Friday, October 22, 2010

i'm still alive!

Ok, so, I'm still a bad blogger.  I really really want to get back into doing this, but school has been ridiculous!  Since I last blogged, I have cooked:

135.  Italian Chicken Pitas
136.  Baked chicken and rice with autumn vegetables
137.  Smoked turkey and couscous
138.  Savory Poached-Salmon Salad
139.  Lox and Cream Cheese Scramble
140.  Turkey-Mac Skillet

I'm getting so close to the halfway point! I won't make it by ,my goal date if I keep this slooow pace though, so something must be done!  I have pictures too - just need to get them uploaded :-)

I'm not going to go into super details for each meal but I'll say (1) they were all good, at least solid B's and (2) The Smoked turkey and couscous is deeeelicious.  So much that I made it twice!


Luckily, M has not let my running slack off :-)
Tuesday 10/12: 2.5 miles in 27:26, avg. pace 10:59
Friday10/15: 2.0 miles in 21:00 minutes, avg. pace 10:30
Sunday 10/17, 4.0 miles in 43:08, avg. pace 10:41
Tuesday 10/19, 3.3 miles in 35:15, avg. pace 10:49
Thursday 10/21, 2.1 miles, 21:45, avg. pace 10:34


To recap - Sunday's long run was good, but I did do most of it at 5 min running / 1 minute walking intervals.  I knew (given how exhausted I was from a crazy weekend) I couldn't run continuously for 4 miles.  So instead of setting an unrealistic goal, I decided I would go into the run with a plan of action of when to walk, so that I wouldn't just give up and walk a whole bunch!  I was pretty happy with the turn out.
Tuesday's run was kind of funny, because the first half was super slow (since we were chatting) and the second half was much faster.  It felt so good to feel FAST!

This weekend I'm heading to NYC to visit SUSAN!  I'm so excited to see her place in NYC and catch up!  I'm also going with her to a running group on Saturday morning.  Of course, given that her marathon pace is 2 min/mile faster than my record mile, I will be running with a pace group more in my ability :-)






































Tuesday, October 12, 2010

catching up.

Ok, so I've been both a bad blogger AND a bad cooker.  Sometimes, life just gets busy!  Since my last post, I have made a few things:

130.  Asian Rice and Lentil Burgers (September 30, 2010) Grade: B-
131.  Jambalaya (October 1, 2010) Grade: B+
132.  Italian Roasted Pork Tenderloin (October 4, 2010) Grade: B
133.  Caribbean Pork Roast (October 10, 2010) Grade: B

The Asian Rice and Lentil Burgers: ...were not burgers.  They fell apart completely.  I couldn't get them to be a burger consistency, so it was just like a mash in my pan.  On the flip side, they still tasted pretty good.

Jambalaya: YUM!  I love shrimp.  I love sausage.  I love them together.  This was so delicious and I can't wait to make it again!


Italian Roasted Pork Tenderloin: Quick, easy, delicious.  And the fennel seed was actually great on this pork (coming from a girl who does not like fennel).  I have to say I cooked this piece of pork perfectly.  It was just-barely-done; not at all overcooked or dry or anything.  Woohoo!


Caribbean Pork Roast:  This was decent, but I wish it was spicier.  I think spicy when I think Caribbean - is that not correct? Who knows.

And been for a few runs:
- Saturday 10/2/10: 3.0 miles scheduled... skipped it.
- Tuesday, 10/5/10: 3.0 miles in 30:58, avg. pace 10:25: ITS FINALLY COLD OUTSIDE.  Well not really.  It's cold ish in the mornings.  And it totally makes running so much more pleasant.  I am still wearing shorts and short sleeves, but I see long sleeves and pants in my future!
- Tuesday, 10/7/10: 2.0 miles, 20:26, avg. pace 9:59: Another cool weather run.  This was super speedy, but both M and I were SPENT afterward.  I think that's about the fastest I can run at this point, at least with the hills.  We agreed that it's probably a bit too fast for us to realistically maintain, but that we wanted to keep up our 10:30-ish pace whenever possible!

And, as of last night, I'm hoping to get  back on track with both cooking and running:
Step 1: GYM.  I headed to the gym to run on the treadmill to make up for not doing my long run this weekend.   3.5 miles in ~36:25, avg. pace 10:20.  It was definitely tough - the gym is so hot for some reason!  The last mile was especially hard to get through mentally, but I pushed through and finished with a smile on my face! Woohoo!

Dinner was a Moroccan Chicken Skillet, which turned out pretty good.  Lots of vegetables and very unique flavor - cumin combined with cinnamon is definitely unique.


I SWEAR I have pictures, and I'll insert them later today :)