Community

If you're my Facebook friend you know I was at the CrossFit Games all day today.  It was incredible.  The athletes are superhuman - they can carry ridiculously heavy sandbags and walk on their hands and climb ropes.  They are chiseled human specimens, I've never seen so many abs in my life!  But this isn't why I love CrossFit, or why I had such a great day at the games.

A CrossFit competition is unlike anything I've ever experienced.  At a CrossFit competition, athletes cheer on other athletes - their competition - coaching them through heavy lifts, encouraging them to pick up the bar.  At a CrossFit competition everyone in the stands shouts encouragements to athletes who are struggling.  Only at a CrossFit competition will you find that the LAST athlete to finish the event has everyone up on their feet cheering them on - much louder than anyone cheered for the first place finisher.

Being a CrossFit athlete brings us all together.  Everyone at the Home Depot Center understood what it feels like to fail at a lift, and what it feels like to accomplish what seemed impossible.  The crowd wanted so badly for those athletes who were struggling to finish the WOD, to complete the lift, to climb the rope.  As CrossFitters we all cheer each other on, push each other, challenge each other, and it makes us all better.  CrossFit truly is a community, and I'm proud to be a member.

I'm also EXTREMELY proud to say that I have met my blogger idol!  Liz from CaveGirlEats was at the games, and was kind enough to pose for a picture with me!

It was a great day, I can't wait for tomorrow - I'm going to be staring at every 135# asian man on the lookout for Fitbomb.  That's not creepy, right?

Getting Stronger

First - the food pictures.  But hang in there, I have something worthwhile to say today.

Yesterday's lunch with homegrown tomatoes from
Tom's (Ryan's dad) garden.

Part of last night's dinner - caprese salad (made with
Tom's tomatoes).

The rest of last night's dinner - wild salmon and asparagus.

Today's lunch.

So....earlier I went for a 10k bike ride as my triathlon training for the day.  Then I looked to see what the crossfit workout was going to be.  Turns out, it was Double Fran.  One Fran is enough for most people, two is pretty brutal.  But I was looking forward to it because it would be my first wod in my new kicks.

Cute, huh?

Before the workout I was talking with my friend (life coach?) Diane about the fact that after 11 months of crossfit I still can't do a pull up.  She said, "You just have to go down in bands.  Don't use the blue band anymore."  (Side note: from most supportive to least supportive the bands at CFI are: green, blue, red, purple.)  My first thought was, "I can't do that!  I JUST moved down to the blue band, I need the blue band to do workouts!"  Then I considered her challenge.  Could I go down in bands already?  Could I do the wod without the blue band?  She went on to explain that I could have the blue band next to me during the workout just in case I needed it.  I thought it sounded fair, and promised to try.

Here is what my pull up station looked like after I finished Double Fran.

That's right, I used the red and purple bands (down from the blue/purple combo) for the whole workout.  I didn't need the blue band, and I didn't even consider using it.  Turns out I CAN do 90 pull ups without a blue band.  The wod took me a long time to finish (Double Fran ain't easy, people), but I did finish.  Sometimes it just takes that extra little push (or suggestion, in this case) to prove it to myself that I can do better.

I WILL do a pull up before the end of the year.  Hopefully much sooner than that.  The moral of the story is that I need to start challenging myself.  I need to be more trusting that all of the effort I'm putting in is actually going to pay off.  To the blue bands at CFI - it's been fun, but I don't need you anymore.  Looks like I'm getting stronger after all.

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P.S. My cat watches Big Cat Diaries.

Lily hopes to become a cheetah someday.

Things I've been eating, and a new Dyla baby.

I haven't been posting lately.  Sorry, Mom.  Here are some of the things I've been eating.

MDA's Salad

A veggie and turkey hummus plate.

Pork salad, a la Ryan 

Chicken and blasted broccoli

Nothing especially exciting, but I do need to get back on the 100% paleo wagon soon.  Kim has promised to do another 30 day paleo challenge with me in August, so expect updates!

Something exciting happened yesterday: Ryan's new nephew was born!!  Ryan's brother Jeremy's wife Amanda delivered baby Mitchell yesterday in the early afternoon and we went to see him today.  Feast your eyes on Mitchell Jeremiah Dyla.

Why yes, that is my enormous hand holding the baby.

Teeny, tiny baby (who we blinded with the flash a whole bunch of times - he took it well).

Kim held Mitchell

Then I held Mitchell

Proud big sister Addie (who likely didn't really realize that the new little baby was going to be coming home with her) was adorably entertaining too.

I love her Cinderella shirt!

Addie and Aunt Kimmy

What a wonderful new addition to our family :)

A non-primal summer day :)

Well, it turns out we're not perfect after all.  I know, you're shocked.

Today we took our bikes to Kim and Alex's house in Huntington Beach, and rode from their house (by the HB pier) to Newport Beach - about 6 miles away.

We set up on the beach and even went for a swim in the ocean.

Newport Beach is a place that the Dyla family spent many summer days, so the Dyla kids knew what they wanted for lunch: Annie's burgers.

Ryan enjoyed eating his childhood.

Sadly, we weren't done yet.  After we rode our bikes back to HB, we went to main street and got cookie ice cream sandwiches.  We got to choose cookie and ice cream flavors to make our own custom ice cream sandwich.  Yum.

Overall, it was a delicious and fun day.

Korean BBQ!

Tonight was a scheduled CFI event: Beer and Burpees.  Our lovely strong and manly coach John planned for us to visit a local Korean BBQ restaurant called Shik-Do-Rak.  Having never eaten Korean BBQ, I didn't know what I was in for.

When we first sat down at our table, there were many different bowls filled with interesting looking food items.

Luckily, coach John explained how this Korean BBQ thing works.

Then a giant plate of meat showed up in front of me.

After our waitress dumped a bunch of meat on the grill, Keith and Shawna (and the rest of us) waited patiently for it to cook.

We kept cooking meat until we ran out, then we ordered more.  Yep, that's how crossfitters do.

John and Mark showed off their teamwork skills and cut the steak together.

Mark was a pretty good cook.

When we were finally stuffed full of meat, the boys (who shall remain nameless) played with the remaining food and made a CFI logo.

Overall, it was a great meal in great company :)

Sleepy?

I'm a pretty good sleeper and I always have been.  I can nap in the afternoon if I need it (like I did today), and I almost never have trouble falling asleep.  My mom says I get this skill (talent?) from my dad.  Here is some photographic evidence that the Cozads are good nappers.

Many of my blog idols have been posting about sleep lately, so I've been thinking about it more and more.  A particularly fabulous article by FITBOMB was posted just yesterday.  Robb Wolf agrees - he ranks sleep before food.  Of course, Mark Sisson has something to say about sleep, too.

And the consensus is....we need to sleep at least 8 hours each night!  Duh.  Still not convinced that sleep is important?  Check out the graph below (stolen from fitbomb - he's so cool).

Need more reasons to sleep?  Check out at all the terrible things that can happen if you don't get enough!

If you use the phrase, "I'll sleep when I'm dead", it looks like you're going to be dead a lot sooner than the rest of us.  Go to sleep!

Double Double

I'm currently rediscovering my love/hate relationship with double workouts.  Two workouts a day is something I did for many years without any hesitation.  In college we swam from 6-7:30 am, then came back in the afternoon for another two and a half hours in the pool.  It was normal. 

For some reason, as an adult I've had a much harder time adjusting to working out two separate times in one day.  On one hand, doing two workouts makes me feel tough!  I'm an athlete again!  I rock!  On the other hand...I'm exhausted.  My body has never felt quite so creaky and tired.  I'm sure this is just the adjustment period, and it will get easier as I get stronger.

Right?

Biking + Hero WOD = tired!

This morning I biked as part of my (sprint) triathlon training.  After my bike ride I made myself a fabulous lunch.  It was a caesar salad (made with leftover dressing from last night) with avocado, tomatoes and leftover bbq wild salmon.

I rested (read: cleaned my house) for a few hours, then headed out to crossfit for a hero wod: Joshua.  5 rounds of 400 meter run, 30 sit ups, 15 dead lifts.  I really pushed myself during the run portion of the workout, and came home sweaty for the second time today.

Dinner was a new, different version of eggplant parmesan.  It was similar to the version I made last time, but I tried a new method today.  I used the only paleo salad dressing Ryan seems to like.

I cut the eggplant in quarter inch rounds and tossed them in a ziploc bag with the italian dressing.

Then I laid them on a cookie sheet that had been lined with aluminum foil, and baked at 425 for 25 minutes.

Once the eggplant was done, I placed a few rounds in a bowl and topped them with my homemade meat sauce.

LOBSTER! And other fun things.

Today was crazy busy - two workouts, two grocery gathering trips, and lobster cooking!  First was crossfit, then lunch: bison hot dogs and asparagus.

It's official, I have registered for the San Diego sprint triathlon on 9/11.  As part of my training, I will swim twice a week, bike twice a week, and "run" twice a week in addition to crossfitting daily. Today was swimming: 20 x 50 yards on a minute.  This would have been a freakishly easy workout when I was in college.  A warm up, even.  I'll be honest, it wore me out.  That being said, it felt great to do a real workout in the pool. Thanks Kaysha, for letting me use your pool (again)!

When Ryan got home from work he lit the bbq right away, bbq'd a wild salmon filet we had on hand (hello, leftovers!), and we turned to the inter-webs to learn how to bbq lobster.

First we cut the lobsters in half.

Then we pulled the meat away from the shell.

And placed them on the bbq.

Ryan basted them with butter throughout the cooking process, and they came out great!

I needed a side for dinner and since it was so hot, a salad fit the bill.  Tuscan Kale Caesar Slaw is something I never would have made, but my incredible friend Diane blogged this recipe, so I felt compelled to try it.  I'm not a huge fan of kale, so I used regular romaine lettuce instead.  I also didn't mush the egg through a strainer, I just chopped it up and tossed it on top.  It was delicious!

Pretty fancy for a Monday, huh?

Big Bend - not for the faint of heart!

I've decided that I need to switch it up sometimes, and write about things other than my food.  So, this post will be about today's epic hike.  Plus, I ate like crap today, so...yeah.

This morning I got together with two of my best buddies: Kim and Caroline, and we decided to try a hike we'd never done before: Big Bend.  Big Bend is located on Laguna Canyon Highway roughly halfway between the 73 and PCH.  We started the hike by taking a short detour...a warm up lap of sorts, which put us back at our cars in just 30 minutes.  By that time we had figured out that the trail started on the other side of the parking lot, so we headed that way.  Then we completed the Big Bend Loop.  It was almost vertical in places, and I found it quite difficult.  Caroline, our resident mountain goat, enjoyed it very much.  Here is a map of our travels.

And a graph showing our speed and elevation.  Notice that during the extreme elevation inclines, my speed sometimes stops dead.  A girl needs a break while climbing a mountain!

After the exhausting, sweaty hike, we jumped in the pool.  Here is a picture of Kim laying poolside, sipping iced tea and eating a nectarine.  That's how I entertain guests, paleo style.

And then I took a much needed nap.  The end :)

Busy Saturday!

We had a pretty full day.  First we slept in until 10, thereby missing the farmer's market.  Oops.  Then we lazed around a bit, and Ryan installed my brand new bicycle pedometer (so I can properly train for my upcoming sprint triathlon - you know, the one I'm going to do on my beach cruiser).  Once we finally headed out of the house, it was lunch time and we needed to eat.  Luckily, In-N-Out was nearby.  So easy, cheap and delicious!

Ryan got two protein style double doubles.  I got my standby: triple meat, no cheese, no spread, with grilled onions and extra tomatoes, protein style.

After lunch we picked out and purchased the suit Ryan will wear at our wedding.  I've never bought a suit before, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but we had a great experience with Ernie at 3 Day Suit Broker.  One more thing to check off of the wedding check list.  Yay!

After the suit excursion I went for a bike ride.  I did a crossfit endurance workout on my bike: 5 x 1k "sprints" with 2 minutes rest in between each.  It was interesting for my first time.  Next time I should have company: Ana says she wants to join me in training for this sprint tri!  Yay!

For dinner we met my wonderful friend Chelsi, her adorable, amazing and perfect daughter Payten, and Chelsi's awesome sister Alison.  We went to a fabulous restaurant in Pasadena called La Grande Orange. And get this: I got a grass fed steak!  Yep, grass fed beef tenderloin and zucchini. 100% paleo, 100% yummy.

But really, how could I not enjoy dinner when I got to spend it with this little one?

She's gonna be a flower girl.  Isn't she cute?  Also, she loves me :)

We wandered in Old Town Pasadena a bit, where Payten modeled while Ryan took her picture.

She even got to ride on her mom's shoulders!

Grass fed steak + good friends + adorable little one = great night :)