What's for Dinner?
I guess winter is here. Just a week ago we were enjoying 70 degrees and sunshine. Today, well, not so much.
Halloween is next week and it's a terrific time to make something fun for your friends and family. Here is a fabulous collection of delightful treats. If you make one of them please be sure to share a photo! Fall Food Drive Starts Next Week!
We are collecting non-perishable food for our fall food drive. This year our drive ends on Saturday, Nov 18. We are kicking it up a notch with an intra-gym competition. Each class time will compete against each other. Which class will be the most generous and donate the most food? We start next week!
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March 2022, I competed in my first Tactical Games (TTG) near St George, Utah. Since then I have competed in 5 Tactical Games and am preparing for the Tactical Games National Championships next week. Here's a look back at my first after action report of my very first TTG competition. My First Tactical Games in March 2022The Tactical Games are like the biathlon of CrossFit. They were started by Zach Forrest, a 2 times CrossFit Games athlete, former Navy Seal and CrossFit Affiliate owner. He wanted to blend his military training and experience with the CrossFit methodology and, thus, The Tactical Games were born. The official Tactical Games mission is to test the skills and readiness of tactical athletes from all backgrounds. You don't have to have any military or law enforcement to compete. In fact, one of my new Tactical Games buddies, who was also my judge in Utah, is a stay at home mom of 2. I was drawn to the Tactical Games for several reasons:
The Utah Games was the largest event to date. There were nearly 200 competitors of which about 25 were women. I competed in the Intermediate division which had 11 competitors and was the largest field of intermediate women to date. Here are a bunch of us ladies at the end of the day on Sunday. Day 1My first day of competition started with "Mountain Town." This event had a 12 min time-cap and introduced me to the Tactical Games use of the axel bar farmers carry. I had to farmers carry two axel bars weighing about 45# each from the firing line to a yoke that was about 25 yards away. On my first round I also had to complete 10 sandbag over yokes with a 35# sandbag. The sandbag went over the 5 foot tall yoke and I went under. After I completed all 10 reps I farmers carried back to the firing line to shoot the course of fire. Then I repeated this with 7 sandbags at 50# and again for my final round with 3 sandbags over the yoke at 75#. I couldn't visually tell the difference between the 50 and 75 pound sandbag and ended up reversing them. Ooops! I placed 4th in this event. My second event was "Sledding to Zion." This was a 12 min time capped event where I had to pull a sled weighted with 35# hand over hand while sitting, once the sled was to me I had to sprint back to my Hussafell stone that weighed about 35# but was AKWARD AF, and carry it back to my sled. Then I had to sprint to the course of fire and shoot both my rifle and pistol. I had three rounds of this and couldn't finish within the 12 min time cap. I placed 8th in this event. My shooting was terrible for this event and each miss was a 10 second penalty. Dang! Before I completed my third and final event I did the Day 1 floater which was a speed and accuracy shooting event that The Tactical Games calls an "Aggregate." As fast as possible I had to shoot 6 handgun and 6 rifle shots into 3 targets of varying distance. each miss was a 1.5 second penalty. I finished in 20 seconds with 1 miss. I placed FIRST in this event! WOOHOOO! I redeemed my shooting:) I finished my first day of competition with the event I was dreading most, "Scenic Bypass." This event was a 2 min course of fire at short ranges for the handgun and long ranges for the rifle followed immediately by a 1.25 mile "run" in our full kit. My kit was a 15 pound weight vest, gun belt and handgun, rifle and magazines. I didn't finish the course of fire in the 2 min time cap and knowing that running is not viable with my arthritic knees I opted to ruck as fast as possible. Even though I finished 7th in this event I achieved my goal of a 15 min ruck pace! I was thrilled to finish so strong. I had been training a 15 min mile on the treadmill at the gym and I was so very happy that I could keep that pace for the competition. Day 2My second day of competition started off with "The Long One." This was a 24 min event broken up into two 12-min sections. The first section was the shooting section. I had to carry an axle bar weighing 75lbs three different ways, Zercher, front rack and overhead. I had to carry the bar from the firing line and back about 50 yards total, then shoot my handgun and pistol. Once I finished the three types of carries and shooting and if I had any time remaining I had to continue to carry the axel bar until the 12 min time. You could carry in the front rack for 1 point or overhead for 2 points. I finished in about 6 mins and overhead carried that 75# axel bar for 6 more mins back and forth and back and forth. I was developing lots of mental toughness. At the end of 12 mins we grounded our rifles and competed a 12 min AMRAP of 25 yard axel bar farmer's carry and 5 hand release bar facing burpees. I got 13 + 3 rounds. I placed second in this event. The second event of day 2, "What a Drag," included dragging a sled via bear crawling down 25 yards and the dragging it backwards to the firing line and shooting a course of fire that included one handed handgun shooting and off-handed handgun and rifle shooting. This means I had to shoot my handgun with just my right hand and just my left hand. This was super challenging, but something I have practiced. What I had never practiced was shooting my rifle left handed (off handed.) I had some time before this event to practice sighting in with my left hand. I was starting to freak out that I couldn't see my sights at all! Holy crap! This was bad, how was I going to shoot If I couldn't get sight alignment? I realized by about the third time sighting in that while I had the rifle in the correct left hand position, I was still closing my right eye. DOH! No wonder! Once I closed my right eye and opened my left everything was just fine. I placed 5th in this event. Before I did the final event of Day 2 I did the floater, "WTF Jake." We had 90 seconds to get a 353 sandbag over a yoke (set at my eye level) and then our BODY over the yoke. I have done plenty of jumping bar muscle-ups at eye level but never with a 15lb weight vest. I tried to jump up and over the yoke but just couldn't get the power I needed with the extra weight. Instead I mastered a technique from my climbing days and was able to get myself over the yoke about 8 times. I finished 8th in this event. My final event for the Utah Tactical Games was, "Arch Wheel." I had a 12 min time cap to complete 4 rounds of sprint 25 yards, shoot, 50 yard wheelbarrow carry, 25 yard sprint, shoot. This event included shooting our rifles on a barricade and shooting handguns unsupported while standing. Each round we increased the weight on the wheelbarrow adding a 45lb plate the first round, 15 plate the second round but no more weight for the 3rd and 4th rounds. Most of us got time capped, including me, on this event. Despite getting time capped, I placed 4th in this event which secured my 4th place finish overall in the women's intermediate division. I had such a blast training and competing The Utah Tactical Games! I am beyond happy with my fourth place finish and I'm already looking at my next event. I learned during the Utah Games that there will be an inaugural Women's Masters event at the National Championships. Any women over 40 who competes in the Elite Division will get invited to compete in this new category. My plan is to train hard and compete in the women's Elite Division in the Oregon Tactical Games on July 30-31 in Bend. I would LOVE a squad a badass TSCF babes to join me at this event. Women's Intermediate is approachable to all of you and with your current CrossFit training you'll be just fine:)
Before I compete in the Oregon Tactical Games I will be competing with my buddy Ethan in The Tactical Games Montana Sniper Challenge in Manhattan on July 16-17. The Sniper Challenge is a much less physical competition and has more precision long-range rifle shooting. It's a 2 day event with the first day being a moderate distance (6-9miles) ruck with several long and short range rifle courses of fire. This event is totally doable by all you TSCF hunters! Let's get after it! My training plan for both events will be to continue what I've been doing. I do CrossFit on Mon, Tue, Wed and Friday. I follow a Wendler strength cycle that focuses on back squat, deadlift, strict and bench press 3 days per week. I ruck about 4-5 days a week at a minimum of 2 miles with 30 lbs. I go to the range once a week and now that the weather is warmer I will be increasing this to 2 days a week. Obviously at my age and with that volume I have to focus on recovery practices. Nick makes me GOWOD with him Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. GOWOD is basically yoga for CrossFitters and it's similar to ROMWOD. I practice temperance on training days. I aim for 8 hours of sleep every night. I would like to drink more water and this is one recovery practice I need to develop. My goal is 64 ounces which is probably not nearly enough, but I need to start somewhere and I can't drink 100 ounces of water without drinking 64 first:) I hope you're inspired to compete in something this year. Share with me in the comments what you have set your sights upon in 2022! I am not a big promoter of supplements and magic pills. This has cost me some business, and I'm totally good with that. I strongly believe in the power of our food, if we focus on eating meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar, to provide us with all of the micronutrients we need. However, there is one micronutrient that is difficult for us to obtain through our diet, not because we don't have access to eating the right foods, but rather that we don't get enough time in the sun. That micronutrient is Vitamin D. Despite the importance of vitamin D, it’s estimated that anywhere from 30% to 80% of the U.S. population is vitamin D insufficient. For us Montanans, we make make absolutely ZERO vitamin D from the sunlight between November and March. Yep - that means unless you're taking supplements in the winter, you're most likely very low on vitamin D. Since we're turning back our clocks this weekend, we will have less exposure to the sun. It's time to start our seasonal Vitamin D supplementation. Because Vitamin D is one of the most common micronutrient inadequacies it's also one of the most studied. A nutrient inadequacy differs from a deficiency in that a deficiency causes a disease, in the case of Vitamin D a deficiency causes rickets and osteomalacia. Vitamin D inadequacy doesn't cause a disease, but neither does it promote optimal health. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble micronutrient that promotes calcium absorption, it also modulates cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function and reduces inflammation. Can you guess what might cause cell growth and inflammation, and requires neuromuscular function? You guessed it, high-intensity workouts and weight lifting. From March - November, spending more time in the sun, like going for a walk in the middle of your day, will not only give you enough sun exposure to generate Vitamin D, it will also help you recover from CrossFit. However, Winter is HERE. Vitamin D rich foods include salmon, swordfish, sardines, tuna, eggs, liver or swiss cheese. If none of things things are part of your weekly menu then you might consider supplementation. You can take a Vitamin D supplement or you can take cod liver oil. Remember, Vitamin D is fat-soluble so you need to take it with something fatty like avocado, eggs, cheese, etc. When considering nutrient supplementation remember, the dose makes the poison. Just because some is good more is not better. Too much of any nutrient is called vitamin toxicity, and Vitamin D toxicity can seriously affect your blood chemistry leading to a whole suite of negative health problems. For several years now, I have been examining nutrition myths and sometimes it's difficult to tease out science from pseudoscience. Who do I trust for science-based facts and research? Examine.com. Here's a Fact Sheet they created about Vitamin D. Today Coach Leslie turns 52 years old. For her birthday she is sharing one of her favorite Dylan Thomas poems recited by the glorious and magnificent Michael Sheen. Today, may you rage, rage against the dying of the light.
If that doesn't inspire you to do epic shit, perhaps this will. |
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