Strawberry & Chik’n Salad, Mango & Coconut Cream Smoothie

Sounds amazing, right?  That’s what I had for lunch and it was so good.  But I’ll get to it in a second.  Let’s talk about the day’s exercise first.

After breakfast I went out on my run and ended up doing a 10k in the beautiful weather. 6.2 miles in 54:22.  I didn’t take Maverick with me so I was able to pick up the pace a little bit.  Mav likes running around a 9:30 pace and today I wanted to go a bit faster.  I kept most of my mile times somewhere in the 8’s and sometimes I’d go a bit faster or bit slower just depending on how I felt.  By the end of this run I was definitely tired!

I wanted to still get in some toning so I did the TIU Bikini Abs and Bikini Booty workouts.  The Bikini Booty workout was REALLY hard after my run because my legs were already tired…this workout set my quads, hamstrings, and glutes on fire!  But in a good way, of course 🙂

A good stretch session definitely needed to happen after that and I am pretty sure I laid in pigeon pose for about 10 minutes per side.  It just felt so good.

Post-workout I needed to shower and make some lunch!  I had worked up quite the appetite.  I guess I was still feelin’ like a Beach Babe from doing my run and Beach Babe workouts, so I made lunch from my Beach Babe Nutrition Plan.  I chose to make the Sweet Meadows kale salad but put my own spin on it by also adding in spinach and two sliced up Morningstar Chik’n patties.  I topped it with a little Trader Joe’s Champagne Pear dressing.  Very light salad and the chik’n patties added a good bit of protein.

The smoothie was the Monkey’s Mango & Coconut Cream smoothie and it was so good I can’t even tell you.  I wished it would never end! And it also has some pretty awesome benefits according to the plan, which include: anti-aging, acne fighting, brain power, and boosts metabolism. All that in a sweet smoothie…okay by me.

This was the BEST lunch.  Especially the smoothie, I have made some delicious smoothies before but this was 100% the best smoothie ever.  So so tasty and refreshing!

The rest of my day is going to include watching TV and reading.  Feeling like I earned a nice relaxing rest of my day after my workout 🙂

What have you been up to this weekend? Anyone run a race or have some awesome food??

Run Done with Zensah Compression Socks

Like I said this morning, I was excited to get outside and go for a run.  The weather was absolutely perfect for a run, around 55 degrees and sunny.  I wore shorts, a tshirt, and pink Zensah compression socks.  Zensah kindly sent me a pair of compression socks to try out and review, and I honestly have nothing but good things to say.  And it couldn’t have come at a better time, because my lower legs have been hurting lately, especially my left calf.  It has a huge knot in it that I can’t seem to foam roll or stretch out.

I got my shoes on and Maverick and I were ready to go!  We covered just under 6 miles and I was lovingggg this run.  Legs felt great and I was feeling very energetic.  I definitely attribute the fact that my legs felt good to the socks.  I have always been a big fan of Zensah’s sleeves, and now the same goes for the socks.  The second I put them on I could just feel how the blood flow and circulation was better.

For those of you wondering what exactly compression socks & sleeves do, compression helps:

• stabilize muscle tissue
• keep swelling of muscle fibers at a manageable level, allowing the muscles to rebuild themselves
• lessen inflammation
• reduce Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

The socks specifically have the following benefits:

• increased oxygen blood flow to the lower legs
• arch support
• silver ions regulate body temperature
• decreased recovery time allowing the legs to feel fresh
• compression support reduces edema when wore when traveling

Thanks to Zensah for sending me this pair…I love them already and know they will become a staple on my long runs!  I loved that they were tight enough that my legs felt supported but definitely weren’t too tight.  As a soccer player I’m used to wearing high socks and trust me, there’s nothing worse than socks that are too tight! And these weren’t, they were perfect.  I could barely feel them on the run, and if anything all I thought about was how good my legs felt.  So that’s that!

I was feeling so good after the run, in fact, that I decided to keep getting in that good exercise.  I followed up my run with a 40 minute Tone It Up Bikini Sculpt workout to get in some full-body toning.

It was perfect to do after a great run and of course I just had to finish it all up with some stretching.  I did about 25 minutes of stretching and some yoga on my own to top off the day’s workout.  Still riding my exercise high and feeling awesome.

I was really craving a protein pancake so that’s what I made for my post-workout meal.

I made the Banana Mania pancake from the Nutrition Plan (and instead ate the other half of the banana rather than slicing on top because I was hungry and couldn’t wait) made with blueberries and topped with some honey.  I wish this pancake never ended.  It was so good.

The rest of my days is including some chores around the house, grocery shopping at some point, reading, and relaxing.  I hope your Saturday is wonderful!

Any fun weekend plans?  Got any awesome workouts happening?