Crossfit Crazy!

Day began earlier than any of us would have liked!

I always wake up earlier with another person in the house (just the host in me), and since Justin's aunt stayed with us last night, I woke up around 6!

So, I made the most of it and headed to a free cross fit class at Broadripple Crossfit to see what all the hype is about :)

It was a really basic class, since most of it was talking about what cross fit is, how it's different, and how we can make it work for us. The instructor spent a good half an hour showing us the proper form for different exercises including rowing, push ups, situps, squats, pull ups.

I thought I would be a bit bored, but this guy was really knowledgable about training, anatomy, and how to get the most of your workout.

We ended class with a short fitness assessment called the baseline workout, I'm sure all of you crossfitters out there have done this and utilize it to base your progress on! Great tool to use.

Consisted of a 500 meter row, 40 squats, 30 sit ups, 20 full chest to floor push ups, and 10 pull ups (yeah right…). Luckily, he had plenty of tools to adapt the pull ups for us upper body wimps out there. He was cheering me on though because I almost did one whole pull up without any box or anything!

Big girl style.

Speaking of big girl style, a while ago I got a press release from a representative for Valerie Calhoun. If you don't know already, she was the YOUNGEST competitor at this year's CrossFit (by Reebok), which automatically makes her my hero.

Here she is looking all precious and innocent. 16?! I can tell ya what I was doin at 16… barely passing my driving test, learning to flirt, and getting my braces off.

And here's her looking….

Well…

badass.

Oh hey, pull up!

I don't know if you heard her counting, but she was at 175….

Needless to say, anyone, no matter what age, any one of us can look up to Valerie. She was kind enough to let me ask her some questions so we could get to know her a bit!

Hi Valerie! First and foremost, I am honored to be interviewing you and can't wait until my readers can get to know you!

What made you want to take Crossfit from just a "way to stay in shape" to a competitive level?

Gary Baron, owner and trainer of Rocklin Crossfit, actually got me started in competing  and signed me up for my first competition 3 years ago. After competing in Crossfit for the first time is really when I got hooked. Being a gymnast for 9 years, I've always loved competing and Crossfit allows me to do just that and also allows me to overcome new weaknesses I never knew I had. Staying in shape was my first primary goal but after experiencing the excitement of competing in Crossfit made me want to take it to the next level.

What advice would you have for someone looking to take on a BIG fitness goal like you have? For example, I have only ever run a half marathon and am thinking about taking on the full marathon in the next few years! It can be so overwhelming to think about!

My advice for someone looking to take on a Big fitness goal would be to work hard in order to achieve that goal. If you want it that bad, then work that much harder. I'd also advise you to have fun doing it!! Who says you can't have fun while working hard. Enjoy it and have confidence in yourself!

What foods do you fuel your body with that stick with you but don't weigh you down?

Food that helps fuel me is definitely meat. I eat a lot of chicken and steak for my fuel. During competitions I also love to snack on dried strawberries especially and other fruits. Also for protein I eat Met-Rx bars.

Do you diversify your training with completely different fitness arenas like yoga or do you mainly focus on your strengths?

I do diversify my training and not only focus on my strengths. I think its really important to work on your weaknesses and to make them your strengths. My weaknesses include rowing and swimming so It's important for me to practice that. Outside of crossfit I have done yoga, trail runs, swimming, and other activities.

What does your future look like 10 years down the road? Are you interested in making a career in fitness?

10 years down the road I hope to be a Crossfit trainer and continue to live an active lifestyle. I would like to qualify to the Crossfit Games individually and maybe someday even take the podium but I definitely still have a lot of work to do! I am interested in making a career in fitness because it interests me and I find it very important to live a healthy life.

What a rad chick. I mean really, it's incredible to me that this youngin' is competing with top athletes from around the world! Thank you to Valerie and her PR rep. Gretchen for reaching out to the Bee's Knees with this opportunity!

After Crossfit, I headed home to see Justin's Aunt Renee off, brewed a cup of coffee, chopped some apples, and logged onto my computer to start the daily grind of the job search.

Topped them with cinnamon, coconut, vanilla yogurt and cinnamon pecan cereal!

I tell you what, there's really nothing more discouraging than applying for upwards of 100 jobs and hearing back from a grand total of about 5. It's certainly who you know and not what you know.

Although I'm trying to utilize my network as much as possible, most of my friend/family are in the healthcare industry, so it just doesn't quite fit with what I'm looking for!

After finding and applying for several potential jobs, I took a break!

A break to bake!!

I filled my cupboards with all kinds of goodies yesterday and couldn't wait to cook today! It's seriously been SO long since I got my hands dirty.

Ended up with a fridge full of roasted squash, zucchini, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, chopped watermelon, and 5 baked chicken breasts!

I am going to try to do the majority of baking and chopping for the week on one day in order to maximize my time and dish use :) Nobody likes to do dishes…

My friend/college roommate Rachel came to see me, Finley, and the new house this morning!

We chatted away and she was a good sport to try one of my concoctions for lunch!

Spaghetti squash and zucchini topped with a mixture of marinara, hummus, and cream cheese. Don't knock it till you try it.

Followed by some fresh watermelon eating standing up :)

I then headed to get Finley some exercise and jogged him to my sister's house to play with his cousins.

I think it worked :)

After an afternoon dentist appointment, I headed back to Kara's to spend some more time with her and Myles, and I came bearing gifts!

Huddles frozen yogurt! Hers held up, but mine unfortunately turned to Red Velvet soup. Not as appealing as Red Velvet frozen yogurt. No worries, I still choked it down :)

I believe this evening has another special delivery in store for our house… I'll keep you updated!