20 Weeks after our first Winter Tough Mudder Training Session, Los Neuty Osos arrived at Gunstock Mountain to take on Tough Mudder! We started 10 strong (with 8 virgins) and finished 10 strong (literally, interlocked Phalanx-style strong)! Personally, it was my longest and most enjoyable Mudder yet!
Here’s how it went down as I remember it:
The first 6 miles were easy! It reminded me of when you’re waiting for a comeback or counter-punch from someone…
We did lots of trotting downhill and yogging on the mostly flat terrain and then the other shoe dropped. Soon after the arctic enema the course got mean!
The second half was hilly and action-packed! I’d guess 70% of the obstacles and elevation gain happened in the last 6 miles. Mother nature kicked it up a notch as well by turning up the heat for us. It’s cool though, we’d been practicing! The times spent at Neuty really showed as our crew marched up and trotted down the challenging grades at Gunstock. We conquered every obstacle together and didn’t skip anything! When we couldn’t physically help each other we gave out mental boosts as shown below (except for the hecklers):
As we approached the last couple obstacles (after the 2nd or 3rd “one more hill”) the skies grew dark and a wicked storm started was brewing. You can see the clouds moving in on Everest:
Finally, the finish was the perfect way to cap off the experience! 20 weeks after doing our introductions in the parking lot at Neuty, we interlocked arms and walked though the wires as one!
I think those pictures say enough about our team finished off probably the Toughest Event on the Planet! I’m so proud of how this group handled the course and themselves on the course! Kudos to Los Neuty Osos!
Last weekend was the culmination of a wild and crazy collaboration between LbF and Citybiz BNI (specifically President Kristen McCormick)! After roughly 7 weeks of training on the sand and in the studio, roughly one-third of our networking group took on Bold r Dash’s Inaugural Beach Event.
Me and Madam President!
Since the event took place on the shore, we practiced at a local urban beach. Though the water may not be suitable for swimming, and fisherman definitely want to catch and release, Gorton Pond served its purpose of getting us acclimated to running on the sand. We played indoors as well when mother nature advised.
Here is the run-down of the big day as I remember it:
Right from the start we grabbed our miniature “bolders” for a short run on the soft sand. After dropping them off we headed down to shore where we had to battle the tide and some rocks to pass around a sea wall. This was probably the most treacherous obstacle we faced. It looked even harder for those who started later than us, as the tide was still rising. From there we cruised down the beach to be a kid again and fill up buckets with water and dump them in larger buckets. After more time on the soft sand we entered the parking area of Misquamicut where we encountered several different obstacles: 8′ walls, tire walls, 5′ high tire hurdles, a see-saw (awesome touch!), and some low hurdles. Also parked in the lot was a moving truck. We had to hop up, climb up and over some of the steel channels for separating/securing furniture, and squeeze through a tight area made by pallets and plywood. Again, nice touch!
Back to the sand we went for some more running, wall climbing, and perhaps the most mentally challenging section - over and under the walls while carrying an orange buoy. There were probably 5 walls to get over (about 4′ high) and 5 to crawl under (about 2′ off the sand). Sounds like no big deal but we had to bring our 30# buoys with us. It was at this time when I started to hear some extremely hilarious and colorful language from Vinny Blue Jeans, a teammate and fellow networker of mine. He provided the entertainment, I provided the step stool (i.e. my knee) for him to pass over the hurdles.
Eventually we found our way back to another section of the parking lot where we hurdled about a dozen +/- more 4′ walls, crossed a balance beam with a slosh tube, and scaled a couple more tall walls (7-10′).
The home stretch took us back on the soft sand for some running, crawling, up and over some large rocks, and finally across the finish line! It was a big accomplishment for our group and the energy carried over to a fun after-party!
Last month we put in writing our commitment to blogging about our Movements of the Month. We were open about our subpar blogging consistency so here it goes, midway through May and we’re ready to post again to which movements we’re given a little extra attention. Our May Moms are below:
Loaded Figure 4′s - Someday I hope to look half as smooth as Erwan LeCorre of MovNat:
Turkish Getups - a staple for a while now, everyone’s getting a piece of this in May during sessions and kettlebell classes! Here’s Kettlebella performing a smooth and controlled TGU. Did we mention that Kettlebella is doing classes at LbF? We are extremely excited to see her back in action. Unfortunately the 5 week program that starts next Tuesday 5/21 is sold out but we will keep you all posted if/when (we’re really hoping that’s a when not an if!) the next one starts!
Dong Rows - this is a technical term for our simulation of a popular Tough Mudder Obstacle. Thanks to Deanna for showing us how it’s done!
Here’s a shot from last year’s Tough Mudder New England #1. Please excuse the First Laidy’s impatience towards the end…
The other night Ryan and I were in no mood to cook so we went to Dave’s Marketplace to grab something yummy to eat in their prepared foods section. They had brussels sprout hash with bacon and onions in it so obviously we were sold! When we tried it, it was good but we knew we could make it better!!
Here is our list of ingredients:
2 lbs Brussels sprouts (chopped)
6 pieces of bacon
1 large onion
3 turnips (chopped)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In large cast iron skillet cook the bacon and then set it aside to be used later. If you got really amazing fatty bacon you will need to drain some of the bacon fat out but keep it close by in case you need to add some later. Then in your bacon fatty pan throw in the chopped onion and brussels sprouts and cook for about 6-8 minutes until you see it start to turn brown. I had to cover mine because we had people coming over and I needed it to be cooked fast! While the onions and sprouts were going we steamed the turnips for about 10 minutes until they were soft and then added them into the skillet. Chop up your strips of bacon and also add then to the skillet (we ended up mashing everything together with a large wooden spoon). After that all that’s left to do is put the entire skillet into the oven for about 10-15 minutes to let everything brown up a bit! I was nervous serving this to our guests because one it was my idea to make this and if it sucked it would be my fault and two this was my first time ever making it and I like to try things first before letting just anyone try it! Lucky for me it was a hit!!!
Although we strive to focus on different movements each month, we typically implement them as regularly as we think of it. Consistent with that theme, we will be blogging about our MOMs at roughly the same frequency. So here are 3 moves you can expect to see fairly regularly this month:
Loaded Split Squats - Someday I hope to look half as smooth as Erwan LeCorre of MovNat:
Long Cycle - a staple for a while now, everyone’s getting a piece of this in April during sessions and kettlebell classes! Here’s an unbalanced version (a 20kg and a 24kg) from the old world headquarters with a double switch at 0:39.
Rolly Mountain Climbers - this is a technical term for our creative use of a pair of 3-wheel dollys. Thanks to Erin for bringing this up!
It’s been sooo long overdue but finally we have come up with a new smoothie recipe (previous versions seen here and here)! It’s called: “Spinalicious” by me and “Popeye’s Breakfast” by Ryan. Which one do you prefer??
Add the following to your blender (makes 2 servings):
1 1/2 cup frozen spinach (chopped works the best)
1 cup frozen strawberries
2 tablespoons almond butter
4 egg yolks (make sure you save your whites for an egg-white omelette)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp cinnamon
Ice and water to thin out
I usually throw this all in the blender the night before and then the next morning either Ryan or I will add some water and ice to the mix and blend! This will make two amazing smoothies!!
Here is the breakdown per serving:
calories - 374
fat - 30g
carbs - 16g
protein - 12g
Hope you enjoy it and let me know if you have special food that you would like to see in your next smoothie and we can make something amazing
Finally! My body simply hasn’t felt the same since the great EuroTrip of 2013. Perhaps it was an adverse reaction to all the carbs? I can’t say for sure but I can say the prescription for getting sick would look something like this:
Change up your eating habits
Drink lots of caffeine and alcohol
Expose yourself to the cold elements for long periods at a time with inadequate gear
Expose yourself to billions of foreign germs in as many forms of public transportation as possible
Stay away from the Sun (since it didn’t seem to be out much)
Don’t sleep that much
Mess with your circadian rhythm by hitting up 3 different time zones in 11 days
As soon as you feel something coming on, work your ass off for as many days in a row as possible
That should do it! I was admittedly disappointed with myself when I felt “something coming on” while flying back across the Atlantic. So I did the right thing and rested up for a while. Unfortunately, I underestimated the proper recovery time. About a week after battling sickness, I chose to put my body through a myriad of immune testers:
And so again I received what I deserved…the dreaded setback! I regressed and the cold came back with a vengeance! Fast forward another 2 weeks of mostly wise recovery and I finally feel right again! Since I haven’t posted a workout in a long time, here’s what went down for my second indoor workout in as many months:
Warmup:
MovNat Week 3 Day 1 – if you haven’t seen this I highly recommend it! You’ll move your hips like Shakira after you’re through with the 4 weeks! I’m on my second go ’round with it!
Main:
3 set circuit with these bad boys…
Rope Traverse – 3 sets x 1 “lap”
Pistols - 3 sets of 16 kg x 3 each
TGU to Windmill – 16 kg x 3 each, 20kg x 3 each, 24 kg x 3 each. Which means someday if I keep practicing I’ll be as strong as this chick:
Finisher:
Real Deal Kettlebell Complex at 28kg. I had to chalk up for this one since my forearms were seriously unreliable after the rope traversing. Plus, I didn’t want to have another mirror incident…
I love bread and who doesn’t? But the love of my life frowns upon it…so I did some searching and found a great recipe for spinach bread!
Ingredients:
16 oz frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1-2 tbsp of butter
5 eggs
15 basil leaves
1 can olives
1 can artichoke hearts
3 cloves of garlic
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take the pine nuts and butter and place in skillet and cook til golden brown… make sure you are really watching these bad boys because they tend to burn easy! After they are cooked place into a food processor along with the basil and garlic and blend until all the pine nuts are crushed. In a bowl mix together the pine nut mixture with eggs and spinach, then place into a greased 8 inch pie plate.
Bake for about 15 minutes (test by seeing if it’s still moving lol). I had to put mine in for an extra few so I think it depends on your oven. While it’s baking cut up artichokes and olives so that once the bread comes out you can place on top (you do not have to do this but we thought it make it taste yummy). I think this dish can serve as a great side for dinner or a part of your breakfast!! Enjoy
Hey all! This recipe was made a while ago but my slacker husband is just posting this now! Since writing this, we actually visited the Valpolicella region in Italy when we went to Venice!
Friday night with no plans = date night
I was really in the mood for seafood and wanted something really amazing for a special dinner to pair with some Valpolicella so i decided on a bouillabaisse!
I preheated the oven to 350 and put the scrod in for 15 minutes. While that was going I steamed open my clams in a large stock pot (keep stock from clams), and I had onions, butter and garlic cooking on my cask iron skillet. Once the onions were almost done cooking I pushed them aside in the skillet and put in the scallops and shrimp and cooked them fully. In the big stock pot I then put in all of the fish, onions and tomatoes! Once you see how thick or thin this is for you, you can add in some of your clam juice and salt and pepper to your liking. I let it simmer all together for about an hour and it was amazing! After finishing we were talking about how to make this dish better or for more than just the two of us and we thought adding in spinach and some parsnips (chopped and cooked in the oven with your scrod) would be perfect! The valpolicella which we drink often in memory of Ryan’s grandfather was a perfect match for this amazing meal!
Buon giorno! Until now I haven’t given much attention to the most excellent part-time job I’ve ever had: Gondolier at La Gondola Providence! It’s certainly not due to lack of awesomeness, I’ve just never really written anything where rowing and singing have been relevant to the story. Plus, I wanted to give LGP its own unique link. So here goes:
It was a beautiful day in May 2011, my birthday as a matter of fact, and it started off special. I was working with Lemay Contracting and my workmanship was improving (if you ask the boss man, my father-in-law-to-be at the time, he’d probably say that was because it would be impossible for my skills to get worse!). Since the boss and his top employee had another project going, I was left alone to finish a ceramic tile floor and they even gave me the radio! It was a great day at work and I did a pretty damn good job by my standards.
The weather was perfect on that Friday so I decided to capitalize by strapping my kayak to the roof and heading towards Providence for a couple of hours of paddling. As I drove North I noticed some seriously ominous clouds but, as you may have read, treacherous conditions don’t always deter me from kayaking. So on I went to the Community Boat Launch to start my journey. I was stopped by someone there who said it was a private boat launch; to which I responded “that’s a pretty misleading sign you have there!” He laughed and said he wouldn’t want to be out in a kayak given those crazy dark and fast-moving clouds. I threw my kayak back on the roof and launched it across the river in East Providence.
An hour or so of lazy paddling led me to the Washington St bridge on the Woonasquatucket River where I paddled alongside a man in a black and white striped shirt rowing a gondola.
“How do I get a job like that?”
“You talk to me!”
“Are you hiring?”
“As a matter of fact we are!”
After my first ever nautical interview with Marcello (turns out that’s his gondolier alias but at first I just thought he was super authentic), we exchanged contact info and I started training. The training process took about 2 months (or 20-30 hours) of getting the stroke down (it’s way more technical than expected but we’re all about developing skills here), learning the tendencies of the river, getting in and out of trouble (most of the time intentionally), and docking. There were times when I was tired from roofing/training all day, humbled/discouraged with the slow or sometimes insignificant progress, or just wanted to focus my time on growing the young LbF or planning the wedding or selling the condo or renovating the new house, but I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Plus, our initial encounter was so serendipitous that there was no way I could give it up! But what about the singing aspect of the job requirements?
“You don’t have to be able to sing, just willing.” Marcello advised.
“Ok then I guess I qualify!”
Once I earned my stripes I rowed trips with family members and close friends on board who wouldn’t freak if I crashed or capsized. After about a handful of fairly smooth voyages, I started taking paying customers by the end of that summer.
Before she was the First Laidy she was the First Gondola Guinea Pig!
My last trip of the season was on my wedding day! Talk about a welcome distraction! I rowed my ass off at the Gloria Gemma Waterfire from roughly 4p - 1a and got home around 0230 on 10/9/11. I may have gotten the best night’s sleep in the history of grooms-to-be! I remember being sore at the start of our honeymoon since I did about 8 trips that night after having only done 6 the entire season leading up to it!
Prior to the following season (2012), Marcello offered the group of gondoliers, 11 in total, a juicy incentive: generate x amount of revenue this season and he’ll fly us to Venice! It was an ambitious number, but doable.
I started the season rowing Wednesdays, Fridays, and Waterfire nights (typically every other Saturday). Unfortunately (well, kinda but not really), LbF was growing so I had to drop the Wednesday night shift but kept rowing when the schedule allowed. Side note: besides being the coolest part-time job ever, the boss man (who I dubbed Massacello) is the kindest boss I’ve ever had! I probably row the least # of trips and my schedule is a moving target, but I try to help the team through networking, referrals, and my singing voice makes them all sound better!
Sunset shot of Michele taken from barchetta mia (my little boat)
My last waterfire trip of the 2012 season!
Anyway, we hit our number! I’m writing this now just days after landing back from an amazing EuroTrip where the First Laidy and I joined LGP in Venice and then cousins Kerri, Brian, Cici, and Mickey in London! What an amazing opportunity!
Here are some highlights from the Venetian experience:
How it’s made
Marcello
Getting tips from the Maestro!
Holy sh*t I’m rowing a gondola in Venice!
Produce barge (or Floating Farmers Market)
Our first meal started with the best intentions…
…and gradually we shifted towards more traditional Venetian fare!
Plunging in the Adriatic Sea felt just like home!
It’s crazy how life goes! Perhaps it’s a reach, or maybe it’s just another example of how going Primal opens doors one would never encounter; I would not have been on that kayak that day, nor would have been able to commit the time required to learn how to row a gondola, if not for leaving the real world and pursuing a burning desire to share this amazing lifestyle with others! I am so grateful for the opportunity to work at LGP! Besides being nice to be an employee, I get to dress up and be a tour guide in the Renaissance City, get in touch with my nautical nature, witness engagements and anniversaries, and hang out with a great group of eclectic and awesome people!
Finally, much love to Dante, aka the Maestro, and his wonderful girlfriend Stefania, our Tour Guide and Chef, for showing us an amazing time in Venezia! The experience wouldn’t have been nearly as authentic without you! I can’t wait to see you in Providence!
Our Hosts
Oh and one last thing: we row every night, not just Waterfire nights!
