Where's the Beach?

Feeling the Love I want to start off by thanking everyone for being so supportive and for all of your kind, generous comments about my blog yesterday.  Friday Morning Workout This morning I actually got in a workout. My legs are so sore from yesterday's running drills and weight workout. I really just wanted something easy to get them moving and loosened up. There was no way I was going to be doing any step, HIIT or plyo. I chose a kickboxing DVD that I haven't done in ages: Cathe's Kick Max . I also did abs and stretched. It was a fun workout actually (or as fun as anything can be at 5:30 am). This one consists of 4 kickboxing combos (about 20 mins) plus 10 short drills (about 20 mins). Doing the Friday Happy Dance Today signified the end of a week of sunshine. The clouds are hanging in thick and heavy and we're in for some stormy weather for the next few days. I'm really hoping that the forecasters have it wrong and we'll have a few spells of no rain. I...

My How You've Grown It's so true that time flies when you're having fun. And time has flown by with my blogging. Exactly 6 months ago I published my first official blog post: Let Me Introduce the Blog . I don't want to make a whole post of my 6 month anniversary, but I thought it might be fun to reintroduce myself and do just a brief recap: "About Me" So what's up with the title? My husband jokes with me about my biceps since I started working out. I protest saying you can't see them unless I flex. His response: Where's the Beach [flex] The Beach is This Way. So my blog is about getting fit, staying fit, and hitting the beach! My goal is to inspire others to workout and get into shape. I am also passionate about food. I am vegetarian, but I love to cook and try out new recipes. One goal is to show that just because a recipe is vegetarian or vegan, doesn't mean that a meat-eater won't enjoy it. It's far more than lettuce and sprout...

Resting on Hump Day I don't know what is up with me this week. I am feeling totally drained. I've been getting in my workouts, but they are getting more difficult as the days go by. Today should have been weights - 3 sets of 15 reps supersetted and going up in weight. In all honesty, the thought of doing weights today made me want to run away. Only my legs were too tired for that. While I have lowered the intensity levels of my indoor workouts (doing easier step or kickboxing rather than HIIT, Plyo, and Intervals) I have increased my running a great deal over the past 2 weeks. I think the increased mileage and speed coupled with additional leg work is finally catching up with me. Or that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I did start feeling that itch to lift upper body towards the afternoon though. But in reality, I knew I was truly fatigued and the workout would have suffered. And yes, I had to remind myself of that truth over and over. I also kept thinking about th...

2 on Tuesday  I had every intention of getting up this morning for a "get myself moving" kickboxing workout with abs. However, that did not happen. I just felt so worn out, so I slept another hour. I seriously think that I am just not destined to morning workouts. You'd think I was going to bed really late. But, that's not the case. I'm typically in bed reading by 8:30 and lights out by 9:30. Sigh. Anyway, I was feeling super fatigued most of the morning to be honest. I did take a Zyrtec for the sinus drainage so that might be part of the cause. Sinuses are still drippy though so it's obviously not doing the job. Anyway, Jason and I did get in a lunchtime run. I really almost backed out. But, I think it was the energy boost I desperately needed. It got me moving for starters. I spend my entire day sitting at a desk in front of a computer, most certainly not an energy boost (actually quite the opposite). It was super windy, and not quite 60 degrees when we s...

Unmotivated on Monday I had the hardest time peeling myself out of bed this morning. Jason got up to go swim at 5 am and there was just no way I was getting up. I fell back to sleep almost immediately in fact. I feel like I'm getting a cold or allergy crud so maybe that's the reason for the sluggishness. Today was supposed to be Upper + Plyo. The upper body exercises were done as supersets of 4 sets of 8 reps. SS#1 Chest - Flat bench flyes (supposed to have been incline but I goofed) Back - Dumbbell pullover SS#2 Shoulder - Arnold press Shoulder - Lateral raises SS#3 Biceps - Incline curls Triceps - Overhead extension SS#4 Split squats (added this in lieu of plyo, see reason below) Donkey kicks (with 8# DB) Early on in the day, I knew that I wasn't feeling just super energized. I wanted to go ahead and get the weights done before I somehow actually talked myself out of them entirely. Yes, I was seriously feeling that unmotivated. I sort of made a deal with myself, do ...

Grilled Salad Saturday Last night we ended up eating around 8:30, which I consider to be super late. We made a grilled salad with squash, zucchini, asparagus, portobellos, red bell peppers, tempeh over leaf lettuce and fresh spinach with balsamic vinaigrette. We also grilled up some homemade ciabatta for some crunchy goodness. Running Into the Wind (not like the wind) I started the day off with a bowl of Peanut Butter and Jelly and Banana Oatmeal . I just love the flavor combos. It's a hearty breakfast that tides me over for a long time.   I did the Kroger grocery trip while Jason did weights. After I got back, I made some Edamame Hummus to use for wraps for a post-run picnic lunch. I forgot to take pictures of the wraps, but I used tomato basil tortillas and filled them with the hummus, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, and fresh spinach. I also packed a tasty Pink Lady apple. I have never tried one before and thought something sweet and juicy after a run would be great. And...

No Surprise - Pizza Friday Well, it should come as no surprise that Friday's dinner was indeed pizza. It's just so easy to get the dough started while we play a few rounds of pool and relax a bit. In other words, it really is an easy dinner. As per the norm, I stuck with the Greek-style toppings for my half. Jason's half was sauteed green and red bell peppers, yellow onion, and soyrizzo with a Mexican blend 2% cheese. Sorry, I totally failed at taking pictures. But, if you're really needing a pizza picture fix, you can go back to previous Saturday posts ;-) Supersets and Kickboxing This morning I let myself be lazy. I actually slept in until 9am! That may as well be noon in my book. Of course, it was dark and rainy, so that helped...helped with the laziness I should say. I made steel cut oats with ground flax seed, cinnamon apples and peanut butter for Jason and myself. It's such a filling breakfast that I, of course, had to let it settle before I could start my wo...

Let's All Lighten Up I must say that I am happy to hear that some of you took my "lighten up" challenge. It's one that I am going to continue to take each day. Just pick something that might be stressing me out unnecessarily and finding a way to lighten up about it. For example, normally had I forgotten to make my oatmeal, that would have sent me over the edge the next morning when I discovered my MUST HAVE breakfast was MIA. Instead, I opted for an alternative: low-sugar instant oatmeal with the addition of bananas and peanut butter. And now a confession, I actually took the easy option again this morning and added in peanut butter and apples with cinnamon. The world seriously didn't stop because I did not have my steel cut oats with protein powder, cinnamon and blueberries. In fact, it was sort of nice having a little change up. Hmmm, who'd have thunk it? Running on Friday Speaking of this morning, I set the alarm again for a morning run. When I stood ...

Wednesday Follow Up I wanted to thank everyone for their comments and insights regarding yesterday's posts. I don't think you have to be a Type A personality to feel the pressure to always be perfect, to always do better than you did before, etc. I hope that you took my lighten up challenge and would love to hear what you did and how it worked for you. I will say that posting early sans dinner photos and choosing to do a simple, easy dinner made for a very relaxed evening. I did get a little crazy and cut the sweet potatoes into rounds rather than fry-shaped. LOL. A simple dinner was made much more special by dining outside without any distractions. It made for pleasant conversation and somehow dinner seemed much more than just veggie burgers and sweet potatoes. Now, I hope you all don't get the wrong impression about posting and including recipes, photos, and recaps. I LOVE writing my blog posts, taking photos, choosing the ones to include, etc. Anyone who blogs knows, h...

Required Rest Day Today I had every intention of getting up and doing a low-impact step workout to start the day then get my weight workout done at lunch. At about 4:30 am, I decided that wasn't going to happen. I'm still rather sore from weights on Monday, and my legs are actually feeling a tad heavy from yesterday's run. So, as hard as it was for me to do, I took today as my rest day (thought I was planning on taking the rest day tomorrow). I knew my workouts would suffer. My sinuses are also draining and causing me to have a nice little sinus headache. As much has I don't want it to rain, we desperately need the rain to wash away this pollen. People who never have allergy issues are even sick right now. Lighten Up For some reason, today's rest day was much harder for me to take, even though I absolutely knew I needed it. I seriously could have put my head down at any given point during the day and been asleep in minutes. Important thing to know about me: I am...

2 on Tuesday Last night I set the alarm for 5:22 am (I have an issue with setting it at odd times like 2 mins extra sleep makes a difference) so that I could get up and do 30 minutes of kickboxing and abs. For once, I only woke up one time during the night and was snoozing hard when the alarm started going off. I thought I could quickly reset it and go right back to sleep. The stupid thing would shut off though. At first I thought I was hitting the wrong buttons, but I wasn't. I simply would not turn off. It does really quirky things from time-to-time when I try to set it (it was a cheapo purchase). But it's never not turned off. So, needless to say, I did indeed get up after all. I ended up doing 35 minutes of Kick, Punch, and Crunch plus stability balls abs. Jason and I had planned on a lunchtime run today as the weather was supposed to be nice. He was complaining about a bad crick in his neck though, so I wasn't sure the run was going to happen. But, he said he'd g...

Sunday Dinner = Leftover Remix Last night's dinner ended up being a leftover remix - Thai Peanut Quinoa . I had extra Thai Peanut Sauce leftover from the Grilled Thai Tofu Pizza . I made some quinoa, heated up a mix of frozen veggies in a large skillet adding in Quorn nuggets then the sauce. I did have to thin the sauce with water just a bit. Once everything was heated through, I stirred in the quinoa. It turned out great. This is one I'll be making again for certain. Monday Upper + Plyo Today when Jason got up to go swim at 5 am, I went right back to sleep. There was no way I was getting out of that bed for today's scheduled workout: Upper + Plyo. So I did my weights during lunch and plyo after work. Weights today were 4 sets of 8 reps. I must say, I much prefer doing lower reps and higher weights and am not exactly looking forward to the next workout which will be 3 sets of 12 reps. But I digress. Here were today's exercises done as straight sets: Shoulder - Arnold...

Saturday Night Off Last night I took the night off from cooking. I let Jason do the work while I sat back with a glass of wine. He made a healthier take on chicken piccata using a Quorn cutlet for a Quorn Picatta with roasted potatoes and roasted asparagus with lemon. The sauce was made by sauteing minced red onions, garlic, capers, and white wine. Just at the end you stir in butter. However, I took my sauce portion for the pictures before the butter was added, hence the chunkier sauce in the picture of my plate. If you like capers, then this is the sauce for you! We ended watching House Bunny after dinner with a bowl of popcorn dressed up with raisins, cranberries and peanut butter chips. Thankfully the movies wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was a silly movie, but sometimes that's just what you want. Lazy Sunday The temps today are only in the mid-60's. A drastic change over last weekend's 80 degree temps. I was so hoping to be done with longer sleeves....

Friday Follow Up I'm very happy to report that the Travs won the game last night. It was a good game, and we had a great time. I did spend most of the time catching up with my friend Kelli. I got to meet up with another friend prior to the game at an Irish pub called Cregeen's. Gwynne wasn't able to make it to the game, but still wanted to try to get together for a bit at least. I'm really glad we met up. We've never had a chance to just visit one-on-one so it was really nice getting to know her better. I had a chance to go home before the evening got started. I needed to change into something more relaxed for the game as well as grab a bite to eat. I wish I would have made more of a real dinner for myself as I ended up going on a major snack attack throughout my kitchen. So I may not have indulged at the game (except for a couple of Jason's nachos) but I most certainly indulged at home. I don't know what that was all about either. I guess at least it was h...

TGIF Workouts This morning Jason got up at 5 am to go swim. I was awake, not chance of going back to sleep really, so I got up and did just the first 3 combos from Low Impact Circuit Cardio Only Premix plus abs. It was a good workout that got me moving and energized for the day. Jason and I had planned a lunchtime run again. They've sort of become addicting to be honest. It's just so nice to get outside for 30 minutes, especially after being stuck inside with no windows and the AC on sub-zero. Just a refreshing change and great way to spend some time with the hubs. No Pizza Friday If you read my post yesterday, you read that there will not be a Pizza Friday. What??? Of course, I made up for that by making the the Grilled Thai Tofu Pizza for Thai Thursday. I must have my weekly pizza fix of course. I'm not really sure what I'll be doing for dinner as we're going to a baseball game - The Arkansas Travelers - with another couple. I obviously won't be ord...

Taking the Rest Day is Sometimes Tough Today ended up being my rest day. However, I was really itching to run during lunch. I typically allow myself to enjoy a rest day with no thoughts of exercising. Today was really different though. I so was not in the mood for a rest day for a change. So I kept arguing with myself about whether or not I should figure out how to squeeze in a workout. Anyway, I think a big part of that was wanting/needing to warm up. They keep our building frigid. All I want to do during the summer is just go stand outside in the direct sunshine or, better yet, go sit in a sizzling car. It just strikes me as such an enormous waste of energy and money when buildings are kept so incredibly cool. Yes, I'll admit, I am typically colder than most people. However, when even the men are walking around in coats, Houston, We Have A Problem. Too Much to Do I had a ton of errands that had to be run after work today. I worked through lunch so I could leave early and try to...