More Pound for Pound, Exciting Announcements + RF Unblemish

Even after a one bad day on Sunday, and having a mental meltdown my mind has been running a thousand mph with how excited I am about some of the things I have coming up for me.

Pound for Pound Results

I was nervous and a little excited about my meet this past Saturday in Charlotte at South Charlotte CrossFit.  My first official CrossFit gym I was ever apart of for a long time.   I started out at CrossFit Charlotte but was unable to do a membership there.

So I showed up hoping to hit some new PR's in both of my lifts.  I'm so close in both and I will admit I was nervous to work with Matt.  I've only seen him on Facebook and Instagram lifting and just randomly started flowing him.  Never actually met him in person prior, and had talked to him about programming before.  Cause that doesn't sound weird at all now that I'm having someone coach me at my 2nd over Olympic lifting competition that I've never actually met.  But the guy has some mad skills when it comes to lifting.  Now when you do a weightlifting competition you have to arrive 2 hours early to weigh in.  Everything is done based off of your weight class and by your age.  Me being 28 years old, I'm considered a senior.  If that doesn't make you feel old I don't know what will, haha.  So after I weighed in I ate some breakfast, you don't eat before weigh-ins.  And started to stretch out.  Yeah I started stretching early.  I get anxiety at competitions so I just have to keep moving around.  I stretched out my shoulders, hamstrings, hips, making sure everything was mobile. 

So when I finally met up with Matt, he got my opening number for my snatch and started doing his, what I can only guess his is calculating, for warming up.  He told me to go hang out, so I did for a little bit and as I was start to put the singlet on I had and put my wrist wraps and knee sleeve on my mom and neighbor showed up.  After that I grabbed a barbell so I could start warming up.  

Matt fixed only two things with my snatch which still feel a little weird.  He wanted me to jump and bring my knees up and then since I extend backward he wanted me to focus on extending up with my shoulders and not back.   I can.  I got so focused on trying to make sure I did that that I became completely unaware of just about all the other stuff I normally can feel.   But that's okay, it's only because it's different from my normal.  He started putting weights on the bar for warming up while people were lifting and would tell me when to lift a weight he had set.  And in between he would make me sit.  That was probably the only thing I didn't like!  I'm not a sitter, I get anxious.  I'm a person that stands and walks around to get the nervous out.  I eventually told him I couldn't sit and he understood it and let me stand and walk around.  But I stayed close.  

Snatch

So it was time for my first attempt at my snatch,  53kg.  I hit all my weights warming up, first attempt, not problem.  Attempt #1 (fail):

I got on the platform and I didn't take enough time to set up for my lift.  I felt my ass rise first, when you're suppose to lead with your chest and missed my lift.  I had two minutes before I needed to try and complete the lift again.  No one else was lifting at the weight I was which is why I got two minutes.

He had me sit again (and this is before he found out I'm not a sitter).

Attempt #2 (fail):  

This time the bar was too far out in front of me.  I tried to save it, but it just wasn't happening.  I'm not sure why in the world I was having an off lift since it's normally a number I can hit no problem  And we talked about it after and it could have been many factors....I'm use to training my myself, I haven't competed in over a year.  But even at my first meet I only missed one of my snatches.  So this was baffling me.

We talked about my 3rd attempt and whether or not I wanted to go up in weight or stay where I was.  Sometimes going up in weight for me helps so I chose to go with 55kg.  A weight I can typically hit as well.

Attempt #3 (fail):  

This time everything was good, I guess I had some extra power or was unable to stop the movement of the bar.  Matt said it was because I wasn't used to the bar being that close, and I'll take his word on it, but nothing about the lift felt as if I was going to miss it.  It fell behind me.  So at least I had enough power to get it overhead and almost have it.  Now just to fix that part in the coming months.

I was in complete shock that I just missed all of my snatches!  What in the world?!  I mean yes, I have some of these days when I do my training but I just keep lifting it until I make it and then move to the next weight.  But the only thought that was running through my head was, "Great, Matt thinks I can't lift the weights I had declared and that I'm bad at this!"  He could tell I was upset and then told me about how he had bombed out on his first 10 meets.  Not going to lie, that made me feel a little better.  It was normal for things like that to happen. We all have off days.  I sat and watched some of the other competitors that we lifting after me since I had finished my 3 attempts and it wasn't just me that was having a bad day so that made me feel al little better also.  

Snatches were official over and it was time to move on to C&J.  There is a 10min break between the snatch and C&J to allow competitors to warm up

C&J (Clean & Jerks)

I warmed-up little with just the bar and then he told me we would have to move a little faster warming up through C&J than we did snatches.  I was lifting a little earlier in this one.

Attempt #1:

I made this one just fine, but it did feel heavy and felt like my back started to round on the way up.  It did make me a little worried for my other lifts about how they were going to feel.

Matt told me we were going to go 58kg/62kg and then from there depending on how 62kg felt we'd go either 65kg or 66kg, either one would be a new PR for me! I was nervous about that but excited.

Attempt #2:  

I was only worried that this would feel heavy because it was getting close to my max.  The only other worry I had was getting underneath on my jerk fast enough so that my lift would count.  You can press out, you can't have any re-bend in the elbows after you catch the jerk overhead or the lift wouldn't could.  Clean was easy, felt great getting up out of the squat, now time for the jerk.  Solid, felt light and quick getting under.  Awesome!  It felt better than it ever had.

Attempt #3:  

Matt decided for me what weight I was going to be going for...he chose 66kg.  I'm glad I had him there to make the decision of what weights I should lift.  I told him my last lift left good and that's what he went off of.  I got a little nervous when he told me that's what I was going to be lifting but that's okay.  My turn was up and I step onto the platform.  I set my feet like I always do first, it used to be there other way around.  Place my hands first and then my feet.  As soon as my feet were set I grabbed the bar raised my chest and started to pull.  Got under the bar easy into my squat and started to stand.  It as nice to hear him in the background giving me cues throughout and encouraging.  On the way out of the squat, I didn't feel myself struggle at all.  The bar did have a little adjustment in my right hand on the way up and it's only when I fully stood up and fixed it that I realized what weight I really had on my shoulders and all of a sudden it felt heavy.  Then I thought "O shit!"  I took a deep breath, dip, drive and tried to catch it and sink underneath it as best I could.  Caught that sucker rock solid!  I was so happy.  I might not do any happy dances but I'm still reeling inside from it.  My snafu on snatches were and still are an afterthought!

The Pulse Side of Having a Coach

1) They figure out your warm-up weights of you based off of your openers.

2)  They figure out the progression of your lifts for you and if you can hit PRs based on how you feel. 

3)  They keep track of who is up on the platform, and where you are at in the line up so you know when you will be making your attempt.

4)  They always critique you to help with the next lift.

5)  You don't have to try and figure out your own weights!

6)  Encouragement.  It's nice hearing someone in the background yelling quick encouraging stuff while you're lifting. (I still can't stop watching my PR C&J video)!

R+F Unblemish

For some of us it's inevitable that we have acne as teenagers.   And we use that neutrogena, Proactive, or other brands to help try and clear up our skin.  Now your an adult and that teenage acne is suppose to not be there.  But you became one of those o so lucky individuals that gets adult acne.  Trust me I know how you feel.  I'm one of those lucky few.

I used Proactive which was a product by Rodan+Fields when I was in high school and still used it up until a couple of months ago.  I then decided to try a different product now called Fat Co. but was Fat Face Skin before.  It did tell you that you would probably break out when first using the product because your face was getting rid of all the chemicals in your skin from the previous product you were using.  My face did break out but it was expected so I didn't worry too much about it.  Until it never stopped.  Now don't get my wrong, this is just my results for Fat Face.  Other people have had success with it.  It just wasn't working for me.  So I finally decided to try R+F Unblemish.  It was created by the people who made Proactiv so I was hoping it would work.

My order finally came in and I started using it like the brochure said.  But I get all hot and sweaty from workouts so following the schedule toward twice a day wasn't going to work for me, so I just started using it twice a day.

Results vary for everyone, but I started seeing results in my skin after only a week and a half!

This are my personal results: (I still haven't completed the 60 days - Aug. 10th)

Before Umblemish.  You can actually skill see some
of the blemishes under my skin!

1.5 week results

Now what are some of the facts?

R+F Unblemish is clinical proven to reduce the appearance of bumps under the skin, help reduced clogged pores, blackheads, small white blemishes, and red inflamed skin.  And I found it amazing that 30%-50% of adults struggle with acne.  It's a more common issue than you think.  Another great thing about unblemish is you can't start using it from age 8 all the way through 88 years old!

The regimen is a 4 step process starting with the Sulfur Wash which sulfur is an active ingredient to help reduce the appearance of redness and also contain aloe vera and chamomile to help calm you skin.  

The Clarifying Toner is an liquid exfoliator, its alcohol free, refines pores and reduce redness and irritation.  Use a gaze pad to apply it and it doesn't take much.  You can get the gaze pads from R+F Essentials line for only 7.20 as a preferred customer (PC) or just $8 retail price.  Next is the Dual Intensive Acne Treatment.  It's two gels separated in a bottle, with 2 different pumps because you mix the gels together in your hand before you put them on.  I only use 1 pump for each gel.  The OTC Benzoyl Peroxide to reduce bacteria and breakouts and the Penetration Enhancing Gel basically acts as a slip and slide (think of like the turtle wax brand you use to help your windshield when it rains so you can see better and it just beads right up and flows away).  This is basically how the Penetration Enhancing Gel works, allowing OTC ingredients to just slide right off your skin that cause the issues.  The last is a 20SPF Broad Spectrum Sunscreen with oil control.  Our skin always needs to be protected from the sun.  And this last little bit helps that.

The Results show a 60% decrease in acne with Unblemish!  It's important to use the entire regimen for best results, but starting somewhere can always help!

https://tblack.myrandf.com/Shop/Unblemish

Things I'm Excited About
So after this past meet I decided to sign up for one I had looked at prior it, but didn't sign up because I thought it was completely full and registration was closed.  I decided to check again after my meet this past Saturday and sure enough the event was still available!  So I signed up!

The meet is set for Sept 10th at Sugar Creek Brewing in Charlotte, NC.  

I can't wait to do this one!  

Along with training for this meet. I am going to start programming from Matt, who was my coach at this last meet. I have been wanting to get programming from him for several months now, really ever since I realized he was doing programming, but it just didn't seem to be in the budget at that point.  And honestly it really isn't now, but it was great finally having a coach and I'm going to be able to meet with him once a month for some coaching, which will be awesome.  I haven't had a coach in over a year and I honestly miss it.  It makes me upset sometimes because I know that I probably would progress more in my lifts if I had a coach.

I'm also excited to buy my own singlet next month for my meet.  I'm grabbing the Virus Elevate V2 Singlet, unfortunately right now they are sold out, but that's okay because I'm not buying it until next month anyway. 

Braves v Nationals

So I've been wanting to see a Braves game for YEARS and lately I've been wanting to see the Nationals play since DC is one of my favorite places to visit.  I actually looked at going to a game on my last trip but I don't think they were playing a game in town when I would be there.  So a friend of mine told me to pick out a baseball game and he would take care of the rest.  So DC it is for a Braves v Nationals game.  O and my friend has never been to DC, so why not kill two birds with one stone!

So those are just some of the things I'm excited about!  I can't wait!

~God Bless

"Training strength and endurance mentally, physically, and spiritually."

DC or Bust (more bust) + Lip Renewing Serum & Micro-dermabrasion Paste

It's Friday and I'm leaving later today for Charlotte for my Oly meet tomorrow.  I have to take a rest day today so my body can be ready but all I really want to do is do some light work with a barbell.  And I won't lie I'd probably work up to something heavy just to make sure I can hit weights for tomorrow cause I'm super nervous right now.  Resting on a day you typically workout on is really hard!

Pretty much how I feel right now.
And I wish this was a Dory picture, it's so much funnier
that way.

DC or Bust

I left Thursday to head to DC/Maryland area and made great time.  I was able to get a workout in before leaving town and made it to my friend's parent's place by about 145pm.  My friend was on the phone when I got there so it gave me a chance to unpack all my stuff, then we headed off into town to get some food for the night.  We went to get some fresh fish from a fish market and then we headed to a Dutch market.  Yes, actual Amish people work there.  We originally went in for Amish chicken which she was raving about, but they were out.  We picked up some fresh made pretzels sticks instead, a couple with just cinnamon and others just salted.  We got all kinds of fish from the fish market...salmon, tuna, rainbow trout, calamari, crab cake.  All with a side of salad and roasted potatoes and onions (I skipped the potatoes and onions though).

The next day we were headed to Annapolis, Baltimore on the next trip!  So I headed out to workout at Blue Crab CrossFit. At first I was going to wake up and go to the 6am class, setting another alarm.  Then I thought, "What the hell am I doing?"  I'm on vacation, let your body get rest and turn off those stupid alarms!  So sleep in it was and I went to the 8am class.  I enjoyed the class, but it felt like I didn't do much since I'm normally in the for more than an hour.  I just did't feel as if my workout was complete.  And understand it had nothing to do with the gym, it's just from my own personal training plan I usually do.

Our workout for Friday was:

A) 5 Rounds

5 clusters 115/80

10 pull ups

B) Back squats  (7x3 @ 80-85%)

*stick with the same percentage for all 7 sets

Annapolis

I headed back to the house for a snack after that and then grabbed a shower, and waited on Kasenia to finish up her phone calls that she needed to make.  On the way to Annapolis, she took a different route so that we wouldn't get stuck in traffic since we got a late start to our day.  So that meant to Chesapeake Bay Bridge this time around.  I can't remember how long she said the bridge was.It's a very rare occasion when you see what they call "plebs", what they call freshman.  And it was a new enrollment, so they had just started, so them being out and about would be really rare!  But we got lucky enough to see some on the athletic field when we were walking into the facility. We walked around the United States Naval Academy and then around downtown Annapolis, which is basically has your small hometown feel to it with the history included.  

In front of the US Naval Academy

There were so many restaurants that I saw that I would have loved to have tried.  I want to go back again and get a Naval Academy t-shirt and then eat at one of the places in downtown.  And for a snack we stopped in a place called Kilwin's, freshman fudge and hand scooped ice cream.  We walked around Annapolis a little more trying to not let our ice cream melt and run down our hands.  I went to look for a shirt while Kasenia went and got the car because our meter was about to expire.  So I waited while she brought the car back around and we went to a place called Mike's Crab House and Bar for some Maryland's best crab.  Every said you haven't had crab until you've been to Mike's.  I wanted to get crab legs which I thought that they would have.  Boy was I wrong! Maryland serves soft shell crab instead of crab legs so which I didn't realize what that was because I'm used to southern stuffed soft shell crab.  O the naive uncultured part of me haha.  But I went with a dish called crab imperial instead.  It was good, but there was nothing special to it. And the crab tasted like crab to me

John Paul Do

DC and Bust

So I decided to go workout on Saturday and would also get a chance to meet a fellow LiveSore ambassador, which is how I found out about Blue Crab CrossFit.  The workout didn't start until 10am so that made me a little anxious because I didn't want to miss a lot of the Christian conference which was the whole reason I had traveled to the DC/Maryland area.  So to the gym I went and their Saturday's are a partner workout which was nice because I push myself a little more with those.  I got partnered with the gym owner, Josh.  And we did a badass job

25min cap

100cal row

60 abmat sit ups

60 hasp

60 cleans 115/80

60 burpee over plate

40 OHS 115/30

AMRAP muscle ups/strict pull ups with remaining time

40 muscle ups

*teams of 2, split work however needed

Saturday crew post WOD at Blue Crab CrossFit

DC Bust
After that I completed my front squat since I'm trying to increase my strength in those so I can up my C&J numbers.  My goal is 155# by the end of the year and next year probably 170/175#!  (the # after the number refers to pounds).  After that I headed back to the house to take a shower and then Kasenia took me to the metro. I calmed my anxiety about being at the gym because the Together 2016 tour was going to start at 9am and last until 9pm.  So a 12 hour even, that I would get to see plenty of!

Jesus resets us!

After taking the metro into DC and walking for about 30min to the entrance of the conference an announcement was made on the Together 2016 facebook page that they were shutting down the event due to the heat index being so made.  I arrived to the conference at 315 and was out of it my 330.  I was completely bummed that I had just missed something I new was going to be completely amazing.  So I met up with my friend Krystal and her guy friend Chris and we headed back to their hotel to hang out for a bit.  It started raining, after we got through the door of their place.  I hung out for about an hour and a half and then headed back toward the metro to head home.  I felt awkward, third wheel-ish, since they were cuddling up on the bed.  So I was back in Maryland and having dinner by the time it was 830pm. 
I had other things planned besides going to the conference that day.  I had packed a change of clothes because I was going to treat myself to a nice dinner at a restaurant called, The Lincoln.  Then I was going to head over to Georgetown Cupcakes, which was featured on the tv channel TLC.  I didn't get to Georgetown either.  I was really looking forward to going there and getting some cupcakes, not only for myself but also for the family I was staying with as a hostess gift.  Now all I've got is a thank you card to send them.  But something is better than nothing.
I headed out Sunday morning around 730 to head back home and get some things done around the house...like my laundry.

R+F
Lip Renewing Serum
So some of use have that issue where our lips are constantly dry and nothing seems to help, we start getting wrinkles as we get older, and our lips just start to lose their moisture.  All causing those smooth soft lips to look and feel bad.  The Lip Renewing Serum had peptides and antioxidants, including Vitamin E.  All these help to regain our lips natural moisture, smooth out the lines in our lips and reduce wrinkles.  And the best part is not only does it contain 60 capsules but you can use 1 capsule twice so the product lasts longer than they supply given!  It's recommended to use the serum at night after completing whichever R+F face regimen you use and not wash it off.  But if you need a little pick-me-up during the day that's okay too.  Some of us have drier lips than others.
I just ordered mine yesterday and I can't wait to get them and share some with my friends that I know would love them!

Micro-dermabrasion Paste
This paste works miracles on so many things.  You can use it with any of the regimens and use it with bits and pieces of regimens as well!
1) Soothe #2 + Micro-dermabrasion = No More Razor Bumps

2) Unblemish Sulfur Wash + Micro-dermabrasion = Bye Bye Blackheads

3) Essentials Daily Body Moisturizer + Micro-Dermabrasion = Soft Skin & Heals Cracked Feet
Because let's face it our heals suffer like crazy during the summer with all the walking around barefoot!

4) Lip Renewing Serum + Micro-dermabrasion = 1-2 Punch for Smooth, Soft Lips

Pound for Pound & R+F Reverse

I have been itching to write lately.  Maybe because I have some exciting things coming up.  

I actually touched base on this earlier this year in my blog about the Freedom 2016 conference in Washington DC.  It's a completely free concert on the National Mall with tons of speakers and musicians.  I've wanted to go to something like this for some time now and it's free and in one of my favorite cities on the east coast.  I only say east coast cause that's basically all I've traveled so I can't rule out the cities I haven't been to yet (east and west coast).

So I head out of town tomorrow and I'm staying with a  fellow teacher who is in the DC area this summer.  I'm looking forward to going back to DC and my mission to site see Mt. Vernon the time is happening.  I've been wanting to go there my past two trips.  Friday I'll be spending the day in Maryland and looking forward to seeing Annapolis and the Baltimore area.  The conference is ALL day on Saturday (9am-9pm).  I most likely won't stay for the whole thing.  That's just a long time to be outside!

But with a lot of other things coming up I've got to make sure I still get my workouts in...

Pound for Pound + Training

So I admit, my mind goes crazy on me and I get excited to sign up for something and then I second guess myself and wait to long so that registration either closes or I miss out on a spot in my weight class.  My original plan was to compete in the Barbells and Brews competition in September but I procrastinated too long and registration closed by the time I decided to actually do it.

I have wanted to do one so bad but had lost my confidence because my clean & jerk hasn't improved except for the fact that I can now squat clean 64k and not power clean.  Before I wasn't strong enough to squat clean 64kg, but I can now.  But my snatches have been improving.  I might not have made a huge improvement since last year but it is improving.  And it's hard when you don't have a coach to help make those corrections when you know you're doing something wrong but just can't figure it out.

So I with Barbells and Brews sold out I decided to go for the other one I had heard about...Pound for Pound at South Charlotte CrossFit, my first official home gym.  And the only reason I signed up is because my friend Amy gave me that confidence just by saying how good she thought I was at lifting and that she thought I should sign up.  Granted I've had other people tell me I should sing up for a meet and told me I should repeatedly because they knew I was ready but i just didn't feel as if I was.  You have to be mentally ready for them also.

So with my all registered the last thing I needed was a singlet and a coach for that day.

I contacted my friend Betsey, who I met at my USAW Sports Performance Coach certification course because she helped me with my first meet.  But she is unable to help out with this one so she started asking around for me.  Unfortunately, no luck so I asked her what she thought about one guy I had thought about asking, Matt Bergeron.  I've wanted to grab some programming from him for awhile but I can't swing the cost right now, but definitely in the future.  So I took a leap of faith and asked and he said he would be happy too.  

So coach for the meet booked.  Last thing to worry about was a singlet.  I contacted my friend Bobbie, who I knew had one from competing in an Oly meet before.  So I asked her if I could borrow hers.  If not, I was going to have to order one.  Luckily she found hers and I now have everything I need for next Saturday.  Now all I'm hoping for is a couple PRs (personal records).

Now with this whole training thing.  So I've known I've need a workout partner for awhile now.  Because it's hard for me to push myself during  conditioning part of a workout without a little bit of competition.  I don't have a clock to look at so the clock can't push me to beat a certain time, and without someone else to try and keep up with.  I need that outside motivator to push that little extra.  So I knew my condition had probably gotten a little worse.  I did't realize how bad until Guild's 4th of July community workout.  We did the workout in team of 5 and I was sore from that workout.  A workout that I shouldn't have been sore from!  So there in starts the fact that I need to start going there more to get some conditioning in.  So I decided to join them on Monday and skipped my conditioning which was suppose to be "Jackie" to go do "Cindy."

"Jackie"                                                              "Cindy"

For time                                                               20min AMRAP

1000m row                                                           5 pull ups

50 thrusters 45/35                                               10 push ups

30 pull ups                                                          15 squats

My old score for "Cindy" the very first time I did it was 18 Round + 28 reps...this past time 15 Rounds + 14 reps.  In my book that is absolutely horrible.  I did way worse than I expect of myself and again I'm sore!  But people remind me that I've been focusing a lot on my oly lifting, but I think I still do my conditioning, so it shouldn't be that bad! Yeah well I've got to be careful just for the fact that I have my oly meet next weekend but after that something is going to change.

R+F  Reverse
So I told you that once a week I would write about one of my R+F regimens.  I wanted to start with the Reverse regimen because I feel like it can be one of the least popular once.
So what exactly is the purpose behind using the Reverse regimen.  You no those extra freckles you get during the summer or that blotchy tan (some spots darker than other), dull skin, fine lines and wrinkles, dark marks, and sun damage.  Well it can all be reversed and evened out.  

Dullness and brown spots on our skin can be caused by past sun damage such as sunburns, tanning beds, not using sunscreen correctly, and even just the accumulation and daily sun exposure.  But it has also be influenced by our hormones as well: pregnancy, the birth control pill/path and hormone replacement therapy.  All these things can cause our skin to change.  And one of the great things is that R+F makes a Essentials Broad Spectrum Sunscreen to help protect your skin as well.  
When R+F created the Reverse regimen they made it so that it reflects natural light instead of our skin absorbing it and causing all the skin damage that it does.  By doing this our skin keeps that youthful, radiant, healthy look.  Unfortunately, we only see what is on the surface and not what happens to the many layers of skin we can't see, and these dark marks can make us look older and no one wants to look older than they are
The Reverse Regimen comes with 5 different therapies:

1) Deep Exfoliating Wash (Exfoliates) - cleanses and refines sun damage, blotchy complexion
It helps to loosen dead skin cells, which we all have, and contains exfoliating beads to help get rid of the dead skin cells

2) Intensive Brightening Toner (Fades Discoloration) - helps to brighten skin and fade discoloration, exfoliate and refines, and reduce free-radical damage using different acids approved for  your skin and antioxidants

3) Dual Active Brightening Complex (Brightens and Smoothes Lines) - it uses a combination of Vitamin C and Retinol
The Retinol helps with those fine lines and wrinkles and the Vitamin C helps brighten the appearance of skin.  You want to place a pea sized amount, dab and then blend on that face that we are transforming!

Our last step:
4) Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ Sunscreen 
The sunscreen is designed to absorb UV rays increasing your protection.  The high SPF 50+ formula and Vitamin E and green tea help fight free radicals that damage our skin.

Pound for Pound & R+F Reverse

I have been itching to write lately.  Maybe because I have some exciting things coming up.  

I actually touched base on this earlier this year in my blog about the Freedom 2016 conference in Washington DC.  It's a completely free concert on the National Mall with tons of speakers and musicians.  I've wanted to go to something like this for some time now and it's free and in one of my favorite cities on the east coast.  I only say east coast cause that's basically all I've traveled so I can't rule out the cities I haven't been to yet (east and west coast).

So I head out of town tomorrow and I'm staying with a  fellow teacher who is in the DC area this summer.  I'm looking forward to going back to DC and my mission to site see Mt. Vernon the time is happening.  I've been wanting to go there my past two trips.  Friday I'll be spending the day in Maryland and looking forward to seeing Annapolis and the Baltimore area.  The conference is ALL day on Saturday (9am-9pm).  I most likely won't stay for the whole thing.  That's just a long time to be outside!

But with a lot of other things coming up I've got to make sure I still get my workouts in...

Pound for Pound + Training

So I admit, my mind goes crazy on me and I get excited to sign up for something and then I second guess myself and wait to long so that registration either closes or I miss out on a spot in my weight class.  My original plan was to compete in the Barbells and Brews competition in September but I procrastinated too long and registration closed by the time I decided to actually do it.

I have wanted to do one so bad but had lost my confidence because my clean & jerk hasn't improved except for the fact that I can now squat clean 64k and not power clean.  Before I wasn't strong enough to squat clean 64kg, but I can now.  But my snatches have been improving.  I might not have made a huge improvement since last year but it is improving.  And it's hard when you don't have a coach to help make those corrections when you know you're doing something wrong but just can't figure it out.

So I with Barbells and Brews sold out I decided to go for the other one I had heard about...Pound for Pound at South Charlotte CrossFit, my first official home gym.  And the only reason I signed up is because my friend Amy gave me that confidence just by saying how good she thought I was at lifting and that she thought I should sign up.  Granted I've had other people tell me I should sing up for a meet and told me I should repeatedly because they knew I was ready but i just didn't feel as if I was.  You have to be mentally ready for them also.

So with my all registered the last thing I needed was a singlet and a coach for that day.

I contacted my friend Betsey, who I met at my USAW Sports Performance Coach certification course because she helped me with my first meet.  But she is unable to help out with this one so she started asking around for me.  Unfortunately, no luck so I asked her what she thought about one guy I had thought about asking, Matt Bergeron.  I've wanted to grab some programming from him for awhile but I can't swing the cost right now, but definitely in the future.  So I took a leap of faith and asked and he said he would be happy too.  

So coach for the meet booked.  Last thing to worry about was a singlet.  I contacted my friend Bobbie, who I knew had one from competing in an Oly meet before.  So I asked her if I could borrow hers.  If not, I was going to have to order one.  Luckily she found hers and I now have everything I need for next Saturday.  Now all I'm hoping for is a couple PRs (personal records).

Now with this whole training thing.  So I've known I've need a workout partner for awhile now.  Because it's hard for me to push myself during  conditioning part of a workout without a little bit of competition.  I don't have a clock to look at so the clock can't push me to beat a certain time, and without someone else to try and keep up with.  I need that outside motivator to push that little extra.  So I knew my condition had probably gotten a little worse.  I did't realize how bad until Guild's 4th of July community workout.  We did the workout in team of 5 and I was sore from that workout.  A workout that I shouldn't have been sore from!  So there in starts the fact that I need to start going there more to get some conditioning in.  So I decided to join them on Monday and skipped my conditioning which was suppose to be "Jackie" to go do "Cindy."

"Jackie"                                                              "Cindy"

For time                                                               20min AMRAP

1000m row                                                           5 pull ups

50 thrusters 45/35                                               10 push ups

30 pull ups                                                          15 squats

My old score for "Cindy" the very first time I did it was 18 Round + 28 reps...this past time 15 Rounds + 14 reps.  In my book that is absolutely horrible.  I did way worse than I expect of myself and again I'm sore!  But people remind me that I've been focusing a lot on my oly lifting, but I think I still do my conditioning, so it shouldn't be that bad! Yeah well I've got to be careful just for the fact that I have my oly meet next weekend but after that something is going to change.

R+F  Reverse
So I told you that once a week I would write about one of my R+F regimens.  I wanted to start with the Reverse regimen because I feel like it can be one of the least popular once.
So what exactly is the purpose behind using the Reverse regimen.  You no those extra freckles you get during the summer or that blotchy tan (some spots darker than other), dull skin, fine lines and wrinkles, dark marks, and sun damage.  Well it can all be reversed and evened out.  

Dullness and brown spots on our skin can be caused by past sun damage such as sunburns, tanning beds, not using sunscreen correctly, and even just the accumulation and daily sun exposure.  But it has also be influenced by our hormones as well: pregnancy, the birth control pill/path and hormone replacement therapy.  All these things can cause our skin to change.  And one of the great things is that R+F makes a Essentials Broad Spectrum Sunscreen to help protect your skin as well.  
When R+F created the Reverse regimen they made it so that it reflects natural light instead of our skin absorbing it and causing all the skin damage that it does.  By doing this our skin keeps that youthful, radiant, healthy look.  Unfortunately, we only see what is on the surface and not what happens to the many layers of skin we can't see, and these dark marks can make us look older and no one wants to look older than they are
The Reverse Regimen comes with 5 different therapies:

1) Deep Exfoliating Wash (Exfoliates) - cleanses and refines sun damage, blotchy complexion
It helps to loosen dead skin cells, which we all have, and contains exfoliating beads to help get rid of the dead skin cells

2) Intensive Brightening Toner (Fades Discoloration) - helps to brighten skin and fade discoloration, exfoliate and refines, and reduce free-radical damage using different acids approved for  your skin and antioxidants

3) Dual Active Brightening Complex (Brightens and Smoothes Lines) - it uses a combination of Vitamin C and Retinol
The Retinol helps with those fine lines and wrinkles and the Vitamin C helps brighten the appearance of skin.  You want to place a pea sized amount, dab and then blend on that face that we are transforming!

Our last step:
4) Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ Sunscreen 
The sunscreen is designed to absorb UV rays increasing your protection.  The high SPF 50+ formula and Vitamin E and green tea help fight free radicals that damage our skin.

Catching Up On Life + Mint Chocolate Recovery Shake

I swear I'm trying to catch up and get back into getting posts done on Thursday, which there isn't any reason that I shouldn't be able to with all the horrible free time that I'm having that I can't stand.  I've been dog sitting a lot since work has let out and I run around more doing that than anything else.  Heck it might help me make it through the summer...who would have thought!  I have been wanting to sit down and blog for some time now but just haven't gotten around to hit.  

My head has been all over the place and although I swear I will no longer talk about Fidget, he still crosses my mind everyday and I wonder when those days will cease to exist.  Although part of me never wants to forget and hang on to what little time we were together and the things that he said to me, I for my sake need to get it out of my head.  I started dating someone else, just seeing where it goes.  I met him back in April and he works in CA (civil affairs) and I'm not going to lie every second we spent together at first I wished it was Fidget that I was having those experiences with.  It's not fair to me or the guy I have been talking to, but I think feelings started to develop there.
But currently that guy is deployed as of last week for 6 months after only being here a month.  He was living out of a hotel!  But he did take me out to a fancy dinner the week before he left which I'm definitely not complaining and unlike most of my planned meals throughout the week, this girl can put away some food.  He said he was going to make an effort while he was gone but I haven't heard from him yet, so until he makes an effort I probably won't either.  Which only means he wasn't being honest with me.  Maybe on occasion to check in on him but I'm not going to wait around on someone who isn't acting interested.  I know, I know, but I'm over here thinking about Fidget right?  It's because he just gave up for a stupid ass reason.  And I will always wonder What If?

But I'm trying to get out there and move on and just going out and having fun.  Hanging out with friends and I'm getting ready to take a little trip myself...DC for Together 2016.   And if you know me you know how much I love DC!  I could go there a couple times a year and never get tired of it!
But I've added to my bucket list of thing to do....visit Lake Tahoe and WA.  I'd like to do at least WA this year.  
So other than dealing with that mental struggle what has been going on in my life with training, nutrition, and work...

Training + Mint Chocolate Recovery Shake

So training has been doing well.  I've actually seen some improvements in my clean (full) & jerks.  It's been over a year since I've seen any improvements and it's been very frustrating.  I had started on the Catalyst Athletics 8 week general cycle and that cycle ended last week.  Because I was home last weekend I was unable to test for my maxes so I'm going back through the last week of training and going to try them this weekend, but I probably should have backed up two weeks in the program and then tested for my maxes this weekend.
I will honestly not be upset this time if I don't hit a PR on my C&J as long as I'm consistent like I have been the previous two week of hitting a 63kg C&J.  I had been stuck at 61kg full clean for so long and to be able to actually get 63kg makes me happy.  My current max is 64kg but in a power clean. I couldn't do a full clean at 64kg this time last year.  I've been attempting 65kg and have been getting stuck.  I think next I'm going to start a squat cycle to improve my front squat so I can get a heavier clean.  I would love to hit 70kg/73kg but I feel as if I'm a long way off.
I would love to have some coaching and it's a bummer because since school has let out I can't afford it, but I know it would really help.  I've been wanting to get some coaching from a guy named Matt Bergeron but like I said I'm unable to pay anyone at this point.  I was talking with a friend the other day and was telling her how I had debated about competing in a USAW competition in September but I don't have the confidence to since I have no coach.  I've only made improvements in my snatch since competing last May.  Not a lot but improvements nonetheless.  She said that I was really good at lifting and should do the meet, but with my lack of confidence is it even worth me competing when I know that I haven't improved that much especially in my C&J.  But her encouragement has made me want to compete so I think I'm going to go for it!

Now my nutrition has been a completely different story.

There was a Mint Chocolate Recovery Shake in
there.

I haven't been eating like I should and can see the effects of it and it has taken a toll on my confidence.  I have been eating more sweets than I normally do (only on Sundays).  I've been sneaking in the handful of reese's pieces or a few spoonfuls of ice cream during the week, but with being busy dog sitting and spending the night at their place and not mine it's been good because they don't have that temptation even thought I've been told that I was welcome to any food that they had in the house.  I will admit that the cookie dough in the fridge has been staring me down but I have resisted.  
Unfortunately, I haven't been trying many new concoctions as far as food goes these days.  The only thing new I've tried is a Recovery Shake that is Badass Body Diet approved, Mint Chocolate.  I actually got this recipe from Spartan Nutrition.

Mint Chocolate Recovery Shake

1/2 banana

1c almond milk

1-2 scoops choc protein powder (ETB Fit)

1tsp peppermint extract

Schools Out & Work

School was over as of June 10th and I will miss some of my 8th graders but it will b nice to see some of my students again and I can't wait to see them.  I enjoyed last year so much and never in my wildest dreams did I think that working with special education students would be something that would touch my heart so much and feel me with so much joy.  It is a privilege to get to work with those types of kids.  I'm hoping that an Educational Aide position will come open for next school year so I can apply for it.

Like I said above since school has been out I have been dog sitting like crazy.  I think the only break that I will end up getting from dog sitting is the week that I'm going out of town for only a couple of days.  So I have become a dog sitter while school is out.  And like I said it has been keeping me busy and might actually pay my bills for the summer.  If I could make it every summer like this.  This might be the way to go!

These are officially my god puppies
(Remi - tan and Brooklyn - black)

Rodan + Fields
Many people have heard about this company and so many more others have not.  Rodan+Fields is a clinical skincare company, created by dermatologists.  It is a company that uses network marketing to promote and sell their products.  I had been contacted about using the product or becoming apart of the business for several months.  At first I just ignored the messages.  I already had a skincare line I was using, Proactive.  Which funny enough is made by Rodan+Fields, which a lot of people didn't realize.  So after being contacted several time about it I finally decided to talk to one of the consultants.  Money has always been an issue but they have had so much success with the business.  It's all about the marketing and reaching out to people.  
I attending an online BBL (business launch party) on night and had been thinking about it for awhile, just trying the product in general.  I'm 28 years old and have terrible acne and it only got worse when I tried a new product that was all natural that I was really hoping would help.  So what exactly do I do?
I spread the word about how great these products are and I honestly believe in them.  They created for different skincare lines for different skincare concerns: acne, sensitivity, dark spots/uneven complexion, anti-aging for those fine lines and wrinkles.  It's our adult skincare but it also works on kids.  For the next 4 weeks I plan on getting back into blogging and letting you know about each different regimen.  All I do is just spread the word.  I can work from home, by the pool, or while just hanging out with friends!  Who doesn't love that.  I mean I've worked while my oils getting changed.  I'm not chained to a certain location!  I have a great support group to be there for any questions I may have as I grow my business and hopefully become successful with it as I have a feeling I eventually will.

R+F Unblemish Regimen (this is the one that I use)

So why did I join.  It's a way to get me to financial freedom, and to share something that I'm passionate about.  My acne took away a lot of my confidence and the Unblemish regimen started clearing up my skin in only a week and a half.  Who doesn't love that!  But I also have other goals like going back to school and I would love to buy a new Toyota 4runner and house one day.  But to give women of any age their confidence back from their complexion along would be amazing!