Hello Open...I have been waiting for you...please Castro-give this ol lady one more stab at that 100# Snatch...

IT'S HERE!!! THE OPEN STARTS THIS WEEK!!! FRIDAY WE DO 14.1...and I am crapping my pants. 

I am not ready...or am I? I guess based on my current circumstances..I am as ready as I have ever been. I just like to act like I am not.

One thing I am hoping to see? 100# snatch. If it is presented and I miss again this year..it's just not meant to be...that's all :)

This past week has been one of good and bad challenges and struggles. FIRST OF ALL...I FINALLY RX'D DIANE!!!! I was so stoked...and it's strange- that the week I chose to work on this- out comes an article about how horribly wrong or bad kipping handstand push ups are. And honestly? As much as I agree with that -for the athlete who chooses to use it as a means to go faster- without any caution what so ever to the head returning to the pad in the down position- I can see this as being bad. For me? an athlete that without the kip may never really get a hand stand push ups in succession? I see it as a means to actually be able to do a movement I never dreamt I could do. I added about 4 minutes to my time-but again-did something that 3 years ago-2 years ago-1 year ago- LAST MONTH-I COULD NOT DO!

I am 47 year old folks. Give me my kip and let me be alone with it. I promise to be careful !
Just for fun I went to the CrossFit Journal and researched a little and this is what I found- "The kipping handstand push-up is about using the power of your hip to help your arms" when I read the article posted -some of the comments below were that a kipping hspu should not be considered RX yadda yadda-So yes- it could be bad for the neck for those athletes that are not cognizant and careful when coming down but it also is used to HELP the arms!!! There you go. Done and done. Leave me and my kip alone. I will continue to strive to get a strict hspu but until then I will continue to kip. The glory of Crossfit-scalable-modifiable. 


I kind of feel sad that more peeps from 22 are not doing the Open. I have said in the past...I will say it again. I have a shit load on my plate right now-more than the past 2 years at this time. I know of a few people doing the Open that are as overwhelmed as I am. What I am doing this year as opposed in the years past? I am using the Open as a diversion. I love CrossFit. I love pushing myself ..or trying to push myself..beyond what I ever dreamt might be possible for this ol gal to achieve. And I honestly need this right now to help me remember what is good about my life. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

FOOD THIS WEEK- HELLO CARNIVORE STATUS!

Yup- simple simple menu this week- Turkey basil and artichoke meatballs...LOTS OF THEM http://paleomg.com/turkey-basil-artichoke-meatballs-egg-free-nut-free/
This time I added just about a tablespoon of red pepper flakes to give it some kick- I do 1 # ground turkey and 4 links of turkey hot Italian sauage- YUM

This recipe calls for 1# ground turkey so I actually double the seasonings

I made my tomato own sauce. Just broiled tomatoes with onion, garlic and basil- added a small an of tomato paste and threw in the food processor.

Meatballs anyone??

Also just baked some spaghetti squash. 

Getting to my Greek roots-love Souvlaki

I am going to need a little starch to have my energy up for Fridays. I have been feeling so run down-I pray that the Open snaps me out this god awful FUNK I have been in!

I also cooked some souvlaki- I LOVE this on salad. Here is my recipe

1 pork roast (this is one of 4 that you get in a pack at Costco)
slice and chop into bite size chunks-put in Ziploc
ADD
juice of 3 lemons
AT LEAST 2 tablespoons garlic
Oregano (2 T dried or fresh) 

Scarlet loves her Sophie!!

Greek Seasoning to taste
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste-be careful not too much salt
Skewer and throw on grill- sorry-I don't have an EXACT recipe! this is how I do things!

I have my kale salad as well as a huge bag of broccoli and cauliflower. 

It wouldn't be a good blog without an updated pic of my sweet granddaughter-I am so glad to be able to spend the time with her during the week with her while her parents are wodding- this week I got to give her Sophie!! She loves her!! I am so happy. This baby girl brings me so much joy!


Well that's it. It's alot and nothing at the same time. So looking forward to the announcement on Thursday as to what WOD 14.1 is going to be. I need this diversion right now. Can not be happening at a better time!

Work hard everyone-eat clean and focus-if you are doing the Open- see you on the flip side of 14.1 SO EXCITED!!! 
In closing...love this!! (muscle ups)

Staying on that consistent path...less than 2 weeks to 14.1!!!

What a crazy week!!! So glad another one is behind me....but as time gets behind me.....in front of me...The Open! Hoping that all the attention I am paying to my little aches will payoff and I will be able to compete strong and such! I am finding that being consistent in my focus and eating is paying off...feeling like I am finally really back on track! GO ME!

Love all these pics of this babe and her parents!

Of course I must share pics of my precious Grandbaby! I stole all of these pics but I can't help it. I have to admit-holidays are so much more fun with her in it. She is seriously one happy little girl. I couldn't more proud. Or could I??

Going to get right into food. Here are a few things I picked up this week. Spinach-salad-peppers-mushrooms eggs - chicken thighs rotissiere chicken and stawberries-As you can see-might be a stirfry on the menu!!

I am not in a rush to food prep today since tomorrow is a holiday! YES!! I am sad to say I will be working but happy to say it will be from home and not in the office!!! Thank God!

Soooo...I posted a pic of this on Instagram. Pork Rind crusted buffalo chicken bites. THIS IS NOT MY RECIPE!! I borrowed it from Maria and then just kind of modified it slightly (link to her blog is on my blog roll on the right side of this post Optimal Nutrition) http://optimalnutrition1.blogspot.com/2013/10/pork-rind-chicken-tenders.html

This is my take on her recipe. And I have to say- I trust her completely so if she says bread it pork rinds...I am ok with it as well..PLUS I LOVE PORK RINDS!! True confession-I opened the bag in the car on the way home and ate a few..the Mr was completely grossed out. Didn't care. These are super quick and easy and honestly so stinking good. 

I just put the rinds in a bag and smashed them

I bought tenders but cut them into chunks - the pork rinds? of course I bought the spiciest ones I could find - to the eggs I added yet more hot sauce. You can obviously omit all of the hotness but why would you? 

My little dipping station had to move my eggs

This was almost 2 pounds of chicken so clearly it made a ton of bites which is awesome because leftovers are amazing!!

A pan of completed goodness!!

So oil up the pan a little let them cook enough to get crispy on the bottom then you can also turn the broiler on and crisp up the top but be careful not to dry them out!

The Mr made this crazy good dipping sauce...YES I KNOW A STICK OF BUTTER...I didnt eat the entire pan- its a dipping sauce for hells sake. 80% Paleo 100% of the time :)
Well that's my brief food share. I will be making a huge wok of chicken stirfry full of peppers-mushrooms-napa cabbage and onions!! A little coconut aminos and just a dash of fish sauce and this will be great! 

A great find I want to share. First props to my sis Amy for sharing this great deal. Nano 2's at Nordstrom Rack in Farmington station. I don't really love these shoes. I have a super narrow foot so I find them a little "free" and actually bought the Nano Speeds, but its always good to have a couple pair of shoes so that can alternate so they don't get worn out so quickly!!
I have been wearing them around because they were a little tight and I am actually loving them!
I ended up paying only 33.00 for these. They were on clearance then 25% off! cant pass that up!

I know I bragged about this last week. But I have to brag again. YOGA!!! Holy crap!! I have to give a big shout out to my girl Jenn Sayes for having the courage, attitude, and just overall confidence to bring "yoga" to our box. The thing is this. We are athletes. Regardless of what anyone else thinks of us- we are athletes..and honestly if you choose to present yoga to a bunch of CrossFitters you need to be open minded in your thinking and understand what it is we do on a daily basis and how you can flex yoga to best suit this group of people. Jenn is doing a great job! So thank you-for bringing Yoga to a group of people that desperately need it!! God bless you!

Group gets bigger every week! young and old alike! we even have a few visitors every week!

Well thats it folks. Kind of lame and boring. 
Here's to everyone having a GREAT week! Work hard- focus and be consistent! it seems to work

P.S. For those of you toying with the idea of doing the Open...PLEASE get registered!!! I would hate to not have Friday Night Lights....

CRONI OOUT

Trying to find my Mojo...my focus...my center...

I haven't blogged for 2 weeks. If you noticed I am sorry. If you didn't notice...well shame on me. If you are relieved..ha! don't know what to say!

True confessions...struggling with alot of things right now. Its hard not to get discouraged when you feel like you are doing your best to eat clean and train hard and work hard and in the midst of it all balance all the many levels of life. Here are some things that have been draggin me down.

I have been sick 4 times in less than 60 days.

I have a NAGGING hip issue that is making me CRAZY.

I feel like I am frustrated and mad more than usual. 

And so on. 

Not trying to drop my shit on everyone. This is my life. NO BS. I am struggling. 

There is not a motivational saying, picture or quote right now that I can say moves me to the point that I feel like oh ya...sure..if i do this I will shake this funk. 

I am realizing of course there is only one thing really that controls any of the above mentioned things. ME. So here's the deal. In order to break out of this little funk I have convinced myself that I am in...I am going to keep doing the one thing that I do the very best. I am going to be consistent. 

Baby Girl slept through the night- Granny Jo..awake every hour

This past week I had the amazing opportunity to watch my sweet grandbabe overnight - this little girl ..seriously ignites something in my soul that I can't really explain. Case and point- this pic....CAN SHE BE MORE PERFECT? 

Anyway what I am ranting on about is that sometimes I lose focus. I get so caught up in things that although important and necessary aren't as dramatic as I make them out to be. 
So I am going to wrap my energy around the things that mean way too much to be dramatic about- being a good and available granny- getting ready physically and mentally for the CrossFit Open AND learning to breathe! Now that Yoga is back I feel like I am getting my hip issue dealt with and I am getting excited for whats coming up!
At some point in my life being simply "ok" became not good enough. Being "middle of the pack" isn't really for me. I want to be better than average. I want to do big things. I want people to point and look at me in awe and be like- if that ol broad can do it so can I. So..new week-new focus! Going to do what I do best. Focus and be consistent. That's all! Rant done!

FOOD STUFF!

Started back doing 2 things I had let slide. Bountiful Baskets-Sunday Costco Run. 

A VERY healthy basket!

Its crazy how quickly I forgot how much I love getting a basket. This one did not disappoint. I have had a hard time getting to the pickups but when they do it in Centerville at 8:30 pickup I cant get up - go wod at open gym then get the pickup spot just in time. 

This basket had lettuce-leeks, zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli, asparagus-for fruit- bananas, apples, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries and blackberries. YUM!

Two GREAT finds at Costco 

Thanks to my sis Liz and Jo- Avocado oil at Costco - I have the one from Costco and the one I purchased at Target next to each other so you can see the comparison. I think I paid about the same for both- the small one I got at Target. I LOVE avocado oil- use it to make my own mayo so I was super happy to get this little deal- just under 10.00!!!

The 2nd little find is these amazing little containers of guacamole. Jo and I went over the ingredients standing in every ones way at Costco and I am pretty content that the ingredients are pretty clean. Lets be honest- sometimes guac goes bad kind of fast so I was super happy with this little treasure find. There are 12 little single servings. AWESOME AND CONVENIENT!

THIS WEEKS FOOD!!

I am finding if I over think my food prep I fail too much. So I am keeping it simple. 

Look at these gorgeous filets!

When my Pops (who just had a bday! happy bday pops!) gives me fish, I TAKE FISH. The fillets have been smaller and I LOVE THEM! Seriously there is not really any fish better than this in my opinion. I am still grilling this on my bbq-use a little sea salt, cracked black pepper, greek seasoning, lemon and red pepper flakes! YUM. The bad thing about the smaller fillets...I can eat twice as many...is that really a bad thing? Not sure! This will be so amazing at lunch with some broccoli or asparagus!

My other meal option will be meatballs. This was posted on PaleOMG earlier this week and it is right up by alley. All flavors I LOVE so I had to make them. Meatballs go a long way so I always make sure that I make plenty! I am not going to lie- these are amazing!

http://paleomg.com/southwest-meatballs-with-creamy-cilantro-dipping-sauce/

So I used my mini chopper for this today- I tend to be heavy handed when I "dice" things.. meaning I cut huge chunks and I wanted little chunks for my meatballs

I have had this little sucker forever. Not even really sure where or when I got it. I just know it dices like a bandit!

 I love all the ingredients in this- the cumin, smoked paprika, I added pablano and I used more jalapeno than the recipe called for. I love my spice!

When I make meatballs...I make meatballs!!

As much as I love the mayo in this recipe- and I did follow the recipe for the dipping sauce. I think that just the first portion of the recipe minus the mayo is amazing- it's super fresh and the flavor is so good. I did however add the mayo and it's great-I just think I liked it without it. 

It mixes up really well but again it seemed a little heavy but its still seriously delicious. 

That's my food stuff. I am doing my usual breakfast-spinach -eggs and sausages with 1/4 avocado etc etc. 

The amazing and sassy Jen Sayes!

I have to give a HUGE HUGE shout out to my girl Jen Sayes. Jen has taken on the huge responsibility of teaching "Yoga" to a bunch of CrossFitters. A big calling- for many reasons I won't get into. I just want to say Jen, you are doing an amazing job. Many of us need this so bad. So thanks for taking time out of your Sabbath day and bringing "church" to the rest of us! You are awesome! I am finally feeling like I am finding my soul again- weird and creepy I know!

One more kind of weird and fun fact...it was recently brought to my attention that this is the year of the horse. Ironically...that is my birth year...also ironically...I have this tattooed on my ankle-So in a nutshell... ITS MY YEAR!!! So there it is...I better get to work on making it a better year before it's too late!

Well that's it folks. All I have for now. Not bad after 2 weeks of feeling sorry for myself!!

The CrossFit Open is getting so close I can taste it! I feel like I have something so amazing to look forward to. Get ready- now- before it's too late...and here's to all my peeps that haven't registered yet..WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR??

Croni....out