#QUADZILLA

I love Saturday WODs at CFID because we do partner WODs. Today I teamed up with Tracy and we kicked ass if you ask me.

My wonderful friend Brittany sent me a wonderful present - a tank top that says #QUADZILLA from Stupid Easy Paleo. It was a big hit at the box today. We did a variation of the hero WOD Nukes and it took quadzilla quads to power through it. I always try to give my best at CrossFit, but I feel that I must give my all during a hero WOD.

CrossFit

U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Matthew "Nukes" Manoukian, 29, of Los Altos Hills, Calif., assigned to the 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif., died Aug. 10, 2012, in Sangin District, Afghanistan, after being shot by an Afghan policeman. He is survived by his parents, Socrates Peter and Patricia Manoukian, and his brothers, Mike and Marty Manoukian.

Avocado

Today I opened an email from J. Crew and saw the image below and I was all, Yes! They have finally decided to give wannabe ironic hipsters what they really want and they're going to start selling the Subway avocado sweater! No joke. That's the exact thought that crossed my mind, but sadly it was just a stupid 50% off sale.

In related news, I enjoyed my afternoon snack of avocado and turkey very much.

New York State of Mind

I've been back up in New York since last Wednesday. My trip was very much planes, trains, and automobiles and I got to experience the joys of the New York Subway, the MTA Bus, and the Long Island Railroad. Oh the L train.

I spent time at my parents' in Oyster Bay. I spent time with some family in Queens. My boyfriend's exceptionally lovely roommate let me stay at their apartment in Williamsburg. Some wonderful friends hosted a wonderful holiday weekend in Southport. It's been great, but I am more than ready to get back to Atlanta.

We both owned those bathing suits and didn't plan this at all.

The boyfriend and I fit in a run while we were in Southport. It was really just an excuse to run to Spic and Span Market for sandwiches because it was cheat day.

Day 1 of Half Marathon Training

Today I trained twice - CrossFit in the morning and running in the evening. I even looked forward to running after work. I found a plan on the half marathon website that was made by a running coach who has a L1 cert and therefore is trustworthy. The plan includes CrossFit twice a week, but since that's not enough to feed my addiction, I played around with it and some days I have two workouts. The plan called for a 45 minute easy run and that's about a 9 minute mile for me if I'm really taking it easy.

super excited to go run around in the humidity instead of going to bed

I ran 20 minutes along the Beltline and turned around when I hit another road. I then ran back and into Piedmont Park. A ton of porta-potties are all lined up. I'm not sure if they're for the Peachtree Road Race on Friday or leftover from today's giant USA soccer party.

Pat Sherwood

When I started CrossFit, I YouTubed everything because I normally had no idea what the posted WOD meant and even if I could decipher the acronyms, I still had little to no idea of how the movement should look. Thinking I should go to the source, I frequently hit up CrossFit HQ's channel, and while they certainly post instruction, I didn't always find what I needed as a beginner for the day's particular WOD. I may not have found the how-to videos I was looking for, but I did find Pat Sherwood.

I love Pat Sherwood.

What started as a casual affinity for The CrossFit Games Update Show, became quality time with my future husband. I didn't care that most of the content was outdated considering it was already July 2013 and the Games were fast approaching. It was all new to me and I enjoyed it.

the picture that really stole my heart

Fall Half Marathon

I've been thinking a lot about running lately. My good friend and Facebook wife, Rebecca, likes to get my riled up about running and then I adamantly insist that I hate it. I didn't always hate running and sometimes I do miss racing, even with all of the pressure I put on myself. Running used to be fun and I want that fun back.

these are photos from a run along the Beltline during my first week in Atlanta

The 2,645 Calorie Burger

Yesterday was one of the best days. I got to do so many things that I enjoy and love. My new job puts me in charge of the logistics and operations for a bunch of mini-conferences and I had the opportunity to help out with ops at another team's mini-conference this week as a bit of practice. A bunch of my favorite colleagues were flown into Atlanta for two days and I got to see my friends and organize stuff and internet stalk research our guest facilitators and basically do everything I enjoy doing at work. And there were paleo-compliant snacks. FOR. THE. WIN.

Throwback Thursday: Vacation in Naples

Throwback to the time my dad and I went to Naples, Florida for our father daughter vacation.

It was an awesome four days at the beach.

Got some treadmill time in and attended a group fitness class.

Discovered Publix key lime pie. I eat it every week now that I live in Atlanta.

One of my favorite hotel gyms of all time.

Bench Presses and My New Lady Crush

So Tuesday was bench press day at CFID and I was psyched because I know I like bench presses although I am terribly inexperienced at them. I have benched exactly four times since high school and that's including this past Tuesday (once at CrossFit T-Town, twice at CrossFit Central LI, and once at CFID.) For whatever reason, we didn't bench at CFHK.

The programming said to do 5x5 at 80% across and to warm up our deadlifts between sets. My 1RM (debatably 2RM) is 70# so my 80% is ~55#. I ended up being with a group of women who are a lot stronger than I am, we were using 65# faster than I would have liked, I got uncomfortable, I got unhappy, I decided that I was going to focus on warming up my deadlifts. Because I don't skip work, I went back after the metcon and used the empty lady bar to do my 5x5. It felt light but I knew I was performing the movements correctly. 

Overall, I considered Tuesday a failure. I didn't speak up when I felt uncomfortable and I didn't perform the way I would have liked. And because my boyfriend is a dick, he decided to rub salt in my wounds on Instagram and compare me to Ella Anne Kociuba (@ekociuba) and her bench press. 

Ella Anne Kociuba @ekociuba

Atlanta Pride Run 2014

Yesterday I ran the 2014 Atlanta Pride Run and Walk 5K. It was my first 5K race in 2014 and the only short distance I've raced since the Oyster Bay Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. I came in first in my age group and in 6th for women. My time was 23:41.20, not my fastest 5K time by any means, but it was hot, there were a lot of hills, and everyone was talking about how slowly they ran (even the sub-20 finishers.) I'm feeling good about my time. Even while I was running the race, I thought about how I needed to reset my expectations because I have never raced in Atlanta before.

The race was held in Piedmont Park and I live right there so I walked over. I was hoping there would be baggage check so I didn't have to run with my iPhone and keys but I was out of luck. I imagine baggage check is unnecessary when most participants drive to the race. Thankfully I had thought to wear my iFitness running belt.