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Virgin Pina Coladas for Breakfast
Gooooood morning!
My breakfast today was as bright as the morning sunshine. My best friend came over for a HIIT workout together in my apartment’s gym. She is following Kayla Itsine’s Bikini Body Guide, and I like to join her on Friday’s to sweat together. Body weight exercises and strength training is something I skip many times when I’m by myself because I’d rather jam out on the treadmill. But Kerri’s workouts always leave me dripping with sweat and grateful for a workout buddy.
I requested a non-leg workout and she delivered with an ‘Arm & Abs’ routine that murdered our shoulders. The workout consisted of 8 different exercises, completed through 4 rounds of 7 minute intervals. The exercises included alternating mountain climbers and pushups, squats to cleans, and weighted jackknives. We got through it with some country music and recovered with this beauuuuutiful breakfast smoothie:
Virgin Pina Colada:
Serves 3
- 1 ripe pineapple, cut in wedges
- 3 bananas
- 1 cup ice
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 cup coconut water with pulp
- pineapple for garnish
Just add everything to a blender, and serve in a chilled glass! Can’t go wrong with pineapple, coconut and banana. We sipped on our smoothies with a side of hazelnut coffee. It was a well-deserved relaxing morning after such an intense fitness session.
And some fun nutrition facts for you:
- Coconut water is tapped from young, green coconuts. It has simple carbohydrates (sugar) and electrolytes, along with more potassium than a banana.
- 1 cup of pineapple provides more than your daily requirements for Vitamin C. It also contains beta-carotene, and it’s enzymes have been linked to decreasing inflammation.
- Americans consume more bananas than apples and oranges combined.
And because it’s SO sunny and warm in February I think I’ll take a little run outside as soon as I hit ‘publish.’
Oh and one funny story! Kerri and I have had many strange cases where we think/say the same thing at the same time. We also like to immediately share our new favorite songs with each other. Today, I said “Oh I Shazam’ed 2 new songs! There’s one I thought you would like.”
Kerri said, “So did I…..”
I said, “Wait….is one of them” and at the same time we both said “BRIGHT?!”
Ahhhhh best friend telepathy. We had both heard the same song, both used the Shazam app to find out what it was, and both wanted to share it with each other. <3
Happy Friday! :)
Olympian-Worthy Track Workout
You know you’re a running nerd when you consider professional runners a celebrity sighting ;) I belong to a local track club, which happens to be located in one of the running Mecca’s of the country. So last night’s stormy track workout brought more than thunder. Olympians Ryan Hall and Shalane Flanagan as well as professional athletes Sarah Hall and Emily Infeld graced us with their presence!
As an aspiring marathoner, meeting the fastest American female marathoner Shalane Flanagan was pretty darn cool. She is currently training for Berlin, where she hopes to break the American record. Which would equate to 5:19 miles (26.2 of them in a row…). I need to find out what that girl puts in her coffee to make her so stinkin’ fast! ;)
After we finished playing paparazzi, we had an actual work out to get to. Most of us amateurs were not-so-subtly trying to “impress” our elite onlookers (Ha! key word trying.)
The workout: (described as “simple, old school rep workout)
4 x 200 meter sprints (with 1 minute rest between)
immediately followed by
4 x 350 meter sprints (with 2 minute rest between)
immediately followed by
4 x 200 meter sprints (with 1 minute rest between)
Holy Heart Rate!
This speedy “All Out” effort workout is similar to HIIT because it pairs bursts of intensity with bouts of rest (although the rest in this situation was a bit long). The sprints make my heart pound faster than any long run can do. Such great cardiovascular strength building!
Fun fact: Emily and Shalane are members of the Bowerman Track Club. Bowerman, as in Bill Bowerman. As in track coach of University of Oregon in the 1970’s and subsequent co-founder of Nike, Inc. He created shoes for then-athlete Steve Prefontaine. Steve Prefontaine, as in the legendary long-distance runner who once held seven American records. Just a little running history for ya!
The rain is done! Muddy trails await :)
Backyard HIIT Workout
Yesterday morning, my backyard was transformed into an outdoor gym with 6 HIIT stations. We had country music, coffee and water bottles…all before 5am!
After discontinuing the LiveFit Trainer and re-committing to daily running, I set up a workout schedule for the first week of summer vacation that looked like this:
Monday: Cardio Carnival (35 min. run; 15 min. bike; 30 min. walk with incline)
Tuesday: Morning run on treadmill (5 miles); Evening run on treadmill (5 miles)
Wednesday: Morning at-home HIIT workout; Evening jog around park (5 miles)
Thursday: Morning run with Matt (5.5 miles); Evening run on treadmill (5 miles)
Friday: Morning run on treadmill (5 miles); Evening run around the park (5 miles)
Saturday: Strength workout at the gym followed by 7 mile run outside
Sunday: Long Run (8 miles)
Notice a lot of “Run” in that schedule? That’s because running is my FAVORITE activity. I don’t look at it as pure exercise or a chore. My mom said my enjoyment and enthusiasm for going to the gym and working out is “disturbing.” ;)
Yes there is a whole lot of cardio on that workout schedule, but I have tried a strength-dominant routine. It’s not for me. This is how I like it :)
So on to the HIIT sesh!
***HIIT is widely popular right now as many health and fitness enthusiasts have recognized interval training as one of the most effective cardio strategies. If you are unfamiliar, it stands for High Intensity Interval Training. It incorporates short intervals/fast and intense exercises followed by a short rest period, repeated for a pre-determined duration.****
At 4:55am, my parents and I headed into the backyard with some country music and coffee. I wrote out six exercises. Downloaded a HIIT Timer app. Set it to beep after 35-second intervals and 25-second rest periods. We did a light 5 minute warm up jogging across the yard and jump roping.
Circuit –> Move from one exercise to the next. Complete 5 total rounds of each. (30 minutes total)
My favorite station was jumprope and least favorite was mountain climbers. My mom and I modified the “push-ups with a clap” on our knees. We’ll repeat this circuit every Wednesday for 4 weeks before mixing it up.
We were way sweaty by then end. Even in the cool morning air, our shirts were soaked with SUCCESS ;)
This workout is easy to fit in at home or in your backyard. Should take 30 minutes & all you need is a jumprope! (Bonus if you get to watch the sunrise.)
Are you pumped yet? GO HIIT IT!
