Whohoo Friday night! :mrgreen:
Apparently there is a party going on in our backyard…
Don’t be fooled by his cuteness…he leaves ‘surprises’ on our deck for us!
The squirrels and raccoons love climbing up on our ‘squirrel proof’ bird feeder. Last summer, I also saw the raccoon hanging from it!
Little buggers! ;)
Amazingly, I made it to the lunchtime swim today just in the nick of time! I had a speedy yet satisfying workout.
Today’s Routine:
- Freestyle- 25 metres
- Breaststroke- 25 metres
- Flutter board- 50 metres
I did this 7.5 times for a total of 750 metres/30 lengths. My time today was just under 25 minutes. I was really pushing myself and I was so out of breath, which made it hard to do the bilateral breathing during the freestyle. I do a breath every 3 strokes and I was barely making it today!!!
I noticed a couple things today:
- My ankles get sore when I use the flutterboard to work on my kick. Hopefully they get stronger over time!
- My arms were sore today…not sure if that was the baking I did all morning or what (I mix every batch by hand).
I finished the swim with 3 minutes of treading water and 2 more pool lengths for a speedy 30 min. swim.
In conclusion:
1) Swimming is HARD. No run I have ever done has challenged my lungs in this way, except for maybe my 2 half marathon races!
2) Swimming makes me soooo hungry. More hungry than running!
I barely made it back to the car before I broke into my Glo Bar emergency stash!
It was so needed.
I came home and I was craving a fresh juice in a MAJOR way.
In the juice: 4 carrots, 1/2 lemon, 1/2 cuke.
It wasn’t my best combo to date, but it did the trick! Then it was onto lunch.
Quinoa + Mushroom Tomato Sauce Wrap
Ingredients:
- 1.5 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup pasta sauce
- 1 can organic canned mushrooms
- 1 Ezekiel wrap
- Seasonings, Salt, pepper
Directions: Cook quinoa. Mix together pasta sauce and drained mushrooms and heat. Scoop quinoa and sauce onto a wrap and serve.
For some strange reason, I have been obsessed with canned mushrooms since I was a child!!! It is the only canned veggie I buy occasionally. I just love the taste of canned mushrooms for some reason! When my mom and I used to make pizza, I would always steal a few canned mushrooms with pizza sauce on them before they went into the oven. Bliss!
This wrap was major.
Dessert…2 organic dates…aka- nature’s candy! YUM!!! I love dates so much. I used to be scared of them because of how they look (cockroaches!), but I am so glad that I tried them.
[Insert afternoon of work here.]
[Insert crazy bird smashing over and over into our windows all day long.]
DINNER:
One of my favourite easy dinners = roasted vegetables.
1 parsnip, carrots, 1 huge sweet potato, 2 red peppers, 1 sweet onion.
Roasted Vegetables:
Directions: Chop them all up, throw them into a big plastic container, add EVOO + salt, pepper, seasonings…put the lid on and SHAKE!!!
x 2
Throw onto a baking pan lined with tin foil and bake for about 50-60 minutes at 400F, tossing once half way through.
After 1 hour the house smelled ahhhh-mazing.
I had mine with leftover quinoa.
and Orange water ;)
It was quite possibly the perfect dinner. The hunger monster was silenced. For now.
I’m off to work on the website re-design. Keep your eyes peeled for the new look which I hope to reveal this weekend!
Enjoy your night :)
Omigoodness I think that I absolutely HAVE to try the quinoa + mushroom wrap. I would have never thought of that pairing but it sounds delicious.
roasted veggies are the best! I love seeing wildlife in your backyard. Growing up, we had a slat lick for the quiet deer that would wonder around. Living in the city just isn’t the same.
That raccoon bird feeder photo is hilarious! Its so weird, I used to always be so out of breath running but could swim forever. Now I haven’t swam much so not sure how out of breath I would be, but its funny how for many others its the opposite! I LOVE that combo of roasted vegetables, I made a similar baking pan earlier in the week. Amazing!
The wrap looks aaaaahmazing! And your dinner. Ohmagawd. Roasted veggies = HEAVENNN!
have a great night! :)
Wei-Wei
I randomly looked out my window the other day and saw a raccoon sauntering across the yard. It freaked me out a little since they’re nocturnal so I wondered if it might be rabid or something.
Good job with your swim successes! You’re doing great for just starting the sport. I think you’re going to do a fantastic triathlon
When I first started swimming, bilateral breathing was a killer! But now I like to do breath-control sets where you breath every 9, 7, then 5 strokes. It can be challenging but it’s so neat when you start to see yourself improve over time!
Tonight’s dinner looked so yummy. :)
(Accidentally posted this comment on your lunch post! Oops!)
I’d love to swim for workout but we don’t have a pool around – it sounds great!
Swimming definitely makes me super hungry! I LOVE quinoa. The wrap looks delicious and those veggies…YUM! Have a great evening and good luck with the redesign! Can’t wait to see it!
roasted veggies are a huge favorite of mine, and so are canned mushrooms! i can’t wait to see the redesign..it’s going to be amazing :)
yum those meals look so delicious!
I am liking this new website layout…liking the blue and white.
You look so pretty in that picture you used for your header :)
I love animals, regardless of what they are and those pics just prove how wonderful and curious nature can be. Love it!!!
Your roasted veggies are so colorful it makes me hungry. Question, I love Quinoa but I only have one recipe for them and it has all these additions, do you or any of your fellow bloggers or responders have a plain quinoa recipe, where I can make one huge pot and fix them however I want for different meals?
It’s odd because when I sweat during a workout, I’m thirsty and don’t really have an appetite but when I swim I want to eat anything I can find.
I googled why swimming makes us so hungry…here’s what I found: Swimming is an activity that uses many muscle groups at once. Unlike other types of exercise that focus on a particular group of muscles. This causes the body to use more energy. Energy is supplied to the body through food intake.
Fitness on-line says this on this link: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/tips/expert-advice/why-am-i-always-hungry-after-swimming/
That is interesting! I am definitely much more out of breath when I swim and my arms and legs are all sore at once.
oh my gosh same here, I have always loved canned mushrooms.
I love the new layout and the header is amazing!
Hi Angela!
I really love your blog. You do a great job. I think the new layout looks nice but I would either left or right justify everything in your second column. When things are centered, it kind of looks dated. Otherwise, keep up the great work. You are such a breath of fresh air.
Yes I agree, however I couldnt figure out how to change it. I’m going to inspect the element in firefox. Should be an easy change
its fixed! yawhoo
I noticed it right away when I popped over today. MUCH better! :)
OMG Angela I love the new blog look! :)
LOVE the new blog layout! the picture of you in the header is gorg
I get super hungry after swimming too. As for your ankle – you may be kicking with your lower leg in that case. Your power should come from the waist and thighs. I like to concentrate on “swinging” my hips a bit with the kick. Your knees shouldn’t really be bending at all.
Hope that helps with the ankle! If not, definitely do ankle rolls before and after to stretch!
Oh wow I didnt know that! I will try this next swim. Thanks for the tip :)
Hey Ange – had to share this recipe with you, since you’re a quinoa fan. I had this for lunch all last week and cannot believe how full it kept me. My lunch break is at 12:30 and I was usually just getting hungry for dinner around 6 pm; not bad for just under 300 calories! (I added a cup of canned chickpeas to this recipe): http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Quinoa-Greek-Salad-97764
OMG. Making this…as in tomorrow! Thank you!!!!!!!
Swimming always cranks up my hunger and I love your new page design!
Thanks everyone!
Hi Angela,
Make sure to relax your ankles when you use a kickboard…it’ll help you to go faster and will put less stress on your ankles. :)