No run on Tuesday?

This is my second week of  “4 Runs a week” and today was really weird. I have always run on Tuesdays (well, at least for the last 5 years)! Last week I had just come back from my trip and was feeling sick so the Tuesday off from running was welcome. But, today it feels wrong. I want to give it a shot because everyone that does the FIRST program swears by it, but I am having hesitations about it.

I know from training for my first marathon in February my body was rebelling toward the end of training and I wasn’t looking as forward to running. I think as the mileage increases I will be grateful for a 4 day running week, but right now I miss it. I’m sticking with it for now, just thought I’d share.

Anyways, today was an active Rest Day. I did some strength moves and the elliptical for 30 minutes.

Breakfast was a smoothie and an english muffin.

I put PB on one side and ICBNB with sugar and cinnamon on the other 🙂 Some sugar and cinnamon may have gotten on the PB side too…Off to work! See ya later 🙂

Brisk Monday

Both the weather and my run were brisk today. The weather was cool and invigorating and the run was quick 🙂 I double checked and “brisk” can be defined many ways including…

1 : keenly alert : lively
2 a : pleasingly tangy <brisk tea> b : fresh, invigorating <brisk weather>
3 : sharp in tone or manner
4 a : energetic, quick <a brisk pace> b : marked by much activity <business was brisk>

My Marathon Training Plan called for 1 mile warm up, 4x 800s (1min Rest in between)  1 mile cool down. I am not the biggest fan of speed work, but this was short so it wasn’t too bad 🙂

I made Overnight Oats last night and took them out of the fridge before I left for my run so they wouldn’t be too cold.

Topped with granola and PB – deelish!

In case you haven’t heard, it’s Monday. This means a fresh clean slate…a week of great runs, accomplishing a lot at work, new blog posts and more. Let’s make it great!

Butter is Back

Pumpkin Butter that is! TJ’s Pumpkin Butter is back out. It’s a seasonal item and I completely love it! I put it on toast, plain yogurt and more! Get some, seriously – it’s better than this blog, stop reading and go!

Sunday is a Rest Day. Ben and I did some elliptical this morning. It’s nice to have someone to workout with sometimes 🙂

I’ve been wanted French Toast for a while and have to wait for the weekend to actually make it. I happily made French Toast today!

I topped it with a mix of mashed up banana, PB and maple syrup. Delicious!

Since we’re new to the area we’ve been “Church Shopping” on Sundays. We’ve been to 4 different churches now and still haven’t found that clicks. The search continues…

After church we went to Costco and TJ’s. Is it sad that I have been looking forward to this all week? I ate a bunch of samples and a bunch of this Costco style “Pirate’s Booty”. Ben wanted this stuff, I’ve actually been avoiding it when I visit Costco since this is one of those foods that I just eat and eat and eat….

Ben and I always joke about the Nutella at Costco. It is two containers of it! Another Dangerous food = A Costco size container of Nutella x2! To our credit, we didn’t buy it 😦 It’s for the best….

I just enjoyed a big smoothie with granola (more granola than shown). And some grapes (no pic).

Now it’s time for some cleaning and relaxing 🙂 Hope you’re having a happy Sunday!

Egg Scramble & 12 miler

12 miles in 1:52:something this morning 🙂 I felt good, but I’m still having trouble with the hills. I have gotten a lot slower since moving to MD and I have to blame the hills!

When I got back Ben was making an egg/ham and cheese sandwich. It smelled so good! I decided to make an egg scramble sandwich. I used spinach, mushrooms, garlic and cheese. Mixing veggies with eggs is the best way to get veggies in at breakfast! I ate the extra scramble on the side.

We are out of fruit and really need to get to the store! Be back later 🙂

Morning Hunger

Happy Cookie Friday! How about a quadruple stuffed Oreo? (from Natalie Dee).

I woke up a little hungry this morning – which never happens! Weird, but good I guess since it means I didn’t eat too much last night.

I did some strength traing in the lviing room before hitting up the apartment gym for elliptical time. But, when I got there both ellipticals were being used 😦 (One of them was being used by Ben who has been working out 5 days a week!) I walked on the treadmill for 10 minutes until someone got off. Then, I did 20 minutes switching front/back 🙂

I can’t get enough cereal lately (big surprise I know). I had a big bowl with mixed cereals, soymilk, naner and PB.Extra PB on the naner 🙂

Question: Do you wake up hungry? If so, do you eat right away or workout/shower/other morning stuff first??

How to pack my lunch Lesson #2

Lunch Lesson #2: Prep (or completely  make) all your lunch ingredients the night before.

Last night I made salmon salad for lunch today (I actually ended up eating if for dinner too). I thought putting it on the bread would make it too soggy, but at least I had it ready to go for this morning. I left Ben a note before I left for my run to please make a Salmon Sandwich for himself and a Salmon Wrap for me 🙂My packed lunch and snacks – apple, grapes, nut-clusters, cereal, carrots, wrap. I have yogurt waiting for me at work for an afternoon snack so I might switch that out with the nut clusters…

The Night Before Lunch Prep Tips:

– Chop up veggies or fruit for salads and snacks

– Put chips/cereals/trail-mix/fruit into baggies or tupperware

– Make sandwiches or leftovers as the “main course” if it will keep overnight

– Set aside any yogurt/bars/snacks you want to take so they are easy to grab on your way out

Run – I meant to run out as fast as I could 3 miles and jog back, but I completely burnt my legs out by miles 2 and was dragging the rest of the way. I need to work on pacing  myself better!

Breakfast – Ben made a double Green Monster for us to share for breakfast. GMs go best with a bagel and PB&J 🙂I’m happy it’s almost Friday! I’ve been trying to fight off getting sick all week and have really been dragging.

Thank you all so much for the positive comments after my post last night. I am very frustrated that I keep backtracking on my journey towards a healthier lifestyle, but I need to keep it in perspective. I just got back from vacation and need to get back on track – but drastic measures don’t work long term (even short term for me!).

Today I am committing myself to a healthy, balanced eating and excercise plan – thanks for following along 🙂

4 miles slow, 2 miles fast (kinda)

My training plan called for 2 miles easy, 2 miles at short tempo pace and 2 miles easy. My short tempo pace should probably be around 7:50 miles? based on my half marathon time, but I have not been able to get even 1 mile that fast yet! I did the tempos at 8:34 and 8:15 — I’ll be faster next time!

Once again we were running late so I had to throw together a quick lunch and eat breakfast in the car. I really should have asked Ben to make my lunch, but he says he doesn’t know what I like – which is kinda true. So, someone will soon be getting a lesson in How to Pack My Lunch!

Lesson #1: I bring a lot of food = a lot of tupperware!

Breakfast was oatmeal – 1/2c oats, soymilk, cinnamon, naner, PB Happy Humpday 🙂 I’m currently drinking a new tea from TJ’s. I think it’s a Mango flavor!

15 to 15 – Cut the Crap

After a week of indulging on my vacation and also eating a lot of sweets and treats before  – I’ve decided I need to Cut The Crap. All the “crap” I’ve been eating has been affecting my energy level, running, skin and healthy mindset. It’s also become a habit – I’ve eaten dessert everyday for the last 2 weeks (at least).

September  15 to October 15 is the

Cut the Crap Challenge

The guidelines –

• Eat Whole Foods as the base of meals and snacks
• Cut out processed foods as much as possible (cereals, crackers, bars, etc = 2 servings a day)
• Decrease “sweets and treats” to 3 times a week maximum

These guidelines are very lenient because I am still trying to follow Intuitive Eating and restricting would mean taking steps backwards in the process. I think I.E. is working well for me, but I have gotten off track in terms of nutrition and health and it’s affecting how I feel.

I weighed myself today and was surprised and happy to see I actually lost a pound since my last weigh in 🙂 We’ll see how Cutting the Crap affects my weight!

Question: So, anyone else need to Cut the Crap?

Sorry for the weird post last night – I was really feeling bad. I actually don’t feel that great right now either, but we’ll see if it gets worse. I’ll try to tough it out till then!

Tuesday is a new Rest Day for me (on my 4 day running week) this worked out since I still feel sick. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and will do some strength training when I get home.

Breakfast was on the go! We were running late so I threw cereals, naner,yogurt and PB in a tupperware to eat on the road 🙂

This weekend I discovered a New TJ’s Find – PB&J Bar. It’s supposed to be Peanut Butter and Jelly coated in chocolate.

The “Jelly” was too Jell-o like and kinda weird. I didn’t like it. It wasn’t as good as you would think with a name like PB&J.

But, do you see why I need to Cut the Crap?! I shouldn’t even have bought this!

Happy Tuesday 🙂 See you later!

Running 4 days a week

My new Marathon training plan calls for me to run 4 days a week. Since it is only 4 days a week each run really has to count. They are all hard runs (for me)…

Monday – Speed work

Wednesday -Temp Run

Thursday – My choice 🙂

Saturday – Long Run

But, since my long run was yesterday this week (due to travel) I didn’t have a Rest Day before Monday Speed Work and I just couldn’t do it. I knocked out 5 slow miles, which is as good as it gets after 12 miles yesterday.

Breakfast was a big bowl of cereals with yogurt, soymilk, banana and PB 🙂

This Monday calls for coffee! I’m back to work and feeling tired…

Hypochondriac News…I woke up this morning and one spot on my arm pit hurts – it may be an ingrown hair or something else gross like that, but I have no idea.There is no mark or anything there (??).

And I have a rash on random parts of my body – legs, side, back…Maybe my body is reacting to being back in MD?

Question: How many days a week do you workout (or run)?

Me: I am hesitant to only run 4 days a week when I’m used to 5 days a week, but I’m going to be doing  strength training and elliptical on Tuesdays and Fridays. I am hoping to become more fit overall & tone up too.

Contest –RhodeyGirl‘s contest for a SodaStream is rocking my world today!

Long Run Friday

My long runs are usually on Saturdays, but since we have to leave for the airport at 5am tomorrow I needed to get it in today. I didn’t have time for the full 13 miles I would have done on Saturday, but I did 10 miles this morning! This is the longest run I’ve ever done on a weekday. I was very proud of myself…

Stats: 10 miles, just under 1:30

Both Breakfast

I couldn’t decided if I wanted a bagel or cereal for breakfast so I decided to have both! I had a smaller bowl of cereal than I usually do and a bagel.

Then, I couldn’t decide what I wanted on the bagel – cream cheese or jam? So, I had both again! These are Rudi’s cinnamon raisin bagels. I keep them in the freezer and one side broke when I was trying to pry it apart – still tasted great though 🙂

You have no idea how I excited I am that it’s Friday!!! I started my Friday celebration with a DD coffee – too cold for iced today. And I will be celebrating Frozen Yogurt Cookie Friday !

By this time tomorrow I will be on my way to Belize!