the RPE scale.

hello and welcome to the better half of the work week!

i know you have all been anxiously checking my blog for the results of the nut poll.. well, look no further, the results are IN.

cashews 41.4%

almonds 24.1%

walnuts 12%

pistachios 10.3%

brazil nuts 6.9%

macadamia nuts 3.4%

pecans 1.9%

woooo! cashews (my fave) for the win!

side note, why do some nuts have the word “nut” after them but others don’t?  like macadamia nut and almond. weird.

which reminds me, has anyone ever seen “best in show”? i love it when dude with the bloodhound is driving to the dog show and starts naming all the nuts.  he DOES say the word “nut” after each nut.  “I used to be able to name every nut that there was. And it used to drive my mother crazy, because she used to say, “Harlan Pepper, if you don’t stop naming nuts,” and the joke was that we lived in Pine Nut, and I think that’s what put it in my mind at that point. So she would hear me in the other room, and she’d just start yelling. I’d say, “Peanut. Hazelnut. Cashew nut. Macadamia nut.” That was the one that would send her into going crazy. She’d say, “Would you stop naming nuts!” And Hubert used to be able to make the sound, he couldn’t talk, but he’d go “rrrawr rrawr” and that sounded like Macadamia nut. Pine nut, which is a nut, but it’s also the name of a town. Pistachio nut. Red pistachio nut. Natural, all natural white pistachio nut.”

okay, okay.. enough about nuts.

reader melissa takes the win for best comment i received yesterday:

Melissa

January 27, 2010 at 12:58 pm | #59

Not sure if someone already posted about this but are you doing 40mph while taking a pic of your smoothie?????????????????????????????????????????????? lol!

ha! no i didn’t notice that.. and oops.. busted.  my mom’s gonna kill me.

OH~ for those of you who wondered.. i was right about the reason you get cold after eating being the fact that all the blood goes to your stomach to aid in digestion.. and then you get freezing and have to turn on your space heater and then your boss gets mad at you for making the electricity bill sky rocket. eh, what can ya do? that is what he gets for telling me my food stinks.

should i actually talk about some meals & moves already?! sheesh janetha, stop rambling.

waffle wednesday! danica’s wafflewiches lately have been making me CRAVE one so that is what i went with today~ instead of the usual protein waffles.

meal 1: wafflewich @ 8:30 AM

for the wafflewich, i used two organic flax waffles that actually have stellar stats and ingredients. check it:

and they were DEEEELICIOUS. i loved the bits of flax throughout the waffles.  i dare say they were better than kashi golean waffles.  for the protein part of my wafflewich, i nuked 3/4 cup egg whites+1 whole egg (in a mug sprayed with pam) for 2 minutes.  the shape of the mug made a perfect little circle that fit fabulously between the waffles.

i drizzled a bit of log cabin sugar free syrup on top as a finishing touch. eaten alongside my morning coffee and checking my work email. scrumptious!

yes, i am classy and eat breakfast at my desk.

meal 2: randomness of random @ 12:00 PM

i am trying not to buy groceries before jamaica. this is the result. in the bowl:

• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup diced italian tomatoes (canned)
• 1/2 bag steamfresh veggies (leftover from yesterday, served cold) the veggies were a mix of edamame, water chestnuts, carrots and broccoli
• 1/2 tsp ranch seasoning

i was surprised by how delicious this was! nevermind the fact that my boss (not the one who said my food stinks, the other one) said that it looked like something his dog ate and threw up into my bowl. thanks boss! i liked it. no wait, i loved it.

snacktime was quite the treat!

meal 3: siggi’s icelandic yogurt + coconut chia granola @ 3:00 PM

SO.. i usually don’t eat flavored yogurt and i NEVER eat siggi’s because it is so pricey.. but it was on sale at whole foods so i decided to treat myself to a container.

here are the stats:

if you can believe it.. icelandic yogurt is even creamier than greek yogurt!

it is SO good!! i sprinkled bits of granola in the yogurt as i ate.

this snack was a tad carb-heavy, but my lunch was a tad carb-light so it all balanced out in the end.

today was cardio + abs day.  i decided to do a 15 minute cardio trifecta!  here are the details~

first i channeled my inner snackface and hopped on the elliptical for some steady, hard resistance training:

minutes	resistance	speed
0-15	level 15	between 6.0 – 8.0 MPH

total time: 15 minutes, total distance: 1.71 miles

then it was time for some high intensity intervals on the treadmill:

minutes	speed	incline
0-1	5.0 MPH	0.0
1-2	5.7 MPH	0.0
2-3	6.4 MPH	0.0
3-4	7.1 MPH	0.0
4-5	7.8 MPH	0.0
5-6	5.0 MPH	0.5
6-7	5.7 MPH	0.5
7-8	6.4 MPH	0.5
8-9	7.1 MPH	0.5
9-10	7.8 MPH	0.5
10-11	5.0 MPH	1.0
11-12	5.7 MPH	1.0
12-13	6.4 MPH	1.0
13-14	7.1 MPH	1.0
14-15	7.8 MPH	1.0

total time: 15 minutes, total distance: 1.68 miles

truth be told, i was going to go for 30 minutes but dude next to me was passing gas like there was no tomorrow. i seriously couldn’t even breathe out of my nose it was so bad.  and when running at high intensity speeds, it is a tad hard to breathe through your mouth the whole time. i was pretty annoyed by the whack gym etiquette on his part.. if you are about to poop your pants please don’t try to run on the treadmill next to me. kay, thanks.

i finished up my 45 minutes of cardio with a fun new stairmill routine:

minutes	speed/level	orientation
0-1	level 10	facing front
1-2	level 10	facing right
2-3	level 10	facing back
3-4	level 10	facing left
4-5	level 2	facing front
repeat minutes 0-5 two more times

total time: 15 minutes

it is HARD to go backwards on the stairmill at a level 10. holy geez.

the reason i do the stairmill so often is i have read in multiple articles that it helps lean out your legs and reduce thigh size.  my legs are strong and muscular which i love, but i really wish they weren’t so big around.  i figure it can’t hurt to do the stairmill as my cardio as often as possible.. right?

finished off with 15 minutes of abs:

• 1 min ball crunches
• 1 min decline leg lifts
• 1 min plank
• 1 min left side ball crunches
• 1 min right side ball crunches
• 1 min 10# weighted floor crunches
• 1 min hanging leg raises
• 1 min 10# plate twists
• 1 min 10# plate ball crunches
• 1 min stability ball passes
• 1 min 10# plate crunch and twist
• 1 min legs-against-wall reach to ceiling crunches
• 45 seconds left side plank
• 45 seconds right side plank
• 90 second plank

whew. total workout took 1 hour and i burned 405 calories. the end.

i got an email from a reader, pat, yesterday.  i sent her a reply but i wanted to address one of the questions she asked me here on the blog because i think others may find it useful!

Q: “I have been doing intervals for 45 minutes each day.  I just wonder if I’m doing enough because I don’t get my heart rate up to the level that you talked about in your blog.  Do you think I need to work harder?”

if you missed it, the post where i talked about working out according to your heart rate can be found here. basically, i explained how i sometimes do my interval training according to my heart work so i can see how hard my heart is working.

BUT.. i have not always had a heart rate monitor or worked out according to my heart rate.  i actually prefer to use the RPE scale as a gauge when i do my interval training.

the RPE scale ~ this stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion scale. here is my definition of the numbers as i see fit:

perceived exertion #	description
1	sitting on the couch
2	standing up
3	walking slow
4	walking fast
5	light jog, can feel heart rate increasing
6	starting to get challenging but can still carry on a conversation
7	could not carry on a conversation, working hard but still comfortable
8	the line between comfortable and HARD
9	almost 100% effort, working super hard
10	balls to the wall effort, you feel like you are going to drop dead

when i do my interval training, i like to stay between a 6 and a 10.  i try to do a minute at each level.  i will warm up first, going from a 1 to a 5, and then i will start my intervals at a level 6, increasing the speed and/or incline each minute so the exertion i am putting forth is a tick higher on the RPE scale with each minute that goes by.

i will work up to a 9 (and sometimes 10) and then drop it back down to a 6.  on my last interval, i always do a “level 10” for one minute.  this is when i look like a fool, am gasping for air, almost falling off the treadmill and the veins in my temples look like they are about to burst. it is a pretty sight, i am sure.

SO.. my answer to pat’s question up there was this:

A: “you mentioned your HR does not get up to the percentages that i mentioned.  i think that your target heart rate (which is 220 minus your age, then 50% to 85% of that number.. a nice table to see this can be found here) is something you should strive for, but if you are busting your butt during your intervals and it is hard work then i think you will eventually make steady cardiovascular improvements until you can get to where you are working out comfortably in your target heart rate.

you asked if you should be working harder, my advice is that you should definitely not over-do it because you could get hurt.. BUT the only person who can say if you should work harder would be you. when i didnt have a heart rate monitor, i based my intensity of my interval/cardio workouts on the RPE scale.

i think that while doing intervals, it is important to NOT drop below a 6 on the RPE scale.  and there should be a few short bursts where you are at a level 9 or 10, but these should only last 30-60 seconds.  the real key in making interval training successful is going from a 6 to an 9 or 10 several times, as many times as possible, during your workout.

that is what i used to always base my workouts off of. now that i have a HR monitor it is really nice because i know more about target heart rates and how hard my heart is working.  i know that when i started working out, my “level 10” was nowhere near 90% of my max heart rate.. but now that i have trained a LOT~ when i hit my “level 10” my HR has been known to get up to 175 BPM which calculates to 90% of my max HR.  it is not safe to workout in this range for a long period of time~ but then again i don’t even think it is POSSIBLE for me to keep my heart rate up that high for more than a minute!

make sure you are doing your intervals between a 6 and 9 or 10 every time and as long as you know in your heart that you worked as hard as you possibly could work, i think that is good enough.  i think that if you continue to do this then you will see improvements in your cardiovascular ability and your target heart rate will be easier to reach eventually.  for now, rely on your RPE scale but take note of your heart rate levels during you workout.  jot them down and i wouldn’t be surprised if a few months down the road the same workout you did today becomes way too easy for you a month from now.”

whew. sorry guys, long answer. but the RPE scale is something i use in my workouts every day and i think it is a valuable tool that everyone should be familiar with!

crock pot wednesday!

hmmm.. this was good, but not hit-the-ball-out-of-the-park good.   found a recipe for chicken stroganoff online.. thought it would be better than it was.

in the pot:

• chicken breasts
• cream of chicken soup (healthy request version)
• fat free sour cream
• chicken broth
• bullion cubes
• carrots
• onions
• celery
• broccoli (which i steamed separately and added to the pot before serving)

marshall had his with white rice, i had mine as it was.  i think this was a tad too soupy and could have done without all the broth.  but the flavor was spot on. really tasty.

the best part of the dish was the chicken. it was so flavorful and tender! i love cooking chicken in the crock pot!

of course, i slathered my dinner in cholula~

spicy.

before eating, i whipped out my new secret weapon to distract the pups from begging…

kongs with peanut butter!

this kept penelope and randy distracted for quite some time.

haha. love them.

OH! for all you pancake lovers out there.. tomorrow, thursday, january 28th is national blueberry pancake day! so celebrate accordingly :)

before i go.. i wanted to share the latest smoothie ‘stache submissions!

elise the seductive hungry hippie~

snack‘stacheface~

lisa reppin’ the purple~

SEND ME YOUR SMOOTHIE ‘STACHES!

OKAY.. i promise i am done rambling now! congrats if you’ve made it this far!

Qs~

1. do you use the RPE scale? what are your thoughts on the scale? my thoughts are above.

2. what is your favorite hot sauce? cholula girl all the way!

xo. janetha b.