Spartan Beast

hi guys! happy friday!! i had the day off today which is a rarity so i'm a happy camper over here.

i wanted to share some fitness updates with you all today. first things first, i FINALLY got kipping pull-ups at CrossFit on Tuesday! the WOD we were doing involved pull-ups and push jerks (it was a ladder, 15-12-9-6-3), so i grabbed a band to do the workout as usual.

(side note: i thought that i could do pull-ups without a band when i started crossfit, but it turns out all along i'd been doing chin-ups in my IFT barbell class. a pull-up is when your palms face away from you on the bar, and a chin-up is when your palms are facing you. when i went to do a pull-up, i was shocked that i couldn't even do one! turns out that chin-ups are easier than pull-ups for most people. so it was back to square one with using a resistance band to assist me on my pull-ups.)

i actually was using a thinner band than normal during the WOD, and it's the thinnest one we have at my box. and the WOD felt surprisingly easy, so after doing 45 assisted pull-ups during the workout, i decided to give kipping pull-ups another go. my coach taught me how to do them about a week prior, but i was having major trouble with the technique and couldn't even do one. during the WOD, i noticed that i was doing a sort of kipping motion while using the band, which is when i realized that my brain was probably getting in the way of me doing kipping pull-ups. when i think about something too much, usually i get totally confused.so i just went for it, didn't think about it, and managed to bang out 15 unassisted pull-ups! 

i also ripped my hand for the first time, but hey, totally worth it in my opinion. i was so proud of myself!

yep, i post pictures of my ripped hands on the internet. strange.

i also was reminded at CrossFit yesterday of how bad i am at handstand pushups. i'm great at handstands, but horrible at the push-up part (and have yet to master kipping for that). new goal for the future: do a handstand push-up.

in other news, i spur of the moment signed up for a Spartan Beast a week from tomorrow. i'd been thinking about it for awhile and then one of my good friends was persuasive enough to get me to sign up. it's a 10-12 mile obstacle course, and i'm probably going to die. (kind of kidding. kind of). the fastest elite racers finish in about three hours, but i think us normal folk typically take anywhere from four to six. it'll be quite the event! they also don't exactly tell you what kind of obstacles there will be, but from what i've read, it's going to be crazy hard and crazy fun. i think that CrossFit and training for a half marathon have prepared me well!

(spartan race official video on youtube)

i also need to figure out the fueling/water/clothing situation. praise the Lord there's 6 aid stations on the course (unlike the ONE that they originally said there would be), but we're responsible for bringing our own fuel. i'm trying to figure out how i'm going to carry it since anything i wear is probably going to get trashed. and i also am trying to decide what to wear - at the moment i'm thinking spandex shorts, and either a dri fit tee or tank (not sure if more skin exposed is better or worse).

for now, i'm going to focus on getting through the Giant half marathon this Sunday! wish me luck :)

have you ever done a Spartan Race before? any suggestions on what to wear/bring?

WIAW: Goals

happy wednesday y'all! hope you're having a good week. i've had another busy one around here, stay tuned for a post going up tomorrow about something crazy exciting that i signed up for & the huge progress i've made in crossfit recently!

but for now, here's what i've been eating lately + a little tangent at the end about my current goals.

pizza night out with the fam! 

i've been adding this to my coffee lately and absolutely loving it. it's delicious and pretty 'clean' for a coffee creamer, in my book. 

a warrior bowl from vitality bowls, a local place that makes acai bowls & smoothies. this one was an acai, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, flaxseed, broccoli, soy milk, & apple juice, topped with sliced banana, strawberries, granola, almonds, goji berries, and honey. sooo good!

homemade mushroom pizza by the madre. 

oats with defrosted berries and peanut butter

TJ's mexican salad at work for dinner

one of my go-to breakfasts: coconut flour pancakes with sunbutter and raw honey

a smoothie from vitality bowls after crossfit. this was acai, blueberry pomegranate juice, soy milk, blueberries, bananas, raspberries and whey protein

aaand another smoothie! this was called 'the hulk' and the girl that rung me up said that she was the one that came up with it. it was really good! i can't remember exactly what was in it (and it's not on the menu online) but i know there was spinach, spirulina, almond milk, whey protein, and a few different fruits. 

a new-to-me bar that i got at whole foods. i was starving on the way home from the PT office, and this did the trick of tiding me over til dinner. i wish i'd picked a different flavor though because i liked everything about this bar, except that the flavor wasn't super strong (which i should have expected since sunflower butter doesn't have a really strong taste). 

grilled cheeses on black california bread have been my thing lately! this one was spinach, bacon, havarti, and cheddar. i've been eating these so often the past few days (i had two today, haha) - all different variations every time. i think my favorite was chicken, cheddar, pepperjack, and avocado. SOOO good. 

yet another smoothie... now you guys know where all of the money from my tips goes, haha! this was the same smoothie as the pink one above, except i asked them to add spirulina. just as delicious with more nutrients!

one of my favorite dinners: burger and sweet potato fries. this burger was a mushroom & mozzarella turkey burger from whole foods. it was really good! 

my momma brought me whole foods salad bar for dinner at work when i didn't have time to make myself one before dashing out the door. she's the best mom in the world! & that vitaminwater zero is my all time favorite drink. 

lots of my peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough bites! i love having them on top of plain greek yogurt with honey for breakfast and dessert. 

i haven't taken too many photos of my food lately (this was a collection of the past week) mostly because i've become a creature of habit, and when i find something i like, i eat it a ton for about a week and then get tired of it. the past week i basically ate grilled cheese, smoothies, egg scrambles, grapes, protein bars, and frozen yogurt.

i am trying to work on squeezing in more fruits & vegetables since i haven't been eating a lot of those lately. i've probably eaten 4 salads since coming home from school (2 of them are in this post, haha) because i ate salads at school so often for so long that i am totally sick of them. i also hate prepping fruit! i've been getting my fruits and veggies in mostly in smoothie form because it's an easy way to get a lot of servings in and it isn't too hard to make. i also almost always have some form of green juice in the fridge (i like odwalla, naked juice, and trader joe's green juice - i just buy whatever is on sale because it's expensive). 

i know that food has a lot to do with performance and with the rate that i'm improving in crossfit i can't help but think that if i cleaned up my eats a little bit more, i could perform even better and improve even more. i'm setting small little goals for myself to help with this, one of which is to eat MORE veggies and the other is to get bowls of berries at work instead of bowls of froyo (i get a free one every shift i work, which means a lot of free yogurt). i like setting goals of adding healthy things in, or making healthy swaps, instead of just cutting things out, because that doesn't work for me. to each his/her own! 

what's the best thing you ate this week? 

current favorite healthy swap?

My Saturday Five. [2/11/12]

i love saturdays because i get to write another installment of my weekend countdowns! you can check out the past two here and here.

these posts are so much fun! they're a mix of random and organized and i'm definitely a fan. :) 

5 Random Eats

trader joe's sea salt & turbinado sugar dark chocolate covered almonds - i'm addicted! if there's a TJ's near you, go buy these. now. you'll thank me later. 

egg white scramble with onion, broccoli, and sharp 2% cheddar cheese. i ended up drizzling this in ketchup because eggs without ketchup is like oatmeal without nut butter, in my book. i can't eat one without the other! 

spoonfuls of Justin's maple almond butter. i can't get enough!

a peanut butter and apple butter sandwich. i was craving one for dinner a few nights ago and just went with it! 

plain chobani with apple butter, strawberries, and a crumbled oat bran muffin. 

4 Track Runs/Workouts of the Week 

I'm not writing a weekly recap for track this week because my goals post basically summed it up, but I wanted to share the runs that I went on! 

• Monday: 5 mile easy run + 6 strides (2 sets of 3 easy/medium/fast) + core/stretching
• Tuesday: none - I had an orthodontist appointment to get a new retainer :(
• Wednesday: 5.5 mile easy run + core/stretching
• Thursday: track workout:
• 2 lap warmup
• 6x200 fast
• 1 mile easy 
• 4x200 fast
• 3 lap cooldown
• core + stretching
• Friday: 4 mile easy run to stretch out the legs. the speed workout from thursday left the backs of my thighs and calves suppeerrr tight! I stretched but didn't do core, but i did core 3/4 days this week which is definitely progress! 

3 Blog posts I loved reading this week

• Honesty > Money by Kaila at Healthy Helper
• The Naked Face Project: Week 2 by Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point
• Anorexic to Fit Series: Part 1 by Shannon at Healthiful Balance 

2 of my posts this week

• Oat Bran Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe <-- these are still delicious almost a week later! i individually wrapped them and froze them and they froze really well! 

• My Goals For the 2012 Track Season It's my 4th and final season running track and field so I wanted to write out my goals to see how much I can accomplish by the end of the season. 

1 Awesome New Pair of Shoes Currently in the Mail

These Nike Lunarglide+ 3's! I currently have a pair that I LOVE but I've had them since cross country season and it's time for some new ones. I'm also kinda super pumped about the color of these babies! 

what's your favorite pair of running shoes? 

best thing you've eaten this week? 

My Goals for the 2012 Track Season

Hi guys! I hope all of your weeks are going wonderfully :)

This week has definitely been a crazy one - after a winter of creating my own workout schedule, I am back to going to practice every afternoon. I am so excited for this track season so I thought I'd share with you what my goals are (not all are time-related!).

• PR (beat my personal record) in at least 2 of 3 events. I run the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m, and I'd love to beat my best times in two of these events, doesn't matter which two! My coach had us write our goals down on a goal sheet for all of our events - these are some pretty big goals I set for myself, but I'm excited to see if I really can do it. 

These are my end-of-season goals - I'm not very close to these times right now! You can check out my current PRs here. The reason for the ? by the 400 is that I've only run the event once or twice and am not even sure what my PR is! 

• Stretch and do core work after every practice. Last season I was not good about this because it takes time. It's a silly excuse considering it takes all of ten minutes to complete both, but in my busy world ten minutes is pretty valuable. I realized that treating my body well is more important than having 10 extra minutes at home! 

• Write weekly recaps of how I'm doing. So I don't set myself up for "failing" this goal, I'm okay with doing bi-weekly recaps. I just want to keep you guys updated with how it's going (which I didn't do too great of a job of during cross country season) and be able to look back on my progress! 

I took a trip to the Nike outlet just before the season started and was in heaven! Look at all those tempo shorts :)

i also got this outfit while i was there! 

• Do one weights workout a week, on my own time. One thing that bothers me about my track team is that there is next to NO focus on strength training. For my body, I know that running 3-4 days a week and lifting 3 days is ideal. However, I can't just miss practice every other day to lift weights, so I'm going to settle for lifting once a week.

after my last BodyPump class before track started! 

• Make time for ME each day. Okay, so this goal isn't quite running related, but after 3 years of track I know how much time and energy it takes. I'm really busy with school and work, too, so taking some time to myself each day is really important. Even if it's only for ten minutes and all I do is snuggle with my kitties or spend some time chatting with my mom, I want to make this a priority. 

• Fuel well. This one is definitely going to be a struggle - it's not that I'm worried about getting enough food because I'm really good about not forgetting to eat. What I need to work on is the timing of my meals. Usually I just have breakfast, midmorning snack, lunch, and then go 6 hours without eating and come home after practice and attack the kitchen. [Example: today I came home, ate a smoothie, a tortilla with peanut butter, some pretzels, and a small salad. hello, food baby.] 

I know that going for so long without food isn't good at all, so I'm going to try and have a small something before practice and see how it sits in my super-picky stomach. 

• Have fun! Sometimes it's too easy to get caught up in trying to beat a time or freaking out about not having a good workout. This is the last season that I will get to run track (I'm not planning on running on a team in college next year - more on that later) and I want to go out with a bang. I want to enjoy myself and have the best season yet! :) 

Me after my team got 2nd place in XC sectionals! 

What are your current running/fitness goals? Any of them similar to mine? 

2012: a year filled with change

Before I get into the new year chat, I wanted to share some snapshots of the past few relaxing days that I spent in Carmel-by-the-sea with family. It is one of my favorite places to go for a short 3 day vacation and is beautiful there!

silliness in our hotel room ;)

fun 4-wheel bike ride in monterey! :)

It was such a fun and relaxing way to bring in the new year. 

Whenever I hear 2012, the first thing that pops into my head: graduating high school. This upcoming year is going to be one of the most adventurous and different years of my life - and I'm stoked!! 

what is going to happen in 2012? 

honestly, who knows? but these are a few of the things that i'm sure about :)

• Graduation. Wowza! I'm pumped. 

• Starting college in the fall. Where, I have no clue! But that's part of the fun/excitement right now. I can't wait to live in a new place, meet lots of new people, and have the time of my life.
• I also want to commit to maintaining my (mostly) healthy lifestyle in college. I love eating well and exercising right and owe it to myself to keep it up!

• I am going to be a counselor-in-training at the camp that I've been going to for years in Mount Hermon. I know those two weeks are going to be life-changing and that my relationship with God is going to grow enormously. 

what am I hoping will happen in 2012?

• I want to finish my last high school track season strong! My only goal is to PR in the 1600m. I would love to break 5:30 but I know that's only gonna happen if I work really hard.

• Another fitness goal for the upcoming year: keep up with strength training! I have been doing really well and I want to keep working hard so I don't lose any of the strength I've built up. 

• Okay, last fitness goal here. I really want to try to make it to yoga once a week (or at least 2x a month).  I just went to a class a few days ago that absolutely kicked my butt since I haven't been since the summer. Yikes!

• I want to improve my posts on the bloggie and try really hard to comment on more of my favorite blogs. I always keep up with them but never seem to find the time to comment - but I love getting comments on my posts! So that's a goal for this upcoming year.

I know it's going to be a crazy ride. And I know there's going to be lots of ups and downs. But all I have to say is bring it.

what are your goals/expectations for the upcoming year?

August Goals

I've been a busy bee this morning! I am so excited that I am now a part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Program and have spent some time getting all of that set up.


I created a Foodbuzz account just a few weeks ago and have been loving all of the foodie connections I've been making - if you have a Foodbuzz account add me as a friend! My profile is under JuliBananna.



I wanted to write a quick post on my goals/todo list for this month (blog and non-blog related!).

August 2011


Fitness Goals:

• Continue strength training 2-3 times per week, even when school starts
• Increase my mileage by 2-3 miles/week at cross country practice (I am currently running about 20-22 miles per week)

Food-related Goals:

• Have fun creating 2-3 new recipes in the kitchen this month before I get wrapped up in the craziness of school starting
• Make a list of dinners that are easy to put together for during the school year
• I am going to be the main cook this year because my mom is going back to work full time and my dad already works full time! So I need to come up with lots of easy, nutritious, and yummy dinners so I always have something to fall back on since I will be busy myself.
• Focus more on intuitive eating - not when/what I think I should be eating, but what I feel like.

Organizational Goals:

• Fix bulletin board (I added photos to my homemade board but they are falling down a little so I need to figure that out)

• Add photos to my picture frames and finish decorating wall of my room
• Complete summer homework for anatomy class
• Update my new iPod shuffle with more music and create some new tapes for my car!

Fun Things To Do Before August 24th!

• See the Glee 3D movie
• Hang out at the pool a few more times
• Go to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with my brother and dad (we do this every summer!)
• Call up friends and make sure I get to hang out with all my besties before we all get really busy starting our SENIOR year!! 

What are your goals for this month? 

Throw out any good easy dinner recipe suggestions for me to add to my list!!