Category: Health and Fitness

Staying active, both on and off the road.

Island Pork Tenderloin- YUM!

Browning the pork: Island Pork Tenderloin

Yesterday, I found myself weak. Blame it on lack of sleep, hardcore P90X-ing, or the changes in Calgary’s weather. Whatever the case or cause, I was left with a bit of a migraine headache. Woe is me. So I came home, napped, and decided to take it easy by not working out. However, I’m awful when it comes to remaining still and relaxing, so instead, I decided to try a new recipe and cook up a storm-of-a-meal for myself.

Waiting for my meal to cook. The anticipation was almost too much.

I’ve been doing P90X for quite some time, but I’ve never been great with following the nutrition guide. There are many recipes in the guide that I’ve been wanting to try. First up on the list- Island Pork Tenderloin. The verdict- DELISH! I love the combination of cinnamon with the Tabasco sauce, which at first glance, seemed a bit interesting. And since I love cumin, the hint of that along with the chile powder give it a nice flavour. It tasted so good, and it’s quite easy to prepare. When it comes to food and cooking, I like easy, so this will definitely be added to my repertoire of recipes.

Teriyaki sautéed vegetables 

Here’s the recipe for Island Pork Tenderloin, taken from the P90X Nutrition Guide. You know you want to try it!

Island pork tenderloin, sweet potato fries, veggies and cottage cheese 🙂

*****

Ingredients:

16 ounces pork tenderloin, lean (that’s about 0.45 kg)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

Serves: 4 (I ate half in one sitting. Oops!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon, then coat pork with the spice rub.

Salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat and brown pork, turning, about 4 minutes.

After coating the pork in the spice rub, brown the pork in a skillet.

4. Stir together brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco and pat onto top of tenderloin. Place pork in a roasting pan and cook in the oven for 20 minutes. (I left mine in for almost 40 minutes. I like pork to be really cooked, and my oven is a bit funny with the temperature and the times…)


Brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco sauce.
The pork is ready for roasting. Yay!

*****

It’s All About the Running!

These shoes haven’t seen a lot of action lately 😦

So first and foremost, congrats to everyone back home who just ran the 30K Around the Bay in Hamilton! That’s crazy talk! The thought of running 30K makes me shiver, but these amazing people keep me motivated: Dan, Kelly, Carolyn, and my humble machine of a brother, Ry, who despite his supposed lack of training, crossed the finish line at 2:32. Impressive! All of them had very impressive times. Great job folks! I hope you have a relaxing afternoon :).

Congrats folks!

But alas, you have made me realize that I need to step up my game. In order to join the ranks of machine-like superstardom that you four have achieved, it’s time for me to hit the ground running. Even though Calgary’s weather hasn’t be the greatest (I HATE running in the cold), that’s no excuse.

Route for the MEC 10K Bow River Run. Fun!

To help me stay focused, I have now signed up for two more runs. First up, the MEC 10K Bow River Run on April 21st, which will be MEC Calgary’s first running event. I figure with a $10 registration fee and a route with which I’m quite familiar, this race will force me to get up on a Saturday morning and do a  fairly painless run. Plus, there’s nothing like the pre-race atmosphere to get the adrenaline going. It should be fun times.

The Vancouver Half Marathon. Fun!

Then, of course, there’s the BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon on May 6th, which I wrote about before. To say I’m not prepared is an understatement, but I will be by that date. And I’ve now signed up for the Scotiabank Calgary Half-Marathon on May 27th. Eek! My goal is to smash last year’s time of 1:55:23. There’s a new course route that starts at Stampede Park, so I’m looking forward to it. Last year’s run was pretty lovely and scenic too, and I expect this one to be the same. 

The new route for the Calgary Half-Marathon. Fun!

Oh, and shortly after that, there’s the Bread and Honey 5K run in Mississauga. I’m doing that one with my family. Family fun day!

The Bread & Honey 5K. Fun!

It’ll all be quite exciting- two half marathons in May and I’m sure many others to follow. I’m feeling nervous about it already :S. But in typical Rick fashion, I’ll shelve the nerves, tell myself to stop being a baby, pull up my socks and, like the aforementioned superstars, just dooooo itttt!!!

BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon- I Will Conquer You!

BMO Vancouver Marathon. I’ll be running the half 🙂

So it’s official- I’ve signed up for my second half marathon! Last year, I completed the gruelling run in Calgary with a time of 1:55:23. This year? I’m off to Vancouver for the BMO Vancouver Half-marathon. May 6, 2012 is the big day, which means that as of today, there are 88 days until my body asks WTF and why are you doing this. I won’t be in pain alone, though. Friends Shari (who I ran the half with last year), Robin and Laura have also committed to the run (and now that they’ve been mentioned here, it’s legit and they can’t back out!). 

Fancy new New Balance shoes. Yay.

I’m thinking that a time of 1:50 is a good goal for this year. I guess I should start running again if I want to achieve that. 🙂 At least I have some brand-spanking new shoes to help! All I need now is lululemon gear, because according to lululemon, all you need to do is layer up in their gear and you can go from couch potato to running a half-marathon! (Well, that’s what Robin thinks anyway…)

Apparently from lululemon’s website. We got this!

The Bread & Honey Road Race

The Bread & Honey Race

Does this mean that running season has finally started for me? I’ve just signed up for the Bread & Honey 5K race on June 3rd in Streetsville, Ontario. It just so happens that I plan on being in the Southern Ontario area at that time for a statistical conference to end all statistical conferences. So when my brother proposed that we make it a family event and all sign up, I figured it was a great way to start the week, and it would give us some nice quality family time :). All I need to do now is get my act in gear. Today I’ll pick up my custom foot orthotics, and then once I get some brand-spanking-new running shoes, I’ll hit the ground running! Literally.

P90X2- Time to Bring it Again!

P90X2 has arrived!

Having been a P90X junkie for a couple of years now, it’s no surprise that I was super excited to hear about the next home fitness program offered from Beachybody: P90X2! I pre-ordered it as soon as it became available and it was shipped to me shortly before Christmas *yay*. Of course, I didn’t start it prior to the holidays, with the food and the eating and the family/friends time, but now that I’m back in Calgary, it’s time to go hardcore once again and Bring It! “Consider P90X2 to be THE next wave in applied science for body transformation. It takes the principles and foundation of the P90X concept and dials it up to the next level with additional focus on functionality, agility, balance, mobility, and of course visible results” (P90X2 Fitness Guide). How could I not be excited!? So what exactly does the P90X2 training schedule look like? I copied this from one of the inserts included in the P90X2 box.
Training Phases
Phase 1- Foundation (3 to 6 weeks)
Day 1: X2 Core
Day 2: Plyocide
Day 3: Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
Day 4: X2 Total Body & X2 Ab Ripper
Day 5: X2 Yoga
Day 6: X2 Balance + Power
Day 7: Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
Phase 2- Strength (3 to 6 weeks)
Day 1: Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper
Day 2: Plyocide
Day 3: Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
Day 4: X2 Shoulders + Arms & X2 Ab Ripper
Day 5: X2 Yoga
Day 6: Base + Back & X2 Ab Ripper
Day 7: Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
Additional Options (not sure if I’ll do this…)-
V Sculpt & X2 Ab Ripper Switch into Day 1
X2 Chest + Shoulders + Tris & X2 Ab Ripper Switch in Day 4
Phase 3- Performance (3 to 4 weeks)
Day 1: P.A.P. Lower
Day 2: P.A.P. Upper
Day 3: X2 Yoga
Day 4: Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
Day 5: P.A.P. Lower
Day 6: P.A.P. Upper
Day 7: Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
Recovery Week (to be done whenever needed)
Day 1: X2 Recovery + Mobility
Day 2: X2 Yoga
Day 3: X2 Recovery + Mobility
Day 4: X2 Yoga
Day 5: X2 Recovery + Mobility
Day 6: X2 Yoga
Day 7: Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
Yeah :S.
There’s only 5 days of intensity per week instead of the 6 like in P90X, and I’m thrilled about that! There seems to be a big focus on balancing, core strength, and stretching. After enduring a difficult Bikram yoga session on Friday, this is a good thing. Over the last few days, I’ve invested in a stability ball and 2 ten-pound medicine balls. Whatever’s in store, it sounds more intense already.

Ready with all my equipment

What I like about this program is there’s quite a bit of flexibility. Most people starting P90X2 will have experienced a round of P90X, so the flexibility promotes sticking to your own fitness goals this time around.  As of now, I’m quite looking forward to the Foundation Phase. I think it will be a killer, but I do enjoy working the core. I plan to spend 5 weeks in the Strength Phase with recovery weeks throughout the program, since I’d really like to keep my yoga up at the same time. And in terms of yoga, I’ve really taken to Bikram and plan to substitute some of the X2 Yoga with Bikram yoga. 

Once the box was opened, I could feel the intensity :S

I’m not really sure what to expect in the Performance Phase. What exactly is P.A.P.? According to the P90X2 Fitness Guide, it stands for Post-Activation Potentiation. It involves weighted resistance exercise prior to an explosive movement, which increases the amount of power produced by conditioned individuals. Sounds good to me. The manual makes it seem intense, which is why it doesn’t come into play until Phase 3. To quote from the fitness guide: “These workouts will destroy you in an oh-so-beautiful way”. I can’t wait.

I want to look like Tony Horton when I’m 53.
(Photo taken from the P90X2 Fitness Guide)

My biggest challenge will be nutrition. Just like with P90X, my nutrition was good but not great. I’ve read countless times how important it is to eat the right foods for both fuel and recovery as you’re working out, so I’m really going to make this a priority. I guess I should start by opening the enclosed Nutrition Guide at some point. My other challenge/goal will be to manage my schedule better (there’s a lot of things going on in the next few months), and listen to my body more. If my body screams like it needs a recovery week, then a recovery week it shall receive.
My goal: Focus on Nutrition
I guess it’s time to get started! First up today- X2 Core. It’s all about bringing it again! When I watch this official video (linked from trek2bfit), I’m excited to be starting the program. Yay 🙂