acorn epidemic

2 posts in 2 days....shocked???? I know, me too!!!!!!!!

Anyway, we seem to be having a bit of a problem with these little guys.

The problem is, Judge (our dog) is obsessed with them. EATING them. And for some reason, this infuriates me. Mainly because he turns into a psychotic creature during our walks. Now, it is important to note that Judge is a world-class leash-puller. But we have been working on breaking this bad habit. Usually, we let him off-leash to run around and throw the ball for a few minutes and commence with our walk. But then the acorns started dropping to the ground. So the leash-pulling reared its ugly head once again.

Judge will pull, crane his neck, and twist every which way just for a nibble of these seemingly tasty goodies. He will ignore my splendid pitching skills and let the ball fly past him as he roots around in the grass for a scrumptious morsel. So now, instead of keeping him from pulling towards humans and animals, I have to keep him from pulling towards the acorns.

And all this would be fine if he digested them. But, since we have a "clean up after your pet" policy at the apartment complex, I assure you, these little treats are NOT digestible.

Gross!

in the mood...

before i start...just want to say...my blogging has sucked for the last month. i had this wonderful idea that i wanted to make my blog posts more frequent and inspirational and all that. yeah. anyway.

in reference to the title of this post. this morning i was very thankful for Crossfit. i had one of those mornings where i did NOT want to get out of bed, did NOT want to work out, was hating myself and Tommy for prioritizing fitness to the point that we wouldn't just take a random day off. and we can't work out after work today so i HAD to wake up. so after dragging myself out of bed at 5...dragging myself into my asics...dragging myself out the door and in Tommy's truck...dragging myself into the gym...dragging through a 20 minute warmup of lightweight squats, pushups, pullups, back extensions, and stretching...I was thankful for Crossfit.

Because the workout today took me 7min26sec.

it was "Fran"
21-15-9 (reps of the following)
25lb Thrusters
pullups (assisted for me still)

It is days like today when i was grateful i didn't have to move my body through an hour long run. but knowing the torture would be over soon...was motivation enough. sometimes i miss running. and then i have mornings like this morning.

well, see you kids later, maybe tomorrow, maybe next month. anywho, who's excited for this?

being "fit"

I realize I haven't been blogging about my current fitness regimen which is kind of a large part of my life. Every morning we wake at 5 to do the prescribed workout, which means every NIGHT we are lights out at 10pm. On the occasion that we might get in bed a little late sometimes we will sleep in which means that we work out after work, and then again in about 11 hours the next morning. Thus, incentive to not sleep in. Not only this, we have adjusted our diet to what is affectionately (or unaffectionately, if someone beside me has cake) known as Paleo/Zone. For more info on this visit http://www.zonediet.com/ or http://www.paleodiet.com/.

I can honestly say that I am a true believer in the importance of nutrition to athletic performance or really performance in general. We have seen increases in energy, strength, stamina, intensity, speed, etc. Decreases in inflammation (bloating), blockage (of the digestive sort), fatigue, tired-ness.

I decided to commit to Crossfit (http://www.crossfit.com/) and the nutrition plan because I had a fitness assessment at LifeTime and was disappointed by my numbers (VO2 max, % body fat) considering my previous running habits and commitment to "healthy" food. So I figured I would give Crossfit a go and really start eating "clean" and see if it led to improvements.

Crossfit is really cool. Now I know alot of girls out there shy away from weight-training, ESPECIALLY heavy weight-training for fear of "bulking up". But (if you follow the nutrition plan) it won't happen! That is such a myth. Yes you will bulk if you are consuming more calories than you are spending and if those calories are lots and lots of simple glucose (ie bread, pasta, sugar, potatoes). But girls just aren't physiologically designed to be bulky.

So the prescription for world class fitness in 100 words?

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.

Now this program is hard to get used to...it requires MAJOR practice and training to practice lifts correctly. I would NEVER encourage someone to do heavy lifts without proper study or instruction. Crossfit posts great videos that teach these things and both Tommy and I have watched and watched and practiced and practiced to make sure we are doing things safely. We don't do "snatches" simply because they are a very complicated and dangerous lift that we have never been formally trained on. We don't go to a Crossfit gym so we can't practice much of the gymnastics stuff as easy in Lifetime.

What is also cool is that it is totally scalable to any fitness level. Can't do dips? Cool, do them on the bench. Can't do a pull up? Cool, do them assisted. (My goal is to get my first unassisted pull up by Christmas!). The goal isn't "you have to do this much weight," the goal is "do it intensely." If it isn't intense, it isn't Crossfit.

So I (hopefully) will start blogging a little more about this, posting Zone/Paleo recipes, writing about PRs (personal records), etc. Until then....
some of Crossfit's Elite....

Please notice the blood running down Carey Kepler's arm...

um, someone please buy me this shirt.

seriously, this is just fabulous.

blast from the (forgettable) past

I was looking through some of the first tagged photos of myself on facebook and came upon this pic...




Why does this picture even still exist? Jess, this is a bad bad thing you have.

new look.

Do you like the new look and title of the blog? I am worried the title is too cheesy. Quirky or cheesy? I'm fine with like goat or brie cheesy...it's cheese but sophisticated and classy. When we get to like kraft singles cheesy I will change the title in an instant.

Yesterday, Tommy and I were talking about the different gym personalities we encounter. First of all, this is actually the first time we have actually belonged to a real gym. All through college and last year (b/c I was the spouse of a student) we went to the SLC. So we are Lifetime-ing it up and it is interesting.


There is a DISTINCT difference between the 5am crowd (that's when we normally go) and the 6pm crowd (when we hit the snooze). The 5am crowd is CONSISTENT. They tend to be older and a little more reclusive, but they are there no matter what. At 6pm, it's about being skinny (if you are a girl) and ellipticizing for an amount of time that only results in muscle breakdown rather than muscle conditioning. For the guys, they are big, creatine-eating, bicep curling monsters whose aerobic capacity is probably that of an 85 year old woman. Of course these are frightening generalities but I wanted to emphasize the difference.

Then you get the individuals. There is this one woman who ALWAYS wears tight, black spandex pants. She wears a sweatband around her head and she wears glasses which she keeps on with a thick band almost like goggles. Another is this one girl who is either walking, ellipticizing, or stair-climbing. She is EXTREMELY tan and she does all these movements very fast and kind of spastic. And her left leg is always coming out really oddly. She wears like a billion pieces of jewelry, mostly bracelets during all of this. Then my personal fav, Foam Roller Body Builder Guy. This guy looks like an 80s body builder. He is very toned but not BIG and hulk-ish. And he wears this goofy haircut that is parted on the side and combed over (think Ken doll). He comes in every morning and spends about 20 minutes with his foam roaller before starting his workout. It's pretty entertaining.

But yesterday, when Tommy and I were doing front squats, Foam roller guy said I had good form. THAT'S right Mr. Foam roller guy, I DO have good form. And it was my first day to do front squats. Booyah.

she's baa-aaack

no this is not some freaky re-telling of Poltergeist, rather a declaration of my return to blog land.

Since we moved from Waco, we have not had internet so I depended upon Tommy's Iphone for world wide access and I was definitely NOT going to write a post on that teeny tiny keyboard.

Some updates in Byrd life:

1. We moved to Dallas to a townhome in uptown...about twice the size of our waco apartment and suddenly we had all this space we didn't know what to do with!

2. In the meantime, we were driving up north to see family and friends like a billion times a week, I got a job in Frisco (more on that later), and found that all the amazing qualities of living in uptown are not quite in our budget.

3. So we moved again! This time to a town home in Addison/North Dallas. We like a number aspects about this: both of our commutes are shorter, we are closer to family and friends and potential church options, and in general we like the apartment itself alot better. We have only been there 2 weeks and it already feels more like home than the other place.

4. My job. So I was offered 2 jobs: one at a mental health agency caseworking like I did in Waco. the other was at Frisco High School (my mom basically got me this opportunity). After much thought and prayer we decided to NOT accept the caseworking position. I would have had to use my own vehicle and been driving all over the DFW metroplex. Also, it was a position with clients at a lower functioning level than my Waco job and I don't think I would have really enjoyed that like I did in Waco.

5. At Frisco, I am an aide in the Special Education Specialized Behavior Support (SBS)classroom. These kids aren't necessarily academically or functionally challenged (ie mentally retarded) but have emotional/social/behavioral issues. We have several with mental disorders. So I went from working with crazy adults to crazy teenagers! It's quite a paycut but there are so many opportunities in education that I thought it was worth a shot. I am already attached to our kids...want to fight for them...want to see them succeed.

6. I am going to be an aunt! My sister is 3 months pregnant! Pray for her b/c she has fibroids on her uterus so that makes her semi-high risk. She is due late February/early March. I am so pumped to be Uncle T and Aunt Celina!

That is all for now, I shall be updating much more frequently.