It’s not you, it’s me

Last week, I wrote about the fatigue I’ve been struggling with recently (which has, by the way, definitely improved since I took action & made a change). The extreme tiredness impacted my work, my mood, and my social life, but nowhere did I feel it more than in my training. Metcons, in particular, were a battle. I had to fight to make myself go in the first place, and then I had to fight for every rep and every breath. Many, many times, I wanted to stop – to throw the towel in and tap out; many, many times, I fought tears as I struggled to keep going. I wasn’t keeping up with the people I used to keep up with, and it was hard to watch them improving while I felt like my fitness was going backwards. Each metcon like this made it that much harder to go to the next one.

Then, last week, a friend posted this photo on Facebook:

(on sale here)

It was a timely reminder that in the midst of a WoD, it’s about me, not the others working out alongside me. I have had (and will have) my times of improvement, and they will have theirs. The important thing is to be there, consistently putting in the work. Sometimes I might feel like I’m not winning...but how can I be losing when it’s just me against myself? At the end of the day, I’m still there; I’m still pushing through… I’m still choosing not to be defeated.

Lamb moussaka

Meat sauce

Olive oil
1kg lamb mince
1 onion, diced
2 large garlic cloves, crushed/chopped finely
1 tin tomatoes
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
Salt & pepper

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil, then fry garlic and onion until soft. Add lamb mince & cook, stirring often to separate, until browned. Stir in all remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Vegetable layers

2 eggplants
4 courgettes
Olive oil

Remove tops and ends from eggplants and courgettes, then slice thinly, lengthwise. Heat olive oil in a frypan and cook vegetable slices until browned on each side. You will need to do a few at a time to ensure they are flat against the base of the frypan. The eggplant soaks up a lot of oil, so add more as needed.

Faux white sauce
1 cauliflower
1/4 tsp paprika
Dash of olive oil
Salt & pepper

Steam cauliflower. Transfer cooked cauliflower to a bowl then use stick blender to ‘mash’ it. Add paprika, olive oil, & salt and pepper, and whip with a fork.

Putting it all together

Line the bottom of a lasagne or other large baking dish with the eggplant slices, then create another layer of eggplant slices in the other direction (so they criss cross).

Spoon half the meat sauce over eggplant. Layer courgette slices over meat sauce. Spoon over the other half of the meat sauce, then top with the cauliflower mash.

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 20 minutes, or until top is slightly browned and sauce is bubbling.

Note: this is super tasty, but not very pretty – it goes a bit sloppy when you serve it – so maybe don’t cook this if you’re being judged on presentation!

Making the most of what you've got

We all have things that we’re not so good at. I’m sure we’ve all experienced those moments of dismay when we get a WoD that seems to intentionally target our ‘worst’ exercises, or when we have to do something at work that doesn’t come naturally to us (public speaking, anyone?!). We all know what it’s like to feel as if we’re not doing something as well as we’d like to.

There is no denying it - we all have our weaknesses.

But we also all have our strengths.

The beauty of CrossFit is that the nature of the sport allows everyone to utilise their strengths. It lets everyone make the most of what they’ve got. I’ve got a long way to go with most of the exercises we do in CrossFit, but I have a pretty good run. I now love it when we get WoDs with runs in them, because I know I can use them to make up time I might lose on exercises that I find harder. I’ve switched my mindset from seeing runs as a bit of a ‘rest’, because they’re not as hard, to viewing them as something I can utilise to improve my performance. It’s no different when we face challenges in life. It’s important to focus on our strengths and how we can best use them to overcome each hurdle.

The CrossFit Games are about to start. Have you entered yet? Sure, you might not think you can complete every workout as rx’d, and you might not be aiming for a place at regionals or worlds, but you just might find that one of the sectionals workouts happens to involve those very exercises you know you’re good at. Every single member of a team can contribute to the team’s overall scores. Every single member of the team can make the most of what they’ve got to help the team get to the next stage. So what are you waiting for? Sign up and make the most of what you’ve got!

http://games.crossfit.com/athletes/teams/crossfit-new-zealand

Speaking of making the most of what you’ve got, here are a few recipes I threw together at short notice, using bits and pieces that were in the fridge, or things that needed using up…


Olive, pickled onion, and feta mix

I was feeling kind of peckish prior to heading out on Saturday night, and I really wanted something salty. So I had a rummage around the pantry and the fridge, and came up with this.

Black olives
Chopped pickled onions
Goats feta
(Could also add sundried tomatoes)

If I was making this in advance, I would also have added some fresh rosemary, but that would need time for the flavour to permeate through the mix.

Put all ingredients in a bowl & demolish!

Broccoli, avocado & mint salad 

When we got home, we had to throw a quick (but ideally tasty) dinner together. Bear was in charge of the steak, I was in charge of the vegetables. Having not yet done the grocery shopping, I was a bit short of options…but we did have some broccoli, some avocado, and some pecans leftover from the crumble…perfect for a warm broccoli salad!

Broccoli
Avocado
Chopped fresh mint
Chopped pecans
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt & pepper, to taste

In a bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, fresh mint, pecans, and salt & pepper.

Steam broccoli & add to the bowl. Chop avocado, add, and stir.

Eggplant & kumara dip

This one came about because I had a couple of eggplant that needed using, and then we had a bit of leftover baked kumara that Bear had cooked for a brunch with friends who never showed! (Don’t feel bad though guys, it made a great starter for dinner with my family that evening!)…

2 eggplants, sliced and roasted
6 cloves garlic, roasted
Roasted kumara
2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
3 tbsp tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Touch of ground cayenne pepper

Roast eggplant, garlic, and kumara.

Combine all ingredients using a stick blender or food processor.

Serve with fresh vegetable sticks.