Weekly Training

Squeeking in as much activity as I can get- I knew it would be a wild week, with my days starting with meetings as early as 7am (yes, full skirt, hose and heels meeting at 7am across the city), out of town client trips and a trade fair. I put all of my workouts in my calendar every Sunday, so I prepped last week. But I over-estimated my body's capacity for activity during such a stressful week and flexed a lot on my activity level to allow for rest:
Monday-30 min elliptical, 20 min plyo
Tuesday- 30 min yoga
Wednesday-30min yoga, Run outside 31 min (4.5km) see the picture
Thursday-looooong bike ride (15km)
Friday- 75 min Baptiste Vinyasa Flow (hot yoga)
Saturday-Off
Sunday- Off
My Wednesday run was to be the beginning of my outdoor running club at work- I've enlisted 3 other runners who want to workout with me at lunch hours- and they all 'forgot' their workout gear the first run- didn't stop me from getting out. I just got to map our first run for us, hopefully coming up this next week.

Now I'm off to put my workouts for my upcoming week into my calendar. Are you prepped for your week?

Weekly Nutrition: On my Feet

Prepare your stomach and digestive tract for the day- start it with a room-temperature glass of water, with 1/2 lemon squeezed into it. I do it every morning and have had great results. (My husband loves it too, calling it 'lemonade'). He doesn't know it's good for him...heehee
Then onto my daily routine of goods:
Breakfast- Greenie Smoothie (so easy to put together in a rush)
Mid-morning- More Greenie Smoothie (in my new Pure canteen) or a fresh apple and about 20 almonds.
Lunch-Salad, or raw vegetables with hummus.
Mid-afternoon- fresh fruit and vegetables
Supper-Salad!
Post Work-out- Vega
Very tricky week to get everything in- my meal times correspond to a client trip out of town, working a trade fair all day and other meetings. So it's convenience food, or food I can eat on my feet quickly, or in my car safely. None of those are any of the Top Ten Foods that Cause Car Accidents (MSN, 2010).

Weekly Training

Monday: 30 min Heart Opening yoga flow, 20 min treadmill incline walk, 15 min bike sprints
Tuesday: Level 2 30 Day Shred (Jillian Michaels DVD) , 20 walk, 20 elliptical
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: 30 min Hip Opening Yoga, 20 treadmill incline walk, 15 min bike
Friday: 35min treadmill incline walk, Level 3 30 Day Shred (Jillian Michaels DVD)
Saturday: Light, 3km bike ride with T. 1 small incine. about 25 min.
Sunday: Bike adventure (12.33km in 49:56min)
A balanced week, I took 2 days off training, forgoing my usual Saturday Moksha Yoga class (75min, hot) because I hadn't slept more than 6 hours a night any night this week. I was irritable and grouchy and needed rest. And besides we picked up our bikes from Pure Cycle that afternoon and got to take our first ride!
This morning I was so excited to hop on and explore. Specifically, I wanted to begin mapping my neighborhood, and all the places I want to bike to. The first one being my workplace. Too bad it figures out to be about a 11.1km one-way trip, with a coulee in between. I went halfway then turned home- didn't want the shame of calling T to come get me once I got there, since I don't think I had it in me to do all 22.2km today. Maybe next week? Mwahahahahaha...so stoked to do it one day though.

What goals have you set for yourself this summer? If you haven't yet, it may be a better time to than New Years since you have the support of the sunshine and fresh air.

Weekly Nutrition

This is a treat I had this morning, half a gluten free bagel with yogurt-cheese sweetened with agave nectar and cinnamon. The recipe for that is on it's way!
But my week broke down into this daily:
Breakfast: Greenie Smoothie (spinach, frozen berries, banana, water)
Mid-Morning: 1/2c oats, raisins
Lunch: Salad, 1/2c rice and beans
Mid-Afternoon: 2c raw vegetables (mostly broccoli and carrots) and hummus (less than 1/4c)
Supper: Big Salad! (includes 1/2 avocado, sunflower seeds, spinach, lettuce and other random veg)
Post-Workout (usually after my second workout at 1030am)- 1/2 serving Vega Whole Health Optimizer plain flavour.

Saturday's I've noticed I eat a little differently because of the convinience of being close to my kitchen and all my fresh vegetables. It's not a 'cheat day', but it is a 'flex day'- straying slightly from my 'plan' you can see above, but adhering to the core of my philosophy on food- fun and fresh! So here is another example of a sampling platter I made for myself yesterday. And, it was my first patio meal of the year! Hurrah!
On the plate is an assortment of veggies, some fresh grapes, gluten-free seed crackers and hummus. Accompanied by 0 calorie (my vice, diet drinks) black cherry soda water, Body+Soul and Clean Eating mags...and SUNSHINE! Sun makes everything taste better.

Weekly Training

Monday: 45min Ultimate Fat Burn DVD
Tuesday: 60 Hot Power Fusion Yoga
Wednesday: 1h yoga sculpt class
Thursday: 25 min plyo's, 20 min elliptical hill, 15 min treadmill incline walk
Friday: 30 min sun salutations (vigorous vinyasa), 20min elliptical hills, 15 bike intervals
Saturday: hot yoga class?
Sunday: Level 1 30 Day Shred (Jillian Michaels DVD)

Weekly Nutrition

Last week I was still lovin' the green movement so here goes:

Breakfast: 1 Green Monster (Banana, berries, spinach, water)
Mid-morning: 1/2c oatmeal with raisins
Lunch: Salad, 1/2c beans and rice
Mid-afternoon: raw veg sticks and hummus
Supper: Big salad
Post work-out: 1 scoop Vega Whole Health Optimizer (plain)
I had pancakes on Sunday, and made some almond butter cookies that night and had a few as my treat for the week.

This week upcoming is going to be awesome- I'm hosting a huge event on Wednesday for work, and won't get much time for snacking healthly or drinking my water, but I'm determined to do it. Plan plan ahead.

Post-Yoga Snack

After a nice long cool shower, I refueled after my Moksha Yoga class at my absolute favorite studio in Calgary, with this. A nice little snacking plate. I love finger food- I think it's a throwback to the sports parties my awesome Dad used to throw when we were kids. We'd get little plates and get to fill them up with all sorts of nibblies. This reminds me of those days.
Fuel for my body included 1 large (and I mean HUGE) ambrosia apple (BC! Go British Columbia fruit!), about 10 unsalted almonds, 1 sunflower butter corn cake sandwich (about 1/2 Tbsp sun butter) and 1 corn cake smeared with 1/2 tsp of coconut butter (a fave pick from Blush Lane Organics I'll review later this week). Alongside you can see my huge mason jar with water to rehydrate. Fresh food, combining protein, fat and carbs.
For more ideas on nourishing yourself post-yoga, in an intentional way (to carry on the yoga-bliss) then check out this post by Yoga Bear.
Lovin' this day. How is yours going?

Almond Breeze- a Tall Girl Now

Look at her! Isn't she gorgeous? That carton of unsweetened, original Almond Breeze is almost 2L! It was by far my best find at Planet Organic this week. Normally I breeze through 2 of their smaller cartons in no time, so this is going to be rich. Thanks Almond Breeze for reducing packaging and delivering a consumer (and I mean frequent consumer) friendly size.
Beside that tall girl is the Green Monster I whipped up for breakfast on my way to Moksha Yoga (75 min class this am).
It contained:
-1/2c Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze
-1 medium banana
-1/2c frozen blueberries
-1/2 scoop of Vega Whole Food Optimizer (for the energy of the added maca)
-2 handfuls of spinach
-1 Tbsp agave
-dash of cinnamon
-dash of vanilla
This one tasted a lot like I had added the Vanilla Chai Vega, rather than the unflavoured. I like that I can mix and match taste any day with an unflavoured powder.
Off to burn burn burn in hot Moksha Yoga class

Breakfast

Hm...Still liking the smoothie for breakfast. Today's included
2 Tbsp hemp hearts
1 medium banana
2c spinach
2/3c frozen blueberries
water
almond milk (about 1/4c)

What I love about these Green Monsters is that my stomach, and therefore my mind and body doesn't feel full and heavy after breakfast, but I know that I've had a lot of good dense nutrients to fill my mornings. Have you tried them yet?

Fresh Workout: 25 min AM Plyo's

Felt like movin' this morning and was inspired to create my own little plyo based workout. So I busted out of bed this morning and just started kickin' my own butt doing the following. Try this out, or just start movin' your body to how it feels good.
Fresh Workout included- (image from www.fitjunkie.com)
Arm circles
Jabs
Backwards lunges
Shoulder Circles
Pilates leg arrows
Standing side crunches
Knee ups
Boxer shuffle
Ballet arms
Side Kicks
Upper cuts
Skate side jumps
Squats
Up and Downs
Tri push ups
Back extensions
Shoulder presses
Mix it all up, do each for at least 30 seconds, repeat on other side if needed. Random, mix it up. Borrow from your fave DVD.

Weekly Training-Managing Grief

What does grief look like in your life? When imaging this post, I thought I could either post a picture of a big old bowl of ice cream and call it 'managing grief' or I could post a pic of my Garmin's screen of a kick-a@$ run and call it the same. That helped me choose- working out over pigging out. My Grandma's funeral was Sunday and I'm dealin' as best I can.
So here is how the last week broke down:
Monday: 30 min morning yoga, 35 min treadmill incline walk
Tuesday: 30 min yoga, 45 min run
Wednesday: 35min bike intervals
Thursday: OFF
Friday: 45min exercise DVD
Saturday: 7k run (outside! oh the sun is here)
Sunday: 3k walk (outside!)

I had wanted to do a hot yoga class, but I couldn't fit it into my schedule. I'm a little erratic on what I do for workouts, but the most important thing is consistency. I'm out there everyday, getting moving. And that is health.