Bodyrock..er...ZWOW

So I woke up today too late to make it into Koda so I decided to do a zwow. This gal, I love this gal. Most of her workouts do not consist of much equipment which is good because I have none. She's always really positive and I like to hear her talk.

Fair warning if you click on this and get tempted to watch the video make sure the volume is down. Girl doing a wod - any music = sounds like a porn.

ZWOW #47 12 Minute Fat Burn Workout

My stupid computer decided it needed to buffer mid wod so I had to start my timer on my phone to complete the workout. All in all I did 7 rounds + 3 of the Ab splitter super girl push ups.

Peppermint brownie up!

Last night I went with a dear friend to the Thunder game against Dallas and what a game it was! Free food, free booze and later a dessert cart came by and I couldn't resist. Chocolate and peanut butter or chocolate and peppermint are equally my favorite chocolate combinations. Pictured below is a peppermint brownie a la mode and it was most delicious thing, I won't say ever because I know for a fact I have had much better deserts before. Just as the last quarter was about to end Dallas made a goal or made a basket, whatever and the game went into overtime. Luckily this meant I had more time to enjoy my desert and my beer. Not the best combo in the world but I wouldn't want to let either one go to waste. The whole game up until the 3rd quarter we were behind and then in overtime we barely got ahead in the last 2 minutes of the game. Lots and lots and lots of yelling and cheering and people dancing. I truly had a great time!

Trail run of my life

Last year I went for a night run on Christmas day in hopes that I would get to spend some of my Christmas with my boyfriend when he came back in town. The next day after breakfast and our gift exchange he broke up with me. I know horrible right?! After that I decided to make this year my year of self discovery. I essentially became a yes man or yes girl mind you. I was up for anything and just about everything. Starting with an olympic weightlifting meet where I lifted the same weight as girls literally less than half my age. Talk about embarrassing. Then came various crossfit competitions here and there. A 6 mile mud run with the girls in Dallas complete with a epic night that will forever be a great laugh and probably will never be topped. And  2 half marathons, one being the memorial marathon here in OKC and the napa to sonoma half in well, Napa California where we had another epic night after the run that will not be forgotten. I celebrated my last year in my twenties and made a few new friends and deepened existing relationships with others. In a nutshell my year has been a pretty good one despite the ups and major downs I went through.

So I got back home around 3 and since we had our first snow and I had new running stuff I decided to test it all out. I jogged over to bluff creek and hit the trails. My morning jacket in my ears, my run keeper app tracking the mileage, snow beneath my feet, not a soul in sight. I had the biggest smile on my face dodging branches and tree roots, navigating the quick ups and downs. I took several pictures but only this one below was saved. It doesn't look like it but its a pretty steep hill. I had to climb down and then crawl back up it. When I got to the bottom I took this shot. After I'd gone through two albums I looked around.....I was lost!!! I started freaking out, I turned around and started running. The run keeper chimed in, 50 minutes has elapsed. Oh my gosh! The sun was starting to go down. I knew I had at least 15 minutes until it really got dark. I did not plan for this. I had no light on me. I prayed for God to keep the hobos away and to be with me on my run so I don't freak out. I made my way back to the section that's behind my apartments. I'd give anything just to run home right there but there's a river dividing me from my house. As I ran past I thought, if I was in a serious jam I would so cut through that river. Run keeper, 1 hour has elapsed....I'm freaking out man! My heart was racing. I started running, harder. Finally I got to a section of the trail I sorta knew. Just a few more minutes and I should be able to get out of this. Running running running and there, a clearing! I ran out, "Holy eff ( I said the real thing at the time) that was scary!" I pull out my earbud. "I'm never doing that again!" I started laughing at the thought of how scared I was getting lost in the mini woods on the corner of Hefner and Meridian. How odd. I send out a text that I did in fact get lost. All I wanted was a shower and a drink. I deserved it.

Melissa

We finally did Melissa's WOD again. I'm gonna start posting on here since we can't on the website any longer.

Melissa:
50 sit ups
farmer carry to hill #20
4 rounds of:
10 dumbbell thrusters #20
jog down hill
10 pushups
run uphill
farmer carry back to Koda
50 sit ups

Finished: 13:37

Here's what I posted last time we did it:

WOD: rx'd
finished: 12:50 and no air squats!
I'm pretty sure that was my time. Maybe it was 15:50...That sounds more like it.

I almost certain I finished in 15:50, this last time I did everything unbroken and I ran pretty hard and did the sit ups unbroken. 

Once again

So once again I kinda forgot about my little interwebs space. I've been working more at the gym with news letters and things. I'm getting better at using the website and creating fun stuff. I'll have to post a link to the last one we did. With the end of the year coming soon I'm starting to look back at all the things I've ventured out on and the new friends I've made and the new interests I've dove into and the new person I've become.
I said that 2012 would be the year of getting out there. And looking back I think I've done just that but I don't think I'm done just yet. I think this mantra is going to roll over into 2013. There's a lot and not a lot that you've missed since the last post so I'm just going to start back up on what's going on in my present times.
Koda wise we just finished our 1RM thruster regime. I started out at 123. I have yet to go in and find what my new 1RM is. The cycle before that was back squat. I started at 188 and by the end my new 1RM was 203!
Run wise I haven't been doing much. I've only went and ran once but I think that will be changing in the near future. The memorial marathon has already opened their registration and I need to sign up for that again. I think I'm going to actually train for this one and I'm wanting to start before the new year. I think I'll mark my calendar to start on November 1st.
School wise...well. I've kinda forgot about school. Horrible, I know. I need to get back on that. It's just that things have been a little hectic and I've had to keep pushing it back. I'll get to it soon enough.
OH and emeals came out with an actual paleo plan. I got my first weekly menu yesterday so when I start cooking I'll have to post on those too.
Stay tuned...

Ruth update

After my upset with losing Penny I thought about maybe fostering for awhile just to have some company and my mom was nice enough to loan out Ruth for a week. Here are some shots. The first is her playing with Penny's favorite duck. It was bittersweet seeing someone else have fun with her toys and I was happy it was Ruth. I'm happy that they were able to become friends before everything happened. The second is her taking a nap after I gave her a shower in my sink. And lastly is a picture of her at the gym. Funny to say but she's photogenic, look at that smile! 

My first loss

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything and by the time you finish reading this post you'll understand why hopefully.
We had to put Penny down. I know my roommate. It's terrible. I hate it. It makes me sad to think about it. I had my mom watch her for a little while. I was feeling bad because it was getting hot and I couldn't really take her to the gym and I kept finding what I thought were fleas and after fighting and fighting I wanted to see if my mom could help me get rid of them. My mom laughed at me because it wasn't like she was infested. I would see one or two and freak out, bomb my apt, brush her hair and wash and wash her.
Long story short while at my parents she must've hurt her neck jumping on or off something. I came over one day and she was shaking like a leaf. My mom thought it was nerves from being around all the dogs again. I thought one of the bigger dogs had jumped on her and pulled a muscle. My mom took her to the vet and that's when we found out about the bulging disc. She was put on steroids and pain meds. I planned on keeping her with me so she could rest and get better. The first night she hardly slept and so did I. The next night I called my mom worried to death. She wouldn't relax. Penny was just sitting her little crate I bought panting and panting. Not able to leave her side I slept on the floor by her both nights. The next morning my mom took her to a holistic vet that did electro acupuncture. They kept her a few days to monitor her and my mom picked her up to watch her until her next appointment in two days with the holistic vet for her next session. My mom said the Valium was helping her with the pain. She said she took her out to use the bathroom and when she put her down on the grass she actually tried to run but her little back legs didn't work like she thought and they were kind of dragging behind her. At the vet getting prepped for her second session the vet noticed something wasn't right. Turns out she was starting to have kidney failure. She was no longer filtering her urine to her bladder. The vet informed my mom telling her this was a whole other bag of issues and even if they did surgery on the disc it's not definite that she would fully recover. After days and days of reading about her injury and how it's actually common in her breed, seeing pictures and videos of little french bulldogs in little wheelchairs because their surgeries did not fully correct the issue it hurt my heart to think Penny would have to live that way. My mom agreed and that Thursday, August 2, 2012 Penny went to heaven..
Here's to my buddy, who was there to cheer me up after being dumped, giving me a reason to get up on the weekends and giving me a sense of purpose.

Frankenruthy

So here she is...my mom and sister decided to name her Ruthy. Not as spunky as Skunk, which is what I wanted to call her but nonetheless cute. Last weekend I took Ruthy so her and Penny could become BFF's which I knew would be easy. Their the same kind of dog, came from the same breeder and Ruthy is much smaller than Penny so she won't feel like she's a threat. After an hour of keeping an eye on them they were instant friends. The whole weekend they only fought or I should say Penny only fought with Ruthy twice and both times it was food related. Other than that they are so funny to watch. I kept the bed up most the weekend so they had room to play and they ran around and around my tiny apt. Ruthy would get tired and they both would take a timeout. Pictured above is one such timeout.

New and uncharted coffee adventures

In a nutritional meeting I had last week I was told about this new way to making my morning coffee not only paleo friendly but also better for the gut. And by gut I mean my intestines. Apparently drinking plain coffee which I had grown to love since discovering paleo was killing the villi in my small intestine causing future meals to not be fully taken advantage of and all those great nutrients to be absorbed. I was told to try this out.

Paleo underground:
Coffee
Grass-fed unsalted butter
Coconut oil

In a blender combine a spoonfull or so of each the butter and oil and half your cup of coffee.
(I say half because I do this at work and I brought the baby cup for my magic bullet and it won't hold my entire cup.)
Blend until light in color (I usually blend for a good 15 seconds)

Pour in cup and enjoy!

The combo of creamy butter and slight coconut flavor give it kind of a heavy latte sorta cappuccino feeling. I love it. Going to Starbucks and gettimg my peppermint misto was the best thing ever and I was sad when I had to give those up and only have them on occasion. It was a hard transition and took several tries to get used to straight up americano's with nothing in them but now that's all I ever get there. I wish Starbucks would carry Almond milk, then I could go back to the misto. Anyway, I was told I could put cocoa powder to kick it up a notch but I keep forgetting to bring it to work with me. I'll post an update on the mocha version when I remember.

Newbie

So we have a new family member....Not sure on the name yet. You shoulda seen Penny with her new buddy. She didn't like her very much! In the picture below we were trying to get them to sit next to each other but she kept running away from us and would jump away from the new puppy when it would run up to her. The second picture I had to add in here. If you look close you can see her smile.

When we got home we let them out so they could run around a bit and get to know each other while we unpacked the car. I had to snag the picture of her licking the condensation off my water bottle. And finally I was trying to get a picture of the two of them playing. After Penny noticed the puppy trying to jump around her to play she decided they could be friends and Penny would jump at her and then run away and the puppy would try to chase her, so cute! Lastly is the new puppy and Shatzi. I was a little nervous with Shatzi being so big and how she tried to play with Penny but ended up dragging her everywhere I thought for sure she would do the same with the one. Shatzi was so cute she just rolled on her back and was playing with her new friend!

Window seat

I finally got Penny a bed. I wasn't sure if she was going to use it but the other night when I was making the bed and cleaning up I found her laying in the bed watching me and this morning as I was getting ready I caught her in it again. I thought I would take a few pictures to show and tell.
I was going to move it over by the bed but I think I'll leave it by the window.

My inner yogi

This morning I started my one month challenge adding hot yoga to my schedule. My class was at 6 am and getting up this morning reminded me of when I would get up for boot camp and it being so cold all I prayed I would get the text saying it had been canceled. With it being summer and almost exactly one month out from my Napa to Sonoma half and not to mention my buddy Angela who I promised I would start I had a pretty easy time getting up this morning. When I got to the place of course I was early... a little too early. It's been awhile since I was really nervous about something and the way this yoga girl was talking she had me thinking I wasn't going to make it through the class without passing out or making a mad dash for the door to escape the insane heat. I was beginning to think I wore the wrong thing and second guess my hair-do. I also didn't bring a towel, I know, stupid. Who doesn't bring a towel to hot yoga...duh! It should have been a no brainer. But in my defense I never bring a towel to Koda and I'm always sweating like crazy there.

Anyway, to my surprise we both made it through the class without wanting to die. It was actually really good. I think I will really keep to my promise and go 3 times a week. I'm hoping all the extra stretch work and heat will loosen my shoulders. I was a little embarrassed that I was less bendy than the guys in the yoga class. I was just sitting there sweat just pouring down my face and arms watching everyone else do the binds and technical poses with ease. I'll get there one day.

I had to take this picture after class. The lighter pink part below my hand is the ONLY dry spot on my shirt.

Costanza bed

I'm helping out a different office this week at work which is nice. I'm getting a break from the basement, basement restrooms, the catwalk at the deli and the bugs...

While plugging in my ipad charger I noticed a special surprise under my desk. I have a shelf! I immediately thought of the Seinfeld episode where George makes a bed under his desk. It's perfect! I have a shelf for my phone to set my alarm and ample space for me to lay down. All I need is a blanket and a pillow.

Also, I know what your thinking and yes I do always take my shoes off at work and yes that is a baby footrest and yes my feet do dangle...

Copycat

At Koda we started a summer challenge to kick start everyone into full circle healthy living. There's only so much physical improvement one can see if they go to Koda but continually indulge in guilty pleasures such as frozen yogurt, sandwiches and alcohol. A beer gut in a bikini is never pretty.
Here is my copycat salad and delicious bass I made for dinner one night. The broccoli is steamed with garlic.
I'm never really big on making salads at home. But every time I went to Melissa's and had dinner there was more than likely a salad on the menu. I thought to myself I could definitely get into making salads like this at home. So here was my first attempt.

The salad:
Red leaf lettuce
Romaine lettuce
Roma tomatoes
Red pepper
Cucumber
Celery
Dried cranberries
Pumpkin seeds

The dressing:
Balsamic vinegar
Macadamia oil
S&P (salt and pepper)


Below is my bass...Baked with olive oil and a veggie seasoning and S&P.

Man hands are not cute

So I think it was last Monday the WOD was Murph which I did Rx'd for the first time ever. Right in the middle of the WOD my hands ripped and like a trooper I completed with ripped hands. My time: 53:43. It  was awesome until the next few days I couldn't do much because of the rips. I have done everything under the sun to try and get these things to heal faster. It's no fun when all your friends are having a good time sweating it out and you are having to scale or completely skip gym. So yesterday I did a little research on the topic.

I had read this before but previous rips were never that bad to where I had to consider such a thing.
Never in my life would I ever thought I would share this nor openly share this even to a close friend...

Hemorrhoid cream is the best thing that has ever happened to me...In a ripped hands sorta way.

Some how it speeds up the healing process. I remember a long time ago this lady saying she used it as a face moisturizer and well, she looked pretty good. It seems a little temping. If this stuff dramatically improved my callus rip what else could this miracle cream fix?

Below is my rip on the ring finger. Yesterday it was red and every time I opened my hand all the way it would crack open and hurt so bad. Today I can not only open my hand all the way but I can push my fingers back and everything! So awesome!

Tri searches

Registration has already opened for this. I think I might sign up. It's in September so that gives me plenty of time to get back into riding and most of my running stuff will be over by then. Not sure what I would do about the swimming since I don't have my membership at the Y anymore. Maybe someone will let me borrow their pool.

Tie Dye Tri


And if some reason I don't make that one I can do this one that's in October.

Monster Denton Triathlon

Lunch

Lunch: Turkey burger - bun = yum!

I got this from Texadelphia. It came with chips and I'm not ashamed to say they will be eaten and thoroughly enjoyed.

Green foam

An update from an earlier post about the moth. It finally left I'm happy to report. I was getting nervous it was going to fly in one day and I'd have to battle it out with him in my apt to either get him to fly out or kill him. I'm glad it didn't go that way.

I have a little confession to make. I found on Netflix they had The Hills...I've been watching them in the morning after I walk Penny and sometimes I'll watch a few episodes at night. I know, I know, I'm too old to be watching that stuff but I can't help it. Watching reminds me of how important having a good set of girlfriends can be. And that a guy should NEVER rule your life. This is something I should know by now but I guess I need a refresher on how to be not so dependent on a mans opinion of me. And unlike The Wonder Years I can semi watch and knit. With The Wonder Years I have to be fully focused so I don't get distracted. I feel as if that show is going to open a door to how I should be looking at life.

Here is today's special:
1 cucumber
3 handfuls of spinach
1 fuji apple
3 celery stalks
2 carrots
1 scoop barley greens

Upcoming adventures

I just signed up for a few things and wanted to share.

 The Pub Run

Anarchy in the OK


This is the next event that I might sign up for.

Okahoma's Crossfit Challenge

I have a feeling there is another one that I have forgotten. If I remember I'll post it.

Mothman

After watching episodes 10-15 of the 5th season of The Wonder Years I decided it was time to go to bed. The closer I get to the last season the more sad I get that I'm almost out of episodes.  I always think I'll go back and watch my favorites but when I really think about it they all are my favorites. 
Anyway,  before going to bed I take Penny out for her last potty opportunity.  I open the door and turn to shut and lock it when this dark spot in the bricks catches my eye. I try not to yell out since its kinda late but I let out a "holy geez, that's a big moth!!" In a loud whisper. I took Penny to the grass and I pray that the moth is gone and blame my neighbor for always leaving their porch light on and how it's attracting all these bugs....eeewww! When we make it back to the door I keep my eyes on it the entire time (except when I was fumbling with getting the key in the lock). I open the door just enough to get in and slam it shut! After my mini freakout I decide I need to get a picture of this thing. No way was I going to put a reference object so you can understand its true size. You will just have to trust me on this one,  I promise it was almost 3 inches long....gross right?! Sorry if its a bit blurry but no way was I going to get a close up of him!

My Sunday treat

I watched The Avengers with the family today. I thought it was pretty good. I laughed a lot and decided I need a man like Thor. Maybe minus the longish hair.
On to the shot. As a treat since today is Sunday I made goat cheese stuffed peppadew peppers and paired it with... more cheese, St. Mary's grass fed gouda. Talk about yum!
Not pictured is the chicken breast I  had. Just plain nothing fancy.
My barley greens came in the mail yesterday.
Breakfast today:
2 cucumbers
3 carrots
1 red delicious apple
1 teaspoon barley greens
Oh, and at the movies I had popcorn and approximately 4 cups of diet Pepsi. 

Super moon

Penny and I went out to the lake for a walk to check out the super moon. It's a great night for it, there's no clouds out. I heard on the radio that tonight its closer to the earth so its supposed to look bigger. I'm not too sure it looks bigger but it certainly looks brighter. Something about sunsets and the moon that's so pretty.
I tried to get a picture with Penny's ears and the super moon but I don't have a flash on my phone so it looked like I was taking a picture if a white dot. When I got in the car I was happy to see that you could kinda see her silhouette and the moon.

Series of events

With my 2012 not starting on a great foot I decided I would make the best of it and enter in everything, try anything and document with pictures as best as possible.

So far with the year being halfway over I have:

Participated in an Olympic Weightlifting workshop
Participated in an Olympic Weightlifting meet and received an award....a participants award mind you, ha ha!
Completed the Original Mud Run in Dallas for the 2nd time
Participated in the Memorial Half Marathon in Okc for the 2nd time and was only 20 minutes behind my last years time. Pretty good for not training.
Started taking steps towards becoming a trainer at the gym.

For the second half of  the year:
McNellie's Pub Run in May. I just signed up for this....like 1 minute ago.
In two months my friends and I plan to fly out to Napa to run in the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon.
24 The Hard Way in October. I plan on signing up for the 6 hour run unless I can con some others into doing the 24 hour relay.

I haven't been on my bike but I'm thinking this might be the year I do a tri. Just a baby sprint to get my feet wet. If I can get a trainer, I may talk a buddy into doing one this year. Maybe a duathlon or something.

Since doing the half and talking with those that did a/the full it got me thinking, I should participate in a full marathon once in my life. While I'm on this roll of trying new things this year why not carry this on over to next year and try bigger things.  I might as well give this a shot just so I can say I've done it. I've been looking at the Rock n' Roll series and I think the Strip at Night marathon in Vegas would be tons of fun. Also, Pike Peak ascent...I've been thinking about doing this one since last year when I did the Memorial Half.

I'm not even halfway through the year and I'm already planning next years adventures.
The more I look into different races and talk to friends the more really fun runs I find and want to do. Too bad I wasn't this totally awesome runner that got paid to train and win.

Links below are potential runs and I threw some wish list runs in too.
Strip at Night
Pikes Peak
24 The Hard Way
Zombie run
The Color Run
Trirock
Tough Mudder

Late night chuckle

Just finished watching a very weird Will Ferrell movie. Can't remember what it's called. Its not worth recommending anyway.
After That I checked the stats on the Asia Regionals. They haven't posted any scores, what the heck?! Went to the twitter feed and they didn't have many pictures.  I realize it's way way way past my bed time and shut everything down. I turn around and I guess Penny thought the movie sucked too...she had already went to bed. I think its funny when she uses the pillow.

You guessed it

I'm changing things up a bit diet wise and going back to juicing. Not doing a total juice fast. I'm just juicing for breakfast and sometimes lunch. I'm never really hungry in the mornings and trying to choke down eggs is hard when I don't feel like eating anyway.
Like most of the things I make, I follow no real recipe. 
Breakfast juice:
1 cucumber
2 handfuls of spinach
1 sprig of kale
Approximately 5 carrots
1 red delicious apple
I bought another tub of barley greens. When that comes in the mail I'll start adding a scoop to my juice.

My roommate

This here is Penny. She shares my tiny living space with me. I drag her to just about everything I do. That includes the gym. How am I supposed to get any new PR's when she's always looking at everyone like this?! Everyone asks why is she sad? And I have no clue! I take her everywhere! I'm starting to think that's her look she gives when she's bored and ready to go. Summer is coming up and I'll be working on my beach body, she better get used to being at the gym!

New Start

So after hours on building Brice's blog I got to thinking about mine....Not sure what excuse I could use on why I have neglected it. Partly I kept forgetting to take shots of my meals and I guess I was in a bit of a food funk.
I've decided to start using this again. But this go round its going to be more than just food posting. When I was looking for inspiration for Brice's I was getting jealous of other's blogs and how cool they were and all the little fun pictures and comments. I think turning this more into a life blog instead of just a food blog will work better for me. Besides this is what you all have been telling me I should be doing in the first place.

Not sure on the day...

This is so terrible I should just start over. Or maybe I shouldn't post as day 1, day 2... maybe I should just start posting at the end of the day and give a recap of the days meals. That might be easier. I'll start that today. I already took today's breakfast so we'll begin after that.
Breakfast - three eggs and three Turkey Bacon strips with salsa. I forgot the beans, shoot!

Day 19.2

Here's dinner. Turkey Patty with red onion and mushrooms.  The side is brussel sprouts with pecans and garlic.

Day 19

Breakfast! egg, tomato, bacon and avocado salad.