Day 5! And Friday, nonetheless! For our little intro topic today, I want to talk a little bit about why I personally find weight lifting to be so important for my career.

Veterinary medicine is a super physical job. Think about your vet; is he/she fit? Every vet I’ve known has been reasonably fit. You have to be. It’s an active job, and it requires strength! While I have had minor injuries here and there, I’m thankful for my general health now and am starting to think about longevity in the future in terms of my career. As a veterinarian/vet assistant, there are certain movements that you do thousands and thousands of times, and over decades, that can do some chronic damage. That’s why it’s so, so important to do things in the physiological best way. This applies to a ton of jobs, not just veterinary medicine! I lift weights so I can lift dogs.

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(She loves me. Promise.)

I’m totally serious. I need the strength in my legs and knowledge of the proper lifting technique (lift with your legs, not your back!) because I have to lift 50 or 100 pounds dogs onto tables, or carry them across the room. I literally have to deadlift dogs onto tables. I was thinking about it the other day, because I had done a ton of deadlifts at Crossfit in the morning, and then found myself doing the same exact movement, but with a dog instead of a barbell. These fundamental movements are applicable to so many things in life; the positions and the muscles activated are the same, the object lifted is just different! Having good technique in life is so important for acute or chronic injury prevention.

And that, my friends, is why I lift.

But now, food. Yes?

Breakfast: Friday was not a work day, so I took the opportunity to actually sleep in. I woke up at 5:45 but forced myself to stay in bed because I knew I needed the sleep, and magically managed to sleep in to 8! Breakfast was a flapjacked muffin with a giant apricot from a farm stand. <3 California

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After breakfast, I took Chloe for a walk by the lagoons. I mentioned before that my formerly broken foot has been bothering me quite a bit lately, which seems to be an indicator that I need new shoes. I was running out the door to spin yesterday and didn’t have time to get my new shoes set up, so I wore my old ones, and I seriously could not walk in them because they made my foot so painful. Well, today, I put my new ones on and it seriously felt like I had new feet. Even just driving in them, I felt the biggest difference and felt elation on the way to our walk. Note to self: don’t let shoes get so worn out! Their age totally snuck up on me, and I felt especially stupid I let it go on for so long given I had already ordered my new ones months ago, and they were just sitting in the garage.

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Despite a weird rain yesterday, I can tell the weather is finally starting to warm up, despite the constant wind!

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My mom and I took advantage of my day off to get our nails done (I only got a pedicure; I can’t stand to have polish on my fingers), but the only time we could get was 12, and it took a while! When we finally got out, I was starving! We stopped at Subway on our way home for salad; I got my usual: carved turkey, provolone, tomato, olives, spinach, lettuce, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.

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On the side, I had a few crackers.

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Despite a super late lunch, I knew I would need more fuel before evening Crossfit, so a couple of hours before class, I had one of these bars. They’re super good; they’re coated in chocolate, and basically feel like a candy bar.

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I went to evening Crossfit. I guess I was pretty well rested, because I felt really great during the workout! Post-workout, I picked up burgers from The Counter for my family on the way home (they were immersed in the Warriors game). My mom and I split my signature custom burger: chicken on a GF bun with gruyere, tomato, greens, garlic aioli, and avocado. We also split a kale salad with feta and dried cranberries, and I stole a few of my parents’ fries.

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The lemon vinaigrette on the salad somehow tasted just like passionfruit to me. Yum!

And since I’m ketchup-obsessed, I wanted to share one of my current faves:

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This one is made with more natural ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup, and it just tastes so much better. Better than the organic Heinz, in my opinion.

For dessert, I made myself an ice cream bowl with chocolate halo top, peppermint bark bread, and some Ghiradelli chocolate syrup.

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And of course I had my usual late night snack: a rice cake with whipped cream cheese. I was indecisive (what’s new), so I did half with berry and half with chive.

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And now I’m off to bed! I work 7:45 Saturday morning!