Category Archives: Running

The Sun is Trying to Come Out!

Posted on March 31, 2010 | 12 comments

Finally there is a break in the rain! Thank goodness because things were starting to look pretty bleak. And because I’ve been running outside for a few weeks, I don’t like being forced back to the treadmill.

Monday and Tuesday were very busy days for me and my photo documentation was lacking. I managed to get my Tuesday morning breakfast because it was delicious – just the right thing to start your day with on a rainy day. Banana oatmeal with a big glob of peanut butter. Yum!

I don’t have any daytime food photos, but I was quite the snacker yesterday. Mid morning snack was an apple, lunch was a chicken sandwich on an Arnold’s thin with a side of carrots. Then in the afternoon I had a small bag of raisins and walnuts and a peanut butter Larabar. Yes, apparently I was very hungry.

After work I had a brief moment when I debated just going home and resting – for some reason the dreary weather always deters my drive to workout. But I powered through and made it to the gym for a quick 5 miles in 42:42. On Monday night I was also a gym rat and ran 4 miles on the dreadmill. Tonight I’m praying for clear skies and an outdoor run.

After the gym, I braved the blustery rain and made it home. And what I found when I reached the top of the stairs in our hallway was a puddle of water. The roof was leaking right in front of our front door. Lovely. Yet another reason why I hate the rain.

Hubby came home shortly after me. He had just finished a really big review/exam-type thing for work. It sounds like he did great. But he was also exhausted as well. He was being evaluated pretty much from 7:15 a.m. until 3 p.m.! Yikes.

For dinner I was craving veggies. I made a quick stop at the store after the gym and picked up two bags of lettuce for $4. That was a steal in my book. So I made a giant salad for dinner with some leftover pasta, walnuts, raisins and cheddar cheese. I sprinkled some Newman’s Low-fat Sesame Ginger dressing over top. P.S. – that is my all-time favorite Newman’s dressing. Have you ever tried it? Amazing!

And for dessert I had a nice bowl of delicious organic strawberries that were also on sale. So juicy!

After dinner Hubby and I watched The Biggest Loser and then I was in bed and asleep by 10:30 p.m. So tired. I don’t think I moved an inch all night.

Coming Soon (I promise): Angela’s Ashes review, The Help review, and my Galaxy Granola review.

And I started a new book on Monday – Sarah’s Key. Anyone heard of it or read it? It’s another one of my mom’s recommendations. So far so good – only about 25 pages in.

Lastly – I need some advice. When you are working cooperatively on a project and you end up putting in more work/effort than the other person, how do you deal? Do you mention the unbalanced workload? Let it go and just focus on your tasks? And what if the other individual is getting the same, or more credit than you for a project which you’ve been devoting a ton of time to? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Have a happy hump day all! I think some fine weather is in our future.

12 Comments

Posted in Books, Reviews, Running, Uncategorized

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Excellent 18 Miles & Race Recap

Posted on March 29, 2010 | 18 comments

Good morning all. Sorry for my brief hiatus, but this weekend was pretty busy and tiring. But good at the same time! How was your weekend? I have minimal photos to share from the weekend – apparently snapping pics was not my priority.

Friday night was low-key – the Hubby and I ordered pizza and watched Inglourious Basterds. Gotta say – not a fan of this movie. Has anyone else seen it – did you like it? Maybe I just didn’t get it, but I wasn’t impressed.

Saturday was busy with laundry and cleaning and then visiting with my old boss, who just had a baby. The baby, Julia, was the cutest thing ever. She is a little peanut.

Saturday night I made a nice pre-race dinner of chicken with rice.

I ate a big mound of rice. One of my fastest runs lately was fueled by rice, rather than pasta – so I figured I’d give it another shot. What carb do you prefer to fuel with?

Sunday morning I was up early – about 8:00 a.m., but the Colon Cancer 15k Challenge wasn’t scheduled to start until 11:15 – holy late! I am used to my long runs always starting at 8 a.m., so it was hard for me to sit around and wait. I tried to make sure I didn’t eat too early. I had my usual English muffin with peanut butter and banana, two big glasses of water and a granola bar. Finally around 10:30 a.m., I headed out to meet Liz and Katherine for a slow jog over to the start.  

We worked our way over to main area, hit up the bathrooms quickly (no lines!) and then headed to our corrals. Katherine was placed into a faster corral, one ahead of Liz and me, so she came back into ours. We talked times and tried to figure out how fast we wanted to run, but that all went out the window once the race started.

Our first mile was at a very manageable and reasonable pace, but after that things started to really pick up. Liz and I managed to stick together throughout the whole race, which is always a difficult thing. Around mile 5-6, I realized that we were still running pretty fast, with no signs of slowing. So I decided to just go with it – even though I knew my long run afterwards might be a bit painful.

We ran two of the 5-mile loops in Central Park, cutting off the very top north portion of the outerloop – a.k.a – the section with the ginormous unbearable hill. I was happy to avoid that area, but we still had to run the East Side hill (from about 72-79) twice. Not fun.

Once we entered the finish area and I saw on my Garmin that I was somewhat close to beating my PR, I pushed it full speed ahead and flew through the finish. Alas, I was a few seconds off. My PR (from the 2009 Boilermaker) was 1:17:03. My final time for this race was 1:17:15. Oh so very close! Still – I had no intention of running that fast, so I’m very happy with that time. 

After the race, I grabbed a quick drink, celebrated a bit with Liz  and then headed out to finish up the last 9 miles of my long run. And surprisingly, I felt okay. I had planned to head south from the 72nd Transverse on the East side, but decided to go north instead. Just after I made it up the huge hill at the very top of the loop it started raining. But nothing was going to deter me from finishing my 18 mile run. If I could run a fast race and keep running, then I could certainly deal with the rain.

One of the nicest things about running the rest of the 9 miles after the race was that they were just starting to clear off the water stations on the West side when I came around again, so I was able to grab a drink as I reached about mile 13-14. Very helpful.

And I did it! I managed to finish my 18 mile run after running a 15k and almost PR-ing, contending with the rain, and pushing through exhaustion.  Here are my stats from my Garmin for the whole shebang:

Mile 1 – 8:53
Mile 2 – 8:01
Mile 3 – 8:23
Mile 4 – 8:18
Mile 5 – 8:06
Mile 6 – 8:22
Mile 7 – 8:06
Mile 8 – 8:29
Mile 9 – 8:02
Mile 10 – 11:20 (finished the race, stopped for water)
Mile 11 – 8:52
Mile 12 – 9:00
Mile 13 – 9:19
Mile 14 – 9:01
Mile 15 – 8:41
Mile 16 – 9:05
Mile 17 – 8:29
Mile 18 – 9:34

Total mileage – 18 miles in 2:38:13. Average pace – 8:47

I got home just as the rain started coming down harder. I did a LOT of stretching right after and used my marathon stick. Okay – I have yet to mention my marathon stick, but I bought it awhile ago. I have a foam roller, but I bought the wrong size (too fat), so then as I was searching the web for a smaller foam roller, I stumbled upon the marathon stick.

The Stick has a website with a bunch of different stick options, but I went with the marathon stick because it’s smaller, easier to handle and I’m very petite.

According to the website, the stick provides the following benefits:

Prevent & Predict Muscle Injuries
Dramatically improve strength, flexibility and endurance
Rapidly prepare muscles for physical activity
Disperse the effects of lactic acid following activity
Accelerate muscle recovery

I use it primarily after running for “Enhanced Lactic Acid Removal.” From the site: During exercise, lactic acid can build to critical levels where optimal performance is sacrificed, Intracell Technology expedites the discharge of lactic acid from your muscles and encourages its conversion into glucose by the liver. Intracell Technology appears to be very promising in the arena of enhanced sport performance. Look for more research along these lines in the future.

Has anyone else heard of or use any of “the sticks”?

I also like it because I can roll my legs while sitting or standing. I don’t need to have space to lie on the floor, like I need with the foam roller.

After I stretched, used my marathon stick a bit and showered, I took a mini nap. When I woke up, Hubby started dinner. As my marathon training has gotten more intense, with longer runs during the week and weekend, I have been lucky that Hubby has been cooking dinner more often. Thanks Hubs!! He made a pasta dish with a meat sauce (using venison meat).

It was yummy and filled me right up. After dinner I immediately grabbed The Help to read. I had been reading it on and off all weekend and finished it last night right before I went to bed. I totally agree with everyone who has commented on this book – it was really great. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. But now I’m way behind on my reviews. Now I have to post reviews for both Angela’s Ashes and The Help! However, you know whenever I read a book that fast it’s a good one.

So – all in all – a great weekend! I wasn’t able to pace myself like I wanted for the race. Like others, it seems that if I’m running a race, my inclination is to race it rather than maintain a reasonable pace for training. But thankfully, I’m not hurting too bad today (knock on wood).

How was your weekend?!!

P.S. – I can’t believe that I’ve already run my 18 mile run! I have a bit of a decline in mileage this weekend (13 miles) and then next weekend is my first 20-miler! How did it come up so fast?!!

You can check out my training so far here. Have a great day all!

18 Comments

Posted in Books, NYRR, Races, Running, Uncategorized

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Worst Case Scenario Run

Posted on March 26, 2010 | 14 comments

Happy Friday all! This is going to be a super quick post because I have lots on the agenda today. But I did want to share some details about my awful run and my lessons learned. Part of my lessons learned can be explained by yesterday’s eats.

Breakfast was all good – I had oatmeal with frozen raspberries. Yummy – and a side of cranberry juice.

I had my normal granola bar for a snack around 11:00 a.m. and then the trouble started after that. I was busy with meetings and tons of stuff going on, so I didn’t actually get to eat lunch until after 2:00 p.m. I didn’t have leftovers and hadn’t had time to pack anything that morning, so I went out and grabbed a salad.

It was yummy and all, but in retrospect, maybe not the best pre-run fuel. Shortly thereafter I ate my Chobani yogurt with some granola and then a little later, about half of an apple (both not pictured).

After work I flew out of the office and home so I could try to squeeze in an 8 mile run. The weather report had been precarious all day, but now it was saying that rain would hold off until later that night. I quickly changed and set out – my plan was to try to maintain a pace of about 8:15 – 8:25 throughout the whole run. That did not happen – here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 7:56
Mile 2 – 8:14
Mile 3 – 8:20
Mile 4 – 8:30
Mile 5 – 9:37
.39 – 4:02

Total mileage – 5.39 miles in 46.43. Average pace: 8:40

Yeah, so not exactly 8 miles and not exactly a constant pace. What happened? Well, right around the middle of mile 4 I started getting nauseous, experiencing shooting stomach pains and just generally feeling awful. Then I began burping, and I know this is really gross and TMI, but it smelt and tasted like salad. Clearly, I think the combination of my salad choice and it being so late in the day was wreaking havoc on my tummy.

I trudged along and finished mile 4, but as I moved into mile 5 things just got awful. I was heading south on the East River Promenade, down by about 72 street and the waves of nausea just became unbearable. I really wanted to stick it out and at least run 7 miles, but at one point I visualized myself vomiting on the promenade and made a quick turnaround to head home. I did not want to be “that girl” that puked on the promenade.  

I made it home without any true catastrophes, but my stomach was on fire. A few rolaids, crackers and glasses of water later, I felt slightly better. But I decided dinner needed to be something safe. I made some wheat pasta with sauce and called it a night.  

So that’s my awful run experience. The lessons I’ve learned are:

  • I need to fuel with complex carbs (like rice, bread, pasta, etc.) before a run.
  • Salad is not an optimal pre-run meal for me – especially for runs over 5 miles.
  • I need to eat my lunch around the normal time (1:00 p.m.) and then snack wisely in between lunch and my afterwork run.
  • I should not take my good and great runs for granted! I’ve been having some pretty fabulous runs lately and I haven’t even been appreciating them!
  • A bad run, while torturous at the time, will only make the good runs seem sweeter.

So that’s that. I’m hoping that maybe that will be my only bad run for a while. But who knows – bad runs seems to pop up out of nowhere. With this one, I could clearly define some of the contributing causes, but I’ve certainly had other runs that felt impossible or were just not that great and there wasn’t really anything I could point to as a cause.

All in all, it hurt (physically and mentally) and left me feeling disappointed, but I’m moving on.

What about you – have you ever had a really tough run (either because of a particular factor or for no reason at all)? Were you able to push through it and finish the run, did you have to stop, and what did you do differently next time?

The one thing I did think to myself while the awful run was occurring was: Thank God this is not the morning of the marathon! And then after having just experienced what would probably be my “worst case scenario” for a marathon run – I prayed that my marathon day would be nothing like it!

Have a great Friday all – and a great weekend!

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Finding and Keeping the Perfect Pace

Posted on March 25, 2010 | 10 comments

Good morning – how are you on this fine Thursday? I have been a crazy person over the past two days. I’m going to skip Tuesday’s food recap altogether because it was pretty boring. I did squeeze in a decent 5-mile run after work on Tuesday night though, despite the looming rain. It was only drizzling, so I figured why not give it a shot. Running under rain sprinkles was actually surprisingly refreshing. Here were my stats from Tuesday:

Mile 1 – 8:16
Mile 2 – 7:53
Mile 3 – 8:14
Mile 4 – 7:55
Mile 5 – 8:11

Total mileage – 5 miles in 40:33

I was pretty happy with that run and my speed. My average speed overall was 8:06. If only I could keep that up for my marathon in May!

So that brings me to yesterday (Wednesday). For breakfast, I made some delicious oats in a jar with a side of light cranberry juice.

For lunch yesterday I ate at noon! That is unheard of for me – the earliest lunch ever. The reason being that I was teaching a training around 1:00 p.m. and had to travel and then set-up. So at noon I heated up some leftover stew and ate a Chobani yogurt with granola.

The training went pretty well. I have another one scheduled for Friday and that class is much bigger, so I’m more nervous about that one.

After the class I was able to come back to the office for a bit and snacked on a banana to fuel my post-work run. I’ve had to change my training schedule around a little this week, so I did my 8-mile run last night instead of a 5 miler. I didn’t feel like going to Central Park for some reason, so I ran it all on the East River promenade. Here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 9:49 (I located satellites from inside my apartment, so Garmin was a bit confused at first. It didn’t clock my first mile correctly.)
Mile 2 – 7:27 (yay for me – my first sub 7:30 minute mile since high school!)
Mile 3 – 8:32
Mile 4 – 7:40
Mile 5 – 8:58
Mile 6 – 8:19
Mile 7 – 8:37
Mile 8 – 8:18

Total mileage – 8 miles in 1:07:45. Average pace 8:27

I did two mile reps in this run, purposely trying to run at a faster speed (mile 2 and mile 4). Then from mile 6 on, I wanted to try to keep my pace around 8:20 (what I would likely need to run during the marathon in May to qualify for Boston). Obviously, that was tougher than I thought. I think I’ll use one of my upcoming “medium” runs in the near future to test my pace maintenance again and I will not run two mile reps before. I’d really like to be able to control my speed and be able to naturally feel how fast I should be going.

What about you? Are you able to tell about how fast you are running without the help of Garmin or other gadgets? Have you ever tried to maintain a certain speed? Did it work?

I’ve been thinking about strategies for the marathon a lot recently and how I’ll need to focus on staying around a certain pace, so as not to burn myself out. It sounds simple, but this run proves that it’s not going to be so easy. I’m also contemplating buying or creating a pace chart – I’ve been toying with the one on marathonguide.com.  Of course, my Garmin is wonderful, but the pace chart would just be an added back-up to help me see where I should be without having to do any math while run (I’m not too great at math to begin with).

Have you ever used a pace chart?

After my run I didn’t feel like really making anything – this has been a theme for me lately. So my dinner ended up being a black bean burger with a side of veggies with hummus and two pickles.

Instead of dipping the celery in hummus, I spread some peanut butter on it. Yum! And I needed the protein after that run. I also snacked on half of an unpictured Apple Pie Larabar right after my run and then finished the other half for dessert after dinner.

After dinner I tried to watch American Idol, but I ended up choosing to read more of my new book The Help instead. I am really liking it and I’m flying through it. I may be done with it before I get a chance to write a review of Angela’s Ashes!

Ok – that’s all folks. Have a great Thursday – moving closer to the weekend!

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Saturday’s Successful 17

Posted on March 20, 2010 | 11 comments

Good morning! I just finished a 17 mile run and I feel surprisingly good! I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I had some running buddies for part of it. Seriously, I think it helps so much. Katherine and Liz ran with me for about 9 miles and then I ran the remainder of my 17 alone. We talked about some pretty exciting stuff. I found out Katherine’s good news (but I won’t tell) and we celebrated Liz finding out she was placed at her top choice hospital for her upcoming residency! Congrats to both!

It seemed a little chilly when I first got up this morning, so I wore shorts, a tank and a long sleeve shirt. I knew the long sleeve shirt was a mistake within the first three miles. We headed toward Central Park from our usual meet-up spot around 81st and York. From there were did a full exterior loop and then hit the bridal path upper part for a bit more – topping out at 9 miles. They headed out the East 90th entrance and I headed around the loop again. Boy it got really hot by the time I finished around 10:30. Here are the full 17 stats:

Mile 1 – 9:44
Mile 2 – 8:51
Mile 3 – 8:55
Mile 4 – 9:11
Mile 5 – 8:49
Mile 6 – 9:04
Mile 7 – 8:57
Mile 8 – 9:15
Mile 9 – 9:16
Mile 10 – 8:40
Mile 11 – 8:57
Mile 12 – 9:07
Mile 13 – 9:05
Mile 14 – 8:43
Mile 15 – 8:50
Mile 16 – 8:40
Mile 17 – 8:49

Total mileage – 17.04 miles in 2:33:33

I am feeling a little bit sore, but not altogether that bad. Time to hit the shower and get ready to head to Brooklyn to hang with some lovely lady friends! And what a gorgeous day out! So amazing. The people running the NYC Half Marathon tomorrow are going to have an amazing day. Good luck to all those runners!

What are your plans for the rest of the weekend?

I hope you can get out and enjoy the nice weather! 🙂 Have a great weekend.

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Spring is in the Air!

Posted on March 19, 2010 | 19 comments

Good morning all. Sorry I have been MIA, but the past few days have been crazy busy with work, St. Paddy’s Day fun and marathon training.

I started Wednesday off with a nice 4.5 mile run with Liz. The last time I ran in the morning we watched as the sun rose around 6:15. This time there was no sun on the horizon – it was a dark morning. Our splits were:

Mile 1 – 9:09
Mile 2 – 8:53
Mile 3 – 9:09
Mile 4 – 9:33
.53 – 4:31

Total mileage – 4.53 in 41:17 

When I woke up to head out for our run my hip was feeling very tight. But as we got moving it started to actually feel a little bit better. I think my body was not prepared for my super fast run on Tuesday night.

I’m not going to post all my eats for the past two days because there were a lot and I didn’t get a chance to photograph many of them.  I did take a few St. Paddy’s day pics though!

Here is me out in my green gear, trying to drink a Guinness.

I say trying because I only drank about 1/3 of it. I poured the rest into Bill’s beer. I really wanted to drink a glass of wine when we went out, but literally, not a soul in the bar had a wine and I knew I’d feel like a fool ordering one.

We went to three bars on St. Paddy’s day because we were searching for food. Yup – while everyone else was focused on drinking, Hubby and I each had our minds on food (Hubby also has his mind on Guinness though). At the second bar we went to, they were serving corned beef sandwiches, which was what Hubby wanted. But I wanted no part of that.

After he finished his gross-looking sammy, we left that bar in search of some nachos for me to snack on. We finally found The Back Page on 3rd Ave, which was serving food. I ordered a giant plate of nachos.

P.S. – these had WAY too much crap on them. We literally had to dig to find the chips. I still like making my own nachos better than I like most restaurant/bar nachos.

Hubby munched on some nachos as well, and enjoyed a few more pints of Guinness.

So much so that he had a Guinness “stach.”

He’s a little silly…

We stayed out with the crazy St. Paddy’s day partiers until about 9 p.m. – I know we’re so old! All in all, I had 1/3 of a Guinness and 1 Bud Light at the Back Page and then we called it quits. I took one “self portrait” before we headed out.

Thursday was a normal day with some normal eats. I was soo busy at work with a big project we are trying to wrap up. I may be a little scarce towards the end of next week as we launch the project and I devote about 4 hours of Wed, Thurs and Friday to it. Eek!

But anyway – after work yesterday I had another 8 mile run on my marathon training plan. Seriously – Hal Higdon is trying to kill me. I used his intermediate plan as a basis for my plan, but moved some of the runs around a little. And boy did these mid-week 8 milers sneak up on me. I still felt a twinge in my hip (p.s. – thanks for the stretching suggestions!), so I wanted to take my run slow. I had mixed success with that:

Mile 1 – 8:32
Mile 2 – 8:14
Mile 3 – 8:26
Mile 4 – 7:46
Mile 5 – 9:00
Mile 6 – 8:32
Mile 7 – 8:45
Mile 8 – 8:52

Total Mileage – 8 miles in 1:08:14

Ok – so I know about half of those splits aren’t taking it easy. And then yes, I know mile 4 is pretty ridiculous, but there was a reason. I ran on the East River Promenade and headed north to about 115 St. As I turned around and headed back, a big group of high school (I assume) boys trotted down one of the ramps and were basically running right beside me. Umm hello – awkward. Especially when I didn’t have headphones on and could clearly hear them talking about me. And then when they began making little yelps and noises, I decided it was time to pull ahead and get the heck out of there. Hence my speedy 7:46 pace. 

And Mom, before you read this and freak out, there were many other people around that area running, biking, etc., so I wasn’t in any danger, just kind of uncomfortable.  

Have you ever had a weird, scary or uncomfortable running experience? How did you handle it?

After my run I felt pretty good – the hip felt okay, but I was tired. Hubby and I did enjoy a nice steak last night with some broccoli on the side, but I forgot to upload the picture. I also had a banana with peanut butter for dessert. Then I headed to bed at about 10:15 and slept like a rock.

I also wanted to post that I finished Angela’s Ashes on St. Patrick’s Day – how appropriate right?! I hope to have a review coming soon, but I also feel like everyone has already read the book. All the same, I like to record my thoughts on it.

My next book is the The Help. I started reading it on the subway yesterday and last night before bed. It’s definitely very different and it was hard to get the dialect at first, but now it’s flowing.

I am definitely looking forward to the weekend and the nice weather we’re supposed to have in the city. I think it’s supposed to reach 72 degrees out tomorrow! Have a great weekend all and get outside if you can!

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Posted in Holidays, Running, Uncategorized

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Ok, Who Put Speed in my Seltzer?

Posted on March 17, 2010 | 15 comments

No seriously – someone must have. I am pushing my daily food recap out of this post so I can talk first and foremost about something magical (or speed-induced) that happened last night. I had an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. run. I actually think maybe my Garmin is wrong. Or maybe it was the stars aligning, the super-charged rice lunch I had, the extra water I drank, the lovely compliment Kelly paid me yesterday (she labeled me as a “real” runner), the fact that it was my first time wearing shorts this season, the balmy temps, the beautiful sun or the plethora of runners out in Central Park. Whatever it was, whatever the combination – I don’t want to lose it and I want it with me on the day of my marathon.

Seriously – I am in shock by these run stats. Here it goes:

Mile 1 – 8:24
Mile 2 – 7:47 (I know!!)
Mile 3 – 7:45 (what, what!)
Mile 4 – 7:59 (oh okay, it’s all over)
Mile 5 – 7:42 (oh no it’s not!)
Mile 6 – 7:54 (hanging in there)
Mile 7 – 7:56
Mile 8 – 8:06

Total mileage: 8.04 in 1:04:04 (maybe 4 is my lucky number?)

I know for many people, these stats aren’t that impressive. I know there are super runners out there that may balk at these times and wonder what I’m freaking out about. But holy moly, for me they are insane. Out of control. I honestly don’t know where this came from or how I sustained that pace.

Have you ever experienced a run like this? Blind-sided by your out-of-nowhere speed?

I’m pretty sure this was a one shot deal and I need to be prepared for the fact that my runs will likely never look like this again. Total fluke.

Plus, after my run I noticed some pain in my hip. I’ve been trying to stretch it out, but that sure is a hard area to stretch. Any suggestions?

I did a recovery run this morning (actual recap to come tomorrow) and that seemed to help a bit, but I know I need to be stretching it some more.

I’m going to forego my food recap for yesterday and just say that it was pretty normal. Oatmeal in the morning, mid-morning snack, leftover rice and chicken dish for lunch (good carbs before my run), Chobani yogurt and an apple around 3:45. Somehow, I guess that fuel combo was the right mix!

Oh and btw – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! I’m wearing green – how bout you?! The Hubby wants to go out for a few drinks tonight and since I got my recovery run in this morning and had an awesome run last night, I think I am totally entitled! Will you be celebrating this evening – or today? I still wish the parade was on the weekend. Have a great one all! 🙂

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Snack Attack!

Posted on March 16, 2010 | 10 comments

Good morning all. It’s Tuesday and I’m hoping today’s work day goes by as fast as yesterday’s. I was pretty busy. And I can’t believe it’s already mid-March. I’ve officially become a weather stalker – checking weather.com multiple times throughout my day. I can’t believe how nice the next few days are supposed to be. I’m hoping the rain will hold off until at least Sunday so I can get my nice long run in on Saturday.

If that isn’t beauty, I don’t know what is!

So I’ll just do a quick recap of yesterday’s eats. Breakfast was Kashi Heart to Heart Cinnamon cereal.

I went with a light lunch after all the eating and drinking this past weekend. I was still feeling a little bit tired and decided some veggies would help. I had a salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, cheddar cheese, walnuts, artichoke hearts and chickpeas with balsamic vinaigrette.

My afternoon snack was Chobani yogurt with some Galaxy Granola and Kashi Go Lean cereal.

After work I headed to the gym since raindrops were falling on my head and I didn’t feel like running my 4 miles in the rain. I did a nice, easy 4 miles on the treadmill in 34:22.

Then I headed home with the fullest intention of starting dinner as soon as I got in. However, I started uploading photos from the bridal shower and bachelorette this weekend, while snacking on some Life cereal and before I knew it, I was kind of full. Not good. I totally had a snack attack without even realizing it.

I made dinner anyway, with the hope that maybe I would be hungry later. I tried out this recipe from Cooking Light.com.

Parmesan Chicken and Rice

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Ingredients

  • 1  tablespoon  olive oil
  • 1/2  cup  chopped onion
  • 1  teaspoon  bottled minced garlic
  • 1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
  • 1  (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
  • 3/4  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1/2  cup  dry white wine
  • 1/2  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
  • 1  cup  uncooked instant rice
  • 1  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4  cup  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, thyme, and mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Add chicken; sauté 4 minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned. Add wine, salt, and pepper; cook 3 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates.

Stir in rice and broth. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in cheese and parsley.

I had to cook everything a little bit longer than indicated, but it came out pretty well.

It will be my lunch for today though, since I really only ate a few spoonfuls last night because I was so full. Seriouly – Life cereal is addicting. I may not be buying it again. I just happened to spot it at the grocery store and felt a sudden urge to buy it.

How do you keep from snacking before dinner? Or is there a go-to snack you eat that isn’t too filling?

It looks like a beautiful day outside! I’ve got an 8 mile training run on my marathon training plan today, so I’m hoping I can get a quick Central Park run in before it gets dark out tonight.

Have a great Tuesday all – enjoy the lovely weather if you’ve got it!

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Posted in Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

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No Rest for the Weary

Posted on March 15, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning all – have you adjusted to the new time yet? I was actually so exhausted from my busy weekend that I was able to go to bed fairly early last night and adjust to the change a little bit easier.

My weekend was fabulous, but exhausting. I travelled to Albany on Friday night and had a nice dinner with my parents at Beff’s.

We were home pretty early and I went to bed at a decent hour so I could run on Saturday morning before the impending rain and all my activities. I was up by 6 a.m. and ate an English muffins with peanut butter and bananas for fuel. I was out the door a little before 7 a.m. and had a wonderful run. I did almost the same run as the last time I was home (when my Garmin and I got in a fight and I basically had a miserable run).

This time, the run was perfect. I felt really great, the predicted rain was holding off and I ran pretty well. Here are my run stats:

Mile 1 – 9:00
Mile 2 – 8:55
Mile 3 – 8:29
Mile 4 – 8:17
Mile 5 – 8:36
Mile 6 – 8:15
Mile 7 – 9:15
Mile 8 – 8:55
Mile 9 – 8:33
Mile 10 – 8:09
Mile 11 – 8:38
.25 – 1:54

Total mileage  was 11.25 in 1:37:01

I was feeling pretty good after this run. My fastest mile (mile 10) was partially run on my highschool track. I really picked it up and enjoyed doing some speedwork there. My slowest mile (mile 7) was one giant hill. I purposely added a bunch of hills to this route because I know that the Poconos marathon is going to be hilly. It scares me a bit that I was a little bit slow during that section – I hope I can maintain my speed during the marathon.

Overall, it was a great run and it started sprinkling just as I got back to my parent’s house. Very lucky!

After my run I showered and headed out to my friend Jenny’s bridal shower at the Edison Club in Rexford, N.Y. It was a lot of fun and the food was delicious. We had a brunch/lunch selection of food and I went with both:

I was ravenous after my run and cleaned this entire plate. 🙂

And then there was a delicious bananas foster crepe for dessert. And you know how I love crepes…

Yummy! Jenny’s bachelorette party was that evening as well, so after we wrapped things up at the shower, we headed to our hotel in Saratoga to get ready for an evening of bachelorette fun! 

We spent the beginning portion of the evening in the hotel suite eating some amazing dips, veggies and pizza (sorry no photos). Then we headed out on the town. Here’s a lovely group shot of many of the girls:

The bridey is the lady in the middle in white! The rest of us were garbed in some Irish green attire since the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Albany took place on Saturday and we knew most people would be celebrating in Irish style. Such a great time – I can’t wait for the wedding!!

So now it’s Monday and back to the grind. I have plans for a nice, easy run on the treadmill after work (since the rain is still lingering in NYC) and then I’m heading to bed early again.

Did anyone else watch that new program Minute to Win it last night? I’ll admit that it totally hooked me. I was really rooting for the Rachel girl – I thought she could go pretty far. But don’t worry – you won’t catch me practicing at home or anything – I’m content to just watch.

And starting tomorrow, I think the weather in NYC is supposed to be amazing!! Can’t wait. I may have to do a nice Central Park run after work finally. I hope the nice weather hangs on through the weekend. Have a great day all!

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Where Did All the Food Go?

Posted on March 11, 2010 | 24 comments

Good Morning all! We’ve made it to Thursday – doesn’t it feel great? Although I am a bit sad that the rainy weather is moving in. This sunshine and warm air has been positively blissful!

More bliss – getting in a nice 4.5+ run with Katherine and Liz this morning! The temperature gauge claimed it was 47 degrees outside when I left the house, but it sure didn’t feel that warm. However, it was great to see so many other runners out in Central Park – it made it feel like Spring is finally here.

I’ll just do a quick recap of yesterday (Wednesday). I did not run in the morning, so I was up a little bit late and had some Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with blueberries for breakfast.

My morning went by really fast. All of  a sudden it was lunch (don’t you love that?) and I broke into my very ripe banana and PB&J on an Arnold Thin.

Little messy, lots of yum.

Afternoon snacks were: Yoplait yogurt with Galaxy Granola (we’re all out of Chobani) and an Apple Pie Larabar.

Human Garbage Disposals
Hubby and I went shopping last week (on Tuesday) when we were out in Staten Island getting our taxes done. It was a big load of food, to say the least. I said to him as we were going through the check-out that it looks like we’re feeding a family of four. We had soo much food. And the thought of carrying it up four flights of stairs frankly scared me. I tried to insist we put some things back. We didn’t.

It seemed ridiculous to me then. But now – I can’t seem to find any food in the house! We’re almost out of fruit, the only veggies we have are frozen, no Chobani, etc., etc. I told him last night that with the way things disappear, I feel like we must eat an incredible amount. And maybe we actually do, the food just happens to be healthy and so we don’t gain weight.

But this only serves to validate the fact that if you want to eat healthy, it’s going to cost you. A person goes through healthy, fresh foods so much faster than processed and packaged foods. I can understand why someone would buy canned goods, and pre-packaged meals and items – they will last them so much longer. I think one of the key goals in fighting the obesity epidemic has got to be to somehow make fresh, healthier foods more affordable and accessible to low-income individuals.

Sorry for that little rant. It just always boggles my mind how much food the Hubby and I go through alone – we are human garbage disposals it seems.

How often do you go grocery shopping? Do you ever feel you run out of food too quickly? Do you buy in bulk to make fewer trips or go as needed?

Anyhow – onto yesterday’s post-work activities. I headed to the gym and knocked out 5 miles in 43 minutes on the treadmill.

Then I headed home and ate a quick leftovers dinner. My Tomato Tortellini Spinach Soup leftovers had absorbed most of the liquid (note this if you decide to make it – add more broth – definitely 6 cups). I decided to eat it anyway and sprinkled on a bit of shredded cheese. It was yummy and very filling. The tortellini were especially flavorful from absorbing the liquid. I also threw a few sun-dried tomatoes on there as well.

After dinner I relaxed and watched Superbad on t.v. for a bit and then headed in to bed to read Angela’s Ashes around 9:00 p.m. I literally laughed out loud at one part and I just have to share:

Frankie is talking about how clean and nice it was in the hospital: “I lie in bed and think of the hospital where the white sheets were changed every day and there wasn’t a sign of a flea. There was a lavatory where you could sit and read your book till someone asked if you were dead.”

I don’t know why this cracks me up s0 much, but it does. The last line and his tone is just hysterical. This is his tone throughout the book. I’m just past page 200 and there’s about 360 pages in the book. Yes, it’s sad in many respects to read about the poverty they endure, but Frankie’s narration is  just great. You can’t help laughing despite the terrible conditions and things that happen to this family. So far I really like it – hopefully a book review to come soon.

Have you read Angela’s Ashes – did you like it?

That’s all for Thursdays – have a good one!

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