Fitness

Random Friday #15

~ alonglife ~ Leave a comment

Friday Friday Friday! If you happened to miss these random thoughts you are in for a TREAT today!

FIRST AND FOREMOST IT’S GAME OF THRONES WEEKEND.

Can’t wait.  This is the best time of year.

 

We are headed to Charlotte this weekend to celebrate our niece’s baptism. Against their better judgement and common sense, Lillian’s rents chose me and Nick to be her godparents so we are excited. Poor Lillian.

Today is also Nick and my’s 10 year dating anniversary. I thought about writing a mushy paragraph here about how much I like that guy, but I’m not big on the feelings and he doesn’t read the blog anyway. BUT here is a throwback picture from the night we drunkenly decided we were officially an item.

Reading:  Umm not much happening here. The only books I’ve read in the past 6 weeks are the lightest, trashiest books you can imagine and I’m too embarrassed to claim them here.  But I have read a couple good articles lately:

Game of Thrones Cocktails – I want the Stark martini, though I haven’t allowed myself to have gin since 2008.

Why It’s Totally Normal to Feel Like You’re Friends With TV Characters – I feel very validated by this.

Watching:  A lot has been happening here. I’ve been watching a lot of TV, also of the light variety. At the height of our stress and flux, when I didn’t have much extra brain power to do anything, I got hooked on this ABC family show called “Baby Daddy”.  It’s total brain candy (except apparently for some emotional new mom I know that cried during the first episode…side eye).

 

I also started rewatching Gilmore Girls because it’s been a long time, and I want it to be fresh when the new eps come out.  It’s reminding me how much I asbolutely LOATHE that sad-sack Dean.  He is the whiniest whiner who ever whined.  No wonder Rory wanted space from him.  I cackle with glee every time Rory lies to him or blows him off.

Listening: I downloaded Sturgill Simpson’s countryish remake of Nirvana’s “In Bloom” this morning after seeing it on Running off the Reese’s and have listened to it approximately 37 times.  I’m betting I hit 100 before the end of the day.

Eating:  Eats have been pretty boring lately.  I’m trying to stay healthy with all the traveling, so I attempted to pack my own lunches this week. Of course it had to be something simple that I could make in my hotel room. I picked up a rotisserie chicken and a large bag salad kit from Costco. $10 and it feeds me for a whole week 👍🏻👍🏻

The hotel I’m staying at actually serves free dinner (weird, right?  I didn’t know that was a thing but I know of at least two in the area that do it). So dinners have been salad and a baked potato with some more of my rotisserie chicken added on.  SO EXCITING.

Travel:  Oh yeah, I should probably start figuring out what we are going to do next month on our trip.

Workouts:  I worked out more than once this week!

 

Still not my ideal balance of strength and cardio, and more “rest days” than preferred, but I did better than last week 🙂

Monday: I did strength workout A from Strong Curves

Tuesday: Intervals on the treadmill.  I warmed up for 10 mins @ 5.7mph, did 8 rounds of 1 min @ 7.1mph, 1 min @ 5.7mph, then cooled down for 10 mins @ 5.7mph.

Wednesday: Worked late and totally used that as an excuse to do NOTHING.

Thursday: Had a happy hour event, but kept the drinking to a minimum and did some elliptical when I got back.  Totally counting that as a win.

Friday: Ehhh driving to Charlotte after work so, probably nothing.

 

What are your weekend plans?  What is a show that you are obsessed with, but embarrassed to admit?

Weekly Workouts: 1/15 – 1/21

~ alonglife ~ 2 Comments

So, I thought it might be cool to keep track of my workouts on this here blog.  It’s a type of post that I enjoy reading on other’s blog and I think it will help for future training, either as a what to do, or what not to do guide for myself, depending on how this upcoming half marathon actually goes.  I last talked about some of my fitness goals here, but since then I went and signed up for another half marathon.  The half is in March, so I’m working on training for that as well as maintaining what small semblance of muscle that I have managed to acquire.

rhw jogging
That half is coming up FAST

Friday

Went to the gym on my way home from work and ran on the treadmill.  Usually I HATE running on the treadmill, but there aren’t a whole lot of options in the winter considering it’s dark when I leave work and dark when I get home :/.  5 min @4.0 (warm-up), 35 min @5.6 (10:43 min/mile), 5 min @4.0 (cool down).

Saturday

As part of my resolution to do more Wilmington stuff, and get to the know the area that I live a little better, I forced myself to try a new yoga class.  I originally thought I would try the 9:45 am Basic flow at Wilmington Yoga Center, but when I woke up at 9:15, I scratched that plan and went to the 2:00 pm class instead.  Little did I know that it’s a fundraising week for the studio and they had all kinds of specials and new student deals going on!  Class was awesome, pretty basic, but I felt like I got a great stretch and learned some new pointers on form in certain poses.  Afterwards, I went downstairs to the Tidal Creek Co-op (look at me, trying TWO new things) to pick up a Kombucha and a few other neat things that I can’t get from the regular grocery store.

Sunday

I originally intended to do my long run on Sunday, but it rained alllll morning until like 2 pm.  I totally lost motivation to run outside (even after the rain stopped, there was still lots of puddles and mud and I am a dainty, picky princess) and did 60 min on the elliptical instead.  I have a few extra weeks built into my training plan, so it’s not a major deal to miss one of my long runs, but I still wish I could have gotten that run in.

amy schumer workout
PLEASE!  Can I please just do nothing.

Monday

I’ve been trying to do two days/week of strength training, and I’ve been using Lauren Gleisberg’s Beauty and Booty eBook for workout ideas.  Tonight I decided to do an Upper Body Volume workout.  I find it hard to jump right into strength training, so I usually do a 15 min warm-up on the elliptical on strength days.  I definitely prefer working upper body over lower, I hate squats and lunges with the fire of a thousand suns.

Tuesday

Treadmill/Gym time.  Today I did a tempo run, 5 min @4.0, 10 min @5.6, 15 min @6.0, 10 min@5.6, 5 min @4.0.  I’m thinking that I need to push my tempo pace a little harder.  I’ve gotten into a habit of just punching in the same numbers all the time, but after this workout I didn’t feel like I pushed myself or that the pace was “comfortably hard” as a tempo should be.  Lesson Learned, next time go a little faster.

Wednesday

Strength day again!  Today was a Lower Body volume workout.  I chose an option that incorporated a little plyometrics and I rememebered how much I hate them.  I guess I wanted to loathe a lower body workout more than my usual amount.  I do these workouts in my living room, and we have these big windows on either side of our door that anyone walking by could see in (too lazy to hang something/don’t know what kind of curtains would look good there).  I like to think that someone sees me huffing and puffing and uncoordinatedly jumping around and gets a nice laugh out of it.

Thursday

Today’s plan is more treadmill running (damn you winter), probably just keeping a steady pace and getting 3.5 miles done.  Tomorrow is a rest day!  I usually take Fridays off, but last week we went out to dinner Thursday night, hence the makeup workout on Friday.

 

What is your current fitness goal?  What is your favorite body part to workout?

WIAT? Is that a thing?

~ alonglife ~ Leave a comment

So I completely intended to do a “What I ate Wednesday” post yesterday, but forgot to continue to take pictures of my food halfway through the day. This is the second week in a row that this has happened. How do people do this on a regular basis?? I am exceptionally bad at it.

I already had written half the post in my head though, and I really wanted to talk about the new Weight Watchers plan so I decided to buck convention and write about my food on a THURSDAY. I’m a wild one.

This was my first full week on the Weight Watchers Smart Points plan, and it has certainly been an adjustment. The new points calculation really lead you to focus on protein and fiber, as they generally decrease point values. Point values are increased by saturated fat and sugar (all the delicious stuff). Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m not necessarily looking to lose a ton of weight but I’ve been feeling in a slump lately and trying out new plans and programs is really motivating to me.

My breakfast usually rotates between egg wraps or sandwiches, yogurt bowls and smoothies. Under the new plan, fruits and vegetables are free unless they are blended. I made a quick smoothie last Friday, once I got to work and logged my points, I realized that sucker was 12 points!  I get 30 per day, so I still need to play around with the calculator to figure out how to lower that value whole still maintaining the deliciousness.

I wish I had chosen prettier, non-stained Tupperware, but oh well.

This yogurt bowl cost me 6 points and was made with 0% Greek yogurt, pomegranate seeds, 1 tsp honey (down from my normal 1/2 tbsp to save a point), and 1/2 cup of Kashi Go Lean cereal.   I also had a 2 point coffee, with 1 tsp sugar and 1 tbsp half and half.

I worked worked worked for a while, then had a cup of mint green tea.

Yes, this is what tea looks like.

I started to eat my clementine snack (o points) with my tea, but had an orange juice/toothpaste effect with the mint tea so I held off on the clementines until after I finished.  Learn from me, don’t do this.

I had to change my normal lunch salad up a bit to be more points friendly.  As it was, it ran me about 12 points which is more than I wanted to spend on lunch.  At first I halved the amount of craisins and blue cheese, but that really reduced the delicious factor.  1/2 oz of blue cheese is not doing anything for anybody.  So today, I got rid of the craisins, which were high in sugar and ran me about 3 points, and replaced it with some sliced apple which is 0 points.  Because of that, I was able to keep the full 1 oz of blue cheese for the same amount of points.  Balance is restored in the world.  This salad + dressing was 10 points.

Without the blue cheese it’s basically a glorified bowl of vegetables, which I want NO part of.

My afternoon snack of carrots and hummus didn’t really need any adjusting, it has a value of 2 points.  I had it with some pomegranate green tea.
12_17 afternoon snack

I also broke into my Hershey’s Kiss stash at some point this afternoon.  I had two of them for 2 points.  No photo because I’m the worst at this.

I worked a little later than usual today, so I was bordering on hangry when I got home.  I decided to eat first and workout at some other point in the evening.  I prefer to workout right when I get home and get it done, but food won out today.

Dinner was Chicken Tortilla Soup that I made in the crockpot.  Except I didn’t add tortilla chips, so can I really even call it that?  I added some cilantro and 2% cheese on top, for a total of 8 points.

12_17 dinner
One of these days I will share a dinner that ISN’T a giant bowl of mush.  One day.  

About an hour after dinner, I drug myself off of the couch to get my workout on.  I’ve certainly fallen off of the Lauren Gleisberg plan that I was doing with all of my sickness (you know, that one cold I had that I’ve been harping on for weeks) and traveling.  My plan for workouts these days is “Just do anything, for the love of god!”  I ended up doing a Jillian Michaels video, Hard Body.  I amped it up to Level 2 of the video today.  The workout is a strength and circuit workout with a fair amount of plyometrics thrown in.  It certainly got my heart rate up and earned me 5 whole fit points.

On the subject of fit points, WW suggests NOT trading in your fit points for food, and this might be my biggest gripe with the new plan.  I really believe that if you are exercising consistently, you can (and maybe should) be able to eat a little more.  I decided to change my settings to use my fit points after my weekly points.  I really wanted to set it to use fit points daily, but I thought I would do this as a compromise and see how I feel after a few weeks.  If I’m constantly hungry, I will certainly be changing it to use my fit points every day as I earn them.


I am currently enjoying some fancy-ass sparkling water as I write this post.  I love La Croix, this flavor is Cran-Raspberry and is really good.  Served in a glass with crushed ice, it’s the only way.  I also really like the sparkling water from Trader Joe’s and it’s cheaper!  Not as many flavors though.

So! That was my whole day, it ran me exactly 30 points which is my daily allotment.  I used up all my weeklies DAYS ago on Christmas food and alcohol this past weekend, so I’ve been trying hard to stick to the 30.  I’m learning and making adjustments, but so far I’m really enjoying the WW plan!

When do you workout during the day?  WW peeps, what are you doing with fit points?