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Bodyweight Benchmark

Hey guys! First I’ve been meaning to say this-I’ve been really awful about commenting on other people’s posts lately. I’m still reading blogs but I’ve gotten a little lazy! 

This morning I had an early doctor’s appointment, so I just had a quick breakfast. I tried my new caramel pineapple Chobani!

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It was pretty good. I liked it but it’s not my first choice. 

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My friend Jessica tweeted me the other day saying that she didn’t like this flavor, and Chobani tweeted her back! Whoops!

After my appointment, I finished up some work in the lab, since it’s right next to the doctor. Afterwards, my mom and I stopped by Fleet Feet, the place I got my running shoes, to pick up some more Cliff goo, since that’s the only place I’ve seen it. I like Cliff because it has all normal ingredients, and therefore tastes fine. We walked through the downtown area, and suddenly felt tea-deprived. Since we were South-ish, I remembered a place about 20 minutes away that I’ve been wanting to try ever since I saw it on Gina‘s blog: Bumble. 

ImageIt’s a super cute place. It has “tea for two” as well as a lot of other healthy and delicious sounding things. My mom and I chose the tea for two. This would be a great place to take kids as well; they even had a sandbox in the front. 

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We ordered a pot of Earl Grey-it seemed like the perfect tea for a ‘tea party.’

ImageImageThe “tea for two” included 2 scones, 2 tea sandwiches of choice, and 2 cookies. We decided on the egg salad, and the Brie, honey, and pecan.

ImageOne scone was chocolate chip with cinnamon, and the other was savory with cheddar cheese and bacon. We split them, but I picked out the bacon. They were both delicious. I know, I said I would avoid gluten this week. To kind of make up for it, I ate my sandwiches open faced. That kind of helps, right? The cookies were chocolate chip and chocolate with peanut butter chips. 

Everything was delicious and thoroughly enjoyed. It was about the right amount of food-I was worried it would be too much, but I left full but not overly stuffed. However,given all the bread products, a nap was in order, with my favorite nap buddy. 

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I ended up skipping today’s run. I was sore and tired, and with the running I’ve done in Crossfit, I only really am a mile short of the weekly plan so I have no problem with that. Crossfit tonight was surprisingly deadly. It was all the things I’m the worst at. In general, I’m not a fast person. Anything with bodyweight will be bad more me just because I’m slow. I do way better at anything with weights-I can Rx most lifts, but I can’t even do a pull up! This was the workout:

5 rounds of:

200m run

10 push ups

15 burpees

20 lunges (each leg)

This is a workout any of you guys can do-no special equipment or experience necessary! While this killed me (I barely made it under the cutoff time…), I think it’s something I can drastically improve on. I want to try it in a month or so to see how much I can improve. Now that I’m not doing softball, I don’t do a ton involving speed. And half marathon training doesn’t exactly make you quick. So we’ll see. Also, my Crossfit coach wanted me to enter a rookie Crossfit competition in August, but I’m leaving for Hawaii that day! Darn! That would have been so fun! (Not that Hawaii won’t be fun…) I really want to do a competition at some point though. It might help if I can do a pull up first…

Anyways, here’s dinner. ImageTeriyaki chicken, tomatoes and basil, steamed veggies, an artichoke, and some sourdough. Hit the spot!

Have a great weekend! 

Do you like to compete?

Yosemite Recap

Hey guys! REALLY long time, no post, eh? I had the most amazing weekend! I would have loved to do a recap yesterday, but well, as it turns out, when you take pictures with your camera, having the cable that connects it to the computer is kind of essential if you want to post your pictures on your blog….oops. But all is well now! My mom brought it up today since she has a class here Monday nights. She also brought an entire case of Harry and David fruit! If you’ve never heard of Harry and David, you’re seriously missing out. 

ANYWAYS. We left on Friday for Yosemite. At 3:30 pm. Hmmm rush hour much? It took an extra 2 hours, and we got in around 10. Here’s a sunset photo, which is currently my phone background:ImageWe settled out stuff in our fancy camping tents (and by this I mean this was luxury camping) and went out to stargaze. It’s amazing what you can see without light pollution. I took a star picture, but….it’s just black, so I’ll spare you guys that picture. 

I woke up before most and ventured outside, only to be struck by this view:ImageWhoa, I was not expecting that! Here’s a shot of the base camp:ImageAfter a quick breakfast, we headed out for a hike. ImageI’m so good at selfies. Me and half of my rooommate…oops. ImageThe animals were all super tame, and would come right up to you! A squirrel walked right up to my friend while she was sitting down. No fear!ImageOne of the first views of Yosemite. Then began the climb. Hiking is no joke! I never realized what an intense workout it is, given this is my first real hike. ImageImageImageImageSee how far away that waterfall is?ImageGetting closer…and thus began the mist zone. We got absolutely drenched! I had to put my camera away because it was so wet, but I kept pulling it back out because the view was just too breathtaking to miss!ImageImageThe view from the top of the waterfall. We conquered it! Here we broke for lunch. This whole trip I was worried I would have limited access to veggies. I packed my turkey sandwich sans bread and threw the mix in a ziplock bag. I’ll take it!

Vernal Falls: conquered. Next up-Nevado Falls.Image

It was around this time I started to get a very strong and strange headache. NOT FUN for hiking. It was strange because it was in the base of my neck/back of my head. SO definitely not a dehydration headache…This is also around the point I ran out of water…#rookiehikermistake

ImageGetting closer!ImageCONQUERED. We were at some serious elevation here! We covered A LOT of height. ImageIt was a TAD bright at the top!ImageImageView from the top! At the top we lay out on some rocks and soaked up the sun. After lying down and finding someone with Advil, we began our descent. At this point, no one had water. We had maybe a cup between all 10 of us. Oops. My group headed down. Another group decided to continue on for 9 more miles….with basically no water. Yeah. That was not happening for me. ImageBye waterfall! 

Thankfully, we took a different route down and didn’t have to get drenched by Vernal Falls again. I had not been looking forward to going down a steep and slippery rock trail. 

And before I knew it, we were at the bottom again. In total, we hiked 6 miles. But that included a lot of height. It was SO awesome. All of my best friends from school were there, and it was just a great time. I definitely want to take more trips like this. WHy have I not done this before???

Just a few shots of my wonderful friends:ImageImageImage

After the hike, we made use of the showers at the base camp. Much needed. I made the mistake of using the handicapped shower….so the faucet was at waist level. Smart. 

Then, being the college students we are, we headed to the lodge for cell service, cell phone charging, and wifi. Well, really poor wifi. And poor service…

I did manage to get some veggies in with dinner, which was pizza. ImageNot much else exciting. Sunday we headed home. That morning my headache returned, so I bought some Tylenol at the store there. My headache was back this morning for most of the morning. It’s really bizarre. My current theory is I am having sugar withdrawal symptoms. I’m cutting out desserts, so I may actually be cutting out more sugar than I realized…Does anyone know anything about withdrawal headaches? Like where in the head they are? It’s odd. Eh. 

This morning I was back in the weight room for this workout:ImageThe rugby team was lifting next to me. I started with deadlifts, and they were actually doing them as well. I lifted more than all of them. WINNING. I wasn’t able to get on the pull-up machine, and I can’t do full pull-ups, so I substituted the pull down thingy. My arms are already feeling it. 

Now much excitement in today’s eats. But I did try out this new tea thing from Teavanna that I got for my Birthday! ImageIt’s awesome! You just pour your tea leaves in and let it brew.ImageThen place it on top of your mug, and the tea flows in!ImageAnd wa-la! Tea!

On that note, hope your weekend was as awesome as mine!

Do you like hiking? Where’s your favorite place to hike?