Crossfit and 5k

I truly believe Crossfit has improved my running.  Since Reach the Beach, I’ve gone for 1 maybe 2 runs, aside from any running that may be incorporated into the workout that day in Crossfit.

Instead of running, I’ve been WODing…4-5 times a week, and I love it. 

(taken from our Crossfit facebook page)  That's me in front in case you couldn’t tell.

So then 4th of July rolls around and I register for a local 5k that is 5 min from my house and a bunch of people from Crossfit are running as well!

The 4th turned out to be a pretty warm day.  Brian was running too and we decided just to take it easy and see how it goes.  The heat usually doesn’t bode well for me.

A few minutes after we started I see that we’re keeping a fairly fast pace (for me) and I’m worried about crapping out later.

Let’s just say I was shocked that we maintained a good pace the whole time!  We stopped twice at each of the water stations, but just kept trucking…and I ended up with a new PR!!

28:26!!!!  My previous 5k PR was a couple years ago at 29:10, and since then I usually hover around 30 minutes.  I can NOT believe I maintained that pace in that heat!  I was so pumped!!

Some of my fellow crossfitters after the race!

Looking forward to more races :) 

So yeah Crossfit is awesome, I love it. 

I love being able to see the results each week…especially the lifting.  I’m really loving the Olympic lifts as well as the power lifts.  I guess its in my genes…my dad used to be a competitive power lifter.  I have photos I need to scan in…they are awesome from his lifting days back in the 70’s/80’s!

We recently started a Fran cycle at Crossfit.  We tested our Fran time, and from there we are going to do lots of workouts focused on improving those skills, and then re-test in about 6 weeks!

Fran is a well known benchmark workout…every crossfitter wants to know their “Fran time”. 

(me, Post Fran…loving me new Lulu top!!)

Its a quick workout, 21 reps, 15 reps, then 9 reps of thrusters (65lb for women) and pull-ups. 

Since this is supposed to be a quicker workout we found our maximum 1 rep thruster (which is a front squat with the bar, and as you stand up you “thrust” the bar up overhead)…. and then used 50% of our 1 rep max. 

The point is, you don't want to use such a heavy weight that it slows you down too much.  Our coach didn’t want anyone over the 6-8 min mark.

I used a 45lb bar, and body rows.  We didn’t use band assisted pull-ups this time…if you couldn’t do unassisted pull-ups you did ring rows or body rows.

My time was 5:52. 

Looking forward to testing it again!

And even thought I can’t really do unassisted pull-ups for a workout yet…  I did get THREE kipping pull-ups in a row!!  Booya! 

I guess that I’m just excited that in just over 7 months of Crossfit, I am able to see myself improving.  It’s definitely motivation to keep on going!

So there’s my little fitness update for you :)

What keeps you motivated??

Shepherd's Pie & Exercise while Sick

You know how I was just saying that the good thing about paying a lot for Crossfit is that it makes me not want to miss a workout??  Well that plan gets slightly derailed when you get sick!!

I hate colds!  They’re never bad enough to really stay home from work (well this time it came on Friday afternoon, so lucky me had my whole weekend to get through the “worst”), but you also feel just fatigued enough to not want to do anything else. 

I’m also not going to push myself and risk getting sicker just for the sake of burning calories, but still…it’s just aggravating. 

I made it to Crossfit last night, and luckily the workout was on the “milder” side, but I’m still extra tired today…AND missed out on a fun dinner with some of my favorite local bloggers at the new Hawthorne in Boston…double bummer! 

So, how sick is too sick to workout??  I can usually just tell by my body but you hear all sorts of things…

Things I’ve heard:

• if it’s only above the neck it should be okay to workout.  As in, if your only congested in your nose, not your chest. 
• Lots of strength training is bad because when you work your muscles you make small tears in them, then your immune system kicks in to repair.  If your sick, then this takes your immune system away from your illness and onto your muscles.
• “sweat it out”

I’m sure there’s more, but those are the main ones that come to mind.  How do you decide?? 

Even though I’m sure I missed a fabulous dinner out tonight, I still had a delicious meal at home!

I made this version of Shepherds pie almost exactly 3 years ago!!  I still remember how much I liked it and have been meaning to make it since then.  I can’t believe it’s taken me THREE YEARS to re-make this dish!

It’s made with ground turkey and the topping is mashed sweet potatoes!

Sweet Potato & Turkey Shepherds Pie
adapted from eatingoutloud.com 

• 1 lb sweet potatoes (about 3 med size)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 lb lean ground turkey
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, diced
• 1 bulb fennel, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 1/2 cup beef stock
• 3/4 cup frozen peas (not necessary to thaw)
• 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup water (or beef stock)
• salt/pepper to taste

Cook sweet potatoes however you want.  I peeled, chopped, and boiled them.  You could also steam, or roast them whole then remove the flesh from the skin.  Mash the cooked sweet potatoes with 1T butter, and a little salt and pepper if desired.

Pre-heat oven to 350

In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium heat then add turkey.   Break apart the turkey and cook until the meat is cooked through.  Add the onion, carrots, celery, and fennel.  Sauté for 1 minute.  Then add the 1 1/2 cups beef broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 10-12 minutes to cook the vegetables.  Add peas and thyme. 

Combine the flour, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/4 cup broth in a small bowl.  Mix until there are no more lumps from the flour.  Bring the heat back up to med, and slowly pour in the flour mixture while stirring the pan.  Bring back to a boil and cook for another 1-2 minutes until sauce thickens.  It does not need to be very thick.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Pour mixture into a medium size casserole dish.  Preferable one that is deep.  My pan was about 10”x7.5” and 2” deep.  I wouldn’t of had enough sweet potatoes for anything bigger. 

Spread the sweet potatoes over the filling.  Bake for 20 minutes. 

I enjoyed mine served over a bed of baby spinach for some extra greens!

I love the sort of sweet/salty combo going on here.  Delicious healthy comfort food.

Also had an Emergen-C spritzer with dinner ;)

End of the Week and Year!

Hey friends!  I’m in a great mood today :)  It’s Friday AND I made the executive decision to not work today.  It was kind of a slow week, lots of people on vacation, and I thought it would just be wonderful to have a day to get stuff done around here.

Now in true Bridget fashion, I’ll never finish my to-do list but that’s ok!  I slept until 7:30am, which felt awesome (side note: it’s kind of sad that 7:30am is considered sleeping in…on a weekday anyways). 

Took the pup out and made a nice bowl of oatmeal.  I’m a very weather-influenced eater and I’ve only made stove-top oats a handful of times since the weather has gotten colder around here.

Also used my new “b” mug from Anthropologie for my cappuccino!

Oats: oatmeal, water, milk, strawberries, brown sugar, coconut, PB, a few pecans, and a little berry preserves.  I forgot how good oatmeal with lots of toppings is! 

Workouts

I went to Crossfit Tuesday night.  The Workout of the Day (WOD) was:

10 to 1: Deadlifts, Burpees, and Abmat sit-ups.  So, 10 of each, 9 of each, 8 of each…etc.  I did 75lb for deadlifts and my time was 8:28 (I think…around there).

Before the WOD we worked up to our heaviest set of 2 deadlifts.  I PR’d at 120lb. 

I still feel very new to Crossfit, and I’m so so nervous about pushing myself too hard.  I probably could have gone further than 120lb but right now it’s just not that important to me…I know I’m getting stronger and don’t care how long it takes :)  I just know I love these workouts!! 

I had planned to go last night, but ended up working a little later after I decided to take today off.  I’ve been doing Crossfit for almost a full month now, averaging 2-3 times a week.  I started with a 10-class pack which will be used up after tomorrow, so I think I’ll sign up for 3 months unlimited and see how that goes :)

I’m also nervous about tomorrow’s workout!  My Crossfit gym (or box I should say) just moved to a bigger location today and tomorrow is the first workout in the new location!  They never post the workouts ahead of time so people can’t pick and choose, but the new address number is 300 and there was a hint that the workout would be related to that!!

I googled “Crossfit 300” and this is what I found:

Pull-ups – 25 reps
Deadlifts with 135 lbs – 50 reps
Pushups – 50 reps
24-inch Box jumps – 50 reps
Floor wipers – 50 reps
Single-arm Clean-and-Press with 36-lbs Kettlebell – 50 reps
Pull-ups – 25 reps

My weight for the deadlifts and kettlebells will be lighters but STILL!  I think I like NOT knowing what the workout is ahead of time!!  Happy NYE to me…I’ll let you know how it goes.

The other reason I was OK with missing Crossfit last night was dinner!  Seriously, every time I DO use the Crockpot I wonder why I don’t use it more often!!

I prepped this
Cooking Light recipe for Slow Cooker Char Sui Pork Roast

on Wednesday night, let it marinated in the bowl of the crock pot overnight, then turned it on Low before leaving for work yesterday.

My favorite slow cooker recipes are the ones where you just add in all the ingredients…no pre-cooking anything!

Shred the pork with 2 forks.

Cook down the sauce

Serve with rice, broccoli and spinach!

I added extra hoisin sauce to my bowl

LOVED the flavors here!!  I’ve actually never cooked with Chinese 5 Spice powder before, but it’s delicious!

The only change I’d make next time is to leave out the chicken broth.  It diluted the sauce a bit too much and didn’t really thicken up.  That’s why I had to transfer it to a sauce pan and cook down for a while.

I think this would also be delicious with chicken, beef, or use a leaner cut of pork like a tenderloin.  We trimmed as much fat off as possible but it was hard to get enough of it. 

Well it’s time to take the pooch for a walk, get some more done around here and then get ready for a fun night out!!  Well not too much fun…Crossfit tomorrow morning AND then it’s New Years Eve!! 

What are you doing for NYE??  I wish I was going OUT out…like dancing out, but just wasn’t happening this year I guess.  Still really excited for a dinner out with a group of friends and then back to party at a friend’s condo!

Christmas 2011: The Recap

I’m basking in my last few hours of “Christmas Vacation”, although really I only had half a day off Friday and then today as my vacation.  I’m sure some of you have this whole week off…please don’t tell me ;)

I’ve figured out why I’m one of those people who likes listening to Christmas music on Nov 1.  Because usually by Dec 20 (give or take), I become a big ball of stress and can’t enjoy it and just want all my shopping and all my wrapping to be DONE!  On Nov 1, it’s the exciting anticipation of the impending holiday cheer…I’m much more “happy” about Christmas then ;)

Don’t worry, by the 24th I’m back to my excited and happy self!  And this year was no exception…stress leading to a FANTASTIC Christmas weekend with all my family!!

(my mom’s side of the family on Christmas Eve, we had to take a picture since everyone was there!  I’m down in front/right in case you’re looking) 

Let’s back track.  Friday (the 23), I had a half day at work, and as soon as I got home we headed up to NH to have Christmas with Brian’s family. 

I made some Oreo truffles (actually used TJ’s Joe Joe’s)

And some peppermint bark for good measure.

Up in NH we had the big family Yankee Swap, and exchanged presents with Brian’s family.  His mom was finally finished with our wedding scrap book and it came out AMAZING! 

She put in so much work, and it’s so incredible to have this book! (esp since we were slackers and are just now working on our album from the photographer hehe)   

On Christmas Eve, I dragged my butt out of my warm bed and headed to an 8AM Crossfit workout!

The 12 Days of Crossfit…oh.my…pretty sure this is the closest I’ve come to puking from working out haha.  I say that in a good way ;)

Let’s see if I can remember this…

1 Ground to Overhead
2 Sumo deadlift high-pulls
3 Burpees
4 Pull- ups (I used a green band)
5 Abmat sit-ups
6 push-ups
7 air squats
8 jumping lunges
9 Box jumps
10 Wall Balls
11 kettlebell swings
12 thrusters

So basically it went like the song: 1 ground to overhead; 2 sumo dead lift high-pulls and 1 ground to over head,; 3 burpees, 2 sumo dead lift high-pulls and 1 ground to over head…until the end where we did 12 Thrusters…all the way down to the 1 ground to overhead.  This was intense…my time was 23:07 I think. 

I’m still fairly new to Crossfit, but so far LOVING it!! 

After Crossfit, and finishing wrapping my presents, we packed up and headed out for Christmas Eve at my aunts!  My family is hilarious and I love our big get-togethers. 

Brian and I stayed at my mom’s house on Christmas Eve and woke up to a delicious smelling breakfast.

Home fries

and Eggs Benedict!

My cousin even texted me pictures of his the eggs Benedict my aunt made because she wanted to know if it was “blog worthy” :)

What can I say? My family looooves their Eggs Benny!

Blogworthy?? I’d say so!!  Look at that nice table setting!!  Good Job Aunty Joan!  Looks delicious!

Oh almost forgot we also had sticky buns!

This was one filling, yet delectable, Christmas breakfast!  Thanks mom :)

Present time!

(Brian’s stellar wrapping job…he cut those green stars out of wrapping paper for decoration)

But you know what was under that wrapping….

Boo-ya!  Bridget’s new iPad!!!   He TOTALLY surprised me with this!!!  I mean I’ve been talking about wanting one for a while but never thought I’d get it for Christmas!!!! 

I made out quite well this year :)  Other notable items:  new Lululemon top, a new All-Clad sauce pan from mom, a coat, a bag…yeah I am one lucky girl! 

Bromley loved his new cow squeaky toy.

The feasting continued at my other aunts house on Christmas day…

Yum…

Everything was amazing.

After dinner was dessert, then some intense rounds of Just Dance on my cousin’s Xbox Kinect!  FINALLY a video game I’m good at!!  Seriously…so fun, and you break a sweat. 

I didn’t stick around for the after party though, had to get home…mom and I were at the mall with one of my aunts and cousin at 7am :)  I know you think we’re crazy but we also got some crazy good deals! 

Well that about sums it up!  I hope your weekend was as good as mine!! 

I’m about to head to bed and forget that I have to work tomorrow.

What was the favorite part of your weekend??

Yoga + Yogurt

Happy Friday!!

A couple weeks ago I was invited to an event hosted by the wonderful folks at Stonyfield called “Fueled by Organic”.  It was a quick mid-work day event at Equinox gym in the Back Bay, and luckily I was able to just leave work for a couple hours and come back.  Equinox was a very quick T-ride away!  The event consisted of a 45min yoga class followed by an organic nutrition discussion and a sample of Stonyfield yogurt :)  Sounded like the perfect afternoon escape to me.

As much as I love Stonyfield, I was just as excited to step foot in Equinox!  I don’t know if you’ve heard of Equinox gyms before but they are the NICEST (and also $$$) gyms around!  At least in Boston, but I know they are elsewhere around the country.  I was also told each attendee would receive a free 1-week pass!!  I didn’t want to miss out on that!  I’ll be sure to keep you updated when I use my free pass.

(sorry for the blurry pic, it was a dark room and I had my iphone)

I arrived, changed, and headed into the dimly lit yoga studio where most everyone was already there on their mats.

It was a really great 45-min class!  The room was slightly warm, not like “hot yoga'” but I’m thinking they just keep the yoga room on the warm side.  I would definitely call it more of a power yoga, we did some challenging strength poses, and some I had never done before!  I was sweating after 45 min :)

After yoga, we headed to another on of their fitness studios for yogurt and the nutrition talk.

This was another nice large fitness room.  Can’t wait to take some classes here!

Especially whatever class involves these:
;)

I headed over to the table with the bucket-o-yogurt to choose from

And headed to a mat with my vanilla Oikos (one of my fav’s!)

Mary Kennedy,a  Stonyfield Nutritionist, gave us a quick talk/presentation about the importance of properly fueling before and after workouts.  I thought I knew a good amount on this subject but there was definitely a lot to be learned from here and I’m really glad I took notes so that I could share…

I’ll give my notes in bullet form, and please note that most all of this information is relative to people who are generally active (workout regularly) or athletes.

• For an active person a general rule for the # of calories you should consume is your weight X 20! 
• This seemed a lot to me, but at the same time I do not consider myself very active.  I have my weeks, and do try to workout regularly but it just doesn’t always happen.  This would be good to remember though if, for say, you were in the thick of training for a long distance race or other endurance event!
• Of these calories, 60-70% should come from carbs, 25-35% from fat, and 10-18% from protein.
• Mary said that most people thing protein is the big important thing you should be getting a lot of, but for an active person it’s CARBS that are on top!
• Protein is the LEAST efficient fuel for your body.
• Carbs refuel!  Protein helps muscle repair.
• HYDRATE!!  Not drinking enough water and keeping properly hydrated can really drag down your energy and make you feel sluggish.  Even a deficiency of 2% of your body weight can make you feel a difference.
• Aim for your body weight / 2 for the # of ounces per day you should be drinking of water.
• And not to be gross, but I think most of us know how to tell when we’re not getting enough hydration – color of your urine.   You want it to be clear.
• Plan ahead to fuel up.  This means getting fueled before a workout!  You need to eat something before a workout, but also should leave time to digest!
• For me, when I have a run or other strenuous workout planned for the morning,  I need to wake up with enough time to eat, and then digest.
• This is another place where carbs win! 
• on an empty stomach, carbs take 1-2 hrs to digest, where as higher fat items can take 6-7 hrs to digest!! 
• Of course this depends on exercise intensity.  You should fuel accordingly. 
• If you keep a food journal, it would be a great idea to add your workouts!  This way you can see if you are fueling properly before and after.
• The best POST workout re-fuel is something high-carb with a little protein. (like yogurt!)
• If nothing else, Mary said you should have something small with carbs within 30 minutes after your workout.  Even just a glass of juice. 
• I actually never knew the 30 min rule!  But now I will try to make a more conscious effort.
• You want an energy balance: Calories in = total energy expenditure.
• In instances with high exercise, like marathon training, women are the ones who tend to gain weight (and men tend to lose…so nor fair)
• This is because a lot of people tend to over-compensate when they all of a sudden start working out more than normal and at a higher intensity.
• Think QUALITY food = fuel!
• No energy in a bottle!!  We’re talking protein shakes, energy drinks…etc.
• You can get the best fuel for your body from the food that the earth makes!  REAL food!!
• This is where organic becomes important.
• organic = less junk!
• The last thing our bodies needs are pesticides and GMOs (genetically modified organisms….eww)
• Lastly she touched on the confusion some people can have with labels.  Organic does NOT equal natural!  So many packaged foods these days claim to be “all natural” but according to the FDA guidelines this doesn’t really mean much and can still have pesticides and GMO’s. 
• read the ingredients folks! 

A lot of this I knew, and I’m sure you do too, but sometimes it’s just good to get a refresher and maybe even learn something you didn’t know!      

I had a lovely break from work that afternoon: yoga class, yogurt, nutrition talk, and getting to see these ladies!

Elizabeth, Me, Tina, Elina, and Sarah!

But want to know the BEST part of that day??  In addition to a fun swag bag we all received with our 1-week passes, they pulled a name to receive a special gift: a fun cooler bag with some great stuff inside AND a 1-MONTH pass to Equinox….and I WON!!!!  I was SO pumped!  I seriously can’t wait to cash in on that month and week!  

Thank you Stonyfield and Equinox!  Stonyfield always puts on really great informative events, and I always feel lucky to attend.  This was no different.