Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Skipped School

Every Monday night for as long as I can remember (ok, for the last year and a half) I've left work and gone straight to Omni where I do some kind of light cardio until my spin class at 6pm. I usually look forward to this class and can count on it as a big calorie burner. Yesterday? I just totally wasn't feeling it.

Typically if I don't feel like going, I try not to think about it and before I know it, I'm huffing and puffing away on a bike. But, last week I left spin in a really bad mood- so not like me after a hard workout and I was totally dreading going back yesterday. I don't know if it's that a dark, cold, closed off room is unappealing while the sun is still shining or that I'm just annoyed with the same 'ole same 'ole but I decided to give myself a break. I reevaluated and tried to think of a workout that would make me happy.

Yep, you guessed it. A run outside. Since I ran 12 on Saturday, I didn't want to push too hard since this is supposed to be my "recovery run" so I ran a nice 3 miles at ~8:45 pace around my apartment. Afterwards, I felt a teensy bit guilty for skipping school and decided I needed to get in a bit more, so I headed for my apartment gym for 20 mins of elliptical + 15 mins bike. It felt SO. GREAT. to get out of my routine, exactly what I needed!

After a shower (okay, I'm lying I didn't shower... I just didn't want you to think I was a walking disgust, like I am) I made some homemade peanut butter and then started on dinner- one of mama's recipes. Have I mentioned just how AMAZING my mom is? She made me a homemade cook book with all her recipes that she cooked for us while we were growing up. That thing I said about learning to cook, you can blame her.

Anyway, I picked out one of my favorites- red beans and rice. I think this was my first time cooking it and (per usual) Cory was a little skeptical of my newest concoction  recipe. But, he loved it! AND went back for seconds! AND asked for it to be on the menu again! SUCCESS! Recipe will on on the recipe page soon!

Ingredients for Red Beans and Rice
Breakfast this morning was 2 egg whites on a slice of whole wheat with coffee; sweetened with sugar-free vanilla creamer and 1/2 Splenda, 1/2 Stevia (trying to ween myself off Splenda and switch to Stevia)
~150 cals


I worked up a morning hunger and had a snack around 10am- my favorite Kashi flavor! (120 cals)


For lunch today I enjoyed a Boca burger (original flavor) on a whole wheat Thomas English Muffin with a slice of pepper jack cheese and a local pear. The pear was easily the highlight of my lunch! I bought it yesterday at our town's fresh market and it was sooo good! Also had a big ole bottle of water. (350 cals)


Just finished my afternoon/pre-run snack of a Pure&Simple Energy Power Bar , Roasted Peanut flavor. Typically, I don't like to eat more than one "pre-packaged" snacks in one day, but I forgot my afternoon snack and ran to grab something during my lunch break. The Power Bar was pretty good! Definitely something I would buy again, 140 calories and 5g protein.



Going for a 6 mi run after work then home to make either a taco pie or salad+sweet potato (can't decide.....)
 :) Have a great night!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a faaaantastic weekend! Mine was just jammed packed with fun! I kicked off Friday with the Royal Wedding (yes, I got up at 5am to catch the first glimpse of Kate's dress!) then high-tailed to my AM strength training sesh where I literally got beat up... I was too busy straining my neck to watch the wedding to retain any of what we did, so sorry there's not an update on the Workout Page. I just remember lots of uphill treadmill sprints and something with a weighted ball that left my arms keeelling me on Saturday.



After a looong day of work, I headed to home to enjoy the evening with some cute boy that was waiting for me in my apartment. I washed some unmentionables (running shorts) for the next morning and we headed out to get some food. The weather was fantastic so we wanted to sit outside. Since we have a problem agreeing on out-to-eat food, we settled for getting food to-go and went and sat on Mom's backporch. I got a mini mozzarella/spinach pizza from Donato's and Cory got Hibachi Chicken from Hibachi (creative name).

We ate and enjoyed the sunset then headed home and went to sleep at 9:15. That is not a lie or even an exaggeration. We're simply paaaa-thetic. Is it bad that we're under 25 years old and make vows to each other like "promise tomorrow night we can try to stay up til 11?!" Because that happens. A lot.

But, there was a perfectly good reason excuse for it- we were both up and kickin' by 6am. Cory had to work and I had a scheduled 12-mile long run. The weather outside was simply perfection. God created that morning with his bare hands. The sun was beaming, not a cloud in the sky, 0% humidity and about 60 degrees. I had my usual pre-run breakfast; whole wheat English muffin with 1tbsp natural peanut butter and 1/2 banana. (~250 cals) I tend to limit my liquid consumption before long runs because I get serious pee anxiety. What would I do? Use a bush? No, thanks. So I try to only drink enough to not die of thirst from my breakfast. Now, the day before a long run is another story- you can just call me Nemo.


I met up with some friends from my Fort Mill Fast Feet group; ran the first 6 miles with about 7 people and then split off from the group with 2 others to finish with 12. It was an amazing run. I was so thankful to be out enjoying the morning. Part of our route is out in peaceful farmland with rolling hills; I can't describe just how amazing it was!



After finishing, I ran to a gas station, changed clothes, grabbed some waters and a protein bar and headed for the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte. One of my best college friends, Shae, (a bridesmaid in my wedding) and a few of her friends came in town to go whitewater rafting. Shae's birthday was last weekend and we're trying to make a tradition of doing something "crazy" each year for her birthday. Last year, we went skydiving!!!




(BTW, sorry I don't have pics, I'll work on this, in the meantime, use your imagination) The Whitewater Center was so much fun! We got to "jump" off a 2-story platform (supposed to be a "free-falling experience" but the harness kind of slowed you down), waterwater raft, bask in the sun with local brews and mountain bike!
That's not me... taken from here since I'm lame and didn't bring my camera

It was so fun to spend time with Shae, I hadn't seen her since my wedding (!!!) Unfortunately, because Cory had to work, he wasn't able to join us. Bummer to the max. BUT, right as we were coming off the mountain bike trails, GUESS who I see?! Cory! He showed up as soon as he got off work... what a little sneaker!

Once we left, Cory and I headed home to shower + get dressed and met back up with Shae and her friends at a little brewery in Uptown Charlotte called Rock Bottom. I enjoyed a glass of wine and catching up while Cory played pool with some of the guys. We called it a night and headed home, I was simply exhausted!


And...apparently I literally WAS exhausted because I slept for 11 hours. Yes, eleven. Like, one less than half a day. Geez. I guess I really needed the sleep, but I absolutely hate wasting a day sleeping. We took Anney for a sleepover at Mom's Saturday night so I guess not having a little furry alarm clock is part of the reason I was able to sleep so late. Once we finally rolled out of bed, we cleaned the apartment and did boring errands, like grocery shopping during the day and then got ready for a celebratory dinner!

Congratulations to my wonderful brother-in-law, Tony, for graduating college from Ashford University!! I know he put in a lot of time and effort -while working full time- and we're all so proud of him! We had dinner at Chili's with my family, Tony's grandparents + aunt/uncle, Page and Julie! It was a great ending to the weekend! I got the Margarita Chicken (grilled chicken with pineapple on a bed of wild rice + black beans) with a diet coke + strawberry Graduation Cake.

Cory and I came home and watched our my favorite Sunday Night Shows- Desperate Housewives and Brothers&Sisters. Well, we tried to watch Brothers&Sisters but were interrupted with the HUGE news of Osama Bin Laden being killed. I sure am proud to be an American! A great, big, huge thanks to all of our troops!

Scheduled Workouts: May 2nd-8th

Monday:
  • AM Group Stength Training
  • 3 mile recovery run
  • PM Spin Group X Class
Tuesday:
  • 6mi speed interval run

Wednesday:
  • AM Group Strength Training
  • PM Bootcamp

Thursday:
  • 1 mi warm up, 3 mi tempo, 1 mi cood down

Friday:
  • AM Group Strength Training

Saturday:
  • 8 mile long run

Sunday:
  • Rest
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