A Blog Dedicated to Health, Food and a Dash of Sarcasm

I feel like I’m only halfway through the day, and it’s only 8pm! Blah. After work and then my GRE class, I have to go to the gym to do one of my new high intensity circuit workouts. I’m a lil anxious.

In other news: I took a pre-test for my GRE prep course this past Saturday and, fortunately or unfortunately, I did way way better than the first time I had taken the test (which prompted me to sign up for the course in the first place). There’s something to be said about the pressure of being timed, on the clock and knowing how much the scores mean in evaluating an application at face value. I don’t want to be glanced over because of a number. Because, hey, FYI, I’m not a number! (bloggers worldwide: sing it, sister!). These classes should help cement my confidence in myself, so that I approach the test with a little more ease, a little more breathing and a little less heaving.

Anyway, since Lindsey has me on some different workouts this month, I figured it wouldn’t do much harm to share some of what worked last month, specifically: intervals. Since I only really started running on the treadmill a little over a year ago (I was a staunch supporter of elliptical-only workouts for too long), I approached running as I saw other bloggers using it. Which meant, I would try to run for longer and longer distances first and then build up speed as I got better. Well, turns out, I wasn’t really into running for the thrill of watching my endurance grow and really just wanted to use it as exercise. Running can work up a great sweat and get my heart rate up quickly, and that’s why I like it. I’m afraid I still don’t consider myself a runner, someone who loves to run because it calms them or challenges their capabilities. I love running for exercise — it’s that simple — and I love exercising, so really I don’t see a problem! But with the kind of running that I was doing, I wasn’t getting enough out of it. I started to plateau and couldn’t get out of the rut. I was phoning in some of my runs, simply because I had lost confidence that they could do anything besides keep me at the status quo. And frankly, running became a chore. Which completely blows!

To cut myself short, intervals saved me from giving up on running altogether. Here’s the intervals that Lindsey had me doing twice a week for 4 weeks:

5 min warm-up at 4 RPE (about 5mph for me)

1 min sprint at 8-9 RPE (about 8 – 9mph for me)

1 min recovery at 4 RPE (4 mph this time!)

1 min build-up at 6-7 RPE (5.5-6.5pmh)

[then do the 3 min set of sprint, recovery and build-up for 10 total sets]

5 min recovery-ish at 6 RPE (5-6mph)

5 min cooldown at 4 RPE (4-5mph)

The first few times I did it, it was KILLER, but by the end of the month I had to keep increasing the speed on my sprints to know that I was really giving it my all. Just goes to show you how much the body adapts. With a new month, comes new workouts to surprise my body! I look forward to it with fear and excitement.

In any case, there’s always delicious food to be had –

Like many bloggers out there, I love my veggies roasted. The flavors blow my mind. This is a weekend salad because I sometimes just like to have hot foods served HOT. Lots of times with my salads at work, I have no choice but to eat them cold. I might still love em, but I like it hot sometimes (TWSS).

Roasted Veggies Salad:

This guy had spinach (under there somewhere), avocado, ROASTED broccoli, red bell pepper, tomatoes, red onion, zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant bathed in pesto. I added some hummus on top for protein, but I’m not gonna lie — sometimes hummus is a sorry excuse for protein. But it’s delicious all the same as a “dressing” for salad, so who’s to really say that it matters?

Off topic: I can’t wait for the next FRINGE!! Gah! It’s fast becoming an obsession for me, and I’m kind of devastated that it’s only going to be airing for another week and then BREAK for almost two months! oy vey. I hope my lust for Fringe and Joshua Jackson can rebound as fast as my body can from the intervals, otherwise,…well, otherwise, I don’t want to think about it! More heaving! Less breathing!