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!

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!



Weekend Highlights and Tara Ties the Knot

Happy Monday to all of you! I had a pretty busy weekend and didn't have time to post anything so I'm just going to give y'all some highlights.

On my way home from work on Friday, I stopped to get the mail from my mail box and found my Healthy Surprise package in it! Yay!

Check out all the goodies that were in it:

I plan on trying these snacks over the next few weeks, so stay tuned to get my thoughts/opinions.

Saturday was a busy day! A lot to do and very little time. I did a quick 4 mile run in the morning. After my second mile, I really needed some water but I didn't have any so it was a bit of a struggle. I really need to be better at carrying some with me but I hate running with stuff in my hands.

I cleaned up from my run and went to the nail salon to get a mani/pedi. While I was getting my pedicure, I read the January issue of Glamour that featured Anne Hathaway.

This part of the interview with Anne really stuck out to me:

Eve Ensler: This is Glamour’s Self-Expression Issue. When did you feel like you began to express yourself in a way that was authentic to you?
Anne Hathaway: I had that moment after I finished making Rachel Getting Married. I realized that the life I’d been living [was not authentic] and that I had to make a change. Then I found out that my trust had been betrayed quite massively. So for me, that call came at the end of 2007. Who was I going to be? There’s no magic bullet; there’s no pill that you take that makes everything great and makes you happy all the time. I’m letting go of those expectations, and that’s opening me up to moments of transcendent bliss. But I still feel the stress over “Am I thin enough? Am I too thin? Is my body the right shape?”
Eve Ensler: And is that an everyday obsession?
Anne Hathaway: If I’m honest, yes. There’s an obsessive quality to it that I thought I would’ve grown out of by now. It’s an ongoing source of shame for me.

It struck a cord with me because you don't think of stars having body image issues. I mean, to me, she's Anne freakin' Hathaway. She is beautiful! But then you have to turn the table on yourself. How many times does someone say "you're beautiful" yet you pick yourself apart to pieces? It happens more often than not, right? What we need to remember (and I'm speaking we when I should say I) is that each of us are individuals. And although it is ok to aspire to be better, be very careful about comparing yourself to someone. Be the best YOU that you can be.

..moving on..

My nails were finished and I headed home to get ready.



..shortly after I was out the door all ready to celebrate my friend's wedding day! (Seatbelt added for saftey, not for fashion.)

They had a photo booth at the reception so the bride (who I have known since I was basically born) and I stepped in for a few snaps. The first photo we were not ready for, hence the funny look. The center picture is with my old babysitter, Nanci. And then a few more of my old time BFF. I love her like she was my sister. I only wish we had remained a lot closer over the years.

It was a fabulous wedding filled with reminiscing of old times, making new memories, and celebrating the start of a new chapter. Congrats Tara and Craig! May your life be filled with more love than you know what to do with, the pee-your-pants kind of laughter, and the friendship that will grow and last a lifetime.

Sunday started out with spur of the moment trip to Ohio to surprise some old friends, followed by grocery shopping, lunch making, and some house cleaning.

I was craving some buffalo wings but didn't want the added calories of the breading. So I cooked up some chicken tenders and tossed them in some buffalo sauce. I served it with some Alexia Sweet Potato Fries and a little bit of ranch to dip them in. It was a good decision but not sure how many calories were saved.

Averages and Run Summary

I use BodyMedia to track my activities, calories burned, sleep, etc. Here is an average of my past week compared to my goals.

And MapMyRun sent me my workout summary:



Questions: What did you do this weekend?

                  Do you carry water with you when you run? If so, what do you use? A simple water bottle or something like a fuel belt? I need some ideas!

Leave your 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! :)

Yummy Gluten Free Brownies

I had a few people ask me for the brownie recipie I made a couple of nights ago. I found the recipe on Pinterest and only made minor adjustments. I just used Gluten Free flour instead of regular and didn't add nuts.

Yummy Gluten Free Brownies

• 1/4 cup Unsweetend Applesauce
• 1 medium Banana, mashed (about 4.5 ounces)
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1 overflowing tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup Zucchini, grated
• 1 cup All-Pourpose Gluten Free Flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray. Take a tablespoon of the GF flour and cover the pan. I had to use a brush to get the flour to spread.

3. In a large bowl, combine the banana and sugar. Beat until it is all combine and there are little to no banana chunks left.

4. Add sugar and mix.

5. Add vanilla and cocoa powder to mix. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to get all the dry ingredients mixed with the wet.

6. Add baking soda, salt, and zucchini and mis well. 

7. Add flour and mix until smooth.

8. Pour batter into pan and bake for 20 minutes. (If they're too moist, leave in for 5 minute incriments until it reaches your desired consistency.)

9. Take out of oven and cut into 10 pieces. Each piece will give you approximately 123 calories, 29g  carbs, less than 1g fat, 2g protein, 2g fiber.

The brownies were delicious while they were still warm! You could serve this with some fro-yo or eat it on its own. Just be sure not to eat the whole pan in one sitting! Enjoy!



Spinning Class and Spinning Clouds

Today is a great day, isn't it?! Here are two reasons why:

1.  I woke up in my bed, not in a field.

My area had some heavy storms last night full of funnel clouds, heavy winds, hail, rain, and all the potential for a tornado. Luckily, my area only experienced (to my knowledge) a thunderstorm.

2. A pair of "skinnier" pants fit! Yay!!

I put on a pair of pants this morning that I haven't been able to wear properly, let alone comfortably, for years. Even though they're the same size as the other pants that I've been able to wear, the cut is very different. So regardless of what the tag says, I know I'm smaller because they didn't fit 5 months ago! I'll take it!

Moving on...

Breakfast

Yesterday kicked off with a yummy cucumber green smoothie. I put in a scoop of Vanilla Bean PlantFusion protein powder, cucumber, celery, parsley, ginger, and banana with some Naked coconut water into my Ninja blender until it was well blended. It was very light and the cucumber was very prominent and delicious!

Lunch

Here's a shocker: chicken vegetable soup!

Snack

I got out of training (for a recent promotion) early and ate my snack when I got home. I had a medium sized apple with a packet of Justin's Honey Peanut Butter. Apparently I was so excited about eating my snack that I didn't bother to snap a picture.

Activity

According to my training plan, today I was supposed to do a treadmill run. Although my shins weren't as sore as they have been in the past (I'm going to thank KT Tape and my medical compression socks for that), I decided to go to a 6pm spin class at the MaxFitness on the NE side of town. I normally go to the NW location but I didn't want to wait until 7:30. After all, the storm was coming and I wanted to be home.

Apparently, other people were really concerned about the storm because I turned out to be the only person to show up. So I received a one-on-one class. Which could have been awkward, but wasn't because the spin instructor was very interactive.

Dinner

For dinner I made a quick and easy omelet using egg whites, tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions. I topped it off with a couple of tablespoons of salsa.

Shortly after dinner the storm started to roll in and then the tornado sirens started to go off. I kept a close eye on the storm for a while, looking for rotation, but I never saw anything. The watch expired around 9:15 and they stated that the rotation seemed to clear and reduced it to thunderstorm warning only -- accompanied by a flash flood warning of course!

On my way to work, I did see that one of the surrounding rivers had risen a considerable amount and heard on the radio that several streets were closed. I really hope that all the people affected by the floods a couple of weeks ago didn't get another dose of it last night.

Question: Do you keep or have you kept any of your "skinny" clothes to use as a goal?