Toxic

Paleo and CrossFit proponents emphasize rest as a primary component of the Paleo/CrossFit lifestyle.  When I look back on my pull-upriffic year, I find that there is another key component of a healthy, pullable lifestyle:

NO TOXIC FRIENDSHIPS.

Yep. I said it. I said it 'cuz I can FINALLY do a pull-up! (Please visit my FB page for a video of the milestone moment if you haven't seen it.  Embarrassing and jubilant all rolled into one.)

Here's my unscientific guide to culling the toxic-waste friendships from your life if you're on a pull-up-esque journey.


Step One:  Kick 'Em to the Curb.
I would not have reached this pull-up milestone if I didn't consciously eliminate toxic friendships from my everyday contact just as my Bootcamp journey began last fall.  In fact, I recall an uncomfortable conversation with one toxic friend last September, wherein I explained why "this just wasn't working out." I told this friend that I was really trying to make some dramatic changes in my life, including my new 5 a.m. workout schedule.  I no longer had time for our daily, self-defeating gossip sessions.  This toxic friend had some cutting, defeating, snarky replies, but I just let 'em ride.  In fact, when I saw this friend during my Paleo challenge in January, and I explained to her why I wasn't eating what everyone else was eating during a banquet, she said in a cutting tone, "Good luck with that."


Step Two:  Recognize the Toxicity When It Leaks Back In.
Sadly, I've had some of that toxicity leak back into my life this week, and I caught myself stress-eating after I interacted and engaged with toxic folks.  (Luckily, I only had jerky and nuts within my reach.)  I physically felt the shaky spike of stress and cortisol during these interactions.


I'm grateful that I now recognize toxic friendships for what they are, and I'm especially grateful for the supportive, tighter-knit group of friendships that I've fostered during the pull-up journey.


Step Three: Celebrate the Good Life -- the Good, Good Life
Once you've culled the toxicity, which isn't easy, celebrate the new friends you've met (will meet) along your healthier journey, and appreciate the friends and family who were there all along.


So, there you have it.  JPQ's new component of the Paleo, CrossFit lifestyle.


Sleep Well
Eat Well
Exercise Smart
Send Toxic Friends Packing


I'll use the acronym "SEES."


Next up?
Kipping pull-ups.


Coach Hoyer has me practicing on a box.
  

The Motivation Behind the Goal

Summer Vacation

Pop Quiz

Question:  You and your significant other take a four-day vacation to NYC during your birthday weekend. Do you


A. Relax, enjoy, and imbibe without guilt.  Heck. Have a slice of cake or two.
B. Enjoy and imbibe while mindful of your fitness and nutrition goals.
C. Take in the sights and wonder what workouts you are missing at your gym. Fret that you might be falling behind.  "Is this trip setting you back fitness-wise?"
D. Find a Crossfit gym in NYC.  All sight seeing and strictly Paleo meals will have to fit in the parameters of your workout schedule.


If you're like me, bless your heart, because we answered B and C, and it's the inclination towards C that bothers me.  If you answered D, don't worry because I'm here for you as well.  I seriously considered finding a NYC-area Crossfit gym out of curiosity more than anything.

I did a little self-talk while on vacation and decided that for me the pull-up goal is pushing me toward a fitness milestone, which helps me achieve my ultimate mission in life.

 I WANT TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST SAVORING EACH DAY AS I TRAVEL, TEACH, AND WORK TO BE A VIBRANT, ENGAGED MOM and WIFE.

I can't do all of this nifty stuff if I'm not healthy.

I was exactly where I wanted to be in NYC, and in some ways, it was my pull-up goal that got me there.  I was energetically traipsing through the City, through Central Park to The Guggenheim to Lincoln Center along the winding streets of Little Italy, SoHo, Greenwich Village, and Tribeca.  Heck. I even stopped at an Egyptian street festival and somewhat timidly danced in a throng of festival goers.


I do have another vacation on the horizon, and I will go answer B all the way.  I will enjoy and imbibe while mindful of my fitness and nutrition goals, and I will swim, do yoga, paddle my canoe, and hike with my family in the beautiful Boundary Waters Canoe Area because THAT is why I workout and eat right all those other days during the year.


Plus, I know that I've got inspirational, loving, hard-ass coaches at BCF will hold my feet to the fire when I get back to it in August.


Ain't no one gonna let me get away without doing a pull up by 12.31.11.


xoxoxo,
jpq

Shhh... Don't Tell Coach.

Pantry clean sweep

At our Paleo-Challenge introductory meeting in January we were told to go home and clean out the pantry.  Pitch it all. My family would have freaked.


Throughout the past six months we have persevered through the challenge and beyond, but the stocked pantry remained filled with typical family food stuff.


Six months later, she's finally clean.

The gunk is gone.

The Quick Family Singers aren't thrilled, but it's not the shock it would have been in January.


Pull-Up Update for the Week Ending 6.24.11:


It's not been pretty, friends.

• During one workout that included pull ups, I needed the assistance of a fat green band and sweet Kelley Colby pushing me up to get my chin above the bar.
• During a push-press workout I hit myself in the nose with a bar.

Summary of this post in nine words or less?

Ego is in check, and the pantry is clean.

Gonna Dent My Nails

If pictures are worth 1,000 words, Maura Coleman's amazing video is worth 1,000,000,000,000 words.  Please watch this video for a taste of KC Bootcamp.  I'm at the end of the video trying to string together coherent sentences that express my love and admiration for Coach Rut's program.  There aren't words except to say that what Rut has created has changed my life and my family's eating habits and fitness.  Pretty incredible.


A few weeks ago I worked up the courage to tell Coach Rut that I was ready to test and try to move up to the advanced class.


One of his comments: "You might dent your nails."


I didn't want to tell him it is "chip."  "You might chip your nails."


The denting or chipping was neither here nor there.  I needed to work up the courage to actually take the test, and I needed to wait until I was on summer break to take the test.

--Fast forward to Tuesday, June 14, 2011.-- 

Adelle Christine, entrepreneur extraordinaire of the Paleo Palace Restaurant (menu pictured below), has been struggling to find courage to go to swim team each morning, so I asked her, "Do you want to watch Mom do something she's been really nervous about?"


You bet your sweet bippy my eight-year-old shadow was up for sitting and watching ol' mom take her fitness evaluation with Coach Rut.  Adelle finished her kids bootcamp class, we ran some errands, and then she sat and watched while I tested at 5:45 p.m. She provided water and a smile, and I passed.

--Rewind to yesterday morning, Wednesday, June 15, 2011.--

I walked into Bootcamp, signed in for the 6 a.m. Advanced Class with the sweet, smart, encouraging Lindsey Hoyer, only to find out that the name of the workout for the day was FIGHT GONE BAD.

Seriously?!?!

I almost left.  I did offer to sit and watch. You know.  Just get a feel for what FGB entailed.  Adelle would have been crushed.

Thanks to the eagle-eye, motivational coaching I have had during the past year from Kelley Colby, Sharon Prothe, and Dan Ammon, I was ready to muster the courage to do the FGB as prescribed, and I got through 219 reps.  (This is the beauty of Rut's program!)

To top it off, I didn't dent one fingernail.

Peace, love, pull-up,

jpq

You'll Still JUST Be a Teacher -- Who Can Do a Pull-Up!

A tired, muddy, or should I say, "Earthy?" Paleo mama

I love the following people.

• People who ask me when I'm going to blog again.
• People who ask me how my pull-up goal is going.
• People who respect and value teachers.

The list of reasons why I haven't blogged in more than a month isn't that long.

It's just that I'm a mom, and

I'm a TEACHER.

Recently, I was pondering my career and considering what it would be like to teach at different schools in the area.  During my deliberations, a friend sharply reminded me that no matter where I teach, "I'll still JUST be a teacher."


I hope that you're not a "He/she is JUST a teacher"-type person.  If you are, please let me assure you that  the teachers in your community put their personal time and goals - like learning to do a pull-up - on the back burner to commit hours and hours to lesson planning, grading, and professional development.
_________________________________________________________________
With that said, my blogging hiatus during the frantic end-of-the-school-year hasn't indicated that I've gotten off track!

• I've stayed Paleo, and
• I've stayed loyal to my workout schedule.
• I wear pants that are two sizes smaller than pants I wore in January.

Next steps for the pull-up project?
I plan to try and graduate to the advanced bootcamp class this summer.  The athletes who workout on "the other side of the gym" in the advanced class look like they can all do about a billion pull ups in about a billion different pull-up styles.


* I have to take a test before I can "cross over."  Wish me luck that I don't look like a complete fool during the test while doing my double unders, which by the way, I can finally do a (very awkward) double under.  HOLLA!


If nothing else, I hope my proximity to these studs on the other side of the gym will rub off, and their super-athlete strength will magically be transferred into my triceps, biceps, and whatever other muscles I need to get my chin over the bar.


Let's do it.
jpq

Putting Myself Out Here



This entry does fit with my blog. Notice that
the Star reporter stated that I was in
"writing boot camp."  BOOT CAMP is a recurring
theme in my get-out-of-my-comfort-zone life!



I know that many (read: none) of you come to this blog to read about politics or education, but it's time to put myself out here with my political and educational beliefs for an organization that taught me to put myself out here as a writer, as a teacher, and as a get-out-of-my-comfort-zoner.

Dateline Summer 2005:

The Greater Kansas City Writing Project at the Writer's Place in Kansas City

I was a new teacher: intimidated and tired.

Though I came from the corporate world with a background in journalism and public relations, I wasn't doing what I knew that I should be doing with my students -- writing alongside my students and making sure that my students were authentically writing, writing, and writing.

I was scared to let down my guard in front of my students and colleagues.

It was time to get out of my comfort zone.

With great trepidation, I applied, interviewed, and was accepted as a member of the 2005 GKCWP Summer Institute.

In a safe, comfortable environment, I  relaxed, let down my guard, wrote, shared, and was healed.

I became okay with going out-of-my-comfort-zone as a writer.  I became comfortable writing ALONGSIDE my students and climbing into the trenches as a writing teacher.

2005-2011

During the past six years as a GKCWP teacher consultant, I have proselytized the good news of being a partner in students' writing via teacher inservices, writing retreats, and conferences. 

Just as I thought the good news was being heard, and I've seen a resurgence in good writing practices take place in many schools, I learn that

The National Writing Project has now been cut by 60%.

SIXTY PERCENT!!!

My people.

My educational heroes, Donalyn Miller, Kelly Gallagher, they are NWPers.  These are the voices that keep me and thousands of other English teachers inspired.  Along with NWP initiatives, these phenomenal teachers and writers push us out of our comfort zones.  Without their voices funnelled to us through the NWP, we start to fizzle.

I fear that these cuts to the NWP will silence up-and-coming language arts voices, and push English teachers, saddled with the weight of standardized reading and writing tests, back into their shells -- defensive zones of standardized monotony.

I hope that we pull up and out of this cut-educational-funding trend that gets deeper and deeper.

Maybe if those of you who come to this blog to read about Paleo and fitness are inspired to learn more about educational funding cuts, such as the 60% cut to the NWP, and how these cuts impact you and your children, decide to stand up against cuts to education funding, we can all make a difference.

If you'd like to contact your legislator about NWP cuts, please leave me a comment, and I'll send you in the right direction.

jpq

P.S. Check back tomorrow for an update on my 1/2 marathon AND a Coach Rut tip for ordering Paleo-style Chipotle.

It's been eight weeks.

March 7 Supper is in the Crockpot -- Roast, Garlic, Red Wine, a Bit of EVOO, Onion,
Crushed Peppercorns, & Bay Leaves

It's been eight weeks since I've:

• Eaten a cookie, cupcake, or piece of bread.
• Tasted the cold, creamy sweetness of ice cream.
• Sipped a latte, a martini, a vodka tonic, or even a beloved Izze.
• Noshed on a bagel, kernel of rice, a plate of pasta, or a warm cheesy slice of pizza.
• Crunched a Cheeto, pretzel M&M, or a boxful of Triscuits with hummus while cooking dinner.

But, please, please don't feel sorry for me!


Because it's been eight weeks since I've:

• Felt the shaky mood swings, anxiety, and energy crashes that were brought on by former food choices.
• Battled blemishes on my forehead.
• Squeezed into my too-small jeans and pants.
• Cramped and become panicked to find a bathroom while running any distance more than 3+ miles.  (Sorry if that's TMI people, but it's true.)
• Used food for a reward -- not fuel.

And, I'm pretty darn proud.


jpq


P.S.  To the A++++Wow!!! employee at Whole Foods:  Thanks for remembering me and asking, "How is Paleo going?" each time you see me.