Mouth Watering Mac & Cheese | Sinful Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few weeks ago, when we had thought winter was here to stay, I got in a comfort food mood and made two of my finest masterpieces (read: really good dishes).

Mouth Watering Mac & Cheese
My mom makes a delicious mac & cheese and I almost never make it, which means that often times i end up CRAVING mac and cheese like a crazy person. However, I've often deviated from my mom's recipe and experimented with adding bacon, veggies and other cheeses.  Here I used Ina Garten's grown up Mac & Cheese Recipe, which can be found on the Food Network, here.  However, I made a few substitutions, since I had a ton of really good VT cheddar from the Cheese and Wine Shop in Hoboken, I used that and a little mozzerella to equal 8-9 oz of cheese and I topped it with panko bread crumbs.  Also I used crispy bacon and roasted brussel sprouts in the recipe.  I love roasted brussel sprouts.  I started by roasting the sprouts with EVOO and S&P for 20-25 minutes until cripsy.  I like them almost burnt.  Then I fried 6-8 strips of bacon.  Then I made the cheese sauce (as per Ina's directions except with the Cheddar and Mozz instead of the other cheeses she uses) and cooked the pasta and mixed everything in one big bowl and then I put it in a big dish and cooked, according to directions about 40 minutes. 

Awesome mac & cheese with bacon, brussel sprouts and cheddar. Oh boy!

Sinfully Delicious Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

The HGTV/Food Network stars seemed to be my inspiration for cooking these days.  I follow David Bromstad of HGTV on Twitter and when he posted this cookie recipe to twitter it was too much not to make them.  And then when my better half and his brother were off to the Giants game in the cold, it seemed like an even better idea. Once again, I made some changes to this recipe but otherwise followed exactly.  My edits:  instead of 3 tbsp of salt I used 2 tbsp of regular salt and 1 tbsp fleur de sel, or a hand harvested sea salt I got in the Cheese and Wine Shop (that place is great!) and instead of 2.5 cups of choc chips, I used 1.5 cups of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips so you can got a sweetness, chocolately, saltiness that was delicious. I am a huge fan of salted caramel so this was right up my ally.  The only thing to note with these cookies is they get huge so put lots of space between them.  Enjoy! Here's David's Recipe.

Here’s my famous Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe! (from David Bromstad) They disappeared too fast for a picture, but make them!
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
3tsp salt - I used 2 reg and 1 Fleur de Sel
1 cup unsalted butter-2 sticks at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips - I used a combo of butterscotch and chocolate
I like my cookies crispy so I cook them at a lower temp. For regular cookies cook at 375 degrees until golden brown.
I like to cook at 325 degrees and let those babies marinate in perfection! They will be crispy. I don’t have a specific time but when I see the tops getting golden brown I pull them. Let them set for a few min, put on a cooling rack and eat the crap out of them!

Enjoy the holidays - Pasta & Powersquats and see you in the gym on Dec. 31st!!!  

A little view of our Xmas Card!

 

6am Winter Wake-ups (aka No Holiday Weight!)

Since our trip to Nashville and my running partner's knee injury, I haven't been working out as much as I should. I lost interest. I did the HoBOOken 5k with my running buddy and my good friend Jen who came down for the 5k.

I had the best costume I've ever put together - not super original, but I loved the outfit, especially the spiffy socks with little capes on the back - thank you Amazon!!

Then I was always running (hehe) out of time to run, but in the past few weeks I've been trying. With my trip to Costa Rica and wedding approaching, I know it won't be long before I have to squeeze into a bathing suit and also a wedding dress, which I picked out this weekend!

The gorgeous hotel we're staying at in Costa Rica's pool which is directly in front of the beach!

I've been slowly getting back on track the last 3 weeks.  I've been running about 30 minutes outside 3-4 days a week, teaching spin 2 days a week as well as bootcamp once a week and adding in sessions at Local Barre once a week.  I've also been trying to cook healthy, making a ton of soups to take to work, as well as serving lots of veggies for dinner and trying to cut back on the PSL's from Starbucks. *sigh*

Purple sweet potatoes, carrots and organic chicken from the Farmer's Market in Hoboken.

New Workout
I also tried a new workout last night at Sky Club in Hoboken, the Monday kickboxing, it was great.  My hands still shaking from hitting the bags and the cardio and bootcamp style exercises definitely upped the workout. 

Tough Tuesday Workout
I've been very bad about posting the Tuesday workouts and I'll admit, last week no one wanted to come to the gym, it's been getting cold in Hoboken and getting up at 6am doesn't sound all that great. 
 

However, this morning as luck would have it, I rolled out of bed, put on my winter gear and expected maybe 2 for my 6am class but we had twice that with 5 showing up.   We did a pretty good workout this morning.

HIIT Style Workout

What you need: mat, bench, risers, one set handweights, one bar with weights.

Warmup: Run, Jacks, Jump Rope, squats and lunges and stretches.

Workout
 8 rounds 20 sec on 10 off (in between the sets of 8, one minute jump rope (JR))

Pushups (I did them on my knees after doing all the pushups for KB last night)
JR
plank or plank walk (forearm to pushup position) for 4 rounds and rollups for 4 rounds (hold boat pose for 10 seconds in between)
JR
Squats
JR
Alternate Bicep Curl and Tricep dip (option: add a weight in your lap for more of a challenge)
JR
crunches/hold up during rest
JR
dead lift (last 4 alternate one-legged dead lift)
JR
Foot ball run drop down for the ten seconds (4 rounds), pushups (4 rounds)
JR (switch to 20 seconds)
MT climbers (4 rounds), crunches (4 rounds)
JR (20)
squat jumps/alternate with squats for 2 and lunges for 2

Cool down.

Back to Healthy: Post Vacation Shape Up

It's been a while since I posted anything to the blog and there's a very good reason for that - it was my birthday!! My birthday was in October and we had just finished the Hoboken Urban Challenge (and it was challenging) - when we took for Nashville and Memphis.  Now we've been to Nashville, but I've never been there not sick, and we were going to see the Lumineers at the Ryman Auditorium!

Lumineers at the Ryman - Pretty Awesome!

It was an amazing trip, but we did ALL kinds of eating.  We ate everything in Nashville and Memphis. I tried fried chicken for the first time, we ate tons of mac and cheese, and all kinds of carbs! And we barely did any running, certainly not enough to keep up with the food and the drink.

Birthday Treats were in addition to all the food we ate!

 For my birthday we got to the Memphis Zoo, which was adorable, we got there at 2pm and we were able to see the whole zoo in 3 hours.  We were back near Cat Country at 5pm, and we got to see all the lions, tigers and other cats up and about. And I got to take in a sea lion show and they are my favorite!!

The lionness and lion in Cat Country! 

My favorite animals the Sea Lions!

 When we got back home we continued our bad eating binge and ordered pizza, went out to dinner, got sushi and Chinese - it was a bad display.  So Sunday we finally got back on the horse and went for a run, which felt tiring but great and decided to make use of the veggies we got at the Hoboken Farmer's Market and we did some shopping for pantry staples.

What I made:

A Veggie Barley Soup - some fresh and some frozen veggies, with Chicken Stock and Quick Cooking Barley, this cooked up in ten minutes after the veggies softened added the chicken stock and barley simmer 10 min and then add the frzn veg and 10 minutes more.

I took this took work several days.

I also bought tons of squashes at the farmer's market.  I made a butternut squash soup with roasted butternut squash and chicken stock, and with the rest of the roasted squash I put that in quinoa with spinach, toasted pine nuts, sauteed apples and carrots and golden raisins, I added a bit of lemon/olive oil and S&P and it was delicious.  We used the other half of the quinoa last night with some other roasted veggies when we both got home at 10pm.  I had roasted kale, eggplant and mushrooms earlier this week and we put that with the quinoa and it was delish. We are using the rest of the roasted veggies tonight in pasta.

Also this week we (finally) used some of the fresh fish we got at the farmer's market, we made swordfish with spaghetti squash.  This was my first time using the spaghetti squash and I was imitating a recipe from Becco I had had (Lidia's restaurant!).  I roasted the squash after I cut it in half flesh side down with EVOO and S&P for about 40 min, heated some sauce from Rao's and boom  - side dish.  We also had green beans.  The spaghetti squash was a big hit! I will definitely buy some this weekend and will be buying one for my mom as well. I ate the leftovers at work.

Spaghetti squash, green beans and a veggie burger.

At the grocery store, I also stocked up on milks (almond and regular), yogurts, fruits, salad, the rice and quinoa and pasta, some meats, and veggie burgers and string cheese so I can make some healthy stuff for work and home.  I still have leftover soup and I am planning to do it again this Sunday.  We have to get ready for our wedding this Summer and heading back to Costa Rica.

On the running side I went running this Thursday for 2.5 miles and it was awesome.  The rest of this week was a  BIG week at Sky Club. I subbed a Monday Spin which meant I was there 4 days this week.  The classes were amazing and it felt great (but sore) to teach spin M,W,F and bootcamp Tuesday. I'll post the bootcamp workout and our obstacle workout later this weekend.

Are you shaping up for winter or enjoying a break?

Tough Tuesday Workout: No Stoppin! (9/10/13)

Like I said Tuesday between weddings, workouts and work, all words with "w" have prevented me from posting any of the Tuesday bootcamp workouts that I've been doing, but we have to make time for what we love so here was out workout this past week 9/10/13.

There were 3 segments that made up this workout - all from Bodyrock and Zuzka Light, my two favorite sources of inspiration. I like these workouts because you can do them as a class with proper intervals in between, in between each set we took about 2 minutes to recover and get water.  But in a pinch you could do these workouts on your own in a gym and only spend a few minutes.See below for my BodyRockin trip to Vegas.

What you need: One set of light weight and one weighted bar, bench w/ 4 risers (high) and a mat and a gymboss or other interval timer. 

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc.

This round of workouts was the ultimate test of pushing for 10-15 minutes, recovery and then going again. I called it No Stoppin' because despite the 10 seconds rest there wasn't much time to recover between moves

Set 1 - You can see the Bodyrock version here and I made some edits based on what equipment is in the gym.Set the timers for 50/10 and I put about 1 minute between sets. This one combined cardio, weights, body weight and plyometrics for real interval workout

We used the bench but you could also do this on the floor.  Hold plank, do a 3 point jump bringing the knees in each time, Right, Center, left, Center. Pushup, Jump in, Star Jump.

• High knees, tapping on the bench.
• Sitting on the bench, relax back on the sit bones and crunch knees in and out. 
• Elevated push up, we put our feet up on the step, hands on the floor. 
• With the bar, step up, step down on the risers, alternating legs. 

Set 2 - This workout is the from Zuzka Light Power Cardio and is number 6. This workout was again a 50/10 and there was no recovery between the 3 sets. This was straight up cardio, my heart rate monitor hit 172 which is over 80% for me.

•  Plyometric Sumo Squat Jump
•   Flying Jump Lunge
•   High Knees
•  Side Burpees
•  SuperHeroes - lying on back arms and legs held up in superhero flying pose

Set #3
This last one was again 50/10 and we only did 2 rounds because we were running out of time. I took this one from Bodyrock but made edits so we'd be lifting. The pushups were exhausting.

•  Reverse lunge
•  Pushups
•  Deadlift Row
•  10 biceps 10 triceps and keep alternating
•  Squat curl press

Then it was onto rest and stretching.

As I mentioned, I use Bodyrock and Zuzka a lot when traveling.  I went to Vegas a few weeks ago for work and hated to miss my Tuesday bootcamp, plus I had a triathlon that weekend. I spent 30 - 40 minutes in the gym.  I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and then did a Bodyrock workout that I looked up on my phone.

I took my NYRR mini 10K shirt to Vegas and repped some pink while staying in the Flamingo hotel. With a pink yogurt. 

At the conference I scored this cool red waterbottle.

The flamingos at the Flamingo hotel!!

Niantic Bay Triathlon (and a Surprise), Camping and Catch up!

A Big Surprise Waited for me at the End of the Niantic Bay Triathlon!

I have not been blogging in awhile, sorry for the drop off, but a lot has happened since the Niantic Bay Triathlon last month!

Catch Up
I am still teaching classes and we're still rocking our Tuesday bootcamp workouts, and I'm going to start up with those again this Thursday. (Promise!)

I have a few triathlons to catch up on, first and foremost, Niantic Bay today. But we also did the Tobay Triathlon on Long Island for the first time and I did the Women's triathlon for the 3rd time.

Races
The Niantic Bay Triathlon is one of my favorite out of the Hartford Marathon Foundation races. I love the location.  The swim is great (especially when no jellies!), the bike is scenic (who doesn't love a course where people blast music to get you up the toughest hill?), and the run is flat and so scenic (which as a lousy runner - I love).  The whole experience makes you want to get up and do it again.

Quick Race Recap

Swim 13:19
I beat my best swim time by almost 2 minutes coming in at 13:19.  I made myself move to the front and tried to stay with the leaders as best I could. I definitely think there was a strong current pulling us in because I felt like I'd landed back on the beach in no time flat and despite being unable to find my wet suit strap I got a helpful hint from the announcer on the shore.

T1 2:28
Shocking! Considering it normally takes me 20 minutes to get out of a wetsuit, but I must've been in high spirits.

Bike 45:25
Not a bad showing for me, exactly where I wanted to come in at.  I was hoping to be at an hour after the bike and that's just about where I was. I was glad to see the family blasting helpful tunes up the hill.

T2: 1:27
After a smooth showing on the bike I ran down the hill, if you've never done Niantic Bay, there is a big down hill after the bike and you need to remove your bike shoes to get down quickly and safely. 

Run 35:38
Running is always my downfall and since my great illness of May and June, I haven't been running like I should.  But, I was pleased to keep my average pace under 12 minute miles and to run the entire course with only a small stop for water at mile 1.5.

All in all it was a great race, and I had always thought I'd never go under 1:45 on this course and I made it in 1:38 so that was a huge success!

Crossing the finish line at the beach!

But the best part was still ahead.  Turns out I got a big (semi) surprise at the end and was rewarded for my hard work with a proposal. (That's why I've been busy!)  Wedding planning, working and running around can make you crazy!

Slightly better than the Niantic Bay medal. 

A great day with the additional surprise of having our favorite kiddies and their parents there! And my mom and dad! 

Fortunately, we also did not have to right back to work after getting engaged and were able to enjoy my first camping trip in the Maine Woods.  We went up to Portland, Me. and had a great weekend just outside Portland at a campground and then staying in Portland. A few highlights

I only spent one night camping and though I enjoyed it, it wasn't without challenges. It took us awhile to build a fire, which almost meant no s'mores (I almost went home!)  We had an animal sneak in to test out our left out beers at midnight and he came back a few more times. And I had to pee.  But all in all it was great. We had s'mores, pancakes and enjoyed a day at the beach the next day.

Our Humble Home for one night outside Portland.

Delicious goods from Two Fat Cats. 

We taste tested most of Portland after fending for ourselves at the campground. We had ice cream and fried clams near Old Orchard Beach.  We ate pie for Breakfast at Two Fat Cats (and whoopie pie) and we had croissants at Standard Bakery.  We ate a great meal at 5 Fifty Five and a out of this world meal at Fore Street. Fantastic foodie town Portland. And we had lobster rolls, all over!!

My wall climbing. 

We did a lot of biking, walking, running and other activities while on vacation. Our last day it was rainy and I was feeling pretty tired. I had done a triathlon that weekend!  So Thursday morning we went for a long walk and stumbled across this park which had awesome obstacles.  We tried to do each one and it gave us a great workout.  I am thinking about signing up for Hoboken's obstacles course race in a month and this was a good test!

Well I will get back to Tuesdays this Thursday.  We had a great workout this morning.  Post my end of summer spin playlist and recap the latest 2 triathlons soon!  We have one more triathlon this season this weekend HAMMERFEST in Branford. It's scheduled in amongst wedding venue searching! Last week's triathlon was in and amongst dress shopping.   Then its on to some runs before the cold sets in. But all in all.

Yes, we spent a lot of money in the life is good store, but look how cute this towel looked on Long Island's beaches.

ZCut Workout #4 Pre and Post Race Recovery Workouts

Missing a couple weeks - sorry!! But trying to get back to blogging, it's been a tough few weeks since the race in Litchfield and I had my parents up to visit so I fell back on my HIIT interval workouts on 7/16 and 7/23 combining jump rope or other power moves with lifting. But the week before the race we did this killer workout!!

I took a rest day Monday and then on Tuesday did ZCut #4

I started the week with ZCut What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 12's, bench and a mat

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc.

Cardio - 5 Rounds
10 180 Burpees
20 Jump Lunges
10 Pushup
10 Situps
20 Sump Squat Jumps

Stength Workout - 3 Rounds
10 Weighted Pistol Squats
10 Dive Bombers
20 Dragon Lunges - Reverse Lung to Curtsy Squat
10 Curl Press 

Abs
20 Curls
20 Bicycles
20 Curls
20 Bicycles
1 minute plank   

After the workout I went for a swim.  

Wednesday - Spin and Evening Run; Thursday - Evening Run;  Friday - Spin/Swimming;  Saturday off;  Sunday - Race   

Post Race Workouts
The next week was the week after the race.  I stayed at home to visit with my parents.  So I took Monday off and iced a sore glute.

Then Tuesday I did bootcamp HIIT intervals and at night I did the Party With Purpose 5K race in Hoboken.  I took it easy and really enjoyed it. I ran it with some good friends and it was a lot of fun and we got to have frozen yogurt afterwards

Super Hot 5k in Hoboken, but awesome views of NYC!!

Wed - Spin/Swim and Thursday - Outdoor Sports Barre with Local Barre (Such a disappointment NBC Weather was there filming and I was asked to be interviewed by the police made the truck move and ruined my chances).

I was shocked at how many calories I burned, normally it's about 200-250 but I guess with the heat and biking home I burned a ton.

Friday I did Spin and Swam and then drove up to the Catskills to visit the old better half.  I had quite a time getting up there, a train turned over so I had to subway, bus and train it to Poughkeepsie then get a ride to the Catskills.

Post spin smoothie, banana strawberry.

We rode 27 miles on Saturday and Sunday we did 10 miles. However, now I need to get back on a diet because we ate everything in the Catskills, they had delicious cream soda and root beer.

Delicious soda and food while we were up there. 

The B&B we stayed at the Catskill Maison, which had great food and absolutely gorgeous bedrooms. And great places to ride nearby.

Litchfield Hills Triathlon Recap

On Sunday, July 14th, my friends and I did the Litchfield Olympic Triathlon.  For me, the Olympic triathlon has proved troubling.  I have had trouble with Olympic distance for the past few years, this was my third and failed attempt.  The first one, I got 2 flat tires and fell on the bike and in Round 2 I made a wrong turn on the run.  I felt terrible after the experience but I found a blog from a fellow who did not finish after training for the Ironman and his disappointment and story of picking himself up afterwards was very inspiring.  I was very glad to be there at the end of the race to see my better half finish the Duathlon and he did an amazing job.  I also got to see my good friend Jen finish and she did great.

This year, I will admit I did not trained properly.  I was so focused on getting through the half in June after being sick for most of May that I did not put in the proper training effort. I also have not been swimming as much as I should have. So right there, 2 things to work on. However, one positive, we got to make use of the brand new 4 bike hitch and bike rack on the back of our car!

Brand New bike rack!

 Race Recap
I started off the swim great, I was only a few seconds off from last year, so I was pleasantly surprised. 31:36 for a mile.

In T1 I was 2 minutes faster than last year, which was great considering it's a .25 mile run uphill after the swim on a rocky path back to transition.

On the bike I got started strong down the screaming downhill and started a good pace.  Unfortunately, things headed downhill from there.  My odometer wasn't working so I started focusing on that instead of riding and then at some point in the first 5 miles I developed a searing pain in my glute.  I know a pain in my ass and OMG was it.  I felt like couldn't peddle, it hurt to sit in the saddle, I couldn't stretch it out.  By the time we got to the uphill side of the ride I wanted to cry. I also wanted to get off my bike, throw it in a ditch and beat it with a baseball bat.  Needless to say, it was some pain.  I made it up Bruning Hill which is a final 2 mile uphill and the last push to transition and started to get off and wanted to see if I could run.  I was already limping along and mentally I had given up.  The 6.2 mile run just seemed too far, I felt like too bad of a runner to finish it, and I wanted to sit in an ice bucket.  So for the first time ever, I gave up.  I spoke to the medic and he advised turning in my chip and sitting in ice.  So, I turned in my chip and got an ice pack and waited for my pals to finish.

Fortunately, I have a fantastic boyfriend and friends who were encouraging.  The race kicked off the week of heat and humidity and we dealt with some serious heat and humidity during the race.  Afterwards, we went home and sat in a cold pool. It was seriously wonderful.  My boyfriend even offered to share his medal with me, he said I could have the swim image since technically he never swam during the race.

I think the Litchfield Hills Course is gorgeous, but it has beaten me, abd I think if we tackle it again next year, the better half and I may tackle it as a team.  But, I will not give up on the Olympic distance....yet. However, that means putting in the training and setting goals.

ZCut Week #3: Knees Up

I had missed a week of posting the Zcut Cardio Workouts and wanted to make sure I got this one in. It was rough. It was the week after I had done the Fairfield marathon and the kickoff of NYC's heat wave.  That week I did not do much running.   I did some light running Thurs, Friday and then on Saturday we went for a longer (5 mile) run. 

This workout was AMRAP (as many rounds as possible)

What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 12's, bench and a mat

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc.

Section 1 - 10 minutes
10 lateral burpees - jump over the step push up then jump back over, you could also jump over your mat or walk over the step.  I had to take breaks since my legs were screaming from the run.
20 crab toe touches
10 ab splitters
10 mt climbers, 10 jacks on the step
20 lunge jumps

Break - 4 minutes

Section 2 - 10 minutes
10 overhead squat
10 lunge twists
10 side burpees
10 pike press knee tuck

Break - 2 minutes

Repeat Section 1 

Break! - 2 minutes

Weights - 2x through
10 pistol squats each side
10 plie squat
10 dive bombers
10 curl press 


This one was HARD!!! I thought I was going to lose it afterwards.  I practically fell in the pool for my swim.  Wed was a spin day, and so was Friday and Sunday we went for a bike ride in the most humid weather I've ever seen up to the Cloisters, which were beautiful.  Then we rode down through Central Park and back down the West Side Highway, it was about 23 miles total. I wanted to do a little more but someone was starving!

View from the bikes. 

That weekend also happened to be pride so we had this great view.

Not our picture. I borrowed it from WIO but we could see this from our building. 

That night I made this incredible pasta from Ina Garten, which was cheesey and delicious. It's called midnight spaghetti and included parsley from our local farmer's market, which we went to on Saturday and bought all sorts of veggies and fish.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/midnight-spaghetti-video/106544.html

Bricks, Burpees and Fireworks! (and watermelon)

It's been a few weeks since I posted because last week was July 4th! And what should have been a super slow week turned into a crazy week!  I decided to take a break from Zuzka Light for a week and go with the daily hiit workouts!  If you go to workouts you can see a list of all their workouts and they are completely free!

Weekly Workouts  - July 1 to 7
Monday - REST I am loving Monday as my REST Day
Tuesday - Daily HIIT workout and swimming (See below for workout)
Wednesday - Spinning
Thursday - 4+ mile run for July 4th in the heat even at 9am!
Friday - 3 mile run, class at Local Barre and Yoga Up at 6am to avoid the heat!
Saturday - Brick Workout (16 mile bike and 2.5 mile run) and Stand Up Paddle Boarding. up at 5am to drive to LI and avoid the heat!
Sunday - 16 mile bike ride in hilly Jersey - HOT!

Over the holiday, we definitely treated ourselves, we did a lot of grilling good chicken and fish and veggies at home but we did a lot of treats as well.

On Thursday after a run in the sweltering heat and humidity that is Hoboken we enjoyed a beverage at the Biergarten. 

Then we watched the fireworks that night from our balcony.  We made chicken burgers, portabello mushrooms, corn on the grill and an assortment of veggies. 

On Friday I worked from home in the morning and got to enjoy my flowers.

I made this watermelon mojito from a recipe on Saturday after our brick workout along with a sweet and savory bbq sauce and it was delicious.

Daily HIIT 
What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 12's, bench and a mat
Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc.

Workouts - for section 1 and 10 - 50 seconds on 10 off
Section 1
Plank tricep kix, alternate halfway
Tuck jump burpee
Extend leg row L
Fly
Extend leg row R
Lunge bicep curl
Row high up
Plank KB
Bike chest press
Sandbag swing

Section 2
Left step up jump - power off the bench
Shot put R
Shot put L
Right step up jump
Plie squat side kick
Weighted scissor pass
Toe touch R
Toe touch L
Cross leg reverse curl L
Cross leg R

Switch lunge kick up 20 reps
Side burpee 20 reps
Supergirl deadlift 20 reps 
Dive bomber knee tuck 10 reps
Jacks 20 reps
3d pushups 10 reps
Side to side 20 reps
Ab chopper 20 reps
Sumo twist 20 reps
Plank knee side to side 20 reps

 BBQ Sauce Recipe - measurements are by the eye!
1/2 cup ketchup
scoop of marmalade I used orange cranberry
1/4 cup orange juice
dollop of Dijon mustard
little cayene pepper
S&P
Bring to a boil then simmer

This weekend I am getting ready for the Litchfield Hills Triathlon.  I have to have my race prep and race recap for you this week and next week!

Tough Tuesday Workout & Weekly Workouts (Fairfield Half)

Tough Tuesday Workout - 2,4,6, 8 Who Feels Great?!

This was the 2nd of the my Z Cardio and Strength combinations with some variations for this early morning bootcamp class. You are adding reps each time and I added the one minute of jump rope in between so it made it a little longer and a little harder.

What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 12's, mat, bench and a mat

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc. 

Section 1 - Cardio 
I used the ZCUT Power Cardio 2 to lay out this workout making a few small edits for my class

*One minute of jump rope in between each workout, those that moved through the workout quick started jump roping right away so they got a few added bonus seconds. 

10 prisoner get ups
20 box jumps onto the step
30 side to side jumps over a barbell
40 skaters
50 pendulums
60 high knees plank (this one we all stayed together)
70 squat jumps


Section 2 -  Strength

4 Rounds
10 backward and forward lunge
10 pushups with a row
5 competition burpees
10 deadlifts

Abs

Crunches - 20
Plank with knee tuck - 10
Double Crunch- 20 
Forearm Plank with knee  tap - 10
Hold Plank 30 seconds

Everyone has said the past few weeks have been very tough, so we'll keep going :)

Weekly Workout Summary - Week of 6/17

Monday - Nothing after running 11 + miles on Sunday in the extreme heat, I was exhausted.

Tuesday - Above workout and short run

Wednesday - Bike and Swim

Thursday - Running about 3+ miles at night while listening to the symphony in Hoboken after house cleaning

Friday - Bike

Saturday -Bike ride around the course of the Fairfield Half Marathon, which got us really nervous because there were a shite ton of hills, crazy hills! We started the bike from Sherwood Island.  And this is the view.

View from our car to Sherwood Island

Sunday -Fairfield Half, which was hot and little disappointing, though my goal was only to finish, I would have liked to run faster instead of being bested by the heat. But, we made it in the heat and humidity and we crossed the finish line. 

 Fairfield Half Marathon

Surprisingly I was not nervous before the race, but I think I should have been, since when we went out on the course there were some pretty steep hills.  We went out to do what we thought would be a leisurely bike ride but we hit the hills and thought uh-oh.  We had been training to do the Liberty State Park Fleet Week Half and then got sick and the race was cancelled and never got our groove back despite signing up for the race, both of us have been too busy at work. Blech. The race was hot but it was a lot of fun. The people of Fairfield were amazing.  They had sprinklers out, music, ice cold lemonade, even beer, which Billy grabbed at the end.  I just couldn't make it up those HILLS. But the scenic views were pretty amazing. CT has great Coastline!  They did run out of cups at some of the water stations so that made planning water stops tricky. 

But I have still never been so hot (nor have I done a race in June) like this, at the end, it ended at Jennings Beach and my feet and legs felt so hot and sore, so I ran (really hobbled) right into the water.  In my socks. HOT! Afterwards, I collapsed. I had slowly been moving my times back down towards 2:40, with a race at 2:45 and 2:48 but this race took me about 3 hours so it was very disappointing but walking up the steep hills that came after mile 6 really slowed us down and so did the stretch of sun after mile 11. :(.  So I am looking forward to training all this summer and picking a race in the Fall with a flatter course.

Collapsed on Jennings Beach After the Fairfield Half Marathon

We got this really cool shirt from the race.  At first I thought all we were getting was a bandana but they had these on the beach. Score!! Tech shirt! 

After the race, I ate at Shake Shack and had a root beer float and some of a PB shake and very little of a shroom burger.  I like liquids after racing.  It was my parent's anniversary and that was their post race pick! Yes, I wore the race shirt.  We crawled in traffic home and made it home in time to go see the Red Bulls game on Pier A and have a few beers.  Then we put our still aching feets in some water.

Tough Tuesday Workout: ZWow'd Week 1 (6/11/13)

Tough Tuesday Workout - ZWow'd

 I have always been a big fan of Zuzka Light, the delightful online fitness personality, who now has her own website and DVD's, which I bought up immediately. Her DVD's ZCut Power Cardio and Zcut Power Strength have 12 10-20 minute workouts that are incredibly tiring and an incredible workout.  I thought they'd be a cool addition to our bootcamp class as we keep in shape this summer. 

What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 12's, mat, bench and a mat

 Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc. 

Section 1 - Cardio 
I used the ZCUT Power Cardio to lay out this workout making a few small edits for my class

10 burpees
10 squat jumps
20 lunge jumps or alternating legs
10 squat jumps
30 pendulums
10 squat jumps
40 side to side leg kicks

Repeat 5x so you have a total of 50 burpees by the end. It was killer and everyone thought so!

Section 2 -  Strength

3 Rounds
10 squats
10 dive bombers
10 pistol squats

Abs

Crunches - 20
Plank with knee tuck - 10
DoubleCrunch- 20 
Forearm Plank with knee  tap - 10
Hold Plank 30 seconds

Weekly Workout Summary - Week of 6/10

Monday - Nothing drove back from CT and after a weekend at the Oakley Mini and a brick workout and a 3 hour drive home I was done. 

Tuesday - Above workout and short run

Wednesday - Bike and Swim

Thursday - Running

Friday - Bike and Swim and Friday night YOGA!!

Saturday - 5.5 mile run up Patterson Plank Road (huge hill) and just about 20 miles on the bike in the afternoon (flat)

Sunday - late in the afternoon - 11+ mile run to Liberty State Park to get ready for Fairfield Half marathon next Sunday.

Post workout in my brand new compression socks ready to dunk my feet in an ice bucket. 

My other weekend activity - gardening!

 

Here is a better full view of the socks I was wearing - they are brand new - thanks to @skinnyrunner's promotion from procompression and I wore them Sat&Sun.