St. Waffle Patrick?s Wednesday Day

Happy Waffle Wednesday!! Oh and I suppose St. Patrick?s Day too ;) Any Irish out there? I don?t think I?m actually Irish. I have an Irish name in my family, but I think we discovered it was actually a Norwegian adopted by an Irish family when he came to Canada. Are you out there mom? Can you correct me on this? Anyways, my last name is German, I?ve got a solid Scottish foundation, and a sprinkling of French. Basically, I?m Canadian! :D

Oh yes, we were talking about waffles, weren?t we?

All blended up with an immersion blender and poured into my belgian waffle iron.

Topped with almond butter, fresh strawberries and yogurt. I?m all for the toppings, but I found the waffle got lost under all the mess! I?m simple, I think I like it best plain and dipped in syrup :)

Then it was off to woooooork. I don?t know what is up with me lately but I?m in a weird head space. I think it?s because I only have 7 weeks (!!) left at my job, I?m writing my personal trainer exam in 5 weeks, and I have 10 weeks until I move to Toronto. GAH.

At least I still have a constant in my life ? exercise! I held off on my workout until after work today because the weather was 12 C, sunny and downright bee-yoo-tiful. Perfect running weather. I was starving per usual after work, so I grabbed a couple dates + AB before heading out.

Best cardio fuel there is. Does nothing strange to my tummy and gets some sugar in me quick.

By 5pm I was out the door! I?m quite proud of myself for actually doing it so late in the day, as I?m notorious for making excuses as each hour passes. In fact, this was my first evening workout since I started my job in January! The stellar weather and Beatles playlist I put on my iPod helped. I was actually looking forward to the fresh air.

I went out with the intention of running for 40 minutes. No speed or mileage goals, just 40 minutes of cardio outdoors. I just mapped it out and I did 4.2 miles in 41 minutes! Perfect! I felt at ease the whole time, so it?s nice to know I was going at a respectable (for me) pace.

Came home and foam rolled, stretched and iced. I am an injury-free zone thankyouverymuch :)

Dinner tonight featured this new-to-me food.

 
Veggie Patch Garlic Portabella Patties. Stats are okay. Low-ish on protein, but low on carbs too.

Ingredients could definitely be better (and shorter).

You can?t see it, but I am making a face right now looking at those ingredients :P

Luckily, they were quite tasty! 

Nothing mind-blowing, but nicely spiced with a firm texture. I ate it on a bed of swiss chard, green beans, onions, mushrooms, green onions and garlic sauteed with some marinara sauce.

This was also my first time trying swiss chard! It was good, the flavour got kind of lost in everything else so I couldn?t pick up anything distinct about it. Cooks just like spinach with a hard stem like kale. Will buy again! (because I ate the whole bunch!)

Thank you for all the great fitness and exercise resource suggestions from my last post! I wanted to make a list of all the extra suggestions I got in the comments:

Runner?s World
Oxygen Magazine
New Rules of Lifting for Women
Muscle and Fitness
Bicycling Magazine
Women?s Health
Men?s Health
Yoga Journal
bodyrock.tv
Fit TV
Shape Magazine
Fitness Magazine
Shape Fit
ACE
ACSM
NASM

Isn?t that amazing!? Thank you so much for chiming in!! 

Today?s question is actually going to touch on tomorrow?s topic. I know, I?m getting ahead of myself. But I really want to hear everyone?s opinion on this first!

Okay, so question of the day is: do you honestly enjoy working out? Do you look forward to workouts? Do you enjoy the act of working out just as much as the feeling of accomplishment afterward?

I?m constantly running into people who don?t. I have a hard time talking to them about my passion for exercise, as I love everything about it. For example, I was looking forward to my run today, even though I knew it could potentially be hard. I always cross paths with people who say they exercise because they have to, and don?t seem to find much joy in it. Convincing others that working out is fun is a wall I always hit, and I would like to learn a way over it before I become a trainer. So let me know! I?ll do the usual rambly-rambles on it tomorrow :) See ya then!