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Hey there! I'm Holly. A 40+ year old insurance-nerd wife, mom, beauty lover, and about a million other things in between.
This is the place where I share about our lives, what I'm currently loving, books I'm reading, plus-size style, beauty recommendations, health + fitness endeavors and anything else I'm finding interesting at the moment.
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Monthly Archives: February 2013
Golden Gate Relay Training Plan + Week One Recap
So I finally made a training plan for The Relay. Last week was my first week of twelve and guess what? I DIDN’T EVEN STICK TO IT! 🙂 We are clearly starting off with a bang here.
In my defense though, I was sick at the beginning of last week and well, that just sort of screwed everything up. This week is a new week, however, and while I’m still not following it *exactly* to a tee, I am making progress and getting in the groove. So I thought I would share what my plan is for the next 12 weeks.
Training Plan
I made this plan with a few things in mind:
*I am not running this race for a time, I am just running to finish
*My legs are flat, but I want to train running hills to improve my pace
*I want to continue CrossFitting 3x per week, at least
*I want to run 2-3x per week, at least
*At least 1 run per week will be a longer run. Endurance is actually a strength, and by the end I want to be back to feeling pretty comfortable running about 8-9 miles at a time. (My longest leg on race day is 6 miles.)
*I want to improve my stamina. Running for a long time is not a struggle for me. Running fast for a long time is. So speed/stamina work will be on my mind. (Hello, hills.)
*I want to get comfortable with the schedule of 3 hard back to back workouts within a short time frame (24-36 hours) to mimic sore race legs/conditions. My Friday/Saturday workouts (double days) are mapped out to help me with that.
And with that, my loose schedule for the next 3 months:
Monday – CrossFit
Tuesday – CrossFit
Wednesday – Rest or Speed Run/Hill Work (3-4 miles at a pace that is hard for me)
Thursday – Rest or Run (depending on what Mon/Tues look like at the box I’ll rest on one of these days and run on one of these days)
Friday – AM treadmill run before work (yuck), PM CrossFit
Saturday – Longer Run
Sunday – REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST.
Here is how that shook out last week.
Week One Training
Moving forward, I thought I’d share these updates on Sundays. If you are completely uninterested you can skip it, I won’t mind. Or if you’d like to follow in more real time I am tracking them on Daily Mile. For me, knowing that I will be posting these and answering to the internet (Hey, that’s YOU) will help keep me accountable over the next few months. If it’s not useful for you, just walk right on by. 🙂
Monday
I spent this evening laying on my couch wanting to die after being at work all day. Making dinner felt like a major effort. No workouts for me!
Tuesday
I felt about 90% on this day but skipped the workout just in case. I was bummed, but it was the right decision.
Wednesday
For the Strength portion we worked on Weighted Pull Ups but since I’m still using a band I worked on banded negatives. Then I did some banded pull ups just for giggles. What was awesome is that I used a smaller band (less help) and just felt like I could do a million. I NEVER feel that way. It’s amazing what difference fat loss makes when doing pull ups. Being 14lbs lighter helped IMMENSELY. The metcon portion of the workout was a pretty freaking hard chipper:
15 calorie row
50 m bear crawl
13 thrusters (65 lbs)
13 box jump overs
13 deadlifts (135 lbs)
13 wall balls (14 lbs)
13 ring dips (I did banded dips)
Then you work your way back down the ladder.
There was a 15 minute time cap and I missed finishing by FOUR CALORIES in the row. Bummer. Good workout though.
Thursday
I should have run and flaked. But I was SUPER SORE from the day before. Totally used my early week sickness as an excuse. Was just being lazy.
Friday
Got up to run before work, per the plan but then read that the Friday night workout was the Filthy Fifty. I need to ease into these double day workouts and there is nothing easy about the Filthy Fifty. So I opted not to run. Friday night I did this:
50 Box jump (20 inch box)
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings (26 lbs)
50 Walking Lunges
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press (33 lbs)
50 Back extensions
50 Wall balls (14 lbs)
50 Burpees
50 Double unders
OOF. That is a brutal workout. Was glad I didn’t run.
Saturday
Met with my running buddies and did a track workout that included sprinting, running some hill repeats and running bleachers. It was a GREAT workout and really fun. Then spent an hour at open gym working on Cleans and Snatches. Lots of heavy lifting. Then GHD sit up work. Really enjoyed myself.
Sunday – REST!
Workout Total: 4
CrossFit Workouts: 3
Running Workouts: 1
Double Days: 0
Paleo Chocolate Chunk Brownie Bites
I’ve been wanting to post a treat for a while but with so many doing the Whole 30 it seemed like it would be kind of a jerk move. But now that it’s over…BRING ON THE TREATS! Ok, let’s not go HOG WILD, but this one is worth a share. I made these for my CrossFit buddies and they got rave reviews, so then I tried them again at Super Bowl and they are a keeper.
If you’re looking for a company that offers chocolate bar packaging services, visit yourboxsolution.com for help.
I got the inspiration from the Best Damn Brownie Recipe over at WOD Fuel, made a few tweaks and then turned it into Brownie Bites because, for me, having an entire tray of brownies sitting around is DANGEROUS. (Pass me a fork!) But having “bites” around force me to have a little more self control.
*Note: I said A LITTLE. 🙂
Anyway, super simple ingredients and method. Try them the next time you are craving a sweet treat! With only half a cup of honey for about 20 servings, it’s not too crazy.
Paleo Chocolate Chunk Brownie Bites
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
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- 3 ounces 50% or higher Dark Chocolate, broken into squares
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- ½ Cup Ghee
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- ½ Cup Honey
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- 2 Eggs, beaten
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- 3/4 cup Almond Flour
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- 1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract
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- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- 3.5 ounces 70% or higher Dark Chocolate, chopped into chunks
Instructions
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- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a mini muffin pan
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- In a microwave safe dish, melt your ghee with the first 3 oz of dark chocolate squares until just melted.
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- Stir honey into the chocolate/ghee mixture
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- Stir in the beaten eggs along with the almond flour, vanilla and sea salt and mix until smooth
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- Fold the chunked chocolate into the batter
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- Scoop batter into the muffin pan filling each with a little over a Tablespoon of batter
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- Bake for 17-19 minutes
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- Cool for 15 minutes and serve
- Store in the refrigerator before serving if you prefer harder brownies, leave out if you prefer softer
5 Things To Do With: SPINACH
I was going to start this post by saying that I am not a huge fan of spinach, but that’s not 100% true. If this website was called into evidence, it would obviously reveal that I do like spinach salad covered in warm bacon dressing. I mean, duh. Also, I don’t think they let you even HAVE a blog these days if you don’t have a recipe for a green smoothie that you endorse, so there is always that. I finally developed a taste for warm spinach in a breakfast casserole and then I branched out to eating it in a dinner appropriate egg dish that, while delicious, is ugly as sin.
(Oh man, Joe’s Special is just so darn ugly. But you all, it has helped me embrace TWO ingredients I don’t normally love – spinach AND mushrooms. WHAT? I’m convinced it’s a Miracle Food. A really ugly Miracle Food.)
Anyway, the fact is though, my brain always defaults to thinking about how I can “hide” the spinach. Maybe you can love a side dish of sauteed spinach, but I have to be honest, it makes me feel like I’m eating wilted grass. I just can. not. abide. So I hide! And now I’ve made a spinach poem. We may be at an all time low here, you all. If you are a hider too (no need to be a poet) here are my 5 favorite ways to get some spinach in your meal without it having to be the main act:
1. Stuff It In A Muffin
Meat and Spinach Muffins (from The Clothes Make The Girl)
This recipe is a gem (as is Mel’s cookbook Well Fed) and I love the novelty of having a muffin that isn’t overly eggy and is packed with a protein/veggie punch.
2. Add It To A Soup
Paleo Stracciatella (from Goddess Lifestyle Plan)
Recently my mom made me a batch of chicken soup and she just happened to throw in spinach because she had some…BRILLIANT! This led me down a rabbit hold of spinach-type soups and I found this recipe for Paleo Stracciatella which looks delicious!
3. Prep A New Pesto
Lemon Thyme Chive Spinach Pesto (from Caveman Connoisseur)
Such a versatile and verdant little change up, right? I can’t wait to try this. I may substitute something for the pecorino, or find some raw parmesan, but regardless this will be making its way on to my menu soon.
4. Change Up Your Chimichurri
Grilled Skirt Steak with Spinach Chimichurri (from Cooking In Red Socks)
Grilling season is right around the corner and Chimichurri is one of my favorite toppers for grilled meat and vegetables. How about getting creative and working in some greens?
5. Mix It Into A Burger
Turkey Spanikopita Burgers (from Tastebook)
This is in pretty regular rotation at our house, sometimes with raw feta, sometimes without and let me tell you it is delicious either way! Definitely worth trying, and if you serve it over a bed of raw spinach: EXTRA CREDIT! 🙂
*****
What’s your favorite way to hide spinach? Have a good recipe? Don’t forget to share!
Original Spinach Image Source
The War Wages On
Hey! It’s Monday! And the 49ers lost….womp womp. That sort of sums up my mindset right now. I was going to do a more in depth post about Whole 30 2.0 and what I learned, but you know what? I’m tired of reading about the Whole 30. (Really tired, actually. Confession Time!) Mostly though, my experience with this Whole 30 was basically the same, so why repeat myself. Again I found that The Little Things Make A Big Difference. Also, things will feel hard, but you will be happy with the results. Yep, that about sums it up.
So instead of in-depth wrap up, I’ll just give you the game highlights:
1. Operation Get Rid of Back Fat was a success!
I mean, it’s not completely gone by any means, but I definitely feel like there is LESS to contend with. Before Pictures. UGH. Still can’t believe I took those. But hey, I feel like from the side I can definitely see a difference.
The front isn’t quite as dramatic.
My clothes are fitting different in the hip areas which is nice.
(But man, why do I take these AFTER I workout when I look hella beat up? LAME! ha! Whatever.)
2. The After FEELS better than the Before
If you remember, I wrote down how I was feeling in December to make sure I kept those things in mind when evaluating my success.
*Vampire Bite Acne is gone (actually MOST of the acne is gone. This is different from the last time around. AWESOME!)
*Body image is good. Plus I just feeeeeeeeeeeeeel better at the gym. We did a bunch of pullups the other night and they just felt so much easier (and I was doing them on a lighter band, so WIN!)
*No more splitting nails. Man, the fingernail thing is SO DRAMATIC for me when I’m eating better. It’s kind of nuts.
*Also, I ended up losing 14lbs, which was a nice little touch of icing to add on the cake.
*******
So how did I celebrate all the Whole 30 madness being over? By having a Cobb Salad (mmm bacon!) and a glass or two (or twenty) of wine on Friday night! It seemed like a great idea at the time (HA!) but it felt less ideal on Saturday morning when I woke up. Garrett and I were set to run with some pals from our Relay Team (Team Name: Longest Wod Ever) and I wanted to flake so hard it was palpable. But G dragged my butt out of the house and I’m so glad he did.
It was great to see the ladies, and after an hour of sprints, bleachers and hill runs I felt like I had my Tiger Blood back. So just for giggles we headed out to open gym to do some lifting.
After an hour of cleaning and snatching, Garrett and I spent some time getting to know the GHD Machine. I wanted to get over my fear of GHD situps (seriously, you guys, THEY ARE SCARY!) and Garrett wanted to do some back extensions. It ended up being rad. I like learning new things! Also I decided that I want to add the GHD situps into my regular rotation. I’m going to show my lower abs who’s boss!
After our workout though we showed the Whole 30 who was boss by eating Mexican food. I’m sorry, I want to be a better example, but I also really enjoy corn chips and salsa. So that’s what we did. 🙂 And then I took an epic nap with the dog. I mean, can you blame me? (Buster was exhausted by proxy.)
Sunday we celebrated the Super Bowl with some champagne (YUM!)
But this morning I am ready to get February back to (mostly) Whole 30 eats. The War Against Back Fat wages on, you know. 🙂
*****
How was your weekend? Any fun Post Whole 30 Eats? How are you feeling now that it’s over? Are you happy about the Super Bowl results? *sniffle*
Fun Things To Read On A Friday
Finally I can drink! And eat bacon! But here’s the rub: My plan includes running a billion miles this weekend (well, not quite that many) but drinking doesn’t really help that situation. Sigh. I will figure something out, I promise.
So. Drinking. Running. Reading. (Current Book is excellent so far. YES!) This should hopefully shake out nicely. Speaking of reading, here is some stuff I enjoyed reading this week:
*Since I plan to pour through my book this weekend, I particularly enjoyed How To Read And Get Flat Abs. This needs an infomercial! 🙂 Think you don’t have time to read? I loved the tips in How To Read A Book A Week. (Amy has a great blog, btw! A veritable potpurri of interesting content. I said potpurri in my Alex Trebek voice right there, just so you know.)
*Lots of great tips is this post about How To Organize Your Life Online. I’m basically interested in reading how ANYONE organizes ANYTHING. I think this is why I like Pinterest so much.
*I’m at a bit of a professional crossroads right now. So much to say about this, but you know…blogs are not the spot for workplace talk and all that. I’ll tell you though that being at that crossroads, I immensely enjoyed The Secret Ingredient For Success
It’s easy to find pat ways to explain why the world has not adequately rewarded our efforts. But what we learned from conversation with high achievers is that challenging our assumptions, objectives, at times even our goals, may sometimes push us further than we thought possible.
*Want to think about serious things for a minute? This post about food fraud led me down a rabbit hole of head shaking.
*I read this post about being right on the cusp of plus sized clothing and thought it was interesting. I have to say though, I sort of enjoy being right on the cusp. I feel like I have MORE options, rather than less.
*Goals are an illusion! I think this has so many great points, even as an obsessive goal-setter.
It can be so easy to compare our goals to those we see our friends setting and those floating around the internet. But in reality, each goal is unique and the process of reaching that goal will look different for every person. And that’s okay.
*Neil Gaiman lost his dog recently, and what he wrote about it broke my heart into a million pieces. And then I read Sizzle’s post about her mom’s dog and immediately donated $20. God you guys, somewhere along the line finding our little dog has just turned me into a complete sap. I can’t even IMAGINE anything happening to Buster (WEEP!) and we have only had him for 5 months. 5 months today, actually! Aw…Gratuitous dog pic opportunity. BAM:
*Salon wrote a great Guide To Writing A Memoir. You should read it and then write one. I want to read it.
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So…did you read any life changing links this week? Pass em on. And also…HAVE A DAMN GOOD WEEKEND!
