Back to Boot Camp

First of all, I loved your funny stories and helpful tips on the grocery shopping post yesterday. I guess we all go through the same issues, huh?

And based on today's title, I'll bet you can guess who's super sore today...ME! I'm officially done with Day 2 of Tina's Best Body Boot Camp, and, as expected, it kicked my booty! 

Source: Tina's blog

Yesterday was a killer upper body workout, and I skipped the cardio to stay on track with my half marathon training. It's going to be a challenge to combine my boot camp workouts with my running, but I think it will be great. A lot of the exercises are helpful because they work my outer hip muscles, which are great for runners. I tend to neglect these types of exercises because I spend so much time running--ah, the irony!

My numbers from yesterday's workout

Today, after a leg workout this morning, Terry and I combined two different kinds of cardio to finish our five mile run. We ran the first three miles at a slow, steady pace, chatting the whole time. For the fourth mile, we alternated 60 seconds sprinting and 60 seconds walking. Finally, for the last mile or so, we walked a little and jogged a little.

It was a tough two days, and I'm excited for a "light" day tomorrow!

As for meals recently, we've had some superb eats around here:

My very first roast chicken. I used Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken recipe, and the name did not lie! It was easy to make, delicious to eat, and perfect for some homemade chicken stock.

I served the chicken with some little salad bites (recipe from Lisa's blog, including the glazed pecans). This one took a little patience, but I loved that we could eat the "salad" with our hands and that we ended up eating TONS of greens while only munching a few of the nuts and only a little of the cheese. Very often, when I make salads, I load up on lots of the "accessories"--as Lisa calls them--and I throw in some spinach leaves at the end. But, as you can see in the photos, this time I stacked a whole bunch of leaves for each bite and only used one or two pecans, a tiny bit of goat cheese, and a slice of tomato. Perfect for an appetizer at a party, too! (Though you may want to roll them as Lisa shows in her post.)

Today I met up with Heidi for lunch--details to come later this week--and we tried a new restaurant, Smash Burger. You can order one of their specialty burgers, chicken sandwiches, veggie burgers, or salads in all different sizes. I chose to build my own burger with mustard, ketchup, grilled onions, and sharp cheddar. As the name suggests, the burgers were, in fact, smashed. And delicious! I also ordered sweet potato fries, and Heidi got a Butterfinger milkshake (I tried some--yummy!). We both liked it, and they have several locations. 

Blurry due to excitement

Plans tomorrow include another boot camp workout, lunch with some former coworkers, and lots of reading. I'm currently in the middle of this month's selection for Julie's book club on PBFingers.


What's your take on salads: eat 'em for any meal, only in certain circumstances, or avoid them altogether?
I used to completely avoid salads, but now I check the menu to see if there are interesting flavor combos. I love Greek salads (okay, anything with feta), and usually a balsamic can make me seriously consider going green.