Abs for the win!

Before I get to my WOD, I just have to say I am so glad I took a couple days off of working out! When I woke up at 6am, I was so refreshed & ready to work out. I craved it and was ready. 

I felt so good to work my abs. I really feel like I'm making some progress & can start seeing my obliques & now have a 2 pack.

When I work my abs, I rarely wear shoes. I don't jump or run around or anything. I usually stick to my mat. 

My afternoon snack! Still loving the greek yogurt, granola and peanut butter mixture. It fuels me for the rest of the day (and allows me to keep up with my 2 wiggle worms).

Do you always wear shoes working out? What's your go to snack?

Mismatched Normalcy

I think I may be getting back to normal. It may not be normal for everyone, but it's normal for me. Actually, it seems to be a little better. My runs are feeling so good, and it seems like I'm getting faster. I will hopefully be able to tell at this weekends Super Bowl Sunday 10k. This will be my first race of the year and my first 10k race, ever.

I was able to run 3 1/2 miles without any sort of pain!! Afterwards, my spin class. It didn't feel as difficult as it usually does. That only means that I wasn't pushing myself as hard as I usually do.

When you go to the gym (mostly geared towards the girls, unless you guys care about matching), do you normally try to match your entire outfit? I see a lot of girls that match from head to toe. Really, everything matches according to their shoes. Here's an odd picture, but here's what I wore tonight:
I had my dark blue (with lighter blue and white stripes) capris, pink tank and red and white jacket. My shoes are white and almost a lime green. I'm not one of those girls that care what I look like, unless necessary. The gym is not necessary (not meaning to hurt any one's feelings). I'm just curious of what you guys think.


Tonight's dinner is going to be some toast with home made apple butter, fruit salad (with some of what you see below) and probably some greek yogurt with home made granola.



What was your dinner like? Do you ever crave the most simple things for dinner, instead of what you already have prepared? I do often.

Uncomfortable & Very Happy

This morning was a standard day. Nothing special. Before I headed to the gym, I made up a new shake that was given to me by some good people at Jay Robb. Silly me, I was too excited (and in a hurry) to take a picture before it was gone. The flavor was orange. I made it just with water. I didn't want the extra calories or juice or milk or anything.

On the package, it didn't say how much liquid to mix the powder with. There was a lot of powder, so I guessed to mix 12 oz. I guessed too much. The flavor was a little weak (my fault). It was mixed well, which was pretty fast and easy to do, it foamed up a lot and didn't go down in the 10 minutes I let it sit. It was good flavor and no chalky taste left behind, like some powders. It was very filling (I'll take a picture the next time I mix the powder).

By the time I got to the gym, I felt like I had so much energy. My mind was in the game. I got on the treadmill, and the next thing I know, 4.25 miles (yes, I did the mileage bump) in 44:23 minutes was over. I was moving. I kept bumping up the speed every 1/2 mile. I was really concentrating on my form and my feet position. It was a great time on the treadmill (how often can I say that?).

Spin was was getting ready to start by the time I got into the class. My head was still into it. I couldn't wait to continue to drip sweat onto the floor. Careful...it's slippery around me. Class was great. There was a lot of people in class today, so I was a little crowded. Oh well, the more the merrier! Yoga was next on my schedule. My body was ready for a great, long stretch after a difficult spin class!

We had the loud breather in class, again. Lucky us, he took off his shirt. I haven't seen a single guy without his shirt in the gym. I can see why, no one wants to see it. It's fine outside in the heat, but not inside.

My knees had taken a beating with my upped mileage, spin class and yoga had a lot of leg balancing positions today. When I got home, I immediately applied Pro Emu Lotion. This lotion doesn't smell and it isn't oily. Some lotions out there advertise that they're not smelly, but they have a very slight smell only a sensitive nose can detect. Not this one! It really helped my sore joints. It took just about 20 minutes and I was feeling brand new.

Once I got settled, I opened some packages. I was looking forward to one in particular...Compression Stockings. I slipped those babies right one. (Something else I forgot to take a picture of...Wednesday, I will). They were easier to put on than I heard. I had time to keep them on for about an hour. I had a harder time taking off the socks than putting them on. Afterwards, my legs are feeling so much better. They're not as tight as they were. I can't wait until tomorrow to see how the socks makes my day!

Tonight's dinner was very simple, another PB&J sandwich with tortilla chips. Dessert was some great blueberry Greek yogurt from Oikos. I've only had one other Greek yogurt. Compared to that brand, this is great!! I"m not saying this is a bad yogurt by any means. It is great!! I could eat 6 containers of them. I love the low calorie count in these and 13 grams of protein.

Look at all the yummy things in it! The berries were at the bottom, and the flavor was so good. It tasted like real blueberries. The yogurt was a little thinner than what I am use to.
I can't wait until I have more!

I am pretty tired (Monday's usually kick my butt). I think I will relax with my puppy, kitty and DVR and watch some I Love Lucy. I love older shows, when they were better.

Someone had asked me to post to details on the back of the Ginger's Elixir energy drink. Here you go. Because it is an energy, they don't have to put all the details they do for, say, soda.

Did you do anything exciting this weekend?

Another Uncomfortable & Unhappy Monday

This morning was nothing special: feeding Roxy girl, eating cereal, then off to work. As I was driving to work, there was this cyclist, he was in the bike lane next to my passenger door. All of a sudden, he speeds up and cuts me off. No signal, no looking over his shoulder, no nothing. What a jerk! I wouldn't have minded if he put up his arm to make a left hand turn, but of course not.

Work was going well, when I started to get hungry. I had my juicy apple about 11am. As I've mentioned many times, I love chopped apples, they taste so fresh, no matter how old the apples are (most of the time).

About 1:30, I ate a home made granola bar. It's a little too flaky, but I kept it in the fridge all morning and pulled it out 10 minutes before I was ready to eat it. Still crumbly, but a little better. Still looking for the perfect granola bar recipe.

I had my usual 1/2 sandwich for lunch at 3. Getting my stomach and everything ready for the gym, I had my other 1/2 of my Luna bar. Just as good as last week. YUM!

I headed out to the gym , after work. Mondays are always my, long, tough workout days. I grabbed a treadmill in front of a TV that was showing Judge Judy. I love that show. My life doesn't have any drama (which is good), so I have to get my drama elsewhere. I ran 4 miles, slowly elevating my pace, every 1/2 mile. I finished in 42:35. Just in time for my 55 minute spin class. Since my Wednesday night spin classes have been pretty cake, this class really made me work for it.

I never really cooled down from my 4 miles. I was bright red, and pouring sweat when I walked into class. Everyone was staring at me because I was glowing in the black light. Oh well...I don't mind, stare all you want. As soon as I finished my spin class, I went to the locker room to grab my yoga mat. I had about 5 minutes before yoga was going to start. It was a another great class. Except, every time I took a DEEP yoga breath, it felt like I was breathing in water (it really burned). There was no bloody nose, or anything like that, just sometimes that happens. Strange...

On my way out of the gym, I have to cross a parking lot. There was this guy backing up as soon as I was right behind him. I love almost getting hit when I'm exhausted, sweaty and smelly. He claimed he didn't see me, but I don't believe him.

When I got home, I took care of some things, and fixed the last of the left overs for dinner. I had the last bit of the veggie hamburgers and potato salad. So good!! I have so many tomatoes, I need to pull out my tomato recipes. I can't wait!!

After relaxing on the couch for about an hour, I decided I needed to take a shower. When I got out, I had 1/2 of my honey vanilla Greek yogurt, and jazzed it up a little. I added a small handful (about 8) blackberries, about 15 mini chocolate chips, about a palm size of dried oats, and about 10 chopped almonds... oh yea, so PB too. I mixed everything very well and started chowing down. I did take a picture, but I can't seem to find it. I'll take another one tomorrow when I make this again.

Questions about the Vita Brownies / Muffins, it looks like Safeway, the Nugget, Raleys and Belair are the carriers for these yummy treats! They have so many flavors. Alright, enough of that.

I've been looking back at my training logs for this 1/2 marathon (I'm only on my 3rd month out of 11) training, it looks like my first month, I ran 26.04 miles, the 2nd month, I ran 50.28. I can't believe that I almost doubled my miles!! It's feeling great! I can't wait to go outside and run more often. I'm pretty done with the treadmill. It looks like it takes me about 1 week to run a 1/2 marathon. But that will change...I'm so excited!! There are days where I just don't feel like running, but I force myself to go out and do it. I'm always happy that I get out there. Yeah for me!!

How many miles do you run in a day / week / month?

Are you training for something? Or running just for fun?

Two for Tuesdays

Same ol boring morning. Hit snooze a million times...check, cereal...check, rush out the door to work...check. I brought my apple for my afternoon snack and had good intentions to eat it. Then, my boss comes in and announces he made black berry cobbler for everyone. (I work in a very small office, and there are only 4 of us.) He picked the blackberries that morning and everything. It's not like I could ever turn down home made cobbler. It was great

He made it by boiling the berries with sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. While that was on the stove, he made dumplings out of Bisquick. He put the berries in a pan and added the dumplings right on top and baked for about 1/2 hour. Yummy-ness all over my tummy!

I ate my same ol sandwich and took a nap on my lunch. It's always nice to take a cat nap. I don't really like taking long naps and doing stuff the rest of the day. I feel groggy all day if I do that. A little 20 minute nap never hurt anyone (unless you're driving or something...lol).

After work, I jetted over to the gym (only a 10 minute drive). Today was all cardio day. I was suppose to do at least 1 1/2 hours of cardio, but my head was killing me. I am one of those people that don't like to take medication, not for a good reason, I'm just stubborn. So, I dealt with my cracking head while I did only 20 minutes on the elliptical, 20minutes on my abs (I usually do 3 sets, but today I only did 2 sets), 10 minutes rowing and about 10 minutes on that machine I never found out the name. I was pretty sweaty. I was trying to work even harder than normal, because I wasn't going to be at the gym as long as I normally am. It's nice to sweat. I feel accomplished when I do.

When I got home, the first thing I did was make dinner, I was starving. While I was prepping dinner, I snacked on some V8 juice. I know it may sound gross, but it is so good. I provides your daily veggies (in case you don't have time to do so, or you don't like them). If you haven't tried it yet, go out and buy some!

My dinner tonight was a version of spaghetti. I chopped a squash, and 4 cloves of garlic (I love garlic).

I boiled spaghetti noddles according to the package.

I browned 1 pound of ground beef. Usually I try to get some ground chicken, but I'm on a tight budget this week, and this was cheaper. In the meat, I added the squash and garlic, along with some parsley, thyme, oregano, and a small pinch of chili pepper. I mixed this all together and then drained.

Here is my master piece. More yummy's!

As I am typing I am enjoying my first ever Greek yogurt. I was not wanting to try this, but everyone I speak to is always talking about how great it tastes. What do you know, they were right! I had a 1/2 of the strawberry yogurt and I love it! I am off of the regular yogurt for good. It has a nice flavor and 12g g of protein, 19g of carbs and 18g of sugars. I know that's a lot of sugar, but I only had half. Not too bad. My next flavor is vanilla honey...can't wait to try that one.

I was reading the comments from yesterday about everyone's favorite dessert. It looks like everyone loves ice cream. I'm not saying I don't love it myself, but I do like carrots (not even as much). I kind of OD on them a few years back. I was going through a large bag of baby carrots once a week. If you dip them into cream cheese, they're even better (that's not what I did last night). My favorite ice cream is anything chocolate. I love chocolate brownie with chocolate chips and maybe a waffle cone in there. So good. I think I need to buy some soon. I know if I buy ice cream, it will not last long. I was thinking about something today. Isn't it messed up that they out the gym in the same parking lot as an ice cream place, Taco Bell and Burger King?

What did you have for dinner?

What do you do for cross training?