Day 59 - Wednesday

SOOOOO ready for this awesome weather!

5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

5:15 - bootcamp - kb and jump rope workout - run 3 miles

7:30 - pork mango slaw with carrots, avacado, pecans, mayo, apple cider vinegar

9:30 - crossfit w/o - 4X10 - ring rows, ring dips, windmills. Then went out front and pushed the prowler - uggghh! Good workout Brandon! Went straight to the hardware store to get supplies for the pullup bar I am putting in my garage this afternoon - wish me luck!

12:00 - pumpkin turkey chili on portabella mushroom and deviled guac egg with caribbean jerk seasoning (followed the recipe on my recipe link but added caribbean jerk spice and a wedge of bacon on top. Yummm)

3:00 - apple slices and cashews

6:30 - orange pork stir fry with pork, mushrooms, orange and yellow peppers, yellow quash and zucchini squash, onion, water chestnuts

8:30 - 2 hardboiled egg whites

Day 58 - Tuesday

5:00am - banana & sunflower butter

5:30am - Crossfit - 5X5 backsquats end w/ 133# 10 jump squats and ten pushups after each set of backsquats. WOD 7rds 10 SDLHP, 10 tricep dips 4:14

7:30 - egg white vegi scramble, chicken, blueberries

10:00 - apple and almond butter

12:00 - salmon spinach salad

3:30 - Larabar

6:00 pork and spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette

9:00 - hard boiled egg white

Day 57 - Monday

5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

5:15 - kickboxing and interval run - 10 X .10 miles @ 9.0, .10 off at 6.0

7:00 - vegi egg scramble and turkey burger

9:30 - 4X8 thrusters and russian twists with 20lb kb last thruster set 68lbs (felt good!)
WOD - 3 rds 25 ohwl(25#), 60' bear crawl, 10 jump squats, 20 kte 9:04

11:45 - pumpkin turkey chili, orange olive salad

2:00 - went to doctor to get antibiotics for the mexico stomach issue. Here is my dilemma - I have gained 5 lbs! I know i shouldnt freak out, but I HATE the whole weight thing. Really hope this is muscle gain!!!!

5:30 - bison burger (no bun) side salad vinaigrette dressing, steamed broccoli

8:15pm - butternut squash

Day 56 - Sunday REST DAY!!!!

7:00am - Mango slaw with pork

10:45 - larabar

12:30 - leftover crockpot coconut chicken with spaghetti squash, handful of pistacios

3:30 - made a batch of pumpkin turkey chili for the week. had a small bowl. Used ground turkey, can of pumpkin, can of diced tomatoes, yellow pepper, garlic, onion, some peach mango salsa.

6:00 - spagetti squash and ground beef spaghetti sauce, tried to recreate the orange, olive, onion salad from last night. I like the odd combo!

8:00 - hoping nobody reads this - broke down and had 4 hershey kisses and bowl of cheerios. So ready for this to be over!

Day 55 - Saturday When is this challenge over???

6:00am - oatmeal with blueberries and bananas

7:00am - 20 mile run - started at starbucks at wydown and hanley and ran clayton, ucity, park, clayton - legs definitely heavy from crossfit this week, but got it done!

Lara bar - 1/2 at mile13, 1/2 at end

1:00 salmon spinach salad at Hanleys Tap - tasted amazing - resisted the roll but had a bite of jeff's mushroom barley soup - their food is really good!

3:30 - strawberries and macadamia nuts

6:00 - crossfit cooking event - lots of great food - thanks for hosting a wonderful event - need recipes for the beet salad and the orange olive onion dish.

9:00 - banana and sunflower butter

Day 54 - Friday

7:00 - mango slaw with pork

12:00 - chicken with apricots and spaghetti squash, pistacios

4:30 - crossfit - 5x5 overhead presses 58lbs, toe to bar and pistol squats. WOD 4 burpees at the top of each minute and 100 dumbell thrusters (15lb dumbells) 8:33

6:30 - chicken burgers with orange citrus aioli, green beans, sweet potato fries

8:30 - blueberries, bananas, walnuts, and cocunut heated in oven - yummy treat

Day 53 - Thursday

5:00am - 1/2 banana and 1 tsp sunflower

5:30 - crossfit workout - weighted step ups and max rep pushups and pullups. WOD 5-10-15 sdlhp & thrusters 43lbs?

7:30 - mango chicken slaw

9:00 - 4 sets of 800m run @ 7:30, 400M row, 10 pushups. Hydromassager - mmmmmmmm.

12:00 - last of curry chicken with some addede pork and spinach, pistacio nuts

3:00 - larabar

6:15 - Crockpot chicken breasts with 1/2 cup orange juice and apricots. Added coconut milk right before serving and served over spaghetti squash (rice for my husband) - needed a little more seasoning, but will be a good leftover for tomorrow. Mixed asian vegis too.

8:30 - banana and sunflower butter

Day 52 - Wednesday

5:00 - 1/2 banana and 1 tsp sunflower butter

5:15 - boot camp

7:30 - mango chicken slaw

9:30 - crossfit - 4X10 1 leg deadlifts and getup situps WOD: 20sec on/10sec off X6 of jumping squats, box jumps, jumping jacks, jumping pullups.

12:00 - curry chicken with butternut squash and peas

1:oo - ok, I have SPRING FEVER! Dusted my bike off and hit Grant's Trail. Its been months since I have ridden - I still remember how! Good easy ride 16 miles

2:30 - lara bar

6:30 - Rosemary Pork Tenderloin with apricots and dried cranberries with a port wine sauce, asparagus, mixed vegis. This was my attempt at a crockpot recipe with apricots, but I don't think it is contest worthy. Sauce didn't really turn out, but pork was good.

Day 51 - Tuesday

5:00am - 1/2 banana and tsp sunflower butter

5:30 - crossfit w/o - Windmills, 1 legged squats, superman WOD: Brian - 100 squats, 75 jumping pullups, 50 push press @33# - 3 burpees at the top of each minute - 6:39

7:00am - protein shake with apple, pecans, flaxseed

8:30am - run w/o - 2 mile tempo run to "52 second hell hill". 5 hill repeats then 1 1/2 mile run home.

10:00 - Chip fiesta! Did some experimenting with chips this morning. Put the apple chips in the oven before my run and took them out when I got back. REALLY good. Then I decided to try a parsnip with the microwave method I found on allrecipes.com. Worked great. Used sea salt and carribean jerk seasoning and they were awesome. Put the recipes on a new tab - "Two Ingredient Treats".

1:00pm - chicken curry with butternut squash and peas

3:30pm - clementine orange and macadamia nuts

7:00pm - mango chicken slaw salad - YUMMM

Day 50 - WOW - 50 days!

5:00am - 1/2 banana and 1 tsp sunflower butter

5:15 - bootcamp - welcomed the class back with kb work, burpees, wtd lunges, and some plyo jumps, 2.5 mile run

7:30 - spaghetti squash with meat sauce and an apple

12:30 - high protein vegi bowl at crazy bowls and wraps with steak and chicken

3:30 - almonds

5:30 - Curry chicken with butternut squash and peas (recipe on recipe link). I thought it was yumm, and very easy!

8:00pm - apple and almond butter

Day 49 - Sunday

Crossfit competition today was AWESOME! Went into it this morning frustrated with my progress and down about my back and sick stomach. Came out totally pumped and excited about this new exercise community that I have stumbled on. Seeing all of the incredible athletes is so motivating. The progress that all of the valley park crossfitters has made over the last couple of months is so much more than I have ever seen with any of the other exercise program I have been involved in in the past. So props to Dan, Brandon, and Herb for bringing out the inner athlete in all of us. Ok, back to my paleo journey and hopefully back on track for the remainder of the next level challenge.

7:00am - Breakfast - oatmeal with 1/2 banana and tsp of sunflower butter

10:00 - WOD #1 - 109 clean and jerks with Christy @ 55lbs. - Didn't get our time, but Christy kicked butt and we got through it.

protein powder and pineapple

WOD #2 - Chipper workout - 20 thrusters, ring rows, row, kb swings, burpees, box jumps - Great job team Eat my chalk - again, no clue on our time.

2 meatballs

WOD #3 - 2 400m runs, KB sprawl pyramid with Christy - Jeff and Trey did 4-400m rows and pyramid clapping pushups - what studs! Eat My Chalk was a great team - next year - prescribed!

banana and lara bar

6:00pm - Dinner - hamburger on portabella cap with guacamole and parsnip fries. Thanks for the recipe, I will play around with the spices, but liked these alot. Oh, some strawberries too.

Day 48 - Saturday

Ok, back from a week in mexico and a less than stellar eating week. managed to stay with a vegi omelet and fruit for breakfast, lots of vegis and chicken for lunch, usually beef and vegis for dinner, but probably atleast one drink every day, ice cream and crepes for dessert at least 3 nights and a couple of tortillas to scoop up that great guacamole! OK confession time over, and I definitely paid for it, because I came back with a BAD case of Montezuma's Revenge! You have heard enough, but pretty sure Everything I ate last week has worked its way out by now!

Breakfast - oatmeal

lunch - vegi egg scramble with pork

dinner - spaghetti squash with meat sauce

Day 39 - THursday

5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

5:30 - crossfit w/o - kb skills and chinups - 7max! WOD 4min wtd lunges, 3 min ohpresses(18lb), 2 mn cone touches, 1 min hurdle burpees 1min rest in between each. 110,69,35,19

7:15 - breakfast - chicken breast, slaw, apple, pecans, mayo, orange squeeze, apple cider vinegar

12:15 - deweys harvest salad with chicken, figs, bacon, spinach, mixed greens, apple cider vinaigrette, pumpkin seeds

3:00 - larabar

6:30 - leftover lettuce wrap salad with the kelp noodles, bean sprouts, green lettuce, turkey mix, cashews

8:00 - butternut squash

OFF TO CANCUN - Won't be checking in again until next Friday.

Day 38 - Wednesday

5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

5:15 - step aerobics and run w/o - 20 30 sec on , 30 sec off hill repeats @10min mile, 10 incline

7:30 - breakfast - Mango Chicken Slaw Salad - chicken breast, cabbage&carrot (pre-cut into slaw), pecans, mayo, apple cider vinegar, juice of one clementine, mango cubes - YUM
Stepped on the scale this morning. My goal is to just gain muscle, not lose weight, so why does it bother me that I weigh the same as when we started? Putting the scale back in the closet.

1:00 - salmon, green beans, and fruit cup

3:00 - larabar

5:00 - crossfit w/o 4X5 front squats (103lbs) and SOTS, ring pushups WOD - Grizzly - 3 rounds 5oomrow, 120' bear crawl, 12 burpees - 11:45. Garage door open - LOVE this weather!!

7:00pm - dinner - lean burger with guac, marinated mushrooms (see recipe), butternut squash.

Day 37 - 5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

5:30 - crossfit - 4X8 backsquats - stayed at 105lbs - resting rib. WOD 7 rounds 10sdlhp,10 pushups

7:00am - 2 of those whole food energy squares

8:00am - run w/o - 1 mile wu, 3 rounds of 1min,2min,3min(equal rest in between) at 6:40, 6:30, 6:22 (cheated on last 3 min - i was done!) 10 minutes on hydromassager

9:00am - protein shake with mango, banana, flaxseed, coconut flakes

12:00 - lunch - chicken breast and salad

6:00pm - turkey asian lettuce wraps (recipe on recipe page) and steamed mixed vegis. Turkey mixture was GREAT! I would definitely recommend.
8- butternut squash and slice of turkey

Day 36 - Monday

5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

5:15 - bootcamp - med ball workout and 20 min spin easy on bike

7:30 - salad with chicken carrots, mushroom, avacado, pecans. 2 clementine cuties

12:30 - salmon and spinach salad

3:30 apple and almond butter

5:15 - butternut squash sprinkled with pecans

6:30 - a couple of these energy block things I found in the bulk dept at whole foods - made out of sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, yes, honey, and cashews and dates.

Day 35 - Sunday

5:30am - oatmeal with banana

6:15 - Long run - 16 miles at Grants Trail. Weather was great, run was great, felt strong until the end. Rib pain not too bad when I run. Starting to feel like the crossfit/paleo is helping the running. Legs feel stronger.

9:00 - egg, cucumber, tomato, red peppers, and fruit cup

10:00 - protein shake with banana, coconut, flaxseed

1:00 - larabar and orange and some pistacios

4:30 - salad with chicken breast

6:00 - piece of chocolate chip cookie cake and a spoonful of icecream - I was WEAK!!!

Day 34 - Saturday

5:45 - oatmeal with banana and almond butter (carbing for weekend endurance activities)

6:30 - Workout for Water at Crossfit - the crossfit guys did an awesome job of putting on a charity event for my running friends this morning. Dan created the "Stephanie" WOD - a partner wod with 1000m row & 100 lunges (one partner does each), 800m run, 50 situps/50 burpees/50 pushups(split between the partners), 800m run, 1000m row & 100 lunges(completed by the partner that did not do the first time). We had 5 teams and everyone did fantastic! Bao and Jeff J were the champions with a time of ?? - I will have to find that out. Everyone had a great time and has total respect for crossfit intensity!
7:30 - 3 mile run in VP

9:30 - egg, spinach, mushroom, and turkey sausage whole wheat wrap, 2 clementine oranges

1:15 - lunch at CPK - morrocan chicken salad

4:00 - larabar

6:00 - dinner - Steph's chicken salad with portabella mushroom (see recipe) - this was GREAT dish for leftover chicken breasts.

8 - 1/2 an apple and almond butter

Day 33 - Friday

5:00am - banana & sunflower butter

7:30 - chicken and vegi scramble - loaded with vegis. Canteloupe

9:30 - Crossfit w/o - Went into todays workout thinking I would take it easy today - can you ever take it easy in a crossfit workout?? Deadlifts and ring work. WOD - 5 rounds of 5 deadlifts(93#) 10 pushups 20 wtd lunges (2 15# dumbells) 400 meter run. 14:03.

11:00 - Larabar - cherry pie flavor is my favorite!

12:30 lunch - citrus coleslaw and salmon and roasted cauliflower with curry sauce - recipes on the recipe page - linked by the very appropriate sign at the Valley Park Deli that I snapped a picture of today!

3:30 - piece of beef jerky and strawberries

Day 32 - Thursday

5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

5:30 - crossfit - romanian deadlifts and russian twists. WOD 1,2,3...10 wtd front squats with 6 pushups, 12 situps, 16 lunges in between - 12:00 min. Aerobike for time - 1 mile@2:50. Headed straight to Golds for 10 minutes on the hydromassager.

7:30 breakfast - steak and vegi scramble with tomato, avacado, broccoli, spinach, red pepper, mushroom, avacado. Cold spaghetti squash with a little coconut milk, cinnamon, and a small squirt of honey - tasty. How sad is it that spaghetti squash is my breakfast treat!

10:30 - larabar

1:00- Reached a new level of wierdness today - took my own homemade steak salad and two clementine oranges to culvers to eat while my daughter and her friend had concretes. All this before spending an hour and a half at Bounce U listening to kids screaming and running around. I get mommy points today!

4:00 - apple and sunflower butter

6:00 - dinner - slow cooker pork and saurkraut, roasted cauliflower, mixed fruit salad (pineapple, blueberries, mango, banana, grapes)

8:oo carrot sticks and handful of almonds

Day 31 - Wednesday

5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

6:15am - 30 minute easy spin

7:15 - steak and vegi egg scramble with tomato, spinach, broccoli, red pepper, avacado. Canteloupe

9:30 - crossfit - 5x5 OHpresses& pushpresses - hurt back midway through - backed off of 53#. Deadlifts with dumbells. WOD Helen - 400m run, 21 kbwings, 12 pullups X3 - 9:59 - first time doing kipping pullups in a WOD! Sloppy but finished - 30#on KB.

12:30 - Lunch - Salmon spinach salad at Hanleys - REALLY good!!

3:00 - massage with Ramon - my back is really wrenched, so bummed.

4:15 - Larabar

6:00pm - dinner - slowcooker pork and saurkraut with apples, peas, brussel sprouts - glass of white wine. Yes, I think all the talk of cheating today on the blog has gotten to me. Personally, think I need to stick as close as possible to the plan, because once I start cheating I will lose the momentum that I have built over the last month. One day at a time, it won't last forever! I am putting the slowcooker pork recipe on the recipe link, it was really good and the first time I have eaten saurkraut in 25 years!

8:00 - canteloupe and a spoonful of almond butter

Day 30 - Tuesday

5:00am - banana and sunflower butter

5:30 - crossfit - 5X5 backsquats and ring dips 135lbs max - went down for last set to work on form. WOD 21-15-9 thrusters and sdlhp 53lbs 10 box jumps in between each set (6:03)

7:30 - leftover spicy lemon pork (even better cold!) Banana Blueberry Compote (see recipe at side). Feeling very deprived this morning as I am making chocolate chip pancakes for my girls(ok, I licked the bowl a little - that doesnt count, right?). So I made a breakfast treat for myself. bananas, walnuts, coconut, blueberries -it was delish!!

8:00am - run w/o - 1 mile wu@6.0, 10 1 minute hill repeats 10 incline 6.0 speed, rest 1 min in between, 1 mile cool down @ 6.0mph. Stretch and hydromassager

9:15 - 1 scoop protein powder in water

12:15 - lunch - crabcake on portabella cap with wasabi aioli mustard, brussel sprouts, 2 clementine cuties

3:15 - Larabar

6:15 - Dinner - london broil (marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, orange juice, ginger, dry mustard, cayenne pepper, garlic, 1 tsp honey) broccoli, spaghetti squash

8:00pm - canteloupe

Day 29 - MARCH IS HERE!

5:00am banana and sunflower butter (I get it at trader joes or walmart)
5:15am - kickboxing class

7:15 - breakfast - protein shake with pumpkin, blueberries, pineapple, flaxseed. 3 deviled eggs

9:30 - crossfit w/o - 4X10 bent over rows (85lbs) with one legged squats, box jumps. WOD 4X400 with 2min rest in between 1:17, 1:18, 1:19, 1:17.

10:45 - hardboiled egg white and clementine cutie

12:15 - spinach salad with chicken, carrots, yellow pepper avacado, tomato, pecans, balsamic vinaigrette. Kiwi

3:00 - beef jerky (Holland Meat & Cafe on sugarcreek smokes their own beef jerky - really good. I am going to see if they will make me some salmon jerky)

5:30 - dinner - spicy lemon pork, carmelized brussel sprouts, spaghetti squash (recipes on recipe page)

8:30 - couldnt make it - had an apple and almond butter - I have no willpower at night!