SORRY AGAIN!!! This time I've haven't updated even longer! The husband decided to give my laptop a bath so it's been out of commission for a while... so I'll give quick updates!

So these past past few weeks I've had 2 Personal Records!!! Longest distance ever and my miles per week!!
3 Sundays ago I ran 15 miles!!!!! I was terrified going out for the run... 13.1 was my longest yet so I had no idea how if I'd get through this. I felt great up until mile 13, then I basically fell apart. Those last 2 miles never ended. The last mile was 13:30, I was basically dragging my body down the road.
Last Sunday I ran 16 miles!!! I mapped out a new route (exciting!). I'm going to go crazy running the same route I run 4 days a week. I love seeing new neighborhoods, parts of town, and the nature! Especially running through the rich neighborhoods, that definitely distracts me. The 16 miles definitely was not as rough as the 15 miles but it did take me 3 hours and 20 minutes to do... that is a llooonnnnnggg time on my feet!! I was so sore all day, but it is the best feeling to know this is what I can accomplish now because of the hard work I put in to this! I also bought a pair of tights for this upcoming winter. They are sooo expensive full price ($40-$170+!!!) but Marshalls had some really good ones for 20 bucks!
Ah I also Can't believe my mid weeks runs are now what I used to think were long runs! I feel great doing 8 mile runs during the week, but they seem tougher. I think it's the mental aspect of weekly runs are the shorter ones so they're shorter and a bit easier than the long weekend ones... 8 miles is still a longish distance for me, it's not like running 3 miles!
This past Sunday was a draw back week, these make me sad :( I was only supposed to do 10 miles but thought I'd be daring and add on an extra mile. The temperature happened to be perfect out! Mid 50's... but pooouuurrinnngg. So I thought I'd skip the terrible chaffing and possible blisters from running outside and chose the treadmill. Normally I run away from these awful machines but today was as bad as I thought, I thought I'd be going crazy around mile 4. I made to 7.5 before I started doing the whole 'check the distance on the screen' thing ever 5 minutes. And the treadmill kept turning off after 60 minutes! But I made it, and I will probably never do that again!
For some reason I've stopped doing strength training and I'm noticing my arms getting a bit flappy so I've been scowering for a simple but effective arm work out! I would do full body but my physical therapist thinks what I'm doing for therapy and running is enough for my lower body. I did find this resistance band workout that I'm going to start tomorrow! I also might pick up a couple Jillian Michaels DVDs, they get really good reviews!

I've got a couple new recipes I've tried this week!!

Baked cripsy zuchini chips: Preheat the oven to 425, slice a zuchini into half inch clices, dip in egg whites, coat in seasoned bread crumbs and bake for 25 minutes flipping half way through. I ate the whole pan they were so good!!!

Healthyish Rice Crispies: These are sort of healthy! I basically just didn't use any butter. 6 cups of rice crispies and 2 cups of mini marshmellows! Microwave the marshmellows for 2 seconds then stir in the rice crispies. I made 50 smalls balls that came out to around 20 calories  piece!

I've also found a new blog that has tons of information on clean eating! Check it out if you need help getting clean! http://www.heandsheeatclean.com/

I'll try and make a new post midweek with some pictures! Husband got me a new lens!!!!!! Can't wait to try out some recipes and take fancy pictures! Hopefully I'll have my own working laptop by then.

Back!!!

There hasn't been anything too interesting going on these past few weeks and I just changed work schedules so I took a mini break. But I'm back! With a bunch of snacks I founds and some good post run rituals.

Last Sunday I had a 12 miler, and it went great! Definitely better than my half the weekend before. Tuesday I had a 4 mile run and I ran it 6 minutes faster than my last 4 mile run! AHHH!!! I was so happy, that proves it really is the humidity and weather that's been holding me back since it there like no humidity and kind of chilly that day. But since I was pushing it a little the knee pain was creeping in. So I've been trying to keep myself to a post run routine to keep the legs and feet happy.
First! I'll Ice my knee, 10-15 mins on the inside, top, then underneath.
Second! Stretch! I'll do all the basic calf, quad, hamstring, etc stretches
Third! Foam Roll! I whip out that foam torture device and hit my quads, calves, and IT band.
Fourth! Roll my Arch out. I'll use a tennis ball or baseball and stick it under my arch and roll it back and forth with pressure. This helps prevent and treat Plantar Facsilitis.
Fifth! Ice my arch. I freeze a plastic water bottle then while sitting I'll stick it under my arch to help with any arch pain that might be creeping in.
Sixth! Hip strengthening. To help with my nagging knee pain I found a quick routine on RunnersWorld. Basically, its single leg raises, 10 with the leg straight, then turned in, then turned out.

I've also been trying out something before my run for my knee, heating a gel pack for my knee. I read it helps loosen and warm up the muscles.

This past Sunday I had a draw back week, so I only ran 10 miles but man... they were slllooowww. Which is fine, I had my PT test today!!! So I didn't want to completely kill my legs... I've been freaking out about this test for a while. I'm always scared some freak thing will happen like my legs will just give out or something, and my pushups are terrible. BUT I PASSED!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!! No more sit ups or a push ups for a while :D ALSO I ran my fastest mile and a half in a couple years. 13:25! For a celebratory lunch James and I went to Jason's Deli and I had a little bowl of ice cream after lunch.

Speaking of food, I've got a few snacks I wanted I discovered that I really wanted to share. Last weekend I took a trip to Trader Joes (one of the best stores in the world) and picked up: Almond butter, Coconut oil, and rolled oat fiber bars.
Almond butter: Contains monounsaturated fat which lowers cholesteral, helps lower blood pressure, controls blood sugar levels, and is also high in protein and fiber. It definitely beats out peanut butter!
Coconut oil: Originally known as a bad guy in the food world for having saturated fat, its starting to getting a name as a health food.  It helps with: maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, high blood pressure, bone strength and more. It can also be used for tons of different things like lotion, hair, lip balm, and skin problems. Its amazing on bread, in smoothies, and to cook with.
Roller oat fiber bars: SUPER TASTY!! I love Fiberone bars, I could eat a whole box of them. But these have almost half the sugar of FiberOne bars and contain 9 grams of fiber, they're also pretty cheap.

A couple other food products I wanted to share are Amy's Organic Burritos, Kashi Thin Crust Pizzas, Spelt Bread and Flat Out Whole Wheat Wraps.
Amy's Organic Burritos: Way better than those nasty fatty frozen burritos from 7/11 and contains 7 grams of fiber and 11grams of protein! Fills you up for a while.
Kashi Thin Crust Pizzas: Overall a healthier pizza choice if you need a pizza fix!
Spelt Bread: Contains more protein than wheat, has lots of B vitamins, fiber, less glucose than regular bread and is easily digested. It has a nutty chewy taste compared to regular bread and is AMAZING with coconut oil.  
Flat Out Whole Wheat Wraps: Big wraps and only 90 Calories! Lots of fiber too. Great for making pizzas! Throw on some marinara sauce, low fat cheese, spinach, other veggies, and chicken or turkey then bake it in the oven!

I wont be away for too long again!!

Virginia Beach Rock n Roll Half Marathon!

WHEW!!! All the anticipation for the race... and then it's over!
Race Report:

Saturday:

I took Saturday off of work so I could drive to VA beach, pick up my race number and shirt and enjoy the expo! I. LOVE. EXPOS. There's tons of free food, samples, snacks and trinkets and then booths with everything ever that I wanted to buy. I did pick up some GUs, a really cute charm that's a hare chasing a tortoise (I'm the tortoise says James), a 26.2 sticker for motivation, and some Zip Fizz. I love Zip Fizz, I haven't mentioned it yet because I totally forgot about since I haven't picked any up in a while. It's basically a really healthy energy booster before work outs, it's low in calories and has added vitamins and good stuff. It might be all in my mind but I really feel the difference in my run quality when I use it. There were also tons of booths doing arch checks, running analysis stations and Kinesio taping. I remember seeing during the olympics all the athletes being covered in it and I was still terrified of my arch and knee problems popping up during the race I decided to give the Kinesio taping a try. Basically, the construction of the tape allows blood flow while keeping everything in place unlike braces which can cut circulation and be restrictive. It also lasts up to 5 days through showering and exercising. Almost immediately after them taping my knee I could feel a difference as if everything's secure and in place... but I'll give my final opinion later!
I know its unnecessary to carbo load for a half marathon, but I figured I'd fit in some simple carbs to avoid runner's trots and a mini burn out since I'm pretty slow and would be out there for a bit any ways. I munched on some air popped popcorn, garbanzo beans, whole wheat toast w/ peanut butter and bananas, then for dinner... PIZZA! My long run last weekend was great after a night of a few slices of pizza so I made a healthier one at least this time.
Quick Homemade Pizza
*Thin crust premade                        *Lots of spinach
*Marinara sauce                              *Chopped Garlic
*Lite Mozzarella Cheese                 *Thinly sliced Mushrooms
*Reduced Fat Turkey pepperoni
I followed the directions on the crust package for cooking and threw everything on. The only special thing I did was add the mushrooms the last 4 minutes of cooking to avoid a soggy pizza. It turned out great!!
Before hopping in bed I made sure I had every single thing ready for the morning and made a list of the things I needed to get done still.
Sunday:

AHHHH RACE DAY!! After an anxiety filled night of awful sleep I got up bright and early at 4 am! Got dressed, filled my bottles, vaselined up and cooked me a big bowl of oatmeal. We got in the car and zoomed to VA beach, on the way we passed a few cars with running stickers... and then there was one with a 26.2x10 sticker, definitely made me feel like a weenie with my 13.1. We parked at a nearby convention center and took a bus over to join the 10,000+ crowd of people. I said farewell to James as I made my way to corral 13... it took 20 mins to get from 1-13!! I guess it's better than all us slow people getting trampled. I was feeling great all through the beginning and even though I was paying attention to each mile marker it seemed to make it go by faster. I was definitely starting to feel the side effects of wearing a long sleeve shirt, normally I wear one during training to keep the sun off (and bad tans) but it was not doing it today. The course was set up great though, lots of refreshments and sponges along the entire way. The bands every mile and cheer squads really helped keep my spirits up, I really appreciate the time people volunteer for events like this!
Once I hit Mile 9 I really started to feel it. I was just happy to get to each mile marker by then, they all seemed to get farther and farther apart. Around Mile 10.5 there was a bridge we had to cross over again and I probably would've walked that stupid thing faster than I ran it... then! I saw a sign that was marked 15K and in my delusional running state, some how I did terrible math and thought it meant mile 13 and I only had .1 left to go!! So I used my last boost of energy only to see a fuzzy big banner way at the end of the board walk :( It felt like a whole hour just to get to it. BUT I FINALLY DID!!!! In 2:36, 7 minutes slower than my CA time but thats ok. I didn't train specifically for this race and it was crazy hot and humid (I swear those are my only excuses!). Then I got my awesome medal, and a quadrillion snack things I could barely hold onto... I just needed to find James before I puked everywhere and died. OH, and the Kinesio tape worked! I didn't have any knee pain, at all, the entire run.
It was so much fun, a great experience, and I'm so happy to have 2 half marathons under my belt now! Every time I finish one though I always think 'Man, I can't believe in November I'm going to be running that long... twice.' Ah I hope I'll be trained enough by then!
After we got back I took an ammmaaazing shower and plopped in front of the TV with some ice bags and a PB&J.

Such a great hubabub waking up at 4 am and waiting around for hours :p

Monday:
I could barely get out of bed!!! I contemplated going to gym... I really wanted to, but decided against it today and literally stretched, foam rolled and iced. It was torture. I always ate... way too much, but I was just ravaging all day, I guess tomorrow I'm kicking my butt to get back way on track. I did make some Super Healthy Whole Wheat Waffles!! It was sort of an accident too, I was reading a simple recipe that I was going to alter a little bit but ended up using water instead of milk. Whoops! They still turned out really really good though!
*1 1/2 C Whole wheat flour (you can use equal parts white if you're not used to whole wheat flour)
*2 Tsp baking powder
*2 Stevia packets
*1/4 C egg substitute (1 egg)
*1 C water
*1/2 C milk (or subtract the water and use 1 1/2 C milk)
*1/3 C unsweetened applesauce
*Cinnamon and Vanilla extract
I was able to make 5 decent sized belgian waffles in my waffle maker. I cooked them longer than my cookers timer just to make them extra crispy. I topped them with a super thin layer of peanut butter but you could also use sugar free syrup!
Nutritional Info:
Cal: 143 Fat: .7 g Carbs: 29.5 Fiber 4.5 g Sugar 2.9 g Protein 6.7 g
Sounds like a pretty healthy waffle to me!!!

So that was my race weekend!!! Lots of food, pain, sweat, and accomplishment! Tomorrow I have my first physical therapy session, I hope it won't be too bad!

:( Hmph

Not sure if any one has ever tried to leave a comment... but I fixed the settings, so now any one should be able to leave one!
Tuesday
So being the nice wife I am I went along with James to do scout out a forest for his deer hunting... I kept my mouth shut the entire time but I absolutely hated it. Besides all the mud, blood, and tics I dealt with I have a hideous rash every where... and this is 2 weeks later. Turns out Poison Oak! So now I've got swollen ears, lips, and stuff all over my hands, mouth, and legs. GRRR never again!!
After going to the Doctor for this I went for my 3 mile tempo run, not good. I barely made it a mile and half before my knee stiffened up and refused to work. So I hobbled on over and finally made my Physical Therapy appointment. We'll see what happens!!!

Besides all that bad stuff I've got lots of better things to talk about!! CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT SUNDAY!! VA BEACH ROCK N ROLL HALF MARATHON!! I've been waiting for ever for this! I will have tons of pictures to share. This past Sundays long run was only 7 miles, so I decided to up it to 8 miles... then I looked at my phone towards the end of my run and it said 8.79, so it turned into a 9 mile run! I felt so good I could've kept going for a while.

I can't stop eating my Oatmeal cookies I posted the other week. Now I'll eat them by reheating them and putting a thin layer of peanut butter on top... NOMNOM! I also used craisins in the last batch I made which were pretty good.

Thursday
 Bleh had another bad run day. I planned on doing 6 miles but my knee hurt so bad again and my arch felt like it was ripping!! I had to stop and walk a few times before just quitting or hurting myself worse before Sunday. I ended up stopping at 5.35 miles and I'm taking the rest of the week off :( MAKES ME SAD! I'll do an hours of cross training Friday and tons of stretching and foam rolling till Sunday. I did make my running playlist for Sunday so that got me all pumped up again! 

New Running Fuel
*I tried out my new GU Chomps and they were delicious, but took too much time to chew during my run so I think I'll stick to normal gels. 
*I also tried out the Vanilla Honey Stingers. AMAZING also. They're like chewy wafer cookies.

Even though I know you don't need to carbo load for a half marathon, I'm still debating on what I'll be munching the day before. Last Saturday I was bad and had a few pieces of pizza and then ran 2 extra miles the next day... So I might possibly whip up a home made healthier pizza.

So Excited for SUNDAY!!!! SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!! 

12 Inches lighter :D

So I'm taking advantage of my icing bum around time and thought I'd catch up on everything! I've also been working on putting some of my photography up, so I posted a few things in the 'Snap' section if ya wanted to check it out!

I tried lots of new recipes, bought some new race fuels, and had some greats runs!!
First I'll start with my WARNING!!! The banana raisin oatmeal cookies might make you take a few trips to the bathroom if ya eat a few, just letting you know!
I'll start off with all the yummy recipes and food I've eaten this week! First I created an amaazzzinnngg smoothie. I'll call it Blue Mango:
*1/3 C of plain fat free greek yogurt
*1/2 C Frozen blueberries
*bunches of spinach
*Whole mango
*few drops of vanilla extract
Then blend it all together! I didn't follow these exact measurements... sorta just dumped them into my blender.


Next, I made a healthy desert for James and I... Diet Coke Brownies!
I found this super simple recipe on pinterest all ya need is
*Box of Brownie mix
*12 oz Diet Coke
I used Sugar free Brownie mix which is less mix than a normal box, so I probably should've used a little less soda. They come out kind thing but turned out super delicious though. Using the sugar free mix there were only 90 calories a serving!



Another recipe I made was for a Single Serving Chobani Muffin, again I got this from one of my favorite bloggers, Rabbit Food for my Bunny Teeth. All you need it:
*4 Tbsp Chobani Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Greek Yogurt (I used plain and added some powdered vanilla jello)
*3 Tbsp whole wheat flour
*1 Tbsp liquid egg whites
*1 Tbsp chia seeds
*1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
*1/4 tsp or 1 packet of stevia
*1/4 tsp baking powder
 *I also added a dark chocolate kiss in the middle
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients and stir until well mixed. Pour the batter into a cupcake liner in a muffin tin. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy warm out of the oven.


 Besides being addicted to Sugar Free Icees at 7/11, they also have a pretty healthy snack I love to get, Smart Fries. 110 Calories a bag, they're a healthy alternative to chips and french fries.

James and I also tried out this pretty cool burrito bar in Portsmith. You basically customize your burrito, taco, or quesadilla any way you want and mark it off on the menu. For my burrito I chose a healthy combo of a whole wheat tortilla, black beans, corn, brown rice, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole. I also had an amazing hard cider called Angry Orchard, tasted like apple juice... then I looked up how many calories it had and there were 190 -_- whoops. Always check your alcohol calories ahead of time!!!
My new favorite post run meal is... SUSHI! The commisary on base has a section where there's sushi being freshly made. I always grab a California roll or tuna roll with brown rice, lots of carbs and protein making it a good recovery meal. 









Okay so another thing I did this week... CHOP MY HAIR OFF!!! I love my long hair so I was just planning on trimming like 4 inches off but decided, Hey! My hair will grow no matter what and there's some people out there that need it a whole lot more than me! So I cut off a foot to donate to Locks of Love. I wish I would've done this at the beginning of summer though, my hair would be every where and stuck to me when I'd run. So if you're looking for a change and have some extra hair you should definitely consider it!

CHOCOLATE WASTED!!!!

But really...
After my amazing 9 mile run Sunday I went to a BBQ and ate like 10 days worth of food. I had tons of tortilla chips with buffalo chicken dip, some cookies, a burger, chili, crackers and cheese... I couldn't stop. I woke up feeling like I had a wild crazy drunken night. I felt awful, dehydrated, and sluggish alllllll day. Carbs like to suck up all the water in your body especially afer a feeding frenzy, so all day I drank water non stop. Days like this remind me exactly why I love to eat clean and in moderation. I do not enjoy feeling like a beached whale.

Any who! I've have knee pains that flare up ever few months and lately its been awful. I've never done much for it but ice it so last week I purchased one of those knee braces that is basically a band that goes underneath your knee cap to help stabalize and hold it all in place. I read some really good review on them... and IT WORKED!!! Sometimes I could feel the pain creepin back in but for the most part I've been running pain free for the past week. Such a wonderful feeling! I hate when you know you could've ran some much faster and further but pain is holding you back.
I've also been bugging James about buying me a pair of compression socks for recover. They encourage blood flow for faster recovery, and from what I've heard they are pretty great. BUT! James isn't too fond of the price. So for now I've been doing DIY Compression! For a fraction of the price I bought 2 ACE bandages and have just been wrapping them from my ankles to my knees. I might go to Walmart this week and dry out some Dr. Scholl's ones.

I'm so EXCITED to share my BANANA RAISIN OATMEAL COOKIES! 
I found a basic recipes online and added some flare to it, best thing is... there's no added sugar, butter, or oil! They taste pretty dang good. I calculated out the nutritional info on MyFitnessPal and came up with:
12 Servings
62 Cals, .5 g Fat, 13 g Carbs, 2 g Protein, 5 g sugar
All you'll need is:
*1/2 C whole wheat flour            *1/4 tsp salt
*1 C rolled oats                           *cinnamon (I just kept shakin and shakin)
*1/2 tsp baking powder               *1/2 C unsweetend applesauce
*1/2 tsp baking soda                    *5 tbs egg white
*1/2 tsp vanilla extract                *1/8 C honey
*1/4 C raisins/craisins                 *1 small-med banana
*Stevia packets optional
Directions:
I mixed all the dry ingredients together first then added in the wet stuff, then mushed up the banana and mixed it all in. Then cooked them for 12 mins at 350.

They were so good I decided to make a 2nd batch right after since I know they'll be super convenient for pre run snacks. Also, the 2nd time around I made them smaller and squeezed 17 decent sized ones out of it, so they're even lower in calorie per cookie!!! Also, try microwaving them for 5 seconds then putting a thin layer of peanut butter on top. DELICIOUS! 

I've got a 10 miler tomorrow!!! I'm going to try out drinking a couple cups of black tea before my run instead of coffee, the last few runs that I've had coffee before I had weird moments of really high heart rates so I'll see if the tea gets rid of that, plus I don't care much for the taste. Hopefully no more food hang over!

Oatmeal raisin cookies & Funfetti Cake dip!!

 So thanks to Pinterest I made some Funfetti Cake dip... NOMNOM, it's basically eating cake batter. Here's the website I got it from but it's super simple, only 3 ingredients: 
*Box of Funfetti cake mix
*2 cups fat-free plain yogurt (I used greek yogurt instead)

*1 cup lite Cool Whip (I used the fat free one)

Then just mix it allllll up. I also used Teddygrams to dip but you could use animal cookies, nilla waffers, etc. Again it's only 105 calories per 1/4 cup serving

Also from one of my favorite blogs I made her breakfast Oatmeal Rasin Cookies. Super easy and quick!
Here's the origional recipe! But I'll give the quick break down of it:

*1/4 cup liquid egg whites      *1Tbsp chia seeds
*1/4 cup rolled oats                 *1/2 tsp Vanilla
*1/2 banana mashed                *1/2 tsp Cinnamon
*1/4 tsp baking powder             *2 Tbsp raisins
Mix it all up in a small microwaveable bowl, then microwave it for 1 min and 30 secs. Then you can plop it out of the bowl onto a plate or eat it out of the bowl. I made this 3 times this week!

So for another healthy desert I tried (tried being the key word) to make snickerdoodle blondie brownies made with chickpeas... blehhhh Here's the website if you would want to try it, but now I have the pan of it sitting in my fridge, that will probably be there for a couple weeks. It was just too
 dry, and didn't taste like anything I'd want to try again.

The past few days James and I have been exhausted after work with out much time to cook dinner so we went out a couple times. In town we have a restaurant called Jason's Deli, DELISH! They have a huge unlimited salad bar, healthy sandwiches, lots of soups and other salads. This time I got the taco salad with chicken chili, blue corn chips, and guacamole. Lots of healthy fats, protein, and carbs. I nixed the sour cream and scrapped off as much cheese as I could to make it healthier. One of the days we got chinese take out. I know, first thought is fried stuff covered in sauce with some more greasy oily stuff. But the place we go to has a whole healthy section with steamed choices. So I got steamed chicken and veggies with rice.

Running Stuff!

I'm addicted to Runnersworld.com and their forums, so while feeding my habbit I came across some useful things I thought I'd share:
I mentioned earlier that my running pace has been getting slower and recently my legs just haven't been wanting to work. SO DEPRESSING!! Especially after taking a few days off of running, but on the forums I read about people having similar problems and a lot of responses were talking about heat and humidity having a huge impact on pace. So here's a quick trick to seeing how hard you should push yourself or if you shouldn't even be thinking about pace.

Temperature + Dew Point

Below 100: Ideal
100-120: Not ideal, but ok to go for a fast time
120-130: Ok for fast pace in races up to 10K - adjust for slower pace in longer races
130-150: Adjust for slower pace in all race distances, especially longer races
Above 150: Forget pace - just focus on finishing

Just about everyday is way over 150 for where I am, so WHEW! It's not mainly my fault!

I've also been doing research on fitting in beneficial strength work outs for running, but there's so many different things online. Of course runners world had the easiest to understand with lots of good reviews. It consists of:

*12-15 Reverse Lunges per leg              *12-15 single leg raises

*6 Single Leg Box Jumps per leg           *5-8 Planks while raising a leg for 2 seconds

*12-15 Y squats
It's all only about 7 minutes and its a warmup and strenth workout all in one!! Here's the link for instructions and more information.

I Have also found my new love...  a FOAM ROLLER!! These things are amazing for recover, sore muscles, and injuries. I found an infograph explaining all the main exercises and different kinds of rollers. They can get pretty expensive, but I found one at Walmart for $14.00 so I snatched that one. I use it everyday for my quads, hamstrings, calves, and ITB. It gets pretty painful using it but after you feel like a new person.

Yesterday I had to run on the treadmill since it was pouring with lightning and thunder. After I was done I ran back to my car and in slow motion I saw myself step in this huge puddle right next to my car. DOH! I was excited to wear my new shoes for tomorrow and now they were completely drenched. I was going to use a trick I read on Runners World for drying out shoes, but I didn't have the main component... newspaper. Runners World says to take out your inserts and then stuff your shoes with newspaper until they're dry. I used towels instead and the next morning they were dry! So today I had a 9 miler, my main goal was to finish and not feel miserable. Mission completed!! I finished feeling great and not like I wanted to quit miles back. I did my post run commissary walk around picked up lots of groceries including chocolate milk, which is the best post run recovery meal ever! 
 

Olympic Motivation!

Sunday
I was supposed to start off the ending of my break with a 10 miler... but I made it 7.75 and failed miserably. I tried out a new trail today, but not knowing where I'm going with all the mini trails that break off the main one, messes with my head. I hate feeling I'm farther along than I really am and I was going at a snails pace and feeling awful. So I stopped before I started hating it. :(
James and I did go to the Farmers Market again in Norfolk! We got some more beets, booboo peaches, cucumbers, and some peppers. We also ate at the 'Fresh Cafe' they have there. They make everything from scratch basically with everything from the market while you shop. It was soooooooooo good. I got a crab cake sandwhich, and it comes with all these colorful healthy sides. After, we picked up 5 pounds of 97% lean ground turkey, 6 pounds of diced tomatoes and a couple melons from Sam's Club we headed home to make a HUGE pot o chili. Chili is so easy to make and you can put anything you want in it. We made a huge pot to last the week so you can adjust the measurements to what ever you want, but We Used:
*2.5 pounds of Turkey                 *1 can of white beans
*6 pounds of diced tomatoes       *Chili powder
*1 poblano pepper                      
*1 canned chipotle pepper (with  out seeds!! way too spicy with it)
*1 big can of chili beans        
*Light sour cream and reduced fat shredded mozzarella
Cooking: We just threw everything in a big pot and cooked the turkey separately then threw it in. Boiled it all together then let it simmer for a bit. After we plated it, we sprinkled a little cheese and a tiny bit of sour cream on top. I also baked some tortilla chips (that I mentioned in an earlier post) for some scoopage action. It was all so healthy and cheap!! For like 10 pounds of food it was around $20.
Then we sat around the rest of the night eating our chili and watching the olympics.

                                         Monday
It was just a cross training day so I whooped some butt on the elliptical and did some mountain climbing on the treadmill with incline. I did to do one of my favorite things today!! GO TO A RUNNING STORE! I could be in one all day, even though it's depressing everythings so expensive and I want to buy everything :( but I did get some new gels to try! For dinner we met up with friends and went to Cheddars! So, a really really really tasty and healthy choice from there that I had was the Portebello ciabatta sandwhich (with out mayo, but I kept the cheese) with steamed broccoli.  I also treated myself to a little drink, I got a skinny margarita with out 109 calories and it was delicious :D

                                        Tuesday

It's Kimi Size!

Busted out 3 miles and some cross training this morning, then had a Drs appointment in the afternoon. I went in for some knee pain I've been having for a lonnnngggggg time and for some help with my nutrition. I've been wanting a referral to see the nutritionist about trying to lose weight while eating enough for marathon training and for a little help with my big of binging I some times run in to. I ended up leaving with some pain meds and a referral for physical therapy and the nutritionist. So I'm happy! I haven't gone the physical therapy route before so I'm really hoping it will help. I've never ran without this knee problem, and that would be amazing!! My little treat today was a mini slurpee from 7/11. Those are our addictions, I used to crave them every time I would just pass my 7/11. The sugar free ones are soooo good too :D

For Dinner I made some of James's shredded BBQ chicken that he passed down to me. All I used was 2 chicken breasts and BBQ sauce. Put the stove on medium, a layer of BBQ sauce down and plop in the chicken. Once its visibly cooked half way through, flip it over and cover it till it's all the ways cooked. Then use 2 forks to pull it apart.
For a Snack, I found a quick recipe off of pinterest for chocolate protein granola. I made some alterations to the original recipe so here's what I used:
*1 tbsp. honey                               *1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
*3 tbsp. water                                *1 tsp. Maple syrup (optional)
*4 Stevia packets                           *1 tsp. Olive oil (or canola)
*2 c old fashioned oats                  *1tbsp. Cocoa powder
*2 tbsp. chia seeds (optional)       
*1/2 scoop of chocolate protein  powder
-Preheat the oven to 370. Mix everything together (oats last!). Spread it on a cookie sheet and bake! Stir it at 10 minutes and cook it for another 10 or until crunchy. Its sooo good and soo healthy! 1/2 cup is a serving.

I'm off to spend the rest of my time watching the olympics now!! Man do I want all their amazing bodies!!! All the gymnasts and volleyball players have no jiggle and fat! I'd rather look fit than skinny any day :D

Taking a Few Days Off :(

My little yoga area upstairs!

Thursday
So basically I've been really noticing my performance has been going down and I've been running a lot slower. The weather has been attrocious here which can really affect performance, but I think I was running too much at race pace. Like when I was on vacation, since I didn't have the gym to do cross training I just ended up running more to make up for it or I would do a lot of extra cardio after running which probably didn't help. I know my diet is pretty good but I dont think I'm eating enough to keep my glycogen stores up. I don't want my performance to get worse or to injure myself so reluctantly I'm taking Thursday-Saturday off. The only thing I'll be doing during those days is... YOGA! I'm bad at getting my stretching in, so this will really help! It is so relaxing, you feel like a new person after! I actually got a free yoga mat and 3 DVDs from the Airman's Attic. Marshalls has some cheap mats also. The DVDs I have are Gaiam brand and they have all kinds for different purposes.
James and I have still been keeping up with our juice a day!! Lately we've been making some new ones:
*Beet Red: 1 beet, 1 peach, 1/2 cucumber, 1 big carrot. (Don't spill it any where!! James wont let me drink it outside of the kitchen :p)
*A pear of carrots: 1 Pear, 2 carrots, 1/2 cucumber.
Basically what ever I'm feeling I'll throw 1 of each in, I don't care too much for the beets but James loves them. You can also juice the greens too!
Since it has been a week of super clean eating James and I can deviate just a little so we don't have a mega binge sooner or later. For dinner we decided to try out the new pizza place down the road. There are so many ways you can alter a take out pizza to be a lot healthier:
*No cheese! You can even order pizza to only have cheese on one half if other people want it!
*Thin crust. You save tons of fat, sugar, and calories ditching the deep dish or hand tossed.
*Marinara Sauce. The ranch and white sauces have so much fat and calories!
*Pack on the veggies! You could even go meatless!
We ended up not going by any of those rules... but we ate sensibly! I actually cut my pizza slices into halves or thirds so it kind of tricks me into thinking I'm eating more! So I can turn 2 pieces into 5 slices. I also always blot all the grease off the pizza... I think it's absolutely disgusting eating something that I can see my reflection in.
Friday
I am starting to feel the affects of not running everyday though. Normally my appetite seems to actually sky rocket when I exercise less. I think it's really just mindless eating and I'm trying to find something to fill the time I normally use running... I hate when this happens! At least there's only healthy stuff in the cupboards so even if I go a little over board I can't be completely disapointed. I've been keeping up with the leg work out I posted earlier, and after a few days my legs are noticeably firmer when I flex.

James ate almost all the fries :(

For Dinner tonight I made some Tilapia tacos and garlic fries but it could also be altered to be some healthy Fish and Chips. Basically I breaded and baked the tilapia, so you could just eat it with out putting it in the taco. For the tacos I used: *4 tilapia filets, olive oil, bread crumbs and spices, avocado, tomato, onion, fat free sour cream, and corn tortillas.
To bake the fish: preheat the over to 375, brush olive oil on each side of the fish and then pat on some bread crumbs and spices. Then just cook it for 10 minutes on one side and flip then cook for another 5-10 minutes! Cut up the avocado, tomato, and onion for toppings!
Garlic Fries! So these are baked and not fried, I used 4 med potatoes, 4 cloves of garlic, salt and olive oil. Pre heat the oven to 450, cut up the potatoes into the size fries you want, chop some garlic then mix the fries, garlic, salt and olive oil together. Then just bake for 30 minutes or until they're bubbly and crispy. Delicious!
Saturday
This week I tried out cooking most of my food for my 4 day work week on my Sunday (which was really last Tuesday). I made a large batch of steel cut oats, quinoa, whole wheat pasta, and grilled chicken breasts. It ended up working really well and saving so much time! In the mornings I just heated up the oatmeal and added in what ever I felt like, and for my lunches I'd cut up some chicken and add it to either the quinoa or pasta. Then for snacks I had a big bag of single serving microwaveable edamame from sams club. It was so quick and easy! I also brought some carrots and hummus for snacks too. It's finally my Friday night today, yay! But that means tomorrow I'm starting running again after my mini break, I'm so excited!! I get jealous seeing people run around base! I think I'm going to do another 10 miler tomorrow but we'll see how it goes!

Farmers Marketing!

I started Sunday morning off with a cup of coffee and 2 slices of toast before going out for my 10 mile run it was already 83 at 7am :( But it wasn't terrible and I felt good. I've been having issues with my pace though, a few months ago I was running a little of a minute faster per mile so I'm not really sure what's going on. I might need to work on how I recover and make sure I'm getting enough carbs. Also another thing, I think I'm going to switch from the New Jersey Marathon to the Norfolk one which is a week later. It'll be a lot easier since it's a town over instead of driving 6 hrs and having to get a hotel.

They say you should eat the colors of the rainbow!

After my run I made myself another cake batter protein shake!! I can't stop making them. Then James and I went to the farmers market!! It was pretty awesome, it was inside so we didn't have to stand out in the sun, there were bands, stands for homemade cookies, breads, jewelry, and salsa. Since it was the last day everything was 25% off but it was the last of bunch. It was great to be able to help the community out though and buy some really fresh, plump, delicious veggies and fruits. I think we're going to try and go every Sunday to get fresh produce. There was also a little book store connected with $1 and $2 books, I ended up finding one with running stories and poems! We ended up picking up some beets, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, canary melon, a huge tomatoe, and 'boo boo' peaches. I thought boo boo peaches were some different type of peaches till James gave me a stupid look and said that meant they were the bruised and mushed ones. -_- ANY WAYS!!

Soooo many jalapeno seeds!

We also bought some jalapeno salsa (SPICY!!!) from one of the stands but didn't have any chips at home... so I made some tortilla chips!! Its super easy and actually a lot healthier. All you need are yellow corn tortillas (40 calories per tortilla) and cut them up in to fourths. Then bake them at 450 for 5-8 minutes until they start to curl up. You can spray olive oil on them and sprinkle them salt and what ever spices.
Later for another snack I cut up the watermelon that I had and the canary melon from the market and mixed it in a big bowl, yum!!  
For dinner we had stuffed bell peppers! There are tons of different things you can in but here's what we used:
*2 bell peppers                        *Garlic
*1/2 can of black beans           *Onion
*1/2 can of diced tomatoes      *1 cup of dry quinoa
*Spices
Directions
*I cooked the Quinoa first in my rice cooker, you can just follow the directions on the box for different methods
*Preheat the oven to 400, then cut the peppers length wise and core them.
*Then boil the peppers for 5 minutes
*For the filling: I chopped the garlic and onions very finely and cooked them in a pan with some olive oil, then added in the beans, tomatoes and half of the cooked quinoa and just heated it all up together for about 5 minutes. (I kept the rest of the quinoa to have extra)
*Then we stuffed the peppers and stuck them in the oven for 30-35 mins.
*optional: We packed some bread crumbs on top to make it a little crunchy and broiled them at the end for a few minutes.

Monday James and I had a Peach, Apple, and Carrot Juice. Yummy! I just stuck one of each into the juicer, Voila!
Then for a late breakfast I had blueberry cheese cake oatmeal! I got this recipe from one of my favorite blogs that I follow. Here's the link for the recipe! Basically all you need is:
*Oatmeal               *Blueberries
*Honey                  *Cream cheese (I used a Tbs of Sugar free/ fat free cheese cake jello instead)
*Vanilla extract     *Nuts
*Cinnamon
Just cook the oatmeal then basically add everything else in!
Delicious! I think tomorrow I'm going to make a big batch so I don't have to make breakfast every morning before work.
For my workout today I walked around the Williamsburg outlets for 2 and a half hours! See, shopping is a good thing :p Ahhhhh I wanted to buy everything from Nike, Reebok, Finishline, and Under Armour.
Last meal I'm going to share with ya'll is DINNER!! It was quick and easy, we picked up some salmon burgers from Sams club and cooked them up in a pan and put them on whole wheat buns. While those were cooking I made Sweet Potato Fries! I love them! I got a recipe off pinterest to make them sort of crunchy by adding a Tbs of corn starch. I just cut up 2 medium sweet potatoes and shook them in a bag with 2 Tbs of olive oil, the corn starch, salt and what ever else you want. Then I cooked them at 450 for 20-25 minutes. Some times I put too much cornstarch which gets chalky, so you can omit it if you want!
... Time for another cake batter protein shake, I haven't had one today yet!

These are a few of my favorite things! (that's supposed to be song form :p)

I have to share this amazing cake batter protein shake! I actually found it on Pinterest. Here's the link for the recipe. 

Seriously this thing tasted just like cake batter. I can't wait to get back home from work so I can make me another one... then make James one so I can drink some of his.
So besides that, I wanted to share my favorite things in the kitchen and a few other things on Pinterest that I'm working on.

I got this great ab and leg work out off Pinterest. It doesn't include any squats or lunges which is perfect for me and my bad knees! All you need is wall space and that's what you do all the exercises against. It says to do it 5-6 days a week and you'll results in 2 weeks! I've been doing it for 3 days now so I'll repost in 2 weeks how my manly man legs (what James calls them since he jealous of my muslce! :p) are looking. Try it here!
Another Pinterest find was a Jillian Micahel's detox and debloat drink recipe. She says to just drink it everyday for a week along with your normal eating habits (its not a fasting thing) and you'll loose up to 5 pounds of water weight. All you need is:
*60oz of water                *1TBS of sugar free Cranberry juice
*2 TBS of Lemon Juice   *1 Dandelion root tea bag
For the lemon juice I just used one of those plastic lemons, and I found the dandelion root tea at target but health food stores should have it too! I've actually been doing this for a few weeks and I'm not really sure how much water weight I lost since I didn't weigh my self, but I will say I do feel a lot less bloated. I keep drinking because it is healthy in general, It keeps my water intake going all day, and dandelion root tea is said to be really great for digestion aid, lots of vitamins, and cleaning out your liver! So just mix them all up and get chuggin!
I Also wanted to share my top favorite things I always have in the kitchen:
*Olive oil spritzer: All you do is pump it up and spray it like cooking spray. I love to use it on everything since you only use a few calories instead of dumping tablespoons of oil and eye balling it. I use it on garbanzo beans, salad, pop corn, on pans, etc.
*Sugar Free Jelly: It comes with added fiber and is only 10 calories a TBS! That's always my first choice on toast and its so good, sometimes when I'm craving something sweet I'll have a spoon of it.
*Nature's Own Whole Wheat Bread: ONLY 50 CALORIES PER SLICE! This is the only bread I buy and it's 100% whole wheat. A quick super low calorie snack with some sugar free jelly!
*Popcorn kernels: Popcorn is my favorite food in the whole wide world ever. I used to eat a bag every single day for month! Now I'll just pop some in my popper and spritz some olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt.
*Smooth Move Laxative Tea: This is my life saver! All I'm going to say is, if ya need to clean yourself out... this is the stuff. 2 bags and you are empty!
*Egg Beaters egg whites: Way better than eggs, they only have 25 calories compared to 70 in an egg. They have no fat and have added vitamins. So for breakfast I can cook 5 eggs for just 125 calories and then I'll throw in tons of spinach onions and mushrooms. It also saves calories in recipes!

Quick note on cake batter protein shake! I just made a 2nd one tonight and completely forgot to add the protein powder -_- but it still tasted really good and cut some calories too. So if you don't have any protein powder it still taste great!
I've got a 10 mile run tomorrow morning :) so I guess I should go to sleep :( 

YUMMMM

Getting back on track with clean eating.

I hate when vacations come to an end and when I have to leave family, but I suppose the positive in this situation is not having to be surrounded by cake, ice cream, candy, BBQ, and In n Out any more. So back to clean eating!! For me, eating fatty, sugary, and satly foods can completely ruin my day and make me feel so blahhhh, and after just 2 days of being back in VA with healthy eating I feel amazing. I have nothing to feel guitly for or continuously think 'Why did I eat those 4 pieces of pizza and bowl of chips!', then continuously hate my self for the rest of the day. I still feel terrible for my last meal on my way home from the airport... I won't say much except it involved a bag of cheetos :( So James and I made a deal to eat as clean and healthy as possible for the first week being back just to get our minds and bodies back on track and away from the habbit of constant snacking... bad snacking. So no cheat meals and no alcohol!

Since we got back at 5 am we took a long nap and then went MEGA GROCERY SHOPPING!
We got some:
*Whole grain pasta                         *Bell peppers
*Chunk light tuna                           *Spinach
*Low sodium garbanzo beans        *Carrots
*Egg beaters                                   *Watermelon
*Quinoa                                          *Hummus
*Whole wheat bread                       *Almonds
*Craisins                                         *Cottage cheese

We're also starting a habbit of drinking at least one 'carrot, apple, and spinach juice' a day.
James came up with a great idea to make our own trail mix for a fraction of the price of a pre-made one and with about 4 times as much. This one was really simple, all it included was craisins and roasted almonds but you can add in shredded coconut, different raw nuts, raisins, or dark chocolate chips. For $15.00 we were able to make 92 oz. I can also throw this mix into some oatmeal and cottage cheese.
 
For dinner that night we cooked up some Tilapia tacos! They're really simple:
Just cook some fish and bell peppers and onions. Add salt, pepper, lime and what ever spices you want to the fish. Then put half of a fish in a corn tortilla and add a TBS of light sour cream, and a bit of hot sauce or salsa.
For one taco w/ light sour cream its 120 calories!
This morning I made both of us a juice and then after my morning run I made my self a spinach omelet. I just cooked up 5 eggs (Egg beaters), threw in a bunch of spinach and a piece of toast. All together the eggs were 125 calories and the toast was 50 calories.
This afternoon I made a tuna salad open sand which. I mixed one small can of tuna with a TBS of light miracle whip and dijon mustand. Then I made two open faced sandwhiches so I felt like I was eating more instead of combining the bread to make one sandwhich. All together it was only 220 calories! 100 calories of tuna, 100 calories for bread, and 20 for miracle whip.
So in conclusion! EatGoodFeelGood.