• Chin ups:  2 sets of 2, 1 set of 1
• Barbell stiff-legged dead lifts: 1 set of 10 at 45#, 1 set of 8 at 65#, 1 set of 6 at 85#, and 1 set of 4 at 105# (go me!!)

Superset

• Dumbbell side squat: 3 sets of 10 with 25# DBs
• Upright row: 3 sets of 8 with 25# EZ curl bar

• Cable squat-to-row:  3 sets of 10 at 60#

Superset:

• Wide grip lat pulldown: 3 sets of 8 at 60#
• Push ups:  3 sets of 10

Superset:

• Preacher curls:  3 sets of 8 with 35# EZ curl bar
• Nose breakers:  3 sets with 30# EZ curl bar

• Decline sit ups:  3 sets of 10
• Lower back extension (machine): 3 sets of 8 at 100#

Good workout, although it felt a little random.  Maybe that is because I wrote it out at 11 p.m. last night!

So, we hit up a different spot for bagels called Cool Beans.  We like this place, but it is a little further away and not much seating inside, so you never know if you can get a table.  In summer it’s okay because you can sit outside, but not in winter…

Look at the coffee urns!

I had a sunflower bagel.

I actually brought my own cream cheese today (yes, I am a dork).  I know you are all going to get tired of seeing the extra protein, but I need it for this lifting I am doing.  (I am trying to get to at least 100 g per day.)  So, I mixed some vanilla protein powder in cream cheese with a tbsp of pumpkin and spices to make my spread for the bagel.  It was pretty good and gave me about 15 grams!

Busy working today with a little helper.

I love her expression here.  It’s like she is annoyed that I am bothering her with my work.  This is how it is most days in the morning with Pixie.

A box came for me today this morning, and I opened it up and was thrilled to see this!

A dark chocolate jackpot!  I won a giveaway on Apple Crumbles (great blog, btw) and Hershey’s sent me this.  Yes – that is a case of chocolate bars there!  They are the 100 calorie bars, so not so bad.   This stuff must go up high or John just might come downstairs one morning with me passed out and chocolate smeared all over my face.

I wanted chocolate for lunch after opening this box, but I resisted.  I made up this mix, which included 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt, 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, cinnamon, protein powder, and some grapenuts.

It was quite good.  It was a little runny, but I sprinkled in some of that gluccomannan and it thickened up a lot!

I broke into the chocolate stash for the afternoon snack.

Good stuff.  Chocolate and coffee are like a match made in heaven.

It was so beautiful out today.  Wish I could have gone for a bike ride, but a lot of work to do, and then dog training in the evening!

Needed a quick dinner, so guess what that means?? Salad!

I tell you, having precooked meal components is really a lifesaver when you are busy.  It takes me about 5 minutes to put this together.  A meal that actually takes longer to eat than it does to make!

Had a good training session.  I think I might be working with Storm for real in May.  Kinda scary!   I stopped afterwards to chitchat with my sister at McDonald’s of all places.  That’s because this one wanted a happy meal:

I tried something from the McCafe for the first time ever.  I actually haven’t been in a Md’s in at least a couple years.  This was a nonfat latte:

The verdict? Not bad.  For an automatic espresso machine, it was about what I would expect.  At least it was fresh!  No topping bar available, though – so no cinnamon or nutmeg to dust on top (okay, I’m a snob, I admit it).  It was also hotter than the sun…  gheesh!  Why do places make their lattes so hot?

Now relaxing time.

Question: Do you precook foods for easy meal preparation later in the week?

Speaking of running, that was on the agenda for today!  I almost ran outside, as it was 29 degrees, but there was frost on the car and I decided just to go to the gym.  Feeling a little cold wussy today.  I was a little sore from yesterday’s strength session, but not what I was expecting (thinking steam-rolled was going to happen).  My glutes are the most sore (thank you dead lift).  I hopped on the treadmill and did 4 miles.  It felt pretty standard, although a little stiff at first.  No speed work or anything fancy today, just a sweaty run.

Came home thinking bananas for some potassium!  I was needing to replace that:

Banana custard oats to be exact!  I felt like being different and put my oats in a mug!

I am such a rebel…..

I had a little trouble concentrating at work today.  Not sure if it is the mid week hump day for me or what.  We all have days like that, I guess.  I did find out that our favorite coffee shop had closed as of yesterday, though!  The place where we went each Wednesday.  I am so bummed. It was very sudden.  There aren’t that many places to get a good bagel around here.  (Please don’t make me open up a bagel shop….).

I was wanting a sandwich for lunch, so I decided to make a batch of protein waffles to use as bread!  (I have a waffle iron in my Open Sky shop, too )

This was 3 egg whites cooked in the microwave (they get nice and puffy) with some laughing cow and topped with hot sauce.  Egg whites are boring, let’s face it, so the hot sauce was a welcome addition.  Needs to be hotter, though….

I still have a few more FAQ questions, so after looking at a bunch of my races while compiling the running post, it got me thinking about this one:

What has been your greatest health/fitness achievement to date?

I have to say there are 2 moments that stick in my mind.  The first one was my triathlon last July.  It almost seemed like the culmination of so much work (which it was) combined with rising so far above any expectations I could have had of myself a few years ago.  I cried when I finished, which was not the reaction John was expecting LOL!  The close second was the duathlon.  That cemented to me the fact that I can challenge myself and push myself and *love* it!

You know how I was saying my snack of ricotta and protein powder had some potential? I tried this mix: ricotta, vanilla protein powder, pumpkin pie spice, heaping tbsp of pumpkin.

This was quite good and really hit the spot. Think you might see this around a lot.

I have been playing around with snack times this week, and it seems to be working pretty well.  I added another one into the day between breakfast and lunch, so I could push lunch a little later.  That way I won’t be tempted to snack between latte time and dinner or lunch time and latte time (or both, as I have been doing   ).  So far, so good.   I’ve been making it a protein snack as well rather than too carby.

Dinner time… ding, ding, ding!  I cooked a huge amount of broccoli in some coconut oil.  I just used the rest of the bag, so there is probably almost 2 cups there!

This is a frozen crab cake that I cooked in the toaster oven.  Too many peppers in this for a traditional crab cake, but pretty good.  Yum.  I probably could have used a bigger plate.

I am now proud to say that I have not had a protein bar for over a week now!  Not one Balance Bar has crossed my lips (or any Zone or Luna) since Feb 28th.  This was a major hurdle for me, so I think I will try to make it my goal for March to be store-bought bar free.  I might make some at home, but that’s a different story.

Now if I could get control of these:

You’ll have to stay tuned to find out where we will be having our bagel day tomorrow – we don’t even know yet!

How did you start running/How long have you been running? I started the Couch to 5K program in April of 2008.  Here is the post where I talked about my running evolution last year.  This is still one of my favorite posts.   So that makes almost 2 years of running now.  Where does the time go, anyway?

When did running become an enjoying experience DURING the run, and not only afterwards? Hmmmm…. this is hard because I don’t always enjoy the running.   When I first started out, I was actually nervous for the jogging sessions of training, literally palm sweating nervous. How bizarre is that?
There are days where it feels really good and I feel fit and the running is easy.  Those days I love.  Then there those days where my legs feel leaden and I think, “What the hell am I doing? This isn’t fun.”  Then I just get over it and keep going, unless I feel something funny that would lead me to believe I might get injured if I continue.  Most times that feeling of yuck dissipates after a while, but sometimes it stays the whole run.  That is usually when I refer to it as ’slogging it out.’   I do have to say that I love, love the feeling when I am done running.  Knowing that great feeling is coming always outweighs the wanting to stop.  I don’t know if it is the endorphins or the feeling of accomplishment (or a little from both columns), but that is part of what keeps me running.  Ermmm….. is that called addiction?

Did you run as a heavy person?  Sort of.  I tried running when I weighed over 200, and I made the mistake of going too hard, too fast, so I stopped (I still had that all-or-nothing mentality then).  I weighed in the 160s in 2008 when I started again.  It is easier when you are lighter, but there certainly are people much heavier than I am that do 1/2 marathons!  It’s all in how you train.  I do still need to wear compression on the bottom, because I don’t like the feel of loose skin when I run.  It just makes it more comfortable.  My trisuit was the best purchase ever!!

Why do you say you don’t consider yourself a runner, as it seems like you run a lot? I consider myself a biker and a lifter first, because those 2 things I love, and I would bike all the time if I could (and did last summer).  Running is just kind of something I do, but not necessarily what I am.

What shoes do you wear? I have become a convert to Saucony shoes.  I have wide feet and they fit me really well.

What do you eat before you run? Depends on the length of the run and the time.  Usually a protein bar or some type of bread with nut butter on it.  Sometimes dates with nut butter.  Nothing really heavy.

Do you have any running goals this year? I had a mileage goal in mind of 750 miles for the year.  A minimum of 500 (I am sitting at 166 the day of this post).  I had thoughts of doing a 1/2 marathon, but I realized that I don’t love running so much that I want to do it for 2.5 hours.  I think I might get bored, not to mention that it would be really hard.  It’s funny, we are going to do a 100-mile bike ride this summer and that I look forward to that.  I was not looking forward to a 1/2 marathon, so I think that is reason enough to not do one.  And that is okay.  Sometimes I feel like I *should* because there is no reason that I can’t, and it seems like so many others are having fun doing them.  It certainly would be a challenge. I can always change my mind on that one, though.  I am doing the duathlon again, though. Yay!

So, those are just some musings on running.

My first 5K ever in July of 2008 (with my sister)

Today I tried some pyramids with a couple of the exercises.  That involves increasing the weight on each set while decreasing the reps.  Hard!

• Chinups: 1 set of 2, 2 sets of 1
• Barbell deadlifts: 1 set of 12 at 45#, 1 set of 10 at 65#, 1 set of 8 at 85#, 1 set of 6 at 95#
• Seated Row:  1 set of 12 at 45#, 1 set of 10 at 55#, 1 set of 8 at 70#, 1 set of 6 at 75#

Supersets:

• Barbell push press: 3 sets of 10 with 35# bar

• Hammer curl: 3 sets of 8 with 15# dumbbells
• Bench Dips:  3 sets of 10.

Supersets:

• Dumbbell chest press:  3 sets of 8 with 25# dumbbells
• Planks:  1 set at 1.5 minute hold, 2 sets at 1 minute hold

Superset:

• Split squat:  3 sets of 10 with 35# plate
• Good mornings:  3 sets of 8 with 35# bar

I was a shakin’ after I finished!  It felt so good.  No cardio today, just a little walking warmup on the treadmill.

Came home and made an interesting breakfast – I almost wasn’t going to put the photo on the blog, cause it doesn’t look so good LOL!

This was custard oats cooked with frozen blueberries.  Normally I make the blueberry sauce and top the oats with them, but thought I would save a step.  You know, the blueberry flavor was less intense this way, so I will go back to topping again.  John said it looked like black beans (ewww…)

Mid morning protein hit:

This is some protein powder mixed with water and cinnamon with a little nut butter.

So, with regards to exercise, I realized that I was doing a lot and I don’t really have an event to train for right now.  Not to mention that any smaller event (like a 5K) – I am totally ready for at this moment because of what I have been doing.  It’s almost like I am actually in training mode with no goal, which can be a scary thing because I don’t have a plan.  I have noticed a little fatigue and the insomnia is starting to creep back, so rather than risk over training, I am cutting back on cardio a bit and lifting a little more.  I don’t need to be running 6 miles at a pop if I am just scheduled for 5K runs.  Make sense?  I find myself incredibly hungry on those days and I eat too much extra (more than the 700 calories I burn).  I don’t want to feel like I am trying to out train a bad diet.   So – I am going to scale the mileage down a little with a max of 5 miles per run.

Lunch was an interesting experiment:

That thing that looks like bread is actually a modification of the 1-minute muffin.  I got an email from PubsGal that she made pancakes out of the recipe and they were very good!  So, I thought I would try a non sweet version for bread.  This was 1/4 cup of flax meal mixed with 2 egg whites and 1/4 tsp of baking powder.  I cooked it on nonstick skillet (which I should have sprayed, still).  This has a lot of potential, I have to say.  It was bland, but I topped it with some chicken mixed with hummus.  This will go into the experiment-on-again pile Served with pineapple topped with cinnamon.

Afternoon latte snack and a little fat to go along with it:

I always thought I was a crow in a former life because I like sparkly things, but maybe I was really a squirrel based on how I love nuts…

We bought a new stirfry sauce this weekend:

This stuff is really good!  I made a shrimp stirfry with broccoli for dinner.

I *loved* this dinner.  Nice ripe pear, too.  With cinnamon.  Think I eat enough cinnamon?  I put it on almost everything that isn’t savory (and sometimes that, too).

Tonight’s snack will be the protein powder/ricotta cheese mix.  Need to maximize that protein for today’s lifting!

Pixie also wanted you all to see her after she is freshly brushed.  You can also tell spring is coming because she is starting to shed again.  She has such a mane, doesn’t she?

Can you believe she is actually awake? Seems like most of my pictures are of her sleeping.

Question: What is your favorite protein source?

It has such a nice atmosphere inside:

John and I both got the same banana nut bagel today with honey walnut cream cheese!

Got home and worked, worked, worked!  Really busy today (which is good).  Stopped for a quick lunch of a scrambled egg wrap with Laughing Cow and a plum.  These are starting to make a comeback in stores now!

Then I had a little dessert:

Worked a little more and then participated in the blogger run day by doing 3 miles!  It was so beautiful outside – 50 degrees and sunny.  The track was dry, so John came with to walk while I ran and take some action shots.  Still big snow piles everywhere, though:

Nice shot of me running away – don’t I look speedy?

Leave it to my husband to take a picture of my butt.  At least he didn’t zoom in….

Just passin’ by:

I have to admit that I just was not feeling this run at all.  I almost never run in the afternoon anymore, and my calves were complaining, which is really weird, but I think that was probably from biking yesterday.  It was a real slog getting through this.  But I finished!

I needed a pick-me-up after we got back, and this hit the spot!

Mmmmm…. lattelicious.

So an update.  The scale isn’t budging for me on my desire to go for 140, but my snacking has gotten bad again.  I really need to get serious and quit dinking around.  I am actually going to reduce my cardio a little bit, too, which will help with the snacking, I think.  I will have a running FAQ post up this week (I promise!).

Dinner was an old friend I haven’t had for a while – clam strips!  With some brussel sprouts and strawberries.  Tasty.

Done with work for the day and need to make a strength training workout for this week.  Back to lifting – yay!

I don’t watch the Oscars, but I guess those are on tonight.  The only movie I have seen in theaters in at least a year was The Princess and The Frog.  Can you believe that?  And the movie before that was Batman with Heath Ledger.

Question: Do you watch the Oscars?

And a note on the sweet potato muffins from earlier, I used the Spark recipe calculator to calculate nutritionals.  It’s pretty cool!

First off, though  – must get to the important breakfast stuff.  Banana custard oats topped with pecan butter and strawberry all fruit.

Delish!  I did a little less oats to see what would happen and it was kind of like pudding.  No running today because of the ride later.  And the blogger run day is on Sunday, btw…

We decided to bike to lunch today, since it was going to be in the low to mid 40s!  Still a little brisk, but you all know if it is above 40, I’ll go.  I was a little worried for John because he has not been doing as much as I have during the winter, but he did pretty well

Filling up the tires:

It was all road riding because the bike path is still covered in snow.  It’s 8 miles each way to get to Panera Bread, so a good ride!  I was hangry by the time we got there, though.  We had to stop a couple times for adjustments.  The first ride of the season doesn’t always go smoothly.

I had clam chowder and a tomato/mozzarella sammie:

Yum!  My date (also yum..):

Me with helmet head:

I so missed riding!  I run a lot now, but if you asked me to choose between running and biking, I would be pedaling away before you could even finish the sentence.    The ride home was a little harder as there was a bit of a head wind, and my sit bones were starting to get a little sore.  Did a lot of standing up for the last couple miles   Legs felt really good, though.  Total miles: 16, average of 12 mph.  Good first season ride!

I got a little chilled, so I needed a good warmup of a latte:

That’s cinnamon on top.

We were pretty lazy for the rest of the day.  Then it was time for dinner.  Still using up those potatoes!  I did one kind of like the other night, but it was a white potato with some laughing cow cheese and BBQ chicken.  Really good!

Did some grocery shopping tonight since we are going someplace farther away for bagels tomorrow.  Now I am ready to have some snacks and movie time!

Question:  Any good plans for this weekend?

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of white flour
• 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar (packed)
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon, whichever)
• 1.5 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup of milk (I used 1%)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
• 1.5 tsp of liquid oil
• 1/4 cup of fresh cranberries, chopped (25 grams)
• 1/2 oz of pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375F.  Prepare a 6 muffin tin pan with either nonstick spray or liners.  I used the larger muffin tin size, so I got 6.  In a medium size bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, spice, salt, and baking powder.  In a separate small bowl, beat together the milk, egg whites, oil, and sweet potato until smooth.

Add the wet mix to the dry and stir a few times, then add in the nuts and cranberries.

The mixture may seem a little dry (mine did), but I just mixed a little more.  You don’t want to over stir or the muffins will be tough.

Divide evenly into muffin cups:

See how thick this batter is?  Maybe a little more milk might make them rise better?

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  I would start checking at 15 minutes.

Breakfast is served:

Nutrition per muffin:  Using 1% milk for this and making 6 muffins out of the batch:

Calories		161.4
Total Fat		3.4 g
	Saturated Fat	0.4 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.9 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.7 g
Cholesterol		1.0 mg
Sodium		28.0 mg
Potassium		174.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate		29.5 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.5 g
	Sugars	2.8 g
Protein		4.5 g

These came out almost more like biscuits.  Very dense and heavy, but tasty.  I think they would be a great snack for after a workout.  I’ll post the recipe this weekend.

I got a new ingredient to try this week call glucomannan (konyaku?).  It is recommended in a book I am reading by Cassandra Forsythe Women’s Health Perfect Body Diet .She is one of the coauthors for NROLW, so I wanted to read her book.  It is a fibrous thickener and I used it in a green smoothie:

That got super, super thick!  I actually ended up putting it in a bowl and eating it with a spoon.  It was just like pudding.  Gives me some fun ideas to try.  1 tsp of this stuff will gel 1 cup of liquid, so I think I used too much for my smoothie.  It has no taste, unlike the shiratake noodles made from the same stuff.

When I was baking this morning, I was remembering how our kitchen looked when we moved into this house 3 years ago.  Fun fact – do you know that I never stepped foot in this house before we bought it?  Since we were purchasing long distance (IL to NY), each of us came out and looked at places separately.  We ended up buying a house John found on his trip, and I only had pictures to go on.  Guess that means I trust John knows my taste enough

I don’t mind a rehab challenge (I have renovated 2 houses doing most of the work myself), so I was okay with seeing this as the kitchen:

Note there were no upper cupboards! And that floor was not wood or even laminate.  It was vinyl and not even secured down, so it would bunch up under your feet or when you moved something.  We won’t even talk about the stove that would set off the smoke alarm any time you baked something, or the fridge that kept food around 50 degrees   The price was right, though.  For a few months, we had dishes stacked on the counter in wooden crates.  Martha Stewart would have popped a blood vessel if she visited us.

We bought unfinished cabinets for the top and painted them white, then we painted the lower ones as well.  Got a new stove and fridge, painted the hood over the stove white to match (and moved it).  Painted the walls. Then we put down vinyl tile on the floor.  Would have loved ceramic, but not in the budget.

We did not spend a lot on this kitchen, probably about $1500 including the appliance, but we brought the value up dramatically just by a little sweat equity!  It’s funny that I absolutely hated the countertops (you see the tile in most food pictures), because I think it is floor tile.  But once the rest of the kitchen was done, I am okay with living with the counters for a while.

Are you tired of seeing the BBQ chicken salad for dinner?  Hope not, cause that is what I had!

All in all, I had a very good day.  We got the bikes down and I think we might go for a ride tomorrow!  Have to bundle up, but I am so itching to get on my bike.   I have missed my friend for the last few months.

Tomorrow I will be running my own 5K virtually with Shelley for blogger run day!

Pixie wishes all of you a good weekend!  She says “Relax a little…”

This was a tiny nanner!

Then I hit the road. It was colder than I was expecting outside.  I keep forgetting that the daily high for the day does not occur at 7 a.m. (duh).  It was about 25 when I went out.  Nice thing about the cold is that I don’t sweat as much as indoors.  I did a 5K loop twice around, so it ended up about 6.4 miles.  I was doing fine until the last 1/2 mile or so, and I really had to slog it out to finish.  I was tired by that point.  Not used to running outside anymore!  And no more bananas for a workout.  They make me burp!  What is up with that?

Since it was so cold out, I felt kind of fall inspired with my oats and brought out a can of pumpkin from the stash, plus another freezer stash item!

Cooked these up into pumpkin custard oats.  Topped with 1 tbsp of walnut butter.  I was so happy eating this breakfast.  I love food!

Confession time – remember how I said we had an embarrassing amount of oat products?  Here is the shelf!

I have had a chill all day.  Can’t seem to get rid of it even after a warm breakfast, hot shower, and being dressed in a sweatshirt and turtleneck today!

I experimented with lunch.  I wanted warmth – so a wrap was out.  I decided to put some broccoli in the magic bullet with an egg and some egg whites and blend it up.  Then I used the GT express to make omelets out of it, with some laughing cow tucked inside.  Check it out – green eggs!

Should have saved this for St. Patty’s Day……

So, the cereal box in the house experiment has turned into a big fail.  I snacked on that a lot today.  And it was Kashi, so my tummy is paying me back for that.  I was okay with the box in the house until I actually opened it.  D’oh!

Another FAQ, since this ingredient is in Kashi:

I saw flax seeds in your store and know I can sprinkle them on oatmeal and just about everything else. I take it you are supposed to grind them first? What’s the difference between golden and brown flax seeds (and others)? Do you have any recommendations for a newbie just starting out with flax?

Flax really needs to be ground for your body to digest it, otherwise it just passes on through.  There seems to be conflicting views on whether there really is much difference between golden and brown flax, but brown is the most easy to find in stores.  Both kinds will give you Omega 3 and alpha linoleic acid.  Just buy it whole and grind it in a coffee grinder.  Once ground, it is best to store in the fridge.  Flax is the basis for the 1-minute muffin, too!

Dinner time was more experimenting.  I cooked up a sweet potato (and saved half for another day).  Topped it with some cooked chicken, BBQ sauce, and cabot reduced fat cheddar.

This was good!  Sounds funny, but it was a nice mix of flavors.  I have gotten in some good superfoods today.

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News around the internets:

Interesting post on good food versus bad at Healthy Foodie

Added some handmade soap to my Open Sky store.

** Important Food Recall – If you eat vegetarian meat analogs or use dip mixes, please check the FDA website here for product recalls on these products**

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Question: Are you ready for spring?