One step backwards?

I’m a pretty busy person. As an EMT, I work long days and can work anywhere from 36 to 60 hours in a given week. On top of that I play rugby every spring and fall, and being a competitive person, missing practice is out of the question, unless of course I’m stuck working a long shift. Unfortunately, this makes it very hard for me to find time to get my butt to Crossfit, even though the training I do at ACF is extremely beneficial to my rugby performance. So recently I’ve only been able to go once or twice a week, not nearly as much as I used to go, but better than never right? The other day I went to Crossfit and decided to do some heavy lifting, I figured I’d shoot for my previous backsquat one rep max, and since I was feeling confident, maybe I’d hit a new PR. Yeah…. I was 25lbs short of my one-rep max and I could barely lift the bar, 5 more lbs and I probably would have had to bail. Needless to say, I left the gym extremely frustrated with what I considered a complete failure.

So what’s my point? For one, you can only expect to gain as much as you give. How can I expect certain muscles to get stronger if I never work them? It’s not even that I can’t go to Crossfit as much, it’s that if I want to see results I need to make them happen on my own, whether it’s at the gym or at home. Crossfit is not just a place where you go to workout, it’s a way of working out that you can take anywhere – it’s designed so that once you know the movements, you can create your own programming based on your goals. So why haven’t I been doing my own programming? I obviously haven’t been approaching my fitness in the right way. And that’s the other thing I took from this “failure” – you have to use your setbacks as stepping stones. I’m not getting the results I want because I’m not putting the right amount of energy and effort into it, so I need to change my approach. I could sit around and let myself be frustrated by my loss of strength and keep trying to get by with one or two workouts a week because “I have no choice”, but honestly, what good is that gonna do? So what I need to do is realize that I DO have a choice, that just because I don’t have a trainer to tell me what to do doesn’t mean I can’t make my own workouts to do at home or work when I can’t get to the gym. You can’t let your setbacks slow you down, you have to let them motivate you to push yourself that much harder.

So sure, I may have gone one step backwards, but now I have a firm goal in mind – not only will I make up the lost distance, but I will go one step farther, and continue to move forward. The next time I hit the bar for some heavy squats, I will be hitting a PR.

Becca hits some PR’s!

Becca (my amazing girlfriend) hit some new PR this week! On Monday she hit 105lbs on the overhead squat, and yesterday she hit 110 on her hang clean. Good job baby! :-)

…and as for me, I can’t remember the last time I did overhead squats… hmmm…

Ready or not, here we come!

The fall rugby season is upon us, and for club side rugby teams like the Albany Knicks that means one thing – Nationals. Everything we do in the off-season, the spring season, the summer Seven’s season, all builds up to the fall season – full 80-minute regular season games pave the road to the NRU playoffs, where only the top 2 northeast teams will earn the right to travel to club National playoffs and fight for the title of best rugby team in the nation. Last year Albany “messed with Texas” and came in 3rd at Division 2 Nationals in Houston, TX. This year, with one of our best competitors moved out of our division, we have our sites set on taking Arizona by storm and claiming the National Championship for ourselves.

Well, so far so good, we’re off to a solid start and definitely on the right track. Our first game was against Hartford – always long, hard, well-fought games which have resulted in us managing to squeeze out each win by only one try. We knew not to underestimate this team, so we came into the game expecting a close battle. Well there’s definitely something different about the Albany team this year, our pack is tighter and stronger, our scrums are solid, our line-outs are solid, our backs are faster, there’s more synergy and flow… All the pieces fell into place and we ended up soundly defeating Hartford by a blow-out score of 42-0. Way to go team!

Reset. Next game was this Saturday against Worcester, and we couldn’t let our big win against Hartford make us cocky, anything can happen in rugby. Well this time our scrums were even better than last game and our line was even faster, we had a short field and our team took full advantage of it at every opportunity. We had scores from multiple girls and our flyhalf made all 7 of her conversion kicks. Worcester managed to squeak in a try near the end, but Albany dominated the game, winning 66-5.

So that’s 2 down, 3 to go – Seacoast, Portland and Burlington. I’ve always had confidence in our team, but this year, I know THIS is the team that’s gonna go all the way, THIS is our season. We’re gonna take the northeast and then we’re gonna take the nation! Ready or not, here we come!

2009 National Playoffs in Houston, TX

Perspire, Persist, Perservere

Perserverence (n): steady persistence in a course of action in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement

Paleo Crepes!!

The other morning we discovered how to make paleo crepes – best breakfast ever! And the recipe is surprisingly simple, the only tricky part is flipping the crepes without breaking them – it gets easier with practice!

Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup coconut or almond milk
- ¼ cup almond flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

If you have a griddle the flat surface is fantastic for making these, otherwise use a large frying pan or skillet. Preheat your cooking surface. I didn’t use any oil or cooking spray because our griddle is non-stick, but if you’re worried about sticking, use a small amount of olive or walnut oil. You will also need a utensil to spread/smooth the crepe batter and a utensil or two to flip it. The flat side of an egg spatula or the back side of a large spoon will work as a smoother, and the egg spatula will work for flipping, but unless you have a very large spatula, you’ll prob need some other flat-ish utensil to help with this step. Be creative! (If you’re gonna make these a lot, they make special crepe spatulas you can get)

Whisk ingredients together until mostly smooth, the batter may be slightly lumpy but that’s ok. Pour batter into your pan, use an amount about the size of a CD. Take your smoothing implement of choice and using a circular pattern, smooth/spread the batter into a nice circle, in the process also thinning it so that it is more crepe thickness as opposed to pancake thickness. Just keep in mind, if you make it too thin, it will be harder to flip over. Depending on how hot your pan is, the underside should start to brown in 3-5 minutes. At this point, go around the edges of the crepe with your spatula making sure it is separated from the pan, then very carefully flip the crepe over. I had to use a second flipping utensil to help flip my crepes. Another 3-5 minutes and your crepe should be done! Fill with your choice of yummy paleo filling and enjoy!

Some filling recipes:

“Apple Pie” Filling

- 1 whole apple of a softer/sweeter variety
(pink lady, fuji, gala)
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon (or to taste)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp agave nectar (or to taste – can also use honey)

Finely chop apple either by hand or in blender, depending on how big or small you’d like your apple chunks (or slices if you so desire). Mix apple chunks with cinnamon, vanilla and agave nectar. In microwave safe bowl heat about 2 minutes or until apple chunks are soft. Scoop filling into crepe, fold crepe, eat crepe, be happy!

If you’ve ever had either SoDelicious Coconut Milk ice cream or Coconut Bliss ice cream, their vanilla is actually paleo and goes amazingly with this filling – it’s just like apple pie!!

“Thanksgiving Dinner” Filling

- 1 can (5 oz) chicken or turkey meat
OR shredded or chopped chicken/turkey, leftover meat from a roasted bird would work great!
- 1 very generous handful dried or fresh cranberries
- Apple butter

With crepe laid flat, spread apple butter on crepe, as much as you like! I found thicker was better otherwise you couldn’t taste it past the chicken and cranberries. If you’re using canned chicken/turkey, make sure you rinse it well to rid of the salty taste it gets from being in the can. Mix your chicken/turkey shreds/chunks in a bowl with the cranberries then warm in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. Put your nice warm filling in the crepe right on top of that delicious apple butter, fold and eat!
If you want to be daring, sprinkle a little cinnamon on top of the crepe, yummy….