Friday, July 30, 2010

Uphill

Have you ever tried walking uphill for 30 minutes? It's tough.

Here is what I recommend.

Warm up for about 3 minutes on the treadmill at about 3.0 and increase the incline every 30 seconds or so. By about minute 4 or 5 you should be at an incline of 12. The highest incline you will reach and maintain.

For the next 30 minutes remain at the incline of 12 and play with your speed between 3-3.6mph.



image from www.weheartit.com


Thursday, July 29, 2010

delicious!!


Well I have been making this delicious veggie wrap for the past 2 weeks and I feel like I have found the secret to eating a salad for every meal for the rest of my life....wrap it up in a tortilla, people!

Let's start at the beginning....I had been going to The Filling Station http://www.fillingstationcoffee.com/ for their spinach wrap and then I was all like, "Hey! I can make this!!" and so I did....i my own way.


You start with a spinach tortilla and fill it with all the veggies you have on hand. Today I used spinach, zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes and broccoli. You just keep piling on the veggies and then today I added hummus and mustard. In the past I added a little herb cream cheese....laughing cow cheese is also a good idea....but mustard is the key! You need mustard! I love mustard so adding it really makes this the most delicious wrap and really reduces the need for any other sauce or dressing....thereby reducing the calories.

yum.

So then you wrap it up and enjoy!

If you like, you could probably add some meat to the whole thing....I haven't yet, but I might.

Any other variations you can think of?

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Book Review

Here's a brief review of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle.

http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

I have been wanting to read this book for quite sometime and finally my book club allowed this to happen. I will say that I enjoyed the book very much. I think for the most part, the reader has to put aside any feelings of inferiority as Kingsolver is prone to talk down to the reader. This made some of my book club friends uneasy, angry and hate the book...If you can get past this....then read on!

Kingsolver begins the book sharing her quest for her and her family of 4 to eat only locally (and mostly off their own land) for an entire year.

She does a great job outlining different gardening techniques and walks the reader through what it's really like to be a large scale gardener. I was worn out most of the time reading her book because she was employed full time and then gardened with the rest of her time. Planting, weeding, harvesting, canning, etc...

Her husband Steven contributes often with more factual, objective content.

Her oldest daughter is also a contributor with some tasty recipes to share.

The book is inspiring to eat better, live better, cook more, support local farmers, think about what you eat, connect with nature, etc etc etc....and inspired me to want to make my own bread, can summer vegetables for use in the winter and support my farmer's market as much as I can.

It's a great read....

5 stars!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

I finally did it!!

I hired a personal trainer.....do you know why?
Because I love personal trainers.

They serve a great purpose....they push you to your limits, harder than you would ever push yourself, they are scheduled according to your schedule, not like trying to make a class where you either make it or you don't....they have new and exciting ideas for workouts that you may not have thought of....they ask you if you've been doing your cardio....

At first I felt embarrassed because I wanted to hire a trainer. Like as a trainer I should be able to do that kind of stuff myself....but I couldn't just be accountable to me...I wanted somebody else in on it too.

So I inquired at the YMCA....which ended up blowing my cover by the way.... (i work out at the YMCA because nobody knows me there...nobody bothers me, nobody asks questions, nobody questions my workouts, nobody knows I am a trainer...until now).

Angela trained me on Wednesday and she was so HARD! I hated a lot of it but loved it at the end. It was so hard. We did a lot of stuff I've never done before....she made my muscles burn and it was great.

I am so happy I made that leap!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

who me?

Well I was finishing my 5 mile run today at the YMCA and a trainer there called me over. I thought she was going to say something about how I violated the 30 minute time limit on the treadmill....but alas....she talked about how I should enter a figure competition.

who me?

I surprised my self by being very very interested.

It's always motivating and fun to work towards a goal and since I believe my days of running full marathons are over...maybe I'll run some more halfs....I need a new goal to work towards, besides general fitness.

I think she said the competitions are in September so I basically have a year to think about it and decide, but at this point I'm thinking maybe.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Guess who worked out today?

this guy!

Would you call it a dream come true? You could call it that.

We had set an appointment earlier in the week (mind you, we've done this many times before)....for noon today. Guess who was still asleep at 11:50?
So I woke him up, said it was time to work out, he tried to disagree half heartedly and then he got up and I trained him.

It was fun. We both agree to that. Peanut had fun too....playing around while Zeb was doing exercises on the floor.

We started with a 30 minute session, no equipment, just body weight. It was challenging, but doable and not at all intimidating.

Session #2 has yet to be scheduled, but will be scheduled.

I'm so happy!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

PASS!

I passed I passed I passed....well I haven't talked about it much, if any, on here, but I was studying for my ACE personal trainer certification for, oh I don't know, the past year.
Do you think a post about how I studied all day would have been interesting?
me neither...

Let me take you back for a moment; I bought the material last fall and studied on my own for a few months and then put off taking the test.
Then I took a 10 week course that began April 1, 2010 and then I studied even more on my own and then this morning I woke up marched in and passed the test....
or maybe a little more like, I woke up too early, (read 5 am) left the house one hour before test time, got lost on the way to the testing center, finally found the building and walked into the room and ...the passed the test....less authoritative, more nervous.

www.acefitness.com

I was asked today why I got another certification (because I can't charge people at Scott Fitness more money) and here are my answers...

1. To continue growing and learning in this field.
2. To have a more nationally recognized certification

I guess just those 2 reasons for now....mostly to learn more...and I did. I learned a ton and studied a ton (maybe too much)....

I am so glad it's over!!


ACE Certified Personal Trainer!

That's me!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

I love Michael Pollan.

Today I'll be stealing a page from his book Food Rules again.
This time...

Rule #57:

Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.

American gas stations now make more money inside selling food (and cigarettes) than they do outside selling gasoline. But consider what kind of food this is: Except perhaps the milk and water, it's all highly processed, imperishable snack foods and extravagantly sweetened soft drinks in hefty twenty-ounce bottles. Gas stations have become "processed corn stations": ethanol outside for your car and high-fructose corn syrup inside for you. Don't eat here.