Disconnecting + Weekly Workouts

We are in the final countdown!!! On Wednesday, we are leaving for Orlando and I am anxiously counting down the days! My to-do list is a mile long so you may not hear much from me.

We leave for our honeymoon in Antigua the day after our wedding, so we spent some time at Barnes & Noble Saturday night to pick up books to read on the beach. I picked up Wild by Cheryl Strayed and also bought Amy Poehler’s Yes Please on Audible. I’m a big fan of listening to comedian’s books on Audible rather than reading them because they tend to be even funnier when said in the voice of the comedian. I’ve recently listened to Tina Fey’s Bossypants and Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me on Audible and both were incredible. Any other book suggestions??

I am so excited to completely disconnect ALL week long on our honeymoon. I plan on turning my phone on airplane mode the entire week and being free from email, social media, etc. and just truly relaxing and soaking it all up. I can’t remember the last time I went more than an hour without my phone by my side so this will be a good reset. We’ve made plans for a few excursions as well, so it will be a good mix of adventure and relaxation. I cannot wait to plant myself on this island all week 🙂

Let’s talk workouts. This week was heavy on the Iron Tribe. I usually try to stay away from doing Iron Tribe more than 3 days in a row, because my body is typically so sore by then it needs a break. This week, though, my body felt good and the workouts didn’t feel extremely difficult, so I did more in a row than usual. Plus, I just don’t have the mental capacity to create a workout on my own right now!

Monday – Iron Tribe
100 Double Unders
20 Thrusters (65#)
20 Burpees
-Rest 1 min-
75 Double Unders
15 Thrusters
15 Burpees
-Rest 1 min-
50 Double Unders
10 Thrusters
10 Burpees
-Rest 1 min-
25 Double Unders
5 Thrusters
5 Burpees

I went into this thinking it would totally suck because thrusters and burpees are essentially the worst, but surprisingly it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I’m starting to like thrusters more and more…ok, like is a strong word. I’m starting to *tolerate* thrusters more and more.

Tuesday, Iron Tribe
A. Every 90 seconds for 8 sets (12 min total):
6 Front Rack Lunges (3 each leg) + 6 Bent Over Rows (I did 85#)
B. 9 min AMRAP of:
12 Russian kettlebell swings (35#)
6 Pull-ups

Wednesday: Iron Tribe
Partner Workout!
20 min AMRAP of:
20 HSPU
20 Medball passing situps
20 Box jumps
200m run with medball overhead

We got about 4 rounds. Those medball overheard runs were HARD.

Thursday: Iron Tribe
5 Rounds of the following:
30 sec. max calorie row
39 sec. rest
30 sec. max power clean (I did 85#)
Rest 3 min.
B. 10 min EMOM of the following:
Min 1: 2 Burpees
Min 2: 4 Burpees
Min 3: 6 Burpees
*Add 2 each minute until you can’t complete the total amount within the minute.

I think the burpee part of this workout was one you had to mentally commit to if you were going to complete all 20 burpees within the last minute, and I was definitely not committed. I went hard on the first portion of this workout and gave up on the burpees after minute 8. Still a great workout!

Friday: Iron Tribe
A. Front Squat: 5-4-3-2-1
I got a new Front Squat PR of 145#! Here’s the thing, I don’t really write down PRs or do a very good job tracking my progress on workouts (other than this blog). Maybe one day I will care more, but right now I have a pretty good idea of my limits and it works well for me.
Rest 1 min
B. For time (12 min. cap):
30 Double unders
15 Wall balls
15 Knees to elbows
30 Double Unders
15 Wall balls
15 Knees to elbows
30 Double unders
15 Wall balls
15 knees to elbows
30 Double unders

Saturday: Jogging at the park!
It was so nice out on Saturday afternoon, so we took it to our new favorite park to get our sweat on.

Sunday: REST!

What was the best workout of your week? Any book suggestions for me? Has anyone been to Antigua!?

The Best Homemade ‘Ritas + Weekly Workouts

I love weekends that involve zero traveling, zero plans, and lots of Netflix and strolls down the pier. I went to bed before 10 on both Friday and Saturday night and it was glorious.

We also had taco night on Saturday with homemade fresh margaritas! I had to share this recipe because it is my go-to simple and delicious margarita recipe. One of my best friends’ dad’s made us these margaritas a while back and it’s still the best ‘rita I’ve ever had. Of course, there is a lot of lemon squeezing involved, but trust me the labor is worth it. Oh yeah, and after all of that work I ended up dumping my entire marg right on my lap. Classic.

Into the Blender:
-Juice of 6 lemons
-1/2 cup sugar
-Fill the rest of blender with water
-Add 1 egg white for froth
Blend and pour mixture over glass with ice & tequila, and mix. I rimmed mine with salt and and a lime 🙂

I skipped last week’s workouts (oops) so let’s get a taste for what I did this week!

Monday – 3 mile Run + Core Circuit
I’m still using this piggy bank as my weight for all core movements. Whatever works!

Tuesday – Iron Tribe
8-6-4-2 Muscle-Ups
16-14-12-10 Pistols
Cash Out: 100 Double Unders
I definitely do not have muscle ups down yet, but I ended up doing a new-to-me scale for muscle ups using a band! You basically do a chest to bar pull up using a band and then push up to fully extend your arms at the end. I’m so happy I finally found out about this scale!

Then…I did a bonus workout with a friend for our Savage Race training/my own Operation Grow-a-Butt-by-my-wedding training. This was by far the hardest workout I did all week. But my butt was sore so the mission was accomplished.
40-30-20-10
Lunges with 35# Kettlebell held at chest
Russian Twists with 25# plate
Kettlebell Swings with 35# KB

Wednesday – Iron Tribe
Buy-In: 800m Run
4 Rounds of the following:
15 Deadlifts (I did 105#)
20 1-Arm Kettlebell Push Press (10 each arm)
Cash-Out: 800m Run

Thursday – Iron Tribe
A. 12 Min EMOM of the following:
Min 1-4: 6 front squats
Min 6-9: 4 front squats
Min 11-12: 2 front squats

Min 5 & 10 are rest to build weight. Weight had to be taken from the floor, so the debilitating factor was how much you could clean. I started at 85#, then went up to 105# and finally 115# and my quads were 100% done. I was so sore for the next 3 days.

B. For Time (10 Min Cap):
40 Wall Balls
40 Box Jumps
40 Knees to Elbows

You could partition the reps any way you wanted so I stuck with sets of 10 for all until I was done. The hardest part for me was the Knees to Elbows, as per usual.

Friday – REST.
I slept in. I ate sushi takeout. I watched Gone Girl (btw, that movie blew my mind). It was great.

Saturday – Iron Tribe
Our gym did a workout in remembrance of Phoebe, a 5-year-old girl who was tragically thrown off a bridge in St. Pete by her father. This has really effected our community and we had a huge turn out in support of Phoebe. It is so sad and terrible that things like this even happen, so I was glad we could come together and do something to remember this little girl.

“Phoebe”
Partner Workout
Buy-in: 150 Double Unders
62 Lunges
62 Wall Balls
62 Russian Twists with plate
62 Push Ups
62 Burpees

Sunday – Another park workout!

What was your favorite workout of the week? Do you ever make homemade ritas??

Cameron’s Favorite Cookies Ever + Weekly Workouts

Let’s talk cookies & workouts. Those two things go together, right?

Cameron has been raving about his mom’s peanut butter cookies ever since we first started dating in college, but I hadn’t tried them until last weekend. Well, he was right – they are the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had! I asked his mom for the recipe and she kindly shared it so do yourself a favor and make these. I’m giving some away as gifts for co-workers and Cameron is really mad about it.

The BEST Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
2 Cups Bisquick
1 cup Peanut Butter
1 can condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
Granulated sugar for rolling cookies in
Hershey kisses of your choice

Directions:

preheat oven to 375.
Blend together pb and condensed milk, add in bisquick mix well, when almost blended add in vanilla.
Roll into approx. 1.5 inch balls and then roll in sugar.

If making blossoms: Place balls on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and cook 7-10 min. Pull out of oven and press kiss into ball while hot. Let sit until cool. You can transfer to a wire rack after a few minutes of cooling if you need to alternate your cookie sheets.

If making pb cookies: make balls and roll in sugar as above. Once they are place on cookie sheet mash with fork once then turn fork 90 degrees and mash again (Makes cute grids).

Weekly Workouts

The workouts this week were TOUGH. I can’t remember the last time my whole body was this sore.

Monday: Rest
I flew home from Birmingham this day and was not feeling a workout. We did get to workout with Cameron’s mom and dad while we were in B-ham! Iron Tribe is headquartered there, so there are about 5 different locations and it’s so fun to visit. 

Tuesday: Iron Tribe

For Time:
30 Box jumps (20#)
30 Push press (I did 75#)
100m Farmer’s Carry (I did 35#)
25 Box jumps
25 Push press
100m Farmers carry
20 Box jumps
20 Push press
100m Farmers carry

Wednesday: Iron Tribe
20 min EMOM:
1st min: 100m Row then max reps of KB front rack lunge (I used 35#)
2nd min: 5 hang cleans (I used 90#)

I guess I always underestimate EMOMs because this was WAY harder than I expected. It rivaled the 12 days of Christmas WOD. It also initiated my soreness that continued through the rest of the week.

Thursday: Iron Tribe
7 Min AMRAP of:
7 Thrusters (I used 65#)
7 Knees to elbows
-Rest 2 min-
7 Min AMRAP of:
7 front squats (65#)
10 V-ups
-Rest 2 min-
7 Min AMRAP of:
7 Barbell push ups
10 Jumping squats

Friday: Iron Tribe
“12 Days of Christmas”
*Follow the same structure of the song..for example:
1 run
2 Deadlifts, 1 run
3 Burpees, 2 Deadlifts, 1 run etc.

For Time (30 min cap):
1 100m Run
2 Deadlifts (I did 135#)
3 Burpees
4 Box jumps (20#)
5 Push ups
6 Pull ups
7 Sit ups
8 KB goblet squats (35#)
9 KB swings (35#)
10 Wall balls (14# ball)
11 Double unders
12 Handstand push ups

I started way too hot out of the gate with this one. I was cruising along until we got to the wall balls. At that point, the person I was trying to stay in front of caught up to me and passed me, and then my motivation to go fast just went out the window. I ended up being in the middle of the last run when they called time for the 30 min cap. It was pretty heartbreaking, but I think I’ll get over it.

The rest of Friday was spent at the Iron Tribe Christmas party! We ate tacos, drank margaritas and danced to country music. It was fantastic.
Saturday & Sunday were deemed rest days because my body was done for. We did some Christmas shopping and hit up the beach. Winter in Naples is pretty awesome.

Tell me about your favorite workout this week! Have you made Christmas cookies this year? What’s your favorite kind?

This Week’s Workouts + Gluten-free Banana Pancakes

Happy Monday!!! This weekend flew by but it was so fun to finally spend a weekend in Naples. When people tell me they live in Naples but don’t go to the beach, I get so confused. Why else would you live here!? I can’t get enough of this.

Here’s a look at this week’s workouts:

Monday  – Iron Tribe
A. 100 Double unders
40 Plate lunges (25#)
20 Kettlebell swings (I used 35#)
400m Run
20 KB swings
40 Plate lunges
100 Double unders
B. 3 rounds of:
50m Farmer’s walk each arm (I used 35#)
3×7 Second hanging L hold

I can officially do 30 double unders in a row! But once I get past that number they start getting reeeeally difficult to string together. Does anyone else catch yourself holding your breath during these? I’m guilty.

Tuesday: 5 mile Run

Wednesday: Iron Tribe
10 Min EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute) of:
3 Hang cleans + 3 Burpees (I worked up to 115#)
*Build weight through the course of 10 sets
Rest 1 Min.
B. 8 Min AMRAP of the following:
5 Hang cleans (I used 95#)
10 Hand release push ups

Usually when I see EMOMs like this I go into it thinking it will be a good strength workout without much cardio. Well this one was both and was WAY harder than I anticipated. Getting in 3 heavy hang cleans, 3 burpees, AND switching your weight out in one minute means there is literally zero rest.

Thursday: Iron Tribe
For time:
400m Run
20 Deadlifts (I used 105#)
10 Pistols
400m Run
15 Deadlifts
10 Pistols
400m Run
10 Deadlifts
10 Pistols

I talked about my love for pistol squats on Friday, but this WOD was a good balance of my strengths and weaknesses. Deadlifts being my weakness. I can clean more than I can deadlift….not normal.

Friday: Hot Power Yoga @ BV Yoga
How many times do you attend a random yoga class and think “I need to do this more” but then don’t go back for another two months? This is the vicious cycle yoga & I play with each other. I’m considering getting a yoga package because I’m sick of lying to myself. If you pay money…you will show up. It works, people.

Saturday: Iron Tribe
3 Rounds of the following:
200m Run
20 Russian kettlebell swings (I used 26# for all of the movements)
20 1-Arm KB thrusters (10 each arm)
100m KB carry
10 KB goblet squats
10 Strict pull-ups
*Must use same kettlebell weight for all movements.
Becky joined me for this WOD and I was so happy to have her a workout buddy! This girl is running for two and is still REALLY fast! Don’t judge our sweatyness…it was very hot outside.

Sunday: Pancakes + Beach time
Ahhh…my two favorite things. We were having such a perfect beach day…and then Cameron got stung by a yellow jacket. His foot is super swollen, but it was still a really great day minus that incident. P.S. We found lots of coconuts!

Gluten-Free Banana Pancakes
I made these on Sunday morning (because Sundays don’t count unless you make pancakes) and deemed them share-worthy.
Served with bacon, because bacon makes everything even better.

*Makes about 10 pancakes
Ingredients:
1.5 cups almond flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup cream cheese (yep…the ingredient that makes them super delish)
2 tbs. melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 banana chopped in very small pieces

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients and mix until mostly smooth.
2. Fold in banana pieces.
3. Heat pan over medium heat and coat with coconut oil/non-stick spray.
4. Pour batter onto pan. Cook each pancake about 2-3 minutes before flipping. Cook other side for about 1 minute.
5. Top pancakes with maple syrup, almond butter, fruit…whatever you like!

 

To Foam Roll or Not to Foam Roll + This Week’s Workouts

We had such a great Thanksgiving in Orlando. I’m fighting the post-holiday blues with Cyber Monday deals and reminders that Christmas is only 3 weekends away (holy cow, I have so much shopping to do). I’ve also been having major Naples beach withdrawals, so I’m looking forward to finally staying put and soaking it up this weekend! I get antsy if I haven’t been to the beach in over 2 weeks.

On our drive back home, we listened to my new favorite podcast, Girls Gone WOD. This episode featured Dina Kudlicki, a Certified Fascial Stretch Therapist and Functional Movement Professional and the information she shared about Functional Movement was full of “ah-ha!” moments for me. But one thing that blew my mind the most was what she had to say about foam rolling your IT Band. Most runners and crossfitters I know foam roll their IT band, as have I for the last few years, to help relieve knee pain. It hurts, as Joy would say, like a mo-fo. In fact, I am usually holding back tears, bad language and reminding myself to actually breathe the entire time. But Dina tells us that foam rolling your IT band can actually make it tighter. Why? Because your IT band is flat and wide rather than round, so when you put that much pressure against the flat-shaped fascia, it produces a collagen-matrix which strengthens tissue to deal with stress making your IT band even tighter. Dina recommends foam rolling your glutes, hips, quads, and hamstrings in order to loosen up your IT band. I deal with knee pain on the reg, so I’m going to test it out. Check out the full podcast for more info on that! A good reminder that science is always developing and changing.

As for workouts this week….

Monday: Iron Tribe
Every 90 sec. for 12 sets:

Sets 1-4:
6 Front Squats ( I used 85#)
4 Strict Pull Ups

Sets 5-8:
5 Front Squats
5 Chest-to-Bar Pull Ups

Sets 8-12:
4 Front Squats
6 Pull Ups

This was the WOD that made me realize I’ve pretty much lost my pull ups. When I finally “get” a movement, I stop working on it and assume I will always have it. Unfortunately that’s not the case…you have to keep practicing them. Bike riding must be the only skill you only have to do once to get.

Tuesday: Kickboxing Class

Wednesday: Iron Tribe
“Warren”
2 rounds of:
400m Run
25 Overhead Squats (I used 65#)
20 Push Press (I used 65#)
400m Run
15 Box Jumps (20#)
10 lunges with barbell on back (65#)

I was nervous for this WOD all day and I didn’t even see that there were TWO rounds of it until we were heading out the door for our first run, so that was the worst surprise ever. One of my friends just started working out at an Iron Tribe in Atlanta (all locations do the same workout) and I loved getting this text from him:

It’s really fun to complain about WODs with people in other states 🙂
Sweaty post-WOD pHenOH7.4 recovery–full review on this alkaline drink coming soon!

Thursday: Orlando Turkey Trot 5k! 
Don’t let our smiles deceive you…this is the annual smack-talk race. It was a tough loss, but I’ll be back for you next year, Cameron!
Friday: REST and MORE PIE

Saturday: Crossfit Winter Park 
I returned to my old stopping grounds for a fun partner WOD! This one was actually easier than it looks (that never happens…) which was perfect for my pie-stuffed self.

4 rounds:
5 push ups
5 goblet squats (35# kettlebell)
5 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (35# kettlebell)
-90 Kettlebell Swings (between 3 partners)
4 rounds:
5 ball Slams (15#)
5 burpees
5 jumping lunges
-90 Kettlebell Swings (between 3 partners)
-200m Run Relay with 15# Ball (each partner runs this at a time)
90 (total between partners) ball slam sit ups
90 Wall Balls (15# slamball)
90 Overhead Lunges (15#)
*One person working, one person resting and one person in a plank at all times
-600 meter partner run w/ ball

Sunday Funday
Cameron put my mom, stepdad and I through a little run/obstacle course at a nearby trail. Trails are just the best.

Griz and I hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Thoughts on Rest Days + This Week’s Workouts

It’s crazy how one weekend of shenanigans (aka eating and drinking my way through Charleston) can take a toll on your workouts. Last week I just felt slow and weaker than usual, so I’m excited to go back to “normal” this week.

And I have a confession to make. I broke my #NoRunNovember goal this weekend and partook in a 5k mud run with obstacles along the way. To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but we had a big Iron Tribe team doing it together so it ended up being really fun and more social than anything else.

The reason I wasn’t looking forward to the mud run is because I’m still trying to figure out how many rest days my body really needs to recover, so I wasn’t planning on doing any workouts this weekend. Lately I’ve realized I can either get 6 mediocre workouts in a week or 4 awesome workouts in a week. Obviously, I’d rather have 4 awesome workouts, but sometimes taking rest days is difficult for me mentally. This is because A. I truly enjoy working out (WOD fomo is real), and B. I have a very sedentary job, so it feels awesome to start the day with a lot of movement. I’m still changing things up and trying to figure out what works best for me, but I know recovery is a really important part of training. I think we (myself included) forget to think about recovery as a part of our training. Just like we try to “get in” our workouts, we also need to try to get in our recovery days (whether that involves complete rest or a long walk), too, because they’re just as important.

Anyway, here’s what this week looked like on the workout front:

Monday: Kickboxing Class

Tuesday: Iron Tribe
“Armistice”
11 min AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of the following:
100m Sprint
11 Sit ups
11 Air squats
100m Sprint
22 Sit ups
22 Air Squats… (Add 11 Sit ups and air squats each round)

2 min. rest/reflection

11 min AMRAP:
100m Sprint
11 Push ups
11 Box Jumps
100m Sprint
22 Push ups
22 Box jumps (add 11 push ups and box jumps each round)

Wednesday: Kickboxing Class

Thursday: Iron Tribe
15 min AMRAP of the following:
2 Power Cleans (I did 105#)
2 Pull ups
2 Kettlebell front rack lunges (53/35#)
2 Power cleans
4 Pull ups
4 KB front rack lunges
(2 power cleans each time, add 2 pull ups and 2 lunges each round).

Friday: Iron Tribe
For time (25 min cap):
Row 1200m
50 Double-unders
25 Wall balls (20/14#)
Run 800m
40 Kettlebell swings (53/35#)
20 Burpees
Row 400m
30 Double-unders
15 Wall ball
Run 200m
20 KB Swings
10 Burpees

Yep…this workout was the death of me. I barely finished in under 25 minutes.

Saturday: Swamp Buggy Mud Blast!
This was a lot of fun. Lots of walls to climb over, swamp water to get through, monkey bars and more obstacles. It wasn’t anywhere on the Tough Mudder level, but I was more than ok with that! Plus we had such a fun group of people to do it with.

Sunday: Rest!

What’s your approach to recovery/rest days?

GRIZ IS BACK! + Weekly Workouts

You may have been wondering where the heck that dog has been that appears in some of the photos of this blog. Well, he was on a sabbatical in Birmingham, Alabama, livin’ it up with his grandparents, but HE’S BACK!!! (que the glamour shots from our engagement shoot…sorry but I love them.)

We went to Birmingham this weekend for our couple’s shower, and Griz flew back to Naples with us. I didn’t know what to expect since I’ve never flown with a dog before, but it was a piece of cake. He just sat by our feet in a carrier bag and didn’t make a peep! He wasn’t so sure about the airport though.

Everyone assumes Griz is mine because he’s not your typical “guy” dog, but Cameron actually got him before we were even dating.  Apparently, real men love little dogs. Here’s the first time I ever met Griz my junior year of college — he was just a puppy! Sorry for the low quality pic, I blame the iPhone 2g I was probably using.
This weekend was a good one…filled with wedding excitement, awesome people, some relatives I hadn’t seen in a while, and lots of good eats, of course. I’ve had my fair share of cake, cornbread and wine this weekend, so instead of dreading Monday, I’m welcoming it and ready to get back on the health bandwagon. P.S. why is wedding (shower?) cake so darn delicious?

I’m trying to get inspired to werk it this week, so here are last week’s workouts:

Monday: 5 Mile Run
These runs are slowly getting easier. I’ve been forcing myself to run slower than I ever thought possible for that first mile in order to get negative splits. I start running slow, and then challenge myself to run even slower. I’m essentially walking with a slight hop,  but my body loves to run really fast the first mile and then suffer through the next 4, so this is a work in progress.

Tuesday: Iron Tribe
16-14-12-10 Ring Rows + Ring Dips
16-14-12-10 Pistols
100 Double Unders (2:1 Singles)
Pistols are weirdly easy for me. I did 200 single unders though, because my double unders are inconsistent and 100 of them would make me super pissed off. Happiness and single unders for the win.

Wednesday: Iron Tribe
Buy in: 400m Overhead Medball Carry (14# ball)
10! (10, 9, 8,….rep scheme) of the following:
Push Press (I used 75#)
Knees to Elbows
Cash out: 400m Overhead Medball Carry (14# ball)

I did this workout extremely slow. In fact I think I was the slowest one. My shoulders were just over it by the time we were doing the cash out and they had no interest in carrying a medball overhead. So I stopped to rest, chat with people, and basically took my sweet time…and it was still hard!

Thursday: Iron Tribe
Every 90 seconds for 12 sets (18 min total)
6 Front Squats (I did 85#)
8 Box Jumps (20″)

Friday: 5 mile run

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: Rest Day

Tell me about your weekly workouts — I need motivation!!

My First Bridal Shower + Weekly Workouts

This weekend was really exciting because it was my first bridal shower! I wasn’t sure how the whole shower thing would go because I don’t love having all the attention on me (surprising, I know, since apparently I share my life to the whole internet). BUT it was so much fun to be surrounded by friends and family and of course, eat delicious foods. The shower was back home in Orlando, and I hadn’t seen my parents/friends in 2 months so I loved being surrounded by girlfriends and family. I’ve been making big efforts recently to make new friends in Naples, but it’s so nice to be surrounded by people who already know and accept my weird sense of humor/personality.

My MOH/sister is an event planner, so she kind of rocks at the whole shower-throwing-thing. She just threw together these flowers herself and made that pumpkin-spiced naked cake that I’m obsessed with, NBD.




My favorite drink is a Moscow Mule so one of my friends got me tin cups and ginger beer!

As for workouts this week…do you ever have those weeks where your workouts completely exhaust you? That was last week for me. Looking back at my week of workouts, it’s not very surprising why. Going to Iron Tribe 4 days in a row is tough. I just thought every workout looked like torturous fun that I didn’t want to miss out on. I really need to tell them to make their programming less fun so I start getting more run days in for my quickly approaching race.

Monday
5 Kettlebell swings (35#)
10 Double unders
100m run
10 Kettlebell swings
20 Double unders
200m run
20 Kettlebell swings
40 Double unders (I started doing the scaled 3:1 singles at this point because double unders are my nemesis and for some reason I refuse to practice them)
400m run
40 Kettlebell swings
80 Double unders
800m run

Tuesday
Buy in: 1000m row
5 rounds of:
12 pull ups
6 power cleans (I did 85#)

Wednesday
10-8-6-4-2-4-6-8-10 of the following:
Overhead Squats (I did 65#)
Burpees

Accessory Work:
3 rounds (not for time) of:
100m farmers cary (I used a 35# kettlebell)
30sec handstand hold

Thursday:
4 rounds of:
10 Deadlifts (I did 110#)
100m Run
10 Wall balls (14#)
100m Run
10 Knees to elbows
100m Run
10 Hand release push ups
100m Run

I’ve been going lighter with deadlifts because it’s the lift that I struggle with most. I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to get the form down just right. This is the workout that did me in and left me like this:

Friday
Rest day because see above photo.

Saturday
Run
I didn’t use a GPS tracker to see how far I went, I just ran and enjoyed looking at my hometown. I think I covered somewhere between 4 – 5 miles.

This is my favorite spot in Winter Park — it’s a brick street and the houses have water in both their front and backyards. Fun fact: Carrot Top lives on this street and yes, his house is orange.

I grabbed drinks with my dad & stepmom, and my dad really wanted to be on the blog and he also took his first selfie ever, so I think this is a pretty monumental moment. PS I took this with my dad’s iPhone6 and I don’t think Apple was thinking about selfie feasibility when making these new gigantic phones…how dare they.

Sunday
Short walk with mom and went to my shower where I ate way too many of these:

Is it Really Sunday if you Don’t Make Pancakes?

After traveling every weekend in July, it’s been so nice to have relaxing weekends with very few plans as summer winds down.

Friday night was a dinner and Froyo date! Coconut froyo with gummy bears and sprinkles for me. (Yes, I’m aware that I have the topping selections of a 5 year old.)

Saturday I went to an awesome seminar at Iron Tribe on how to move naturally. This was full of great advice on how to improve things like coordination, balance and mobility — which effects everything from how we run to more complex lifts like snatches and cleans. First, we talked about shoes. Our coach said that while most people workout/run/do all exercises in running shoes with a thick cushiony sole, this is actually hindering our workouts and our running. These shoes inhibit foot flexibility and do not allow our feet to move as they were designed to move. He recommended transitioning from running shoes to a cross-training shoe, and eventually a minimalisitic shoe. Here are the recommended brands:

Aside from shoe talk, we also learned how to jump, crawl and move naturally, focusing on mobility, foot/ankle flexibility and landing lightly on our feet. Our coach also brought up a big misconception: squatting is bad for your knees. Squatting is actually good for your knees – it’s what our joints were meant to do! But the reason squatting can be painful is because we have sedentary lifestyles and are not practicing this movement on a regular basis, which makes our joints stiff and eventually begin to calcify. Our coach recommended sitting in a squat for 5 minutes a day. (Loading a bar with heavy weight is not what he was referring to when he said “squats” — air squats!) We also did all of this barefoot! It was a great seminar and a lot of fun.

The rest of Saturday looked like this:

 Poppin’ cider bottles on the beach 🙂

 Sunday was a pancakes, church and chill all day on the couch kind of day. Aren’t Sundays the greatest?

Is it really Sunday if you don’t make pancakes?

Dinner was slow cooker BBQ pulled pork (heaven), lemon garlic butter broccolini, and a brown rice/quinoa mix. For the pulled pork, it was as easy as covering a pork tenderloin in beef broth, cooked on low for 8 hours, shredded the meat with 2 forks, dumped a bunch of Steve’s paleo peach BBQ sauce on it – and boom – deliciousness. The slow cooker makes everything taste better.

Anyone else tried minimalistic shoes? How has it effected your workouts?