Training Journal 4.23.08

Phew. Another good day.

Slept well last night and worked out well this morning – ten hill sprints and then a set of 25 burpees to finish it off. I don’t think the hill is long enough or difficult enough to make them worth my while, so I’m going to stick to Tabata sprints (ugh) for my sprint-work, though with the condition my running shoes are in I don’t think I’ll do much of them. Tomorrow I’m planning on doing the 15 minutes of hell workout that I did on Monday. Yum.

Evening training went well – skipped kickboxing because I’m focusing on BJJ, and during BJJ sparring I got to roll with Amazon three times! The modifications I’ve made to my half guard have been paying off in spades lately, even against Amazon – although he was exhausted and probably overworked from his inhuman training schedule, I nonetheless managed to start out, go to half guard, and work from half guard to reconstitute a few times, and I didn’t make it easy for him to pass – as evidenced by the crazy-ass noises and facial expressions he was making. Seriously, he looked like a manga character.

Afterwards, he told me I had gotten stronger (!!). Then he reminded me that he had fought, and beaten, plenty of Americans in BJJ tournaments. Including Mike Fowler (that’s the fourth time he’s told me that).

Time to swoon myself to sleep.

pat m.

How I Eat Healthy, Cheap, Often – Breakfast

I understand that having the luxury to spend hours every day exercising, training, eating, or reading about any combination of the three is something rare indeed, and believe me – I’m relishing every moment of it. However, while I love doing all of those, the kitchen is hardly my domain, and if I’m just feeding myself, I’d rather spend my time doing one of those three than cooking. So! Here’s what my meal-preparing/eating process looks like, starting with breakfast.

Breakfast: Spinach, two scrambled eggs, and oatmeal in milk. I start out by popping the oatmeal and milk in the microwave for about two minutes, plug in the George Foreman grill to let it warm up, heat up some oil in the frying pan (and chop up a little green onion if I’m feeling industrious) and throw the eggs in, scrambling it around with the spatula. The eggs take less than a minute to cook, and when they’re about done I’ll turn the warm water on and let it get hot, so the moment I scrape the eggs off onto the plate I can rinse and scrub it without letting the egg really stick to the pan. Oatmeal should be done by now, so pull it out of the microwave and let it cool for a bit (I usually add a little more milk after it’s done in the microwave to cool it down), especially if I’m going to add a scoop of protein powder to it because if it’s too hot it’ll denature the protein, which is no good. Lastly, I’ll throw some prewashed spinach on the contact grill (only for a few seconds) and throw it on the plate with the eggs. If I feel like taking a little more time, I’ll make green tea (with the stove or the microwave) to go with everything, otherwise I’ll just drink water. Fruit is a good addition to this meal, too,.

This entire process takes less than ten minutes to prepare and clean, probably about five minutes to eat if you’re in a total rush, and it doesn’t require anything particularly unusual. The oatmeal gives you healthy, low-GI carbs (might want to avoid this if you’re cutting weight, and use steelcut or rolled oats, not that microwave oatmeal processed sugar-laden crap), the spinach will make you strong like Popeye, the eggs give you protein (and Omega-3 fatty acids, if you’re eating Omega-3 eggs) and the protein powder (ideally a whey/casein blend, so you have both quick-digesting and slow-digesting protein) gives you an extra shot of protein to build and maintain muscle. What’s more, a few pounds of spinach, a carton of eggs, and a big-ass jug of oatmeal shouldn’t hit your wallet too hard at all.

And, it’s all delicious.

pat m.