

Wow! This one must have sucked. Oh yeah, it did. It totally did.

There’s been talk about whether the level of intensity in class has diminished since we switched to Not-Crossfit and Not-WODs. My usual stance is, the level of intensity is how intense you, personally, make it. I could see sandbagging this workout so easily. I doubt I did, as I have internal goals for rowing, which means I hate hate hate being slower than a 2:00 split if I have to. But, for sure, it’s possible, and this would be one you could easily do that to.

This was a rare Saturday Not-WOD. They are usually partner workouts. Wall sits always remind me of high school volleyball practice, which always reminds me of how very unfit I was in high school. Sigh.