Kirsten Captures

Today started out with quite the bang!

At about 10:30am I awoke abruptly to a fire alarm blaring in the hallway. Not the best way to wake up on a Sunday but it did the trick. After years of practice at college, I threw on my clothes and hustled outside. Fortunately it was above 30 degrees which was more bearable than our Chambo evacuations at 3am in Maine winter. Apparently my dad started a fire in the fireplace (it really is cold here!) and one of the logs fell over near the edge and the smoke went into the house. Trying to kill me while I sleep huh? Thankfully our alarm is disconnected from the emergency response system so no firemen showed up. This is actually probably a bad thing. Maybe we should check this out…

I was awake and functioning even though I stayed up till 2am watching Sex and the City. Yeah I am really that cool. I decided to register for my ACE exam and was pissed when the times available this Friday were gone. Yeah, procrastination is not great. I really wanted to be certified before my China trip since I’m applying to some gyms in Shanghai. Oh well. March 16th it is! I can study on the 12 hour flight. Sweet. 

Workout

Ready to get out my frustration, I headed to the gym for a lower-body workout. This time I did Naomie’s Glute/Ham Workout. Holy moly this was the heaviest I have ever lifted in a lower-body workout. It was hard!!!! I dropped the weights a little bit, 55lb. lying hamstring curl, 40-50-60lb. reverse lunges, 15lb. dumbbell step ups, 25lb. glute bridge, Bosu crunch without the ball, 80 lb. deadlifts, and I subbed the straddle jumps for some lateral squats on the Bosu.

Do you see all that weight?? I lifted heavy! It was hard but totally doable. Besides the fact that I was shaking, sweating, and breathing heavily… People stared, they were probably just jealous ;-). I also rested a ton between sets (because it was hard!!). Next time I will really try to make the supersets more like… supersets. Fast and furious! My legs are not sore yet but I can sense some serious DOMS coming on. I plan on foam rolling my legs before bed to counteract some of the pain yet to come.

Hopefully this post-workout green smoothie helped too.

It was quite delicious! Here is all the components:

Green Protein Smoothie

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Makes 1 serving. 

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup water

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1/4 avocado

1 kale leaf (one big kale leaf!)

10 ice cubes

I was unsure about the avocado but it definitely added some creaminess and healthy fats. Next time I’ll add more! I added kale because I have been neglecting my veggies this weekend. You can taste the kale a bit but it’s quite pleasant… until you slurp up a hunk of unblended kale. I think I was too eager to get nutrients into my body.

I spent the rest of my afternoon walking Holly in the frigid air, making Cinnamon Vanilla Almond Butter from Bella Eats, preparing a batch of quinoa for the week, and watching television. Such is my life. Food and bad comedies. Love it!

If you are a nut butter freak like me, you should try making your own at home! There are some great recipes out there that are simple and easy. Look at this deliciousness:

Cinnamon Vanilla Almond Butter- recipe from Bella Eats

Blend in food processor until smooth. Yes, that is all. 

2 cups raw unsalted almonds

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

It is delicious and saves me some serious money on jars upon jars of almond butter. Success. Okay, dinner time! Goodnight all.