Time

Hello again everyone! It has been some time since my last post, but life has continued on as usual here at the Kun. Since we last chatted I have come and gone from Germany and my wonderful hubby, worked way too much, and officially took my CrossFit Level 1 Exam.

The rest of my time in Germany was like a dream, being with my husband without a care in the world was just what this girl needed to fuel my batteries. We went to Paris where I was able to meet my new family, David and Marsha Bowen and be among some of the most beautiful landscape and art int he world.

The cert was great! It took place at a CrossFit gym in Seoul with three trainer from HQ, and many awesome Koreans! We went over all the the concepts of CrossFit and I was able to finally get some one-on-one with a trainer to help me. You see, I have issues with my deadlift vs clean/snatch stance. It may seem small beans in comparison to other things, but when you are trying to lift heavy it pretty much becomes the only thing. My hip flexion is too great and I need to learn to raise my butt more to get my shoulders in front of the bar versus behind. This way I have the ability to raise the bar up without pulling backward.

At the end of the two days I had made some great new friends, and recieved some great tips! Overall a wonderful weekend in Korea!

Now back to the daily grind, but training is still the main focus of my life here and I am eager to prove myself next month at the Regionals in Japan. More to come!

Hats

Greetings everyone!

I know it has been quite some time since my last post and all of you are just teetering on the brink of madness not knowing what has been happening in the life of Kari. Well, fret no more faithful followers she is back and abroad! Yes, I took this one-woman show on the road and went to Germany. My husband, so wonderful and patient to have a wife like me is stationed at Ramstein in Germany and I thought it time to pay my beloved a little visit.

Everything has shifted and not just my current location. My mood, my perspective, and my hat...wait...hat? Yes, this cleverly hidden transition has brought me to the topic for this post. I (like many out there) wear lots of different "hats". One is my work self, the go-to girl for the Colonel that I work for.  Ever mindful of his needs and what memo goes in what mailbox. The other is my weather self, the person I entered the military to be. The eclectic admirer of Earth's natural power, the enemy of every pilot.

Then there is the CrossFitter, paleo-eating wife, and she is by far the most fun ;-) So here I am amongst my people, in my husband's arms and enjoying every minute of it. Even the dreadful 5 I spent doing a horrible workout with my Ramstein CrossFit family.

Tonight the hubby and I (mostly the hubby since I was making a dreadful mess of dinner) are cooking Paleo pizza from almond flour, eggs, and olive oil with tons of grilled veggies and sausage...yum!!

More from the land of beer and brats later...Guten nacht!

Living out loud

Last few days here on Kunsan have been hectic due to the looming Air Force level inspection we have this coming week. We have prepared, shredded, cleaned and streamlined pretty much everything. Many man hours have culminated in what we hope to be an above average base. Here's hoping Kunsan!!

As for me I have taken to the gym in full force. I have been keeping a keen eye on the sectionals currently happening in the States and are gauging my place in the grand arena. I try to incorporate as many of these workouts in my routine as possible while at the same time trying to work on my weaknesses. Hence my current shoulder pain from the many frustrated attempts at a muscle-up on Sat...any day now!!

Speaking of Saturday, my day started off pretty awesome. I participated in the first ever Kunsan Duathalon! It was a 5K run, 20K bike, 5 K run. I originally was set to do the entire event by myself but my good friend Christine mentioned a team event and I was all for having fun and doing less work ;) So she did the bike and I did the running. It was a beautiful Saturday for an athletic event, minus the 25 mile/hr wind! It was like hitting a wall when you would least want to, but we pushed through and finished with style!

We completed the event in under 1:25 min! Way to go us! It was a great time and such a nice way to spend a Saturday morning with my Kunsan family!

The day was far from over. Hey, we still have plenty of CrossFit time left! After the event I went home for anothor of my fabulous raspberry, banana, protein smoothies and a few scoops of PB!

Then it was back to the gym to meet Bobby for muscle-up work and a WOD. I have yet to get one, but the strength seems to be there, just not the transition. I am going to work on doing ring pull-ups with the false grip and more jumping ones to build the muscle memory up. I need to get this before May!!

Came home that night to salmon and avocado. Let me ask you, is there anything better than avocado? Seriously, it is creamy, tasty, and full of great fat...that you can eat!! If I had to take one thing with me on a island (and only if my hubby didn't count) I would take avocados!

SUNDAY

So today was another wonderful, beautiful day at Kunsan. The sun was shining, the birds are chirping, and the CrossFitters are screaming through yet another great fundamentals class! I feel so happy to be able to teach the CrossFit method at our tiny piece of the world here in Korea! After the class was able to get another workout in with Crazy Bobby!

While he did the March Painstorm (aka insanity) I did my wonderful husband's birthday WOD:

45lb overhead walking lunge, 65 steps

65 pull-ups

65lb Hang squat clean, 65 reps

65lb push press, 65 reps

65lb SDLHP, 65 reps

All I can say about this is that the only reason I attempted that insane WOD is because I love you so much!

So here is to another weekend in Korea, working out, eating, and just taking one day at a time!

Is it friday?

We are I am sorry to say only at Tuesday. The weekend seems like a distant location that will never seem to arrive. I woke to a lovely chat with my husband who has now returned from Italy where he ran the CrossFit Games Sectionals competition. CrossFit Ramstein represented extremely well with JB, Buck, and Lauren all heading to the Regionals in May!

In preparation for my own competition in May I had the glorious idea to do TWO workouts today. Not such a grand feat, but when you factor in the immense amount of sleep I like to get and my basic laziness this is pretty astounding.

WOD 1:
Row 1000m
25lb dumbell snatch, 50 reps
Row 750m
25lb dumbell snatch, 35 reps
Row 500m
25lb dumbell snatch, 20 reps

15:00

Pretty happy with the time given that I stink at rowing! Came home to coffee and an oatmeal experiment that went terribly wrong, so I ended up having a paleo pumpkin muffin instead.

Through out the day I find it sometimes difficult to eat the way I want to, so I have come to the conclusion that if it is 90% healthy you are doing pretty well. For a snack I had strawberries and an ounce of cheese (sooooo good). Then lunch was a Women's lunch meeting at the club so I indulged in the semi-tasty salad bar.

Went back to work and realized how much a "salad" just does not work for your average female, so I ate a power bar and hoped that I might make it through the afternoon without eating my hat.

Before my second workout of the day I came home to find my place magically clean (thank you wonderful cleaning lady) and a fresh jar of PB in my fridge (thank you me).

So there is my pre-workout meal of paleo muffin, half a banana and some PB!

WOD 2:

3 rounds for time of:

185 lb deadlift, 10 reps

50 double-unders

6:36

Today was what we call "I want to rip my jumprope apart and burn whatever is left to ashes" day. I think that pretty much speaks for itself...

So now I am back in my room ready to eat community chicken tacos. I say community because the girl down the hall, "Wonderful Tara" has offered to make dinner for us. So there you have it, yet another day in the world of crazy.

Groundhog day

Hello everyone and welcome to Groundhog Day. Everyone reaches a time in their life when they look back and notice that absolutely nothing has changed from day to day. This can be especially true in the military; we are known for our punctuality and cherished for our ability to be reliable. This has caused me to fall into what most refer to as a "rut". Now don't get me wrong, I love routine, my daily schedule of events that I can count on...well, the only one I REALLY count on is my 1700 go to the gym routine, but you get the point.

Today, however I had no desire to go to the gym, I blame this partially on the fact that I did not leave work until 6 pm, but it is mainly because I just didn't feel like it. Now, even in the life of a self proclaimed "athlete" sometimes you just cannot muster up the energy to hit the gym. CrossFit having such a varied workout regime has aided in that problem quite well, but alas sometimes I still feel the urge to veg and relax with a glass of vino...or bottle, whatever.

Lately I have been doing workouts from the CrossFit Games Sectional competitions and trying to see where I stand in the grand scheme of things. Now, you are most likely wondering if I am any good, well lets just say that I have not given up on CrossFit as a whole and dedicated my life to yoga and meditating so overall not doing too bad so far. I have little less than 2 months before my big weekend in Japan so at this point I am just trying to focus on my flaws. Unfortunately, being the example of perfection in all things it is hard to me to find any. Enter my husband who so sweetly reminds me to get me A#$ on the rings and do muscle-ups...yes dear.


So that is where we stand on this pleasant, Korean Monday night. Me, a bottle of vino, and you.

Goodnight all!

To Osan! The land of milk and honey, or just a proper BX

Good Morning from Korea!

Got up at 0630 because when you get up at 0400 M-F your body just does not accomodate the whole "sleeping in" thing. Woke up to a pre-run snack of paleo banana-almond muffin with all natural peanut butter.

Then went on a 5 mile run around base. It was very quiet and misty grey along the running path so quite nice. Kunsan Air Base is made up of 2 main F-16 Squadrons and 1 deployed F-15 Squadron. It is a small, remote base compared to many other military installations. There is a nice running path around the outer fence of the base that will always make you understand where you are.

After my return from the run I made a quick post-workout smoothie...

Now off to Osan with Melissa to do some much needed shopping! We are driving ourselves this time so pray that we make it in one piece and don't get lost!!

Congrats, you have become my accountability crew!

Hello everyone, and welcome to crazy.

This is my feeble attempt to share with the world what it is like for a married woman of 26 (yes, I said it), member of our great Air Force living overseas in Korea trying to maintain a healthy, fitness focused lifestyle. You will see it all (to some extent, we are a rated G blog) my trials, frustrations, and successes as I attempt to compete athletically and eat cleanly in a world where fast food chains reign and accountability has given way to mediocrity.

This blog is not aimed toward any certain audience, but merely me taking a small section of the world and making it my own. Opening up myself to you so you will always know you are not alone in your struggles. That not every fitness fanatic, gym obsessed CrossFitter eats clean 100% of the time, and that you too can achieve a better way of living. I only hope that in some small way I can give you hope, and show you that you can achieve things you never thought possible.