Arch Enemy

There it is. Both a highlight and a bane of my existence. The carrot cake.

I started with a little over half of the cake left but I managed to inhale of quarter of it in one sitting. This is, to quote my wanna be hispanic ffl, no bueno. hopefully you readers (all 2 of you) - will help hold me accountable to my commitment that starting today - May 31 - I'll be doing a one month paleo challenge.

What's in: heavy cream (in moderation) and alcohol (no sangria = sadface). alcohol will be limited to 3 drinks per calendar week starting monday and ending on sunday.

What's out: definitely my three big sticking points - cakes (ie any dessert), french fries, and rice (no sushi = sadface) - and of course all other non- paleo food (pizza, pasta, etc).

Fyi - i finished the rest of that carrot cake yesterday.

Weekend update to follow shortly.

He's Back!!!

Was contemplating doing the cf motown wod all day monday:

5 rounds
5 deadlift, 305#
10 t2b
20 du

i was a bit weary because of my mental block concerning my back (having decimated it back in the end of january) and just having done a deadlift wod on thursday - but i opted to go for it anyway. decided on 185# and finished the wod in 6:41. All my deadlifts were tap and go and my double unders were for the most part unbroken - which was awesome. my t2b left something to be desired - but ill chalk that up (womp womp womp) to having dainty hands from not consistently wodding in a while.

more importantly my sister and noah came home to visit from nicaragua - and I got another project off my desk at work - so far a solid beginning to the week. Now its picture time!

Here is me seeing my godson in person for the first time since January:

On top of having 6 teeth, he's crawling now so this is him in motion:

Clearly this is Noah in his pensive mood:

This is a picture of the whole fam damily (minus brother in law Pat who will be joining us this saturday) at dinner:

And finally a Happy 28th Birthday to my sister Angelica (5/24) - I love you!

My first box... sorta

quick recap for the past few days

Thurs:

did the cf motown wod of:

9min AMRAP
4 Snatch grip deadlift
5 clapping pushups

i was paired up with lauren's brother - a first timer - and it was nice to actually coach someone through a wod again. he was getting frustrated that he wasnt doing it right but i wasnt going to allow him to injure himself - he ended up getting 11 rounds though.

Rx was 205# but i went with 185# and a regular grip. I felt strong and was able to really focus on maintaining the form especially when bringing the weight back down. and i did all my clapping pushups unbroken so i guess my at-home work on legit pushups is paying off. Apparently i ended up with 17 rounds - but i wasnt counting so i'll take that really high number (in comparison Griffin, who Rxed, only had 15 rounds) with a grain of salt.

Then it was ffl time - which i always look forward to (and she never disappoints). as an added bonus, it turned into LLOCFME time and as usual it was awesome!

Fri:

it was nice to have that sore feeling from the week's wods. had a nice relaxing evening and tried out Molly Malones in Whippany for the first time - great atmosphere and solid burgers too!

Sat:

Wanted to print out postcards for the Lululemon Deadlifts and Downdogs event that morning so i got into work at 630am, set the alarm off, and broke the printer:

please note the disassembled printer covered in blue (not supposed to be blue btw). Left with nothing except a visit from the cops for setting the alarm off. Fast forward to the event and it was so nice to coach with Mike D again. I'm a little rusty but i think overall all the yogis (they call themselves that and I'm running with it) had fun and that's what was important! Wedding later in the evening in pennslytucky was interesting.

Sun:

Partially recovered from the wedding and built plyo boxes with my good friend jason.

long day but very productive - thanks again bud!

Doran

Already two days into the week and two wods in - wahoo!

21-15-9
Dips
Squat snatch

Rx for the snatch was 95# - I did 65#.  Griffin was coaching and I finished in 14:10. I can't express how highly I think of Griffin as a coach - he's always composed and extremely knowledgeable - just great guy all around so if you have an opportunity to be coached by him - go for it and you wont be disappointed. I wasnt, however, as thrilled with my time of 14:10 - the wod was designed to be finished in sub 12 min... I fell once, failed two other reps and that was only at 65#. My form was off at the beginning and that really tired me for the rest of the wod. Also, i never underestimate dips as one of my biggest goat is the closely related pushup (I am up to 47 unbroken LEGIT pushups however - 60 is my next mini goal) but by the end of the wod, i was doing sets of one :/

next wod was:

5 rounds
60' bear crawl
5 push jerks
200m run

Rx was 135# and since i think my jerk technique is solid, i Rxed it. I wanted to go all out and not check times, but the way mike d lined us up in a stagger start for the bear crawl i was put right by the white board. I saw the madden brothers' times of 9:35 and 8:14 Rx - something to shoot for.  I really focused on keeping my midline stable during the jerks and felt as if i pushed the runs more than usual - finished with 9:47 Rx. I felt good about my performance. Unfortunately i then saw the 615a class times: four beasts had sub 7min times! I really gotta get back on the wod wagon!

Happy Birthday Kristen! Your domination knows no bounds!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So i was suppose to go to pennslytucky but i decided to sit around my house and do nothing on Sat - i read some, changed my blog around a little (maybe you noticed), did some work outside - overall fairly lazy. i was probably so zapped from using my new standing desk all week at work. I tend to stop using/doing things cold turkey - fruits for my first paleo challenge, cushion heeled nikes for inov8s, cocaine, sitting at work - and every time i give up something cold turkey, i am reminded that while my motivation for the change is good, my impatience to get to that good place sometimes gets the best of me. in summation: it's a workout to stand up (maintaining good posture mind you) literally all day - try it if you have a job where you sit down at a desk or in front of a computer and you dont believe me.

during the week, i was talked into running the motown half marathon. decided on doing half of the half as a relay with my dad. i woke up at 600am Sunday morning to a torrential downpour. i was really hoping that my dad would not want to run so i called just to check but i knew what his answer would be before i even dialed his number. luckily the rain stopped, we get to the race, but my dad, being the runner that he is, decided on running the entire half by himself so i ended up running half of the half with my youngest sister - go figure. end my day out with a bbq a jareds for his bday - fun time and saw his garage gym - sweet!

i was only kidding about the narcotics - drugs are for bugs. truthfully - ive never even inhaled actually - scouts honor.

Smallville Finale Party!

Got some great news on Tuesday! Looks like I'll be co-coaching a Lululemon event with Mike D at Briant Park in Summit! Can't wait to coach with him again! Picked up the packet for the morristown super hero half marathon im running as a relay with my dad on Sunday and got two wods in this week so far:

10, 9, 8..3,2,1
Squat cleans
30 double unders

Rx was 155# but i only did 115#. finished in 21:51

Partner wod: 8 rounds (each)
200m
Dumbbell push press

Maggie partnered up with me (she didnt really have too much of a choice) and we both used 25# and got 377 reps in 18:45

hoping to pick up some equipment tomorrow- however, its in pennslytucky... so if you dont hear from me by monday, come find me in the sticks - please

and yes - im that dork in the title

Steering Rack

For those of you who have never had the privilege of driving a car without power steering - you're not missing much. It happened to my beloved VW last week sometime and came to a head on Cinco de Mayo. Something as simple as making a right hand turn became an all out arm wrestling match with a 2000lbs of steel - it's funny what you take for granted. Exercised home last night to switch cars with my brother-in-law and now I'm driving the polar opposite of a hatchback - a Ford Expedition with the added bonus of a super real time gas gauge that I can see decrease as I'm driving to the end of my driveway. Oh well - I'm going to be using it for a while to lug all my CF equipment to and from the park until I get my box set up. Hess is going to see an increase in business from me - even though it doesn't matter where you get fuel.

Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday went extremely well for Jared and Rebekah. First 50 mile distance for both - and on a (very technical) trail no less - and Rebekah came in at 12:35 and Jared at 14:08. I was honored to pace Jared between the Camp Lanowa Aid Station (27.7) and the Tiorati Aid Station (34.2). He really gave it his all (this is after already running more than a marathon), decreased his mile split, and made the cutoff time to be able to continue the last 16 miles with less than one minute to spare! The longest run for either of them (using CF and CFE of course) was less than 10 miles and they were in high spirits the entire time - so proud!

Also, my obsessive compulsive behavior can subside a bit as I am finally on the CF main site - WAHOO! Look for me as the first affiliate in Summit, NJ :)

And a very Happy Mother's Day to my Mom (Mami) and my sisters (Angelica and Rebeca) - I love you all very much.

About CFV

It's been a rougher road than expected but it's getting very very close. I've hesitated posting as I didn't want to be premature (...) in any way shape or form but I've gotten the email from Kathy Glassman herself that my site is approved to be on the main site. I've been checking incessantly - it's borderline obsessive compulsive behavior. Hopefully CFHQ does what they have to do soon - for my own sanity.

In the interim I'll be part of Rebekah and Jared's crew for Saturday's endurance challenge. Reading the description here i second guessed me pacing them. I want to be as motivating as possible and I'll only be doing at most 9.7 miles (compared to the 50 they are each doing) so I hope to be able to help. I figure if i sing during the run along the mountainous terrain, they'll want to finish as quickly as possible.