Sundays…

I honestly don’t understand how weekend days go by soooo fast. Another weekend is coming to an end and the Sunday night dread is setting in. Thankfully, its been a pretty productive day for me; I’ve been able to cross off almost everything on my weekend “To-Do” list.

Sunday Swim
I started the day off at the pool for a Sunday morning swim. When I got there, all the lanes were already doubled-up so I sat in the whirlpool while I waited for a lane to open up. The whirlpool felt so good, I didn’t want to get out. But that only lasts for less than 10 minutes, eventually it gets so hot I can’t take it anymore.

I mosied on over to the pool and asked this old lady if I could share a lane with her. She hesitated and then told me I need to use the inside lane cause she needs to be next to the wall. I’m like, “Okay, no problem.” I proceeded to start with 200 m just with the kick board. It takes me a while to get used to being in the pool so the kick board is a good way for me to acclimate. It suddenly became apparently clear that this lady just wasn’t interested in lane sharing. She was doing water aerobics or something and kept spinning (not like on a bike, but moving in circles) around, crossing over the line. I just tried to stay out of her way.

It was my first time using a pull buoy and to be honest, I don’t even know if I used it right. It’s an adjustment to get used to. I really hope I’m supposed to feel like I’m doing a lot more core work because that’s where I felt it. I rotated my hips/core a lot more. Sometimes it felt like I had the hang of it, but other times I felt like I was just flailing along. It also didn’t help that the old lady whacked me a couple of times with her Styrofoam weight.

Her spinning also caused a current, which I guess was a good simulation for outdoor swimming. Anyway, I did that for 400 m (counting letters A-P), then used the same Styrofoam weights to aqua-jog for 400 m. The goal was to loosen the legs after yesterday’s run, which I definitely did.

Soup Sunday
For tonight’s Sunday dinner I made a recipe that I found in the January issue of Runners World magazine – “Slow-Cooked Clam Chowder.”

I hadn’t used my slow cooker in almost a year so I was excited to pull it out and dust it off. The recipe said it only made 4 servings. I love chowder so I decided to double the recipe. I wanted to add mushrooms (cause I love them so much), but my slow cooker just wasn’t big enough to add in any extras.

I started it at 11 am and it cooked for 6 hours. Here’s the recipe:

1 onion, diced
1 celery stalks, diced
1 TBSP olive oil
2 8 oz cans of clams
1 8 oz bottle of clam juice
2 tsp garlic, minced
3 russet potatoes, cubed into bite-sized pieces
1 12-oz can fat-free evaporated milk

1. In a skillet, sautee onions and celery in olive oil.
2. Transfer to slow cooker and add other ingredients except canned milk.
3. Cover and cook on high for 3 hrs or low for 6 hrs.
4. During the last hour, add milk.
5. Season with salt and pepper.

I normally don’t add salt to anything I cook, but this turned out to be kinda bland (even for me) – definitely add salt.

385 calories/servings
56 g carbs
28 g protein
5 g fat

And my big accomplishment for the day was that I cleaned my desk! I’ve been talking about doing it for the past 2 weeks and finally got around to it.

I wish I got a “before” photo so you can appreciate this “after” photo. It was cluttered so badly, I had not seen the desk surface for over a year. In fact, in cleaning it off, I found receipts going back to November 2008, so you can imagine how messy it was. Its a big relief off my shoulders to get this cleaned up. I feel like I already have a head start on my week!

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