Crafty Girl

Last night for dinner we had chicken that Bill smoked in the smoker and we were supposed to have garlic scapes. We’ve never had garlic scapes before, but last fall we planted some Spanish Roja hardneck garlic and one of the features is these long stemmed flowers that you want to cut off to let the energy go to the bulb. They are edible and were described as a cross between garlic and asparagus. Lets just say we went without a vegetable with dinner last night. They would probably be delicious in a stir fry, but sautéed by them selves they pretty much tasted like raw garlic. I ate two and they made me kinda nauseous.

My son’s six month well baby visit is today so I’ll be leaving work early. For that reason I went to the gym early this morning. I got to work about a 1/2 hour early and will be working through my lunch hour.

Wednesday’s interval training didn’t seen as hard on the recumbent bike. The upright bikes in my gym are broken (can’t increase the resistance). So today I did bodyweight circuits instead. Also, I was kind of in a hurry cause I wanted to get to work early. Wow, they really kicked my ass! I really could have done another circuit, but like I said, I was in a hurry. Definitely more interesting than the bike!

Yesterday Morning
TT Ab work
10 minutes stretching

Yesterday Lunch
3 mile run

This Morning
Romanian Deadlift 8×55, 8×75, 3×8x90
DB Flat Bench Press 8×20, 8×25, 8×30, 8×35, 8×40…Let me explain here. I can bench more than I can comfortably lift up off the floor so I thought I’d use this Cybex Advance Bench thingy. It takes plates but moves (supposedly) like dumbells. I pretty much hated it. It felt like it forced me into a bad movement pattern. I won’t be using it again.

DB Row 3×8x36.25
Elevated Pushups 3×8 each side

Bodyweight Intervals
12 One arm kettlebell swings (R & L)
12 Bodyweight rows…knees bent
12 split squats (R & L)
12 Swiss ball crunches

Repeated 3 times with a one minute rest in between.

Yesterday Morning
TT Ab workout Stage 2 A
10 min foam rolling
10 min static stretching

Lunch Today
Bodyweight Warmup

Specific Warmup
Assisted Chins 8×112lb assist, 8×100lbs assist
Sumo Squat 8×40, 8×50

Workout
Eccentric Chins 7, 4, 4
Assisted Chins 2×4x84lbs assist
Sumo Squat 3×8x70

Cable Lateral Raise 1×8x15, 2×8x10
DB Stepups 3×8x20

This weekend we went to the Energy Fair over in Onekama and saw lots of cool alternative energy things. Then we headed north to Ware Farm to pick organic strawberries. The strawberries were fantastic. Absolutely delicious. They were small and sweet and we stuffed ourselves out in the field. This is the second year we’ve done this…the energy fair and the strawberry picking.

This year, Bill’s uncle joined us. He had two wind turbines on his roof in town and the building inspector made him take them down last week. He was more excited about the energy fair before he found out they really wouldn’t let him put anything on his roof. They say he needs a structural analysis to make sure it’s safe to put his wind generators on the roof.

Saturday
Cathe Core Max 3, Med Ball and Stability Ball
Cathe Stretch Max 3 w/ band

Morning
1/2 on the foam roller with Keli Roberts DVD

Lunch
TT Warmup

Romanian Deadlift 8×50, 8×70, 3×8x90
DB Flat Bench Press 8×20, 8×25, 3×8x31.25

DB Row 3×8x36.25
Elevated Pushups 3×8 each side

Intervals
6 60/60 hils on treadmill

More Opal Goodness. Nothing special about the pattern. I did my standard 64 stitches with size 1 Turbo Addi. I use a single circular needle to knit pretty much all the socks I make. I made the leg part about an inch shorter than I would like. Something I didn’t notice until they were both done. I think I must have been in a hurry or something.

I went to the gym this morning as we were having a potluck for lunch at work. I brought Jalapeno Humus, carrots and pita chips. It was a gorgeous day and we all walked down to the bay for a cookout. I even played Ultimate Frisbee. I’m terrible at sports that involve catching and throwing things (that would be most of them) but it was still fun.

Morning
Bodyweight Warmup

Specific Warmup
Assisted Chins 8×112lb assist, 8×100lbs assist
Sumo Squat 8×40, 8×50

Workout
Eccentric Chins 3×6
Sumo Squat 3×8x70

Cable Lateral Raise 3×8x10 (Go heavier next time)
DB Stepups 3×8x16.5 (Go heavier next time)

6 60/60 Intervals on the recumbent bike 20 Min Total

Today I went for a jog on my lunch hour. It’s amazing what 15 degrees and a nice breeze does to your perceived exertion. Today felt much better than last week! I went with my two friends and they are much better runners than I and kept up with them and was able to actually talk while jogging. That is an accomplishment!

The woman I jog with told me this morning she calculated her body fat with calipers and came up with 19% +- 4%. Prior to using the calipers she was using one of those body fat scales and it pretty consistently told her she was 30% body fat. i could tell by looking at her she wasn’t and would have put her between 20-25%. Those body fat scales are USELESS!

Now I want to get me some calipers!

Lunch
3 Mile Jog

I didn’t make it out to the garden on Monday because I had to attend to the brewing, but I did last night. I was rewarded with about a cup of strawberries. Yum. Tonight I will attempt a few minutes of weeding. Bill will be out doing karate man stuff so it will be just me and little man. He only tolerates so much watching mom do stuff.

Bill would totally know I was kidding when I say he is doing karate man stuff. It’s a joke, hon. Honest. He will be schooling some dude on proper Modern Arnis stick angles or some such thing.

Lunch
TT Warmup

Romanian Deadlift 8×50, 8×70, 3×8x90
DB Flat Bench Press 8×20, 8×25, 3×8x30

DB Row 3×8x35
Elevated Pushups 3×8 each side

Intervals
7 60/60 intervals on recumbent bike.

I didn’t get out to the garden last night. Instead I brewed beer. I meant to do this on Sunday, but I was using a liquid yeast and although I activated it on Saturday it wasn’t ready on Sunday. But by Monday it was. And once you activate the yeast, you have to use it or lose it. So I got Bill to get the propane burner hooked up so I could do it outside and me and Sam sat out and enjoyed the very breezy evening while my beer boiled. I’m making a raspberry wheat. Should be tasty.

Beer is one of those things that I’m just not going to give up to lose weight. I didn’t have a drop while I was pregnant of course, but there are some things I choose not to forgo for weight loss. I don’t drink much and when I do I want it to be good stuff. Same with chocolate. I won’t give it up, but I have a small amount of very good, very dark chocolate (almost daily).

Morning
Cathe Boot Camp Abs

Lunch
1 hour walk

Saturday we took the little man over to his Grandmas for a couple of hours. The resulting crying fit indicates that we need to do this more often so he is not so freaked out when we leave him with someone.

Sunday I did some gardening. I put Sam in the stroller and weeded the garlic bed. I’ve totally neglected it this year and it shows. The resulting harvest may be less than optimal. Later in the afternoon I did the same thing in the back veggie garden. Again, we’re not giving it our all this year and it shows. Bill said yesterday that he thought some people couldn’t grow things. I told him bullshit. Some people just put more work into it than us. And really, that’s what it is. We’ve been slacking.

On the plus side, the strawberries are ripening. Yum. Bill ate all the ripe ones yesterday, but I’m gonna beat him out there tonight.

Saturday Morning
TT Core workout B

Lunch Today
Bodyweight Warmup

Specific Warmup
Lat pull down 8×50, 8×60
Sumo Squat 8×35, 8×45

Workout
Eccentric Chins 3×5 Assisted Chins 2×3
Sumo Squat 3×8x65 (Go heavier next time)

Cable Lateral Raise 3×8x10
DB Stepups 3×8x16.5

6 60/60 Intervals on the Elliptical 20 Min Total

I finished these socks shortly after Sam was born. They’re made from some Opal yarn I got off ebay several years ago (since I am in a self imposed yarn buying hiatus). If I remember correctly, Opal dubbed this yarn “Dalmation” and I was hoping it would look like cow spots. Bill took one look at them and called them Urban Camo Tiger Stripe. I like it!