Open Catch Up, September Challenge

So the past month has been a whirlwind...literally, with Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Kim came to visit, I left my first big girl job, moved to Texas just in time for Hurricane Harvey, started making a new life, started my second big girl job, started a September challenge and naturally, dropped the ball on blogging.

New life...not so bad!

Kim and I had the opportunity to do 11.2 together when she was in town (our friend Jaime jumped in for good measure) and it was likely the last time I will beat her in our entire journey through the open workouts. The 11.2 open workout is AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) 15 min, 9 deadlifts (100#), 12 pushups, 15 box jumps (for more information about the standards click here). I finished the workout at 10 rounds and Kim finished close behind at 9+21 (meaning she finished the push-ups). The problem for both of us (and most women) was the push-ups, as the upper body of women fatigues fast. One thing I picked up from my first Crossfit coach was to go straight into the next movement before you take a break - you may surprise yourself and not need the break, but at a minimum you've already chipped away at some of the reps... I still took too many breaks; Ive got to get better about that. 

As I mentioned, Kim and I did 11.2 together back at what our "home gym". It will take us both time until our new gyms are "home". When we did 11.2 there was some controversy over "cheating" during WODs...mainly lying about your score. One of the things Kim loves most about workouts is how difficult it is for your mind to stray - "you don't think, you just go"; this mentality can be especially useful in workouts where you need a steady pace (e.g. long distance running, chippers, etc.). Hoawever, come time for 11.2, Kim couldn't shake the thoughts of cheating (personally, I was offended that she might be looking out for me cheating...kidding). Usually when cheating, you are only cheating yourself. While with this perspective you can let it go, Kim noted that there is a bigger impact when you cheat. We don't workout in box (well, we do technically, but not the point) - the way we perform can impact other people. This can be a positive - watching others do handstand push-ups helped me get them myself by mimicking their form. On the downside, watching someone not even attempt to do a workout to standard in an effort not to "lose" while you fall behind in reps completing the movements correctly can be extremely disheartening. Just like acts of kindness, smiles, and laughter can be contagious, the way you carry yourself in a gym can be contagious.  So while Kim may be far (her words not mine and not true) from perfect with every rep (especially when it comes to virtually all gymnastics movements), she at least thought about each rep being with intent and something that if people were watching, they'd not be discouraged or frustrated. End result? Her brain was occupied in a different way than usual which was an interesting experiment and Caitlin upped her again...[SPOILER ALERT: Kim smoked Caitlin 11.3, 11.4 and 11.5...11.6 remains to be seen].

Setting Crossfit aside, I really needed a reset after all this upheaval and reached out to friends and family to try and get them in on a September challenge. Instead of requiring everyone to follow the same challenge rules, each person was encouraged to pick their own challenge which may or may not be nutrition or exercise based. For example, part of Kim's challenge is to tackle those things she procrastinates on head first. Mine of course involves a host of rules I set for myself surrounding my diet. For the past two months I have been treating myself every day, resulting in some weight gain, inflammation and mostly feeling like crap. It amazes me that as soon as I am conscious of what I am eating, I realize that I am full before I eat another 5 oz steak or dig into a dessert - weird that in just a few days inflammation came down and so did the wait and not ONCE was I feeling deprived or starved.

Nutrition challenges can be daunting and time consuming with the amount of cooking involved - now I like cooking, but I hate cleaning and its the cleaning during the week that I dread - enter: Meal Prep.  There are several approaches to meal prepping, some popular ones are 1) prepping everything to be cooked on different days of the week, 2) doing a little extra each day so cooking on the following day is less stressful and 3) cooking all your meals for the week. In the past, I have stuck to #1, but this weekend I really came close to completely cooking all my meals; including filling my freezer with servings for future weeks. Saturday I peeled and prepped, Sunday I cooked - yes it was a lot, no it didn't take my entire day and on the whole, I am SO EXCITED to just bake or reheat all week. Pro Tip: I strongly recommend Clean Eating magazine, they always have great meal prep tips and recipes. 

So what did I make? 

• Green Smoothie Packs (1/4 c frozen banana, 1/4 frozen butternut squash, 2 c greens)
• 3 Servings of Salad to be eaten with leftover chicken from freezer, canned wild caught tuna and cauliflower soup on meatless Thursday (part of my challenge, its awful) [Pro Tip: by the salad container, then add your salad ingredients - take to work and divvy out on a plate over 3 days]
• Pot Roast with Carrots and Turnips (6 servings, fill that freezer up!)
• Sweet Potato Waffle Batter (for 3 waffles, to be used to make 6 breakfast sandwiches - going in freezer for re-toast)
• Stuffed Collard Green Roll Ups with Quinoa, Carrots, Onions, Almond Milk Cheese, Walnuts and Marinara Sauce (4 servings - freezer time!)
• Lemon Ginger Puddings (sweetened with dates and can be frozen!)
• Roasted Vegetables (leftover from Sunday lunch - to be served with pork chop from freezer)
• Spinach and Parsnip Breakfast Bake - Details Follow!

I am most proud of my Spinach & Parsnip Breakfast Bake meal prep. I based it off of a recipe from Fed & Fit by Cassy Joy Garcia [she hasn't published the recipe online, but I recommend the book which you can buy here]. I already planned on sweet potato waffles, so I grabbed my second favorite starchy vegetable - parsnips. Her recipe requires you to sauté everything THEN second step bake it... too hard. My version is one pan and done. On Tuesday morning, I will get back from the gym stick it in the oven for 30 minutes and be done with it. Check out my recipe below.

Spinach & Parsnip Breakfast Bake

Serves: 2-3

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Oven Temp: 375 degrees

Ingredients

Coconut Oil for greasing pan

6 parsnips (peeled and shredded - I used my vitamix, but recommend a food processor rather than grating)

1.5 c spinach leaves (chopped or torn)

3-4 strips of bacon (chopped into 1/2 in pieces - see Health Tip below)

1 tbsp breakfast blend seasoning (check out a mix here)

1 tsp olive oil, avocado oil or coconut oil

6 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 375 degrees
2. Grease a small-medium casserole dish (I used my le crueset oval baker)
3. Add all ingredients EXCEPT eggs, mix together and then pat down
4. Use eggs to make divots to serve as cups where you will crack them; ensuring parsnip spinach mixture remains on the bottom layer. 
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
6. Crack eggs into divots and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. 

Meal Prep Tip: Complete steps 1-4 ahead of time. Leave uncracked eggs in the divots - cover with plastic wrap until you're ready to cook. 

Health Tip: Wellshire Farms and Applegate Farms both make uncured, no-added sugar, nitrate free bacon (buy it on sale and keep it in your freezer). You can also get this kind of bacon from ButcherBox which delivers grass-fed and pastured beef, chicken and pork to your doorstep as a subscription service. I am trying it out for the first time and you can get free bacon when you try it out by clicking this link!