I’m Back?
My admiration for bloggers has increased once again. It’s seriously a lot to keep up with especially when your life is all over the place. I mean this literally. The back and forth between school and home has really taken a toll on my ability to feel calm, keep up with my workouts and continue blogging. Throw in a final exam to the mix and well, things really go downhill. Looking back though, I want to keep this from happening again. I’d be kidding myself to say things will slow down, so I’ve really got to kick the mantra “I’ll get back on track when things slow down” out the window. It’s important I find a way to make an hour for myself each day regardless of whatever other chaos may be occurring. So, with that said, lets move on to some plyometrics.
WORKOUT
I completed this workout in my Merrells after doing a ten minute run.
Thank you to my brother for this plyometric workout, which I believe is an adaptation from P90X. This takes between 20-30 minutes depending on time spent resting between.
Run Squat Jumps: 30 sec
8-counts: x8
Burpees: x8
[Repeat twice]
Abs x3 (varied ab exercises)
Tire Jumps: 30 sec
Side Hops: 30 sec
Hot Foot: 30 sec each foot
[Repeat twice]
Abs x3
Sumo Walk: 5 steps forward, 5 steps back
Double Heisman: x10 each direction
High-Knees: x10
[Repeat twice]
Abs x3
Here are some explanations of the different exercises because most aren’t really self explanatory and/or easily googled…
Run Squat Jump: Start in a runners lung position, then jump up, do a 180, and land with your legs in an opposite position from how you started. Continue switching back and forth for 30 seconds.
8-counts and Burpees: Check these out on youtube, really the best way, and they aren’t hard to find.
Tire Jumps: Pretend you are jumping in and out of monster tires. Stand on one leg and jump back and forth switching legs (in and out of the tire). Focus on getting your knees high enough to clear the ‘tire’.
Side Hops: Jump from side to side, keeping your feet together. Aim for having about a foot between jumps. Also, try to keep your upper body from moving around too much.
Hot Foot: Jumping on just one foot, hop around in a pattern (for example: up, back, right, left) and continue doing this for 30 seconds before switching to the other foot.
Sumo Walk: Walk in a crouched down ‘sumo’ position with your feet duck footed. Focus on staying low as you walk.
Double Heisman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoQPsvFJTWs : This video gives you the idea of how this looks. Try to get a good heisman position and your knees high to make the most of this exercise.
High-Knees: Imagine your jumping up onto a box, so you want to really pull your knees up with each jump. Be sure to land softly (knees bent), step back, and repeat.
POST-WORKOUT SNACK
I wanted a low cal frozen protein shake after my workout so I threw what I had into a blender and I actually really liked how it turned out, so it seemed worth sharing.
Into the mix:
– 1 cup ice
– 1 cup chilled water
– 3/4 scoop chocolate protein powder
– 2 tbs PB2
– 1 frozen banana
I’d estimate this had about 245 calories and 25 grams of protein. I also think adding chia seeds and milk would turn this shake into a substantial breakfast.
What up with the blog?
I plan on keeping up with tracking my workouts and my transition to barefoot running, but posting every meal and snack I eat is really not going to happen anymore. It doesn’t particularly interest me, so it’s hard for me to be motivated to write about it. However, when I do something interesting, try a new workout, or create/find a recipe I think is worth sharing, I definitely plan to blog about it. I’m not sure how often this will turn out to be, but I think I’d like to aim for posting once a week, preferably at the same time each week. Obviously, this blog is still a work in progress, but not something I’m ready to give up on!
Vegetable Lasagna
DINNER
I was in the mood to do a little experimenting in the kitchen when I got home, and was still feeling like I was falling short on my veggies, so I decided on making a vegetable lasagna. Here are the pictures that show the process. I wrote out my recipe at the end. This is definitely one of those recipes that could be made with a variety of ingredients. My selections were just based on what was in the house.
Vegetable Lasagna (for 1-2)
- 1.5 whole wheat lasagna noodles (split in halt, so 3 halves all together)
- 1 large tomato
- 1 yellow squash
- 1/4 cup shredded carrot
- 1/4 large onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- salt, pepper, and oregano to taste
- 1 cup cottage cheese (any fat content)
- Parmigiano Reggiano for topping
- Cook noodles according to package.
- In a medium saucepan sautee onion and garlic over medium heat for about a minute.
- Add tomato, squash, carrot, salt, pepper, and oregano. Allow to cook for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Assemble lasagna by layering noodle, veggie mix, and cottage cheese.
- Top with parmigiano reggiano and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.
- Broil for a minute at the end to brown the cheese topping, if desired.
- Allow to cool, enjoy!
Goodnight!
Grumpy Funk
Apparently no one appreciates perfect weather because the pool was DEAD and the weather couldn’t have been better. This was my view for the day (fish bowl tip jar, pool, and sunshine). Aside from serious boredom the day wasn’t too bad. Thank you weather 🙂
LUNCH
I accidently deleted the picture of my lunch before uploading it, so you’ll have to use your imagination. Turkey sandwich with avocado and tomato slices, on 14 grain bread. It was great! On the side I had some spicy nut mix. After lunch I wanted chocolate so I grabbed a new Fiber One product we sell in our gift shop. They are these great little 90 calorie brownies. Chocolate craving satisfied!
Later on in the afternoon I headed back into the gift shop for another snack. This time I grabbed a Planters Nut-rition bar. Sweet and salty goodness. I loved that I could see solid nuts in the bar.
The plan for the evening is some organizing and planning so I have time for a nice long, hard workout in the morning. I’m nothing without a plan! Seriously, I’m learning this more and more each day. No plan = Molly does nothing all day = grumpy funk. Time to shake that funk.
Information Overload
My mom showed me an interesting health article from her More magazine last night. The tag line of the article is, “Former restaurateur Lyn-Genet Recitas has created an unusual, even controversial weight-loss path for her clients. Funny thing, it seems to be working.” To sum things up, Recitas claims that many foods, that are generally deemed ‘healthy’ actually cause negative allergic responses in the body leading to many conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Some of the top foods she lists are: shellfish, turkey, pork, eggs, Greek yogurt, roasted nuts, asparagus, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, oatmeal, and salmon. REALLY?? I basically stopped my mom at this point exclaiming how ridiculous this sounded, but then it got worse. Recitas states, “I’d estimate that 95 percent of the people I work with can’t eat oatmeal without gaining a substantial amount of weight. It can cause two days’ worth of constipation and particularly affects my migraine sufferers.” My question here is: then tell me why every person I know who has made positive changes to their health and weight eats oatmeal? Sometimes I get really frustrated reading all of the latest nutrition findings that come out in magazines and online. It seems like it changes every day due to the fact that nutrition itself is a relatively new science. So, how do you choose what to believe?
DINNER
The article obviously didn’t deter me from eating my favorite health foods. Tonight we had salmon (marinated with dijon, honey, and rosemary), tomatoes (topped with balsamic and pepper), and little buttered cauliflower. No allergic reactions were noted.
After dinner I made up a bowl of vanilla ice cream that I threw some chocolate chunks on top of. Simply and delicious.
WORKOUT
After failing to do anything yesterday I promised myself I would get up and run in the morning. I seriously think making a promise like that before you go to bed is the best way to make sure a morning workout happens. If I didn’t do my run this morning, it definitely wasn’t going to happen after work tonight. So, I got out of bed around 7:30 this morning and hit the pavement. I ran for twenty minutes all together and called it a day. I’m telling myself that I’ll do pilates tonight, but we’ll see.
BREAKFAST
The last of the fruit is officially gone. I chopped up the remaining strawberries and added cottage cheese, cold cooked barley, Cville Clusters, and Chia seeds.
Off to get ready for work. Be back way later tonight 😦
Fruit Monster
I’m having a bit of a blah day today. You know, when you want to just lay around all day and you’re sort of okay with letting yourself? It happens.
LUNCH
I didn’t even feel like putting much effort into lunch today so I grabbed a leftover burger from the fridge. There was even pepper jack cheese already melted on it and tomatoes sliced up. Super easy and totally satisfying. Since the weather was nice and I was feeling lazy, I figured the least I could do was get outside and enjoy the sun, so I took lunch outside and then laid out for a bit.
When I came back inside, I was somehow hungry again so I went for some more strawberries. They weren’t already sliced for me (can you believe that!), so I used our nifty strawberry hauler to help me out. I totally gave my mom a hard time for buying this seemingly useless kitchen tool and now I’m a huge fan.
It’s so easy! Great for snacking straight from the container.
So, incase you haven’t noticed I’m on a total fruit binge today. I found the last piece of fruit left in the house and devoured it. This poor mango didn’t stand a chance.
Attacked. Sorry lil mango :-P. Now I’m talking to the fruit. Oh boy.
Package For Me!
Since I was planning on coming home today I decided to just do a quick breakfast that would get me through the drive home. A peanut butter sandwich was also the only thing I had supplies for. I’m really over this living in two places thing!
BREAKFAST
I was careful to not turn my bread into a cracker today! Success 🙂
When I got home I was dying for some fruit. Fruit and vegetables have been scarce these past few days since I never made it into a grocery store. Fortunately, there were sliced strawberries in the fridge, just waiting for me to get home! I threw some Cville Cluster on top. Bad news though, the bag is almost empty :-(.
Even better than these strawberries was the exciting package I had waiting for me. A few days ago I ordered three items through Netrition.com and I can’t wait to try them all!
PB2 – powdered peanut better with 85% less fat and calories than regular peanut butter, and an ingredient list that makes sense (roasted peanuts, sugar, and salt). I went ahead and tried a little. It doesn’t taste exactly like regular peanut butter and is even a little sweeter (even though the sugar content is less?), but it would definitely work well in sandwiches. Pretty excited to start making low cal PB+J’s
Almond Butter – I already know I love this stuff and it’s cheaper to order it from Netrition than any of the grocery stores I’ve been to.
Chia Seeds – I see these little seeds all over healthy living blogs, so I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get in on the good stuff. Here is what Nutiva has to say about these seeds:
“Chia seeds are a super food packed with fiber, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants. Tiny but mighty Nutiva Organic Chia Seeds are versatile for use in recipes both savory and sweet, including yogurt and oatmeal, or in smoothies, added to sauces as a thickener, and to muffins and cakes as an egg replacement.”
Hopefully there will be some chia seed recipes coming in the future!
Time For Yourself
I forgot this picture from my previous post. It’s such a pretty drive into Rosaryville 🙂
DINNER
Before leaving for class I made a tuna fish sandwich and snacked on a cheese stick. I left my sandwich thin in the toaster oven a little too long and turned the top piece into a cracker. Oops!
Class was somewhat more interesting today. Game Theory! I’m really looking forward to taking an entire class devoted to this topic.
After class I was hungry again, so I grabbed this trail mix bag from a vending machine. I needed a little more food since I was off to Moonlit YogaFit! It was a free summer event the school was doing, and it was a beautiful night, so Ilana and I wanted to check it out.
They did the YogaFit at a place on campus we call Laplata Beach. Doing yoga on turf can be a little challenging due to the instability of the surface you’re balancing on. This definitely added some additional challenge. It was really fun though and Ilana and I have agreed to do at least one yoga class each week. Time to take advantage of all the things our tuition pays for!
Something that really stuck with me from the yoga class was taking time for yourself. The instructor pointed out that we all just gave ourselves an hour to get away from all the other things going on in our lives. I feel it is really important that we make time for just us and nothing else, and I hope to think about it a little more often. This thought, along with more yoga should help me shake some of my anxiety and unnecessary stress. Stress free dreams tonight 🙂
Rosaryville
Rosaryville State Park never lets me down! Another great day of riding 🙂 Each time I go mountain biking I fall in love with the sport a little more. I stepped up my game today and actually checked the air pressure of my tires before riding. It was a good thing I did because they were both a little low.
Once both tires were at 50 PSI, I strapped on my helmet and camelbak, snapped a cheesy picture and took off!
Today I decided to ride the opposite direction I normally go. I guess I was feelin’ saucy? The best part of doing the trail backwards was coasting down the hill that lasts about .5 miles and seriously kicks my butt every time I ride.
Rosaryville State Park features a 9 mile trail open to bikers, walkers, runners, and horseback riders. I had my first horse encounter today! I’m totally afraid of them, so I’m hoping that was my last encounter too. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. 1 hour and 11 minutes later, I was back to my car. Such a great workout!
Nice and dirty, as you should be.
LUNCH
I packed a Lunabar to refuel with. So tasty, even though it got a little melty.
When I got back to the apartment I added animal crackers to the yogurt I picked up this morning. I haven’t really stoked my apartment with food yet, so today I’m calling a protein bar and a yogurt lunch. A little grocery shopping is in my plans for the rest of the day.
Showa time!
Oops, I Forgot I Blog
Apparently after my day of super productivity I temporarily gave up blogging. Surprisingly, I missed it. I think I’m already hooked onto this new little ‘project’ of mine. So, needless to say, there is not much photo documentation of the last day or so. Getting pictures of everything is definitely my biggest challenge here. I grew up in a family that goes on vacation for a week and doesn’t have a single picture to show for it…
Monday night through now (Wednesday morning) recap:
- Class (blah boring, we did a lot of equation solving and not a lot of real life talk – I think I go to class each day expecting to find out how I can use my new economics skills to solve all of the world’s problems and am disappointed when I only acquire a few more equations for calculating a firm’s long term and short term costs – “will the firm produce?” was the question of the night)
- FRIENDS! (not the show), when I got back from class I got exciting news that friends were coming over! It was nice to just hang out with people that aren’t my parents, or their friends. That seems to be all I end up doing when I’m home, I miss you College Park!
- Tuesday morning: I slept in late (9?) since I was up until almost 3am the night before – this impressed me. I spent the day hanging out with my roommate, Ilana, which was also a nice change from my life at home. Finally a day off, where I just enjoyed the day and didn’t overwhelm myself with that to-do list. We did a little shopping (I picked up a new pair of workout capris from Old Navy since I’m really making an effort to add more yoga/pilates into my life), and then got lunch at Bus Boys and Poets. I had their gazpacho, which was everything I had hoped it would be – definitely something I’d like to try to recreate at home.
- Tuesday afternoon: After lunch Ilana and I searched College Park for garbanzo beans. Once found, we brought them home and roasted them in our toaster oven (our oven/stove is not currently functioning) after coating them with salt, pepper, cayenne, and cumin. Awesome little protein snack.
- Tuesday night: I have a picture!!! I met up with Amy in Baltimore for some dinner and an Orioles game! We went to P.F. Chang’s for dinner, which was delicious as usual. We ended up splitting the chicken lettuce wraps (a must if you ever go) and the beef and broccoli. Then we walked to the game, got some cheap nosebleed tickets, and proceeded to watch our beloved team lose, which is unfortunately typical. It was still a really fun night though!
That’s about everything I failed to blog about. I’m going to try to get back on track starting this morning, as in now.
BREAKFAST
Coffee (duh) and a Classic Breakfast Sandwich from Starbucks. I’d normally just cook my own breakfast in my apartment, but I’m really struggling with the no working stove thing and I was seriously craving an egg sandwich.
One more cup of coffee and then I’m heading out to do some mountain biking, oh yessss.
Git-r-done
I really think having a lot to do helps me be twice as productive as usual. Lot’s of things were crossed off the to-do list today:
- 3 loads of laundry
- problem set (due tonight!)
- clean bathroom
- sweep bedroom floor
- workout
This leaves me with 2 whole hours to shower and pack for the next few days since I’ll be staying in College Park.
LUNCH
I even took a nice lunch break. A Morning Star Black Bean Burger with tomato and avocado slices on a whole wheat bun. Acacado > cheese, for fat. On the side, a juice white peach.
And because I deserved it:
Nice and cold dark, dark chocolate from the fridge 🙂
I have a confession..all of this productivity and I still didn’t make it out of my pajamas until about 1pm.
WORKOUT
I opted for a short, but sweaty plyometric workout today. Here’s how it ended up going:
- Squat Jumps x15
- Push Ups x5
- V-Ups x12
- Lateral Jumps 30 seconds
- Jump Lunges x5 (each leg)
- Rest one minute
- Repeat x5
I completed the workout barefoot to continue working on the strength in my feet, ankles, and achilles. It’s amazing how tired your feet get when you exercise barefoot. We have essentially allowed a perfectly good body part to deteriorate by using shoes as supportive devices rather than layers of protection.
Watch Her Grow 