Attack of the Green Monster
Heeeee’s baaaaaaaack! I forgot how much I missed my green smoothies! AND pretty much eating healthy in general. It’s amazing how good you feel even after just a few days of good healthy solid eating. Seriously, why haven’t I been doing this the past few months again instead of just talking about it? Ok, let’s not go there, let’s just look ahead. Quick post today since I’m busy procrastinating studying. But had a GM today for lunch and an awesome workout for the second day in a row. Pain free, I might add. Off to take a test and get my weekend starting.
WORKOUT – yoga, 30min bike, TRX (obsessed!!)
Say Goodbye to my 20′s
And bad habits. The Birthday week/extravaganza/excuseforeatingcrapanddrinkingeverynight is over. Fun times but I’m ready to get back to a nice routine again this week and eating healthy again. Oh yeah and drinking water instead of alcohol. I woke up yesterday morning and my lips were so dry it looked like I just ran a marathon through the sahara and post fueled up with 10 shots of patron. Not quite but I ran 13 on Friday and didn’t exactly hydrate well. Unless champagne counts.
What have I been doing this past week since I’m slacking on the blog front.
Lots of this…
Recovery…
Re-fuel…
And lots of fun. No documentation of that.
I Drink Dirty Water
Hhm, do you think my Brita isn’t working right? Maybe it’s time to change the filter?
Ok… I am gross, but I’m not that gross. Cayenne pepper. Not dirt. With lemon slices (although I kinda like it better without)… so good. Cayenne pepper – speeds metabolism, tastes good, clears out your sinuses… what more could you ask for. Everyone needs a little spice in their life! Drinking flavored aka non-boring water helps me to drink more throughout the day. This is my new fav flavor. HOT! 
One Marathon Equals One Carrot Cake
5 gillion calories
How many marathons does it take to burn one big ass piece of carrot cake!? Probably more than one. I’d say… maybe two and a whole season of training. I’m not even sure how many calories were in this thing that I ate the other night but it was damn good. And I kind of didn’t even care.
Ok… so now I care. After running, and leading up to this race, I’ve pretty much been eating like food is going out of style despite the fact that I told myself I shouldn’t be. Well… I had 3 hours and 55 minutes to think about all this last Saturday and give myself a major mental pep talk. I also know my body could have worked a lot better and felt a lot better, had I been treating it like I was running a marathon, not like I was trying to score a spot on Biggest Loser. Although wouldn’t mind Bob Harper as a personal trainer (Shan – that one was for you ).
Anyway, thinking about all of this food stuff has finally put me back into my place. If you want to perform well, you have to pull out all the stops. You can’t go half-assed. It’s like training without doing speedwork (something else I’m awesome at doing). Besides the fact that your body recovers much quicker if you eat right, drink water and rest. So if PR-ing or BQ-ing is something that I truly truly want, then I have to step back and look at my life as a whole and not just as a ‘season’ or a ‘race’. It’s a lifestyle, it’s a love.
According to DailyMile I burned 3,053 calories while running Bi-Lo. Pretty cool. One of the reasons I love long runs.
WORKOUT – yoga class
ANATOMY FUN FACT – In the recovery period the conditions in muscle fibers are returned to normal, preexertion levels. After a period of moderate activity, it may take several hours for muscle fibers to recover. After sustained activity at higher levels, complete recovery can take a week.
Re-fueling Without Cookies
It’s hard to get back into good eating habits when you were off of them for so long. And your Mom and Grandmom made 20 zillion delicious cookies over the holidays, that you claimed you wouldn’t eat but ended up kicking back most of them. Is this acceptable when you are training? Yes… only if you are up to your 20 mile runs and are already in shape.
However this is not acceptable when you have lbs to shed while you are training. Over the past few weeks it has been very refreshing eating healthy again, and I feel better. However, I still have a while to go. And logging tons of miles and working out like crazy definitely requires lots of healthy food options. Trying to get a lot of protein in with a good mix of fruits, veggies and carbs.
Some things I’ve relied on throughout the past few weeks of training…
greens are good
Fallen in love with Kale, Spinach’s BFF. Goes with everything and super easy to throw in salads or just microwave and add it to rice, pasta… maybe even smoothies? Haven’t tried that one yet.
tastes like dessert for breakfast
tons of protein
Good old greek yogurt. I have yet to find anything that has this much protein, without all the sugar, fat etc and tastes so good. AND you can do so much with. Goes well with fruits, veggies, meat, fish… on a potato, in oatmeal… literally everything. There is just nothing that compares.
And of course, NO COOKIES! (ok… maybe one on my long run day) Especially when they are this good. But hey, at least this little guy has cherries in it..
cherry chocolate oatmeal
Shot Bloks
These guys are starting to replace my love for Sharkies. 200 cals for two servings, which is one pack. Just the right amount of chewy-ness. Mostly all organic and natural. Packed with electrolytes and cals in each cube so you can track how much you are taking in. You can pop one at a time or eat the whole thing before a run (like I do of course). And what’s the best part… some even have caffeine!
Rest Up, Johnny
Listening to your body and taking a break when you need it is something that I’m not very good at. However it IS something that is really important. I’ve been over working myself… training, working, and not sleeping. To the point yesterday where I felt like I was going to pass out in the steam room. Is that normal? Probably not. So after working all night last night and going to bed at 5am, I decided that today would be better to rest completely, NO yoga, NO running… just lounging around on the couch in sweats. Um… dream day??
comfy
Perfect and exactly what I need. There’s a reason why tapering was invented, although it sucks it’s needed for good performance. I’m a little a lot behind where I want and need to be right now so I know next week is going to be stepping it up hardcore, so cutting myself some slack and taking one day is ok. Tomorrow is the long run… !!
Oh yeah and lots of this of course…
- the new blonde
Naked and Raw
Bet that got your attention! Well it got the attention of the guy at the market this morning too. I ran into RH Market to grab something to eat after my run this morning. Naked juices are delish! Packed with protein and all natural good stuff. You basically get all your fruits and veggie servings in one of these. They are great after runs, as noted before… as well as their coconut water. But while I was in there I grabbed a few Raw bars. I’ve been wanting to try these so I’m excited. So the dude at the counter is ringing me up and he says “Naked and Raw, huh?”. Thought that was pretty funny since I didn’t even realize it. Anyway, not as funny if you weren’t there I guess.
It’s Wintertime
cozy
It definitely got cold…. fast! Well, I guess not really considering it’s almost Thanksgiving and it already snowed. I’m just not really sure where the end of summer and fall went. Must have been too busy to notice it this year. One thing is for sure when you walk everywhere you need to be prepared when you leave the house. No more running out with your socks on to warm up your car. Cute coats need to be warm coats now. But one major plus of not having a car or having to drive…. snow-days! No more clearing off tons of snow and worrying about driving in it.
To go along with my cold day I thought I’d try a little oatmeal this morning. I bought canned pumpkin at the store the other day because I’d been craving it (more so, pumpkin beer and pumpkin pie – but I’m trying the healthy version). So I mixed about half a cup of pumpkin mush into my oatmeal and it was really good! Would have been much better with some honey but didn’t have any. Too bad it looks gross. I don’t know how food bloggers always get their food to look so good. Mine… not so much. Most of it really does taste good though!
pumpkin stuff
WORKOUT – yoga class, 30 minute bike, weights
More Spinach
goodness
So I’ve been pretty good with sticking to my two cups of spinach per day. You can’t go wrong with it… the stuff is packed with amazing benefits. Popeye had the right idea. Today I decided to go the smoothie route and mad a Green Monster. Haven’t had one of these in a while and forgot how good they are! Yes – putting spinach in your smoothie seems gross and doesn’t exactly look appealing but it’s actually really really good! And after my ‘cheat day’ and unhealthy eating last night I needed one.
The goods… spinach (two cups), soy milk (one cup), raspberries (1/2 cup), frozen banana, 1 scoop of protein. This usually comes out too thick to drink, but eating it with a spoon makes it taste a lot more like ice-cream anyway.
protein
Oats in a Jar
empty AB
Another quick post today and nothing exciting and original. I think I got this idea for the first time reading Carrot’s ‘n’ Cake. Have been wanting to try it for a while and today was the perfect day since I just finished up my Almond Butter. It’s always impossible to get out every last bit from the jar so a great way to use it all up is making your oatmeal in the jar. I used a bag of my instant ‘running oatmeal’, dumped in some water and a nanner and put it in the microwave. Definitely good for a morning when you are traveling too because you can put the lid right back on the jar and take it with you. Just make sure you remember to take it off when you put it in the microwave.
WORKOUT – yoga class
Good Eats Last Week
red cup! you know it's winter
I’ve been really getting into eating healthy and enjoying it again. Luckily! So here are some things that I’ve had the past week that are delicious and fun. SB – of course is number one. And I was kinda excited and also surprised to see the red cup on November 1st. You know the holidays are approaching now! Chai tea Latte’s are the best.
- green monster
branzino
fav
Sangria and Snooki
snooks
Since I am being good this week and not going out, last night was a night in catching up on my reality TV. Not a bad night… but definitely would have rather been out with friends. There will be plenty more nights for that though – health comes first, just like in running. Although it’s hard to say no to running, drinking and having fun sometimes. Especially when you are out on a Friday night walking around (to CVS to get your 15th bottle of cough syrup) and you pass a bunch of cute little restaurants and outside places where people are laughing it up and drinking wine. Damn you, temptation. Soon, soon, soon… I will feel better and all these things will come back into play.
Sangria and Snooki - always entertaining. I only had ONE glass of wine so I needed to make it worth it. New fav recipe: microwave frozen cherries (since I love, love, love them so much), add some cinnamon and add to a glass of red wine. Warm and cozy.. perfect for this awesome fall snowy weather that we are having. Not cool! Why am I not somewhere warm and jet-setting off to another climate. Well… that is for next week.
WORKOUT – yoga dvd
Healthy Labels and Stuff
Going from eating crappy food and not working out for a few weeks to trying to eat super healthy is tough. It’s amazing how much you can eat when you are logging in 16 mile training days. And it’s also amazing how much you can eat when you are drunk and/or hung over. Pretty much about the same – one problem you gain weight doing the second one.
So here goes eating healthy while not training to try to remain somewhat in shape. LOTS of veggies! Spinach has been the best thing ever, cooked up with mushrooms and onions.
looks blah but tastes good
Found these little guys the other day and they are pretty darn good! I try to look at Cals, Fat, Protein, Fiber and Sugar when I look at the Nutrition labels. Sometimes I take a look at salt too because some things can get a little ridiculous. And then of course the serving size. Because you can think something is really good and then realize there are about 5 servings in a container or two in a bottle, etc. Of course when you are sitting down to eat the whole bag of Stacy’s Pita Chips or Vanilla Ice Cream – as has happened on occasion – then you don’t need to worry about servings.
- raw stuff
So the past few days have been lots of this stuff, and tea – which is decent but I do miss coffee. And of course beloved PB – can’t go without this stuff… I could eat it on cardboard and still enjoy it! 
Same deal though, you can really eat a lot of it without realizing. Still, you can never go wrong with a PB&J or PB&honey sammie. Easy, quick and can take it anywhere.
1 TB of PB
Yoga to a Tea
tea time
Starbucks really should be paying me for doing their advertising.
Yoga for runners… love Christine Felstead’s series of DVDs! I have been using her beginner’s DVD since I started training for San Diego last spring. It was starting to get a little boring since I do it everyday, and could basically repeat word for word what she was going to say next. I thought I needed some more challenging poses as well, especially in the hip region to better balance myself and stretch out my ITB, hips and stance. So I picked up the intermediate version last week and started it on Saturday – yes, up the mountains and all! I LOVE it! The sequence of poses are super challenging (for me), and I can already feel a difference in my posture and stance. Today I did the whole session all the way through – an hour and twenty minutes and afterwards I felt amazing! The only downfall is that Christine talks about running throughout the entire time and that’s all I can think about. Need to keep telling myself, I will get back there and be able to hit the pavement again soon. Patience!
So to go along with my healthy morning I decided on a green tea at SB’s instead of a coffee. Much better decision after my caffeine overload yesterday and Monday. I’m sure all this healthiness is good for my cold too. I doubt your body reacts well when it’s pumped up with 260+ milligrams (and that’s just a tall!) of caffeine on no sleep. Did you know that you can actually check your drink’s caffeine count online HERE!?? - just click on your poison of choice. This is what I was doing at 3am last night while lying in bed wide awake. I picked out some new less caffeinated bevys to try in the next few weeks – we’ll see how this anti-coffee kick goes this time. LAST time… not so successful.
More healthy stuff… and the best stuff on earth – besides Snapple. Greek yogurt! So good with a banana, raspberries and almonds. Tastes just like dessert for breakfast.
greek love
Coffee and Company
finally K!
Since it’s been absolutely gorgeous weather!!! And since I can’t get outside to run 
what is there to do?? Go get coffee with friends! Or by yourself sometimes… that’s ok too. Wednesday Katya and I finally got to catch up. So nice to walk around the park on a beautiful day with SB and fun things to talk about. It’ so hard to keep in touch with everyone since people have such busy lives, but even just the little things make a big difference. You don’t have to plan a huge night out but meeting for just a few minutes for a hug, coffee and chatty chat is all ya need. Usually random meetings end up working out better anyway. So we had a great time! I think I could sit in the square all day and people watch. If I can’t start running soon and thinking of things to post about I just might have to do that for ideas!
But lately I have been doing a little cheating! :0 on SB that is. There are soooo many cute, fun little coffee shops around and I love trying new ones all the time. I found a great new place, Pure Fare. I walk by all the time and finally got to go in. Super healthy locally grown foods. Great coffee, vegan, gluten-free, fresh… all that good stuff. Plus they have a huge picnic bench inside with swinging chairs. How do you not love that? I did some homework while I was in there, which consisted of reading my chem lab while trying to talk to this yoga instructor about going back to school. Needless to say I didn’t get much done. BUT I did have an awesome lemon poppy-seed muffin, and coffee!
looks like fall
WORKOUT – fusion (kicks my butt… need to do this more often), and of course ITB stretches (yes, JE – I actually DO stretch!!)
Call me a Chic Pea
hummmmus
True and true – you ARE what you eat. Well if that was literally true I’d be a big chic pea (maybe mashed in with some red wine). Hhm… that would be an interesting humus. It is true that what you eat makes a huge difference in body fat/mass/skin/ over-all health. Very true. You could eat perfectly, drink a ton of water and only do organic stuff, etc etc and look amazing. However – I DO believe that running (and I mean running A LOT) can kinda counter act most of that. Yes, when training one should be careful about what they consume in order to make the most of their runs and workouts. But when running a ton and ton of miles you can really pack away the food! Trust!
When I was training for the SD Marathon and up in miles in my long runs, 16, 18 and 20 I would refuel healthy enough after runs. Which usually consisted of a beer and a chicken sandwich with cheese and fries (not exactly ‘health food’), and then still wake up in the middle of the night and be starving!! I could eat everything in my kitchen!! Taco-dip, oatmeal and toast with PB and honey was a fav. Or pretty much anything that I had in my fridge or freezer that was semi-edible. AND I must say for the amount I was eating, I looked and felt much better. So yes… I believe it’s true, you can counter what you eat by working out. NOW – I am not recommending becoming a gym rat and going 10 times a day or spending hours on the elliptical so that you can go out and eat a piece of pizza. But I think you need to know what your body needs in order to fuel itself for the miles and endurance it is facing.
So I guess what I am getting at here is… I can’t wait to eat Taco-dip at 3am again and have it be all good.
WORKOUT – 65min elliptical, yoga, stretches (stupid ITB – I really loathe you)
Naked
- yeah yeah
Bet that got your attention! Everyone has been raving about this coconut water crap. So what is it really? Well – Coconut Water. It’s supposedly loaded with electrolytes and potassium and all that good stuff. Which it is! And it’s great for running and for hang-overs, two of my favorite things. I try to stick with all natural stuff with not a lot of extra flavor and sugar. I’m pretty happy with this and will definitely be drinking it after long runs long nights partying.
