A Sunday Well Spent Brings a Week of Content

This week... oh this week... For those of you who do not live in Alabama, the weather this past week has been uber depressing. Even in the dead of winter, it is usually sunny and "warm". Our definition of cold in the South is horribly skewed. As someone who has ventured to Denver and Wyoming in the months of January in March where the temp has been in the negative degrees, I beg to differ that this weather is as cold as make it out to be. This weekend, luckily, has been absolutely beautiful. It is sunny with a high of 55 today, and fully plan on taking advantage of it by running this afternoon.

I went to my usual Saturday WOD at the gym, followed by the Olympic Lifting class they recently started. Saturday WODs are usually brutal, but yesterday was different. It was still challenging, don't get me wrong. Any time I see "50 minute AMRAP" of anything written on the whiteboard, my heart immediately sinks into my stomach. In teams of 3 or 4, we had to hold 135 barbell while alternating on the rower. The hardest part was maintaining my grip. I decided from the beginning that this was a mind of matter workout. Rowing it my strong suit, and I consider myself able to hold somewhat large amounts of weight, but could I do it for 50 minute?! We were ten minutes in before our forearms were shaking. We tried holding it in the deadliest position for as long as we could, but we ended up changing positions several times. At one point, I was holding it in the back rack position. We also thought putting it across one should would be a good idea. We were so, so wrong. We got through it, though! I also stayed and worked on some snatch work at the OLY class. Depletion. That's the only word I can come up with for how I felt at the end of it all.
Today I can hardly lift my chapstick to my lips my forearms are so sore.

Captures us perfectly

The majority of the population that doesn't have to work on Sunday spends the day lounging, sipping an extra cup of coffee, or maybe catching up on chores around the house. To me, Sunday is the most important day of the week. It's a new beginning, if you will. Sundays are the day I choose to whether or not I am going to have a healthy week. I spend the day meal planning, shopping, and prepping. It takes a little while to perfect the routine, but I promise you that investing time into preparing your meals will payoff. For the last 4 years, I brought a spinach salad with carrots, broccoli, guacamole or hummus, and a fruit with me every single day for lunch. It really didn't bother me because I could throw it together in the morning relatively quickly and be on my way. Since starting Paleo again, I am putting more emphasis on including protein in each of my meals. I know I can add chicken or any other type of meat to a salad and spice it up with various toppings. But for the love... I am OVER salads! I spend a few hours every Sunday preparing my lunched by cooking meat and roasting vegetable to take for lunch, rather than having to throw a bunch of rabbit food in a bowl and call it a day.

It gets a little crazy in my kitchen. 

I also prepare breakfasts and snacks on Sunday. Blakely won't eat leftovers, and I am not too thrilled about warming up something that has been sitting in the fridge for several days for dinner either, so dinner is the other thing we don't prepare ahead of time. I try to do the little, tedious tasks that I know will save me just a few minutes in the morning, like chopping vegetables, pouring sauces, or putting snacks into Ziploc bags. I really value my alone time with coffee before school, so it is worth it to get everything else together ahead of time.

This week's prep included:
-Blackberry chia pudding for snacks
-Egg muffins with zucchini, spinach, tomatoes, and sausage for breakfast,
-Roasted butternut squash and green beans for lunches
-Salmon and crockpot chick for lunches

I actually bought a whole chicken for the first time in my life, which is a ridiculous thing to be excited about... I can smell it cooking and soaking up all of the amazing goodness I added to it. I am praying that it works out because I plan on using the leftover meat for my lunches this week.

Cook, baby, cook! 

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy week! For those that are off tomorrow, enjoy your holiday!