Posts from — June 2010

This was a weird morning.  No run scheduled and it felt really strange.  You get used to a routine and it becomes the norm.  But, I decided to change it for now.  I mentioned this in my post the other day when I celebrated my longest run ever.  I know it sounded bizarre after having such a great run, so I’ll explain.

For the past, oh I don’t know…about 6 months?, I’ve been running every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.  I’ve slowly increased my distance along the way working my way up to the 6 mile mark.  On the alternate days, I hit the gym for an hour at a time.  I only take one day off from exercise (so why the HELL is my butt still ginormous??!!), that would be Saturday. 

The Thursday before my last big run, I felt done.  I was burnt out.  I felt it in my mind and my body was feeling it, too.  After my last few runs, I was exhausted.  Not just “good workout” exhausted, I was physically extremely tired.  Once, I even took a nap afterward.  Unheard of in my life!  I realized that I have been basically keeping a half marathon schedule for these past months.  It’s wearing on me and I don’t want to completely tank before I start my “official” half marathon training the last week in August.  So, until then, I’m decreasing my runs.  I’m only going to run one day a week, but will still keep up with my cross and strength training on the other days.  That way, when training time hits… I’ll be ready.  Then, it’s ON!!!

So, what does one do when there is no running in the morning?  Have coffee of course!

Boo to grounds in the cup     Like little beady eyes looking at me….

I had breakfast, too…

Yogurt bowl is back!

• 1 cup nonfat greek yogurt
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 2 tbsp. reduced-fat unsweetened coconut

Like snow…

The daughters and I had a busy day doing stuff they could complain about every second tons of fun things   Amidst the hoopla, I made a quick lunch.  Love when leftovers help out.  I threw some chick peas in with the Grilled Sweet Potato Salad.  It was a perfect combo….

I was out most of the afternoon and really missed my snack.  By the time dinner rolled around, I couldn’t wait to dive in!

Grilled turkey burgers with lite havarti cheese on an Ezekiel bun…

and my favorite salad (no garden tomatoes, yet)…

I even made cookies for dessert!  Legal ones… no added sugar   I saw Lauren’s recipe for Flourless PB&J  Thumbprints and decided to give them a whirl with some “no sugar” tweaks.  They came out yummy!

I’ll share my changes with you tomorrow (forgot my notes down in the kitchen!).  Lazy, I know!  But, I’ve got a date with yogadownload.com right now!  Going to get my Chaturanga on

Have a great day, everyone!

Do you usually follow a recipe “as is” or do you make changes to it?

I got to sleep in until 7  this morning!  I have to say, it felt NICE!  My body was a bit sore from yesterday’s run, so I didn’t push myself to get to the gym.  Instead, I did a home workout and I even changed it up by doing it after dinner.  More on that, later.

First, there was coffee…

Can’t change that routine!

I got all crazy for breakfast and brought back the open-faced omelet from breakfasts past…

This one was Turkey Sausage and Cheese…

• 1 egg + 2 egg whites
• 1 turkey breakfast sausage, diced
• 1 Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge

Along with sliced sweet strawberries…

For sleeping in, I was all kinds of productive this morning!  I got lots of laundry done, cleaning and even some blog reading

Before I knew it… lunch time!

I made a sandwich with Ezekiel bread, turkey, light cheese, avocado mash, dijon and baby spinach…

And a simple side of grapes…

with a small handful of peanuts…

Later in the afternoon, I took the daughters on a little shopping excursion in celebration of stellar report cards.  This kind of shopping, they like!

I was feeling the need for a snack when we got home…

I’m finding a mix of protein and carbs is satisfying me more.  At least this week

I was so excited for dinner – grilled chicken tenders and Grilled Sweet Potato Salad …

The Grilled Sweet Potato Salad recipe hails from Kalyn’s Kitchen and is absolutely amazing!  I loved the flavors of this salad.  I made a few slight changes/substitutions based on what I had on hand :  red onion instead of green onion, my own dressing and reduced-fat feta instead of regular…

It is super delicious and filling!

When dinner settled, I headed to the basement for a workout with the daughters in tow!  Part of the summer routine for them is my 30 MBS PLAN – 30 minutes mind (reading, online language class, math work), 30 minutes body (exercise, preferably outdoor), and 30 minutes spirit (religious or whatever renews their spirit)!

When I announced this summer plan before school ended, they cried.  Then asked if they could just go to summer school.  When I said no, they tried to get adopted into another family with a fun Mom.

No dice.  They’re stuck with me.

Anyhoo, our 30 minutes of body tonight included random acts of basement fitness for them and a weight training session for me.  I used my GYMBOSS to keep time with my sets and rest period.  I tend to not want to rest between sets, so this really helped!  A fun new way to use it! 

I did a full body circuit much like the one at the gym:  chest fly, reverse bench fly, seated bicep curls, incline bench press, tricep kickbacks,  one arm row, squats and some ab work.  I’m loving weight training!  It makes me feel badass.  Pumping big 5-8 lb. dumbells does that to a girl

Have a great day, everyone!

What is your favorite strength training move? Mine is chest fly!

Happy Monday!  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  We had some milestone birthday parties this weekend!

First, we celebrated my BIL’s 60th birthday party with a surprise event at their home.  My SIL did a great job pulling that one off!  The food was delicious. 

Especially the cake…

so I was told   Yes, I refused the birthday cake.  Sad, but true.  There was a milestone right there!

Today, we remotely celebrated my grandmother’s 100th birthday!  She lives in Italy and was having the whole town come to wish her happy birthday.  We Skyped our family in Italy and sang “Happy Birthday” in Italian to her!  So cool!  I hope I can get to 100 years, too!

In other milestone news…

I met my running partner, Kerry, this morning for a most humid and hot run.  But, we didn’t let it get us down!  We knocked out a sweaty 6.13 miles – my longest run ever!!  I was so psyched to finally hit that 6 mile mark…

We made a couple pit stops back at the car for a drink because it was just so hot.  I came to the conclusion that I really need a Camelbak!

Our overall time was 1 hour and 20 minutes with 20 intervals of 3:1…

I’m so proud of us for getting that far.  Just knowing I’m getting to the halfway distance mark for my upcoming half marathon makes me feel more confident that I can do it! 

And now, I feel it’s time for me to scale back on my running.  I know that sounds like the weirdest thing right now, but I’ll talk more about it in an upcoming post

Okay, so on to the food…

Well, coffee first

Breakfast was my new favorite – Cottage Cheese Fruit Bowl…

• 3/4 cup nonfat cottage cheese
• 1/2 diced gala apple
• 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 tsp. sliced almonds
• 2 tsp. reduced-fat unsweetened coconut

I never liked cottage cheese so much!  The coconut really makes it.  I found this in my local Giant Supermarket…

Delish…

A while later, I had a small snack – egg whites on Triscuits…

Funny looking egg whites, right?  See, I had this idea to use up my carton of egg whites…

I bought them because I was feeling badly about chucking all the egg yolks when I made my egg sandwiches, etc.  However, sometimes, ya just want a hard boiled egg!  Again, I waste the yolks.  So I came up with a method to simulate a hard boiled egg white.  I’ve tried the microwave and it’s just not the same as that firm boiled egg.  Instead, I baked them!  Here’s the method for my Hard Baked Egg Whites…

A mini-muffin tin coated with cooking spray…

A large roasting pan with sides…

Place tin in roasting pan and fill each cup with 2 tbsp. egg whites…

*note:  do not shake the carton before using as instructed

Fill roasting pan with VERY HOT water until it reaches just under the lip of the muffin tin…

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until firm …

Let cool slightly.  Run a knife around the edges and release egg whites from the pan.

Make a tower cuz it’s fun…

They were nice and firm with the texture of a hard boiled egg.  Easy to make ahead and store in the fridge for snacking…

And no peeling!  Don’t ya just hate that job?!

At lunchtime, we met at my parents’ new home where we Skyped, celebrated and ate.  Mom made a roasted chicken, salad and had hoagie bites for the kids.

I enjoyed my chicken and salad with an Ezekiel roll and a smidge of buttah!

When back at the homestead, I noshed on an apple with warm natural peanut butter (thanks for that idea, Tamara!)…

Dinner was a filling bowl of brown rice pasta with Trader Joe’s Giant White Beans and leftover sauteed spinach…

Now, if I could just get the rest of the family to eat this……that would be one amazing milestone

Have a great day, everyone!

Would you want to live to 100?  Why or why not?