Hello and happy Wednesday! First things first – if you’re reading this via my email subscription or an e-reader, click through to my homepage because fANNEtastic food got a little mini-makeover today! I was feeling creative yesterday and in the mood for a new header with some updated photos and a simpler, cleaner look, so I spent some time in PicMonkey (best website ever) playing around and voila! I made myself a new banner. I hope you guys like it. 🙂 (My purple fANNEtastic food logo was designed for me a couple years ago by Bailey at Think Pretty Ink, if you’re interested in having design work done! And of course I always recommend WP Site Care for any back end help you need – they helped me widen my website this morning so the new banner would fit nicely!)
Anyway! Matt and I had a fun workout at CrossFit Arlington earlier this week. We hadn’t been in a little while since we’ve been out of town a lot, so it was great to get back. After doing our warmup (3 rounds of: 1 building lap, 12 toe touch burpees, 12 kettlebell swings), we got into our strength practice of the day: back squats!
Remember when I first started doing CrossFit last summer and I couldn’t do a back squat because of shoulder mobility problems? Well, I’m really excited to share that I have worked my way up to doing them now! I’m still not doing a ton of weight so I can focus on form and my shoulders still feel really tight just holding the bar, but I’m proud of myself for making it this far. Yoga, stretching, and just getting better at CrossFit in general all helped. On Monday night, our strength WOD was to do 4 rounds of back squats, 4 reps at a time. I made it up to 65 pounds. Yay!
Meanwhile, Matt was lifting all sorts of weight. 🙂
For our WOD (workout of the day) following the strength session, we did the following for time:
- 50 wallballs
- 800m run
- 50 wallballs
WHEW! 50 wallballs in a row is HARD, and I was only using a 10 pound ball (the recommended weight for women was 14 pounds, but there’s no shame in not hurting yourself/overdoing it!). If you don’t know what a wallball is, to do one you stand facing a wall holding a weighted squishy ball. You do a deep squat, then throw the ball as far up the wall as you can, then catch it again and go immediately back into a squat. Each squat + throw = 1 rep.
During the workout, I was lucky enough to be testing out a new pair of shoes that Reebok sent me this month: the brand new CrossFit Nano 3.0! I loved them. They are really lightweight, low to the ground, and have great grip/traction due to a carbon rubber outsole, which is great for CrossFit. I actually felt great in them during the running part of the WOD, too! They were nice and flexible, which is key. They even have added durability on the inner arch in case you are climbing a rope in them!
And they’re cute, too, which is obviously just as important. 😉
I’d definitely recommend them if you’re in the market for some new CrossFit shoes!
Speaking of CrossFit, I’m REALLY excited and honored to announce that I’ll be attending the CrossFit Games this coming weekend as media/press on behalf of Reebok! I’m so grateful to them for this cool opportunity and I can’t wait to share the excitement with you guys! I’ll be flying off to Los Angeles on Friday morning and will be back in DC on Monday. I’m especially excited to cheer on Austin Malleolo, who I met up at Reebok CrossFit ONE in MA last year, and Christy Phillips, a northern Virginia woman competing in the games this year who I also met at Reebok headquarters last year!
Aaaanyway! When Matt and I finished up with CrossFit, we came home and threw together a simple dinner. It was already almost 9 p.m. and we were HUNGRY – perfect night for one of our “throw everything in a pot” type meals. This was essentially my Saucy Tomato & Artichoke Chicken (click for recipe), plus some random stuff that was hanging out in the fridge – mushrooms, carrots, and fingerling potatoes.
We just threw it all in a pan, popped the lid on, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the chicken was fully cooked!
It wasn’t beautiful, but it sure was delicious. 🙂
Time to get back down to work. Have a great day, my friends!
p.s. Please give some love to my latest fANNEtastic sponsor, Jen and Emily of Layers of Happiness! Layers of Happiness is a healthy living blog co-written by a mother-daughter team – isn’t that awesome? I had the pleasure of running with Emily, the daughter, at the Healthy Living Summit last year and she’s sweet as can be. 🙂
Here’s what they have to say: “We started journaling as a way to share the happiness that choosing a healthy lifestyle brings into your life. We have chosen to live a healthy lifestyle and hope our blog inspires that same choice within you!”
Check out their blog for all sorts of great recipes (I especially love their recent Acai Bowl recipe post – so pretty! – and the sound of their Hummus Crusted Chicken), healthy inspiration, and fun adventures. You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
