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Mega-Dinner

21 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food

I survived my first week at the new job! So far all of my “complaints” are really things I like…I just have to get used to them after being without for a few years! For instance, I’ve been a bit shaken by the extent of my independence…but really, I’m glad to have their trust and respect and I look forward to improving some of the projects I inherited!

Tonight was a lazy celebration. (Really lazy – I’ve already napped for 90 minutes). It started with the rare beast Mega-Dinner:

mega-dinner

It’s a huge dinner for us! We stopped at Whole Foods for some supplies for the trip* and also got an avocado roll, a veggie roll, some Amy’s bistro burgers, and some “cracklin cauliflower” (roasted cauliflower with peas) and raw cheesecake from the prepared foods bar. (The raw cheesecake did not compare to the ones I’ve eaten in other cities – maybe it was their first try? It was chunky and gross…WB didn’t finish his part because it had a lot of coconut.)

We split the sushi, heated up the veggie burgers and some tempeh “bacon”, and made burger sandwiches with a tiny bit of brie. Mine, above, is on Udi’s gluten-free sandwich bread! I’ve had the bread in the freezer now for a week and it’s just as fresh-feeling and tasting the day we bought it.

The pretty pink beverage is some pomegranate lime juice with a teensy splash of celebratory Grey Goose.

*We’re going out of town for one night…I’d rather tell the story when we get back than talk about it in advance. It’s nothing bad, just kind of awkward for me. At least I should have some quality airplane time to catch up on all of my half-written posts, and I’ll get to do my 8 mile run in better weather, albeit a day late.

I don’t have anything ready for tomorrow, so things might be quiet until Sunday. In the meantime, do you know Cakewrecks? This blog cracks me up! I’ve been falling asleep while re-reading the archives this week…WB has snapped plenty of blackmail shots of me with the laptop in bed. It should be enough to keep you company while I’m on the road

Goals, goals, goals

20 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food, Ideas, Running

My run tonight was straight out of the twilight zone – my head was in it, but my legs couldn’t keep it together. I’m nursing some shin pain even as a type, two hours after my run! (Ice will be involved as soon as I’m done posting, never fear).

A quick detour into dinner-ville before I talk about goals:
quinoa-cakes-sprouts

Red quinoa cakes (made the same way I made these quinoa cakes, but with the addition of lentil sprouts)

stew-and-sprouts

…topped with chickpea stew (yep, much like this chickpea stew), and accompanied by a tasty avocado yogurt sauce.

The sauce couldn’t be much easier, but it added a rich, refreshing note to the otherwise all-too-familiar meal.

Avocado Yogurt “Secret” Sauce

Ingredients:

1 part avocado (or guacamole; I used the leftover bits of pre-made guacamole, and in fact mixed this right in the Whole Foods container)
2 parts yogurt (I used Nancy’s plain nonfat yogurt)
Salt to taste (or be like me and use truffle salt!!)

Procedure:

Combine ingredients.
Serve.

And, believe it or not, I made the stew this morning before work! I sautéed the peppers and eggplant, added the leftover cooked chickpeas and tomatoes, seasoned, heated, and left the flavors to blend while I toiled with my new BFF: SharePoint. I definitely could not eat like this after work if I didn’t get a head start by pre-cooking time-consuming staples like beans and grains on the weekends.

Goals

I like goals. I’d love to tell you how to set goals, but there are plenty of sites out there that can describe different methods of setting goals. (Maybe I will write my own guide sometime, but that is another post.)

What I like most about goals is not meeting them.

Seriously.

I have a lot of goals:

rolling 5 and 10 year plans
a set of about 10 goals for the year (like resolutions, just not called that)
monthly and weekly goals for my life at home
fitness goals
work goals (project-based, review-based, career-based)
an overall “epitaph” goal
financial goals

…and the list could go on. But, instead, I’m focusing on what to do with goals once you’ve set them – and once you’ve met them (or not).

“Magic” (long-term) Goals

Some goals are like magic – you write them down, forget them, and come back to them in a few years to discover that you’ve accomplished even more than you thought you would. I’ve found this is mostly true of goals with at least a one-year horizon; anything shorter and you don’t “forget” your goal sufficiently to allow yourself to make it happen. I was really proud of myself when I saved my first $3000…until I looked at my 5-year plan and saw that I had written that in two years prior, though I was broke and struggling at the time since my job had just run out of funding.

Short-Term Goals

Other goals – shorter goals, more concrete goals – need a bit more help. (These are my specialty – and what I have specialized in at work for a long while – so the long-term goals will be getting the short end of the stick in this post.) These are the goals that you write down and keep posted where you can see them, or that you repeat to yourself every day when you wake up (or sit down at your desk, or lace up your sneakers). I use a daily and weekly tracking system for my fitness goals, recording workouts every day and fitness progress (key measurements, for example) each week. I know that I would still make progress if I didn’t keep close track, but I would not know how best to adjust my workouts to get the results I want in the shortest amount of time.

These shorter goals are also the ones you’re more likely to blow. I might set a goal to take 2 minutes of my slow training pace in a week, which would be fine to do at my fitness level. But if I try all week and can’t do it, I’ve created a great opportunity for myself: I get to learn why I didn’t meet my goal, which will help me find a weakness in my fitness plan.

Failure is Still Success

Failing to meet a goal is a win-win situation, really. If I meet my goal – great, I’ve accomplished something I want to do. If I don’t meet my goal, I’ve caught a bug in my system and I can take care of it before it affects my progress more or becomes a larger problem. (I think it’s vital to think like this if you’re going to set goals; if you can’t practice this kind of self-compassion and positive thinking, goals will likely do you more harm than good – they’ll become signposts of failure, rather than stepping stones into the future that you want.)

There are all kinds of reasons I might not meet a goal, but a few minutes of thinking and looking back at any training logs or other “data” usually clears things right up. My analysis goes something like this:

How close did I come to meeting my goal? If I came very close, what kept me from hitting my target? Should I call it “good enough”?
Were there any unusual circumstances that kept me from meeting my goal (friends in town, new project at work, sick, finances, etc.)?
Was my goal something I really cared about and prioritized? If not, is it a goal worth keeping?
Was my goal reasonable, or did I try to do too much too soon?

Depending on how that line of questioning goes, I will either scrap the goal altogether, try the same thing again, or change the goal to make it better suited to me. I get to learn what I’m capable of, see what I really care about, and tailor my life and plans more precisely to what I want to be, do, see, and have.

Does it get any better than that? All of this from failing! (But I warn you: this is real failure, not the kind of failure that never gets off the couch.)

Caution: Goals Ahead

Just like their close cousin the To-Do list, goals can be overwhelming. Even though my list of goal categories is long, I don’t set more than 3 short-term goals at a time in any category. After all, short term goals should be met sooner rather than later, right? Here’s how I keep my short-term lists short and sweet:

Set a firm limit on the number of goals that you’ll consider at any point in time.
- Write down all of your goals, hopes, dreams, etc., then sift out the three that seem most intriguing, easiest, most important, etc.
- If that doesn’t work, try the rule of 1/3 +1: Take away 2/3 of your goals, then add one back in. Repeat until you’ve got no more than 5 goals left.
- Sleep on it – come back to your long list a day or three after you’ve written it and see what still sounds good.
- Worst case scenario: put the goals in a hat and draw three. You can always come back to the rest.
Be honest and realistic!
- Don’t set a goal to run a 2:30 marathon in three months if you haven’t run in years. If a 2:30 marathon is your goal, recognized it as a long-term goal – then break it into smaller steps (start by building up to a 3 mile run, find a training program, choose a race, join a training group, get fitted for shoes, etc.)
- Don’t set a goal to drink wheatgrass every day if you hate it! Your goals should bring out your best and motivate you to improve – don’t get seduced by fads or things you feel like you “should do”. (However, those “should do” things can be great starting points – for instance, if the daily wheatgrass shots you’d hate would be your answer to having more energy or eating more vegetables, make a goal about eating more vegetables, getting more sleep, or trying another energy-booster.)
- Don’t set a short-term goal to do yoga for 3 hours a day if you work full-time and have a long commute. If you’re only home and awake for 3 hours after work each night, chances are you won’t be able to spend them all doing yoga. If 3 hours of daily yoga practice is really important to you, you can likely find a way to make it happen – just not immediately. In the meantime, you could set a short-term goal to practice for a more sustainable amount of time each day.
Keep Simple Records
- There are a ton of great goal-tracking websites and methodologies, but you don’t need to go overboard with your tracking system. A simple “X” on the calendar each day that you meet your goal works pretty darn well.
- Update your progress no matter what – don’t fall behind in your tracking, even if you’re not progressing toward your goal. (You will not come back and fill it in later. I promise.)
Don’t stress if you aren’t on track!
- Go back and read the part about failure = success again! Unmet goals are great opportunities to learn about yourself, even if all you learn is that you made an unrealistic goal. (I’ve made plenty.)
- If you can’t even get started on your goal, move on to analysis. Why aren’t you starting – is it too hard? Are you trying to start at the end when you should be starting at the beginning? Do you need help or more information to get started? Did you think you wanted to build that awesome model dinosaur you saw online, order the kit, and realize you’d rather look at the cool thing on that blog than make it yourself? All of these are good things to learn, and good prompts for new, better goals.

The path to success is paved with these small failures, at least my short-ish path to the moderate successes I’ve had so far. Failing means you tried, right?

My strategies for long-term goals are different, but I will have to get back to those another day…if I write much longer, I’ll fail to meet my “get at least 7 hours of sleep so I’m not a zombie” goal

Rookie mistakes

18 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food, Work, yoga

So…my new building takes a lot of getting used to. This morning I took the wrong elevator (there are 9 banks of elevators in the lobby – north, south, and other) and went to a parallel 23rd floor universe. The interiors of the elevators are the same in each bank, so even though I should have caught on that I was in a very different part of the lobby…well I didn’t.

But anyone could do that. Yesterday I lost the elevators.

I ended up working a little late (yes, on my first day) and learned the hard way that the tower I work in is a ghost town by 5:05. My fingerprint/security code wasn’t working yet, so I took what I thought would be the easy way out of the building.

I walked out to reception and turned to push the elevator call button…and saw that I was facing a smooth wall. I walked the length of the wall to see if maybe I was somehow “off” by 25 feet, crazy, etc. No elevators. Three entire banks of elevators disappeared.

Turns out there are sliding wall panels that are locked in place at 5. Who knew? (I did eventually find my way around to the elevators – back through my office and around to the other side of the floor, basically half a lap around my tower.)

Good times. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll “reply-all” with an obscene joke I’m trying to get all my rookie mistakes out this week so I can settle in – I already have two projects (and I finished a mini-project today!).

But you’re here for the food, right? Not just the beautiful view.

Breakfast:

“The Basic” – green monster, maple buckwheat flakes with almond milk and Nancy’s cottage cheese (yum!)

Lunch:

(not pictured)

was cold (tofu and green beans on leftover rice), sweet (a nice ripe plum), and processed (a chocolate mint Builder’s Bar – lots of chewy protein)

Dinner:

“Salisbury Steak” (veggie burger and peas in gravy) with leftover chickpea stew

gravy-cu

See? There really is a veggie burger in there. I made the gravy with garbanzo flour, olive oil, almond milk, and nutritional yeast, plus a splash of white wine.

Dessert:

Since dinner was all protein, dessert was all carbs. Baked pears drizzled with a tiny bit of agave and topped with “biscuits” – I made a basic biscuit dough (like the one in this post, minus the savory ingredients), but I added about 2 T of almond milk to make a gooier dough. We baked the whole thing at 350º for about 25 minutes. (But – doesn’t that picture look like ground beef? Good thing you already know I’m a vegetarian!)

pears-2

I used two of these pears. I spared the tiny ones – they were too cute.

pear-dessert

Delish.

Yoga!

I went back to my awesome yoga class – it was terrific! We did some things I’ve never done before and spent a lot of time on sun salutations and upper backbends (like cobra). I can’t wait to be settled into my new job so I can start going twice!

I worked really hard tonight. We each set a (silent) intention for each class – this week, mine was about being calm, grounded, and confident. I felt tough but relaxed by the end of our 90 minute class.

I’m worn out again – I haven’t been able to snack on schedule like I used to, so I have been getting tired at random times. Working on that. Meanwhile, sleep.

The tiredest post

17 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food, Running, Work

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

I will try to keep my eyelids open for a very tired recap of my day!

I knew I would not work out after my first day, so I bravely woke up 45 minutes early for my first day of this new job to run 4 miles on the treadmill in 57 minutes, broken up as follows:

.25 mile warm-up
.75 miles at 5 mph
4 x 440 at 5.5 mph with 2 min walk between each interval
2 x 880 at 5.2 mph, which was going to be 3 x 880 until I messed up and ran an entire mile between the first and second intervals (which is what happens when I am sleeping while running), with some slow walking in-between each interval
.15 mile cool-down

I made what I thought would be yummy, creamy overnight hot cereal by soaking some gluten-free hot cereal in water in the fridge. Guess what? It didn’t work. Do not try this at home. It was sludgy, sandy, and awful. I will spare you a photo. It’s for your own good. I will be recycling this into tomorrow’s breakfast, forces willing.

So, I ate my backup breakfast: a very basic green monster and .5 cup Leapin Lemurs with almond milk. Since I ate this standing up, while straightening my hair and putting on my shoes, I did not photograph anything.

Work was …fun? I enjoyed meeting all my new teammates and getting my desk set up (though I still have some cleaning to do – my desk was strangely grimy). Ten of us went for lunch, where I had this lovely salad:

lunch-salad

Tomatoes, mesclun mix and romaine, blue cheese, candied walnuts, avocado, and a creamy dressing. I ate about half of this (no nuts – I was not in the mood…must have been one of those “sometimes you don’t” days). If I had realized the salad would arrive half-drowned, I would have been one of those prissy girls who orders dressing on the side. Live and learn

Also, the off-kilter picture was taken covertly while I pretended to text WB…I didn’t want to “come out” as a blogger to my co-workers just yet. Admitting that I’m a vegetarian was tough enough for this crowd!

I was starving and exhausted around 3 when I pulled out this Chia Razz bar. I was really excited to get back on my snack schedule!

chia

Except, wait, I just had an allergic reaction to raspberries a few days ago.

So I brought that bar back home for WB and munched on a small handful of almonds at work to (barely) tide me over until dinner. Somehow, the rest of the day passed and I took the right bus home (a challenge, since I had never taken this bus before).

And why aren’t there photos of dinner, you might ask?

Because no one wants to look at three day-old P. F. Chang’s leftovers. They were tasty, and now they are gone.

I did a brief and exhausted upper body workout while dinner was reheating – flies, tricep extensions, and 21 curls. No abs, because I would never be able to do them the right way right now.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow:

yoga class
starting a real project at work (and revealing that I finished something before it was even assigned to me)
tasty home-cooked lunch
pretty new dress

and, most importantly, to what lies between now and tomorrow: sleep. Thanks again for hanging with me during this transition! The laughs you’ll get out of my crazy over-planning will be sooo worth it.

Shopping and brownies.

16 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food

Moderation, eh? That’s what you get in this bonus post that I didn’t think I’d make.

I got a few (more) new outfits for work. I am trying to keep this under control It’s a very different environment than my last job, and much of what I own is on its last legs. (Really, those are reasons! Not justifications!) Anyhow, a girl can always use some new cardigans and a supercute Mad Men-esque skirt that is both flattering and comfy, all of which were on sale and some of which were covered by the Nordstrom Notes that she received for buying so much during the Anniversary Sale.

…

The open house was worth seeing – the historic bungalow I loved online was not, in fact, meant to be. The rooms felt small, there was no tub in the master bath, and many of the “nice finishes” were of questionable quality. Plus, the freeway that runs behind the house (separated by two sound barriers and about 100 yards) was loud. I am curious to see how long this one stays on the market.

And then I did what any normal girl would do: baked brownies. (We did eat lunch – leftovers.)

brownies-plate

I healthified this Alton Brown brownie recipe by cutting the recipe in half and substituting a few thangs….

“Healthier” Alton Brown-ies

Ingredients:

Canola spray (for the pan)
2 Tablespoons ground flax + 2 Tablespoons water, microwaved for 30 seconds
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
pinch of salt
topping: chopped leftover bourbon balls from a party we had in my life before the blog

Procedure

Preheat oven to 300º.
Microwave the flax and water for 30 seconds to thicken. Whisk in the sugar.
Add remaining ingredients; mix to combine.
Bake in greased pan (we used a loaf pan so the brownies wouldn’t be 1 cm thick) until they pass the toothpick test, about 30 minutes.

No sugar crust, but great chewy edges…and each brownie has about 85 calories and less than 2 grams of fat.

brownie-cu

To be honest, we didn’t eat dinner after dance. Mad Men is on right now, and we’re a bit tense after WB’s first ever night of Lindy Hop…counts 4-7 are not agreeing with him, and it is somehow my fault.

And that’s my night I’m planning to get up early and get in my 4 miles before I start my new job!

Brunchtime

16 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food

I was in a big funk after my run yesterday. I don’t know if I was tired, hungry, or anxious about starting my new job tomorrow, but…I’m glad to be done with that. I’m going to try eating more the day before my long run to see if that helps curb the crazy post-run mood swings I’ve been having.

pf-changs

Dinner: stir-fried eggplant, ma-po tofu, and vegetarian lettuce wraps. Three cheers for P. F. Chang’s takeout.

Enough about yesterday – the past is in the past, no? On to today’s brunch:

brunchtime

I made tomato herb biscuits (inspired by Giada’s Parmesan biscuits), a micro-green and sprout salad, coffee, and fruit smoothies; WB made scrambled eggs with peppers and tomatoes. The cheese on the biscuits is a cow’s milk cheese with espelette peppers.

eggs-and-smoothie

He makes the fluffiest eggs! The smoothie had some of everything in the freezer (almost): banana, cherries, strawberries, peaches, and blueberries.

sprout-salad

Micro-greens with fenugreek and lentil sprouts – spicy, crunchy, and energizing.

tomato-biscuit

And…ze biscuits.

Tomato Herb Biscuits – makes 6 2″ biscuits

Ingredients

1 c flour (I used a mix of buckwheat and brown rice*)
1/2 c cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
fresh or dried herbs, chopped (I used dried italian seasoning blend because we didn’t have anything fresh and I’m tired of the old collection of dried herbs in our cabinet)
6 T cold butter, cubed
2-4 chopped sundried tomatoes
1/4 c tomato juice
2-4 T cold water

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350º.
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, baking soda, herbs).
Cut in the cold butter and mix until the mixture resembles wet sand (I used my fingers for this – it’s a small amount of dough).
Blend in the tomato juice and chopped tomatoes.
Add cold water until you can form the dough into a ball.
Form into 2″ discs (I made mine by hand, but you could roll the dough 1″ thick on a cornmeal-dusted surface and use a cutter to be a bit more civilized) and place on a parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the tops just begin to brown.

*I didn’t add any xanthan gum to this batch, though they were gluten-free; without the xanthan gum, the biscuits will be fragile and crumbly until they cool. For a sturdier gluten-free biscuit, add 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum to the dry ingredients.

In case you’re wondering about the buttery biscuit recipe, I don’t worry about the butter because:

I’d rather eat butter than some strange substitute (or make biscuits that we don’t want to eat)
We don’t make food like this for ourselves more than once a month
My serving contains only 14g of saturated fat (and we don’t have many other sources of saturated fat in our diet)
I think almost everything has a place in a healthy diet, in moderation

We’re going to an open house this afternoon – WB is humoring me because I’ve fallen in love with a house a few blocks away. (Cheap, historic, beautiful new kitchen.) We should not and will not buy a house now. Right? Right. Good.

It’s a day off from running (my legs are cheering), so the rest of the day will be prep for my first day tomorrow, errands, swing dance, and MAD MEN!! I’ve got a long non-food post coming down the chute…I’ll try to post about lunch and dinner, but I make no promises. I expect to be settled into my new schedule pretty quickly.

Britney and Justin reunited!

15 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food, Running

…on my iPod My long run mix is full of music from 1996-2002. Soon I’m sure someone will call that “retro”.

I was struggling on my run this morning – I really felt the effects of my deliberate overtraining this week, for better and for worse.

Better: I went out really fast and didn’t have any fatigue at all during the first 3 miles. I had a lot of energy throughout my run, and I didn’t ever really feel out of breath.

Worse: My legs felt like they were made of cement. I could not. make. them. go. I brought 2 dates with me and ate them at mile 4.5, but they seemed to help with just the last 1.5 miles of my run. I wasn’t sore, but I really felt like I was dragging.

I finished my 7 miles in 91.5 min (avg 13 min/mile pace), despite my tired legs, crappy outfit (no clean wicking shirts, down to the last sports bra that I really don’t like to wear for running), headache, and mental breakdown at mile 2.5.

Also, it is hot.

gatorade

(I got this crazy-big gatorade to stave off the headache I’ve been getting after my long runs…seems to be working for now.)

After my run, we dropped off some football tickets with a friend (we’ll be out of town for the game…this is what usually happens when we win things) and hit the farmer’s market. The haul:

fm-haul

Eggplant, a bitter melon, two cantaloupes, fenugreek sprouts, and pears…

pears

Our favorite of the week – a “bucket of pears” for $3. It’s finally time for more fruit to be ripe here.

Next, we went to our favorite breakfast place for the second time this week, where we talked about what it would be like to work for the CIA, NSA, FBI, etc. (having grown up in DC, I know my fair share of folks who’ve gone that route)…I think I’d rather live abroad on my own dime and be able to talk about what I do, but who knows where I’ll be an a few years . During that scintillating discussion, I had migas – scrambled eggs with veggies and corn tortillas, with a side of guac and breakfast potatoes.

migas

Then it was on to another stop for some, um…

macarons

yes, macarons – lemon, almond, and chocolate. They are gluten-free (though cross-contamination is likely, but whatever) and like little puffs of dream and perfection.

macarons-2

Sigh. I feel a cooking project coming on.

And a wine tasting at this new place, which was pretty good. Wine just a few hours after running isn’t my favorite thing, but we found a few new wines that we really liked. Stay tuned for info on those

I am still hot and out of sorts from this morning’s run…I think it might be nap time for me. I’ve got a good role model:

kat-nap

Friday funtime

14 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Fitness, Food

bread-butter

I started my day with something I haven’t had in a long time – an almond butter sandwich!

sammich

I need to reiterate 100,000 times how great it is to have Udi’s products available here. I could bake my own gluten-free bread, but there’s something so nice about getting real bread at the grocery store.

I met my friend for a walk this morning – it was nice to talk about fun plans and catch up on all of the events of the past few weeks. My total walk ended up being 6.15 miles, eek! So much for a day off.

WB came home early for lunch and made “BLTs” – tempeh bacon, nayonaise, microgreens, and tomatoes, with mine on more Udi’s bread:

sammich-2

(It was another starving lunch, but at least I remembered to take a photo before it was all gone.)

Tonight was the meeting of the book club. I finished reading the book (in the pool!) just a few minutes before I had to leave for the meetup. It was…meh.

We met at one of my favorite bars in the area, where I started with a mojito:

mojito

I had a champagne cocktail after this but the photo was too superdark since they had dimmed the lights for “atmosphere” by then (way to nurse a drink for an hour, I guess!). I was so glad to learn that no one really liked the book except the girl who recommended it – there was nothing to really talk about except that we didn’t want to read another “romance”.

And now I’m home and watching Psych with WB because he loves that show. I have a 7 mile run tomorrow morning, so it’s time to rehydrate and hit the hay! I might scrounge up some broccoli, too, since there’s been a lot of reading and walking today but not so much eating.

Sleepytime

13 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food

It’s a boring night, sorry…I’ll make it quick

Our plans were cut short by a rainstorm, so we made a gigantic lunch-dinner combo instead:

burgers

Amy’s Bistro burgers with guac, Amy’s rice mac and cheese + broccoli, and sweet potato fries!

burger-mine

And yes, my burger is on bread! Udi’s gluten-free bread! I love Udi’s products (I had them for the first time just a few weeks ago on my birthday trip to Denver when I had a gluten-free cinnamon roll), and I was really excited to see them turn up in my local Whole Foods. Their products are the best – they look, feel, and taste like “real” food and they’re the most nutritionally balance gluten-free bread products I’ve found (unlike Whole Foods gluten-free burger buns that have more than 400 calories each of pure starch). They’re a tiny bit more expensive than the “bread” I’ve been buying, but that other bread sort of tastes like glue and falls apart when you try to spread anything on it, so…I’ll gladly pay the extra $1.

And dessert:

laloo-yogurt

Laloo (goat’s milk) Cherries Tuilerie Frozen Yogurt! Creamy, tangy, and fruity.

I did a lot of reading about run-walking while we were watching tv after dinner – I was looking for tips on how to take fewer breaks, and all I found were articles about the benefits of taking walk breaks! The most intriguing thing that I found was a study (summarized here, but that article includes a link to the abstract) about the amazing cholesterol-reducing benefits of walk breaks. Looks like I’m on my own in cutting down on breaks for now

I’m meeting a friend for a walk tomorrow, but otherwise I plan to have a real day off from working out – my to-do list includes some quality time with the wii, some artsy activities, and some poolside lounging if the weather allows.

The Runaround

13 August 2009 by Elizabeth in Food, Running

Running, running, running.

I’ve been running consistently for four months now. Is it officially a habit yet?

This morning I did a long speedwork session to cover my 3 miles (in 48 minutes…lots of fast running mixed with very slow recovery walking). I did a .5 mile warm-up jog at 5 mph, then 6 x 440 at 6 mph with 2 minutes of recovery between each interval, finishing with another .3 mile cool-down jog at 5.5 mph and some more walking.

It was also a strength training day, so I did weighted squats and lunges with alternating feet on the bosu, followed by shoulder presses, 21 curls, shoulder flies, and tricep extensions. I stretched for a few, then came upstairs and did Tamilee Webb’s abs on OnDemand. I love her abs program – I really think it focuses on the important muscles that basic crunches don’t engange – but man, it’s tough. I’m still sore from Tuesday’s yoga class, which made it extra tough.

WB took the day off today since he had to work all last weekend. We took the opportunity to go to our favorite breakfast place for the first time on a weekday!

breakfast-aftermath

I was a bad, bad blogger and didn’t remember to take a photo until after it was all over – at least you can see a smudge from the black beans that came with my huevos rancheros . I have noticed that this happens when I’m starving – I am working on a solution to help myself remember.

After breakfast, we went to a very nice bookstore that is closing soon, where I got yet another cute notebook (I used to be helpless in the face of an elegant little notebook – this is the first I’ve bought in at least a year, and it may end up as a gift) and two gift books for my mom (a fun sudoku book and a guided journal). Our next stop:

coffee-before

The most foam I have ever gotten on a macchiato. (A macchiato is espresso with a dab or two of foam, like a tiny dry cappuccino. This one had a whole foam ‘fro.)

coffee-after

We hung out at a coffee shop and read for almost two hours. (I have neglected my book club romance novel and the meetup is tomorrow night! Too bad I am not liking the book – just not my thing.) Years ago, I worked for a few different coffee shops. I ended up with a caffeine sensitivity and didn’t have anything with caffeine (except sometimes chocolate) for almost 8 years! I am glad that’s over.)

And that is the entire day so far! A nice, lazy Thursday, with lots of time for me to reflect on my running history….

How I got back to running

When I (re-)started the couch to 5k running program in January, I was frustrated because I had let a big project at work keep me from sticking to the training I had started last fall – but more frustrated by the fact that my pace was stuck around 4.25 mph (yes, that was a running pace). I could barely handle the 2 minute running segments in the plan.

Work got in the way again in February, but I picked up the plan where I left off and continued to make progress throughout the spring. I was *so* excited to finally be able to run 30 minutes at a time again. I think two things made me stick to the schedule, despite the fact that work was even crazier:

I was really in the thick of a big project at work and I needed a structured outlet
I was really fed up with letting other things get in the way of what matters to me

(the really shallow reason that probably didn’t help: I was going to the beach in mid-May. I don’t think a few weeks of running made a difference in that one way or another.)

But before that…

Waaaayy before that I was born with a heart problem and couldn’t run at all (doctor’s orders). I wasn’t cleared to play sports until I was in high school, which meant I grew up hating physical activity because I could never participate and just didn’t understand it. I liked being outside and going for walks, but I was on a very short leash. (I was seriously tempted to be sick every year when it came time for the Presidential/National physical fitness test, because I was always one of the last few to amble across the finish line.)

I began exercising with a vengeance in high school, and I built up my speed and endurance to the point that 8 minute miles were second nature…until I got mono! (No, not from kissing.) I was out of commission for a few months, and even thought I kept working out after that I never went back to running in a serious way. I did a few 5k races when I was in college, but most of my fitness focused around dance, gym machines like the stairmill and the elliptical, and yoga. My running fitness slipped away, and whenever I tried to get back to a solid running base I became frustrated by how slow my progress was and gave up after about 6 weeks every time.

Why I’m still running

I love all the things that every runner seems to love – the endorphins, the time outside, the undeniable accomplishment, the freedom, and the simplicity of the sport. But that is not always enough to get me out the door for a run! Here are some of the other reasons that keep my laces tied:

I am committed to running my first half marathon in October – I want to help the cause I’m running for, and I want to see how well I can do at something that I never thought I’d be able to do.
I am continually surprised by what my body can do – it keeps coming up with new paces, new splits, and better form, seemingly with no help from me. Maybe it will turn out that I’ve been a runner in sheep’s clothing all this time!
I am a huge proponent of disease prevention, and I know running is great for zapping stress, improving sleep, and killing the bad, diabetes-promoting fat.
I am shallow and vain, and I live in a climate with an extended bikini season. I also work in an industry where appearance and first impressions are prized.
Along the lines of #4 - I assume I will be getting married sometime in the near-ish future, and I know the gowns I like run small.
I like meeting people who run – it’s a diverse group, of course, but running is a nice thing to have in common with friends.
It will keep me even younger for longer – not an issue now, but I know I’ll get there eventually.
It keeps me happy and focused (the magic cocktail of endorphins, accomplishment, and measurable improvement).
I love exploring on foot, and I can go so much farther at 5 or 6 mph than I can at 3 mph.
I love a good excuse to travel – a race isn’t a vacation, it’s for my health!
It forces me to take “me time” and leave work on time so that I don’t lose the progress I’ve made so far.
I love having more energy! I can work a 9 hour day, go for a run, and still be awake enough to enjoy going out for drinks or dancing.
I’m not very good at it yet, and I can’t back down from a good challenge.

What’s next?

More of the same, I’m sure. I have a big fall/winter running season planned, and I’m already looking at races for next year. I really want to get back to a 7-8 minute mile, and I’d love to be able to finish a half marathon in under two hours. Most of all, I want to keep running – no matter how fast or slow, I want to keep running in my life.

And…I want to do a bike tour somewhere abroad, but that will probably require getting WB on board, so…circa 2011?

Born For This