Hard Reset: Day Three (or: Blisters, and Other Hazards of Running)

So I've been meaning to get back into running for a while now, and today my Katie called me on it- so for our "hang out times" I went down to Portland to run her daily route with her (and by "run with her" I mean "shuffle and wheeze along as she kindly keeps her pace down".)

The running wasn't so bad as I'd feared, actually- from a cardiovascular standpoint I could have run (okay, let's face it- I was jogging don't judge) the whole thing, but from a tenderfoot standpoint, my blisters started demanding walking about two miles in (if it was even that long).

Fortunately my blisters tend to callous quickly, so I'm sure I'll be able to shuffle the entire 3.7 miles before too long, and then I can work on speed.

Aside from being sad about blisters, I was also sad about this:

...if only I were older, and had better insurance...

Seriously, other drivers; you had literally two entire blocks of empty curb you could have parked by.  Literally.  And you chose to not only park next to my car, but to park so close that I couldn't just pull out like a normal person.  This is like that time I was the only person in the theater and then another person came in and sat right next to me and who does that?!

But then I came home and there was a happy thing waiting for me: paleo Scotch Eggs!  Holy wow!  They are amazing and my husband is the best.

Hard Reset: Day Two (or: Twenty-Four-Plus Hours Back on Track)

Okay, so maybe this is just Day Two Hubris speaking, but I get the feeling I am going have a much easier time with this than I did the last time I detoxed.  I'm sure a lot of that feeling has to do with not having to consume that nasty RepairVite, as well as being allowed eggs and nuts (speaking of which- eggs whisked with coconut aminos and fried in coconut oil?  Holy stars.  It does not taste like it should be allowed...).  But I also think it has something to do with the fact that I know I can  make it through- I've done it before (and stricter), therefore I can do it again.  Also, I'm a lot better educated on all things Paleo/Primal now, which means I have access to recipes that October Me barely had an inkling of.  (Also also, I totally made a meal plan for the entire month this time, rather than trying to do it week-by-week, whilst feeling deprived-and-sulky.)

We made pad thai for dinner, with it's roots in Melissa Joulwan's recipe.  I changed it up by omitting the snap peas (if I was eating normally I wouldn't quibble over their primal status- but it's Avoid All [even probably-not-that-bad] Legumes time, so I just left 'em out), upped the onions to one and a half (because I had a half one already prepped and I'm nothing if not thrifty also who doesn't love sweet onions?), and used almonds instead of sunflower seeds in the sunshine sauce (also put in the juice of one full lime because waste not, want not).  Furthermore, I threw in a butt load of scallions and slivered almonds at the last minute, because contrasting textures = nice to the palate.

(PS It definitely came to four servings for my household, so keep that in mind...)

One of the best things about this recipe was the leftover coconut milk, which I totally mixed up with orange juice for a delicious desert-y treat.  Hooray!

Furthermore, I totally got up when the alarm went off (even tho' it went off at 0600 instead of 0630), so I am simply full of sticking-to-it-self-righteousness.  You know, at the end of day two.  (Hey, I get my triumphs when and where I can.  It makes life ever so much more pleasant.)

Also, have an elf.  A dude elf, no less.

...with a... freakishly large left eye?  Huh.  Whoops.

Hard Reset: Day One (or: Transit)

First of all, here is my homage to the transit of Venus:

Colors later?  Survey says yes.

Day one went pretty well- if we completely ignore the fact that I accidentally ate something prepared with butter.  Whoops.  So I guess my hard reset technically began at noon today!  Ah well- what's starting a New Thing if I don't immediately screw it up?

Dinner was garlic-lime scallops with a side of broccoli, and friggin' delicious.

In other news, I am extremely grateful for the other people at the rock gym- I was in fine spirits today, so I stayed later than I have in a long time, and when I told Hanz I was going to do one more route, he challenged me to do three more.  I asked (jokingly) if they could be 5.6s, and he said they could be 5.7s.  So I said sure, why not?  And then I did a 5.7- and then switched over to bouldering, and did three routes (two 0s and a 1, which both count as 5.10s in terms of difficulty, or so I am assured), then did pullups until I couldn't anymore.  Which is to say, I blew my arms out for the first time in months, and it felt great.

Talk about an excellent transit.

All Systems Are Go

Family left today.  Sad panda.

But Isis came home!  Huzzay!

(Not actually representative of how happy she was to see us- and vice versa)

 In other news, we are fully geared up for tomorrow's Hard Reset (as I'm calling the four-week detox).   Nathan is going primal, but I (along with some supportive friends) am going strict paleo- plus a little beyond that, in my case.  Here is my lit of Nos:

processed foods
grains
legumes
dairy
soy
sugars (except I think I may bring honey back in after two weeks)
nightshade veggies
high fructose fruits
alcohol
caffeine (which I originally forgot to add to the list, since I only ever get caffeine via chocolate, anyway...)

Also I'm re-establishing my discipline in these areas:

bed at 2200
nightly journaling (my version of meditation/prayer)
morning yoga (coupled with no hitting snooze)
no more than three hours a week of television

 Of course, in anticipation of this Hard Reset I've been...um, well, let's just say I'm probably going to feel sick as a dog tomorrow.  Which I guess means I'll really be able to tell the difference come July 4th...

Lazy Day

Lazy day with the family, which was most certainly needed after all of yesterday's shenanigans.  I spent quite a bit of time thinking bout Important Things:

It liiiiiiiives!

Speaking of Important Things, in the evening my brother-in-law and I took Grasshopper down to the library, and it was super awesome.  Finally I got to play with all the cool stuff in the kid's section without feeling like a creepster for not having a kid with me!

(also I picked up I Am the Cheese and Glamour in Glass.)

Righteously Exhausted

I was not able to convince anyone to join me at Crossfit this morning (weenies!) so there was no family on hand to witness my very first encounter with push presses.

The setup.

WOD:

Kettlebell Hoist (35lbs ) (couldn't find a video for this, but it's basically clipping a kettlebell to a rope-and-pully, hoisting it up to the ceiling, and then lowering it back down)
Airdyne (calories)
Back Extensions
Jumping Squats
Push Press (45lbs)

3 rounds
1 Minute per station, 1 minute rest between rounds.
Score is total reps

Hoisted!  Petards!

 First of all, my score was 196, a score which I was pretty proud of, all things considered.  But here's what I was not so proud of; I was not so proud of the fact that my ego did not stay at the door where I'd checked it.

See, the guy who was moving through the stations with me (there were five stations and nine of us, so most of us had a "partner" at each station) was not much bigger than I am, and I was feeling pleased as punch (and pretty buff) to be keeping up with him at the kettlebell hoist (leaving aside the fact that he was using 50 lbs to my 35), but when it came to the push press station he got off a minimum of 25 each round (at 75 lbs) like it was nothing, whereas I struggled mightily to get nine in my best round.  I felt weak and pathetic and sulky, and I didn't like it at all.

(So bad, I mean.)

But then I snapped myself the hell out of it by reminding myself that push presses, just like anything else (::coughcoughpullupscough::) take practice.  So the solution to me feeling weak and pathetic (and sulky) when I do push presses is to... do more of them.

I had to roll around on the ground a bit to recover (fortunately there was a sweet bulldog there to give me support and kisses) but once I did I pedaled home and enjoyed the bacon my brother-in-law had waiting for me (good man!), then got cleaned up as quickly as I could because we had to dash in order to make it to OMSI in time to catch the IMAX show my in-laws wanted to watch.  So they went to that while Nathan and I toddled around with Grasshopper.  And let me tell you, Gentle Readers, if we ever spawn I will totally spring for a membership to OMSI because of all the Seriously Awesome Distractions there are for kidlets.  It was great fun.  And possibly there are some pictures of me exposing my nephew to electrical currents for the fun of making our hair stand up... (I will post the ones of my hip-length hair floating around my head as soon as I get a copy).

After OMSI we headed over to the Zoo, which remains awesome as always.  (Seriously you guys- if you've never been to the Oregon Zoo and you get the chance, take it: it's one of my all-time favorites)  Certain members of the party had the advantage of being pushed in a stroller while napping, so although the adults were dragging by the end of the day, Grasshopper was feeling mighty fine (not to mention pleased with the amused attention he'd garnered by making Tiger Noises).

Haystacks and Handstands

Today was a really fabulous day, marred only by the fact that Nathan was not able to get away from work to join us at the coast.

We started it out by going to visit Isis (who is being boarded due to my brother-in-law's allergies) so that they could meet her, and I was pleased as punch with how well behaved she was.  Grasshopper was a little too intimidated to pet her (she is, after all, considerably bigger than he is) but he did throw her treats, and giggled as she went after them.

After that we hit the road, and after a quick stop at Trader Joe's for snacks (they'd never been to one, so it was a revelation) it was smooth sailing all the way to Cannon Beach, where the first order of business was to thoroughly encase Grasshopper in protective gear.  We got a lot of big smiles at his high adorability as we walked through town, and I think all three of us adults were wishing that we had pants that shed water so effortlessly.

We had lunch at one of my favorites (Bill's Tavern and Brewhouse), and then went and walked on the very windy beach.  It was so misty that you couldn't really see Haystack, which was disappointing, but Grasshopper was pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing, and the only complaint he had was that his parents wouldn't let him get in the water (Aunt Jenny O probably would have let him wade, but then that's probably why most people don't trust me with their children).  After that we needed to warm up, so we stopped in at the Chocolate Cafe, which was new to me (apparently they've been open less than a year).  Gentle Readers, I cannot rapturize enough about this place.  First of all, the quality of the chocolate was holystarsyes.  But more importantly than that, their customer service was impeccable.  My brother-in-law accidentally knocked his full cup of coffee across the table as he wrangled Grasshopper into submission- they replaced it immediately and free of charge.  And then they gave my sister-in-law an entirely new hot cocoa when she didn't like her first one (not that she complained to them- but I made a gentle and private suggestion to the girl behind the counter that they might want to put an explanation for what a "Mayan hot cocoa" is on their menu, since I just assumed my sis-in-law knew, but she just thought it was like "Swiss" or "Belgian" and therefore was not prepared to find chiles in her chocolate!).  And they were so sweet about everything!  I ended up buying four truffles to take home to Nathan as a "Sorry you couldn't come!" consolation prize.

Once we'd regained our warmth, I took them to my favorite surf spot, which they proclaimed their favorite part of the day (although Grasshopper slept through most of it on his dad's back).  Hopefully I will eventually have some photos to add to this post, but in the meantime, have my interpretation of me being happy with my Mayan chocolate demitasse:

Finally we piled back into the car and headed home, where Nathan was pleased with his consolation prize, and even cooked us a delicious meal of spice-rubbed pork chops and carrots.