4 years and recovery

Yesterday was a great day. My boyfriend Jamie and I celebrated our four year anniversary! We are proud to say that we survived our long distance relationship and are very happy to be living together again!

The celebration was fairly low-key. He surprised me with a dozen roses and chocolates. It was warm out, so we did the 10 minute walk to Ace Burger. It was my first experience there and it was fantastic! They serve only local food.

I had the lamb burger on herb foccacia with goat cheese (top). Jamie had the deluxe burger with back bacon and cheese on a kaiser. On the side we both had seriously the best fries I have ever tasted. And of course they were loaded with salt! (the best). The restaurant was very quiet and laid back which I really appreciated. I'm not always in the mood for a loud, noisy place so a Tuesday night was the best time to visit.

After our fantastic meal we did a crossword together, cuddled and watched a movie and ate some chocolates. Definitely a fantastic way to celebrate our four years together.

Although the meal was amazing, I woke up today feeling a bit sluggish. So I thought I would document how I recovered after some overeating the night before. Now, don't get me wrong... I do NOT regret what I ate!!! Even writing this post is difficult because I want to re-eat that meal right now. That being said, I find overeating is a slippery slope. Once I begin to eat junk food, I tend to throw my week out the window and give in to all of my cravings.

So to counteract this trend, I started off my day by drinking lots of this:

Good ole H20 to try to negate the salt I had last night, and to keep me refreshed. For breakfast I ate oatmeal with a cut up apple on top and some peanut butter. Definitely my favorite breakfast of the moment.

For lunch I had tofu with veggies topped with Thai sweet chili sauce. Seriously the easiest meal ever:

In order to get my exercise in I went on a 10km run with my sister Nikki and brother in law Ray. It was tough. I haven't been running as much as I'd like and I definitely felt it today. It was wonderful to get outside though and spend time Nikki and Ray. I was cold the entire run! I thought I would maybe get away with not buying thermal running pants this winter but today changed my mind! Brrr!!

The upside was that I got to try out my new lulu lemon hat:

featuring post run sweat!

If you're interested in this hat you can find it here. I got this hat for Christmas and it's very soft and comfortable. However as you can see from the picture it doesn't cover my ears! So a little disappointed about that.

And finally for the end of my recovery day I had a delicious smoothie. I forgot to take a picture of it because I was hungry and it just looked so good! I used the same recipe as I did for this Breakfast Smoothie I posted awhile ago, so you can check out a picture on that post.

Overall I think it was a successful recovery to a Tuesday-night indulgence and I can continue my week on track!

gym time!

As I mentioned in my last post I signed up for the GoodLife gym. On Thursday and Friday it was difficult for me to find motivation. But thankfully the last few days I have found motivation with my sister, Nikki!

On Saturday we hit up the Women's only gym. It was quiet and perfect. Hardly anyone there which was surprising given the time of year but I guess not many people want to go to the gym Saturday afternoons!

I spent 20 minutes on the elliptical and then performed the following circuit:

I did each exercise for 30 seconds, took about a 1-2 minute break, and repeated for 3x total. I used a 20lb barbell for the squats and deadlifts, and 7.5lb dumbbells for the rest. I took it a little easy since I hadn't done any weights in about 3 weeks. It was unnecessary! I really should have worked harder (high weight, more time on each exercise) but as they say... shoulda coulda woulda. I finished my sets before Nikki was finished so I went on the treadmill for 10 minutes of running. And I have to say it was BRUTAL!! After running outside for the past 6 months I don't think I can go back to running on the treadmill. It was torture. I was literally watching the seconds go by. So boring!

Due to my displeasure of machine based cardio, Nikki and I hit up Zumba on Sunday and it was much more enjoyable! Zumba always brings a smile to my face and really lifts my spirits. The class we went to was really full, and I was happy to hear lots of WOOO's going on throughout the class.

Today we went to Body Pump. I had gone to this class when I was signed up at this gym prior to moving to Maine. I remember it being pretty intense and tonight was no different! There was a great energy in the class and I'm already feeling it a bit. I'm happy to get the initial class over with as I now have a better idea of what weights I can use for each exercise.  I'll definitely be going back.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be milder (as opposed to the -20C with the windchill today) so I'm hoping to get outside for a run. Well, as long as my muscles can handle it after tonight's workout! Please wish me luck in hopes that I never have to run on a treadmill ever again!!