Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Not so sure about the tempeh

I tried to substitute tempeh for the chicken in my chicken fricassee recipe. Dennis hated it and I thought it was OK. I had to add a lot of seasoning to it before I was able to stomach it. I’m not giving up on it yet but at first try, I wasn’t too impressed.

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I love avocado. It adds so much to a meal. But here’s the up close and personal view, minus the avocado:

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Like I said, I think I just need to get used to the texture; and adding a little more flavor than I normally would might definitely help.

Tempeh Fricassee

8 oz. tempeh
1/2 medium onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup of diced red potatoes (I leave the skin on)
1cup sliced (bite-sized) baby carrots
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
4 cups organic vegetable stock
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, garlic and oregano to taste

I actually used the Crockpot this time, so I cut up the onion and garlic and sautéed them in olive oil for 5 minutes, and then added the wine. Then I transferred them to the Crockpot.
Next I cooked up the tempeh for about 5 minutes on each side.
Then I added the tempeh along with everything else to the Crockpot and cooked on low for 8 hours. When I got home I cooked up a quick pot of white rice (I didn’t have time to make brown)

So far my week has been going as planned. I took yesterday off from working out and work as well since I had to take Dennis to a doctor’s appointment. All is well, so that made my day. Then I had to spend $200 to get my car fixed…temporarily. I had a hole in my muffler/tailpipe so they patched it up to spare me the $600 it will cost to get the entire thing changed. This, they say, will last up to 2 years. Hopefully by then I’ll have a more steady situation and can fork it up.

Tonight after my so-so dinner, I went to the gym for a 32 (2 miles) minute power walk on the treadmill on a 10% incline. Wow. I started out at 3.7 and worked my way up to 4.0 and man did this kick my butt! Then I used the foam roller (at the gym, yes gross, but it’s better than nothing right now) Honestly, I wore pants, and I also wiped it down before I used it. I used it on both legs, but I can definitely feel the difference between using it on the “Good side” vs. the bad side. I also did my PT moves and some ab/arm work on the balance ball. I started slacking with the strength training since I’ve been focusing on running outside, so I wanted to force myself to get back to the gym so I can weight train. I always feel better when I lift!

I’m happy to say that even after the long run on Sunday and my struggles for the rest of the night, I was pain free all day yesterday and today. My knee does not hurt, I don’t ache, and I didn’t limp at all. I did have some hamstring tightness/soreness but other than that I’m feeling great! I’m so ready to kick ass at this race. OH and I also found out that we have 2 hours to run our 15K, not 1:30, so I’m feeling much better about that too!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Race worried

I’m trying not to go into my race with a negative attitude, but I can’t help but be a little worried. On the registration page it says not to register for the race if you know you can’t finish in under an hour and a half. I checked the recorded times from previous years and there are plenty of people who ended well after that…but I worry they’re making it a new rule?
I decided since I have yet to make it to 15K to map my run and do it today. I know the Boilermaker’s course is hilly and running on the Charles is not, but I wanted to get the distance done and out the way. Next week I can focus on hill work.
I mapped out my route (it’s actually a 9.2 mile loop on the map so I made sure to run past my starting point to what I think was a little more than .1 miles just to be safe) and made sure I had a good breakfast. I ate an oatmeal pancake  and coffee.

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I brought a great big banana to eat as my post run fuel, grabbed some water, a towel and a change of clothes since the forecast called for tons of rain today (which surprisingly we didn’t get…just really dark clouds all day)
I started out feeling OK, not great but OK. I didn’t want to overdo it, but I got passed by a couple who was running at a pace just a little faster than me. I thought, what the hell? I’m never going to get faster if I don’t push myself…right? They didn’t stay on the same path as me for more than a mile so I didn’t get to follow them for very long (which is probably a good thing)

I was doing fine until I started to get close to the bridge that I was supposed to cross (which was about 5 miles from the start) and had to stop twice to ask for directions. One person sent me the wrong way (figures-but she seemed a little unsure so I shouldn’t have listened) and then about five minutes later I asked three BU girls for help (they were awesome! Thank God for the iphone) they looked up where to go and gave me perfect directions.  It’s not like following the Charles river is hard, but sometimes the bridges and streets aren’t labeled and it can get confusing if you’re not 100% sure which is what. (Boston has streets that aren’t labeled??? Noooo…)

Anyway, stopping and running out of the way broke my rhythm, and I started to get tight in the calves and hamstrings. Uh oh, I started thinking, I’m screwed now. I have like 4 more miles left…how the hell am I going to finish this? I slowed the pace down a lot at this point because my body just started to hurt. My hips, my knee, my calves, my hammies….I started getting upset but then I started shifting my thoughts into positive things. I started thinking about how awesome the race celebration will be, how great I’ll feel when I’m done, what I want to eat before and after the race, what I wanted to eat for dinner after this run…and before I knew it I was coming up to the finish line. Phew! My time was a little off because I had to stop twice and my MP3 player got reset in the process (UGH!) so I went by my cell phone time which said I ran it in 1:37.

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As soon as I got back to my car I grabbed my banana and wolfed that down in record time, drank some water, and stretched for a few minutes. I couldn’t believe how much better I felt after eating the banana…which makes me think FUEL was my problem. Now I realize that even though I didn’t feel hungry, I need to eat while I’m running this race! My friend (and fellow blog reader who ALSO will be running the Boilermaker with me) Ann said she ate sport beans during her recent 1/2 marathon. I found some Clif Shot Bloks at EMS and although I was hesitant about them at first, might have to give them a try at this race.

I had a hard time recovering after this run. My calves are super tight and I felt cold, shivery, and tired for about 2 hours after I got home and showered. After I made my favorite Sunday Night Pizza and had 2 double cheese (mozz and goat cheese) and spinach pizza and a chocolate chip cookie, I felt better. But even though I keep stretching, the calves are still pretty tight.

This week I’m planning on taking it slow. I want to run some hills to get ready for the ones I'll be greeted with on race day but I don’t want to run more than 12 miles this week. I figure my workouts this week will look something like this:

Monday: Rest (much needed!)
Tuesday: Walk (or swim if I have a suit by then)and strength training, plus PT strength moves
Wednesday: Run 3 miles, PT strength moves
Thursday: Walk (or hopefully swim!) strength training plus PT strength moves
Friday: Run 3 miles
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Breakheart two times around (6 miles)

I haven’t gotten the foam roller yet but I stretched the crap out of myself after the run today. I actually was able to find my IT band by rubbing my thumb hard up the side of my leg to my hip and I massaged myself as well as I could.

13 days until race day!!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Black bean chili and umbrella etiquette

Since we have seen rain most of the month of June in Boston I found that not only do you have to have to learn how to deal with those who cannot drive, but you also have to learn to deal with those who cannot properly share the street with an umbrella in hand.
Here’s my theory. If you’re walking with an umbrella, pay attention. So many times people walk right into you or push you off the sidewalk because they don’t have the courtesy to look up while they’re walking. Come on people! I need to start teaching umbrella etiquette 101 with some of you!

I was sure to make today an IT band day, although I’m still waiting for my foam roller to arrive.

Workouts:

Wednesday: 5K in 29:27. Plus I walked about 4 miles on top of that running between appointments on campus and taking the long way to the train.

Thursday: Three mile walk after work and IT Band strength training plus some ab work, minus the foam roller. My run is coming up soon so I have to make sure I get this under control!! I really didn’t eat too much for all of the exercise I did yesterday (I was way too busy and just so tired-I got home at 7 and went to bed by 9:30)  but boy did I make up for that today. As soon as I woke up I was starving, and this didn’t go away…every two to three hours the hunger was just waiting.

Before I ran out of the house this morning I chopped up some veggies to make some spicy black bean chili from my Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker book. This recipe was AWESOME! Even Dennis liked it, although at first he was concerned that there would be no meat involved. The Crock Pot is a wonderful thing, my friends…

The Recipe:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 chopped yellow onion
  • 1 medium sized red bell pepper, seeed and chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp chili powder (I only used one and it was pretty damn spicy)
  • 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 4-ounce can diced green chilies, drained (I didn’t use this. We can’t be too spicy around here)
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook the onion, pepper, and garlic, covered, on medium heat for about 5 minutes (until soft) Stir in the chili powder and cook for about 30 seconds longer.
Transfer the mixture into a 4-6 quart slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

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I chopped up 1/2 of a small avocado and dropped about a tbsp of plain Greek yogurt in for creaminess and DAMN this was good.

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Nice and thick, spicy but not TOO spicy, and the avocado and yogurt gave it a nice, smooth, silky texture. YUM!

I absolutely love my slow cooker. I think they are the best thing ever. If you can’t cook, just use a Crockpot and no one will ever know! I promise!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

IT Band recap

I have to say that the people in the athletic department at Harvard are awesome. Every one of the people I have met and dealt with in the last few weeks have been so amazing-especially the members of the Harvard Athletic training department. They don’t get paid extra money to help “outsiders” with injury advice, yet they jumped at the chance to talk to me about my IT band issue (and diagnose me for that matter) I can’t even begin to thank Gary Geissler, TK Kennedy, Chad Krawiec, and John King. They were all willing to answer every question I threw at them about conditioning, training, strengthening…you get the picture.

I mentioned yesterday that I was advised to stay away from spinning/cycling and yoga until I can get my IT band and quads stretched out enough to feel stable during my runs.  Ironically, many of the moves I was advised to do resembled yoga moves! But that doesn’t mean it’s OK to jump into a yoga class. I’ll just stick with these moves for the next six weeks and see how I feel before I do anything else.

WARNING:
The information I am giving you was given to me through professionals. However, I am not a professional. I had TK take pictures of each move so that I can remember how to perform them and also to share with all of you. I can’t diagnose you, so if you do these move please do them at your own risk. Also, my explanations might be a little elementary so don’t laugh if you’re a physiology and anatomy whiz because that, I am not. This was an amazing experience for me and I am working toward adding these moves into my workout for the next six weeks. (well, six weeks as soon as I buy all the proper equipment) So again, please follow at your own risk! And for God’s sake, BE CAREFUL!!!

OK---back to the good stuff

The very first lesson TK taught me was how to wake up my gluteal amnesia. This move, which resembles the bridge pose, is meant to work your butt muscles. Having weak butt muscles can lead to knee problems because your IT band connects to a band of muscles near your glutes.

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The key to this move, TK says, is to make sure your hamstrings are relaxed while you’re in this position.

The next move was very similar to a yoga move (please forgive me for not knowing the actual term for this)
There are a few important steps to positioning yourself for this one.
First, get on all fours.

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Tilt your hips all the way up, then all the way down, and then come back to find your neutral zone right in the middle. You want your back to be stable and neutral.

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Next, lift your left leg while being sure NOT to tilt your hips! Be sure to keep your hips neutral! Then lift your right arm and make a fist to tighten your back, and be sure to tighten your butt muscles. Hold for a few seconds. Switch sides and repeat 5 times.

The next move I learned is to strengthen the muscle around the inside of your knee. (Which I believe is your Vastus Medialis)

Lean standing straight up against a wall. Slide down the wall until your knees are bent almost to a 90 degree angle (be sure your knees don’t go past your toes!)
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Also, it is very important while in this position to keep your toes pointed UP!! (these are my favorite pair of shoes…my old and beat up Sketchers. Don’t knock’em…they’ve seen a lot in these past three years and I can’t bear to get rid of them!)

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This is a pretty tough move. I held it for about 10 seconds. Do 3 reps of 10 seconds.

Next is a similar move, but with your toes down and with a ball in between your legs to help strengthen your inner thighs and your quads.

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This next move is yet another version of a yoga move – the chair. Squat into a chair position, again making sure your knees do not extend over your knees.

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Using the medicine ball adds resistance and also works your arms and shoulders. Hold this move for 10 seconds and repeat 5 times.

I also got another lesson on the foam roller. Make sure you cross your non-rolling leg in front of the leg being rolled (I know my explanation skills of this sound very elementary. Bare with me!) And roll all the way from just below the hip (as shown) down to the knee. Do this about three or four times (it will kill but it will work!)

I was also advised to do this move EVERY DAY twice a day: Once in the morning and once at night. And always do it after you work out.

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Also on the foam roller, you can work your quads

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Now this next move is to work your hamstrings. I was advised to do this on opposite days of the moves mentioned above. It’s a six step bridge pose using a balance ball.

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Start out with your back flat on the floor and your legs on the ball, like above.

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Next, bring yourself up into bridge pose.

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Next, bring yourself into “Super” bridge pose. Squeeze your glutes and push yourself up as far as you can. Hold for 5 seconds.

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Bring yourself back to bridge pose, and then back down to the floor as in move one. Repeat 5 times.

On my way home I stopped at a local sports store and purchased a pair of Superfeet as per the advisement of TK. I placed them inside my sneakers and can’t wait to give them a try during my run tomorrow.

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Phew! I hope I got everything right!
All in all, TK says since I’ve had this injury for so long (12 years) it will take some time to get things back to normal. But she is very confident that if I start doing these moves regularly that I will feel a difference in time for my race next month! Patience is a virtue, and I don’t expect to be nearly 100% pain free for a while, but until I feel strong enough, I will stay away from spinning and yoga. It will be tough but I will just have to learn to make the pool my next best friend outside of running.

POOL WORKOUTS
On the advice of TK, AquaJogging in the deep end of the pool is her preferred method of water workout for me. She said swimming is a great cardio workout and if I want to swim it’s perfectly fine, but that AquaJogging is better for those who are training for races because essentially, you’re still running. Jenna over at EatLiveRun actually wrote an article about pool jogging that you can find here.

Let me know if any of you out there suffering with IT band problems try these moves out. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know! Also, let me know if you have success! And as I mentioned before PLEASE BE CAREFUL!! Talk to your doctor if you have any issues. Don’t go hurting yourself on the count of my blog! PLEASE!!  (Can you tell I’m just a little paranoid? Even though I’m not sure how many people are actually reading, I don’t want anyone to get hurt)
My next stop is to buy a foam roller, bathing suit, cap, and goggles. Ugh! Taking care of yourself is not cheap!

And to end on a positive note…I leave you a very sleepy kitty who passed out in mid-play session with me and his mouse toy.

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Monday, June 22, 2009

Spinning and yoga bad for IT band problems??

I will definitely have more information about this tomorrow but so far, I’m being told that until I am able to get my IT band stretched out and under control I should stay away from spinning (or cycling of any kind) and yoga. I met up with another Harvard athletic trainer today and she cringed when I told her I was incorporating spinning and yoga into my training for my 15K next month.

What did she suggest?

Well, she recommended a few things. First I MUST stop spinning and yoga for a while. Although I was shocked, I will have to admit I’m a little relieved. I love spinning but the last few times I’ve gone it really has hurt my knee. And yoga always hurts my knees. There are a lot of moves that aggravate the pain so I either have to do a major modification of the move or just go into child’s pose because I can’t handle it.
She also suggested that I start running in the pool and using the pool as my “next best friend” outside of running. I’m meeting her tomorrow to get more information on how I should train for the next three weeks up to my 15K and the next few months as I continue to race and train for my major goal of the year: the 1/2 marathon. She also mentioned a kind of orthotics called “Superfeet” (which you can get at EMS) that I will be purchasing tomorrow. I have to bring in my running sneakers to have them see which ones would work with the shoe and the gait of my feet.

And, I have to also definitely buy my own foam roller. This is something I need to do since I am skeeved out by using the one at the gym. These things along with a few PT exercises and some other things will help get me on my way to being pain free and ONLY THEN will I be able to get back into things like yoga and spinning. And you know what? I’m OK with giving those things up if it means I can run pain free.

I will give you more details tomorrow when I meet with them. There is so much more I need to learn!

Eats!

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First I wanted to tell you that yesterday I tried the Peanut Butter & Co Cinnamon Raisin Swirl in a bowl of regular oats and I really didn’t like it. I’m sorry guys, it’s just not for me. I thought I’d enjoy the sweet in my oatmeal but it was just too much for me. I am still willing to try the maple PB but I won’t be surprised if I didn’t like it simply because I just don’t like my PB to be sweet. I hate using Skippy, Jif, or anything like that and not to compare them to Peanut Butter & Co (this is all natural) but I just don’t like all the sugar.

Dennis made a KICK ASS pulled pork dinner in honor of one of our favorite restaurants: The Dinosaur Bar B Que.
We LOVE this place. There are three locations: Rochester, Syracuse,and Harlem so we don’t ever get to eat there anymore but we bought the cookbook and try our darnedest to replicate their amazing dishes.
Dennis goes to town when he makes this pulled pork. He uses a pork shoulder and the Dinosaur BBQ rub but instead of smoking it (since we don’t have a smoker) he cooks it for 8 hours in the Crock Pot. With Boston Baked Beans (of course!) and cornbread that he let me make since I love to bake, it our dinner was Rockin!

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I don’t make sandwiches like most people do…I just mix everything together. Yup..I mix the beans, pork, and BBQ sauce together, crumble up the corn bread on top and eat it together. I think it’s fantastic. Definitely not something we do everyday but it’s been cool and rainy here so it was a nice and comforting way to end my day.

For dessert I had fresh fruit with a dab of yogurt (a mango and a small apple sprinkled with cinnamon)

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And throughout the day I munched on things that I couldn’t get pictures of because I was meeting with people all day and I had to eat fast. I had a baked potato with plain yogurt and sprouts, a graham cracker with Nutella (when I got home I was starving and I needed something sweet) some honey pretzels (and by SOME I mean … ehem … an entire snack bag…they’re just that good!) and an apple. Oh and this was my treat of the day: (well, aside from my graham cracker and Nutella)

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It’s like a green monster but without the work. I really had to take a break from the GM’s because I was getting sick from the raw spinach, but I was missing them. This was a great replacement.

I promise I’ll be back tomorrow with more detailed information about what my new workout routine is going to be like until I get this IT band issue under control. Now I just have to get myself a bathing suit, cap, goggles…this is going to be an expensive week :(

Rainy Days and Mondays….

I was determined to run this morning. After taking a break on Saturday and having to trade my long run in for a 90 minute yoga session (which really kicked my ass) I knew today was going to be a good one. I jumped out of bed at 5:50 and was relieved not to hear the pounding of rain that we’ve been waking up to for the past 30 out of 35 days.
Eureka! I can RUN!
Well, even though there were no loud and pounding rain drops, it was still raining. But I was up, dressed, and said Screw it. I’m going.
It was a nice run actually, better than I’ve had in a while. It was quiet—I saw only a handful of people. And the rain was a light, misty rain that actually felt nice when it hit my face. I didn’t get soaked either…it was overall a great way to start my day.

Stats:

We all know I don’t have a Garmin yet, so I have to estimate. Just from the knowledge of my body and this neighborhood, I’d say I ran just about 3.1 miles in 29:27. Not too bad for a wet Monday morning run!

I have less than 3 weeks until my 15K so I need to kick ass this week. I hear you should take it easy the week before your run so I’m going to crank out the miles this week (as much as I can) and then see how next week goes.

I’m also determined not to miss my train today. I want to share my humiliating yoga experience with you all but that’s going to have to wait until later.

Have a WONDERFUL MONDAY!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

A much needed day of rest

I didn’t feel well enough to run today. I was still tired after my morning post and actually laid back down for a few minutes at around 10:30 but realized it would only make it worse so I forced myself to shower and get moving…kind of.
Dennis and I attempted to watch Angels and Demons but apparently I took too long to get ready…so we ended up not going. I really had no desire to do much…my work week can be pretty stressful, and I feel like by the time Saturday comes around I’m so beat! We watched the U.S. Open and just lounged around. And it was awesome.
I had some lunch at around 1:30ish. I grilled up some arugula with olive oil and garlic, and then added my leftover asparagus, and then wrapped it in a whole wheat wrap with roasted garlic hummus and a slice of Swiss cheese.

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So freakin good! Oh, and I ate some baby carrots while I was putting everything together.
After spending the rest of the afternoon watching golf and wondering when Tiger is going to pick up his game, we decided to go run a few much needed errands. While we were out, we got hungry and the closest place to go was TGIFriday’s.
Now I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of this place. I mean, it’s OK but I don’t really like most chain restaurants…I think the food is mediocre and it’s always hard to find something healthy. But Dennis LOVES their Jack Daniels burgers so I figured if all else fails, I can get a salad.
I ordered their Strawberry Fields chicken salad…no camera with me, sorry. According to The Daily Plate, this salad has about 500 calories and 10 grams of fat. I ate probably half of it, since my stomach is still being weird. Ahhhhhh
We did some shopping and I found a few cool treats:
Peanut Butter & Co’s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl PB (I’ve been eyeing this for about a year now…seriously…and I finally gave in)
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And Earth’s Best Organic Letter of the Day Cookies (these were actually Dennis’s pick, which I thought was funny)
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They’re really good and low in fat and calories. 9 cookies = 90 calories and 4 grams of fat. Granted they’re small cookies, but they’re pretty sweet so I probably couldn’t eat more than 9 at a time anyway.

As soon as I unpacked everything I HAD to try the PB. I opened up and put some on a cracker….
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Wow. It’s really sweet and although I didn’t really dig it on the cracker I’m so excited to try it in a nice bowl of either regular oats or overnight oats.

I got a craving a few hours later for something sweet so I sliced up an apple and ate it with a tbsp. of regular PB mixed with a tbsp Greek yogurt. I will never get sick of this combo.
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And some peppermint tea.
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I love this tea. It has a very strong peppermint flavor—much more than any other tea I’ve tried. It’s really good.
And I also had a few honey wheat pretzel twists since there was a little PB/Yogurt leftover and I couldn’t let it go to waste!!

Kitty Time!!

We have a lot of stray cats in our neighborhood and lately they’ve been coming near our windows. Marley usually just watches, but his tail will start to wag hard and thump around. Dylan, on the other hand, the shy guy and the scaredy cat, turns into a tough guy! A cat came up on our front porch and Dylan’s tail puffed out, his hair was standing up, and he was growling and hissing and making all sorts of weird noises…it was pretty funny.
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They’re so funny! Can you see the eyes of the stray cat out on the porch?

Sunday’s forecast calls for BLAH BLAH BLAHness …rain alllll day. So that means my long run will have to turn into a short tempo run on the treadmill and if it’s not too late, a 90 minute power yoga class. (you have to sign up for them) I feel a bit better from resting but I also don’t want to overdo it tomorrow. My race is in 3 weeks so I have to keep myself healthy!! Oh and while I’m at the gym I have some plans to post some Operation Beautiful notes around….

I’m off to finish watching Metal Mania with Dennis (On VH-1 Classic) This show is so funny….nothing like spending my Saturday night with 80s hair bands….AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long is on right now….

Good night ya’ll !!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Is tomorrow really the first day of summer?

Seriously. This month has been ridiculous. When are we going to have some real June weather here?
I mean, when you live in the Northeast, you wait MONTHS for nice weather…I’m talking MONTHS! We spend so much time here waiting for the sun, and USUSALLY by June it’s great to be outside! Not here my friends.

Unfortunately I don’t ski…I know so many people who loathe the warmer weather because that means skiing season is over. I keep saying either I’m going to have to start learning to ski, or move south. The way my track record is going, moving south seems to be much farther up the list :)

Backtrack a day to Friday morning…I was so far behind and I just couldn’t get it together. Somehow I found time to make breakfast:

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One Kashi Go Lean waffle with a scoop of PB, Plain Greek yogurt, and 1/2 a banana. YUM!

I missed both the 7:53 AND 8:11 trains (???) so I ended up taking the bus and getting to work 15 minutes later than normal.
As soon as I got settled and figured out what my assignments were for the day I grabbed a Grande soy misto at Starbucks and trudged through campus in the rain.

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This is my pissed off “When the hell is it going to stop raining?” face. I was trying to use the map to figure out where I was going and the damn umbrella got hold of the wind and made me spill my coffee on myself. Stupid RAIN!!

After packing a lovely lunch filled with veggies, an awesome Almond Butter and Strawberry Rhubarb preserves sandwich (the preserves came from the Farmer’s Market at Harvard last week) some fruit and some yummy snackies, I only ate the sandwich and the apple, leaving behind about 400 calories that I normally would have (and should have) eaten. At the end of the day, even after dinner, I was about 800 calories away from what I normally eat in a day (even without working out)  I just wasn’t hungry! The humid weather always messes with my sinuses and gives me headaches, which affects my stomach.

I got home at around 5 and Dennis ordered some Indian food. I felt bad because he LOVES Indian and lately I haven’t been in the mood for it. Since I didn’t want to go through the whole “What do you want?, no what do YOU want?” conversation, I said I’d go for Indian and ordered Chicken Tandoori since it’s just chicken baked in a clay pot. Nothing spicy, no sauce. I decided to take a piece of the chicken and shred it up on top of half a piece of garlic naan and it eat like a wrap.

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It was actually really good! And just enough.
Shortly after I ate this, I went to bed. I really just needed to lay down and relax. I put on the satellite radio and listened for a while until I drifted off.

I slept for almost 10 hours. I felt better when I woke up this morning so I made my favorite Oatmeal Pancake:

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  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup egg whites
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 smashed banana
  • cinnamon to taste
  • 1 tbsp PB
  • Greek Yogurt (not sure how much, I put on about two spoonfuls)
  • Equals perfection :)

The sun is finally out but tomorrow calls for RAIN ALL DAYYYYY and a high of 63. Hopefully I can get my long run in today….

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Inspired to be positive

Beautiful eyes, beautiful smile
Knowing the day that lies ahead
Is full
And happy
And fine.
Being in the sunshine, smiling, laughing
Smelling the freshness of the trees, the grass,
The flowers.
Sharing the day with people
Who care. Or not.
Because being alone is just fine too.
Reminiscing
Complimenting
Love, laughter, warmth.
Do you want more? Who doesn’t?
Is it worth the pain?
Love yourself. It will
Love you back.

After reading Caitlin's blog with more Operation Beautiful talk and then moving over to Polly’s for Thankful Thursday, (and Jenna’s too) I’m feeling so awesome about life right now. Because honestly, it can be worse. Example: On my way to work this morning I got stuck in a train car next to a man who obviously had some problems. His clothes were disheveled and he WREAKED of urine. He kept looking around like he knew he smelled but there was nothing he could do about it.
After I got off the train and walked to my office at Harvard Square, I walked by the same four panhandlers, shaking their cups. “Spare some change?”
All within a 20 minute time frame I saw how much worse life could be. One: I have a job. It’s not the most ideal job, it’s not what I went to school for, but it’s a job. After being laid off twice in 4 months, this is something I’m extremely thankful for. And since Dennis is still looking with no luck, I’m especially thankful to have something.
Two: I live in a beautiful apartment, I have two awesome cats that are my babies, I have a wonderful family and friends that love and support me, and I have Dennis. Not to be all sappy, but we’ve been through A LOT…we’re a normal couple; we drive each other crazy and argue over stupid things, but we have each other no matter what. Let’s put it this way: he’s alive and doing well whereas six to seven months ago, this was not the case. End of story.
There are so many things in my life that I am thankful for…too many to list. I’d bore you. But one last one that I think is worth mentioning is YOU. The blog world. The writers and readers of the blogs that I have become so faithful to…they have changed my life. The fact that there are so many of you who are constantly reminding me of how much I have and how beautiful I am…(how beautiful we ALL are) makes me feel so lucky. You inspire me to think positive, love myself, and also to push myself to do things like run the 15K next month (it’s coming quick!!) and put myself out there on my own blog…and those who read…if I can pass along the same positivity and inspiration that I get from the blogs I follow, even if it’s just ONE reader, it’s so worth it.

OK moving on…

I was able to get up and run this morning for about 40 minutes. (That is another thing to be thankful for.) I ran a lot better this morning—my pace was about 20 seconds faster than yesterday’s and I felt great. I had regular oats this morning since it had been a while (I’ve been eating overnight oats a lot)
I have to admit-I’m not really that big of a fan of the Almond Breeze Unsweetened. I will try the sweetened kind but I don’t think I can finish this container. It ruined my oats.

What I used:

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1 cup Almond Breeze
  • 1 banana, sliced
  • 1 big tsp of PB

I couldn’t eat the whole thing because I didn’t really like the Almond milk, and also, because I was running late. I flew out of my house at 7:48 to try to catch my 7:53 train. It’s about a five minute walk. However, as I was coming around the corner two blocks away from the stop, I saw it pull up. I started sprinting—like full fledge sprint—screaming “NOOOO!! DON’T LEAVE!!!!” Apparently I was screaming pretty loud but since I had my headphones on I didn’t realize it….and after ALLLL that---I missed the damn train. It was just starting to pull away as I got there. So, with my headphones on I dropped the F bomb (really loud…ooppss) and ran two more blocks to catch the bus since I missed the train.
Picture it. I’m SPRINTING….dressed in my work clothes, carrying my shoulder bag….and when I got on the bus I was DRIPPING. I must have looked like such a freak…dripping…seriously.

The first thing I did when I got to work was walked over to Starbucks and got myself a Soy Misto. I love these things.

I ate lunch at around noon. I started with an apple at 11 and then I had this:

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This was rockin! It was

  • One cup (serving size) TJ’s sprouted wheat pasta
  • One whole tomato
  • Goat cheese (about one ounce)
  • And what really made this dish rock…cooked arugula

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I went to the Farmer’s Market at Harvard Square on Tuesday and bought a bag of fresh, organic arugula. I decided to cook it up like spinach with some olive oil and garlic. It was BANGIN! And it added so much to this dish!!

After running this morning, sprinting to the bus, and walking about two miles around campus, I knew it was going to catch up to me. I had a ridiculous craving for pretzels. I met up with a client at 2:30 and I swear to you I said, “This might sound like a stupid question but is there a vending machine around here or something where I can get some pretzels? Because I’m REALLY craving some.” She laughed and said, “That is SO not a stupid question!” and pointed me to a stash of FREE pretzels! I grabbed a handful and that was all I needed.

I got home around 4:30 and I was starving. Of course neither of us wanted to cook … and we were having company over at 6:30, so we ordered a pizza. I had a salad and 2 slices of cheese.

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When our company came I had a glass of wine

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And then at around 8:30 I had some more pretzels with PB.

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Now we’re watching Speeders on TruTV. Funny stuff. Hope you all have a wonderful evening and enjoy your Friday!!!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A day behind

I know I owe you a day’s worth of stuff. After Monday’s post I got hit with a very strong feeling of nausea and spent all day yesterday not feeling so hot. I ate crackers, toast, and white rice all day and about 10 cups of peppermint tea. I wasn’t up to taking pictures or even looking at the computer so I took the day off.

This morning I woke up feeling much better and set out for a 3 mile run at 6:15 a.m. I still was not feeling 100% so I started out slow and ran the first mile and a half at a 10 minute mile pace. When I turned around to come back home I flew! I ended up running 3 miles in 27 minutes after running the first mile and a half in just over 15. I guess all I needed was a good warm-up!
A friend of mine yelled at me for running this morning, knowing how sick I was the day before. I started out very slow and told myself that if I start feeling sick or uncomfortable during the run I would slow down and walk if I had to. I really wanted to get out there and run this morning because it always makes me feel better to get up and go first thing, and also because I have a race coming up and I need to be sure I don’t get too far off schedule. It’s in less than four weeks! Sometimes I need to get up and push myself a little bit and once I’m out there doing it, I feel so much better. Again—I don’t recommend working out if you’re sick. I know myself, and I knew I was feeling well enough this morning to make the attempt.

I also took the time today to go back and read some past posts and noticed I’ve been sick a lot lately. I’m not sure if it’s stress or just my body trying to get used to a new way of eating (I added a lot more green things such as Green Monsters and TONS of fiber to my diet in the last two or three months) but something needs to give here!

I didn’t want to overdo it with food today since I was so sick yesterday so I made myself a nice lunch that I was able to nibble on all day.

In a plastic container I combined:

  • 1 cup of white rice leftover from Monday’s dinner
  • 1/2 cup garbanzo beans
  • 1 cup chopped asparagus
  • 1 whole tomato
  • Garlic powder
  • Drizzle of olive oil

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It took me about three hours to eat all of this. I started with a few bites at 11, came back from a meeting and ate half at noon, and then finished the other half off at around 2.
As snacks I had one apple, a handful of honey wheat pretzels, and a 100 calorie pack. 

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Dennis made his famous fajitas for dinner and let me know that he was nice enough to think of me at the store by buying me whole wheat wraps. How kind :)

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I had one fajita with chicken, red peppers, onions, a dab of sour cream and some Green Mountain all natural salsa. Yum.

After dinner I was craving chocolate, so I had one of my favorites: No Pudge fat free brownie sundae.

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I make one single serving of brownie by mixing 2 tbsp. mix with 1 tbsp. non-fat yogurt and put in the microwave for a minute. Then I top it with about a 1/2 cup (one serving size) of the Double Churn ice cream and one big spoonful of Cool Whip Lite. Yum!!

Now I have to get myself ready for tomorrow. It never ends!

FAT TALK

Caitlin wrote a post today reminding everyone how bad Fat Talk is for the body, mind, and soul. She is continuing her quest by starting what she has deemed, Operation Beauty. Read about how she’s working to use random acts of kindness help women learn to feel good about themselves just the way they are.

This topic has made me think A LOT about the way I look at myself. I have found that since I initially read her first Fat Talk post, I have been a lot better at catching myself before those nasty words come to my lips. I know I am not fat, so I should be sure not to let myself think that way. It’s actually been working, and I feel better about myself physically and mentally than I have….well, ever.

One of the reasons why I’m glad she keeps bringing it up is because I think people need to be reminded of these things. We need to be positive not just for ourselves, but  for the children in the world. There are more obese children now then EVER and we need to instill them with values, educate them on balanced eating, and feed them a positive attitude. The earlier we can get to them the better!!

OK off my soapbox. Caitlin’s post got my super hyped up and I wanted to help her pass the word along that the Fat Talk needs to end. NOW! (thanks Caitlin)

Night ya’ll!!