HR Training & Berry Green Monster

HELLLLOOOOOO!  We’ve made it to Wednesday.  I am in a superb mood since am jetting off to Florida tomorrow!  Just a quick 5-day trip to visit my Grandma .  On the agenda today: Spin class (done), writing, packing, writing, packing.  I need packing breaks and writing breaks.

Wow – who knew there were so many sushi lovers out there?  Thanks for all the great comments, and to make you jealous, here is my sushi feast from last night!

Looks kind of weird.  Mene Sushi (my newest favorite sushi gem) does not offer brown rice, but they do offer a Fresh Roll. The Fresh Roll consists of asparagus, cucumber, avocado, lettuce and crab wrapped in soy paper.  I like to call it a ‘low carb sushi roll’.  White rice makes me super full instantly, and then super hungry an hour later. I try to stay away. 

Yellowtail and Tuna on the side (I ate the rice underneath)

I also had a House Salad cause I LOVE the Ginger dressing.  Plus, it’s a challenge for me to eat a salad with chopsticks, I think I managed fairly well last night, my ‘chopstick skillz’ are improving, practice makes perfect, right?   Awesome meal, with a great friend.

Wednesday Bfast

Light breakfast before my 8:30am Spin session consisted of:

• Green Tea x 2 cups

Yogi Tea includes cute little sayings on the end of the tea bags.  Mine today said this. 

•  

 

 

Not thinking too deep into it, hopefully my manners and demeanor send off good vibes, even if I don’t speak.  I have been told multiple times that I look mad, when I’m not smiling.  I guess that’s just ‘my look’ cause I am predominately a happy and content person, and do smile and laugh a lot.  In recent years, I have made a conscience effort to not look, for lack of a better term, “pissed off” all the time

• Grape Nuts w/ Vanilla Soy Light, 5 banana slices, dollop of MaraNatha.

The trick to Grape Nuts is to let them soak long enough in the milk where they no longer crack a tooth if you bite into one, yet not soggy and mushy either.  I find a 3-minute soak time is about perfect.  Picky, picky.

 

Off to Spin I went.  I enjoy the class on Wednesday’s because it’s about 45 minutes of hard-core cycling followed by 10 minutes of hard-core ab work, and 5 minutes of full body stretching.  This 60 minute workout is easily my most productive of the week.  Every Wednesday I think to myself “It’s not the time put in, it’s the efficiency.”  I burned 654 calories in 60 minutes and my heart rate was HIGH – fat burning the entire time! 

Heart Rate Training

Do you heart rate train?  I have learned so much about it since joining Lifetime in September 2008.  I actually learned today that your heart rate zones are different for cycling than they are for running.  Not to get technical (you can learn more about Heart Rate Training here) your AT (Anaerobic Threshold) is typically lower when cycling. 

For example, my AT is 176.  This means when in Zone 3 my heart rate is 171-176.  When cycling, this is not comfortable, I can barely breathe, am sweating like crazy and basically feel like I’m going to die. When running, Zone 3 is very comfortable, and I could maintain that pace for a long time.  In talking to the instructor today, he said cycling zones are typically 10-20 beats below running zones.  Thank goodness!  I was starting to feel REALLY out of shape. 

One of the trainers actually demonstrated in the spin class today, by testing herself (mask connected to computer, and all) and showing her progress on a big screen at the front of the studio.  Definitely something to think about if you workout a lot, want to lose or gain weight, or are training for an event.  Many gym’s offer Cardio and Metabolic testing, make sure to inquire, if you haven’t already. 

{{Sorry for the long post, the words are flowing today…hope you’re still there!}}

BERRY GREEN MONSTER

So, after that intense sweat sesh, I made myself a BIG Berry Green Monster.  Oh delish!  I wish it would be more green, than greenish-brown, but it sure tasted fantastic (don’t judge a book by it’s cover!) and I am FULL! 

I even enlarged the photo to replicate "Actual Size”.

BERRY GREEN MONSTER

• 1/2 cup vanilla soy light
• spoonful Berry Amazing Grass
• 2T strawberry protein powder
• 1t chia seed
• 2 decent size handfuls fresh baby spinach
• 10-15 frozen raspberries
• ice

I’m off to finish packing!  I’ll be back later with my Ten in ‘10 Healthy Challenge update for Week 9 and more fun stuff!