Absolutely fantastic

I feel absolutely fantastic today!  Everything about today was absolutely perfect and I just couldn’t be happier.  My day started with a delicious breakfast, mid-morning I had a great performance review at work (they like me, they really really like me! ), then I had a fantastic workout and did my hair (these always make me feel SOOO good!) and on the walk home I discovered that the weather was absolutely amazing!  I didn’t even know being stuck in the office all day!  I was already in a great mood, anticipating a fun dinner with friends, but that just made it so much better!  Oh and yeah, I had my friend Katie and a new friend Shannon over for a casual dinner tonight.  We had so much fun!!  We chatted nonstop for almost 4 hours.  Seriously, could this day be any more perfect?!!!

Let’s start with a workout today…

WORKOUT

I cannot express how amazing a great workout makes me feel!  When it comes to working out, I don’t calorie count.  Yes, I’ve recently started posting my workout stats (which include calories burnt), but that’s not what I think about when I work out.  I set goals for every workout and that’s what I concentrate on… and I feel great during and after every.single.workout.  I feel strong and I know I’m doing great things for my body.  It’s like I’m in a “maintenance stage” of my fitness (I still challenge and push my body every day but the goal is not to burn as much as possible) – every workout has a purpose.  Today’s workout made me feel like a million bucks!   I hope one day to have the same approach to food.

Since I haven’t run since last Monday (wow, has it been really that long – no wonder I was itching for a run!), despite the fact that today was a lifting day on my “schedule” I decided to squeeze in a quick run.  I started with a 0.2 mile warmup walk, then an easy 0.3 mile run at 6.3 mph (that’s my recovery pace) and then did five 1/4 mile intervals.  I ran the intervals at 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 8.8 and 9.0 mph with alternating 1/4 mile runs at 6.3 mph.  I finished by walking until I completed 3 miles in total and then it was time for a Balls against Walls class (who comes up with those names?).  The class was an awesomely intense cardio/strength class using stability, bozu and medicine balls.  It lasted about 40 minutes and the time flew by like crazy.  Seriously when she said to put away our stuff so we could stretch, I couldn’t believe it was over!  After stretching for a few minutes, I grabbed a jump rope and jump roped for 2 minutes, just to make sure it was a full 45 minutes  Workout stats (excludes stretching time):

• Duration: 1:07
• Calories burnt: 640 (35% fat)
• Ave HR: 155; Max HR: 190

Btw, my HRM is back in business.  I made sure to really wet it this time.  It still showed 0.00 heart rate for a few seconds after I turned it on (just enough to freak me out) but then reset to a normal rate.  Yay!

BEST MEAL OF THE DAY:

I’m a little upset that this picture looks so terrible.  I should have taken it after mixing in the sauce, which was really the star of the show.  Katie, Shannon and I made Jenna’s spicy sesame noodles sauce to go with a huge veggie and tofu stir fry over soba noodles.  In the mix: broccoli, sugar snap peas, red and yellow peppers and water chestnuts.  The sauce was fantastic, but it was enough to feed a whole village.  Seriously, it made like 4 cups of sauce and I only used 2 tablespoons which was plenty.  Everyone really enjoyed this meal and we all snuck in dips of the veggies straight into the sauce bowl.  Mmm, so good!  My husband said he could drink this stuff straight out of the bowl and was prepared to have it as soup for lunch tomorrow.  Haha, that would be pretty nasty (since it’s mostly different oils) but that does tell you how good the stuff is.  Jenna (or Jenna’s mom) you’re a genius – but I still don’t understand why you need this much sauce

Dessert was equally delicious.  Shannon brought over some yummy chocolate chip orange mini muffins, which were a perfect way to round out the meal.  Oh yeah, and I also had a few glasses of cabernet (not pictured).

OTHER EATS:

Total calories for the day: ~1770 (damn delicious sauce – the stuff is 55 cals/tbsp!)

RANDOM

I interview Chandra so check out her fun answers (and her fantastic blog – if you don’t read it already!).  Bacon wrapped in sausage, wrapped in bacon… eww.

FREE STUFF!

Head over to Quaker website to request a free sample of their Dark Chocolate Almond True Delights.  I hear this stuff is gooood.

And head over to Kelly’s blog for a v-neck tank from Danskin giveaway.  I think it’s my turn to win something, don’t you think?