Tag Archives: treadmill

So Long Daylight Savings – Back to the Gym

Posted on November 9, 2010 | 5 comments

Good afternoon all. Today I’m doing a lunch post since the morning completely got away from me.

I’ll do a short recap of Monday – it was a tough one. For some reason, I was just feeling a little down and frustrated. There are a bunch of things contributing to it, but I don’t really feel like talking about them.

I started off Monday with a breakfast of raspberry oatmeal.

Lunch was leftovers from the pasta the night before. I’ll tell you right now that I did not get up and run on Monday morning or this morning. Why is it soo hard for me?! Unless I am meeting someone for a run, my bed and sleep seem to win over every time. Can someone please sprinkle some magic morning-person dust on me?

During my lunch break yesterday and after work, I read a few Foodbuzz and NYC Marathon recaps. Love them! I also convinced my friend to participate in the Marathon Monday Mania thing that ING was doing, whereby if you registered for the 2011 Marathon and completed a scavenger hunt item, took a photo of yourself doing it, and posted it to their wall between 12-3 p.m. you had a chance to qualify early for the 2011 NYC Marathon. Did anyone else out there do it?

In true sneaky fashion, they didn’t say how many people would be selected until after 3 p.m. Only 50 people! Alas, my friend was not selected. Bugger.

Not only was I feeling a little down yesterday, but then the crappy weather took it to a whole new level. Sleet/snow already?! I can tell this winter is going to be rough. As such, I figured it was time to face my fear of the dreadmill and head back to the gym for a post-work run.

My gym was pure insanity! Thank goodness I got there a little early, because by the time I was leaving, there were no machines or lockers available! I felt guilty running much more than 30 minutes (the gym limit on a cardio machine), so I pounded out 4 miles in 33:18. And the sweat was flying off of me. For all you runners out there, have you made the end of nice weather trip back to the treadmill yet? I avoided it as long as humanly possible.

We I got home from the gym, I made the lazy man’s dinner…

Yup – that would be grilled chicken (on the Foreman) with a side of corn and peas. Oh and by the way, it’s a poor man’s dinner, but also a stove/ovenless woman’s dinner as well.

Hope you’re all having a great Tuesday!

5 Comments

Posted in Marathon, Running, Uncategorized

Tagged cold weather, depressed, treadmill

Treadmill Avoidance

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 12 comments

Yowza – it’s Thursday already? Seriously, where is the time going? And next week it will be November. That is just crazy.

I started yesterday off with a yummy and filling breakfast of oatmeal with banana and topped with brown sugar.

Lunch was pretty boring – just leftovers of my shell-less taco from the night before.

I Can’t Let Go…
It was such a dreary day yesterday, that I had planned on heading to the gym after work to run a few miles on the treadmill, but part of me just wasn’t ready to take that step indoors yet. So I’m going to try to run outside tonight instead. I want to take advantage of every last second of outdoor running before darkness, cold and snow force me inside more often. I honestly can’t quite understand how I trained for a May marathon from Jan-March of last year in the cold and snow. I guess I must have just sucked it up and bundled up or made nice with the treadmill.

How are you coping with the shorter days and the loss of daylight for outdoor running?

As you can tell, I am not welcoming it with open arms.

When I got home after work, I set to making us some dinner. We had some mushrooms in the fridge that were begging to be used. So I came up with this creation…

Sautéed mushrooms, carrots and broccoli with chicken in a butter, white wine, garlic and lemon sauce and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. This was pretty yummy and I made enough to have some leftovers for today.

On an unbelieveable side note: I was attacked by a mosquito again last night. I woke up this morning with 5 bites on my left arm. I guess I should be relieved they aren’t on my face. I know it’s happening because our screens in our windows are soo bad and there are gaps that allow mosquitos to squeeze through. It’s sad to say this, but I am actually really excited for it to get cold so we can close the window. Why is the mosquito army attacking me?!! I found the culprit on the wall this morning after I showered and made Hubby kill it. But I am seriously contemplating buying Skin So Soft and using it as a moisturizer at night. 😦 And I’m praying for a more restful night tonight.

12 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized

Tagged marathon training, mosquitos, treadmill

Heading Back to the Mill

Posted on June 29, 2010 | 9 comments

Good morning all – happy Tuesday. I’m super excited because I have a short week this week and next week! I am looking forward to a nice long weekend.

So we made it through Monday. I started off my day yesterday with some plan old Kashi Heart to Heart cereal for breakfast (no pics).

The morning was busy and flew by and then I grabbed a nice big salad for lunch.

Romaine lettuce, carrots, cheddar cheese, dried cranberries, almonds and chick peas with balsamic vinaigrette. My afternoon snack was a Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean cereal mixed in.

So yesterday I had planned to get up early and run outside. Well, as past efforts have shown, I just don’t do well with getting up early to run. So yesterday I didn’t end up running. 😦 And then today I didn’t get up either. However, then I remembered my other option – the gym! So tonight I plan to run 4-5 miles on the good old treadmill. I get so into the groove of running outside, that I think I totally forget that the treadmill is still an option. So off to the mill I go tonight.

Do you ever choose the treadmill option in the summer when temperatures spike?

I love running outside and will usually always choose that option, but I think I need a change of pace as well. It might be good to switch it up a bit.

After work yesterday, I headed home, started a new book and then made some dinner.

That would be some baked tilapia with butter, lemon, seasoning, crushed garlic and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, topped with grape tomatoes. I actually really liked the tomatoes baked on top. I am starting to like our tilapia and fish dinners more and more. We also had a side of broccoli with a sprinkle of cheese.

As an FYI, the newest book I’m reading is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I finished Olive Kitteridge this past weekend and will have a review posted before this next weekend.

Health & Interesting Stuff in the News

In Summer’s Heat, Watch What You Drink: I like this tip: “To calculate how much water you need each day, multiply your weight in pounds by 0.08; the result is your requirement in eight-ounce cups.”

Teens who snack may weigh less – This is another study that really doesn’t say much in my opinion. It’s a broad statement to say that teens who snack weigh less because there are so many factors to consider: what they snack on (healthy vs. junk food); activity level; snack size, etc.

Exercise: Bicycling to Keep Off Extra Pounds – I wish I was a bike rider, but it’s just never been my thing. Kudos to those who bike though – it’s obviously good for you!

That’s all for today folks! Hope you have a great Tuesday – stay cool!

9 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized

Tagged Olive Kitteridge, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, tilapia, treadmill

All Natural* With An Asterisk

Posted on January 20, 2010 | 16 comments

Good morning – Happy Hump Day already! I really do love short weeks. Except sometimes you have to pack a lot of work into those four days. Anyway – still nice.

I’m pretty tired today because I spent another late night with my book, The Historian. I’m only about 15o pages in (600+) pages, but it’s one of those books that I think about when I’m doing other activities and look forward to picking it up again. And then when I do, it feels like an old friend. I’m such a nerd, I know.

Anyhow, my day went by very quickly yesterday. Breakfast was oatmeal with apples, cinnamon and a bit of agave with a side of light cranberry juice mixed with orange juice.

The day was busy and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I hadn’t packed anything and was craving veggies, so I grabbed a salad with romaine lettuce, raisins, dried cranberries, cheddar cheese, carrots and chickpeas.

Afternoon snacks were a clementine (two shown, but I only ate one) and Chobani yogurt with granola.

I literally flew to the gym after work because my marathon training plan called for a 5-mile run and I wanted to get there before it got packed. I tried to run as fast as possible because I really hate being one of those people that ties up a machine, but I ended up running 5 miles in 42 minutes. Not awful, but there definitely was one guy waiting for a treadmill for about 3 minutes when I was on and the guilt was building.

Do you adhere to the 30-minute rule at your gym (if you have one)? Will you break it if no one is waiting?

If no one is waiting, I feel slightly better about bending the rule a bit. Anyway, I jumped off and did some quick ab work and got the heck out of there. I’m not sure if I was thinking maybe the guy would tell on me and then the gym managers would come yell at me or what, but I wanted to leave fast.

I came home and was ravenous after banging out a quick five miles, so I set to work on making dinner. Hubby had purchased more chicken, so I decided to give in and use some of it. I looked at the label and was rather confused:

Where was my confusion you ask? Well, what are all the asterisks about? And when you have an asterisk, aren’t you supposed to look for the footnote? There were no footnotes here, but there sure were asterisks all over the place. *No artificial ingredients, minimally processed; No Hormones Added** (that one got a double)!

I took the label out and checked the back, but found nothing. And I went on the store’s website today, but couldn’t find any info about their “All Natural* fresh young chicken.” I’m going to keep looking. That label really angers me.

Anyway, I moved on despite the ambiguous label and made a stir-fry dinner with brown rice, All Natural* chicken (ha), carrots, onion, green pepper, broccoli and a little corn. I topped it with organic soy sauce.

After dinner, Hubby and I watched The Biggest Loser. It’s sad to say, but I didn’t once flip over to American Idol. Spoiler Alert: So, what do you think – was the Red Team Wife throwing the weigh in? I can’t decide, but I’m kind of leaning toward maybe.

After BL and before I read my book into all hours of the night, we had a little Murphy photo shoot. Here are some of Murph’s best shots: