More PRs

This time it was for the deadlift and bench press. Deadlift PR is now 225#, bench is now 95#. Pretty damn proud of these. And to think that I was stalled at 165 for the longest time. Somehow within the last two weeks I have went from a supposed PR of 165 to now 225#. Sixty whole pounds. Where did this come from? Either way...I love it!

New PR

Headed to the gym and did some deadlifts today. Upped my very recent PR by 15lbs. Not. Too. Shabby. :) Here are the numbers:
DL - 95-145-165-185-205-210-210-215

Bench Press

Thursday was a rest day. Friday I hit up a new globo-esque gym. Did bench press up to 85# and then some backsquats. Worked up to 165# if memory serves me correctly. Was able to jump rope stringing singles with a double under and then another set of singles. Can't seem to keep this consistent just yet. Will keeping working on this goat.

Be Thankful

for what you've got at your box...

DL - 135 up to 200#. Not sure how many reps and of what weight.

Playing Catch-Up

So...I didn't go to the gym on Saturday like I was supposed to. Instead I slept in, made some breakfast and then got ready to go to Ithaca with Jonny. It was a nice winter day, by NY standards - - sunny and about 41 out. So we drove along Cayuga Lake and stopped at about 5-6 wineries before we headed back into Ithaca for dinner. For dinner I had gumbo (which included rice). It was good, but Jonny will be eating most of it as leftovers. Sunday I got up and went to the gym to work on backsquats. Ate paleo all day, with the exception of a glass of Pino Noir and 2 sugar cookies after dinner. Dinner however, was pretty damn good. I had marinated venison tenderloin in the fridge with Merlot, Worcestershire, soy sauce, dill and sweet onions. Then I cooked that in a frying pan on the stove top. SO good! I served it with corn and sweet potato.

Today my eating has been good except for 2 sugar cookies this morning. Oops! (No wories - Jonny took them all to work with him today, so I won't have any more offenses) I've been snacking on dried fruit that I made on Sunday. So yummy but yet I make a batch of fruit and before you know it, it's all gone. Rats! For lunch I made up a quick spinach salad with pistachios, almonds, homemade dried tomatoes, vinegar & olive oil with 2 venison sausage patties cut up. Also good. Wishing I had an abundant supply of venison - year round. Oh well...I guess I will take what I can get. Going out to my mommas tonight. She's making chicken, squash, and cauliflower. I'm bringing salad and baked apples with almond butter in the center of them. Yum! Until next time...

I <3 PRs

And I heart heavy lifting. I could live the rest of my life and *probably* never do another metcon again and I'd be perfectly happy as long as I could lift. Set some PRs today after being at a standstill for a long time. Seriously notice a difference in my lifting because of my cleaner eating. Here are the details....
DL (3 reps): 135 - 145 - 155 - 165 - 170 - 175(1) - 180(1) - 185(1) - 190(1) PR
Bench Press (5 reps): 45 - 55 - 65 - 75 - 85 (1) - 90(1) - 90(1)PR

Funny side note: I sort of accidentally kicked the clock off the wall at the gym today while doing handstands. And when I say "clock", I'm talking a 3.5 foot clock with the globo gym logo emblazoned on it. I honestly thought it was hilarious and didn't give a crap about it. Instead, I kept handstanding, jump roping and air squatting. :) Love. It. Count this as my nonviolent way to sh*t on the globo gym that serves free bagels on the second Tuesday of the month. Blah.

Falling behind on posting...

But my eating has been pretty solid. Eggs & bacon for breakfast, apples or a protein shake for snack, salad w/ tuna for lunch and various meat for dinner. Went to Red Lobster last night. Didn't drink alcohol or touch my rice, but I had a cheddar bay biscuit. And...I had some chocolate covered almonds while I was in Wegmans. They were SO good. :) This morning I had my first cup of coffee all week. Half caffeine, 1 spoon of turbinado (sugar in the raw) and a douse of creamer. Today I had to stop for breakfast because I didn't premake anything or have time to cook, so I stopped at Dunkin Donuts. Got a sausage, egg and cheese on biscuit and then canned the biscuit at work. Not ideal, but better than nothing at all. Another apple for snack, salad for lunch with olive oil & balsamic vinegar & slices almonds. After the gym I had a burger from Five Guys - - also ditched the bun. Not normally this hungry after the gym but because I didn't have any protein with lunch, I was starved. Dinner was pork tenderloin, corn and a few bites of homemade seafood salad.


WORKOUTS
Wed. 1/13 - Backsquat 45# bar
DL 95-115-155 (5 reps)
Push Press 45-55-65 (10 reps)

Thurs. 1/14 - Rest Day

Day 3

Breakfast: Chocolate Protein Shake with 1/2 banana, scoop of PB, protein & milk. Drank that on my way to work and then ate my Garden Egg Scramble.
Snack: Banana with PB
Lunch: Pork chop, asparagus
Snack: Apple, some almonds and a scoop of PB (Can you tell I'm craving PB this week?)
Dinner: Fried egg with spicy mustard, BLT but 86 the bread and switch iceberg lettuce for spinach, throw a dollop of Miracle Whip on top and we're golden! :)

Did some DL's and presses at the gym again today. Today my math was right concerning what 60 & 90% were (unlike yesterday). Had yet another guy come up to me and compliment me on my powerlifing skills.

Sleep - not too shabby. I'm in bed by 10:30 and up around 6:30-6:45.

Day 2

Much better today. I'd give myself a solid 8.5 out of 10 in all areas (food, stress, working out) but a 4 in sleep. Ugh. I laid down late last night and after watching the tv series Sons of Anarchy, I just couldn't fall asleep. Other than that, I did some DLs and presses today. Info is below.
DL: 60% of 1RM - approx 99# - 5 Reps
90% of 1 RM - approx 147.5# - 5 Reps

Press: 60% of 1RM - 45# - 5 Reps
90% of 1RM - 57# (I think) - 5 Reps

Food was great today. Breakfast was garden scramble and water. Snack - chocolate protein shake (small). Lunch - chicken breast and salad. Snack (after the gym) - dried apples. I was just picking up a few things at the store but I was STARVING so I had to have something quick. Dinner - salmon, avocado & asparagus. Late night snack - banana with some peanut butter.

Day 1

So today began the Paleo Challenge. Here's how it went:

Breakfast --> Garden Egg White Scramble (AMAZING!)
Time consuming in that you have to chop everything up, but so good! Fresh asparagus, garlic, onion, spinach, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, grape tomatoes - sauteed in EVOO. Then add a protein of your choice. Today I used the egg whites of 4 eggs with two whole eggs thrown in and some sausage. (Please note that this was for Jonny & I, so don't think I ate this all by myself) Let me emphasize again how delicious this is. Yum! Drank a small glass of milk.

Snack --> Protein Shake with strawberry powder (this crap is nasty), madarin oranges & pineapple.

Lunch --> Moms garden beans with a little cheese, roast beef au jus. Also good. Had a glass of Juicy Juice. Full of sugar...I know.

Dinner --> A slice of homemade pizza and a can of Mountain Dew. Cheese, carbs and sugar = not cool when trying to eat paleo but...this was Sunday and I always allow myself 1 can of Mt. Dew when we go to Jonny's parents house. And I didn't eat all of my crust. But looking back on it, I totally could have passed up and been fine as I wasn't all that hungry. Bad Alisha!

Snack --> Prosciutto and a few small slices of cheese.

Indiscretions for the day --> a Reese Peanut Butter cup at dads house and a glass of wine before bed. :)

Overall, I don't think it was an awful first day. I know I definitely could have improved my dinner choices but it was Sunday and I feel that 1 can of soda a week (if I even have that) isn't too bad. And although I'm not doing the high maintenance score sheet, I'd give myself a 7 for my eating today. Also, I have my meals all planned out for the rest of the week and I think that's going to be a major help. Ok - toodles.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

I'm just going to get this out in the open and be done with it. I lied. Back on October 23rd I said that I was going to start the heavy lifting program of Crossfit 603 for 4-6 weeks. Well folks...I didn't. And I'm not going to come up with some lame excuse, just to make myself feel better, as to why it didn't happen. I just didn't do it. I also didn't weigh/measure my food starting on November 1st. LOSER. I know. But...I am here to say that I am ready to do something about it. I swear.

What to do, you ask? Well...I am starting the heavy lifting program again because this lady needs her strength back. And on January 10th I am hopping aboard the PCF Paleo Challenge. So there it is folks...6 weeks of lifting heavy sh*t, coupled with a 5 week Paleo Challenge. I know my CF track record sucks since I moved back to NY, but honestly...I got this one.

Time to Catch Up!

Hello & Happy New Year! I've been gone for a while but I promise you that I haven't been up to no good. In fact, I've been cooking quite a bit. This in itself is a revelation. With that being said, I thought I'd share some of my latest cooking experiments, if you will. ;)

Thanksgiving Turkey: The "Bacon Bird"

For Thanksgiving, I was in charge of cooking the turkey for my family and I could not be more excited about trying a recipe that received much chatter in the Crossfit world. So...I set off to make a more flavorful, moist turkey.

The first thing I did was NOT set the turkey on a roasting rack like the recipe said. Instead, I set my 12-14# turkey in the pan and started wrapping that bad boy with bacon. I used one 12 oz. package of the Oscar Meyer Center Cut Thick Sliced Bacon. I chose to weave some bacon over and under the skin, while other pieces were simply laid onto of the skin and held in place with wooden toothpicks. *Note to reader* Unbeknownst to me, I laid the turkey in the pan upside down so the breasts were constantly kept moist in the juice at the bottom of the pan. What a lucky mistake. :) Also, my turkey cooked for approximately 4 1/2 hours and I basted it every hour for the last 3 hours that it cooked. In addition to this, I cooked the turkey uncovered in the oven for 3 hours and then covered it the last hour.

Results: The turkey was good. I'm not going to say it was the best thing I've ever eaten, because it wasn't. But...I will definitely be giving this bird another shot. And for your viewing pleasure, I've got some pictures.

Before...

During...