Slackin on the blog front

Life has been crazy lately and I'm slacking on this blog, so here's a week's worth of updates! sheesh!

Thursday March 24, 2011 Strength: snatch grip push press 3-3-3 45kg-47kg-48kg so it was definitely an off day and Steph and I were having issues figuring out the weights on the bar. we wanted to start at 40, but when steph brought out the 10 and 5 kilo plates I just put them both on each side, didn't even realize I loaded the bar to 45 instead of 40. We realized what had happened at the 3rd set when I could barely get 50 overhead, and was wondering what was going on. so needless to say we went a little heavier than planned, but it worked out. and now I had a sweet bruise on my leg, from having so many issues. haha

WOD: 4 rounds of: 21 calorie row 14 KB swings (24/16) 7 pullups :90 rest 14:32 I knew this wod was going to be a total grip killer. i wanted to give as much as I could on the rower, but by the third round I was so gassed and it was so hard to give it all I had. So it was a little over 1:00 for each row. KB swings were all unbroken and pullups were the first 3 then singles after that. But I busted through them and was pretty happy with this wod.

Friday March 25, 2011
Strength: windmill with 16kg kettle bell these were interesting, look easier than they are once you've got weight in your hands.

WOD: Tabata :20 on :10 off Deadlift (135/105) Wall Ball Shots (20/14) Wall to Wall Sprints Situps 213
Today was supposed to be a rest day, but we decided to make it a couples thing at Carbon, haha. It was fun to work out with Jer, K-Tuck, and Dave at the same time. I definitely didn't go all out on this wod since it was supposed to be my rest day and since I was taking a second shot at the Open Wod the next morning. I paced the DL's and wall balls and sprints, pretty much the only thing I went all out on was the situps. Overall it was a good workout, but probably would've been much better had I gone all out.

Saturday March 26, 2011
Open Wod #1 15:00 Amrap 30 double unders 15 power snatches (35/25)
5 rounds +30 double unders +9 snatches
I improved my score by 7 reps from the week prior. I was really shooting for 6 full rounds and I ended 6 reps short. But I was super happy with how I did during this wod, especially with my ending and getting the 9 snatches straight. My arms really tired out during the double unders, so I took a couple more breaks during those than I would prefer. But it was a great Saturday morning and I can't wait for this Saturday! :-)


Tuesday March 29, 2011
Strength: Power clean 3-3-3-1-1-1 35kg-40kg-45kg-53kg-57kg-59kgfail-60kgfail-62kg PR
The 62kg clean was a full clean, couldn't put the breaks on to make it a power clean. And man was it ugly, I had to scream to get that clean up, but I was happy to get that. Looks like I'm going to make my clean goal a little higher! :-)

Wod: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
KB swings (24/16) used 20kg bell Box Jumps (24/20) Ring dips (toes) 9:17
I was originally going to use the 16 kg bell, but Tommy was next to me in my ear making the chicken noise for not using the heavier bell. my thought process was I wasn't using the purple band on the ring dips, so I would stick with the lighter bell. But I decided to go with the 20kg bell, swings were easy and all unbroken. I'm really going to try and use the 20kg bell in the majority if not all the workouts that have KB swings. Box jumps have gotten a lot better and all besides the first round were unbroken. Dips were hard doing them with using my toes slightly instead of the band. But I need to start doing them without the band to reach my goal of getting an unassisted ring dip. I'm slowly making my goals for the year, I just need to really sit and write them down!

Wednesday March 30, 2011
Strength: 1 1/2 front squat 1-1-1 45-55-65-70fail
I tried to finish with 1RM on my front squat, and I think i could've gotten 70kg had I not tried it as a 1 1/2 FS first. But I'm super close and hope to get that next time!

WOD: 4 rounds of:
:30 jumping squats (30/20) :30 rest :30 wall ball shots (20/14) :30 rest :30 pullups :30 rest

This was a leg burner for sure after the front squats. Jumping squats I was consistent 17/16/17/17, same with wall balls 13/13/13/14 and pullups 8/8/7/8. I was determined to stay consistent with every movement, so I was happy with that. Still trying to get more pullups in a row, but it was the first 3 every round then singles after that.

Tomorrow is another wod then a rest day, then saturday comes the big day for wod #2!!

50 pounds down!

This last Sunday I took some time to go through my clothes and get rid of a bunch of stuff. This is the second or third time I've had to do this in the last 10 months. I'm donating a bunch of "fat" clothes that were my new skinny clothes just a few months ago! That is such an incredible feeling!I've never seen such great results or stayed with a program for so long. Don't get me wrong, CrossFit takes A LOT of effort, but when you enjoy it, it doesn't feel like a lot of effort. I can't believe how far I've come since I started ramp up last May 31st.

Not only did I get rid of a bunch of clothes, but I decided to weigh myself. And when I got on the scale, I realized that I had officially lost 50 pounds since high school. FIFTY FREAKIN POUNDS!! It's sad to say that I was that heavy in high school, but I'm pretty freakin proud of myself for getting this far. I'm proud to say that I lost 15 of those my first year of college. Yes, the freshman 15, I lost, didn't gain like most people! And I kept losing weight throughout college, while I watched a lot of others gain weight. And all those people were the ones that would pick on me in middle school and high school. Now I can turn around and secretly laugh because our lives have switched. I'm going to live a longer healthier life because I've taken the steps to become fitter and sexy and healthy. I have also officially lost 20 pounds since I started CrossFit. And I've never felt this great before. I feel like I've come so far and pushed myself so much to get these results and can't wait to see what happens in the next few years of CrossFit. My life is only just beginning! :-)

So I want to say thank you. Thank you to my family for supporting me and knowing I can do it. Thank you to my friends who have been there through it all. Thank you to my coaches who have taught me so much to this day and set me up to see such great results. Thank you to everyone I've met at CF who inspire me each and every day and support me. And most of all, thank you to all the assholes who teased me when I was overweight. Thank you for making me realize I'm better than you and that I will be going somewhere in my life, unlike you. So here's to kickin' ass and takin' names one day at a time! :-)

Here are a couple pictures. I'm not ready to post the bikini pics yet, so these will have to do. Then and Now (actually this was January, and I've lost more since then! woot). I'm gonna stick with Now and still get better :)

I'm back...

There’s so much to catch up on! Almost two weeks worth so I better stop being lazy and write about the last week’s worth of strength and wods!

Friday 3-11-11

Strength: Push Press 5-3-1-1-1 35kg-40kg-45kg-50kg-52kg (PR)

Since I was observing ramp up again, I had been going to the 6PM and was able to lift with Hannah. She’s such a strong woman and inspiration. I hope she takes pride in how strong she is and what a great athlete she is! Maybe in 10 years I’ll be that good too! :-P Anyway, anything upper body is pretty weak for me, but I was hoping to get a PR with my push press and I think doing the extra push ups are starting to help my upper body strength. So I was happy to PR by 2 Kg! :-)

WOD: 21-15-9 OHS(50/35) ring dips 7:35

After the last Friday WOD with OHS in them, I knew I wasn’t going to go with the prescribed weight. So I went with 30kg and the purple band for the dips. I did a lot better with the OHS this day and was able to get the first set unbroken. And most of the second and all of the third. My dips on the other hand are really rusty. My wrists were on fire and just had nothing in them. I really need to start practicing the dips after class again…

Saturday 3-12-11

Went to the Oly class before heading out to Naperville for Green Beer and Burpees.

Decided to work on my snatch and work towards a new PR. I warmed up with 25kg and 30kg. Did a rep at 35 and 40kg(my old pr) and then went to 42 and finally 44kg. I failed 3 attempts at 44kg before I finally made it on the 4^th. All eyes were on me and everyone was cheering me on to lock that out overhead and get it. It’s such a rush when everyone gets so excited for you and supports you! :-) I was definitely excited to lock out the 44kg and get a new pr, next stop 50 :-P

Jer and I then drove out to Naperville to meet up with a bunch of fellow Crosfitters from many different affiliates in the area. The workout consisted of jogging to four different stations at the first we did walking lunges (I lost count, but I know it was close to/if not more than 200, boy did my ass feel that the next two days!), the second was push-ups, third was squats, and the final one was burpees. At each station you did as many reps as possible in the allotted time except the burpees you did 25, 50, or 100. I slacked and did 25. J but regardless it was a great workout. We finished at Lululemon for a group picture and then I did some damage shopping. But it was well deserved since all my shorts were way to big on me and I needed new ones. Then we went to a bar and ate and socialized. It was great to partake in something with so many CrossFitters from all over! I wish we did things like this more often!

Monday 3-14-11

Strength: Press 5-5-5-3-3-3 21kg-25kg-27kg-30kg-32kg-35kg

Nothing too exciting here. Just working on upper body again and hopefully getting new results soon.

WOD: 12:00 AMRAP of:

10DL (100/70) 20 walking lunges 30 Push-ups -- 3 full rounds

I was a little frightened by this wod. The DL’s were really close to the weight I used for Christine and struggled on, my ass/legs were already super sore from all the walking lunges on Saturday, and 30 push-ups is A LOT of push-ups for one round! But I tackled this wod as best I could, went with the prescribed weight and did much better keeping my chest up and back tight. And thanks to K-Tuck I was lifting in some fierce skull tall socks! :-p the walking lunges were pretty much my rest point. Push-ups were a fight. I was determined to the first round without touching my hips to the ground. I was able to do the first 15 reps unbroken then it was sets of 3 or 5 after that. The push-ups were definitely my weakest point in every round, but the first 2 rounds and half of the 3^rd I didn’t touch my hips once. The last 15 reps I slightly touched the ground, but ugh they were rough.

Tuesday 3-15-11

Strength: Power Snatch 3-3-3-1-1-1 25kg-35kg-40kg-42kg-43kgfail

I think I went up too fast on the weights for these sets. I struggled to get the 42kg, couldn’t get the 43kg, and didn’t even try to get it again. I probably should have done 25-30-35-40-42-? Either way, I was a little upset with how these went, so I knew I needed to make up for it in the wod.

WOD: 4 rounds of: 300m row 12 pull-ups 21 anchored sit-ups 3:00 Rest total time with rest = 20:25

I knew the kicker here would be the pull-ups and they would eventually be done one at a time. I gave it a pretty good sprint on the rower and was finished around 1:10 every round, the first 3 pull-ups I got unbroken every round then it was 1 at a time after that, and the sit-ups were all as fast as I could and unbroken. I was really happy with this performance. Next time hopefully my pull-ups are stronger.

Thursday 3-17-11

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I was sure to wear my festive green tall socks and green beer and burpees shirt to the fort that day!

Strength: Snatch grip Push Press (from behind the head) 5-5-5 35kg-40kg-45kg.

This is definitely a tricky lift that needs work. I haven’t had too much of a hard time getting it up and locking it out. It’s on the way down and catching it when I have the trouble. And the shirt I was wearing was super slippery, so I lost it backwards a couple of times. Oops.

WOD: 3 rounds of: 3:00 AMRAP of: 30 Double Unders 15 Ground to overhead (35/25) 5 rounds + 18 double unders

The first Games Open Wod was announced the Tuesday before this wod, so in preparation, Bill set up this little wod for us. We were only supposed to go 70% effort, but it’s hard to dial back unless I’m using a lighter weight or scaling the reps. So I probably went about 90-95% on this. This gave me a good idea of what to shoot for when I performed the Open wod on Saturday.

Saturday 3-19-11

Open Wod #1 – attempt 1

10:00 AMRAP

30 Double Unders

15 Power Snatches (35/25)

I was nervous all morning about attacking this wod, so I waited back a bit and helped judge and cheer on others. Hannah crushed the wod the night before and I was hoping to come somewhat close to her, if not at least complete over 5 rounds. With some great support and tips from others I finally gave it a go. The first round of DU’s were iffy and I tripped up a bit. Most of my rounds I got a good amount strung together, but tripped up here or there. The snatches I tried to do 5-10 unbroken. First set was unbroken and I was able to get the first two rounds finished in 3:00. I pretty much gave it an all out effort, tried to keep my hands on the bar at all times and not step back and rest too much. The DU’s are what got me, but I was SUPER happy with my results. I managed to help the CrossFit Fire team and take second spot, 5 points behind Hannah, and slightly above Steph. I’m so proud of all of the Fort members and their tremendous effort on Saturday. These next 6 weeks are going to be amazing!! I can’t wait to see what we are capable of!

Monday 3-21-11

Strength: Press 3-3-3-1-1-1 25kg-30kg-33kg-35kg-38kg-40kg PR

WOD: 3 rounds of: 10 cleans(60/40) 400m run 9:41

I decided to use 35kg for the cleans because my back has been a little sore lately and I know my elbows falling and my chest leaning forward when it got heavy would hurt my back. In the end I was really happy I didn't go with the rx'd weight and saved my back. my runs were a little slow giving that it was the first time I've ran in forever, but they weren't awful. I was very happy to get out and running though. Looking forward to the spring/summer months!!! :)

Tuesday 3-22-11

Strength: Power Snatch 3-3-3-1-1-1 25kg-30kg-35kg-40kg-42kg-43kgfail

I had trouble with these again today, same as last week. Just need to drop under the bar more. I think too much about being a power snatch and making sure I don't land parallel, when I still have plenty of room to go. Oh well, next time.

WOD: 2 rounds of: 5:00 AMRAP of: 12 pull-ups 12 burpees 5:00 rest 2 rounds +19/2 rounds + 17

I really wanted to focus on my pull-ups on this one. I did the first 3 or 4 unbroken each round then it was 1 or 2 after that. My burpees were unbroken and I tried to speed through those. Overall this was a great workout, just wish my hands didn't get beat up so much!

My diet has been pretty spot on. Aside from Sunday where I had a tiiiiiny piece of cake and spoonful of ice cream to celebrate Jer's Dad's Birthday. I'm really happy with how strict I've been. It's tough getting these last few pounds off, but I'm getting there and stoked to see my progress! :)

The legs are burnin

Today was quite possibly the slowest day at work. Not only has it been a super long week already, but today just dragged on! On top of that there are so many people sick at work or stayed home because they are so sick. I really hope I don't come down with anything. Especially with the Open starting next week. Better make sure I get some extra rest in!

Strength: Front squat 3-3-3 at same weight of 60kg
I was a little nervous going up to 60kg, but I was determined to do it for all three sets. I've been going up around 1-2kg every week, so hopefully I really start to improve this movement. Bill did notice that my knees tend to track forward on my way up because my quads are more dominant than my hammies. So now I know what to focus on the next time I do this.

WOD: 5 rounds for reps of:
:30 wall balls (20/14)
:30 ball slams (30/20)
2:00 rest
16/14 - 16/15 - 16/16 - 16/16 - 16/17 = 158


Since it was only a minute of work each round I was going for an all out effort. I based my wall ball shots around what I normally got in a minute for FGB which was about 28-30. So I was aiming for 15 per round. I happily beat that every round and was consistent with 16 every round. I'm glad I didn't let up. Ball slams I didn't really have a game plan, but figured it would be similar to wall balls. I've had trouble figuring out the most efficient way of doing ball slams. But today I finally figured out how to clean the ball up instead of using my biceps. So I was pretty happy with my consistency with these as well. Overall, I really enjoyed this workout. It wasn't crazy hard and it was movements I enjoy and am pretty good at. It was a refreshing day at the Fort tonight.

Food for the day:
Breakfast: 3 eggs, 3 oz skirt steak and snack size baggie full of orange and yellow pepper slices
Lunch: 12 oz chili
Dinner: salad, 6 oz pork tenderloin, 7 asparagus spears and 5 potato wedges.

Day two no sugars of any kind. Doing pretty well so far, granted it's only day two, but I'm really interested to see if this is really going to improve my struggles with losing the last few pounds..

K2E and thrusters

Anyone else feel like it's been a super long week and we're only half way there?! Ugh, Tuesday felt like it should have been Thursday!! So yesterday, mom and I decided to splurge and have a cheat, we split a piece of carrot cake from Firewood. It was freakin delish, but I was in food coma for awhile afterward! I'm going to try and not eat any sugars and see if this helps me lean out. So no natural sugars either, no fruit, nothing. It's going to be quite the challenge for me...

Strength: Snatch grip push press from behind the head. 5-5-5-5-5 25kg-30kg-35kg-40kg-43kg

This was something new in the strength routine, but I'm glad we saw it come up. My main problem with OHS is getting the bar up and locking it out. So I'm hoping this really helped with that. Hopefully we can get some snatch balance work in...

WOD:
15:00 AMRAP of:
10 dumbbell thrusters (45% of bw) I used 25# dumbbells....should have gone a little heavier with 30 but they were out
10 K2E

8 rounds

I tested out the prescribed weight for the dumbbells, which would have been 35# but it was a struggle getting 3 up. I wanted to use 30, but those were all out, so I used the 25#. It was able to rep through the thrusters pretty easily. I could generally get 8-10 straight, so that was where I picked it up in this wod. K2E on the other hand were really slow, as usual, but I reallly tried to focus on getting FROM, even if they were one at a time.

"Christine"

Today was definitely a Monday. Was not feeling like going to work at all after spending all of the day yesterday relaxing to myself. Oh well, life goes on right?

At the Fort we had a rest day on our strength, so we did some extra warm up stuff before we tackled the wod. The wod today was "Christine", she, like many wods, doesn't look all that bad. But don't let her fool you, she gets to you quickly.

"Christine"
3 rounds for time of:
500 m row
12 Deadlift (body weight = 72kg for me)
21 box jumps (24"/20")
14:43

I went into this thinking that I'm a pretty strong rower and that shouldn't hurt me too bad. My dead lifts are pretty strong as well, but 160lbs catches up to you fast. Mind you 72kg is pretty close to my 1RM of 105kg. Yeah, it doesn't really look that way, but for the amount of reps it is. And my box jumps have slowly been improving so I really wanted to focus on stringing those together. I started the first row at a good pace and got off around 1:50 and headed down to the bar. I could only rep out 5 before I had to drop the bar. I was hoping to get WAY more than that on the first round. But I could really feel my back rounding a bit and didn't want my form to crap out. But during the 3 rounds my form was definitely not all that great and my back was not as tight as it should be. To my surprise I did pretty well with the box jumps. I was able to string quite a few together, then do a few singles, then string more together. I'm happy with how I'm improving on these, but I've still got a ways to go. Overall, this workout caught up to me fast. I was hoping for a liiiitle bit faster time. But hopefully next time I won't weigh as much and I'll be able to go faster! :)

Overdue

So it's been a few days since I last updated. I now finished day 6 of the 100 day challenge, eek, seems so far away. Anyway I've had 3 workouts since then so I better catch y'all up. Thursday: Strength: Front Squat 3-3-3 at 59kg WOD: 21-15-9 SDHP (40/30kg) Knees to elbows - 5:13 :90 rest 21-15-9 Box jumps (24/20") Ball slams (30/20) - total time for entire wod 10:33

The front squats felt great that day. My hip didn't feel as impinged like it does every once and awhile so I went a little heavier. The last set was obviously tough, but I felt good. The wod I knew was going to be a little slower than I would like, but my K2E are super slow. I can't kip them so it's 1 or 2 at a time. I really focused on getting the full ROM and getting to my elbows every time, no cheating the movement. SDHP felt great and I definitely felt it in my inner thighs the next day.

The second half of the wod I was pretty disappointed in my box jumps. I really need to figure out how to string them together. I think it's a fear thing, since my knee will sometimes act up after box jumps. The ball slams felt good and I was able to do all those unbroken. It was also a nice day at the Fort because Jeremy came to workout . I'm glad he finally made it there with me and got to experience the energy there. He did great since it was pretty much a purely endurance workout. He's getting better every day!

Friday
Strength: Push Press 3-3-3 35kg - 45kg - 50kg
I was determined to get 50kg up this week. I tried it the week before and with my hands torn to shreds, I couldn't lock it out. I got the 2 reps of the last set up and on the 3rd I dropped forward to much and couldn't lock it out. I re-racked it and got that 3rd rep of. Anything over head is a struggle for me, so I'm happy to see some progress.

WOD: 5:00 AMRAP of: 5 OHS (50/35kg) 5 Push Press 3 rounds 2:30 rest 2:30 AMRAP of: 10 pull-ups 10 burpees 1 round + 16 reps
I was comparing the first half of this wod to one we did previously with power snatches and ohs at this weight. That one I got 4+ rounds, so I was hoping for something similar. I didn't realize how shot my wrists and shoulders would be though. the last 2 ohs of each round I struggled A LOT with. I dropped the last one on rounds two and three. So I was a little disappointed with this performance.

On the second half, my arms were shot so this was going to be interesting, but I was going for 2 rounds. My pull-ups really slow me down since I have to pretty much do them one at a time. So I gave it my all on my burpees to pick up the speed. Again, a little unhappy with this performance. This just wasn't my wod.

Saturday
Oly Lifting: Clean 3@25kg 3@35kg 2@45kg 1@55kg 58-fail 1@58kg PR

I was feeling some PR's this morning, so I really wanted to focus on my clean. My old PR was 55 and once I reached that weight, I felt great and that I had more in me. A couple things I need to focus on with my cleans is getting my elbows around fast at the top when I catch it, instead of scooping under it at a lower position and not falling forward. I was a little forward on the 58kg, but I feel like I still have more in me. Once I focused on that bar and convinced myself that I could do it and it wasn't heavy, I got that PR! I need to work on the same approach every time and know I will do it!

Team Saturday WOD:
In teams of 4 or 5: 2 rounds for time and reps: 6 x 250m row (2 people alternating) AMRAP wall ball (20/14) - total reps 330
then, 2 rounds for time and reps: 6 x 25 Box jumps (20") (2 people alternating) AMRAP KB swings (24/16) - total reps 243
Total time - 23:34

My team consisted of Dave, Dan V., Nick and myself. I've worked with Dave before and I know he's a great athlete. Dan and Nick are still pretty new, but I was excited to work with them. Dave and I paired up and started on wall balls while the other 2 started rowing, we completed around 150+ wall balls while they rowed. Then we went up to row, which for me was a challenge, since Dave could row so fast I had a shorter amount of rest between rows, but it was a great push for me.

Next we moved down stairs and I started on box jumps while the other pair did KB swings. I'm still struggling to string these together and after rowing/wall balls, my legs were tired! I would get about 5 together then it would be singles. Then Dave would string all or almost all together and I'd have to get back on the box with very little rest. It was tough, but the last round I was able to get the first 11 strung together and the majority after that. Finally we moved onto KB swings while Nick did box jumps and Dan did ball slams. Nick had a really tough time with the box jumps, so Dave and I got quite a few rounds of kb swings. We finished with around 143 kb swings.

Overall this workout was great. It was nonstop and I haven't sweated that much in a workout in a long time. I was glad I was partnered with Dave so that he could push me that little extra bit every round. It was a great start to my Saturday morning, I just love Team Saturdays! :)

Let the Challenge Begin

This morning I woke up and realized it was March already. Where the heck have the last two months gone?! Then I thought to myself that I need to push myself a little harder the next few months to do a little extra. I was thinking of all the things I could work on and who I could get to do a challenge with me. So I texted Nicole and asked her if she wanted to do a pushup/situp 100 day challenge. She agreed, so today is the first day of our 100 day challenge. For the push ups we will do the ladder 1 push up the first day, 2 the second and so on. But for the sit ups to make it a little more challenging we are going to do 100 the first day, 50 the second day, 100 the next, then 50 and so on. I really need to work on my push up form and my upper body strength, so I'm hoping this will help. Alex is joining the challenge as well as mom, so anybody else that wants to join go right ahead! We'll keep each other motivated and it's just that little extra push to hopefully improve ourselves at the Fort.

With that said...we met "Cindy" at the Fort today. I've been looking forward to this WOD for a long time...well that's before "Barbara" came along last week. I feel if Barbara didn't tear me apart last week, I may have done a little better on "Cindy". But my push ups were pretty weak (hence the challenge) and really slowed me down. However, I was constantly re-gripping the bar and doing my pull ups one.at.a.time. So.slow.

"Cindy" is as many round as possible in 20 min of:
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats
11 rounds plus 5 pull ups

The last time we went at this in September I used a blue band and also got 11 rounds and 5 pull ups. I'm ok with getting the same amount this time since I wasn't using a band, but I'm slightly disappointed as well. I was hoping my pull ups and push ups were going to be a lot stronger this time around, but they weren't the greatest. Hopefully next time we see this chick, I'll have a better go at it and improve my score.

Food For the Day:
Breakfast: 3 eggs, 4 sausage links and one banana, almond butter muffin Lunch: 4.5 oz tilapia and 9 asparagus spears and one muffin
Dinner: handful of trail mix, 8 oz ribs and 1 cup mashed cauliflower. This is one of the best recipes we've made thus far. I'll have to share it on the recipe thread, it was absolutely amazing!!
Dessert: 1 chocolate covered macaroon and 1 plain macaroon. I made them for a friend for his birthday....I couldn't help but taste them, since they are one of my favorite treats!!!! ugh.