All smiles

Have you ever had one of those workouts, where you just get that perfect boost of endorphins and you feel like you could take on the world, if you weren’t already on top of it and you’re almost overwhelmed and may or may not almost cry (from pain or the endorphins, who knows, who cares).  Yeah.  My bodypump class was that good this morning and I am CONVINCED that this morning truly started with last night.  Because last night I set to work on listening to my body, which has had zip for energy and even less self-esteem.

I started with addressing my energy levels, or lack thereof.  While I’m fully aware that my body is probably trying to readjust to a full time workout schedule again, I also had this nagging thought that working out wasn’t the whole problem. So I took a good hard look at what I’ve been eating this week.  I was still eating healthy meals, but I’ve been on a clean the leftovers out of the fridge kick, so my greens and salad consumption have been down a bit – problem number 1.  And even though my meals have been healthy, I wondered if there may be a lack of protein and/or carbs thrown into the mix that was getting me down.  So last night, I whipped up aVegan Bread Pudding with some leftover Jalapeno Lime Cornbread I had made earlier in the week.  Ho.ly.Yum.

The recipe was a breeze to whip up and I used this as my starting point and adjusted with what I had in the fridge.  I ended up with a (jalapeno lime) cornbread pudding filled with some sauted mushrooms, onions and spinach.  I was a little unsure of the “tofu custard” but I liked how it would incorporate more protein in my meal and in the end, it was perfection.  I scarfed down 2 pieces and definitely could’ve had more.  Clearly, my body was craving the carbs AND the protein.

One of the best parts about the bread pudding, was that in automatically incorporated a 35 minute window for workouts (which turned into 20 minutes for a workout once I got dressed and out the door).   Even though I was feeling pretty tired (remember, this was before dinner), I tried my luck at a treadmill workout.  I figured a full 20 minute run wasn’t in the cards for the night, so I incorporated two separate workouts into one, hill and speed intervals.   It looked a little something like this:

update:  all of the “mph” should have been “minute miles” and have been changed to reflect that.  Sorry to disappoint anyone who thought I was running 10 mph – jeepers! Thanks to Mike for the heads up!

0-3 minutes – run  10 minute mile (6.0 mph), incline 0.0

3-5 minutes – walk, 4.3 mph, incline 7.0

5-7 minutes – run 9.5 minute mile, incline 1.5

7-10 minutes – walk, 4.3 mph, incline 7.0

10-12 minutes – run, 9.0-8.5 minute mile, incline 2.0

12-15 minutes – walk, 4.3 mph, incline 7.5

15-21 minutes – run, 8.5 -9 minute mile-8.0 minute mile

I ended up with 2  miles, a great booty busting hill workout and a great way to work my way back into some speed.  The 20 minutes was up in NO time.  Strangely, I found this to not only be a great workout, but I knocked it out with some …um…piano music, simple, relaxing piano music.  Even though I was sweating and loving every minute of it, it was 20 minutes of self-centering and relaxed focus. I felt so amazing afterwards and with the breadpudding masterpiece at home, I was one happy camper last night.  Topped it off with football, tea and some homemade biscotti.

So in case you ever feel down in the dumps, whip up some bread pudding, pop in some relaxing music and get your sweat on.  Guaranteed cure for EVERYTHING.

And as always,

cheers to Friday, friends 🙂

xo

Healthy Habits

I think its safe to say that in the past few months I’ve picked up a number of good habits.

For instance.

Last year at this time, I would’ve laughed if you said “you’ll be eating breakfast every morning”.

Now I can’t imagine going without it.  Especially my beloved oatmeal.   I wasn’t able to make my baked oatmeal this morning, but tried out something new (to me), making a bowl of Overnight Oats.   This involves minimal prep (mix most of the ingredients the night before – shove it in the fridge) and feels a little healthier to me, because there’s not all the extra sugar involved.

Last night I mixed up a combo of steel cut and rolled oats with half of a mashed banana, a sprinkling of blueberries and chia seeds and added almond milk.  To top it off this morning, I mixed in a small bit of cinnamon raisin swirl PB (OH MY GOSH – if you haven’t tried this, hop on the PB train and DO IT) and a drizzle of maple syrup.   The oats absorbed a good amount of the milk over night, but not so much that I had to add more in the morning.  The texture gave me just enough to chew and feel like I was eating something, rather than swallowing a bowl of regular oatmeal.   After a weekend of starchy breakfasts, having a bowl of healthy oatmeal this morning was amazing.

 

I’m hooked!

Another habit?  Going to classes, ON MY OWN, at the gym.  The on my own thing, is a big enough step for me mentally.  But the benefits of the classes have been awesome.  After 3 Body Combat classes, I feel stronger and so much more mentally confident – if that makes any sense.  And after only 2 yoga classes, I’ve noticed my posture has really started to get better (I think lifting has a big part to do with this also…).  Last night’s Yoga session at the gym, was relaxing, but challenging at the same time – and it felt so good to have an hour of dedicated stretching time, something I am NOT good at doing on my own.

Finally, I’ve been starting to CRAVE those runs each day.  If I miss my morning run/workout, I feel sluggish and annoyed with myself for skipping out.  I almost always try to make up for the workout in the evening if I don’t.  This morning, I hit the gym a little later than normal, but was determined to get my 5 miles in.  I was pretty drowsy, so I did allow myself the compromise of “Get in 3 miles, stop after that if you want”.  I knew though, once I was on that treadmill, if I made it to 3 miles, I would make it to 5.  Because I got to the gym a little later than I wanted to this morning, and I’m still slooowwwwwww – I used this morning’s workout for speed intervals.  I have my eyes set on achieving a consistent 9 minute mile pace, to inch my way towards breaking that 27 minute 5k time (I know, I’m slow) – my ultimate goal is to run 8 minute miles pretty consistently by the Fall.  So for this morning’s workout I tried out the following:

Mile Marker	Distance (approximately)	Speed (Approximately)
1	0.5 miles	6.0-6.2 mph (10 min mile)
	0.3 miles	6.5 mph
	0.1 mile	7.0 mph (8:34 min mile)
	0.1 mile	7.5 mph (8 min mile)
2	0.5 miles	6.0-6.2 mph (10 min mile)
	0.2 miles	6.5 mph
	0.2 miles	7.0 mph
	0.1 miles	7.5 mph
3	0.5 miles	6.2 mph
	0.2 miles	6.5 mph
	0.3 miles	7.0 mph
4	0.5 miles	6.2 mph
	0.1 miles	6.5 mph
	0.3 miles	7.0 mph
	0.1 miles	7.5 mph
5	0.5 miles	6.0-6.2 mph
	0.1 miles	6.5 mph
	0.2 miles	7.0 mph
	0.2 miles	7.5 mph

With this workout, I rounded out my 5 mile time at a SWEATY 46:11.  Normally I would’ve liked to walk out to an even 50 minutes, but with my time crunch to get ready for work, I had to settle for the walk back to my apartment instead.  It seems a little hodge-podge, but the basic gist was my trying to get an idea of what an 8 or 9 minute mile pace felt like and start to build up my endurance.  The goal is to add a little more distance (or time) each time I do a speed interval workout, so I eventually feel more comfortable at the paces.    I was super sweaty at the end and really glad for that bowl of oatmeal when I got home 😉  Since then, I’ve been burning through every single morsel of food I’ve eaten.   Gotta find a new way to fill up!  I hit up my 4^th Body combat class tonight – super excited for a new track.  And tomorrow is FRIDAY!

Share your speed interval workouts!  I love mixin’ it up!

xo