Guacamole Coma

After part II of my workout this afternoon (Body Revolution, Phase 3, Workout 9), I made sure to get in my 20 minutes of stretching for the “Stretch for Seven” Challenge. Today, I incorporated more yoga positions and flow sequences into my routine than yesterday. I forgot just how much I love the stretch I feel in so many different yoga poses.

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Triangle pose was pulling me in all the right directions today!

The 20 minutes flew by since I was also watching the end of the Orioles game against the Whitesox on MLB.com’s Gameday during them. An Adam Jones HR to tie the game and then a Matt Wieters grandslam to seal the deal. That’s Orioles Magic, baby!

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Snack

As soon as I was done with my stretching, I was hungry but not quite lunch hungry yet so I pulled the leftover guacamole out of the fridge and snacked on some with pretzels (gotta put a dent in the six-pound bag somehow!) and two tortilla chips.

I used the tortilla chips to really gauge how the guac was after sitting for the night and my taste buds were pleased. The extra hours in the fridge allowed all of the flavors to really mix together. Yum!

After my snack, I ended up not leaving the kitchen for quite a while longer because I caught the baking bug again.

By the time my cookies were pulled from the oven, I was ready to then start on lunch.

Oh…who cares about lunch? You just want to know more about the cookies you see above? Patience is a virtue, my friends. Plus, I haven’t gotten to adequately taste them and you know I have to do that before sharing where I found the recipe and the adaptations I made! 🙂

Lunch

When I put together lunch, my first step was to pull the perfectly set guacamole back out from the fridge. I covered half a toasted whole wheat bagel (from the bakery at Emart) with some guac and then set half of a chicken breast topped with pepperjack cheese on top.

A little lettuce rounded out the bagelwich.

On the side, I enjoyed a peach yogurt with peanut butter cinnamon spice granola on top.

And now that I am in a guacamole coma, I’m hoping to motivate myself to break out the text book and get to studying for the rest of the afternoon.

The weather is absolutely amazing outside and I would LOVE to know of a close place to sit outside and study, read, relax…whatever…while enjoying the sunshine! Do any Korean readers have a suggestion of a place close to Hanbat Stadium where I can do just that? I know there is a park by Say Department Store but I was hoping for someplace a little closer to walk to!

Question:

What is your favorite way to stretch?

San Fran Ain’t Got Nothing

Workout – Part II

To get my run in for the day, I decided to venture to Bomunsan Mountain to see what the park and hiking area had to offer. I’ve seen signs for the area while running around the stadium complex and figured it would be cool to see what I could find there.

Something I learned along the way?

San Fran has nothing on the hills in mountains of Daejeon.

I was beat by the time I got to the top and to what I guess was the entrance to the hiking trails.

I didn’t see any hill relief in sight so I left the rest of the exploring for another day and turned around to head down the hills, which was actually pretty scary!

Now I know why I passed a million people coming down with hiking sticks as I was going up!

My total run ended up being a hilly 30 minutes. It’s good to change it up here and there though, right?!  And I actually am looking forward to getting back there at some point to hike (not run) the trails!

Morning Snack

When I got back to the apartment I grabbed two rice cakes and topped them with Laughing Cow cheese blocks.

Which I enjoyed with another See’s instant coffee.

Later this afternoon, I’m catching a taxi to Cheongju for the first three “home” games of the season. It’s supposed to rain today so fingers crossed that the game doesn’t get rained out. I’m still anxious to get to my first regular season Korean baseball game!!

Before hitting the road, I cooked some chicken, made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and packed another to-make-later protein shake to take with me to the hotel.

Does anyone else make their PB&J’s with peanut butter on both pieces of bread before the jelly goes on?  Some smart individual once taught me to do it that way so that the jelly doesn’t seep into the bread if you aren’t eating the sandwich right away.

Genius!

I figured I can grab a salad at Home Plus or order one from room service to top with the chicken for a quick meal today or tomorrow and the sandwich and shake can step in as others along the way too.

The team has a three game series (all of their series are three games) in Cheongju and then the following series is in Incheon which means my travel schedule is a little crazy for the next six days.  I’ll be in Cheongju for two nights then back to Daejeon for a night then head to Incheon for two nights before coming back home for the off day on Monday before we start all over again.  Oy vey.  I wish the Daejeon Stadium would be ready soon!

Through all of the travel, I’m just trying to stay on course with my workouts and my eating.  It’s hard to not get thrown off of your normal routine when you step into the baseball life.  Especially since eating dinner now gets pushed to post game (if I want to eat with Brian) and with no kitchen on the road, healthy options at 10:00 p.m. aren’t always available.  Womp. Womp.

Question:

Would you rather run hills or on flat ground?

Back in Aggressive Form

Ever since I got to Korea and even more so after I started experiencing more stomach issues after my arrival, I haven’t had that much of an appetite and when I do have one it hasn’t been sticking around past one meal tops. However, today, that has suddenly changed.

My appetite is back and it means business in a bad way. It has come back in aggressive form!

Morning Snack

A few hours after breakfast, I was struck with a hunger for a morning snack, something that hasn’t been the case at all since I have been in Korea, so I ate the second half of my cinnamon raisin bagel toasted with some peanut butter and honey.

Lunch

A couple of hours later, after workout part II and a skype chat with one of my best friends back home, I was back in the kitchen whipping up a chocolate covered blueberry protein smoothie.

I threw tossed the following into the blender and let it do its thang.

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1.5 cup frozen blueberries
• spinach to the brim

This ended up making so much smoothie that I had two glasses full. Hopefully it fills me up through some afternoon studying!

Workout – Part II

Workout part II on the day was Body Revolution, phase 2, cardio 2. I’ve actually come to memorize this cardio routine since this was my fifth time doing it so I didn’t even need to turn the DVD on.

I just set up an online tabata clock for 16 thirty-second circuits with only two seconds rest between them and repeated the 8:32 minute cycles (including the 2 seconds to switch exercises) three times through as in the workout DVD.

So much easier than going through the hassle of turning the DVD on and even made the workout go by faster and kept me going at a faster rate since Jillian tends to talk a little between exercises and circuits! 😉

Off to (finally) shower and get my afternoon cranking!

Question:

When you have a raging appetite, do you go with it or try to suppress it? Often times I will try to drink more water or eat more filling meals to keep me full but after not eating much food of substance since I arrived and with feeling better now, I know my body needs the nutrients so I’m not fighting it!

Telli Time

Another morning of absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to be. I’m tellin’ ya, I could really get used to this!

Workout

After taking my time getting out of bed, I started the morning with a run. I wanted to mix things up a little instead of just keeping with a steady pace so I did some circuit repeats for 3 miles.

Each circuit looked like this:

• .25 mile at 6.5 mph pace
• .50 mile at 7.5 mph pace

I repeated the circuit 4 times through to get to 3 miles in 25:11. My fastest time in a long while (wooohooo!!) and then walked for another 10 minutes to stretch my legs out before calling it a day.

Little did I know that when I got home I would be getting workout #2 in right away.

Play time with Telli!

I had to walk something to the mail box so Telli and his ball joined me, which ultimately led to some running, chasing and fetch playing.

Now that we are back inside, I’m ready for a mid morning snack and he is still nonstop through the house with his ball. I swear the energy is endless!!

I have big plans with my mom and sister today – bridesmaid dress shopping!! – so I’m off to shower and get ready!! 🙂

Question:

If you could have the energy level of a puppy or small child, would you gladly accept it?  I’m all for extra energy but whoa, that seriously would be nonstop!!