October 8, 2009
Bern sent me this picture, and I couldn’t help being overcome by emotion.  I think this was just like me at age 4. Praying for the best… He will come home.

Bern sent me this picture, and I couldn’t help being overcome by emotion.  I think this was just like me at age 4.

Praying for the best… He will come home.

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September 10, 2009
Fundraising and Fitness

The last month has been intense training at CrossFit for Fight Gone Bad IV, a fundraiser supporting Athletes for a Cure (prostate cancer research) and the Wounded Warriors foundation.

I have to admit I did get a little upset over doing so many shoulder press and push press included workouts, but the hard work has paid off and I did get much stronger and hit various PR’s.

Here are a couple Culver City CrossFit variations of workouts in training for Fight Gone Bad that I felt were worth mentioning because these workouts seriously kicked my ass:

Fight Gone Filthy - 50 reps of wall ball (20lb medicine ball), 50 reps of SDHP (75lb barbell), 50 reps of box jumps, 50 reps of push press (75lb barbell), and a 400m (600m?) run

Fight Gone Tabata - 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 8 rounds of wall ball, SDHP, box jumps, push press, and rowing

If you are interested in donating, please click on the link below.  I appreciate any amount, even if it’s just skipping coffee for a day to donate $3.  Every cent counts.

https://www.rapidreghost.com/fgb/php/frpage.php?frID=26546

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September 9, 2009
There aren’t many things I can think of that I would want to do that would permanantly alter my body, but I have to say after seeing my best friend get this tattoo.  I thought about it. I’ve always been against her getting tattoos.  Every time I say, “Don’t do it!”  but this time not only did I concede, I took her to get it done. My belief about tattoos is that you should only get them if they are a representation of something more - something powerful - something that is so full of meaning and symbolism that it has a place on your natural body.  Everyone is born beautiful and unique and any alteration of that should go beyond the superficial. I love her tattoo.  It’s beautiful.  It’s even more beautiful to me because I know what it means and I can vicariously experience this with her.

There aren’t many things I can think of that I would want to do that would permanantly alter my body, but I have to say after seeing my best friend get this tattoo.  I thought about it.

I’ve always been against her getting tattoos.  Every time I say, “Don’t do it!”  but this time not only did I concede, I took her to get it done.

My belief about tattoos is that you should only get them if they are a representation of something more - something powerful - something that is so full of meaning and symbolism that it has a place on your natural body.  Everyone is born beautiful and unique and any alteration of that should go beyond the superficial.

I love her tattoo.  It’s beautiful.  It’s even more beautiful to me because I know what it means and I can vicariously experience this with her.

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August 25, 2009

Bookworm Status: Check

I love doing research.  Career, personal life, random subjects - if I’m the least bit interested - I’ll look it up.  While the internet provides all sorts of avenues for research, the nitty gritty information (not to mention most credible sources) is in published and peer-reviewed books, articles, and scientific papers that usually aren’t available free online.

As always, my search for higher knowledge in nutrition and fitness continues.  Here’s a list of my most recent book purchases.  I can’t wait to get started! 

Good calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes

      - Based upon reviews, this book is supposed to be heavily science-based and supported with actual scientific studies (ie the results of tested hypotheses).

The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain

       - A book discussing what man ate during the Paleolithic period and how this diet is what the human body is adapted to. 

The Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel

      - This book discusses how competitive athletes can apply the Paleo diet to enhanced performance.  A friend told me it’s more catered to the endurance athlete, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to have that knowledge either. 

The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess by Lou Schuler, M.S., Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove

       - There isn’t too much information out there for women on serious weightlifting, but this book appears to offer more than general knowledge.  Guess I’ll find out.  Here’s a rant from a review I read (I couldn’t help relating to this, but this is pretty much what goes through my head every time I hear a girl say she doesn’t want to get bulky from lifting weights or even worse just doing body weight exercises): “I’m not going to mention that they remind women they will not bulk up from lifting. I am so sick of this excuse from women and that we have to keep repeating it. Why are we still talking about this?? Is it not public knowledge now, even if you only read occasional fitness articles, that women will not bulk up like men if they lift like men? It is physically not possible and an excuse that women use so they don’t have to lift. Enough said, end of story. Lift weights, you know it’s good for you.”  - fitandhealthygal@blogspot.com 

Here’s a list of the next set of books that I would like to read.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

      - These two books tackle nutrition issues and provide possible solutions.  I’m a fan of constructive criticism.

Hopefully, these books will provide me with insight, allow me to make better life decisions, and maybe even influence the direction of my career…

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July 17, 2009

Beliefs and Values Applied to my Workout

I started CrossFit back in September, but I never did much research on it.  All I knew was after completing Angie, the Filthy Fifty, and some other nutty workout in the first week alone, I was hooked. 

CrossFit is a cult?

Lately, I’ve been checking out other boxes websites and reading articles written about CrossFit, naturally I was bound to do my research sooner or later; It’s who I am.  I was a bit startled to find more than a few references to a cult.  I had to back-up for a second, and look up the definition of cult - “refers to a cohesive social group and their devotional beliefs or practices, which the surrounding population considers to be outside of mainstream cultures,” says Wikipedia.

There’s a picture on one of the more recent articles (link posted at the bottom). 

It says:  But is it a good cult?   Yeah.

I guess I can live with that.  CrossFit is more than another new workout to me.  It’s something I actually believe in and practice diligently.  I’ve always been a bit of an extremist, so I’m not surprised that this falls outside of mainstream belief.  As far as social groups are concerned, I’ve never been more estatic to find a group of people that share the same intensity, beliefs, genuine support, encouragement, and friendliness.  I feel like I’ve finally found my fitness family.  They are all good-hearted, positive people that are decidated to pushing past barriers and pre-conceived notions, to do what is sometimes coined ”the impossible.”  

The motto of CrossFit is Forging Elite Fitness, and this is definitely an entity that practices what it preaches.  I’m proud to be part of a fitness movement whose values closely model my own.  ”Strive to be the best that YOU can be.” 

This also reminds me of a motto my 6th grade teacher and first Track coach, Mr. Larson, used to say, “Good, better, best.  Never let it rest.  Until your good is better and your better is best.”

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/28281/a_day_at_the_crossfit_games

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April 30, 2009
Below are the stats to the female competitor I will be rooting for at Crossfit Games 2009 (posted on http://games2009.crossfit.com/competitors/athlete-profie-valerie-mackenzie.html. ) GOOOOO VAL! Val is awesome.  I remember seeing her workout for the first time at the Crossfit Culver City gym when I first joined.  I was just amazed at what she could do.  And after all this time, that amazement still stands and is now coupled with motivation and inspiration.  I look to her as a role model.  She’s so humble and helpful.  You can always go to her for help on working on your technique (like deadlifts or double unders) or to teach you how to do something new (like butterfly pull-ups).  She’s almost always smiling.  It has been nothing but pleasure and honor to be able to workout with someone so dedicated and wonderful. Valerie Mackenzie Age: 30Height: 5’2” (ok, I’m really 5’ 1 3/4”, but I prefer to say 5’2”)Weight: 130ish Place of Birth Fresno, California Started CrossFit August 2008 Lives in Marina Del Rey, CA Fran: 2:58 @ 65#s, 4:35 @ 75#sCindy: 23 rounds, chest to bar pull-ups every roundHelen: 8:01Diane: 6:54FGB: 310 with 20#ballFilthy 50: 25:25 Deadlift: 305Press: shoulder press 90#, push press 120#Squat: front 160#Squat: back 205#Snatch: 95#Clean and Jerk: 105# Max Pull Ups: 30 During Nicole Favorite WOD: 1st WOD of the SoCal qualifiers. More pull-ups please!Favorite Lift: Snatch, so explosive and powerful when done rightLeast Favorite WOD: 3rd WOD of the qualifiers, dumb wall balls!Least Favorite Lift: Cleans 2009 SoCal Qualifiers Finish: 2nd

Below are the stats to the female competitor I will be rooting for at Crossfit Games 2009 (posted on http://games2009.crossfit.com/competitors/athlete-profie-valerie-mackenzie.html. ) GOOOOO VAL!

Val is awesome.  I remember seeing her workout for the first time at the Crossfit Culver City gym when I first joined.  I was just amazed at what she could do.  And after all this time, that amazement still stands and is now coupled with motivation and inspiration.  I look to her as a role model.  She’s so humble and helpful.  You can always go to her for help on working on your technique (like deadlifts or double unders) or to teach you how to do something new (like butterfly pull-ups).  She’s almost always smiling.  It has been nothing but pleasure and honor to be able to workout with someone so dedicated and wonderful.

Valerie Mackenzie

Age: 30
Height: 5’2” (ok, I’m really 5’ 1 3/4”, but I prefer to say 5’2”)
Weight: 130ish

Place of Birth Fresno, California
Started CrossFit August 2008

Lives in Marina Del Rey, CA

Fran: 2:58 @ 65#s, 4:35 @ 75#s
Cindy: 23 rounds, chest to bar pull-ups every round
Helen: 8:01
Diane: 6:54
FGB: 310 with 20#ball
Filthy 50: 25:25

Deadlift: 305
Press: shoulder press 90#, push press 120#
Squat: front 160#
Squat: back 205#
Snatch: 95#
Clean and Jerk: 105#
Max Pull Ups: 30 During Nicole

Favorite WOD: 1st WOD of the SoCal qualifiers. More pull-ups please!
Favorite Lift: Snatch, so explosive and powerful when done right
Least Favorite WOD: 3rd WOD of the qualifiers, dumb wall balls!
Least Favorite Lift: Cleans

2009 SoCal Qualifiers Finish: 2nd

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In light of the recent outbreak of swine flu. I’m no expert on pandemics, but I feel the whole reaction to swine flu has been a bit of an overreaction. I’m not trying to say the government/other countries/etc shouldn’t continue to do what they are doing to keep cases from spreading. I merely want to point out that people all over the world develop, spread, and die just from the seasonal flu. Swine flu isn’t really anything new aside from the fact that it happens to be a new strain of the virus, which isn’t really even that novel to begin with because influenza mutates on it’s own (and for that matter, pretty much every virus does this) and every year we are constantly faced with a mutated virus (ie a new strain). Which means that, yes, every year new vaccinations have to be made. This takes time. The reason the seasonal flu vaccination comes out before flu season starts is because the people in charge of this come together and try to determine the potential predominating strains that will hit people and thus based off their conclusions, make a “cocktail” vaccination (a vaccination that attempts to protect people from several strains). The cocktail version aka the flu shot is then administered to people.  Sorry, I guess you could consider this paragraph an incomplete version to virus/vaccination 101. The benefit of this outbreak overreaction is that it reminds people of basic hygiene. The list of what you can do to prevent contracting swine flu up on the CDC website (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/habits.htm?s_cid=swineFlu_outbreak_003) is a list of hygienic practices every person should already be practicing. So in an effort to prevent spreading and/or contracting swine flu and any other contractable virus/bacterium/disease, please at minimum practice basic hygiene. Another funny:  What’s the cure for swine flu?  - Oinkment, hahahah

In light of the recent outbreak of swine flu.

I’m no expert on pandemics, but I feel the whole reaction to swine flu has been a bit of an overreaction. I’m not trying to say the government/other countries/etc shouldn’t continue to do what they are doing to keep cases from spreading. I merely want to point out that people all over the world develop, spread, and die just from the seasonal flu. Swine flu isn’t really anything new aside from the fact that it happens to be a new strain of the virus, which isn’t really even that novel to begin with because influenza mutates on it’s own (and for that matter, pretty much every virus does this) and every year we are constantly faced with a mutated virus (ie a new strain). Which means that, yes, every year new vaccinations have to be made. This takes time. The reason the seasonal flu vaccination comes out before flu season starts is because the people in charge of this come together and try to determine the potential predominating strains that will hit people and thus based off their conclusions, make a “cocktail” vaccination (a vaccination that attempts to protect people from several strains). The cocktail version aka the flu shot is then administered to people.  Sorry, I guess you could consider this paragraph an incomplete version to virus/vaccination 101.

The benefit of this outbreak overreaction is that it reminds people of basic hygiene. The list of what you can do to prevent contracting swine flu up on the CDC website (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/habits.htm?s_cid=swineFlu_outbreak_003) is a list of hygienic practices every person should already be practicing. So in an effort to prevent spreading and/or contracting swine flu and any other contractable virus/bacterium/disease, please at minimum practice basic hygiene.

Another funny:  What’s the cure for swine flu?

 - Oinkment, hahahah

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April 24, 2009
Online Shopping is... DANGEROUS

Last night my roomie Jess and I decided that we were going to order from the the Forever 21 online site. They have some great deals that were just too tempting to pass up and free shipping if you spend a minimum of $75. We combined our orders to make sure we hit that minimum (reducing unnecessary fees is one thing I’m good at). We were also financially smart. Before we started purchasing, we gave ourselves budgets ie I will not spend more than “X” amount. We did end up going a few dollars over our budgets, but I think we are both very happy with our purchases.

My order was a full on shopping spree: 2 cardigans, 5 dresses, 2 pairs of knee high socks, 2 necklaces, and 1 bracelet set. Can’t wait until the shipment arrives in 5-10 business days.

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April 23, 2009
Hermosa Beach 5000

I’ve fallen off the racing boat since last year.  Here’s a quick and fun race I’m considering.

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Bitten by the Travel Bug

I wouldn’t consider myself much of a traveler, but these next 3 months are going to be insane.  Looking back on the past 6 months, I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many trips in such a short amount of time.  I actually had to start using my calendar.  Haha, so that’s what those things are for.  I’m finally getting around to traveling to some new places that I really want to visit.  The best thing about taking all these trips is I get to spend quality time with friends and family while exploring new cultures and sites to see. 

Here’s a look at my current calendar for the summer:

May 10-June 1st  - Italia (visiting the cities Rome, Venice, Florence, Assisi, and Pompeii.  I’ll gladly take any sugguestions on places to see and things to do).

June 5-7 - Vegas (My big sis’s bachlorette party, where we WILL party like ROCKSTARS).

June 26-30  - Zion, Utah (hiking and camping at Zion National Park.  I la la la love nature trips).

July 10-12 - Aromas, CA (Crossfit Games 2009.  I can gush about crossfit until I run out of breath and then say some more, but nothing gets the point across better than experience.  You just got to do it to really know what it is and what it takes.)

August 6-10 - Oahu (Looking forward to my friend’s long awaited wedding.  And finally visiting another close friend.  I’ve been saying I’ve wanted to come visit for a good 2 years now).

There are also weddings, birthdays, graduations, and such to look forward to.  It is unfortunate I will miss a few events while I am traveling, but I am anticipating an action-packed summer.  My favorite season is approaching full speed ahead :) 

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