Sunday morning kinda feelin

“Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the week” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sundays for me are a day of rest. Its the day I spend the morning with my family in church, worshiping God. Its the day we sit down and eat a meal together. Its the day we spend the afternoon doing miscellaneous things around the house or out and about, together. Since I've returned to church, it has become one of my favorite days of the week, made all the more special because the brother is home from college right now. I am one happy girl :O)

 I love my brother :O)

This afternoon we went on a family hike. It was one of those times that I realized how blessed I am to live where I do. Within 10 miles, there are at least 25 (possibly many many more) trails perfect for walking, trail running, trail biking, and hiking of all intensity levels. It's wonderful :O) Over the past couple months, we've tried out quite a few new ones, and now I'm itching to start trying out some trail running.

Got the bladder ready to go! (my nickname for the

Camelback, since mine's a High Sierra)

Other brother being very silly... sister in

the background.

It was the perfect day for hiking, about 65-70F... warm enough to be enjoyable, not so hot you are dying. The trail wasn't very hilly which was nice, plus it was lined with many pretty flowers and weird bush looking things.

The doggies couldn't wait to get a move on... they've gotten used to hiking without being on a leash (shhhh! Don't tell!) but there were too many people out today so they had to stay leashed the whole time.

I used my new Polar F11 HRM today... It was amazing! I didn't worry about hitting the right zones, I just wanted to see how many calories I burned. I hit 628 calories in 1 hour and 20 min. This is exactly why I bought this! I got an amazing workout in on my rest day! Now I don't have to feel guilty at all when I skip the gym this summer in favor of an outdoor workout.

I also grabbed my pedometer to track mileage and we hit almost 4 miles in that time. It was a nice leisurely hike :O)

This is home :O)

This evening was nice and relaxing too. My padre went and got pizza from Papa Murphy's, he even got a deLite pizza for me and my mommy to help us eat healthier :O) I started off with a turkey burger to fill me up and followed it with 2 slices of pizza. Then I made pesto! I just got a fancy schmancy food processor for Christmas and have hardly used it (it's great for shredding cheese, yum!). The other day when I went shopping, I picked up some fresh basil. I followed this recipe @ Girl Heroes except I cut down on the olive oil and cheese by about half. I probably should have made it exactly like the recipe, but it sounded like a calorie bomb so I eased up a little. I'm going to try it on my Ezekiel toast in the future. 

Not tomorrow though because I made another batch of Overnight Oats! (the first were consumed this morning). I loosely followed this recipe from Oh She Glows except that my recipe went like this:

1/3 cup Oats (I used quick cooking because that's all I have at the moment)

1/2 cup milk (this morning I used 1 cup and they were too watery, so I'm cutting it down for round 2)

1/2 scoop when protein powder

I mixed it up and left it in the fridge. In the morning I'll add 1 packet Truvia, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon Almond Butter and enjoy the creamy sweet deliciousness as a post-workout recovery breakfast. I can't wait to dig into it.

I'm off to continue slugging through Jackie Warner's "This is Why You're Fat" and enjoy the last of my Sunday laziness :O)

Some days just don't go as planned...

I know I mentioned earlier that I thoroughly enjoy Saturdays, but seriously I REALLY love Saturdays :O) I hit up the gym (nice and empty this morning!) and did a nice long warm up. 5 minutes walking @ 4.0 mph so the Polar could calculate my HR zones and then 5 minutes running @ 5.5 mph followed by 10 minutes of 1 minute intervals, alternating between 5.3 mph and 6.3-6.5 mph. This is what I did yesterday on HIIT day except much longer, and with additional sweaty cardio attached at the end and it has been a huge sweat fest success.

I haven't posted as much about my exercise history but about 3 months ago I decided I was going to take up running. Furthermore, I decided I was going to do it until I enjoyed it because at the time there were few things I hated more than running. So I downloaded the couch to 5k plan and (very) loosely followed it for less than 2 weeks awhile :O) I found that because I was already in good shape that running wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and in fact, I didn't suck too bad at it. I've been stuck at only being able to run at 5.5 for awhile (which has been a huge success for me) but in trying out these intervals, I've found that 6.3- 6.5mph doesn't feel that bad at all. Especially because I only have to do it for a minute and then I get to slow down to a jog for the next minute. I am definitely keeping these intervals in my routine to help boost up my speed consistently.

So I followed the 20 minute treadmill sesh with another hour of strength training. It was a routine the trainer had given me pre-bootcamp and I am very pleased to say that now (3 months later) I was able to up my weights, up my reps by a few, without dying. It was really great to see that I am showing significant progress. I'll post the workout later this weekend.

After coming home and taking a much needed shower, I was starving. I mean, "I need food NOW because I am getting dizzy" starving. I snacked on some peanuts while I made Gina's (The Fitnessista) Perfect Protein Pancakes. They were super dense (and not nearly as pretty as her picture) but so delicious and filling! Exactly what I needed post-workout. The recipe made 2 giant pancakes and I topped one with almond butter and sugar free syrup and the other with some yogurt butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. These are definitely going to become a staple in my diet. Not quite as good the cottage cheese, oatmeal pancakes but still yummy. On a side note, I am loving this pancake phase! I never thought I would be able to eat pancakes again once I figured out how terrible Krusteaz pancakes were for me.

So far the rest of the afternoon has been spent cleaning the house, playing with the doggies, and relaxing with the fam. Not quite the productive Saturday I had planned, but just as enjoyable :O)