Monday, March 31, 2008

We Need CrossFit NSC!!!

These crazy 5am er women are nuts! They came in today dressed in bubble wrap and wore signs saying No Zone, We Need XFit NSC!! They made it so fun to be up early at 5am coaching....Renee, Annie and Lindy are all Brendan and my Zone clients and they are at every 5 am class M, W and Friday taught by Brendan. They are amazing athletes and I have watched them get stronger and stronger. Now that they are entering the Zone - watch out for em!! I still think they're dealing with half a deck dressing up like this at 4am just to have fun....they rule!

Okay - so if these women can dress up at 4am, then hit a hard workout - what's stopping you?

- Refrigerator Quote For The Day...."Does the Walker Choose the Path....or The Path The Walker" Lucas Labrie....

GET SOME!!!
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Easter....

Big B and me after the egg hunt. We make a great couple!!
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LOCin it up!!

My daughter Sarah and Brendan being way too cool on Easter. Its been a while since I blogged, so again I have some catching up to do. I've still been training hard, and seeing results. Here's my week of training....

March 22nd: 4x5k within 23 - 25 minutes each round....getting faster.
18:56, 18:39, 19:49, 21:30.....these were hard!! The 5-15 minutes
rest between 5k was not enough, but great!
March 24: AM: Treadmill Tabata 12% grade, 9.0mph 20 sec on/10 sec off x8
PM: "Nancy" 400 meter run/15 over head squats x 5 rounds @ 65#
I never did this WOD before - my finish time was 17:38. Now I can do it
faster next time.
March 25th AM: 4x400 - 2x 1k ( 1:18, 1:17, 1:23, 1:25 - 4:11, 4:15)
PM: Tabata Treadmill 12%grade, 9.0 mph

March 27: AM: Front squat 5-5-5-5-5
115-115-120-120-120
PM: Ran 5.5 miles easy pace using POSE on treadmill. Not in my schedule, but
needed a stress release :)

March 28: OFF!

March 29: 10k time trial...
41:02

March 30: AM: WOD
15 kb swings, 30 double unders how many rounds in 20 minutes ? I got
in 11 rounds.
March 31: AM: "Fran" 21-15-9 65# thrusters and pull ups
5:31!!! New PR for me!!! My last time was 6:21.


So- that's my training. I'll post this week as well. Brendan and i have started the Eat - Clean Diet - we Zone it. The recipes taste way better, and it's so zoned, just have to tweak the measurements a little. We purchased coolers, and containers so we can pack up our daily food and it makes it impossible to fail. The new meals I have been preparing are so yummy - give this one a try for breakfast:

Cottage Cheese With Apple Butter
1/2 cup cottage cheese
2T sugar free apple butter
2/3 sliced banana
2teaspoons sunflower seeds.

Make sure to measure all ingredients out so you stay in the Zone. I made this a perfect 2 blocker for me, and added more for a 3 blocker for B. He LOVES it! You can buy the cookbooks and start eating clean. Personally I LOVE eating raw, mostly veggies and fresh fruit, lean meats, unsalted nuts.....having a full refrigerator with all the colors of nutrients makes me happiest. Silly, I know - but it makes me feel healthy and preparing live food for Brendan gives me a satisfied feeling of accomplishment......

Here's another recipe for breakfast that we have almost every day around 6am after our first clients.

2/3 cup cooked steel cut oats
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced up and stirred in the oats
6 cashews
Perfect 2 blocker!! For Brendan I add another 1/3 cup oats, and 1/2 cup blueberries and more nuts.

I'll try to post more recipes as I discover them. I know my client Lissa wants to know :) So...have a great day.!!
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

After POSE......a changed woman!!

So here's the corrected form....getting better.... mind you this is the first day I learned it. I am WAY better at this technique now.

Improvements : Landing on the ball of my foot or mid foot, landing under my center of mass (hips), heel is coming up to my butt, no push off - I am PULLING my foot up. Arms are nice and tight and I am FALLING forward at my hip. No broken waist. Believe it or not I can run like this basically effortlessly. The cadence is much higher and your heartrate will get high quickly, but zero pain, zero muscle fatigue. My love affair with running has been reignited and I owe it all to Genetic Potential and Orange County Multi Sport - Brian MacKenzie, and Mike Collins for teaching me the POSE technique....and to Brian for being my online coach in this method. Watch out for me this race season - I'm coming back with a vengence!!! I have been working with Brian since late January and he's kicking my ass but I love every single minute of it!!!

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Before POSE

What do you see in this picture with my form ? Can you even pick up on the wrongs here ? For years I have been competing at races from 10 k's to marathons and I was even concidered FAST - best marathon time is 3:22....but I guess that's just my point. After so many years of doing it WRONG my body had no choice but to rebel - I've been down for 1.5 years with pain unable to run let alone compete. Don't get me wrong - I would run anyway - hell if I didn't I don't think anybody would want to be around me I'd be so grumpy! But it was with major penelty that i ran - pain and limping, etc until I did it to myself the next time. Retarded I know.....This is where Brian MacKenzie cameinto my life, changed it and made me whole again - I'm able ro run like a pro once more with ZERO pain....!!!!

What's wrong here ----

Lead leg is basically straight, heel striking, way out in front of my center of mass(hips), I'm actually bent at the hip leaning back, back leg is way out in back of my body and I am pushing off the ground. VERY POOR FORM!!!

I'll post my after picture in a minute so you can see the improvement....
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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Appreciation....

We should operate our daily lives from a place of appreciation. When we see our loved ones, friends, even strangers with appreciation being the first thought of how we view them - our problems or depression or whatever it is that leaves you feeling heavy or down, would just dissipate. In turn our lives would work better. Those around us would benefit from the loving attitude, problems that arise would more then likely roll off us instead of taking us down for the count - everything in our daily lives would just improve.....AND those around us - THEIR lives would improve as a run off of the change WE decide to make. So - then if it's a win-win situation, why is it so damn hard to do all the time....every day.....every thought ? When you are challenged spend time just looking around you. There are a million things in nature we can appreciate .....on my hard days when I am stressed, or whatever and having a hard time finding something to move my attitude towards a state of appreciation - I sit on my porce and look at my flowers. You just cannot deny that there's a God when you take the time to check out how beautiful they are, ya know ? The colors are vibrant, the design complicated, and they are here for us to enjoy. So...after taking these pictures my day was turned on the right path - appreciation. For my children, Brendan, my home, my job that I LOVE, my clients, the list goes on for days!!!

Today find something or somebody to appreciate fully.....

I'll post my workouts later - gotta run for now.....
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Wednesday, March 05, 2008

He got it from his mamma.....

That's my boy on the left and his friend Jacob learning the front squat. Perfect rack position!! They are becoming good little athletes.....I gave them a quickie workout yesterday.....15 front squats.....20 wall ball......x3 rounds. Then 1 minute hand stand holds. If you come down, get back up and complete the minute. Jacob has handstand pushups, and Brandon can hold it for almost 25 seconds before he comes down.

My children are the reason I get up every morning, and move through life - hopefully bettering myself day by day. Brandon has been my strength at times when I felt weak. I thank God for his sweet demeanor......always there to give me a hug. No matter what frame of mind I am in, or what I'm thinking about he always makes me feel better and gets me to laugh or at least smile. That's a gift from God! Sarah is so amazing!! She is the peace maker and has a soft heart for people. All her friends look to her for advice and they know they can always count on her even keeled perspective on life. I learn from her daily how to let things lighten up and to not be so serious. I am the luckiest most blessed mother in history because I have the sweetest kindest children. :) Today my home work from my life coach was to visualize me holding my babies. Feel the love that I was overwhelmed with when I looked at their tiny bodies in my arms. See their perfection. See their beauty and their worthiness to be. The next step is between me and my coach......but it's easy to fill your soul with complete perfect love when you look at your babies :)

Thought for the day......." All he does is represent the doubt that is within you. Be confident in who YOU are, never loose sight of your purpose because of somebody else's stuff....." Abraham
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Back to Blogging!!!

I've been MIA for wuite some time now. Where have I been ? Well....we moved into a new big beautiful home and I've just now feel settled in. I have still been training HARD - in fact since I started training with Brian Mackenzie my training has stepped up quite a bit. One of my last posts was to say how much I've learned about running and form from the Newport Running & Endurance CrossFit Seminar. My life and running passion has been transformed by the amazing men at Genetic Potential - CrossFit Newport, CA. I am going to try REAL hard to keep an updated account of my training, skills, and CrossFit workouts so hopefully I can inspire others and I have been inspired by Brian.

This weeks Workouts looked like this :

Monday March 3rd
AM: Treadmill Tabata. 12 % grade at 8mph. 20 sec on/ 10 sec off x8 rounds
PM: "Linda" 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of
bodyweight and 1/2 deadlift 155# for me
bodyweight bench press I did 90 #
3/4 bodyweight squat clean I did 85#
All was as Rx'd by CrossFit except the bench. I finished in 38:57.....SLOW, but the new squat clean instead of hang cleans were a lot harder.

Tuesday March 4th
AM: 1/2 mile run warm up with several accelerations. POSE drills x3 rounds. Main set: 2x200 meters 37-39 seconds
2x400 meters 1:25-1:27 - 2x1,000 meters 3:50 - 4:05 minutes goal times. Actual times: 200's :37, :36. 400's - 1:23, 1:25. 1,000's - 4:06, 4:01. SORE after Linda yesterday!!!

PM: Xfit "Filthy 50"
50 box jumps
50 jumping pull ups
50 walking lunges
50 knees 2 elbows
50 push presses
50 back extensions
50 wall ball
50 burpees
50 double unders
FINISH TIME: 27:18

Wednesday March 5th
Run 10k holding POSE form. Finish goal 42-45 minutes. Actual time 48:something. Holding my POSE form for longer distances proves to be a challenge sometimes. Also I started running in race flats to help me stay on the ball of my feet better and my calves were on fire!! I have to stretch out using my Trigger Point stuff.

Sooo...that's what I've been up to. As you can see I am training HARD and reaching for the goals I set for myself. I have also put together more personal goals that I am taking steps to change and learn. I am a believer that you have to stay well rounded. If you train the physical hard, you need to train the spiritual and mental as well. Today was my first session with my new life coach. She is amazing!!! She is the other piece of the puzzle I am piecing together - in the end it will make up the new, strong, confident healed ME!!! Sometimes in life we get a little beat up by circumstances, and it's real easy to loose sight of who we are or what we want. If we don't take time to reflect and to take personal inventory we will become stagnant and not grow. I claim this year to be MY YEAR! I am on the cusp of greatness.....I feel it....I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading :) Now go train!!!
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