Yummy to my tummy

I'm not one for posting recipes on my blog. I'm not sure why. Actually, I guess it's because I think we eat pretty boring- a lot of chicken and veggies, turkey wraps, soups, etc. We have just a few things that are staples in our diet every week- smoothies, egg wrap, salmon & vegetables. None of it is really recipe-worthy but we've been trying to experiment a bit more lately.

It's hard though because we try to follow the Zone diet, which means every meal has to have a particular amount of protein and carbohydrates, but also fat. A lot of recipes are high in carbs so we can't use them or we modify them so much, that we might as well not even use the recipe.

Tonight, we made two things that turned out great so I thought I'd share since today was a rest day from working out...

First, it's an egg bake with spinach, cheese, red pepper, and meat. The recipe calls for bacon, but we substitute turkey sausage usually or something leaner.

3 cups fat free milk
1 pkg chicken stuffing mix (6 oz)
2 eggs
2 egg whites
4 slices of bacon (sub any kind of meat here)
1 cup low fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 red pepper, chopped

mix it all together, spoon into 13x9 dish, and bake for 40 min at 350 degrees. It makes 8 servings - super yummy and super easy!

The other recipe is for pumpkin muffins which for us, have the perfect amount of carbs and protein in each muffin so they're the perfect snack.

Makes 16 muffins:
1 1/3 cups oat flour
84g of protein (we use vanilla, but it'd be super good w/ cinnamon if we had it)
4 eggs (or 8 egg whites)
1 tablespoon baking powder
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp maple extract (we use vanilla)
1 lg can of pumpkin (not the pie kind)
5 1/3 tsp canola oil
cinnamon
couple packets of sweet n low (we're still messing around w/ the quantity here)

mix all in a blender or food processor, scoop into muffin tin and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes

YUM!

ENJOY!

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Barf-a-rama

Headed to the gym yesterday after drinking slightly too much coffee and slightly not enough water.

I did "Kelly" which calls for:
5 rounds of
400m run
30 2-ft box jumps
30 wall-balls 11 lbs

I didn't want to run that far and that fast so I did "Pack" scaling instead which calls for 3 rounds instead of 5.

Since it's only 3/4 of a mile total, I decided to just run it all out. I ran each segment at 9.0 on the treadmill which was a 6:40/mile pace.

After each 1/4 mile sprint, I went right to the box jumps, most of which I could do continuous without stopping but once I finished the box jumps, I thought I was going to puke. By the time I got to the wallballs each round, I was out of breath so I could only do a few wallballs at a time before stopping to catch my breath.

My total time was 16:08.

There was a garbage can nearby and I kept spitting in it... I never did actually puke. But boy was I close. I did this workout once before and almost puked then too... I guess it's just this workout that is like my nemesis.

This afternoon we're heading to the Diamondbacks game! Today is a CrossFit rest day so I plan to layout at the pool after the game, clean up around the house, and do some grocery shopping. Pretty perfect day right?

Kelsalynn

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Muscle-ups

What a shitty-shitty day at work today.

Picking up after other peoples' laziness.

I had a to-do list (I'm the queen of lists) with 12 items on it and instead of working on those, I spent 8 hours fixing another co-workers' wrong doings. We had a deadline, and he had the day off, so I didn't have a choice.

5:00 could not have come fast enough and as soon as it did, I went straight to the gym. A workout was exactly what I needed. I had some serious aggravation that had to go somewhere before heading home.

Tonight's WOD called for 30 muscle-ups. I can't do a full muscle-up so instead, I did 60 seated muscle-ups, which is a modified version where you keep your heels on the ground.

My time was 6:39 and my arms were excrutiating afterwards! They were fatigued and in pain from that many reps!

I loved it though! It was just what the doctor ordered!

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Discipline

Yesterday was a much needed rest day and I made the most of it-

came home from work, ate dinner, took the pup for a walk and then crashed. It was early when I went to bed but you know, sometimes it's just gotta happen.

Tonight I headed to the gym for the WOD which called for 7 rounds of a 1-rep max of a Thruster.

With a thruster, you hold the bar as if you're going to do squats. You squat down, but when you come up, you "thrust" the bar over your head with your upper body.

So it's a squat and a press in one motion.

I really had no idea what I would be able to do as my one rep max. The only other time I've done "thrusters" was when a workout called for 2 rounds of 20 reps. I really wasn't sure.

Here's how I did:
65
70
75
80
85
90
95

On a financial related note, I sent $1,200 to my student loan today and as soon as our tenants pay their rent, I'll be sending in another payment over $1,000. I'll draw attention to the debt payoff bar once it happens. =)

After a strong April budget, I have to say I'm disappointed in our May activity overall. At the end of the day, it came down discipline, and we just didn't have it this month.

First, we bought a laptop when it wasn't budgeted. Regardless of whether we could "afford" it or not, it wasn't budgeted, so we should have waited. We can't go back but I can honestly see how that one action triggered others. It was as if we told ourselves, "Well, our budget is already shot for the month, what's this $5 going to hurt?"

The lack of discipline affected our budget and our areas of our life. We spent money at Dairy Queen eating ice cream, 7-Eleven for slurpees, crap here and crap there... it was just foolish.

And I'm disappointed in myself because I don't usually make foolish decisions. Argh.

On the bright side? We sent $3,300 to our debt in May so obviously, it wasn't ALL bad. I realize that. I know for sure that number could have been higher had we been more careful and disciplined in our decisions.

So, we're going to enter June that much more intense with our budgeting and our path to eliminating this debt by the end of the year.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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From Pull-up High to Pull-up Low

After doing my very first pull-up yesterday, I was on a high to say the least.

I thought I was unstoppable.

So when CrossFit's WOD called for "Barbara" I was pretty excited.

As prescribed, "Barbara" calls for:
5 rounds:
20 pull-ups
30 push-ups
40 sit-ups
50 squats
rest for 3 minutes between each round

Normally I would do the above workout on the assisted pull-up machine, but instead, I decided to go for one of the scaled versions of the above.

It's called "Barbie"... I even emailed Michael in the middle of the day and said, "Sorry Ken, I'm going to kick Barbie's ass tonight."

"Barbie" is:
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 sit-ups
20 squats

I figured if I only had to do 5 at a time, I would be able to do 25 unassisted pull-ups. Right?

I mean, I did my first one yesterday, and I did 12 total, so I can do 25, right?

Wrong.
Wrong.
Wrong.

Barbie kicked my ass. She's a scrappy bitch.

I only made it through the first 2 rounds and then on the 3rd round,I could only do 3 pull-ups.

I wish you could see my hands- they have some pretty icky blisters. They hurt super bad and it was preventing me from being able to grip the pull-up bar completely after a while. It sucked.

I got so mad, I kicked my water ball, threw my towel on the ground and stormed off.

I was not happy with myself at all.

In looking back, I set the bar way too high. I mean, who in their right mind thinks they can more than double their pull-ups on the 2nd attempt?

I was foolish.

The good news?

I increased the number of pull-ups I can do from 12 to 13! Wahoo!

I won't be able to pick up a pen tomorrow at work, but it's totally worth it!

Kelsalynn

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Today was the day...

The CrossFit WOD called for a 5K time trial run. Well, we all know I'm not running, so I decided not to do that WOD.

Instead, Michael and I headed to a local park and used the monkey bars to practice a pull-up. After the workout earlier in the week, I knew I was close to doing one on my own.

To start, I'm doing "kipping" pull-ups which simply means I'm using my body to gain momentum. After I do these for a while, I'll be able to build strength from there. It's the CrossFit recommended approach to doing pull-ups without assistance and since Michael followed it, I know it works. Michael started with kipping pull-ups but now he can do regular pull-ups with a 15-lb dumbbell between his feet... it's all part of the progression.

I failed at first, but didn't give up...

After I did the one above, I worked on getting the rhythm down and doing more than one at a time- some of which actually looked like a full pull-up and others that didn't:



I was a little excited after that 3rd attempt in the 2nd video- can you tell? haha. I feel like this is a huge hurdle to overcome. Just knowing I can do ONE, makes me feel motivated to keep going so I can do more.

I ended up doing a total of 12 pull-ups before we left the park. I'm SOOOO EXCITED! My hands are not loving me right now at all, but it's totally worth it!

We celebrated this achievement with a slurpee on the way home from the park! :)
Kelsalynn

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Vroom Vroom

Come on girl... make it happen today.




Well, Danica pulled off a 3rd place finish in today's Indy 500 race. She ran a strong race and did great! I love her because she is one intense chick. She doesn't take shit from any of the guys and she's quite fierce.

After the race, we headed to the gym for CrossFit Total. The idea, if you remember, if you do a one rep max of a shoulder press, back squat, and deadlift, and the total of all your weight is your score.

Here's how I did on April 16th:
Back Squat = 185
Shoulder press = 65
Deadlift = 175

Total = 425

Today I did the same workout. It's been 38 days.

Back Squat = 205
Shoulder press = 70
Deadlift = 185

Total = 460

I'm still in between the Intermediate and Advanced categories:


On a financial note, my student loan payment was applied yesterday. Nothing major, just my small monthly payment but it was enough to increase my debt payoff total to 70%! This coming Friday is my third paycheck for May so it's entirely extra! You gotta love that right? Come Friday I'll be sending a huge $2,300 check to my student loan balance! I can't wait...

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Perfect timing

Finally- it's FRIDAY! Wahoo!

I really needed the end of the week to come. I really need the weekend.

Michael picked me up from work tonight since he's done at noon on Fridays and we went straight to the gym. It's probably better that we did that b/c if I came home first, I'm not sure I would have been as disciplined as yesterday and actually make it to the gym.

Tonight's workout was "Michael" and it calls for:
3 rounds
800 meter run (1/2 mile)
50 sit-ups
50 back extensions

Since I'm not letting myself sprint yet and my knees and hips reminded me of that after the workout earlier in the week, I opted for a bike instead. Since I figured my pace would have been an 8:00/mile, or 4:00 to go 1/2 mile, I decided to sprint on the bike for 4 minutes as a substitution to the run.

I think it was a good sub...I mean, it was still hard and I think that's what I was going for. I bumped up the resistence, kept my legs cruising, and maintained a high RPM.

My total time was 26:53.

I'm pretty sure I've done this workout once before, but I can't find any blog posts on it, so either I didn't do it, or I just didn't blog about it. Ah well.

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day for CrossFit and it is also the start of my 3-day weekend. How absolutely fabulous is it that those two things fall on the same day??? Oh, how glorious. I'm so happy for a few days off and one of those being a rest day from my workouts as well! Thank you Lord! I will not feel guilty tomorrow when I sit on my duff all day long...

After the week at work that I've had, and the last 6 CrossFit workouts I've put myself through, the timing couldn't be more perfect.

Kelsalynn

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Proud

Three hours ago, when I got home from work, I updated my Twitter to say the following:

"oh my gosh, I'm mentally exhausted. I'm skipping the workout, going to take a bath, paint my toe nails, and read my new mag instead"

After I typed it, I had a little something to eat and then...

Took a bath?
Nope.

Painted my toe nails?
Nope.

Read the magazine I got in the mail?
Nope.

...

Actually, I went and worked out.

Haha. And I'm damn proud of myself for working out because you know what? I did not fricken want to at all. My Twitter account was dead honest... I was mentally exhausted when I got home from work and I wanted nothing else but to take a long, warm bath and lay in bed with my magazine.

Instead, I got my arse to the gym and kicked the crap out of myself.

During my workouts, I always try to "finish strong." Even if I'm dog tired, I tell myself to push it to the end, don't slack off right at the end, just push through the pain all the way. When I was running more, I did the same thing- usually trying to finish with a short sprint or a faster pace at the end of my runs.

Well, I used that same mentality to get myself to the gym tonight. It's Thursday night, I'm nearing the end of an exhausting week and I need to FINISH STRONG. I've been so consistent w/ my workouts lately and I didn't want to end that streak now. Especially with a 3-day weekend ahead, I'll have plenty of time to rest and relax then.

Here's the workout I did - called "Twins":
750 meter row
20 handstand push-ups (modified w/ feet on bench)
750 meter row
20 handstand push-ups
20 65# Thrusters
20 pull-ups (w/ Michael's assistance)
20 65# Thrusters
20 pull-ups (w/ Michael's assistance)

Total time = 25:13

As you can tell, it was all upper body. The row is a pulling motion and the push-ups, well, obviously that's a pushing motion. The Thrusters are a pushing motion and the pull-ups, well, okay, hopefully you guys are catching on... two pushing motions offset with two pulling motions- all upper body.

The workout actually calls for regular pull-ups but I still can't do those. Instead of using the assisted pull-up machine, I used Michael as my assistance. He stood behind me and gave me little nudges when I'd get stuck... I tried to do the round of 20 in sets of 3 or 4 at a time. The first rep, I swear I was almost getting up on my own, but by the 3rd or 4th rep, I'm sure Michael was much more assistance! Poor guy. lol

I can't wait until I can do a pull-up by myself. I can't wait to be that girl.

Kelsalynn

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WOD

Nothing new here... just reporting on a workout I did tonight.

The WOD called for 4 rounds of:
Run 400 meters
50 squats

I was still a little nervous to do any sprints. Last week I ran 2 miles one night and my knees and hips ached for days. But I decided to do the intervals at a slower-than-typical sprint but still faster than a regular pace. I tried to focus on my form the entire time. I ended up doing the intervals at a 8:30/mile pace or a little faster.

On paper, I'll be the first to admit that the workout looks deceptively easy. Let me tell you though, after two rounds of 50 squats, my legs were feeling them. The next two rounds weren't graceful but I completed the full workout in 12:28.

Work has been incredibly crazy lately... I like being busy, I like having so much work that it's almost an art form to fit it all in and get it all done. I love having to multi-task and all that jazz... so I don't really mind, but I can honestly say that I am BEYOND busy lately.

We're going through our annual "interim" audit from the Corporate office right now and all of our documents and back-up is due by Friday...this happens every year so we knew this was coming. But, in addition to this "review", we were also randomly chosen by a third-party auditing company that will review only a few offices each year. We are one of them. All of their document requests are due by next Friday.

And, as if that wasn't enough, our office was also randomly chosen as one of the Corporate Officer's SITE VISITS that happens in July. Okay, I know what you're thinking, "July? that's a long way away..." but we have to start preparing now. There's a lot to do. And all of this stuff is just in addition to all of the day-to-day tasks I have on my plate.

But I love it. I've been happier at work the past couple of weeks than I have been in a while. I love the pressure and I love witnessing the never-ending communication and constant collaboration I see from all team members.

But I'm sleepy when I get home- drained from running around all day long at work.

I'm just glad I found the energy to workout tonight.

Kelsalynn

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WOD = Workout from HELL

I'm calling it now.

I haven't even tried it, but I already know it's going to suck.

I'll be leaving in about 45 minutes to do the WOD for CrossFit and

it's.going.to.kick.my.ass.

I might be puking tonight.

Here's what it calls for:
1/2 body weight bench press - 20 reps
500 meter row
1/2 body weight bench press - 10 reps
1000 meter row
1/2 body weight bench press - 5 reps
2000 meter row

I'm not even sure if I can bench press 1/2 my weight - i.e. 65 pounds so I plan to just do as much as possible.

Oh man. Mom, I think my tummy is upset, I can't go to school er, I mean, the gym tonight.

Oh no, wait, that's AFTERWARDS that I'll be barfing, not before.

I'll update tonight when I get back...

****UPDATE****

I'm back from the workout and yes, it kicked butt. We did have to tweak it a bit though b/c Monday night at the gym is insane... lots of people and lots of meat heads. Since the workout called for a bench press and a circuit (meaning we'd start and stop using the bench all while expecting others to wait for us to finish).

So, we decided to modify the workout slightly- instead of a bench press, I did push-ups and I did 30, 20, then 10 reps. Doesn't sound like a lot of push-ups, but after rowing 500, 1000, and 2000 meters, my arms were pretty fatigued.

I am proud to report that I did not stop during any of the row intervals; I was able to complete all 2000 meters during that last round without stopping. It wasn't easy, but gosh darnit, I just kept pressing on, pressing on.

My time for the entire workout was 21:25! I was D-renched when it was all said and done.

I had quite the adrenaline rush when it was over though... it was such an energizing workout for some reason. I felt pumped when I was done.
Kelsalynn

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Sunday's WOD

We just got back from the gym and had a kick butt workout.

No name, just a WOD (workout of the day) from CrossFit.

3 rounds of:
100 feet walking lunges
20 2ft box jumps
20 pull-ups (assisted level 9)

My time was 10:59.

The walking lunges and box jumps would tire me out cardio-wise, but the pull-ups were a killer. It was the first time I've done a WOD on level 9 assist so I'm really pumped about that. Level 9 assist means I got assistance on 46 pounds. Since I weigh 135 pounds-ish, this means I able to pull-up 66% of my weight, if I did the math right. It's a long way from doing one pull-up without any assistance, but I know it's a huge improvement from where I was so I know I'll get there. When I first started doing pull-ups, I was on level 18 assistance (the higher the worse b/c it means you require MORE assistance). Big difference...

So, 60 pull-ups on level 9 was really fricken tough. The last round I could only do 2-3 pull-ups at a time without stopping, shaking my arms, then doing a couple more.

Now we're heading to the library, then grocery shopping...

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Diane

Currently I'm on the CrossFit schedule which is three days on, one day off, repeat.

Once in a while I'll fall off for one reason or another and be one day behind for a while until it works out again that I'm right on track with it.

Friday was a rest day. Check.

Today was "Diane." Check.

Diane calls for:
21-15-9 reps of-
135 pounds deadlifts
Handstand push-ups

I can't do a handstand and do a push-up at the same time (I come toppling down), so I do a modified version with my feet on a bench, my booty in the air, and then a push-up from there.

My time was 9:17. I'm pretty pumped about the deadlifts. My one rep max is 175-180 so the fact that I did 45 reps at 135 is pretty exciting. This probably means I need to shoot for a higher one rep max next time, but honestly, it's not necessarily my legs that make the weight difficult- it's my grip strength. I have a hard time holding onto the bar when it's that heavy, even if my legs could do the motion. Today's workout definitely helped strengthen my grips though, that's for sure. I could feel my forearms aching while I was doing it while my legs were shaking.

Then Michael and I played raquetball for 20 minutes or so... that was fun. I used to have pretty good hand-eye coordination, but I must be getting old or maybe it was the fatigue because I suck. When we played more often, I was improving, but I could definitely tell that it's been a while b/c boy oh boy, did this girl swing and miss a few times!

The weather this past week has been 100+ degrees consistently now. I actually don't mind it and am still biking to and from work (in the AM it's mid-80's). There is one reason, however, that I don't appreciate the heat.

My pets are shedding SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad. It's terrible. I can't keep the dog and cat hair under control right now at all. I feel like we need to vacuum and sweep every day. How are my pets not bald? That's what I want to know... I keep telling them they need to pick up after themselves but they don't listen. I also tell them they need to start pulling their own weight around here but they don't seem to care about that either.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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WOD

After yesterday's workout, I was happy to see that today's WOD (workout of the day) did not have anything to do with arms.

The WOD was 5 rounds of the following:

30 Glute-Ham Sit-ups
25 Back Extensions

I did this workout on April 1st- you can read about it here if you want.

On April 1st, my time was 13:03.
Tonight, my time was 11:30!

So I took about a minute and a half off my time.

I only took a couple of breaks during the final couple of rounds of sit-ups. I honestly don't know how I could do that WOD any faster... I was keeping a pretty steady pace the entire time.

On a financial note, I sent $1,000 to my last shitty-bank student loan and updated the payoff totals on the right.

Below $19,000 remaining...

Oh, I know what else- Enterprise (where I work) is very involved in United Way and in fact, it's the only charity that the company will allow to come and actually "market" to its employees. We have huge campaigns company-wide and all sorts of stuff in order to encourage increased donations (i.e. competitions) and community involvement.

Last week I was asked to be the United Way "ambassador" for the Phoenix region of ERAC. I thought it sounded like a good idea and a way for me to give back, but that's as far as my thoughts really went with it. But today, I met with some of the committee members from United Way and learned more of the details and what my role will actually be. NOW I'm REALLY excited!!! I can't wait to start volunteering and putting myself out there. I've been wanting to give back for some time b/c I really do feel blessed for a number of reasons and want to share those blessings. This will open my eyes to what opportunities are out there.

Kelsalynn

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Frah Lah Lah

We finally got a new laptop... it only took us a few days to scoop one up.

We shopped at every possible electronics store possible and found a good deal on a Toshiba- nothing fancy and actually a lot less fancy than our last one, but it delivers on helping me to update this blog- what more could a girl ask for???

To update you on the past few days, last night I did a workout with a bunch of power cleans. I could only get up to about 85 pounds, which was frustrating b/c I would try 90 pounds, but couldn't get the bar up no matter how hard I tried.

I actually plan to blame the whole fiasco on the music at the gym... ugh, it's been so annoying lately- a lot of Christina Aguilera (whom I love, but not when working out) and love songs. WTF right? I just couldn't get into the workout last night at all.

Not tonight though.

Tonight, I kicked some major booty!!!

I didn't get home until almost 7 pm which means I put in a 12 hour day easily. I almost fell asleep waiting for Michael to come home so we could head to the gym together and he was 5 minutes away. I didn't think my workout was going to be all that great.

Tonight was "Cindy"
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 pull-ups (level 10 assist)
10 push-ups
15 squats

I ended up completing 17 ROUNDS!!!

17!!!

This means I did:
85 pull-ups
170 push-ups
255 squats

Did you read that??? This chica did 170 push-ups and no, they weren't modified!!! Holy crap right?

I honestly remember like a year ago when I could only do 15 push-ups at a time. It's unbelievable to me (and I was there) that I did that many push-ups tonight.

Thanks to all those pull-ups and push-ups, I'm not sure I'll be able to lift my arms tomorrow, but hey, totally worth it right???

I'll be trying to get caught up on everyone's blogs this weekend... FYI.

Kelsalynn

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uh-oh

Well, looks like our laptop finally gave up this weekend.

Yesterday, it went from working fine one minute, to totally crashing the next.

It's 3 years old and I guess laptops are really only expected to last that long anyway. Go figure.

So, Michael and I are now shopping for a new laptop because honestly, we can't live without a computer at home. Sounds stupid, I know, but I could more easily live without cable and a TV then a computer.

The problem is that it's not in the budget.

Hmm...

What do we do?

Well, we always have a buffer in our checking account and we're going to use that. The laptop that just died cost almost $2,000 when we bought it three years ago. It was a really nice one and it still only survived for the three years we were told was its expected life span.

So, we're going to buy a cheaper version this time- less than $500 b/c if they only last a couple of years, what's the point of spending a ton of money?

Plus, it's not like we use it for anything high-tech. We mostly surf the internet and use Excel or Word and that's about it. We're not needing a super computer here...

We're actually kind of excited to find one that's smaller too- they have a lot of "mini" laptops now that are easier to transport so we like that idea.

Anyway, I might be MIA for a while depending on whether we find one soon or if it takes a little while (I'm currently typing this from work)...

Kelsalynn

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Workout and pics

I was pretty lazy this Saturday morning. I sat on the couch until 12:30 or 1:00... doing a whole lot of nothing.

Finally, I found the energy after lunch to head to the gym.

I did 4 x 500 meters on the rowing machine. Can I just tell you how much that machine sucks?

My times were
2:04
2:04
2:07
2:12

So my total workout was just over 8 minutes, and thats it... but it was an extremely intense 8 minutes.

That machine is an amazing source of cardiovascular workout.

Michael's friends from college were turning 30 tonight and the theme was "30 and Still Sexy" (they made it up). We're only 27, but figured we could still be sexy too.

We met at ZTejas for dinner just after 7:00 then we went clubbing.

Here's a pic from dinner:

Let me say that "clubbing" is really not my thing. The only exception is if I'm with my girls- Lexi and Amy. Otherwise, it's just not my idea of fun. You know when a good song starts and girls scream and run onto the dance floor? Yeah, that's not me. I'd much rather go to a pub or a bar with pool tables and just chill than dance.

The club we went to was actually a bunch of different bars under one roof- country, 70's disco, booty-shakin', karaoke, and even pool tables. Perfect for everyone! We had fun playing pool...









And here's one from the ride home- we were laughing at something, I don't remember what...


I hope everyone else has a great weekend!

Kelsalynn

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Really?

This is going to be another boring post and I'm sorry...

CrossFit's workouts of the day (WOD's) have all been olympic-type lifts lately. I actually really enjoy them and they're a tough workout, but they don't leave a lot to blog about.

The other day I did the cleans, then I did the push jerks, and today's workout combined the two and I did 30 clean and jerks at 55 pounds.

See? What else can I add? I didn't have a stop watch but I looked at the clock and I did 30 of them in about 8 minutes.

I exercised before work this morning and took a shower at the gym. It's right across the street from the office so I just walked over afterwards. It was easier than I anticipated and getting ready at the gym wasn't too bad either.

And there's not anything new happening with our finances so I can't blog about that... man, my life is just boring right now isn't it? (Don't answer that.)

We both get paid next week and out of those checks, I'm planning to send over $1,000 to my student loans. But until then, I'm just waiting patiently. I guess it's blog-worthy to tell you that the Globetrotters called Michael yesterday and he's going to be traveling with them randomly. Michael's full-time job schedule is that he gets off at noon on Fridays. It just so happens that they need someone to fly out Friday afternoons to various cities, work the weekend, then fly back on Sunday evenings. It's not EVERY weekend or even every other... it's totally random so he'll have some exhausting weeks here and there but the opportunity is well worth it!

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Another documented workout

Okay, yet another post for simple record-keeping purposes.

I did 7, one rep rounds of a push jerk at the following weights:

55
65
75
75
80
85
90

Then I did an hour of yoga class, which was great. I get a little bored during some poses, they just don't seem to do much for my attention span. Other than that though, the class really opens up my hips and stretches my hamstrings.

I'm babysitting for a friend on Thursday night so I won't be working out. Catch ya'll on Friday!

Kelsalynn

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Big deal

Ladies and gentlemen,

Boys and girls,

It's official!!

We have LESS THAN $20,000 of debt remaining! WAHOO!

The balance on our two remaining student loans is $19,639.68!

Shittybank cashed our checks from last week so I was able to update my debt payoff bar!

We've paid of 68% of our debt! Cool right?

You know what's even cooler? We've paid off 68% OR $41,313.07! Holy crap right? That's a lot of money... I can't wait to be debt free so we can start spending some! Oh wait, that's probably not wise... anyway...

It feels so incredibly awesome!

We're so close I can taste it.

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Record-keeping

This blog is mainly for my purposes of tracking my workouts for easy reference later.

Tonight I did 5 rounds of 3 reps each of a front squat.

My weights were 45, 50, 55, 65, and 75.

Not a heavy weight by any means, but the form of this exercise was new to me so I was focusing mainly on proper arm position and posture.

A front squat is when you hold the bar in front of your body... you know, this is too hard to try and explain with words... let's see if I can find a photo.

Here's how you hold it- notice it "rests" on your upper arm.

And here's what you look like when you squat down- notice you keep your elbows up and abs engaged the entire time:



You can imagine that physically holding the bar up is harder than the actual squat move, which is why I didn't try to do a ton of weight.

Next time, I'll try to bump it up a bit.

Kelsalynn

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As Rx'd

"As Rx'd"--- maybe you know already, but this means "as prescribed."

A lot of the workouts I do for Crossfit I might not do them "as prescribed." They require more weight than I can typically lift for example so I'll use one of the scaled versions. For every workout that CrossFit posts, they also post a "scaled" version of the workout at various levels so you can build up to the prescribed workout.

Of course, if I think I might be able to do the workout as prescribed, I go for it.

Lately, I've been feeling really great about my workouts- I feel strong and healthy and I've seen improvements from months ago to now. Needless to say, I've been really excited to workout each day and just keepin' at it.

Today I did "Hansen" which called for the following:

5 ROUNDS OF:
1.5 pood kettlebell swing x 30 (1.5 pood = approx. 50 lbs)
Burpees x 30
GH sit-ups x 30 (sit-ups on a decline ab bench- hands go over your head w/ each rep)

In other words, you do 150 kettlebell swings, 150 burpees, and 150 sit-ups. Each of those exercises alone would be a workout so to combine them and try to do it for time was hell. I can honestly say this was one of the most difficult workouts I've ever done and I'm proud to say I did it AS RX'D! Wahoo!

My total time was 30:55 which I figured out is one rep every 4 seconds. =) haha.

On another note, a few weeks ago (see "crossfit total" label) I briefly mentioned a workout where I did a one rep max of a shoulder press, squat, and deadlift. You total your weight of each exercise and that's your total score. My score was "425".

Apparently, this # tells you something. I didn't realize it at the time or I'm sure I would have blogged about it. Michael pointed it out to me this weekend and let's just say, I was totally stunned with the results.

My weight fluctuations from 130-135 so we'll just say 135 to be conservative. That means a score of 425 is right in the middle of the "intermediate" and "advanced" rankings! That's pretty crazy right?

Makes me feel pretty damn good though!

Here's a picture of Michael and I at Kiwanis Park yesterday where we just sat and read for a little while before dinner and a movie.



At the DBacks baseball game a week ago where it was HELLA hot so we were all sweaty and nasty.



Have a great week everyone!
Kelsalynn

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cannot feel my arms

After tricep dips for the second time in a week yesterday, it hurt to lift my toothbrush this morning.

My arms are sooooo sore.

So when I pulled up the CrossFit workout for today and saw that it was my absolute favorite, I was excited and sad at the same time. I wanted to kill it, but didn't know if I'd be able to because of how sore my arms are.

I've blogged about this workout before (see "tabata" label)- it's called "Tabata Something Else." The last time I did it was December 29th and I had improved by 65 points overall.

The idea of "Tabata Something Else" is 8 rounds of 4 different exercises for a total of 32 rounds. Each round is 20 seconds with a 10 second rest and you do all 8 rounds of one exercise before moving on.

The four exercises are:
1. Pull-ups
2. Push-ups
3. Sit-ups
4. Squats

So, I did 8- 20 second rounds of pull-ups before moving on to push-ups. Needless to say, by the time I was done w/ the first two rounds, your arms are NUMB with PAIN.

Here's what my totals looked liked 4 months ago:
Pull-ups 63
Push-ups 73
Sit-ups 90
Squats 142
TOTAL = 368

In looking at those numbers, I honestly didn't think I'd be able to beat it. I mean, 73 push-ups is a lot and with my arms as sore as they were... it wasn't looking good.

Here's what my totals looked like tonight:
Pull-ups 87 (+24)
Push-ups 94 (+21)
Sit-ups 119 (+29)
Squats 149 (+7)
TOTAL = 449 (+81)

Pretty crazy right?

I can honestly say that this is by far one of the best attributes of CrossFit--- you're constantly seeing improvement even if you don't realize it from day to day. You'll do a workout one month and down the road, you'll do it again and really kill it without realizing how much stronger you've become. It's gratification and reward at their finest.

Tonight, I will sleep really well!!! :) Tomorrow, Michael and I are planning to have a "date" day. His sister moved out this past week since her internship was done, so we're looking forward to the entire day by ourselves. We're going to the dog park, the art museum, dinner, and even a movie. Sounds like a great day huh?

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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