Busy Bee

Yay! The weekend has arrived! Wow, this week has flown by and as you know I've been M.I.A. Sorry! I finished up training on Tuesday afternoon and I am back to working a real schedule and as you know I've been doing more cardio, trying to burn off as many calories as possible so I can win the weight loss competition.

I'm just going to do a quick summary of what I have had to eat these past few days along with what I've been doing to burn off those calories!

Breakfast

Tuesday: PlantFusion protein powder, banana, celery, romaine lettuce, water and mint smoothie.
Wednesday: Smoothie of strawberries, orange, spinach, coconut water, mint and protein powder.
Thursday: Pineapple, mango, cucumber, water, and mint with a scoop of PlantFusion protein powder.
Friday: Strawberry, mango, spinach, mint, water, and PlantFusion protein powder smoothie.

Lunch

Cauliflower, broccoli, ground chicken, Fountain of Heath Roasted Garlic Hummus and Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning. I have also made this with rice in it but left it out for a low-carb option.

Snacks

Tuesday: NutThins, cheese, with roasted garlic hummus.
Wednesday: Apple and cheese.
Thursday: Rice cake covered in Justin's Honey Peanut Butter with a banana.
Friday: Apple with Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

Dinner

Tuesday: Veggie burger with a Thousand Island and red onion dressing, topped with mozzarella cheese and pineapple, served on a bed of spinach. Delicious!
Wednesday: Egg white omelet topped with red onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, and cheddar cheese.
Thursday: Cumin rubbed chicken breast served with a cucumber relish (cucumber, tomato, onion, garlic, lemon peel, and lemon juice), topped with a greek honey yogurt dressing served on a bed of spinach. Yum!
Friday: Honey BBQ salmon served with a blueberry-nectarine salsa (blueberries, nectarine, and oven roasted pecans). Holy Yum!! This was soooo good!

Activities
Tuesday: I had intended to go to spin class but on my way home I stopped by a friends house to see if she wanted to join me and we ended up talking right through it. Oh well, time with her is more important.

Wednesday:  I completed my run in the morning with an average pace of 10:41. After work I dashed off to spin class. I was, once again, the only person in the class. But that's ok with me. The instructor is super nice and she actually remembered my name, which really surprised me.

Thursday: Another morning run? Sure, why not?! I've been good about getting up and getting it done. But I have noticed that when I work out in the morning, I feel more hungry throughout the day. My run on Thursday had an average pace of 10:30.

My GPS got funky and all of a sudden decided that I could run like Dash from the Incredibles:

Friday: Rest Day!! I did go for a little walk with the pup to warm up my muscles so I could do some stretching but that was it.

Article
Although I have been doing my runs in the morning, they seem harder and I'm more willing to give in to walking. I was wondering what the difference was and like magic I ran across an article from Runners World. Here are a few of the tips they suggested that I'm going to have to try:

Give your blood sugar levels a little pick-me-up prior to running by eating half a banana, 6-8 ounces of juice or a toast and jam 15-20 minutes prior to your run.  Your body will tell you what it can handle and what it prefers.  It may mean waking up a few minutes earlier, but it will pay off because your mind will wake up and you will have plenty of energy to get you through your run. 

Walk for at least 5 minutes to properly warm your body up before you run.  It takes a little longer to warm up in the morning so start with an easy walking pace and gradually increase it to a brisk walking pace.  Walking for five minutes will make all the difference in allowing your body to more efficiently prepare for the transition to running. 

After the five minute walking warm up, run easy for 5-10 minutes.  Your body will reward you with a strong performance if you gradually bring it up to speed.  Like warming up a car in the winter, your body needs time to wake up, warm up and run!  You won't believe the difference!  If that doesn't help, alternate running for a minute or two and power walking for a minute before you hit your running tempo.  Run-walking works wonders in transitioning to running, especially in the morning.

It may mean waking up earlier (ugh!) but if it will improve my performance I'm game.

Question: Do you run in the morning? What are some things you do before you hit the pavement? Share with me in the comments below!

Rocky Weekend Recap

SATURDAY
Before I made the disastrous attempt to run on Saturday, I made a smoothie with protein powder, banana, blueberries, kale, cilantro, and coconut water.

The afternoon was spent running around making some returns. I was good and didn't buy anything, only because Target didn't have my size in the shorts I was looking for.

Since I was out and about, I stopped by Subway and picked up a 6-inch sub made with honey oat bread, pepper jack cheese, oven roasted chicken, lettuce, spinach, tomato, green pepper, onion, jalapenos and a little southwest sauce for lunch.

Later I went to say bye to my friend that is deploying to Afghanistan for the next 12-18 months. On my way there I snacked on a LiveSmart Chocolate Suicide Raw Bar from the HealthySurprise box I mentioned last week.

The bar was delicious and a perfect snack at 196 calories and 6 grams of protein.

I was busy visiting and didn't take many photos. Here are the ones I managed to snap before it got too dark:

Charlie, Lilly, Me, and Kade

Me, Kade, and Lilly

The only picture of Johnny (far right) before he deploys

SUNDAY
Sunday was all around an "off" day for me. I had to get a run in since I didn't finish it on Saturday and I wanted to do it before it got too hot. So when I woke up I grabbed a Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte Larabar and then got ready for my run.

When I left for my run it was only 73 degrees but already felt way warmer than that due to the humidity.

By time I had completed my 4 mile run (I lost my GPS connection at the end), it was 76 but felt like 81 with a 67% humidity. I was dying and so was Roxie, so after I did some stretches we hopped in the car and headed to Starbucks for some cool goodness.

Roxie had a "puppy latte" aka whipped cream and I had a trenta unsweetened Passion Fruit Iced Tea.

I wasn't really in a smoothie mood but I was hungry, so I had an egg, half of an Ezekiel english muffin with The Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb Cheese Wedge on it, and served up some strawberries on the side. Mmm.. I haven't had eggs in what feels like forever and it was delicious, especially the muffin with cheese!

Later I grilled some flank steak and served it with green beans and a cauliflower puree. I had never had cauliflower puree before and I was pleasantly surprised. I seasoned it with a bit of butter, cream cheese, and garlic powder.

While I was cooking up lunches for the week, I felt a little hungry (probably due to the fact that my meal times were all out of whack) so I made a green smoothie with pineapple, orange, cilantro, Naked coconut water, and spinach. I didn't add the protein powder since I wasn't using the smoothie as a meal replacement.

Question: If you have an "off" day, do you find it hard to get back in to the groove of things?

Running to BPM

Tuesday's breakfast was a smoothie made almond milk, PlantFusion protein powder, basil, celery, orange, blueberries, and ginger. For some reason, this smoothie was really cold. It was still delicious, it just took a little longer to drink trying to avoid getting a brain freeze!

I had the turkey mixture for lunch, and had an afternoon snack of an apple with some Justin's Honey Peanut Butter.

When I got home from work, the tempature was around 80 and was perfect for a run. So I quickly changed and grabbed Roxie for a run.

I was really trying to focus on my stride during this run and I think it worked out pretty well. I was pretty pleased with the run as my pace was faster per mile. After my run, I did some stretches, rolled out my shins and calves, and rested on the floor with my Roxie for a bit while I read an article on Shape Magazine's website with a top 10 list of 80's workout songs according to RunHundred.com. Who doesn't love the 80's? If you don't, I would make an appointment to see your doctor... Just kidding! Ok, not really.

Anyway, the article contained the top 10 and also listed their Beats Per Minute (BPM). Haven't heard about BPM? I talked a little bit about it in a post from over a year ago. Well, now that I am offically back into running - yes, it took me over a year to get back to it - I started thinking about my running music and how it can affect my running pace. The question is, what BPM is best for my pace?

I looked online and found a couple of different a sites that talked about it. eHow has a relativly short post on how to figure it out, and SelfGrowth has a longer post but gives a chart that shows steps per minute (or BPM) with the MPH for walking, running, and cycling. At this point it seems that I should be choosing songs with a 150 BPM.

If you read my previous blog post, you would know that I have had downloaded the trial version of beaTunes that would do the BPM for my music libaray; however, my computer crashed and I no longer have it. I might conisder downloading it again and paying the price unless I can find another similar website to use. You could also use RunHundred.com or jog.fm to find songs that match your deisred BPM.

What I am I really interested in is a site and/or program that would allow me to edit songs for a playlist. For example, when I'm doing my run/walk days it would be nice to be able to have the playlist set up to change songs for each run/walk time so I know when to change. I haven't looked into it yet, but will when I have some more time.

My tummy grumbled and I knew it was time to cook up some dinner. I made some spicy-ranch chicken and bell pepper, served on a bed of lettuce topped with salsa and cheese. I typically serve it with a gluten-free tortilla but I needed to cut back some calories so I did lettuce instead. It was just as delicious as before!

Question: Do you run with BPM or make edited playlists? What sites and/or programs do you use? Let me know in the comments below!

Cat or Dog?

No, this post isn't about which one I should keep and which I should get rid of! I love them both too much to ever get rid of their adorable faces! I mean, seriously? Have you seen them? No!? Well, let me show you..

Roxie

Cosmo

I was catching up on some of the blogs I follow and came across this post by Carrots 'n' Cake where she referred to herself as a "cat runner." I have never heard of this term before, so I linked back to the blog where she first talked about it to see what she meant. I also found this post on RunnersWorld.com that references the same thing and also addresses some other issues.

Runners are like cats and dogs, says Adam Krajchir, founder and director of Race with Purpose and head coach for New York Road Runners' Team for Kids. Cat runners just want to be left alone to do their thing. Dog runners want to be social. You may be cat or dog on any given day, but it's never fun being a cat stuck in a dog world, especially if you're trapped on the treadmill.

I think I fall somewhere in between the two.

I am a cat runner: When I'm running, I don't necessarily want to talk to you. I want to listen to my music, breath, and get into a groove.

I am a dog runner: I don't like doing things by myself.

I have always been the type of person that would only do something if someone else was doing it too. If I were running, I would make plans to run with someone and then pace at their pace. If I were going to the gym, I would call someone and make plans to go to the gym. If they backed out, I did too. This was the case until I finally reached a point where I decided I couldn't and wasn't going to allow someone to dictate my health. Because lets be honest, that's what I was doing. I needed to lose weight and the truth was they weren't going to lose a pound for me. Only I could do that. 

So now that I'm wearing my "big girl pants," I go to the gym by myself and run by myself. I still make plans to  do these things with my friends but I no longer solely rely on them to get my butt to do it.

Now... lets move on to Thursdays run and grub!

Breakfast

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a smoothie girl in the morning. It's easy to make and then head out the door. I like to sleep so I don't leave a lot of time to cook something and sit down to eat it.

Thursday's smoothie contained Naked coconut water, blueberries, orange, spinach, parsley, and PlantFusion protein powder.

Lunch

I had another bowl of soup.. I'm so boring when it comes to lunches but it's cheap! I think I'll make something different for next week, but don't hold me to it.

Snack

I had some Nut-Thins, hummus, and a couple slices of cheese for my snack.

Activity

Another day. Another run. After the storms that came through on Wednesday, I wasn't sure if the Rivergreenway would be open or not. It tends to flood when we have heavy rain. But I was in luck! It was open and it was a cool 78 degrees. 

I met up with Erika again but sadly had to leave her pretty early on. She warned me going out that she wasn't feeling the greatest so I told her that she could turn around early and I would catch back up. Well, being the mama bear that she is, she was worried when I had turn some corners and she couldn't see me anymore. So she kept runnin' until she saw me. 

At some point on the way back I had to stop. My hamstrings and calves were getting tight and I needed to loosen them up so I could pick the pace back up. So I stopped in a grassy, shaded area to stretch out.

I got to the end of the trail and waited for Erika to finish. Please note the sign on the left. I was not kidding about the flooding.

Even though we were at the same trail doing the same amount of time, I ended up doing about 3.2 miles on this run. The last run was 2.8. I think I ran a little faster on this run going out so I had a longer way to go back. But I'm ok with that!

Dinner

For dinner I combined some ground turkey, red pepper, corn, and black beans and added some medium salsa for some spice.

Dessert
For dessert I grabbed a "healthy" brownie. I think fresh is always best and I love warm brownies so I popped it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.

Question: Are you a dog or a cat? Tell me why in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you! :)

Fitness Myths and Fastest Mile

I finally broke down and purchased the Ninja blender on Saturday. (So shiny!) I was excited to wake up yesterday to use my new toy.

I whipped up some coconut water, banana, kale, parsley, and ginger. It is NOT a juice. It was a little different as it was very pulpy. But it was still good.

I had the drink along with an egg white scramble that had mushroom, green pepper, and onion topped with some zesty cilantro salsa. Yum!

While I was cooking, I heard Cosmo messing around with a paper bag. When I checked to see what he was doing, I found him inside. This is not unusual for him but it is always hilarious. 

Then Roxie decided to lay down next to him.

After breakfast, I flipped through the paper and found this article about 10 fitness myths. Here are few that stood out to me:

• A higher number on the scale means you're getting fatter. I have known that if you have the same volume of muscle and fat that the muscle will weigh more. I decided when I started my weight loss journey that I wasn't defined by a number on a scale. It is just a number. When I get to a point where I am much leaner, I am going to rely on how my clothes feel and not that number. 
• Lifting weights make women bulky. I don't know about you but I listen to Jillian Michaels. She has said it time and time again, women are not going to bulk up because they lack the testosterone to build large muscle mass. It will, however, help you look lean and toned which is what every women wants!
• Running on a treadmill is better for joins than running outside. I always assumed this was right, thus the reason I planned a treadmill day at the gym to help out my shinsplints. However, according to this article unless it is a high-quality treadmill, it really wont make much of a difference. And I think it's safe to say that the gym probably doesn't have the high-quality treadmills they're talking about. I might just scratch out that treadmill day because I prefer to run outside.
• Machines are safer than free weights. I never thought this and have actually always preferred free weights. I feel like using the machines will always keep the stronger side stronger because it will always be compensating for the weaker side. Using free weights allows that weaker side to work just as hard.
• Stretching before exercise improves performance. I have had this discussion several times as I do not stretch before I work out. I have read that it can actually cause injury because your muscles are not warmed up and ready to be stretched; however, I do believe stretching after you workout and are warmed up is great. It helps lengthen your muscles and can reduce soreness. 

When I was done reading, I looked over and saw my fur babies kind-of-sorta cuddling. Aren't they adorable?!

Since I opted to do spin on Saturday instead of my long run, I had to get out and get in my 3 miles. So I grabbed Roxie, turned on FitRadio and headed out the door. When I hit mile one and my stats told me that I just did a 10:14 mile, I was shocked. That is my fastest recorded mile. I wasn't even feeling that great. I was actually tired. But non-the-less, I was super excited! I felt like I struggled the remaining two miles as the 84 degree and humid weather caught up to me. There was also a handful of people that were starting fires and grilling that was making it a little hard to breath. But I pushed through it and completed the three miles.

Question: What are some fitness myths you've heard?