All posts by harkey12

Early Morning Walk

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, ,

Having last night totally to myself at home was great! I didn’t have to rush off to teach class in the middle of the evening. Mac loved his new Halloween pajamas. Nick made it home from work by 6:30 which is the earliest I’ve seen him in about a week or so. But when I’m home all evening like this (it’s not a normal thing!), the snack monster attacks, and I eat various things until I feel like I’m about to pop. And last night was no exception.

I snacked on granola bars, some leftover brown rice, and Fiber One cereal. Craving carbs much?! This went along with the chili I reheated for my dinner and the peach I ate on the side. My evenings are never this full of eating, and I had a major food baby by around 8 PM. So I decided to just call it a night and end my suffering by going to bed early. The carby snack attack left me in a completely unhappy food coma. But I did sleep pretty well because of it!

I knew I needed to get my body out of bed and move when I woke up on my own (no alarm needed these days!) around 5:30 AM. It was time to work off a little of the damage from last night! Or at least try 🙂  I slipped into some comfy clothes and leashed up Mac for a long walk.

We made it to around 2.4 miles in 38 minutes before time forced us to head home to get ready for the day ahead. The easy walk turned into a light jog in a few places. We headed down some not-so-well-lit paths that had me uneasy for some reason this morning. So to keep me from wanting to turn around, we just took off on an easy jog to quickly get past these spots. I wanted to run more, but my hips are still sore a little and the 5K is in 2 days! So I decided to just take it easy on myself. Mac enjoys walking more anyways. It gives him time to sniff everything in site along our trail.

Breakfast

After last night’s eating fest, I’m trying to keep it fairly light today. So I did a grab-n-go breakfast as I headed out the door to the office. The highlight of my morning meal? A ZonePerfect Simple bar!

photo(62)I found these gems at Target this weekend. They were on sale for a box of 5, and anything that is fairly cheap, healthy, and full of oatmeal-chocolatey goodness is okay by me. Plus it’s got really simple ingredients! No weird stuff I can’t pronounce!

photo(63) photo(60)Only complaint is its not twice as big. I wanted more!

photo(61)These will definitely be a big part of my grab-n-go breakfasts from now on! When I can find them on sale, at least. 🙂  I also had a banana that was nearing the end of its life….

photo(64)And a mug full of Gevalia Vanilla coffee flavored with my fave Pumpkin pie spice creamer.

photo(65)This has all been holding over my hungry tummy for a while. That’s the true test of a good protein bar!

Now I’m looking forward to lunch. I have some garden-fresh cucumbers calling my name! See you all tonight after my Jazzercise marathon. I’m teaching back-to-back classes right after work starting at 5:40 PM. Wish me luck!

Doggie Halloween Pajamas

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, ,

What happens when mommy spends too much time in Target on a Sunday afternoon? She comes home with Halloween PJs!

photo(61)Doesn’t Mac look precious?? Well we think so at least. 🙂 I bought these glow-in-the-dark pajamas as a fun alternative to the typical doggie Halloween costume at Target this past Sunday.

photo(62)Until tonight, it’s been way too hot for me to even have Mac try on his new outfit. But this afternoon came with a nice rain shower that brought our temps down a little. Plus, my night off of teaching Jazzercise gave me extra time to play dress up and hold a photo shoot.

photo(59)I love his little face! Plus, I swear Mac could sense how excited I was about his new outfit, and he cooperated with all my silly posing demands! For about 10 minutes anyways..then he retreated to his comfy bed.

photo(60)Which is where he is still resting right now. Still in the PJs. I’m lucky my little guy actually enjoys wearing clothes for the most part!

Lunch

Lunch was easy today! Yes, lunches around here are usually easy, but today’s came together in about 45 seconds flat. I started with my typical green salad, topped with mushrooms, snap peas, and carrots.

photo(59)I’m lovin’ Catalina dressing lately! Little sweet, little tangy. All Yum.

While I was finishing up my salad, I heated up a bowl of leftover turkey chili from the weekend. It ended up being even better the 2nd time around!

photo(58)This was eaten with a million crackers because this girl loves her carbs.

Dinner

Dinner oddly looked like lunch because I was too lazy to cook! So I warmed up the other bowl of leftover chili. Chili round 2! Once again delicious. I had a fresh peach on the side while reading the grocery ads that came in today’s paper.

photo(58)Now Nick and I are relaxing on the couch and waiting for the newest Duck Dynasty episode to come on. I hope your Hump Day has been great!

Easy Treadmill Interval Workout

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

Workout

As you know, Wednesdays are my day off of teaching Jazzercise usually. So I take advantage of my time and typically hit the gym to be a workout snob and do whatever I want! My hips have been sore from pavement running over the weekend, but by the end of yesterday, I was feeling almost 100% back to normal. So I decided to go back to the gym this morning to give the treadmill and Elliptical a try.

It felt great to wake up early before the sun and get into the gym a few minutes ahead of my normal schedule. I hopped on the treadmill with the intention of making it to the 3.1 mile mark in less than 30 minutes since my 5K is this Saturday night! My hip was feeling fine, so I stuck with it and completed an easy interval.

Easy Treadmill Interval

For this entire interval workout, I left my treadmill on an incline of 2.5 to help mimic a mostly flat outdoor run.

  • 5 minutes at speed of 5.5
  • 2 minutes at speed of 6.0
  • 2 minutes at speed of 7.0
  • 2 minutes at speed of 6.5
  • 2 minutes at speed of 7.5
  • 2 minutes at speed of 6.0
  • 2 minutes at speed of 7.0
  • 2 minutes at speed of 6.5
  • 2 minutes at speed of 7.5

Minus the 1st round of 5 minutes at 5.5, I kept cycling through these intervals until I hit around 3.17 miles. I was sweating like crazy! And my hip was beginning to feel a little sore again for sure. So I decided to stretch before doing some upper body work and finished with 15 minutes on the Elliptical before heading home.

Breakfast

I was hungry when I got to work today around 7:45! I had a banana on my way home from the gym but ready for something more substantial.

I had an extra large serving of breakroom oatmeal and some Greek yogurt on the side for extra protein and staying power!

photo(57)This yummy mixture never gets old and keeps my tummy grumbles to a minimum. Hot breakfasts are the best – even if they are quick and eaten at my desk!

Now I’m looking forward to finishing up my day and spending some time with Nick and Mac tonight on the couch. Nick has been CRAZY busy with a work project this week, and I’ve barely seen him! Oh and I got this in the mail yesterday, so I’ll be marking on every page what I want to order for the holidays…

photo(56)This little baby is chalked full of Christmasy goodness. Can’t wait!