Where's the Beach?

Orange Inspired Last night, Jason ended up making up an Orange Roasted Broccoli & Chickpea Salad . I pretty much just sat back and watched. We had several oranges on hand that were going bad quickly. He had been talking about making an orange vinaigrette, so I let him just go with it. Orange Roasted Broccoli & Chickpea Salad Ingredients  Roasted veggies 1 bunch broccoli, chopped 1/3 yellow onion, chopped 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped (red would be more colorful) 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained Orange segments 1/4 cup raisins  To taste: salt, pepper, red pepper, dried thyme, dried ginger Orange vinaigrette Zest of one orange 2/3 cup (or a little less) of freshly squeezed oranges Splash of red wine vinegar Agave, to taste To taste: salt, pepper, powdered garlic, red pepper flakes, dried thyme, fresh basil, dried ginger Olive oil, enough for desired consistency of a loose vinaigrette Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add ...

Weights & Tabata  Today I had to do my workout after work. We had a birthday lunch celebration for my boss. I used to workout exclusively after work. It's kind of funny how you can really get used to working out at a certain time of the day. Anything other than that time and you're sort of thrown off. Or I am anyway. Not only are you more fatigued by the end of the day, you don't know anyone up at the gym at that time! They're looking at you like you're a newbie and you're looking at them like they must be. All I know is I want my little area and that's it. I started off with 10 minutes easy on the elliptical to get warmed up. Then I went with back, shoulders, and chest for today. I almost did legs, but decided to hold off and do those tomorrow Pin It Pin It * Kettlebell squat pulls (but not hopping up on toes, couldn't find a better example sadly) ** Up/down plank (last exercise shown) I did the ta...

Ta-ta Early Morning Workouts So apparently my streak of getting up early and getting my workouts done for the day has passed. I think maybe it's because it's staying dark so much longer. It's still dark out around 6:30 am now. That certainly makes 5:15 seem like midnight. While I hate the time change for the fact of it being dark early in the evenings, it'll be nice to have it light early in the mornings again. I wasn't sure if today would be a rest day or not. I was feeling a bit low on the energy reserves, but decided to do a back and abs workout at lunch. It was totally what I needed to give me a jolt of energy. I did supersets of 3x10 (unless noted) and then followed up with a variety of ab exercises using the stability ball and an 8# weight. SS#1 Alternating flat-back rows Pullovers SS#2 Horizontal rows Underhand rows SS#3 Lat band pull downs - 2x16 Lower back extensions on ball - 2x10 After work I opted for Cathe Friedrich's MMA Boxing . I...

Klutzes Unite Ok seriously, I feel like I need to do a giveaway for bandages and/or helmets. Perhaps a few ER passes as well. Maybe all the klutzes in the world read my blog or everyone is a klutz at heart. Thanks for sharing your..um...missteps in life. We did indeed enjoy our Pizza Friday as usual. It's such an easy (and yummy) routine. Jason stuck with his BBQ and hot sauce combo and topped with sauteed Quorn, bell peppers, onions, and portobellos. My half included spinach, squash, sundried tomatoes, roasted red bell peppers and Quorn and the whole thing was topped with Daiya Vegan Mozzarella . Running and Lifting This morning I was determined to get in a run come hell or high water (or high temperatures). I got started around 8:30 and it was 82 degrees. The kicker was the humidity and dew point levels. The air felt like water. The run itself, 4 miles, felt great. It was seriously and "I can run all day" type of run with the exception of the heat and humidity. I...

Thank You I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes yesterday. I do feel much better today. The medicine has finally seemed to clear up the sinus drainage and my lungs feel back to normal. Do your lungs ever feel just totally shredded after a race? I have asthma, so I don't ever know if it's just me or everyone. Two on Tuesday In fact, Jason and I did an easy run at lunch, and I felt great. Although, I will admit that the humidity was through the roof. It was cold and dreary all weekend, but warmer this morning than it had been. I guess it's another weird front moving through. Anyway, after work, I decided to do just a short premix from Kick, Punch and Crunch plus the ab work (awesome stability ball work). I also stretched really well after. Tofu 101 Tuesday I had a request from Averie @ Loves Veggies and Yoga (I didn't forget) to perhaps talk about my favorite method for making or preparing tofu. I know some people believe in pressing their tofu and have f...

Plyo Recap I had a couple of people ask about what plyo moves I had done. I will also include some of the plyo from Imax 3 as it really does incorporate a lot of plyo moves in the "blasts". Using a 12" step, I did: Wide Jump Ups - start standing with feet together, then jump up and land in a wide stance on step, then jump back into starting position. Crossovers - with weight in hand, start with one leg on step in squat position then crossover into squat position on other side and repeat. Slow Straddle Jumps - start standing on bench then jump down (like jumping jack) landing in deep squat then jump back up in deep squat. In Imax 3 , some of the plyo moves include: Plie Jacks - start with legs wide, plie down then jump up and click heels, return to wide stance and repeat Air Jacks - start with feet together then jump up before sending legs out to the side.  Tuck Jumps - start with feet together then jump up bringing knees up high. Plunge Lunges -  Alternatin...