Back on the Bike

It's back on the bike this afternoon to teach RPM! I usually don't teach in the evenings, but poor John has rolled his ankle so he is at home resting (I gave him strict instructions to cheer for the Aussies in the cricket...being a Kiwi, that is going to be interesting!). I'm looking forward to it as Fitness First at Toowong have brand new shiny Spinner bikes and I have yet to have a play.

Also taught Step this morning which was good fun. Tired leggies and sore upper body from the pussy weights on Tuesday!

I'm still really enjoying our menu this week - especially when Pecan Pie makes it onto the menu with a touch of icecream for arvo tea and Sticky Date Pudding makes an appearance for dessert. You may be wondering if this is heralding a return to "Dirty Diana" eating, but no, I eat so well most of the time an indulgence or two here and there is one of life's pleasures. Plus it is amazing how we condition ourselves to think we need more than we really do. The pleasure comes from the first couple of mouthfuls, then becomes slowly forgettable the more you eat. So the trick is to stop at the third mouthful so you're in line with what you're trying to experience. These treats are not on today's menu - there is more a focus on tropical fruits and steamed seasonal vegetables which provides a nice balance to Tuesday's delights.

Today I'm proud to report that I am a Guest Blogger on Katie's site - I've never done a guest blog before and I felt a bit rusty as I wrote, but go on over there and let her know whether it's a thumbs up or a thumbs down (in which case, you may remain anonymous lol!). Thanks for having me, Katie :)

Hello legs, did you miss me?

Training today:
Running: Intervals 2:1 cycles 40 minutes (yee-haw!)
Hip flexor stretching and glute activation (let's hope 2010 is not the year of the Cranky Hip Flexor)

Lower Body Strength Training:
1) Rack Pull 4 x 10
2) Leg Press 4 x 10 (back didn't like leg press, so I'll probably squat next week)
3) Plank 2 x 1 minute

Felt good to lift some weight, though it was nowhere near the heavy shit that I had been moving late last year. I'm a big pussy when it comes to leg DOMS, can't stand it!

On a brighter note, guess what's for lunch?

I should be grateful

I should be grateful that Miss G likes my modified tuna burgers but it was a case of "leave some for me, that's Monday and Wednesday's lunch!". As I mentioned in my last post it was time to "just do it" and work out an entire week of meals for the family.

As I like to fly by the seat of my pants with most meals - probably because after all these years, I'm in a cooking rut, it felt like I was chained to the computer as I slaved away on my spreadsheet. Why the organization? My reasons aren't to do with comp prep or anything like that - I am hoping that I spend less on my weekly groceries - my tendency is to run out to the shops at the last minute and pick up dinner stuff as well as other items that "I think we may need" (aka stuff that we DON'T need).

As well as the lamb cutlets I made, I also did a really nice chilli, made a new version of the Paleo Tuna Burgers I blogged about last year as well as create a special something for Shelley and Nicole. Nicole gave me the best 40th presents, some chocolates she had melted into the shape of a male member (she also has boob moulds I am told!). Well, it was great because my husband who can't keep his hands off chocolate, could not come at licking these phallic treats. I think that it's the only chocolate that I've been given that I was able to eat all by myself in my own good time!

Here's the recipe for Tuna Burgers, not quite Paleo, but taste better in my opinion.

One big can of tuna in springwater, thoroughly drained

1/4 cup of linseeds/flax seeds partially ground

dash of teriyaki marinade

one onion in very fine dice (I used food processor)

1 egg

2 tablespoons unprocessed bran

3 tablespoons oats (partially ground)

Mix everything together and compress into egg rings or burger moulds. Cook and slide out of moulds. This lot made 7 decent sized patties.

Guess who's having tuna burgers and a big fat salad tomorrow for lunch???

Just Do It Girl is in da house!

Today I'm organizing a week's worth of dinners and a new training program that will see my dinky shoulder progress back to normal. How does Moroccan Lamb Cutlets with Greens and Orange Couscous sound? I nabbed that one out of the Australian Healthy Food Guide magazines as well as one for Tangy Chicken Curry. Shelley is coming over on Tuesday so we can play Ebay together (as we're both highly committed to removing the extraneous crap from our lives and Ebay is the perfect place to try our luck - though my blog has been a good source of business as well. Most of the items I listed have sold and I hope that everyone who purchased these little bargains enjoys them as much as I did.

I've bought a monthly pass to our local pool and am going to start swimming again. I've been testing out the dodgy shoulder by doing a bit of "air freestyle" which is more embarrassing to look at than painful, so hopefully the added resistance that the water gives won't make too much of a difference.

On that note, I had better sign off and create my shopping list. My weekly menu, is in (gasp!) a Word Table. Stranger phenomenons have happened, I'm sure, but this is a first for me.

Powering On

Another good workout today and the traces of the dreaded lurgy are nearly all gone. I've caught up on a few blogs (Carolyn, I've found a dead mouse in the fridge on one move occasion but I think the squid tube is definitely the winner there!) and got some sweet potato on the go to have with dinner (sans mouse) - so here's the blog whilst I'm waiting for it to cook.

We were up early this morning to go to the building site and meet with the cabinet maker who is doing our kitchen - deep and meaningful conversations on topics such as how deep the pot drawers should be followed as well as ensuring that there was enough space for the fridge, the cooktop was placed just where we want it etc. The house is looking marvellous, we've got a nice cream coloured Colourbond roof and some steel blue trim - we also organized where the TV points were (the aim being to get a big plasma screen in the rumpus/gym - will be amazing!)/

Then it was off to the CBD to teach RPM which was good fun - hard work though after you've been a bit crook but worth the effort. I had to have a giggle at my post workout meal today - I had planned on heading back to Indro to pick up a Vietnamese Salad but instead got way laid talking to someone and ended up spotting a white chocolate Freddo. I don't have white chocolate often, but when I do, I really enjoy it - so I savoured my 15 g little Freddo, went about my business, got back to Indro two and a half hours later and realized that I was starting to get hungry for lunch at 3pm. Unbelievable that a Freddo Frog kept me powering on for hours! Learning to listen to your hunger cues is important - even though we humans like order, there's no reason to eat every three hours unless you're genuinely hungry. Today's intervals have been 2 hours, 1 hour, 4 hours, the magic Freddo, 2.5 hours, 2.5 hours and who knows when dinner will hit my plate?

Sometimes we get caught up in these eating patterns of "I should" for example "I should be eating x but not y" , "I should be eating my carbs post workout" , "I should be.." . This is imposing external control, whereas I feel the locus of our control should be internal. My only "should" is to honour myself with choices that make me feel good about who I am, and that allow me to be the best I can be. (and yes, this is a predominantly clean diet with the odd Freddo thrown in..lol)

You'd better be running!

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” - Herb Caen

I'm back from a week's holiday and I've hit the ground running! So excited to be training again, I've attached one of my "Bionic Woman" shots - trained with Mrs Biologica this morning and I'm still on such a high from a good solid pasting with this new program including 5 sets of bench presses, neutral grip incline DB presses, pronated grip seated rows and posterior trap raises. We also got into some core work and both of us were pleasantly surprised by how easy we found our side bridges (have to remember that all of that heavy sh*t we lift has a strengthening effect on the core!)

I've also really been enjoying my chow - as I blogged previously chicken thighs have been on the menu as well as a yummy prawn stirfry with lots of vegetables and a few nuts sprinkled on top. When I was in Byron I stocked up on fresh seafood (the local seafood place is amazing) and bought fresh Yellowfin tuna, bream, trevally and local prawns. The best part is taking these amazing meals to work - I get several comments on them from the staff and think that there is nothing nicer than this beautiful healthy food I'm eating. Don't get me wrong, I still like the odd bit of Dirty Diana, but a Dirty Diana treat for me now is creamy natural yoghurt with Metabolic Drive and freshly sliced strawberries and the occasional Horley's Carbless Crunch bar.

I'm amazed by my shift in thinking as I used to think of Paleolithic eating as a prison sentence - but I can see how much more clearly I seem to be able to think and how much calmer I feel and know there's definitely advantages in the "eating cleaner" pathway for me.