Wednesday/Friday

Here's the workouts for Wednesday and Friday...tomorrow we'll be halfway!! I supplemented swimming as cardio on Wednesday. It was my first time back in the water with my cap and goggles on and let me tell ya it was rough. I don't know when I'll be able to convince myself to do a water workout again!!

Wednesday:

5min bike warm-up

Continuous Circuit for 10 mins

Thrusters (DB press) x8

Rear lat raise x8

Pushup (these were killer) x12

Reverse dumbbell lunge x8

Mountain climber 30sec

I did partner abs with EZ which consisted of:

Medball sit-ups with an overhead pass 30reps

Russian twists with a medball 30reps

BOSU ball V-ups 10reps (pass the giant ball from your hands to your feet, hands+feet count as one rep)

Friday was a doozy last week, good luck to me tomorrow!

5min bike warm-up

Continuous circuit for 10min

Elbows-out DB row (I did a bench row with one knee on the bench) x10

Incline DB bench x10

Squat thrusts x8

DB push press x10

Single-Arm DB swing x10

Cardio interval training (I used the elliptical this time and thought it was much harder than the bike)

30% for 4min

6 intervals: 30sec at 80% then 1min at 40%

30% 3min warm down

Doggie Eats

So...Kahlua just tried to eat a penny, yes a copper penny! Who does that? I decided I would make a list of a few ridiculous things she has eaten since she's been a part of our family.

1. Crawfish claws, these came back up later on my bedspread
2. My wooden ladder shelf from ikea...I was upset about that one
3. plaster, there's now a hole in my wall which I will have to start patching up soon
4. my door frame
5. dead fish, this was a failed attempt, I was able to shake it out of her mouth
6. licked a few frogs that have been hoppin' about lately
7. countless rocks
8. decorative feathers, she has an obsession with these actually
9. edamame left on a plate on the coffee table
10. goose poop that we encounter on our walks around the lake
11. a pair of panties
12. mud is a delicacy to that mud colored puppy
13. a spider, licked off the wall

Women's Health Fat Blaster Workout

I started my new workout yesterday, and my legs are aburnin' today. Its a 4 week workout for 3 days a week. If you're on task it could take as little as 45min. I love it because it is a good mix of cardio and toning. It's funny for me to switch workout gears from what we did in swimming. In swimming our only cardio was in the pool or during the dreaded offseason. And when we were in the weight room we were focused on trying to increase muscle mass and as the guys liked to say "get huge." In my workouts now I'm trying to do the opposite!

Here's what I did yesterday, adapted from Women's Health:

Warm-up: 5 min cycling at a low level (the original lists jumping jacks, but I was too embarrassed to do them in front of the Men's Basketball team; they make me feel unathletic.)

Circuit: This is just 3 exercises with 8 reps each and you keep repeating them for 8min

Dumbbell Row

Dumbbell Bench Inclined

Dumbbell Single Arm Swings (I've never done these before, and they were a full body workout)

"Burpees" (aka "up-downs", "squat thrusts")

2min of 20sec on 10sec off (this translated to about 4 sets of 8 for me, I want to make it sets of 10 next week)

Cardio

4 min bike at 30% effort

9 min bike of 30sec at 80% 1min 40%

4 min warm down at 30% effort

Abs

I'm not exactly what exercises I did, but choose 5 core exercises and do 30 reps each. I'll post specific exercises for tomorrow's workout.

Follow up you new summer workout with a delicious

Strawberry-Watermelon Smoothie

1/4 cup Strawberries

1/4 cup Watermelon

2 spoonfuls of Plain Yogurt

5-10 ice cubes

(the watermelon makes this smoothie really sweet and juicy so don't add any other liquids, and you may want to add more ice or chill it in the freezer for 15min)

Sunblock

My family always scolds me for not wearing enough sunblock. I have naturally tan skin and used to get addicted to making it darker as soon as the warm weather started (usually early March here, so lets just say I would end up unnaturally tan by August). I still don't love sunscreen, so I try to lessen my exposure to UV rays rather than dousing myself in that oily lotion. I came across this article on Women's Health Magazine website. They're (Women's Health) not my favorite because they're a little obsessed with fitness and "looking perfect naked" but I follow them on twitter. I like some of the recipes they post and they have great workouts. I'm actually starting a 4 week gym plan off their website because even if I convince myself to head to the gym I get bored once I'm there and leave before I get enough done. I blame the past 16 years of swimming. Can you say burn out? Anyways, back to sunscreen. I need to start wearing more and these 10 secrets are a good guide to buying the right kind. What's scary is the research on retinyl palmitate, a vitamin A compound. It's ridiculous that producers just put whatever they want into the products we buy. More reason to check the label and do some research before using anything. Well there's my little soapbox. Enjoy the sun!

Shoudy Saturday and Mini-Omelets

We started the day off today with another bike ride around the same route we took that Sunday 2 weeks ago. It was 100x easier this go around because there were some nice clouds and I didn't try to keep EZ's pace. EZ accidentally called it a "shoudy" day because he couldn't decide if it was sunny or cloudy hah. I love the route we took today because it's scenic farmland and today we saw one of the coolest things I've ever seen (it may not be this exciting for everyone). We saw a crop dusting plane dusting crops. It was amazing especially because he had to pull up at the last minute to avoid a line of trees. EZ and I thought it was pretty cool and couldn't stop staring, sometimes I wish I could take pictures of everything I see on my rides/runs. I accomplished 2 things on my ride today, 1. riding side by side with EZ and not getting run over and 2. drinking from my water bottle without falling off my bike. I was proud ;) I didn't really see any improvements in the comfortableness of my seat though :( I think I need to invest in some new riding shorts...maybe that's what I'll do with my babysitting money (doesn't that sound really grown up.)

During our ride we also had a good discussion about my iPhone haha. I was able to download an app that tracked my entire ride: mileage, mph, time etc. I couldn't get over how amazing the technology is. I'm probably betraying my family since I'm an Apple user and my brother-in-law works at Microsoft. The lag between the iPhone and anything anyone else has put on the market is the fact that all the apps are made for the iPhone, so none of its competitors can catch up. If only I could design an app and become a millionaire...ok back to the point of this post, a new recipe!

After the ride I tried a new recipe adapted from this site. Mine came out nothing like their picture, but I thought it was good and EZ told me he could eat them every day for breakfast (best compliment he's ever given me about my cooking; usually the biggest compliment I get is when he asks me to make something again.) I decided they were basically mini-omelets. It was really simple, here's how it goes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and grease a muffin pan. I made two types of mini-omelets. EZ's had bacon and spinach, but mine had spinach and artichokes. Add cooked bacon/artichokes, spinach, and cheese to each muffin well. I used about 2, 1/2in cubes of cheese per well and enough spinach and bacon to fill about halfway. In a bowl mix 8 eggs (I used egg whites, which may account for the different consistency than the original recipe), 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 tbs olive oil (a capful works also.) Garlic salt and Tony's cajun seasoning to taste. Bake on 375 for 17min. I found that a spoon worked best to remove the omelets from the pan. Serve it up with a piece of toast and any leftover bacon!

Does cooking oil go bad?

A few years back, EZ made me brownies for our anniversary and they were delicious. The next year for my birthday he made them again and they were awful. We couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe the oil was bad? Maybe he messed up the directions? Who knew. Well as I attempted to make the cake mix cookies that my mom used to make me everyday after Elementary school, I realized the oil had gone bad. I tasted the batter, and yuck! They tasted just like those brownies. It just had an off taste about it. I tried to bake it out of them, but that didn't help. And I knew it wasn't something wrong with the recipe because I've made them millions of times before and never had this problem. So I taste tested the oil and identified that as the yuck factor. Who knows how long my roommates and I have had it in our pantry, something just get forgotten. So yes cooking oil does go bad! I'm so upset though because it was my only box of cake mix and I wasted ingredients and now I don't have any cookies! :'( Guess I'll have to move onto another recipe.

Roasted Bell Pepper Sauce

EZ bought some bell peppers at the store a couple weeks ago, and we used them in various dishes, the pasta salad, different variations of mixed vegetables, etc. Well the last bell pepper was starting to look a little sad, so I wanted to use it before it went to waste. I had planned to have left over tamales for dinner. The Louisiana folk have no idea what tamales are, but they are one of my favorite foods! My roommate's grandmother actually made them and they've been hanging out in the freezer. I saw a good recipe for some easy to make tamales and plan to try that in the future. Back to the peppers. I thought it would be a great idea to use them for a sauce to cover the tamales.

I had no idea how to make such a sauce, so I did a little research. Here is where I got the recipe, but it was extremely vague, so I had to google again, and find a little more information here. The video makes it so easy. I followed the first recipe, btw a clove of garlic is just one of the segments in a bundle of garlic ;)

another picture proving how amazing my camera is...

Here's what you will need:

1 Bell Pepper per person

1 clove of garlic per pepper

Spoonful of jalepenos

tbs of jalepeno juice

Directions:

Set your oven to Broil

Cut the bell pepper in half, removing the seeds and stem

Lay it flat on the pan

Remove the garlic clove from its friends and take off the flakiest out layer

Place in the oven for about 10min or until the skin is blackened

Immediately toss everything into a container with a lid, or a bowl covered with foil or plastic wrap

Steam until room temp, then carefully remove the outer skins

Place the garlic and bell peppers into a food processor (I used my blender) and blend into a puree

I burnt the garlic the first time around, so I had to remake it.

Add garlic salt to taste

I also added some jalepenos for some spice

We put the sauce on tamales, but it would be great on pasta, over chicken, or even as a salsa or salad dressing

Let me know how you try it!

Indian Creek Traithlon

EZ did great at his triathlon, or at least I thought so. He tied for first in the swim! and came in 4th in his age group overall. I think the 20 mile bike was a little tough for him, so I'm excited for us to start riding more.

Gone Campin'

our beautiful view

EZ competed in a triathlon this weekend down in Louisiana. He thought it would be fun if we went down the night before and camped at the state park where the triathlon would be held. It seemed like an ok idea to me. We had been camping a few years back in the Texas heat, so what could be different about Louisiana. We rented a tent from the University Rec for a decent amount, packed up our camping food and headed out. It was a short drive and the tent was incredibly easy to set up, so all started out well. The tent a rain jacket, so we weren't too worried about the thunder in the distance. Kahlua had a good time sniffing around, but eventually got too hot.

here she is being a princess sitting the tent

We were hoping it would cool off when the sun went down...we were wrong, very wrong! The tent had zero ventilation even though it wasIt was so hot actually that we eventually broke down and sat in the car with the AC on, completely harmful for the environment, I know I know, but believe me you wouldn't be able to handle it either. We ended up sleeping in the car...super comfy let me tell ya. And I woke up every hour to run the engine and crank the AC. I'm going to use Kahlua as an excuse, she didn't stop panting the entire night, poor thing. And poor EZ had to wake up the next morning and compete!! Well like EZ said, it will make a good story for our grandkids, ha.

Sugar isn't always just sugar

I just saw this commercial from The Corn Refiner's saying that your body can't tell the difference between different types of sugar. This however is about as far from the truth as you can get. You're body only stores/metabolizes sugar in the form of Glucose. Anything and everything you take in has to be broken down into the Glucose form. I learned this in my Biochemistry class where we had to memorize all of the metabolic processes. The most interesting thing I learned is that when your body intakes Fructose (high fructose corn syrup ring a bell) it complete bypasses the regulatory step of metabolism. The step where your body determines whether to use the food for energy or to store is as fat. So when you intake foods that contain high fructose corn syrup the fructose goes into storage and is saved for later use, rather than being used immediately. There are numerous studies that indicate high fructose corn syrup leads to obesity and diabetes. Most of this could be related to how good it makes food taste. And is it just me or do you get an insatiable feeling to eat more junk once you've started? Its like lays says "Bet you can't eat just one."

This Article is interesting

Run Baby Run

I went for a run yesterday morning and tonight around our beautiful lakes. Yesterday I ran what we call the big lake (3.9miles) and by ran I mean I jogged/walked. If we make it all the way around in some fashion, it counts to me! I can't run the whole way towing a 7mo. lab with an attention disorder. Kahlua almost got run over twice and successfully wrapped me around tree, when a passing truck scared her. I love her but she'll probably be the death of me. Tonight I ran the small lake (1.7miles) since my hips and knees were aching from the days before, while EZ went around the big one. He ran 6min miles, so I didn't have to wait very long for him to finish, and I had a little bit of time to allow Lua to walk down to the beach of the lake and chase the geese (and eat they're green poop...yum). I love being around the lakes because they are so beautiful. I wish I had a camera to snap pictures like they do in "Yes Man" Today it was sprinkling and it made the sunset gorgeous and I saw a giant tree growing in the lake filled with white cranes. The sad part is, there is a lot of litter and trash sprinkled around the shore of the lake. I've also seen some dead fish floating on their sides. The one I saw yesterday was the size of Kahlua. I wish there was something I could do to help. My conservation Biology teacher would be proud. I'm posting my Nike running stuff, that I can't live without! I hate not knowing how far I've ran, it also does the pace and calories burned. (Picture from here).

NBA Finals

EZ is a diehard Lebron James fan, and was devastated by their loss to the Mavs last night. Tons of our friends are Mavs fans and even more just love basketball in general. I wanted to host a little bbq for everyone and our freezer was overflowing with sausage and hamburger meat from my roommate's Opa, so we had everything we needed to throw a good party (once we made it to the store to pick of some Beck's and Blue Moon. My other roommate, J, and her boyfriend came over and used their dollar store grill (I really want to get one for a mere $10) to cook everything for us. We had bacon, sausage links, hamburgers and of course the family staple...salsa.

The hamburgers turned out amazing, so I wanted to share the recipe:

4lbs of thawed ground beef/chuck

1-2cups marinade, ours is similar to bbq sauce

a generous dash of tony's seasoning, and garlic salt

2 eggs

a little more than half a sleeve of Ritz crackers (these make a perfect substitute for bread crumbs)

Mix everything together and form into patties, I think this made about 12.

A good friend getting her hands dirty, so I could deal with other things (or because I get grossed out by mushing a bunch of raw meat)

Throw 'em on the grill till they're just the way you like!

Scrappy

Last scrap used to make a dog toy ;)

T-Shirt Crafts

I've been visiting my sister in Iowa for the past few weeks and have done some serious crafting. I've been focused mainly on my t-shirt quilt made from all of my old t-shirts from LSU. I just finished 4 years there as a collegiate swimmer, so needless to say I have enough t-shirts to stock the local goodwill (and many of them have actually ended up there). With the leftover scraps we made scarves and knotted bracelets and even a few fabric flowers. I'll fill you in on the details below. All you will need are scissors, t-shirts, and some sewing materials.

We'll start with the details of the blanket which you can find in a different variation here at my sister's blog. Gather up your old (or new) t-shirts and you're favorite pair of scissors and cut out 13x13in squares depending on how big you want the blanket. I wouldn't go any smaller but you could maybe go an inch or two larger depending on the size of the t-shirt, just make sure each square is the same size. Don't worry about having perfect squares. For one, it will give you an ulcer after cutting out 30 t-shirts and two the material is very "forgiving." After you have your t-shirt squares line them up how you want them (half for the front and half for the back of the quilt) and pin them together in rows. Sew each square in a row together and run it through the sewing machine. Once you have the rows finished pin the rows together, starting with 2 rows and adding 1 on as you go. Do this for both the front and the back then lay the two pieces on top of each other front side out. Lay a piece of batting (optional) the same size as the quilt and pin the 3 pieces together (front side of quilt, backside, and batting). Sew around the outer edge leaving one square one one of the 4 sides unsewn so you can turn it right side out. Once you have sewn and turned it right side out, sew a closing stitch to finish it off. Now snuggle up on the couch and enjoy!! Here is my finished project:

Now onto the knotted bracelet. This is pretty simple once you get the hang of it, and I adapted it from V and Co.'s jersey knit bracelet. The use a much longer piece of material and offer a video tutorial and 2 other variations of the bracelet (my blogging skills aren't as advanced).

Start out with a 1 inch strip of jersey material (I used the bottoms of the left over t-shirts.) If you cut in a spiral it makes a continuous strip. I use about a 48in strip. Note that I do have child size wrists that are NOT proportional to the rest of my arm.

The pictures are better than my wording, so I'll give the best commentary I can.

1. Hold the strand with your palm and thumb

2. Weave it through your fingers (you can use 2, 3, or 4 fingers depending on how thick you want it.)

3. Repeat the weave in the opposite direction, then pull the strand of your hand without weaving, rest this strand above the weave (I forgot to take that picture!).

4. Then pull the woven stand over the flat strand and off of your finger. Repeat steps 2-4 until you have a long enough braid to fit your wrist. The tie off is really simple, just loop the excess through the weave and tie the two ends of the braid together. It will stretch out a little bit. Also when you begin the bracelet make sure to have it nice and loose because I learned that it can get tight enough to cute off your circulation hah.

Here it is finished:

Now onto the Scarf, I stole this idea from my sister who gave us each one for Christmas. This is by far the easiest craft you will ever do, you don't even have to cut straight. I used the bottom halves of the t-shirts that didn't go into the quilt. My friend K loves the packers so I made her one out of a green and yellow shirt, so feel free to combine 2 shirts of different colors! And of course I made a purple and gold one in honor of LSU ;)

Cut the t-shirt into 1 inch strips. They should be loops/circles, so you will just be cutting straight across the shirt, cutting the back and front at the same time.

Give the loops a nice stretch to make give them that rolled look, and use another scrap to tie them off, it can be the same color or different like the pink and black one I made below:

Now don't tell me that wasn't easy.