Entering Week 3 of Paleo

As you many have noticed that I did not blog much this week. With away night games all week plus my field hockey spaghetti supper, I've been phyically and emotionally drained. I only went to Crossfit once this week. (sad face). However, after canceling practice on Saturday, all the coaches and players were able to revitalize and rejuvenate as we enter into our second half of the season.

 My Fall Family

My Diet Lately

 In all honesty, I cheated the night of the field hockey pasta dinner. Its not that I was missing or craving pasta, it was the sweets and the snacks that I cheated on. But other than that I've been a clean eating machine. My new flavor obessesion is ginger, so all my recipes this week have ginger in them. Currently in my crockpot is a paleo version of "peanut" (almond) ginger chicken. Once I taste it, I'll post it on here. 

Great news! I found bacon that doesn't have sugar or nitrates. And its available at my regular Market Basket!! 

I have definately noticed that I am eating a ton more vegetables. Like I said, the only thing I really miss is the desserts and chocolate. Any suggestions on how to make something chocolate-y and paleo?! 

First Lurong Challenge WOD #1

In order to fit the Lurong workouts in, we had to go on Saturday to do the first one. I had field hockey practice prior to going to Crossfit. (Field hockey got me really aggravated so I had a lot of anger to release which turned out to be a good thing). As I was driving to Crossfit, I had knots in my stomach. I was dreading the workout. Let me share the workout with you and then I will talk to you about the knots in my stomach. 

LuRong Challenge WOD #1- Triplet Teaser 

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 for time (18 min time cap)

I did Level 2 (the middle level) which was 

14# Wall Ball

65# Deadlift 

16 in. box jumps 

I did not finish in the 18 minute time cap. My time was 18:48. Needless to say it was brutal. I was dreading the wall balls. They scared me. The other exercises, I could make a strategy for and I knew mentally, I could it, but something about the wall balls. I almost turned my car around. (But I knew everyone would yell at me for not going!).  And, just as I expected, the wall balls were awful but I got through it. And I don't have to think about it again for another 7 weeks and hopefully I will improve. But today, my legs are burning!!!  My quads are on fire. (Sung to the tune of Alicia Keys "This Girl is on Fire," obviously). I had a nice date with my foam roller this morning. 

Sunday Cooking

Today was a crock pot day. My legs were on fire, I needed to do some real cleaning and I had a ton of correcting to get done. I decided to make Thai Coconut Chicken Soup. The flavors were totally different than what I am used to. It was sweet and spicy at the same time. Very delicious and very filling. I would definitely make this again. I also bought a ton of fruit and veggies for snacks this week. 

Soup base

Add the veggies and chicken

Ready to serve

Delicious 

I'm looking for some paleo-friendly desserts. Do you have any suggestions? I have a sweet tooth and I feel like I need something sweet after my meal. 

Everything Tastes Better With An Egg

Prior to this every hearing of the paleo lifestyle, my food motto was "everything tastes better in a sandwich." Thanksgiving dinner: better in a sandwich. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes: better in a sandwich. You get the idea. I still whole-hearted my believe in this theory but I'm trying to be healthier. 

Sincer going on this challenge, I've come up with a new motto: Everything tastes better with an egg (or two). I came up with this motto tonight as I was dreading making dinner. I had just arrived home from field hockey practice. By the time I took Rocco for a walk, did some laundry and cleaned up living room enough to see the floor, it was 8:00. Where did the time go?! 

I looked in my fridge and I felt like I had nothing to eat and no desire to cook. I spotted some leftover taco meat from last night. However, I was sick of tacos. I had them for dinner last night and lunch today. So I decided to add a few eggs to the taco meat and call it a "scramble." It sounds so fancy when I call it a scramble. It was at this moment when I realized that I make a lot of these scrambles. And that's when I declared my new motto. 

Today's WOD 

This morning I forced myself out of bed to crossfit this morning. The skill for today was thick grip floor press. Have I told you how much I loathe the think grip? Anyway I got up to 70#! That's a lot for me. My arms usually have no strength. 

After that, the main workout:

12 min AMRAP

5 pull ups 

10 push ups 

15 DB swings 35/25

I did this scaled so my rounds were 3, 6, 9, respectively. However I was pumped that I did real push ups and the prescribed weight for the dumbbell swings! I'm still doing body rows instead of pull ups though. But I'm really going to work towards doing an unassisted pull up. It's been on my goal list for over a year...from when I used to workout with my old trainer! 

And just because... 

Rocco with his new stuffed toy that he ripped apart. 

Happy Thursday! 

Maureen 

Paleo Challenged Has Begun!

Hey Friends,

It's official. The 60-day LuRong Paleo Challenge has begun! By nature, I'm highly competitive. So when my Crossfit coach said the word "challenge", I was sold. I went home and impulsively signed up. Only after signing up did I realize what I signed up for...

I thought it was simply 60 days, paleo, got it. Well it is... but there's more. They have specific workouts to be completed within a certain amount of weeks and it needs to be logged by your Crossfit coach. They sounded great...in theory. I looked at the workouts on Sunday and they are brutal!!

Here they are:
WOD #1 (with an 18 minute time cap)
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Wall balls
Deadlifts
Box Jumps


WOD #2 (12 min time cap)
100 Burpees
100 Kettlebell Swings

WOD #3 (5 min time cap)
Descending Ladder Hang Power Cleans
Ascending Ladder of Shuttle Sprints

Brutal right?! I'll let you know more about them as I go through them.

Another part of the challenge is logging your food. There is nothing fancy about the diet, simply strict paleo. (But not as strict at the Whole-30) The main thing here for me, is food prep. I really need to dedicate Sunday to prepping for the week. This week I made a delicious shepherd's pie that I adapted from Rachael Ray's recipe. It was even more delicious as leftovers with an egg on top!

A little summer squash, peppers and onions

Mashed sweet potatoes

Mix it all together.

Bake it. 

Enjoy! 

Do you have any paleo recipes that you swear by? Any easy weeknight meals? I'd love to hear them. 

Morning Bevvies and WODs

I'm finally feeling like I'm in a schedule and I am not feeling wiped out at the end of the day.

This week's WODs have been all about Tabata. (Tabata is a type of workout where you do an exercise for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds, and repeat for a total of eight rounds). When I first introduced to tabata, I loathed it but I have learned to not hate it. (Notice I don't say "love it"). Now, I can push myself for that short amount of time. 

Monday's WOD Tabata Mashup 

20'' box jumps

Push Press 95/65# (I used 45#)

Today's WOD also included tabata but it was more about shoulder rehab and low intensity. We began with strength skill work.  It started with weighted thick-grip pull ups. Those were BRUTAL! And this is coming from a girl who can't do a pull up so it was heavily modifed but it was still terrible. The thick grip makes it a million times harder!! 

After that was followed by weight dips. While my dips weren't weighted (because I still work with the bands), I did my first set of 3 dips without a band! Woo hoo! I did a little victory "woop woop" this morning. 

Tuesday's WOD Tabata Mashup-shoulder rehab style

Face Pulls (using a skinny band)

Push Up Plus (these are push up using only your shoulders. They felt weird, but my shoulders were burning)

In other Crossfit news, it is one week until I begin my 60-Challenge . I'm getting all my junk-food eating out of my system...which probably isn't the best strategy but whateve. 

Post workout, I go home, shower and leave directly to school. From school, I go right to field hockey. To say I carry a few bags with me is an understatement. Some affectionatly call me "the bag lady." I also realized this week, that I carry around a LOT of beverages. Take a look at all the different drinks I brought with me yesterday. 

coffee, water, protein shake, BCAAs

Happy Tuesday! 

Maureen 

Sunday Meal Prep and Football

After my first week of school and field hockey, I was completely wiped out this weekend. To add to it, my allergies are starting to kick in. I'm not too sure on what I'm allergic to but I know that my eyes are constantly itchy and I keep sneezing. I spent most of my weekend getting ahead on school stuff and relaxing. My field hockey games begin this week which mean that my schedule gets even crazier. I know that means that I should prep my meals like whoa, but I just can't find the motivation.

So today, I made NomNomPaleo's Tandoori Chicken. Not only did it sound delicious, but the first two words in the title were "super easy." 

As the title says, it was super easy. And it tastes delicious. I figure this will last me until Wednesday. I have all the ingrediants to make Rachael Ray's Sweet Potato Shepard's Pie from her new magazine but I have no desire to make it today. 

I did want to make chocolate covered bacon today but when I went to melt the chocolate in the microwave, my microwave started sparking. (Eek!) I guess that will have to wait until another day. While we are on the topic of bacon, where can I find bacon that isn't cured using sugar?? I've looked at my local grocery store for it but everything has sugar in it!! (And one week til my 60-day paleo challenge begins.)

Anyway, today marks the beginning of football Sundays. My Patriots play the Bills today. I ususally have a crowd over but today is very low key.  It's just me and Rocco. 

Since the next 2 months, I will be on my paleo challenge, I'm looking to clean up a few of my favorite Crock-Pot recipes. Any suggestions would be great :) 

PRd My Front Squat baby!!

Today was the first day of school (for the teachers, kids start tomorrow). I wasn't sure if I was going to go to Crossfit this morning because it was the first day but I woke up and saw that the workout was just strength, so I rolled out of bed and left. When I arrived, there were A LOT of people for 5:30 am! And when I say a lot of people, I mean 10. Haha! But when it's usually half that amount, it's a lot. And it's so early!

Today's Strength Work Out: 

Front Squats
1-6-1-6-1-6

Thick Grip Floor Press
4-4-4-4

We started working up to our last recorded one rep max for front squats. That was the first real set. I started at 103. Then we dropped the weight 20% for the set of 6. I dropped to 83 pounds. Then we added 5 pounds to the first set. And then 5 pounds to the 6 rep set. All in all, my weight for the sets were 103-83-108-88-113-93.  113 WAS A PR, BABY!!!! I don't care about the awful bruises that I will have tomorrow. It was a great day to start off the new school year.

Here is me doing the set of 6 at 83 pounds. I know I still have to work on my depth. I tend to think that because I am short that I can cheat and not go allllll the way down.



I don't really have much to say about the thick grip floor press because I'm not a fan of anything that isolates my arms. My legs are so much stronger.

And here is another video of me playing around at school. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I'm def not showing this to my kiddos because I'm pretty sure I would have a few adventurous students who would try this and probably hurt themselves. 

Happy Tuesday! 

Weekly Food Prep

This week will mark the beginning of a new school year. While I still get back to school nightmares, I love this time of year. Anything is possible and my students start with a clean slate. My coaching season has also started. All of this equates to basically not being home during day light.  (I go to Crossfit for 5:30, come back, shower, cook breakfast, head out the door to school, go to field hockey practice or game, then home). It also means that I bring a cooler full of food to school with me on most days. My goal during this time of the year is to prep most of my food on Sunday.

This week, I made 6 hard-boiled eggs. (I just realized this past year how much I enjoy hard-boiled eggs.). It's a quick after-school snack and it can be easily eaten in the car or on the bus to a game. It helps get to me the next meal.

I made a bunch of chicken. I made some strips to throw in salad and some chicken breast for lunch or dinner.

I hate when my meals get boring and monotonous, so I made this salsa to spice it up! I was at a bachelorette party a few months ago and one of the girls made this salsa and I fell in love. I put it on everything. AND IT'S SO EASY!! It's diced up pineapple, jalepenos and a pinch of salt. DELISH!

 Finally, I needed some easy veggies. This week I went with broccoli. Nothing really exciting here.

Since tomorrow is a holiday, I will put everything into tupperware tomorrow for the week. I even pack my lunch in my lunch box the night before. 

Happy cooking this week!