WODs & Well-Being

If you have stumbled across my blog you may be wondering what a "WOD" is or why it is part of the title. A quick look back at the birth of this blog via the archives will explain it pretty clear. The day was August 16, 2011, my first post explaining the new adventure Marc and I began... CrossFit. Each day for well over a year, I blogged about the WOD (workout of the day), my progress, my feelings and anything that would inspire me to keep moving forward no matter how hard or how challenging it would become. I had no idea at the time, how much my life would change in the 9.5 years that would follow that post. I had no idea that my well-being and mindset would be affected so deeply by a type of workout and group of people. I had no idea that my very best friendships would form by the bond of Crossfit, that some of the most important people in my life would surface through the values we share and fun we have doing it. I had no idea I would end up competing at the level that I ha

A new year. A new look. A new title. A new mission. A new adventure. On this day, one year ago March 13, 2020... our lives, pretty much as we knew it, came to a screeching halt. At 5:00pm, I was getting my things together to leave work for the weekend and I was told "bring everything you need and don't come back until we tell you it is 'safe' to do so... we will be working remote until further notice." I nervously picked up my son from pre-k and headed home thinking to myself that this "whole thing" was crazy and being blown way out of proportion. As most of us assumed, we would be back to business as usual in a week or two after it all blew over.  ... we were all REALLY, REALLY wrong.  Anyway, I will absolutely spare you the recap of the year that followed, in the traditional sense. We all know what happened (is happening). We all know how we felt/feel. Its pretty safe to assume that no one ever thought they would live to see the day that here in Americ

Funny you ask that... I have been asking myself the same question. Which is why I was reluctant to try it. I did watch a pretty good documentary call "Magic Little Pill" that talks about the benefits of low carb, high fat, medium protein lifestyles. Its pretty good... I also think its important to change things up every now and again to keep the body going... in the long run I know this is not sustainable for me. However if it works to change my composition a bit... it was worth it. One of my issues (prior to Keto), I was leaning too much on "processed food" even though I was eating healthy. I had a lot of oats, greek yogurt and protein powders to hit my numbers. While I wasnt actually eating a lot of breads and still no pastas, there was still a lot of sugar in my diet and it was causing me to plateau. Maybe doing this will help me to eliminate the "junk" so when I do go back to macro counting, I will look for my carb sources elsewhere. I also cheat

Its been a while since I have posted, as I have been busy with life with a 3 year old... the gym, work and all the fun-ness of life. I have however started a new "treck" and I wanted to write about it in the case that anyone is interested in reading. Honestly, not even sure if anyone follows my blog anymore... but if anything, its for me to be able to look back on. I have had much success over the last year using Avatar Nutrition (avatarnutrition.com) as a guide to counting macros. Avatar is a flexible dieting tool that recalculates your macros weekly based on your goals. Its really nice because it adjust as you adjust and if you want to change settings from "weight loss" to "lean muscle gain" you can do it with the click of a button. The system knows where you have been and where you are going... so it adapts. In the year I was on it, I have been able to loose, gain and maintain when appropriate for me. My body has really responded to the way it works.

Open Letter to Crossfit 696, Thank you. Thank you for the most amazing year. A little over a year ago, I walked into a well-established community, filled with so many new faces, personalities, abilities, friendships and walks of life… and not once did I feel out of place. Right away, I was welcomed, chatted up and made to feel like I belonged. I want each and every one of you to know that you inspire me, you make me a better person, you make me get out of bed at 4:30am (ok… 4:45am) every morning and haul my ass to the gym to train and be a better me.   I couldn’t do it without you. I competed in the Opens 2017 as a member of 696, but over the last year, by sharing my life with many of you, I feel like I competed in the Opens 2018 as a part of the 696 family. Over the last year, I have laughed with many of you, smiled at all of you and shed tears with a “lucky” few as well. We sweat together, encourage each other, coach each other and stand by holding our breath while we w