My morning started out with one of my new favorite breakfasts. Multigrain tuscany bread with cream cheese and my beloved fig spread. 

fig toast

 

 

I had a protein-green monster on the side, but you all know what those look like by now. 

 

When I came home this evening I saw the darn cream cheese sitting out on the counter. I forgot to throw it back in the fridge. Ugh! No cream cheese and fig toast for me tomorrow. Actually, I may go dig it out of the trash since, like Mother Lovett, I eat expired things often.

 

Have you guys had this dried fruit you can get at Whole Paycheck Foods? 

justfruit

 

 

I love it, and it makes a tasty addition to yogurt.

yogberr

 

 

I have been sleeping in lately, which is very unlike me. I am a morning person, and have always rose early to workout. Even in high school, I would wake at 4:30 to get my workout in. Since I didn’t do this today, I had to workout this evening. Boo. Not a fan.

 

 

I did a shoulder workout, followed by 20 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training).

 

Not familar with HIIT? It is certainly NOT your old-school interval training. I can tell you what HIIT isn’t. HIIT isn’t doing intervals on the elliptical, where you go fast for one minute and slow for two minutes. HIIT is bad-arse. It is for serious candidates only. I usually do HIIT once or twice a week – that is all that is needed. My torture machine of choice? Elliptical. 

 

HIIT is performed to improved cardiovascular endurance and burn fat in very short sessions. 

Wikipedia states that,

‘Usual HIIT sessions may vary from 15–30 minutes. Most HIIT sessions have a 2:1 ratio in terms of time. For example, for running, a HIIT session may be something as 60 seconds jog, 30 seconds sprint.’

 

While I agree with the first part – HIIT should only be performed for 15-30 minutes, I do not agree with the second. First off, any ‘HIIT’ performed for longer than 30 minutes, is no longer considered ‘HIIT.’ If you can perform your HIIT for longer than 30 minutes, then you are not doing working at your ultimate potential.

 

As for the second part, I believe that HIIT is much more intense than a 2:1 ratio. This is why I always limit my HIIT to 20 minutes, at the most. My HIIT is vomit inducing. Just ask Kema – she has done it with me on sunny, Sunday mornings. :)

 

My HIIT consists of 20 seconds ON, 40 seconds OFF, repeated for 20 minutes. For 20 seconds I take the level and incline up to the highest possible level that I can continue to move, keeping my rpms between 150-160, on a Precor elliptical. I only do this for 20 seconds. It takes EVERY SINGLE THING out of me. For the next 40 seconds, I reduce my speed, incline, and rpms, and recover. Then repeat. That recovery period is SO short.

 

If any of you use a Precor elliptical, or are interested in one of my HIIT programs, let me know and I can post my exact HIIT workout for you.

 

My quick shoulder workout consisted of:

*overhead dumbbell presses: 3 x 10 x 30lb dumbells, super-setted with

*side lateral raises: 3 x 10 x 12lb dumbells.

*read delt flys: 3 x 10 x 50lbs super-setted with

*pushups: 3 x 20.

 

I rarely do single-body part workouts anymore. I prefer more bang for my buck with full body workouts or an upper/lower split, but I did not have the time for much more, being that I wanted to get home and eat, blog and destroy brain cells while watching 90210.

 

 

I found this coffee at Target this weekend.

coffee

 

 

 

I was super excited. Which is strange, since I don’t even like coffee. I like the occasional Starbucks cup, complete with fun flavors, cream and sugary garbage, but as for traditional coffee? No thanks.

 

The thing is, I want to like coffee. I always have. I wish I liked it. All the cool kids drink coffee. I want to be a cool kid.

 

So my verdict?

 

Tasted like plain, old coffee to me. Where was the chocolate truffle flavor???? I even added sugar and cream.

 

What is most important is what I did next. 

IMG_2225

 

 

 

I dipped an Oreo into the coffee. First off, I should mention that I cannot even remember a time in my life when I ever dipped a cookie into any drink. I never liked milk, and thankfully my mom never made me drink it. I couldn’t even be bribed with dipping cookies into it.

 

I also do not enjoy hot liquids very often. I don’t like the warming feeling in my stomach.

 

 

I also do not like Oreos very much. I had them leftover from making a cheesecake crust. 

 

 

But this combination – complete with the coffee I didn’t like, and the cookies I don’t like – was perrrrfect.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I consider myself to be many things.

 

I am an eater. 

 

I am a baker.

 

I am a wife.

 

I am a girl. Not a lady. (Note: please do not call me lady. As in a child saying ‘mommy, look at that lady over there.’ I feel old being called a lady. And as my husband can tell you, I do not act like a lady, so I certainly don’t deserve to be called one.)

 

I am a stuffed-turkey-hater.

 

Something I am not? A runner.

 

I have realized that it is ok to not be a runner. I do not have to run to be healthy and fit. I attempted running for a few years back when my husband, then boyfriend, and I started dating. He was training for a marathon, and I thought it would be so *neat* to run together.

 

I quickly learned 2 things.

 

1. Even if I did run, my husband would never run with me. It is his time to decompress – his only real ‘alone’ time, due to his busy schedule. He is also very fast. I am not. I rival The Slowskeys in speed.

 

2. If I ever attemped a race with my husband again, I would quickly be signing divorce papers afterwards.

 

Ok, not really on that second part. But I did try a 5k with him. I complained, moaned, groaned and whined the entire time. To say I highly disliked it would be an understatement. I am not proud of my whiney ways during the race, but that was 2 years ago. I like to think I am much more mature now. :)

 

A few weeks ago I began a 5k training program – not to run a race (I have no desire to run competitively), but just to have a program to follow. It’s not that I never run. I do treadmill sprints for some cardio intervals (not to be confused with HIIT!), running at 8.5 for 60 seconds and walking at 4.3 for 2 minutes. But to leisurely ‘go on a run?’ I have never done it. Never.

 

It’s times like these, when I think that in all of my 27 years, I have never been able to ‘go on a run,’ that makes me want to learn to run. Yes, I said it. I need to LEARN how to run. I have zero patience, so I have to channel my inner self, pray for some patience, and just do it. I’d like to run about 3 miles at the most. I’m sure many people are sitting there thinking, ‘once you get into running, you will love it! It takes time. I never thought I could be a runner, and now I am!’

 

I highly doubt that, but I hope you can prove me wrong. 

 

Running is not quite an endurance issue for me. I just feel very uncomfortable doing it. Not pain, just discomfort. I am not sure if it is because I began lifting weights at such an early age, and have continued consistently? If it is because of the anaerobic/aerobic difference? I can easily bust out 45-60 minutes of high intensity cardio. I have taught spinning, kickboxing, cardio-dance aerobics (Bodyjam), and during all of those times, running was still difficult for me. I trained for fitness competitions for months, completing a 2 minute routine full of one-arm pushups, high kicks and jumps. Still – I couldn’t get into the running.

 

You guys have to hold me accountable! I am going to try another 5k training program, for fun. I will mention that strength training is my first true love. Running and heavy strength training aren’t exactly the best of friends. I will always strength train, no matter what. By Christmas, however, I’d like to be running 2 miles straight. I know for some it seems like a silly goal, but for me, it is huge.

 

Most importantly, I am still very healthy and fit, even though I don’t run. Running doesn’t have to define your fitness. It is a wonderful thing, and I admire those who run distances (like my hub!), but you don’t have to do it if you don’t love it. Do what you love.

 

 

Now it’s time to numb my mind while watching high school kids talk about things I didn’t even know about in college. As my dad would say, I’m going to watch trash.