So, here is my first WIAW post (on a Thursday..) I suppose this is more like “what I ate on Wednesday”

 Breakfast is usually the same on work days. Coffee (1 k-cup, 1 splenda, 1 truvia & 1% milk) 0% chobani and cereal. I usually eat breakfast at about 9:30 at work.

Lunch changes daily, but lately it has been a salad, vita muffin & an apple. My salads are generally whatever I can find in the fridge that day. Today I have a ton of lettuce, orange peppers, meatless meatballs, feta & a scoop of bruschetta.

I had it with 1/4 of a cup of homemade balsamic salad dressing. It was a really good combination!

I spent the afternoon catching up on  the last two Mad Men episodes…(JOAN??  WTF!)

after playing catch up on my AMC obsession, I  had a whole wheat english muffin with a schmear of peanut butter and raspberry jelly & the last of my strawberries.

Chasie (my brother’s girlfriend) is moving into a new apartment on Friday, so we attacked Home Goods without mercy. We wandered around for about two hours filling our cart before realizing how late it was! We decided to hit up Moes for some food. I always get a salad there, I find them to be really filling and yummy (and just over 600 calories). I opted out of the massive side of chips. I forgot to take a picture of my salad, but I did snap a shot of my super tasty diet strawberry sprite that I had. Moes has one of those Coke freestyle machines- soo good!

It is now 11pm and I am still full!

As the temperature rises, the more aware I become about my body. Digging out all of the summer clothes and making sure they fit also makes me more self conscious. While I have had a very busy spring with running, I know that a few extra pounds have found themselves on my waistline. The real truth came out last week when I went to the doctor for my back. They did all of the routine things, pulse, blood pressure, weight…!

I usually avoid the scale. Not because I am afraid of it, just because I have been about the same size since high school. My weight hasn’t changed much over the past couple years. So I have found that if my clothes fit and I am feeling good, then I am happy. Now that I don’t have any major race obligations for the next couple of months, I am planning on focusing on shrinking that number. It is summer time, I don’t want to be self conscious about myself.

I will be trying to make myself more aware of what I am eating. I am going to be keeping a food journal as well as a exercise log. I am not planning on doing any sort of crash diet; rather I am going to make sure I am eating foods that keep me full longest. Increasing my veggies and healthy proteins & stopping when I am full.  I will also be making sure I work out at least 3 times a week.

Now for the number.

Drum roll please…!

Current Weight: 148

Goal Weight: 135

I am planning on doing update posts weekly.

image via 1

This Wednesday I ventured to the farmers market to see what looked good. Usually I don’t go with much  of a plan, just a couple bucks and a goal of finding whatever looks good that day. On Wednesday I heard a rumor that a local farm had strawberries… the first of the season! I handed over my $5 and scooped up the most pretty pint I could find. 

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them! That was until I was told I was on salad duty for our Memorial Day party…

I threw together this salad using what I had in the fridge.  I pared it with a super simple balsamic vinaigrette. I make this dressing every time I have a salad. It was a great combination and I will most definitely be making this again! I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

• Whatcha Need:
• Spinach (spring mix, whatever you have on hand)
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Pine Nuts (or almonds, walnuts, etc)

Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup balsamic
• Squirt of mustard (depending on how thick you want it)

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

After talking to my doctor briefly and going over what I had done over the past week he told me that my heal striking on the last downhill mile of the race and my lack of stretching had left me with a sore sacroiliac joint, leading to my hip joints and hamstrings to become very sore and developing into a one sided back spasm. So… what is your sacroiliac joint?

There are two purposes of the SI joint: shock absorption and pelvis stabilization. When we walk both SI joint pivot in the pattern of a figure eight. As our heel strikes the ground, the same side SI joint provides shock absorption for our pelvis, hip, and back. So my sprint and heal striking during the home stretch of the race left me with an irritated SI joint, which developed into something worse.

So how do I make my back pain go away? Because the lower back muscles and hamstrings connect to the pelvis and provide stabilization, I will be busy stretching and strengthening them. This has certainly been a reminder to me about how important it is to have proper form and to stretch well after a race.

Information and images retrieved from: 1, 2

.

]]> http://www.thewannabefoodie.com/sacroiliac-si-joint-pain/feed/ 0 http://www.thewannabefoodie.com/sacroiliac-si-joint-pain/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thewannabefoodie/~3/wW7AplaM8t8/ http://www.thewannabefoodie.com/peanut-flour-pancakes/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 11:32:32 +0000 Alicia http://www.thewannabefoodie.com/?p=2139  

Before and after the race on Sunday I was craving pancakes. I don’t have them often, but when a craving hits..I usually cave.

Today I decided to do something a little different and played around with a peanut flour pancake recipe that I have had bookmarked for what feels like forever. I wouldn’t even had peanut flour in my possession if I hadn’t won a giveaway over a year ago.

Peanut Flour Pancakes

Whatcha Need:

• 2/3 cup of peanut flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
• tbsp. of wheat germ
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. canola oil
• 1/2 cup of 1%  milk
• Dash of cinnamon or chai spice

How to do it:

• Spray or grease a non stick pan
• Ladle batter onto surface
• Flip when pancakes start to make delicious bubbles around the edges
• Plate them and cover with peanut butter, jelly and a drizzle of real maple syrup

The race itself was very small. It was the first running of this race and it was very exciting! The first two miles were good. It was basically the only part of the course that was either down hill or flat, so I kept a decent pace (Mile 1: 9:39 Mile 2: 10:03). After mile two the hills started.

My god. The hills.

After the first couple hills, it started to become a sick joke with all of the (amazing) race volunteers

“is this the last hill???”

“um, SURE!”

The race started at 9:15 when the sun was already out and hot. By the time we were a couple miles in, it was easily over 80. Without any cloud cover, running up hill for what felt like forever seemed like some sort of punishment. I ran the first mile with Heather, but we broke up just before mile 2. She stayed close behind me though, and I spotted her behind me at mile 6 and waited for her. At this point in the race we just wanted to finish. We did a little walking, a little jogging and a couple of intervals before I left her at mile 8. We had made it back onto the bike path, which seemed relatively flat and shady. I kept myself going at what seemed to be a decent pace until the volunteers started telling me how close I was to the finish! Oh it never felt so good to be done with a race. I finished in 1:51. That averages out to a 11:47 pace. Considering the heat, the hills and the fact that I didn’t train for this, I will gladly take that.

Here are my final splits:

Mile 1: 9:39
Mile 2: 10:03
Mile 3: 11:52
Mile 4: 12:13
Mile 5: 12:50
Mile 6: 15:06 (this is a little off because I walked backwards to meet Heather and didn’t stop my watch)
Mile 7: 12:46
Mile 8: 11:14
Mile 9: 11:19
.3 : 3:32

I am looking forward to a month off from racing. I don’t have anything planned until the Firecracker 4 in July.

I always have a great time when I am running with Heather, without her this race would have felt even longer than it was!

Planned workouts for the week:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 40 Minutes Elliptical / Weights
• Wednesday: Hot Vinyasa Flow
• Thursday: 3 Mile Run
• Friday: 40 Minutes Elliptical / Weights
• Saturday: Rest / Long Puppy Walk
• Sunday: 4 Mile Run

Simple Summer Salad

Whatcha Need: 

• Fresh spinach
• Cucumber
• Ripe avocado
• Feta cheese
• Cherry tomatoes

How to do it: 

• Rip up spinach and remove any woody stems
• Add cherry tomatoes, avocado, feta & cucumbers

For pretty much any salad, I throw together a quick balsamic salad dressing. I really really like the strong flavor of balsamic, so I generally add much more vinegar than oil. It is totally up to you on how much you would like to add. I generally do about 1 tablespoon olive oil, 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, a squeeze of yellow mustard and salt & pepper. Wisk together and enjoy!

I have already completed some of my May goals!

Saturday Chris and I went to the drive-ins with a couple friends to see The Avengers, it was really good! Best superhero movie I have seen in a while. Sunday I rearranged my room and vacuumed all of the winter stuffiness out of it. It always feels so good when my room goes into its Summer position! I have also been reading my little heart out.. any guesses what books I have become obsessed with?

5/14-5/20

Monday: 30 Minutes PreCor machine & Weights

Tuesday: Hot Yoga

Wednesday: 3 Mile Run

Thursday: 45 Minutes Cross (Elliptical/ PreCor)

Friday: 2 Mile Run + Strength

Saturday: Rest?

Sunday: Founders Day 15k with these lovely ladies (Heather & Jen)

image via

I am going to try to actively keep monthly goals for myself now that I am DONE with the semester. I finished my last class on Tuesday and have been reacquainting myself with what free time is. This summer I have the opportunity to work full time starting in June, so these remaining free days in May should be spent well! I attempted to keep monthly goals last summer, and truly believe that keeping monthly goals is much better than making a huge list of summer goals. Much less overwhelming.

Fitness: 

Run at least 15 miles a week

Do a “Sunday Set Up” (aka plan workouts for the week)

Begin a weight training plan

Yoga once a week

Food: 

Create & Post 1 new recipe a week

Clean eating

Fun: 

More puppy walks

Find a road bike

Go to the drive-ins

Blogging: 

Design new layout

Clean up unused tags

Make a posting schedule

Personal: 

Move bed under window for Buddy

READ for fun!

What are your summer goals???

(last years July goals & August goals)

image via pinterest