Workout Challenge - Week 2

I don't like Izumi Tabata. He is NOT my friend. He might have gotten the HIIT formula right, but he is still a total butthead in my book. In case you haven't figured it out yet, HIIT was brutal this week. But daily life made up for the brutality. There were a couple of humorous incidents this week that interrupted my workouts.

The first has to do with noise threshold and our home alarm system. As it now appears, the glass-break sensor on our alarm system interprets cymbal crashing as glass breaking. I learned this in the middle of a full sprint on the treadmill while the Cranberries were playing at an unusually loud volume. The alarm scared the crap out of me! I almost fell off of the treadmill while it was going at a pace of 8.5mph. Something tells me there would have been injury to me and damage to the wall behind me had I not caught myself and jumped off. The best part was when I had to answer a call from the alarm monitoring company and give them our verbal password (my sister and husband would appreciate the humor behind the story of the verbal password).

The second was a life lesson I guess Sam (our dog) just haaaaaad to learn. He came in and was curiously sniffing around during another HIIT treadmill workout, and decided to put his paw on the belt to steady himself so he could sniff the moving parts. I'm surprised he doesn't have tread burn now, but it's fun to watch him bark at the moving belt in stress and self-preservation now.

I am proud of myself for making it through all of my workouts this week. I hope it pays off!

On a side note, I made a healthy chili this week that is really delicious, and I wanted to share the recipe, so here it goes!

1 lb lean ground turkey, browned and seasoned with garlic salt and chili powder (brown it in a large pot, the same pot you will use to boil/simmer the chili)
2 cans pinto beans or 1 lb. bag dried pinto beans, soaked and cooked
1 can of corn, or 2 cups frozen corn or fresh corn
.75 cup of fresh diced onion
1 large can of garlic and herb spaghetti sauce (yes, spaghetti sauce) or diced tomatoes of your choosing
garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin for taste

Mix these all together and let them simmer on the stove top for 30 minutes to an hour, until it is thick. This is the mild version for families with small kids. If you want a mild spice, add a cut poblano pepper. If you want a hotter spice, add a jalapeno or habanero (good luck!).

I served it over rice (brown or white both work very well) and it was officially added to our "good leftovers" list.

Here's to week 2!