The Friday Five – Facebook Memories Edition

So a while ago Facebook started showing you “memories” from previous years on whatever day it is.  I’ve been getting a kick out of those as it’s a nice trip down memory lane, and it’s been reminding me of not only good times I’ve had with friends and family, but also good eats that I’ve made in the past and forgotten about.  Here are some of my recent “foodie” memories.  Most of these recipes are listed on my “recipes you have to try page”, but I’ve also provided links to the recipes below.

1. Lean Green Bean Frozen Peanut Butter Cups.  
   
   

   

   These little beauties are quick and easy to make, and since I made them in a mini muffin tin, I don’t feel the least bit guilty about enjoying then as an afternoon treat at work or at night while watching tv.  I currently have some in my freezer at home and at the office! Find the recipe here.

2. Clean Eating Mediterranean Veg & White Bean Pasta.
   This is a delicious and quick pasta dinner.  It’s loaded with veggies and the feta cheese is a nice tangy topping.  Find the recipe here.  I like this one since it usually gives me 2 leftover meals for lunches at work.
3. Clean Eating Mongolian-Style Beef Crepes
   The bundle of deliciousness popped up in my memory feed this week and I am definitely adding it to next weeks menu when I do my meal planning this weekend.  I had totally forgotten about these, but do remember how tasty they were and I’m looking forward to making them again.  Find the recipe here.
4. Clean Eating Spaghetti Carbonara with Chicken Sausage
   I had totally forgotten about this recipe too.  I went through quite a phase of cooking from Clean Eating magazine when I first started trying to eat better and exercise more.   I made this last Sunday and it was even better than I remember it.  So good and it will definitely not be another 3 years before I make this again.
5. This last memory is not food related, but friend related.  For the last 5 years, in early April, I have gone to Brockville to play hockey with my best girls.  This year, we were initially planning to go to Nashville for a tourney instead, but that fell through as it became a bit too expensive and people figured the hockey would get in the way of our drinking.  So, we changed to a tourney the same weekend in Niagara Falls.  All was good, except 2 weeks before the tourney, it got cancelled 😦  It seems lots of teams said they were coming and then never sent their cheques in, so the organizer cancelled.  We couldn’t do Brockville this year because many of the girls had other commitments that weekend and we didn’t have enough to ice a team.  So, we didn’t get our tourney weekend in this year.  That made us all a bit sad, because the Corona Crushers really know how to have a good time at a tourney.  Here’s the memory that came up this week from last year’s tourney.  Love you crazy chicks.  xo
   

I’m sure I will be making more memories this weekend as it’s the Third Annual Jelly Bean Ball – a fundraiser my friend has for Community Living.  If history repeats itself, and I’m sure it will, we will eat, drink, dance and be merry until the wee hours of the morning.  Can’t wait!

Happy weekend!  The weather in the Toronto area is finally looking like spring.  As soon as I hit publish I’m heading to the back deck to enjoy a nice, cold Corona!  Cheers!

Are you enjoying the Facebook memory feature?

The Friday Five – Monday Edition

I started writing this post on Friday, but didn’t quite get it finished, so here’s my Friday/Monday Five!

Wow!  It’s April already…how did that happen?  Time is just flying by.  Once again, it’s been a while since I posted, so let’s get caught up with a Friday Five.

1. We had another great March Break at Okemo!  This was our 9th year going skiing for March Break and the 9th year we have had a fantastic time.  The snow was not the best this year. In fact, if you just judged by the snow seen from the tow, you might doubt we would be able to ski:
   The snowmakers at Okemo are always winning awards, and they were really kept busy this winter with the lack of snow in the East.  The only snow in the whole area was on the runs!
   
   The snow was not the best, but we still managed to have fun on the slopes.  We also had a good time with our aprés ski time!  I ate way too much cheese and drank too much beer, but that’s what vacations are for, right?
2. We extended our March Break with a trip to Cuba!  Last year we went to Cuba with some friends and had such a good time we decided to do it again, and expand the group to include 2 more families.  This year, we were a group of 19 and we had an awesome week of fun in the sun.
   
   We enjoyed lots of time on the beach, by the pool, had a few long walks on the beach, and we all experienced our first foam party!  It was pretty fun!
   
   We also chartered a 45 foot boat for a day and did some deep sea fishing, explored a “virgin beach”, had a great lunch on the boat, did some snorkeling…and we even caught a few fish.  My son Jackson caught the biggest fish of the day.  He was thrilled!
   
3. I had to do 16.5 in Cuba!  We were going to be in Cuba the whole time that 16.5 was “open”.  I checked the announcement on Thursday night – was less than thrilled to see if was 14.5 again, since that workout SUCKED HUGE!!  See here for that recap. After the announcement, I checked out the resort gym o Friday morning to see if they had what I would need for the workout.  Thankfully, they had barbells, so I was set. I would be able to do the workout – yay!  Ugh!  I decided to do the workout Saturday morning.  I didn’t drink Friday, since I was pretty sure 16.5 was going to suck enough all on it’s own that being hungover would be a bad idea.I stressed a bit about the workout on Friday, trying to decide between RX and scaled.  In 14.5 they didn’t have a scaled option, so I had to do RX.  Saturday morning, I rowed for a few minutes and did some stretching, and then started warming up my thrusters.  The gym was hot and the bar felt heavy after 2 weeks away from the gym.  Plus I was on vacation, so I cut myself some slack and decided to go scaled.  In the end, scaled was still a hell of a workout.  I was a soggy mess by the end, but I was proud of myself for doing it…and enjoyed many cocktails on the beach that afternoon!  Note my very official scorecard!
   
4. I’m going to strength foundations classes.   Hockey season is over and my Thursday night’s are open, so I’m going to start going to Strength Foundations.  This class at my CrossFit that focuses on the three powerlifing lifts.  It is run by  Coach Andrew.  He’s an elite powerlifter who has won Provincial Championships, and for a relatively small guy, can lift a shit ton of weight.  In the strength foundations class, Andrew helps “fix” our back squat, bench press, and deadlift.  I’m super pumped to be able to finally be able to go to this class.  I haven’t been doing heavy deadlifts a almost 2 years since I tweaked my back in 14.3 and the deadlift ladder.  I’m hoping that Andrew can help me fix my form and get me back to lifting without pain.I went to my first class last Thursday and Andrew assessed each lift and gave me a few things to work on for each lift.  This week he will create a program for me now that he’s seen where I’m starting from.  I’m super pumped to get strong!
   
5. I rode a bull!  Saturday night a bunch of CrossFit ladies went out to a bar in downtown Toronto to celebrate Coach Michelle’s birthday.  We started with a pre-party at Michelle’s house to get things started – isn’t this a great looking group of strong women!
   
   Party organizer Coach Katrina had arranged for a limo bus to take us to and from the bar – pretty sweet ride, eh?
   
   Everyone brought a few “travellers” on the bus and we were off to the Rock ‘N Horse Saloon.  I’d never been there before – no real surprise  since I couldn’t tell you the last time that I went out to a club or bar.  I was glad we went here since it meant I could wear jeans, a plaid shirt, and cowboy boots and not have to worry about buying a “club” outfit!  Everyone grabbed a drink from the bar, then a few of us tackled the bull.  This is not the best picture, but it’s me on the bull, holding on for dear life!
   
   Once everyone had their turn on the bull, it was time to dance…and dance we did! We danced until we got dragged off the dance floor and back onto the bus to head home.  It was a much less active ride home as the drinks and dancing took their toll on quite a few!  I won’t mention any names, but more than a few ladies “napped” on the drive home.  Everyone had a great time and agreed we needed to do it again sometime.  I can’t wait!

Now I’m home from the gym and looking forward to getting to bed. It takes me a little longer to recover from those late nights now!  

How has April been treating you so far?  

We got 6 inches of snow last night. Mother Nature needs to get her shit together. It’s April showers, not April snow! 

The Friday Five

It has been quite some time since I’ve done a Friday Five (apparently my last one was October 16!) Yikes!  Oh well…let’s get to it.

1. I am on vacation!   Next week is March Break here in Ontario, and as has been tradition for the last 9 or so years, we are off to Okemo Mountain in Ludlow, VT for our annual ski week with friends and family.  It should be an interesting trip, since the weather isn’t exactly cooperating for skiing.  While Okemo makes snow and has some of the best conditions in the East right now, they can’t do much when it’s well above freezing!  The snow is melting and the forecast continues to look warm for the week (those temps are in Celcius, by the way)
   
2. From the slopes to the beach!  When we get back from Okemo, we are home for a day or so, and then we are off to Cuba for a week of fun in the sun.  We went to Cuba last year with some friends in May, and they wanted to go back.  This week works well since Easter is in there, so the kids only miss a few days of school.   We are going back to the same resort – Iberostar Mojito.  It is not the best resort we have ever been to, but it’s cheap, clean and will do the trick.  We had a good time there last year, so we’re pretty confident we will again.  Two more families are joining us this year, so we are pretty much guaranteed to have a good time!. Can’t wait for this view again!
   
3. We are smack in the middle of the CrossFit Open.  Tonight I will be hitting Friday Night Lights at our gym to do 16.3.
   
   This should be an interesting one, since I’m pretty sure I can’t do a bar muscle up.  I’ve actually never done a jumping chest to bar pull-up either, so that will keep things fun!  I’m thinking I will end up going scaled for this, although, there have been lots of video’s posted on the gym facebook page of people getting their first bar muscle ups, so I may have to take a little time to give that a try.  I’m pretty sure I can be at least this graceful: (click the image to be taken to the video..it’s quite funny)
   

4. I’ve been a reading machine!  While my blogging record for the year has been pitiful, my reading game has been on point!  I finished my 20th book early this morning (after midnight while reading before going to sleep).  I’ve enjoyed all but one book that I read.  I did not like book 19 – How Should A Person Be, by Sheila Heli.  I just couldn’t get into it.  I thought about stopping, but it was supposed to be good, and I saw it on a list of 21 books from the last 5 years every woman should  by the Huffington Post, so trudged through.  I was so happy to finally be done.  In the end, I have no idea how a person should be!
5. I’m hoping to stick to my macro plan while on vacation.  I’ve been doing a pretty good job lately of sticking within my macro ranges.  The scale has not been plummeting, but I’m feeling pretty good, sleeping like a rock, and feeling strong in the gym.  I realize that there will be some indulgences on vacation (beer and Vermont Sharp Cheddar while at Okemo) and blender drinks in Cuba, but I’m hoping I can eat well around those treats.  I’m also going to pack my workout gear for both trips. I know for a fact I will have to do at least 1 workout in Cuba since 16.5 happens while I’m there and scores need to be submitted before I get back.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s a simple workout since I’m going to be at the mercy of the resort gym.  I’ve looked online, and from what I can tell, they have a rowing machine and some “free weights” which I hope means barbell and plates.  Dave Castro, if you are reading this, please make 16.5 7 minutes of burpees, then I won’t need any equipment at all!

Happy Friday, everyone.

If you are doing the Open, how’s it going so far?  

The Friday Five

For a short week, this week seemed to go on forever!  TGIF!  Time for a Friday Five!

1.  I am 100% on the Toronto Blue Jays bandwagon!  I will admit, for the most part, I am not a big baseball fan.  I watched the Jays back in their glory days when they won back to back world series in ’92 and ’93, but haven’t kept up much since then. That is until recently.  These guys are on fire and since I started watching more in September, I can’t get enough of them.  And then Wednesday night happened.  HOLY COW!  That was the most exciting baseball game I have ever seen.  It had everything…for an excellent and humorous summary of the game check out this article from NBC Sports.  Jose Bautista ROCKS!

TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 14: Jose Bautista #19 of the Toronto Blue Jays throws his bat up in the air after he hits a three-run home run in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers in game five of the American League Division Series at Rogers Centre on October 14, 2015 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 583944595 ORIG FILE ID: 492684094

I will be glued to my TV tonight at 8:07 for Game 1 of the ALCS vs Kansas City Royals.  Let’s go, Blue Jays!!!  #cometogether

2.  I am doing horribly with my plank challenge.  It pretty much isn’t happening.  I lasted maybe 5 days and then haven’t done it since 😦  not good, but oh well.  I know I really should work on this skill, since I suck at it, and getting a stronger core would help me in the gym, but I just can’t seem to bring myself to do it daily.  I thought maybe a plank challenge would get me to do it, but apparently it wasn’t the right motivation and didn’t have enough accountability for me to stick with it.

3.  I am doing amazing with my mobility challenge!  I signed up for the 5 day a week version of the monthly member challenge at my CrossFit gym.  We are 2 weeks in and I have met my goal for both weeks.  This challenge differs from the plank one in that there is a google doc that we go in and fill in each day when we complete our 20 minutes of mobility.  This seems to be enough accountability to keep me going.  Plus, stretching and mobility feel so good that I don’t mind doing it.  I’ve even brought a lacrosse ball to work and roll my feet while I work.  I’m actually rolling as I type this post!

4.  I’m creeping slowly towards my goal of 30 books read in 2015.  I’ve finished 24 books, so only 6 left.  I’ve read some good ones…see here for the full list.

5.  I had a rough class at CrossFit.  I went to the 4:30 class and all was good.  We worked on Power Snatch for strength and they felt good.  Coach said I had good bar path and the lifts felt good.  The MetCon was 2 separate EMOMs:
I used 55# for the snatches and they felt good.  Really worked on keeping a nice straight bar path.  Still lots of room for improvement, but was pretty happy with them today.  For the second EMOM I did 5 pull-ups a round, since I still can’t link together more than 3 at a time and my coach wanted me to still get a bit of rest each round.  They were feeling pretty good and then on the 4th set of pull-ups, this happened:
OUCH!  When it happened I could tell it was a bad one.  It is deep and it bled quite a bit.  That was the end of my pull-ups, so I just did air squats for the last round.  Let me tell you, washing it up after class stung like a mofo!  I’ve loaded it up with antibiotic ointment and covered it with a big band-aid, but I can still feel it.  Hopefully it heals up quickly, but I’m pretty sure Toes To Bar in tomorrow’s WOD won’t be happening for me.  I will give it a shot, but I’m thinking candlesticks might be in my future instead.  The rest of tomorrow’s WOD shouldn’t bother it – back squats for strength and then row, burpees and double-unders for the MetCon.  Time will tell 🙂

I’m off to watch the Jays kick Kansas City’s ass.  Go Jays, Go!

Happy weekend, everyone!

The Friday Five – 5 Recipes I Want To Try

Happy Friday!  I thought I would do a Friday Five, since I haven’t done one in forever!

This Friday Five is going to be 5 recipes I want to try.  I follow many food blogs and Facebook pages and constantly find awesome recipes that I save to my Pocket account so I can easily find them when I’m ready to cook.  Here are 5 recipes that I’ve recently saved, but haven’t tried yet.  (NOTE:  all photos come from the websites of the recipe creators)

1.  Slow Cooker Cheesy Mexican Quinoa from Chelsy’s Messy Apron

2.  Slow Cooker Cranberry Apple Chicken, from the Lean Green Bean

3.  Spiralized Mexican Sweet Potato and Chicken Casserole, by Skinnytaste

4.  Butternut Squash and Chick Pea Coconut Curry, by Tasty Yummies

5.  Crock Pot Coconut Peanut Curry Chicken, by Cara’s Cravings

Looking at this list I realize two things…I seem to be getting ready for crock pot season, and I have a strange attraction to casseroles!

I’m thinking I need to add at least one of these to this week’s menu plan.  I just need to decide which one…they all look so good!

If you were making one of these recipes, which one would it be?
Do you have any great recipes you think I need to try?

The Friday Five

Despite wanting to post more often, I seem to be sticking to my once a month updates 😦  Life is just too busy. 🙂

Let’s get right to it.

1.  Golf has started!  I love golf.   I am horrible, but I love it!  I may be horrible at it, but I’m actually much better than I was when I first started back into it a few years ago.  My handicap now sits at 27.7 (much improved over 33.3 that it used to be!) and my goal for the year is to get it to 25.0.  I’ve whittled a few strokes off my handicap every year.  Hopefully I’ve got a few more good shots in me to drop it to my goal.  We played a scramble format this week, so I didn’t keep my own score, but I had a number of good shots, made some nice chips onto the green, and my putting wasn’t too bad at all.  I’m looking forward to getting out there once a week and chasing the ball around the course.

2.  Ball hockey has started!  I miss my skates.  There is no coasting in ball hockey.  If you don’t run, you don’t move!  It was nice to see all the girls again.  Most of them I don’t see over the winter, so there was a lot of catching up going on in the dressing room.   We seem to remember how to play, and we won our first game 2-0.  We had the 10pm game, so there was no parking lot tailgate action this week, but I’m sure once we get rolling, parking lot Beves and Coronas will be happening!

The 2013 team…most of us are the same, with a few new additions this year.

3.   My back is still not 100% but is slowly getting better.  I’ve been seeing my physio guy twice a week up until this week, as I’ve graduated to once a week treatments.  I’ve been doing my exercises and it feels pretty good.  Once in a while something will tweak it and I’m reminded not to push it.   I was worried about ball hockey since running doesn’t feel the best, but for the most part it was okay.  I just kept my shifts really short and if it started to hurt, I went off.  I’ve modified most WODs at the gym and hopefully soon I can start lifting heavier again.

4.  I’m doing the Whole Life Challenge….again!  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve done the WLC.   This time, it’s a little different.  My CrossFit is calling it the WLC+ and they have designed eating plans for us based on our workout frequency, body weight, and goals.  It is a macro based plan, with assigned requirements for grams of protein, carbs, and fats per day.  They are teaching us about fueling for WODs and eating for recovery.  It is all very interesting.  Based on this, I have to eat MUCH more than I usually do…which is fun, and challenging.   So far, I have yet to hit my macro targets for grams.  I’ve come close once, but most days I am way under.  I am working on gradually increasing my intake to meet my targets.  Hopefully by next week I will be there.  I am diligently tracking my food on My Fitness Pal and constantly searching for high carb/high protein/low-fat food.  Since I’m focusing more on the macro part of this, I am only doing the Kick Start level for WLC which is not nearly as restrictive as the other levels, so I can still eat rice, corn, and sugar in some prepared foods.  It’s pretty much no bread/flour/pasta, no sugar in baked goods/coffee/candy – no chai lattes for me 😦 , no beer, no pop (regular or diet) and no junk food.  I’m okay with that, and I’m looking forward to the next 8 weeks to see how my workouts and body improve.

5.  I’m on vacation! As of tomorrow afternoon, you will find me on the beach in Cayo Coco, Cuba at the Iberostar Mojito!  We are off for a week of fun in the sun with some friends of ours.  It should be a fun time.  The kids are all so excited – there are 5 of them between the two families so they should have no problem entertaining themselves!   I’m pretty sure I will lose all my WLC nutrition points, but I’m still going to try to hit my macros while I’m there.  I’m not going to beat myself up when things go off the rails..I’m on vacation!!!  I’m looking forward to the heat (although it is finally nice here in Toronto), the beach, the cold beer and the Mojitos!  So, don’t expect a blog post next week…but I will likely be updating my Instagram account, so feel free to follow along there!
Happy Friday!

See you in a week!!! 

The Friday Five

Hello Friday….I love you!

I haven’t done a Friday Five in quite some time.  Let’s see if I can get caught up on a few of the things going on with me.

1.  I’ve hurt my back.   I actually hurt it last year, and it eventually got better, but it has been acting up over the hockey season and then finally last Thursday at the gym it decided it had enough, and heavy kettle bell swings put it over the edge.  Friday I stopped and didn’t finish a WOD for the first time since I started CrossFit.  It sucked.  My coach gave me the name of a physio guy who is supposed to be great and I went to see him today.

Apparently my hamstrings are tight, I have a glute that doesn’t fire, my hip flexors are tight, and all this affects the way my leg moves, making me use my back to help me walk rather than just for stability.  Who knew!  Anyways, an hour and a half later, I was stretched, poked, cracked, had my hip “scoured” (it feels as awful as it sounds), stabbed and electrocuted (I had acupuncture on my hip/glute).  I’ve got some stretches and exercises to do that should help strengthen my hip and glutes.  I guess time will tell.  I see him again next week.  Fingers crossed it all works!

2.  I’ve started watching Game of Thrones.    Holy crap this show is crazy!  How did I manage to go so long without watching?  I’m 5 episodes in and absolutely loving it.  I feel like I need a cheat sheet to figure out who belongs to which kingdom and I have no idea “where” everything is in relation to each other.  Guess I need to hit up google for a Game of Thrones map.  Well that took all of 5 seconds…

3.  The weather tonight was perfect for a BBQ. After a long, cold winter, it was finally a perfect night for a BBQ and dinner on the back deck.  Come on summer.

4.  Kevin Bacon is in an egg commercial…and it is awesome.  Enjoy!

5. I’m looking forward to a weekend with nothing much to do!  Last weekend I was in Brockville with my girlfriends for our annual hockey tournament.  We had lots of fun, drank too much, and had really late nights.  This weekend I don’t have much going on.  I’m supposed to go to CrossFit at 10:30 tomorrow morning, but every exercise looks like it will be tough on my back, so I may cancel and just sleep in.  After that, we have a team lunch for my son’s hockey team and not too much else going on.  I can’t wait to just relax this weekend.  It’s going to be awesome.
Happy weekend.

Doing anything exciting?

The Friday Five – 15.1 Edition

Happy Friday!  Another week down, and February is almost over!  Time is flying by.

This week’s Friday Five will all relate to the first WOD of the CrossFit Open.

1.  Workout 15.1 was announced last night.  I was playing hockey last night when the workout was announced.  (We won!  YAY!)  As soon as I got off the ice, I got on my phone and searched for the announcement.  Here’s what I found:

2.  At first, I didn’t think it looked that bad.  I can do all of those movements, not all well, but I can do them.  The biggest issue for me with this WOD is the 75# snatch.  I think the heaviest snatch I’ve done so far is only 65#.  At least that’s what it shows in my MyWOD app:

I may have gotten a bit higher than that (maybe 5#) since October…I will have to go back and check my WOD book I keep in my gym bag.   So, that 75# snatch makes me question my ability to do the RX version of the WOD.

3.  The scaled WOD looks very doable! The scaled WOD has a lighter snatch and ground to overhead is allowed, which makes it much more friendly.  Plus, I’m way better and knee raises than I am at toes to bar!
4.  My gym is doing the Open Throw Down again this year.  Between 6:30 and 8:30 everyone (or at least all the cool kids!) will be at the box to do 15.1.  We sign up for heats, get ourselves warmed up and when it’s time…we THROW DOWN!  People not in your heat cheer and it’s a great atmosphere.  Initially I was going to go to my regular 4:30 class and do 15.1 then, but I decided it would be more fun to do it with the group in the Throw Down, so switched my time.

5.  It’s now around 2 o’clock and I have a 4.5 hours to decide what level I will do – RX or scaled.  Right now I’m leaning scaled.  I will have a chat with my coaches and see what they say.  I’m not going to the games, so I don’t really need to kill myself with the RX version.  I’m pretty sure scaled will still leave me in a sweaty mess when I’m done!
Now I’m off to have some lunch and then spend the rest of my afternoon trying to stay calm!

Are you doing 15.1?  RX?  Scaled?  Let me know how it goes!

Happy Weekend.

The Friday Five

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Friday Five.  Let’s see if I remember how to do this!  🙂

1.  I’m still reading.  I got back into regular reading last year and really liked it, so I’m trying to keep it up in 2015.  My goal is to read 30 books this year.  I’m moving towards that nicely, with 7 books already read to date.  To see what they are…click here.  I’m currently reading The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules,  by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg.  It’s about a group of retirees living in a retirement home who are less than thrilled with their living conditions so decide to get themselves thrown in jail where they think life will be better.  I’m about half way through and it’s not great, but not bad.  2.  I’ve done something to my wrist.  I’m not sure how, or what exactly is wrong, but holy crap did it ever hurt on Wednesday.  I had a massage Tuesday night and my RMT gave my arm a little stretch and my wrist cracked, as it always does, and all was good.  First thing Wednesday it was fine, but them mid-morning it started to feel a bit jammed and was really “cracky” when I moved it.  Eventually it started to hurt…A LOT. I should have maybe taken the night off from CrossFit, but I needed to meet my pull-up coach to get caught up on my program since I was away last week and missed our final session.  Plus, the WOD looked really good and I wanted to get my workout in.  My pull-up program was okay.  My grip wasn’t the best and I only did about 2/3rds of each exercise to not push it too much and just get familiar with the movements.  My wrist ached, but didn’t feel too bad.  Then it was time for my regular 8:30 class.  I knew it was not going to go well when I couldn’t do the push-ups in our warm up drill.  The WOD had lots of grip and push movements, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do it.  Coach Jesse modified the WOD for me, so I at least got a good workout in without too much wrist stuff.
The DB bench press were the worst part of that, and hurt a bit just getting the DB up into position.  By the end of it, my wrist was pretty sore and by the time I got home it was killing me.  Getting out of a sweaty sports bra with only one hand was a challenge!  I iced it and took some Ibuprofin and went to bed.  It was a bit better when I woke up Thursday morning but still not quite right.  Luckily I was scheduled for some acupuncture on my traps with my Naturopath Thursday afternoon, so i had her take a look at my wrist and she did some work on it too.  She also put some Kin Tape on it for some additional support and pain relief.
It is still pretty sore today.  Hopefully I can modify tonight’s WOD a bit…there are 150 push presses in it…not sure my wrist is up for that!

3.  I’m sort of doing the Whole Life Challenge again.  I did the challenge in the fall and the organizers had a few issues with some things, so they offered a free entry to the New Year’s challenge.  I figured what the heck and joined again.  I’m not being to strict with things this time.  Really just sticking to my original plan for eating clean most of the time and limiting my treats.  I’ve had a few extra lattes this week, but more or less I’m on track.  I’m taking the hit for eating non-WLC approved things, but that’s fine.  I’m just using it as a way to stay motivated and not fall off the wagon!

4.  I’ve signed up for The Open!  I lived to tell about last year’s open so figured why not torture myself again!  I’m interested to see what the scaled versions of the workouts look like.  That might be a better stream for me than the RX, but I guess time will tell.  The first workout gets announced Thursday Feb 26.  My gym is doing Friday Night Throwdowns again this year. This was a ton of fun last year and really made The Open a great community event last year. Hopefully this year will be even more fun!
5.  I’m so happy it’s Friday!
I will be spending much of my weekend at a hockey arena.  Nick has a tourney that is local-ish, so we will be driving to a few rinks in the area.  Jacko has his  usual game Saturday and practice Sunday.  That doesn’t leave much time for anything else, but should be fun all the same.

Happy Weekend!
Got anything excited planned?

Have you signed up for The Open?

The Friday Five – Saturday Edition

Wohoo!  Made it to another weekend 🙂  I started this post on Friday, but didn’t quite finish.  I got to #2 and picked up at #3 Saturday night.  Here goes…

1.  I have hit my reading goal for 2014!  After staying up way too late reading every day this week, I hit my 24 book goal.  I’m hoping I can keep on rolling through December and add a couple more titles to the list. Check out what I’ve read here https://mypursuitofhappinessandskinnyjeans.wordpress.com/books-read-in-2014/ and feel free to suggest some books I should add to my reading list.
2.  I’m loving my new CrossFit kicks!  Both the nano4s and my lifters ares awesome…and I seem to have started a new trend…the #footsie.  Check out Reebok Canada’s instagram post:

3.  The AirDyne is the devil!  Friday’s WOD was snatch balance work and then squat snack or hang power snatch, depending on what your ability.  I did the HPS since the snatch is not my best lift, so rather than push it with a squat snatch, I just worked on getting a solid lift from the hang.  It felt good and I’m happy with my progress.  After the snatch work, it was time for the MetCon…10 minutes on the AirDyne, 12 seconds max watts, 48 seconds recovery.  Oh.  My.  God!  It was hell.  By the end of the 10 minutes I could barely pedal that bad boy for 12 seconds.  My ass was killing me and I’m very afraid of how I’m going to feel walking tomorrow!   I guess that’s why they call the AirDyne Satan’s Tricycle.

4.  I need to get my golf stuff organized.  I’m off to Arizona on Thursday!  I can’t believe it’s only 5 days.  I have not swung a club since September.  I’m not even sure where all of my golf stuff is!  Guess I better spend some time tomorrow getting my stuff together, figuring what I’m taking with me, and I should probably hit Golf Town and buy some golf balls!  I’m nervous and excited to head south, out of this cold weather that has hit, and play a few rounds of golf.

5.  I made the most delicious pasta dish for dinner tonight. French onion soup pasta from Katie at The Rose Record.  Oh my god….so delicious.  It seemed to take forever to caramelize the onions, but totally worth it.  So awesome. Make this dish soon!

Okay…now it’s late and I’m off to bed.  I have a date with the design team at Home Depot tomorrow morning at 10am to talk kitchens.

How’s your weekend going?  Let’s hope tomorrow goes by nice and slow…