Weekly Menu

(Courtesy of Org. Junkie)

Weekly Menu for the week of 2/8-2/14

• Monday
  • Lunch & snacks throughout the day – Leftover butternut squash casserole, orange, hard-boiled egg, zucchini spears & carrots, pumpkin oatmeal muffin, cheese stick
  • Dinner – leftover chili
• Tuesday
  • Lunch – Leftover pasta/chili or salmon salad w/ carrots & Wasa crackers, orange, hard-boiled egg, muffin, cheese stick, apple w/ almond butter
  • Dinner – Multi-bean soup (didn’t make it last week)
• Wednesday
  • Lunch – Bean soup, carrots, orange, pumpkin oatmeal muffin, hard-boiled egg
  • Dinner – Bean soup
• Thursday
  • Lunch – Bean soup, apple w/ almond butter, carrots, hard-boiled egg
  • Dinner –Girls’ Night for me; bean soup for D
• Friday
  • Lunch – Standing Friday lunch with friends
  • Dinner – Veggie lasagna
• Saturday
  • Dinner – Leftover veggie lasagna
• Sunday
  • Dinner – TBD

Swim? Swammi? Swenson? Swanson? Samsonite!

I don’t know what it is about a good swim but it never fails to put me in the most excellent mood afterward.  I think I’ve said this before, but there is no better post-workout high to me than a post-swim high.  Maybe it’s the chlorine.

Last night’s workout was a total of about 2700 yards.  Not epic in the grand scheme of things, but enough to get the heart pumping and blood flowing.

Warm-up

400 free

350 choice

Main Set

4×200 free

50 easy choice after each 200

4×150 IM order (50 kick, 50 drill, 50 swim)

100 easy I think?

6×25 sprint (odds choice, evens IM order)

Cool Down

100 plus some drills at the end of the lane

Total: 2700 yards

Weekly Menu

(Courtesy of Org. Junkie)

Weekly Menu for the week of 2/1-2/7 – Now that the days are getting longer and it’s time to come out of hibernation, I want to eat more protein, fewer carbs, and slightly less fat.  My goal is to gently make that change by eating more protein at lunch and dinner, and instead of using granola with my yogurt & fruit, I will use nuts & seeds.  In exchange for the added nuts, I will reduce my almond butter consumption and use a little bit less olive oil in my cooking. I will also add whey protein shakes here and there.

• Monday
  • Lunch & snacks – Leftover 10-minute broccoli dish, orange, hard-boiled egg, sliced apple & almond butter
  • Dinner – Butternut squash risotto, crumbled turkey burger patties on fresh spinach, broccoli
• Tuesday
  • Lunch – Salmon salad w/ carrots & Wasa crackers, orange, yogurt w/ apples and nuts, hard-boiled egg
  • Dinner – Butternut squash risotto, broiled steak, broccoli (note to self: soak beans overnight)
• Wednesday
  • Lunch – Leftover salmon salad w/ carrots & Wasa crackers, low fat cheese stick, banana, orange
  • Dinner – Large pot of mixed bean soup
• Thursday
  • Lunch – Leftover bean soup, yogurt with apples & nuts, carrots, hard-boiled egg
  • Dinner – Leftover bean soup
    
• Friday
  • Lunch – Standing Friday lunch with friends
  • Dinner – Leftover bean soup
• Saturday
  • Dinner – Veggie scrambled egg sandwich
• Sunday
  • Dinner – Super Bowl Sunday – pizza with friends

Exercise Log

Wednesday - 1 hr. swimming (felt so good to be back after over a month off), somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 yards.  Rather than paying attention I actually spent most of practice socializing.  One of the girls and I discovered that we used to swim together back in the old days!  She started to introduce herself to me from the lane to my right and I turned and realized it was her.  So fun.  We chatted throughout the rest of practice, through getting changed in the locker room, and out in the parking lot for another 15 minutes.  We both swam on our respective high school teams and summer teams, and then on the same year-round team.  We even competed against each other in the summers.  We made plans to grab coffee soon.  I can’t wait.

Thursday - 30 min. weights followed by 20 min. of running intervals – 1 min. around 5.5, 30 seconds around 7.5.

We got 10-12 inches of snow this weekend so I didn’t leave the house and couldn’t do my cherished weekend run.  I’ll either fit it in sometime this week or skip it and focus on having a good run next weekend.  My 10-miler’s in three weeks so I want to be comfortable with at least 9 straight miles by then.  If I have time tonight I will try to do some yoga.

Next up:  My weekly menu!

Exercise Log

Sunday - Easy 8 mile run in the rain.  It was about 35-40 degrees out and, with my super-posh layered outfit, gloves, ear-warmer band, and cozy socks, I was pretty comfortable.

Monday - 1 hour of yoga at home.  I pulled up to the pool several minutes late and the parking lot was packed.  I did not feel like parking 100 miles away and fighting the crowds so I kept on driving.

Tuesday - 30 min. strength training; 10 min. elliptical (5 min. forward, 5 min. backward) level 6, between 5-6 speed; 10 min. stationary bike on level 7 at 90 rpm’s; 10 min. treadmill intervals.

Weekly Menu

(Courtesy of Org. Junkie)

Here’s our weekly menu from the past week (1/18-1/24) and what we really had in red:

• Monday
  • Lunch & snacks – Tuna sandwich with mustard and fresh spinach on wheat, small orange, carrots w/ almond butter, one low fat cheese stick
  • Dinner – We are having guests over and they are bringing dinner.
• Tuesday
  • Lunch – Tuna sandwich with mustard and fresh spinach on wheat, veggies, orange, yogurt w/ apples and granola, nuts (Crab & shrimp melt with fruit salad courtesy of work, carrots & almond butter, orange, banana, granola bar)
  • Dinner – Large pot of ribollita
• Wednesday
  • Lunch – Leftover ribollita, strawberry greek yogurt, low fat cheese stick, carrots, banana
    
  • Dinner – Leftover ribollita
• Thursday
  • Lunch – Leftover ribollita, yogurt with apples & granola, zucchini spears
  • Dinner – Farro and roasted butternut squash
• Friday
  • Lunch – Standing Friday lunch with friends
  • Dinner – Leftover butternut squash dish (Lean turkey chili w/ leftover sour cream)
• Saturday
  • Dinner – Leftover butternut squash dish or odds & ends (Game night! Homemade pizza w/ pepperoni & veggies, chocolate chip cookies from scratch)
• Sunday
  • Dinner – Leftover chili

Weekly Menu for the week of 1/25-1/31

• Monday
  • Lunch & snacks – Salmon salad w/ mutli-grain Wasa crackers, orange, zucchini spears, one low fat cheese stick, diced apple & yogurt w/ granola
  • Dinner – Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash (Again!  I have leftover squash and cheese and another onion, and finally found farro!  It was delicious the first time so I have no problem doing this again.)
• Tuesday
  • Lunch – Leftover salmon salad, veggies, orange, yogurt w/ apples and granola
  • Dinner – Leftover butternut squash dish
• Wednesday
  • Lunch – More salmon salad or a sandwich, pomegranate greek yogurt, low fat cheese stick, banana
  • Dinner – Ten-Minute Tasty Broccoli and Brown Rice
• Thursday
  • Lunch – Some sort of sandwich, yogurt with apples & granola, zucchini spears, orange
  • Dinner – Leftover broccoli dish
    
• Friday
  • Lunch – Standing Friday lunch with friends
  • Dinner – Poached eggs, multi-grain pancakes, and fruit
• Saturday
  • Dinner – Odds and ends
• Sunday
  • Dinner – Super Bowl Sunday – pizza with friends (reminder to self: soak beans overnight for eight bean soup on Monday)

Lovely Saturday

I’ve had a lovely Saturday so far.   I slept in a bit and then went downstairs and used my new French press to make two cups of seriously aromatic coffee, sipped while I checked my email, caught up on blogs, ran a load of laundry and dishes, and planned my day.  I made my usual breakfast topped with natural apple butter and Barney Butter almond butter.  From there it was into jeans and a sweatshirt (this is a college town), a whirr of the toothbrush, and out to the farmer’s market.

Because it was chilly and damp outside there weren’t many vendors set up at the market.  However, I did buy six beautiful naval oranges and a couple of heads of fresh broccoli.  Next, I drove to a local health foods store where I finally found farro!  I also bought a pound of French lentils, 1/2 lb. of fresh spinach, and some regular and decaf coarsely ground (did it myself!) fair trade organic coffee.  Then I stopped into a gourmet cooking shop to replace my old spatula with a pretty aqua spoonula and added an inexpensive bamboo spoon to my order for use with my French press (after pouring water over your coffee, you are supposed to gently stir with a plastic or wooden spoon to avoid breaking the glass).

After that it was off to the second health foods store for a red onion, a pound of  walnuts, and a pound of organic arborio rice.  I have a bunch of leftover butternut squash from Thursday night so I’ll either make the same dish again or perhaps a lighter version of this butternut risotto.  Each store was only a couple of miles away from the last but due to my lazy, indulgent browsing the whole trip took about two hours.

By the time I got home I was hungry again and feeling a little low on energy despite having had a banana while I was out.  I had four wholesome cookies and one of the juicy oranges I’d bought earlier.  I still didn’t feel as if I had enough energy for a good, strong run so instead I decided to break out my yoga mat, which I’ve been meaning to do for months!, and flow my way through a YouTube yoga class with Sarah:

It was just what I needed.  In fact, I encouraged D to join me for round two so I ended up doing it twice.  I feel relaxed and more thoughtful now.

I’m off to grab another snack, take a shower, and make cookies for game night.  M&M are bringing dough made from scratch for homemade pizzas and the rest of us are bringing toppings (mine is spinach and possibly some mushrooms ), drinks, and dessert (cookies!).  Have a relaxing Saturday night!