Brie Fit

Today’s WOD was another fun one!

“Annie”, 50-40-30-20-10 reps of:

• Double unders (which I subbed for tuck jumps with the jump rope, as I have giant feet and laughable hand-eye coordination)
• Sit-ups

Then, for fun, we did 75 hand release push-ups.  (I did them on my knees.)

I was proud today that I was able to do allllllmost all 150 sit-ups all the way through…and my coach noticed and commented on how much I’ve been improving!

Another thing I’ve noticed from CrossFit?  The shoulders and upper arms of my favorite shirts are starting to get tight.  I feel like I should be on Jersey Shore.  (This is good! I’m happy about this!  Muscles!)

Anyhoo, new shoes came today from Zappos!

I kind of pooh-pooh the minimalist running shoe thing.  (FOR ME. PERSONALLY.  If they work for you, awesome!)  I know I need a giant stable workhorse of a shoe to keep my gait in check over distance.

But, for CrossFit, I decided a lighter shoe would be better for me, so I picked up a pair of these New Balance Minimus WX20s.  I have to go with New Balance shoes because I’m a wide-footed kind of lady, and they’ve always served me well.  I’m excited to try them for reals tomorrow—these appear to have a fairly solid heel, but the toe box lets me feel the ground and spread my toes out better to grip the floor.  I tried them a bit already, and they feel fantastic for jumping and other fancy footwork.  These are designed for lifting and cross-training, and that’s precisely what I’ll be wearing them for!

Dinner was soup leftovers.  I am clearly soup nuts this week.

What are your thoughts on minimalist shoes for running and other stuff?

Another early morning at CrossFit!

Awesomely enough: I set my alarm wrong last night (PM instead of AM, sigh) but I still woke up at 5 o’clock on the dot in time to get out the door.

We warmed up with four laps of the parking lot in the crisp fall morning air and a healthy round of dodgeball.  Yes, dodgeball.  I had elementary school gym flashbacks.

Today’s strength element:

• 5-5-5-5-5 shoulder presses (45-45-45-45-55 lbs)

Today’s WOD was what the trainers call a “chipper”—in other words, you just keep chipping away at it, because it’s long.

• 40 situps
• 100 jump ropes
• 40 situps (at this point, my abs failed me and I switched to crunches, boo)
• 50 walking lunges
• 40 situps
• 50 burpees
• 40 situps
• 50 kettlebell swings (@ 25 lbs)
• 40 situps
• 50 thrusters

I finished in 22:43.  I was one of the first few people in the class to finish, but I was honestly a little disappointed in myself.  I don’t know what the deal is with my abs (besides weakness), but I just could NOT make it past a half-assed crunch after the first set.  No matter how much I struggled, my abs would just poop out and I’d flop backwards on the mat.  Lame.

Anyway, today’s eats went unphotographed as I went out for stir-fry (healthy!) for a co-worker’s birthday for lunch and had ugly leftover BBQ pork for dinner.

Tomorrow morning I’m jetting off to Toronto!  Whee!

My camera is in its case in my work bag and I’m too lazy to go get it.  Also, my nail polish is wet and it might smudge.

I made some chicken enchilada soup last week, and it’s ahhhmazing.  I had the leftovers today for lunch and will be doing so again tomorrow.  I loosely based mine off this recipe.

I did not buy this dress today, but I’m kind of regretting it.  I really like it.  It was $36 at Loft.

I went back to the eye doctor today.  I also got my hairs cut.  They spike my hair up like Anne Burrell when they do it and I immediately flatten it as soon as I walk out of the door.  Just call me Ms. Milquetoast.

I freaking love CrossFit.  Today’s WOD (“Barbara Lite”) was 5 rounds of:

• 10 pull-ups
• 20 push-ups
• 30 sit-ups
• 40 squats
• 2 minute break

I completed 4.5 rounds in 25 minutes.  I skipped the last break because I really wanted to push.

It’s becoming extremely apparent that I have zero core strength and marginal upper body strength, but my lower body is a rockstar.  I have no trouble with squats, lunges, or box jumps—but I’m a weensy bit embarrassed to admit that I still have to do girly knee push-ups, and use a resistance band (and some jumping) to do pull-ups.

Hard work, though, and I’ll fix that.  Rawr.

It’s bedtime and my tummy is rumbling. 

What are your randoms today?

I’m officially a much happier panda today.

The temperature has dropped to a much more acceptable 89 degrees, and I got a full night’s sleep last night.  And my left eye has almost stopped twitching.

Phew.

Unfortunately today, today was marked by totally unremarkable eats.

Leftover taco mac and the last of the cantaloupe for lunch.

This snack was pretty baller, though: a Clif Kidz Honey Graham bar with natural PB smeared on top. 

It was like a big smushy graham cracker with peanut butter and I liked it.

After work, I ran another unremarkable three miles on the treadmill.  Snore.

Dinner was a subject of at least 15 emails between Tim and I today.

He took out some ground beef to thaw.  But…I wasn’t really up on the menu planning thing last week, so all day, we had e-mails going back and forth that went kind of like this.

Brie: So, what do you want for dinner?  We could make tiny meatloafs.

Tim: That sounds good.

Brie: Wait, those take a long time, and require the oven.  Nevermind.  What should we have?

Tim: Hey, look at these cute dog pictures?

Brie: Spaghetti?  Burgers?  Tacos?

Tim: Spaghetti.

Brie:  Ooh, what about this fancy unrelated black bean goat cheese quesadilla recipe!  LINK

Tim: We’re out of cumin.

Brie: Dang.

Tim: Spaghetti.

Brie: But I had pasta for lunch!

Tim: Burgers.

And so on, and so forth.  It was maddening.

Anyway, woo for Friday tomorrow!  My brother-in-law will be in town, so we’re planning to see him Saturday, which will be nice. 

Do you menu plan?  How do you decide what goes on the weekly menu?  And what recipes are in your regular rotation?

Back to work today!

I am feeling less monstrous today, though nausea still interfered with my workout.  It seems to be subsiding, though, which is a good thing.

Lunch:

Spinach salad, homemade pretzel roll, watermelon balls*, mini Babybel cheese**, Greek yogurt***.

*: I enjoyed balling an entire watermelon at my mother-in-law’s house so much she gave me her spare melon baller.  Baller!

**: Crack.  These tiny cheeses are so NOT budget friendly (I think they’re $3.79/6 at my store right now), but they are infinitely better than any cheap string cheese out there.  Worth the money.

***: I’ve always really liked Dannon Greek yogurt.  It’s cheaper than Chobani and Fage, and I really like the texture.  Apparently now they are merging with Oikos?  Anyone know the details?  Please tell me this will not make the prices go up. 

For snacktime, I tried a new flavor of Luna Bar.

It was basically a really big Quaker granola bar.  Meh.

After work, I was really excited to run…but it didn’t go so well.  I think it was a combination of guzzling too much water in the late afternoon due to the heat and my general nausea came back.

I ran 2.5 miles, walked for about 5 minutes, and then ran another .5.  Womp womp.

Dinner was leftover pulled pork and corn on the cob.

I wasn’t full, though, so I had a peach that was pretty excellent.

Now I’m baking cookies for Tim to take to work, and in a bit I will be hacking up 15 pounds of raw food into individual Milhouse-and-Southie-sized portions.

I can’t wait to see my best friend in just three short days!  She has a CrossFit workout planned for us on Saturday morning and I’m quaking in my boots already.

What do you and your best friend like to do together? 

Today was just…off.

I was too lazy to pack a lunch last night, so I just kind of improvised in the morning and threw shit in my lunch bag.  Like a breakfast sandwich, cantaloupe, and yogurt.

And I was still hungry so I had some baked chips. 

I did have the foresight to pack a slice of homemade challah for an afternoon snack, which I smeared with peanut butter, and was excellent.

After work, I had another crappy gym session. 

Part of the problem is that I was just indecisive.  I ran for awhile, and then lifted for awhile, and ran for a little while, and then left because I was feeling nauseous AGAIN.   I usually have a cast iron stomach, but the last few days it’s definitely felt a little bit off. 

So, it was generally an unfocused workout  but, you know, at least I did something.

I got home and attempted to make sweet potato fries but I dropped them.  See?  Off day.

So dinner wound up being leftover pulled pork, roasted potatoes, and the last of the cantaloupe because I’m going out of town and Tim doesn’t like it.

For some completely idiotic reason, I put myself on a 7 am flight tomorrow morning, so…I’m off to pack!

No post yesterday because I didn’t feel like taking photos.

The highlights?  Lunch with Therese and Chandra at my favorite Mediterranean place, Sahara, and a most excellent 1200m swim after work.

Also, I am working on a big long post celebrating my one-year anniversary of being hormonal-birth-control-free, but figured I should check to see if there’s any interest in reading about my experiences before I go and post stories about my lady business.  So…is anyone curious?  Leave a comment and let me know if you want to read this or if it should remain for ever in my drafts folder, where blog posts go to die.

Today’s lunch was leftovers from yesterday’s lunch, plus a bit of fruit salad and some baked Tostitos swiped from the break room.  (The peach wound up as an afternoon snack, as did a big slice of watermelon.)

After work, I worked it out at the gym with a speedy little 3 mile run in 27:45. 

I’ve been very pleased with my running speed of late.  I’m not really sure why it’s improved—whether it’s a function of losing a few extra pounds, or the cross-training, or if it’s just that I’m not underestimating myself anymore.  But I do hope I can keep it up.  It feels good.

I think part of my problem, actually, is that I get confused going between my outdoor intense hill running pace, which can easily be in the 10:30-11:00/mile range and feel like a max effort, and my flat track or treadmill pace, which I tend to lowball.  I don’t think I realize just how much the hills slow me down, and I’ll set a 10:00/mile pace on the treadmill thinking, “Oh, this is faster than I was outside” and be cool with it.  I need to pump it up even more, because frankly, my 9:20-ish pace today felt…not easy, but not like a balls-to-the-wall effort, either.  You know?

It was stir-fry night for dinner!

One of my favorites—lean round steak, edamame, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, cashews, teriyaki sauce and lemon juice served over brown rice.  Perfect for summertime!

Anyway, life’s about to get busy around here.  My July schedule is (roughly) as follows:

• July 1-4: visit the in-laws in the Ozarks
• July 7-9: Atlanta for work
• July 15-18: Boston for a much-needed weekend with my bestie
• July 22-25: Chicago for half work/half family time

So, lots of travel, and I’m sure I’ll be tired by the end of it, but I’m looking forward to all of it.   I can sleep in August!

Any travel recommendations for  Atlanta or Boston?  And do you want to hear about my experiences sans birth control?

Okay, so if you read this blog regularly…you’ve probably noticed that I’m a creature of habit.

I don’t post my breakfast every day because I eat the same thing every day.  Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal with 1% milk and a midmorning coffee (or Click protein shake).

Today, well, I found a good thing and went with it, twice. 

For lunch, I had a salad with spinach, Craisins, goat cheese, and pecans, plus a homemade pretzel roll and Greek yogurt on the side.

There was also trail mix as an afternoon snack, but I was too lazy to dig my camera out of my cavernous bag.  Sorry.

After work, I hit up the pool.  For the first time ever, it was crowded!   I’ve only had to share a lane once or twice before, but today, there were 2-3 people swimming in every lane.

Except one of two lanes labeled “fast.”  The guy using it hopped out just as I walked in, and it was empty otherwise.

I stick to “slow” if the pool is empty, and have braved “medium” a few times when “slow” is full.  But fast is where the tall hairless guy in the Speedo speeds by, occasionally yelling and fist-pumping at the clock.

But, my options were “fast” by myself or “slow” with three hairy old men and their beer guts.

So, fast it was.  I swam as fast as I could, and did 1000m in 28 minutes, and then cooled down with 200m of breaststroke.  It was a good time.  I really do enjoy swimming when it’s warm out!

Anyway, I was appropriately starving when I got home.  Swimming just kills me.  So I immediately made another salad and sucked it down as fast as possible.

Like I said, BOGO spinach at Target this week.  And I’m leaving Friday morning, and while Tim likes salads…I think that 90% of the two bags of spinach will be going down my gullet, not his.

By the time I was done, the leftovers from last night were heated up, so I enjoyed some of those.

I was planning on lifting after work, but my co-workers notified me this morning that we’re leaving work at 3 tomorrow and going out for happy hour drinks and appetizers in honor of my birthday!  So I think a rest day is justified.

Are you a creature of habit?

If I haven’t already mentioned 43253980 times how much I love having Mondays off all summer…let me do it again.  It’s seriously wonderful. 

Milhouse, Buckley, and Southpaw all agree.

Southie is staying pretty stable.  She ate a few bites of wet cat food and a few licks of specially-formulated cat milk on her own today, and has been drinking water.  I’d obviously prefer for her to be wolfing down bowls of food, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Last night we had a visitor in our yard.

It’s kind of crazy how many deer there are just wandering in our neighborhood.  I’m terrified I’ll hit one with my car!  We see them all. the. time.

Anyway.  I slept until 10:45 today and only got out of bed out of shame.  Otherwise I totally would have rolled over and slept until noon.

I had a small bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and milk for breakfast.

My car was desperately in need of an oil change, so I headed over to get that done.  I dropped my car off and hit the nearby trail for a run rather than sit around and wait in the grungy waiting room!

It was a gorgeous day, but I still have some residual…fluids…in my head and chest from my cold last week, and I wound up puking/spitting vigorously several times.  So, it wasn’t exactly a banner run for me, but, whatever, three very hilly miles in the books.

I arrived home to a fun surprise—the 6 month supply of Click Protein Powder I won on SkinnyRunner’s blog!

3 containers each of Vanilla Latte and Mocha flavors.  Yum!

Nothing really sounded appealing, so I had kind of a random lunch.

Two dinner rolls, a big yogurt mess with strawberries and banana, and a smoothie made with the Click Mocha powder, milk, and ice.

I really liked the smoothie!  However, I will caution you that it’s very coffee-y.  I know when I see things labeled “mocha,” I assume they’re mostly chocolate with a hint of coffee, but this is definitely a strong coffee flavor with a hint of chocolate.  I really enjoyed it, though, once I adjusted my expectations, and I might consider switching out my morning cup of coffee with this!

Last night I made a slightly modified version of Skinny Taste mac and cheese that we re-heated tonight with hot dogs.  Classy!

Sparkpeople has a fancy new look.   I like.

‘

In other news, I’m feeling vain.  Swimming and lifting more has not only tipped the scales (more days than not, anyway) into the 150s (finally!), but my upper body is pretty awesome-looking, too.  Albeit pasty.

Missourians love their guns, and I’m no exception.  Schwing!

Back to the grind tomorrow. 

Do you like to sleep in or are you an early bird?

I woke up this morning feeling like crap.  Still, I’m kind of still proud of my awesome attendance record at work, so I got up with my alarm (okay, after about 5 or 6 snooze cycles, like usual) and wandered downstairs, where Tim was eating his breakfast.  The following conversation ensued:

Brie: I’m siiiiiick.

Tim: You should stay home.

Brie:  My throooooat hurts.

Tim: You should stay home.

Brie:  I could probably go to work, though.  

Tim: You should stay home.

Brie: I’m siiiiick.  (trudges back up to bed)

At which point, I called my boss, who kindly said she hoped I felt better soon and pounded some DayQuil.

ALSO, the scale totally said 159.6 this morning.  ZOMG!  It’s about damn time.  I think shaking up my routine with swimming has made a big difference.

My taste buds are fried today and so my eats have been a little weird.

I wanted Tim’s Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast, so I had some.  They absolutely don’t fill me up, but since I’m not doing anything but laying on the couch all day I figured it was okay.

Tim dropped Southie off at the vet on his way to work, and I got a call shortly after.

Apparently, Southie has some pretty gnarly gingivitis and dental issues going on…and the infection in her gums has spread to her liver.  Poor thing.

Anyway, she will be spending the weekend at the vet.  Today she’s getting some IV antibiotics and fluids, and as soon as her infection is on the mend, she will be getting a full dental cleaning, possibly a few tooth extractions, and more antibiotics.   The vet is confident she’ll make a full recovery, but it’s still a wee bit scary since I know she’s fragile from not eating.

So, the moral of the story: if you have cats and dogs, make sure they get regularly scheduled dental cleanings.  “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” doesn’t just apply to humans!  Southpaw implores you.

As soon as we recover from these vet bills, Buckley and Milhouse will be going to the vet for a cleaning as well.

For lunch, more bland comfort food…an apple with peanut butter and a grilled cheese sandwich.

And a smoothie for a snack, made with frozen strawberries, a little Greek yogurt, some milk, and half a banana.

Dinner is leftovers from last night, and I won’t be exercising tonight, which is why I’m posting a bit early.

I think I’m going to drag my butt off the couch and go do some laundry.  We leave tomorrow right after work for our anniversary adventure to Omaha, so I’ll be back on Sunday!

In the meantime: ask me anything (within reason).  I’ll do a Q&A post to go up on Saturday if there’s enough interest!