My open letter to clothing stores across the nation

Dear clothing stores: I have shoulders. They are big and I’m proud of their ability to lift me off the ground in a handstand pushup. They repeatedly pull my chin over the bar in Helen and they managed to get me through 100 push ups in Murph on January 1st. Alternatively, all these activities managed to whittle away my hips and part of my butt. After squatting the bejeezus out of my legs for nearly a year, my thighs have grown. I love my body.

But clothing stores??? You all fail me! I’m like the incredible hulk, bursting at the seems in the shoulders of your shirts, yet swimming in the tops (hello, I have no ta-tas), and the waist. Forget Jackets, I can’t even look at them without popping a button.

Then I try to pull on a pair of pants. I say try because on the rare occasion that I can get them past my thighs, I could probably fit two of me in the waist.  Forever 21, I used to drop half my paycheck at your store. NOTHING FITS ANY MORE

Today, I awkwardly wore a pair of jeans that looked terribly wrong on me. Hanging off the waist, tight as EFF in the thighs and just not cute. Tonight when I go out, I’ll wear my lulus with boots and a long top. I can’t even look at my jeans without cringing now. Luckily, I get to wear my Lulus to work (cough*I work there*cough) and then I take my Lululemon clad body to the gym. Sometimes I sleep in the wondrously beautiful and comfortable material.

Thank jeebus for the Lu, because Forever 21, Norstrom, etc. have all failed me. Can someone please come out with a line of adorable clothes that are made for Crossfit women and our awesomely proportioned bodies?!

Thanks!

“I’m just in awe of what’s in front of me…”

Dreams

…while they dream during the light of the day, you only dream during the late hours of the night or the early morning. Sun light is spent on manifesting and harvesting. As it should.

-Web Smith, For the Dreamers

Primal Chicken Salad

Primal Chicken Salad is an easy “30-minute meal” that you can make for dinner or for a few yummy lunches for the week. Eat it as is or on a bed of greens… there’s a ton of room for substitutions, too, depending on your tastes. I got the recipe from my good friend Stacey who is the paleo cooking queen! The best part is that it comes from an online cook book from Liveprimal.com.

Chicken Salad

• 2 c of cooked diced chicken (about 1lb)
• 1 large tart apple, cored and diced
• 1 c chopped celery
• 1/2 c chopped walnuts (I subbed sliced almonds from Trader Joe’s)
• 1/4 c mayonnaise (see recipe below)
• 2 t lime juice
• 2 t honey
• pepper

I also added ½ c chopped dates and ½ c grapes to make it a bit sweeter. If you’re watching your sugar intake, maybe add some chopped bell peppers instead

In a medium size bowl, combine chicken, apple, celery and walnuts. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, lime juice and honey; stir to blend well. Season to taste with pepper.

Spoon dressing over chicken salad and toss to coat. (Pop the chicken in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes, and slice, dice and mix the rest of the ingredients. As soon as I was finished with all the prep work, the chicken was ready)

Primal Mayonnaise

• 1 whole egg
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1/4 t dry mustard
• ½ c olive oil

Put egg, lemon juice and mustard in blender and blend for 3-5 seconds. Continue blending and slowly add oil. Blend until the mayonnaise is thick. Scrape mayonnaise into a snap lock plastic container and refrigerate. The mayonnaise should keep for 5-7 days. (Warning: this does contain raw egg, so proceed with caution!)

This salad is best served chilled and it’s even better after marinating in the mayonnaise in your fridge over night! Enjoy!

Sweet potato hash

What do you do when you’ve got leftover sweet potato chunks in the fridge, along with chicken sausage and half a red bell pepper?

You make a hash!

This recipe is super easy, it only takes a little extra time and patience.

• 2 slices of bacon (or however much your bacon-loving heart desires)
• 1/4 onion
• 1/4 c pre-cooked sweet potato chunks
• 1/4 red bell pepper
• 1 chicken sausage sliced, then quartered to make them tiny chunks
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil

First, cook the bacon over medium heat. Take it out of the pan when it’s almost cooked and place on a paper towel. Dump the onion into the bacon grease, add salt and pepper, and keep the pan at medium-low heat. Add a splash of EVOO to avoid anything sticking. After it’s cooked for a bit, add in the bell pepper, sausage and sweet potato. Let cook for a few minutes as you chop up the bacon. Add the bacon.

The key to hash is to push it to the center of the pan and pat down the top, letting it sit without touching it (here’s where the patience comes into play). This will allow it to brown and become a bit crispy. Once it’s been crisping for a bit, flip over the hash to crisp the other side.

Crack an egg over the top and add a bit more salt and pepper. The hash is done once the eggy-bits are cooked.

Enjoy!

NLI Recap

The Next Level Invitational ended up going really well for me. It was fun to see old friends, meet new ones and spend time with my ACF team mates. I set new PRs in my 2RM snatch (100#) and my 1RM deadlift (240#).

Locking out! (And check out my super rad judge cheering for me!)

The second wod was BRUTAL and felt like it lasted forever, but I did pretty well in the 4-minutes of double unders (no longer my nemesis!) and the 4 minutes of (get this) burpees with lateral jump and 180 degree rotation.

I like to call ‘em dancing burpees.

4 minutes of burpees is anyone’s personal hell, so there’s nothing like having to add a jump and twist into the mix. YAY!

WODs:
Task 1:
5 minutes to build to 2RM Snatch (20 seconds to complete both reps)
immediately followed by:

Tasks 2, 3 and 4:
In 6 minutes find:
Vertical Jump for height (3 attempts if desired)
60m Shuttle Run
AMRAP Pullups (1 attempt. Cannot drop off bar.)

Break

Task 5:
5 minutes to build to 1RM Deadlift (Belts are OK)

1 minute transition to:
Task 6:
3 rounds for time/reps of:
3 Clean and jerks (adv: 185, 125)(int/mast: 135, 95)
*6 Broad Jumps (men: 7ft; women; 5ft)
Time Cutoff: 4 minutes
——————–
1 min transition to:
Task 7:
Reps of burpees with lateral jump and 180 degree rotation in 4 minutes
1 min transition to:

Task 8:
Ski Erg meters in 4 minutes
1 min transition to:

Task 9:
Reps of doubleunders in 4 minutes
1 min transition to:

Task 10:
For time:
30 Hanging Knees to Elbows
500m Run

I ended up maintaining 10th place through both events of the day, which I’m happy about. In August I finished at 14th, so next NLI, I better move up to 6th!!

ACF Team and our fans

I did it!

I’ve done one-handed hand stands before, but I wasn’t able to stay up on my own before. Last week, I worked on it a couple times and it wasn’t pretty. Monday afternoon, I walked into the gym and went for it. Didn’t think about it, just popped up against the wall and began shifting my weight to the right until I was able to hold my body weight on my right hand.

 

Hallelujah!

“Take a picture, Al!” I think I scared my coach, but luckily he snapped a shot while I HELD IN PLACE. Just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, I went up another time. Then I decided to try on my left hand. Yup! Mission accomplished!

I have a sneaky suspicion that this is directly linked to the work I’ve been doing on my handstand pushups. I’m leaving the abmats behind… it’s been scary folks! But it’s a snazzy feeling to work on your fears, as Mel wrote about on Monday. Coincidently, we both had inverted breakthroughs

Pssst

I have a confession: I’ve been cheating on my blog with another blog. If you hop on over to Anaheim Crossfit’s site, you’ll find a little post written by yours truly. From now on, I’ll be contributing once a week, in addition to writing here… and I promise I WILL write here more than once a month

NLI Tomorrow!

I LOVE competition so I’m pumped to be participating in this growing event!

(That’s me at about 1:50 with my friends Andre and Don, talking about how “exciting” it is… hahah and then squatting the shiz outta that bar).

Oh hey there stranger

Oh dear, I’ve been a silly, neglectful blog owner! Busyness is no excuse because we’re all busy, and it’s definitely not for lack of inspiration. I’ve got some great things going on right now, opportunities that came flooding at me over the last 3-4 weeks.

On Saturday, I’m competing in the NLI. I had a blast at their last invitational in August and I’m ready to bring it on Saturday! I’m aiming for a new PR in my 1 rep max deadlift: Going for 230#. I know I can do it! I’ve also got my double unders on lock, which I couldn’t claim last time around. I’m not exactly thrilled about 4 minutes of burpees but then again, who would be? When all’s said and done, my main priority is to just have fun, and with the Crossfit community, that’s almost a given.

 

Happy December!