Posts from — October 2009

Hope you all had a wonderful Sunday!  Thankfully, the weather cleared up nicely and it was a picture perfect fall day. 

Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided  to go for an outdoor run and I dragged the family along with me!  Before we left, I nibbled on a Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookie topped with PB2.  I cut it in quarters and only ate half so as to not be weighed down during my run…

We went to a nearby paved trail/park for the run.   The paved trail is exactly one mile, so it was easy to gauge how far I ran.  I planned on doing 3.1 miles, but didn’t want to push it too hard considering I haven’t run since the race and I’m still suffering from bouts of dizziness.  The husband and daughters came along for my first mile, then branched off into some basketball playing and scooter riding.  I can’t lie – my first mile was tough.  My breathing was fine and I was running at a mild pace, but I felt weak and not really into it.  But, I kept going.  And beginning with mile 2, I started to feel that rush of good feelings.  I was in a steady groove and got “out of my head” and into the music.  I ended up doing 3.25 miles and finished strong.  I tried not to pay too much attention to the time, but I think I pulled it off in about 40 minutes.  My goal for right now is to get my body used to the mileage more so than concentrate on the speed.  I know that will come later.

After the run, I joined the family and walked another mile while they rode scooters.  I brought along  this coconut water to try out…

I took 2 sips and knew it wasn’t for me.  Straight up water seems to be my drink of choice these days

The fresh air did us all good!  Nothing like crisp air and beautiful changing leaves to brighten up your day…

By the time we got home, I was ready for some lunch.  I went with turkey and hummus wrap with arugula on a Joseph’s Lavash Bread , Kettle Brand Baked potato chips and super sweet cantaloupe…

After much chillaxin’ in the afternoon and a surprise visit from the in-laws, I got around to making some dinner.  Well, most of this dinner made itself!  Tacos were on the menu and I thought I would try out this new item from Trader Joe’s – Carne Asada…

It’s finely chopped beef sirloin seasoned with some spices and lime.  It’s fully cooked which is convenient, but a little high on the calorie and fat side…

I served it taco-style for the husband and daughters with the usual suspects:  white corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, quacamole, salsa and cheese.  I decided to put all the ingredients together in a big taco salad…

I added some pinto beans to it and toasted my tortilla for crunch.  My final addition was a dollop of another new TJ item…

Pretty low calorie, but definitely a long list of not so great ingredients(aka processed)…

Overall, a tasty salad!  However, the Carne Asada was not as good as I had hoped.  I found the meat to be tough and chewy.  Not a texture I love and the price tag is steep – $7.99 for a bag that serves 4.  The Queso Dip was okay.  It was moderately spicy and added a nice kick to the salad.  It would probably be good in a quesadilla or as a topping for a Mexican-style baked potato.

Dessert was the other half of my Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookie and then a trip on the Tilt-a-Whirl.  Yes, the vertigo acted up big time, so medicine popping and to bed I went.  It sucks getting old

ONE GOOD THING:  I got some great outdoor activity today!

Have a great day!!

It’s been one week and I thought about my 5K race  a lot today.  Ironically, the weather this morning was as crappy as it was last Saturday, so I think that brought up some of my thoughts!  I was replaying the race in my mind again and trying to figure out what I could do to be better next time.  Yes, I think I just said…next time!  Oh no!  But, the more I think about it the more I see that I have to try it again.  I can’t got down like that with my first race – LOL! 

Seriously though, it’s not about competing with others.  I’m not a competitive person at all.  I would classify myself more like “everybody’s cheerleader”!  It’s more about how to be better for myself.  There are lots of things that went wrong and thinking it over, I realize that the main thing is that I did not train as hard as I should have.  I kinda took the attitude that if I ran 3.1 miles once, I can do it over again, no problem.  And yes, that is true mentally, but physically, I think my body needed much more practice than I was giving it.  I primarily backed off due to my hip.  I was concerned that training may damage it so that I would have to bag out of the race altogether.  So I backed off, but that ended up hurting me in the end because I realize that my legs weren’t ready.

Another thing I need to learn is how to manage the racing jitters.  I was so nervous when the start gun went off  and that threw my whole breathing pattern out of whack.  I was unable to focus at all.  Even my music did not help.  And my head was so filled with nerves and doubts that emotions took over causing me to really lose it!  I’m not quite sure what to do to help with the jitters, but I did do some research on training for a 5K.  I found some good articles on Runnersworld and Cool Running, so I think I’m going to try out the program and see if I can get myself to run stronger and faster!  I would love any additional tips from my runner blog friends, so please feel free to leave a comment or email me!

Well, that being said, I took the day off from exercise today –LOL!  So much for training, right?!  Seriously, I am planning on starting tomorrow!  I’m a bit apprehensive due to my bouts of dizziness, but my plan is ,as long as it’s not acting up, I’ll get in a run.  Today, I was still experiencing a little dizziness, so I just puttered around the house which was kinda nice!

I wasn’t especially hungry for breakfast and couldn’t figure out what I wanted.  I finally decided a smoothie sounded right.  Not any smoothie…a BLUE MONSTER!  Green monsters have been all the rage, but I’m going blue…

• 1/2 cup Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 ripe banana
• big handful of baby spinach
• 1/2 packet NuNaturals NuStevia

Loved it!

For lunch I made a ginormous salad…

• lots of romaine
• diced ham
• 1 lite string cheese, chopped
• 1 hard boiled egg white
• 1/2 cup pinto beans
• 1 hummus filled egg white (filled with Trader Joe’s Chipotle Pepper Hummus)
• Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch Dressing

and some tuscan crackers topped with asiago spread (from our Anniversary basket)…

I tried another Zevia this afternoon…

I didn’t like this flavor, so I tried another…

It was definitely better.  So far, I’ve only liked 2 of the flavors.  I think my affinity for diet soda has really diminished though. 

I felt like munching this afternoon, so I pulled out the Cheez-its!  I made sure to “control” myself…slightly, by putting them in a bowl instead of having my face in the bag   My cup overfloweth…

Dinner was random.  We were all in relax mode, so I just reheated some turkey meatballs for sandwiches and sliced up sweet potatoes for fries.  I went bunless but layered on the cheeeeese…

And ended the flop- around day with chocolate…

Running is definitely on the agenda tomorrow

ONE GOOD THING:  While I was relaxing, I went through some magazines and pulled out some great new recipes to try this week.

Have a great day!!

I love Fridays!  I love them even more when the husband is off from work and the daughters have school.  Instant date time with no sitter required !  Our big date plan was to go for a walk together.  I know, we’re really wild and crazy ;P 

I made sure to get in some breakfast, but one that wouldn’t be too heavy.  Yogurt sounded good this morning, so I went with some plain nonfat Chobani with fresh strawberry “syrup”.  I topped it with some granola crumbs.  It was really good…

Because I was using the plain yogurt, I decided to sweeten it with a packet of NuNaturals NuStevia that I received a while back…

  Now, I have to say that in my quest to reduce the amount of artificial sweeteners (especially Splenda), I have tried stevia as a sweetener in my coffee/tea.  One word –blech.  I wanted to like it, but I couldn’t get past the bitter aftertaste.  The NuNaturals product claimed to be non-bitter, so I was interested to see if that was the case.  I used about half a packet in my yogurt this morning and it was great!  No strange aftertaste and just the right amount of sweetness.  I think with stevia, less is more and you do need to play around with the amounts to get the level of sweetness that you like.  For me, half the packet was perfect.  I’m looking forward to trying it out in some coffee or tea and see if it still holds the non-bitter claim.  Also, Ron at NuNaturals was kind enough to send me quite a few of their products to try out which included baking blends and extracts…

Might make for some good sugar-free holiday treats!  Thanks, Ron:)

After the daughters were off to school, the husband and I set out on our walking date.  With the dog   We walked at a good pace for about 50 minutes and 3.5 miles.  It was a beautiful morning!

On the way home, I had a craving for coffee, so we stopped for a small Pumpkin Latte Lite…

I can’t believe I’m saying this, buuuuut, I think this was better than Starbucks!  Gasp!

Lunch was a fiber powerhouse – Mixed Bean Melt and a pear the size of my head…

The Mixed Bean Melt…

• Joseph’s Lavash Bread 
• 1/2 c. pinto beans, mashed
• 1/4 c. chick peas, mashed
• 1 Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge
• handful of baby spinach – you know I put it in everything

Spread beans and cheese on one half of the Lavash.  Add spinach and fold over.  Spray skillet with nonstick spray.  Cook until browned on both sides and warmed through.

Very filling…

As always in this house, Fridays are pizza night!  I usually make our pizzas and alternate between making my own dough and using Trader Joe’s pre-made dough.  I have fooled around with my own dough recipe quite a bit, trying to tweak it and get it just right.  I’m always open to new recipes and when I saw Biz had a No Rise Pizza Dough that’s ready in 5 minutes, I jumped all over it!  I doubled the recipe to get two pizzas and actually ended up making 2 and a small one for me.  For my pizza, I used Trader Joe’s Roasted Red Pepper and Artichoke Tapenade for the sauce, added some baby bella mushrooms, Chavrie goat cheese and a tiny sprinkle of mozzarella…

It was fab!  I ate quite a bit of it along with a side salad of arugula dressed with evoo, red wine vinegar and a shaving of parmesan…

Now, that’s a pizza!

ONE GOOD THING:  I indulged in pizza tonight.  Guilt free.  That hasn’t happened in a loooooong time

Happy weekend, everyone!