Race Reflections

It’s been one week and I thought about my 5K race  a lot today.  Ironically, the weather this morning was as crappy as it was last Saturday, so I think that brought up some of my thoughts!  I was replaying the race in my mind again and trying to figure out what I could do to be better next time.  Yes, I think I just said…next time!  Oh no!  But, the more I think about it the more I see that I have to try it again.  I can’t got down like that with my first race – LOL! 

Seriously though, it’s not about competing with others.  I’m not a competitive person at all.  I would classify myself more like “everybody’s cheerleader”!  It’s more about how to be better for myself.  There are lots of things that went wrong and thinking it over, I realize that the main thing is that I did not train as hard as I should have.  I kinda took the attitude that if I ran 3.1 miles once, I can do it over again, no problem.  And yes, that is true mentally, but physically, I think my body needed much more practice than I was giving it.  I primarily backed off due to my hip.  I was concerned that training may damage it so that I would have to bag out of the race altogether.  So I backed off, but that ended up hurting me in the end because I realize that my legs weren’t ready.

Another thing I need to learn is how to manage the racing jitters.  I was so nervous when the start gun went off  and that threw my whole breathing pattern out of whack.  I was unable to focus at all.  Even my music did not help.  And my head was so filled with nerves and doubts that emotions took over causing me to really lose it!  I’m not quite sure what to do to help with the jitters, but I did do some research on training for a 5K.  I found some good articles on Runnersworld and Cool Running, so I think I’m going to try out the program and see if I can get myself to run stronger and faster!  I would love any additional tips from my runner blog friends, so please feel free to leave a comment or email me!

Well, that being said, I took the day off from exercise today –LOL!  So much for training, right?!  Seriously, I am planning on starting tomorrow!  I’m a bit apprehensive due to my bouts of dizziness, but my plan is ,as long as it’s not acting up, I’ll get in a run.  Today, I was still experiencing a little dizziness, so I just puttered around the house which was kinda nice!

I wasn’t especially hungry for breakfast and couldn’t figure out what I wanted.  I finally decided a smoothie sounded right.  Not any smoothie…a BLUE MONSTER!  Green monsters have been all the rage, but I’m going blue…

• 1/2 cup Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 ripe banana
• big handful of baby spinach
• 1/2 packet NuNaturals NuStevia

Loved it!

For lunch I made a ginormous salad…

• lots of romaine
• diced ham
• 1 lite string cheese, chopped
• 1 hard boiled egg white
• 1/2 cup pinto beans
• 1 hummus filled egg white (filled with Trader Joe’s Chipotle Pepper Hummus)
• Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch Dressing

and some tuscan crackers topped with asiago spread (from our Anniversary basket)…

I tried another Zevia this afternoon…

I didn’t like this flavor, so I tried another…

It was definitely better.  So far, I’ve only liked 2 of the flavors.  I think my affinity for diet soda has really diminished though. 

I felt like munching this afternoon, so I pulled out the Cheez-its!  I made sure to “control” myself…slightly, by putting them in a bowl instead of having my face in the bag :)  My cup overfloweth…

Dinner was random.  We were all in relax mode, so I just reheated some turkey meatballs for sandwiches and sliced up sweet potatoes for fries.  I went bunless but layered on the cheeeeese…

And ended the flop- around day with chocolate…

Running is definitely on the agenda tomorrow ;)

ONE GOOD THING:  While I was relaxing, I went through some magazines and pulled out some great new recipes to try this week.

Have a great day!!

Fast + Slow

I had to keep myself busy this morning to take my mind off food!  I had to fast for an ultrasound appointment (just some stomach troubles getting checked out) and it wasn’t until 11:oo a.m. !Funny, when I’m told I can’t eat, all I want to do IS eat!  Finally, the time came and I raced to get to the appointment.  It was over  pretty quickly and I daydreamed about lunch the whole way home!  Sheesh!  Obviously, one of those “detox” fasts are not in my future!

Lunch had to be quick to appease my growling stomach.  I decided on a wrap made with turkey, a Laughing Cow Light cheese wedge, spinach and Trader Joe’s Roasted Pepper and Artichoke Tapenade.  It was all rolled up in a Joseph’s Lavash Bread and served with a ginormous pear and some Kettle Baked Potato Chips…

This was one of my best wraps, yet!  I loved all the flavors.  I noticed that food tastes extra good when you’re starving!  But, I made a conscious effort to put on the brakes and eat nice and slow:)

The afternoon flew by with errands and the remainder of the evening was spent at little daughter’s religion class – this time big daughter and I both got wrangled to help out!

I wasn’t into a big dinner when we got home, so I heated up some Trader Joe’s Organic Lentil Soup along with some cornbread I had in the freezer.  I took 55 pictures of this, but there is just no way to make lentil soup look pretty!

In the interest of full disclosure, I did steal a few big spoonfuls of the daughters’ mac and cheese, too!  It was too good to let it slip by without a taste :)

Overall, it was a light eating day, but I ate enough filling foods to feel satisfied.  I did manage to end with a little something sweet, though…

Don’t forget to enter to win a coupon for a free half gallon of Silk Heart Health!

ONE GOOD THING:  I took the time to enjoy all the flavors of my lunch.  Sometimes, if I’m overly hungry, I wolf the food done without tasting it!  This time, I savored each bite so that I would be satisfied when I was finished.

Question of the Day:  Have you ever fasted for more than one day?

Routine Eats

Gosh, it’s so hard to get back into a routine after being away for a weekend!  I spent most of the morning on the computer between blogging and catching up on blog reading.  My Google reader was filled to the brim!  You guys sure have been busy :)  Anyway, I did take a break for a quick, but hearty breakfast – Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookie topped with PB2…

I submitted the cookie recipe for Jen’s e-cookbook, so you will get a chance to try these and a slew of other awesome blogger recipes when her book debuts!

The morning and early afternoon flew by and before I knew it, lunch was calling.  Actually, the daughters were screaming calling “we’re starving!!!”, so I broke from the chores and got lunch going.  I had planned on using my leftover salad from Lettuce Head, but it was way too wilted to eat on its own.  I guess it didn’t transport well;  I had hopes it would be okay since there wasn’t dressing on it, but no dice ( no casino pun intended!).  In the interest of “saving” it, I picked through the good stuff and added it to a wrap made with turkey, wasabi mustard and rolled in a Joseph’s Lavash Bread. 

I had some carrots to go with it and for more crunch, some Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips…

They definitely lived up  to their name :)

The remainder of the day was spent at the dentist for the daughters and haircut appointments.  We didn’t get in until dinner!  While out, I did snack on a Very Cherry Larabar that I had in my handbag.

Dinner had to be quick, so it was pizza breads for the husband and daughters ( rolls spread with sauce and cheese – run under the broiler) and I nuked up my dinner of leftover Chicken Thighs with Olives and Tomato Sauce  which I served over orzo…

I love this dish! 

Later, I also grabbed 4 Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Crisps, mainly for noshing purposes.  I wasn’t hungry for food, I was just “looking” for something.  My nerves are getting the best of me.  Did I mention that my first 5K is THIS SATURDAY???!!!  Freaking OUT.  Anyway, before bed I took a few minutes to talk to myself and made a commitment to myself that I would eat as healthy as possible this week so that I can feel strong and energized for the race.  I also committed that I would feed myself what I craved so that I wouldn’t use my anxiety as an excuse to binge or overeat.  What I mean by that  is sometimes I really want some carbs (mainly in the form of a bread-type item) for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  I usually talk myself out of having that many, even though I chose whole wheat or whole grain products, I guess I still carry that old “too many carbs are bad” mentality.  So this week, if I want to have it, I’m doin’ it!

Hope you all have a great day!

Question of the Day:  Could you share some race tips for first time racers (i.e.  what to bring, eat, wear, drug yourself with)?  YIKES!!!!

A Snappy Day

Beautiful morning!  I got an earlier start , so I had time to make up a Banana Oat Smoothie before leaving the house.  This time, I decided to add a big handful of spinach to “green” it up!  I remember trying a “green monster” here and didn’t care for it so much, but this mix was really good!

Then, it was off  to the gym.  I did 50 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes of upper body weight work.  I’m surprised at how much I like doing the weights.  I feel so strong and like feeling my muscles doing their work!

I had lots of house stuff on the agenda today, so I came home and got to work.  Lunchtime rolled around quickly and I have been excited to try out a recipe for Chickpea Croquettes with Greek Salad Topping in the latest issue (Oct.)of Vegetarian Times Magazine…

The only “hard to find” ingredient in this recipe was chickpea flour.  Surprisingly, I was able to find it in the natural foods section of my local Giant Supermarket under the guise of garbanzo bean flour (which is the same thing – some say tomato, some say toemotoh - heehee)…

I prepared the greek salad topping first and swapped reduced-fat feta cheese for the vegan feta since I had it…

then, prepared the croquette batter…

and cooked them in a nonstick skillet for about 8 minutes total.  The result was nothing short of amazing!

Go get the October issue – it’s worth it just for these patties!!

Since I was in the house all day, I felt like eating.  Something about being all alone with this…

But, I kept it in it’s cage.  I felt very proud of myself for that because I must have gotten it out about 3 different times to drool over look at it :)  Instead, I satisfied my craving with 2 of  Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Crisps…

Dinner was simple.  Everyone around me is sneezing, snotting and sore.  The husband and daughters have colds and were feeling yucky, so I scrapped my original dinner plans and made them breakfast for dinner.  They were so snappy (that means snotty, sneezy happy)!  Yeah, I should probably check my temperature, too ;)  Anyhoo, I decided to not eat with their germy selves and waited til later to have a quick dinner, too.  Per the suggestion of my friend, Rosemary, I made a Lavash Bread pizza using Joseph’s Lavash Bread, some leftover marinara and light shredded cheese…

It was great and huge, but for very little calories compared to regular pizza.  One whole Lavash Bread is only 100 calories!  I paired it with some leftover Italian-style Squash.  Delish!

I’ll definitely be making that again!

I’m off to spray myself down with Lysol.  Have a great one!

ONE GOOD THING:  I resisted cake this afternoon!!  I consider this a miracle :)

Question of the Day:  What make you feel better when you’re sick?

Eating In Two’s

Hey, everyone!  It’s been a crazy busy weekend and I’ve got some catching up to do, so I’ll get right to it…

Friday morning started off with a buzz.  With no time for a “proper” breakfast, I decided to grab and eat in the car.  On the way to the gym, I chomped on a Clif Mini Bar…I like brownies in the morning ;)…

I decided to try out the “less and longer” exercise strategy with 1 hour on the recumbent bike.  I didn’t “feel” like I worked out, yet my back was sweaty when I left, so I guess it did something.  And thanks for commenting on the “less is more” vs. “pump your heart out”.  I liked hearing your experiences and some of you brought up some really good points about high intensity interval training.  I’ll definitely look into that more, too.

After the gym, I ate part two of my breakfast…

in about two seconds.  I’m really sucking at taking my time and acknowledging what I am eating.

That held me over for about two more seconds.   Well, really longer than that, but I was ready for lunch very early (11:45).  I had lots of running around to do, so I figured, why fight it?  I heated up a Cuban Black Bean Patty and put it on a hearty Ezekiel Hamburger Bun with guacamole and salsa.  DELISH!

I definitely needed some munch, so I paired it with a serving of Trader Joe’s Sea Salt and Pepper Rice Crisps …love ‘em…

Then, I was missing a fruit, so I grabbed a nectarine while heading out the door…

I ran around getting some last minute things for the husband’s birthday dinner (Sat.), came home and starting prepping.  I needed sustenance;   something to get me through this harrowing afternoon of food preparation.  I decided on …

Okay, this technically doesn’t qualify as nourishment , but they sure were delicious!  They are thin crisps (think Pringles chip) with puffed rice pieces in it to give you that Nestle Crunch bar feel.   They’re not too bad in the calorie department, either…

I had one…

then, another…

These have “stop the insanity” written all over them.  Consider yourself warned :)

I had late dinner plans with my two best buds and knew if I didn’t eat something beforehand, I would devour the bread basket as soon as it hit the table.  I chose a better form of nourishment this time…

That did the trick!  I met up with my girls at a cool restaurant called Spence Cafe.  We were seated and hit the menu right away…

Actually, we hit up the wine first ;)

We started with an antipasto platter with veggies and Maytag blue cheese stuffed artichoke hearts…

and an assorted cheese plate with fruit and toasted baguette…

My plate…loved the cranberry pistachio cheese!

For my entree, I chose from the Light Fare portion of the menu.  I opted for the Eggplant Napoleon with sauteed spinach, mozzarella and ricotta fritter and tomato coulis.  It was anything but “light”.  Other than the 'fritter’ part, I wasn’t expecting this to be a “fried” dish, but , alas, this is what came…

I ate the spinach, half the fritters and half the eggplant.  I was satisfied, but I hate when you don’t get what you expect.  You think you’re making a good choice, then BAM!  Note to self : ask how something is prepared even though you hate to do that and think it’s a pain.

I had a great time catching up with my girls.  We are all so busy and it takes forever to schedule a night out, but when we do, it’s always fun!

I plopped in bed way past my bedtime, but thankfully fried food makes you feel like crap and I fell into a deep fat coma.  Nice :D

ONE GOOD THING:  Spending time with my good friends!!!

I’ll be back later for a recap of hubby’s bday!