Betty Meets Jane

Community College Jogging

2012-08-29T11:36:00.001-07:00

Last night was my first running class at my local community college. Fitness Jogging. I showed up on accident a half hour early. Oppsies. I got to talk to our coach though, she is really nice and totally hot to boot. I am really excited to have her because she is really into the class. I'm even excited for our homework assignments.

After roll call (just like a real class) we started out with a warmup jog - 800m. Then we moved onto some drills. Which were totally crazy, who ever invented the inchworm needs to be shot.

By that point I was already tired, and we hadn't even started the actual workout.

A small group of us moved on to our timed mile because we weren't able to do it the first week. I finished mine in 12:05. I totally beat the two boys who ran with me. They both went out hard out of the gate but I caught up after the first 800 (not that it really matters).

I would take pictures of me but there is a rule about camera phones at the pool or on the track. I'm only in week two and don't want to get tossed out yet!

Is Wine Paleo?

2012-08-13T23:46:00.002-07:00

I vote yes. Wine is most definitely Paleo (thanks Lindsay).Wine = grapes, grapes = paleo therefore, wine = paleo.

You
are
welcome.

This weekend I took an impromptu trip to Sonoma. My sister manages a freaking gorgeous mid century house that rents for 500$ a night, and it required an emergency visit. Who am I to turn down a perfectly good weekend in wine country?

I am not a big wino. I typically can only enjoy champagne or sparkling wines, or whites. Never ever red. EVER.

We stopped by Homewood Winery and boy was this wine was different. I tasted this wonderful wine and I loved it. I was a skeptic. I am a beliver now. A red wine convert. Or at the very least a Homewood red wine girl. I got myself a big glass of the Wizbanger's special (Flying Wizzbangers). My sister bought a case of it (she even gave me a bottle to take home). We even chatted with the head Wizzbanger himself.

Trivia Fact #1. The Wizzbangers (I forgot his name) college team (volleyball or something?) was called the Flying Wizzbangers. So when he first named the wine that he sent bottles to his whole team.

Me drinking a whole glass by myself, thankyouverymuch.

Then we took an impromptu trip off our impromptu trip and headed over to Domaine Carneros Winery. They have this big chateau looking estate, where you can enjoy sparkling wine, wine and appetizers outside on their patio overlooking wine country. It was really nice but still very laid back at the same time. Our waiter Al, was so sweet and friendly. He even poured us a special glass of champagne that wasn't even on the menu! He also got off before we were done and we invited him to come back and chat with us. He did - and enjoyed a glass of wine with us.

Triva Fact #2. Always ask your wine person is they have anything special you can try. Al gave us that little gem of information. It can't hurt to ask right?

Smoked Salmon

Red Wine "hard" Cheeses

Stay tuned for next week when I find out if Pies can be made Paleo. I think I should do a series... ;)

What a Sore Person should do on the Weekend

2012-08-11T12:04:00.001-07:00

Lay in bed with their kitten of course!!

Tipsy is quite the rambunctious little ball of fur at night. Sometimes it is so annoying at 2 am I hear her run back and forth sliding in her crinkle tube. By 8 am when I usually wake she still sleepy from the night before.

She has gotten in the habit lately of sleeping with one of her babies. The little crinkle or feather toys. She licks and crunkles to her little hearts delight when she goes to sleep at night. It's very cute.

I spent half the morning just lounging in bed with the kitten. I was way too sore to get up and do any sort of exercise. I think I have delayed cross fit aches. That 30 minutes on Friday kicked my ass.

Now I'm on the Bart into SF there's a giants game today so it's totally packed. I'm going to go try and walk around SF.

I'm determined not to waste a wonderful (still kindof hot) Saturday just because I'm sore.

Failed

2012-08-09T19:12:00.001-07:00

Totally failed my first crossfit intro session. I almost fainted. I kept feeling dizzy with fuzzy vision. I had to go sit down outside.

I decided to leave early becuase each time i stood up my knees felt really funny. So embarrassing!! Now I'm downing my sorrow in peanut butter and vanilla protein shake.

FML.

Regardless of my embarrassment I'll be back another day.

I will own you crossfit. You just made my victory more sweet.

Work Fail

2012-08-08T23:50:00.005-07:00

That moment when you're washing your hands after using the restroom before you eat lunch and you look up. Something is wrong. Oh dear god. You want to laugh but end up with a cracking cry. Yup. That was me crying in the bathroom. Okay, I wasn't that dramatic...

I am blinded by the fact that my cotton dress - although it is black and grey, it is see through at the top. My leopard print bra is clearly completely utterly viable through the grey stripes of the dress top. This was not just a "oh in the right light you can hardly tell". Nope. I can confirm it was totally visible. I would post a picture but then I would just be showing the whole world. I'm a pretty busty gal so anyone who spotted me 10 feet away probably saw more than they should.

I had spent two plus hours with three different male colleagues, two of whom were my bosses, before the bathroom closeup. Fan-fucking-tastic. That must have been awkward as hell for them.

So embarrassed.

I covered myself completely in a black sweater I had for the rest of the day. So on a 90+ day here I was the chick wearing a black northface fleece. I rocked it.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Crossfit, Swimming, Weight Lifting Conundrum - what would YOU do edition.

2012-08-07T17:21:00.003-07:00

So I've bought some crazy deal groupons. Now I've gone groupon/class crazy and I haven't even started going to any of them.

I have a groupon for 12 Crossfit classes, and 30 classes of yoga. There's also another groupon up for Kickboxing and the location is like 1 mile away from my house. Like all the others its a good deal, but I think I need to lay off the groupons for a wee bit.

That said I've had my eye on something else I want to do. Swimming. I used to swim in high school, and I played waterpolo. It was really fun, and relaxing. Something about swiming back and forth and staring at the bottom of the pool is fun for me.

There's a community college about 20 minutes away from work that has swimming classes that start next week. 40$ for 2 days a week for 4 months. Best non-groupon deal ever right? There's also a jogging class on Tuesdays I'm considering because I have my half coming up and I am really only running on the weekend. It might be a good idea to get a coachs opinion on my training or lack thereof.

But I'm wondering is all this is too much. I can't decide what to do or when to do it because there's just too much stuff? Anyone else know that feeling? You have so much on your plate you don't know where to start.

Regardless, After a few months of hemming and hawing. Picking up the phone and resting it back in the craddle. I setup my first ever crossfit session today. Its scheduled for Thursday evening. Tonight I might go home and dust of my 3 lb bar bells because I think I'm gonna get my flabby ass kicked.

During the period of the hemming and hawing over taking the plunge. I sougt out some advice from a few voices of reason. I read CrossFit: 5 Tips for Beginners by Blonde PonyTail this post gave me the courage to say its okay if I can't do something... I'm scaling and working my way up. I've had a hard time with this, comparing my run times, my pullups, my calories, with other people. I'm still working on it too. Its okay to know you are not perfect.

I also saw this youtube video on One-Twenty-Five. Its informative while giving a little extra non threatening encouragement about being the last one in line. Or thinking you just may not make it. Or people will be mean. Or whatever goes on in your head before you go into something new. I can honestly say I am nervous about people actually talking to me. Who talks at the gym? or at spin class? or before yoga?... ummm nobody.

I'm not going to lie. I am more nervous than I have ever been about trying any new sport. It seems so out of my element and not what I am used to at all.

Now for the WWYD. I have been plateauing like crazy. My weight has stalled at an unforgiving number, and I am not satisfied one bit. Someone suggested I join a regular gym and start weight lifing. Someone else suggested I do crossfit. Someone else thinks I should do the swimming class and cross fit on other days.

I am going on a beach vacation (we're going to a wedding) and having our honeymoon (we're gonna be cruising it in the Caribbean.) I want to be able to snorkle my skinny toned butt off in two months. So WWYD?

It Happens in the Kitchen

2012-08-06T10:36:00.003-07:00

I got my cookbook this weekend. I spent a good part of Sunday ignoring my visiting husband to read about spices, knives and pans. I was disappointed with my lack of knowledge of baking ware. Martha Stewart would for sure given me an F. Now with my new knowledge I might be able to not burn chocolate chip cookies on a consistent basis.

Lesson 1. Buy light colored cookie sheets. Dark ones, like the bronze ones I have can help burn your cookies.

By the way I'm going to be reading and cooking my way through Martha Stewarts Cooking School, Lessons for the Home Cook (that's me). So stay tuned folks, I'll be getting schooled on how to boil water soon.

When I was flipping through the book I saw many delightful lessons, and recipes that call for foods that I am trying to stay away from. Like dairy, pasta, potatoes, sugar, flour. Its a conundrum. It's unknown if I'll just power though and cook everything because I really need to learn. Or if I should stick with my new "diet" and skip over those recpies. I say "diet" because I am trying to eat more produce and meats, less dairy and processed foods. I'm not subscribing to any particular diet, just trying to be a little more healthy.

Balancing a goal, like learning how to cook with my other goal "be fit not fat" should be interesting. Thoughts anyone?

Anyone else balance eating delicious food with losing weight?

Scatter Brained: Running and Cooking

2012-07-30T01:06:00.000-07:00

My running plan is toast. It has burst into a billion flames. After my okay preformance at my 5k in June, I got back on the wagon to start training for my half marathon in October. However, every time I went out for a training run, I got sick. One time I nearly had to knock on a door to ask to use the restroom. I still have no idea what was happening with me or my body. Feeling dog awful after something that's suppose to soothe your soul at the end of the day was not fun. I was starting to resent my half marathon, and resent my body. So, I put a halt to running.... and to be honest at the time I was not that upset about it.

Que to last night. I ran 3 miles and had a grand old time. The run was slow but nice.

Despite my obliterated my training plan I am going to try an build up to being able to run 13 miles by October. That gives me a little over 2 months. Hopefully I don't crap my pants on the way. Advice anyone?

Edit: I just noticed I've recorded a grand total of 15 miles this year. Wow. Hold on folks this will be a bumpy ride.

During my time off I've reflected even more on what I eat. I've been watching master chef (who hasn't it rocks!), and its so inspiring to watch real people cook these awesome dishes. But you really have to question yourself when you're watching a cooking show while eating your dinner that consists of bake lays and a packet of wholly guacamole. That got me thinking about why I don't cook. I came up with a rather short list.

I burn things.
My husband lives 500 miles away so I'd be cooking for one.
I don't know how to cook.

The "I don't know how to cook", is probably the biggest reason I don't cook and I seriously want to change that. I told my husband and in the past few times we went to the bookstore I leafed through cooking books. I think I was trying to magically gain cooking skills through osmosis. So my dear husband ordered me a book from Amazon. He is flying it up personally on Friday. Its supposed to teach me how to cook. I'm really nervous about the whole thing, but I am really excited to learn.

Women's 5k in Review and Tasting the Salt

2012-06-08T01:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was able to run an awesome 5k.The Kaiser Women's in Sacramento. This year was a lot like last year, but in some ways it wasn't. They had this really cool photo booth area, which we did. But they didn't have nearly as many giveaways or a good swag bag.

My buddy Sherly and I before the race.Dang I look good!

The Results

With little to 0 consistent running I was able to whip out a 4 second time decease from last year. Woo woo. Now this would be more impressive if my pace wasn't in the double digits.....

Place

Name

City

Bib No

Age

Gender

Age Group

Chip Time

Gun Time

Chip Diff

Pace

1560

Amber

Sacramento CA

1568

84 20-24

38:53.1

40:02.6

1:09.5

12:33

1619

Amber

Sacramento CA

1649

253 25-29

38:42.1

39:15.7

0:33.6

12:29

Tasting the Salt

The following is an account of my running and racing, and whats going on in my head. I may not be the sanest person and this is a true life account, of real thoughts. It might be a little dramatic in parts. So keep that in mind as you read. If you have any feedback or comments I'd love to hear it :)

That illusive race feeling is something that rarely rears its head for me lately. Up until about the .1 mile left of a race I have the same outlook on the race, which is to survive, finish, and plain old not stop. I put on foot ahead of the other and from the first 0.1 mile I am thinking into the x mile ahead, and in the present telling myself not to stop and to keep going. Runners pass me. Children pass me. That girl who's larger than me, just past me. I fall behind (in my head) more.

Jog. Stop, walk. Are you dying? No. Then why did you stop? I'm tired. You're not tired. You can do this. Start again. I jog. One step, two step four. Okay can I walk at the corner? There are people running. Why can't you run? More steps. More breathing. I'm not going to be able to finsh if I keep going at this pace. I need to slow down. You're fine. Keep going. No I'm not. Stop, walk, deep breath. Can you go now? I think so. Maybe I can go for a quarter mile. Jog. Fifth of a mile. Check watch. Okay I've done a tenth. Can I stop? Stop Walk. ...

I need to catchup to those yellow shirt girls - they past me up. If they don't run I can do it. But what if they start to run? Do it anyways. Jog. Okay you're gaining on them. They run. Okay now what? Run. Just run. Okay, now run faster. I need to stop. You're almost to 3 miles, you can't stop now. People are watching. Okay I'll run. I might die. Can I pass that girl? Run harder. Pass girl. Can I pass that lady? I don't know. Can I sprint? Sprint. Okay we'll finish together. No. Pass her. Pass her. Finish.

I'm dying. This is it. I need air. I need to sit. Catch breath. Lick lip and taste sweat. That tastes good. Salty. I'm done.

I love that feeling at the end. When I am racing, when I am running. I am focused on going faster. Not on the fact that I wont make it, that people are watching me. When its just me and my body can do anything, can go as fast as it wants.

I want to take that feeling and channel it into how I train, and how I race even from the beginning. Now how the heck can I do that?

I used to be a competitive person, I used to push my self always. I used to swim so hard that when I climbed out of the pool I would have jelly legs. I'd have to lay down for a nap between softball games. I ate protein shakes and did dumbbell rows while watching tv. I got better, I got faster, I felt stronger. I do feel stronger than last year, I feel healthier that I have even been. But I want that faster and better. I want to feel accomplished.

I want to feel like I used to and I know exactly what I need to do to get there. Push myself. Daily I feel like a failure in doing this, I always leave something on the plate.

I don't feel the salt on my face after a workout. And dammit I want to taste the salt.

How do you push yourself? Does anyone know of any articles/blog posts about motivation that may be helpful? I would love to join a gym but at 200$ a month. Where I live that is the going rate it seems, I can't afford it. Its $100 a month for a swim team too :( why can't this stuff be like 25-50$?!

Whats your favorite SWAG from a race? One time I got NICE sunscreen and it was almost actual size. Score!

Florida Gaters!

2012-06-05T11:51:00.002-07:00

Luis and I had a wedding to attend to in Florida. On our trip we got to see some great things.

We went on an air boat ride to see some wildlife. Outside the air boat establishment was this fellow.

Meet Porkchop. I swear that was his name.

The view from our air boat.

We saw a number of bald eagles.

See all the crocs! I couldnt get a picture of the big ones because they kept swimming away.

Baby Crocs.

Luis holding the baby. Me trying not to get near it.

We went to the Kennedy Space Center because Luis really wanted to go.

Luis by the NASA sign. He was excited.

Luis in front of more rockets.

Model rockets or space thingys...

The shirt I really liked. I would have gotten it had it not said NASA on it.

We had a ton of fun.

What food have you eaten on vacation that you wouldn't normally eat? We ate some alligator tail. I didn't particularly like it but Luis always likes weird stuff, so he polished it off.

Have you been to Florida? The humidity was too much for this California girl.

My 5k is sneaking up on me. Its THIS weekend.

2012-06-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

My 5k is sneaking up on me. Its THIS weekend.

Last year

Place

Name

City

Bib No

Age

Gender

Age Group

Chip Time

Gun Time

Chip Diff

Pace

1560

Amber

Sacramento CA

1568

84 20-24

38:53.1

40:02.6

1:09.5

12:33

Oi vey. This past week, living alone, has been really getting to me. All I want to do when I get home is lay on the couch and watch the big bang theory and eat carbs like potato chips, bagels, and cookies.
It didn't help that all I had in my fridge was ketchup and green beans that had grown moss. I went on down to Safeway last night and restocked up on all the fan favorites strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots. I pretty much cleaned out the produce department. I heard them call for backup.

Has anyone else heard of the Raley's strike that might be happening? As a former Raley's employee the writing on the wall for the downfall of the Raley's employee benefits happened like 10 years ago when they introduced the tiered wages. I am really glad I got outta there and got my degree.

Where do you like to grocery shop?

How do you think I'll do on my 5k? DNS? DNF? haha

Completely Naked Running *Viewer Discretion Advised.

2012-05-21T10:03:00.002-07:00

Note: All photographic evidence of actual nudity has been tactfully blurred, but lets keep this post for the18 and over folks.

I witnessed naked running, naked dancing and absolute anarchy under the pretenses of a race this weekend. I didn't actually race myself, but neither did about half of the race participants.

I hopped into the city to WATCH the Bay to Breakers 10k. Now my friends the race started at 7:00 am, the earliest finisher crossed the line in like 5 minutes after that. We finally got over there at about 10:00 and didn't leave until 2:30 and the party/race was still going on when we left.

On our blanket with Mimosas. It was brunch time after all.


Our Mimosa holders. These things rock!

You know when you're walking along trying to take in the sights.... Note 1 woman is naked(blue hair), and two men are (fanny pack and totally buff).

just drinking my drink...

Cheersing the camera

See the nakedness in front of you...

Almost spit up mimosa

One saxaphone man kept playing the same tune over and over again, for like 3 hours. I finally shouted at him but he took the hint wrong and serenaded me with said annoying song.

Here's some of the best or worst costumes.

Total mimosa and jack and coke calories consumed - 350. Total naked men seen - at least 20. Spending time with the crazies in a new city - priceless.

Took a short 2 mile run on Saturday and boy was it hot! Need to get out of bed super early to run now before its too hot.

Ever been to or ran bay to breakers?
What is your favorite brunch drink?

Trader Joe's Orange Chicken Made Healthy-er

2012-05-19T04:32:00.000-07:00

Trader Joes rocks. I love Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's rocks.

One of the things I like about Trader Joe's, is how easy it is to find good tasting food, and fast. One other thing I like about Trader Joe's is the frozen orange chicken. They call it Mandarin chicken, but I call it Orange Chicken (like Panda Express).

According to http://www.fatsecret.com/ Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken has 230 calories, and 8 g of fat, per cup. There are about 5 cups in a bag and I used to easily eat 2 cups of this stuff. EASY, and kind of gross at the same time. That is almost 500 calories in one meal (not including all the rice and egg rolls to go along with it).

So I make it healthier now. This recipe is for two people or one person for dinner and the next day's lunch.

I bake about half a bag of the chicken at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
I also bake about a pound of Brussel sprouts (the recipe is so easy!).
I can fit it all (bruseels and chicken) on one baking sheet, so it all goes in together at the same time, which is super nice.

Then I steam or blanch some green beans or broccoli. If you make green beans just cut them up after cooking. Luis likes rice with his, so I'll also add on some rice sometimes.

Then I just take out the chicken, bruseels, and green beans and put them in a mixing bowl, and I add about three fourths of one of the sauce packets. Some of the water from the green beans makes it into the bowl so the coverage is really nice when you mix it all.

You can serve it over rice or just as it is.

Calories Before:
Trader Joes Mandarin Orange Chicken 230 calories per cup * 2 cups = 560 calories
White Rice = 205 calories per cup = 200 calories
Chicken Egg Roll = 200 calories per roll * 1 roll = 200 calories
Total = 960 calories

Calories After:
Trader Joes Mandarin Orange Chicken = 230 calories per cup * 1 cup = 230 calories
Green Beans = 70 calories per cup = 70 calories
Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts = 10 half sprouts * 5 calories per half sprout = 80 calories
Optional Brown Rice = 218 calories per cup * 1 cup = 218 calories
Total = 380 calories, 598 calories with rice

Calorie Savings =362 calories.

What frozen foods do you spruce up with vegetables?

What are you doing this weekend? I am most definitely going to WATCH the bay to breakers race... which is more of a parade. Brace yourself folks I'll be taking my camera.

Pupusa

2012-05-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

Pupusa is so good.... Luis brought be back papusa from San Diego this weekend. Its five days old and still very good! He got me a cheese and a cheese and chicken. He loves me folks. I was so excited when I saw the bag. Foil wrapped pupusa in wax paper with curtido in a baggie. You know its gonna be good when stuff arrives in plastic... just sayn'

Pupusa is a Salvadorian dish, and its really hard to find a restaurant that makes them, I've had them many times at Luis's family gatherings so be on the look out for Pupusa it rocks. Might be a billion weight watchers points or calories or whatever the heck you count with but its so worth it!

Today I wore my read sweater with grey pants. I rocked it today, even straightened my hair. Like my 70's style sink?

Whats a crazy food you love? Lemme know I'm trying crazy stuff out!.. like Brussel Sprouts
and Kombucha... and I'm 1 for 2.

My First Brussel Sprouts

2012-05-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

My First Brussels Sprouts, sounds like it should be a book right?

I made my first brussel sprouts last night. It was super easy, and it tasted really good. I chopped up half a pound of brussel sprounts, put a little peanut oil (you can use olive if you'd like) on the pan, and rubbed a little oil on the face. Then I sprinkled salt and pepper on them and popped it into the oven, 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

For a side dish prepare 1/4 of a pound for each person.

They came out nice and toasty. The recipe online called for 400 degrees, for 40 minutes, but mine would have been burnt because they were little guys.

Brussel sprouts probably rank among the raw broccoli, its an acquired taste. I ate half a pound of them as a main dish. My grandma recommended mayo as a sauce, but I just put on some Dijon mustard.

They are seriously tasty through, I'm gonna be working these babies in for lunches.

I also made some sweet potato fries, and made a little sauce to go with them. BBQ sauce with cottage cheese and a sprinkle of red pepper.

I went for a run yesterday, about 2 miles. I dipped my feet in the pool for some 'icing' and dang the pool was still chilly!

I know I'm a wild child. I needed to make up for not doing my long run on Saturday so I threw Monday and Sunday together, and I did it. Week 1 of getting my miles up is complete.

	Day of the Week
Week	M	T	W	Th	F	S	Sun	Total Miles	Monday Starting
1	0.5	1.0		0.5		1.0		3.00	5/7/2012
2	1.0	1.5		1.0		2.0		5.50	5/14/2012

Wednesday and Friday I threw in some tv workouts while watching the Big Bang Theory too.

How do you cool down? Ice bath it or run through your sprinklers?

Do you like brussel sprouts? My mom hates them so asking her for a recipe was fruitless.

Where Did You Go?

2012-05-14T15:36:00.002-07:00

This weekend Luis and I went all over the place. I consumed over 800 calories in mimosa, wine and champagne. Drove more than 250 miles. Saw a herd of pink gorillas.

On Saturday we went to the city. We walked down to the Ferry Building to have brunch. It was really lunch time but I declared it brunch since none of us had eaten brunch or lunch.

We started out with mimosas, and deviled eggs with crab.

I ordered the french toast, which was soo good. It was so small though. You know you're at some she-she restaurant when you're meal is the size of your fist. I wasn't worried I had my eye on some of the street food they had in the farmers market.

I saved room for some mocha chip gelato , the farmers market had winded down by the time we got there.

and I got some chocolates for later.

I loved this little gift box of chocolates.

We had some melted cheese...

Bay to Breakers is sometime soon so these gorillas were supporting or ramping up the city for some massive nudity and debauchery.

From there we watched the BMXers rider their bikes and tehn headed out to a bar in the Haight. We drank some more and played some pool. Luis spilled a drink and almost took out the bar keep. We headed over to dinner from there. At dinner we took out two crabs among the four of us. (sorry it was so dark so the pictures are way blurry)

On Sunday we headed up to a Country Club in Grass Valley for mothers day brunch. We got there too early for our seating and none of our party had arrived so Luis and I went to the bar. We totally prepartied before brunch. I swear getting through a lunch with tons of family is made wholly better by drinking copiously before hand. We were at fancy digs so we stashed the cameras.

Then we drove to my parents house to go through everything that Macy's had sent us since we ordered the balance of our wedding registry. Stay tuned for that.

By the time we got to Luis's parents I crashed after dinner. We made it home (where is home?) to walnut creek after stopping by our house. I picked up my wedding dress (I need to put it on ebay) and a fan (its hot in my loft).

How many mimosa's did you drink this weekend?
See anything strange?

Totally going for a run tonight!

Dinner Date and Attitude

2012-05-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

I have a dinner date tonight, so I'll be skipping my planned half mile run tonight. Can you hear the laughter? What a joke right? This girl cannot even run a mile. Which is okay. My first run taught me what sitting around for 3 months can do to you, and even worse than that not really running due to injury, illness, and weddings for more than 6 months can make you feel like you've just begun (because really you are). I totally hyped myself up for my first run back, and became easily frustrated when I couldn't physically do what my mind thought I could do. I said I was going to test the waters but really I wanted to preform and it was really disappointing when I couldn't.

My run on Tuesday was very different. I seriously considered tying my Garmin to my shoe so I couldn't check my pace, the elevation, or my distance. I wanted it to be fun, and just go enjoy the outdoors. This girl isn't going to be wining any races anytime soon, so there's really no need for all the pressure. I just jogged, jogged and looked at things, ran whatever way, didn't have much of a plan about where I was going. I let be what will be. I went pretty far, too. I traveled from my house out to what looked like the start of a nearby bike trail. Nice and peaceful, and I felt good after my run. Isn't running about having fun, and getting some exercise?

So keep your attitude and expectations about what you can do in check when coming back. Remind yourself why you're running.

Yesterday I busted out some workout moves while watching Survivor, so I got a bit of strength and cardio in with no equipment. I am really sad to see Tarzan go, they should have sent Chelsea or Kim packing while they had the chance. I am so rooting for the underdogs at this point, Christina may win the whole thing. Bwhahaha

I have a dinner date, with someone I haven't seen for about 15 years tonight. Wish me luck. I'm nervous.

Tummy Flutters

2012-05-08T23:12:00.001-07:00

There is 100% probability that this post has too much information. Read at your own risk.

I tested out my foot on Sunday, just like I said I would. I felt really crochety (that's a technical term folks). My previous stomping grounds, the Sacramento valley, are as flat as it gets. A 20 degree incline for 10 feet was a big deal. You had to hunt to find a decent hill for a hill workout. My new route is genuinely kicking my ass. A hill here is no small hill. I feel like I'm running up Lombard street or something. Up down up down (huff puff huff puff). It's crazy.

That said me running up any sort of incline is really funny. I'm like a real live Thomas the Train. Breathing and maintaining a running pace is extremely difficult, hopefully this will better prepare me for the Nike half though, and allow me to kick real butt when I go do flat races.

So anyways- me feeling crochety. My Sunday run.. jog... walk. Was pretty dismal. My foot didn't feel any pain however my legs and lungs burned right away. Screaming, "WTF mate!!" (yes my lungs are from Australia). My run (uphill) lasted about 1/4 of a mile. It would be funny if I wasn't serious. It was so hot out so that added on to the fact that about the 1/4 out I started to feel queasy. I kept going onward, then I had a code brown alert. I felt so sick. I seriously considered knocking on someones door. It wasn't pretty. I couldn't run, I didn't even try to jog.

I made it home but I seriously thought I was going to pull something straight out of Bridesmaids. I wasn't even that far away from home and crazy thoughts entered my mind. I seriously thought that if I had to make something happen it would be okay to go back to their house and leave a gift basket to even out my karma. Who knows what I would have given for a toilet.

I've thrown up during a race before. Anyone else have a code brown before?

What is your running daily terrain like?

Wish me Luck!

2012-05-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

If you post it on your blog it will come true.
I'm going to test out my ankle and go for a little jaunt. I may end up testing out my lungs too. Remember tomorrow is d-day known to this girl as Week 1 Training Day 1 for the 2012 Nike Women's Half Marathon. I figure why not do a test run and see whats up today. Hence why I'm making this declaration. Once I hit that little publish button, I'll have to follow through. Because right now I'm just diddling around I might as well go for a run and accomplish something today.

I downloaded a few awesome running songs to add to my playlist today. Ignore me and all my teenybopper music.

Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
Flo Rida ft Sia - Wild Ones
Jessie J ft BoB- Price Tag
Karmin - Brokenhearted
Katy Perry - Part Of Me

Lets "shut up and run" shall we?
wish me luck!

Screaming Children

2012-05-05T18:25:00.004-07:00

Did you know I live right next to my communities pool? Its actually nice, I can see the water lines tracing my ceiling at night, no creepers windows right outside mine. Its nice, I open my siding glass doors when I get home so kitten can feel the breeze. Its very nice, serene even...

Until demon children play at the pool. I love kids. And I totally 110% support children playing. Children yell, splash, rough house, and generally have grand ole time - and it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is screaming. Lung popping screaming for no reason. Yell to your brother. But scream? Hell no. I don't get it. Why is screaming totally cool at pools? I seriously want to post a note to parents at the pool gate entitled: Caution Air Pollution Found at Pool. Proceed at your own risk. Source Found: Small Children SCREAMING.

It was scary the first time I heard screaming, I ran upstairs so see what was going on - nothing. Now I just shrug, 'blast' Nora Jones, and go about my business.
Anyone else have screaming issues? or am I out of touch becuase I don't have kids? thoughts?

Free 5k and Half Marathon Training Plans

2012-05-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

I've started my massive planning of my next BIG race. I came up with my own running plan for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October like a I bet millions of other runner do all the time... but I wanted to compare to other plans for a half marathon. I headed over to good ole Runners World, and start browsing the beginners section in hopes of finding a training plan. Well they sure have them - they just want a cool 19.99 for them. I thought they would be encouraging beginners to run not price gouging them for it. Crazy. In fact all the 5k plans I clicedk on charged. BOO to you Runners World,

So I thought I'd put together a list of 5k, and Half Marathon training plans that I've found free thanks to other runners.

5k Training Plan

Couch to 5k - From Cool Running (the plan) This plan is for absolute beginners.
8 Week Plans with schedules for Beg., Int., and Adv. runners - From the5krunner (the plan) These plans have options ranging from 3 running days to up to 5.

Half Marathon Training Plan

10 Week Plan for a Int. runner - From Carrots n Cake (the plan) This plan is just three days of running a week.
My 24 week plan for a Beg. runner, 24 weeks and includes options for 5k, 10, and 15k mile stone races.

Anyone else know of any good plans?

Nike Womens Half Marathon Training Plan

2012-05-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

That's right folks. You heard it here first. Not only did I get in the first tim e I registered for the lottery, now I tried again and got in agian! Nike Women's Half Marathon (NWM 2012) here I come! Did anyone else get in? Anyone else going?

This year I want to actually run. Last year I walked, and finished a hair under 3:30. At least my last 5k was a negative split. That counts for something.

My fastest half ever was 3:08 - a 14:25 mile. Which was a good run/walking plan, but still not anything I am excited about anymore. This year I want to break 3:00. Which is totally do-able IF I do some speed workouts, and really push on the shorter workouts.

So I've come up with a pretty aggressive training schedule based off my time with my old training group.

I included some learning topics I've picked up along the way in making this plan including:

Only a 10% increase from the previous week. I excluded the first weeks so I'm not stuck under 5 miles for 10 weeks. Slow building of my mileage for my long run leaves wiggle room for not making a run. It will also be a lot easier to handle the 1 mile increments in my long runs.
Have some step back weeks. I included some weeks for a potential race (small miles Saturday + Race of Sunday). I may just eliminate Saturday running if I do a race to step back further.
Tail off nearing the race week (I started my cut back 3 weeks out).
I have to be able to run the full distance before the day of. I have such a hard time adding on miles when building for the long runs so I am defiantly going against advice on that point.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Changes I should make? I can totally email anyone the excel spreadsheet or I can post it for download if anyone wants to use it for yourself or play with it for me. :) The .pdf is located here: Training Plan

How do you set your pace for your goal pace? I just used this really cool workout tool to find what paces I should be shooting for to get under a 3:00 time. This is probably my biggest find, I had been preforming all my runs at the same pace and I think that hurt me come race day. Cannot wait to get started!

Equivalent race paces

Age graded: 36.6% VO2 Max: 22.2 ml/kg/min

Race pace	Equivalent time	Min /mile	Min /lap	Sec /lap	Sec /100m
Marathon	06:13:25	14:14	03:32	212	53
Half marathon	03:00:00	13:44	03:25	205	51
Tempo pace		13:29	03:21	201	50
10 km	01:21:58	13:11	03:17	197	49
5 km	39:30	12:43	03:10	190	47
3 km	22:48	12:14	03:02	182	46
1 mile	11:37	11:37	02:53	173	43
1 km	06:52	11:02	02:45	165	41
800 metres	05:21	10:45	02:40	160	40
600 metres	03:51	10:19	02:34	154	39
400 metres	02:24	09:41	02:24	144	36
300 metres	01:43	09:14	02:18	138	34
200 metres	01:06	08:48	02:11	131	33
100 metres	00:30	08:09	02:02	122	30

Sample workouts based on your pace

1. Mile repeats

6 x 1 mile at 10km pace
Pace: 197 seconds per 400m, or 13:11 per mile
Rest between efforts: 197 seconds

Under 50$ Trader Joes Grocery Haul

2012-05-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is what remained of in my fridge since my last grocery run. Apple sauce, one premade salad, cream cheese, BBQ sauce, beer, tea, and girly beer. Not a whole lot of nutritional items.

So I went to my new (to me) Trader Joes in Walnut Creek and made a pact to myself in the parking lot to spend less than $50.00. This is quite hard if you've ever been to Trader Joes. It is a relatively small store of healthier organic/raw/generally less ingredient food. They have a moderate selection of fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy. Its about 1/4 the size of a normal grocery store, so if you're looking for more than one variety of chicken noodle soup - this store isn't your best bet. Its most like a mini Whole Foods. I liked the one in Sacramento so I figured I'd give this one a run though. It wasn't any bigger than the Sacramento store, which was disappointing. So it had about the same selection, and was about the same size and layout.

Well I left Trader Joes right under budget (47.82) and still got a 'weeks' worth of food. Could I have gotten two candy bars? It all fit into one bag which is kind of sad because you can get maybe one or two full bags of food at a regular chain food store or at a farmers market for the same amount. However, since I am now an apartment dweller the one bag bodes well for the trek from my parking space to the front door.

Here is what I got:

Some of the highlights:
Black Beans 0.99
Dried seaweed Wasabi flavored snack 0.99
6 pita breads 1.49
Mango Slices (dried) - 2.99
12 oz of Spinach - 1.99
Chocolate Bar - 1.99 (splurge!)

I also got brussel sprouts. I have only had them once, but I am thinking of doing a browned salad kind of thing the bruseel sprouts. If you have any ideas or recipes let me know!

Can you spend under 50 dollars at a grocery store?

Hamburger

2012-04-30T21:24:00.001-07:00

Before I met Luis I was able to snag this little gem of a photo. Daly city Bart station. You can't tell but isn't somewhere all that clean.

Luis and I walked around and finally settled on a cute cafe. Their food wasn't too bad but it wasn't all that great either. I was really disappointed in my take home desert. It was really dry- I didn't waste the calories and tossed it.

However heading back to the bay area from Sacramento gave me the chance to have my favorite semi healthyish burger from In and Out.

No sauce. Add mustard, double lettuce, and double tomato. Eat only half the frys, order an arnold Palmer ( half pink lemonade half tea).

Sometimes you can be tricked into thinking that lemonade is a better choice than say sprite. Or that ordering a salad will have less calories in it. I've caught myself (mostly after the fact) and I am now trying to get proactive about what I order.

What do you order at in and out? Is it as healthy as you think it is?
Cheeseburger with no sauce and add double veggies, and only mustard ~ 400 calories
Half an order of fries (no dip) ~ 200 calories
Half lemonade half tea~ 90 calories
Meal total 690.

With a few minor changes like getting the low carb version of the burger(330), getting just iced tea(0) and half a fries(200) I would spend just 520 calories.

See how a small change can make a big impact? That's 170 calories saved. Two pieces of bread and a shot of lemonade are a good hour of workout. I could have had two cookies or something really good...

I've had the low carb version and it is still very good. This small change would be something I would be totally willing to change. However, I could never justify going a step further and nixing the cheese. The cheese really makes the burger for me- just like substituting bread for lettuce wouldn't work for some of you.

What kind of substitutions would you be willing to make?
Anyone have any good examples of "good" for you food that is misleading?
What's your favorite burger topping?

Riding on the Bart.

2012-04-27T20:18:00.001-07:00

It's no secret when you are taking a picture on a old iPhone. I'm trying to be super sly and pretend that I'm a total regular at BARTing it.

I'm meeting Luis at Powell street, you know in "the city". That's what all the cool kids say, like there is only one city.

I even just now gave someone directions. Wow. I totally look like a real native.

I booked Luis a spur of the moment flight so were meeting in "the city" for dinner.

I would take a picture of this but then I'd totally blow my cover.