And the winner is…

  

Number 9 is Cara!  Who tweeted about this last week.

Cara said...

tweeted!

Cara, please email me at beeskneeslife@gmail.com.

Thanks everyone who entered.  Hope you are staying hydrated ;)

Monday Miscellaney

Greetings blog readers!  We got back yesterday from a long weekend stay with my in-laws in the great state of North Dakota. I did some running, some golfing, and a whole lot of eating.  My mother in law is a great cook and baker, it’s so hard to resist her good food.

-First, if you haven’t done so already, enter my giveaway.  Today is the last day and I will pick a winner at 9pm central time tonight and announce it tomorrow.  Here is the post about how to enter to win a Cold Hydration bottle from Thermos.  Hurry!

-Be sure to check out Healthy Living Blogs.  It’s a great new site put together by Lindsey from Sound Eats.  It’s an amazing resource for all things healthy living and great posts that inspire. From HLB:

Healthy Living Blogs was designed to enhance the already tight-knit, supportive community of the healthy living blog world. An amazingly strong connection is formed when like-minded individuals come together to encourage one another, and that’s exactly what HLB is here to accomplish. Find new blogs that blow you away. Find new inspiration. Find people in your geographic area to meet and encourage and support you in real life.

Blogs are organized by location and by alphabet.  I have already found some fun and like minded new-to-me bloggers from Minnesota. 

-I received my delicious jar of Artisana Almond Butter over the weekend, too. You guys will love it.  It might just become my new favorite almond butter.  Check out my shop if you are interested. Remember that if you buy some by September 7th, Open Sky will donate $1 for every product sold to the Lunchbox Project. 

Work It Out

This week included a nine miler and some other runs of varying distance since I was out of town.  I haven’t mapped them yet, so it’s a guess based on time.  I am definitely ready for the heat to move on, but not ready for summer to be over.  What, you can’t have it all?  No?

My weekly workout report for the week of August 23rd – 29th:

Monday, 23rd
walked around Valleyfair all day! Otherwise none

Tuesday, 24th
9 mile run, 1:21:50 – did an out and back, and the back was against the wind other wise I felt pretty good.

Wednesday, 25th
e-z 3 mile run, 3 mile walk

Thursday, 26th
49 min. run, I think it was about 5.5 miles and it was one of the most hilly routes I have ever ran!
-also played 9 holes of golf walking

Friday, 27th
3.5 mile run, 29:00

Saturday, 28th
3.5 mile run, 28:00 – better

Sunday, 29th
none, driving all day

My Lunchbox

I mentioned on Monday how Mr.BKL and I brought a cooler for our lunch at Valleyfair to save a little dough and eat healthier.  And with back to school around the corner (or maybe it has already started where you are) I always get nostalgic for the days of buying school supplies.  I remember having a few different actual lunchboxes, Rainbow Brite if I remember right (Mom? Verification?),  but then had those big insulated bags and boxes shortly thereafter.  The Saint that is known as my Mom was always having to buy me new ones because I always lost them.  Where did they go?  Did I throw them away? 

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Either way, I know school lunch wasn’t my favorite.  Sure there were days when I would get “hot lunch” – the days when it was pizza or something else that wasn’t nutritious. I remember marking the days on the lunch calendar when I wanted cold lunch.

When we got older, there were more choices of course. Usually those choices weren’t good for us, either.  It sounds like in high schools today fast food is available everyday, at least some around here. Sure keeps the kids happy, but what is it doing to their bodies? 

Somehow, someway, I ate pretty decent as a teen. (see above for Saintly mother reference) And it wasn’t that I was forced to eat a certain way, I just chose to on my own.  My friends always said they loved coming to my house because we always had the best snacks and sodas, but I don’t remember eating much of them.  I also didn’t drink soda from about 7th grade until sophomore year of college because I had a health issue that seemed to go away after I stopped drinking tons of Mountain Dew and Coke.

Not saying I was the most awesomest teenager to ever live – because I wasn’t.  Somehow I was able to navigate the school lunch system with relative success.  But what about for kids today?  The fact that there are even shows on TV like Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution says a lot. People are trying to make changes.  Including The Lunchbox.  A project founded by Chef Ann Cooper to help empower schools to provide healthy food for children.

From August 23rd to September 7th, the Open Sky Project is getting involved, too.  They are going to donate $1 to The Lunchbox for every one of 3 chosen products sold. One of them happens to be Artisana Raw Organic Almond Butter.  You can help too, by buying a jar now in my store.  I happen to love almond butter – even more so then peanut butter.  I know, I know how can that be?  If you haven't tried almond butter then you won’t know what I mean until you do.  It’s a staple around here.  I use it as a mix in for my oatmeal and for a coating on those parsnip fries.  Click below to get some for yourself and help out a good cause.

Time to Hydrate!

Over the past 3 years or so, I started drinking a lot of water.  I think it had something to do with boredom at work, or at least giving me something do do.  It started gradually.  I was drinking a lot of diet soda before this and decided to cut back a little.  I switched to coffee in the mornings and had just one diet coke a day.  Eventually I got tired of it and just no longer had a taste for it.  Now, I don’t drink pop at all and stick to water and coffee.  It’s not that I never have diet soda, if I feel like it I will have one but I don’t have a habit of it anymore.  I figure on average I drink about a gallon of water a day in the summer.  I am just plain thirsty!  Making sure you are hydrated is so important especially if you are active at all.  There is no right amount for everyone, and the whole 8 glasses a day thing isn’t necessarily true for everyone.  But, you should be paying attention to your body and if you sweat a lot, make sure you are replacing those fluids.

I usually drink out of a couple different water bottles at home.  I will admit it, we do have plastic bottled water for when we go on the road or are out and about.  It’s a lot easier to tuck a smaller plastic bottle in my purse then my 32 oz behemoth I usually have with me.  I always recycle though, don’t worry.

I think using a tap water filter system (if you don’t like the taste of your municipal/well water that is) and filling an appropriate bottle is the best thing you can do.  Need a bottle that is going to keep your water cold on these hot days?  You are in luck! 

I am giving away one Cold Hydration bottle from Thermos!  These bottles keep your beverages cold for up to 12 hours, are made from BPA free materials with no coatings or linings, easy open top, and have a great overall design. Learn more about Thermos Cold Matters, here.

If you want to win, here is what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment here telling me how you stay hydrated.
2. Tweet about this giveaway using @ThermosBrand and leave a comment telling me you did so.
3. Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment telling me you did so.

I will announce a winner on Monday, August 30th.  Sorry international friends, U.S. residents only.

And, there is another way you can win and get involved.

From Thermos:
On August 26 at 8pm ET/7pm CT, we will be hosting a Cold Matters Twitter party to celebrate and introduce you to our new series of Cold Matters Coaches.  The Coaches are a group of renowned fitness, lifestyle and nutrition experts that will share their tips and advice on how to stay healthy and hydrated, as well as more information on all of the benefits of cold hydration.  The Thermos Cold Matters Coaches include celebrity fitness trainer, Ashley Borden (@ashleyborden), fitness blogger and author Caitlin Boyle (@CaitlinHTP) and registered dietitian, Joanne Larson (@askthedietitian).

Join the party on Thursday with @ThermosBrand using the #ThermosCold hashtag and participate in the discussion to be entered to win some of their newest hydration products.

Monday Musings

Hi everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend. 

-We just got back from a day at Valleyfair.  My husband who is a child at heart, wanted to go today for his birthday.  We got some awesomely cheap tickets from my brother in law and we packed our own cooler for lunch.  Saving money and being healthy at the same time!  I don’t know if vanilla Chobani has ever tasted better then on a hot day like today. We spent some time in the water park, too.  It was packed.  No surprise on such a hot day like today.  The roller coasters are my favorite. I go on all the rides, do you?

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-Just because it’s never happened to me, I have to brag about my big winnings over the weekend.  The birthday boy also likes to gamble occasionally, so we made our way down to Canterbury Park – the race track.  We don’t bed a lot - $1 to $2 a race - but its still fun and admission is free this year.  This gal won $80 on a $2 bet!  I couldn’t believe it.  I bought the birthday boy a beer to celebrate.

-Make sure you check out the Shop tab at the top of the page.  I organized it so that all the products I have through Open Sky will be on one page.  There will be more and more additions coming, so if you happen to miss a post about a new product, just check in there at any time.  I will make sure you guys know about any discounts or specials right away.  There are some nice items at Open Sky (dslr cameras, Garmins, etc) that when using the discounts or promotions, might be your cheapest option if you are in the market. 

-And the most exciting news of all is for you….a giveaway is coming!  A healthy giveaway no less. Check back here tomorrow to see all the details. 

Happy Monday! (My favorite oxymoron of all.)

Work It Out

Highlights of the week included a nice 8 miler on Monday.  It was the nice mid 70’s temps that powered me along.  I felt like I had a lot left in my tank.  Pretty much one of those runs where the starts aligned.  Now I am wishing I would have ran faster!  I will save it for my race.  Don’t worry, I paid the price for that run with a horrible 6 miler on Friday.  It was downright miserable.  Just goes to show they can’t all be good ones. 

My weekly workout report for the week of August 16th – 22nd:

Monday, 16th
8 mile run, 1:11

Tuesday, 17th
OH squat
6 x 45
2 x 6 x 55
goblet squat
3 x 8 x 40
bench press
2 x 6 x 75
8 x 65
one arm cable row
3 x 8 x 40
face pulls
2 x 10 x 60
planks
3 x 45 sec I think

-3 mile tempo run, 2 miles tempo

Wednesday, 18th
6 mile run

Thursday, 19th
Romanian deadlift
3 x 8 x 95
Barbell hip thrusters
4 x 10 x 85
one arm dumbbell shoulder press
3 x 8 x 20
inverted row, Smith machine, feet on bench
3 x 6
anti rotation cable press (Pallof press)
3 x 8 x 60
reverse cable woodchop
2 x 10 x 40
cable pull throughs
2 x 10 x 50

-2mile run, 1 mile fast
-1 hour bike ride with Mr. BKL

Friday, 20th
6 mile run

Sunday, 22nd
mini-brick
3 mile bike, 3 mile run, 3 mile bike

Another birthday…

…for my favorite person in the whole world!  Since I already had a mushy post about him on our anniversary, I will leave you with part of the card I made him.

Happy Birthday, husband.  I love you!  Crazy 80’s neon shorts and all.

POM Pineapple Hot Sauce

The lovely folks at POM Wonderful sent me some more of their juice to try out recently.  I have been experimenting with vinaigrettes, but haven’t landed on the right one just yet.  I also discovered that in addition to soda water and diet Sprite/Sierra Mist, adding a splash to ginger ale is extremely refreshing But last night I decided I needed a sauce to go with my brussels sprouts and Amylu chicken sausage combo. 

This recipe is less then exact, and doesn’t look extremely pretty, but the outcome was tasty – and hot no less!  Coincidentally, Mr. BKL was able to use it with his dinner – Ling Ling brand Pot stickers. It was versatile, what can I say.

POM Pineapple Hot Sauce
Ingredients
-1/2 cup POM juice
-1 can crushed pineapple
-3-4 T. low sodium soy sauce
-1 T. Sambal Oelek chili paste
-1 T. sugar (or sugar substitute like Truvia)

Directions
Place all ingredients into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Great as a dipping sauce for egg rolls and pot stickers, or over chicken and veggies.

Media Play

Another installment of my dabblings in music, books, and movies/TV.  My previous posts are here and here.

Music:
Nothing too exciting on the music front.  A few random downloads here and there, but no new albums to speak of.  I am sure my lack of discovery has a lot to do with the fact that I hardly listen to anything on the radio anymore – real or internet.  The Current always helps and I have a few new songs to their credit. If you aren't lucky enough to live in Minnesota, definitely check it out.  You can listen online and they post their playlists – AND it’s public radio so no commercials.  Bonus.

Books:
I finished the Kite Runner a few weeks ago and was glad I did.  Even though it took me a while to get into it, I enjoyed it.  Lots of food for thought.

I am currently reading The Girl Who Played with Fire and I have to say it hasn’t been quite as captivating as the first installment by Steig Larsson. That and I just haven’t been sitting down to read as much. 

Movies:
We finally watched Avatar.  Yeah, I know a little late.  It was good – I can see how watching it in one of the mega 3-DOMGSPECIALEFFECTS theatres would be cool.  Also recently watched the Swedish movie of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  All in all, it was good.  I get a little distracted by subtitles, and they obviously left some things out, but I would recommend it.  Should be interesting to see what happens in the Hollywood version.  I saw something the other day that a relatively “unknown” actress got the Lisbeth Salander role.  I like that idea honestly. And for your lighthearted rom-com viewing pleasure, we watched “It’s Complicated.”  Merryl Streep is good as usual.  I like Alec Baldwin so much more because of 30-Rock, too.

TV:
TV gets it’s own category.  So much to talk about!  Okay, Mad Men started again and this season is mysterious.  Don Draper is in a different place this season.  I won’t say more then that.  Anxiously awaiting season 4 of Dexter from Netflix – should be here today.  We breezed through Entourage season 6 in record fashion. Good as always.  I don’t care what you think of Jeremy Piven, Ari Gold is a great character.

 

(src)

Middle Eastern Chickpea Burgers

I used to have a subscription to Cooking Light and would tear out the pages of the recipes I wanted to try.  It became quite the collection.  A select few made it through my loose recipe stack purge of ‘09.  This was one of them.  A while back, we had a mediocre experience with a different non-meat burger from Cooking Light, so I was a bit wary on these.  I was right in thinking I went wrong by not using a non-stick pan. Makes a world of difference when making any kind of bean or veggie burger!

That being said, these guys were pretty good.  I will definitely be making them again soon.  A few mods…I made 4 big burgers vs. the 6 mini burgers.  We always have Arnold Sandwich Thins on hand and I saw no good reason to go out and buy tiny little buns for tiny little burgers.  Next time I am also going to mash all the chickpeas into the mixture.  Leaving some out as the recipe says to do just makes them more crumbly.  There would be plenty of texture without a few tablespoons whole.  We topped ours with some caramelized onion and some spicy mayo.  Delish.

The new, not at all expensive, non-stick skillet.

 

 
Middle Eastern Chickpea Burgers
from Cooking Light, November 2009

Ingredients

-1  (8-ounce) red potato
-3  T. olive oil, divided
-1  t. minced garlic
-1  (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed, drained, and divided
-1  tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
-1/2  t. salt
-1/2  t. grated lemon rind
-1/2  t. smoked paprika
-1/4  t. freshly ground black pepper
-2  large egg whites, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Place potato in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook 20 minutes or until very tender. Drain. Cool slightly. Coarsely chop, and place in medium bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil and garlic to bowl; mash potato mixture with a potato masher until slightly chunky. Remove 3 tablespoons chickpeas; place in a small bowl. Add remaining chickpeas to potato mixture; mash until well blended. Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons whole chickpeas, parsley, and remaining ingredients. With moistened hands, divide mixture into 6 equal portions (about 1/3 cup mixture per portion), shaping each into a 3-inch patty.*

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3 patties to pan; reduce heat to medium, and cook 4 minutes or until bottoms are golden. Carefully turn patties over; cook 3 minutes or until bottoms are golden and patties are set. Repeat procedure with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 3 patties.

*Again, I made 4 large burgers vs. 6.

Nutrition Facts for 1 large burger, when making 4:
Calories: 231
Fat: 12.1g
Protein: 6.75g
Carbs: 24.7g

Work It Out

Wow, what a difference a day makes.  Sunday morning I awoke to cool temperatures with zero humidity for once!  It felt amazing.  Needless to say, last weeks workouts were quite challenging because of the heat and humidity.  Even the gym left me a sweaty mess.  I don’t want to wish away summer, but geez.  I had enough of the humidity for one season.

My weekly workout report for the week of August 9th – 15th:

Monday, 9th
6 mile run, brutally hot, slow, and sweaty

Tuesday, 10th
OH squat
2 x 6 x 45
Front Squat
3 x 7 x 65
DB bench press
3 x 8 x 30's
one arm cable row
3 x 8 x 40
face pulls
2 x 10 x 60
some abz

-3 mile tempo run, 2 miles at tempo

Wednesday, 11th
2 a days…
3.2 mile run in the morning
2.7 mile run in the afternoon

Thursday, 12th
deadlift
6 x 135
sumo deadlift
2 x 6 x 135
barbell hip thrust
2 x 10 x 65
2 x 10 x 75
push press
3 x 10 x 45 (worked on form)
u/h grip lat pulldown
3 x 8 x 85
Pallof press
2 x 10 x 60
cable pull throughs
2 x 10 x 50

7x400's
-around 1:50 each, with a 400 jog in between. Total miles 3.75

Friday, 13th
6 mile run

Saturday, 14th
none

Sunday, 15th
3 mile walk
ez 4 mile run

Lighter Lasagna

It’s been so hot, well, everywhere the past few weeks and I haven’t been overly inspired to cook lately.  But for some reason, lasagna sounded good.  Mr. BKL found a recipe in an old (circa 2001, I guess that’s not that old) cookbook of mine for vegetable lasagna, but we decided to make it omnivorous by adding some lean ground beef.  I few other adaptations were made including the exclusion of mushrooms, whole wheat lasagna noodles, and the use of jarred pasta sauce instead of making it from scratch. And, since I always have 1% cottage cheese on hand, I decided to use 1/2 cup of it and 1/2 cup of low fat ricotta vs. the 1 cup called for. Just a little lighter and adds a little more protein.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it makes 6 servings in a 9x9 pan instead of a full 9x13 pan which leaves just the two of us with way too many leftovers. 

Lighter Lasagna
adapted from Vegetable Lasagna, Better Homes and Gardens Easy Everyday Cooking (Here’s a link to the newest version)

Ingredients
-6 whole wheat lasagna noodles
-1 cup zucchini or yellow summer squash, sliced and quartered
-1/2 cup chopped onion
-1 t. olive oil (optional)
-1/2 cup low fat ricotta cheese
-1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese
-1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
-1/4 t. black pepper
-2 cups pasta sauce, we used Prego Heart Smart
-1 cup part skim mozzarella
-1 lb. 90% lean or better ground beef


Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions until just al dente. Meanwhile, heat ground beef in large skillet. If you are using very lean beef, you may use optional olive oil.  When beef is just about cooked through, add onion and zucchini.  Cook until beef is cooked through and zucchini and onion are tender.

In a small bowl stir together ricotta, cottage, and parmesan cheeses and black pepper.

To assemble, place 3 lasagna noodles in a 9x9 or 8x8 square baking dish, trimming to fit as neccesary. Top with half the cheese mixture and spread evenly. You may need to use a spoon or knife for this.  Next add half the beef/veggie mixture, then half the pasta sauce, then half the mozzarella. Repeat with remaining noodles, cheese mixture, beef/veggie mixture and sauce. 

Bake for 30 minutes.  Add mozzarella on the top and bake for about 5 more minutes until melted.

We omitted 2 cups mushrooms, which can be added to the veggie mixture/beef if desired as well as 1 medium tomato, which can be added at the end of baking with the mozzarella cheese.

Nutrition Facts
Calories: 1769
Fat: 54g
Carbs: 135g
Protein: 144g

Per serving, makes 6 servings
Calories: 295
Fat: 9g
Carbs: 22.5g
Protein: 24g

Grandma

In addition to eating lots of dates, I do other stuff that causes me to be nicknamed a Grandma by Mr.BKL.  Some others include enjoying the Sunday paper with coffee and being well on my way to hip replacement surgery.

Just in the past two weeks, something is wonky with my hip.  I can’t figure out how to stretch it, if it even needs stretching, where the annoying pain is coming from, and what caused it.  Since I like to overanalyze everything, it’s especially bothersome that I can’t seem to figure it out.  One thing that does help me when I am sore and stiff is foam rolling.  I like to pay extra attention to my calves and shins after long runs. 

If you are not familiar, foam rolling is a form of self myofacial release or SMR.  Simply Googling it will lead you to tons of videos and articles about using a foam roller for soft tissue work. Here is a nice article from Perform Better talking a little more about it. And this PDF from Mike Robertson is an amazing free resource on instruction and technique.

I’ve had my current foam roller for way too long and it’s beginning to break down. It is made of foam after all. Admittedly, I didn’t buy the best one I could at the time since I wasn’t completely sure it would help.  I definitely feel better after rolling and am going to continue to do it, so now it’s time to upgrade to a bigger, better foam roller.  I have been waiting and shopping around a little, but fortunately for me (and you) I have a great foam roller in my Open Sky store.  And, if you remember from yesterday, if you use the code EXCITE25 everything is 25% off.  Click the button below to get yours now.

Hopefully I can get one reason I am a Grandma off my list with my new roller!

It’s time to shop!

A while back I wrote about Open Sky and why I think it’s a cool company.  Well, today my shop is open! 
You guys already know how much I love Greek yogurt and for the most part enjoy it plain.  I have to admit that I have been mixing things in lately and enjoying flavored Chobani.  One of my all time favorite combo with yogurt is granola.  Back in the day I would buy huge things of vanilla yogurt and add in a little granola.  One of the things I noticed even as a teen was that most granolas have a lot of extra fat and therefore extra calories. 
Enter Galaxy Granola.


This guy has 120 calories and only 2.2 grams of fat per serving.  I can honestly say I have never had a granola that is low and fat and doesn’t taste low in fat i.e. like junk.  I am excited to have found a healthy, natural alternative to most other granolas I have tried in the past.
If you want to try it out for yourself, you can order it through my shop by clicking the button below.  And, everything at Open Sky is 25% off from now until August 16th if you use the promo code EXCITE25! Click on over and check it out.

Guess who’s back…

back again, tell a friend…

 

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My dishwasher! (That’s not mine, but it looks like that one.) There’s a long story as to why we went dishwasher-less for over a year, but I won’t bore you with it. In all honesty, the only time I loathed not having one was when I was doing a lot of baking and cooking at the same time.  A lot of those things get washed by hand anyway.  There are a lot of things we don’t put in the dishwasher like pots and pans, nice knives, wine glasses, cookie sheets, and obviously stuff that can’t go in like my Sigg water bottle. Are you an everything in the dishwasher kind of person? Or do you hand wash a lot of stuff?

 

And,

 

Dates at Costco!  Oh Costco, how you tug at my heartstrings.  Getting me hooked on products for months, then pulling out the rug from under me and never. carrying. them. again.  How can one get so excited about dates in bulk you may be asking yourself.  Well for one, they are a fraction of the price at Costco for a 3 pound container compared to a tiny bag at the grocery store.  That alone is exciting.  Who doesn’t love a good deal?  And they are mighty tasty. I get teased for “being a grandma” all the time for my love of dates.  I know I am not alone though.

 

And most importantly, speaking of guess who’s back, we also had a long overdue get together with some great friends over the weekend.  The boys are friends from high school and the girls are new friends but seem like old.  Can’t wait to see everyone again!

(p.s. not sure what’s up with the way I am standing here!)

Work It Out

My weekly workout report for the week of August 2nd – 8th:

Monday, 2nd
6 mile run
Tuesday, 3rd
front squat
3 x 6 x 65
hang clean
3 x 6 x 65
push up, smith machine, low bar
3 x 10
seated cable row
3 x 10 x 60
face pulls
2 x 10 x 60
some ab stuff
-30 min tempo run
Wednesday, 4th (our anniversary)
9 holes of golf walking, 18 holes of frisbee golf
- I count both of these because it was HOT and both were quite hilly. I felt like I was on a hike for the frisbee golf!
Thursday, 8th
8 mile run
Friday, 9th
RDL
3 x 8 x 95
push press
3 x 6 x 65
hip thrust
2 x 10 x 35
inverted row, Smith machine
3 x 6
anti-rotation cable press (Pallof press)
3 x 8 x 60

-5 x 400's @ 7:40 mile pace
Saturday and Sunday
none

3 years ago…

….I was busy getting married.  It’s only been 3 years of marriage (and it has gone fast!) but Mr. BKL and I have been together for 8 now.  As cliché as it sounds, he is the most amazing man alive.  Each day he makes me laugh, makes me feel loved, and continues to amaze me in the ways he makes me happy.  I am blessed to be able to call him my best friend and my partner for life.  

 

 

Work It Out

A day late, but errm not a dollar short?  I guess not if you don’t count my recent workout investments.  Nike Pro compression shorts and some non-cotton Under Armor socks for those long runs.  I highly recommend both by the way. On with it…my weekly workout report for the week of July 26th – August 1st.

Monday, 26th
8 mile run, about 1:14
Tuesday, 27th
OH squat
8 x 45
2 x 6 x 55
Front Squat
8 x 55
6 x 65
db bench press
3 x 6 x 30's
one arm cable row
3 x 8 x 40
face pulls
8 x 30
8 x 40
8 x 50
3 mile jog
Wednesday, 28th
5 mile run
Thursday, 29th
deadlift
3 x 6 x 135
barbell hip thrust
3 x 12 x 65
one arm shoulder press
3 x 8 x 20's
u/h grip lat pulldown
3 x 10 x 75
Pallof press
3 x 10 x 60
4 x 800m's @ 7:45 min mile pace, 400m in between, 3.25 miles total
Friday, 30th
6 mile run
Saturday, 31st
2.75 mile run with Mr. BKL, 21:09
Sunday, August 1st
a complete rest day :)

Applying filters

This article is for Caitlin’s Change the Way you See, Not the Way You Look project at Operation Beautiful.  Be sure to check out her new book!

What do you see when you look in the mirror?  Do you like it?  If you do, was there a time you didn’t?  I think it goes without saying that most of us could name at least one time or another they didn’t. More so for the females then the males I would presume.  I admit that for as long as I can remember back, I could find something I didn’t like when I looked in the mirror.  I was very aware that as a teen I did not look much like the girls in Seventeen or YM (remember that one?) magazines, the two I remember having subscriptions to in the middle school years. When I page through one of those magazines (or even those directed at an older 20 something female demographic) today I almost always cringe.  I think of the young girls who are impressionable and take a lot of stock in what is said and the images in those glossy pages. When I was a teen, I had no idea about Photoshop, airbrushing and image alterations that any casual user of photo imaging software will tell you is easy as pie. No wonder my skin wasn’t smooth and freakishly free of pores, my legs had an actual shape, and my hair wasn’t sun kissed year round.  I was and am a real person, not an altered image in a magazine. 
If you have ever used Adobe Photoshop, you know that you can apply filters to your images. So now I have my “Photoshop filter” on alert whenever I look at an ad or magazine, knowing full well that what I am looking at has been altered.  It’s not necessarily always a bad thing though.  Photos need to be manipulated and edited, but when body parts go missing and things look like a cartoon it’s getting a little dicey. 
But what about the mirror?  Are you able to use your “filter” when you see yourself?  Looking for the good things instead of zeroing in on your less liked features?  It has taken me a long time to be able to do this.  I can’t say that I am not guilty of having those days where I just feel off and focus on the bad things.  It happens and it still will, but how you deal with it and move on from it is most important. 
In the past few months I have become much more comfortable in my skin and what I see in the mirror.  I am not sure it it’s age related wisdom (heh) or where I am at fitness wise, or both.  Since increasing my running mileage, I am amazed and thankful my body lets me do the things I do – including lifting.  But there is more to it. Being able to do the things I love, whether it be running, biking, lifting, golfing, walking, disc golfing, yoga, etc. with my friends and family is what life is all about to me.  I am thankful that when I look in the mirror I see someone who can do all these things.  Does the tee box at hole 18 care if I am a size zero?  Nah.  Do my running shoes not work if my arms aren’t stick thin?  Nope. 
Use your own filter when you look in the mirror.  The filter that allows you to see you in your best light possible.