Where's the Beach?

Morning Run This morning started off super early. Jason and I opted for another morning run. A front has been pushing through so it was "only" 67 degrees when we started the run at 5:30 am. In other words, it felt really chilly at the start. No complaints though. Since it was dark, we stuck with our usual route. It's fairly well lit by streetlights, and we know pretty much every bump,  dip, hole, or pebble in the road at this point. Sometimes that's ok to run the same route though. It was a fairly uneventful run. That's not saying it was bad of course, just quiet, calm. We didn't do much talking at the beginning. I think we were mostly waking up to be honest. That's the beauty of a morning run though - waking up, getting moving, and enjoying the fresh air. Usually I just jump out of bed and get ready as quickly as possible and am out the door to work within 30 minutes. So easing into the morning is something not typical for me. We ended up with a ...

Sunday Grilling We had a great time with our friends playing around in the pool yesterday afternoon. They brought their 13-year old son plus tons of pool toys like beach balls and a blow-up basketball hoop. There was a nice breeze so it really wasn't overwhelmingly hot, despite the fact that it was close to 100 degrees. That's what pools are made for though right? I had made Strawberry Salsa and Seitan cutlets first thing in the mornings to use for dinner. It was too nice out not to grill. I have been wanting to try to recreate a salad that our friends (the ones we visited in Florida) have made for me several times. It has green beans, potatoes, artichokes, and romaine lettuce. I think the dressing is a combo of Dijon, olive oil, and lemon juice, perhaps garlic. I decided to try to make my own grilled version. Grilled Green Bean, Potato & Artichoke Salad Ingredients: Salad: 5-6 red new potatoes (depending on size), cubed Fresh green beans, just to desired amount ...

Baking Night Yesterday was a nice, relaxing day. We enjoyed pizza for dinner since we didn't get to have our normal Pizza Friday. I think I may have a pizza addiction perhaps. Do they have groups for people like me? Last night I ended up playing around with the base recipe from the fabulous Kristina (spabettie) for Garbonzo Cookie Balls . I have made a version using cranberries and another using vegan chocolate chips. She recently made a Mint Chocolate chip version that got us into a little chat about other awesome flavor combos. So, last night I decided to play around a little bit. I think I kind of upset Jason because we were supposed to play pool. Instead I was wanting to bake. We had just finished watching What Happens in Vegas and I was a little antsy. The oven was still fairy warm from the pizza, and I thought I could make the cookies quickly. I know he gets annoyed with me sometimes for just not being able to stop going, doing, thinking. But, back to the cookies. I ...

3 B's: Back, Biceps, Boxing When Jason got up at 5 am to go swim, I thought very fleetingly about getting my cardio done. Then I promptly fell back to sleep. I wasn't overly concerned, sleep is more important sometimes - especially on a Monday. I did my weights at lunch. Today was pull muscles for upper body: back and biceps. I did the following as supersets of 3 sets of 8 reps.  SS#1 Pullovers Alternating biceps curls SS#2 Double-arm rows Cross-body biceps curls SS#3 Single-arm horizontal rows Incline biceps curls Lat pull downs with blue (heaviest) band - 2 X 16 1 set of 21's for biceps This was a pretty good workout. I was feeling stronger today, and should likely have gone heavier for some of the back exercises. I feel like I'm never able to get the back gains I'd like though. I do not have a pull up bar. We tried to buy one - the kind that fits every door. Apparently as long as the house was not built in 1890. The bar would not fit in any of...

More Running and Kicking  Since we're on tap for bad weather starting tomorrow through Sunday, I really wanted to get a run in today if at all possible. Jason was on board with that, so we took advantage of the storm-free day for a lunchtime run. We did a fairly easy 3+ miles, though we did speed up on the 2nd half of the run. It was soooo humid I must say. It would have been the perfect time to jump in the pool to cool down. After work I did a short kickboxing workout from 4 Day Split . This isn't one of my favorite Cathe compilations, but it's still a good one. Well worth the money. It's 4 DVDs giving you a 4-day split of weights and cardio. Cardio includes step, kickboxing, and boot camp. What's even better is that there are a seemingly endless number of premixes on this one - 23 to be exact. I also stretched for a bit after the workout. Since I didn't take it today, tomorrow will likely be my much-needed rest day. Actually, this is one of those weeks when ...