What Day Is It?

I'm at the end of a 65 hour work week (between two jobs) and I feel like a walking zombie! I'm not quite as back on track as I had hoped to be but I don't feel badly about that given how busy I've been. It doesn't help to beat yourself up.

Let's take a look at some eats!

The week started out well, when I'm super busy I like to try to make it easy to eat as healthily as possible as it truly does make me feel better. Stir fries are a life saver because a well balanced meal can be done so fast.

Monday night was tofu marinated in soy, agave and sriracha on top of sauteed kale, onion, red pepper and broccoli.

Tuesday was K.'s turn to choose the eats and he went with pasta. I cooked up a vegetarian "chicken" patty (I'm not a big fan of these meat alternative patties, but again, on busy weeks it's a great way to still get in enough protein), topped it with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella that I let broil for a bit and enjoyed.

Wednesday I inhaled a "chicken" patty between jobs #1 & #2. Seriously. That was dinner.

But it gets worse. Last night after my second consecutive 14 hour work day I had a frosty and split some fries with K. from Wendy's. That is NOT typical for me but it was the only thing that sounded good at 11p. I don't feel great about the choice but it happened (and was honestly pretty delicious).

Breakfast has been my favorite still! I am hardcore addicted to Greek yogurt pancakes and love to make myself a single serving and save a little yogurt as a topping. Flavors of the week:

2% Banana! So heavenly, you can't go wrong with banana pancakes

But seriously, these were THE best thing ever. Coffee w/ dark chocolate Chobani bite inside a pancake. Make these now!

-1 container Chobani bite (since they are only 3.5 oz)
-1/4 c. flour
-1/2 tsp. baking soda 
-1 egg white

I'm glad that I survived the week and that I'll soon have some time to clean the kitchen, do some grocery shopping and eat nothing but vegetables! (Plus train for this 15K I'm supposed to run next weekend- EEK!) 

Hope that all is well in Blogland, feels good to be back :-)

Road trips, running and working overtime

This weekend was jam packed and this week is looking even busier! I've just got time for a quick rewind and a brief injury update.

Friday & Saturday were spent in Cincinnati with my sisters. We are really close but live in separate cities so whenever the opportunity for a get together presents itself we jump at it! Good food was shared, shopping was done (three cheers for IKEA!) and quality time was enjoyed. It was a quick visit but certainly better than nothing.

I had 10K planned for Sunday and kept wavering on what to do. As I've complained about at length, my foot has been bugging me a lot lately but oddly it tends to feel better the more moving around I'm doing. The weather forecast was not looking too stellar (cold and a good chance for snow) and I didn't think I wanted to deal with that, so I ate a not great dinner of a side salad and curly fries at a super late-for-me hour (and two beers, whoops!) and stayed up far too late. Still, I set my alarm for 6:22a (on a Sunday!) just in case. 

When it went off the next morning I popped out of bed and just kind of went into pre-race autopilot. Toast in toaster oven, add PB + coconut, drink lots of water, use the bathroom, check weather.com obsessively, layer up, find headphones, throw shot blox in pocket, out the door. I feel like I hadn't even decided to run yet and somehow I was already doing a warm-up jog over to the starting line! My foot felt a bit sore but significantly better than I imagined so I was feeling pretty good and stupidly thought "maybe I can nail that sub-50 I had originally wanted despite not running regularly for the past two weeks!" (no, no you can't). 

The course was set up for a 5K, 10K + 15K so it was just a repeated 5k loop. I knew if things got bad I could just bail after the first lap but also kind of knew I was too stubborn to do that. Before I knew it we were running! I went out way too fast (always a problem for me) and had a lot of different aches and pains throughout. My foot hurt a bit, but also my less than trained legs, my lungs dealing with the freezing cold air and my soul (ha!) because running felt HARD. Our city is pretty freaking flat but I swear we ran up every "big hill" we could. The elevation data from the run was insane. Those hills BURNED. They aggravated my foot and I was just not prepared for them, to make it worse I knew I'd be seeing them again on lap 2. Besides hating the hills, the entire race was seriously a blur. All of a sudden we were at the evil (GIANT!) last hill before the finish line, I killed it going up and barely thought I was going to cross. But I survived! 

Splits:

Mile 1  7:53 (!!!)

Mile 2  8:26

Mile 3  8:34

Mile 4  8:37

Mile 5  8:41

Mile 6  8:38

0.26     9:05 (ha, I really wanted to die)

My official time ended up being 53:03 (avg. pace 8:30!) and I can't be disappointed in that. I wore my medal proudly as I pounded chocolate milk, inhaled a banana and stumbled back to my car. I iced, elevated and planned to rest but then I got called into my second job. I was happy for the extra money but 5.5 hours on my feet was pretty rough. I'm recovering today but feeling pretty good overall. I hope to ease back into a regular routine this week and just give extra attention to my foot.

I'M SO HAPPY I GOT TO RUN :-)

I should be a better blogger.

I disappeared, I know. I've been dealing with injury induced depression and my meals have been less than photogenic (last night's eats were sauteed spinach + peas with feta cheese and a giant plate of roasted purple potatoes). 

My plan for today is to get back on track, mentally. After resting for 3 days, I bailed on last night's strength workout because I was feeling sorry for myself and I need to snap out of that! I have a long day today because I work both jobs, but I plan to focus on hydrating and healthy eats and I will be back in the gym tomorrow. A new Jillian DVD arrived last night and I'm looking forward to diving in. Regular running may still hang out on the back burner until I figure out what is happening with my foot but I'm hoping to be able to (sloooowly) run my planned 10K race on Sunday. 

I'm really just stopping in to say I'm still here! And to state my plan to return to regularly scheduled workouts first thing in the morning. Bear with me people and send some good vibes my way!

Cupcakes can make you forget a bad run

This weekend was full of ups and downs- too many (unpaid) extra hours at work, sleeping in on Saturday, one of the worst runs of my life (truly terrible), pancakes, baking delicious cupcakes and St. Patrick's Day festivities.

I don't want to talk about the work and I definitely don't want to talk about the run so let's just jump forward to the cupcakes.

Oh the cupcakes!

We had plans to go to a St. Patrick's day party yesterday and I knew I wanted to bring a delicious treat. Enter Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. Guinness in the cake, Irish whiskey in the filling and Bailey's in the frosting. Yes, please!

I found a recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker on Pinterest and was quite pleased with it. I made a few changes throughout (plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, double the whiskey in the ganache filling and less butter and powdered sugar in the frosting). These are definitely not healthy nor for the faint of heart, but there were perfectly moist and a HUGE hit at the party. 

You make the cupcake batter and bake the cupcakes as you normally would.

You then cut out the centers (going about 2/3 of the way down) to fit in the filling. K. was happy to help with this part as he mostly just popped the center pieces right into his mouth.

I piped in the ganache filling using a basic frosting tip. This step was messy but not difficult.

And finally you frost the cupcake! I'm no whiz with a pastry bag but I think they turned out pretty enough.

Our friends seriously gobbled them up in no time. Although my St.Patrick's day didn't involve any green beer these were festive (and strong!) and got the job done ;-)

Foods + Foot Pain

In complete contrast to last week, today is not Good Mood Friday. But at least it IS Friday.

My foot is still not quite right. I skipped my planned run this morning, opted NOT to cross train (I think I was just being lazy) and even started looking into making a doctor's appointment. I'm not sure I'm there yet, but I was definitely riding high on self-pity this morning.

To snap myself out of it I made a healthy breakfast (and a large amount of coffee)

Egg whites on toast smeared with herbed goat cheese. Yummy!

Today is an extra long day at work so I packed carrots for my morning snack and used some of last night's leftovers to make a salad that would keep me full through the extra hours

Spinach + romaine base, cucumbers, hummus, feta and lentil chili. Delicious and quite filling.

Tonight's agenda is nothing but RICE. My legs are itching to run and I'd love to put in some sort of long run tomorrow morning so I'm going to take it suuuuper easy and hope the mystery pain goes away.

Hopefully there is something new on Netflix so I can have my own little TV marathon tonight. Luckily I know there is half a slice of cheesecake in the fridge that can help to cheer me up :-) 

Skyline (vegetarian) Chili 3-Way- Healthified!

I don't know if it's just an Ohio thing or if it extends to the rest of the midwest (or beyond?) but there is something known as the Cincinnati Chili 3-way. It's chili, on top of spaghetti, smothered in shredded cheese. Lots of people find this appealing.

My boyfriend, K., was raised as a meat n' potatoes kind of kid. Lots of hamburger helper, tuna casserole, etc. As he grew up he really expanded horizons and even before we met he was a much more open minded eater. He loves vegetables and will eat literally anything I cook for him (and will give me an honest review). Since there will never be a day that I'm grilling him a steak or making hamburgers (I truly wouldn't even know how), I try to take a new spin on meals that are close to him. 

There's a restaurant chain known as Skyline Chili and there is one located a few doors down from his work. On days when he is without lunch or wants a little pick me up, he will head there and eat something that I can only imagine is not exactly healthy. While I'll never try to turn K. into a vegetarian, I will try to keep him healthy.


Enter my healthified version of the Skyline 3-way.


For the spaghetti base, I substitute spaghetti squash. Nothing against pasta, it's just not really my thing. I find this swap to be an easy way to cut back on the calories + carbs and add a few more nutrients. I think it would be just fine to use a whole wheat spaghetti though.

I roasted the squash whole (I pricked it all over with a knife) for about an hour at 400 degrees. I then cut it in half, removed the seeds and turned it into "pasta".

My chili is this lentil chili. I have tried so many vegetarian chili recipes and this is my go to. It's packed with quinoa and lentils. I made a few changes last night: I used a homemade hot chili oil to spice it up even more, left out the mushrooms (we are kind of mushroomed out lately), left out the bulgur and doubled the quinoa and added dark red kidney beans. The flavors were perfect. 

Combine in a bowl and add fresh grated pepperjack cheese (or whatever kind you enjoy) on top.

A bit more cheese may have snuck on after this picture ;-)

Who says comfort food can't be healthy?

Let's Talk About Balance

Balance. 

As a long time gymnast I know how hard it is to find a physical balance- lose focus for a moment and you'll lean one way, try to correct yourself and you'll lean the other. Focus too hard and you're likely just making it worse.

I've always had trouble with moderation. As I mentioned before, when I do something I do it 110%. As I've got more serious about running (and working out in general) over the past year or so I have really struggled to find a balance. At the peak of training I'm in bed by 9p, turning down all weekend plans, waking up at 4a and eating so clean that I nearly forget what sugar tastes like. This works for some people but it doesn't work for me. As soon as I finished my first half marathon I was craving social interaction, greasy pizza and a pitcher of beer. In complete contrast to the previous months I was staying up too late, eating less than well and agreeing to nights out more often than I even wanted to. I felt like I had so much to catch up on! 

My goal for this training cycle is to try to focus on finding the middle ground. I thought I had been doing better but now I'm not so sure. I really struggled with the thought of leaving the house last night and had to be convinced by three people to make the effort. While I was talking about my training one of our friends said "wow, I really wish I had your determination" and K.'s immediate response was

 "No you don't". 

I was taken aback by that. Initially my feelings were hurt as though he was somehow criticizing me. It took me a few seconds to process and realize that that's not what he meant at all. 

I've been so focused on Me, Me, Me that I know I've been neglecting him and us. It's weird timing to talk about this, as we just had a glorious date night, but when I'm in bed by 9p it means he's watching "our" shows alone. And when my alarm goes off at 5a he hears it too. If I turn down an invitation out he has to choose between being social with our friends or spending time with me. When a run goes well, I brag to him about it; when a run goes poorly, I complain to him about it. I even went on an "I'm so fat!" rant the other night after a day of calorie counting (yet another slippery slope for me).

I strive so hard to be "perfect". It's not a good week unless I completed all my workouts per my training plan, ate 100% clean, abstained from all alcohol and was asleep by 10p each night. I get really obsessed with all these things that pretty soon it's all I think, talk, read and write about. I want to be the best version of me (and I will run a sub-2 half marathon) but I don't want to lose myself, I don't want to distance myself from our friends and I definitely don't want my relationship to struggle. 

So how do you do it? What's the secret to finding that balance?

We need to go grocery shopping

Wednesdays are typically my two-a-days, speed work in the morning + Jillian at night. Last night I was 100% dreading Jillian. I was tired, we had a goodbye get together to get to, I was lazy. I was also SO thankful that I had a friend coming over to do it with me because without that extra motivation it never would have happened. She was feeling the same way I was- completely unmotivated. We tossed around some cliche mantras like "the only workout you regret is the one you don't do" and sucked it up for the measly 20 minutes of 30DS level 3. As expected we felt so accomplished as soon as we finished! Cliche or not, all those sayings are true. (And I think level 2 is worse than level 3, level 3 may be my favorite).

As the title indicates our fridge is barren. I used the leftover ingredients from Sunday's risotto to whip up dinner

In the pan- 1/2 an onion, rainbow chard, portabella + shitake mushrooms, green peas, dried thyme. Served over quinoa with a bit of herbed goat cheese and a dollop of hummus. Not too shabby!

After dinner we stopped by our friends house to say goodbye to her before she moves on Friday. We played the game Cards of Humanity, which is essentially a really offensive (in the best way possible!) grown up version of Apples to Apples. We ended up playing through the whole deck and hanging out WAY too late.

After the combination of a two-a-day and a very late night I knew the odds were slim that I'd squeeze in a cross training work out today. Luckily my training plan clearly states "Rest or Cross" today so I didn't even feel bad stealing an extra 2.5 hours of sleep this morning (so glorious).

Due to the aforementioned lack of groceries my breakfast options were slim to none. No eggs, which also meant no Greek Yogurt pancakes. Luckily my pantry always comes through so a classic yogurt mess was on the menu

Raspberry chobani, raw oats, shredded coconut and chia seeds. Delicious but not exactly what one wants to eat on a 29 degree morning. Oh well! At least it was nutritious.

Happy almost Friday!

Date Night

Last night K. and I took a much needed break from social obligations and had a little date night. One of the (many) misconceptions I had about living together was that we might not have enough space for "me" time. I was never really concerned that we'd get sick of each other, per se, just that we wouldn't have enough time apart. But our lives are busy- we've both got jobs (I've got two- a full time and a part time), hobbies and our own friends (even though many of them overlap). On a typical week at least one of us is busy 5-6 of the nights! While I love that we are both independent people, it's nice to take some "us" time.

So we turned down plans, turned off the cells phones and headed out for a cliche night of dinner  + a movie. Since we aren't as young as we once were, we snuck out of work early and caught the 4:30p showing of Oz: The Great and Powerful (in 3D!)

Visually, the movie was stunning. If you plan on seeing it you should definitely see it in 3D. As far as an overall review, I still feel torn. As we were walking out K. asked "so, what did you think" and all I could say was "I really don't know!" and he felt the same way. They were plenty of parts that had me laughing and "awww"-ing but I wasn't sold on most of the casting even though I typically enjoy all the actors in other roles. The movie definitely tried to engage all audiences- I'm sure kids will love it, their parents won't be bored and mid-to-late childless 20 somethings (like us) will come to see it for the nostalgia factor and the recognizable cast. I'm interested to read other reviews now that I've seen it, as I'd been avoiding them so I wouldn't read any spoilers. I happily went in knowing very little- I knew it was a prequel to the Wizard of Oz but nothing beyond that. I can definitely say that I'm glad I saw it.

After the movie we decided to use a restaurant gift card we got for Christmas. It was a fancy (re: overpriced) chain restaurant that we wouldn't normally go to and the meal was just okay but the company was great! We took a walk (inside a mall, it is COLD again here) to let dinner settle and then I convinced K. that we needed some ice cream. We grabbed some to go and settled in for an episode of Boardwalk Empire and then I called it a night. It was just what we needed.

CCC Takes on Larabars

Homemade energy bars have been all the rage in healthy living blogs and why not? With simple ingredients and a food processor making them at home was no trouble at all, I probably shouldn't have waited so long. 

While drooling over everything at the new Whole Foods I saw that organic Medjool dates were on sale and instantly decided that it was time to make my own.  I perused all my favorite blogs and even googled "date based energy bars" for ideas. I mostly just wanted to get a ratio of ingredients as I already knew what I was going to put into my first batch. 

Here's what I settled on:

3 T chia seeds
1/2 c. raw sliced almonds
1/4 c. sweetened coconut flakes (I would normally use unsweetened, but I had this leftover from a recipe and wanted to use it up.
slightly less than 1/2c. raw cashews
~3/4 cup chopped Medjool dates
1 T agave nectar 

I spread the almonds + coconut flakes on a small tray and put them in the toaster over for a few minutes. I wanted them just shy of browned and could tell when they were done by smell. While those were toasting I ground the chia seeds into a fine powder in my coffee grinder. I added the chia powder, toasted almonds + coconuts, cashews and dates into my food processor and let it run. Once everything was pretty ground up I added the agave nectar and pulsed for a few moments. I dumped the mixture onto a sheet of saran wrap and formed a big rectangle, about ~1/2 an inch thick. I placed the rectangle on a plate to chill overnight. The next morning I cut it into 8 smaller pieces and wrapped each individually. I am going to freeze a few for a long lifespan.

The results were fantastic. 

Super nutty, just chewy enough, great flavor. I can't wait to experiment with different nuts and fruits and flavorings!

Each small rectangle is only ~130 calories so I may cut the next variety into bigger pieces (and consider 2 a solid snack for now).

Risotto recipe without pictures

It's probably a good thing that readership is low (non existent?) because even though I have two wonderfully successful recipes to share, I have zero photos. I'm sorry! Blame Apple, my devices ate the evidence.

Dinner on Sunday was Mushroom + Rainbow Chard risotto. I used to find risotto to be intimidating- you have to stand there and stir it and keep adding stuff and what if you mess up? And then I realized that it is definitely not. To be honest, these measurements are total estimates because we just kind of eye balled it along the way.

Ingredients:
1 c. arborio rice
dry white wine
2-3 c. vegetable broth, warming on the stove
1/2 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 lb. assorted mushrooms, chopped (we used a 1 to 1 mix of shitake and portabella)
2/3 bunch of rainbow chard, roughly chopped
olive oil for pans
dried thyme
salt + pepper

Heat the vegetable broth in a pan and leave it warming on the stove. Coat a large, deep saute pan with olive oil and add the diced onion. Once the onion is translucent add in the arborio and allow it to toast for 1-2 minutes, by this point the onions should be slightly browned. Deglaze the pan with the white wine (~1/2c. maybe?) and continue stirring. Start to add in the vegetable broth in 1/2 cup increments while stirring pretty much constantly, continue this process until rice is cooked to your liking.

In a separate saute pan, add a splash of olive oil and the minced garlic. Toss in the rainbow chard and allow it to cook down. Once there is room in the pan, add the mushrooms. Season with dried thyme, salt and pepper. As soon as the mushrooms are cooked add this mixture into the rice. Stir to combine and serve. We garnished with a dollop of herbed goat cheese. 
Amazing.

Stay tuned for my spin on homemade Larabars (which will at least contain a finished product photo) !

Just another Monday

After the beautiful weather yesterday it was a little hard to deal with waking up to a rainy gray Monday. At least it was 60 degrees on a day I didn't have to be at work.

My sister and I had a great time yesterday. We hit up Whole Foods again and experimented in the kitchen- lots of great recipes coming your way soon!

This morning her too short trip had to come to an end, so I whipped us up some of the blog famous Greek yogurt pancakes and they did not disappoint! We used a lemon Greek yogurt and it was fantastic. Those will be a regular breakfast treat for me.

Unfortunately my phone ate most of the food pictures I took yesterday and this morning so for now I'll just leave you with this

A blurry Charlotte! Look at that tail. 

Check back later for Mushroom & Rainbow Chard Risotto (so heavenly!) and my first attempt at energy bars!

The perfect Sunday

Today has been a fantastic day and it's only 1p! 

Despite losing an hour of sleep last night I was up by 730 feeling well rested. I spent some time straightening up around the house before just relaxing on the couch and creating an outline for a grocery list (it's a process). I made my way to free yoga at Lululemon for a great Baptiste style practice. I am a total yoga newbie and the free classes are perfect for me. Once I feel more comfortable and have more time I definitely want to join a studio but for now it's the perfect once a week deeeeeeep stretch that I need.

And then I came home and created the most amazing breakfast ever. As I've shared, I'm a total eggs-for-breakfast kind of gal, but since this was really more brunch like I was craving something different. 

I haven't given much thought to how many people are reading this blog yet- I haven't shared the link with friends or family and I know I'm just getting started. But today I wish the whole world was reading so that they could experience this deliciousness.

Coconut-Almond crusted PB French Toast (makes 2 pieces)

- two slices bread of choice (I used 100% whole wheat)

- 1 egg

- 2T PB2 (made super runny) or any natural nut butter warmed up to be thin

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- 1T coconut

- 1T raw almond slivers 

- coconut oil or butter for the pan

Mix the PB2 with an extra amount of water so it is on the runnier side, add one whole egg and the cinnamon and mix. Combine the coconut and almond slivers on a plate.

Heat up the pan and add the coconut oil or butter to it.  Dip your bread in the PB/egg mix, covering both sides well but letting any excess drip off, and then dip each side in the coconut/almond mix. Put dipped bread into the hot pan, cook on each side until browned.

I served mine with cottage cheese (protein boost!), agave nectar and a sprinkle of coconut and almonds.

So quick, so easy, and so so good!

Gotta run- it's 60 degrees (!!!! it was just snowing days ago, this is March in Ohio!) and my sister is on her way down to visit for the day. Our to-do list includes- a game of tennis, antiquing, another stop at the new Whole Foods, cooking and board games. 

I hope everyone is enjoying Sunday as much as I am :-)

Retail Therapy Rest Day

After checking out Runner's World What to Wear guide and planning out my outfit I finally talked myself out of running. I knew that today's 9 miler would do nothing but further aggravate the injury. So what's an injured runner to do on an unexpected rest day?

Retail therapy!

First stop, my guilty pleasure

I am literally not even supposed to go without the supervision of K. (the boyfriend) but I needed a pick me up and I had an ACTUAL list of things to get. Even though I spent a bit too much time perusing the clothes, shoes and candles I did well and stuck to my list

Socks, toothpaste, dental floss, vitamin D gummies (which I have to hide from K. because he is a child and wants to eat them all), loose mineral powder and a neutral shimmery eye shadow.

Old Navy is next to Target so I popped in to see if I could find anything for St. Patrick's day. I found a maybe shirt (it's not super green but it does have some. and it's cute) and another long sleeve tee that was on sale for $6!

And then I did what any good Healthy Living Blogger would have and checked out the newly remodeled Whole Foods. It. was. PACKED. I was totally intimidated so I only snapped a few pics. This place is unbelievable, they have a bulk section that is bigger than I have ever seen (two whole rows!). The bulk Olive Oil + honey wall and popcorn table were my favorites

Amazing. I can't wait to go back and do a real shopping trip. For today I just grabbed the first things that caught my eye and every sample I could (I was famished)

Tortilla chips, salsa, hummus, bulk quinoa and green lentils, a new-to-me flavored coconut water (lychee!) and chia seeds. I snagged a salad from the cold bar for a late lunch and forgot to photograph, sorry. It was delicious though! Now I'm RICE-ing like it's my job and letting the kitties nurse me back to health

Fingers crossed I'm back to 100% tomorrow!

Dilemma.

I'm currently faced with a dilemma that I'm sure all my fellow runners have stared down before:

To run or to rest.

I'm notoriously bad at cutting back when needed. Once I'm committed to something, I'm in 100%. Perhaps to a fault. 

I've always had issues with my feet/ankles, my 18+ years of doing gymnastics did plenty of damage along the way. It's normal for me to have to ice/elevate after most runs and walk a little funny in the mornings but my feet rarely hurt while I'm actually running. A mystery injury to my right foot sidelined me for three weeks before my last half and then I ran it pain free!

I'd been feeling strong recently and I started rotating a more minimalist shoe into my runs (Brooks PureCadence2, still a stability shoe but MUCH less marshmallowy and heavy than my Adrenalines). I've been taking it slow, 3 or so miles every week or two, easy runs only. Yesterday I wore them for my easy 4 and I knew something felt wrong around mile 1.5 and stupid stupid me ran through it. I know better but I'm stubborn. I had 4 miles on my plan and that was nothing so I'd just tough it out. The pain came and went and I felt okay when I finished so I convinced myself all was well. By 9p last night I was essentially couch ridden and was icing my foot every hour :-(

After sleeping with an ice pack strapped to my foot I woke up this morning feeling a little sore but I walked it out and I feel okay now. I'm staring at the 9 miles on my training plan and thinking "I could just do them slowly" or "I could make it a 6 miler". Boyfriend reminded me that one run isn't worth it, that if I want to run my 10K race in 2 weeks I shouldn't run today but I want to. I feel lazy, I feel like a quitter, I feel like I'm failing myself. I know this is negative self talk and I know it's not rational but I can't quite shake it. I just got called off from my second job so I literally have nothing else to do today so I could run and then rest, right?

Someone talk some sense into me! Remind me I shouldn't run (or support me and tell me to go for it ;-) )

Good mood Friday!

I'll admit it's hard to be in a bad mood on Fridays, but today just feels extra good. 

Last night's dinner was this delicious Carrot Butternut Ginger Soup from Peanut Butter Runner with a huge side of broccoli.

I was craving vegetables and although I'm glad to see the cold weather going away it was nice to get in one more soup night. But come on spring time! For dessert I tried the coffee with dark chocolate Chobani Bite

And oh em gee, so delicious! I wish it came in larger containers (does it?) but the 3.5oz was a perfect pre-bedtime treat.

This morning was the same as every other morning minus the fact that I actually woke up easily and felt well rested. I set a strict bedtime for myself all this week and I think it definitely paid off. Work out was running 4 easy miles and breakfast was pretty much just like yesterday

Egg whites, cottage cheese, mini bagel w/ veggie cream cheese (only 3 mini bagels left, I know I'll miss them when they are gone).

Thirsty Thursday was a raging success and I finished the day with about 120 oz of H2O. I'm going to strive to make 100oz my daily goal, I'm starting today off my with new favorite coconut water and a giant cup of coffee. Despite finally feeling well rested I can't seem to cut the coffee habit, it's just so yummy. Maybe I should start switching to half decaf? We'll see.

Happy Friday!

Thirsty Thursday

It's almost Friday, it's almost Friday! I would like to officially rename Thursday "almost Friday". It just has a better ring to it.

Last night a friend and I had a different version of girl's night- an evening in with the one and only Jillian Michaels!

We started with level 1 and decided to do level 2 as well. Considering that I had a solid speed work session yesterday morning I was completely spent by the end! I used to do 30DS religiously and I had all the levels memorized but this was my first time doing level 2 in SO long. It felt extra hard last night but that might have been because we did it immediately after level one. Either way, it was a great strength workout and I felt really pleased with myself. I made myself a simple and quick dinner, as it was much later than I usually like to eat, of a kale + egg white scramble, mini bagel with veggie cream cheese and cottage cheese with half of a banana. Lots of food groups were covered.

This morning I got to wake up to mostly melted snow but I knew it should be a cross training day. I hit the gym for an easy hour (7 miles) on the elliptical that was only made bearable by reruns of Bones on Netflix. 

We are so low on groceries that breakfast looked a lot like dinner:

Egg white scramble, cottage cheese, mini bagel (I need these out of my house ASAP!) w/ cream cheese and jam.

I've deemed today Thirsty Thursday which has a much different meaning to me now than it would have 5 years ago. My goal is to drink 100 oz. of water today (and every day, really) and I am on track to achieve it. I've put rubber bands on my cup that I remove each time I finish it. 

This cup holds 16 oz. so I have to drink about 6.25- 4 left and it's only 11a. Should be easy enough, right?

Wet Wednesday

The weather here is so weird today. We were pummeled with wet, heavy snow throughout the night but the temperatures are warming up so now it's melting into even heavier slush. Not ideal running weather, unfortunately, so it was back to the treadmill today.

Jenny Hadfield's (slightly modified) Tempo A
5 min walking warm up
5 min jogging warm (6mph)
5 min moderate effort pace (7.5 mph) 2 min recovery (4.5-5.5mph) repeat 4X
5 min easy run (6.7 mph)
5 min progression (6.8-7.5)
5 min cool down

Total time: 48 mins
Total distance: 5.05 miles

It felt good! I was definitely pushing myself a bit harder while sticking to an 8 minute pace for the 5 minutes but not unbearably so. It amazes me how much harder running feels on a treadmill, I know that sounds crazy but my typical pace outdoors varies from 8:15-9:30 and sometimes 10 min miles feel hard on the treadmill. Outdoor running is just so much better, I need spring to be here NOW!

I was surprisingly in the mood for a different breakfast

My new love, Chobani peach (so far I've tried the 2% mango and the 0% black cherry, but peach is still my favorite) and a mini whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and raspberry jam on half.  I used to be obsessed with bagels + cream cheese and normally can't keep them in house because I have no restraint but we had bought them for our visitors and it was a nice treat this morning.

I've got a busy day at work and then a night time Jillian session planned, yay for two-a-days! I'm on track to have a very solid week training wise and I feel great about that.

Time to chug some coffee and dive into paper work, happy hump day!

Mental Rest Day

This weekend was crazy busy and jam packed with fun! From a concert to late night darts, wall climbing, house cleaning, three trips to art museums, dinner + brunch out, board games, thrifting and picture framing + hanging I was sound asleep (on the couch, during a movie) by 9p last night. When my alarm went off at 5:42a this morning I knew that today just wasn't going to go as planned. Shhhh.. don't tell but I'm taking a "sick" day from work to recover mentally.

After crawling back under the covers for another 3 hours (it. was. glorious. and so necessary!) I was almost ready to start my Monday. I fed the kitties (much later than usual- they were famished) and relocated to the couch to catch up on emails and watch reruns of Bones on Netflix. I knew that I wanted to use my "sick day" to get in a nice run outside since I missed my normal weekend run. It was sunny but still quite chilly so I planned on putting the run off a bit and ate a snack to hold me over.

Whole wheat toast + PB2 + tiny smear of raspberry jam + 1/2 banana + shredded coconut

I was out the door around noon and it was only about 30 degrees but so sunny! I had 50 minutes on my training plan but knew that I'd prefer to get in 6 miles (but no more, my calf/achilles has still been tight and annoying, but luckily it felt great while I was running). I don't know what it was- the weather, waiting for a later time of day, a solid snack, 2 days off running- but my run was awesome and so speedy (for me ;-) ). I finished up feeling on top of the world.

Splits:

mile 1  8:33

mile 2  9:04

mile 3  8:36

mile 4  8:37

mile 5  8:28

mile 6  8:15

total:  51:34, average pace 8:36 (!!!)

I am so pleased with these times! As I've mentioned (only a dozen times or so) my goal for this upcoming half is sub 2, which means a 9:09 average pace. I admittedly pushed it a bit at the end because I knew that I had been maintaining a sub 9 pace, but overall this run came pretty easily to me and I am really starting to see my speed work pay off. I have a 10K coming up at the end of this month and I'm almost tempted to aim for a sub 50, but I think that might be pushing it. It'll be my first 10K so it'll automatically be my personal best, I think I'll just take what I can get and focus on a speedier one after the half + the duathlon. We'll see.

Now I'm stretching, refueling with eggs + cottage cheese + mini bagels and planning something super stellar for dinner.  Hopefully I'll be back later with a recipe to share!

Not too shabby for a Monday (or a "second Sunday" :-) )

Finally Friday!

First off, I am so thankful that it is Friday! This weekend could not get here soon enough.

Today has been an interesting one thus far. I have been such a klutz (two lumps on my head to back up that statement) and I can't seem to focus on anything. Despite my injuries and daydreamer status, the routine has been the same as always.

Woke up almost on time (woo-hoo!) and laced up my shoes for an easy 4 miles @ 9:17 avg pace, but it was more like 2 slooooow miles and 2 speedy ones. My legs were taking their good old time warming up.

A nice spin on my standard breakfast:

Whole wheat toast covered with a mashed 1/4 of an avocado topped with an egg + lots of egg whites scramble with a hint of dill. Washed down with 1.5 cups of coffee.

Work day eats:

PB2&J sandwich (though most of the J magically slid off, so it was more like "soggy PB2 sandwich with a puddle of J on the side"), Fage 0% with Blueberry Acai, Naked Coconut Water + Mango Peach Puree (I'm addicted to these) and lots of water.

We've got visitors coming into town tomorrow so tonight will probably be all about preparing for that- grocery shopping, house cleaning, and checking out what local events are happening this weekend. I really love playing hostess, giving the spare room some hotel touches (chocolates on the pillow are always appreciate), having food + drink I know my friends enjoy, buying new candles, etc. so I'll have plenty of fun tonight.

Hope everyone else has a lovely Friday as well!