Drive-by

I’ve realized that I have been extremely neglectful to the blog. I know that it is a product of all of the changes going on. Sometimes its very easy to get stuck in the bottom of the barrel and feel sorry for yourself when things aren’t going the way you might hope. You forget to appreciate and acknowledge all of the little awesome things that happen in between. 

SO..with that being said, I’ve planned a little drive-by of some of the recent awesome-ness.

1. Amazing dinners

Mashed fingerling potatoes (with buttermilk- OMG), Braised pork chops with fresh sage, granny smith apples and red onions, and prosciutto (I have a love affair with salty pork products) wrapped asparagus

2. Rolling change.. ok, so rolling change for 2 hours isn’t exactly awesome.. But that’s how it goes when you work at Dunkin Donuts and make change tips.. having some money (And by some I mean barely enough), that’s awesome. 

3. Snacks on the go

 Everyone eats frozen raspberries out of the bag in the car, right?

No red dye #40 here

 And yes, I ate the whole bag in one sitting. 

4. Walks/Runs with my favorite mutt. This past week we did one of each. We ran 4 miles together around the neighborhood one day, and took a super long walk through Providence the next day.

 Needless to say, I succeeded in tiring him out

 5. Lamb

I can’t believe I was ever a vegan/vegetarian.. I kind of feel bad about eating animals sometimes, especially baby ones.. But my god, they just taste so good and make my body so very happy. 

6. The domestic man’s pizza crust.. This is the third time I’ve made this crust and I LOVE it. G even requested it… We made a pear, goat cheese, and prosciutto pizza and it was AMAZING!

7.Working out, HARD. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been a little slacking in the workout department. It’s nice to work out like a beast, sweat your ass off, and be proud of yourself for working out even when you didn’t want to.  And hey, my body hasn’t completely turned into jello. 

8. Adorable Pitbulls dressed up ridiculously making me smile :)

9. Free coffee! As a pat on the back for hitting the gym so hard this morning, I decided to treat myself to a Starbucks coffee. I went through the drive-through and apparently they felt bad that it took so long and gave me the coffee on the house. 

 Not necessary, but appreciated!

10. Getting back to writing ;)

My stems are killing me

Hello, hello! 

The last few days have been full of puppy snuggles and adjustments as we get to know our new little friend

Tuna is definitely a sweetie.. But just like any puppy, he needs to be watched every second. For the most part he has been really good… and seems to be fitting into our home just fine.

Workouts 

I’ve been walking Tuna every morning around the neighborhood for 45 minutes- which is great for the low impact cardio I’ve been ignoring.

 Tuesdays are run days- I did 3 miles at 9:40 pace and then moved on to some upper body strength stuff.. Basically just did some biceps curls, triceps extensions, shoulder raises (front and lateral) rows, and flys. I totally spaced on marking down the specifics- but I felt it the next morning, so I guess it was effective enough!

I knew Wednesday was going to be a long day- and Paula and I only had 45 minutes so we did some leg stuff

Immediately after or workout, I headed out to give a Thai Massage. With Thai massage, you use your body to stretch another person- so its kind of a workout too! It took about 80 minutes- and believe it or not, I was actually sweating! 

I also had a client (who showed up 30 minutes late) which allowed me to do a little workout with the class that was going on.. The focus was squats- my legs were already burning from earlier in the day so this was super intense. After working out and the client, I also taught a 45 minute yoga class. Needless to say, my body was exhausted and I was VERY happy to drink a glass of wine to seal the day :)

Thursdays are run days too.. but first I walked Tuna as my warm up and then headed to the gym for some treadmill speed work 

This run was tough.. not because it was particularly fast (and definitely not fast compared to other bloggers and athletes! You guys are amazing) but because my legs hurt so badly from yesterday. I think the walk with Tuna really helped, but my legs were cramping durning the two “speedy” 8:12 minute miles. 

I came home and immediately chugged some Mocha Recovery milk. I used 3/4 cup of whole milk, 1 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk with 1 tbsp each of coffee syrup and ovaltine.. it was absolutely delicious!

SIDE BAR: 

I realize that most of you are probably not from Rhode Island- so you have absolutely no idea what coffee milk is.. or coffee syrup for that matter- Believe me, it’s delicious. Apparently coffee milk, and coffee ice cream are native to RI only? I dunno.. but you need to get on board. That coffee syrup is from Wholefoods- and doesn’t have any weird crap in it.. so you should totally run out to buy some now. 

I wish I could chill out on the couch for the rest of the day to rest my stems.. but I have to take Tuna to his first vet visit.. Followed by a client and teaching yoga tonight.. Hmmm.. I think I need to grab another bottle of wine ;) 

Have you ever had coffee milk or ice cream?

Do you like Ovaltine?

Are you training for any races?!

Training runs +quickie WOs+ foods of course :)

 Let’s get up to speed, shall we?
    TUESDAY- I headed to check off a training run.

  I find it really interesting that the training runs aren’t very long- or fast for that matter. I’m sure it is mostly due to the fact that I have months before the actual race day. It has been really nice to actually take it out slow- I think I might even be starting to like running :)
   Before my run (with Paula) we did some supersets- We had super limited time since she had to get to school..
-Military Press/ Bench press
-Tri extension/ Biceps curls
-Shoulder Raise (lateral)/Shoulder Raise (Front)
-Bent over rows

    Straight from the gym I dropped by Denny’s to see my old co-workers and have a couple cups of coffee

    I love the new place mats! It was nice to catch up with the girls- I need to stop by more often <3 p="">   Sometime later I reheated some Spicy Coconut soup for lunch, while I caught up on the Biggest Loser

    I just can’t help myself- I love this show! If only I could train with them.. I think it would be good fun.  Unfortunately, the fun couldn’t last all day.. I had some cleaning and other chores to get done. Around 4:30, my friend picked me up to go to Launch.. Launch is a trampoline park- which sounds super cool right?! To be honest.. I didn’t think it was all that great for adults- don’t get me wrong.. it was definitely fun and a workout- but I think I was expecting something a whole lot more epic. It was $14 for an hour to jump- so I would say it was a bit more money than I would be willing to spend. However I think it is a good option for parents to bring their kids there to get them up off the couch and moving.

WEDNESDAY- I woke up with a real kink in the neck- I’m not sure if it was from the workout or the jumping.. But I decided to skip out on going to the actual gym. Instead I ended up doing Zwow53 (I skipped the stretching in the video and just did all 4 rounds back to back) I finished in just over 8 minutes- and was sweaty! I love how these types of workouts.. I took some “progress” pics afterwards

 

 The weather was mild- so mild I walked the dog in my shorts!

 It made me feel like spring isn’t THAT far away.. (Don’t even look at the rest of the weeks temps.. we are just overlooking those)
    Paula and I met up for some afternoon coffee at Felicia's

   This was Reeses flavored coffee- the nice thing is that it was a brewed flavor.. not the super sugary flavor shots- It was pretty good.. but not my favorite.
    Later I decided to make some baby fritattas..

FYI- the muffin pan is STILL soaking.. these made a mess of the pan- but at least they taste great.. I probably should have lined the pan- oops. (Broccoli for me- Ham for the man)
   My favorite part of dinner? (super bright picture ahead)

Steamed kale with a good drizzle of Olive oil, salt, and raw pumpkin seeds- I’m not sure why I haven’t put pumpkin seeds on kale before.. Healthy fats and crunch for the win!
TODAY- I embarked on the Paleo, 2 ingredient pancakes

  (one banana and two whole eggs blended) They stuck to the pan- but it’s kind of my own fault for using the cast iron pan.. They don’t taste like regular pancakes (which I wasn’t expecting anyway) But they were pretty tasty

Especially with some butter, walnuts and coconut butter..
   I headed to the gym for a training run and then moved right on to this workout (My sister in law sent it my way. It is from beyonfitphysiques.com)

Warm up:
10 Walking Lunges
10 burpees
   

3 Rounds (1 minute per exercise)

-1 minute of mountain climbers
-1 minute deadlift with a row(weights)
-1 minute pliyo lunges
-1 minute squat with a press(weights)
-1 minute plank or bicycle crunches
-1 minute squat jumps

  I was red faced and super sweaty afterwards- but I felt really good :)

Improvements in ADHD symptoms and the paleo-ish/ gluten free connection

Hey! What’s good? 

Oh you know, same old same old over here. 

Food

BIG cups of coffee- A lot 

Providence Bruins game last night- free tickets!

I LOVE hockey.. nothing says fun quite like a bunch of heads hitting plexiglass and men beating each other up. Super excited to go to another free game on Sunday!

Woke up to more snow

Headed to the gym for a training run- only 50 more to go… 

No seriously.

I tossed in 12 wide grip pull ups and 50 pushups- done and done. 

 The husband is working overtime today- I have no work due to mandatory vacation and it’s cold.. which means I really have nothing to do but play with makeup and take pictures of myself.

 (Your welcome for the laugh)

 I wish I knew why the best pictures are the ones with stupid looks on my face.. 

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So as you know I’ve been playing with a Paleo-ish, gluten free diet these last few weeks. Paleo-ish because I am still eating dairy since I only eat fish and eggs as protein sources (I’ve completely cut soy and all other legumes- sorry peanut butter.. I’ll always love you) . Overall I’ve been feeling pretty awesome.

Unexpectedly and totally by accident the lack of gluten and therefore less sugar/insulin in my system has been helping manage my ADHD symptoms. 

I noticed a difference after the first week but wasn’t sure if it was all in my head.. So I started googling. Countless articles popped up, but This one really resonated with me- and it is really worth a read if you or someone you know has ADD or ADHD.
Medication is helpful, but if you can achieve similar benefits without ingesting toxins, wouldn’t you?