Reaping the benefits of all that cooking... had some salsa on eggs and toast this morning. The roasted garlic cloves seem to have permeated the mix overnight and the heat relaxed a bit to result in a seriously tasty, easily portioned and ready veggie compliment. Kim and I remarked that because of the taste of the salsa we didn't even notice the lack of salt.
Granted, the batch I made is far too large given that I underestimated how hot the jalapenos would be and diced up two and had to add a lot more tomatoes than usual in order to quell the heat. Normally it wouldn't be an issue for guacamole and the like, but for whatever reason the Scoville meter was through the roof! And I really like hot food. Anyway, it seemed to mellow overnight and that rich garlic roast flavor should make for a great mix for the quinoa, side or topper for meals moving forward during the coming week.
Our fridge is as full as its been in ages:
Oh, and I was remiss yesterday in thanking everyone for the support, feedback and encouragement during the last few days of jumprope and shin splinty woes. So thanks Pucksters and other PCPers (ex and otherwise)!
Workout
I am simply not a morning person so getting up and at em' (or up and Atom if you are Radioactive Man) is a real struggle. I am the sort, if it wasn't for Kim being so annoyed at me, that would hit the snooze button a dozen times before getting up. But the impetus to get the day started and not have a ridiculously skewed meals schedule (as Noelinator mentioned) outweighed the usual lethargy for once. In order (for once):
- Jumprope: got a chance to test out the new jumprope... only it didn't stretch out yet and is retained its crumpled packing and kept on rekinking mid-swing which was annoying. So I used Kim's new jumprope. Bliss! Well, that is an exaggeration... the first ~200 were terrible actually. Not a lot of energy. But when I finally hit my stride things looked pretty good (relatively speaking since I'm sure all the fat jiggling only would look good chiaroscuro... emphasis on the scuro). As is par, the last ~200 or so were pretty broken up and the ache comes on. But its a shadow of what it was previously. I can feel it most when its over, but on Alexander's advice I had purchased an proper wrap around ice pack and numbed the pain away (after some stretching and massaging). I'm definitely behind on the jumprope at this point and probably not getting the full cardio benefit that I should be, but am glad that I seem to have isolated the issue(s). Here's hoping that means I can better keep up as the jump count will no doubt continue to rise...
- Squat: definitely difficult as usual but I like this better than the lunges. Probably because it feels more balanced and I can get deeper. Not quite as burny as the lunges though, so it probably just means that I need the lunges.
- Incline pull ups: man o man, these are hard. Was able to do them much better than last time, but they are seriously difficult. Didn't feel it quite so much in the shoulders this time though which is hopefully a good sign.
- Pushups: ever since the switch to the "girly" knee method I am actually feeling these more through the end of the exercise and can keep my form far better. Its weird because the burn comes on very late (latter half of set 3 and most of set 4) and quite suddenly. The first two and a half sets I can pound out without much difficulty.
- Curls: still liking these... going super slow so there is more significant burn towards the end.
- DaVinci: much better this time and more full range of motion. Still sticking with the lighter resistance band and plenty o' muscle Scovilles in the last set but definitely a marked improvement over the last time.
- Situps: again, slow on the uptake here, as I only recently noticed on the sheets that these are more like crunches than full situps. So I modified my form to fix that. Last set and a half were a real struggle and just as I was going to try and push out a couple final ones in the last set my lower back tweaked and reminded me why I had dialed back the reps here. Huge burn so its was entirely a mental thing to try and do the extras but I'll need to listen a little better next time...
Now for a little lunch and a bike ride with my special lady!
Hi.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing great with your jump ropes and other exercises.. Don't worry. I am not too great at skipping...:)
Great Food too
Even i made salsa in good quantity and it gives taste to all bland food and you don't miss salt if you eating salsa.
Let's share some good recipes, it might help all of us..
Keep the great work going!!
Cheers!!
How are we from the same? Dork! hahahaha. So your rope was part of the problem eh? That elementary school rope looked terrible. The jumping will get better and better and yes expect to be doing more.....a lot more.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say "how are we from the same mother?"
ReplyDeleteMini, happy to share the recipe, it is almost embarrassingly simple: half a bushel of cilantro chopped fine, half dozen roasted (then peeled) garlic cloves, 1+ jalapeno (depending on your heat preference) again chopped fine, half a vadalia onion chopped, and as much tomato as you want or need, chopped for chunky salsa or pureed for a smoother consistency and ground pepper to taste. Mix it all together e voila.. that's it! I'm sure we will branch out later, maybe add some carrot in the future to give it a slightly sweeter taste, lemon juice for a little citric bite and toy with the spicing, but for this first batch I kept it very simple to begin with...
ReplyDeleteAlexander, didn't you have a theory that you were adopted?