Just Do It

I've had a couple people ask me lately "What got me started doing CrossFit? What keeps me going?".  Well.  Let me just start this off by saying that I NEVER in my entire life imagined that people would ask me questions like this.  I was a lazy slug for years that promised myself I would go to the gym... tomorrow. 

So... why did I start doing CrossFit?  Last year, I lost someone who was about as close to me as you can be - my fiance.  After that, I went through a period where my life felt totally out of control and I couldn't handle much of anything.  Work, family, friends - all of it felt like too much and it was taking everything I had just to pull it together and make it through the day.  A friend encouraged me to give CrossFit a try (his exact words being 'It will change your life') and then a girlfriend and I had one too many glasses of wine and signed up for a free trial class (that's the definition of liquid courage).  Even during our trial class - it felt good.  For the hour - I felt as normal as I had felt in months. It took me one trial class to be hooked.  Each time I went to class - I was in control.  I controlled how much I lifted, how fast I moved, how many reps I could do.  It was refreshing to push my body as hard as I could.  

It also helped me to make some healthy decisions - I cut back my drinking, I actually ate and ate healthy, my body was tired so I was sleeping.  Being healthy and getting fit made a huge difference for me - it seemed to help counter everything that was going on in my head (and with my heart) and make it just slightly more manageable.  And when you are trying to put your life back together - you need all the help you can get.  

So... why do I keep doing it?  Because I love it.  I have made friends who are amazing and who I hope will be in my life for a very long time.  I love coaching.  I love the sore 'you are killing it' feeling that I feel almost all of the time.  I love cheering for complete strangers in competitions.  I love pushing myself to failure.  I love PRing.  I love laying on the mats after a workout sucking wind and hoping someone brings me my water bottle.  I love the sound of dropping weights.  I love that I can walk into the gym with one mood and walk out with another. 

CrossFit for me is a perfect fit. 

My words of advice for people who aren't sure if they want to start something new or are feeling lazy?  JUST DO IT.  I don't care if it's CrossFit, yoga, running, pole dancing, Zumba, paddle boarding, biking, whatever.  Just do it.  And do it now.  Stop thinking about it and get out there and do it. Maybe it won't change your life... but maybe it will.  I think about my friend's words all the time - and he was right.  CrossFit and the folks at Sound CrossFit changed my life - and very much for the better.  I can't imagine a life without it.  

Stop telling yourself you will do it tomorrow - if you need to, drink that glass of wine and get the liquid courage to sign up for a class you've been dying to try. 

Get a group of friends that keep you accountable - it can make all the difference.  Trust me - if you skip out on a 6:30am class and leave a friend to do it alone - they won't let you forget it anytime soon.

If you don't love something - try something else.  Don't force yourself to do something that you hate - it will only make you and everyone around you miserable.  And... you won't do it.  You will constantly come up with excuses as to why you can't do it right now.

But more than anything... just get out there and do it.  Try new things and you'll discover what changes your life.  

 

Dear Delta... I Hate You

Well... I'm stuck in the Salt Lake City airport.  YEAH!  Okay...  let me preface this by saying that I am ALWAYS stuck in the SLC airport.  Literally every time that I fly thru SLC - I am stuck here.  Last time, they tried to make me stay the night.  On a Sunday.  In Salt Lake City.  Absolutely not.  Thank you Delta Airlines for making yet another trip memorable.  

On the positive side - I've gotten to sit next to a totally delightful woman from Minnesota who talks at approximately 95db with a super awesome northern MN twang (you know exactly what I'm talking about) and so I've heard her entire phone conversations - even through my noise-cancelling headphones. (In case you were confused - I was being sarcastic.  I may need a sarcasm defining font.)  That, my friends, is too loud.  

On another note - a woman at my conference yesterday called me delightful too - and she wasn't being sarcastic.  At least I don't think she was.  Hmm.  Well... I don't think that ever in the entire history of my life has anyone called me delightful. (My boss laughed and said that she has obviously only seen me on good days.  Umm... thank you?)   So... I'm embracing delightful as my new adjective.  If I ever try the dating on the interwebs again - I shall use delightful to describe myself.  Maybe that will get me a boy over 5'8.  It could totally work right?  Guys must dig delightful girls.  

On a completely different note:  some middle-aged drunk guy hit on me in the hotel elevator yesterday.  Well... actually, it was in line for the hotel elevator.  This is how the conversation went: 

Middle-Aged Drunk Guy (MDG): This is a long line for the elevator.  
Me: (Polite smile.)
MDG:  Don't you think this is an abnormally long line for the elevator?
Me:  No... not really.  It's fine.  Busy night. 
MDG:  I'm Kevin. (Leans in and extends hand.  Can instantly smell Jack Daniels.  Lots of it)
Me:  Hi Kevin.  I'm Danielle.  (Shakes his hand.  Need to get better at coming up with fake name... immediately.)
MDG:  We should go get a drink.  They have good drinks in the bar.  Let's go for a drink.  
Me:  Umm... no... I think I'm going to go to bed.  But thank you. 
MDG:  Are you sure?  I'll buy you a drink.  (Pause)  You look strong.  
Me:  Yeah... I'm sure.  And thank you?       
MDG:  No seriously, you look REALLY strong.  

Elevator doors FINALLY open and I go to the exact opposite side as Kevin.  After he exits, Other Random Dude (ORD) and I have this conversation: 

ORD:  You handled that guy quite well. 
Me: (totally awkward feeling)  Thank you?
ORD:  And... you do look strong.  

Seriously!?!??!  

 
 

Adventures in Business Travel (Or... How to Workout at a Hotel Gym)

All of this week and part of next, I'm on the road for work.  I flew to Spokane on Monday for back-to-back conferences and it has been a long week.  It's Thursday - I've done one full event, kicked off another this am, have had dinners and drinks every night and have just generally been super busy.  Even though I'm beat - this is one of the weeks where I love my job.  I love these particular events - the people are awesome and fun and it's way more casual than other events.  I love that I can wear a summer dress and call it good - it's refreshing to not be all stuffy sometimes (I know... me? Stuffy?! Impossible. No.  I'm totally stuffy around my old CEO/CFO groups.  Suits = blah.)

I know, I know - "Stop talking about your clothes!  We don't care that you've worn the same outfit to three different groups this week (true story).  Tell us about working out!!"  

Okay, fine... you win. 

Have managed to eek out time for a workout yesterday and today.  Even though this gym is definitely not state of the art - they do have a couple of kettlebells.  (10 points to the gym!)

Exhibit A: 

That's a 10lb kettlebell.  And I deperately wanted to use it.  I didn't.  But I wanted to.

I was the only one in the gym for this workout - so although people were walking by wondering why I was holding a funny shaped weight over my head - no one else was sharing the tiny gym space with me.  


20 Turkish get-ups (25lbs)
25 hand release push-ups
50 goblet squats
50 sit ups
Time: 13:09

I modified this WOD from one that DQ did earlier this week.  He did a lot more push ups (or maybe they were pull-ups - the PU description can be quite vague) but I did more squats and added situps.  Hey... I'm going to Texas tomorrow - time for a bikini and short shorts means more squats and sit ups. 


This is what the yoga mat looked like when I was done: 

Ew.  Sweat angel.  I feel like when you can see the shorts line - it's extra gross.  I'm glad I was the only one there to see this.

Then I did 15 minutes of much needed mobility.  I have a knot in my right shoulder that just won't go away.  Holy motherf-er, it hurt to roll out on that foam roller.  (Also - 10 bonus points to the hotel for having a foam roller!)

Today, I got up at the crack of dawn - okay... not that early.  But before 6am.  Anyways... this morning, I did: 

21-15-9
KB swings (36lbs) (I actually did 25 the first time - 4 extra! yeah!)
Burpees (yes... I willingly did burpees without a coach yelling at me)
Weighted lunges (25lbs) (these suck.  Horribly.)
Time: 11:01  

This morning... there were two other folks in the gym, one on a treadmill, one on an elliptical.  The woman on the treadmill was just running away - nice easy pace, didn't look sweaty, didn't look like she was even breathing hard.  She had the news blasting and was just going to town.  The gentleman on the elliptical was looking at me like I was nuts for throwing myself on the ground and jumping back up time after time again (yeah dude, I think burpees are insane too... but I can't argue that they are good for me).  I was in the gym for about 30 minutes after warming up - working out - and doing a few minutes of mobility. I get that isn't a super long time in the gym - BUT... I left drenched in sweat.  You don't even want to see the sweat stain I left on the yoga mat after that.  So gross.  I could practically hear this woman huffing at me when I walked out making fun of my short workout.  Just keep running lady - I'm going to keep swinging my kettlebells and getting workouts done in less than 20 minutes. I get that endurance training and CrossFit are different - but really?  Don't sneer at me - I can see you in the fully mirrored wall.  

Ohmygosh-- then, this guy walked into the gym.  Looked younger, fit-ish and like a TOTAL fish out of water in this tiny gym.  He looked at me - sweaty ball of mess on the floor rolling out my IT bands.  Then he looked at the ellipticals.  Then he looked at my kettlebell.  And then the ellipticals.  And then he looked at Ms. No-Sweat on the treadmill and then back at the elliptical.  You could almost hear his brain screaming: 'What am I going to do to look manly when I really want to do the elliptical?'. Hilarious.  His plan ended up being to grab 8lb dumbells and do awkward dip/lunge things with a foot on a bench.  I'm not even sure what it was.  But he looked at me with eyes like Bambi when I put back the 36lb kb.  He probably would have keeled over from shock at seeing the huge ass kettlebells that guys at my gym do.  

Yeah.  I'm a little judgy.  But not until people start giving me judgy looks.  Just because I'm confined to a tiny hotel gym doesn't mean I can't make the most out of it.  I love that CrossFit has given me the tools to create a great workout in any situation. Anyways... work travel + tiny gym = great hotel WODs.   

AND... I'll be in Texas tomorrow.  Can't wait. It's going to be a fantastic trip and I'm so ridiculously excited!!

Old Pics - New Challenges

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't been good enough at posting blogs.  Well... I have been busy.  So ridiculously busy.  So... let me just share this quick gem with you and then I'll give you a quick update on my life.  

Ummm... where did this picture come from, you ask?  Good freaking question.  Let's just acknowledge that it has been out there on the internet for like four months and I hadn't seen it until yesterday and that was pretty much an accident.  Yes... that's me.  Dying while doing deadlifts at our competition in January. I'm pretty sure those were like 115# deadlifts and I almost cried trying to do 50 of them or however many it was (50 may be an exaggeration.  I honestly can't remember how many there were.  A lot.)  The most classic thing about this picture isn't me though... it's everyone else.  Jess finds my failure hysterical.  Or maybe I'm swearing and cracking her up (which is probably more likely).  Ted is wondering why it's taking me 10 minutes to do these deadlifts and why exactly he got stuck with me as his partner.  Zach looks like it's approximately 12 degrees out - which is probably close to accurate -- it was f-ing cold. Tara isn't even watching anymore and isn't in the picture.  She's given up on us.  After I struggled through burpees, it was just too painful.  Oh man... I love you Sound CrossFit folks.  You make for good photos.(Correction: This isn't Zach.  He says he was off somewhere about to pass out.  At this point - he'd probably given up on us too.  We thought maybe it was Mike.  Mike claims it's not him.  So... he shall heretofore be referred to as the 'mystery cheerer'.) (Correction correction:  Mystery cheerer IS in fact Zach. Mystery solved.)

What else has been going on lately?  Nothing.  I'm in Spokane for work all week.  I go to Dallas on Friday (can't wait!) and am back in Seattle on Tuesday.  It will be a nice little break from the office, from regular life, etc.  As sad as this is -- I'm missing the gym!  How lame does that sound?!  Let me explain: 

We started our new challenge yesterday.  This is my first challenge as a coach and it's completely different to be on the cheerleader side than on the 'I've got to win!!!' side.  This challenge has a total social media flair to it with everyone tagging #soundcrossfit on EVERYTHING that they do.  I know that it's only day 2 - but it's fun to see how enthusiastic everyone is while posting things.  Hilarious.  So as to not be outdone... I had to open a Twitter account.  Yes.  I tweet.  That's happening.  I am offically a cool kid.  My twitter name (or handle as the cool kids like to call it) is... danielletmolle.  Follow me.  Or tweet me.  Whatever. 

Anyways... long story short:  Tagboard is awesome.  Check out all of our athlete's hilarious tweets here.  Want to know what us coaches are up to?  Here.  Please also note that I'm the only one who has dared to do an athletic tweet with an alcoholic beverage.  It's been a long day.  Work is tough.  Mobility and wine totally go together.  Hold your judgment - just... hold it. 

Sweet Potato Banana Muffins

1 large sweet potato, cut into fourths 

1 banana

½ apple (I used braeburn)

Dry Ingredients
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 chai tea bags (remove tea - throw away bag - duh) 

pinch of salt
⅓ cup pecans or almonds (pecans are a bit sweeter) - chopped or whole
⅓ cup almond flour

Wet Ingredients

⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
3 eggs
4 tablespoons dark maple syrup 

1½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Put sweet potato in the oven at 425 degrees.  Cook until it is super soft.  This will vary depending on the size of the sweet potato but it took me about 35 minutes.  Check it every 5 minutes starting at about 25 minutes.  

Once super soft, let cool and remove the skin.  These muffins gave me a chance to play with my food processor - yeah!  Put the sweet potato, apple, and banana in the processor and puree.  Once smooth, add all the dry ingredients. I used whole pecans but I have an industrial strength food processor (yeah!!!) - so it only took me a couple of minutes to get the whole thing to a smooth consistency. 

Then I added in all of the wet ingredients and pureed again.  (Man... this food processor is seriously AMAZING - new favorite kitchen gadget - sorry KitchenAid.)

Reduce the oven temp to 375. 

I put cupcake wrappers into the muffin tin and filled them up. (I used leftover 'Celebrate' wrappers from a bridal shower a few years ago - turns out I love ridiculous cupcake wrappers - I have WAY too many in my cupboard.)  Because these don't have a whole lot of flour or anything to rise - you can fill them up pretty darn full.  

Bake for 25 minutes - or until your knife comes out clean.  

Unlike most bready things that you want to eat while still warm - let these cool completely first.  They crumble when they are warm and the flavor isn't very good.  When they are cool, however - they are delicious!!  It was a delicious treat with my bacon and eggs this morning.  A little bit sweet - I would maybe use slightly less maple syrup next time.  Overall, a perfect way to cap off breakfast.  

Yummms.  Make these.  It's a good idea. 

To Clean or Not To Clean...

This literally has so many meanings...
#1 - My house is a total disaster. 
#2 - Cleans are totally kicking my ass at the gym right now. 
#3 - Seriously considering hiring a maid service to just scrub my house from top to bottom.  It would be worth it right?  Does that make me lazy?  It totally does, doesn't it.  Damnit.  
#4 - I also need to have my car detailed and do laundry.  Apparently I'm failing a little in the domestic department.  

Back to cleans at the gym - these are just not working for me lately.  And it is seriously pissing me off.  It makes me want to swear.  Actually, it does make me swear.  A lot.  Shit.  

Something about the motion isn't working - fundamentally, I know exactly what I need to do.  I just can't seem to do it.  My shoulders are shrugging before I get the bar halfway up to wear it's supposed to be - my elbows refuse to go high and outside - and there is absolutely nothing quick about my movement.  I think I'm getting in my head about it and the frustration is making it worse.  Blah.  Damn cleans.  Killing me.  

Anyways... tonight's workout also killed me.  Loved coaching it this morning.  Hated doing it.  Overhead squats?! Blah.  Had to bail on one.  That is the worst feeling in the world.  I did 59 of them just fine (or good enough) - and had to bail on one right in the middle.  I just totally lost it.  Ugh.  Whatever.  Going to focus on the 59 good (or decent) ones. 

Okay... as promised... a few highlights of things I ate in Vegas: 

B&B - the Mario Batali Italian restaurant in the Venetian
Totally expensive but totally good.  I have never spent so much money on a meal for one (actually, I've probably never spent so much money on a meal for two either).  It was great - but certain dishes were actually slightly disappointing.  We did a full three course meal.  I had an amazing beet salad to start - seriously, the best beet salad I've ever had.  Yes... I like beets.  This is new.  I'm just going with it.  The next course was  gnocchi with lamb ragu and mint.  Hmmm... didn't love it.  I'm somewhat of a gnocchi connoisseur - it's my favorite Italian dish - and this was just 'eh'.  The last course was a veal chop.  I'm not sure what I was expecting... but it wasn't what I got.  It was good... just not what I was expecting.  Dessert, however, was AMAZING.  I don't even remember what it was called but it was a lemon souffle with fresh honey poured in the middle.  Umm... I die.  It was phenomenal.  The wine was also exceptional.  And the service was impeccable.  Overall... a totally winning experience.  

D.O.C.G. Enoteca at the Cosmopolitan
Woodfire pizza is always my favorite thing to eat.  That didn't change just because I was in Vegas.  Amazing.  Except for one thing:  sopresatta.  Umm... not my favorite.  And I remembered this the second I took a bite of it.  It is a terrible tasting Italian sausage.  Don't love.  Ick.  And then Tara announced that it tasted the way that cadaver lab smelled and now I will always remember that whenever I see it on a menu.  So... there's that.  Ick.  But... the appetizers and our margherita pizza were scrumptious.  And again, total win on the wine front.  Soppresata = bad.  

I ate several other things too.  They were also good.  The croissants at the Wynn were the best croissants I've had outside of Paris.  No lie.  Freaking amazing.  Also - the yogurt parfait was ridiculously good.  I know - yogurt parfait?  Borderline life changing.  

Moral of the story?  I ate approximately my weight in food while I was in Vegas.  And most of it was delicious.  Except for the sausage that tasted like cadaver lab.  That was less than pleasant. 


 

Las Vegas - A Recap

Howdy y'all.  I know that what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas - unless of course, you have a blog.  Then you post all the pictures online for all the world to see.  Here is a picture tutorial of our Vegas trip: (which was AMAZING - FYI)

Breakfast at the airport.  We walked in and the server definitely greeted us with: 'Alcohol.  You are alcohol people.  I can tell.'  It had to of been the hats.  EVERYONE asked us if we were going to have fun.  Hats.  It's where it's at people. 

Look how pretty and enthusiastic we are!

Fast forward three hours:

Winning. (This is also me 'pre-tan'-- hello legs!)  The pool at the Wynn was glorious.  It was also topless.  Hold your judgment - all of our tops stayed ON.  However, the bachelorette party in front of us was a totally different story.

Grapefruit mimosas by the pool?  Yes. 

We avoided pictures in our swimsuits.  Actually - we took them.  And then I deleted them.  Seattle pastey + bikini = not attractive.  Damnit.  

Fast forward another 6 hours + nap/shower time:

Why yes.  This is a giant high heeled shoe in the Cosmopolitan.  And yes, we are standing in it.  And yes, I made them.  And made a random stranger take our picture.  Being bossy isn't just a Seattle thing - I am also bossy on vacation.

We had tickets to see Band of Horses at the Cosmopolitan. The ticket said the concert started at 8pm.  We arrived at 7:45 because all of us are punctual people (after having dinner at D.O.C.G Enoteca - see 'Summary of Things I Ate' for more on that).  Turns out... main acts at Vegas concerts do not start until at least 10:30pm.  No one told us this -- and these are things that I feel people should have told us.  This is what happened during our two hour and forty five minute wait:

Giant Beers!

Angular poses.  Really - I was trying to capture the beauty of the Las Vegas strip at night.  I feel like Tara photo bombed me. 

Girl pictures taken from a random dude.  Who then asked us to get cozy with his brother so he could take a picture and win a bet.  Of course we did it.  He was the luckiest dude at that pool.

Waiting and bored.  Made friends with the old dudes next to us who were smoking cigars and telling us that Band of Horses cancelled.  Ummm... excuse me sir... if you received an email to this effect, why have you been waiting two hours??? At this point we became mildly concerned.

And we actually took a cute picture.  Go us.  We are adorable.  And cold.  Did I mention that we were cold?  60 degrees and freezing.  My dad would call me a wuss.  He would be right.

Finally, at approximately 10:30 - Band of Horses came on stage.  And they were AMAZING. 

Worth the wait.  But still annoyed that the wait was that long.  Also, Las Vegas had never seen so much flannel - Seattle was missing all of its hipsters that night.  At least we weren't homesick.  

The concert was AMAZING.  So glad we went - so glad we waited.  

(Sidenote: this is the never ending day... my apologies... the rest of our short trip was not nearly as full as the first 18 hours)

Fast forward to midnight (yes... midnight... that hour of the day that I RARELY see): 

We went back to the hotel to change.  I have not changed and gone out after midnight probably since I was 22.  Maybe.  Maybe 21.  Regardless - it was a LONG time ago.  

And then... we went to a nightclub.  (I know, I know... we are all thinking the same thing... nightclub?!?!  Who am I?!?!!)  Well... not the kind of person that goes to a nightclub normally but had a TOTAL FREAKING BLAST at this one.  Meera's friends from college were there and had set us up with a private cabana.  Umm... let me say that again.  Private.  Cabana.  Not just a table or bottle service.  CABANA.  Our own private bathroom, private couches, bottle service, private hot tub - all overlooking the dance floor.  It was a spectacular experience.  Meera's friends - Sean and Matt - were both amazing, fun and just generally awesome.  We had a great group of people to have this experience with.  

Here are more pictures: 

I wish I had a better picture of this club.  It was outdoors - at the pool.  And one of the coolest places I've seen in a while -- okay... ever.  I've never been to club like that. 

This is Courtney.  She's a resident surgeon with Meera.  This is what happens when Tara talks your way into the roped off dance floor and Bassnectar is DJing.  It was insane.  Wall to wall people.  We worked our way up to like 6 people from the DJ.  And then we almost got crushed.  True story. 

This is the picture from the DJ booth.  And yes... I stole this from the Bassnectar website.  And yes... I looked at the Bassnectar website to find a picture.  This looks crazy.  It was even crazier feeling six people back from the DJ.  Amazing.  So glad I followed Tara in... I never would have done that by myself! 

This pic is just darn adorable.  Hello Tara - that is a cocktail.  Probably a strong one.

We've had approximately 7 vodka/Red Bulls at this point.  Don't tell me how bad they are for me.  I know.  Downers - uppers.  I get it.  I drink them once every 5 years.  3 am at a club in Vegas - I'll drink what I want. 

We are so darn cute.  I am very short.  She is very tall.  Hmm... how did that happen?!

  Oh... and then this happened: 

One may say: are you in a hot tub?!  Yes. Yes, we are.  At 4 in the morning.  At a nightclub.  In our dresses.  That happened.  And it was awesome.  

So... the next day we were pretty much worthless.  Tired + mildy hungover = full day of sitting by the pool.  Actually - it's a miracle we weren't ridiculously hungover.  Literally - by the pool from 11 am until 4 pm.  Then nap time - then fancy dinner time.  B&B Ristorante in The Venetian.  Pretty girl time: 

It's just nice to get dressed up sometimes.  Love it.

Dinner was good - more on that in my 'Summary of Things I Ate' post.  But that will have to wait until tomorrow - this post is already 17 times longer than it should be.  

Pretty sure I was sound asleep by like 11 pm on Sunday night - we are too old for multiple nights of raucousness.  

We left on Monday and spent all morning laying by the pool - I have the sunburn to prove it.  Sleeping last night was painful and made me add one more thing to the 'Why I Hate Living Alone' list - no one to aloe my back.  FML.  Anyways... here is a Vegas parting shot:

Do my legs look slightly tanner?  They should.