I'm exhausted today. Exhausted, but mostly on track. As I'm sure it was for most of you, eating healthy over Memorial Day Weekend was tough. Being away and having other people prepare/serve food limited my control, which was mostly okay. Three things were challenging for me: (1) dessert... how can you pass on dessert? Even having only a few bites, it's easy to end up over my calorie budget for the day, (2) low fiber - with other people providing food, I found myself eating almost no beans and all white bread/pasta, so my fiber intake TANKED, and (3) wine... I can say I'm going to have just one glass, but what are the chances? Even with those three challenges, I think I did alright this past week.

As you can see, I was way over budget on Saturday and Sunday, but I still managed to drink almost 100 oz. of water, do my all of my P90X3 workouts, and get >10,000 steps. I gained 1.2 pounds from Friday morning to Tuesday morning, but am down 0.4 pounds today (Wednesday AM) and I think there may be some additional factors contributing to the fluctuation beyond the Boston Crème Pie and 3 glasses of cabernet sauvignon from Sunday.


Last week I was able to get myself in gear and go to spin class on Tuesday - woo! It was great to be back; I sweated SO MUCH and felt good afterwards. I meant to go again Thursday but I was drained from work/not sleeping enough. This week I thought I'd go yesterday, but once again I didn't get up and do P90X3 in the morning and couldn't fit them both in at night, so no spin. I'm hoping to go Thursday, but I'm really struggling to get up and workout, and if I do, I'm tired after work and the idea of spin is not so appealing. It's kind of silly, because even though I am consistently happy I went after I go, and I know that in the moment where I'm choosing to skip, I just can't will myself to do it anyway sometimes. (You would think as a clinical health psychologist I'd be able to get myself out of this, right?).


As for healthier eats, we made a lighter version of buffalo chicken spaghetti last week which was awesome and a Skinnytaste recipe - cheeseburger casserole, which was not our favorite, but wasn't bad. We made my MIL a modified version of this pork noodle stir fry over the weekend, so between leftovers from that and last week, I'm off the hook for cooking dinner all week long! Already starting to look towards next week (6-12th), I think I'll try to make a few vegetarian things because Scott will be traveling for work.


Next week, some of my P90X3 workouts require a pull up bar. Which I don't have. I also don't have resistance bands or a good place to anchor them once I buy them, so, if anyone has brilliant suggestions for modifications, I'm all ears :)

2 weeks of updates

Things have been BUSY!

Luckily, I've stayed on track with my fitness and nutrition goals for the most part.  Since my last post I gave up on watching the balance of carbs, protein, and fat I eat each day. It's still saved in my LoseIt! app, but it doesn't seem to be giving me any useful information. I try to be mindful about eating enough proteins and choosing "good" carbs, but right now trying to strive for a certain balance doesn't seem helpful.

Two weeks ago (May 8th week) was my first week of it, which included my trip to NC - so I had to double up on some workouts before I left and once I got back to fit everything in.  However, when they are only 30 minutes long and some of them are lower impact (e.g. yoga), that's not impossible.

May 9-15

As you can see, I was sticking on track with all my goals until I flew down to NC on Friday morning. 500 calories over budget (and who knows what Saturday) isn't ideal, but to be honest, I wasn't that unhappy about it either. My app aims for me to lose 1.5 pounds a week, so my daily caloric deficit is around 750. Which means if I eat 500 calories over budget once or twice, I'm still not likely to gain weight. Also, Durham food... yum. My MIL took us to one of my favorite restaurants, Harvest 18, for dinner on Saturday after the hooding ceremony, and it was INCREDIBLE. They strive to have at least 80% of their foods locally sourced and have an amazing style of fresh southern food.  We also went to brunch at Rue Cler, home of my favorite beignets and a duck confit crepe that is to die for.

Hooding Ceremony

We flew back Sunday night and had a relatively uneventful week last week, except that my grant was due this week so I was stressing out about that and working all weekend.  Often times, when I get stressed about work I'm likely to decide I don't have time for exercise or time to cook, so I eat take out and don't work out. I think one of the reasons P90X3 is going well so far is that it's only 30 minutes and can be done at home easily, so I have an easier time telling myself I do have the time to workout even if work is insane.  I also keep trying to remind myself that exercise helps me de-stress, which makes it MORE likely that I'll be able to focus on work later.

May 16 -22

Usually food would be a different story and I would have eaten lots of takeout last week/this week before the grant went in. I think having splurged so much in NC curbed that a bit - I was ready for "regular" and healthier food. I also had a pretty good plan of attack. I made two dishes that had leftovers (three-cheese chicken penne primavera and shrimp pad thai) and threw in Taco Tuesday to mix it up. Both dishes were relatively easy - I made them Monday and Wednesday - and that gave me Thursday through the weekend to focus on work and not cooking. I have noticed a decline in the past week of my fiber intake, so I think I'll need to keep an eye on that to ensure that I maintain around 25g per day.

You might have noticed I didn't go to spin at ALL those past two weeks. That's probably the side effect of the stress and getting used to P90X3. I went last night - hooray! and will try to keep going 2x/week best I can. I also think I'm changing my water intake goal from 75oz/day to 100 oz/day, because I sweat a LOT with my workouts, and because it's obviously achievable based on how I've been doing.

This weekend will be another test - going to the lake means having less control over what I eat and needing to really watch portion control. BUT, I have a plan in place to get all my workouts in and there is a lovely 1.5ish mile loop to walk the dog on, so I should be able to get all my exercise in... fingers crossed I might even get to swim if it's nice enough!

weekly update

Recap of week one of being super committed and attempting to use public sharing as a means to keep my self accountable!

I've decided I'll share some weekly stats in chart format for you, so here's the breakdown of what you'll be seeing:

-Calories: I'll share how far over or under I was for my daily caloric target, taking into account how much exercise I did, so if I get in a lot of physical activity, I get a calorie bonus from my Jawbone fitness tracker
-Breakdown: just reporting this as I try to find the right balance
-Fiber: 25 g per day
-Water: 75 oz per day
-Exercise: 30 minute HIIT-style workouts 5 days per week + -2 spin classes per week
-Steps: 10,000 per day

My week, May 2-8:

Are there any other stats you think would be helpful for me to track, or things you'd enjoy seeing? Not sure if the carb/protein/fat breakdown is telling me anything useful... essentially, I eat 3 servings of fruit most days and then have a carb as part of my dinner (rice, pasta, quinoa, couscous, tortillas, etc.).

Some food I ate this week:
-Szechuan broccoli and beef, from the Biggest Loser Cookbook. This was DELICIOUS. We used store bought Scezchuan sauce, which although high in sodium, didn't have 1,000 random ingredients and wasn't too high in calories. It was quite spicy, but if you love spicy, this comes highly recommended

I swear there's spinach hidden down in there

-Fruit smoothies: For breakfast, I've been doing 1.5 cups frozen fruit, a handful of baby spinach, 1/4 cup Greek fat free plain yogurt, 1/2 cup milk, Splenda, and Vanilla extract.  I've been varying the fruit with a mix of berries - sometimes all one berry, sometimes a variety. So far it's going well and keeps me full until around 10-11:30am, depending on the day.

Mostly strawberries in this one I think

I currently have a free 30 day trial to Beachbody On Demand, so that's what I've been trying a range of workouts. So far I like the 21 Day Fix (regular and extreme) and P90X3. The other ones I've tried have been okay, but I think the combo of SO. MUCH. JUMPING. with not being in the best-ever shape made them less desirable. 21DF Regular (the sample workout was cardio) reminded me of Jillian, but finally I didn't have to listen to Jillian tell me not to phone it in. For the Extreme sample, it was Plyo, which was a significant amount of jumping, but somehow more tolerable than 22 min HC or T25... maybe because there were weights involved? I'm not sure.

I'm doing an accountability group with some ladies right now and we check in daily with #sweatyselifes, so here's my best from week 1:

Hello, early morning workout

While I have this free trial I'm going to take full advantage and I'm going to be trying the P90X3 workouts (the 21DF, you have to pay extra for the full program, which I'm ambivalent about, because, $60 for DVDs with a total of 6 30 minute workouts? seems expensive, yet, who am I to judge how much these things are worth). Anyway, for the time being, I'm going with the "Lean" block of P90X3 (there's classic, lean, mass, doubles, and elite blocks) so for the first three weeks I'll be trying:

• Accelerator
• The Warrior
• X3 Yoga
• CVS
• Isometrix
• Agility X
• Rest, or Dyanmix 

This week is going to be tough because I'll be out of town Friday-Sunday and getting in a workout at all looks very unlikely, so if Sunday was Day #1 with Accelerator, I think I'll realistically only get through Isometrix this week.

I think that's all for now... wish me luck with week 2 of being on track (...ish, because with my trip I definitely won't be nearly as regimented). 

blog reset.

Hello, dear friends! It's been a while.  I stopped blogging nearly two years ago.  Life got so busy, and I wasn't doing much running, and this just kind of fell to the wayside. However, I've recently decided to get things going again on here. I think having a place to report on my successes & failures at maintaining a healthy lifestyle is good for me - it helps me feel accountable.  To that end, a few updates and goals I'm working towards:


*EATING HEALTHY & COOKING*
Cooking continues to be something I enjoy quite a bit, and the more I cook the easier it is for me to eat healthy. Primarily, I'm trying to stay in a certain calorie budget each day by tracking my food intake on LoseIt!, but I've also been trying to pay more attention to my ratio of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. My focus has been on increasing my fruit & vegetable intake and to do so I've begun relying on fruit smoothies (with frozen fruit, milk, and Greek yogurt) as my breakfast staple, I'm packing fruit as a snack/side for lunch, and I'm eating a side salad with dinner each night, but I think I might be eating relatively too many carbohydrates, and not enough proteins and fats, and am trying to figure out fixes for that. I've continued using the Betty Crocker cookbook that started this blog, and have also been using a Biggest Loser cookbook quite a bit, in combination with recipes from Cooking Light's website or random internet searches.


Food-Related Goals:
-Stick to a daily caloric budget I've chosen on LoseIt!,
-Incorporate fruits & vegetables regularly
-Eat plenty of fiber (25 grams per day),
-Try to find the right balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats (I'm thinking 40/30/30%, but I'm not as committed to that yet).


*WORKING OUT & PHYSICAL ACTIVITY*
From that first twinge of pain in 2013 until today, I've never really been able to get back into running. Physical therapy was helpful while I was doing it as a means to treat acute pain, but I never got "better." I've tried to restart several times, using the Couch to 5K plan, but I've never gotten to a point where I could run more than 1-2 miles without pain, so I've temporarily decided that running is not on the table for me and am focusing on other types of exercise.


Since moving to CT, I found a gym near my house with spinning  classes. My goal right now is to go twice a week - Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I'd love to also go once on the weekend, but have yet to make it to a weekend class. In addition, I'm trying to incorporate HIIT-type workouts - recently I was doing the 30 Day Shred, but I'm now trying to learn about some of the Beach Body options. My ideal would be to find 30 minute HIIT-style workouts I could do before work.


Also, about a year ago, I purchased a Jawbone UP!, which is very similar to a FitBit, just a different brand. My Jawbone tracks my steps and sleep, and helps me to estimate how many calories I'm burning. I don't have the fancy one that includes HR monitoring (see: my wish list), but I do like tracking my steps.


Physical Activity-Related Goals:
-10,000 steps per day
-30 minute HIIT-style workouts 5 days per week
-2 spin classes per week


*WEIGHT LOSS*
Sadly, I've gained a lot of weight since I had to stop running in 2013. At first, I think the significant decrease in physical activity coupled with not changing my eating habits contributed to weight gain. Then I went through a period of time where I was traveling a lot and didn't have a very structured schedule, so finding ways to eat healthy and incorporate non-running workouts was difficult. Then in 2014, I moved to Mississippi where I never really found a good workout regime and continued gaining. Since moving to CT, I've lost a bit of that weight, but mostly have just maintained.


Weight Loss Goals:
-Return to the weight I was in late 2012 / early 2013 (that's about 20 pounds from where I am today)
-Fit comfortably in clothing I was wearing in late 2012 / early 2013 (typically size 4)


I've taken some measurements and weighed in this morning, so I'll try to update how I'm doing on my goals, share successes and failures, and let you know about any yummy recipes I discover.

Cooking in Jackson

Couscous stuffed bell peppers!
Black bean and spinach enchiladas!
Baked couscous with asparagus!

What do these things have in common?  Is it... A) that I cooked them all this week, B) that they are all from the Betty Crocker cookbook that I started this blog to cook through, C) foods that Scott would refuse to eat if he were here, or D) all of the above?

If you selected D, you are correct!

One of the "perks" of living apart from Scott for the year is the opportunity to cook a wider range of food, since I don't have to cater to Scott's picky eating habits.  I started my first week off right by cooking three meals he would turn his nose up at.  First up: bell peppers stuffed with couscous.

This is a relatively simple recipe that includes ground beef, onions, couscous, and tomato sauce, all mixed together and stuffed into a bell pepper.  Then you put the stuffed bell peppers in the slow cooker for 5-7 hours, and out pops one of my favorite meals.  Yum.
Up next: baked asparagus with couscous.  This is another relatively simple meal, that is essentially a vegetarian casserole.  Carrots, onions, asparagus, couscous, some broth and cream of whatever soup...  boom!

 

This week when I went to grocery shop, I couldn't find bread crumbs, so I ended up toasting and making my own.  A bit more work, but don't they look beautiful on top of that casserole?  Also note, this was the first dinner I got to eat at my fancy new farmhouse dining room table.  It's 8 feet long, which will be perfect for potluck dinners with our 11-person resident class.
Lastly, unpictured, I made a casserole of enchiladas.  Pretty standard eating for our house, but I was able ot pack in black beans and spinach since I wasn't sharing with Scott.  And so you have my first week of cooking!
As an aside, I HAD planned to make a vegetable lasagna this weekend, and then freeze some of it for the future, but something happened with our electricity/circuit breakers and our oven is currently out of commission.  This house/move has just been one adventure after another... stay tuned for more!

Exploring the Neighborhood

Despite working out almost never for the first three weeks in June (oops), I manage to go for a walk or run/walk three out of the first four days I lived here.  I'm still having some foot pain and I'm not in the greatest shape right now, so I'm continuning the run/walk intervals.  I tell myself that Isis appreciates them too, since she is still getting in the running groove.  On Wednesday, I decided to try for 3 miles with a pattern of 3 minutes running, 2 minutes walking.  Garmin can very clearly illustrate the intervals for you:

In case you didn't know, Mississippi is HOT.  Moreso than hot, it is very, very humid.  So in 85+ degree weather with intense humidity, three miles is pretty far.  I didn't want to overheat Isis (or myself) so I decided to do two 1.5-ish mile loops with a water break at the house in between.

That "water break" after the first 1.89 miles turned into a 20 minute respite - Isis was panting, I was dripping, and I needed a mental break to convince myself that I could, in fact, finish 3 miles.

Our second loop turned out to be an out-and-back, since I was exploring my neighborhood and didn't want to head onto the nearby main road.  It turned out perfectly, because the out and back was 1.27 miles for a total of 3.16 miles in 44 minutes.  We aren't breaking any records down here, but that's the highest mileage I've logged in a while, so I'll take it.  I'll have to start using the 'lap' feature on my watch so I can see how fast my running intervals are, but I'm honestly not all that concerned with my pace right now.

My new running route!

After a bit of neighborhood exploration, I'm happy to say that my neighborhood seems well-suited for running: not too many hills, sidewalks when you get to bigger roads, and a decent amount of shade from tree coverage.  My plan for now is to try to run/walk 3 times per week and do strength training the other 3 times per week.  We will see how it all pans out once I get used to my new work schedule!

Adventures in Mississippi, part 1 of many

Hello, lovely readers, from Jackson, Mississippi, where I will be living for the next year as I finish my last year of graduate school.

My new desk, where I am writing this post!

I've only been here five days and I've already had a few adventures I thought I would share, in cooking, running/walking, and in life in general.

This is the house I will be sharing with two other ladies for the year - we've all left our husbands in other parts of the country and will be roommates during internship year.  Adventure number one: finding out that all those beautiful trees in my yard are likely inhibiting my ability to get Direct TV, which is going to seriously alter my quality of life come football season when the Sunday NFL Ticket isn't available to me.  But, at least I have a shady back yard for Isis to play in.  (Feel free to contact me for a long rant about how the Direct TV people on the phone are FABULOUS, but the in-person technicians are the ABSOLUTE WORST... so angry!).

View of our backyard from my bedroom window!

I'm so very grateful to have a fenced in yard and great walkable neighborhood for my pup, but it does come with some minor drawbacks. Apparently, everyon in Jackson has a dog.  That's awesome, because Isis loves making friends.  However, most of my neighbors apparently see dogs as "outdoor only" pets, which means every time I let Isis out or we go for a walk, she encounters a minimum of two other dogs barking at her.  Two dogs in an adjoining yard have literally been outside nonstop for all five days I've lived here from what I can tell, and they bark every time I let Isis out.  Sorry, peace-and-quiet-loving neighbors.

While there are many perks to this backyard-with-a-fence thing, in adition to the barking neighbors, we ran into a bit of trouble on Monday.  Warning, this is kinda gross. I have been letting Isis play out in the yard for short periods of time with me being inside.  This works well because I can watch her play from my desk in my room and mostly keep an eye on her.  On Monday, I saw her jump at / bat at a bird.  I didn't think much of it, because, c'mon, a bird is going to get away from her with it's wings... right?  A moment later, I noticed she was intensely digging/exploring in a part of the yard she hadn't really been interested in yet, so I went outside to check on her.  As I emerged, she excitedly picked up something in her mouth and joyously began sprinting all around the yard.  The item in her mouth was grey-brown, and I hoped she had just found the most exciting stick on the planet, but once I got close enough to inspect the situation, I found out I was wrong.  To my horror, my little girl was carrying a dead bird around in her mouth.  EWWW. ISIS, WHAT THE HELL???  I was not pleased.  I eventually got her to drop the bird and go inside, and then had the pleasant task of disposing of said bird.  Seriously hoping this does not become a common occurence.

Although I have technically lived below the Mason-Dixon Line for my entire life, even in Durham I didn't feel like I was truly "in the south."  Yesterday, I knew for sure that we were truly amoung southerns when my roommate and I went to purchase a farmhouse table off of Craigslist.  We got the top strapped to her car just fine (our husbands would be so proud), but the base of the table was shaped in a way that we couldn't balance it on the car without hiting the windshield.  Luckily, the next door neighbors of the people who were selling us the table had a truck, and the man who lived there was willing to drive the table base to our house for us.  Yes, it was only a half mile away and took him less than 10 minutes, but as I watched him strap in our table, I knew I was finally, truly, in the south.

We successfully attach the top of the table...

We have a table.  And one chair.

Stay tuned for more adventures in cooking in my new kitchen and exploring my new neighborhood by attempting to run in extreme heat and humidity!

a bad run.

Today, I was scheduled for 30 minutes of walking/running.  It was in the high 80s, extremely humid, and possibly going to storm, so I was a bit apprehensive.  Luckily, the storms came and left by around 6pm, so I had plenty of time before sunset to get in a run.  I waited as long as possible so it would be slightly cooler and slightly less sunny, and then around 7:45pm I headed out for a run.

Isis was apparently not in the mood to join me - she refused to come to the door when I called her, so I decided to leave her home and go solo.  I've been using RunKeeper on my iPhone because of the intervals feature, and I decided to stick with my 90 seconds running / 60 seconds walking intervals.

I started out feeling pretty good, and I knew my running intervals were faster than my usual pace.  Without Isis, I could focus more of my attention on form and breathing, which was nice.  However, somewhere around the 12 minute mark, the pain started.  I'm kind of used to it by now - usually around 12-15 mintues my calves start to ache and feel tight, so I stopped to stretch.  Usually, this helps and then I'm able to finish out my 30 minutes without much pain, if any.

Not today.  Every time I started running again, my calves ached.  Then I started to feel it in my anterior tibs, or on the front of my foot.  Even when I stopped to walk, I still had pain shooting up the front of my foot, and no amount of pausing to stretch seemed to be helping.  I managed to push through and finish all 8 of my running intervals, but I was definitely hurting.  During my walking cool down, the pain continued, and then the bottoms of my feet started tingling/feeling numb.

Not good.  After I came inside, it took several minutes of me massaging my ankles and stretching before the pain subsided, and it was still achy/uncomfortable 20-30 minutes later.

Suffice to say, today I had a bad run, and now I'm grumpy.  That's all I got right now, sorry y'all.

wrapping up May

As May winds down, I'm actually fairly proud of how I've done on my goals.  Since my last blog post, I've mostly stuck to my exercise plan and done something nearly every day:

May 19 - 30 day shred, level 1
May 20 - 30 minute run/walk
May 21 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 22 - 30 minute run/walk and played kickball
May 23 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 24 - 30 minute run/walk
May 25 - moved a lot of heavy furniture / rest day
May 26 - 30 day shred, level 2 and 20 minutes of yoga for runners
May 27 - biked on the stationary bike for 30 minutes (thunderstorms)
May 28 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 29 - ran 1 mile, played kickball
May 30 - 30 day shred, level 2
May 31 - 30 minute run/walk

If you count kickball and moving heavy furniture, I've done 30 minutes of some sort of physical activity every day since May 8th.  That's a massive improvement from my April.

Meanwhile, running is HARD - I'm still doing 90 seconds running, 60 seconds walking, and I'm still feeling a lot of tightness in my calves.  Right now, my plan is to not increase my running until I have less pain, but I was hoping I'd see improvement more quickly than I have. I was able to run a full mile last week in 10:23, although I did stop to stretch at the half mile mark for a minute.

I've also been pretty good at tracking what I'm eating.  I haven't been perfect every day, but I think logging just heightens my awareness and helps me eat closer to the 'right' amount for me.  This weekend was tough because I was out of town, but I still think I managed to do alright.

I prompty broke the streak by not working out yesterday - we spent the day with my parents and then drove back to Durham, and didn't get home until 10:30pm.  Oops. I did work out today, though, so I don't feel too bad about it (level 2 of the shred - which is finally getting easier - might be time for level 3!).

So, I should probably commit to some June goals, but I'm not sure my goals are all that different than May, especially since June is going to be a busy month for me.  I'd like to...

• Continue getting 30 minutes of exercise daily, or as close to every day as possible (target: at least 6/7 days)
• Run (err, run/walk) at least 3x per week - hopefully increasing my running over time, depending on how I feel
• Strength train at least 3x per week - whether that continues to be the 30 day shred or something else, we shall see
• Yoga (or yoga/pilates) at least 3x per week - probably the Yoga for Runners video I found, but maybe I'll get more adventorous
• Continue to track what I'm eating and stay within my 'caloric budget' most days.  I want to be flexible when I am on trips/etc., but I also don't want to go way over every time I eat out.

Lastly, as I prepare to say farewell to Durham, I thought it would be fun for me to review some of my most favorite restaurants... so look forward to those posts throughout the month of June, alongside updates on my running progress and other goals!

Anyone else have June fitness goals, or suggestions for things for me to try?

weeklyish update

This week, I've had significantly more success in my goals.  Maybe public shaming via blog writing helped?

30 minutes of exercise per day:
Monday through Saturday I alternated doing the 30 day shred (level 1) with a 30 minute run/walk.  Sunday, I deemed to be a "rest" day, but I didn't want to break the streak so I took Isis for a walk and did a 20 minute Yoga for Runners video.

Getting back into running is harder than I had hoped.  Even though I'm only running 90 seconds at a time, by the end of my last interval I'm definitely feeling tightness in my calves/shins.  I'm hoping by doing plenty of stretching and strength training and taking it slow, I'll eventually be able to get back to running pain-free for more than a few minutes at a time.

Track what I eat / Reduce caloric intake:
I started using loseit.com again to track my food, and by setting a caloric budget on there I was able to stay "in budget" 6 out of 7 days this past week.

Saturday was my friend Shelley's bachelorette party, and the combination of delicious Korean food, champagne, and nutella cookies set me "over budget".  On the flip side, I probably burned off at least a few of those calories singing and dancing the night away in our private karaoke party room.

 

In other news, today was my 100th day of the #100happydays challenge.  I looked back at my Instagrams of the past 100 days and found that 30% of them were pictures of Isis, 26% were either with Scott or of something I was doing with Scott, and 27% were of food or drinks.  So apparently my life in a nutshell is puppy, husband, and eating/drinking.  Sounds about right.  (Also, if you are wondering why that adds to more thna 100%, it's because I often had pictures of Scott+Isis or pictures of Scott+I eating something delicious for dinner).

In keeping with the "teaspoons" half of this blog, this week I hope to write a bit about what I've been cooking lately.  I haven't been as creative in the kitchen as I used to be, but I feel like I've recently gotten better about cooking regularly.... except for Thursday when a tornado came through Durham and our power went out.  Then we got take out from my favorite burrito place :-)

May goals so far

Well, I haven't exactly stuck to all of my May goals so far.

Goal #1: Get 30 minutes of exercise per day:

• May 2 and 3: 30 minute walk
• May 4-7: FAIL
• May 8: kickball!
• May 9 and 10: 30 minute walk
• May 11: kickball
• May 12: 30 day shred

In addition to having failed for 4 days, I need to start doing something besides walking.  See: today's 30 day shred, and tomorrow's goal of going for a run.

Goal #2: Track what I'm eating.
I started using loseit.com again, and I've logged food 7 of the last 12 days.  Not terrible, but definite room for improvement.

Goal #3: Reduce caloric intake in some vague way
I told myself I was going to drink less alcohol, but I had at least one drink on 6 of the last 12 days.  I can probably reduce this - but there always seems to be a reason: free beer when we win kickball, Cinco de Mayo tequila, trying the local bar's new blueberry beer... abstaining from alcohol is hard!  Yet, I know alcohol is empty calories I could cut out if I really tried.
As for other ways to reduce my caloric intake, I have snacked a bit less, so that's a pro.

I'm thinking about looking for a new app to use to track workouts (mostly walking and running).  I think ideally, I'd like an app that can help facilitate my workouts - e.g. has the ability to set up run/walk intervals and tell you on your headphones when to run/walk.  I'd also like it to be able to store info on distance/time/pace/calories burned I think.  Bonus points if it interfaces with some way for me to track what I'm eating, so that I have one central place for workouts + caloric intake.  Any suggestions, blog world?

restart.

An entire academic year has passed, and I haven't blogged once.  What can I say?  Fifth year was busy.  I cooked new things a handful of times, and I worked out very rarely (so sad).  I recently decided I would like to start blogging again, though.  Partly, I think blogging helps me stay healthier - if I have to blog about something I cooked or the workouts I'm trying, I'm more likely to DO those things.  So, I some goals for the month of May that I will be blogging about:

1.  Get 30 minutes of exercise in every day.  This will primarily be a combination of strength workout DVDs and run/walking as I try to get back into running shape.

2.  Track what I'm eating.  When I track it, I am better at eating healthier.

3.  Reduce my daily caloric intake by cutting out things that aren't good for me / are unnecessary.  This is kind of vague and will be an experiment - but I'd like to snack less, eat out less and cook more, and drink less alcohol.

And, to make this post a bit more interesting, here are a few photos to sum up my past 9 months or so:

Went to the UMD @ VTech football game (November)

Isis got to play in the snow in Maine (December)

Attended a wonderful winter wedding (January)

Went to the National's home opener (April)

Attended another beautiful wedding (April)

Visited my alma matter to celebrate 100 years of Greek life (April)

... I guess April was eventful! :)

adventures in cooking.

ahhh cooking.  i'm doing some cooking.  it's going okay.  here's the thing: i used to like making elaborate new things.  but money is tight [not like, omg we can't pay bills tight, but more like, oh let's not shop at whole foods and spend $1,000,000 on groceries tight] and scott does not have very adventorous tastes.  plus, i'm busy.  these factors have all contributed to my kitchen being a little.... boring.

okay, let's be real, it's mostly scott's lack of adventorous tastes that's driving this.  everyone shake a finger at scott and tell him to start eating more vegetables.  and fish.  and beans.  so, it's hard to make food that is simultaneously healthy and interesting and meets scott's culinary tastes.  thus, our average meals tend to be baked chicken, rice/pasta, and a side of steamed green beans for him + a side of steamed whatever type of vegetable i feel like.  or a casserole.  there are a handful of veggies i can sneak into casseroles without getting into trouble, so i go that route sometimes too.

speaking of casseroles, i recently made a major life discovery.  this will PROBABLY not be new news to any of you, but i learned that you can put rice, water, a can of cream of soup, and chicken into the oven and out will pop a casserole.  let me rephrase that.  you can put UNCOOKED rice and UNCOOKED chicken, in a casserole dish, with water/cream of whatever, and the rice and chicken will come out done.  MIND. BLOWN.  [thank you campbell's for teaching me new things.]

okay, i knew you could put raw chicken in the oven and it would come out baked, duh.  but i seriously just never knew i could BAKE my rice like that.  do you know how much time that saves? am i the only person on the planet who was unaware of this magic?

unless of course, you leave your husband in charge of the baking part.  i made the above-linked recipe on tuesday, and i pre-made it at home before i left for spin class.  i told scott to bake it covered at 375 for 45 minutes.  when i got home, it was just about ready to come out of the oven.  perfect.  i had time to shower real quick and then get dinner on the table.  except the rice was only sort of done.  parts were fine, but parts were still a bit crunchy.  [luckily, the chicken was plenty cooked].  so while we are eating our half-cooked dinner i remark that i guess it needs more than 45 minutes, maybe i needed to use a shallower dish or something.  and scott goes, "well, did i need to pre-heat the oven first, and then bake it for 45 minutes?" ...uhhh, how ELSE would you interpret "bake at 375 for 45 minutes"!?!?!?  apparently, he turned on the oven, put in the casserole, and set the timer simultaneously, rather than letting the oven preheat..  no, dearest husband, that is not correct.  LE SIGH.

luckily, this was easily remedied by an additional 5-10 minutes in the oven.  the casserole was much less soupy and the rice cooked quite nicely.  but y'all, be careful when you instruct your kitchen-illiterate husbands [or wives or friends] to help with dinner.

training update: week of 8/11-8/17

Thanks for all of your suggestions about future posts.  I'll try to incorporate everyone's suggestions!  I think I will also try to keep a "diary" of how much runs/workouts are going.... so here's last week:

Monday
I meant to run before work, but, well, I like to sleep.  So after work I checked the weather and with a heat index OVER 100, I headed to the gym.  My plan was to walk for 5ish minutes to warm up and then run 3 miles, with 1 minute walking breaks between each mile.  After walking I started off at what I thought would be an easy running pace - 5.5 or 11:00ish minute miles - and OMG it was hard.  I think the gym was hot. And humid.  Or [insert some other excuse for why it felt so hard].  I did manage to run 3 miles, but I let myself have 2 minute walking breaks in between each mile.  I varied my running pace from 5.2-6.2 throughout, but mostly stayed in the 5.5-5.7 range.  I'm pretty sure every single minute was hard, but luckily I had an entertaining podcast about the season finale of the Bachelorette to listen to (courtesy of Jamie Golden and Knox McCoy).
When I got home, I did a little bit of strength: a front plank, side planks, leg lifts, leg circles, bridges, and pushups.  Not a million reps or anything, but hey, I did it!

Tuesday
I woke up with some sore hamstrings and shoulders.  Nothing too terrible, but I definitely felt it, and was somewhat surprised... that isn't normally a place I feel sore after running!  Today, I went to spin class for cross training. The gym has new bikes which track more stats on your workout.  I was on the bike (moving) for 68 minutes, during which time I went 22.1 miles and burned 751 calories.  I totally do not buy that calorie count - I didn't enter my height, weight, or gender, so who knows what algorithm they are using.  Still, I bet I burned over 400 calories (maybe 500+) and that's pretty good in my book.  Also, I'm not sure how they determine distance (it tracks RPMs?), but that seems more straightforward and more likely to be accurate.   Anyway, the class was pretty good.  It's a teacher I've been to before.  She does a lot of mini routines that she repeats 3-5x in a row, usually making them a bit harder each time.  It's not my favorite, but I don't mind it and she plays decent music.  So, overall a good class!  Afterwards, I was tired and a little sore, but not TOO bad, and I made sure to stretch extra when I got home.

Wednesday
It magically cooled down here, enough so that I thought running outdoors was a good idea today (it was in the mid 70s, somewhat humid).  I was super excited to listen to Jamie and Knox's new podcast, the PopCast, so so I got my iPhone & arm band and started with a 5-ish minute walk up a hill before I got to relatively flat terrain and started my run.  All I can say about this run is UGH.  My plan was to run 3 miles, with 1 minute walk breaks every mile, but I think I probably walked on average 1-2 minutes every half mile.  It was SOHARD.  WTF running!?  I also felt achey - my calves were super tight, and my anterior tibs were not feeling 100%, so I was super nervousabout pushing myself.  So, I managed to run/walk around 3.2 miles, with an average pace somewhere in the 11:00 minute mile range (including the walking). Man, I hope this running thing gets easier soon.

sweaty, but apparently still able to smile about it.

Thursday/Friday
Thursday, I was going to play kickball, but instead I went to happy hour for 4 hours.  Friday, I was going to run, but instead I worked on my dissertation proposal.

Saturday
I wasn't really in the mood to run Saturday, but I really wanted to run at least 3 times during the week, so Saturday afternoon around 4pm I forced myself out the door.  It was raining a little, which I thought would help to keep me cool.  Notsomuch.  It was sooooo humid.  My first mile, I managed to only stop to walk once for 1 minute, but my second mile was much harder, and I ended up doing 1/4 mile run/walk intervals. It was partially due to humidity, but my calves were also really tight and I was worried that was a sign of my lingering injury.  I was feeling better for my last mile and managed to run all but 2-ish minutes.  Seriously, when did running get so hard?  When I got back, I wanted to collapse, but I managed to do a plank and some pushups.

no smiles left in me after this run.  collapsed on my bedroom floor.

I was hoping that my "long run" this weekend would be 5 miles, but I really was barely up for 3.  I also thought I would aim for 4 runs, but, only managed 3.  So, I need to work on a training plan for the next twoish months, and I'm trying to decide what makes sense.  One current debate: I'd like to cardio 4-5 times per week.  This could be: 4 runs, 1 spin class; 3 runs, 2 spin classes; 3 runs, a spin class,and something else.... maybe Zumba?  Thoughts anyone?

My other debate is about strength training - I'd like to do strength training more consistently.  In fact, I NEED to, because it's the only way to prevent myself from getting injured again.  One option is to pick a very small number of things and try to do them every day (e.g. a plank, side planks, pushups, and squats).  The pro here would be that maybe I could get in a routine (do it first thing every morning) and actually get moreconsistnt.  The cons are that some people say you shouldn't strength train EVERY day, and that if I am going to do something daily it's going to only be about 10 minutes of work - maybe not enough to reallly make improvements?  On the other hand, isn't something better than nothing?  I guess I could create a longer routine to do at home and do that 2-3x per week to give myself breaks.  I've just been SO BAD at staying consistent in the past.  I could also try to start doing Jillian DVDs again.  Also, Duke's gym has pilates, yoga/pilates, power yoga, core blast, and HIIT classes that I can take.  I'm not sure I'm up for HIIT - people tell me they are sore for DAYS after... like, too sore to run.  That doesn't sound enticing, but I guess it could be worth trying?  Any advice here would be welcome!

NWM Half DC recap

In April, I ran my 5th half marathon - the Nike Women's Half in Washington, DC.  Here is my long overdue recap!

Pre-Race
M and I drove up to DC on Friday night and headed to the "Expotique" on Saturday morning.  I feel a little bad saying it, but my reaction to the expotique was "ugh."  First, it was on the water in Georgetown - highly inconvenient to get to.  Second, the expo seemed to be geared towards girls who happened to be running, not runners who were majority female.  The booths seemed to mostly have hair and makeup stuff - not running stuff!  And, because it was a Nike race, there wasn't really any running gear - just signs directing you towards the Nike store a few blocks away.  I guess this just demonstrates that I am not a huge fan of "women's races."
Saturday was a busy day. We had the puppy with us, and lots of people to go see.  Also, Isis has some difficulty sleeping in new places, so we really didn't sleep much on Friday night.  We did manage to carb load a decent amount with Sabrina and Mike, who we stayed with on Saturday night.  Saturday, Isis was even WORSE about sleeping, despite having a full afternoon of playing with her new friends, Titus and Frankie (Sabrina and Mike's dogs).  Thanks to the puppy, I probably slept less than 5 hours pre-race.  Ugh.

Isis wants to play, Titus wants to sleep

Frankis is slightly more willing to play with Isis

Morning of
Despite being extremely tired, we made it into the city in plenty of time.  The setup was great: the bathrooms and pre race hydration (water and Nuun) was available right when we got off the metro, which was only about 1/2 a block from the corrals.  We got a pre-race ADPi photo, which I was super excited about, and then warmed up with some jogging and stretching.  When it got closer to start time, we tried to head into the corral... but it was full!  What the heck?  There were easily over 100 people standing at the corral entrance unable to get in.  So, we basically had to stand on the sidewalk and wait for everyone in front of us to start before we snuck in the back of the corral.

Pre-Race ADPi Photo!

With 3 Duke ADPis I advise!

And we're off!
Given how crowded the corral was, you can imagine that the first mile was crowded - but not so terrible. Shortly into mile 1, we headed into the E Street tunnel.  In theory, it was kind of fun that we ran through the tunnel... but in practice, it. was. AWFUL.  It was so hot and sweaty and disgusting - packed with thousands of runners - I literally felt nauseous while I was in there.  On top of that, there were two musical groups playing drums, which echoed like CRAZY in the tunnel.  I'm sure plenty of people thought that was a cool effect, but it just made the hot sweaty mess even worse for me.
Despite jogging to warm up and attempting to stretch, my calves felt tight almost immediately.  Then, by 1.5 miles in, my RIGHT anterior tib started hurting.  SERIOUSLY?  Because, people, it was my LEFT anterior tib that was injured, and that I had been rehabbing for about a month.  AND NOW MY LEFT HURTS? Damn.  Knowing it would probably just hurt worse and worse until I stopped to walk, I took the first water break as my cue to walk/stretch, and Marissa said goodbye.

No idea how I managed to smile for the camera all morning.

During miles 2 and 3 I tried to walk and stretch a lot to ease the injury.  Honestly, though, I was just pissed. I had a GREAT last long run the week before, completing 8 miles at a pretty good pace, with no pain!  It seemed totally unfair that this was happening to me.
Luckily, somewhere around mile 4 or 5 the pain started fading and I was able to get some decent miles in.  I don't have much to comment about on the actual race for the first 5 miles.  The first 10 miles are nearly identical to the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and I love that course... so no complaints there.  One thing I didn't like: they had Nuun and water instead of Gatorade at the aid stations.  I know Nuun is great for you, but it's kind of fizzy and does not sit well with my stomach DURING runs.  So I had to stick to water, but that also meant I was taking in significantly fewer calories than I usually would during a race.
Somewhere around mile 7 or 8, the bottoms of my feet started hurting... kind of like they do after a full day of walking.  You know when your feet are really wrinkly from being in the pool for too long?  And then it kind of hurts to walk on them?  That's exactly how I felt.  Which made me think - are my feet sweating so much that my socks are soaking wet?  Gross.  Also, I'm wearing Brooks socks that I thought were made for running, so why is this happening to me?  SIGH.  The only thing that helped me push through was that  the bottoms of my feet hurt equally running and walking... so I figured, might as well run and get it over with sooner, right?

Sabrina's husband is a fantastic photographer

It was also around the 8 mile mark that we ran around Hains Point.  Hains Point is nice and flat, but also a spectator deadzone, so it can get pretty boring during a race.  To compensate, Nike decided to have a bunch of "encouraging" signs.  Although I'm sure many participants loved the signs, and some of them were fine, I was not a fan.  Now, I was already pissed about my feet hurting and my bad time at this point, so I think I was primed to spin down into a hate spiral.  But one of the signs said "Run faster than your mascara." Not a fan.
Although I was totally prepared for having 3ish miles to go after Hains Point, it still hit me hard when I got to the end of it.  The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler ends about 1/4-1/2 mile after Hains Point so I FELT like I should be almsot done.  But I wasn't.  Womp. Womp.  I was really struggling with my hate spiral, when somewhere around mile 10 I spotted one of my sorority sisters Justine!  Justine is a few years younger than me and was there supporting one of the girls from her class, but had been watching for other ADPis.  It was SO great to see her - she actually jogged with me for 5ish minutes before turning back to watch for other sisters.  RACE SPECTATORS: BEST IDEA EVER.  Having someone jog with me for a few minutes to help my morale was amazing.

Excited to see my cheering contingent

The last few miles were pretty - we ran down Pennsylvania and right by the Capital building.  I was really trying to push myself to finish in under 2:20, but it was too late.  I think I finished in 2:22, but I honestly didn't care how bad my time was.... at least I finished!  I crossed the finish line and got my Tiffany necklace and finisher's shirt.

Let's be real, this is the REAL reason I kept going.

Post Race
I knew so many people who ran this race, so we had a pretty big post-race meet-up party.

fake cousin Katie, Sabrina, Marissa, Kimmy, and I - all finished!

I also had quite the cheering crowd - Karilee was with Scott and his mom.

MIL and husband, #1 fans of my running 

Diamond Sister love - Karilee cheered for us both!

My uncle and dad actually came too, but they mistimed their travels and only made it to the post-race meeting area to see me afterwards.  It still was awesome that they came though, and I am so grateful for all of the support!

My dad and I!

Overall, the course was relatively flat, which was a plus.  The entry fee was pricy, but I love my necklace.  I learned that I probably want to avoid "women's races" in the future.  I think of myself as a runner and a woman - and the race felt very much geared towards girls who happened to run.

Showered, in matching finishers shirts & Tiffany necklace's.  BBQ Time.

Also, after this race, I knew I had to take some extended time off running to really rest and rehab.  Back to physical therapy I went... but I'll save that for another post.

i'm back [again]. [maybe].

hello, readers!  ...errr, reader? is anyone out there?

it's been quite some time since i blogged... but i miss it! so, this post is just to tell you that i plan to resume blogging.  i owe you a recap of the nike women's half, and i have an outline of a post to tell you about my injury and recovery.

i think i am finally healed enough to legitimately start training again.  too bad it is 100 degrees and i'm woefully out of shape.  today i ran 3 miles on the treadmill - with 2 minute walk breaks between each mile - and even an 11:00 minute mile felt hard.  yikes!

given how out of shape i am and how nervous i am about re-injuring myself, i haven't yet signed up for any fall half marathons.  i think i'm going to take my training nice and slow, and then decide in october if i'm up for any longer races.  i have one potential november half in mind, but i don't want to sign up until i'm able to be more consistently pain free.

instead, my friend allison convinced me to sign up for a 5k with her.  scott signed up too! that's in mid October, and seems much more doable right now.  so for now i'm going to try to run 3-4 times per week, without any speedwork, and with weekend long runs in the 5-6 mile range until it cools down at least a little. i also REALLY REALLY need to keep up with my core/hip/leg exercises that my physical therapist has instructed me to do.  if in a month i am feeling pretty good, i might start some speed once per week and start increasing my long run distances.

so, i guess if i manage to get back into blogging i will keep you updated on my training... but what else should i blog about?  cooking [assuming i cook]? redskins? fantasy football? whatever television shows i am watching? my puppy?

leave a comment and let me know what you'd be interested in reading!

we got a puppy in January.  her name is Isis.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Recap 2013, or how NOT to run a 10 miler.

I told myself I would write race recaps for all of the races I ran this spring, and I was doing alright until I got to the 10 miler.  I think that's because I didn't really approach the 10 miler as a race, and I certainly did not make any effort to "race" or even run fast.
First, it was the morning after my husband's birthday.  So we went out on Saturday night.  Late.  I made that decision fully aware of the consequences, but MAN, only sleeping three hours is rough... as is being hungover.  I couldn't really eat my breakfast because I was naseous, so I ran on a mostly empty stomach.  We also got to the corral way too early (probably with 40 minutes to spare) and it was FREEZING, so by the time the race started, I was: sleep deprived, hungover (and dehydrated), without breakfast, and numb in most parts of my body.  Oh, and I was still injured.  And I forgot my Garmin.  And my knee brace.

This, my friends, is how NOT to start a 10 mile race.

Anyway, as my race MO goes, I ran for about 1.5 miles before the foot/ankle pain kicked in, so I decided to walk and stretch over the next 1.5 miles or so.  Then, by around mile 3 I started feeling better/warmer and decided to just run at a nice, easy pace.

Although I was still hungover (thank goodness there was Gatorade at water stops and I had chews to get some calories in me) and I was definitely not going to get a great time, I was genuinely happy for most of the next 7 miles.  I love the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.  It is my favorite race.  I love the crowds, I love the course, and I love seeing the blossoms (this year, they were just starting to come out).  The last three years, the weather has been brisk, yet comfortable.  So, although I wasn't running well, and I'm injured and out of shape, I have to say, I really soaked it in and enjoyed myself.

Also, I got some of the most attractive pictures of myself running to date.  Apparently, I'm photogentic when I don't care about my time and I'm hungover?

Anyway, despite my pesky foot pain, I finished in 1:51:32, avaerage pace 11:09.  And only 10 more days until my first physical therapy appointment!

Oh, also, Marissa ran it.  Way faster than me.  GO Marissa!

And Scott was there to cheer me on, even though he was also out all night drinking (happy belated birthday!):