Crossfit really DOES make you better at the things you love to do

I just want to give a shoutout to Crossfit, a "testimonial" if you will...

Before moving to Durham, my husband and I lived in Colorado and went snowboarding every single weekend. Besides being fun, it was a great workout, and by the end of each season, we'd be in fantastic snowboarding shape - strong quads, abs, and triceps (all that pushing off to stand up after strapping in adds up). But the beginning of each season SUCKED - reminding those muscles what they were supposed to do and then forcing them to do it for hours at a time made for serious soreness and stiffness (I'm talking the kind of sore where it's impossible to sit on the toilet without just kinda falling down onto it...you know what I'm talking about). Regardless of how much I ran and "lifted" during the rest of the year, nothing could prepare me for the opening weekends of snow season.

Fast forward to our move to Durham, nine months of Crossfitting, and a snowboard trip to Whistler, BC over the holidays. I hadn't strapped on my board since March of last year, so I was anticipating some misery and anti-inflammatories in my future. BUT the first run of the day felt great. As did the second. And the third. And the fourth. By the end of the first day, when everyone else was bitching and groaning and DYING to go in for some hot tubbing and a beer, my legs felt like a million bucks. And they stayed that way for 6 straight days of riding!

The point of all of this is not to say that I am a super strong superfreak, but to point out that the training we do at Crossfit really really really works. And by "works" I mean that it prepares our bodies to perform how we want them to. I mean, moguls got nothin' on Cindy/Fran/Helen/any of those crazy bitches.

My husband and brother-in-law FINALLY quit hobbling around over the weekend (a full week later), and I have never been happier with my body. And that's the whole point of exercise right? To make you fit enough to do the activities that you love to do!

So thanks to everyone at Crossfit Durham - coaches and fellow athletes alike - for helping me keep my Snowjo (hardy har har) going strong!

Is your birth control working in 2 ways?

I have been talking with a friend about the effects of birth control. I am, of course, talking about other than preventing pregnancy. Does it make you or help keep you fat? I have been doing Crossfit for 9 months and have not lost any weight. Last time I was this good about working out I lost a lot of weight in 6 months. I work out much harder with Crossfit and I know I am a lot stronger than I use to be. So, what is the difference... the pill? I am going to put up 2 photos. First is my fat Bea photo and the second is me 6 months later. All I changed was my activity level I did not change my diet.



Plese forgive the bathing suite. I think I might go off the pill again and use other methods of preventing pregnancy. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Posting the fat Bea picture was very hard.

Winter Salad

a.k.a. fun times with produce...

It’s crazy. It’s good. It’s crazy good! (Paleo for all you cavemen and women, seasonal for all you hippies, delicious for everyone else)

A disclaimer: the ingredients on their own can be a little pricy, but the yield is 4 good-size salads and could be bumped to 6-8 if you wanted smaller amounts. Additionally, the initial effort is labor intensive. I dealt with it by prepping everything and storing the leftovers in the fridge, making the next few times I threw it together super easy.

Ingredients

• 1 fennel bulb, sliced (discard stalks but retain as many of the fronds as you want)
• basil leaves to taste (I used ~15-20 medium sized leaves per salad, so 60-80 total)
• 1 grapefruit, just the fleshy part pulled into chunks
• pomegranate seeds
• juice orange/citrus fruit (tangelo works great – I used ¼ per salad)

Toss fennel and basil on plate. Scatter grapefruit chunks and pomegranate seeds on top. Squeeze orange over it all. Enjoy.

The whole concoction is also terribly pretty and gets major points for presentation, but I ate it before thinking about a photo shoot.

Carolina Fitness Challenge

The photos from the Carolina Fitness Challenge are now finished and
posted on the website:
http://www.beatriceyaxley.com/carolina-fitness-challenge/