An active weekend

Athleta Fashion Show

On a whim, I decided to stop by the new Athleta store (a fitness line owned by the Gap) in Chestnut Hill for a fashion show of their spring line. Having no idea what goes down at these swanky shindigs, but hearing tell of mimosas, snacks from the Capitol Grille, and free coffee, I decided to check it out. I love Atheta’s cheerful bright colors, and their clothes usually fit quite well – the prices are on the higher end of the Gap lines, but the style and quality seem to match. The models were all fitness instructors in the Boston area. I didn’t end up taking anything home, but it was a good excuse to get out of the house after setting the clocks forward.

My own fitness pursuits:

Saturday: CrossFit

Workout 14.2 For as long as possible: From 0:00-3:00, 2 rounds of: 10 overhead squats, 95 / 65 lb. ,10 chest-to-bar pull-ups. If completed, from 3:00-6:00, 2 rounds of: 12 overhead squats, 95 / 65 lb., 12 chest-to-bar pull-ups. From 6:00-9:00, 2 rounds of: 14 overhead squats, 95 / 65 lb., 14 chest-to-bar pull-ups, and so on, if of course, you are able to get that far.

The second round of the CrossFit opens, the world-wide CrossFit competition had us performing overhead squats and chest-to-bar pull-ups – squatting with a large bar suspended overhead, and pull-ups that get you so close to the bar that your chest can touch it. Feeling very, very sore from a few weeks of easing back into lifting, walking, and running, I found it very difficult to squat to correct depth, which was frustrating, because the weight (65 pounds for women) is actually do-able for me. I’ve had to swallow some pride with my scores this year in the open – but I’m proud that I’m competing, proud to show up, and got myself a PR last week with my double-unders.

Sunday: BODYPUMP

Bodypump boasts a strength building workout where you complete 70-100 repetitions per body part totaling up to 800 repetitions in a single workout, with varying weights on the barbell. After last weeks ClassPass launch party, attendees were all gifted a free month of ClassPass (10 studio classes at gyms around the city), and I decided to take Bodypump as my first class at Commonwealth Sports Club, on Comm. Ave, right by the Super 88. My first (and last) attempt at the Les Mills barbell fitness class ended after fifteen minutes of me huffing and puffing, when horrifically the girl in front of me had to be taken to the hospital for a medical emergency, so I was pretty sure that any experience this time would be a better one!

The front desk folks at CSC were very nice, and you can get a parking pass to park in their back lot if you pull up to the front. The facilities are fairly large, around the amenity level of a mid level Y, and a few major plusses I noticed were the saltwater pool, sauna, towel service, and bathrooms with free razors. The class was full, and kind regulars helped be put together my equipment: a step, mat, barbell with various weights and clips that you change throughout the class. Kim the instructor was no-nonsense, a bit of a drill sergeant, and powered us through the class. I’m definitely familiar with weight lifting, but it might be overwhelming to a newbie. If I go again, I’ll up the weights, but I certainly enjoyed myself this time around.

Commonwealth Sports Club
1079 Commonwealth Avenue | Boston, MA 02215
(617) 254-1711
commonwealthsportsclub.com

Seared Scallops… and Squat Cleans

Hello! Today was a quiet day, I dropped off Devon at work at 8, and headed over to Trader Joe’s to pick up some food so that I wasn’t lost without options. Newly armed with chicken thighs, broccoli, and several samples, I headed over to Formaggio Kitchen to pick up my cup of George Howell coffee, and an egg salad sandwich on caraway bread for lunch, and made it home in time for my first meeting.

I worked from home today, and it was largely full of meetings, calls, coordination, and follow up work. It was blissfully uneventful… except for a small period of panic as I waited patiently for the iOS 7 release. After several false starts: “Sorry, your phone is too damn full, this program needs 3.1 GB of storage!, and “Sorry, you’ve waited two hours but Software Update is unavailable at this time, sucker!“, I can finally say that in my hands is the flat design and brand-spankin’ new features we’ve all been waiting for.

Actually, I’m having trouble adjusting. But I just don’t like change.

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If you are only around for the food, warning, fitness rambling ahead! Just go ahead and skip below the fold for my dinner notes.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been missing many weekday CrossFit classes because I haven’t been able to make the commuting work, so a few months ago I decided to commit to Wednesday afternoons to head in for the WOD, and for Olympic Lifting class. Despite my attempts, because of traffic, I was barely making it to the later classes, so a few weeks ago I decided to try working from home on Wednesdays so that I’d avoid the nearly two hour rush hour trip from Boston to Needham. Many folks in my office work from home a few days a week – and unlike at Yahoo, we get things done! – and I feel so fortunate to have such flexibility. Today’s workout was the scheduled Lurong Paleo Challenge workout, and although I’m not competing, I jumped right in with the group.

B. “The Triplet Tester”
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
Wall Ball 20/14
Deadlift 115/75
Box Jump 24/20

For this workout, there was an 18 minute cap. I chose the prescribed weights, and the wall balls nearly killed me.  I knew going in it would be hard work, but I assumed that I’d get closer to finishing – but… no dice. I made it through the 21 and 18 round with a rough time on the wall balls, and only made it through 12 wall balls of the 15 round. This was *not* my best work, and I kept missing the wall target.  But, I do still feel quite sore from the weekend, and I’m not going to beat myself up about it. It felt so good just to be in there working hard.

After the workout, I stayed for Lifting class – we spent an hour warming up, doing drills, and practicing Squat Cleans. I’ve been trying to get back to heavier weights, but I know that I need to commit to the best form possible, even if that means a light bar. I spent most of the hour focusing intently on leaning back, pulling the bar close, and getting my elbows up. I know these classes pay off in the end, but man, is it an exercise in patience!

After the gym I headed back into the city to pick up Devon from work before heading home.

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And then we eat!

When I got home, I was keen on prepping dinner quickly – it was already past 8 when we walked in the door. After 10 minutes at the fish counter debating flounder (on sale) or scallops, the scallops won out. I think it was Adam Roberts’ instagram that got me hungry for them this week, and I knew I wanted to take them home and sear them in butter. Butttttttah.

I took out my stainless steel pan, added a few pats of Kerrygold butter, and let it heat up until it was just starting to foam and brown. The scallops, which were quite large, got seasoned with salt and pepper, and I popped them in the pan and let them sizzle in the bubbling butter. I gave them about three minutes on the first side without so much as poking them, flipped them over, and let them have another two. Afterwards I let them rest on a plate while I reheated some asparagus (leftovers from Devon’s dinner last night at Capitol Grille – I can’t complain, because yesterday I was eating lobster), heated up his small piece of leftover filet mignon, some potatoes, and cooked some pre-steamed fairytale eggplant and cherry tomatoes in the buttery dregs of the pan. After I plated, I sprinkled the eggplant and tomato with some sherry vinegar, and dinner was served!

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And now? Tonight’s episode of Broadchurch. Are you watching it? It’s the newest series to premiere on BBC America – a small seaside town crime series starring the former Doctor, David Tennant, and it’s completely captivating! Are you watching it? Do you have a favorite BBC series?

This week, in food and fitness.

Meal planning again – I really do look so forward to this process. Usually, the beginning of my weekends are spent curled up with a new cookbook, reading it from cover to cover by Saturday afternoon, meal planning for the week, shopping and prep cooking on Sunday. This weekend I was totally swept up reading Naomi Duguid’s fabulous Burma: Rivers of Flavor – the ultimate armchair vacation cookbook.

On Saturday I set to work making a little list of what was left in my fridge that I wanted to use up: asparagus, baby spinach, ham, cucumbers, two zucchini, coconut milk, feta, bacon, beets, basil succotash, basil oil, brussels sprouts, Anson Mills rice, eggs, carrots, avocado and tomatoes. Of course there are plenty of bits and bobs, sauces, condiments, and probably things in the way back of the fridge that I just haven’t noticed for a while – all fair game too. And then my pantry is stocked for the apocalypse, so I like to build upon the fresh stuff, but sometimes pantry goods get the starring role in the meal.

When I went to the store, I tried to pick up some meat, some fruit for the week, things to round out my lunches, pantry staples I was running out of: sardines, Red Boat fish sauce, an extra avocado. And by store, well, that’s a lie, we all know that I have a problem. “Store” is more like, three or four or five stores. By choice. For pleasure. Sometimes I stop by Trader Joe’s just for the sample first, you know, to clear my mind. Then I’ll head to Russo’s in Watertown to see if they have Chip-In eggs (they didn’t), or interesting peak produce. Then to Whole Foods for Sunday night fish and an olive sample and a little cup of bionically filtered water, and Trader Joe’s again (to see if they have the free range organic chicken thighs that I eat a lot of (they did.) And another sample.

So here’s what I came up with, accounting for a few days that we’ll likely be eating out because of our super late schedule:

:: Grilled Blue Fish, Mashed Potatoes, and Asparagus with Mustard Vinaigrette. I try to do fish every Sunday if I can because I know that I’ll be able to cook it right when I get home, and usually it’s a quick bet after an afternoon of prep cooking.

:: Saucy Spiced Meat & Potato. This one is from the Burma cookbook. It’s sort of like a spiced stew with ground beef (actually, reminds me a lot of sloppy joe mix.) and I’m not quite sure what I’ll pair it with yet – a big mess of sautéed spinach, and likely a simple salad. I think it suggests an okra/shallot stir-fry in the book, which would be nice, but I don’t have okra.

:: B.L.A.T. Salad. Yep, bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato salad. The feta might go in here too. And beets on the side.

:: Burmese Grilled Chicken. Also from Burma – chicken with an exciting! marinade of ginger, turmeric, garlic, chile, and fish sauce. I’d bathe myself in Red Boat fish sauce… I’ll probably pair this with a quick pickled cucumber salad.

:: Ham & Cheese Omelette. I have leftover ham. And leftover cheddar with hatch chiles (sucker purchase after eating a sample). And eggs that are a little old, but not too old, that I really want to use up. And I like to channel my French side in the summer time. On the side some stewed zucchini, tomato, and garlic, and a side salad. Ooh la la!

:: Coconut Rice Pudding. I have rice, coconut milk, and some delicious Nielsen–Massey Organic Fairtrade Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract that was sent to me to try out for my blog. (Really good timing, P.R. folks – I usually make my own, and I’ve just run out of a large batch that had lasted for months.) I really love Thai mango sticky rice, so I might do some sort of play on that.

And fitness? There’s plenty of that too:

The three miles of walking on weekdays is my usual their and back commute walk. Our evening strolls are walks, although this week we’ve been adding in some running intervals. These aren’t always what I end up doing, but I find that if I schedule out my workouts, I’m more likely to commit to doing them.

Monday: 3 mile walk + 6 mile slow run
Tuesday: 3 mile walk + evening stroll
Wednesday: 3 mile walk, CrossFit Olympic Lifting Class
Thursday: 3 mile walk
Friday: 3 mile walk+ evening stroll
Saturday: CrossFit (or day off)
Sunday: CrossFit Class + Open Platform

What’s on your plate this week? Also, for those of you who have Burma, have you cooked from it? I have lots of notes, but I’m not sure what to tackle next…

The Weekend Lunch

For most people, the weekend is a time for indulgence and excess, but for me, the weekend is about relaxation, rejuvenation, and making healthy choices. For the past few months, I’ve been settling into my work rhythm, trying to balance my new role and responsibilities with my passion for being active. I feel so lucky to be working for a fitness company that allows me to leave early once a week to head to the gym – as long as I’m getting my work done – but I do really miss my noon workouts from when I was working from home. So instead of sleeping in on weekends, I try to get in a double dose, heading in both Saturday and Sunday for what feels like adult recess.

This past five weeks, I’ve been competing in the CrossFit Open, pushing myself to the upper limit of my athletic ability. Week one we tackled dreaded burpees and snatches, week two had me pushing hard with the 75 pound shoulder to overheads, week three I got in more than a hundred wall balls at 20 pounds when I had previously been using an 8 pound ball in workouts. Week four was my absolute nemesis, fighting multiple days to get the *single* rep I needed to move on to round five. 95 pounds was 10 more than my PR for the clean and jerk, and my form (not the weight itself) was holding me back. It was a collective gym effort to get me to that rep – and after days of no success, Coach Steve helped me make magic happen and I got it done. This week was a deadly combo of thrusters and chest to bars. I’ve been able to muscle a handful of chest to bars this week, but couldn’t manage them after the first set of thrusters. But I’m getting there. And with each new PR, I feel stronger and more confident to keep pushing myself. Every single day I feel thankful for how far I’ve come, and for how it makes me feel as I set about conquering life.

Unlike my grandfather, who used to barter gym time for a donut and a cigarette – I like to reward myself for my workouts with a cup of black coffee, and a highly nutritious meal. (I do think that he’d have been amused and proud of my athletic achievements, given the turnaround from my sedentary teenage hood.)

I make sure I’m getting in lots of greenery – pounds of leafy greens, especially if I haven’t been the most attentive during the week. I’ll usually cook up a large bag of collards or what Trader Joe’s calls “power greens”, sometimes with a bit of bacon, or plain with a little bit of garlic, shallot, and cider vinegar, and use them as the base for the majority of my meals.

I’m particularly fond of making salmon salad (see above, with the heaping portion of broccoli raab and garlic), or opening up a tin of sardines, and making a dressing with the fish infused olive oil and some fresh lemon juice. The photo has them served over some steamed green cabbage, and sprinkled with some bourbon smoked paprika. I try to eat little fishes at least once a week, but sometimes I’m negligent. Really, you can’t go wrong with sardines.

On cloudy or cold days, I go with soup. This was a beef, tomato, and carrot soup I picked up from Formaggio Kitchen a few weeks ago, and savored it while simultaneously reading my Kindle, flicking through Twitter, and with my computer at arms reach. Some of my habits are less healthy than others.

And then, there’s my favorite lunch staple: the avocado. I went nearly three weeks without avocado last month, and it was a travesty. Here’s my new favorite – avocado halves with sherry vinegar, salt, and a sprinkle of black pepper. If you can find a nice ripe avocado, try eating it this way, you won’t be disappointed.

An unexpected loss.

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!

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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.