Fun and games! + Cumin Chicken and Black Beans with Artichoke Salsa

Hello, hello!

You’ll never believe what we did at CrossFit this morning!

Our warm-up was …. FREEZE TAG!

Seriously!!  We were like a bunch of little kids running around the box!

But, it wasn’t just your plain ole boring version of freeze tag where you’re frozen until someone “unfreezes” you.  Oh no.  This was special.

If you were tagged, you had to do air squats (1st game), push ups (2nd game), and burpees (3rd game).

I didn’t end up doing the air squats because I was a tagger for that one.  Had a blast chasing people around! 🙂

And boy was I trying to avoid the tag during the burpees round.  Was all out sprinting at times!  Haha!

It really was a creative and fun way to warm up!

Then, we did a girl WOD today – Isabel.

Isabel is 30 snatches for time.  Rx weight for ladies was 65#.

We worked on our one rep max leading in to the WOD.

I got up to 75#!

I did one and Joe walked by and made a comment about me using my hips more.

Of course, after that, I couldn’t do another because I was focusing on my hips and not on just doing it.  I think I probably could have done another – or, maybe, that really is my one rep max.  Either way, I power snatched 75#!!  WOOT!

So, of course, 65# for the WOD was easy peasy.

Um, no.  Who am I kidding?  It was definitely NOT easy.

But, I knocked it out in 4:06 and I was pretty darned pleased with my performance. 🙂

I’ve really come a long way with regards to the snatch.  It’s amazing to me sometimes when I think back about how much trouble I had with 45#.

I love getting stronger!

source

So, last night, I was wiped out from yesterday’s track workout and a full day at work and was so totally not in the mood to cook when I get home.

I really try to plan ahead but, sometimes, I just don’t want to do anything.

But, I was hungry (as usual).

And so was everyone else.

So, I had to figure something out that didn’t involve ordering a pizza.

I grabbed a few things from the pantry and some chicken breasts from the fridge.

And dinner happened.

Cumin Chicken & Black Beans with Artichoke Salsa

serves 4

1 bag brown rice (cooks for 10 minutes in the microwave)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Salt, to taste
2/3 cup black beans (or use more – Thing 2 wished there were more)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can (14 ounce) artichokes, drained and chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped (I didn’t have fresh so I pulled about 4 out of a can of peeled whole tomatoes)
1/4 cup onion, chopped (I used yellow but red would be good, too)
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 lemon, optional
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Prepare the rice according to the package directions.

2. Combine artichokes, tomatoes, onions and parsley in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Pat the chicken dry, cut into chunks and season with the cumin and salt. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until almost cooked through. Add black beans and cook until chicken is done.

4. Serve chicken and black beans over brown rice and top with artichoke salsa. Garnish with a squeeze of lemon, if desired.

5. Om nom nom!

Questions:  When was the last time you played freeze tag?  Or duck duck goose?  Or any game you played as a kid?  What was your favorite?

We used to play a version of hide and seek/freeze tag in the  dusk/dark.  Gotta love summertime!!  Front porch was base and the idea was to hide and try to make it back to base without getting tagged.  LOVED that game as a kid!

– jennifer

What motivates you?

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!

I don’t know about you but it was really tough for me to get out of bed this morning.

Seriously.

Maybe it was because it was 3:30am?

Nah. What are the odds of me being tired at 3:30am?

But, I did get up and I went to the 5am CrossFit class.

My sailor says I’m an addict.

I say there are worse things I could be addicted to! 🙂

I love the way working out makes me feel – both physically and mentally. It’s what drives me to get up and go even if I don’t want to. Especially WHEN I don’t want to. Plus, then I get to eat. I like eating.

Hey, I remembered to take my camera with me when I took the dogs out for their first morning bathroom break!

Isn’t it beautiful?

Blue moon leftovers.

Almost like a blue plate special only less diner-ish.

So, they’re really throwing some toughies at us at CrossFit these days.

Me and my shadow!

We had a SUPER full class this morning and, by the time I helped finish putting the rowers away – seriously, not sure why only 3 of us were putting ALL the rowers away! I think if you got it out, you should put it back but maybe that’s just me. Not just me? Good! Grrr! – all the 35# bars were gone. So, I had to grab a 45# bar.

The main difference between the two, besides 10# (duh!), is the width/grip of the bar. The grip on the 35# bar is skinnier than the 45# bar and perfect for ladies or people with small hands. I do not have gigantic hands.

OH!!! Check out my new lifting gloves!!! They’re PURPLE!!! Best. Color. Ever.

And, as you can see, my hands are little. The 45# bar is hard for my little hands to manage sometimes unless I’m deadlifting. And then, that’s just picking up weight. I’m not throwing it around trying to get it over my head.

So, the snatch with the 45# bar was a whole new experience for me. I added 10# to the bar so I was up to 55# and, honestly, that was pretty darn near my limit. I had to break them up into sets of 3 or 4 to get to 11 because I had a hard time holding onto the bar.

But, *bright side!*, I got a good workout and I worked really hard on maintaining good form and I think I did pretty well! I was 2 snatches shy of completing 4 total rounds.

And then, I went out for a mile cool down rather than the 800m. Because, you know, I’ve got to be an overachiever.

And, honestly, I just wanted to run.

My reward for getting out of bed even though I didn’t want to, making the 5am CrossFit class and working hard?

Nature's beauty

Complete and total gift.

Thank you, Mother Nature. ❤

Questions:

1. How do you motivate yourself to get up when it’s early?

2. Do you prefer morning or evening workouts? If you workout in the evening, how do you motivate yourself after a long day at work?

3. Sunrises or sunsets? I love them both but I prefer the sunrise. I love the joy and possibilities in a new day!

– jennifer