Who's hardcore?

Well after feeling frazzeled by not getting my swim in last night like I had planned, I was determined to get up early early to get a lot of exercise in this morning.

I set my alarms (set 2 clock alarm and cell phone), just to make sure I didn't sleep in after hitting the snooze button.

4:45am, first alarm. Snooze and back to sleep. 4:50am, snooze is over, but let's hit it one more time. This time I was awake but in a fog. 4:55am. alright lay in bed a few mins, and see if Kevin wants to get up with me to go for a run. Groggily he declines, but says he will get up with me tomorrow, he swears.

5am. Up and out of bed, on time like I had planned. I knew that I was going to be giving this morning my full attention to working out. So I knew that I wouldn't be able to fend off a hungry stomach for the next 2 hours. So I grabbed an orange.
I didn't' want to get too full, so I only had two slices, leaving the rest for later.

Let me tell you how excited I was to go out on this run this morning. You see last night I met with my kijiji seller, and did in fact buy myself a used Garmin GPS watch, for 95$. There is nothing wrong with it. The seller told me he just wanted to get some newer technology. I'm no techy, so this works just fine for me. Sure beasts spending 400$+ at the running room to get myself a brand new one.

I played with the watch for a couple of minutes last night in bed before falling asleep so that I wouldn't have to fiddle with it in the morning when I wanted to be out running.

Watch on, satellites found, and I was off for a run by 5:15/5:20ish. Not too shabby.

I had no route or direction planned out, rather as I came to a point where I thought, ok I'm gonna go this way, I did. I just ran wherever I wanted to. Up through catwalks, through subdivisions (got a little disorientated, but kept running), and back to main streets to head home.

I ran for 35 minutes (the extra time is my cool down walk time around my court). I was so proud of myself. I only stopped when the watched started beeping at me, and I was trying to figure out what it was telling me, (heart rate too high, and beeped after each lap).

3 miles. When I got home I had no idea how far this is. Living in Canada and not being a mathlete, I had no concept as to how far this was in Km's. I would figure it out later. But I felt strong after that run. It was so much fun!

I had two more slices of my orange, and grabbed a bottle of water, took off my Garmin and strapped myself into my Polar HRM, and walked down the the bsmt to hang out with my BFF Jillian.

After yesterday's attempt do do her two workout videos I have (30Day Shred and Blast Fat Boost Metabolism), I realzied that, for me I should start with the BFBM, then do my Shred. So that is what I did.

I did a full 45minutes of BFBM, and Oh Man! Let me tell you! That baby works you hard. I felt like I was at hot yoga I was sweating so much! I didn't hold back until the last 5 minutes either. I skipped the stretching portion of this video as I was going right into my Shred, and knew that I could stretch on my own after the stretching portion of Shred was over.

Welcome more sweat. This sure made it hard to do push-ups.

After those two workout videos, I was hungry. I went and finished off my orange, and had to jump in the shower, it was 7:20am, and I have to work this morning!

After I showered, did my hair, makeup and got dressed, I made breakfast to go.

• 3 Cups Spinach
• 1 Tbsp Ground Flax
• 1 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (UVAB)
• 4 Strawberries
• 1 Whole Kiwi
• 1/2 Banana
• 1/2 Apple

Into the Blender Bottle, and out the door for a full day of work.Question: What is the earliest you have gotten up in the mornings to squeeze in a workout?

Weekend recap

Well, I had an interesting weekend. How about you?

For me this was my first weekend off since March 27th. I was so excited for this workless weekend. And I must say I did enjoy the not having to work, however I did have social obligation I needed to be present for. However they were nothing like having to run around getting ready for work.

Saturday I got up nice and early to go for my first ever 5K race. Then at noon I was in attendance to Kevin's cousins bridal shower. After that I had the house to myself, and wore my quitters. Mainly I spend the night in front of the TV, however I was folding laundry, and took breaks away to clean my bathroom.

Sunday, was equally relaxing. I woke up when my body told me to wake up. No alarms were set! It was truly a beautiful thing. I put away 4 over flowing baskets of clean laundry and did some ironing. With some help from Kevin the house got swiffered, dusted and vacuumed. The house was so desperately crying out to be cleaned.

My mom and I went out to Costco to pick up some dinner supplies, and then the two of us headed back to my place so I could get dinner prepped and made. I love hosting special occasion meals at my house for my family!

So that was my weekend, as I didn't really do much posting focused on food, or post at all. This was all part of my weekend devoted to doing what needed to get done around the house and relaxing.

This morning I woke up at 6am to get a home workout in. Lately it has been so cold out here in Ontario. It was only a week or two ago that we had 26 degree (78.8 F) and now it has been ranging from 0 (32F) to 13 (57.2F). I just wanted to be warm this morning so I nixed the early morning run.

As I relaxed this weekend, my only workout that I got in was my 5K race Saturday morning. To make up for not having done my 30Day Shred Saturday and Sunday I thought I would ramp up my home video workout session this morning.

I did my Day 6 of Level 1 in the 30 Day Shred, then I popped in for my first time ever Jillian's Blast Fat Boost Metabolism video.

Wow I had no idea BFBM was a 40 minute video. I sadly ran out of time and could only completed 10 minutes of this video. Also, should I try this combination again, I will definitely lead with BFBM and follow it up with some shredding. However I did like what I was doing in the BFBM video. I love me some kickboxing style workouts.

After the workout, I went and made myself some breakfast. Nothing to start the week off right like a Green Monster! I kept this mornings GM simple, mainly because of the lack of fruit selection and also just to bring it back to basics.

• 2.5cup spinach
• 1 banana
• 5 strawberries
• 1tbsp PomWonderful
• 1tbsp ground flax
• 1cup skim milk

I would also like to take a quick minute to talk about some new straws I bought. They are reusable glass straws. I bought two of them. I am very excited about these straws. I have seen them in a couple of different blogs.

These particular straws came from Glass Dharma. I ordered 2. One for water and one for shakes. Plus this way when one is dirty you don't have to go without a straw.

I love that Glass Dharma offers different sizes, designs and shapes in their straws. I knew what I was looking for, and I was so happy when I found it.

A 'bendy' glass straw. I love bendy straws and was worried that this could be something I might lose when using a glass straw. But thankfully Glass Dharma offers glass straws with a bend in them to simulate a bendy straw.

I also love how the straw doesn't fall down in to the contain I am drinking from. I do not like having to stick my finger into my water bottle to fish out the straw.

I do not however like that the straw is taller and sticks out of the water bottle. This is because I like to close it up and transport my water bottle around with me everywhere. This means that I will have to take my straw out and possibly dry it to tote it around with me. This is why I have pictures of the box it came in. I plan to keep them in as good condition as possible to keep my straw clean, while out of my water bottle.

Wicked Wednesday

First off my day started terrific!

Today at my full time job we are hosting Bowling For Kids Sake. Basically we have a bunch of teams of local businesses who are joining us for bowling and have so far raised 17K online for our agency to provide for children.

How fantastic is that.

My day gets better. Because I will be working until after 9pm, I didn't get to work until noon.

I slept in until 7:15am! Whoot!
For breakfast I made myself a strawberry banana Green Monster, with 1tsp chocolate vegan protein powder. It was so tasty.

It was a great breakfast to have as, Kevin was home with me this morning and though he was tired and said he didn't want to, the two of us went on a 5.3k run.

I even made better time than our last run.

Last run 5.3k = 39.53 mins
Today's run 5.3k = 38 mins.

I'm totally proud of myself. Especially because Saturday May 8th, Kevin and I run our very first race. It is a 5k race in Lakefield Ontario. I have signed up for various races this summer as I have mentioned here. These races are totally just for fun. Actually my boss might be running in the race Saturday.

After the run, it was right to the basement to complete Day 4 of my 30 Day Shred with my new BFF Jillian.

Day 4 is definitely easier than day 1, but I still struggle to do more than 5 real push ups, and shoulder raises. Oh well, I'm still happy to know that I am working hard at something.

Kevin and I had a bank apt today at 10am. Can't tell you what for though. ;-)

By the time we left the bank, it as 11:50, and I hadn't eaten my morning snack. I was famished! I knew Kevin was too, as I heard his stomach growl a couple of times in the bank.

So needless to say once I got to work, I got right down the business. The business of eating lunch!

• 2 Cups romaine lettuce
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 1/12th avocado
• 1/2 cup cucumber
• some red onion
• 4oz broiled salmon

And I ate that salad like it was going out of style! I vaguely remember tasting it. I decided to eat what would have been my morning snack as a lunch hour dessert. Greek Yogurt, Blackberries and a cereal mix (1/4 cup grape nuts & 1/4 cup Kashi Go Lean). So good!

Usually I don`t post what I haven`t eaten yet, but today I am. This is because I know that once I get home I am not going to want to post after a long day. And honestly though it happens more times than not, I hate having to back blog. I hate leaving out all without something to read. So this is what I will be eating to finish off my day.

When making my meals last night I packed foods that were going to keep me full for a long period of time and provide me with lots of protein to help do that. So my afternoon snack was no different. I love these guys. A little too much. So much so that when I first got them, I was eating them too much. I had to store them in our under the basement sitars storage, so that they were out of sight out of mind.

Dinner is a smaller sized dinner. Not as little as I am used to. However it is packed with good filling calories. And let me go on about this new bread I bought and will be trying for the first time today. I haven`t even tried it and I am already tooting it`s horn. Stonemill - Sprouted Grain bread. BAKED WITH 100% GREEN POWER! How awesome is that! Seriously I think that this is part of what excites me about this bread more than I was before I read the tag. Some good nutritional values here too. & healthy ingredients that can all be pronounced. The slices themselves are pretty little compared to what you would get out of a regular slice of bread. No complaints here. It smelt so good and fresh too, and that is after buying it from the grocery store. Simply yet to be satisfying Cashew Butter and banana sandwich. So excited for dinner, hehe.
Because the sandwich is filling, it`s simply not enough calories to get me through the busy night I`m going to have. So some baby carrots and 1 sliced gala apple to go along with the sandwich/nibble on through the evening *while everyone else drinks and has pizza - I will stay strong!)

I hope everyone else is enjoying the day and the beautiful weather we are having here today in Ontario and everywhere else my readers are from. Have a great night filled with fabulous foods!

Who's got a case of the Mundays?

I have a bad case of the Mundays (Office Space). I will fill you in on why later, when I have more information to share.

This morning I did day 2 of my 30 Day Shred with Jilliam Michaels. It's the same workout routine for 10 days at level 1 then move on to level 2. So I knew what I was getting into at 6:15am.

I grabbed my 3lbs weights and headed to the basement to workout with Jillian (we are going to be best buds I might as well just refer to her no as Jillian).

After yesterday the shoulder presses with 5lb weights is just too much for me right now. I will have to build up to it.

Over all it was a great workout. Nothing like burning 310 calories in 27 minutes before starting your day.

After the work out I decided rather than shower right away, I wanted to eat my breakfast. Kind of gross I know.
Oatmeal

• 1/3 cup quick oats
• 1/2 mashed banana
• 1.5 tbsp dried blueberries
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1tbsp chia seeds

Check out another one of my new bowls I got Friday. Too cute.

So let's rewind to yesterday, because I wasn't able to blog at my work because of my leaving my usb cord at my full time job.

So Friday morning after breakfast, Kevin and I went and did a run and then I did my Day 1 with Jillian. This is what I looked like after all that working out. I don't know that I've ever felt or been this sweaty before.

After taking a nice long shower and getting cleaned up for the day, it as 1pm, definitely time for some lunch. I made myself a wrap with, hummus, tomato, asparagus, avocado, and some smoked tofu.With a some sides. Baby carrots and some orange pepper. Instead of jamming it into my wrap this time I just ate them on the side. I also had a grapefruit.

Come 2:20, it was time for me to leave the house and head into work for my last marathon work shift (on the weekends that is).

Working 3-11.

For my mid afternoon snack I had some yogurt and granola.

I quite enjoyed this one better than the chocolate. It fits more with what I would throw together for a homemade yogurt and granola combination.
Wow, and I knew this when I packed my dinner, but Sunday is exactly almost the same as what I had Saturday just switched lunch and dinner between themselves. lol I guess I don't have room to be creative when I work 22 of 48 hours. Strawberry, raspberry nut salad, topped with homemade raspberry red wine vinaigrette.

It was a pretty quiet shift at the group home Sunday. There was only 1 kid in the house and she for whatever reason wasn't in the mood to talk with me, and just talked with the other staff.

She didn't however mind watching any of the movies I brought in to watch. We watched Monster In-Law.

While watching the movie I grabbed the apple I had packed with me and a banana from the group home kitchen. Proud of myself for turning down blueberry muffins and frozen yogurt.
I hope everyone else is having a decent start to the day. Though it is raining here today, the air is warm and the sky is supposed to clear for a bit in the afternoon before it starts to rain again.

Fantabulous morning with the husband

I was so happy to not get out of bed until almost 10am. Wow I needed those almost 10 hours of sleep. Too much working yesterday, though the day flew by.

Kevin and I had decided that we would go for a run. We really need to get a few runs in this week, as Saturday morning we have a 5k race we are running in. We have been running lately, but only after a 13k bike ride so I can get use to the brick for my try-a-tri. This morning was strictly a running workout for the two of us.

So before headed out into the warm damp light rainy weather (I was loving it), I had some oatmeal
Oatmeal

1. 1/2 mashed up banana
2. 1/3 cup of quick oats
3. 1/2 tsp nutmeg
4. 1 tsp cinnamon
5. 1 tbsp chia seeds
6. 1 tbsp raisins

It was a fantastic way to get ready to go out for a run. We did 5.3k in 39.53. This is because we mainly ran at Kevin's pace which is much faster than my pace when I run on my own. I needed to stop a few times along the way and walk. My HRM told me that my heart rate at one point was at 99%. Whenever I looked at it through the run it was between 92-98%, way too high for me.

Also I was having a hard time catching my breath. Hmmm maybe that asthma that I had back in the day and just stopped taking my puffers for is still hanging around for small appearances.

After our run and stretch, I headed down to the basement with my yoga mat and 2, 5lbs weights. Today was Day 1 of my 30 Shred with Jillian Michaels.

Well I don't know if I am just out of shape from having not done a lot of weights, if it was because of the 5.3k run before, the fact that it's Jillian Michaels, or a combination of it all, but wow 5lbs seemed like 10.

The workout was great though and only like 26 minutes with warm up and cool down. I had Kevin take some before pictures of me so that we can compare before and after results from the 30 Day Shred.

Question: Have you done Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred? Did you like it? Did you get the results you were hoping for?