To cook or not to cook

This year, I've not cooked a proper meal during Ramadhan.

But it all changed yesterday. Well sort of. :) Leaving for a break in two days, I realised I still have some vege leftover from a 'previously planned meal'.  So I decided to make mixed vege. Halfway through I decided to make 'mui fun' (savory rice in thick sauce, sauce which is like that of the cantonese fried kueh teow), so I added a tiny portion of rice. Oh my!! the portion of vege was huge, and now with rice, it became bigger, although i only added very little. Then came the egg to thicken the sauce and it just 'went out of proportion'. I just didn't expect it to be so much!! Though it was just vege essentially. :)

But I was happy I cooked. At least i didn't throw away good vege and I ate what I liked most. Vege!

I still have some salad left. Maybe tonight will be salad with stir fried vege (again!)?

And I 'found' by chance the salad dressing which I once tasted in a Japanese restaurant and liked. I didn't know what it was so I didn't bother looking for it. But when I was looking for mustard 'spread' but in whole grains and Tesco didn't have, I decided to browse a little and saw this 'sesame dressing'. My oh my!! I was so happy when I tasted it and discovered it was the salad dressing which I actually loved!

So now it has become my staple, instead of that whole grain mustard. Into my vege sandwich!!

Planking

Planking has been around for very long - as a form of exercise for core strengthening. But not too long ago, it becamse a fad for a while.

So few months back, I wanted to build core strength. I started some plank exercises. But me being me, after short stints, I will give up. More so, if it is done at home, where suddenly i just feel like planking, the moment I break into sweat, I decide if its worth it to continue or not :P

So far, I've only managed 1min x 3 or 1.5min at one go. Nothing more. And if it is at home, sometimes, I get 'weights' on me!! Yes, kiddos will just plonk onto my back thinking its a 'horsey' ride :)

Moving forward approximately 2 + months, with no consistent planking exercise, just other core exercises, today I decided to test myself and I managed a 3 min plank with no problems at all!!
WOW! I was surprised!

Now, there is hope for a 5 min plank in the near future. Or maybe I need to get a good run before I plank?

Let's try it and see. I guess those core workouts with TRX did help afterall!

Fasting and Workouts

It’s the fasting month and I have managed to squeeze in workouts during the day, and enjoying it. What amazes me is that my normal weekend long run, which after each loop, under non-fasting circumstances, I will have to take a gulp of water. If I don’t by the end of the 2^nd loop, I’ll be feeling really really really ‘dry-in-the-mouth’; but last weekend, when I did that long run again, I managed 4 loops without any drink. Amazing!! Let’s see if this weekend is the same!

We’re allowed to finish work 1 hr earlier. So sometimes I head straight to the gym for an hour. Other times, I’ll use that ‘lunch hour’ at the gym, and go home ‘normal hours’. Hahahaha

And why the ‘dedication’? It feels good to be back to the gym! But it is sad that I don’t get to spend as much time there as I used to. Feels ‘not enough’ but what to do, commitments have changed. So 30-45mins per session is good enough. Keep the longer runs for weekends.

The main drive now is that I have signed up for a full marathon, with killing slopes. YES! 42km, but scenic run through the villages of Langat area. Not a race, so says the organizer, so I’ll take it easy. Just to see how I ‘suffer’ with much less training, compared to 6 years ago. I’m not hoping for another 4:40, but anything less than 6 hrs is an achievement, considering the elevation of the route. Let’s see what happens come September 9^th J