As with every morning, this morning started out with a run.
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 33:40
Pace: 8:25 minutes/mile
Comments: Good run. No hamstring pain, but I’m not holding my breath.
I easily get tired of eating the same things over and over again, but this breakfast is my breakfast of choice nearly every morning this days.
A toasted English muffin with peanut butter along with a Protein Spinach Smoothie (a.k.a. Green Monster).
It looks like fall out there; we need some rain!
Craig picked up a new kind of peanut butter at the grocery store for me this past weekend. I wasn’t that impressed. There wasn’t enough of a roasted peanut butter flavor to it. Obviously it still tastes good but there are other brands I like more.
Seriously, the people at Chobani are so willing to send out their product to bloggers and share their product.
This must have been the third shipment from Chobani I’ve received, and I know it is not cheap overnighting a 20 pound box of fresh yogurt and several ice packs to Alaska!
I do have to admit though, there was a point in time where I was growing tired of Chobani. After buying several 12-pack boxes of it at Costco, the “original” blueberry, peach, strawberry flavors got old quickly.
But what I love about Chobani products, is that they keep reinventing the wheel.
I’ve tried a couple of the flavors so far. The Almond Coco Loco was definitely a winner and could substitute for dessert. (A healthy dessert alternative, that is.)
They also sent me the new 100 calorie Bite Greek yogurt cups.
The Fig with Orange Zest (far left) was one of my favorites.
Our Apple laptop computer is, I swear, on its 9th life. In the 6.5 years of its life, the keyboard, thermostat, CD/DVD player, graphics card, and battery have all been replaced. Plus the ram has been upgraded, and the battery died one too many times so now it needs to be plugged in all the time otherwise it will die after just a couple of minutes. And over the weekend I thought for sure it was completely dead when the battery pack would not holding a charge because some of the wires are exposed and damaged.
But I was bound and determined to get its full 9th life out of it. So now in order for the wires to keep a charge, I had to shove the batter pack in the couch cushions. Works just like new now!
Finally, go check out the post about me on the Alaska Blog Network! You can read about what my dream job is and check out other Alaskan blogs.
I hit up the gym this morning for some weight lifting. I am taking every third day off from running in order to help my body to heal. I should have done cardio, but I just wasn’t feeling it.
At work today I got the largest file ever! This was a beast, but thankfully about half of those papers were irrelevant to the file.
After work today, Craig and I went to The Dome for some exercise. Craig did a sprint workout while I walked—since I was taking the day off from running. Our roles have reversed! Craig has been working out like a madman running, lifting weights, and trying the accomplish the 100 push-up challenge and the 200 sit-up challenge.
Breakfast is all ready for devouring in the morning. Prepping my breakfast the night before helps so much when getting ready in the morning and trying to get to work on time.
- Spinach protein smooth: almond milk + spinach + Sunwarrior protein powder (my favorite!) + instant coffee (the key ingredient). In the morning I will add one frozen banana (also a key ingredient), plus a couple of ice cubes.
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Now onto more important things. I need help choosing which winter jacket to buy. I know it may seem odd that I am looking for a winter coat now that winter is almost over, but this is when everything goes on sale! Plus, we will be lucky if all the snow is melted by May. . . .and that’s no joke!
There are pros and cons to each coat (I’ve tried them all on.), but I’m afraid I would be too leading if I wrote out the pros and cons, so you’ll just have to go based off their looks.
Craig and I are seriously becoming old people! We were in bed Sunday night by 9:30 p.m. and Monday night we had the lights off by 9:15 p.m. Yes, this was the norm for me during the school year, but this is unheard of for my night owl husband!
Today’s run:
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:23
Average pace: 8:18 minutes/mile
Course: paved trails, a few small hills
Why is the picture crooked and why am I bent over you ask?
Because the only place I could find to balance the camera was on a pile of wood. Ah well.
Like I mentioned yesterday, I don’t like to eat anything before going running in the morning if I am running 10 miles or less. Now usually this works for me, but I went to bed hungry last night, so I knew I wouldn’t make it through the 10 miles without something in my stomach. But I also didn’t want to eat a full breakfast and then wait a couple of hours for everything to digest because I had an appointment this morning.
So I made a cup of half-caf coffee to drink before I went running and had two Clif Shot Bloks. (I like the citrus flavor!)
I rarely drink coffee—maybe 1-2 times a week and it is always decaf because I am very sensitive to the caffeine. (It always makes me feel jittery, which I don’t like.) The only time I drink caffeinated coffee is before a race. I had some before PRing in the half-marathon this spring and am pretty sure I will always drink it before racing from now on. (I just have to make sure I don’t drink too much—otherwise a bathroom break will be in order!)
I wanted to give a cup of half-caf a try this morning and see if I noticed a difference on my run, plus it was a way to add a few extra calories with some soy french vanilla creamer.
I’m sure I only had about 100 calories, which I thought might be enough. . . .it wasn’t. At mile 3, my eyesight gets weird which is always my cue I need more fuel. Luckily I had brought along a GU energy gel, which I consumed at that point. And wihtin 10 minutes I was feeling ten times better. I was then able to average closer to 8:00/8:15 minute miles.
I felt good all the way up until the last two miles when I’m sure I was running low on fuel again. But I knew it would be good practice for the marathon.
This morning I wore my new Lululemon Run: Shorty Shorts I got while in Minnesota. (These are the “old” version, which is why they were on sale, so they aren’t exactly the same as the ones in the link—but they are very close.)
I’m really liking them for many reasons:
1.) They have this nifty speckled, some-what sticky stuff that is supposed to grip onto your shirt and keep it from riding up. I think it works?? I’m not entirely sure since I try not to buy shirts that I know will ride up in the first place.
2.) These shorts do not ride up! There is a strip of sticky silicone on the underside, on the bottom of the shorts that prevent them from riding up. The sales gal in Lululemon said some people do not like this because it irritates their skin. I haven’t had any problems when running in them, but I did wear them to bed one night and woke up the next morning with a red line on my thigh from the silicone—and it took about a week for it to go away. oops.
3.) These little shorts have SEVEN pockets for storing things in.
There are two pockets on each leg/thigh that are very deep. I put my energy gel in one of these pockets this morning.
Then there are four pockets along the waistband—two in front and two in back. I’m not sure these are large enough for energy gels. I might be able to fit one in, but I think they might stick out and rub against my skin. I will have to see if I can make something work though.
And the seventh pocket is a zippered pocket, in the back, that sits at the small of my back. I think I could fit an energy gel in that pocket as well.
Overall, I have really enjoyed running in these shorts and would recommend them if you like this style.
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I’m not one for weird food combinations, but my much-more-creative husband came up with this concoction a while back and had it for breakfast today, so I had to test it out myself.
That would be a piece of toast with The Laughing Cow Cheese on + sunflower seed butter.
I was worried about how it would taste, but it was oh so good. I think I’ll have to have another one soon!
After breakfast and a quick shower, I went to the gym for a 30-minute weight lifting session. I primarily worked my legs: quad extensions, squats, deadlifts, glute exercises. . . .but I also did some ab work. I really like super-setting regular crunches with leg lifts.
Then I was off to a very important appointment. . . . a chiropractic appointment and massage.
Before I headed home, I used a coupon to get a free espresso drink and doughnut.
I have to admit I felt kind of guilty eating it, but it did taste very good—that is until the last couple of bites when it got to be too much. Hopefully it will be my only splurge until this weekend.
For lunch, I had some spring rolls I made last night. I love spring rolls. If I had to chose one food to eat the rest of my life, it might have to be spring rolls. . . .or really good bread.
These spring rolls contained: rice noodles, lettuce, avocado, tofu, and carrots.
And they wouldn’t be nearly as good without sweet chili sauce, which I just saw has a ton of sugar in. Sad.
The rest of the afternoon has spent at the computer trying to compose this silly little post through WordPress. . . oh, WordPress how I loathe you.
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Oh, and one more thing before I go. I’ve mentioned a few times before that I grew up on a farm, and it is still something I am very proud of (despite what you may think Dad and Mom). My mom sent me the link to this YouTube video that is just too good not to share on here.
“I’m Farming and I Grow It”
(to the tune of “I’m Sexy and I Know It”)
I was very impressed! It is really well done and very funny.
