Gourmet Runner

I think I can safely say that last night's  ice bath   was a success. This morning I have no knee or hip pain/stiffness at all, which is amazing considering yesterday's 15 miles was my longest run to date! I'll think I'll keep having one after long runs, especially those 2 hours or longer. Today I decided to skip any running, and instead to mix it up a bit with some yoga. I ended up doing 3 different 20 minute free classes from  Yogadownload.com  and it worked out perfectly. If all goes well, tonight will be my 3rd upper body workout of the week. I'm writing it here so I HAVE to do it! Breakfast was the same thing I've had every morning for months...oatmeal. I love it and I don't want to have anything else, but sometimes I feel like I should branch out a bit! Lunch was another egg-beater and cheese wrap, this time with spinach and salsa. Strawberries and grapes on the side: And from there I really shouldn't say. It's basically a grocery list.

Good news! The shoes worked out fine and I ran my longest run to date--15 miles! Time was 2 hours, 25 minutes, so the pace worked out to 9:39 overall. Once again, it was on the treadmill, so I kept it at an incline of 1% most of the time, upping it every once in a while to break up the monotony. I definitely get some strange looks staying on the treadmill that long, though. Once I was cooling down, an older man asked me, "Sh*t woman, where you runnin' to, Wal-Mart?"  I'm not sure what the correct response is to this, for multiple reasons.  1) Wal-mart is actually really close, maybe a mile from the gym.  2) Why on earth would it seem like I was running to Wal-Mart? 3) I'm on a treadmill. It's obvious I'm not going ANYWHERE. Here is my creepy smile before the run: And the exhausted, "take the freaking picture for my blog" look afterwards: I was actually really feeling it in my legs after this run, so I decided to become a real grown-up runner

This morning we went to the homesite to have some lumber delivered, and were chatting to the man who delivered everything. He lives about 30 minutes away and was asking questions about how the recent storms and tornadoes had affected us and our area. Luckily, we were completely fine and even our land was almost untouched--no trees had fallen down or anything. He told us a story about Wednesday night that truly SHOCKED me: A woman was going through the drive-through of a McDonald's in a nearby town (Ringgold, GA) during the storm, and reached out the window to hand the cashier her money. At that moment, the winds must have gotten stronger because her car rolled over and the man at the window got sucked out of the drive-through window. This is obviously horrible and I hope both parties are safe, but why on earth was a) the McDonald's serving customers, and b) anyone needing a french fry fix that badly?! I'm taking this as a sign to avoid fast-food. It's hazardous to your

Today at the gym I had my pick of the treadmills...two glorious rows EMPTY. It was incredible and I decided to mix it up and not get on my "favorite" treadmill. Maybe online I seem crazy   ditzy   insane  friendly, but while I'm running? Least sociable person ever. I purposely pick the treadmill that has an empty space next to it so there's less chance of someone coming up to me and chatting. Breathing is hard enough when I'm running, but talking too? Fuh-get-about-it.  Since I branched out and picked a new treadmill, I took advantage of one of it's snazzy features--the decline. I turned the whole thing into a hill workout that looked a little something like this: (I kept the pace pretty constant between 6.2-6.3 the whole time) Miles 1-2: warm up, 1% incline Miles 2.00-2.25: 3.5% incline Miles 2.25-2.5: 1% decline Mile 2.5-2.75: 3.5% incline Mile 2.75-3.0: 1% decline Miles 3.0-3.25: 3.5% incline Miles 3.25-3.5: 1% decline Miles 3.5-3.75: 3.5% incli

...on my week of sugar-free eating. What were you guys thinking? Today is day 4 of my sugar fast and I definitely haven't stuck to it like I planned. No, I haven't eaten any candy, chocolate, cookies, that kind of thing, but I have eaten some added sugars that I was really hoping to avoid. There are some foods I eat on a regular basis that I consider healthy, and I don't want to eliminate them from my diet. Some examples are: Salad Dressing: 3 grams of sugar Strawberry Preserves: Low sugar but still some  sugar! Tortillas-only 1 gram of sugar, not too bad.  No surprise here--it's vanilla flavored I just can't give up my ketchup! I'm okay with including these foods in my diet. Yes, I'm including some added sugars. More important for me is to get used to living without a "treat" after every meal. I think it's common to reach for something sweet after dinner, but I was doing it after lunch too!  I don't want anyone to think I

I can't lie to you guys--I've been checking ups.com like a kid tracking Santa on Christmas eve. I haven't been so excited in a looong time. And now my new shoes are finally here! Let's stick with the Christmas analogy, because looking at these photos makes me look like a 4 year old on Christmas morning. In my stocking? Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11s. The box is here! Way too much tape in the way Seriously. Too. Much. Tape. I'm in! Smell check. Definitely new.  Very happy Vanessa. Obviously I was going to need to try these babies out. Tornado warnings and thunderstorms around here so it was the treadmill for me. Ran 6 miles in 56:30 (9:24 pace) and broke in the new shoes. They felt great, a tight calf at first but I think that was more due to the lack of running the past few days. It felt SO great to run. Yay! I made hubs quesadillas today and wanted something similar since the ingredients were already out. I ended up with a broccoli, egg beater, ba

So there I was, checking up on blog, reading all the wonderful comments you leave... And BOOM! I have over 100 followers! This means the world to me, I am so excited to have a connection with each of you. I love reading your blogs and learning more about you. I pick up muchos tips about running, health, recipes, and life--so thanks! If you were here I would let you pick one of these desserts as your reward: His and Hers desserts! His : Greek yogurt with cocoa puffs and strawberries Hers: Greek yogurt with strawberries, grapes, and chopped almonds Poor hubs has to eat his out of a tupperware container. No biggie. These tasty treats followed a delicious dinner of ricotta manicotti and sliced cucumber. Of course some rye bread on the side to sop up all the yummy tomato sauce.  And now I'm off to watch a 90 minute episode of Glee. Please someone say they love this show so I don't feel too lame. Thanks! Tell me, tell me: what is your favorite show you're embarrassed

I wrote before about how my current running shoes are out for the count. I've put a lot of miles on them (500 +) and the last few times I've run in them I've had hip and knee pain. So for the last few days, I've been cross training and looking out for new shoes.  Rachelle  and  Julia  both suggested looking at  Running Warehouse  for some good deals on shoes. Since these two ladies are fabulous runners and know what they're talking about, I knew I had to check the site out. I found some shoes that looked PERFECT-- These are the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10. Lots of support for my over-pronation. Plus, they were on a HUGE sale and I picked them up for $60. I ordered them Saturday, and expected them to arrive sometime on Wednesday. Last night I got a call from running warehouse. A very chirpy man informed me that the shoes I ordered Saturday, that I had actually paid for, were sold out. BOOOO. I went out on a limb and asked if they could replace them with the newer versi

I thought the day after Easter  our collective sugar comas might be a good day to tackle this topic. I read a really interesting  article  on the NY Times website recently about the effect sugar has on our bodies. In particular, the effect that fructose has on our bodies. While a lot of us are aware of the negative publicity high-fructose corn sugar gets, I was certainly not aware that sucrose (table sugar) was comprised of 50% fructose. The article links to a 90 minute lecture on sugar. If you're like me, the thought of a lecture on anything science related scares the bajeezus out of you. So 90 minutes of it? This slide: looks to me exactly like this slide: Believe it or not, the speaker (Dr. Robert Lustig) manages to cater this lecture to even those without a shred of scientific knowledge (ME!) He discusses the impact of sugar on our country and specifically on  children. He tells of how it truly can be a poison in our body, causing metabolic syndrome which ultimately lead

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! This week was certainly not my typical exercise week. I was already planning on having a cutback week with mileage, so I guess it's as good a time as any for me to realize it was time to replace my shoes. I haven't had a run since Thursday which is very WEIRD for me. Overall, I didn't meet my goals for the week. ( listed here ) but I'm ok with it. Some untraditional strength training took place, and lots of Easter relaxing. Monday: 1 hour-ish of shoveling mud (crazy workout for my arms and back, wow!)    --Run 3.5 miles, walk 1 Tuesday: Walk 3 miles    --40 minutes of yoga Wednesday: Ran 10 miles (9:30 pace) Thursday: Jellybean Race! 6.5 mile run Friday: Ran 1 mile    --30 minutes on elliptical    --1 hour upper-body strength training w/ 100 push-up challenge    --abs: various Saturday: NOTHING! Hike was planned, but it didn't work out so that was that. Sunday: 1 hour on the elliptical Mileage: 25 miles, only 21

... and all through the house, no candy or chocolate was safe, from Vanessa's mouth.  Peeps on a stick. Holy deliciousness. The perfect treat to accompany my Saturday night reality TV binge. Apparently I didn't get the memo that Easter was on Sunday , because we busted out all our yummy Easter treats yesterday. Chocolate nests were made (recipe  here ) and a few may have been consumed a little early. Here are the first few in their muffin tins waiting to get hard: And then the finished product filled with mini eggs: Easter morning workout was a sweatfest in order to make room for more treats today. I'm still on the elliptical until I get some new shoes, but today I added intervals to make it a bit more challenging and a bit less boring. How am I okay to run for a couple of hours on a treadmill but 1 hour on the elliptical seems like torture? Which cardio machines do you love/hate? Treadmill I love (duh), elliptical and stairmaster I have a complicated relationship wi

Today's plan was to wake up bright and early and drive to the scene of my trail half marathon-  Scenic City Trail Half & Marathon  in the Chattanooga, TN area. 10 minutes away from home, I realize we've forgotten the directions and have no clue how to get there. No problem--we turn back and start the journey 20 minutes later but otherwise fine. Hubby's calf is feeling better and we were attempting to cover the whole 13 miles, but a combo of walking and running. We almost get into the park, but then see a big STOP sign where the entrance is. The gate is locked. The place is closed today. There are tons of people who biked around anyway, but the actual trail is a solid 6 miles away from the gate--on a paved highway. Not my idea of a nice hike. Discouraged but not ready to go home, we drove the other way and found some nice scenery and stopped for a photo op/snack time. Obviously, I was starving from all the, um, sitting I did in the car. It was an awesome  protein ba

I need to preface this post by admitting something to you all: I heart free stuff. Seriously. I will take free ANYTHING. I spend 5 minutes each day searching for free stuff I can get in the mail. I'll sign up for the toothpaste, the free tampons (no joke--got a sample box of these 3 days go)--whatever. But free snacks? This gets me excited. About 2 weeks ago I figured out that I could get a free Atkins Starter Kit. Now, I've never been on any low-carb diet nor do I intend to start. It's just that the starter kit came with 3 free bars. FREE, PEOPLE! I was a little wary of accidentally signing my life away or something, but no credit card info, no "plan"...nothing. Just this little box of goodness that arrived today: **Sorry, I had to scrub out my mailing address. My mailbox couldn't handle all the fan mail I'd immediately start to get and who wants that drama, you know?** Inside was a letter, some recipes, a notebook of carb counts in various food....bl

Hope you're enjoying your Earth Day/ Good Friday everyone! Weather is looking gorgeous here in Georgia and it's shaping up to be a warm and sunny Easter weekend-- woo-hoo !!! I have been putting off getting new running shoes for a while now. I kept thinking next week...another 50 miles on them...it's not too bad.... And now it's bad. I can feel the tread worn down on one side of my right shoe, and it's messing up the way I run. My right knee and hip are feeling sore, and I can tell it's because of the shoe. Ugh. I'll get some in the next few days, but in the mean time I feel better doing cross training rather than running. Today's workout was 30 minutes on the elliptical, and then 1 mile on the treadmill. One mile was enough to know it wasn't feeling right, so I didn't push it. At least I know I was properly fueled from my pre-workout snack (aka breakfast #2...you know I can't go more than 2 hours without some form of nourishment): Sli

Today I ran in the Jellybean virtual race! Put on by  Run With Jess , you could choose to run either the 5k or the 10k. Jess put in a ton of effort to get sponsors to donate some awesome prizes, and even made special bibs to print out. All in all, an awesome idea and so fun! Today I ran the 10k. Maybe not a great idea after my long run yesterday, but I decided not to "race" it and just run at an easy pace. Plus, it was sunny and 75 degrees once I started running...bad planning on my part. Final time was 59:09 (9:32 pace). Here am I before setting off: How awesome are these yellow motel walls? Great bibs courtesy of Jess! I love the idea of a virtual race. Since I'm still a newbie to the blogging world, this is my first one but I'll definitely participate in them as they come along! I wish I had some of these to celebrate with afterwards--it would be so appropriate! I'll settle for some yummy tacos for dinner and the leftover nerds from yesterday. It was an

I'm sure you've all heard of the benefit of coconut water. If not, here's a recap: More potassium than a banana (lots more than most sports drinks) Completely natural Full of electrolytes Rehydrates you quicker than water Got it. The stuff is super good for you. I knew that, which is why I bought this bottle of  Zico Coconut Water  last weekend.   It's pretty pricey at almost $3 but I really wanted to test it, and also maybe review it on here. I opened it up, took a sip, and passed in on to hubs. We both agreed it seemed like you weren't drinking it--it was getting absorbed into you almost. Strange, but mild and sweet tasting and certainly hydrating. I saved 80% of the bottle thinking that I could use it after a long run to hydrate, or a really sunny day.  Fast forward to this past Tuesday. Hubs is getting ready to take a nice walk with me in the sunshine and I had the bright idea of bringing along the coconut water. Perfect, right? It's sunny, we were s

I have kitchen envy. It's been getting worse and worse and those of you who post delicious recipes that require ovens are killing me. I want to bake cookies and stir-fry veggies and roast sweet potatoes! In the meantime, I drool over my future kitchen plans. Fingers crossed, I should have a working kitchen in 4 weeks or so. Our future house is coming along nicely and I'll keep you posted on the big new developments. Hubs and I decided it would be really nice if we kept Ikea in business since they're such a small company and clearly need lots of our money. (Is there a sarcasm font I can use or something??) There is actually a great deal going on where you can save 20% on your kitchen total. That is a HUGE amount when you think about the cost of a whole kitchen. Here's a sneak peak: Some stuff is obviously missing, like a microwave and faucets and things, but basically this is it! We'll call it my domain.  Has a nice ring to it, no? Once I'm set up, these are

Sometime in life you have to make some really difficult decisions. Other times, you just have to choose what jar to eat your oatmeal out of. Today was one of those days: This might seem like a petty decision to you, but it's going to set the tone for the rest of my day, you know? So did I go with the rich, creamy peanut butter? Or the sweet chocolaty nutella? And there you have it. PB won. I have to confess, the real reason I made that choice was that there was a giant spoonful of Pb left in the bottom of the jar. How could I waste that? Yum! Yesterday's workouts were certainly not noteworthy. I had to postpone my long run because my back was (and still is) pretty achey. I ended up doing 40 minutes of yoga (2 20-minute videos from  yogadownload.com ) and taking an easy 3 mile walk instead. I'm sure that was the best thing to do, but my body feels off. It knows it needs to run! Hopefully today I'm feeling up for my long run. I'll keep it easy and call it quit