So, the past few days have been riddled with "cranky Jenn" and headaches galore. At first I thought I was just cranky... because, let's be honest ... you all know me! But once the headaches came I knew, I just knew it was the side effects of going Paleo. How scary to think that your body is withdrawing from all that sugar and preservatives. I am not that much a carb ho, but definitely YES! with the sugar. Today has been much better... but one day too late. Last night's performance at the Box was lackluster:
WOD
Max push-ups and pull-ups for four rounds. Rest between rounds but not between exercises.
I modified with the blue band. (FYI the push-ups link is one of my favorite Cross-fit demos! The music just gets you going :)
RESULTS
(23/7) (20,6) (12,7) (17,5)
ANALYSIS
I was, and remain, very happy with my push-ups. No modifying and I definitely held my own. Now if there had been hand release ... well those numbers might have dropped a few ;) Then came the pull-ups. Devastated. I expected more of myself and just couldn't produce. I told Andrew that I wasn't strong, and thats exactly what I was feeling. I would have liked to see double those numbers. Now, as I cooled off a bit and thought more about why I performed so poorly, I came to these conclusions - probably not mutually exclusive or the answer. Sometimes a girl just has an off night: diet change, third day ON, and womanly factors (ladies you know how it goes). I look forward to CRUSHING these results in October.
On a side note I have three recipes comments:
BANANA PANCAKES (the follow-up)
2 bananas mashed, 1 egg, heaping spoonful of almond butter
Mix and cook in skillet with butter or olive oil. My feedback: add a teaspoon or so of arrowroot to thicken. I also added blueberries which gave the pancakes a bit of tart against the sweet banana - you could add fresh coconut, other fruit, etc. I would cook with coconut oil instead of butter or olive oil - gave it great flavor! And finally, be sure to let the cakes brown around the edges and bubble a little before flipping - the arrowroot will help firm them up, but I found mine to not want to hold their perfect pancake form! They were delicious and quite filling.
HEATHER'S AMAZING PEACH PIE (which I will try with the ladies tonight!)
Crust
1/4 C pecans
1/4 C walnuts
4 medjool dates
Mix in a food processor w/ spread thin (or thick, make more than above) on plate
Filling
1 or 2 apples (or peaches, plums, etc) chopped in food processor
1/4 tspn cinnamon
1/8 tspn nutmeg
1/2 tspn lemon juice (optional)
Directions
Spread mix over crust. Chop 3/4C pecans and spread around the circumference of pie. Takes about 5 minutes to make. A GREAT DESSERT! Pretty basic and easy to make. (serves 3 or more)
**I am also going to try to whip almond milk into a cream - similar to using heavy cream. We'll see how that turns out ... not sure its whip-able?
WARM ARUGULA SALAD
6 strips nitrate free bacon diced
2 shallots finely chopped
7 oz arugula
1/4 cup olive oil
Handful of chopped walnuts
Ground black pepper to taste
Place the arugula in a large salad bowl and set aside. In a medium sized skillet brown the diced bacon. Add the shallots and saute with the bacon until the shallots are translucent. Add the olive oil to the pan and heat just until warm. Pour the olive oil, bacon, shallot mixture over the arugula and mix well. The heat from the bacon mixture will slightly wilt the arugula – this is what you want! Add some fresh ground black pepper and serve immediately topped with a sprinkle of walnuts.
