Shakes and Cakes - Tag Archive

Vacation Miles

July 5th, 2012 | Posted by Amy in Motivation | Work Outs - (1 Comments)

Happy 4th of July Weekend! I hope everyone had a great time with their family and friends over the holiday.

Adam and I just got back from “Part One” of our vacation. We went to visit family in Spokane, WA for 6 days. It was our first time there and we loved it. The scenery was so beautiful. And being a runner I was able to get in a few awesome runs.

Sometimes is so tough getting a workout in while you are on vacation. You want to relax, eat bad food and rest. Adam and I are very activate so it is pretty easy for us to come up with some way to burn a few calories while still having fun and enjoying ourselves. Here is a mini outline of our vacation and workouts.

I also want to note that one of the biggest reasons I like burning a few extra calories on vacation is so I can indulge in some delicious food.

We went to visit Adam’s sister Amy and her husband John in Spokane, WA. We started our trip with a tour of down town Spokane and the beautiful waterfalls.

Walk through Downtown, along the trails was really fun and refreshing after sitting on the plane for two and half hours.

After the tour of downtown Amy and I headed to a local gym called farmgirlfit. After I watched this video I knew I had to experience it. The workout we did was ONLY 15 MINUTES. Yes, 15 minutes and after I felt like I ran 10 miles.

We did a 5 minute warm up of lunges, squats, jumps and skips. Then we got right into it.

3x 5 minutes of work with 1 minute of break in between each sent of 5 minutes

First Set- 3 Burpees with a pushup then for the rest of the minute ball slams right to left. Repeat 5 times.

Second Set- 50 yard sprint then plate pushes on the ground for the rest of the minute. Repeat 5 times.

Final Set- 6 pulls ups then kettle bell squats for the rest of the minute. Repeat 5 times.

I LOVED IT AND CAN’T WAIT TO GO BACK!

One night we went out to a local pizza place and ordered these beauties. They are dough bites rolled in Parmesan cheese and dipped in marinara sauce or a pesto ranch sauce. They came out hot and so delicious!

The Schmidts and Roses at Dinner!

It just so happened that on our visit to Spokane was the same weekend as the biggest 3 on 3 basketball tournament- Hoopfest 2012. We started the day by going to Yoga that was sponsored by Amy’s Lululemon store that she manages. Some of the “big dog NBA players” were in town for the tournament and this guy (who I don’t know his name) joined us for yoga. He only lasted about 5 minutes.

The Elite High School Court.

After the tournament was over we traveled over to Idaho where Amy and John have a cabin on the water.

At Lake Pend Oreille we spent our time running, swimming, boating, tubing, skiing, hiking tanning, eating and of course cocktailing.

Running around the lake was so beautiful and peaceful. Lake Pend Oreille is the 5th deepest lake in the US and it seemed like one of the quietest. There were lots of curves, big mountains and beautiful nature to look at.

Water skiing and tubing are one of the best summer workouts! My upper body was so sore the next day.

This is the view from the top of our hike up a mountain.

Amy and John on the hike!

Me and Adam on the hike!

John “tubing” behind the paddle boat. He would!

Beautiful night boat ride.

The view from my last morning run! I don’t think I have ever ran in a more beautiful and calm environment.

These are THE BEST chocolate chip cookies ever! They actually aren’t even cookies. I would call them mini chocolate chip cookie cakes. These amazing pieces of heaven are crispy on the outside and thick, moist, gooey on the inside. At $30.00/dozen these cookies are the best cookies I have ever had!

Thank you Amy and John for a fabulous weekend of fun in the sun! We love you guys and can’t wait to visit again.

Amy

P.S. 4th of July pics to come

boating, chocolate, cookie, idaho, lululemon, running, spokane, swimming, workout

No Bake Breakfast Protein Cookie

May 24th, 2012 | Posted by Amy in Feel Good Sweet Treats - (0 Comments)

I found this amazing recipe on one of my favorite blogs- Peanut Butter Fingers

They call it- The Breakfast CookieIt is loaded with flavor, protein and energy. The perfect way to start your day! Or the perfect fuel after a tough workout.

You Will Need:

1/2 cup Oatmeal
1 Large TBS Peanut butter
1/2 Scoop Protein Powder- I used chocolate protein powder
About 1/8 Cup milk/ almond milk- Enough milk to make the mixture moist not soupy

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl with a fork.

This is the fun part where you can add your favorite goodies to the cookie. I smashed up half a banana, mixed it into the mixture. Next, I spread the oatmeal protein “dough” into a plastic container to take to work. To top my cookie off, I sprinkled almonds on top.

You could use- raisins, CHOCOLATE CHIPS, walnuts, dried cherries, blue berries, honey, cinnamon. So many options!

Once all ingredients are mixed together and the cookie is spread onto a plate or container, refrigerate for a few hours. If you want to serve for breakfast, it is recommended to make the cookie the night before and refrigerate overnight.

It is SO GOOD!

Amy

almonds, banana, breakfast, chocolate, cookie, oatmeal, protein, protein powder, workout

Quality over Quantity

April 4th, 2012 | Posted by Amy in Motivation | Work Outs - (0 Comments)

Today was just one of those days. Everything seemed to be challenging and nothing was going right. I kept wishing I was at home, playing outside in the warm sun, free of all stress and chaos.

But that wasn’t reality and I knew I had to power through. Do you ever have those days?

So here I am, finishing up my day at a Panera, sipping a hazelnut coffee and snacking on an m & m cookie, waiting for a meeting to start.

Lets rewind a few hours and start from the beginning-

I started my Wednesday with an intense workout…or that was what I was planning on. Wednesday mornings I go to a group fitness class called No Limits Cardio. Today at class, we had a substitute instructor. The sub started off by saying “Today it is all about quality or quantity.”

I’ve heard that statement before but it isn’t something I always keep top of mind.

Class turned out to still be a challenge but a different type of challenge. We did a set of exercises for 20 seconds each with a 10 second break in between. We continued this cycle for 60 minutes. The exercises were really challenging for me because I had to work on form, coordination, stability and control.

I am a cardio junkie who typically moves 50mph for a full straight 60 minutes. These exercises today, were slow and controlled and I was forced to use my brain to focus on quick movements with little force. I was doing fewer reps but each rep was solid and really well preformed. I was focusing on quality squats, lifts, tuck jumps etc. instead of the number of times I was preforming each exercise. Quality over Quantity.

After a unique but fun workout routine, I was off to work where everything was busy busy busy (which is a good thing).

Midway through the day I caught myself spending more time than usual on projects and focusing on fine details. Then I remembered….”Quality over Quantity.” I was making sure my work was completed really well instead of rushing through projects without much thought.

Sometimes at the end of the day, you have to realize its not always how much you do, it’s what you do.

I think some marathon runners think its really important to run several long training runs. These people focus on quantity over quality.

Other runners focus on fewer, faster runs with good recoveries. These people focus on quality over quantity.

I think my style leans more towards the quantity over quality side of things. But not today. Today I focused on a strong, controlled workout and the fine details.

Both strategies have their strengths and weaknesses. You choose what is best!

Amy