Back Into The Swing

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It took a while, but we're finally back into the swing of normal life after getting married and having an awesome honeymoon in Costa Rica. To me, "normal life" is only normal when I'm back to my routine (If you're into Myers Briggs, I'm a total "J" and like need to plan things out).

Since returning from my honeymoon, a lot of people have jokingly asked me if I was going to stop caring about food and fitness now that I'm married. The answer is... drumroll please... no. I am not going to stop caring! But I am definitely going to give myself a bit more leeway than I did during wedding prep. ;-)

FOOD:

I'm now obsessed with heirloom tomatoes. I know, I'm late into the game on this one, but it is definitely a game changer. I have been slicing them up and sauteeing them with a little bit of oil and spices, then either eating them plain or topping them with fried eggs, sriracha, and nutritional yeast.

Eggs and Avocado. It's pretty much my favorite combination, so I've been eating it for breakfast fairly frequently. Instead of making egg white omelets all the time, I am doing one full egg and two egg whites. Packed with protein without going overboard on fats or cholesterol. 

Have you noticed what the above two pictures and the one below all have in common? Sriracha. That stuff is my jam sauce.

Another thing I occasionally sriracha-up is fish. We've been eating blackened tilapia like it's nobody's business, and lately we're pairing it with fresh vegetables from the farmer's market. Below is zucchini. 

WORKOUTS:

I am working out most days... but not all. I skipped a bit when I was in Holland, and have skipped a bit in between. For the most part, I am working out early to get it out of the way and feel accomplished for the rest of the day! That means a lot of 5:20 wakeup calls... and lots of pre-workout drinks...

I've also been running up my bill at The Mercury Method. If I run there and back, it is by far one of my favorite workout days. Unfortunately, as the days get shorter and light disappears, it's dark out in the morning when I would like to run there (and would be dark out when I finish the class if I go at night). My husband is not a huge fan of me running around the city in the dark without our personal bodyguard dog, so we'll see.

Speaking of the dog... this lady here has been getting a few runs outside, but she's really excited for the fall weather to set in so that I can take her on longer runs. She overheats if we are out for too long in the hot 90-degree days we've been having so frequently lately.

As far as a typical workout week goes, right now, I don't have one... but I can tell you what I did last week!

Monday: Spinning

Tuesday: Barre Fly at Mercury Method

Wednesday: Spinning

Thursday: Weight lifting

Friday: Skip

Saturday: Skip

Sunday: Bodypump

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• How do you feel about skip days? Sometimes I really value them. This past week, between Bodypump and Spinning, I hit my legs pretty hard and was super sore. It really helped to take a few days off to let them recover!
• What are your reset foods? I like to load up on veggies and lean protein.

Variation Station

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I have my bridal dress fitting this upcoming Tuesday! I'm so excited to see the dress again, try it on, and see how it will look when it truly fits. In anticipation, I'm trying to stay consistent with my workouts and follow some kind of plan instead of the "seeing what happens" approach I sometimes take. 

This week was pretty varied. I included a few runs (mostly short runs with my dog), Bodypump (weights), TRX (body weight resistance), Pilates, hot Pilates, Ballet Barre Burn, and Spinning. As far as variation goes, I made it happen.

For those of you who are worried about my dog on a long run: yes, we take many breaks. Mostly sniffing breaks.

Wednesday: 45 Minute Interval Run

Thursday: Bodypump (60 Minutes) + 30 Minute Stairmaster Sprint

Friday: TRX Class (60 Minutes) + 60 Minute Run w/ the dog

Saturday: Hot Pilates Class (60 Minutes) @ The Mercury Method

Sunday: 60 Minutes Barre Burn Class (awful) + 60 Minute Run w/ the dog

           -Oh my gosh this class was awful, boring, and really not a workout at all. I had to take my dog on a run/walk afterward just to blow off some steam at how frustrating it was being stuck in a 60 minute long class that felt like a waste of my time. 

Monday: Spinning Class (60 Minutes) + Bodypump (60 Minutes)

           -I had all the time in the world on Monday, because my fiance was taking a practice GMAT, so I had like 4 hours to kill before we could do anything together. I ended up taking two classes and then cooking a bunch of food. Sounds about right.

Tuesday: Pilates Class (30 Minutes) + 20 Minutes Stairmaster

Wednesday: 60 Minute "Barre Fly" Class @ The Mercury Method

            -I haven't taken this class yet, so I'm slightly nervous because it is arm-focused and that is not my strong suit. Here's hoping I can make it through the class tonight without dropping something!

Question:

What about you? How much variation do you get in your workouts?

Workout Wednesday - WOTDs

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Wednesday:

5 and a half mile run & 45 Minutes of Pilates

On Wednesday, I made it to the gym for a lunchtime run. Instead of walking, I took the trusty VW to the gym, which meant I could get there, fit in a decent run, and make it back all within a reasonable lunch hour time period. My company allows me to work from home sometimes, so on this particular day, my schedule was perfect (since my gym is closer to my apartment than my office). 

Running on my lunch hour meant I would watch just about anything I wanted, because the place was almost empty, so there wouldn't be creepers everywhere watching my screen. I ended up watching an episode of the World Without End Miniseries, which is based on a Ken Follett book. Let's just say there are a few... graphic scenes in that show, so a lunch time run was a great time to watch it.

 

 

Thursday:

Bodypump

You know the drill. I love me some Bodypump. I also love when my hair still looks good after a workout. So rare, but it happens a lot with Bodypump. It's a lot of hard work, but you're not running or doing a lot of hopping around, so your hair tends to stay in decent shape. The sweat level does necessitate some dry shampoo, though...

Friday: 

15 Minute Stairmaster, 30 Minute CXWORX, 40 minute Light/To-Tempo run with Netflix

This was the day I got my special new toy, a heart rate monitor. I'll save my explanation of Polar HRM vs Garmin GPS for another day (really, I think it's preference, but for my workout habits, I have a legitimate argument for HRMs... stay tuned). I know, so much suspense. Not.

Anyway, I'd done a 15 minute stairmaster workout and CXWORX before work, but then the awesome toy arrived. Once that toy arrived in the middle of the day, I was itching to try it out, so I went back to the gym. 

Thank God for Netflix, which provided the entertainment for the run. The picture below may actually be from a different Netflix run (they are frequent!), but you get the gist. My current Netflix running shows: Alias and World Without End. I'd love to watch 30 Rock on the treadmill, but my fiance and I make a point to only watch that together. That's love, people.

Saturday:

20 Minute HIIT

This was hardly a workout, to be honest. I'm calling it HIIT, but it really just meant that I ran out of time before my cousin arrived on the day of my Speakeasy Party (to help me set up this awesome spread!), so during the 20 minutes before she got into town, I put something on TV and did jumping jacks, jumping rope, and pretty much jumped around like a total freak. My fiance was giving me some interesting looks.

Sunday: 

Skip

I was tired. So tired. The Speakeasy party had me up until like 3am, which is pretty rare for me. And, to be honest, the alcohol consumption was just enough to discourage me from doing anything strenuous. This day consisted of going with my cousin for her to try on Bridesmaids Dresses at J. Crew, getting Fro Yo, taking a long nap on the couch, and watching the Superbowl while eating pizza on the couch. Yeah. At least we were enjoying ourselves!

Monday:

6 Mile Calorie Burn Run, Body By Science (Weights)

On sort of a whim, I decided to plan out my run (I rarely do this) and stick to a commitment to run on the treadmill until my fiance showed up. I got off work an hour earlier than he did on Monday, so I was at the gym by 5, and he typically doesn't get there until about 6. That meant I had an hour to kill before he arrived for us to do our weights routine together.

I came up with this workout and was actually really thrilled with it. By breaking everything up into mile long sections, I was able to create smaller goals for myself to work toward during the run, which made it much more enjoyable. It also meant that I burned a motherload of calories, since I was challenging my heart rate and making it rise up and lower down using intervals.

During the interval periods, I alternated between a sprint for .2 miles and standing on the sides of the machine for .05. If you add it all up, that means I really only ran 5.6 miles instead of 6.0. I don't mind it, because my body really did need those breaks during the sprints (especially since there isn't a break directly following the sprints; there's a jog). If you're trying this workout and want to actually run all 6 miles, I'd suggest lowering the pace to a walk (4.0ish) or slow jog (6.0ish) in between the interval sprints.

Tuesday:

30 Minutes Upper Body Weights, 50 minute Spin Class

One of my coworkers teaches classes for the gym group I go to. He was teaching a Spin class at a nearby gym, and two of my other coworkers were going to it, so I hopped on the bandwagon. It was an awesome and sweaty class. I tend to judge the value of a Spin class based on how red my face is when I get out. It's a very scientific measurement, I promise.

Wednesday:

I'm planning to go to 45 minute Pilates. 

Getting a run or some weights in after would definitely be good, but honestly, I seem to walk out of that Pilates room in such a calm state, that sometimes I just can't bear to ruin it by getting pumped up again. If you know me, you know I'm very rarely even keel and calm (I'm usually kind of bouncing off of the walls), so when I chill out, I like to cherish it. We'll see how it goes :)        

 Your Turn:

• What was your favorite workout this week?
• WHAT SHOWS SHOULD I WATCH ON NETFLIX/HULU/HBOGO DURING MY LONG RUNS? Seriously. I need your help!

Workout Wednesday - WOTDs

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It's so cold out in Chicago that I'm actually blow drying my hair. This is quite an event, in that I generally do it once every month or two, simply because my hair is quite long and I'd rather spend time on other things. Oh, and there's always my irrational fear: flipping my head over to blow my dry my hair freaks me out because I feel like the girl from The Ring (Warning: Do not click that link if you're scared of her. I squealed in fright just because of my Google Image Search. Oh, the things I do for you...).



Now, #WOTDs... Ever see people posting on Instagram their "#OOTD?" Also known as Outfit Of The Day, it's an easy and awesome way to take a selfie without feeling too weird about it. So, if that's acceptable, I'm convinced #WOTD is also acceptable.

Workout. Of. The. Day. I tried to stick to my plan, but am hoping you'll call me on it if you think I've failed :)


Wednesday: 15 Minute Stairmaster & 45 Minutes Pilates
This is normally one of my "Choice" days, so I decided to try something new. My gym had a 45 minute Pilates class that I was able to make it to after work. It was amazing. The thing I love about Pilates, as opposed to Yoga, is that it rocks my core so hard that I can feel it the next day. And, on top of that, I walk out feeling like I'm floating on sunshine because the class is so calm and relaxing (despite my abs and upper legs wanting to SCREAM the whole time). I'm planning to make it back for another Pilates class today, if my schedule allows it.



Thursday: Bodypump
Ever since I first tried Bodypump, it has grown and grown on me (you'll see that I took two classes this past week). I'll be sharing more about my so-called Bridal Bootcamp later, but basically I am changing the way I do Bodypump in order to accommodate my fitness goals for my wedding in August (yes, this August!). I'm upping the weight on all of the upper body tracks and keeping the wait fairly steady on the lower body tracks. More on that over the next few weeks - stay tuned for a whole series of Bridal Bootcamp posts.

Friday: Skip
Friday is not usually a skip day. Generally, I do a Stairmaster Sprint and a 30 Minute CXWorx class on Friday mornings. But, I was actually out in the suburbs on Thursday for a special something (come back tomorrow to find out!). We didn't get back until fairly late, so I decided to ditch the workout and take a rest day. Basically, instead of working out, I drank coffee. In the dark.



Saturday: Arms, Shoulders, and Back Weights & 60 Minute Spinning Class
This day rocked my world quite literally. I started with some completely new weights workouts for Arms, Shoulders, and Back (Again... stay tuned for more info on these... I know, I'm a total tease. Get over it.). Basically, I totally 'destroyed' my upper body using weights immediately before destroying my lower body in a spinning class.

A note on spinning classes: Man, how much you trust the instructor really makes a difference in the quality of your workout. On Saturday, we had James as an instructor, whose classes I am pretty much obsessed with. He gives us a lot of information and warns us about what's coming. Mostly, I just appreciate that his class is well timed, well structured, organized, etc - so that, when he tells me to give it my all, I trust him and push myself to the limit instead of holding something back just to be safe. I walked out of that class totally red-faced and feeling like I was about to puke.

You can be sure that I followed this workout up with a delicious protein shake and lots of water. It was very necessary.




Sunday: Kundalini Yoga
After Saturday's insane workout, my body just needed to chill out. Justin and I took a Kundalini Yoga class, which was... interesting. Not my favorite thing ever, and I didn't feel particularly challenged by it (other than my challenge to not get up and walk out). Read my review in this post.

Monday: Bodypump
Yet again... Bodypump. The instructor on Monday is a different woman than the Thursday instructor, and they handle their classes slightly differently, so I enjoy going to both. The have very different energies, so to speak, so it makes both of these classes amazing yet different.





Tuesday: Full Body Weights & 35 Minute Stairmaster Sprint
This, sort of like Saturday, was pretty much an 'ultimate' day, in my opinion. I totally rocked the weights by doing an entire Body By Science routine, then alternating between lower body exercises and upper body exercises. I also didn't take any intentional breaks between machines (so, my break just consisted of the time it took me to get up, switch machines, set up my weight on the new machine, and start the next exercise), which meant that my heart rate stayed elevated pretty much the entire time.

Then, I switched to the Stairmaster Sprint workout, where I read my beloved Young Adult book, because I'm writing a young adult book, so it's kind of like research... right? At least, I'm telling myself that.

All in all, this workout took me about an hour and 20 minutes, including some time to run down to the locker room to grab my Kindle in between weights and cardio.




Wednesday: Pilates & Megan Fox's Butt Workout
I'm planning to do this after work... fingers crossed!

All in all... Cardio/Pilates, Cardio/Weights, Skip, Cardio/Weights, Yoga, Cardio/Weights. Not bad, but it's obvious that I go heavy on the days that combine cardio and weights. Those are the days I feel most accomplished with my workout.

What about you? What aspects of your workout week made you feel most accomplished?

Fitness Tips & Week In Workouts

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Happy Monday! Back to the daily grind, and a week full of workouts and awesome meals. Or maybe a week of sitting on the couch and eating Oreos. Up to you, I guess...

I haven't done a Monday Fitness post in about two weeks because of my moving fiasco. That's a pretty poor excuse, but... deal with it! I'm back. 

In this post: A week of my workouts and a few fit tips. 

A Week In Workouts:

• Monday: Spinning Class, 1 hour
• Tuesday: Rest
• Wednesday: Yoga
• Thursday: Rest
• Friday: Stairmaster Sprint, 1 hour
• Saturday: Spinning Class, 1 hour
• Sunday: Body By Science (Weights), 20 Minutes Elliptical
• Monday: Spinning Class, 1 hour

Things:

Did you notice I'm enjoying Spinning Classes? Yeah. At my new gym, they have a room dedicated to Spinning Classes (I guess most gyms do if they offer spin), so they seem to have a ton of Spinning options every day. Because, I mean, why not, right? Anyway, I need to cool it on the Spin Classes. My butt is going to... well, fall off or something.

Tips of the Week:

1. Pre-cook your meals. That way, you guarantee you'll be getting nutrition without letting the hassles of life get in the way (running out of time, getting too busy, being too tired to make a meal). It only takes 1 hour on Sunday, and it means the world to your fitness. Great abs are made in the kitchen, my friends.
   
   
   
2. Be adventurous. Try a Spinning Class! Or if you already 'spin,' try yoga. etc. Change it up and make your body adapt to something new.
   
3. Eat breakfast. Just do it. It's really not that hard. Suggestions: Make yourself eggs. Half egg whites, half with yolks, then add some spinach and cheese (and more if you're fancy). Too "busy" for that? My breakfast this morning: Erehwon Rice Twice, Almonds, Chia Seeds, and Strawberries thrown into a bowl with Coconut Milk. Tastes like Strawberry Shortcake Soup. For Breakfast.