Where's the Beach?

Big confession: I don't like avocados. I think it's more of a texture thing than just the flavor. I've tried over the years, I really have. If I can hide them away smashed into other flavors, then I may be able to eat a small sliver. But, I know that they're really healthy with healthy fats, vitamins, potassium and amino acids. Research has shown that eating avocados can reduce risks of several types of cancers, lower your cholesterol and are good for heart health.  Jason loves avocados and has been using them often lately. I decided I'd give them another shot in the form of a dressing or sauce. Avocados, in my mind, go with salsas. Ok, not that I eat them with salsas myself. But, this was my train of thought.  I had several tomatoes on hand that needed to be used, some frozen corn and canned beans. I often make a black bean and corn salsa/salad during the summer so I just ran with that general concept for flavors and textures and came up with a Summer Sa...

Running Recap I must apologize for not having the time today to individually reply to your comments from yesterday's post. I did read each of them (more than once) and appreciate that you took the time to reply so thoughtfully - especially in regards to my running ramble. So apparently I did actually make some sort of sense ;-) I was surprised that more of you don't consider yourselves to be runners though. I think it's such an interesting idea - how we define ourselves and why. Oh, and thank you all so much for your fun facts. I feel so much more normal - love you all! You're great! I found out how similar we all possibly are in terms of quirks. My pal Averie did a similar post and I found out (after posting on her blog) that we both curse like sailors ;-0 It's so much fun learning about each other I think. I do hope you enjoy the fun facts and aren't terribly bored with them yet. Busy Bee: Workouts & Food Prep This morning I was up before 7 am. I pre...

I went to bed last night with high hopes that the sleet would come early enough that we'd either be told to stay home from work or get a two hour delay. Alas, no such luck. However, I did opt to go in later and ride with Jason. This meant I got my workout done early, but not so early that I was still asleep. I decided to do Step Blast and Abs from Step Jump and Pump . It was a funny, sweaty workout. Jason and I work across the street from one another and our offices are only about 7 blocks from our house. So riding in together made sense, plus I trust him driving on the ice more than me! When I got to the office there were only two others there. The whole building was pretty much empty as most employees just stay home and use personal time rather than brave the ice. The sleet was coming down, but it wasn't terribly slick at that point. Only five brave souls in my immediate area ended up showing up. By noon it was coming down and coating the streets completely. The big boss ga...

Hump Day Workout This morning Jason got up at 5 am to go to a master's swim class. I thought I was going to fall back asleep, but was wide awake at 5:15. I decided to embrace that rarity and get my cardio done. I opted for HiiT Pyramid because there's no equipment involved for set up. It's really only about 25 minutes so I repeated it for a total of 43 minutes. This is a fun workout, and it was a good workout for me this morning. Much better than yesterday. After, I stretched and even started prepping for dinner tonight. I felt so accomplished by 6:30! I did hit the gym for weights. Warmed up for 10 minutes on the treadmill, then did 4 sets of 8 reps of each exercise as supersets increasing 1.25-2% from last week. SS #1 Shoulders - Arnold Press ss w/ Quads - Hack Squats SS #2 Biceps - Incline Dumbbell Curls ss w/ Triceps - Lying Triceps Extension SS #3 Chest - Incline Barbell Press ss w/ Back - Pullovers Lesson learned: Oh, Monday I forgot my weight glov...

Today ended up being a long one for me. It was a cold walk in again, but at least the wind didn't immediately undo my hairstyle. When I got to the office and saw my calendar for the day, I realized I pretty much had back-to-back meetings from 9 am until 2 pm. I opted to just stay through lunch and leave early (not really early as I put in my 8 of course). Crappy Cardio Day I was kind of excited about leaving at 3 and getting my workout done earlier. I thought I could put in a good cardio, some abs, then have time to experiment in the kitchen. Got a couple of ideas brewing that kept me up last night. Well, got home and started my workout - Cardio Fusion . It's usually a high calorie burner for me. I don't know what the deal was today though. I could not get my heart rate up and it'd drop the second I wasn't pushing all out. It was very frustrating. I've done that workout enough to know what my heart rate typically is throughout the workout. I was easily 5 and ...

Why are Mondays so darn difficult? This morning felt harder because it was cold and windy for the walk into the office. Not sure why I bothered to do my hair. It was sort of a blah, blue day for me. At least it was sunny out, so that helped my mood a little bit. Workout After work, I headed directly to the gym. I tortured myself on the dreadmill then the elliptical before hitting the weights. I will admit that for a fleeting moment I had one of those "I could run all day" feelings. It did subside. Today is the first weight workout for Week 4 of the Total-Body Training rotation. These are the same exercises done last week, but this week they are done as supersets with a 1.25-2% increase in weight. Each exercise is done as four sets of five reps. SS #1 Back - Wide Grip Pullups Chest - Barbell Bench Press SS #2 Quads - Squats Hamstrings - Still Leg Deadlifts SS #3 Biceps - Barbell Curls Triceps - Close Grip Bench Press Jason was supposed to meet me up there to s...

If you're looking for a vegan "cheese" dip or simply looking for a healthier alternative to that oh so good, but oh so bad for the waste line indulgence that cheese dip is, you may want to give one of these two Cheeseless Quesos a try! The first queso comes from Alicia from Vegan Epicurean .The second version is another version of the original. Cheeseless Queso Ingredients: ½ cup raw cashews, soaked and drained (30-60 mins) ½ cup oatmeal, ground into flour 1 ½ cups water 2 teaspoon onion flakes, dried ½ teaspoon turmeric powder 1 clove garlic, peeled 14 ounces diced tomatoes (or substitute an equal amount of salsa if you like heat) 1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon hot crushed peppers (wet hots, finely minced pickled peppers), or to taste ½ teaspoon chili powder 1 dash cayenne, or to taste salt and pepper to taste Directions: Combine the cashews, oatmeal, water, onion flakes, turmeric, and garlic in your blender. Puree until the mixture is smooth. Pour t...

Free Time Friday Today was a rest day for me in regards to a workout. I am still a little sore from weights on Wednesday, then doing step yesterday sort of put my legs over the top. I  typically set up Friday as my schedule rest day anyway. It's like a little treat to myself: week over and a little free time. So what did I do with the free time? Why shopping of course. I won't brag too much, but I did find some great bargains! Besides, I think that there was some consensus a while back that shopping is indeed a form of cardio. So, in a way, I did still workout. Right? ;-) Pizza Friday Dinner was the typical homemade pizza . While I blogged, Jason made the Cheeseless Queso with a few tweaks. He wanted to try to make it more like a white cheese dip. Tomorrow I'll post his version. While snacking on the cheeselsess queso, we played pool  and let the bread machine do the manual labor for the pizza. We didn't do anything super exciting for the pizza toppings. I'm ...

Contemplating Resolutions How are you doing with your resolutions? I'm sort of 2 for 2. I only listed 4 that I borrowed from fellow blogging buddies ( Jessica and Allie ). Stop with the "can't wait" (as in can't wait for Friday) Stop with the negative talk Smile Compliment someone 2 Up I've done really good with stopping the "can't wait" mentality thus far. Of course it's only the 6th right? But I didn't start wishing my week away on Monday. However, I will admit that I have secretly said, "I can't wait for Saturday," simply because it's my sister's birthday party. I'll be going to her house early to help her set up and staying the night. So that's acceptable right? I think so. I've done good with the smiling. I smile at myself first thing in the morning every morning - it's how I put on blush (some tip I read ages ago). No matter how crummy I am feeling, I have to smile to put on the blush an...

I apparently have been really lacking in the sleep department. Didn't make it too much past 10 pm last night and slept until 8:50 this  morning. I NEVER sleep in like that. I was a bit disoriented and kept rechecking the time in disbelief. I guess I was really tired though and didn't even realize it. This morning I decided to try Shock Cardio Athletic Step . This was a good, straight-forward, no frills step workout. If you've done Cathe's step workouts before, then none of the moves will really throw you for a loop. It was fun, time flew by, but it was shorter than I would have liked. So far, that is really my only complaint about the Shock Cardio workouts I've done. They have all been fun and time really does fly by (no clock watching). But they are short so calorie burn overall is lower. But they are definitely ideal for time-crunch days or when you plan on doing an upper body weight workout as well. Speaking of weights, I decided to start the Total-Body Train...