Saturday morning was the American Cancer Society's 5K. I went with one of my best friends, Jenni, who I have recently gotten into running (I LOVE recruiting new runners!). The last time I ran this race was in April of 2010, and my time was 38:43, with an average pace of 12:31 per mile. This time, I cut my time by two and a half minute, finishing at 36:10, with an average pace of 11:40.
I was pretty happy.
And Jenni rocked it hard, too! It was only her second race ever, the first being about three weeks ago. The first race, she finished in 45 minutes, and this time, she finished in about 42 minutes -- yay!!! I LOVE watching somebody else get bitten by the running bug. :)
After the race, we headed up to my friend Kate's house. Kate's birthday is today (April 15th), so we decided to celebrate it the day before. We also decided to revisit our college days, so we threw a combo birthday party and 1st Annual Beer Pong Championship. But, because we all know that we're old and can't party quite as hard late into the night like we used to be able to, we started the party at noon. By 9:30, I was sound asleep in bed and slept in until 7 this morning. There's something to be said for still getting 10 hours of sleep after drinking. It's great to wake up and feel awesome! :)
Any and all calorie counting was out the window... Um... Kinda like much of last week. :) There were beeritas, the beer of course, chips, jalapeno poppers, wings, hot dogs, pizza, and birthday cake. I paired up with one of my friends' husbands and together, we became the first official beer pong champions. My 32-year-old inner diva can't quite decide if we're super proud of that or if we should maybe keep it on the hush-hush.
Alas, I woke up and realized I absolutely, positively had to jump back on track today. So when Jenni's husband suggested on our drive back home that we stop at Waffle House for breakfast, I was kind of against it.
Not so against it that I actually vocalized it, though. I mean, come on... I do so love me some Waffle House. In fact, most Saturday mornings, before my long runs, it is my pre-run fuel. I just usually feel better about it if I know 8 or 10 miles will be run after eating!
I got my usual favorite -- cheese scrambled eggs, hash browns, and raisin toast. When coming home, I reluctantly opened MyFitnessPal (I mean, I HAD said I was going to get back on track... tracking my craptastic breakfast is a good start!) and I was surprised at how not horrendous it was. I mean, don't get me wrong. It was about 650 calories, out of my total of about 1300 a day, but I was thinking it'd be much closer to 1000 calories or so. This was totally doable. Finished off the day with Fiber One cereal for lunch and dinner (it really is my go-to when I don't have many calories left or I don't have motivation) and even had some BIG Cheezit for a snack and STILL finished with 3 calories left.
I rock so hard sometimes.
I did however prepare for a good food day tomorrow. Made a lean beef hamburger to take for lunch, boiled some okra to take, and poured some Gatorade into a take-along cup. Tomorrow starts the first day of a 4-days-running week. All are low mileage days - 3 miles each day. And it's the first week that instead of a tempo or speedwork run, I just have another easy run. I'm pretty excited.
Oh! I looked at my RunKeeper site today. I have used it since January 2010. I have completed 91 runs using it, totaling 338 miles, with roughly 42,000 calories burned. That is a LOT of beeritas.
Goal for the week -- complete 5 days of staying within calorie limits. I have a family reunion on Saturday and will happily splurge then. But until then, I am going to strengthen my willpower!
**
How was YOUR weekend?
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
These Are My Confessions (sung like Usher, for real)
Soooo... I did well today. Really well....
Well, I mean... At first I did well.
And then... Well... dessert happened. After lunch.
Also, my assistant principal handed out Hershey candy bars at school today. And somehow (it's just the craziest thing!), one wound up unwrapped in my hands! Imagine! And at some point after that, another teacher gave me an Atlanta Bread Company chocolate chunk cookie.
Yeah. 400 calories of wonderful chocolatey, sweet baked goodness. But I intended on being good. I really, really did. I held it in my hand while we talked, intending on taking it back to my room and giving it away. But the longer I sat there and talked, the more it cried out to me. The more it beckoned me. Taunted me. Coaxed and cajoled me.
It's a talented cookie.
So I did what I HAD to do.
I ate it.
It made a nice dessert after the Hershey's bar.
So then I said, "That's it!" And I was done. I splurged, I was happy and full, and I was done.
Until a friend of mine asked me to go to Johnny's Pizza with her and her kids for dinner tonight. "Sure!" I say without thinking. After all, I can always get a slice or two of the thin crust cheese and it won't cause horrendous damage. I can totally do thin crust cheese.
Or maybe a stromboli. With cheese!
And also, garlic knots.
So...... garlic knots with melted butter and a cheese stromboli were ordered. But luckily, my friend shared with me, so I only ate HALF of my stromboli. And it was gone in approximately 12.45 seconds, because I eat like I'm afraid someone's gonna take it from me.
So the end of my damage, I am 800 calories over my daily goal. But you know what? I'm happy. And I'm okay. Should I have done it? Maybe not. But I don't regret it.
Ask me again tomorrow when I'm celebrating a friend's birthday at a fun party! Although, I AM running a 5K.... Now I wish it were longer - a 10K or something else. 300 calories seems so low compared to the damage I did today!
Good God, it all tasted so good. My life would be so much easier if I just did not love the taste of food. Such is the dilemma of my life!
**
What tempted you today?!?
Well, I mean... At first I did well.
And then... Well... dessert happened. After lunch.
Also, my assistant principal handed out Hershey candy bars at school today. And somehow (it's just the craziest thing!), one wound up unwrapped in my hands! Imagine! And at some point after that, another teacher gave me an Atlanta Bread Company chocolate chunk cookie.
Yeah. 400 calories of wonderful chocolatey, sweet baked goodness. But I intended on being good. I really, really did. I held it in my hand while we talked, intending on taking it back to my room and giving it away. But the longer I sat there and talked, the more it cried out to me. The more it beckoned me. Taunted me. Coaxed and cajoled me.
It's a talented cookie.
So I did what I HAD to do.
I ate it.
It made a nice dessert after the Hershey's bar.
So then I said, "That's it!" And I was done. I splurged, I was happy and full, and I was done.
Until a friend of mine asked me to go to Johnny's Pizza with her and her kids for dinner tonight. "Sure!" I say without thinking. After all, I can always get a slice or two of the thin crust cheese and it won't cause horrendous damage. I can totally do thin crust cheese.
Or maybe a stromboli. With cheese!
And also, garlic knots.
So...... garlic knots with melted butter and a cheese stromboli were ordered. But luckily, my friend shared with me, so I only ate HALF of my stromboli. And it was gone in approximately 12.45 seconds, because I eat like I'm afraid someone's gonna take it from me.
So the end of my damage, I am 800 calories over my daily goal. But you know what? I'm happy. And I'm okay. Should I have done it? Maybe not. But I don't regret it.
Ask me again tomorrow when I'm celebrating a friend's birthday at a fun party! Although, I AM running a 5K.... Now I wish it were longer - a 10K or something else. 300 calories seems so low compared to the damage I did today!
Good God, it all tasted so good. My life would be so much easier if I just did not love the taste of food. Such is the dilemma of my life!
**
What tempted you today?!?
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Netflix, Tempo Runs, and the Dreaded 'Mill
So, Internet, I have a confession to make.
I do not enjoy speedwork and/or tempo runs.
However, I think the reason that I don't enjoy them is because at the moment, the only way I can accurately maintain a specific pace to keep the tempo/speedwork legit is to do so on the treadmill - or as SlimKatie at runsforcookies.com calls it, the dreadmill.
It's just... boring. Running in place, staring at these tiny TVs suspended from the ceiling, all of which are set on either Speedvision, CNN, or the Military Channel. I wish I were kidding. So I get on the treadmill, resigned to a 40-50 minute run, run for what feels like forever, then risk a glance at the clock to find out I have managed to run for a grand total of 2 minutes and 24 seconds.
So I took my iPhone to the gym this week. I had a 4-mile tempo run planned and knew I'd desperately need entertainment. I pulled up Netflix and debated - ohhh, the hard decisions in life. :)
Lost or How I Met Your Mother?
How I Met Your Mother won. I needed faster-paced, less dramatic entertainment. The last time I ran to Lost, I kept gasping, which kind of scared the man on the dreadmill beside me. So I chose to watch Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lily and Robin. And this time, my giggles made the man running beside me keep looking at me.
I guess a girl sweating it out through fits of giggles in the middle of the gym is an oddity. Who knew?
So 4 miles,in 50 minutes. Average pace was 12:35, which thrilled me. For the last few treadmill runs, I have been pulling a 13:15 minute pace. Why is it that 13:15 minute mile on the treadmill feels so much faster than a 12:45 mile outside? So I run slightly slower on the easy portions of my run on the treadmill, which slows down my overall average. But this was firmly in the 12:00s.
Those of you who can knock a mile out in less than 10 minutes... don't laugh at me! I will get there one day.... One fine day....
Saturday's run is a 5K race. I'm supposed to run 6 miles according to SmartCoach, but I figure 3 miles at race pace could be just as intense as 6 miles easy. And this is my last week of a 3-run-per-week life. Beginning next week, I start 4 days of running a week. I'm a little bit nervous, but even more excited.
I mean, hey, let's face it. Any extra miles equals that many extra calories burned, which means I can eat more wings and Reese's peanut butter cups. But not at the same time. That'd be weird.
I know, I suck with pictures. I will get better... one day!
One fine day.... :)
Today's food:
Breakfast - cold oatmeal, coffee, half & half
AM Snack - Yoplait blueberry Greek yogurt
Lunch: eggplant fries, cucumbers, tomatoes, 2 tbs Light Ranch
PM Snack - Cheezit BIG (I know, not the healthiest, but so good!)
Dinner: (going to a baseball game, soooo.... probably Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich, but maybe nachos if I'm weak in willpower).
Weigh-in is rapidly coming up on Saturday... Let's see if my willpower holds out and I am rewarded!
**
What good decisions did YOU make today?
How do you entertain yourself while running on the treadmill?
I do not enjoy speedwork and/or tempo runs.
However, I think the reason that I don't enjoy them is because at the moment, the only way I can accurately maintain a specific pace to keep the tempo/speedwork legit is to do so on the treadmill - or as SlimKatie at runsforcookies.com calls it, the dreadmill.
It's just... boring. Running in place, staring at these tiny TVs suspended from the ceiling, all of which are set on either Speedvision, CNN, or the Military Channel. I wish I were kidding. So I get on the treadmill, resigned to a 40-50 minute run, run for what feels like forever, then risk a glance at the clock to find out I have managed to run for a grand total of 2 minutes and 24 seconds.
So I took my iPhone to the gym this week. I had a 4-mile tempo run planned and knew I'd desperately need entertainment. I pulled up Netflix and debated - ohhh, the hard decisions in life. :)
Lost or How I Met Your Mother?
How I Met Your Mother won. I needed faster-paced, less dramatic entertainment. The last time I ran to Lost, I kept gasping, which kind of scared the man on the dreadmill beside me. So I chose to watch Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lily and Robin. And this time, my giggles made the man running beside me keep looking at me.
I guess a girl sweating it out through fits of giggles in the middle of the gym is an oddity. Who knew?
So 4 miles,in 50 minutes. Average pace was 12:35, which thrilled me. For the last few treadmill runs, I have been pulling a 13:15 minute pace. Why is it that 13:15 minute mile on the treadmill feels so much faster than a 12:45 mile outside? So I run slightly slower on the easy portions of my run on the treadmill, which slows down my overall average. But this was firmly in the 12:00s.
Those of you who can knock a mile out in less than 10 minutes... don't laugh at me! I will get there one day.... One fine day....
Saturday's run is a 5K race. I'm supposed to run 6 miles according to SmartCoach, but I figure 3 miles at race pace could be just as intense as 6 miles easy. And this is my last week of a 3-run-per-week life. Beginning next week, I start 4 days of running a week. I'm a little bit nervous, but even more excited.
I mean, hey, let's face it. Any extra miles equals that many extra calories burned, which means I can eat more wings and Reese's peanut butter cups. But not at the same time. That'd be weird.
I know, I suck with pictures. I will get better... one day!
One fine day.... :)
Today's food:
Breakfast - cold oatmeal, coffee, half & half
AM Snack - Yoplait blueberry Greek yogurt
Lunch: eggplant fries, cucumbers, tomatoes, 2 tbs Light Ranch
PM Snack - Cheezit BIG (I know, not the healthiest, but so good!)
Dinner: (going to a baseball game, soooo.... probably Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich, but maybe nachos if I'm weak in willpower).
Weigh-in is rapidly coming up on Saturday... Let's see if my willpower holds out and I am rewarded!
**
What good decisions did YOU make today?
How do you entertain yourself while running on the treadmill?
Monday, April 9, 2012
Salt Depletion and a Month Off From Weight Watchers
So I had a pretty crappy run today, but I didn't think much about it. When I first started running, my mentor told me that "about 1/4 of your runs will just suck. And of those, about half will suck for no reason. Only about half you will be able to determine why it sucks." And she was so right!
I did 5 miles today after work, so there were numerous reasons why it was so rough: 1) hot afternoon, 2) wrangled kiddos all day, 3) maybe not enough water through the day.... All I know is that I knew it'd be a rough run when I hit my first downhill. Because I wear my heart monitor every time I run, and because I often do the same paths, I have a good idea of my heartrate at any given point on the path. This first downhill is a nice, steady decline and it's shaded, great for recovery after a hill. My heartrate is usually around 168 during this stretch. Today? Today, it was 183. ONE EIGHTY THREE. ON A DOWNHILL. IN THE SHADE.
Oy vay.
I stumbled through the run, came home, and had a very scary moment. I found myself unbelievably nauseous, very dizzy, and extremely lethargic. A runner friend happened to call while I was stretched out on the floor, trying to get up the energy to get to the shower, and I told her how I was feeling. She told me it sounded like salt depletion and suggested I go look it up.
So I went to WebMD (is there any place scarier when you have a heath concern?!?) and found this:
So maybe it really is that. So I designed an experiment, just hoping and praying I wouldn't throw up everywhere. The DHHS website also said this:
Does anyone else ever have issues with salt depletion? I guess I need to find some sodium-dense foods that are good for runners!
********************************************
In another note, I have taken a step back from Weight Watchers. For all of those who don't know, I have been in the program since May of 2011. I've lost 16 pounds and (as of March 13!!) 17.5 inches. But I think Weight Watchers was helping me develop a very unhealthy relationship with food. While I know the line is that any food is allowed, I began to have very firm "can have" and "cannot have" lists. And I would spend days dwelling over how I was doing, especially leading up to a weigh-in. I would remain so on track, and Saturdays, which were my splurge days, became the ONLY day I wanted to see friends. I felt like I had to be perfect those other days and the only way I could manage perfection was to eat at home where I controlled everything.
I began to get discouraged when I saw an increase in the scale, even if it was a week with very hard workouts, or even when I was steadily losing inches. And I realized that the increase on the scale bothered me because somebody else saw the number before I did. Weighing in in front of somebody stressed me out. Now, I know it's great for accountability. And I really did need that for the longest time. But I think the downside of weighing in and the downside of Weight Watchers might be coming to light.
So I decided to try something new. I am taking a month off from Weight Watchers altogether. But not from watching what I eat! Fifteen days ago, I signed up to My Fitness Pal (www.myfitnesspal.com), and now whatever I eat gets tracked there, instead of Weight Watchers. This counts my calories, my protein, my carbs, my fiber, and my sodium (hence how I knew how much sodium I was not getting!). I'm not sure why (maybe it's just the newness of the system?), but I am more motivated now than I have been in weeks for WW.
Every day, after you input all of your food, you click "save" and you will see a statement at the bottom of the page that looks something like this:
"If every day were like this, you would weigh ___________ in 5 weeks." I LOVE that statement. It's never the same, because my exact calories are never the same. Sometimes I'm down by a couple hundred, sometimes I'm up by a couple hundred, but I love to know what it says. It's also helping me realize that I AM allowed to eat whatever I want, within moderation. The other day, I had wings and a beer for lunch, and I put it into the tracker. It told me that in 5 weeks, I would weigh 142 pounds, which is about 2 pounds less than I weigh now.
Hold up. Wait... I could eat badly for one meal, and STILL LOSE WEIGHT over the long run?!?!
I know. It's a concept most of you already know, but it's a concept that I never really embraced until now. So I ate my wings and beer, went back to my lean proteins and veggies, and am doing great. And the best part? It wasn't even a Saturday when I had the wings for lunch! I met my friends for lunch on a TUESDAY and splurged. And then jumped right back on.
I think if this is going to be a lifetime deal, I need to have that flexibility. I need to know that if I have a bad week, it's okay. I need to know that if my best friend's birthday is on a Friday, it's okay to celebrate, even if weigh-in is the next day. And I never felt that on Weight Watchers.
So here I go...! I will continue my Saturday weigh-ins. And I will post them here, to help me stay accountable. And at the end of the month, I will figure out what I want to do about Weight Watchers.
Food Tracker for the day:
Breakfast: Cold oatmeal (my new obsession!), coffee, 3 tbs organic half & half
AM Snack: Yoplait Greek yogurt, pear
Lunch: roasted veggie pasta, 1 tbs Ken's Light Ranch, sliced cucumbers, strawberries
PM Snack: Pink Lady apple, 12 almonds
Dinner: 2 oz left over Honeybaked turkey breast, 1 deviled egg, roasted zucchini, 1/2 avocado, Kroger lowfat vanilla ice cream sandwich
And oh yeah, my salt water! :)
Today's run... As craptastic as it was, it was 5 miles and it took me a ridiculous 1:06:33. I am going to pretend this run never happened.
My notes from MyFitnessPal (first time in 15 days that I have been "in the red" for sodium!):
As you can see, today was one of my better days. Here's hoping that extra sodium doesn't jack me up tomorrow! :)
******************
What 'diet plan', if any, do you guys follow? Weight Watchers? Good common sense? Anything else in particular?
I did 5 miles today after work, so there were numerous reasons why it was so rough: 1) hot afternoon, 2) wrangled kiddos all day, 3) maybe not enough water through the day.... All I know is that I knew it'd be a rough run when I hit my first downhill. Because I wear my heart monitor every time I run, and because I often do the same paths, I have a good idea of my heartrate at any given point on the path. This first downhill is a nice, steady decline and it's shaded, great for recovery after a hill. My heartrate is usually around 168 during this stretch. Today? Today, it was 183. ONE EIGHTY THREE. ON A DOWNHILL. IN THE SHADE.
Oy vay.
I stumbled through the run, came home, and had a very scary moment. I found myself unbelievably nauseous, very dizzy, and extremely lethargic. A runner friend happened to call while I was stretched out on the floor, trying to get up the energy to get to the shower, and I told her how I was feeling. She told me it sounded like salt depletion and suggested I go look it up.
So I went to WebMD (is there any place scarier when you have a heath concern?!?) and found this:
"There are two types of heat exhaustion:Hmmmm... The symptoms for salt depletion really do fit. And so I explored further and went to the Department of Health and Human Services, where I found this:
Water depletion. Signs include excessive thirst, weakness, headache, and even loss of consciousness.
Salt depletion. Signs include nausea and vomiting, frequent muscle cramps, and dizziness."
"Salt depletion heat exhaustion usually develops over several days; usually in people that replace the fluid loses adequately, but fail to replace salt loses."Well, that couldn't be me, because I just felt it today. But then I went back through my food journals, which automatically keep track of my sodium, as well as other nutrients. My goal for any given day is about 2500 milligrams of sodium, and there was not one day in the last 15 days that I have had more than 1500 milligrams of sodium.
So maybe it really is that. So I designed an experiment, just hoping and praying I wouldn't throw up everywhere. The DHHS website also said this:
"Mild dehydration can be managed with oral replacement of fluids i.e. 1 tsp of NaCl mixed with 500 ml of water or a stock electrolyte solution given over 1 - 2 hours."So I put a teaspoon of salt into a glass, added some Crystal Light to help mask the flavor (I am not really a salt fan, in case you can't tell!) and added half a liter of water. I am currently sipping it as we speak and with every sip that goes down, I feel a little more human.
Does anyone else ever have issues with salt depletion? I guess I need to find some sodium-dense foods that are good for runners!
********************************************
In another note, I have taken a step back from Weight Watchers. For all of those who don't know, I have been in the program since May of 2011. I've lost 16 pounds and (as of March 13!!) 17.5 inches. But I think Weight Watchers was helping me develop a very unhealthy relationship with food. While I know the line is that any food is allowed, I began to have very firm "can have" and "cannot have" lists. And I would spend days dwelling over how I was doing, especially leading up to a weigh-in. I would remain so on track, and Saturdays, which were my splurge days, became the ONLY day I wanted to see friends. I felt like I had to be perfect those other days and the only way I could manage perfection was to eat at home where I controlled everything.
I began to get discouraged when I saw an increase in the scale, even if it was a week with very hard workouts, or even when I was steadily losing inches. And I realized that the increase on the scale bothered me because somebody else saw the number before I did. Weighing in in front of somebody stressed me out. Now, I know it's great for accountability. And I really did need that for the longest time. But I think the downside of weighing in and the downside of Weight Watchers might be coming to light.
So I decided to try something new. I am taking a month off from Weight Watchers altogether. But not from watching what I eat! Fifteen days ago, I signed up to My Fitness Pal (www.myfitnesspal.com), and now whatever I eat gets tracked there, instead of Weight Watchers. This counts my calories, my protein, my carbs, my fiber, and my sodium (hence how I knew how much sodium I was not getting!). I'm not sure why (maybe it's just the newness of the system?), but I am more motivated now than I have been in weeks for WW.
Every day, after you input all of your food, you click "save" and you will see a statement at the bottom of the page that looks something like this:
"If every day were like this, you would weigh ___________ in 5 weeks." I LOVE that statement. It's never the same, because my exact calories are never the same. Sometimes I'm down by a couple hundred, sometimes I'm up by a couple hundred, but I love to know what it says. It's also helping me realize that I AM allowed to eat whatever I want, within moderation. The other day, I had wings and a beer for lunch, and I put it into the tracker. It told me that in 5 weeks, I would weigh 142 pounds, which is about 2 pounds less than I weigh now.
Hold up. Wait... I could eat badly for one meal, and STILL LOSE WEIGHT over the long run?!?!
I know. It's a concept most of you already know, but it's a concept that I never really embraced until now. So I ate my wings and beer, went back to my lean proteins and veggies, and am doing great. And the best part? It wasn't even a Saturday when I had the wings for lunch! I met my friends for lunch on a TUESDAY and splurged. And then jumped right back on.
I think if this is going to be a lifetime deal, I need to have that flexibility. I need to know that if I have a bad week, it's okay. I need to know that if my best friend's birthday is on a Friday, it's okay to celebrate, even if weigh-in is the next day. And I never felt that on Weight Watchers.
So here I go...! I will continue my Saturday weigh-ins. And I will post them here, to help me stay accountable. And at the end of the month, I will figure out what I want to do about Weight Watchers.
Food Tracker for the day:
Breakfast: Cold oatmeal (my new obsession!), coffee, 3 tbs organic half & half
AM Snack: Yoplait Greek yogurt, pear
Lunch: roasted veggie pasta, 1 tbs Ken's Light Ranch, sliced cucumbers, strawberries
PM Snack: Pink Lady apple, 12 almonds
Dinner: 2 oz left over Honeybaked turkey breast, 1 deviled egg, roasted zucchini, 1/2 avocado, Kroger lowfat vanilla ice cream sandwich
And oh yeah, my salt water! :)
Today's run... As craptastic as it was, it was 5 miles and it took me a ridiculous 1:06:33. I am going to pretend this run never happened.
My notes from MyFitnessPal (first time in 15 days that I have been "in the red" for sodium!):
******************
What 'diet plan', if any, do you guys follow? Weight Watchers? Good common sense? Anything else in particular?
Sunday, April 1, 2012
This Weekend = Amazing
I tried SlimKatie's (www.runforcookies.com) cold oatmeal Saturday morning after a workout that left my legs just a-tremblin'! I took 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of Horizon fat-free milk, 2 Tbs of PB2, and 1 Tbs of chia seeds, mixed it all together and set it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. It was very different than the (hot) oatmeal I am used to, but it tasted delicious. I can't wait to try different varieties!
Then I met up with one of my best friends, and we headed down to Atlanta for a girls' night. We stayed at the Marriott Renaissance hotel off West Peachtree, and I had forgotten just how much I love hotels. Especially pretty hotels with views!
The room had a king bed, but J and I didn't mind sharing. In fact, we're both sprawlers, and I'm pretty sure there was still plenty of room!
I just love city views. This was a condo building near the hotel, and it just looks so fun. Almost makes me regret buying my house in the 'burbs, cause I'd love to live in a building that's all glass and steel!
We headed to a restaurant named Steamhouse Lounge for lunch. It's got this amazing wrap-around balcony that overlooks a city street. It was so much fun to sit up there for a few hours, eat some amazing crab dip and fried shrimp, and just talk. The food was amazing!
This next picture very clearly shows our afternoon after lunch:
A vampire book on my Kindle and a glass of my new favorite white wine. Needless to say, the full belly, the wine, and the reading lulled me into a nice nap!
For dinner, we hit up a place named Front Page News, which has a lot of Cajun-inspired foods. We wound up sharing a shrimp and crawfish etouffee, which was very good, but very messy!
We sat at dinner long enough for everything to go dark, and we're sitting outside on a patio lit by these quaint little lights, beside a fountain that was trickling water, and listening to city sounds. City sounds make me happy. And again, the views are never bad!
After that came an ice cream sandwich and some creme brulee - and I'm not even mentioning the drinks! I don't even want to know how much I gained!
So today, when I got home, I knew I needed to get back into the swing of things. I hit up the grocery store. I've got Spring Break this week, so no work for a week. I wanted something easy, but good for lunch all week, so I went to an old favorite -- Roasted Vegetable Pasta. It's ridiculously easy. I took 4 Roma tomatoes, a red onion, 2 yellow squash, and 2 large zucchini, chopped them up and mixed them with olive oil and minced garlic.
The colors just make me happy.
You spread them out on cookie sheets lined with tinfoil and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.
I cooked an entire box of Barrillo angel hair pasta and once it's cooked, toss the roasted veggies on top.
Then pile onto your plate and enjoy!
So that was lunch. Dinner tonight was at my parents' house. My dad got to come home from the hospital and he is doing great! I'm so relieved. To celebrate, my mom cooked a London broil, roasted some asparagus and baby potatoes, and drizzled olive oil over French bread. I was proud of myself for sticking to the London broil, the asparagus, and some chopped tomatoes. No potatoes or bread - yay!
Going to weigh myself tomorrow morning before my run. I'm trying something a little bit different from Weight Watchers, and I'll explain more about it tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a 5-miler, one I can do first thing in the morning. I am so excited. Love weeks off of work!
**
What was the best part of YOUR weekend?
Then I met up with one of my best friends, and we headed down to Atlanta for a girls' night. We stayed at the Marriott Renaissance hotel off West Peachtree, and I had forgotten just how much I love hotels. Especially pretty hotels with views!
We headed to a restaurant named Steamhouse Lounge for lunch. It's got this amazing wrap-around balcony that overlooks a city street. It was so much fun to sit up there for a few hours, eat some amazing crab dip and fried shrimp, and just talk. The food was amazing!
This next picture very clearly shows our afternoon after lunch:
For dinner, we hit up a place named Front Page News, which has a lot of Cajun-inspired foods. We wound up sharing a shrimp and crawfish etouffee, which was very good, but very messy!
We sat at dinner long enough for everything to go dark, and we're sitting outside on a patio lit by these quaint little lights, beside a fountain that was trickling water, and listening to city sounds. City sounds make me happy. And again, the views are never bad!
After that came an ice cream sandwich and some creme brulee - and I'm not even mentioning the drinks! I don't even want to know how much I gained!
So today, when I got home, I knew I needed to get back into the swing of things. I hit up the grocery store. I've got Spring Break this week, so no work for a week. I wanted something easy, but good for lunch all week, so I went to an old favorite -- Roasted Vegetable Pasta. It's ridiculously easy. I took 4 Roma tomatoes, a red onion, 2 yellow squash, and 2 large zucchini, chopped them up and mixed them with olive oil and minced garlic.
You spread them out on cookie sheets lined with tinfoil and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.
So that was lunch. Dinner tonight was at my parents' house. My dad got to come home from the hospital and he is doing great! I'm so relieved. To celebrate, my mom cooked a London broil, roasted some asparagus and baby potatoes, and drizzled olive oil over French bread. I was proud of myself for sticking to the London broil, the asparagus, and some chopped tomatoes. No potatoes or bread - yay!
Going to weigh myself tomorrow morning before my run. I'm trying something a little bit different from Weight Watchers, and I'll explain more about it tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a 5-miler, one I can do first thing in the morning. I am so excited. Love weeks off of work!
**
What was the best part of YOUR weekend?
Friday, March 30, 2012
Long Runs on a Friday
I thoroughly enjoy days off from work. In fact, it felt like Saturday all day - starting off with a long run, not working, and eating a sugar cookie with frosting! WELL worth the calories.
Today's run was pretty fabulous. My splits were slow, but out of the 13-minute-per-mile pace they were set in as I tried to slow down my runs to extend my ability to maintain a running pace and avoid walking. I finished 7 miles at 12:56 a mile. I was happy - but can't wait to say I can do it in 11 minutes or less! :)
The run today, though, had plenty of hills. I wasn't expecting many of the hills, and you can tell when the hills hit during my splits. Check out the topography of the run:
You can see where the biggest hills were between 0.75 miles and 2.75 miles, and again from about 3.5 miles to 4.5 miles. After that were a couple baby hills, but nothing that made me cringe for the most part. My splits show those hills in my time:
Mile 1 - 12:06
(almost all downhill; I had to fight to stay slow!)
Mile 2 - 12:52
(entire mile was uphill!)
Mile 3 - 12:50
(tried to maintain the Mile 2 pace so I didn't get tired later)
Mile 4 - 12:48
(first half of mile was steep uphill, but rest was great downhill!)
Mile 5 - 12:50
(way steep downhill, and I was trying to maintain a pace so I didn't punish my knees going downhill!)
Mile 6 - 12:59
(still trying to maintain the pace)
Mile 7 - 13:05
(was worn out by this point and the little baby hill did me in!)
So yes, my splits might seem lame to a lot of people, but I'm pretty excited that I ran the whole way and that I was able to maintain a pace even during downhills (even though I think that hurt my overall time!)
Afterwards, I went to the hospital to visit my father. He'd had surgery on his carotid artery and is spending a couple days in the hospital. I stopped at Chik-Fil-A on my way to the hospital for the breakfast of champions:
Chick'N Minis and the largest coffee they could give me.
I spent most of the morning watching TV on the world's teeniest TV in the world's largest hospital room. The hospital was packed on the day my father went into surgery, so he got placed into the only room they had available -- an isolation room. Yep, you read that right. A room with its own airflow, a room where they might put an Ebola patient. Massive room with great windows - and a teeny tiny TV. I feel like an Ebola patient deserves a rather massive flat-screen mounted on the wall!
Yes, that would be the Weather Channel on the TV. I have a weather obsession.
Once I'd had enough of the Weather Channel, I turned my attention to other, far more important methods of entertainment:
It's a good day when you get a Self magazine AND a Runner's World magazine to read!
Speaking of Runner's World, they had a great article that seemed written just for me in this month's edition:
The 15-Second Cool Down Trick.
I've found that when I get stressed, I get snippy. I needed a reminder of a way to stop being irritable, and to stop taking out my stress on the rest of the world.
I also went shopping afterwards and bought some PB2 and some Chia seeds. I'm pretty excited, because SlimKatie at www.runsforcookies.com (GREAT blog if you haven't read it!) uses chia seeds a lot in her oatmeal and I've always wanted to try them. Needless to say, tomorrow's oatmeal will involve chia seeds and PB2. I'll let you know how it works out!
I also found this picture on my phone. I had forgotten I had taken it, but it was pretty exciting. We had Girls Night Out a few weeks ago, and I wore a shirt that I bought two years ago but had never been able to wear. Well, I tried it on and it FIT!!!! I took a picture, and you can tell that I am squeeeeeeeeeing with delight in the mirror!
Today's food was definitely not great, but that is par for the course on my long run days. I KNOW I shouldn't eat the calories back, but sometimes, I just do. And today, I do not regret it. I'm realizing that there are going to be days in life when you just don't eat as well as you should. And sometimes, it's okay to enjoy it, revel in it while you can, and then jump right back on the wagon.
Although, to be honest, tomorrow might not be "right back on the wagon." I am going to Atlanta with one of my best friends for the night. A little staycation, if you will. I have a feeling there will be beer involved. But you know what? I'll up my workouts this week and I will focus on eating right again once we come back on Sunday.
I cannot let my fear of eating badly overshadow my life. I won't do it.
Today's Food:
Pre-Run Snack - 1 slice cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, 100 calorie Clif Bar in peanut butter crunch
Post-Run Breakfast - chick'n minis and coffee
Lunch - chicken nuggets, water, Cheezits
Snack - frozen yogurt at Peachwave (but the good news is - I didn't add ANY of the candy or chocolatey toppings, like Snickers or Reese's peanut butter cups. I used only fruit - bananas, strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries!)
Dinner - 2 pieces cheese pizza from Mellow Mushroom (SO delicious and not something I get all the time, so well worth the calories), sugar cookie with frosting.
Now, planning out a workout for tomorrow. Going to be brutal, I can tell already!
**
Did you stay on track today?
Have you ever tried chia seeds or PB2?
Today's run was pretty fabulous. My splits were slow, but out of the 13-minute-per-mile pace they were set in as I tried to slow down my runs to extend my ability to maintain a running pace and avoid walking. I finished 7 miles at 12:56 a mile. I was happy - but can't wait to say I can do it in 11 minutes or less! :)
The run today, though, had plenty of hills. I wasn't expecting many of the hills, and you can tell when the hills hit during my splits. Check out the topography of the run:
You can see where the biggest hills were between 0.75 miles and 2.75 miles, and again from about 3.5 miles to 4.5 miles. After that were a couple baby hills, but nothing that made me cringe for the most part. My splits show those hills in my time:
Mile 1 - 12:06
(almost all downhill; I had to fight to stay slow!)
Mile 2 - 12:52
(entire mile was uphill!)
Mile 3 - 12:50
(tried to maintain the Mile 2 pace so I didn't get tired later)
Mile 4 - 12:48
(first half of mile was steep uphill, but rest was great downhill!)
Mile 5 - 12:50
(way steep downhill, and I was trying to maintain a pace so I didn't punish my knees going downhill!)
Mile 6 - 12:59
(still trying to maintain the pace)
Mile 7 - 13:05
(was worn out by this point and the little baby hill did me in!)
So yes, my splits might seem lame to a lot of people, but I'm pretty excited that I ran the whole way and that I was able to maintain a pace even during downhills (even though I think that hurt my overall time!)
Afterwards, I went to the hospital to visit my father. He'd had surgery on his carotid artery and is spending a couple days in the hospital. I stopped at Chik-Fil-A on my way to the hospital for the breakfast of champions:
I spent most of the morning watching TV on the world's teeniest TV in the world's largest hospital room. The hospital was packed on the day my father went into surgery, so he got placed into the only room they had available -- an isolation room. Yep, you read that right. A room with its own airflow, a room where they might put an Ebola patient. Massive room with great windows - and a teeny tiny TV. I feel like an Ebola patient deserves a rather massive flat-screen mounted on the wall!
Once I'd had enough of the Weather Channel, I turned my attention to other, far more important methods of entertainment:
Speaking of Runner's World, they had a great article that seemed written just for me in this month's edition:
I've found that when I get stressed, I get snippy. I needed a reminder of a way to stop being irritable, and to stop taking out my stress on the rest of the world.
I also went shopping afterwards and bought some PB2 and some Chia seeds. I'm pretty excited, because SlimKatie at www.runsforcookies.com (GREAT blog if you haven't read it!) uses chia seeds a lot in her oatmeal and I've always wanted to try them. Needless to say, tomorrow's oatmeal will involve chia seeds and PB2. I'll let you know how it works out!
I also found this picture on my phone. I had forgotten I had taken it, but it was pretty exciting. We had Girls Night Out a few weeks ago, and I wore a shirt that I bought two years ago but had never been able to wear. Well, I tried it on and it FIT!!!! I took a picture, and you can tell that I am squeeeeeeeeeing with delight in the mirror!
Today's food was definitely not great, but that is par for the course on my long run days. I KNOW I shouldn't eat the calories back, but sometimes, I just do. And today, I do not regret it. I'm realizing that there are going to be days in life when you just don't eat as well as you should. And sometimes, it's okay to enjoy it, revel in it while you can, and then jump right back on the wagon.
Although, to be honest, tomorrow might not be "right back on the wagon." I am going to Atlanta with one of my best friends for the night. A little staycation, if you will. I have a feeling there will be beer involved. But you know what? I'll up my workouts this week and I will focus on eating right again once we come back on Sunday.
I cannot let my fear of eating badly overshadow my life. I won't do it.
Today's Food:
Pre-Run Snack - 1 slice cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, 100 calorie Clif Bar in peanut butter crunch
Post-Run Breakfast - chick'n minis and coffee
Lunch - chicken nuggets, water, Cheezits
Snack - frozen yogurt at Peachwave (but the good news is - I didn't add ANY of the candy or chocolatey toppings, like Snickers or Reese's peanut butter cups. I used only fruit - bananas, strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries!)
Dinner - 2 pieces cheese pizza from Mellow Mushroom (SO delicious and not something I get all the time, so well worth the calories), sugar cookie with frosting.
Now, planning out a workout for tomorrow. Going to be brutal, I can tell already!
**
Did you stay on track today?
Have you ever tried chia seeds or PB2?
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Pretty proud of myself...
So no run again today. My dad had surgery on his carotid artery today, and because it was the last day of school before Spring Break, I felt like I could not possibly subject a sub to a day with my little darlings. Come on, now... We all know how we used to treat substitute teachers at school. Add into the substitute mix a few children with behavior disorders, a fun run at school, cupcakes at lunch, AND the day before Spring Break?
I might have a hitman out looking for me, hired by the poor sub I would've had to get!
So needless to say, I worked a full day and kept my kiddos in line, then managed to get to the hospital to see my dad around 4:30. It's always such a shock to see my father looking less than completely imposing and confident. He had a bandage over his throat, tubes coming out from all over, and machines hooked up to him. He was awake and coherent, but he was very clearly weakened and hurting. It made my heart hurt.
So I sat with him until close to 8, then left to go home. And this is where the pride in myself comes in. It's late, I'm tired, I'm stressed out, and all I want is something bad for me. On my way home, I drive past a McDonald's, a Wendy's, a Sonic, and a Chik-Fil-A. And yet, I managed to drive right on by them and even went out of my way to find a Subway for dinner.
Also, I started using www.myfitnesspal.com to try tracking my calories, wondering if stepping away from Weight Watchers would be beneficial. I started about three days ago and today, my food was great - and that is even considering the fact that there were cupcakes served at the lunch table!
Food Today:
Breakfast: 1 piece cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, dipped in egg yolk and "fried" in a pan with olive oil spray, 1/2 cup blueberries, coffee, Horizon half & half
AM Snack - Kroger vanilla Greek yogurt, 1 baby-sized Butterfinger mini
Lunch: Fiber One cereal (noticing a trend? This is called "Amanda is too lazy to cook, so cereal for lunch for a week!"), cucumbers, tomatoes, 2 tbs Ken's Light Ranch, steamed broccoli
PM Snack - apple, multigrain chips, salsa
Dinner - Subway turkey sub with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, banana peppers, mustard and vinegar, apple crisps
Only ONE small piece of candy and no dessert tonight - go me!
Going to attempt running tomorrow! No school for me, so it'll be nice to knock it out first thing in the morning. It's my long run for the week - 7 miles!
Happy Thursday!
**
How did you guys wind up eating today? Proud of yourself, or looking forward to a new day?!?!?
I might have a hitman out looking for me, hired by the poor sub I would've had to get!
So needless to say, I worked a full day and kept my kiddos in line, then managed to get to the hospital to see my dad around 4:30. It's always such a shock to see my father looking less than completely imposing and confident. He had a bandage over his throat, tubes coming out from all over, and machines hooked up to him. He was awake and coherent, but he was very clearly weakened and hurting. It made my heart hurt.
So I sat with him until close to 8, then left to go home. And this is where the pride in myself comes in. It's late, I'm tired, I'm stressed out, and all I want is something bad for me. On my way home, I drive past a McDonald's, a Wendy's, a Sonic, and a Chik-Fil-A. And yet, I managed to drive right on by them and even went out of my way to find a Subway for dinner.
Also, I started using www.myfitnesspal.com to try tracking my calories, wondering if stepping away from Weight Watchers would be beneficial. I started about three days ago and today, my food was great - and that is even considering the fact that there were cupcakes served at the lunch table!
Food Today:
Breakfast: 1 piece cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, dipped in egg yolk and "fried" in a pan with olive oil spray, 1/2 cup blueberries, coffee, Horizon half & half
AM Snack - Kroger vanilla Greek yogurt, 1 baby-sized Butterfinger mini
Lunch: Fiber One cereal (noticing a trend? This is called "Amanda is too lazy to cook, so cereal for lunch for a week!"), cucumbers, tomatoes, 2 tbs Ken's Light Ranch, steamed broccoli
PM Snack - apple, multigrain chips, salsa
Dinner - Subway turkey sub with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, banana peppers, mustard and vinegar, apple crisps
Only ONE small piece of candy and no dessert tonight - go me!
Going to attempt running tomorrow! No school for me, so it'll be nice to knock it out first thing in the morning. It's my long run for the week - 7 miles!
Happy Thursday!
**
How did you guys wind up eating today? Proud of yourself, or looking forward to a new day?!?!?
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