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!

This Weeks Training Plan + Soft GF Cookies

So my original training plan is turning out to be more of a guide at this point. The first three weeks I was only doing the run/walk plan two times during the week and then my "long" run on the weekend. I had also made some small adjustments to the times as I was feeling that my body was recovering faster during the walking time allowed and I felt ready to run sooner.

I am, once again, making some adjustments to the plan for this week. I am also going to plan a cross training day.

Week 4

Run/Walk Plan: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday

• 2 minute warm up
• 2 minute run x 1 minute walk. Repeat 8 times.
• 2 minute cool down

Wednesday - Spin Class

Saturday - 4 miles

I started Monday out with a green smoothie for breakfast. I combined Naked coconut water, spinach, basil, pineapple, and PlantFusion protein powder in the blender until smooth.

This weeks lunch is just a mixture of ground chicken, rice, peas, and corn seasoned with some good ol' Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb. Simple and satisfying.

For my afternoon snack, I had a handful of Nut Thins and a 100 calorie package of Wholly Guacamole. I was excited to see that Kroger had it back in stock. No more brown guac! Yay!!

When I got home I found a FedEx package on my front door step that contained my Zoot Compression socks! I'm a little bit of a match-y freak so I had to get the ones that matched my shoes.

The socks are left and right foot specific and sadly the box only contained right feet. If I had two right feet, I don't think I'd be running. So they e-mailed me a FedEx return label and will be shipping me a complete pair of socks. The exchange was easy-peasy. Now I just have to wait... again. I hate waiting.

I felt a little hungry before I headed out for a run so I grabbed a fruit strip to munch on while I was getting ready.

Running in 86 degree weather is not fun. I actually prefer to run during the winter. It might be freezing for the first five minutes but after that you're nice a toasty. When you start out toasty you go to burning after a mile. Overall it was a decent run. Not my best, but decent.

I cooked up some tostadas made with corn tortillas, black beans, ground turkey, tomatoes, salsa and lettuce for dinner. This is one of my favorite meals. You could add some avocado and cheese too. I leave them off because of the calories.

After dinner I wanted something sweet and thought I would try out these Gluten-Free Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies. Tina from Carrots 'n' Cake wrote this recipe.

These little cookies are amazing! They are soft and delicious; however, each cookie is about 200 calories a piece. Yikes! I only ate one. I really wanted another but I didn't have an extra 200 calories in my calorie budget, so I passed on seconds.

Question: Do you make training plans? Do you follow it without change or do you make changes as you go along? Fill me in by leaving a comment below!



Quick 'n' Easy Monday

I started yesterday off with a green smoothie. I put some Naked pure coconut water, blueberries, parsley, and romaine lettuce in my Ninja blender until it was well blended. When it was done, I poured it into travel cup and headed to work.

I added two tablespoons of some PlantFusion plant protein so I wouldn't be starving in a couple of hours. I was running a little behind schedule and forgot to snap a picture of the finished product. Just so you know, it looked delicious and it was delicious.

For lunch I had a bowl of homemade vegetable soup. I generally make a large batch of one thing to pack for lunches. It makes the prep pretty easy and then when it's all done, I divide it into tupperware containers so it is ready to grab on my way out the door. This keeps me in control of what I consume and keeps the cost low.

Later I snacked on a rice cake covered in Justin's Honey Peanut Butter and a banana. I was really excited when I found Justin's because they're pre-portioned squeeze packs. They also sell jars but the packs are perfect because there is no prep, it's just grab and go. I believe they also have a regular Almond Butter, Maple Almond Butter, and a Chocolate Hazelnut Butter. They're all good but my favorites are the Maple Almond Butter and the Honey Peanut Butter.

After work, I headed to The Fitness Studio for some Zumba action. My shins are still a hot mess and we had a sub that tends to have a lot of jumping/bouncing, so I focused on making it low-impact.

I headed home and made some Turkey Tostadas made with ground turkey, black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and then topped with salsa. I served it with two toasted corn tortillas. You could serve it without the tortillas if you wanted and just have it as a salad. Either way, they're easy to make and delicious!

As you can tell, I like things that are quick and easy. Working a full time job and working out after doesn't leave too many night-time hours to spend creating masterpieces in the kitchen. Plus, by time I'm done working out I want to eat. Not in an hour but immediately. By having healthy and easy meals planned it lessens the chances of me snacking on things I shouldn't snack on.

Question: What are some of your go-to meals/snacks?

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?