I'm Moving

Well, you're probably wondering where I've been. I've been not exercising and eating too much. Now only part of that is true. I've been taking a week off from exercise and working on a project that is my new blog. I am finding that I want to expand a bit so I can talk about exercise AND food.

Here's my new address. Come visit me and maybe leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Update on the Weekend

It's been a very busy weekend. My week off from training started on Saturday and I feel ready for a break.

On Saturday morning, we headed out early to the beach to cheer my husband and sister on in the Belmar 5 mile race. My husband did it in 46 mins! My sister did it in 59 mins but she was running with a friend. After that, we hit the beach. Amazing weather with a nice breeze and water temps were perfect.

Saturday night, we went to my husband's 20 yr high school reunion. We had a blast! I didn't know anyone at all but I make friends easy plus I had one glass of red wine which always helps. The food was very rich. Tortellini alfredo, vodka penne, chicken franchaise, eggplant rollatini, crab dip with pita chips. UGH! I had a VERY little bit of each and ate it slowly. I stopped often and had sips of wine and water in between. They had a dessert table with small pastries. I did have a lemon tart not much bigger than a quarter and a mini cannoli. I was sweating alot in my sleep last night which does happen to me when I eat not so healthy foods or drink alcohol.

Today, I caught up on all the house chores and headed over to my local organic farm and picked up some great stuff. Basil (in a bunch the size of my head), rainbow swiss chard, zucchini, white corn, beets, and honey made right on the premises. After that it was prep time. I cleaned, boiled, peeled, and chopped beets to add to salads. I boiled corn so I could cut it off the ear next week for recipes. I rough chopped swiss chard to keep in a green bag to add to my green drinks. As if this wasn't great enough, my mom stopped by with a huge tray of blueberries she picked this morning! They are huge and amazingly sweet. Perfect to go with some greek yogurt, raw walnuts, and a squeeze of that local honey.

Aside from the reunion on Saturday, my diet has been pretty typical. I did purchase Ezekiel tortillas the other day to make beach trips easier. It does contain wheat which I avoid, but it's sprouted grains which are great for you and I'm going to include them in my diet occasionally as I can tolerate them. I did purchase brown rice tortillas but they tear when you try to close them and taste like cardboard. Corn tortillas are great but don't go with everything. Someone needs to come out with a wheat free sprouted grain tortilla!

So, the plan for my week off is to eat plenty of varied colored whole foods (the deeper the better) and get plenty of rest.

Workout and Meals 7/10/09

I made it to Friday! I went to the track this morning to do my sprints and stairs and I was determined to flip that truck tire but it didn't work out as planned. That tire was freakin heavy! Now I'm determined! I WILL do it. I'll just keep trying.

I sprinted the straights and walked the curves of the track, then did about 8 rounds of stairs doing 8 vertical jumps in between each round without stopping. I was really sweating and it was only 57 degrees at 6 am this morning. The workout was about 30 mins total.

Unlike other mornings, I also had some company. Two guys were doing some stairs and other drills. One of the guys looked familiar to me and I realized he was the owner of a previous gym I belonged to. See, even the owner knows the best place to workout is NOT the gym!

Meals:
a.m. - workout
1. syntrax nectar protein drink
after shower - green drink w/1 tablespoon flax oil, green tea

2. chobani plain greek yogurt w/blueberries and raw walnuts

3. one sprouted corn tortilla w/ground turkey breast, guacamole, sprinkle of cheese, salsa w/side of steamed broccoli, cherries

4. sugar snap peas, red bell pepper w/3 tablespoons hummus

5. organic chicken drumstick and leg, 1/4 c brown rice, roasted zucchini, red onion, red bell pepper

6. serving of 2% cottage cheese w/sliced mango, nut and seed crunch bar

Now for the numbers! There hasn't been many changes as far as measurements but my weight did go down a bit. I did not take pics but I will probably do that sometime next week.

Measurements (5/24) 7/10/09
Weight - (128.5) 124
Waist - (27 1/4) 27 1/8
Hips - (35) 34 15/16
Arm - (9 3/4) 9 3/4
Leg - (19 4/8) 19 1/2
Calf - (15) 14 1/4
Flexed bicep - (11) 11
Chest (under) - (26 1/2) 26 1/2
Chest - (30 1/4) 30 1/4

Tomorrow my husband and sister are running a 5 mile race and the kids and I will be there to cheer them on. Then we will hit the beach.

Not sure if I'm going to workout on Sunday or start my week off tomorrow.

Workout and Meals 7/9/09

Another day closer to a rest week! I'm excited now but within a day or two I'll be bored.
Here's my day:

Meals
a.m. - workout
1. syntrax nectar protein drink w/brown rice cake
after shower - green drink w/1 tablespoon flax oil, green tea

2. chobani plain greek yogurt w/blueberries, serving of Mrs. Mays fruit and nut crunch

3. 2 egg white, 1 egg omelet w/roasted zucchini, red onion, red bell pepper, feta cheese on a brown rice tortilla, watermelon

4. sugar snap peas w/3tablespoons hummus

5. ground turkey breast w/organic taco seasoning on 2 small sprouted corn tortillas, with some homeade quacamole, some shredded cheese, and salsa

6. serving of 2% cottage cheese w/sliced mango, nut and seed crunch bar

Workout
New Rules of Lifting for Women, Phase 1 workout B
For this last workout B you do as many reps as you can with your starting weight followed by 60 seconds rest for all the exercises.

5 min bike warm up, bridges

deadlift - 50 lbs for 30 reps
db shoulder press - 8 lb db for 30 reps
wide grip lat pulldown - 50 lbs for 25 reps
lunge - 8 lb db for 30 reps
swiss ball crunch - 45

5 min bike + stretching
Weight portion of this workout was 14:45 so a total of about 27 mins.

Tomorrow I can either flip a tire and run sprints at the track OR take a spin class. Right now aiming for flippin that tire! ;-)

Workout and Meals 7/8/09

I'm a little behind because of a modem issue which ended up not being a modem issue. Long story. Anyhow, I realized one thing without the use of a computer for almost an entire day. I spend too much time on it! I have a laptop in my kitchen and a computer in an office upstairs and each computer has something open on it. I may have a serious problem. I don't watch TV much at all in the evenings but I do spend that time on the computer. I think I am going to cut back a bit.

Here was my day:
a.m. - workout - track sprint intervals. all out sprints on the straights and walking the curves.
1. syntrax nectar protein drink
green drink w/1tablespoon flax oil, green tea

2. chobani plain greek yogurt w/sliced mango, blueberries, and a few raw walnuts

3. 2 egg white, 1 egg omelet w/roasted zucchini, red onion, and red bell pepper, feta cheese, watermelon

4. sugar snap peas w/3 tablespoons roasted garlic hummus, veggie fries (I was craving salt)

5. 5 oz shrimp cocktail w/my cocktail sauce (organic ketchup, lots of horseradish, and a squeeze of lemon), steamed broccoli, 1/4 c brown rice

6. cherries, nut and seed crunch bar

I was disappointed the bleachers were soaked so no stairs but I did notice there was a big truck tire laying at one end of the football field and a plyometric box on the other end. I didn't do anything with them but I'm thinking of skipping spin on Friday to head back there and give that tire a few flips. I want to use the opportunity before it's not longer available to me! What a way to shake up training.

In all the free time I had in the evening I was able to practice swings with my brand new 12 kg kettlebell. I also did five naked turkish get ups on each side. I practiced the swings in my foyer on a wood floor with no shoes and TGUs on a rug in my bedroom. I would have went outside but it was dusk and mosquitos like me a little too much. ;-)
This is what I did with the swings.
10 swings, 30 sec rest
10 swings, 30 sec rest
15 swings, 30 sec rest
15 swings, 30 sec rest
10 swings
I felt during this practice that going over 15 was compromising form so I stopped there. Then I moved on to the TGU practice. It was fun and a nice way to wind down the day.

After a quick shower, I sat and read Enter the Kettlebell by Pavel. An entertaining read and I picked up alot of information from it.

All in all, I felt I got quite a few things accomplished. I definitely want to continue with kettlebell practice a few times a week just to get the basics down. I'm in no rush. I just want to have fun.

What's the point of doing it if it's not fun?

Workout and Meals 7/7/09

Well here it is two days after the weekend and I'm still dragging a bit. I feel like I need to catch up on some sleep or something. Not to worry, next week I will be taking off to rest up between Phase 1 and 2 of NROL4W so plenty of time to sleep then.

Here's my day:

Meals
a.m. - workout
1. syntrax nectar protein drink w/brown rice cake
after shower - green drink w/ 1 tablespoon flax oil, green tea

2. chobani plain greek yogurt w/blueberries and raw walnuts

3. 2 egg white, 1 egg omelet w/roasted zucchini, red onion, red pepper, feta cheese, 1/2 avocado, and some watermelon, green tea

4. raw sugar snap peas & red bell pepper w/3 tablespoons roasted garlic hummus

5. 3 oz salmon burger, 1/2 cup brown rice, steamed broccoli

6. snack pack cottage cheese, mango, nut and seed crunch bar

Workout
This was one of the final workouts of Phase 1 of NROL4W which are set up a little differently. You do as many reps as you can with the weight you started the program with, then rest for 60 seconds, then move on to the next exercise. For most of the exercises I felt I could have done more but I didn't want to compromise good form for reps.

squat - 45 lb olympic bar for 25 reps
push up - 30 reps
seated row - 80lb for 27 reps
step up - 8 lb db for 32 reps
prone jackknifes 45

Wow I was sweating after this! I didn't have my stop watch so I didn't know how long this took but I did my usual 5 mins of the bike before and after and stretching.

In other news, I got my 12kg kettlebell today and I'm excited to get in some practice! I am planning a workout for Sunday which will probably be my final workout day before my week off. I am not quite sure what I will do with myself for a week. Maybe I can still drag strollers in the sand at the beach and swim in the pool with my son? ;-)

Catching up after the July 4th Weekend!

Well, it was a busy weekend filled with the regular Independence Day festivities. Bbqs, beach, pool, fireworks, a road trip, and kids off of their sleep schedules. Fun! I'm going to start by going over the workouts over the last several days. Food intake was pretty much the usual stuff with some bbq stuff and sushi thrown in. I'll go over that briefly as well.

Friday, July 3rd -
Workout - spin class
My typical diet during the day, a bbq in the evening. I had some bbq chicken, potato salad, shrimp cocktail, mozzerella, proscuitto, roasted red pepper kabobs, and then a fondue bar! Of course I had to have a few each of marshmallows, pound cake, and strawberries dipped in chocolate.

Saturday, July 4th -
New Rules of Lifting for Women, Workout B

Warm up - bike 5 mins plus bridges

deadlift 45x5 warm up, then 3x8 - 70, 75, 85

alternating
db shoulder press 10x5 warm up, then 3x8 - 12, 15, 20
wide grip lat pulldown 3x8 - 60, 70, 70

alternating
lunge 3x8 - 15, 15, 20
swiss ball crunch 3x15

cool down - 5 mins bike plus stretching
Weight portion of this workout was 28:35, altogether about 40 mins.

Eating was the usual stuff during the day. We ordered sushi for dinner. Salmon sashimi, spicy tuna eel avocado roll, and a shrimp tempura roll.

Sunday, July 5th
OFF from workouts
We traveled up to Long Island which isn't that far mileage wise but traffic is just terrible. It was about 3.5 hours each way. I had my normal green drink and green tea then greek yogurt/nuts for a snack. From there I'm just all over the place. I had some of my cousin's sangria which was fabulous! I made good choices at the buffet considering the options. I had salad and chicken franchaise. I stayed away from sausage and peppers, six foot subs, creamy mac and potato salads etc. but of course I had to have a piece of special made strawberry shortcake and a small brownie for dessert. Ugh! I'm a sucker for dessert!

This brings us to today Monday, July 6th
Workout - spin class
Back to the grind of clean eating. Here's what I ate today:
1. after workout - syntrax nectar protein drink
after shower - green drink w/1 tblspoon flax oil, green tea

2. Fage 0% fat plain greek yogurt w/fresh picked blueberries (my mom picked them on Saturday), mrs mays nut berry crunch

3. cold thai green curry shrimp and veges w/ 1/4 cup white rice. I was at the beach and this tasted yummy cold!

4. watermelon and blueberries, mrs mays nut berry crunch

5. 2 egg white, 1 egg omelet w/roasted vegetables (sliced green and yellow zucchini, thin sliced red onion, red pepper tossed w/EVOO, italian seasoning and salt and pepper then roasted in a 425 oven for 20 - 25 mins stirring occasionally so onions don't burn), feta cheese, and 1/2 avocado, green tea

6. snack pack cottage cheese w/sliced mango (SO good!), nut and seed crunch

Tomorrow morning I'll be doing one of two bonus workouts at the end of Phase 1 of NROL4W. I'm looking forward to seeing how strong I've gotten.

The plan for this week:
Monday - spin
Tuesday - lift
Wednesday - track sprints at the crack of dawn
Thursday - lift
Friday - spin
Saturday - OFF
Sunday - not sure yet

Separately, I was just thinking about my every day activities and chores and how it really requires me to be in good physical shape. When I think back on today, I can come up with a bunch of instances where I needed some foundation of functional fitness to complete tasks.
1. carrying and loading laundry
2. packing the truck with beach gear
3. getting the kids into the truck. I am still required to have my daughter in an infant carrier until she is a year old. That car seat with her in it heavy!
4. unloading the car for the walk to the beach
5. dragging the stroller and beach caddy in the sand and back
6. unpacking all our beach stuff, then packing it back up
7. doing laps in the pool with my son for a 1/2 hr this afternoon
8. unloading, folding, then carrying laundry back up the stairs
9. bathe and play with the kids

It's alot to do in a day! I am exhausted just typing it. I was pretty winded after the stroller drag in the sand. I am not one for monitoring numbers in heart rate or calories but I am curious about this task. I am thinking about blowing the dust off my heart rate monitor the next time I'm going to beach to see just how hard I'm working :).