Weekly Meal & Fitness Plans: Back on Track

Oh Monday, how you always sneak up so quickly. It was so nice to have the last 5 days off of work and to be home with the families. But coming back to a full 5 days of work is sometimes a struggle. What's keeping me going? It's getting closer and closer to the wedding and I can't wait!

Last Week Recap

Last week I did really good with my fitness regimen. I got work outs in Sunday - Friday, running two races and completing all the strength days in Best Body Bootcamp. I took Saturday and Sunday off because my body needed it. My legs were extremely sore from running two races at a pace of under 8 min/miles.

I did not however do as good as I thought I would with eating 7-9 servings of veggies a day. Monday-Weds, I did great. But the rest of the week I really struggled to fit them into my meals when I didn't have as many options or have my meals planned out. It's not an excuse, but it was eye opening to see how I need to do better when traveling... even if it's just to my parent's house.

I am really loving the HBBC for keeping me accountable but also challenging me to set new goals and stick with them. I am looking forward to doing even better this week.

It's a New Week

When we got home I planned out our meals for this week and made sure it included lots of veggies.

• Monday: Chicken Sausage, peppers, onions and spinach "stir fry"
• Tuesday: Crock pot shredded chicken fajita bowl. Tortilla for the FH.
• Wednesday: Fish (TBD) + Asparagus 
• Thursday: Asian Stir Fry
• Friday: Wing It
• Saturday: Wing It

I also took some time (2 hours to be exact) to prep for my breakfasts and lunches this week:

Oven roasted chicken for salads

Salads (4)

Steamed broccoli for salads

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Quinoa for dinner sides

Chopped pepper, celery, carrots for afternoon snack w/hummus

I also plan to add spinach to my post workout smoothies and eat a pear for my lunch "dessert"

Workouts for the week are courtesy of Week 6's Best Body Bootcamp. Only 2 more weeks to go :( I don't want it to end!

I think I'm ready to get back on track :)

Stuffed

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Each year always seems to be better than the last!

The FH and I headed back to our home town in Central Mass on Wednesday night. It seemed like everyone ended up heading home on Tuesday night, because traffic was non existent... fine by me! We ended up meeting up with a couple friends for bowling before calling it a night.

Thanksgiving Day
Thursday morning I woke up bright and early for my 5 mile road race. It was a little chilly at first, but the weather ended up being perfect for running and I even enjoyed the course despite having been very familiar with it.

My first mile was slower for me and once my legs warmed up I started picking up the pace a bit. I was planning to stay around the pace I held for my half marathon, but I somehow ended up running a lot faster like my 5K on Sunday. My RunKeeper stats were slightly different (what gives?) but official race  times ended up being 40:23. Overall I placed in the 31.2% coming in at 246/789 people and for my age group placed 18/85 in the 21.2%.

I'm pretty excited and proud of both my race times this week. I probably won't be running much more outside until spring, so I am happy to end my 2012 race season on a high note. :)

After the race I met up with an old friend for some celebratory (and well deserved) drinks at a local bar before heading home to finish up my Thanksgiving dishes and head to my aunts. It was a great day and even though I felt like I didn't pile on the food this year, I was still stuffed by the end of it all. We ended the night back at my parents house where we watched the Pats game before calling it a night.

Friday
After waking up today, my mom and I took Peanut on a nice 2 mile walk. It was just what I needed to get my legs moving, as they are definitely sore from the two races this week.

Earlier in the week I had planned to head to a local gym to complete workout C of BBB, but I know my legs need rest and a date with the foam roller. So I created my own little circuit and used some weights and a bench my dad has in the basement.

The circuit was adapted from arm exercises from BBB. I performed the weights in a ladder circuit  with a short burst of cardio in between each exercise. It looked like this

Arnold Shoulder Press

30 seconds Mountain Climbers

Chest Press

30 seconds Jumping Jacks

Plank Rows

30 seconds Mountain Climbers

Lat Shoulder Raises

30 seconds Jumping Jacks

Tricep Dips

30 seconds Mountain Climbers

Underhand Rows

30 seconds Jumping Jacks

Bicep Curls

30 seconds Mountain Climbers

The circuit took about 30 minutes and was exactly what I needed for the day! 

Another walk might be in order for tomorrow, but otherwise I will be resting as my legs really need it before I can tackle all the burpees in next week's workouts :)

Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!

Anyone score any good Black Friday deals? I don't brave the stores but I do make sure to check online :)

Just Checking In

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Going to make this post short and sweet since I know a lot of people are probably trying to wrap up their work and get out of work for the extra long weekend. I know I am, but wanted to check in!

So far, this week has been incredibly motivating. The HBBC and BBB communities that I am a part of are so motivating. You already know I am a fan of the Best Body Bootcamp, but Holiday Bootie Buster challenge is proving to be pretty awesome too.

Workouts
So far this week's workouts have been going pretty good! I'm still feeling the DOMS from Sunday's 5K, so my legs have been really feeling the burpees and leg work in this week's BBB. I completed workout A on Monday and B today. Today I kept count of the burpees I did in between each round, and completed 130 burpees! I can't say they were the most glamorous (are burpees ever glamorous? probably not), but I pushed through each 60 second set and don't regret it now!

Last night I had every intention of going to a spin class at my favorite spin and yoga studio, Sweat & Soul Yoga. But traffic was so bad (early Thanksgiving commuters?) and by the time I got to the studio it was 7pm and there were no parking spots in sight.

I was pretty frustrated and knew that the FH wouldn't appreciate my bad attitude if I showed up at home, so I headed to the gym since I had the printouts from BBB with me and completed some hard intervals on the elliptical  followed by some ab exercise.

It looked a little bit like this:

• Warm up: 5 minutes at 8
• Increase resistance by 3 and hold for 5 minutes 
• Decrease resistance by 2 and hold for 2 minutes
• Repeat 3x

I couldn't even flip the pages of a magazine or read twitter because I was afraid if I let go of the handles, I wouldn't be able to start up again.

Working out last night after work really solidified for me why I like working out in the morning so much and why it's worth it to roll out of bed at 5:45am. There aren't things like traffic and a hungry stomach in my way.

Food
I've been really loving all the healthy Thanksgiving ideas this week, and was inspired to contribute to my Aunt's Thanksgiving menu with some healthy options:

• Sarah Fit's Ultimate Pumpkin Pie
• Healthier Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes - I'll be interested to see if anyone notices the difference!

Here are some great lists that I used for ideas this week:

• Iowa Girl Eats 30+ Thanksgiving Recipes
• Fitensissta Thanksgiving Recipe Round-Up
• Skinnytaste Thanksgiving Recipes

And a no-excuses workout that will take you a couple minutes in between prepping the food:

• Thanksgiving Week Workout - love this workout from Eating Bird Food. Exercise moves to get your heart rate up but a little strength as well! I might do this on Friday as my Cardio blasts as part of BBB's workout C.

Also, something food related I have been loving? Salads with hummus as my dressing. So much flavor! I can't get enough!

Alright, that was longer than you probably wanted! Off to finish some work and hopefully head out early for the long weekend! Tomorrow I have a 5 mile race on deck and then some cooking to do before relaxing and enjoying the day with family!

Have a great day!