Fight Gone Bad. Is Good.

So today I completed my 46th CrossFit workout.

We were told that 'Fight Gone Bad' was on the menu. And there were two options: Rx (which is the prescribed weight set out for men/women and can be pretty tough) or a modified, easier version.  I chose to give Rx a shot... and it went a little something like this: 5 x 1 minutes rounds - wall ball (14lb), High-pull Sumo Deadlift (25kg), Box jumps (24"), Push press (25kg) and Calorie Row (row for calories, not time) - this is followed by a 1 minute rest.  We did five rounds... normally this workout is only three rounds. I got a score of 308... only to find that an elite crossfitter would get about 450.... IN THREE FREAKIN' ROUNDS! ugh! but I'm very proud of myself for giving it a go and completing it - now I just need to work on stamina and endurance. Bang.

You can find out more about 'Fight Gone Bad' here.

In terms of the iron infusion... I found my strength has improved... I still fatigued though. Surprisingly, my third round was the lowest scoring and I climbed back in fourth and fifth... So maybe my endurance has improved? Hard to tell... I'll keep at it.

Paddy has a habit of being 'contrary' - today he's going for a PB. He told us 'no' when asked a few questions, such as 'have you finished?', or 'would you like to get down from the table?... We then asked ' what's your name, is it Patrick?'... without flinching he said ' No, my name is Madeleine'. It's no wonder I go a bit loopy every day.

Are you yoke-ay? Yes ma'am!

Rather eventful day. Got a buttload of iron. Only cost me a couple of hundred dollars and five hours.

I had the infusion at Cabrini hospital in Melbourne - Day Oncology. Took a while to get the vein thing sorted (I'd be a useless junkie) and then we were off at a blistering pace of bloody slowly. The hydrocortisone went down nicely, as did the iron. Got to a point where I was bouncing off the walls a bit (probably the hydro) and then I started to feel like someone was squeezing every part of my body.... but not in the sexy stranger on a dark tram way.
So now we will see if the extra iron will help me to become the BEAST I hope to be at training. I was reviewing old training notes and I have been all over the place! Hoping Whole30 will support the process too... If not, I could just shave my head and set fire to a religious document for fun.

So on to the yoke joke.... I made my own mayonnaise! No bollocks in it - just egg, lemon juice, olive oil and seeded mustard with salt. I won't lie, it tastes like salty olive lemon egg but I have to mix it with some fud to find out how it goes - who the hell eats mayo out of the jar anyway (okay, some of you probably do, let's not admit that here)...? Not sure why people find it so difficult, but I will say that if I had followed my friend Michelle's advice I would have ended up with 2 litres of the stuff... my recipe said ONE egg, hers SIX.

Finally, I GOT MY COPY OF 'IT STARTS WITH FOOD'! The courier literally threw the box at our front door and the authors mispelt fud but that's okay - I can't wait to read it! I'll be reviewing it here when Paddy isn't yelling at me to either turn off the lights or help him in and out of his superbatman suit.  And then there's Maddy's hair to attend to- probably doesn't help that her brother has been grooming it with salad tongs. I'd show you a pic but in each one she looks at me imploringly saying 'heeelp?!' and I don't need you to judge me for standing around taking hilarious photos of my child when she was clearly in need. Just like I don't want you to know that I giggle when Paddy says 'giney'.
Goodnight.

Whole30.... yikes!

OK so many people ask me what I eat, how did I 'lose weight' (to which I say haven't really lost on the scales but with the measuring tape) etc etc and often they are surprised by what I say.  Partially because eating fat is so taboo, not eating toast for brekky is weird and why did I just eat a square of chocolate when I'm not supposed to eat dairy!?
I've been fine-tuning my approach to eating for about six months now.... Starting with cutting back on sugar and sweeteners, cutting out wheat, reducing dairy, increasing healthy fats and protein and continuing to enjoy lots and lots of veg and some fruit.
However, I do have a life that involves scant amounts of socialising, a fair amount of eating my kids' food off the walls (don't let that sh** go to waste!) and shovelling in this and that between shifts on the homefront (gym-childcare-work-childcare-nightschool-sleep).
Add 'no iron' and you get 'I COULD EAT A HORSE IF IT WOULD JUST GET ME THROUGH THIS BLOODY EXHAUSTING DAY!' and 'PATRICK! STOP PUTTING YOUR FINGER IN YOUR BOTTOM!!' (oops - that was really more of an aside).
So I'm a bit lax a times with my diet choices and I am certain that I eat 'too much' just to maintain energy... so I decided that July would be time to try Whole30.  I won't bore you with exact details - go to the link - but I will say that I am getting a bit nervous.
I'll be giving up milk in my coffee, dark chocolate treats, ice-cream, cheese and a few other nasties that are probably not contributing to my wellbeing (aside from brief moments of lovely enjoyment followed by stinky farts).
So if I seem a little ANGRY in future posts, you'll know why... And if I'm not then you'll know I'm medicating some other way - HA HA! in your FACE blue cheese - i get my high from PETROL now......

Murph and Meat

So this Saturday I met Murph.  I am humbled by Lt Michael Murphy's service to his country and therefore did not say any naughty words as I completed this horrendous workout: 2km row, 300 airsquats, 200 pushups, 100 chin ups, 2km row.
A few points - I did need rubber bands as I am still technically an exercise mong.  Also, I could have chosen to run 3.2km instead of row 4km but then we'd have hell frozen over which is not great for climate change yada yada.  What I found MOST unhelpful was one of the trainers coming over to me and saying 'how many to go?' and me saying '136 push ups' and him saying 'didn't anyone tell you that you should be doing a half-workout because you've not been coming long?'.
Ahhhh let me think (I said to myself), hmmm NO they DIDN'T and this mysterious 'ANYONE' would be YOU Mr Bastardface! Just kidding - his face is not at all bastardy.
I had a choice in that moment and I chose to finish the full workout.... It took me 15 minutes over cut-off but I finished and I was bloody proud of my iron anaemic self too.
I spent the rest of the day sounding like the lyrics from an early Kings of Leon song... I got a massive headache, I couldn't lift my arms without shaking etc etc bla bla first world problems. BUT I also got a few hours out with hot husband (thanks Mum!)! We went down to check out South Wharf (who knew THAT existed?) and went to the Meat Market for dinner.  I was in paleo heaven.  Definitely a place I will visit again.
We ended the night with some drinks at my affiliate's fundraiser where we won a night for two in a boutique hotel (woot woot!)... which nicely offset the parking fine from the wankers at Port Phillip.
All-in-all not a bad one.

Oh the Iron-eee.....

So I've been doing CrossFit for about three months and I must say that a) i am addicted and b) it works. I've never been in such good physical condition. Which is amazing given that my iron is at an all-time low.
In February last year I had a pretty severe spell of depression. I was living in France at the time and I ended up seeing an English-speaking psychotherapist. She was bloody awful but she did have the wisdom to recommend I get my thyroid and my iron levels checked as they are frequently connected to depression.
So I did. My iron was below the threshold for anaemia and without trying to investigate why (perhaps the two caesareans in two years, breastfeeding two babies in two years, history of endometriosis and PCOS etc etc), the French doctor decided that I should just take delicious constipaty iron tablets for six months, bugger off back to the imaginary land I came from and make it all someone else's problem. 
The iron levels climbed slightly and then declined. I was rather tired of black poo so I decided that I wouldn't bother taking the tablets and would try some needles in the bum.  After three in quick succession I found out the iron had actually managed to DEcrease. Ugh.  So next Thursday I am off to Cabrini Day Oncology to get hooked up to an iron IV.
Turns out that it's really bloody hard to do strenuous exercise without any iron. And I've been doing CrossFit 4-6 times a week. So I guess that's why I've called this blog tough little mother. 'Cos I bloody well am.
Have you had your iron checked lately?

Paleo to the people...

Made a new friend recently. She owns a great cafe near us. I've asked her if she'd try out a paleo biscuit in her cafe and she's open to the idea. My fave recipe is Teresa Cutter's Paleo Anzac http://www.thehealthychef.com/2012/04/paleo-anzacs/. Here's a batch of mine- nommy nommy...

Sunday slow cooker

I usually do a bit of cooking while hot husband goes for his weekly crazy-long run. Today it's beef with onions, garlic, Swiss brown mushies, parsnips, carrot, celery. I added a drizzle of red wine and olive oil with herbs... I'm not super-strict paleo. This will make 5-6 portions.

60 pairs of comfy undies....

I'm not sure how or why this is happening folks, but I have just become a 'blogger'.  Sounds like a bloated jogger.... neither of which am I because a) my boobs are way too cumbersome for a constant bouncing motion and b) i dont eat wheat.

I suppose I will write what comes to mind and then craft this as I go. I will write for catharsis... because my psychotherapist is expensive and I frankly can't be bothered with the thirty minute drive there and back every week.... I could buy twelve packs of comfy target undies with the money spent....

Enough.  More to come.