All posts by harkey12

Dark Workouts

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, ,

Sadly, we are at the time of year where the sun doesn’t come up very early and it fades away earlier and earlier each night. What does this make for? Dark workouts. That’s what.

My morning runs/trips to the gym have been dark for a while, but now it’s also dark during my evening Jazzercise classes. Sad day!! Oh well, it’s bound to happen every year, it’s just a little sad after we’ve had such nice, long, sunny days all summer.

But with that being said, I hope everyone keeps up their exercise routines regardless of the sun’s hours! This is also a time of year when people slack off on their workouts because of the seasons changing. Stick with it! One of my favorite quotes relates to this directly: “Summer bodies are made during the Winter time. If you wait for perfect conditions to workout, you’ll never achieve your goals.”

Lunch

Lunch today was supa fast and supa fresh thanks to some prep work last night. I put together an veggielicious salad last night that included spinach, mushrooms, carrots, snap peas, broccoli, and cauliflower.

photo(95)Look how pretty it turned out! I love fresh veggies, so I was eager to get home for lunch today. Plus, I love putting my salads together in tupperware bowls so I can easily add the dressing, recover, and then shake it up to evenly coat the whole salad.  I added a little Catalina dressing and shook this sucker up before I dug in.

photo(96)This salad was pretty hefty, so I wasn’t searching for too much more food by the time it was gone. I finished off my lunch with some cottage cheese and a fresh peach.

photo(97)I love the combo of cottage cheese and sweet fruit. The combo never gets old to me. And what if you’re fresh out of fresh fruit? Just stir in some jelly or preserves with your cottage cheese. It’s amazing, quick, and cheap!

Dinner

Dinner was, well, pitiful tonight. I was beyond exhausted after teaching class until 8 pm, so I just had what was quick and easy.

IMG_6095Yogurt! I know you’re shocked. But I paused to snap a pic before inhaling it. Be proud of me.

IMG_3569I then quickly showered before making a skillet of sauteed broccoli slaw.

IMG_0989It was hot and yummy which is all I really cared about tonight. Other than this, I snuck a few bites of some turkey from fridge. And that was the extent of my dinner. Pitiful? Maybe. But it could be worse. 🙂

Do you know what tomorrow is?? HUMP DAY! Get some rest and I’ll see you then!

So You’re Going to Purchase Some Running Shoes

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Workouts, , ,

Happy Tuesday to ya! It’s been a beautiful day so far here in  417-land. (Springfield’s area code for those not from the Ozarks!) I’ve been busily working all morning and thoroughly enjoying seeing the awesome 70-degree weather out my window. Plus, being busy makes the time past faster. Woohoo it’s already lunch time! But let’s back up to last night.

Dinner

My dinner last night was not for the weak of stomach. I crave the weirdest things after working out. And yesterday at 8 PM when I got home from my 3rd Jazzercise class of the day, I was ready for some randomness for dinner…

I quickly ate some yogurt before hopping in the shower. I had some vanilla Greek yogurt, and obviously inhaled it too fast to even snap a photo…oops. Post shower, I reheated some corn/pepper mix from Sunday night’s dinner to get some veggies in my belly.

photo(92)This corn was a Green Giant Steamer mix, and OMG it is amazing. I never splurge on the steamer bags of veggies, but I had a coupon to use over the weekend. I will definitely be purchasing again! It had a light sauce on it that was a little sweet and spicy.

Once I downed the veggies, it was onto some more substantial protein. Here’s where the weirdness happened.

photo(94)For this gross appetizing mix, I added 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 1 single serve packet of tuna, and some sweet & spicy mustard. It was amazing basically to my grumbly tummy. I ate half of it in a low-carb tortilla, and the other half I just ate straight out the bowl. Nick said it looked sick; I think it was awesome. But hey, I’m easy to please after 3 hours of cardio!

Morning Run

After dinner, I basically fell asleep by around 9:30 because my body was so exhausted. But I slept hard and woke up bright and early and ready to run! The weather was cool and it had just stopped raining as I headed out the door. I started off pretty slow but I felt amazing, like I could run for hours and hours. By the time I hit mile 2, I was not feeling so hot. The last 3 miles were a struggle. I guess some runs will just be easier than others! I made it to 5.4 miles in around 48 minutes before I headed home to shower and get ready for my day. Not my best time, but it’s better than no run at all.

My 10K countdown is at 18 days, so even these not-so-thrilling runs are at least keeping me on track to do well on race day. I’m already getting excited to see how well I can do the morning of the Sunshine Run!

Breakfast

Breakfast was quickly thrown into my purse like every other morning as I rushed out the door for work.

photo(93)Lotsa coffee, oats, and protein. YUM. And don’t forget all my vitamins in the tiny orange Tupperware container in the background. I always choke those down after my food has been inhaled. I also had a banana mid-morning to stave off some lingering hunger pains. I swear I eat more now after I’ve started running regularly than ever before! I can only imagine the meals that marathon runners eat. 🙂

New Running Shoes

And speaking of hardcore runners, I have officially declared myself a ‘real’ runner since I’ve been training for my 10K. And real runners need real running shoes. I’m currently running in some older Rykas that I bought for Jazzercise but decided I didn’t like to teach in them very much. Probably because they are actually made for running and not aerobic exercise.

This morning after my run, I noticed my feet were extra tired and my toenails were getting sore. TMI, maybe, but it really made me realize that I needed to invest in some good shoes. I immediately started researching and ordered these babies this morning…

photo(4)They are the Brooks Ravenna 4. I’ve never even heard of Brooks before but they had great reviews! I ordered through Zappos so I can return for free if I don’t like them. I can’t wait to try them out asap! Any Brooks fans out there?? This is all new to me, so the learning process regarding running has definitely begun. I’ll keep you updated when the arrive! I hope I love them so I can have them nice and broken in for the 10. Fingers crossed!

Have a great Tuesday, everyone. I’ll catch ya this evening!

Choosing Positivity

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Jazzercise, , ,

Happy Monday! I hope it’s been a good one for you so far.

Today started earlier than normal for me…ahem…2 AM. Why, might you ask? I woke up with a screaming Charlie horse cramp in my left calf muscle! Before I was even awake, I was out of bed, screaming, and trying to work out the most horrendous cramp EVER. It lasted a whole 10 seconds and I thought I died. But it passed (like it always does!), and I went back to sleep within minutes. Luckily it didn’t come back, and I slept soundly until my 5 AM wake up call for my 5:40 AM Jazzercise class.

Workout (x3!)

I had a small crowd this morning at my early Jazzercise class. All my students were half asleep and it was hard to stay motivated, but we powered through! I always feel amazing when I start my day with a fun workout. Energized and ready to go!

So it’s going to be a serious Jazzercise Marathon day today. I was super smart and overbooked myself today for teaching. I typically teach twice on Mondays, once in the morning and once in the evening. But today one of our instructors is out of town, and I volunteered to teach her 5:40 PM class as well. Oooops! I’ll survive though. Plus, I’ll have 3 solid hours of Jazzercise under my belt by the time I hit the sack tonight, so I’ll sleep like a dream!

I truly love teaching, and it’s days like today that bring that back to my attention. If I didn’t LOVE it, there is no way I would be willing to put so much time into it. I’ve already told myself that I’m going to most likely be tired by the time my 3rd class time comes around this evening, but I’m going to choose to be positive and power through it. I know my body is able, and I’m so thankful for my job, so why be cranky and negative?? Today let’s choose positivity and make this Monday as wonderful as possible!

Breakfast

Breakfast was quick and simple to grab as I was leaving for work this morning. I prepared a nice big bowl of Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats last night. I added a splash more of almond milk, some Craisins, and a few chopped walnuts for lots of texture.

photo(91)I love, love, love adding craisins or raisins to this mix because the sweetness is a special little treat! I also had lots of coffee and some caramel spice cake yogurt on the side for extra protein.

photo(90)This big bowl of oats + the yogurt kept me extra full all morning, which can be a challenge after a morning workout! I love the staying power of some hefty oatmeal. 🙂

Lunch

Lunch came together quickly thanks to some leftovers!

photo(91)I had the very last tiny bit of my quinoa salad, a few brussel sprouts, and some veggie pasta. I cleaned out 3 small tupperware containers from the fridge. Win!

photo(90)My favorite part was the leftover pasta. This girl loves her carbs! I also had a few tortilla chips on the side for some crunch, plus an apple since my meal wasn’t very fruit/veggie dense.

photo(89)After lunch, I threw another apple and some more yogurt into my purse as I’ll need a snack before my 2 Jazzercise classes right after work. I’ve decided I need to be more creative with my healthy snacks – I’m such a creature of habit at the grocery store! Oh well, today my go-to yogurt and fruit will get me by.

Hope you’re enjoying this lovely Fall day! I’ll see you all later! Stay positive!