April 07, 2015

Elliptical

I had a weird night last night! Apparently, I'm doing odd things in my sleep again. Remember that time I took a selfie in the middle of the night, thinking that I had to text it to my Ragnar team? Well, last night at around 1:00, I apparently took a selfie and texted it to Jerry. I have very little recollection of doing it (I was completely sober, I promise! haha). 

I have no idea what that's all about, but I'd better start putting my phone in my Kitchen Safe at night so that I don't do anything too embarrassing ;)

It rained all day long today. I had a three mile run on the schedule, but was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do. I like running in the rain once I'm out there, but it's really hard to get motivated to get out the door. I thought about going to the indoor track, but that didn't sound appealing, either. I definitely didn't want to do the treadmill. 

The schedule says, "3 miles OR cross train", so I decided that today, I'd do cross training. I asked the kids if they wanted to go the rec center, and they said they wanted to play racquetball. If they'd wanted to swim, I would have done a deep water run; but the racquetball courts are right next to the cardio room, so I figured I'd hop on a bike for 30 minutes and listen to a podcast.

When we got there, I saw that there were elliptical machines right outside the racquetball courts--the perfect position for me to watch the kids play while I exercised. I hadn't used an elliptical machine since college, but nobody was around, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. 

The second I stood on the pedals and started moving, I thought, "Wow! This is awesome!" It felt like such a natural movement (probably because it's so similar to running). I tried to get a picture of my view, but it turned out blurry:


Still, you can see how perfect the set-up was for bringing my kids with me. They were basically in a "cage", so they couldn't go anywhere ;) And I was right there to mediate their fights, which happened about every two minutes, give or take. 

I had no idea what settings to use on the machine. It asked me about my stride length, what level I wanted, what program I wanted to do, etc. I just winged it, and hoped I'd get a decent workout. I did it for 30 minutes, and I was definitely sweaty when I was done. I didn't push myself as hard as I could have, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if I had. I kept my heart rate at around 75% of my max. 

While I was watching the boys, I was thinking about how much I used to love racquetball, too. I played in high school (we actually had a racquetball elective for a quarter), and I was pretty good at it! I've only tried it once since then, but I always forget about it. It's a really good workout as well, so I'll have to keep that in mind for cross training, too. Or just an active date night with Jerry.

The boys were drenched in sweat when they were done playing racquetball, so we'd all gotten some good exercise. We stopped at Kroger on the way home so I could buy some vegetables. I made a goal for April to get in a serving of vegetables with each meal. I usually eat a ton of fruit, but not many vegetables, so I'm going to try to reverse that. I like vegetables, I just find them so inconvenient to prepare... so I'm going to try to cook batches that I can just heat up later (I really dislike raw veggies). Hopefully that will help!

9 comments:

  1. I find that the packages of frozen vegetables that you can steam in a microwave are pretty handy. I know it's not the same as eating them fresh, but they last longer and I'm much more likely to eat them that way, whereas if I don't cook the fresh ones in a week it was just a waste of money.

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  2. Racquetball sounds like a fun active date night!

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  3. I have been on a real vegetable kick lately and have a recipe that I actually make quite often for dinner. Cut up and saute in large nonstick skillet a large onion with some chopped garlic and a little olive oil. Peel and chop into bite size pieces two russet potatoes and two sweet potatoes, Add to onion mixture. Season with a little johnny salt and add a bit of pepper steak seasoning. Add additional frozen veggies as desired. (I use the bagged broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini mix from Costco). Cover and continue to cook stirring occasionally. 5 minutes before serving add small cherry tomatoes, sliced avocado and shredded cheese. Cover pan until cheese is melted and then ready to serve!

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  4. If you like racquetball, you should totally try tennis too ;) (I want more bloggers to get into tennis! I feel like I am alone! LOL)
    I personally love the elliptical. I can get on it and completely zone out and the next thing you know, an hour has flown by! (I usually watch something on netflix on my phone while doing the elliptical)

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  5. I love racquetball, but I always forget about it, too! It's so much fun, but I am definitely a sweaty mess when we're finished playing. I am so jealous of your rec center; we don't have anything like that where we live.

    Good luck with the vegetable challenge! We've been trying to do that, too, more or less. So we'll have spaghetti but just add in some zucchini and squash or something like that; it's pretty tasty! :)

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  6. I used to be able to do the elliptical for 30 minutes, no problem, but when I moved to a place without a convenient gym (well, the gym at my dorm WAS convenient, I just kept forgetting it was there!), I just stopped. I tried it again once I joined a gym when I was 27, and OMG. Thought I was going to die.

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  7. A little of how our subconcious mind works... A selfie is a self image and we send it to someone to show them something. Is there something in your self image that you want to show? 😊

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  8. Cut up your veggies, toss in olive or avocado oil, seasons to taste, spread on cookie sheets. Roast. Great that night & reheated. :)

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  9. Have you ever tried Ziploc Zip'n steam bags? Best ever for freshly steamed veggies. Directions are printed on the bag so no guess work. I mostly use them for broccoli and cauliflower and it's perfect every time. I cut up many heads at a time, fill the bags and leave them in the fridge. Mostly single serve so if each person can have their favorite. Before cooking, you can also toss in your favorite spices (garlic powder and red pepper flakes!). Best of all there's no pots or pans to clean up! Good luck!

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