Strongman Workout

Today’s workout was a great one.  I met up with a friend who used to be the gym manager/personal trainer in our resort, but he recently opened up his own gym right outside the resort that is super nice.  If you live or work in the Davenport/Kissimmee/Orlando area then check out this gym!

My friend, Alan, competes in strong man competitions and is no joke.  I wish I lived down here permanently so he could train me all the time.  His workouts are challenging and amazing. 

The man in action

Upper body strength training: Circuit completed 4 times

- Chest Press

- Pull down (2/4 times)

- Rows

- Resistance Bands (2/4 times)

- Pull Ups

- Tricep Dips

- Push ups with legs on a Bosu Ball

- Ball bounces

Snapshots…can you see how thrilled my face is in every picture.  No time for hamming it up while I was working my butt off.

I then did 40 minutes of cross training that I should have done on Friday.  I wanted to do an elliptical interval workout, so instead of being creative and thinking one up, I stole one from one of my fellow blogger friends, Gabriela at Une Vie Saine.  I modified her 35 minute Elliptical interval workout to make it 40 minutes.  I also was on an elliptical with just resistance and no incline so I only changed resistance during it.

Minutes	Resistance
1-5	5
5-6	12
6-8	8
8-9	12
9-11	8
11-12	12
12-14	8
14-15	14
15-17	8
17-18	14
18-20	8
20-21	14
21-23	8
23-24	14
24-26	8
26-27	16
27-29	8
29-30	16
30-32	8
32-33	16
33-35	8
35-40	5

I really liked the resistance intervals.  One of my personal goals is to try and do more intervals instead of just 40 minutes at a resistance of 12.  I liked doing this particular workout because changing the resistances made the time go by a lot faster.  40 minutes went by like that, and I got a great sweat on in the process.

I finished up the workout with some quick abs and stretching.

50 crunches

1 minute bicycle crunches

1 minute horizontal scissors

1 minute vertical scissors

1 minute plank

I have learned my lesson about skipping workouts on my training plan.  They are harder to make up than I anticipated, especially when I already have 6 workouts a week planned.  Right now I still have to make up my 5 mile run, and 3.5 mile run, but I did do my 2 mile run which would have been later this week so with some tricky shifting I should be able to be all caught up soon. 

Lunch was delicious because after that workout I was starved!  An egg salad sandwich on 80 calorie whole wheat bun and side salad with one cut up slice of American cheese, bacon bits, tomatoes, red onions, and balsamic vinaigrette.  Also had an un-pictured apple. 

I've just been surfing the internet and watching some shows today.  Not the best pool weather, but I'm glad I have a whole week down here to enjoy some sun. 

Season's 52 Orlando Style

Last night my mom and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Season's 52.  Everything is fresh, delicious, and each dish is always less than 475 calories.  Of course it defeats the purpose if you order apps, but it had to be done because there were so many delicious choices. 

Caramelized Crab & Shrimp Stuffed Mushrooms with roasted garlic and Parmesan cheese

Garlic Chicken Flatbread with balsamic onions, roasted red peppers and mozzarella cheese

Roasted Artichoke-Stuffed Shrimp with wilted leaf spinach, pasta pearls and clam cioppino sauce

mini-indulgences!  Peanut butter mousse and cookies and cream

Dinner was amazing!  My mom and I both got the shrimp for an entree and loved it.  Earlier before dinner I went to the local resort gym, which is pretty small, to get in the 5 miles long run I missed on Saturday.  Unfortunately, the gym was not up to it's usual par.  It was really hot in there, like really hot.  I did 2 slow miles on the treadmill before hopping off and deciding I was going to bike for 40 minutes and make up Friday's cross training.  When I got on bike, the screen was broken and one of the pedals was broken.  LAME.  I was sweating like a beast at this point and just went home to get ready for dinner. 

my setup

Today's workout was much better and at a new location.  I will be posting it a little bit later since the internet is acting up right now!  Super slow...loading a picture takes forever.  Unfortunately, it's a bit rainy and windy so I can't enjoy a day in the sun, but I'm sure I will find something else great to do! 

Plain Old Insomnia

I thought last night was going to end with some delicious insomnia cookies, but it actually didn't end until much later into the morning because I had a serious case of insomnia.  I started to get a lot of anxiety about the upcoming school year, and even though it doesn't start for a month, I was in a little bit of a panic.  If anyone out there has experiences anxiety before, you know that sometime you just can't shut off all the thoughts and worries when you want to.  They just keep running through your head.  

Needless to say it wasn't much fun.  No one enjoys a pre-sleep panic attack.  I tried not looking at the clock, but I suspect I didn't fall asleep until close to 4 am.  It wasn't much of a surprise that when my alarm went off at 5:25am, I said heck no!  

I don't want to use not sleeping as an excuse, so I am still going to head downtown to put in 3.5 miles on the treadmill.  After that I am planning on making up the mat work that I missed this morning with a free Urban Yoga Philly class in Washington Square Park.  If it's too hot I may need to improvise with a different workout, but I'm going to play it by ear.  

Lunch today was some low-carb pasta with a little left over ground turkey, white onion, tomatoes, a small scoop of Philadelphia cooking cream and some light Ragu with basil.

This meal was definitely a winner.  I like mixing things up from the meals I normally eat too.  Variety is the spice of life...at least that's what I hear.

Baby Blues

Yesterday's gym session was a success.  I did 1.25 miles on the treadmill, ran downstairs to grab a coveted spot on the TRX sign in sheet, finished up on the treadmill with 3.5 miles in 41 minutes then ran down and did a TRX class.  So sweaty.  At least when I look around at the other 7 people in the TRX class, they always look like they feel as exhausted as I am.  Makes me feel good that we are all suffering together. 

After class, I ran home, showered quickly, and met up with Joe and some friends at Baby Blues for dinner.  Baby Blues is a BBQ place in University City that has been open for less than a year.  We have been wanting to try it out, but never had the opportunity until now.  Joe and his roommate went to high school with one of the managers, so he asked us if we were hungry and if we had allergies then took the menus and ordered for us.  Now, this isn't really how I operate, but I went with the flow.  I like to choose what I get, and I put a lot of thought into it, especially nutrition wise, but I figured he would hook it up so I went with it.

Lots of sauces on the table for different tastes...sweet or spicy

fake flowers in a paper towel vase...classy

A sauce in a whisky bottle

Lots of very informative art

Blue moon = best friend

Hush puppies with a cinnamon icing dish

Some grilled wings

Texas ribs, catfish, corn bread, shrimp, chicken

brisket, Memphis ribs, baby back ribs, corn bread

Mashed potatoes, beans, mac n cheese

Parmesan corn

The four of us split everything, and it was really good.  I definitely would not have ordered a lot of these things, so the good thing about the way we ordered was that we got to try a little bit of everything. 

I cleaned my plate - snagged both the pieces of corn..I like being the only girl eating with meat loving boys

The boys all got banana pudding, I had a bite. It was good, but it wasn't my kind of dessert

Unfortunately, we paid kind of a lot for all this food.  We weren't expecting a free dinner, but when someone else orders for you (and doesn't hook up a discount) it adds up.  For me personally, I would have ordered probably a shrimp or catfish dish with some good sides (I was missing some serious green in this dinner) and maybe a side salad.  It would definitely have been a lot less expensive than the smorgasbord we had here.  I would definitely consider going back sometime soon, and get what I know are my favorite BBQ items.  Also that way I can try and eat healthier and pick which items are worth the splurge.  

This morning I managed to get up for Shred Day 8!  Go me!  It wasn't too bad, but I got a good sweaty workout in.  Here I am post workout showing off my wings.  (For those who don't know, wings are the part of my hair sticking out on the sides...some day they're gonna get so puffy that I am gong to get up and fly away with them.)

Recovery Breakfast was a wheat bagel from Dunkin Donuts with reduced fat cream cheese, lightly toasted.  I was just sick of eggs, and I had limited other food in the pantry...

So fluffy and delicious

I think it might be almost nap time :-)

Whoops

This morning when I heard my alarm faintly go off at 5:25am, I pushed off.  Next thing I knew it was way late.  Whoops!  No Shred for me this morning.  My sleep schedule is all out of wack where my daily naps are more like bedtime, and my night time sleeping is more like a nap.  Maybe I needed a day off to get my sleep a little more back on track.  I did sleep in today, but no nap for me.  

Breakfast was a repeat of yesterday's because that's what I have in the kitchen.  I'm heading out of town next week, and I'll be own of town for 3 out of the next 6 weeks on and off.  I don't want to stock up too much on groceries and have them go bad.  

Fresh cut potatoes, eggs with tomatoes, onions and fat free feta

A very ripe half of a grapefruit

Since I switched out today's strength and stretch day for yesterday's run day, I have a run on my horizon this afternoon.  I am going to also take a TRX class as long as I can get signed in early enough for it (the sign up starts 30 minutes before the class starts and it fills up FAST).  Luckily they are going to be expanding the room that we do it in soon, so in September we should be able to fit double the amount of people in the class.

So what's up for this afternoon:

Drop off a binder at my school campus

3.5 treadmill miles

TRX class

some other cardio to fill any time I might have in between the run and TRX

Dinner :-)

After the gym, I'm going to hurry home, shower, then head to dinner with Joe and his roommate.  We are hitting up a BBQ place that opened this past year, and we have yet to try.  I'm pretty excited, but I need to really burn off some calories to go indulge in a BBQ dinner! 

Shred Day 6

Shred Day 6 wasn't too bad today.  We did about 35 minutes of mat work: lunges, squats, push ups, planks, tricep dips, etc.  For the last 15 minutes we did one big loop up a hill, around the ramps that we did some cardio on last week and back around, it was more my speed since it was a jog not a sprint.  I can run Broad Street, but I can't sprint a block to save my life. 

purple tank top, purple gloves, purple nails - so stylish!

I came back, and Joe made us a great post-shred breakfast!  An egg scramble with one yoke and the rest egg whites, fat free feta, red onions, and tomatoes.  With my scramble I had a few cut up pieces of potato, whole wheat toast, and half of a grapefruit.  

Today's half marathon training plan calls for 3.5 miles.  I haven't done them yet because i was feeling kind of crumby after my post-shred nap.  I'm not counting them out, but I'm also not stressing myself out over it.  If I don't get to them is evening, I am going to do it first thing tomorrow and switch today's "run" day with tomorrow's "strength and stretch" day.  I'm going to go with the flow!  

Tonight I am making Thanksgiving Stuffed Peppers for dinner! 

Bagelicious and a Nail Salon Tragedy

Today was a double bagel day :-)  After Shred day 5 (which wasn't too bad today!) Joe and I stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts for a quick breakfast.  Instead of the oh so enticing breakfast sandwich, I opted for a whole wheat bagel with reduced fat cream cheese, lightly toasted.  It was yummy.

Back to today's shred, it was a day where mats were actually suggested.  Yay!  I was wondering what the mats would be for if it wasn't needed for push ups, planks, mountain climbers, etc.  We did a lot of stretching, ab work, side planks (my enemy), and glut work.  This is the kind of workout class I love.  Even if it's tough, you're still basically in the same spot and not jumping around.  I prefer all exercises lying down because I'm lazy like that. 

Aren't there any workouts I can do while lying on this thing?

Thumbs up for a easy workout and biking gloves to protect my hands!

I took a short nap today, and then I went and got my teeth cleaned at the dentist.  I always feel better once that is off my to do list for another six months.  After that I grabbed a quick lunch at another bagel place!  I had bagel fever today!  All the creamy cheeses and fluffy bagels were beckoning me, but I was a good girl and got my healthy Manhattan Bagel staple.  Multi-grain bagel thin, turkey, lettuce, tomato, onion, and honey mustard.  Less than 250 calories. 

so many delicious flavors!

Now onto a serious story.  Please weigh-in in the comments sections your opinions on the matter.  

So I took my sandwich to the nail salon.  Even though I live in Philly, I still go to a nail salon about 30 minutes from my apartment close to my parents house.  They are really the best!  They give super long foot massages, are really clean, and also give neck and back massages while your nails dry.  

Well, Fridays are always really crowded here, but since I was in the area for the dentist appointment, I went anyways.  I was lucky enough to squeak in and get a spot in a pedicure chair, but after my pedicure was done there were no chairs available for manicures.  The woman who did my pedicure gestured for me to sit on the couch and wait, she placed my purse on the floor. 

The Longchamp bag - brand new - first day using it

So the couch was placed right next to the area where you select your nail polish color, and two young girls, maybe 8 years old, were browsing the selection with their mom.  All of sudden, a bright orange bottle of nail polish crashes to the ground and shatters, orange splatter all over my bag.  One of the young girls said that when she picked it up by the lid, the brush wasn't screwed in completely and came apart from the top.

I pick up my bag like a newborn just fell and shattered it's scull.  I take a few deep breaths and try to think of how I can get the bring neon orange nail polish off of it before it stains.  I start to show the women who work there, but they don't really seem to care or want to help.  They give me some nail polish remover and a few pieces of cotton.  I start ferociously scrubbing the bag, unaware of what acetone nail polish remover is going to do to this fabric.  Luckily most of the stains came out, but if my bag had been leather or canvas, it would have been a gonner.  I was visibly upset, and they asked if it was coming out, but they knew I was pretty pissed at the situation.

I was angry at the situation, not at the little girl.  Even though I think she was being pretty careless and could have apologized to me (she never said sorry).  I think that as part of good customer service, the people who worked there should have helped me clean it off, offer to pay for dry cleaning to get the stains out, or given me a gift certificate to come back and get another manicure or pedicure, since obviously my experience was ruined. 

I did show that I was upset, but I didn't make a huge stink out of it (other than sulking through my manicure).  I really do like this place, and I didn't want to not be able to come back since I made a big deal over an accident.  I am the kind of person who will send back food (when warranted ex: I got a different meal than I ordered or my meat isn't cooked properly), ask for gift cards if there are bad experiences at places, etc. I usually don't care about being a pain in the butt because that is part of customer service.  I work in retail pharmacy, and you can be sure that if I spilled cherry cough syrup all over someones designer purse I would have tried to help in any way possible and gotten a manager to see if they could give them a gift card or something for their trouble. 

At the end of the day, it's just stuff.  Things don't matter.  I do try to remind myself of this when things like this happen.  Like when my sunglasses were taken by a big wave...

Anyways, what would you have done?  Would you have asked the business for some sort of compensation?  The mother?  Not go back to support their business?