Third Installment of Crossfit

Here are some pictures from the third and final WNY Hammerhead Fitness Competition, which took place at Crossfit Dewitt.

The first workout contained:
overhead carries at 105 pounds

25 pound plate push

Bar-hopping burpees

The second workout was rowing, 105lb push jerks, and 105lb front squats.

I managed to win the first workout and then come in last place in the second workout. Oops. (Front squats are no match for kayaker legs!) But I did hang on for third place overall in the series.

Best of all, I won a shiny new kettlebell from Hammerhead Fitness!! Should I paint it pink?

She lives!

Wow, 2 and a half months must be the longest blogging hiatus I've taken since I started writing in 2007. But I'm back in business! The past two months were a whirlwind with Thanksgiving, finishing my fall semester, moving, getting a kitty, Christmas, a visit from Mickle, taking a winter class, starting my winter job, starting my spring semester.... and of course lots of fun training!

I'm going to play catch-up through photos, because pictures are always more fun. Here goes!

I came home to an early birthday present in early December. There was a tiny grey ball of fluff curled up on my bed.





I love this picture because of how huge Matt looks next to the tiny kitty!



I named him Mikko. Those who know me well know what I've always said: There are only three things I want out of life: a cuddly little grey kitten, true love, and unparalleled adventure. Looks like I'm doing alright.

After spending a wonderful Christmas with my family,
(here I am peeling potatoes for Christmas dinner with Matt)

I was paid a last-minute visit by none other than Miss Mickle! The theme of the trip's inception was Winter Wonderland, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. This winter, by the way, has been downright awful. We've had one big snow, and that's basically it. It's been warm-- even in the 40's sometimes. I hate it. But Mickle and I combatted the balmy temperatures by trekking up to the top of Bristol Mountain, and skiing the nordic trails there.





Later that day, we headed to Powdermill Park, where I work as a ski instructor. By the way, I'm going to put in a plug for Powdermill right now. It's an amazing place, and it's been operating forever. The park has one of NY State's last surviving rope-tows. The hill is pretty small, but still steep enough to be perfect for beginners. We teach skiing and snowboarding- mostly to young kids, but adults are welcome too. It's extremely affordable, and best of all, we have 1 snow gun there, meaning that we've had snow on the hill all winter! Powdermills Park= incredible resource. If you or your kids don't know how to downhill ski or snowboard yet, it's the perfect place to learn.

After Mickle left, it was time to start my spring semester at Geneseo. I'm no fan of school, but I will admit that English literature is a perfect major for someone who loves to read as much as I do.

I've been competing in the Hammerhead Fitness Western NY Fitness Challenge: it's a 3- part series that takes place every two weeks, at Crossfit Rochester, Crossfit Buffalo, and Crossfit DeWitt. We've finished the first two already, and the third takes place this weekend. By the way, most of the pictures below were taken by Ted Gough, who is not only an impressive athlete but also a phenomenal photographer! You can see more of his work here.

The competition at CF Rochester included overhead squats:


Chest-to-bar pull-ups:


And EZ-button ring push-ups


The competition at CF Buffalo included cleans (my form here is atrocious, I need to work on making them pretty!)


Rope-climbs


Double-unders


And Handstand Push-ups


Unfortunately I got really sick after the first competition and haven't been able to shake the cough/cold/sinus infection/flu/ for the past two and a half weeks. But I think I might be finally on the road to recovery.

Life has been busy! I was fortunate enough to get out and paddle twice last week. Hopefully I'll have pictures soon. Winter paddling sucks, but it's epic at the same time. Since I've been in California for the past 4 winters, I actually haven't winter paddled in a long time. In high school, however, it was the only way to get in shape for US Team Trials (which are always held in April) if I had any hope of a decent showing.

Olympic Trials take place in 72 days, and although upstate New York is not the ideal place to train for them, I'm making it work!

Fem does Football

On Saturday, I attended my first football game ever. That includes all high-school, college, kids, professional... even pick-up games. Before this weekend, I had never been to a football game.

So I did the first in style! I took a whirlwind trip to South Bend with Matt and company to watch Notre Dame beat Boston College. Football is much more fun than I've ever given it credit for. For the record, I also feel it is the most confusing game in the world.

warm ups

Thursday woes

On Thursday, I forgot to bring my computer charger to school. I also forgot to charge my phone. I also forgot my student ID card in Tuesday's jeans pocket, meaning no food while on campus for 9 hours.

So there I was, ravenously wandering the Geneseo campus, glumly toting my dead phone and dead laptop. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, I ripped my pants in an unfortunate spot. And if modesty wasn't a problem, strong gusts of winds and temperatures below thirty surely were. I quite literally froze my butt off.

BUT in the late afternoon, it started to snow! And it continued to snow! I drove back to Rochester in a mini-blizzard, and lifted weights in my own mini snow-globe. Giant snowflakes make everything better.

It was an excellent day.

Hello November!

Happy autumn! The end of this week was absolutely gorgeous here in Upstate NY..... into the twenties at night and almost hitting sixty during the day. Crisp air, blue sky, and bright sun. Miss Nicole Mallory and I enjoyed pushing leaves around on the canal in our kayaks. That reminds me: I posted Brian's awesome Epic Fall mockup last year (1 year ago to the day, in fact. Weird). And guess what!!? Paddling over a carpet of leaves is still really annoying.

Last weekend I participated in the Barbells for Boobs event at Crossfit Rochester. It's a nationwide breast-cancer fundraiser in which crossfit gyms do a workout entitled "Grace", which is 30 clean&jerks as fast as possible. (95 pounds for girls and 135 for guys) I was 1 second shy of my goal time but it was still a fun day.


Matt is on the left; I'm on the right in the front, with Heather and Laurie behind me!

Fem's Dream World: Part VIII

Last night, I dreamt I got 30 speeding tickets in one day, amounting to $6,027. Then my hair turned pink and stayed that way forever.

Fall recipe

This recipe was inspired by an article in the Democrat and Chronicle. I've been meaning to make it for several weeks, and since I had a ton of schoolwork this weekend, cooking seemed like the perfect way to procrastinate.

I tweaked the recipe to paleoize it. It was delicious- quite rich, in fact. It would pair perfectly with roasted chicken or turkey!

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chicken stock (I use this brand because it has the least amount of additives and weird ingredients)
1 cup coconut milk (I used the light kind)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1t grated lemon zest
1/4c loosely packed fresh sage


-First, use a food processor to "rice" the squash: pulse it until it roughly resembles grains of rice. I recommend using roughly 6 cups of riced squash... because that's how much I used.
-Saute the onion in the olive and coconut oils until it becomes translucent. (About 5 minutes) I used an electric frying pan. You want to cook this in something pretty big.
-While that is going, combine the coconut milk and the chicken broth in a small saucepan and heat on the stove. When it gets hot, you can set it aside.
-When the onion looks cooked, add the riced squash to the pan and stir it continuously enough so it never sticks to the bottom. Cook it for about 5 minutes.
-Add the coconut milk/chicken broth mixture by ladleful into the pan. Continue to do this until the squash no longer absorbs any liquid and the texture of the squash is tender but not mushy. For me, it took about 8 minutes. If the squash gets dry and you've already used all your liquid, you can add a few tablespoons of water.
-Stir in the lemon zest and the sage. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In terms of measurements, my recipe made 6 cups of food total. So per half cup serving, it is 2 blocks of fat and 1.5 blocks carbohydrate.