Good Friday Indeed

My office is closed today. And, while we had been planning on heading up to visit PhillyGuy's family this weekend, he's been knocked on his ass by a really nasty cold, so I think we're going to stick around here. So...it's kind of a bonus day for me.

This means that, even though I had to get a couple hours of work in this morning, I got to do it from the comfort of my own bed. And then leisurely make some eggs and leftover pork, and watch the entire Today show, and feed the dogs some sorbet...

...and then eventually cleaned myself up a little bit and headed to CFCC for the noon class.

After I seriously PR'ed today's metcon (more than two minutes faster than my prior time - which was scaled) I grabbed an iced coffee and wandered around the city for a bit until I started to get hungry.

(Incidentally...I'm not really doing the Whole30. I've been having heavy cream in my coffee every day. I haven't had anything processed at all, or anything with added sugars, or chocolate, so I guess there's that - but yeah. Not so much the Whole30. Sorry I'm not sorry.)

It was beautiful out - sunny and a little warm - and I drifted in and out of Macy's, Banana Republic and Lululemon. I've been working on clearing all of the too-big stuff out of my closet, which has left me with some pretty limited options, but for some reason I'm having trouble finding new stuff to replace it with. (Talk about first world problems.)

By the time I made it home around 3, I was definitely ready for lunch. And some daytime TV.

In the mix:

small head of romaine lettuce, an entire can of sliced black olives, half an avocado, a bunch of rotisserie chicken shredded up, and about a quarter of a jar of Green Mountain Gringo roasted chili salsa. (God, I love that stuff).

So, yes. A good Friday, indeed.

Workout log:

- Tuesday 4/3: front squat, peak of 2. 80-120-130-130-140. Metcon: 21-15-9 front squat (155/115), russian kettlebell swings (2/1.5pood). 10:25 as RX'ed. WOOF.

- Thursday, 4/5: I had a hot date with some lady friends Thursday night, and we were planning to travel this weekend, so I sucked it up and went to the 6am class. Longer metcon - Christine. 3 rounds for time of row 500m, 12 bodyweight deadlifts, 21 box jumps (24/20").

15:24, as RXed.

Two things: my bodyweight deadlift is now 145 (!), and I shaved almost three minutes off my previous time, which I scaled to 115lbs or 50% of my then-max. I still hate rowing and am not really good at it.

- Friday, 4/6: overhead squats, peak of 5. Couple sets with the bar to warm up, then 65-80-80-85. Meh. Metcon: Jeremy. 21-15-9 overhead squats (95/65) and burpees. Last time I did this was in mid-October. I used 55lbs then and finished in 9:19. Today? I did it RX'ed in 7:10. AND I snatched into the first rep each set - the very first was probably one of my best snatches to date, actually, since I managed to get all the way under the bar. Too bad I couldn't quite replicate that for 15 and 9. Anyway - beastmode.

Make This Chicken

I know it's not really much to look at, but this chicken is fucking delicious.



And it's so, so simple.

Make this rub:

2.5-ish tsp. salt
4 tsp. paprika
1.5-ish tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp. thyme
1.5 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper

(adapted from this recipe. I decreased the salt and increased everything else to make a little less than double the amount in the original post. as with most rubs, you can screw around with the proportions to taste.)

(also, please note that I do not, in any way, endorse that forum's reference to "the Neanderthin diet." seriously??)

Pour the rub and a buttload of chicken thighs into a large ziplock bag. Mix it around to coat. I used about 15 chicken thighs and everything fit nicely into a gallon size freezer bag. Let the entire mess sit and marinate overnight.

In the morning, dump into a crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours (I think 6 would have been sufficient, but my crockpot is not flexible and forces me to choose between high for 6, which I think may have dried it out, and low for 8, which was completely fine). You don't need to add any liquid, since the thighs are much juicier than breasts and will produce more than enough in cooking to keep everything nice and moist.

Once this is cooked, give it a stir with a spoon and watch it shred to pieces. Per the original recipe inspiration, this rub would be amazing on a whole roast chicken, though I think I would steer clear of crockpotting a whole chicken (I like the skin to be a little crispy). I used boneless chicken thighs, but I bet bone-in would deepen the flavor. I would NOT substitute chicken breasts - if you are scared of the fattier cuts of chicken and insist on using breasts, grill them instead, or add some kind of liquid (orange juice maybe?).

To give you an idea of quantity, fifteen chicken thighs was about 4.5 pounds total, and yielded enough pulled chicken for PhillyGuy and I to have nice big bowls for dinner last night, PLUS leftovers for three days' worth of lunches for me.

I cannot say it enough. This chicken is fucking delicious.

Recent post-total Crossfit workouts:

- Monday: Sandy Fran. 21-15-9 of thrusters and pull ups. This is a classic Crossfit benchmark workout typically done with a barbell. Instead, we used giant canvas bags of sand. I used a 40lb sandbag and the "average" band. To say that it is awkward to clean a sandbag from the floor is a vast understatement. Also, to say I suck at pull ups is similarly a vast understatement. 13:40 (to give you perspective, a good Fran time is under 5:00. Plenty of people finished Sandy Fran in under 7-8 minutes on Monday). My thrusters were actually fine, once I got the bag up, but after my first five pull ups, I could not string together more than 2-3 at a time. My last three reps took me an entire minute. GAH.

- Wednesday: Christine. Another benchmark workout, and I could not be less thrilled to share my name with her. 3 rounds, for time, of 500m row, 10 deadlifts with 50% max (115), and 21 box jumps (20"). At 18:19, I was the last to finish in my heat by a good couple of minutes and I do not think I could have finished a second sooner. I hate Christine for the same reason I hate racing 5Ks: you need to sprint the ENTIRE time and you never get to hit your stride.