Let's Do a Triple

Slept from 1:00 a.m. until about 9:30 a.m. but it was choppy and not of good quality.

After I woke up, I ate a small bowl of ginger-peach pork and baby carrots.  No photo.  Wanted something in my belly but not a lot.

WODS were as follows:
Bench Press: 1's @ 105lbs, 115lbs, 121lbs (F - I NEED 121 for Nationals... dammit!)
Deadlift 1's @ 241lbs, 271lbs, 281lbs (F - I was a weiner, this should have gone up but I chickened out)

Metcon #1
250m row, 15  burpees, 20 55lb kettlebell swings to overhead, 15 burpees, 250m row in 5:02 (unbrokenish, lost my rhythm on the 17th swing but didn't put down bell and it wasted some time and I paused about 10 burpees into the last set to swear and then went to the wrong rower and had to dick around with the damper... time waster - need to be more organized and envision WOD before doing it)

Metcon #2:  Fran
21-15-9 65lb thrusters, pull ups in 4:11 (19 seconds slower than my PR but I'm cool with it)



On the way home, picked up more ghee and an apple.  Ate the apple.  Used the ghee to make more sweet potatoes.

As I cooked the sweet potatoes (and typed this up, I ate a bowl of pork)

And then I ate a bowl of just sweet potatoes. I ate it all before I remembered to take a photo.

Still hungry so I ate a bowl of half pork, half sweet potatoes. Now am finally full.

Time to shower. I have a fete to attend this evening and I smell like a goat.

Ginger Peach Pork and Mead + Ribs

Ginger-Peach Pork

Ginger Spice Rub for Pork:
1 tbsp each of ginger, garlic powder and onion powder
1tsp sea salt

Crust pork in the spice rub.  You'll have some left over.  No worries.

Add: 2 mashed up peaches (I used jarred peaches that my mom preserved last summer - nothing added) and 1/2 cup white wine.

Cook for 8 hours at 215F.  Leave the pork to sit and breath while you reduce down the drippings in a sauce pan.  Add more wine if desired.  Once this is done, shred the pork and then pour the reduction on the pulled pork and enjoy.

So, ate this for a late "breakfast" at around noon along with a tomato and macadamia nut mayo.  Something that looks like this will also be my "lunch".

For the party tonight, I'm bringing braised beef ribs.  And they're MADE WITH MEAD.  Oh yeah....

Braised Drunk Beef Ribs
First, crust your beef ribs in a mix of garlic, onion, sea salt and pepper:

 Then, in a very hot cast iron skillet, quickly sear each side.  We're talking kissing the pan for only a few seconds:

While your skillet is still hot, take a cup of either wine (or in this case, mead) and pour it in.  Stir it up to get the drippings, then pour over the meat.

After that, layer in a good quality pot (I heart my Le Creuset pot).  At this point, I add MacKay's sweet onion relish.  It's NOT paleo because of the sugar in it but it's lovely and I'm about to dump a cup of liquor on these anyways so I'm not getting picky here.  For gluten-avoiders, some brands of this kind of product (Mrs. Bridges, I'm looking at you) are made with malt vinegar.  The MacKay stuff is fine. 

Cook for 6 hours at 275F (or 4 hours at 300F) - it doesn't matter.  Then, you're going to reduce the drippings and then pour the reduction over the ribs and serve.

And here is the finished product.

I brought none home. 

At the party, I had Hardcore's infamous bacon sweet potato pie and dark chocolate bark along with Kim Fly's delicious Christmas brussel sprouts (HATE brussel sprouts but DANG these are good), my mead ribs, Sarah's garlicy roast beasty goodness and Marcia's chocolate coated bacon (sweet+salty=win).   And I want Hardcore to be my personal chef.  I could only pay her in adoration, though.

Impromptu rest day.  At work until at least 6:00 and then the CFR Christmas party after.  Tomorrow now looks like it's a triple (oi!) so a day of rest in advance is probably not gonna kill me.

Sleep: 12:00 until 8:30.  Day off work but have to go in from 1:00-6:00.  Time of year is bloody nuts.

Staff Christmas Lunch Today

After no sugar yesterday, today I had an amazeballs dessert at our staff lunch at Table 10.  So freaking good.

Breakfast... beast and tomato... didn't take a photo.

Lunch... I failed to take a photo.  It was a spinach salad with apple, walnuts and whatnot topped with two grilled chicken breasts.  Delicious!

Then came the Creme Caramel with Brittle (nomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom)

^Table 10 is fantastic for offering so many gluten free choices and there's no question if you tell them you have a gluten allergy, you will not accidentally get bombed.  They are very careful and knowledgeable and everything is made from scratch in house.  They know EVERYTHING that is in their food.  LOVE this restaurant.   And the food is lovely.

Then there was more beef and tomato.  Again... no photo.

Training was as follows:

Barski cleans @ 115
Clean Pulls @ 155
Clean Deadlift @ 180
BTN Jerks from Blocks up to 115 (Landing seems to be a big issue)
3/5 Kelly overboard as rx’d in 19:42. I was very pleased it wasn’t 5/5 Kelly.

Quick trip to the grocery store for some Kick Ass coffee, pork roasts, eggs and an apple.  The apple didn't survive long enough for me to take a photo of it.

Got home, did up six eggs in ghee, warmed up the rest of the kale and added a good sized serving of roasted yam. 

It doesn't look like it, possibly because this is a top down shot of a pasta bowl, but this is a bucketload of food.  I'm actually pretty full and I usually don't get full (meat sweats the other day notwithstanding).

Sleep:  12:00 until 8:15.  Hard time getting up this morning.  Dystonia was pretty bad - lots of brain fog and I was a right gimp all morning.  Like, gimpy as in the staff at the restaurant were totally nice to me and spoke just a bit slower and gave me concern-for-my-wellbeing face as I lurched around gimpy.  I kind of feel bad out in public like that.  Most people really are inherently quite nice and you can see how nervous they become when faced with, well, me.  They don't quite know what to do or how to act and don't want to be offensive but also just want to help. 

Anyhoodle, mix that with the increase in sugar cravings, the bitchy mood and a slight increase on the scale...  Stupid moon time.

Two Days, One Post

There's a dated pop culture reference for you.

Today's Post:
While having coffee, I at this:

Then for breakfast, lunch and more lunch, I had something that looked like this but only in a tupperware container at my desk:

Then I worked at the gym and ran errands after work work.  At the grocery store, I was hungry and tempted by gluten free cookies (see yesterday for why I might be craving sugar).

Got home, roasted some kale and guess what I ate again.  Yep, Moroccan beef and kale.

The yams I bought and am now roasting with ghee and pumpkin pie spice are also going to make their way into mah belleh as well.  They smell divine.

Ps.  Today was a rest day.  It felt good.  Work was also not particularly stressful.

Sleep: 11:30 p.m. to 8:00 a.m - Actually didn't fall asleep until 12:00 a.m. but what I got (8 hours) was solid.


Yesterday's Post
Diet was kind of shite.  Feeling, uh, hormonally challenged.

Breakfast, Lunch and More Lunch was coconut chicken soup.

Then I ate about 12 of these.  SUGAR RUSH!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
                                                                                                              crash

Training was okay.  Squats didn't feel quite as awesome as per usual.  I'm blaming stress.  Today was a stressful day and I was a right cranky sow by the time I made it to the gym.  The gym made it better but, still, being pissy pants doesn't make for good squats.

Back squat (low bar) 1′s @ 235, 245, 255lbs (F)
X 2 @ 90% (225 – F)
X3X3 @ 85% (205)
Good mornings 5/5/5 @ 115lbs
Pull ups 15-15-15 (unbroken yay!)
Sit ups x 50 with 30lbs (unbroken yay!)
Metcon with 4 hspus, 8 55lb swings, 12 pistols – 4 rounds
Unbroken DU’s – 60, 105 (PR), 67

When I got home, I quicky downed some Moroccan Pulled Beef and Roasted Kale

And then went out for coffee and had an herbal tea with cream and honey and a gluten-free cookie. Not so cave girl but yummy.  It was within the two hour window PWO when I was all nice and insulin sensitive and my body was looking to replace glycogen.

Woke up the next day (uh, today as I type this) feeling pretty good and recovered.  But, yeah, as I mentioned in today's post, I was crave-y today and I think it's because I had such a sugar hit yesterday.  And yesterday's sugar hit was all thanks to less sleep, lady hormone timing and a seriously stressful day.

Sleep 12:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. - 7.5 hours and not solid.

Well, that's better.

From this...

To this...

Tastes lovely, too.  Recipe is in yesterday's post.

Coconut chicken soup x 3 today.  And it really is too salty.  Woke up with my face like a balloon this a.m.

The meat and spiced yams (these are bloody amazing, FYI), I'll save for PWO this evening.

PWO meal: Moroccon pulled beef, spiced roasted yams and tomato with macadamia nut mayo

And more meat!  With some melted ghee on top. Still hungy!

Training tonight was as follows:
Barski Snatch triples @ 70% (75lbs) x 5
Snatch pulls @ 110lbsx3x2
Snatch deads @ 135lbsx3x2
Snatch push press 3x5 @ 105lbs (love the jerk blocks for these!)
Then, it was a mix of untimed movements.  5 rounds of:
 - 5 (1=L+R) Ring extensions
 - 5 forward rolls
 - 5 backwards rolls
 - 10 Sot's Press

Here's a link to a video of a demo.  Liked the ring extensions.  Rolls made me feel kind of drunk.  The Sot's press is HARD!

Yep!  Still hungy.  MOAR!!!!

Sleep: 11:00p.m. un til 8:00 a.m. with an hour missing at about 5:00 a.m.

Mayo and Other Recipes

I realized I don`t have just a plain old mayo recipe on here.  Not sure where I stole this one from but it`s pretty basic.

In a food processor, whiz up:
1 large egg
1/2 tsp mustard powder
the juice of half a lemon OR 1 tbsp white vinegar
sea salt (to taste)

Slowly add:
1 cup oil (olive oil and macadamia nut oil both produce strongly-flavoured mayos... I like both but macadamia nut is my current raining favourite).  Continue processing until the mixture thickens and all of the oil is whipped.

Put into a glass jar and refrigerate.

First meal was 6 eggs fried in ghee and a red tomato with half an avocado.  No photo.  The ghee made for some lovely tasting eggs.

Then I had the last of my roast with an entire fresh batch of kale.

Then I had four squares of 85 percent dark chocolate.

Then I came home to cook.  First was the coconut chicken soup.  Used a bit too much fish sauce so it's a little saltier than usual.  Still good though, which relieves me because I'm going to be eating this for at least a few days.  There's lots there.

Ingredients

Click here for a link to the recipe.  I used more chicken this time.  About 2 kilos of chicken thigh.  And here is the full pot and first bowl.

I also made Hardcore Ang's delicious spice mix:

If my horrible penmanship leaves the note indecipherable, it is as follows:
 1 tbsp each of pepper, cumin,
2 tsp of chili powder, curry powder, salt
1 tsp paprika, allspice, cayenne, cinnamon

Then, I used the spice to crust one of those grass fed round steaks I have:

 At this point, I wasn't sure if I wanted to add either ghee or coconut oil.  This stuff is so low in fat, you have to add something to it to slow roast it in the oven.  I opted for coconut milk:

It now looks disgusting.  Regardless, it's going in the oven at 215F overnight and then I'll reduce the juices and it will be delicious, nutritious and no longer look like some kind of prop substance from The Walking Dead.  I'll post a photo once it's beautiful.  And next time I make it, I'll give the ghee a shot in it instead.  The ghee has such a lovely flavour.  It's my new favourite fat.

I also did up the yams.  Mmm, yams.  Peel and cube, toss in pumpkin pie spice, garlic powder, sea salt and cracked pepper.  Melt some ghee and then toss and roast in the oven at 405F until crispy and browned.  Mmm.

Rest day.

Sleep: 2:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. (7.5 hours... went out with friends last night.  Had a couple of gin and sodas with fresh lime.  Didn't seem to impact sleep and I had a good visit!)

Ate all the kale. The kale is done.

So, I ended up eating the whole pan of kale so there's no more for today.  Although, this does not preclude me going out and purchasing more.  I'm kind of craving a return to coconut chicken soup, though.  I guess I could always make both.  Mmm...

Pre WOD/Coaching Snacks - Beef and a tomato - Didn't take a photo of it.  It wasn't a huge amount. 

Post WOD was beef, sweet potato, tomato. avocado and an orange

Went and bought some fun new fats.  The ghee tastes like shortbread.  The macadamia nut oil tastes like you'd imagine.  Turning it into mayo.

 The mayo will be put on more tomatoes.  It really it time for some variation.  But not quite yet.  Because I did go to the store.  AND BOUGHT MORE SUCCULENT KALE, BITCHES!

Yes, I had so much, I had to put it in it's own bowl.  Here was the rest of the meal.  Oh, the macadamia-nut mayo tastes damned good.  Very nutty!

WOD today... Anne-Marie was worried about grip fatigue from the PLUs and KB swings and Shae has to do something else because of his healing and stuff.  It was just the three of us and I didn't really want to do the mission profile WOD on my own.  So, and this is bad, but I did a WOD that was not on the plan. Anne-Marie did a make up WOD from earlier int he week.  The one I picked.  Well, it's a goat-fest for me.  Nutt's with a 500m row at the end instead of the run.  Aside from the 10 HSPUs, I can cycle through most of it to make it a long cardio-intensive WOD like the other one. And I was slower with 26:04 as rx'd as my time.  The HSPUs took forever.  The deadlifts were easy and unbroken for 15 at 175.  The 25 24" box jumps were find, save for biffing one of them and ending up with a shin gash.   After that, it was just cardio.  Cardio, cardio, cardio. 100 wall balls of cardio.  Followed by 200 double unders and a 500m row.  I get super gassed by wall balls really quickly so they're something I could definitely use practice on.  Ugh.  And then rowing is always unpleasant.  Both things, along with the HSPUs that I could do more of.  Anyways, it was an enjoyable WOD and it gave me a chance to work my long-light metcon with some skill work at the front end.

Sleep:  11:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. - Close to 9 hours of actual sleep too.  Up at 6:00 a.m. but fell asleep again.

Kale obsession

Roasted kale really is that good.  All buttery and seasoned and delicious.  Mmmmmmm....

Okay, this is what my breakfast, lunch and moar lunch looks like today.

 And this beef is thanks to my awesome boss who's family raises hormone-free, grass fed limousin cattle.  Said cow=lovely flavour.  It's very low in fat, though, so I'm glad I didn't go stingy on the fat I used for the roasted kale.

PWO, I had more beef and roasted sweet potatoes with non-paleo ketchup.  This is yesterdays photo.  I was too busy eating it to snap a shot of it.  The serving sizes were quite a bit bigger.

And as I type this I'm eating a bowl of kale.  Also ate a good chunk of it before thinking of taking photo.  So, here's a photo from yesterday.  It was heaping. Likely I will have two

Training was good tonight.
Back Squat 1's @ 230, 240, 250lbs (PR)
x2 @ 90% (225lbs)
x3x3 @ 85% (215lbs)
Muscle Up 3-3-3 (All done in singles)

Metcon of 7 rounds of
7 pendlay rows (55lbs)
7 power cleans (55lbs)
7 push press (55lbs)
20 DU
As rx'd in 7:49.

Sleep: 11:30-7:30 and of good quality.  No dog farts in the middle of the night.

Fran Made Me Her Bitch

I so wanted to say the opposite of that.  40 seconds off my old PR.  Boo-urns.

Food was as follows:

3 meals of roast beast and roast kale.  No photo.

Then I had a small snack of more roast beast and kale.  The other meals looked similar but bigger.  This is pre-warmed up so it looks kind of grotty.  Kale is the bomb diggety.  It doesn't need to be pretty.

Then, when I got home from the gym I had a big feast of roast beef, kale, and roasted sweet potato with some decidedly non-paleo ketchup. 

Training was meh tonight.  Snatch is being a bit of a bugger and then I was slower on Fran than I had hoped.  Dallas said my snatch pulls are coming along, though, so that's good.
2 position snatch @ 80lbs x 5
Snatch 1′s @ 90, 95, 100 (F)
Snatch Pulls x3x2 @ 105
Snatch Deadlift x3x2 @ 125
Snatch PP 5@ 105, then 5-5 @ 85
Fran as rx’d in 4:31.

And now I'm going to have a bit more beef and sweet potato.  Today, I'm hungy.

Sleep 10:30-7:30 but was woken up by Sushi farts.  How can something that cute smell so bad. So, 8.5 hours of actual sleep?

Taryn is the meat queen

I thought I could eat meat.  Just like I thought I could power clean.  Then Taryn comes along and smokes me like, well, a delicious brisket.

Sleep: 10:30 until 7:30... 9 hours and pretty much all solid sleep.  Woke up almost feeling like I'd had too much.  Body felt good and recovered after a couple of hard days of workouts so I`m pleased.  Who knew that meat could induce such a fugue-like state.

Today`s a rest day.  So here goes with the meals.

Beef+orange tomatoes with mayo and fresh cracked pepper... oh, wait, I have no photo.  Oh, wait, I eat this pretty much all the time.  Here's an old photo.  Imagine the tomato as orange instead of red.  It's okay.  Then, imagine it in a square plastic container.  And then imagine three meals of it.  Exciting, huh?

I just finished roasting up two pans of kale.  Damn this stuff is good.  Here's how you make it.  Chop up your kale.  Douse it in butter (clarified would be preferable and coconut oil would be an even better choice but just not as tastey - and don't be stingy... you're a cave person, you EAT FAT) and a bit of sea salt and cracked pepper, then roast until crispy in a hot oven (405 degrees F if you don't have convection).  Delicious.  I ate a bowl.\

Then I ate another bowl.  See how lovingly I am staring at the kale?

Also, I am quite shiny.

I'm now roasting up sweet potatoes, likewise doused in butter.  I should likely NOT eat them as this is not a WOD day (Precision Nutrition habits die hard with me...Dr. John Berardi would be pleased).  A few might end up sneaking onto my plate along with my last amount of delicious roast beast.