Surprisingly Delicious Smoothie - Chocolate Almond Strawberry

In the morning, I rarely want to get up never mind eat breakfast.  I am the worst morning person despite teaching at 6 a.m. I typically end up coming home, showering and laying on the coach for 30-60 minutes, especially during allergy season when I am exhausted.  Since I had no time to cook eggs and pack a lunch, I decided to make a smoothie - which I drink while getting ready and toss in the sink on my way out of the door.  This way I know I've eaten something when I get into work and have to head straight into a meeting.  Normally I make Ellie Kreiger's Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie and to it I add some chocolate protein powder but today my bananas had rotted and my milk had joined our milk graveyard (aka our collection of rotten milks both mine and Billy's) so I combined what I initially thought would be terrible and turned out to be delicious so I thought I'd share.  With nothing in the house I combined:

5 Large Frozen Strawberries (I always try to keep frozen berries for smoothies)
1 heaping teaspoon of almond butter
1/2 cup Chocolate Zico Coconut Water
Half a container of Strawberry Greek Yogurt (I hate the other half)
1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder

It looked positively frightening.  However knowing it was this or nothing I whipped up the magic bullet - SUCCESS - it tasted delicious - I kinda wanted to freeze it and make ice cream out of it or just put it in a bowl and sprinkle granola on it.  YUM.  I think the frozen berries made it thick and the butter made it creamy and it tasted great. 

I had just come from my morning workout - I am on Week #4 of training for an Olympic triathlon  -- I've yet to sign up (mostly b/c I am short on funds and slightly scared but we'll get there).  I can definitely see myself getting more fit.  Today I started the day with a mini du (10 minute run all out, 45 min spin class, 10 min jog), a little core and then swimming for 30 minutes.  I will post about my week's workout this week as well as our Burn/Sculpt bootcamp class.

have a delicious day! Keep Tri'n!

April Road Races Bring More & May Training

April was a busy month so I haven't given myself a lot of time to post entries, which I need to correct.  However, I did have a packed month.

Starting off right on April 1st (April Fools), I ran a 15k run to benefit Colon Cancer in Central Park.  I had been running long distances pretty consistently while training, but I thought a race atmosphere might be good practice for the More Half Marathon I had signed up for with Jen on April 15th.  After over-training and injuring myself at a race last year, I decided to try to train a smarter this year. I ran my fastest consistent miles for a distance over 6 miles at that 15k.  I was able to do the whole thing without any walking as well, which made me feel very accomplished. I am definitely a fan of the 15k.

With two weeks left to the race and just over a month until The Hoboken Shelter Celebration Event, life got very busy and I completely forgot to keep posting to this blog.  Circumstances weren't perfect before race day.  We ended up vacationing in Newport from Thurs-Sat and on Sat I drove back from Newport to  NY to run the race on Sunday.  Newport was amazing - we stayed in a beautiful hotel called Forty One North that was gorgeous and had the most beautiful bathroom.  Early Saturday morning, Billy's sister and I were able to go back to do yoga overlooking the marina.  I held an imaginary wedding there because the backdrop was gorgeous. I loved Newport, there was great biking and amazing walking and running along the beach and marina and the cliff walk. But not in good race prep, I ended up out very late on Friday and was exhausted on Saturday and did a long walk with the family, so needless to say by the time I got home Saturday night I could've slept for days.

The More Half Marathon was tough, tougher than I imagined.  The hills and steamy weather didn't make it any easier; however I made my goal of a 2:45 half marathon along the hills.  This is Jen and I before the race...when we still were excited about running.

After 13.1 miles and trudging up the hills. I made it to the end and ran my way to the finish line and got my medal.  Some notes on Central Park, there are some serious hills, especially as you get up towards Harlem and going around it twice does NOT make it any easier.  But it was great fun to see so many women running/walking and out moving.   I will say the Central Park More Fitness Half Marathon seemed much harder than the 15K.  I did have to succumb to walking a bit on the Half Marathon. But one thing about the Half, you never leave feeling like you didn't do anything that morning. 2,000 calories later, I was ready for some eats and a nap. This is what I looked like at the end. (see left.)

I had been doing some informal triathlon training so after the More Half I gave myself a light week.  The pain definitely kicked in two days later on Tuesday when I couldn't jump off the ground to demo for bootcamp.  Monday I had felt fine and had gone for a run and taught a kickboxing class.  However Tuesday, Wed and Thurs I took it easy.  Friday I got back into spin class and by Saturday I decided to run a 5k in Liberty State Park. The race was close by and convenient and the weather was amazing. I ran an amazing race, 32 minutes and made a new running buddy.

I found a 10 week Sprint/Olympic training program online and started in on the 23rd one week after the More Half.  Week 1 went great and the diet went well too. Week #2 which was also the week of the Shelter event was pretty good on the training side but not so good on nutrition as working late nights and early mornings for the event led me to have a few extra snacks and enjoy some cake at the event as well as a celebration brunch with my parents and a dinner from the boyfriend who unfortunately had to miss the event. Billy and I have been out using the bikes and this past weekend we logged 25 miles.  Starting week 3 this week and with unexpected rain and event recovery in progress, I started with a rest day Monday. This past weekend after my event recovery I logged 7.2 miles on Sat and Sun 25 miles with Billy on the bike as well as a 30 min run and 60 min bootcamp. I was still sore today and decided to finish cleaning and grocery shopping today rather than run in the rain.

Jen and I are planning a duathlon this month and at the end of the month we are taking in another New England favorite and heading up to Cape Cod for a 2-day getaway.  June beings a serious month of races, tris and bike rides so I am hoping now that the Shelter event is over to log some training time and get back to keeping track of the diet. Hoping to log my progress with triathlon training weekly as well as upload some new spin playlists, bootcamp workouts and recipes.

Hope everyone has had an amazing April and kept on tri'ing (and running).

Exciting News and what Pasta and Power Squats Is

  Pasta and Power Squats: A Girl Fires Up the Gym and Kitchen is a blog about my adventures as a group exercise instructor, runner and triathlete as well as my kitchen experiments, good or bad as they are. I was certified as a fitness instructor in 2006 to supplement my nonprofit income at my first job. Now, I love both jobs equally and don’t think I could give one of them up. 

I just added twitter to my blog so you can follow my posts on twitter and a gadget to receive P&PS by email.  Super getting social today!

Quick Cooking: Fast and Healthy

I am typically running from one meeting to the next and constantly in a rush to squeeze in a workout before running to work so I am trying to find new ways to satisfy my hunger and not eat junk food.  I made a deal with myself which I mentioned in a previous post to cook dinner 5-6 times a week and bring lunch to work a few days a week. The salad bar can be a dangerous place if you don’t know what you’re doing.  


In the past week while I was exhausted while I didn't really COOK I did come up with fool proof quick and easy recipes for days you just can't bring yourself to do any cooking. 


After a long run when it was cold I was eating oatmeal but I usually and unfortunately find myself starving 5 minutes later.  However thanks to seeing Run Eat Repeat mix it with PB (at which I first thought - GROSS! but then "eh").  I started mixing MY OATMEAL with peanut butter.  I took it in a Ziploc container or from a snack pack to work and I find a can make a satisfying meal with no fuss that lasts longer than 10:45.  And when it's warm - I always love smoothies while getting ready.   


This week I made a quick stir fry that used pre-cut bought veggies from Garden of Eden and a can of tuna paired with lime and soy sauce it was super easy and no extensive cooking or multi-pots required. Last week for dinner, as I mentioned I wasn’t doing swell making dinners aside from pasta and peanut butter but I also made a relatively healthy pizza using tortillas. I had leftover sauce and no energy to cook pasta – heated up the oven put the tortilla on Reynolds wrap and covered with sauce and a little low fat cheese.  Couldn’t be easier and it was delicious cut up like a pizza or rolled like a tortilla – pair with salad – done! Just like this post. Happy and Healthy!

Pumped Up Week: Back on Track

 Included:

Daily Workouts: running, bootcamp and sculpt

Recipes: Grillin' fish, Potatoes, and Quinoa Salad with Red Pepper and Pineapple

Much like the stall in blog posts, my recent efforts to do my best to track my food, calories and budget, meaning cook more and take lunch to work were seriously stalled last week.  I couldn’t drag my bum to the store which meant no food in the house which meant a lot of eating pasta and peanut butter sandwiches and buying salads at work – not completely unhealthy but not cooking at home the 5-6 times a week I promised myself during the New Year, it was on my list.  Billy and I both made resolution lists on our new Ipads at the start of the year but haven't kept the resolutions too well. 

In spite of it being St. Patty’s day, I managed to start the weekend off right with a 10 mile run and then left to watch Billy play the fiddle.   After a weekend of a few beers, ice cream, pizza and other grease, it was time to tip the scales the other way. Though technically with my long run, limited food intake and rushing to NYC to the bar to see Billy play, myfitnesspal told me I’d weight 20lbs less if every day were like this (10 mile run, 3 beers, 3 pieces of pizza – super healthy). 

 

This week was FABULOUS in NYC!  It was close to 70 degrees all week – it was time for some serious grilling.  I forced Billy to pull out the grill on Monday evening and we grilled up some tilapia and I made roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower.  It was delicious and low-carb.   I also roasted some potatoes but they didn’t quite finish in time for dinner.  Oops.  However, I did use them the next day in a stir fry – normally I’d use rice but what the heck?  I put a can of tuna in the stir fry with lime and soy sauce.  Delish. 

Tuesday started my non-stop gym workouts.  I’d done a tempo run with speed intervals Monday but Tuesday began the Sky Club Marathon of subbing and teaching classes right through next Thursday when I get a big rest day. Tuesday morning I taught my bootcamp class and we really worked hard – we did high intensity intervals (i.e. burpees and squat jumps on the step) for 50 sec, 10 sec rest 2x each, so 4 min total, then we got 1 minute recover. 

Wednesday I taught my scheduled spin and went to teach abs but no one showed so I went to work and that night went for a light run. To steal myself to continue and get up on a day when I normally take a nap, Thursday, – I made roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes on the grill (however I preheated in the micro for 5 and 10 min, respectively).  I also made chicken breasts with lemon and rosemary on the grill and some grilled asparagus. Thursday morning I taught a sculpt class where we focused on legs and push-ups.  For legs my new favorite move is having one foot on the step standing in front of it (like your going to do lunges with one foot on the step) and powering up into a jump – such a great move and good for outside too. Strong women in that class!  After class I went for a run and worked speed intervals – 3 half mile repeats with a mile warm up and cool down. I forgot to mention Tues and Thurs I rewarded myself with fro yo – it was that warm. 

Friday I woke up in so exhausted, super sore and my knee was aching despite my best efforts to get to bed early last night and ice my knee.  I totally missed Golden Girls at midnight because I was asleep and I had busted my butt to get dinner on the table. I made tuna steaks for the first time and the result was so-so.  I think I may have cooked them a minute too long.  Ah, well. Live and learn.  We marinated them in lime and soy sauce.  I paired it with a quinoa salad.  I sautéed red peppers and zucchini (Billy bought them) and cooked the quinoa in coconut water and a pinch of crushed red pepper.  I chopped the pineapple tiny and mixed it all together in a bowl.  Billy thinks in the future we should grill the pineapple, which is a good point –but it was delicious anyway– the veggies had canola oil and salt and pepper and little cilantro which made a nice dressing. Billy took a picture of it so I will post it soon. So back to this morning – exhausted I told my class I needed to teach on and off the bike – they were great.  I ended up on and off the bike anyway trying to combat the horrible heat that cranked the room up to 76 degrees.   Bikram spin is not fun – thankfully management is on the case and it's fixes (yay!). I think our surprising warm weather is coming too fast.  Also, that’s one of the downsides to being the first one in the room – any elements that might impair your ride or AC that’s not kicked in yet, you’re left to deal with but we managed to sweat and get in an early AM workout.  I came home went for a slow run/walk and went to work, drinking my Ellie Krieger PB smoothie as I got ready. 

This weekend is going I have to squeeze out some running and sub kickboxing on Sunday (I ended up bailing on running Saturday opting for sleeping in with Billy rather than running - we went for a nice bike ride 17 miles which worked off the calories we ate at dinner at Hoboken Bar and Grill last night). I've always thought if you don't wake up feeling it and I are in too much pain - take a rest day. 

High Energy and Hard Ass

High Energy and Hard Ass...Best compliment you can get as an instructor - that you've walked that fine line between too easy and too hard and kept them motivated.

I subbed my first kickboxing class in a long time this past weekend and overall it was a success! It helped to have friends in the crowd, walking in as a sub to another class can be a horrifying experience. People are skeptical when they don't know you - their first instinct is to be critical, I've had the sighers who complain about ruined workouts. The worst is when they pack up their stuff before you even get started, or worse yet decide to leave one song in to your class. You have a strong desire to prove yourself; however if you go to crazy - they may run in the other direction if they ever see you again. Keeping your confidence is key - if you trust yourself as a professional instructor so will they. Be yourself, but be strong and challenge them - they'll remember you and your workout. And, best advice, keep it simple, they don't know you or your cueing style so better to keep it easy.

I saw several of my attendees from the class tonight - and they were feeling sore. Good news!!

Tonight I subbed a boot camp class, which built on my "back in action workout" but slightly different to assess where the class was at since I don't teach them regularly. We used the body bar (for squats and lunges), 2 sets of weights, mat, step with 2-3 risers. After the warm-up I always do (basically getting the heart rate up, no weighted basic moves and some light stretching). We did:

100 skips

50 squats

10 pushup - any fashion

15 goal post press

15 curls

rest

100 skips

25 R/L Lunge

10 pushups

15 curls

15 overhead press

rest

100 skips

50 squats

10 pushups

15 skull crushers (tricep)

15 rows standing (back)

rest

100 skips

25 L/R lunge

10 pushups

15 chest press

10 tricep dips (those are hard!!)

rest

2 min HIIT interval (shoot squat jumps, lunge w/cross jab, jump rope, football run, heisman)

rest (walk about, more water)

plie squat with elbows out holding one heavy weight

wood chopper R

French press tricep

wood chopper L

both weights curl

no weight - one leg squat jump (if you saw my last punch - this is the sucker punch move)

dead lift

other side one leg jump

dead lift

power squats on the step

ABS - crunches, double crunch, reverse crunch, right side oblique, left side, sitting on step double crunch, plank (hold for 15 seconds).

STRETCH.

Now a long hot shower as I prep for boot camp tomorrow.

Back in Action!

It's been awhile since my last post. The new job and the holidays kept me plenty busy. As well as visiting my new niece and training for the More Fitness Half Marathon - up to 8 miles this weekend! What a great winter for training.

I got a great response from this boot camp class - I based the idea on BodyRock.tv's 600 rep workout. I focused a lot on legs and added in some moves from Fitness magazine's sexy legs workout. I liked a lot of the moves they did - many of the moves are similar to one's used by celeb trainers like Jackie Warner and the one's used by the Sucker Punch trainer who whipped those ladies into fighting shape.

I was asked to incorporate the workout every few weeks and I will do my best to and to make it harder every time.

100 high knee skips

50 squats

25 curls

10 pushups

100 high knee skips

50 lunges L/R

25 skull crushers

25 reverse crunch

10 pushups

100 high knee skips

50 squats (evidently I did 60 - oops)

25 over heard press

10 pushups

100 high knee skips

50 lunges L/R

20 pushups

20 crunches

water

2 min HIIT - squat jumps/football run/heels

plie squat and one legged dead lift

2 min HIIT cross jabs/kicks/high knee run

sissy squat and one legged jump

20 - crunch

20- double crunch

20 oblique right

20-oblique left

20- bicycles

plank