Productivity is my middle name tonight.

Interval Run, Eyebrow wax, Whole Foods (food and flowers!), cleaned the apartment, put laundry away, cooked dinner, and picked boyfriend up at the airport – hands down the best part of my night!

Let’s start at the beginning.

Workout

I felt great after my mat pilates class this afternoon but I never feel like I’ve really gotten a good workout unless I do some form of cardio It has to be the (teenage/high school) athlete in me!

After work I headed to the gym to do a quick round of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). These workouts are great because you do a LOT in a short amount of time. (Because really who wants to be on the dreadmill for more than 30 minutes?) Not this girl.

My run looked like this:

Minute             Pace

0-2                      4.0 MPH

2-22                    20 seconds @ 9.3 MPH, 40 seconds at 6.0 MPH

22-25                  4.0 MPH

I was more than ready to be done by the end.

Not too shabby for a 20 minute run!

“The benefits of interval training can be substantial. You will burn more calories during and after your workout, get faster and stronger, and increase overall cardiovascular fitness. Interval training also relieves the boredom sometimes associated with treadmill training.”

Source

Dinner

Over the weekend, my mom gave me a potted Rosemary plant she had grown from a seedling. My mom is amazing with flowers, plants, herbs, vegetable gardens, you name it. She’s a master gardener and works extremely hard on her yard – and it shows. It’s beautiful!

I knew I wanted to incorporate the Rosemary into dinner tonight – and I had a couple of Organic Chicken Breasts to use up so…

Balsamic and Olive Oil Rosemary Chicken was born!

• Coast chicken breasts with balsamic vinegar (about 1-2 tsp)
• Then coat with olive oil (same amount – you don’t need a lot of either, just enough to coat them)
• Chop up 3 sprigs of fresh Rosemary leaves (can’t emphasize the fresh herbs enough!)
• Chop up 3-4 fresh garlic cloves
• Season chicken with rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper

I’m off to relax with boyfriend for the rest of the night – hope you had a great one!

Monday is now HALFWAY over! Or basically over if you’re on Central or Eastern time! Jealous.

It is sweltering outside. (I realize it’s only 81 but if Accu Weather says the “real feel” is 94, that’s sweltering!)

And I’m LOVING it.

I went to college in Arizona (GO CATS!) so I got pretty used to dry, glorious heat in the summer time. And while that may have been a bit extreme for my taste, I LOVE the feel of the hot sun! Please, please, please stay for the weekend! I may even dip my toes into the Pacific Ocean. (No matter how hot it gets ,the water is bone-chillingly cold!)

At lunch today I decided I was in need of some serious core work so I went to a Mat Pilates class at my gym.

What is Mat Pilates?

“Most exercisers complete pilates on an exercise mat. The gravity’s pull on your own body weight is what provides the resistance necessary for building strength and improving flexibility. The workout routine is structured sequentially, moving from one exercise to the next, typically increasing exercise intensity progressively throughout the workout. Additional exercise implements can be used in mat pilates, including an exercise ball or pilates block. Common exercises include the hundred, hamstring stretch, roll up, single leg stretch and the saw. Mat pilates may be better for beginners because it’s not as confusing to complete each of the exercises as it is on the reformer, which requires more specific positioning.”

Source

I’m lucky enough that my gym is just a stone’s throw from my office and that they offer some amazing classes all day long. I’m really good about getting the cardio portion of my workouts covered, but if I truly want those Aniston arms (and who are we kidding, those abs) I’m going to have to step up the toning work.

This class kicked. my. booty.

Although not as badly as the man next to me, who proceeded to grunt his way through the entire class, more out of breath and breathing louder than Charlie Sheen would be at the end of a marathon.

My core feels like a rock and my arms and back have that hurts-so-good soreness/jello feel to them.

I’m making an active/honest effort to attend that class twice a week. You heard it here.

Lunch

Lunch was consumed in about .5 seconds so my camera couldn’t act fast enough (I’m a terrible person) but it was a variation of this:

• 2 Slices Light Whole Wheat Bread
• Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb Cheese Wedge
• Deli Style Over Roasted Turkey
• 2 handfuls of Spinach
• Bag of BBQ PopChips (It’s an addiction fueled by my office keeping them fully stocked in our kitchens).
• Organic Strawberries

I haven’t had a chance to go to the grocery store, so lunch was really just an “empty out the fridge before things go bad” meal. I have big plans to hit Whole Foods after work today!

Hope your Monday is going (or went!) great!

Not here! Good morning! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

The sun is out and the heat is beating down on San Francisco today – and I couldn’t be happier!

Even better, boyfriend gets back from his 4-day camping trip in the Colorado wilderness, and I ‘m very excited to see him! He was at a Bachelor party all weekend- rafting and camping and soaking in nature (I think I max out at 2 days of  that type of thing) all the while visions of Bears and Mountain Lions and snakes ran through my mind.  I think that’s a sign I’m watching way too much Man vs Wild and Dual Survival. I’m more than excited to see him today!

Breakfast

After indulging a bit over the weekend (aka getting wined and dined by my parents and loving every bit and sip of it!) I was in the mood for some nutrients this morning. Out came the blender for a seriously green smoothie.

Into the mix went:

• 1.5 c low fat milk
• Frozen strawberries
• Frozen blueberries
• 2 handfuls Organic Spinach
• Teras Whey Organic Fair Trade Dark Chocolate Protein Powder (I’d never tried this before but grabbed a few packets at Whole Foods last week – it’s REALLY good, all-natural, organic with 20 g of protein/serving).

After some quite a bit of blending (Vita-Mix why are you so darn expensive?) I had this smoothie goodness.

Yes that is my still EMPTY coffee cup in the background. My Keurig decided to crap out on me and not brew even though the “Brew” button was pressed repeatedly. Grrrr.

It may look like sludge but it tasted DELICIOUS! 3+ servings of fruits and veggies with serious staying power. Between the protein, the fiber in the spinach and all of the fruit and milk, these usually keep me satisfied until lunchtime rolls around.

I’m off to close some deals, have a great day!

Worth Checking Out -

In honor of my lunchtime Pilates Mat class today : Pound Melting Pilates Workout