Hey guys! Happy Monday! Good news: I’m not sick anymore! Phew! That was rough! I finally started to come out of it Saturday – just in time to do the fourth Open workout, 14.4!
Before I get to talking about that though, I want to say THANK YOU for your wonderful, encouraging comments on this post. I debated sharing those thoughts (and then debated pulling the post), but ultimately, I’m happy I put it out there! Your comments were really sweet and put things in perspective. I’m going to revisit that topic – I’ve given it a lot of thought and have some insights to share soon.

The CrossFit Open // Week 4:

Most. Painful. WOD. Ever.

Seriously. OUCH!

I’ve talked before about the cuts and bruises I’ve endured from CrossFit but this is by far the worst incident. I mean, I think you can tell from the photos just how horrific it is! It’s pretty bad!

Supposedly when you use too much chalk, this is what happens. I chalked between almost every toes-to-bar, so, I guess I had it coming! I didn’t feel anything during the actual workout (adrenaline?), but afterward? MAN! Actually, it still hurts – I can’t use my hands! Aaron’s been my shower buddy! It’s so crazy! 🙁

14.4 wasn’t like any of the other Open workouts I’ve done. I did alone because we had to leave town Saturday and it just wasn’t the same! Actually, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it at all but Saturday morning when we showed up for the regular weekend WOD, our coach said I could warmup with the group and then do 14.4 with my husband as the judge (when he finished the other workout).

I actually felt great during the warmup! I hadn’t worked out in days from being sick and I was ready to rock this! I practiced a few of the cleans – HELL YEA, I kept thinking, “I LOVE HEAVY CLEANS!!!” I even practiced a few toes-to-bar and they felt unusually fluid. I thought I was going to rock it!

Then, I started rowing. Slowly. There wasn’t any loud music (which helps me a ton!) and I had this dumb idea to take the rowing portion slow. I didn’t think 60 calories would take as long as it did, but it took FOREVER! I was on the rower for 5:30 minutes! I should have definitely pushed myself a lot harder!

I did about 5 toes-to-bar right away, though my goal had been 10. Then I went down to 2, and from there, I did singles.

There were a few “no reps” in there when my feet didn’t hit the bar and it was almost comical – how frustrating!!! Halfway through I lost track of the whole workout and asked Aaron, “Is it 40?” He reminded me… no, it’s 50! Yikes.

I ran out of time on my 45th rep, and couldn’t believe I didn’t even make it to the wall balls! Sheesh! But I was honestly glad it was behind me and we could get on the road, and I didn’t have to worry about how to fit it in before Monday.

I think I could do a lot better in this workout, and I look forward to trying it again in a few months and hopefully crushing my finishing score of 105. How did you do?

A few other things going on –

I Made Cauliflower Pizza Crust:

I made this Cauliflower Pizza Crust recipe for the first time last week and it was so good! It was easy to make and even Aaron liked it! The only thing I didn’t love was that each pizza was one-part cauliflower and one-part mozzarella, which made it very, very cheesy once you added cheese on top as well. I’d like to experiment with other versions of this recipe and try different toppings too! I did the pepperoni to entice Aaron to eat it, but it made everything really greasy (especially considering all the cheese already in the “crust”). I look forward to playing around with this some more!

I Had My First Acai Bowl!

I was home sick on Friday but midway through the day I had to get out for some fresh air, so I headed to South Block Cafe in Clarendon. I’ve been following South Block on Instagram for months and DYING to go there – everything looks so. good. and it was just as delightful as I suspected! The cafe itself is bright and airy, and the people were nice. There’s a huge selection of fresh, healthy eats to chose from too!

I wanted to try everything on the menu but I ended up with the warrior acai bowl and a shot of wheatgrass (which tasted like stragiht-up grass) but it was all good in my opinion! Acai is a delicious Brazilian fruit that’s served mashed and frozen in a bowl. The warrior version came topped with granola, blueberries, strawberries, banana and honey! It was DELICIOUS!! While eating it all I could think was “Who needs ice cream?” So you know that means it was good!!

I’m Trying to Start a Salad Club. By Myself. (Lol)

I’ve been playing around with the idea of salad prepping on Sundays for a week of salad club (for one?) at my new job… You guys know how much I love salad club and I miss it a lot!

Last week I tested things out bringing a salad in a large tupperware container to work, with dressing in a mason jar, and it turned out well! Obviously it’s not nearly as fancy as my salad club salads (search #ffabsalad on Instagram to see what I mean), but it’s a start! I’ll let you know how things go this week as I step it up a notch and bring more throw-ins to work!

A New Favorite Food Blog:

You guys know I’m obsessed with blogs – I read at least one blog everyday and I’m always on the lookout for more to add to my news feed! Well, I found Hungry Happens on Instagram and finally started following her actual blog this weekend – LOVE the recipes! They’re all super healthy, but super easy and require minimal ingredients and cooking skill! Hello new favorite food blog! I can’t wait to try some of the recipes soon!

Rocky is so damn cute!

And since Rocky was so popular last week, here’s his sweet face again:

I hope you guys are having a great start to the week!

Have you had any terrible CrossFit injuries? 

Try any new recipes or restaurants lately?