Saturday Max, Snatch, Swing, Learn, Teach, Coach, a great day!

I had a great day yesterday for a number of reasons.....whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!

7:30-8:00am
Right now I only have one student in my first Basic Beg Swing class after her 2 friends bailed a few weeks ago....but good for her to keep showing up (and lucky her to have 1-on-1 attention!), anyway.... I thought it was time for her to learn the snatch, and without going into any details....I pulled out all of my teaching know how, every drill and every method I could think of, but I just couldn't get her to be successful....this time! Bummer. But I realized it quickly, and decided to gt back to our swings.....still a bummer. Did my best.


8:00-8:45am
Max V02 w/16kg. Me, Mark and Meg train next. Mark is currently training his "Swing Max"http://rifsblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/swing-vo2.html, and Meg and I were supposed to finish up our Max w/16kg this last weekend before the both of us participate in the Feb San Jose RKC in 3 weeks. All of us training 15/15 work/rest sets. Mark's workout was to go to 50 sets.....which he increased to 60 when he realized he had a bit more in him!

Meg shows up and comments on how heavy the bell seems this morning! I had the same experience when I picked up the 12kg in my first class! Whoops.... I wanted to do my 80 sets of Max w/16kg....with at least 75 of them 8's....yeah right! That was not going to happen. And Meg either. Right now, with the RKC looming, overtraining is not an option....we both did our 80 sets, but I altered my reps, and Meg altered her reps and using 3 different bell weights, 12kg, 14kg, 16kg.

Tracy
6/6 x 4
7/7 x 4
8/8 x2 (10 sets warm up...)
7/7 x 8
8/8 x 2 (repeat until set 40....I was done with 8's!)
7/7 x 40

80 sets, 564 snatches (I think that's right)

80 sets was what I wasn't going to let kill me. It wasn't the weight, it wasn't the reps, it was 40 freakin' minutes....80, eight-o that was sooooo far away from the first 10 sets....

I realized that I wouldn't be doing 8's at all after the first half of the workout, much less the majority of the workout. Once I made peace with it, my focus was completing.....approaching set 60 I was ready to call it quits, but I just couldn't do it. I kept telling myself the weight felt light, it wasn't the weight. I kept telling myself 80 was just a number....so close to 60, just 10 set L, 10 sets R and it would be all over.....and then it was! Done. (PS doing 7's saved my hands. I actually walked away from the 16kg uninjured!)

8:45-9:30am
Max again? Yep, this time with my Intermediate class....AND the 12kg! I love Marks "Swing Max" and decided to work my girls up to their 60-80 sets of snatches by combining swings too. So, after our warm up, we headed straight into 15/15 for 60 sets alternating snatches with 2 hand swings (the exact workout is Top Secret, lol You have to come to class and train with us!)

9:30-10:00am
Basic Beginning Swing Class.....I get to slow down a bit and train equal work to rest now....whew! I have a great group of people in this class, and yesterday I had a new person join us for the fun! I was able to put my #1 star student in charge of a few back to back sets while I worked with my new gal, and she did great making the adjustments she needed to improve her one hand swings (her 2 hand swings were great!). My #2 star student has been working hard and it's showing! I widened the stance of another student and it completely changed his swing.....Yay! All good stuff....I must be a pretty good teacher!

10:00-10:30am
Private group of 4 for a brand new Learn to Swing class. OMG this was the best group to end my day! All four are fellow Bikram yoga students so I knew it was going to be a walk in the park, and it was! The "hinge" movement of the KB Swing is similar to the first part of "awkward pose" so I knew I had a good analogy that they would all understand. Everyone did super, in fact I had to hold them back and stop the class at our 30minute allotted time because I wanted them to be able to walk today! Seriously, the first time you swing, if you're not careful, it can sneak up on you, and you'll pay the price!

3 hours of training.....and then I headed off to 90 minutes of Bikram.

Lucky me, or unlucky me? For the first time ever, ever, ever, I got to yoga a bit later than usual and the 12noon class was full.....with a waiting list 14 people long! (I hate the 60 day challengers) I knew Mark was at home waiting for me to finish my day of training with a couple of bottles of good red wine, so I didn't waste another second being pissed, I got in my car and raced home! (PS I got to wear my high heels, wink, wink!)

Great day
Great training
Great husband
Great food and wine
Life is good, life is great!

When Life Gives You Lemons....

My friend,Yvonne, has a very prolific orange and lemon tree....lucky her.....and lucky me! Even luckier, her husbands grandfather grafted the lemon tree to produce both Meyer and Eureka lemons!

The only thing I love more that "free food" is, home grown, home harvested "free food"! Most of the time that means fruit, as alot of people own old fruit trees, and through no effort on their part the trees produce year after year.....what can a person do with all of that fruit? Give it to me!

So far these past few months I've recieved figs, guavas, persimmons (both kinds), lemons, oranges, avocados, and now going into Spring who knows what'll come along.

I found this powdered honey at the Korean Market the other day for $1.99, and I thought it could be interesting. Since it was right near the checkout I didn't look too closely at the ingredients, although I thought I read that it was simply "honey", but what I read was "100% natural"...I assumed it was only honey. But after getting home I read that there was indeed one other ingredient.....refinery syrup.

Yikes! My first thoughts were that refinery syrup was the same as corn syrup, but it's not. Refinery syrup is cane sugar (good, but not great, lol), and Mark guesses that it's added to keep the honey in powdered form. OK! I use white sugar, so what's the difference? Honey flavor......so I used it to make honey lemonade!

Waiting for a Rainy Day

I have so much food, at this point my freezer is overflowing.....I have to start eating some of this food.

Cooking is my hobby....so is shopping! So shopping for food is a double joy! The problem? It's only Mark and me at home these days and since I cook (and shop daily), I have too much food already cooked and ready to eat. I still have about 4 qts of my favorite tomato soup in the freezer, from this past season.....and I can't bring myself to eat it because if I eat it, it'll be all gone.....as if tomato season won't come around again.

I have the same problem with my clothes. I have so many really nice things to wear, but if I actually wear them, they'll be dirty, and may not be available when I want them.....I'm crazy.

I feel as if I'm always "saving" for that "rainy day"......

I don't eat my favorite foods, because then they'll be gone, and I don't wear some of my favorite clothes, because then they'll be dirty (unavailable). Life is passing me by.......

I know.....I'll buy some rainboots, and eat everything in my freezer, while I wear all of my favorite clothes......I swear I'm not going to cook one more thing until my freezer is empty. It's been raining for about 2 weeks straight, and the time is now.

Whoops....I already own rainboots....no more shopping either, lol!

The Definition of "Fast Food"

I rarely eat out....meals....but we all have to snack, don't we? Well with my current schedule of always being on the road, starting at around 5:30am on most weekdays to get to a 6:00am class of some sorts, I'm on the go and rarely make it home before 12noon. I don't eat breakfast, unless you count coffee with cream, but if you consider the fat calories add up to, oh, I don't know, about 100-150 then it is (technically) breakfast and I should count that as that! Also, I've, kinda, gotten in the habit of eating a bit of sugar before my mid-morning workout (usually yoga) to give me a little something extra until I can get to a "real" meal, and I either "eat" my sugar, in the form of a small piece of chocolate, or dried fruit, or I "drink" it with a super charged, flavored, coffee drink!

I'm always bragging about the fact that I don't eat out, especially fast foods, but what are fast foods....really? Fast foods, to me, are foods you don't prepare, or cook yourself. Well, if that's how I define fast food, then what is a "coffee drink"? What is a piece of chocolate, or dried fruit?

I refuse to eat "energy" bars, protein bars, meal replacement bars, in other words, fake candy bars. If I'm going eat candy, then I'm going to eat candy, and not pretend it's anything other than what it is. In fact a few months ago when I confessed how I was addicted to the "bulk" section at Molly Stones Grocery, and specifically the "energy nuggets", I realized, as I was writing about it, that there was no difference betwwen those energy nuggets and, what I totally despise, "power bars" (etc.), I vowed at that time to never again buy them or eat them....and I haven't.

If I look at the types of snacks I used to have a couple of years ago, then it was common to have an apple, my favorite, or celery/carrot sticks w/PNB and raisins, yogurt, pretty much that would be my ususal snacks, but I can't eat veggies before a workout, that would start a "digestion process", and I train until, sometime 2:00pm....what can I eat? Well, if I know I have a 12noon yoga class, I can pretty much eat any kind of small meal around 9:30-10:00am....protein, oatmeal, small salad with grains as the main ingredient, etc., but these days I try to plan all of my workouts, back to back. Most days if I just take my mind off of food, then it doesn't really make a difference if I eat anything at all....I just go, one right after the other....I always survive, lol! (Not without coffee though...I have to have my coffee).

OK, so I don't eat Mc Donalds, but what are my favorite fast foods? (currently)

Dried persimmons I buy at the Vietnemese Market. Good God, I love these moist, chewy disks of dried persimmon! Dried fruit of any kind needs to be eaten with caution as it is calorie dense, but I'm pretty good about limiting my portions these days. I love any kind of dried fruit, raisins, prunes, cranberries, etc., but dried persimmons are only available this time of the year, so I have to take advantage! I wrote about how I love "crystilized ginger" a few weeks ago.....but guess what? If I don't buy it, then I don't eat it! LOL! (It's killing me that my new favorite Korean Market sells it for a fraction of what a market like Whole Foods sells it for...and it's better!)

Sushi. I don't really like sushi! I know that the fact that I buy "ready made" sushi at the Korean Market near my yoga studio, may be confusing, but although I wouldn't choose to go out and eat sushi, I happen to like the way they make it and I don't mind picking some up while I'm also buying "Jap Chae" Korean salad....which I plan on making myself. (Blogpost and video to come soon!) PS I happen to know how to make sushi.....I took a few classes and have the kitchen tools to make it at home, but I don't like it enough to make it often, and for it to become part of my "repetoire")

Candy! Candy is fast food! This catagory includes cookies, cakes and any other sweet baked stuff that only requires me to open a package, or pick it out of the the bakery case! My current favorite candy is Gingerbread Caramels made by Jo"s Chocolate Company, (pictured above), that I was able to clean up on at 1/2 price after the Holiday season (blogpost to come, lol). These are the caramel candies I diced up and added to my Drunk, Blind, Candy Pizza a few weeks ago! I rarely by any other sweets "ready made" these days as I have a ton of caramels yet to eat! I'm pretty good at limiting my quantites and may only treat myself to one caramel a day. (with my mid morning, pre yoga coffee!) I do tend to torture myself with trying to buy only the highest of quality of readymade candies, cookies and cakes! In other words I rarely but Oreos....not that there's anything wrong with Oreos (etc.)....I can respect the "Oreo binge", lol!

Crackers, and corn chips.......(thanks Fawn!) I'm so over this "no carb shit"...seriously. A little salt, a little crunch....again, I'm good about limiting the quantity. My favorite crackers are from Trader Joes, their "Multi Grain" crackers are about 130 claories for 15-17 crackers, and Whole Foods (and BevMo, lol! more to come about BevMo!) carry these multi grain corn chips that are pretty darn tasty too!

Cheese......ofany kind! You have to eat a few small slices of cheese with your first glass of wine for the night....don't you? I love buying many kinds of cheeses and trying all of them! Again....in moderation.

And speaking of wine.....red wine. Uncork a bottle.....does it get faster than that? I consider wine, food. Period.

So as it may sound, I treat myself to tons of "fast foods", but I do need to say one more thing....until I have time to write a longer blogpost about it.....I have felt some recent motivation to drop some of this extra weight before the Feb. RKC that I will be participating in, and I haven't given up any of my favorite "fast foods", but I have managed to drop a few pounds regardless.....it's not what you eat, but how much you eat.....

You can run, but you can't hide.

PS Ethnic Markets have, not only unique seasonal products, but most time, amazing prices! The photo above of a package of dried persimmons was only $2.49....for 12 ounces! That's about $4.00 per pound. I'll be writing a blogpost about shopping at Ethnic Markets soon...in the mean time, if you live near any and haven't been inside, then get over it! Go inside and see what they have to offer!

Saturday's workout...one last week off from Max w/16kg

Real quick.... Max Vo2 "based" workout 15/15 work/rest. Heavy 2 hand swings and double snatches in groups of 5 sets per., alternating for a total of 30 minutes.

Warm up (sets 1-10)

8 double snatches w/two 8kg's x 5 sets
10 2 hand swings, hardstyle, w/12kg x 5 sets

Work sets (sets 10-60)

5 dbl snatches w/two 12kg's x 5 sets
10 2 hnd sw, hardstyle, w/16kg x 5 sets
5 dbl snatches w/two 12kg's x 5 sets
10 2 hnd sw, hardstyle, w/16kg x 5 sets
5 dbl snatches w/two 12kg's x 5 sets
10 2 hnd sw, hardstyle, w/16kg x 5 sets
5 dbl snatches w/two 12kg's x 5 sets
10 2 hnd sw, hardstyle, w/16kg x 5 sets , repeat
10 2 hnd sw, hardstyle, w/16kg x 5 sets

Good Lord, this was t-t-t-t-tough! What's harder than timed interval sets of double snatches w/12kg's, and hardstyle 2 hand swings w/16kg? Try it and let me know, lol! (yep Diana, I dare you.....) I was seriously sucking wind during the double snatch rep intervals (Mark describes it as a "moderate" sucking of wind, lol.....it was great! It reminded me if the first few times I trained Max Vo2, years ago!

I did a fraction of the number of snatches I regualry do.....the equivilent of 20, 16kg snatches, and only 100, 24kg santches! Compare that to last weeks workout of over 800 snatches...and I continued to do many multiple sets of snatches in my next class that same morning! In addition to my Monday santch workout too!

Did I forget to Mention I Did 800 Consecutive 12kg Snatches in 40 Straight Minutes Last Saturday?

Well, 804 to be exact....but who was counting? Decided to take a couple of weeks off of Max V02 with the 16kg (I still haven't blogged about the disaster the week previous...yikes), and so a, potential, continous snatch set with the 12kg was the order for the morning.

Previuosly I had 1000 snatches in 48 minutes, but that was not a continious 48 min., it was with 3 rests, the first one after 25 consecutive minutes. This Saturdays PR wasn't about the number of snatches, but the continuous time.... In fact I had snatched as fast as 12/12, and 15/15 the first time, while this time I stuck to a strict 10/10 per minute. (little did I know I miscounted and did an additonal 4 snatches in the last five minutes) I decided to take Meg along on the ride with me!

Here are two videos from last Saturday, the first is 10 minutes long, and I don't expect too many people would be interested in watching the whole thing, but the "entertaining" part (my singing debut) is in the first couple of minutes!



In this first video I knew 10/10 was the pace I wanted to set to go the distance, and I could see Meg in my peripheral vision and if left to her own devices she would have snatched faster, but I had to stand my ground and set the pace I wanted! She did 600 snatches in 30 minutes, and most likely would of stayed with me for the additional 10 minutes, but she was taking an RKC prep course the next day with Jordan and she knew she would be testing her 100 snatches w/16kg....which she did in 4 minutes! I hate her!

This second video is the last 5 minutes.



The funny part of this is near the end when my next class started showing up, and while finishing my set I was telling them what to do to get ready for class! Molly started dancing to one of the songs playing, so it inspired me to throw a little dancing in too, at the end....

PS in the first Video I try to imitate Brittany Spears singing her song 1-2-3....lol! Brittany's songs are my latest "guilty pleasure"....come on now, after all she done to herself these past few years? Girlfriend is looking good!



A white one piece and high heeled shoe boots? I might be able to pull it off! yeah right....although it's already January 22nd and that only leaves me about 9 more days to get some high heels on these feet....twice (Mark reminds me!)...yikes!

Beaming With Pride

My oldest Son, Rick, (Sophie's dad) has his first "official" apartment with my (soon to be ) daughter inlaw, Cristina, and finally it's fun for me to visit them anytime I want to! And of course, being the "know it all" that I am, I have been trying to help them set up household....according to "Grandma Tracy ". So what's the first thing I give them? A pressure cooker of course!

I have 3 pressure cookers. I bought my original 6 qt. PC, probably 15 years ago when I worked in a gourmet kitchen store called 'Home Chef". It sat, undisturbed, for over a decade until I spent a long weekend with my BFF Fawn Friday, and she introduced me to the amazing world of pressure cooking (this was a mistake on her part, lol....she was simply cooking some pork, in a PC, little did she know the "pressure cooker", not the pork, was the true gem of knowledge I would take away with me and go crazy with, lol).

After using the crap out of it, I was ready to buy another when a woman known as the "Veggie Queen" made a comment on my blog and I ended up buying, not only her DVD on "how to start pressure cooking", but also her cookbook, and an 8qt /4 qt, combination pressure cooker from her! (these 2 pressure cookers use the same lid, so, 2 bottoms, one top...fyi) I decided to give my son and his family the 6 qt. to see if they actually will use it, and then I'll repossess it, and buy them their own. I also gave them my copy of the Veggie Queen's DVD.

Anyway....back to the story......

Every week when I visit, I help Cristina make lunch...in the pressure cooker of course! I have her do the work, as I explain what to do. I believe the best way for someone to learn is by them actually doing it themselves.

After the first week, I returned to find out that they had not used the PC again, or watched the DVD! But, because I believe in PC-ing, and I helped them make another meal in the PC...forcing them to get over the fear. Well.....guess what?

I get a phone call from Cristina asking me if she can cook beans in the PC! Of course, in fact, if you watch the DVD I left with you, it will show you exactly how to do it! Then the next day Ricky calls, asking me some questions about the timing of cooking some chicken and rice. And then I get another call a day later asking how to cook pork shoulder.....

Are they actually using it? Yes!

After the pork shoulder was done, Rick calls me back and tells me how they just finished eating dinner, and how the pressure cooker "ROCKS"! How proud am I?

PS Rick and Cristina did finally watch the DVD! That tells me that they have a lifetime of yum, yum, yummy, fast nutritious homecooked meals in their future.....and Sophia's future!