Bash the Bluffs, Breakfast and Boi-gers.

Quick note: This post has pics! Side note: they're not very good. But that's no surprise, right? Right. But before we get to pics, let's talk some fitness first...

So I'm totally bailing on the Biggest Loser Boot Camp workout at 24 Hour Fitness today. Mostly because I didn't feel like waiting around until 10 am to workout. I also wasn't feeling the idea of 24 S.E.T. at 9 am either, so I decided to do a practice run of the Bash the Bluffs 5K race that I'm participating in next weekend. I wanted to do an early outdoor run and figured doing a loop on campus would be the best option. Of course, it had to be 35 degrees and windy as hell, but I stuck it out, runny nose, watery eyes, cold hands and all. This is why I can't be a dedicated outdoor runner year-round; I'm such a wuss when it comes to less-than-desirable weather conditions. And I'm too cheap to buy the proper outdoor gear. Buh.

Even though it sucked running directly against huge gusts on inclines and not being able to see, I'm glad I suffered through it because now there won't be any surprises at the actual race. Do I want to run in those conditions again? Hell no. But am I better prepared in case I have to? Sure, why not.

Here's my plan for the next few days:

• Some strength training at home, á la Jari Love tomorrow morning. 
• Some sprint intervals at the gym on Monday.
• 24 Cycle on Tuesday (got me some super comfy padded cycling shorts yesterday! They were 29.99 at the actual store here in town, plus I snagged a 25% off coupon for a grand total of $24.15. Super-sweet deal!)
• Possible 2-3 mile run on Wednesday? Strength training? Rest Day? Not sure yet.
• 2-3 mile run Thursday morning, Zumba in the evening.
• Strength training on Friday?
• Race on Saturday.

This is my first time actively training for an official event, so I'm trying to use my amateur fitness knowledge to my advantage. While I want to keep up with my running most days, I also know that strength training improves my endurance during runs, so I need to make time for that as well.

ANYWHO. After this morning's run, I had one thing on my mind for breakfast: Fiesta Flapjacks.(Served with extra bean mixture on the side.)





This time around, I sprinkled on some fat-free cheddar and slathered on some Dancing Iguana Guacamole, in addition to some light sour cream. I made my own salsa to mix with the beans as well. Just a basic mix of fresh tomatoes, onions, minced garlic, diced jalepeños, cayenne, cumin (for the beans), salt, pepper and cilantro. I got heavy-handed with the cayenne and jalepeños though. Man, it was spicy. But still delicious of course.

I actually made these for dinner Thursday night but had plenty of the bean mix leftover, so I figured a filling, spicy breakfast was in order. When you add guacamole and cheese to this dish, it pretty much feels/tastes like eating at a Mexican restaurant, minus all of the extra grease. I was in heaven. If it wasn't before noon, I might have even considered a margarita on the side instead of iced coffee.

And now, a recap of last night's dinner. These pics are especially bad, but please believe me when I say this was one of the best at-home burgers I've ever had:



BBQ Bleu Cheese burgers with asparagus "fries" on the side.



Doug grilled some 93/7 patties, brushed them with some Famous Dave's Rich & Sassy BBQ sauce and topped them with some reduced-fat bleu cheese crumbles. We served them on some bleu-cheese foccacia rolls (toasted on the grill), spreading one side with light mayo and the other side with guacamole. Oh. My. God. As Guy Fieri would say, we totally caught the bus to Flavor Town.

The only things that were missing were some grilled onions and some tomato slices. But hey, guess what? We have leftovers, so perfection is on the way tonight! We were basically trying to do our version of Red Robin's Bleu Ribbon Burger and while not quite identical in terms of ingredients, it was still hands down the best burger I've had cooked at home. Doug is an amazing grill master. (Ignore the review of RR's burger on that blog. Or don't. I just happen to love RR's burgers and am of the opinion that the person who wrote that post doesn't know what they're talking about. So there.)



Another shot of the asparagus. Tossed in a simple mix of olive oil, kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Grilled to a delicious crisp and drizzled with lemon juice.

I LOVE FOOD! Off to run some errands. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

Busy, yet satisfying evening.

First off, my lunch was awesome. Spaghetti squash apparently makes an excellent salad topper. Who knew? Man, I love that stuff.

I came home from work as soon as I could, with visions of wine and lemon cake in my head. I bought the cake slices yesterday from the discount bakery rack at the grocery store. Well, I came home and they were no where to be found. Then I remembered that I told Doug that I wasn't sure why I bought them and that he could help himself. And he totally did. To both slices.

So, discouraged and still in the mood for some sweet baked goods, I remembered the Pumped-up Pumpkin Cookies recipe that I printed off earlier this week from Carrots 'N' Cake. The recipe was easy enough, so I gave it a shot:



I had two:



Changes I made: ground flax instead of chia seeds; dried cranberries instead of raisins; unsweetened vanilla almond breeze instead of hemp milk.

Yuuuum! And, I must admit... I'm kinda glad the cake was gone. I'm sure it had plenty of fat and sugar that I didn't need and eating your own homemade treats is, for the most part, more satisfying (and usually healthier, too). And unlike me, Doug doesn't gain 2 pounds overnight by eating cake, so it's all good.

For dinner, I stuck to my plan of trying KERF's Fiesta Flapjacks:



(Yes, it was a lot of food, so I ended up eating only half of everything.)

Close-up, with salsa and light sour cream:



As for what I mixed with the batter: black beans & sauteéd veggies (mushrooms, onions, tomatoes). I seasoned the beans & veggies with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, cilantro and a dash of cayenne.

On the side, I took more leftover spaghetti squash, mixed in the remaining beans & veggies, stirred in a 1/4 cup of fat-free shredded cheddar and topped with salsa.

Such a unique, awesome meal! So many different textures and flavors. The sweetness from the squash really complemented the slight sweetness of the pancake batter too. I was quite pleased.

And now with the leftovers, tomorrow's breakfast is ready to go! Easy-peasy. The pancakes will probably get a lottle soggy overnight, but oh well.

Still nursing my wine:



Excellent dinner and treats to end the day. Time to plop my booty on the couch and tune into NBC for some laughs. G'night!

No, I didn't melt. But that's a good thing.

Good morning! I'm just gonna dive right in. First off, more new DVD feedback. Today's weapon of choice?



Yoga, JM style. Now, I'm probably the last person that should be reviewing a yoga DVD because I'm still a novice and, despite my best intentions, am quite sporadic in my practice. HOWEVER, I think it's safe to say that this isn't your typical yoga workout.

My previous experience with yoga rests on the Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga DVD (only made it through levels 1 and 2; still haven't tried level 3) and Baron Baptiste: Journey into Power Level 1 (which I actually grew to love last time I did it; need to make time for it again soon!).

So, after having done those yoga workouts, Jillian's was different, but not in a bad way. There are two 30 minute workouts and today I just stuck with level one. To be honest, I was pretty terrified because I didn't know what to expect. I thought it was going to be this hardcore burn session, set to industrial music or something. But it wasn't that bad at all.

Basically, Jillian sets you up with standard yoga moves (sun saltuations, downward dog, crescent, warrior 2 &3, etc.), but adds movement so you can perform reps of the move and then hold the move in place for 15 seconds. For example, when she takes you into warrior 2, she has you repeatedly bend and straighten your front leg so you get a little burn going and then you hold for 15 seconds with the front leg bent. She also has you do this with push-ups and side planks.

As typical with JM workouts, she has 2 helpers; one to show beginner moves and the other busting out advanced moves.

The thing I loved most about this DVD? The pace! That 30 minutes just flies by. She purposely moves through each interval quickly so you can benefit from a higher heart rate.

So how did I do? Well, not that great, haha. Since it's easily been a month (or more) since my last yoga session, my form and balance were pretty crap. I've never performed warrior 3 before, so I was getting really frustrated that I couldn't hold myself up and was grasping for the top of the TV to keep from falling. Pretty pathetic, but it only made me want to do the DVD more so I could increase my balance and benefit from body weight training.

Although I appreciated the fast pace of the workout itself, I do wish the cooldown stretch was longer and more relaxing, like the one on the Biggest Loser yoga DVD. Her stretches were definitely effective (I didn't realize how stiff and tense I had gotten over the past few days from my other workouts), but it would've been nice to hold them longer and focus on deep breathing. Yes, I can do that on my own after the DVD is over, but I like it when longer cooldown stretches are included. Ah well.

During the cooldown, Jillian starts to talk about how it's not about being perfect, it's just about practice. That really resonated with me. Obviously, such a statement can be applied to my life in various ways, but when applying it specifically to yoga, I really need to repeat it in my head. If I'm more patient with myself and don't get so frustrated when my form isn't perfect, my yoga sessions won't be so sporadic.

Overall? Another favorite, yet unique addition to my JM collection. She has motivated me, once again, to pursue this workout with more regularity. I'm also motivated to start doing my other yoga DVDs more often too. I think my goal between now and the end of the year is to be able to conquer level 2 of Jillian's DVD and level 3 of the Biggest Loser DVD. It's totally do-able!

Ok, on to food pics. Once again, I took all of my breakfast, lunch and snack pics this morning to save time. I'll try and do that from now on.

Breakfast:



A 3-minute oatmeal cookie & a hard-boiled egg. Thanks to Christie at Honoring Health and her Zucchini Bread Oatmeal, I decided to use up the last of our zucchini in an oatmeal cookie. Yuuuum! Totally loved it. It was like eating a pice of zucchini bread for breakfast. I tried to squeeze out as much excess liquid as I could from the zucchini, but it still made things pretty moist. Before adding the zucchini to the mix, I sprinkled it with splenda and cinnamon. I added about an extra tablespoon of oats, but perhaps more flour would've been better. The taste was awesome though. And I'm still kicking myself for not adding dried cranberries because I think that would've brought it all together. Oh well. Next time. And there will be a next time because I love zucchini and am all for adding it to my breakfast now!

Morning snack:



Good ol' banana and strawberries.

Lunch:



Leftover slice of spinach mushroom pizza (ended up having once slice last night and gave the rest to Doug; I'm officially over pizza this week!) with a spaghetti squash salad. Last night I hacked open a spaghetti squash that I bought a while back and stuck it in the microwave. I was hungry all day yesterday, so to keep from filling up on crap, I went for the squash because it never fails to fill me up.

There's still a ton leftover, so today I took some romaine salad mix and slapped some squash on top (when I cooked it last night, I added: olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder) and sprinkled it with fat-free feta for extra protein. Soooo looking forward to this meal!

Afternoon snack:



Pear and some string cheese.

For dinner, I'm planning on trying some Fiesta Flapjacks from Kath at KERF. I've actually been wanting to try the Kodiak Cakes mix for a couple of months now, so I was super-stoked when a) I saw that King Sooper's sold it and b) I saw this recipe a couple of days ago! Some things are just meant to be. I'll let you know how they turn out!