much better hair day

today i am feeling much better. last night i got home from work starving. if i am working out at night, usually i like to work out first and then eat dinner (because eating feels like a reward, don’t you think?) but last night i felt so hungry and weak that i decided to eat first and it gave me a lot more energy for the workout. and it’s better that way anyway because then i can avoid eating too late.

at the gym i did 20 minutes on the elliptical, then stretches, sit-ups, lunges with 5 pound weights, and girl push-ups, 10 more minutes on the elliptical, and then i walked up the stairs (10 floors) to my apartment. good workout and it burned about 350 calories. (i was wearing my HRM). i like to break up the cardio on the elliptical because a) it’s really hard! and b) it's better to pause and keep your heart rate up for longer. i don’t know what it is about the elliptical machines in my condo gym, but they are really tough. a lot less smooth than really nice elliptical machines i’ve used at professional gyms, but they work nonetheless. and i know this because my heart rate is out of control. usually around 150-160 and sometimes bordering 170 if i am really pushing it. now i wonder if i just liked other machines because they were easier... who knows, whooo whooo? (owl)

after the gym, my legs felt wobbly and jiggly. obviously i need to do more lunges with weights. i haven’t been doing very much weight training lately because of all of my swimming. my upper body muscles are definitely getting bigger from all of that resistance water training, but i guess since i’m not running (more on that another time) my legs are feeling left out. i’m going to incorporate more leg work at the gym: lunges, squats maybe, some press machines... that sort of thing. anyway after the gym, i felt all wobbly and jiggly and even though i wasn’t hungry, i had a source yogurt with ½ scoop vanilla protein powder. i felt so much better! obviously my muscles needed some protein right away. i’ve read that you should eat a protein-y snack right after doing any muscle-tearing activity to help the rebuilding process.

this morning i did 30 minutes of swimming even though i didn’t want to. i was a bit stiff from my workout last night, but i don’t want to wimp out on exercise during the week. i want to exercise at least five days a week, six if i am feeling energetic.

this morning i also made regular oats (1/3 cup) with tim horton’s pumpkin spice tea that was brewing (steeping?) during my whole swim. with ¼ cup all bran, ¼ cup pumpkin, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice it was a breakfast sent from autumn heaven. i ate some strawberries too.

tonight is date night and we are having poutine and watching top model. my boyfriend begs for poutine. what a sad addiction ;). it’s actually not bad at all. mccain low fat fries, swiss chalet gravy from the powder (pretty light), and served with a turkey grill ‘em or two if you are really hungry and love sausages. sometimes we have cheese (light mozzarella) and sometimes we don’t. it doesn’t make that much of a difference anyway because the gravy is deeeeevine.

what else? i finished last week’s audiobook and went to the library on monday to exchange it for another. i pretty much only listen in the car. i picked up teacher man, by frank mccourt . it’s great but read by the author and his voice can be really annoying when he imitates students. i have read his other books and they are awesome as well. have a great wednesday bloggers.