The menu this week!

I have been bored with our recent paleo meals. Every week it seemed every meal tasted the same. It all tasted like soggy peppers and chicken to me even if what I was eating was neither of those items.

This week I am armed with new recipes and new tastes and some new summer flavors!

I will provide the link to the actual recipes below, but I found all of these by starting with Chowstalker! I have said it before, but I will say it again...they really do make it so easy. I just get onto their site and browse and click until I have a week's worth of clean food!

Our menu this week

Up this week for breakfast is this really great egg dish! I made this last week also, so this week I doubled the amount of onions and kale for extra veg. It is easy to make and cooks up well and all week we just take slices for breakfast at work.

Frittata-creation!

For lunch we have some old favorites but with a new twist!

Tuna salad!

I am going to eat the tuna dish with cabbage leaves and make "lettuce wraps" out of it all. I also added sliced almonds to the recipe since that is what I usually have in the tuna. Usually we used mayo and dill so this will be a nice new flavor for sure!

Eggplant-Caponata

I made this eggplant dish a lot last summer. I found eating it cold (after it was cooked as the recipe says!) was a great option also. I used the recipe above and then used ideas from this recipe, below, to add some new flavor to the dish. I added some basil both before I cooked it and after and then I have a bag of walnuts to toss on top when I actually eat it.

Tomato-walnut salad

Dinner will look like this:

Crispy Chicken

These might end up as dinner or a lunch item. They are cooking now, so whichever meal comes up first that we need something for in pinch we will have these ready! I hope they are good!

We usually eat a lot of salmon but haven't been recently and have been hitting the ground beef pretty hard (grass fed of course!). To get us back in the swing of things with seafood I found this recipe that looks good!

Ginger honey salmon

Last we have something I made a big batch of a few weeks ago and then we took it for breakfast all week. They are much better when you eat them right away and not once packaged up to be heated up again and eaten later. I doubled the spinach the last time I made it and will likely do that again! You can never have enough veg!

Egg-foo-young!

BOOMSAUCE! It’s not a kickball team.

Last week I was wearing a shirt that said “BOOMSAUCE” on it for my WOD’s. No it isn’t a kickball team, it's more like team Tyminski!

Daniel Tyminski of Long Island, owner of Crossfit Lindy competed in the 2011 Crossfit Games Regionals last weekend. He took second in what some consider to be one of the more competitive regions! Dan will be heading to California for the finals of the 2011 Crossfit Games competition and we wish him all the best!!!!

I have been trading WOD stories with Dan for a little over a year now and when I go back home to Long Island I get the chance to workout at his box. It is always a good time and he is always thinking up killer WOD’s for us. Our first time in, before we even met, he knew we were coming and planned a WOD for us called “Portland”. Dan is awesome!!!!

Below is an interview I did with him about his experience at the regionals competition. Enjoy!

1. This was your 3rd time competing in the crossfit regionals right? This being your best finish to date and putting you into the finals in CA what was different this time?

This was my 3rd regional. It was different because I played it smarter. I focused on my weakness throughout the year and never stopped with them. Strength being my weakness.

2. What was it like during the 3 days regional competition? Did you focus on yourself and your own goals or did you get distracted by those around you who were going faster? Or slower then you and use that to game your performance?

During the competition I tried to focus on not getting caught up in the standards. They were very strict and I tried not to let the 1000 missed reps get to me. I also came in a little confident. I’ve always said cockiness builds confidence and if you’re not confident then you probably won’t succeed. And I knew my own pace and I stuck with that as best possible.

3. You took first in the 100’s WOD and then came back the next day and took first in Amanda-both very different types of WOD’s. Do you think this was because of your strengths? Fast ability to recover? Or What?

It was definitely because of my strengths. I also love muscle ups and snatches. Probably my favorite movements. And I tend to recover faster than most. The last 2 days were my best placings. And WOD4 and WOD5 I think were the hardest WODs there. If you were sore and fatigued from the previous WODs then you were probably not going to do so well later.

4. How did you prepare for this year’s competition season? Did you find yourself doing more physical prep or mental? And which do you think is harder?

In preparing for this year I really just focused on my weaknesses and that was not being strong. I knew I had a decent work capacity but I wanted to get stronger. I think improving my strength definitely helped increasing my work capacity as well. Mentally I’ve always been strong, being able to push myself and not get down on myself. So I just had to tweak some things physically.

5. Where there any big surprises in the regionals weekend, or anything that was harder to deal with then you anticipated?

The Standards. They were uber strict and I probably lost a total of 75 reps the whole weekend. The biggest rep I missed was the thruster. I successfully thrustered 255# and my judge said it was good, but a roaming judge said it was a no go. That dropped down 4 places in that WOD. I could have taken 2nd but landed a 6th spot. Just hitting every thruster I was full of anxiety.

6. There is always talk of crossfit athletes being able to sustain the high level of intensity and focus that it takes to really compete. Having been competing for 3 years now what is the plan for next year?

Well honestly, every year I’ve competed, I’ve just wanted to have fun. This is what I do and love to do so why make it stressful. I love to exercise so when I workout I push myself hard and have a good time. I think the key it not to get mad or stressed if you didn’t hit a PR a certain day. Just go with it and you will see that results take time.

7. You own your own box and go to school full time how do you find time to do all of that, to eat correctly? Program for your box? And get your own training in?

Its being busy that actually keeps me going. If I didn’t work and go to school full time I think I would be lazy. Constantly moving and having things to do keeps me focused and staying on the right track. Eating correctly is easy, just have to plan ahead and know what works for you. And since I own my own box, I allow myself to put in specific hours for me to train.

8. What is your plan for the next few weeks before California? Will you change anything in terms of training, eating, rest?

I think I will go back to my normal programming. Heavy lifting in the morning then hit a metcon at night. 3 on 1 off. It worked very well for me this year and it doesn’t destroy my CNS which allows me to train harder and longer. And if anything I will probably get more sleep.

9. You mentioned in an interview recently that you did want to peak at regionals bc just going to the games would be like winning it, that being said what will your goals and focus be for the actual WOD’s that come up in CA?

Of course I am going to try my hardest, but if I get cut the first round, I won’t get sad. I know I performed and it was the biggest accomplishment for me. But I would love to get top 10 at the games this year and I definitely think I can do it.

10. What do you want to see most in CA? What do you want to see least?

More muscle ups and cleans. And I would hate to see heavy overhead squats and pistols.

11. Tell us about BOOMSAUCE-what does it mean? Where did it come from?

BOOMSAUCE!!! - a job well done; congratulations, way to FSU!!!. I got it from the Army. I wasn’t the most well behaved soldier so whenever I did something right, being from Long Island and being very obnoxious it just came out one day. I got into a lot of trouble that day ahhhha.

12. Now tell us about those pink shorts you were sporting all weekend?

Since I am apart of Team 2Pood, I roomed with the owner Baker Levitt and he had his shipment of shorts sent to the hotel. He told me to open the box and see what was in them and I saw the new Pink Flex shorts for the women and had to try them on. I took a pic and as a joke told him I was going to wear them for the regionals and he said to do it...so I did lol.

13. How did it feel when the competition was over and you knew you were on your way to CA? and what was the post regional meal of choice?

I actually still don’t think it fully hit me yet. I mean I know I am going but it just seems unreal. I know when I am on a bird flying out, it will hit me. Post regional meal was Cracker Barrel. I had pancakes, French toast, biscuits and gravy, fried apples, and a blueberry muffin. So good.

14. Now that it was announced athletes will be "uniforms by reebok" what are your thoughts on this? Good idea? no big deal? who cares? or shouldn't be done?

I don’t like it....I didn’t sign a contract with them to wear their products that I probably do not like.

15. Anything else to add?

Dreams come true...work hard and never quit.

One final note: There was a quote from Dan’s dad on Sunday in a post on the games site that summed it all up. From the article:In the stands during the awards ceremony as the men were presented with their medals, Daniel Tyminski’s dad expressed to another spectator, “Best Father’s Day ever.”