Friday Five - fitness trends

Happy Friday, everyone!  It's been a busy week and I'm definitely happy to see the weekend.  I'm also happy to be back to linking up with Courtney, Mar and Cynthia for the Friday 5 link up!  It's always a great group of bloggers and a bunch of interesting posts.

 The theme for this week is fitness trends that we won't be trying. I love how many different fitness options are out there these days.  It really does feel like there's something out there for everyone.  But by that same token, there are going to be some things out there that don't necessarily appeal to you either.  Here are 5 things that I've decided are not for me.

1. Boot Camp - I just am not motivated well by yelling.  I look at these types of fitness classes and cringe.  I know a lot of people love them but I'm happy to stay far away!

2. Minimalist shoes - though I think the trend might be moving away from these . But I have a running friend that continues to try spread the gospel of minimalist shoes.  I know they work great for some people but I really think it depends on your foot and they're not for everyone.  My feet need stability shoes.  They've been working well for now so I'm going to stick with them.

3.The "militarization" of fitness - I read a really interesting article about this a couple weeks ago. Since the article says it better than I could, here are some words directly from the writer.  "There is a massive trend in the fitness industry to glorify exercise as an all-out war on the body...
This trend is a symptom of a much larger disease. We live in a culture obsessed with aggression, and it has found its way into every facet of our lives, even our workouts...Well, exhaustion actually is a status symbol in our culture. And that’s the problem—we’re working and training ourselves to death...Being chronically exhausted is not the key to success. It's a race toward disease and dysfunction."  This is definitely something I see as being problematic and something I struggle against.  But I am trying to treat myself with love and generosity instead and I feel like that's a better path to holistic fitness for me.
 
4. Hot classes - I know several people that swear by hot yoga but I've never tried it and don't plan to try it.  I seem to be always dehydrated.  I'm trying to work on that but hot yoga or other similar classes are definitely not for me.

5.  Obstacle races - I've always stayed away from these because I'm worried about hurting myself.  But I may be talked into one of these later this year so we'll say.  This may be one of those never say never type of things :)

Any fitness trends you're excited to try or definitely planning to stay away from?  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

One Pot Pasta

It has been way too long since I've shared a food related post!  It's not that I haven't been cooking, it's just that things have been busy and a lot of the food we've been eating has been really simple.  Summer is one of those times that things seem to pop up, we're always busy, and that complex recipes just don't get made.  So I've been trying to find dinners that can be made in a hurry without taking up too much time.  And when I discovered the concept of one pot pasta, it made my day!  Delicious, easy, and quick. Not a lot of clean up either.  Lots of veggies. Apparently this has been a thing people have been doing for a while and I just haven't heard of it until now for some reason.

The thing that makes one pot pasta perfect is that you pretty much just throw all the ingredients into a giant pot and let them cook together.  No need to make a separate sauce for your pasta or sautee veggies on their own.  You don't even need to drain the pasta.  Just chuck everything into a pot, keep stirring, and then add a couple things at the end and you have a healthy, delicious, and fairly economical dinner.

The recipe I used to may my first one pot pasta dinner was from Oh My Veggies.  If you don't know this site, you should definitely check it out.  I always find great recipes there. I adapted it a little bit for what we had at home so here is my version.

Ingredients

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

8 ounces pasta, uncooked (I used some of the basil fettuccine we got from the farmer's market)

1 small onion, halved and sliced thin

1 pound broccoli florets (I used the already chopped broccoli in a bag from the grocery store)

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, ends snapped off and cut into 2-inch pieces

4 ounces sliced white button mushrooms (about 1 cup)

 1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (less for milder heat; more to increase heat)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small handful fresh parsley, chopped (about 1/2 cup chopped)

1/4 cup almond milk (the recipe called for heavy cream but this is what we had on hand and it worked really well)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest

Additional salt and pepper to taste

 Veggies and pasta before the broth is put in, you can see that the pot is pretty full!

I put the broth, linguine, onion, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper in a large pot over high heat and poured the olive oil on top.  The pot looked really full and I was worried because it didn't seem like the liquid covered all the veggies, but once things started to cook down there was definitely enough liquid.  Nothing to worry about :)

Here is the liquid level at first.

Once it came to a boil, I set the timer for 7 minutes. Also, start tossing constantly with long handled tongs.  This will help prevent the pasta from sticking.

As soon as the 7 minutes is up, add the parsley, almond milk, Parmesan, and lemon zest and continue tossing, for 1-2 more minutes, until the pasta and veggies appear tender. Let the pasta sit for a couple of minutes and the sauce will continue to thicken. Taste and add additional salt and pepper or cheese if desired.

And that's it!  How easy is that?   This made 4 servings and it tasted good microwaved the next day as well as fresh from the pot.  And apparently, it was so good that I forgot to take  a photo before eating it all up. Blogger fail :(

There were a couple tips with the original recipe that really helped.  Mainly, use a really big pot because of all the turning and make sure your pasta takes 9-11 minutes to cook so that everything is ready around the same time.  I was worried the veggies would be too mushy but they turned out perfectly.

I'm linking up with Lean Lena for Tasty Tuesday and will be linking up with Deborah and Tina for Meatless Mondays.

Weekly Update

This is the first weekly update since I started this blog that I don't have any workouts to report.  But that is because I had hurt my foot last weekend while we were camping.  I rested my foot until Thursday when I went to the doctor since there was still some pain and I was still limping.  She indicated it was a sprained ankle and that I should be fine in 1-2 weeks.

This was actually good news since I was a little worried it could be a stress fracture.  I will take 1-2 weeks over 4-6 weeks anytime!  She recommended rest, ice and an ace bandage, all of which I did for the rest of the week.

I did probably take the diagnosis too much to heart and walked more than 10,000 steps on Thursday.  We also went to the zoo Friday and that involved a ton of steps.  We had more than 10,000 by 11am.  That probably wasn't the wisest idea so I went back to resting it more for the weekend.

The doctor also said that I could resume running once the pain was gone.  I am happy to report that the pain seems to mostly be gone (it's been more than a week since the injury) so I'm going to try running tomorrow as this week starts my training plan for the Wine and Dine half marathon in November.  I'll take it slow, and if it hurts, give the ankle a couple more days rest before trying again.

I hope all of you had a great 4th of July weekend!

Baby panda photo since she was being particularly adorable Friday :)

Fit Foodie 5k

I'm finally getting around to my review of the Fit Foodie 5k.  I've already seen several reviews of this race up and I'm sure you have too :)  But here is my perspective on it.

I saw a bunch of reviews of this race last year and it looked like a lot of fun so I knew I wanted to give it a try this year.  But the price was a little daunting.  However, a friend of mine found a discount (either Groupon or Living Social, I can't remember which) where it was $30 for the race and we were happy to jump on that.  This price included the race and the runner's village afterward but no shirt.  It also didn't include the happy hour the evening before the race or the workouts/brunch the day after the race.

We decided to make a weekend of it and get a cheap hotel room close to the race.  We had our own dinner/happy hour Friday evening before the race :) We all knew that we were planning to treat this race as a fun run and not worry too much about time so we indulged in a couple drinks and yummy food.

The race was in the Mosaic district in Virginia, and I had never been here before so it was a new location to me. There was plenty of parking and we had no problem at all.  We were also doing packet pick up on race morning but this went smoothly as well.  There was very little line and the packet just consisted of the bib at that point so we didn't have to go back to the car.  One of my friends did have to use the bathroom and the line for that was so long that she didn't make it back to the start line until after the race had started.  But that seemed to be the only logistical snag.

All the warming up

Once we got our bibs, we joined the group warm up that was going on.  It started at 7am and it was fun.  There was some dynamic stretching and some dancing and the guys leading the warm up was definitely engaging.  One of my friends thought he may have been a little too chipper.

As soon as the warm up was done, we headed to the start line.  There didn't seem to be any sort of wave start or lining up by pace.  It was just a mass of people and we all kind of started at once.  But it wasn't too bad.  A little congested at first but I felt like it cleared up pretty quickly.  The course was very strange, with lots of doubling back on itself, hillier than expected, and there was one spot with a really smelly dumpster, and we had to pass that spot twice.  It was made worse by the fact that it was a super humid morning.  We all felt like we were dripping with sweat by the time we were done.

The other strange thing is that it was around the 3 mile marker, but the first time we past it my Garmin indicated we were around mile 1.5.  We were very confused and a little worried that maybe we had missed a turn somewhere.  But there were tons of people around us and all going the same way, so we weren't sure how that was possible.  But then as we got to the finish line, there were volunteers directing us to keep going and directing people that were actually finishing to the finish line.  So we ran right past the finish line and kept going to finish the second half of the race.  I was definitely not a fan of that, mostly because it was just so confusing.

But the race itself was probably the least important part of this event.  It's a weird thing to say but even though I didn't love the race, I will probably do this event next year and my friends all agreed.  And that is because the runner's village after the race was so awesome!  Once we finished, we were handed a bag and a bottle of water.  The bag had some coupons, discounts, and a couple snacks.  Then there were tons of tents with local restaurants giving out food samples.  I have no food photos because I pretty much shoved everything right in my mouth! 

I felt like there were plenty of options for vegetarians and one of my friends doesn't eat gluten and she felt like there were plenty of options for her as well.  The lines weren't too long except for a couple booths so we just skipped those.  Some of my favorites were the cheese samples, the house made poptarts, the Korean tofu, the kale salad, and the gazpacho.  But there really were tons of options, and so much swag that we began running out of space in our bags!  There were also several photo opportunities and we definitely took advantage of those :)

Lastly, there were stages with fitness demos and cooking demos going on and I thought that was a really nice touch.  There was also a tent for a gym where they were doing massages, assisted stretching, foam rolling, etc.

All four of us felt like this was something that we would definitely be interested in doing next year.  The 5k itself was just ok but the experience afterward made the whole thing worth it.  It was very family friendly, we saw several kids and strollers.  It was also walker friendly and very supportive down to the last person to cross the finish line.  There were also 2 water stops, which was great given the humid weather. 

Now, I'm not sure I would pay full price.  I would probably still only do it again if I found another discount like we used this time.

Weekly review

I'm definitely behind in posting this, but better late than never!  I had a mixed week last week.  It was busy at work, I had to travel to Boston for a meeting, and then get ready for a weekend camping trip.  But it was an active week, even if there wasn't that much traditional working out in there.

Monday - Rest day, but I got in some extra steps walking around the airport waiting for my flight to Boston, which was delayed.

Tuesday - Rest day.  I meant to get up early and use the treadmill but I had gotten in really late the night before due to the flight delay so that didn't happen.  I did at least walk the mile from the hotel to the meeting and the mile back.  I also walked around the harbor a bit after lunch.  It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed the breeze off the water.  Sadly, my flight was delayed yet again and I ended up spending 7 hours at the airport.  But at least I made it home that day.

Hanging out by the water

Wednesday - Elliptical Machine

Thursday - Jillian Michael's yoga

Friday - We left for our camping trip with friends and got in a good amount of hiking around this day.

Saturday - It rained most of the day so didn't get in as many steps.  But we did have an impromptu dance party in the evening since we were going a bit stir crazy.  There was at least a solid hour of dancing.

Sunday - More hiking around, plus outdoors yoga in the morning since one of the people we were with was a yoga instructor.  I love yoga outside.

Sadly, with the muddy, uneven terrain, I seem to have hurt my foot.  I'm taking it easy this week in the hopes that resting and icing will make it better.  If it's not better by this afternoon I will probably call to make an appointment with the doctor.  I'm supposed to start Wine and Dine half marathon training next week and want to be able to start it pain free!

Weekly Review

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  It's time for another weekly review of my work outs.  There was a lot of rain last week so most of my workouts were indoors.  We also had some scheduling complications so they were a bit shorter than usual.  But I figured getting something in was better than nothing :)

Monday - Rest Day

Tuesday - Rest Day

Wednesday - Elliptical for a bit more than 30 minutes

Thursday - Elliptical again for a bit less than 30 minutes

 

Friday - Strength training

Saturday - Fit Foodie 5k with friends.  This was a really fun event and I'll do a full review later this week.

Sunday - I really enjoyed the So You Think You Can Dance workout DVD last week so I did it again, the Cha Cha with Dimitri this time :)

This is going to be another interesting week time wise.  I am traveling for work today and will get back late Tuesday night.  My plan is to wake up early and get in a run on the hotel treadmill Tuesday morning. Wednesday and Thursday are at home so I'll get in one run and one cross training day.  Friday we're leaving for a camping trip for a long weekend.  I may try to get in a run while we're out there but if not, we'll still have plenty of hiking!

Friday Five - things making me happy right now

It's Friday!  This week has seemed like it has taken forever to go by for some reason.  But it's almost time for the weekend, and that means time for the Friday Five link up with Cynthia, Courtney and Mar.  The theme this week is things that make us happy.  So here we go.

1. Lifting heavy or not?  This article from Runner's World made me happy because I've been doing things like barre or body weight resistance exercises and not really lifting heavy weights.  I've read some articles about how that's just not good enough so I was happy to see this article that said they're not the same, but both are good as long as you're working your muscles to exhaustion. 

2.  Training plan - I haven't been following a training plan since the Rock and Roll Half in March.  I've been running as I feel like, and doing a lot of 5ks and a couple 10ks.  I've also managed a couple 5k PRs in this time.  But I'm going to start training for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in July and I think this little break has been good for me because I am excited to be following a training plan again!

3.  Running Hills - Not something I've been doing enough of and I know I have to incorporate it more into my training, especially for next year's Rock and Roll Half in DC.  But I don't really enjoy hills.  So I was happy to see this article, also from Runner's World, about other exercises that can result in improved hill running.  I know they won't be enough on their own, but I will take any help I can get. 

4. Fit Foodie 5k - Speaking of 5ks, I have another one this weekend!  I heard a lot of good things about this race from last year so I'm looking forward to it, especially because I got a hotel room in Virgina with some friends and we're making a little girls weekend out of it.

5. Cruise time - This one isn't fitness related, but I am getting very excited about the cruise Mike and I will be on in September.  It's still a while away but it's close enough that it's time to start booking things and making plans.  And planning vacation things makes me happy :)

And because even the Washington Post agrees that internet cats make everyone happy, here is a picture of Perry being cute.  I hope you all have a great weekend!