First Run to Work

This morning I decided that it was time to begin running more, so my husband packed up our little one and joined me on a run into my work, which is 3 miles on the dot from home. It took us just under 30 minutes which I am happy with considering the stops for lights we had to take and what not. My speed is good for the first portion (maybe the first mile or so) but then I tend to die out.

Evan pushed me to doing up tempo sections which were killer, but really helped me. Although the worst up tempo/sprint we did was up heart break hill, since I work right at the crest of it. At least I will get lots of practice with it! My distance and endurance really need to be worked on, and I'm hoping to hit up my school gym later to do a second workout, Im thinking about CrossFit Bostons workout from yesterday, Cleans, Tabata burpees and a 2K row - although all that depends if I can get the time away from my experiments!

CrossFit Maniacs (?)

There was a recent article published in Huffington Post by Penny Love Hoff called "Is CrossFit Only for Maniacs?" She refers to CrossFit as a fitness program for "audacious radical fitness zealots". She states that while researching CrossFit, she read a summary on the CrossFit main site (Greg Glassman's 100 Words) in which she agrees with almost every point. However, she then goes to the internet to check out what CrossFit is all about, I should preface, there are a lot of you tube videos out there that would put anyone off of CrossFit. Videos of kids trying to lift much more than they should and having incredible fails, people flaunting their mashed up hands or throwing their head into a bucket, etc etc. This is really the extreme of CrossFit - not the norm, and certainly not something to judge the whole community by. 


Yes, CrossFit can be done on your own, in your garage, and that is one of the big things that they tout as a huge plus. But CrossFit embodies more than fitness. It embodies a community of driven, hard working, intelligent and innovative people - just check out the microeconomy that CrossFit has grown, with companies that create custom athletic journals, clothing, gear, jewlery, food, even their own groupon like site. 


CrossFit embodies a belief that we should give back to our community at large. An event entitled Fight Gone Bad raises millions annually for organizations such as the Wounded Warriors Project, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Infant Swimming Resources and Camp Patriot. When the helicopter of seals was downed and all 31 aboard perished, CrossFit quickly raised hundreds of thousands for the families through the 31 heroes events. This month, hundreds of boxes around the world will partake in Barbells for Boobs, a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how CrossFit gives back to the community at large. 


CrossFit embodies the knowledge that we can always be better then what we are now. We can always try harder, we can always lift a little more weight - even if just another pound, we can always go a little faster - even if just by a second. It embodies the idea that we should always give everything 100%. CrossFit is never easy, you may get faster at the workouts, or lift heavier weights, but it will never be easy.


CrossFit celebrates everyones strengths and weaknesses, it preaches the value of scaling workouts. Pushups on your knees, pullups with bands, lighter weights, shorter distances - the ultimate goal is always to do a workout as Rx'd, but it teaches you to get there in steps, rather than leaps. 


Does that sound like a community you would want to be involved in? HELL YES! Will you work hard and see major fitness gains? Surely. Will you gain mobility and see a decrease in physical ailments? Highly likely  Is it crazy and just for maniacs? Certainly not!

A CFB workout

Last night I hit up CrossFit Boston for a killer workout. I saw there was running in it, and decided to get my butt over there, since I figure, any amount of running mixed with CrossFit is gong to be a good thing for my training. It was great to workout in their new space (which is totally killer by the way) and Monica was coaching - its always a pleasure to be in one of her classes! We worked a lot on the POSE running method, with about 15 minutes of drills, I'm hoping that I can lock down the POSE method before the marathon. While critiquing my form, Monica mentioned that it seems my left leg has it down! The workout was:

4 rounds for time:
400m run
15 Thrusters (65#)
15 Pullups

I managed to finish it in just over 26 minutes, but good lord were my legs obliterated after that! I am debating running home from work today as a way to work out some of the muscles, but who knows how last nights workout will set in!

I also want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to Jill, Linda and Audrey as my first three donations! Audrey bought two burpees for me to do, just because she likes to see me suffer - Ill be sure to have a smile on for those ones hehe!

Vietnamese Chicken Soup

Im contemplating creating another paleo cookbook as a way to raise some money - since it helped me raise $2500 for Fight Gone Bad before. An idea I'm toying with is finally finishing my Paleo Parties book, the recipes have all been written, but I gobbled up all the food before taking all the tasty pictures (in my defense, I was pregnant at the time). That means a lot more eating in and breaking out my apron once again! Below was a great dish I made, that very well make it into the date night section, especially for any non-cooks trying to impress their significant others. Without further ado, Vietnamese Chicken Soup (its paleo, but if you aren't paleo, you can add in bean sprouts and water chestnuts!)

What you need:

4 cups chicken broth

4 chicken breasts

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp Fish sauce (for paleo peeps, this you have to find specially since most contain sugar as an ingredient)

4-5 tbsp Mint, chopped

4-5 tbsp Cilantro, chopped

1 tsp peppercorns

4 inches of ginger, peeled

1 Lime, wedged

How to make it:

In a soup pot add the chicken broth, peppercorns, half the ginger, fish sauce and chicken and put over medium heat. 

In a skillet sautee the onions until golden, toss them in with the soup. Mince the remaining ginger and sautee until golden as well. Toss it in with the soup. 

When the soup boils, the chicken should be nearly cooked, if it isn't wait a few more minutes. If it is, take it out and shred it (to do this, use two forks, one holds the chicken in place, the other scrapes at it until the chicken falls apart)

Put in the shredded chicken and mix well. Serve with the fresh herbs and squeezed lime juice and voila! You have a quick, awesome, delicious meal!

Like the recipe? Donate any amount to support my Boston Marathon bid! All donations are 100% tax deductible and go 100% to the Melanoma Foundation!

Up and running

I found out on Friday that I would be getting a charity bib for Melanoma Foundation, so its time get serious about my training. I'm fairly nervous for two reasons: 1. I've never run a marathon and 2. The burpee madness idea could be the death of me. I just have to remember how hard all cancer patients have to fight every day and how miserable they must feel as the drugs are helping them get better, and that anything I might endure will pale in comparison. I've started trying to do burpees every day. I managed to crank out 100 yesterday and 101 today, so as long as I keep this up I think I will be OK on this front. Major problem about the 201 burpees I have done so far? I did them barefoot, and now have some great feeling rips on the bottoms of my big toes...apparently I need to toughen up my feet! I did some sprints yesterday for running and plan to follow CrossFit Endurance for the running portion of my training. My good friend Neal Thompson of CrossFit Boston has offered to help me create a training program, which will certainly put me in shape!

So far on the fundraising front I havent gotten my feet beneath me. I started a mailing list so I can send newsletters to all interested parties and created this blog. Hopefully soon I will have my donation pagerom the Melanoma Foundation and can start raising money!