Tag Archives: Valentine’s Day

I’m In A Fight With My Body

Posted on February 16, 2012 | 4 comments

So I started this post on Sunday, February 12. And I am finishing it on Thursday, February 16. Things got a little busy. I started off my Sunday post by sharing one of my favorite post-run snacks. Bananas with peanut butter.

My Hubby thinks this snack is disgusting, but I find it just the perfect mix of sweet and sustaining after a run.

What is your favorite post-run snack? Another of mine is Chobani with cereal.

So after I bragged in my previous post about the fact that I was totally sticking to my training plan …then I went ahead and missed a run last week and had to regroup. I missed my Thursday run last week, so I had to make it up on Sunday. As I trudged out for four miles on Sunday morning, I remembered why I hate missing runs – because then I don’t get my much-needed rest day on Sunday after my longest run of the week. My body was pretty mad at me.

In an attempt to appease my body, I made a delicious soup on Sunday night. I wanted something warm and yummy, but also healthy. I turned to CookingLight.com for some help, and ended up making this quick and easy modified-version of their soup:

I used this recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/spinach-pasta-pea-soup-50400000115796/ with a few modifications…

Spinach, Pasta, and Pea Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 2 thinly sliced green onions
  • 4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 3/4 cup uncooked orzo
  • 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup of frozen spinach
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

  1. Heat a large saucepan over high heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add garlic and onions; sauté 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Add orzo and chickpeas. Cover and cook 10 minutes or until orzo is done. Stir in oregano and next ingredients through spinach. Ladle 1 3/4 cups soup into each of 4 bowls; top each serving with about 4 teaspoons cheese.

It was just what I wanted. And to add a little more to the meal, Hubby and I shared a plate of crackers and cheese.

Sunday night ended with us watching the Grammy’s and me heading to bed early.

And then my body decided it hated me again when I didn’t take a rest day for another four days. I have 30 miles on my schedule for this week, with a 13 mile long run this weekend. To many runners, this mileage is nothing. To me, just getting back into the swing of things, this is a significant bump up.

The rest of my week in running has looked like this:

  • Monday: Ran 4 miles at the gym. My gym has a 30 minute time-limit on the treadmill at the peak hours after work. So I ran faster on the treadmill than I think I ever have before and finished my four miles in 31:05. Phew! I was also dripping with sweat and a little wobbly getting of the treadmill.
  • Tuesday: I ran 5 miles outside after work along the East River. It was Valentine’s Day, but I had to get some miles in. Done and surprisingly felt decent!
  • Wednesday: I ran 4 miles outside after work along the East River. My body threw a temper-tantrum and I had to go super slow. This whole run was painful.
  • Thursday: I ran 4 miles outside before work along the East River. Again, my body was very angry about this arrangement and protested the ENTIRE way. It was a brutal run and I felt a slight twinge in my hip. I hear you body, and yes, I am planning a rest day. For tomorrow in fact!! 

This week four or marathon training has been pretty painful. I really hate conflict, so my body needs to get over this anger stuff pretty quick. Hopefully tomorrow’s rest day will help. Something else that eased a little of the pain was the nice bouquet of flowers I received from Hubby at my office on Valentine’s Day.

 

So pretty! Nice job Hubby!

And now I am happily looking forward to Friday as a day of rest and recovery. But I’m gonna need to have a serious chat with my body about what’s going to happen on Saturday. Hopefully with a rest day on Friday, maybe the 13 miles I have planned on Saturday won’t be too painful. 🙂

How do you cope with the pains of training? Do you scale back your mileage or push through it?

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Posted in Marathon Training, Running, Uncategorized

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“Over Easy” Ain’t So Easy

Posted on February 12, 2010 | 6 comments

Happy Friday and happy long weekend for some! Oh and Happy Valentine’s Day soon. Hubby and I don’t do anything for V-day. Neither one of us has ever really been into it. We’ll actually be traveling upstate this weekend for a quick stop at my parent’s house and then on to his parent’s house. So we’ll be with his parent’s on Valentine’s Day. What are your plans for the romantic holiday?

I hope everyone had a good day yesterday. Mine was pretty decent. I started off breakfast with some boring Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almond milk. Sometimes you just feel like having some cereal – you know?

Work was busy yesterday. After the snow on Wednesday and our office closing early, there was lots to catch up on. I ate my lunch very late in the afternoon and had leftover bulgur with chicken, veggies and salsa from the other night.

My afternoon snacks were fairly light – a pineapple Chobani yogurt and a pumpkin muffin around 4 p.m.

I am loving these muffins as a snack. They give me energy, but don’t fill me up too much. And with that added energy boost, I got myself to the gym right after work to try to squeeze in a 6-mile run.

I’d like to name this next little section: Tales from the Habitual Gym Rule-Breaker…

Well, I did it – I got in my 6 miles, but not without some guilt. Things started off alright when I arrived and saw hardly anyone on the treadmills. But around mile 4 things started to fill up and I realized that 3 of the treadmills must have been out-of-order because people would get on and then hop off after a few seconds. You’d think that during the height of winter the gym would to try ensure that all the machines–especially cardio machines–were working right. So no one was actually waiting for a treadmill until I hit about 5.6 miles. And at that point I was soo close to 6 miles that I could not stop. So I increased my speed to 8.3 (holy cow – I’ve never run that fast on a treadmill in my life!) and finally finished up my 6 miles in 49:12. It is definitely the fastest I’ve ever run 6 miles on a treadmill and toward the end I felt like I was in a race and experienced a minor adrenaline rush. But then when I finished I felt really guilty and actually apologized to the girl waiting in line that took my machine.  

I did some ab work while I sweated profusely and then headed home. I certainly didn’t want that girl to come find me and yell at me. 🙂 

Once I was home and showered I made some dinner. I have been craving eggs recently, and yes, I had them on Wednesday night, so two nights in a row is probably not a great idea, but so be it.

I was picturing a beautiful egg sandwich in my mind and decided to attempt to fry an egg “over easy.” I went through a stage in high school where I ate an egg sandwich with an over-easy egg every morning for a while, but my mom would always handle the egg part. This time it was all on me and I was intimidated. I may have even Googled “how to fry and egg” before I got started.

My first attempt was pathetic. I just plopped the egg onto the skillet from rather far away and watched as the yolk in the center broke and spread into the white area. I contemplated just throwing it on the sandwich and making due, but I wanted to do this right. So I ate that ruined egg (I couldn’t waste it) and set to work making another.

This time I was much more gentle and slow in my release of the egg onto the skillet. I was psyched when it landed gently with the center yolk in tact! I cooked it that way for a bit, added some pepper, and then ever-so-gently flipped it over and let it cook on the other side for about 30 seconds. I flipped it back and let it cook for a little longer and then decided it was done!

My very first fried egg over easy!! I was so proud. I placed it gently on an Arnold Sandwich Thin along with a slice of cheese and my egg sandwich was complete. 🙂

I know – my small feat is probably a mindless routine for many, but for me it was a new challenge and I’m glad I figured it out – all on my own too. I fully enjoyed my delicious egg sammy and have a feeling this little fella will be showing up again soon.  

Dessert was….you guessed it – another muffin. I know two muffins in a day maybe isn’t the healthiest option, but after my super-fast 6 miles I decided I needed it.

What is your favorite way to cook eggs (if you eat them)? And who taught you to make eggs? The over-easy egg sandwich might be my new fave. I was a scrambled egg or omelet girl before, but my heart may now belong to another egg.

Alright – that’s enough rambling about eggs. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Valentine’s Day. Anyone going to check out Valentine’s Day – the movie? I’d like to see it, but Hubby will not be up for that one. That will have to be a girlie movie night. 🙂

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Posted in Holidays, Running, Uncategorized

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