Weekend Recap!

Jeeze Louise I have been sucking on the update front lately. I don't expect it to get much better until my event at work is over.

This past weekend was so fun! I was really tired on Friday so I just ordered some sushi and went to bed early. On Saturday I got up on the early side to go for a run with TKO. We walked/ran just over 3 miles and ended at my gym, where I did some light cardio for another half hour. It was super hot out and the run was pretty tough.

After the workout we headed over to Home Depot to get some tomato plants to plant in his garden! It was so beautiful out and we saw some baby geese. I have never realized what a workout weeding is! I was literally dripping sweat and felt like I was working harder than I did on my run in the morning. After planting we went over to Jerry Remy's for some much needed food. I got a cobb salad and it was pretty good.

We drove home and I hopped in the shower because we had tickets to the Red Sox game. Even though I'm a Yankees fan I still love games at Fenway. It was a pretty uneventful game but ended in an an exciting way.

 At the game I got chicken fingers (!!) and had a couple of beers. I love the chicken fingers at Fenway -- no Fenway franks for this girl, it's chicken fingers all the way.

When we got home from the game we got crafty because we had plans to watch a few friends in the Run to Remember half marathon and wanted to have some signs ready. We got up bright and early and headed into Allston around 7. It was a great day for a race and I'm so proud of my friend who kicked serious ass! I am a bad spectator but I think she was still very happy to see me there. We heard there weren't too many spectators on the course and everyone loved the "Run Now, Beer Later" sign we had made. Almost every runner acknowledged us in some way, it was pretty fun :)

After the race we went out to lunch to Stephi's on Tremont and I got this amazing short rib-french onion panini. It was soooo good! I was too excited to eat it that I forgot to take a picture. Woops!

I passed out for a bit once we got home and then had to force myself to get to the gym before it closed. I had planned to do the same full body strength workout but was really not wanting to go to the gym. Somehow I got myself there with 45 minutes before closing time so I cut the workout down just a bit. Here's what I did:

Warm-up: 10 minute walk

Wide pushups (chest/triceps)
Set 1: 8 reps on knees
Set 2: 9 reps on knees
Set 3: 10 reps on knees

Alternating Bicep Curl w/ Dumbbell
Set 1: 12 reps, 12.5 lb
Set 2: 12, 12.5 lb
Set 3: 10, 12.5 lb

Seated Overhead Press w/ Dumbbell
Set 1: 12 reps, 12.5 lb
Set 2: 12, 15 lb
Set 3: 10, 12.5 lb

Bench Press w/ Dumbbell
Set 1: 12 reps, 12.5 lb
Set 2: 12, 12.5 lb
Set 3: 12, 12.5 lb

Tricep Extension w/ Dumbbell
Set 1: 12 reps, 15 lb
Set 2: 12 reps, 15 lb
Set 3: 10 reps, 10 lb

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
Set 1: 12 reps, 55 lb
Set 2: 10, 60 lb
Set 3: 10, 55 lb
 
Chest Press (machine)
Set 1: 10 reps, 40 lb
Set 2: 10, 35 lb
Set 3: 10, 30 lb

Standing Dumbbell 'T' Raise (up and out)
Set 1: 10 reps, 5 lb
Set 2: 10, 5 lb
Set 3: 10, 5 lb

Underhand Cable Pulldowns
Set 1: 12 reps, 45 lb
Set 2: 12, 50 lb
Set 3: 12, 50 lb

Stretch & cool-down (10 minute walk home)


It wasn't the best workout ever but I'm really happy I went. You never regret a workout right?

After I cleaned up I ordered some sushi then met up with TKO on his roof-deck for some drinks and some Harry Potter. Sounds like the perfect night to me :)

In the morning we had plans to go kayaking on the Charles River but got surprise Red Sox tickets instead from my awesome roommate! Her family has fantastic seats and you'd be crazy to pass them up so we postponed kayaking until later in the day. I grabbed a sandwich and we headed over to Fenway for the second time in the weekend.

The game was much more exciting than Saturday's and the Sox came out with another win! After the game we headed over to Allston and rented kayaks. I got a double with one of Tom's friends which was definitely a good choice for my first time. I LOVED it!! Kayaking was so relaxing but was definitely a crazy arm workout. I can't wait to go again!


After kayaking we went to Not Your Average Joe's for dinner and I got a Waldorf salad. It was surprisingly good!


This post is getting wayyyy too long. It was such a great weekend and I was sad to see it end -- full of lots of activity, good food and good people :)

Total Body Strength

This is going to be a long boring post. Lo siento.

I have been itching to add some strength training to my workout routine and truthfully, have just been getting bored with these classes I'm doing. It's time for something new! After looking over my old personal training documents and the LiveFit workouts, I put together my first full body strength workout for tonight. I REALLY enjoyed doing this. I felt like I was pushing myself and am excited to really work out my muscles again. A lot of this was just testing out the weights. The one thing I did find out is I have become a weakling!! I have been really dreading cardio in general lately. Today I was excited to walk into the gym. I have to keep running because I have a 10k in a month (WHAT), but I know strength training will help that. Seriously, my legs --hamstrings-- are so weak right now I don't know how I even hold myself up for 3 miles.

Anyway, I'm going to try to get in 2/3 days of full body strength training a week + 1 or 2 runs. I think this is a schedule I can commit to! I'm going to do my best to track my strength because a. I love tracking things and b. it would be nice to see how much/fast I progress. Soo here we go...

(5/24):
Warm-up: 10 minute jog, stretch

Wide pushups (chest/triceps)
Set 1: 8 reps on knees
Set 2: 8 reps on knees
Set 3: 10 reps on knees

Wide Stance Squat
Set 1: 10 reps, 15 lb
Set 2: 12, 15 lb
Set 3: 12, 27 lb

Alternating Bicep Curl w/ Dumbbell
Set 1: 12 reps, 10 lb
Set 2: 10, 12.5 lb
Set 3: 12, 10 lb

Seated Overhead Press w/ Dumbbell
Set 1: 12 reps, 12.5 lb
Set 2: 12, 12.5 lb
Set 3: 10, 12.5 lb

5 Minute Sprint on Elliptical (.5 miles, progressed to level 11)

Bench Press w/ Dumbbell
Set 1: 12 reps, 10 lb
Set 2: 12, 12.5 lb
Set 3: 12, 12.5 lb


Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
Set 1: 12 reps, 50 lb
Set 2: 12, 60 lb
Set 3: 10, 65 lb

Leg Extension
Set 1: 12 reps, 55 lb
Set 2: 12, 45 lb
Set 3: 12, 45 lb


Standing Dumbbell 'T' Raise (up and out)
Set 1: 12 reps, 5 lb
Set 2: 12, 5 lb
Set 3: 12, 5 lb


5 Minute Uphill Sprint on Treadmill (.5 miles, progressed to 4.0 incline)

Underhand Cable Pulldowns
Set 1: 12 reps, 40 lb
Set 2: 12, 45 lb
Set 3: 12, 45 lb

Standing Calf raises w/ Weight
Set 1: 12 reps, 15 lb
Set 2: 12 reps, 15 lb
Set 3: 12 reps, 15 lb

Tricep Extension w/ Dumbbell
Set 1: 12 reps, 15 lb
Set 2: 12 reps, 15 lb
Set 3: 10 reps, 10 lb

Abs - Air Bike
5 sets of 20 reps

Planks
2 x 20 seconds

Stretch & cool-down (10 minute walk home)

This whole workout took me a bit under an hour and a half to complete (minus the warm-up and cool-down). I took a 30-60 second break in between each move and spent a few minutes deciding what to do next. I had planned this all ahead but I'm a pansy and afraid of the weight room at my gym. I ended up sticking solely to the women's room which is actually pretty good, but was missing a few of the machines I wanted to use (like the leg press). I need to grow some balls and join all the men on the other side of the wall.

Surprise Visit

Apologies for the hiatus. I have been veryyyy busy lately.

Let's go back to last weekend. I decided a few months ago that I wanted to surprise my parents last weekend for mother's day and my dad's birthday. I hopped on the Bolt bus in the afternoon and made it home around 4. A few hours later my mom came home and was 100% surprised. Her reaction was adorable and going home was probably the best mother's day present I could give her.

That night we got dinner from one of my favorite take out places and then watched the Vow. It was okay. Channing Tatum is just not a good actor.

The next day I got breakfast with some friends and then went to visit my mom at work (which I didn't know she had to do until I got home!). Look at how cute she is at her cubicle!

Then the whole family went out to dinner with my grandma to Applebee's. I ordered the parmesan chicken with spinach and mushroom rice pilaf. I ate one bit of the chicken and then had to stop. Why did I order chicken? Luckily I had dessert on my mind all day...

There are tons of do it yourself fro-yo places in Long Island so I knew I had to hit one up. This concoction is slightly ridiculous:

After fro-yo I watched Sarah's Key with my sisters. I didn't like it nearly as much as the book and I think I might have fallen asleep at some point. Probably not a good sign if I don't know if I fell asleep or not.

On Sunday we ate breakfast and then just hung out in the backyard. It was so gorgeous out but I'm still suffering from the shoulder sunburn I got from being outside for an hour! That's what I get for being a ghost I guess.

Around 4 I took the train into NYC and got on a bus back to Boston. It was a fun, relaxing weekend with the fam and just what I needed.

This week has been a whirlwind. Work's been so busy and I've had something to do every night. I've been randomly craving sweets so the other day I made these fun little no-bake cookie balls! I put oats, peanut butter, a banana, mini chocolate chips, coconut and cinnamon in the blender, rolled the mix into balls and put them into the freezer. They are so good and taste like cookie dough! I definitely need to add something like honey next time though because they're a bit on the dry side.

They look gross, but trust me they're good!

Can't believe it's Friday today..

Wet Wednesday

Today is Wet Wednesday. Because it won't stop raining.

I woke up with a bit of a headache today. It feels like one that's from being dehydrated, but that's impossible because I've been chugging water this week like my life depends on it. Maybe my head is just pissed off at this crappy weather we've had for what seems like forever. Is this our punishment for the mild winter?!

Zumba was fun last night. The instructor changed up a few songs last week and I HATE one of them. I don't like the choreography or the song itself. 1 out of 15 (?) songs ain't bad.

I finalllly finished the Chaos Walking Trilogy. Altogether the books were 1,632 pages. No wonder it took me so friggen long! I liked it, but I'm not sure it's truly appropriate for its "young adult" label. I still can't believe I bought all 3 books for $4 (kindle daily deal)...what a steal! This morning I started Shanghai Girls by Lisa Lee. I only read a few pages but am already intrigued. My sister got a kindle for her birthday which means we can swap books. Finally a fellow kindle owner!!

Dinner last night was some mini tacos from Trader Joe's. I just love these little babies. They're just so tasty. They don't actually look like the picture on the box, but I usually add my own cheese and pour Cholula hot sauce on them. Yum.

Lunch today was a sandwich with boar's head buffalo chicken, tomato and avocado. Some grapes on the side.

No workout tonight, giving my shins a break. I really need to buy new sneakers. I feel like it always happens that I need to buy a lot of things at once, and then I don't want to buy anything. I really need to get:
- new sneakers
- a new bra
- new workout pants (my favorite pair has finally been worn down)
- a spring jacket
- mother's day present
- dad's birthday present
- boss' birthday present

I don't know where to get a jacket from. I have this never ending problem with coats. I need a very large size to be able to button the jacket over my chest, but then look like I'm wearing a ridiculous poncho/garbage bag. Can't somebody make a cute coat for us girls with a little more going on up top? The strugglesssssss!

I bought these cute earrings today. I love them!

The Running Game

Running is a mental game. I've always known this but I think I forgot for a little while.

Running takes a certain amount of cardiovascular and muscular strength, but it takes an equal amount of mental strength. ANYONE with capable legs can run -- I truly believe that.

I've been really anti-running lately. Nothing about it has seemed appealing to me. I don't like running in Southie, I don't like running on the treadmill, I don't like the music on my ipod, I don't like running with the extra weight I've put on, I don't like the way running hurts my shins, I don't like feeling out of breath. On and on and on and on. Last night as I was walking to the gym I was repeating these "don'ts" in my head over and over. Then suddenly, I just told myself to shut up. I got to the gym, hopped on a treadmill, put on Jeopardy and covered up the screen with a towel. I set the treadmill to 5.5 and just started going. Before I knew it, a mile and a half had passed and I was 100% fine. Even though I was fine, immediately the negative thoughts started pouring in. I have to stop now. I have to slow down. I have to stop at 2 miles. I blocked the thoughts out and decided to put the towel back on and keep going until 2 miles. When I got to two miles I still felt fine. So I decided to go until 2.5. Same deal. When I hit 3 miles I was starting to feel tired and was verrrry sweaty. I sprinted until 3.1 and then called it a day, finishing at 35 minutes on the dot. Two minutes faster than my 5k time a few weeks ago.

I was so happy. I didn't care about the time, I was just so thrilled that I ran a 5k without stopping and FINALLY pushed myself over the mental bridge that always comes around when I'm running. Running a 5k without stopping is so symbolic for me. It was my first goal I wrote down when I started personal training, it was the first step in realizing I could one day run a half marathon, and it was truly the road that led me to gaining some peace through running last year. Today I'm proud of myself for this small accomplishment.

Also, while writing this I remembered that I had made a 5k goal in this post. I didn't even realize it was May 7th, I totally forgot about it!! Go me!

Quotes to live by:
Great accomplishments take time but are always worth the effort.
No matter how small, do not diminish, but take pride in your successes.

- - - - - - - - - -

After I got home from the gym I made an omelette with cheese and had 2 pieces of toast and an apple on the side. Lunch today is a salad packed with greens, avocado, tomato, chickpeas and feta cheese.

Looking forward to zumba-ing tonight! Hopefully I have more energy than I did last week.

Planning

LAST WEEK'S FOCUS:
- 5 workouts - I did 4 hard workouts and then walked around [slowly] for 30-40 minutes yesterday
- more water - did okay with this, not the best
- no alcohol ALL week! - followed this 100%! I don't know why this seemed so hard to do. There were a few times I was really craving a beer (which is rare for me). I completed the week without even 1 sip of alcohol. Special thanks to a helpful buddy :)
- 2 runs - I didn't complete any scheduled runs, but ran/walked a few miles during the Great Urban Race. I don't know why I've been so turned off to running lately.

I went food shopping last night and made a huge batch of this yummy Greek pasta salad (orzo, spinach, cucumbers, tomato, red onion, olives, feta and Greek dressing).

MEALS

Dinners:
1. eggs/bacon/toast
2. greek pasta salad
3. TJ's mini tacos
4. out to eat/tuna salad

Lunches:
1. Greek pasta salad (Monday)
2. Salad (avocado, chickpea, tomato)
3. buffalo chicken (deli meat) sandwich
4. buffalo chicken (deli meat) sandwich
5. Greek pasta salad

WORKOUTS
Mon: Run/cardio
Tues: Zumba
Wed: Rest/Circuit
Thurs: Dance fusion
Fri: Rest/AM run/circuit
Sat: TBD
Sun: TBD

THIS WEEK'S FOCUS:
- 3+ workouts
- more water, less diet coke
- no alcohol ALL week (doin' it again!)

Weekend Recap

This weekend was sooo fun!! I am still flying high off of it. I wish it never ended!!

On Friday TKO and I grabbed dinner at a bar in Southie then headed to see The Shins play at the Wang Theater! They sounded amazing live but the crowd was lame. No one was standing up. It was weird. I haven't been to a concert in soo long so I was still thrilled to be there.

On Saturday we were up early because TKO won a slot in the Great Urban Race. I've ALWAYS wanted to do this and have been pumped since the second he mentioned it to me. The Great Urban Race is basically a city wide scavenger hunt. Since it was pretty last minute we didn't have time to come up with a cool team theme but did our best...we were TEAM REDEMPTION.

We arrived in Harvard Square around 11 to register. We hung out for about an hour until they gave us envelopes with the clues inside. At 12 on the dot they yelled go and we ripped the envelope open! Inside was a sheet with 12 clues on it. Each clue brought you to a different place in the Boston-Cambridge area. Our strategy was to figure out all of the clues then map out the best way to get to each place. Our route took us from Harvard Square > Back Bay > Fenway > the North End > the Waterfront > Fanuel Hall > Boylston/Park Street > Beacon Hill > Davis Square > Porter Square > back to Harvard Square. We had 5 hours to complete everything and could only use our own feet and public transportation to get around.

I won't go through all of the clues, but here are some highlights:

21 in front of 21st Amendment

Stranger wearing red socks

Fu Manchu frosting mustache at Kickass Cupcakes

Can Swap puzzle at the Black Rose

Holding a lobster at the waterfront! The challenge here was: rub butter on your hands then toss a giant fish back and forth, crabwalk down to the water, then put a band on a lobster claw.

Posing with Yoda at Comicazi

One of the rules was that we were allowed to skip 1 clue, which we 100% forgot until we got to the last stop! Once we realized we ran back to the T (facing obstacles like a giant bug flying into my eye) and hightailed it to Harvard Square. We ended up finishing in 4 hours and 13 minutes and they said we were in the top 50%, which is exciting!! We didn't care how we finished we just wanted to make sure we were back in 5 hours. This was one of the most fun things I've done in Boston and I definitely plan on making it an annual thing!

After the race we were starving so we headed to Q'doba for some burritos (it was Cindo de Mayo after all). Then we headed home to shower and get ready because TKO also won tickets to see Jewel and the Pops performing together at Northeastern. We both win a lot of things....except the lottery.

The concert was great but too short! Jewel sounded amazing and I was having some serious 90s flashbacks throughout the performance.

On Sunday I basically laid around allll day! I was really tired from the previous day so welcomed a lazy Sunday. I did get some food shopping in and planned for the week, so I'll update later!

Byee!

Friiiiiday!

This week went pretty fast! I'm thrilled it's Friday though, can't wait for all the fun things happening this weekend! Eeeek!!

I had dance fusion again last night and it was SOOOO great. I am seriously so happy about this class. It's more great workout than fun like zumba used to be, but I love that I'm pouring sweat when I leave. Yay!

In other good news my hair has lightened up a bit, thank goodness. I'm liking the color a lot more now, but it's still now exactly where i wanted it to be.

Last night for dinner I was so hungry/lazy that I just cooked up a batch of Israeli cous cous from a box and ate it with Parmesan cheese. Nice dinner huh? I created this fun little salad for lunch today: Israeli cous cous, avocado, tomato and chickpeas, then topped it all with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. I wish I had some feta cheese to throw in there but I'm sure it will be good on its own.

 

Woo hooooo it's already 1 o'clock!

This is Not Optional

It's only 11 and I'm ready to go home. I woke up feeling energized and ready for the day and all of that went down the drain after just one phone call. The basic gist of this is that when I started at my new job about a year ago I was hired to replace someone (in a team of 3, I was the "lowest" level). A few months later the person at the middle level quit and didn't get replaced. I suddenly found myself in a still very new job, doing the work of 2 people. And that's how it still is today. I'm planning an event for work that I haven't felt comfortable doing from the start. Today I got a random call from someone who used to be heavily involved but wasn't this year (despite 5+ emails and phone calls I sent trying to set up a meeting) where he basically criticized my efforts thus far and told me I wasn't doing enough. Excuse me? I'm far too sensitive when it comes to these things and wanted to hang up on him and go cry in the bathroom. I'm not afraid to say it: I don't know what I'm doing. I'm more than happy to take help from anyone, but don't criticize me and then give me nothing to work on. The two women who worked on this event had been here for 5 and 3 years; this is my first job out of college and I'm still in my first year here. I don't know why this bothered me so much. It's still bothering me. I want to go home. Argh!

Alright rant over. Last night I went to spinning for the first time in months and it was great! I really tried to push myself and really do everything the instructor said (ahem, a full turn up means a full turn up, etc.). She was a bit of a drill sargent and I loved it. Sometimes she would get off her bike and walk around the room yelling at us to do things. At one point she told us to stand up and sprint and when some people didn't do it she yelled "THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL" -- no way was I not listening to that.

I love when trainers/teachers go crazy. It doesn't happen nearly enough. Speaking of trainers going crazy, this never gets old:

After spinning I came home to make dinner. I was planning on eggs but (surprisingly) wasn't feeling it, so I dug out a frozen Butter Chicken meal from Trader Joe's I've had for a while. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this. I have such a weird issue with chicken that's not cooked in a restaurant/my kitchen and NEVER eat chicken in frozen meals. I gave this a shot and as soon as I got to a semi weird piece (about 3 bites in) I had to throw it all away. I ended up just eating the rice covered in sauce then grabbed an apple with some peanut butter. The flavor of the sauce was actually really good and I'd recommend this to anyone who isn't a picky chicken freak like me.

 

Breakfast today was a big bowl of cheerios and a banana, and lunch will be a salami sandwich with carrots and a few clementines.

This weather sucks, it's May! Where is the sun!?

Wacky Wednesday

Halfway through the work week already woohoo! In elementary school we used to have "wacky wednesday" parties, where you would dress up in mismatched clothes or something. Now that I'm of teacher-age, I'm sure it was just an excuse for the teacher to throw a party, get a free lunch from all the parents, and get to keep the leftovers! It's so funny to imagine some of my old teachers as real people nowadays.

For some reason zumba last night was tough. My legs felt like they weighed a million pounds and I was so clearly out of it that the teacher said something to me at the end of class. Usually I'm full of energy and flying around like a crazy bird at zumba but not last night. Hopefully that was just random and I'll get back into the groove tonight.

Lunch today was a salad with the last of the lettuce from my bag, sprouts, avocado, chickpeas and lots of cherry tomatoes. Avocados have been amazing lately. Helloo summer! I don't even know what sprouts are or why I bought them last week, but they are tasty and it kind of feels like I'm eating spaghetti....or grass. I had two hard boiled eggs (1 whole, 1 whites) and a clementine on the side as well.

 Back to work!

Planning

Apparently I'm feeling forgetful because I forgot to post this yesterday and then forgot to take my lunch out of the fridge today. I'm also feeling tiiiiiired and skipped the gym last night in exchange for watching Game of Thrones in bed. It happens. I only did a little bit of food shopping on Sunday so nothing too creative here this week...


MEALS

Dinners:
1. eggs/bacon/toast
2. eggs/bacon/toast
3. pasta w/ ground turkey (Monday)
4. TJ's mini tacos
5. soup/pb sandwich

Lunches:
1. salad (Monday)
2. tuna sandwich from Finagle (Tuesday)
3. salami sandwich
4. avocado & tomato salad
5. Annie Chun's udon soup bowl

WORKOUTS
Mon: Rest
Tues: Zumba
Wed: Run
Thurs: Dance fusion
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Run
Sunday: Strength/Circuit

THIS WEEK'S FOCUS:
- 5 workouts
- more water
- no alcohol ALL week!
- 2 runs