US Open Squash Championships + {Friday Favourites}

It’s a B-E-A-Utiful day outside today and where am I currently? In the library! Ha. Oh midterms, I will be oh so happy to be rid of you. Just a heads up that posts for the next week could be a little on the shorter/less insightful/sporadic side until the craziness of the midterm marathon subsides. 

On a happier note, it is Friday, meaning I have some fun things to share from the week. Read on, friends!

Delaware Investments US Open Squash Championships

Yesterday I had the chance to go to Drexel University to watch some of the top squash professionals in the world compete in the US Open championships. I got there a little later than the rest of my teammates, so I missed the first men’s match, but managed to see 3 matches:

• Yathreb Adel (Egypt) vs Camille Serme (France)
• Laura Massaro (England) vs Nour El Sherbini (Egypt)
• Amr Shabana (Egypt) vs Omar Mosaad (Egypt)

As you can tell, Egypt dominates the squash world!

They move so fast, it’s hard to get a clear picture!

It was amazing to see women so close to my age compete at such a high level (both Adel and Sherbini are 18 years old), and only motivated me more to get back on the court and train up.

As always, Drexel did a great job of hosting the tournament, as they have more than one big screen showcasing the main court, as well as a VIP viewing section, and several apparel and equipment exhibits.

Pumpkin Butter

When I get home at Christmas time, I must make some of this. I don’t care if it’s not seasonal anymore, I’ll be doing it. Specifically, I want to have some to spread on some homemade baked goods, crackers, and toast.

This week I’ve been using my pumpkin butter mainly as a topping for crackers, alongside a smear of cashew butter.

It’s got the perfect amount of sweetness, saltiness, and spice for a little snack or appetizer. (Specifically for me, breakfast appetizer…)

Coconut Cashews

I know I mentioned these guys earlier this week, but they are SO good, I just can’t not bring them back. I seriously can’t believe that there isn’t any sweetener or “glue” additive in these cashews- they taste like a dessert! Thank goodness they’re not, because I’ve been eating them by the truckful handful.

The Days by Avicii

I came across this song a couple days ago when it popped up on the “Mood Booster” Spotify playlist and can’t get it out of my head!  I’m slowly turning into a huge Avicii fan, and I’m not afraid to admit it! To all you hipster Avicii-haters out there, don’t judge me! I promise I do listen to other songs that aren’t on the top 40.

Riptide (original and covers)

I’ve been listening to Vance Joy’s, “Riptide” non-stop, and have come across a few other amazing covers that I like just as much!

Last weekend, Kat showed me a cover in particular that really stuck out, redone by Taylor Swift.

It’s pretty different from her newest single, Shake it Off, but in the best way possible! This cover really shows off her voice and her piano skills at the same time, without any sort of back up or auto-tuning.

Okey dokey, I’m off to do some work before dinner. Gotta love midterms… 😦

Have a great rest start to your weekend!

Questions:

Have you ever watched a professional squash match? Have you ever watched a professional sports game of any kind?

What song(s) are you loving lately?

Cashews or Pumpkin? Or both? 

Sweet Potato Chick Pea Quinoa Burgers with Lemon Tahini Sauce

Good morning friends! Hope your day is off to a good start! Last night I got almost 10 hours of sleep (~11 pm – 9 am), and I finally woke up feeling refreshed and excited to get out of bed to start the day! It’s amazing what an hour extra of sleep can do to your mindset :).

Today I’ve got a vegan recipe lined up which I think, even the most carnivorous of people would enjoy. Thanks to the quinoa and chick peas, it packs a punch of protein, and combined with the sweet potatoes, makes for quite a filling meal!

I’ve got to be honest- the credit for this meal goes to my friend, Pam, the mastermind behind the recipe (and all things vegan).

Hey, Pam!

There are a few other things besides Pam (that’s a compliment, Pam!) that made this dish so unique…

That right there, is an award-winning avocado, specially delivered courtesy of Pam’s mom in California.

Yep. Award-winning! A few days ago, Pam’s mother sent her a package containing a random assortment of things, one of which was this avocado! Pam was kind enough to share it for the recipe, and I’m sure glad that she did, because it was the best avocado I’ve had in months!

When I arrived at Pam’s place, she had already started the cooking process, by chopping vegetables up and adding them to the food processor.

Sweet potato, cilantro, chick peas

In fact, Pam did all most of the cooking, which gave me the chance to observe and take pictures.

Once all of the ingredients were blended, the mixture was very similar to a sweet potato coloured hummus.

We then added the hummus mixture to the lightly crushed chick peas to give the burgers a little more texture.

And finally, mixed the chickpea concoction with the cooked quinoa, and formed some vegan patties!

Our batch formed 6 “burgers”, and I am happy to report that they held together very well. No crumbly patties here! (ps. I hate the word patties- I need to find another word to use as a substitute).

We topped our vegan burgers with sautéed onions, lettuce, avocado, tomato, and some homemade lemon tahini sauce.

Tahini sauce.

Don’t let the bland colour of the sauce fool you- its taste was out of this world! It reminded me an awful lot of the dressing I had on my black rice bowl at Agno last weekend.

Claire (not photographed) and Pam each enjoyed a burger alongside an English muffin, and I had two burgers sans English muffin (I have an aversion to English muffins).

If you’re looking for a filling, healthy, and vegan/vegetarian meal for either lunch or dinner, I highly recommend trying this recipe! I’m not usually a veggie burger fanatic (mostly because I don’t like how the manufactured kinds include all sorts of crazy preservatives and ingredients), but this one rocked. Way to go, Pam!

Ingredients

Burgers

• 1 small handful cilantro
• 2 sweet potatoes, baked
• 2 cups quinoa, cooked
• 1/2 can chickpeas, divided (1/4 of can will go in food processor, other half will be crushed by hand)
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 3 scallions
• 1 Tbsp tahini
• salt and pepper to taste
• a pinch of garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Lemon Tahini Sauce

• juice of 1/2 lime
• 2 Tbsp tahini
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon chill powder
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Toppings

• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 6 lettuce leaves
• 1/2 onion, sautéed in oil (we used coconut oil, but olive oil also works)

Optional: English muffins, burger buns, sandwich thins

Directions

For Burgers

• Bake sweet potatoes at 350 until soft (can puncture easily with a fork)
• Place dry quinoa in boiling water on stovetop until fully cooked
• In food processor, combine cilantro, sweet potatoes, cilantro, lime juice, 1/4 can chickpeas, scallions, 1 Tbsp tahini, salt/pepper, garlic powder, and olive oil.
• Process until a hummus-like texture is formed. If chunks remain, that’s okay! It will give the burgers some more texture.
• Combine hummus mixture with quinoa, and form into patties.
• Transfer patties to a hot pan, and cook until the outsides become crispy (roughy 3-4 minutes each side, maybe less)
• Remove from heat and top with sauce and other extras!

For Lemon Tahini Sauce

•  Combine all ingredients and stir until well mixed.
• Feel free to add a little more salt, pepper, or other spices based on your desired taste.

Alrighty, time for me to head out. I’ve got a doctors appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon (hoping he’ll have a little more insight in so far as my knee injury goes), and then I’m off to Philly with the team to watch the US Open squash championships! It’s always so inspiring to watch such amazing talent, and let’s be honest, I’m also stoked to go back to Philly! 🙂

Have a great rest of your Thursday!

Questions: 

Have you ever made or tried vegan burgers? 

If you’re a fan of vegan foods, what do you add to your dishes to make them more fillings? 

Have you ever eaten an award-winning vegetable?!?!

 

Pumpkin and Coconut Delights {WIAW}

Hello all!

I’m currently writing this post in my PJ’s as I munch on some chocolate protein pudding with cashew butter (easiest, healthiest delicious breakfast ever), and as soon as I hit publish, will be off to the student health centre to get an X-ray of my knee! I’ll be seeing the ortho tomorrow, and will most likely be getting and MRI done, but before any of that, they need to make sure that none of my bones are broken! (Which they shouldn’t be, because I think I would feel that!)

Workout (Tuesday)

AM Yoga: Yesterday morning both the mens and women’s team yet again had our early morning vinyasa yoga session. It started off a little slower than normal, which I really appreciated as it helped my body to ease into the poses.

PM Practice: Let me tell you a little bit about what was going through my head at 4:15 pm yesterday as I left my last class of the day: To practice, or to nap? That is the question! Since official NCAA practices start today, yesterday’s practice was optional, and I seriously considered plodding back to my room to curl up in my bed for about an hour. After some deliberation, I decided against it, and hit with a teammate, Kira for about an hour.

What I Ate Wednesday : Pumpkin and Coconut Edition

Thanks to Trader Joe’s, the following munchies have found their way into my life. Question: does eating pumpkin butter count as eating a serving of vegetables? I’d say that’s up to personal interpretation 😀

• Pumpkin Pie Parfait

I made myself a little pumpkin parfait the other day, with plain Greek yogurt, canned pumpkin, and pumpkin butter, with some cashew butter drizzled on top.

• Coconut Chocolate Covered Almonds

Be proud! I’ve had these nuggets for almost 4 days now, and I still have basically the whole container left! These almonds are sweet and perfectly crunchy, and a great way to satisfy a little sweet craving after a meal (or before a workout…?).

• Pumpkin Butter

I’ve been enjoying my pumpkin butter a couple of ways, with cottage cheese (don’t hate!), and topped on crackers with some cashew butter. These combos may or may not have turned into breakfasts over the past couple of days. Yumz!

Ps. The crackers I’ve been using are the multigrain crackers from Trader Joe’s. They’re pretty inexpensive (about $2.50 a box?) and they’re great with both sweet and savoury toppings.

• Coconut Cashews

Just then you thought I couldn’t make any more combinations- stop that thought right there! I will always make more combinations- especially when they involve nuts. Or coconut :).

The best thing about these nuts besides the fact that they taste amazing, is that they don’t have any other ingredients, other than cashews and coconut! No sugar added = big ups from me!

• Coconut Chips

Probably my favourite purchase over the past couple of weeks. I just love how these chips aren’t really chips, but are rather just toasted coconut pieces! They’re crunchy, sweet and salty, and kind of creamy at the same time! Wins across the board!

And one last thing, although it involves neither pumpkin nor coconut… my dinner from last night (recipe to come!!!)

• Sweet Potato Chick Pea Quinoa burgers with Lemon Tahini sauce

Blogging time’s up, and I am feelin’ a Wawa pumpkin spice coffee before my X-ray. Toodles!

Green Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Heyo!

Today I’ve got a recipe to share, inspired by and adapted from Giselle’s Pumpkin Pie Green Smoothie. Furthermore, there was absolutely no way that I could walk through the pumpkin-land of Trader Joe’s without caving and buying all the things at least a few pumpkin items.

After blending all the ingredients in her Vitamix (I have a serious love affair with that machine), we got a product that looked somewhat…less than appealing.

The smoothie also looks strangely yellow in this picture, but it’s really just due to the lighting. The end product that we consumed looked more like this:

Yummay!

Now that I’ve made this baby look soooo appealing, it’s time to share the recipe!

Adapted from Diary of an ExSloth’s Pumpkin Pie Green Smoothie

Makes 2 small/medium servings, or one very large serving

Ingredients

• 1 banana (preferably frozen)
• 1 large handful spinach
• 1 serving vanilla or unflavoured protein powder
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• ~ 1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice (feel free to add more or less based on desired taste)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (could use vanilla or honey flavoured to make sweeter)
• Optional: 1-2 Tbsp cashew butter, chia seeds, pumpkin butter, maple syrup

Directions

• Add all ingredients to blender, and process until smooth.

I ate my smoothie with a spoon, which I dipped in cashew butter and pumpkin butter every. single. time. Kat and I both agreed that it was a great creamy, cold treat (perfect for post-workout), and would probably taste great drizzled with some maple syrup! (Maybe that’s just the Canadian in me 😉 )

If you try this recipe, please comment below and let me know what you think! It’s not exactly like pumpkin pie, but is a nice little healthified version that’s packed with protein and fiber!

Last but not least, Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I had so much to recap yesterday from the weekend that I didn’t get around to mentioning it in my post, so to conclude today, here’s a little snapshot of my dinner last night, courtesy of the Princeton Canadian Club!

I filled my plate with turkey, corn on the cob, green salad, green beans and carrots. I also had to have a piece (and a half) of pumpkin pie to finish off the meal. After all, what is Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie?! I have to admit, it wasn’t as good as my grandmother’s, but let’s be honest- does anything ever beat your grandmother’s home cooking?

That’s all from me! Now that I’ve blogged and had my nice 24oz Wawa Pumpkin spice coffee, I’ve got to go do some real schoolwork!

Questions:

Have you ever made a pumpkin smoothie? 

What’s your favourite Thanksgiving food? 

Do you like your Grandmother’s home cooking? If so, what’s your favourite thing that she makes?

Pumpkin and Squash in Philadelphia + An Exciting Announcement

Good Monday to ya!

It’s already halfway through October and it’s finally beginning to feel like fall. I’m sad to say that I’ll be putting away the sundresses and Birkenstocks for a little while, but overjoyed that I will be replacing them with Sperry boots, sweaters, and scarves. Hello, coziness!

Weekend Highlights in Philly

Trader Joe’s

Although my wardrobe hasn’t reflected the change in seasons, you better believe that my taste buds have! Saturday I had the great fortune of stopping in at my beloved Trader Joe’s in Philly, and went crazy for pumpkin like a kid on Halloween.

This was actually taken at Insomnia cookies, but I DID try their pumpkin ice cream!

Although I didn’t buy any actual pumpkins, I did spent about 10 minutes in shock as I roamed around pumpkin-land.

Trader Joe’s had everything pumpkin you could possibly imagine. If Kat hadn’t been there with me rushing me along, I would probably would have left the store with the following goodies (and others):

• Pumpkin cheesecake

• Pumpkin ice cream

They even had pumpkin bread pudding, and pumpkin croutons. Croutons?!?!

I did wind up buying some canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin butter, and pumpkin spice tea.

I guess I did alright, actually.

Workouts

• Body Cycle

Before our Trader Joe’s expedition on Saturday, Kat and I went to a 9:30 am spin class at Body Cycle. (You can read my review of Body Cycle from this past summer here). It was my first time attending Russell’s class, and within 5 minutes, I could tell why he had a wait list! His energy was infectious, and was constantly moving his bike around to different parts of the room to make sure everyone was able to feed off his vibe.

• Unite Fitness

If you read any of my posts from August, you no doubt read about my workout obsession, Unite Fitness. (You can read my review here). Courtney and I had been talking over the idea of going once over the weekend, and ended up going to the 8:30 am class on Sunday. Oh. My. Goodness. Although I’ve been lifting twice a week with the team, I completely forgot how much more intense Unite’s workouts are. I knew I was in trouble when my shoulders started shaking within the first 12 minutes of the strength portion. Nevertheless, I survived, and if anything, it just made me wish I had access to Unite all the time.

Breakfast

Last week, I saw a recipe for a pumpkin pie spice green smoothie on Giselle’s blog, Diary of an ExSloth. Inspired by both her post and Trader Joe’s, I felt compelled to try out my own version with Kat’s Vitamix as a post-workout meal!

It was creamy, filling, and delicious, and I’ll be posting the recipe for it tomorrow. Don’t be put off by it’s sludge-like colour (thanks to the spinach)- I swear it doesn’t taste like sewage!

US Intercollegiate Squash Doubles Tournament

Although pumpkin-flavoured food and Body Cycle are reason enough, there was an actual purpose for my Philly trip this weekend. My teammate, Rachel, and I played in the U.S Intercollegiate Squash Doubles tournament! (Click here, or on the picture for image source)

Pretty sure I missed that one

We won both of our matches on Saturday, which set us up to play our other fellow Princetonian teammates in the final on Sunday. Rachel and I lost, but it was a fun time, and a great experience!

Teammates with our hardware

Meals

Now, a Squash on Squash post wouldn’t be complete with some meals I consumed, would it?

On Saturday we stopped by Agno, a mediterranean grill very similar in style to Chipotle for lunch after our first doubles match.

All the toppings!

We all ordered black rice bowls, and I topped mine with stewed cabbage, salmon, chick peas, sautéed kale, hummus, and lemon tahini sauce.

I loved how the toppings were diverse and flavourful each in their own way, and it was a great meal for between matches!

Exciting Announcement!

Now that my weekend in Philly has more or less been summed up, let’s move on to a quick, exciting announcement: Squash on Squash is getting a makeover! One of my squash friends from home agreed to help me with a blog redesign, which will be going live in the next couple of days. For that reason, if you experience any trouble with the site, this is likely why, but it should be a smooth process (hopefully)!

Here’s a little snapshot of the new look:

I’m so excited for Squash on Squash’s new look, and am so, so, grateful to Dara for all of her help!

Well, it’s time for me to get back to student life (aka, listen in class). See ya tomorrow!

Questions:

How do you feel about pumpkin? Love it? Over it? Never liked it?

Have you ever played doubles in any racquet sport?

 

Prison Break Has Taken Over My Life + {Friday Favourites}

We made it! It’s Friday!!! And guess what? This is Squash on Squash’s 100th post! I think I’ll have to treat myself to a little something in honour of this little milestone 🙂 Maybe something squash related??

I’m especially stoked for this weekend, because I”m off to Philadelphia to play in a doubles tournament! Woooo! Friends, squash, and Philadelphia, here I come!

Breakfast

This morning started off with a Wawa coffee that a teammate of mine, Gabriella, dropped off right to my room. Yup, that’s right, and I didn’t even request it! I’m livin’ quite the good life I think.

The food portion of my meal consisted of toast with 2 poached eggs, as well as oatmeal and a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter.

It was warm and filling, and now I’m all set to power through some blogging work.

Alright, with breakfast out of the way, let’s move on to Friday Favourites! Thanks to Heather, for hosting as always!

Friday Favourites

Prison Break

Well, it’s official. I am full-on addicted to Prison Break.

Remember a few days ago when I posted about having watched an entire season in a weekend? Ooookay well I am now halfway through the second season, and currently showing zero signs of slowing down. I’m actually starting to get quite concerned, for a few reasons:

• I have averaged roughly 5 hours of Prison Break a day for the past 6 days
• My “bed time” has been extended by about 2 hours thanks to my extra TV watching
• I am rushing through my homework as fast as possible so that I can watch the next episode
• It’s literally all I could think about during my swim yesterday
• I downloaded Netflix on my phone today so that I could watch while walking around campus (is that the most anti-social thing you’ve heard of or what?!)
• I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to fail my midterms if I don’t finish this show in the next two weeks

Are you now as concerned as I am? I’m hoping that this weekend away from the computer will help me break my addiction (at least a little bit).

Swimming

My strange knee injury has limited me to mostly low-impact activities for the past two weeks or so, which means I’ve been either biking, yoga-ing, and/or swimming every day.

And to make it even better, I’ve had a partner to swim with! One of my teammates, Kira, currently has a severely sprained ankle, so she has also been banished from most other activities. The two of us have been slogging it out ripping it up in the pool, and also finishing up each session with a little core work.

Half Baked Cookies

Not much to say here, except, YUM.

The only thing better than having cookies as an appetizer? Having warm, melted cookies as an appetizer :D. Next step? FInd the cookie dough stash!

Student Health Advisory Board Poster

I couldn’t help but laugh and take a picture as I stumbled upon this poster while filling up my water bottle the other day at the gym.

Apparently showering is an issue on campus?

I’m usually so sweaty after exercising that I have to shower afterwards. If I don’t have to, that usually means my workout wasn’t hard enough!

Jay Robb’s Chocolate Protein Powder

I initially picked up a couple of sample packets of this protein powder this summer at the Vitamin Shoppe and was extremely pleased with it!

I was a little skeptical at first because it has Jay Robb’s photo on the front, which kind of put me off. However, the combo of the nutrition facts and the taste really blew this one out of the water for me. I’ll write a little review on it soon (with a recipe!), but thought I’d give ya a little preview now 🙂

Graze Snack Box

I received my first Graze box on Monday, and really liked it!

I don’t think I”ll go for the Strawberry shortcake or Salted fudge peanut cookie things again, simply because they didn’t really do much for my stomach besides taste good (by that I mean, they weren’t filling), so I think I’ll stick to nuts, popcorn, and flapjacks. In terms of value, I’d probably say that Nature Box wins here, so I might ask for a Nature Box subscription instead for Christmas or something :).

That’s it for today! I don’t think I’ll be blogging this weekend, but I’ll make sure to take pictures for a recap on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Questions:

Do you have any fun plans this weekend?!

What’s one thing you’ve been loving this week?

 

 

 

My First Graze Box + {WIAW}

Hi everyone!

A few months ago I saw an ad on Spotify for Graze, a company that sends healthy snacks right to your door (or mailbox).

I was seriously considering signing up for one, but just never got around to it. Finally, a few days ago I saw another ad for Graze, and decided to go for it! I researched their snacks online and set my preferences (this is so fun!), and send in my order for a small box to be delivered once every two weeks.

And this past Monday, sure enough, guess what I picked up from the package centre?!

Included in my Graze box were:

• apple and cinnamon flapjacks
• smoky bbq corn
• strawberry shortcake
• salted fudge and peanut cookie

Judging by the fact that I finished all of the snacks last night, I was a fairly big fan. My favourite snack was the “flapjacks”, which are basically chewy oat bars. I would most definitely order those again!

Lunch

Yesterday’s lunch started off a little backwards, since I actually began with dessert!

How could I resist these cookies?! They were about 3/4 cooked (which is the perfect consistency), so they fell apart in your hands, and melted in your mouth. Yum.

I followed up my little appetizer which something a little more nutritious. In the mix:

• lentil salad
• green salad with tomatoes
• orange chicken breast
• sautéed peppers and onions
• broccoli and green beans

Tuesday

Workout

AM: Vinyasa Yoga: I’m so happy that our team is back to Tuesday morning yoga! This is great for 2 reasons: 1) It means that the team pays for it, and so I don’t have to, and 2) It takes all of the decision-making/questioning/debate out of going. Oh and a 3rd reason, it gets my Tuesday off to a great, productive start :). After the yoga session, I grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed to the training room to do a little rehab for my knee, which consisted of a bike warmup, stretching, and foam rolling.

PM: Spin + Squash: Since my knee was feeling pretty decent yesterday, I was allowed to play for 20 minutes! Following a 30 minute spin, Rachel and I did some drills and played a couple of games. I felt kind of awkward and slow, which I think is partly due to the fact that I haven’t really played in a week and a half, and perhaps because I am slightly cautious.

Wednesday

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning consisted of 2 Mango Chobani Greek yogurts, as well as a breakfast pita!

My breakfast pita was topped with 2 eggs, spinach, tomatoes, and a little bit of cheese. It was a nice change from my usual omelette, but could have had a little more flavour. I think it would be fabulous with pesto!

Alrighty that’s all from my end! Today I’m taking it easy on the impact side of things, and am going to solo hit, lift (upper body), and teach my spin class. I’m happy to say that my knee isn’t hurting, however there still is some swelling. Weird!

Questions:

Have you ever tried Graze, or any other kind of snack box? 

Do you like melted cookies?

Ps. Linking up with Jenn for What I Ate Wednesday! Be sure to check out her website, Peas and Crayons for other posts similar to this one 🙂

A Week of Low-Impact Workouts

Happy Monday everybody!

My weekend was very relaxing in some respects, but not in others. Whaaaaat does that even mean? Well, let me fill you in on what consumed about 95% of my day(s):

I started this show on a whim on Friday night, after having had a discussion with a friend at dinner about intense, dramatic, TV thrillers. Before clicking “play” on Netflix, I had absolutely no idea what Prison Break was about (except for the fact that someone was going to try and escape from jail, obviously), but after the first episode I was hooked. 

After a few episodes I became very intrigued by Wentworth Miller‘s character, Michael Scofield, and searched him on the web only to find that he is a Princeton alum! What do ya know?! So of course I had to keep watching in order to support my fellow Princetonian :).

To say I “supported” him, is a bit of an understatement, as I have basically been eating, breathing, and living Prison Break for the past 3 days. Let’s put it this way: they are hour long episodes, I started on Friday night, and I’m currently on the 22nd episode of the first season (which is also the season finale). Yep, sitting in class right now and being unable to watch that last episode is absolutely killing me.

Breakfast

After a swim with Nana this morning, I made myself a little pre-breakfast of homemade 10-second protein balls before getting ready for the day. They featured the following ingredients, plus water and peanut butter to hold it all together:

The main portion of my meal consisted of an egg white scramble with mushrooms, onions and spinach, as well as half a grapefruit.

I also grabbed an Americano with a shot of pumpkin spice to give myself a little extra boost while doing some homework.

Workouts

Ever since my doctors appointment regarding my knee issue last week, I’ve been taking it easier on the workout front. Because I’ve been banished discouraged from my usual activities of squash, running, and biking, I’ve resorted to mainly yoga and swimming for the past few days.

Here’s a little look at what my workouts have looked like for the past week:

Monday:

• 15 ish minute bike
• 20 minutes of squash

Tuesday:

• Vinyasa yoga
• Solo hit

Wednesday:

• 35 minute swim (AM)
• Solo hit (PM)
• Upper body lift (PM)

I also taught my spin class on Wednesday evening, but took it easy and “faked” it since I wasn’t allowed to bike.

Thursday:

• Vinyasa Yoga (AM)
• Squash: 1 hour (PM). I felt pretty good on Thursday, so I asked my coach if I could play for an hour and she agreed! I was fine playing for that length of time, but it’s a good thing I didn’t play for much longer. I could feel that I was getting more tired than normal, most likely because my movement wasn’t as efficient as it usually is.

Friday:

• 40 minute swim (AM)
• 30 minute solo hit (PM)
• Upper body lifting + core

Saturday:

• 45 minute swim + core

Sunday: 

• 8 am Vinyasa yoga class

Monday: (today)

• 30 minute swim (AM)
• PM: TBD.I’ve got another appointment with the trainer today, so I’m hoping that she will say there’s been some improvement. It doesn’t hurt, but I’m not entirely convinced that the swelling has improved significantly.

Well, that’s it for today! I just received an email saying that I have a package to pick up and I am super excited, because 1) it’s food related, and 2) who doesn’t love getting packages?!

Have a great start to your week!

An Embarrassing Confession

Hello Friday Friends! (Friday Friends? Friends on Friday? I don’t know what I’m getting at, ignore that).

How’s the week been?! Mine’s been good, complete with some swimming, good food, friends, and finally coming to terms with the fact that I actually really like the song Break Free by Ariana Grande.

It’s surprisingly catchy, and I actually find it pretty motivating. Sorry, I like pop songs.

An Embarrassing Confession

Depending on your level of weirdness (side note- I think weirdness is a good thing), you may or may not think I am absurdly strange based on what I’m about to tell you.

Do you know what’s in this bag? (Hint: it’s not chocolate covered bananas…)

It’s actually filled with…protein powder!

Is that magic or what?

Yup, not only do I carry peanut butter around in my backpack from time to time, I also carry around small packages of protein powder. In my defence, I don’t whip it out at the dinner table, or in front of a crowd I don’t know, but it really does come in handy!

Yesterday I was at Small World doing some work with Meredith, and wanted a little snack before going to noon yoga. I bought myself a Greek yogurt and banana, and added an extra punch of protein by mixing in a scoop of chocolate protein powder!

Pre-mix

It was delicious, filling, and did a great job of fuelling me through a vinyasa yoga class!

Dinner + Dessert (x100000)

Last night we had a co-ed team dinner at Thai Village, one of the local restaurants that allows college students to come in and be rowdy. Geez, they put up with a lot. Anyhow, it was a lot of fun, and I ordered some sort of vegetable stir-fry with chicken, and also had a few pieces of calamari which was surprisingly good!

For dessert (part 1), Kira, Alex, Natalie and I went to Fruity Yogurt to get bubble tea and fro yo!

We must have had a million samples before actually buying the tiniest bit of fro yo, plus some bubble tea.

Cuties!

I filled my fro yo cup with a lot of mango, bananas, blueberries and strawberries, as well as some cashews and pumpkin fro yo! Oh, and you know I put some dollops of peanut butter on those banana slices 😉

Kira and I may have bought 90% toppings and 10% fro yo…

Afterwards, we stopped by Murray Dodge, a place on campus that provides free tea and cookies every night from 10:00 pm -12:30 am. They’re freshly baked, homemade, and so, so delicious.

You could say we had a bit of a sugar-high after our double dessert sesh 🙂

I ended up not going out in the end, and instead hung out with some friends in the dorms until about 2 am (waaaaat!), but it was so worth it, and so fun. Although it made it a liiiiitttttle difficult to wake up at 7:45 this morning to go swimming with Kira, I am so glad I spent time catching up with friends I hadn’t seen much this year.

Workout

Like I said, this morning started off with an early morning swim (although not as early as Wednesday!) with Kira!

Thanks to Kira for being such a good sport about taking this selfie. I think I did it 10% for the blog, and 90% to get me a little more amped up to go swim.

Breakfast

After cleaning my room and a shower, I made the whole 2 minute trek out to Wawa for some of my beloved Pumpkin Spice coffee, and to pick up a Chobani “flip” for breakfast.

 And yeah I rocked the sweatpants+Birkenstocks combo.. Hey, it’s Friday.

The Chobani “flip” was okay, but too sugary for me. I got the coconut, almond and chocolate flavour, and although it tasted great, it was a lot like dessert for breakfast. I know, I know, I’m usually okay with desserty-type things for breakfast, but this one had a looottttt of sugar in it. Too much.

Well, those are the highlights from the morning and past day or so. I’m hoping to catch some of the volleyball and soccer games that are on this weekend at home- they’re my favourite sports to go watch! Go Tigers!

Questions

What are your plans for the weekend?

Do you do anything equally as embarrassing as my peanut butter/protein powder backpack thing?

A Knee Injury + WIAW

Hello hello, Party People! Can you believe it’s OCTOBER?!? I knowwww  that I said I was going to switch over to fall weather clothing soon, but I just don’t wanna do it yet. I’m gonna rock this Indian summer right to the end!

Tuesday Evening

After running a couple errands yesterday afternoon, I went to practice, only to spend half my time in the doctors office. I’ve been experiencing some discomfort and stiffness in my left knee, and although it doesn’t hurt, I saw on Sunday night that there was some swelling and that would be worth getting checked out. After some prodding around and the use of an ultrasound, the doctors think that I have a Baker’s cyst.

I’ve gotta say that I’m a little skeptical, because the swelling is more on the inside of the knee, rather than the back of it.

In any case, I’ve been told that to take the next couple of days kind of easy in the impact department, which means that I am swimming, yoga-ing, stretching, upper body lifting and soloing. It’s funny, in my mind I’ve already started thinking of when/where/how I can start incorporating the swimming and yoga into my schedule for the next week, but in reality, this issue could possibly subside within the next couple days. I think I just like planning workouts!

Dinner

After my doctor’s appointment and solo hit, we had a team dinner at the dining hall!

I filled my plate with potatoes, broccoli, creamed spinach, beets, and a lot of steak. At first, I had about 1/4 of that amount of steak on my plate, because the dining hall staff would only serve me about two slices, even after I went back two minutes later to ask for more. I had to actually ask a teammate to go and ask to get some for me, since I was embarrassed and worried that they would get annoyed if I went a third time. What can I say? It was delicious!

I also went back for round 2 to get some more veggies and an apple.

Workout

Since I’ve been banished from high impact activity, this morning one of my fellow injured teammates and I went swimming! We got there right when the pool opened at 6:45 and swam for roughly 40 minutes. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to last that long, since it’s been months since I’ve done laps (usually I only swim if I’m training for a triathlon), but it ended up being okay, and I’m excited to go back!

This afternoon I’ll solo hit during practice, and then go to lift with the rest of the team. However, I’ll be scratching lower body work, so I’m planning on asking our trainer, Terry, for some core exercise to do instead. Sore abs tomorrow, baby!

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning was an egg white omelet with spinach, mushrooms, and onions, as well as some Chobani Pineapple Greek yogurt and half a grapefruit (unpictured). I completely forgot to take pictures of my food until after I had consumed it, so these oldie pics will have to do 🙂

And now after having written this, I’m hungry again, so I think I’m going to go grab a little snack! Have a great rest of your Wednesday! Also, linking up with Jenn for WIAW!