Coffee Date Friday

What up peeps? IT’S FRIDAY! So, Today I had a 5am class to coach. I kinda chuckled this morning going to open up shop at the CrossFit. Man, when I was in high school I literally made every excuse possible to get out of gym class. And most days it worked! I remember having to run the mile in middle school and being pissed about it the whole time. I was the least likely candidate to do anything in the fitness field. The last few years have changed that. They have changed me. I never thought I would get up around 4am to work out, let alone get up that early to COACH a class!

And yet here I am. And loving it. Funny how things don’t turn out quite like you planned. In my case, they turned out better than I planned!

In between the 5am and 7am classes I had a bit of downtime so I decided today’s coffee date vlog would be shot live from CrossFit 70. I know I haven’t posted too much about it since I made the announcement we were opening, but I plan on telling you guys about the road we walked to get where we are today! As soon as I have enough time to sit down and write it out. ha. Anyway- Enjoy today’s Coffee Date!

Your turn- If we were having coffee what would you tell me?
Did your life turned out like you planned? Or maybe better?

linking up with alissa.

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Courtney in Coffee Date, CrossFit 10 Comments

Embrace Your Strength

Before I jump into today’s blog post I wanted to tell you guys about an awesome giveaway going on with CrossFit 70! You can win a pair of Reebok CrossFit Nanos! Just Click Here to Enter! Who doesn’t love a free pair of shoes?

Anyway, today I wanted to talk to you a bit about Embracing your Strength. In CrossFit you always hear people talk about working on their weaknesses, which is something we all need to do. But it can be so so easy to get so trapped into thinking constantly about what you’re not good at, that you forget there are some things you are good at.

embraceyourstrength

When I started CrossFit it felt like everything was a weakness for me. It was all so new… So intimidating. I didn’t feel good at any of it. I remember looking at the RX workouts and wondering if I’d ever get there. The RX weight seemed WAY out of reach for most WODs. A 95lb clean? It seemed impossible those first few weeks. Unassisted Pull Ups, handstand push ups, double unders, and muscle ups were things I hardly dared to dream about it. Of course nothing tortured me like the box jump. There would be several times during our classes when we would have free time to work on our weaknesses, and I would just feel overwhelmed because I have SO many.

weakstrength

The past few months I have been really working hard to make my weaknesses better. I want my weakness to turn into a strength! But sometimes I get inside my own head. A few weeks ago we had 2 double under workouts in the same week. and I bombed both of them. I just can’t seem to find my rhythm with them. I was angry and felt defeated. That negative self talk took over. I was no good, I would never get them… blah blah blah.

I realized that while it is good to work on your weakness that shouldn’t be all you focus on. Today we did a WOD of 120 Kettlebell Swings with 4 burpees EMOM. So the faster you did the KB swings the less burpees you’d have to do. It was a tough workout, but I’ve realized that kettlebell swings are one of my strengths. I used to hate the kettlebell. Now I embrace it because I’m good at it.

kbswingiwill

My goal for the Under Armour What’s Beautiful 3.0 Campaign my goal is to train for my first CrossFit competition in September. I’ve been tracking my progress on my What’s Beautiful Profile. This means both focusing on my weakness and embracing my strengths. Since it’s a team competition it is important to know the strengths and weaknesses of each individual on the team. I feel like sometimes, especially us women, can be SO hard on ourselves. It is SO SO SO important to remember We are STRONG. Stronger than we think. If you want to join in the fun you can create your own profile, declare a goal, and get after it! Sign up here!

Today I encourage you to Embrace Your Strength. Because it is beautiful. And you are worth it.

Tell me about a strength of yours!

I am participating in the What’s Beautiful campaign as a part of FitFluential. I was not compensated for this post – and even if I wasn’t on this campaign I would still tell you about it because Women encouraging Women to achieve their goals is awesome.

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Courtney in CrossFit, FitFluential 7 Comments

whatsbeautiful

Homemade Coconut Creme Larabars, WIAW & Weigh In Wednesday

Guys. This is freaking brilliant. So, I’ve know that making “lara bars” seemed relatively easy. I liked regular Lara Bars, but it wasn’t until I tried the Coconut Creme ones that I was hooked. I’m pretty sure the only reason I survived my last week of Whole30 was because of those puppies. Thing is, at $1.25ish a piece… I was droppin a lot of dough on these little treats. So I decided to try to recreate them at home… and man oh man, they were spot on!

homemadecoconutcremelarabars

Homemade Coconut Creme Larabars

Yield: 10 bars

Ingredients

2 cups Medjool Dates (pitted)
1 cup Almonds (I used raw almonds)
3 tablespoons Coconut Butter
2 tablespoons unsweetend Shredded Coconut
Coconut oil

Instructions

Pit the dates, soak in water for 30 minutes if they are dry or hard.
Put almonds in the food processor and process until crumbled.
Add dates and process until you get a smooth mixture.
Add in coconut butter and shredded coconut and mix until fully incorporated. I ended up mixing these in by hand because my food processor ran out of room.
If you’re feeling a little crazy, add some enjoy life chocolate chunks.
Press into an 8×8 pan greased with coconut oil (or use parchment paper, I didn’t have any)
Refrigerate or freeze until well set (Mine were in the fridge for about 4 hours but could have gone longer)
Cut up and wrap in individual servings. Mine made 10 bars.

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I did a ton of food prep on Sunday so that we would be well prepared for the week. Since feeling confused about my eating I realized I do better with a plan. Also with running the CrossFit we are gone most mornings, then have to come home and jump right into our “day” jobs then we are gone a lot of evenings too – when we come home and have to eat dinner later than I’d like. So I’ve been prepping lots of breakfast food like breakfast casserole and protein waffles

foodprep

With the hubs on a quest to gain muscle and Little P on some kind of huge growth spurt eating kick, the breakfast casserole lasts about 3-4 days. It is seriously so good. Pop it in the microwave for about a minute, add some tabasco, tomato and avocado… the perfect breakfast in a pinch. and my kitchen stays clean. win-win.

breakfastcasserole

For dinners I’ve been keeping it simple lately. For awhile I got all fancy with my meal planning and was trying something new (and most likely complicated) almost every night. Between coaching CrossFit classes, making sure my 3 year old gets to bed at a decent time, and school/house work I just don’t have the time for that. I’m relying on the crock pot a lot. I used one of my old favorites last night, Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

Instead of making it on a bun I put mine over roasted cauliflower and ate it with celery. Fulfills my buffalo chicken craving without the breaded and oil friend boneless buffalo wings.

I’m also trying to make an effort to keep most dairy out of my diet. I have been using canned coconut milk since the whole30 – and then I found this beauty and had to try it…

coconutmilkcreamer

I’m not sure what makes this “Barista Style” different from the other coconut creamer I’ve tried… It seems a bit smoother. I noticed this one has pea protein and the regular one didn’t. Either way – It’s good!

Since we talked about all this amazing food, let’s also take a minute to talk weight. I know the scale is a lying whore. I also know that the last 2 weeks of food choices have been less than stellar. That is one of the reasons i’m trying to get more on board with prepping/planning so I don’t make bad choices. Since my last Weigh In Wednesday Post where I shared my Whole30 Results, I’m up 3 pounds. So, yup. I’m back to 190. I know, After eliminating dairy/grains/legumes for 30 days and then essentially bingeing on them is going to cause weight gain. Now I’m just striving to find balance. And pushing SO hard to get to my next mini goal of 175. Why are these 15lbs SO. DANG. HARD. to lose? UGH.

Linking up with Erin and Alex for Weigh In Wednesday and Linking up with Jenn for WIAW