Fit Snacks Part 3

Protein cookies (DIY).

A boxmate of mine shared her recipe of these cookies with me & ever since then I’ve had a serious problem – I make them almost every night after dinner. I’ve grown to love them just as much as I love my breakfast each morning.

Recipe:

1 scoop of protein (I prefer chocolate flavor)

1-2 tbsps. of all natural nut butter (I use almond butter & only 1 tbsp.)

½ tsp. baking powder

*Mix all 3 together, then add 1 tbsp. of water at a time until mixture reaches a cookie dough consistency (I use 4 tbsps.)

Scoop 1 tbsp. of mixture & place onto cookie sheet

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes (my oven runs hot so I bake mine at 325 degrees for 10 minutes)

**I also shake some Chocolate Donut seasoning on top of my cookies for a little extra sweetness (see info below).

Lenny & Larry’s The Complete Cookie.

Click [here] for their website.

I’ve only tried these cookies through a co-worker & a friend of mine who were kind enough to share theirs with me. =) The flavors I’ve tried are Snickerdoodle & Peanut Butter – both were awesome. You’ll notice on their website that they don’t just sell cookies, they also have “muscle muffins” and “muscle brownies” available for purchase – I haven’t tried those. You can also find these at Vitamin Shoppe.

Superseedz.

Click [here] for their website.

These were included in our gift bags for a local competition and for weeks they sat in my pantry. I wasn’t too excited about them until one Sunday afternoon I was looking for a snack & picked them up. They were so good! Like good to the point that I was sad when I finished the snack size bag. I looked them up online to find out more info & then was told that they were sold locally at food stores. Unfortunately, the stores that I’ve tried close to me don’t carry them, i.e., Harris Teeter & Giant. Apparently the Wegman’s in Lansdowne carries them but I haven’t made my way out there yet. Pretty bummed they aren’t just down the street from me so I’ll probably be ordering these online.

The flavor that was in my gift bag was maple sugar & sea salt – two thumbs up!

Flavorgod Chocolate Donut Seasoning

Click [here] for the website.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you know that I’ve been using Flavorgod for quite some time now. Not only do I use them for snacking, I also use them on all of my meats & veggies during meal prep for the week. It’s hard to pass up a seasoning that has no sodium & only 1g of sugar.

I’ve had this Chocolate Donut seasoning on fruit (i.e., bananas, strawberries), yogurt & like I said above, I sprinkle them on top of my protein cookies. My collection also consists of Gingerbread Cookie and Pumpkin Pie seasoning but the Chocolate Donut is by far my favorite.

Enjoy!

Weakness Cycle

Now that the Open is over & it’s back to normal training, I decided I should do something about my lack of gymnastic skills i.e. chest to bar pull ups, toes to bar, muscle ups, pull ups, handstand push ups, bar muscle ups - I honestly feel like they’ve gotten worse instead of better. One of my problems is practicing; I just don’t enjoy doing those movements so I tend to ignore them . . . until they come up mid-wod & then I get frustrated that they aren’t easier for me. Annoying, right? I totally agree. As you can tell, gymnastics isn’t fun for me the way lifting is. I get excited for barbell movements & strength training, I don’t get excited for bodyweight movements; I dread them actually - so I think it’s time to man up & pull my shit together. Spending more time on my weakest movements will only make me a better athlete in the long run.

ENTER Skill Wod.

I decided to take the jump & sign up for this training cycle which helps those that are lacking in gymnastic & bodyweight movements. It requires a $10/month fee & it’s 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday & Friday). Each day focuses on a different movement, i.e. muscle up transitions on Monday, handstand push up progressions on Wednesday & chest to bar pull up work on Friday. Each day I’m given an extended warm up, technique training, skills testing & a strength accessory. The specific category I chose was Original:

“The main track is for the established CrossFitter or Fitness enthusiast that has a base level of core stabilization and strict strength and can apply it to a skill. They can do strict, kipping pull ups, a Ring or Bar Muscle up and can hold a descent handstand. The goal here is to progress to a competency level that allows for athletes to do 30 chest to bar pull ups and 10+ Ring muscle ups in a row. This is the meat and potatoes of movement for CrossFitters. You want to be great at bodyweight movement, to show an ability to be constant, persistent and chase perfect technique on your way to 20 muscle ups in a row.” – Skill Wod

Out of the 4 categories this one fit me the best because I have gymnastic movements, I just don’t execute them efficiently or effectively. I'd rather have a barbell in my hands. 

The hard part of starting this Skill Wod is that it’s added on top of my regular training in one night so my evening hours at the box have increased. I’ve also had to adjust my regular misfit training to keep up with the Skill Wod. For example the other night the Skill Wod had me doing a shit ton of muscle up transitions/skill work & then a metcon of muscle ups to end the night; the next day, misfit training had us doing a metcon with approximately 30 muscle ups, so I’m getting hit twice in 2 days with the same movement which is a lot for my hands & my upper body. I decided to focus on my weaknesses training & move certain misfit wods around, if I need to, in order to stay on course. Sometimes it’s a struggle to get everything done & I’m exhausted by the time I get home, but I’m hoping that this extra work will pay off.

My daily struggle to keep my hands healthy has multiplied now with all of the extra gymnastics that I’m doing. I never have a day of training when my hands don’t hurt but I’ve always had issues with my hands because I tend to rip easily. I’ve increased my bag balm application at night & Aquaphor throughout the day. Fingers crossed.

I’m really looking for this Skill Wod to give me the tools I need to improve my most dreaded crossfit movements, but only time will tell. Time and a lot of practice.

Annual Kick In The Ass

It’s tax season people which means it’s my most dreaded time of the year. Who’s right there with me??? I’m normally not a negative person - I’ve always been one of those “the glass is half full” kind of people, but there’s just something about taxes that gets me s-t-r-e-s-s-e-d out. I can always keep my positive thinking up until mid-April telling myself, “This is my year! Here we go! You got this!” Then the filing process begins & I get royally screwed.

My strategy this year was to use Turbo Tax & file on my own, simple and painless. No need to sit for hours at a small cubicle in the back of Sears with an H&R Block representative when I can be in my apartment on my comfy couch. So this past Sunday I created my online account and answered some standard questions – I must say that Turbo Tax has become very user friendly, I was feeling very confident through my filing process. Then the moment of truth came when I reached the “What you owe” screen. Yep, I was given the middle finger yet again. I took a deep breath before completely losing my shit & clicked on the “How was this figure calculated” button. There it was in black, red & white – my total amount due. I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I instantly thought, “But that can’t be right?!” (*sigh*) Son of a bitch. Sure – why not? What’s one more year of owing money that I just don’t have?! Complete and utter frustration doesn’t begin to describe how I felt. I was finally at a comfortable place with my expenses and felt like I had a handle on my cash coming in & cash going out. So naturally, when you’ve reached that comfort level….shit just hits the fan because nothing can just run smoothly 24/7. As my Mom likes to sneak in while I’m bitching about my issues, “That’s life.” Well thank you! (insert sarcasm). Yes, I’m aware that’s life, I get it…blah blah blah. That still doesn’t help me or fix my problem!

As much as I would like to sit here & continue my rant, I’ll keep my bitching to a minimum. To wrap things up, I would like to say how  thankful I am for having J next to me on Sunday who had to endure many hours of me yelling, kicking, screaming & tears during this year’s tax filing. You were a bigger help to me than you will ever know – thank you.

Like Clock Work

Each year after the Crossfit Open I reach a burn out stage. Usually it sets in the last week of the Open, before I even have a chance to attempt the last wod. This year I thought I would be free & clear from that stage because I wasn’t showing any signs. I felt motivated to get back to a normal training schedule & work on my "CF Suck List." Well, I was wrong. My burn out came earlier this week when I decided to take an unscheduled day off (Monday) to just reset mentally. My one day off turned into two days & then three days. My gym bag has been packed & ready to go since Sunday night & has been waiting patiently in the trunk of my car. Each morning I would carry it into work telling myself that today is the day - I'm going in to train. My work day drags on & slowly comes to an end & then I drive home, not even attempting to change into my gym clothes. Every crossfitter knows that taking more than one day off consecutively can feel like you’ve missed an entire week of training; you learn to expect your next day in the box to be very uncomfortable.

To add to my lack of motivation, I've also reached a level of bottomless pit eating & I don’t mean healthy eating – shit food eating to be exact. Yes, the food that you swear not to touch while you’ve been busting your ass on a nutrition plan for the past 11 weeks. To help put things in perspective, I’ve compiled a list of the shit food that I've consumed since my downhill spiral:

Chick-Fil-A/Papa John’s pizza & garlic breadsticks/Oh’s cereal/

6 strawberry pop-tarts/hundreds of Smarties/Chick-Fil-A/1 bag of peanut M&Ms/2 Lindt chocolate bunnies/Chick-Fil-A/thousands of jelly beans/1 vanilla ice cream cone/

20 piece sushi roll/Chick-Fil-A/3 packages of Quest protein peanut butter cups (2 cups per package)

Do you think I can hit up Chick-Fil-A anymore times this week? I swear they know me by name now & don’t even get me started on the 6 pop-tarts because I would’ve eaten the entire box (8 total) had I not had to “share” 2 of them with J (insert whining). So to say that I’ve reached a breaking point is an understatement. Something’s gotta give - I need to get my shit back together. Even though I don’t have any competitions lined up for the near future, I need to find one thing to help motivate me back into my routine – like summer, swimsuits & vacations. That’s what I’m rolling with. No one wants to be forced to suck it in while walking on the beach in their tiny bikini. Motivation….check. I will be taking my shit food eating ass to the box tonight.

My reason for sharing all of the above is because last night I received a message from a friend of mine that was having a pretty bad day; not only did she vent to me but she also used me as an example of what she was wanting to strive for. I quickly let her know that everyone has a bad day, or days or a bad week – hell, I’ve had 4 consecutive bad days! No one is perfect, we don’t all have our shit together 24/7 (even though it may look like we do) & we all have our own issues that we’re dealing with.

So if something isn’t going the way you want it, change it. If you find yourself in a place that you don’t want to be, move. If you’ve fallen off your routine, pull yourself together & restart. This is me - restarting.

For S.

Open 16.5

For time:

21-18-15-9-6-3

Thrusters (75#/65#)

Bar facing burpees

*Repeat of 14.5

Wod 5 of the Crossfit Open is now complete. I think we all knew that thrusters were going to wrap up this year’s wods, but I really didn’t see a repeat coming. Did you?? Based on the wods that were released this season & having a gymnastics movement each time, I was expecting a wod with thrusters, ring muscle ups & maybe even box jumps. I wasn’t expecting them to repeat one of the most miserable wods in Open history. As you can tell, this wod was near the top of my most hated list. The interesting part of 14.5 was that I remember the complete & utter suck fest that it was, as well as the pain that came with it, but I couldn’t remember the strategy that I used. The mental insanity part for me was that I repeated this wod twice – not just once in 2014. I’m still not sure how I was able to convince myself to do a repeat that year; my first go around was a Friday night & my repeat was on a Sunday afternoon.

My strategy for 16.5 was to break up the thrusters into manageable sets & just keep a standard pace for burpees & to just keep moving.

Round 1: 21 reps – broken into 12 & 9

Round 2: 18 reps - broken into 11 & 7

Round 3: 15 reps - broke into 10 & 5

Round 4: 12 reps – broke into 6 & 6

My plan was to do the sets of 9, 6 & 3 unbroken; sadly that didn’t happen. My air was totally gone & I thought my shoulders were going to fall off, so naturally I didn’t want to pick the bar back up. I broke my set of 9 into 5 & 4 then went unbroken on 6 & 3. My heat for 16.5 consisted of 3 of my training partners: Andy (on my left), me, Vinny (on my right) & Scott. Before our heat started I overheard Vinny say he was going to use me as his rabbit to set the pace, this made me laugh. Once the clock started I was very much aware of Andy’s rep count because he had plans to go unbroken on the thrusters. He would pass me on the thrusters but I was able to catch up & pass him on the burpees each round. When I hit round 12 that’s when my mind started in…. “What would happen if I just stopped & took a zero for this wod?”My agonizing question was on repeat until I hit round 6. Then I realized that I was ahead of Andy, but that Vinny (to my right) was tied with me. At that moment it was as if he had read my mind & knew that we were neck & neck – he kicked it into second gear, not sure where my second gear was but it was non-existent, which resulted in him beating me by 6 seconds.

1^st & 2^nd attempts in 2014 & my 16.5 score of 12:25 (15 second PR).

Does anyone else keep their Open scores from past years?

Not only has this year’s Open been painfully fun, but it’s shown me a lot of weaknesses that I need to work on. As you may have read in a prior post, I created a “CF Suck List,” which I have designated practicing one shitty movement each night during/after training; that means if one movement happens to show up in a wod rather than me incorporating it in, I check it off my list for that day….so far so good. I’ve also incorporated more GHDs during the week which has helped a lot with some core weaknesses & reoccurring low back soreness.

Open ranking. After crossfit merged regions around the world 2 years ago, I wasn’t quite sure what my ranking goal for this year’s Open would be. In 2014 my goal was to be in the top 100, which I ended up placing 107^th in my region. After the first wod I realized that I wanted to place anywhere in the top 300 for the Mid-Atlantic region. Week after week I started in the mid-200s & then would drop to the low-200s, 298 to be exact, & then back up again. My end result is as follows:

Mid-Atlantic Region (individual): 263

Worldwide (individual): 3,413

Mid-Atlantic Region (box): 46

To add some perspective, the next step after the Open is Regionals. Depending on your region, they may take the top 20 individuals (20 men & 20 women) or you can qualify as a team (15 teams total for the Mid-Atlantic region). If you place in the top 5 at Regionals you are on your way to the Crossfit Games, which is what we all watch on ESPN.

I hope everyone enjoyed their 2016 Open season – it’s officially over! Now back to regularly scheduled training after a few unscheduled rest days. =)

Open 16.4

13 minute AMRAP

55 deadlifts (225/155#)

55 wall balls (20#/14# to 10’ & 9’ target)

55 calories on rower

55 handstand pushups

Wod 4 of the Crossfit Open is now complete. My score was 199 reps with a tiebreak time of 8:23, which means I made it through 34 handstand pushups in the allotted 13 minutes & the real ass kicker…..wait for it….I had 4 minutes & 30 seconds to make it through the 55 handstand pushups but didn’t. Damn those weaknesses! They really come back & bite you. Looks like I’ll be spending a lot more time working on things I suck at this upcoming training season so I won’t be struggling as much next Open season. I even started a “CF Suck List” last week & let me just tell you – it’s a lot longer than I initially thought it would be. Now I’m not saying that I haven’t gotten better from previous Opens because I have, but this year I definitely feel like my lack of gymnastic movements have held me back.

My strategy for this wod was a little up in the air right before I started. I thought about sets of 5 on the deadlifts & then hitting sets of 20-20-15 on the wall balls. I ended up switching as soon as the timer started: sets of 7 on the deadlifts and then 21-15-10-9 on the wall balls. The deadlifts felt good until the last set when I hit rep 4, I quickly thought, “Ok I’m getting sick of these now” – thankfully I was finished just as I started complaining about them (insert thumbs up). Next up were the wall balls, which were at a 9’ target instead of my standard 10’ target for training. I knew these would be easier for me because of the height break but my heart rate was already elevated from the deadlifts so I knew I only wanted to do a big set in the beginning; shortening the sets each time was a good mental strategy for me. At this moment I remembered a few people saying they were going to go unbroken on the wall balls & I instantly laughed to myself – “Yep, you go on with your bad self…that’s definitely not my strategy.” This wod really started to suck when I hit 40-45 calories on the rower. My air was gone, my low back had that burning/tightening feeling & I remember thinking, “Ugh I still have to do a shit ton of handstand pushups.” One of my box mates came up to me after the wod & said, “I saw you had your eyes closed during the row – that’s a great idea! I may have to try that.” For future reference, if I have my eyes closed mid-wod that’s a sign that I’m hurting & trying to think of anything else besides rowing. Sometimes it works but most of the time it doesn’t – it didn’t work that time.

Here come the handstand pushups. I started out with sets of 5 & ended up making it through 20 reps before I dropped to sets of 4….then sets of 3….then sets of 2. With 15 seconds left I attempted 3 but only hit 1 of them. I could hear my judge tell me, “Come on Dani! Get that last rep for 200 – you can do it!” My mind was motivated & saying, “Yeah, I can get 1 more rep!” My arms & legs didn’t want anything to do with it. If you recall in my last post I had hoped my mind would let me stay with a one & done of this wod; well, it did - no repeating on this one.

The aftermath of 16.4 was mostly shown in my face, specifically around my eyes. Handstand pushups always cause blood vessels to pop & leave me looking like I have some issues:

Other movements that cause this for me are handstand walks & GHDs - the wonderful result of not breathing. My old coach would yell at me, “Breathe Dani, breathe!” I swear I think I am.

Kaila Drayton Photography was back this week & captured more of our pain from 16.4. Here are some of my favorites: 

Open 16.3

7 minute AMRAP

10 snatches (75/55#)

3 bar muscle ups

Wod 3 of the Crossfit Open is now complete. Who else was not excited to see bar muscle ups?? Me!!! I had a feeling they were going to come up this year though so I wasn’t too surprised. As I’m sure you’ve read in one of my prior posts, I’m afraid of heights – like hands shaking, hard time breathing afraid of heights - so naturally, bar muscle ups are not a great gymnastics movement for me & if I’m being totally honest with myself, no gymnastics movement is great for me. Because of my fear of heights, I choose to not work on bar muscle ups. I’ve always just crossed my fingers that they don’t come up in any competitions that I compete in and if by chance they do, I usually have a teammate that can do them so I’m automatically off the hook. If bar muscle ups happen to show up in a training day, I’ve always done them jumping from a box. Over time I’ve shortened the height to make it a little more difficult; even using a box to help me I still have the hand shaking & breathing difficulties. I remember one wod during the summer last year where I cried through the entire workout because of the bar muscle ups (I know, totally ridiculous). Amazing just how much that mental fear sinks in & you can’t shake it.

A few months ago after a training session, I was talked into trying a bar muscle up without the box for assistance. It was the same story I hear all the time, “You don’t have bar muscle ups? How is that possible, you’re so strong” or “You have ring muscle ups but not bar muscle ups?” Over the years I’ve heard people say that bar muscle ups are easier than ring muscle ups – I’ve always disagreed.

Here’s a short video from my very first bar muscle up last year:

Ugly, right? I know. I practically ripped my nipple off in this attempt. I swear I did a hundred of attempts that day & I only got that one ugly one.

So Friday night when I got to the box to attempt 16.3 I was greeted by several of my box mates saying they got their first bar muscle ups & that it was now my turn. Well, shit. There went my strategy of doing 10 snatches & then spending the remaining 6 minutes trying to get 1 bar muscle up. I instantly thought, “Well they did it – why can’t I do it?” Then reality set it….oh that’s right, they aren’t afraid of heights! Lucky bastards.

After cheering one person on after another of getting their first bar muscle ups, it was my turn to go. I ended up using the bar that was set up with the gymnastics mat below – trying to trick the mind. I decided to use the technique that I watched on Youtube videos earlier that day, jumping to the bar & using that momentum in my swing rather than starting from a dead hang. I missed my first attempt due to pulling to my chest & not my stomach. My second was better & I was able to pull myself over the bar. I then retried so the first one wasn’t just pure dumb luck & I hit another one. =) Did I mention at this point that my hands were shaking like leaves? Well, they were.

My new strategy for the wod was to break up my snatches into sets of 5 in order to save myself (mentally) on the bar muscle ups. The snatches & weight weren’t at all a problem for me. My score for 16.3 was 63 reps (4 rounds + 11), which means I did 13 bar muscle ups! J caught a couple of them on video:

Once the 7 minutes was over, I was instantly relieved that wod was out of the way. I had done it & got more than 1 muscle up, which was my goal.

Sadly, I decided on Monday to repeat the wod & try to get a better score. I don’t know why I do this to myself – the Open is a sickness I tell you. Not only did I not PR 16.3, but I got 1 rep shy from my last score (62). Ugh. I knew in round 1 that the wod wasn’t going to go as I had planned. I chose to do sets of 10 on the snatches in order to give me more time at the pull up bar. My first 3 bar muscle ups were more of muscling rather than technique. I wasn’t pulling low enough & hitting just below my chest & then trying to muscle the rest of the way – insert chicken winging. My arms fried out quickly & I had a lot more misses.

It is what it is – like I said before, can’t change the outcome now. I wish I would’ve just been happy with my first score & avoided getting greedy. Maybe my mind will let me do a one & done on 16.4…..we shall see.