The Second Lunch header image 4

Entries Tagged as 'Challenge'

An unexpected loss.

January 2nd, 2013 · 4 Comments · Challenge

I have a lot of thinking to do in the next few weeks – and by thinking, I mean putting myself out there and making things happen. Getting started is usually my weakness. Once I commit to something I’ll charge forward with full force, but determining what I’m actually going to get started on is always a challenge.

Fortunately, starting my morning is less of a challenge. This one commenced with coffee, spiked with a little bit of eggnog. I’ll be sad when Crescent Ridge eggnog season is over, but I’m probably better off without it! After several months of successfully drinking black coffee to start the morning off, it’s fair to say that I’ve regressed, and I blame it all on the nog.

Brunch was a banana pancake. It’s been several weeks since my last, and I was craving it so much that I actually defrosted a frozen banana as we had none fresh in the house. I topped it with some chocolate hazelnut butter for good measure.

Here’s a little trick for you – after making some chicken stock last night with the bones from our dinner, I woke up this morning and strained the bubbling broth in my french press. It works well in a pinch!

It was a quiet sort of day. I worked from home getting some errands done, progressing, and took a Skype call with a start-up in Brazil. Don’t get excited – I’m not moving to Rio anytime soon, but it was nice to make the connection!

Here’s some of the afternoon light in my apartment.

After working on my growing list of to-do’s, I headed to an early evening Crossfit class. It’s so nice to be able to make it in on weekdays again! The workout of the day was split (like usual) into a strength component and a more traditional circuit workout. We warmed up with a rotation of jumping jacks, leg-overs, squats, and various stretches, and practiced our lifts with PVC pipes before getting to the good stuff.

A.  3 Push Press + 2 Push Jerk + 1 Split Jerk
Build to a max in 15 minutes

For this one I shared a bar with Alexann, and we started working up the weights – first a set with the bar (30#), and then a set with 60 pounds, and another with 70. After that, I’m not sure what happened, but my brain got in the way – four lifts into the #75, I just couldn’t quite do it anymore, so after a few more goes, the #70 was my max. I’m certainly strong enough to lift heavier – just have to retrain my mind to get me there!

B. 2 x AMRAP (as many reps as possible) in 8 minutes
5 Handstand Pushups, 6 Pistols, 7 Pull-ups. Rest 4:00 between AMRAPS

Apparently, lifting was making me tired! For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing great with handstand pushups. I have a bit of a challenge though, because I have a hard time kicking up to the wall without my glasses falling off. I have no problem taking my glasses off and doing it, but if I’m doing it quickly in a workout, it gets disorienting not actually being able to see. My “solution” is keeping my glasses on for a WOD by pushing up from a headstand. It’s tiring and not very efficient. I managed a measly 3 rounds the first 8 minutes, and 2 rounds the second – the pushups were killing me!

Despite a pathetic score, this workout was great.

After all of the fun, I headed home to make dinner – gingery beef, broccoli and carrots. No real recipe here – I simply heated some coconut oil, cooked a little garlic, threw in some thinly sliced sirloin with some Red Boat fish sauce. Once cooked, I took the beef out, added the broccoli and carrots to the pan, and a little bit of chicken stock, and steamed the vegetables. While they were cooking, I made a sauce of stock, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and coconut aminos. I added a little bit of sahlep (orchid root powder) as a thickener. It works just the same as cornstarch! When the broccoli was cooked, I tossed the beef back in the pan, and added the sauce and cooked it just for a minute or two.

For dessert, I served myself a little cup of Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Caramel Buzz, a leftover treat from New Year’s Eve. Along with the eggnog, once this is done I’ll be taking a break from the stuff for a while!

*          *           *

Finally, one last photo. This is Jim, a.k.a. “Hoff”, one of the lovely folks I’ve had the privilege to get to know over the past many months at Charles River Crossfit. I found out tonight that he died last week, at 61,  and it was a true shock. Jim was one of those people who always had a smile on his face, and a kind word to say. He’d come to the gym in his flip flops, and power through any workout with everything he had. He’ll be so deeply missed.

Tags: ·····

Benchmark Retest + Super Batch Cooking

November 4th, 2012 · 4 Comments · Challenge

Seven weeks. It’s been seven weeks since I started the gym challenge, and today was the day I headed back in for the re-test of our power benchmark. I can’t express how proud I feel at how much I’ve progressed in nearly two months. But it’s significant. It feels really good. I was excited to get back in the gym today even though I’m still feeling a little sick and weak from this long cold. It’s good to be there, accomplishing things. If you had told me last year that I’d be doing handstand pushups, dead-lifting more than my body weight, or running races, I’d have laughed in your face. But here I am. And it feels great.

Strength:  Back Squats –we’ve been working nearly every week on back squats. At the beginning of the challenge, I got to 95# for two lifts. Today, I hit a brand new max weight of #125. I attempted #135, but it was a little bit too much for this tired body of mine. That’s 30 pounds heavier than six weeks ago, not too shabby!

Benchmark WOD 1:  “Fran”
21-15-9 reps for time:
Thrusters 95/65
Pull-ups

The prescribed weight for Fran for women is 65, but because I had to re-test with the same as six weeks ago, I loaded up to 45 pounds, and subbed jumps for pull ups. I eeked things out at the initial test in 9:40, and wanted to die. This time I improved my time by 10 seconds. Which… was a little disappointing. But 10 seconds is 10 seconds, and I’m looking forward to seeing how much I can improve in the next few months.

When I got home, Devon had picked me up a Barbacoa Bowl from Chipotle – meat, vegetables, pico de gallo, hot tomato salsa, lettuce and guacamole.

I then set to work doing a massive amount of cooking for the week.

I roasted parsnips in coconut oil with salt and pepper, I did the same to a delicata squash, sliced into rings. And while I was at it, I roasted a whole spaghetti squash. I also roasted a piece of lamb liver, but forgot to take a photo of it – a little too much juggling in the kitchen!

And then I made a big pot of Mel’s Chocolate Chili. The whole batch this time instead of being stupid like last time and making a half of a batch. Next time, I’ll double it.

Then, I took a dozen eggs and I baked ‘em! I popped them in the oven at 325F for 30 minutes, sitting in one of my madeleine tins. You can place them right on the rack, but this makes it a lot easier!

When they were done, I put them in ice water for 10 minutes to cool, dried them off, and popped them back into their carton.

Then, I put together another braise – Maple Cider Vinegar Braised Beef.

I seared some beef shank meat in coconut oil, removed it from the pan, and then added onion, garlic, and shallot. I let it cook for a few minutes, de-glazed the pan with a quarter cup of maple syrup, a quarter cup of cider vinegar, and a cup of homemade beef stock. Nestled in a few bay leaves, and the shanks, covered the pot, and braised the meat for 2.5 hours, turning the beef every half hour or so.

After two and a half hours, the meat was tender and falling apart, and the liquid had reduced to a sticky sweet and sour sauce.

I took out the meat, reduced the sauce for another 15 minutes or so on the stove top, and put it away for a meal later in the week so the flavors would continue to meld.

Last but not least, dinner!

I pan fried some chicken thighs with salt and pepper in my cast iron, and made salads with avocado. Light and fresh! We devoured it in front of the TV watching old episodes of Dexter.

What are you cooking up this week?

Tags: ·············

Bill’s 5k Race Recap

October 30th, 2012 · 8 Comments · Challenge, Races, Running

There is something deeply satisfying in setting off on a new adventure and having it work out. That’s how this running thing has been for me over the past several months. I’m actually a little perplexed at how much I’ve enjoyed running and racing. It just never seemed like something that I could do.

I would not consider myself a natural athlete. I like activity – hiking, exploring, and walking, but I’ve never particularly enjoyed “working out”. Working out was done to balance indulgence, rather than for the sake of exercise and feeling good. Because I’m not naturally good at running – as opposed to say, long distance walking – I can walk 10-12 miles, no sweat – it always fell into the category of “working out”, and therefore, I didn’t really like doing it.

But every so often I’d pick it up again, thinking that it’d be better, more exciting, more do-able. Making no real changes, it never was. But this time something was different. I signed up for races, my CrossFit goals brought me to a new level of fitness, and I had started from the beginning by running outside instead of on a dreadmill and loved running in fall weather – in short, I had better reasons to run. Once running was re-framed, it became a fun thing to do, something that I really wanted to do.

*                 *                 *

And that’s how we got here. So how about this race recap? On Sunday I ran the Bill’s 5K Road Race for the Travis Roy Foundation, on one of the most beautiful fall mornings we’ve had this year. It was nippy and grey, but the leaves were absolutely gorgeous, and it couldn’t have been better weather for a run.

I woke up early to make myself a cup of coffee. This was my first race that I was heading to on my own, so I had to think of logistics. My plan was to drive over, lock up my stuff in my car, and hold my key while running. I contemplated the “key in the gas-cap” but thought better of it. I held the key. It worked out fine.

I made it just in time to see the kids starting off their spooky run in costumes. How fun is that? I wandered around to keep myself warm and get my blood pumping. I didn’t see any of my gym-mates, but did see these fabulous cars, and set about busying myself until the race started.

Of course I took the requisite picture of my trusty Mizunos. At some point I’ll have to give these ones up, but they are by far and away my favorite of all my sneakers, and still quite comfortable. (I was crossing my fingers to win a new pair from the Mezamashii run project, but alas, no luck yet.)

By 8:45, everyone started lining up for the race. After three slow-ish starts, I decided to situate myself close to the front. It was at this point that I paused to appreciate my unique quantities of brown adipose tissue. Nope, not the white stuff, but the special mostly-seen-in-babies-and-seals stuff, that I happen to possess a lot of. So much of, in fact, that I shocked the scientist whose study I was participating in, and managed to actually heat up the water in a 55 degree cooling vest when I wore it for two hours. That’s a story for another day. Science! While most folks stood around me shivering, my body kicked in to warm me up while I waited, even standing around in 50 degrees in a t-shirt.

And we were off! Here’s my race on Runkeeper:

Mile One: 9:34/mile. I went out a little too fast as the race started, and had to consciously slow myself down as the first two minutes of my race were well under a nine minute mile. The first mile of the race took us around Crystal lake, which I only managed a glace at as I was distracted by the crowd of runners around me. I opted to take a really short walk at the half mile, just to make sure I didn’t blow it. I took a second one right at the end of the mile for good measure.

Mile Two: 10:04/mile. After the first mile, I was already tired, and feeling a little bit unwell. I’ve been warding off a cold for the past few days, but my throat was starting to get to me. The water break was at the halfway point, so I slowed to get a quick drink. I will get the hang of this one day!

Mile Three: 10:14/mile. The last mile was the slowest because I had to take two longer walk breaks. I was feeling my cold, but managed to pick it up for the last part of the mile, running between a 9:00 and 9:30.

The .2: 8:48. I tried to push it through the finish, but didn’t have much energy left, so I didn’t end up sprinting through.

At this point, I stopped my watch, and it said 31:10 or something like that, and then stopped the Runkeeper at 31:13. My secret goal had been to finish sub-30 (which I didn’t make), but I was tired and confused, and assumed that I hadn’t beat my previous time either. I walked off slowly trying to process things. It was at this moment that I grabbed the banana and thought, “Hmm… I should eat something…”

I actually had to look up my time on my website to see what my previous race time was. (31:58). I still didn’t quite get that I had beat my time. I was impressed though with how quickly they had the race results printed and put up on the van at the finish line. I walked up and saw this:

Finish: 31.07.9 – 508th place, 41st in my age group (F 20-29), 10:00/M pace. It was at this point I realized that hold on a second – if my pace was 10:00 minutes per mile, this WAS IN FACT A PR. By nearly a full minute!!

*          *          *

After the race, I hung around for a free massage at the Marathon Physical Therapy tent, and took a photo for these happy costume wearers. The gentleman in the photo was Tom Hanks’ character from Cast Away, and spent a good amount of time wandering around yelling out Wilson! and putting on a good show.

And then they handed me the hat.

Requisite shot of me terrified and concerned!

So that’s that! As for what’s next, I haven’t signed up for my next race, but I’m looking for a good one. Maybe a Turkey Trot? Any Boston area folks signed up for a fun one?

Tags: ···

Lifting heavy things + Mel’s Chocolate Chili

October 17th, 2012 · 2 Comments · Challenge, Meat, Soups

A few weeks ago I went into the gym with a cold, a red face, and a killer sinus headache and nearly had a panic attack when I saw Evan in the gym with his camera. For those of us who live behind a camera, being in front of one is not something we are accustomed to. In fact, I may have rudely let Evan know that in no uncertain terms was he to take a photo of me. I was a total jerk about it – I blame the headache!

Well, he managed to sneak one. And I think it’s awesome.

*          *          *

10.15.12

Coffee this morning was a little fancy. Although I grew up in a house where my mother drank her coffee black, I much prefer mine with a heavy dose of cream. Having kicked the cream for this challenge, I’ve been doing quite well with black, but I decided to doctor my mug with a little bit of coconut oil to add back a little bit of that creamy texture. I won’t do this everyday, but it certainly was a treat!

There was no breakfast. I wasn’t hungry, and had to go out and about on a few errands. I’ve been really struggling to get in a good breakfast. Part of my problem is that I much prefer to eat a big lunch, a good size snack, and a big dinner. I’m on the fence about whether or not to actively change this habit as long as I’m getting in proper amounts of nutrient dense foods…

For lunch, I had a very specific craving for Tortilla Espanola– a Spanish frittata with eggs, onion, and potato and lots of olive oil. Seeking similar textural consistency, I made myself a big frittata with leftover roasted cauliflower, over a spinach salad with a bright mustard vinaigrette. I let the eggs cool down to room temperature before eating, which is really the best way to eat frittata.

In the late afternoon I went for a walk and grabbed a gala apple and some Justin’s Maple Almond Butter as I walked out the door. Portable snacks!

When I got home, I set to work making dinner: Mel’s Chocolate Chili from Well Fed. I can’t recommend this book enough. I don’t often actually cook with cookbooks (I usually just read them for inspiration), but I’ve actually gone about and cooked several of the recipes in here to the letter, and they’ve been marvelous.

I have a few tried and true chili recipes, and make a similar version, but I thought I’d stick to as close to the book as possible for the sake of an honest opinion.

I made just a few small adjustments to the recipe: halving it because I didn’t have enough beef, using the ultimate cheater move onions, shallots and garlic pre-chopped from Trader Joes, and omitting beef broth because I had a limited supply of tasty bone broth and needed to re-stock. (I just used the whole can of tomatoes instead of halving it, and added a little bit more water.)

The chili takes literally 10 minutes to put together, and then you just let it simmer away on the stove top for a couple of hours. Your house will smell fantastic.

I served it with a dollop of guacamole, and ate two bowls full.

My biggest mistake? Not *doubling* the recipe. This one is definitely a winner.

Tags: ······

Flutie 5K Race Recap

October 16th, 2012 · 2 Comments · Challenge, Races, Running


(Via SI)

Doug Flutie is a bit of a celebrity around here.

Aside from that legendary Hail Mary pass, a Heisman trophy and a spectacular career in the NFL, one of Doug Flutie’s most important legacies has been his work through the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation, focused on raising money and awareness for autism. For my third race this season/ever, I decided to run in the 13th Annual Eastern Bank Flutie 5K to benefit the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism. Here’s my recap:

*              *               *

Race Day

When I woke up Sunday morning, it was raining, cold, and I felt miserable. My arm and elbow hurt from an hour of handstand practice on Saturday, I had the sniffles, and my thumb was tingling because I had jammed it. I was planning on heading to the race alone, but my lack of planning had made me an anxious wreck. I nearly had a meltdown because I was too tired to make coffee and we were out of bananas.

And this is when a very kind Devon came to my rescue and drove me to the race. I wouldn’t have made it without him.

When we got there I found a banana, and things began to turn around!

{In the background, check out the modernist architecture of the Leonard Morse Hospital. Wet concrete makes this former architecture major giddy! Designed by Marcus, Nocka, and Payette in the late ’60s, this was actually at the cutting edge of high-tech hospital planning when it was designed. It was particularly progressive in its huge windows, generous daylight, and lush wooded environment. Also, carpeting. Not so sure about that one.}

We were early enough to tour around the little expo tents. Wegmans was a lead sponsor, which I was excited about. I was less excited when their main booth was giving out Doritos and Sunchips, and the “lunch provided post race” ended up being roll-up wraps. They did have a little gluten free section set up though, and had provided me with my savior banana, so I was much appreciative!

While I ate my banana, I went over to stare at the free Dunkin Donuts. They were giving out both donuts, including my second favorite chocolate glazed (my favorite being butternut), and pumpkin mocha spice lattes. I wish that they had brought regular coffee, but I can appreciate that most folks quite enjoy their seasonal offerings. Alas, staring was all that I did.

Another vendor I was happy to see was Crescent Ridge, a dairy in Sharon, MA, serving up some cold chocolate milk, along with some literature about chocolate milk as a post workout drink. For folks who can consume dairy, and don’t mind the sugar hit, this stuff is delicious. I seriously contemplated taking a sample. And then remembered that a) I haven’t consumed dairy in over a month, and b) I was about to run a race. Plus, while their chocolate milk is delicious, it isn’t as good as the crack that is their seasonal egg nog. I backed off wistfully and wisely.

5-Hour Energy also had a booth, and people were downing these like dope at the Tour de France. (Too soon?) Now, I’m not one to judge, but… these drinks are not for me. After the race Devon had mentioned that a very small child had run up to the table and grabbed one of these cute pink bottles before being loudly reprimanded by her father: “Don’t you ever put that stuff in your body!!!” Teach ‘em young.

Perhaps a better option was the Vita Coco – although I may be one of the only people in the world who doesn’t like coconut water.

Before heading over to the starting line, we watched the STRIVERS Running Club for Girls go through their warm-up. Clearly this worked, because a bunch of these speedy demons surged past me during the race. Seeing these girls thrilled to participate was one of the highlights of this race.

Finally, I headed over to the line-up. Having lined up too far back during my last race, and being nearly run over by jogging strollers, I decided to seed myself more wisely this time, and shuffled closer to the front.

There were still plenty of people in front of me at the starting line, including Joe, from the gym, who came in at a speedy 19:47!

As we waited in the cold, my friend Bets lined up next to me! It was so good to see a familiar face!

Although not so good when she mentioned that the “rolling course” I had briefly glanced at when I signed up was actually full particularly unpleasant hills… It was at that point that my goal went from “maybe I can do better than last time” to… “Oh dear lord, I hope I can do this without dying.”

After a false start which was a ploy to take a photograph, the crowd started moving and off we went!

Here’s my race on Runkeeper:

Mile 1. 10:14/pace: Almost as soon as we started, the rain started coming down. I ran near Bets for the first 3/4 of a mile past rolling green fields and farms, until we hit the first big hill coming around a corner. I had been running at a good clip – between 9:00 and 9:30, but hitting the big hill I literally had to slow down to an unplanned walk.

Mile 2. 9:55/pace: Hoping to make up time in the second mile, I skipped the water break, and ran a little faster, taking a single walk break to get myself up another little hill.

Mile 3. 10:38/pace: By mile three I was sick of the rain, and ready to be done with this already. I had assumed, at this point, that I wasn’t going to make my goal. And then I saw kids passing out oranges – I grabbed one and it was like a little miracle! And then I saw more kids, hands outstretched, and decided to run over to give them all high fives. For my slowest mile of the race, this ended up being the most enjoyable.

The last .1: Like my previous 5k, this race ended on a not so gentle ascent. As I turned the corner into the last .1 mile, I decided to gun it with what I had in me. The second the clock came into view, I saw that I could make it if I ran fast. In a split second, the race went from kind of sucky, to wait, I can do this! I’m doing this! Yes, yes! I’m doing this!

I set my eyes on the clock, knowing that if I beat 32:14, I’d PR.

And boy was it close. Sprinting up the hill, I glanced at the clock and I saw 32:03.

And then I was through, they handed me a water, and I gave a high five to folks from my gym…

Before walking off to avoid puking :)

The Result: 31:58 – 529th place, 43/89 in my age group (F 20-29).

Yep, beat my time 16 seconds on a much harder race course!

Never have I been more excited to be middle of the pack!

After I finished, I found my friends to watch more of the race, saw Doug Flutie run to the finish line with his wife (after running a respectable 25:25 himself), and nearly lost my voice cheering for all of the kids running to the finish line.

Here I am, after the race:

Can’t wait for the next one! 

Tags: ···········