Although we spent some of our weekend working on Real Life Paleo, we managed to ignore it (procrastinate) for most of the weekend and spend some much needed time together as a family, working out, playing, eating, and living in the moment. Want all the details? Keep reading!
CrossFit Mid Atlantic Regional
Although I have changed my focus at the gym to specific Strong(wo)Man training, Matt and the kids still CrossFit on a regular basis, and sometimes I join in for the occasional WOD. Lots of our friends (and team members) are avid CrossFitters and so I happily spent some time at the CrossFit Mid Atlantic Regional competition this past weekend, cheering on friends, and meeting new ones.
Gotta love my #crossfit #midatlanticregionals stamp next to the #strongman stones callus!
#crossfit #midatlanticregionals with team #crossfitreston good luck ladies!
Aimee, our photographer and dear friend, works out at CrossFit Reston who had several competitors competing and we were so excited to cheer them on! You can follow Aimee on instagram @aimeephotog . We got great seats!
Saturday Started watching the team competitions, talk about inspiration! After watching @mayawinters3 (a middle weight StrongWoman champion) climb ropes and do thrusters with her CrossFit team, I was excited to go lift a few heavy things myself!
Obviously #strongwomen have cool hair: met @xfitinyogi who lifts out of the awesome@brutestrengthgym
I also LOVED meeting so many fans this year. It has been wonderful to bridge the gap to just a mommy-food-blogger to also a strength athlete and now we’re getting to meet an amazing variety of friends in places we haven’t previously (like Regionals)! But, seriously. I was inspired to go lift heavy things… so I was off as soon as the team competitions ended!
Strongman Workouts
Speaking of lifting heavy things myself, you may think it seems crazy, but on a holiday weekend where I get to relax, I actually love to get in some great workouts lifting. It’s truly fun to me, and that’s so important with a good exercise regimen. If you love what you do, you look forward to it, have fun, and get so much more out of the endeavor than just burning calories.
Seriously, whose shoulders are those? Click image for full video
Funnily enough, when I listen to my own advice… I get results! Last week I was experiencing some joint pain and difficulty training. Worried I was having an auto-immune flair, I attributed it to food. But my smart coach knew that I had been pushing hard with book work stress and at the gym and thought I was having CNS Fatigue. Sure enough, with a week off to “deload“, an ice bath and concentration on relaxing and de-stressing my system, I was back to full strength this weekend and had a ton of fun in the gym (pain free)!
300 club I’m coming for ya! Click image for full video
It was an awesome surprise to find myself adding 55lbs to my personal back squat record, coming out of the hole relatively quickly at 285lbs on Memorial Day! I think I may hit the 300-club before July 4th! Spending time lifting heavy things and being with my “strong family” this weekend was just the recharge I needed.
Special Time with My Sweet Boys
Because I spend all week at the office working for the big bucks to buy all our Paleo Bacon, I use the evenings, weekends and special holidays to soak up as much love from my boys as I can! I love our Mom-and-Son dates with the boys individually, and all together. This weekend, my sweet middle son, Finn, was close by my side at the CrossFit Mid Atlantic Regional, and at Strongman workouts with me.
This mini-me truly loves being a strong paleo kid! He loved meeting vendors at Regionals, especially Steve’s Original Paleo Goods – where he got to pick out his favorite snack foods, dried strawberries, beef sticks and mango paleo kits and PowersSupply, where when they asked him “What fuels him and gives him energy?” His answer (he wrote it himself) was “Seeing my mom, I want to be strong like her!” ♥ #heartmelt (and don’t miss the video of Finian lifting atlast stones, it’s epic and awesome!)
I also took all of the boys to have some (gasp) FroYo and Sorbet because it was a holiday; we’re not perfectionists and let them have treats now and then, so long as they are HFCS and gluten-free! It was a gorgeous, hot weekend where we were and a great way to close out our awesome weekend together.
Holiday Weekend Grubs
So what did we eat this weekend? (besides FroYo and Steve’s Paleo of course….)
I’m loving all the fresh berries and other fruits that are in season when its warm! Seriously fresh berries and local grass fed cream are my absolute favorite thing to eat lately.
Matt also surprised me with a big post-WOD brunch on Memorial Day – it was so fantastic! Sugar Free Bacon (US Wellness Meats), our famous Waffles, scrambled eggs in lard, fresh blueberries, and Crispy Baked Wings (recipes from our upcoming book, Real Life Paleo) and blueberry muffins. He is the BEST!
We also enjoyed recipe testing some new recipes from The Paleo Kitchen. You can see our rendition of “The Perfect Burger” below, complete with Guacamole and Parsnip Strings.
Matt also made a batch of our Asian Short Ribs from Beyond Bacon to take to a Paleo Pot Luck with our friends from the gym. As you can imagine, StrongMen like ribs… I believe expletives may have been used by @MikeLusbyStrongMan. Honestly, I happen to think it’s one of Matt’s most under-appreciated recipes!
Speaking of grilling and BBQ, the summer season has just begun! It seems like Memorial Day really is the time when people bust out their grills and smokers, maybe buy some new toys, and get into a grilling mode for the rest of the warm months! There is a great sale going on right now at US Wellness Meats, and they have lots of great grilling items in stock right now. They have a flat handling fee of $7.50, regardless of the size of the order (and no shipping), so we always try to take advantage of these sales when they come around. Get 15% OFF your order when you shop here and use code “honey”. (affiliate)
