Windy 3 Miler

I finally motivated myself to get out of the house and outside in the cold to run. Since my training schedule has been nonexistent over the last week with the snow and holiday get-togethers, I'll be playing catch up this week!

It was rough getting my foot out the door with the windy weather. It's 30 degrees here but feels like 17 with gust of wind up to 39 mph.

I had to return our DVDs from last night so I carried the movies for my first 2 miles until I reached a RedBox to return them. The last mile I ran against the wind which explains the decrease in time.

Here's what the Garmin reported:

Distance 3.01 mi
Time 29:59
Calories 317
Avg pace 9:57

Splits

Mile 1- 9:32
Mile 2- 9:59
Mile 3- 10:12

I'm not thrilled with this run but after a week off and crappy eating it will have to do.

After I thawed out with a hot shower I made some lunch. While cutting the veggies for my salad I dipped some in the container of hummus. (no pic)

I had a huge salad with carrots, sugar snap peas, green pepper, sliced almonds, and Annie's Goddess dressing.



I also had some crackers with homemade plum jam. Thanks Aunt Bonnie, it's delicious!



Time to start cleaning... oh what fun!

2010 is right around the corner and I still haven't posted my goals. Have you though about your goals yet?

Hip pain with the Sista

Yesterday was a super productive day! We had a ‘to do’ list ready and checked it all off which is an awesome feeling. Jeff got up early to take Elli out and to my surprise also served me breakfast in bed. So sweet. He made me oats with dried cranberries, fresh blueberries, slivered almonds, and a touch of agave nectar. It was so yummy!

After getting ready we headed out to complete our list of things. We went to the grocery store to pick crab meat for my MIL. She makes crab cakes every Christmas and we found a good deal. Then we headed out to the county to order our kitchen backsplash tile. I’m so glad this is final done and can’t wait till it’s installed.

Our next stop was supposed to be the Christmas tree farm but on our way we passed a tree stand that advertised all trees $25. What! We were feeling cheap so we stopped and found a beautiful Scotch pine tree. We’ve never heard of the Scotch pine before but it’s a nice looking tree that ended up costing $28. Not sure how they managed the additional $3 but it was still a good buy. The past couple years we have paid around $70 which seems insane considering we’re never really home for the holiday.

We set our tree up to see how Elli would react and she could have cared less. I thought she would try to play with it, eat it, pee on it, who knows what. Anyhow we decided to let it sit one day and soak up lots of water and are decorating it today.

Our naked tree


I finally went for a run once the tree was up. According to my training schedule I was suppose to run 2 miles but since it was a nice sunny day I went for 4 instead. Besides I couldn’t wait to run with my sista aka my Garmin! Yeah, that’s her name now. Sista! It’s appropriate since we’ll be spending a lot of time together exploring the city.

Jeff snapped a picture of me before we headed out.



And one of Elli too… with his earmuffs on :)



Running with my sista really pushed me to run faster. During the first mile warm up I was confused with the display screen and couldn’t see how fast I was running. I need to change the display but got used to it on this run. After my run I couldn’t wait to log into Garmin Connect to see my stats. Here goes…


Distance: 4.01 miles
Time 39:48

Splits

Mile 1- 10:44 (warm up)
Mile 2- 9:47
Mile 3- 9:41
Mile 4- 9:26


Seeing my time each mile pushed me to do better. I hope that this will help me to achieve a PR at my next race.

Bad news

My body is screaming for rest! Apparently my hip hasn’t completely healed from my fall 10 days ago. After the 4 miles I felt pain in my right hip and by the evening I could barely walk.

I am the type of person who hates being hurt and tend to push myself too hard which of course makes it worse. Today I will be resting and that I can justify since I worked out every other day this week.

Well I’ll be spending the last day of my weekend decorating the tree, packing lunches, planning meals for the week, doing laundry, and whatever else I can get into. Oh yeah, I’m supposed to be resting. We’ll see how that goes.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Santa Came Early!

Last night when Jeff got home from work he threw a package on the counter and said Merry Christmas baby!

Santa (aka FedEx) delivered my Christmas gift. It’s a…drum roll please…. Garmin Forerunner 405!! Definitely an upgrade from the Timex Ironman on my wish list. My hubby does it right.

Here take a peak! Charging...



Isn’t she darling? Yes, she!


(these pictures suck)

I was eager to post this last night but spent the entire evening reading the owner’s manual and setting up everything. I can’t wait to run this weekend.

There are so many cool features. It has a heart rate monitor and a USB to upload all my stats to the Garmin Connect website.



This means that I will be running outside a lot this winter! Hopefully no frostbite!


Workout

This morning I did the Ace Fitness At-Home workout again. This time with music! If you haven’t looked at the site yet here is what the workout included:

Warm Up
Cobra pose
Cat-Camel pose
Supine Pelvic Tilts

Workout: 3 sets of 12 unless noted otherwise
Glute Bridge
Contralateral Limb Raises
Side Lying Hip Abduction
Side Lying Hip Adduction
Side Plank with straight leg (held 15 secs/3 times per side)
Push Ups (only did set of 12, then 10 more)
Forward Lunge with Arm Drivers (did 2 sets of 12/side)
Side Lunge (2 sets of 12/side)
Supine Reverse Crunches
Bent-Knee Sit-up/Crunch

Cool Down
Cobra
Downward-facing Dog



This felt great and I figured out that the lunges were what made me so sore last time. I think I’ll continue this workout at least twice a week.



Meals

I had another breakfast cookie this morning alongside some chia tea with unsweetened soymilk.



This b cookie was even better than the first, I tried stevia instead of agave nectar. It had a more subtle sweetness that was perfect.

• ½ cup oats
• unsweetened soymilk
• 1 tbs raw almond butter
• raisins
• vegan chocolate chips
• stevia


I still can’t believe how long this breakfast sticks with me. No morning snack and I didn’t eat lunch until almost 2:00. I think it was 1:50 to be exact. Lunch was a huge salad from the grocery store salad bar with Annie’s balsamic vinaigrette dressing.



There was so much in this salad…

• spring mix
• spinach
• cucumbers
• carrots
• broccoli
• broccoli slaw
• bean mix (black, pinto, kidney, black-eyed, lima)
• red, green, and yellow peppers
• mushrooms
• black olives
• cherry tomatoes
• grapes

I think that’s everything. It took me 40 minutes but I managed to eat every last bite of these beautiful veggies. I just couldn’t stop once I started.

You know sometimes I get sick of posting what I eat every single day. It does help me keep track of my diet rather than journaling, which gets old real fast. Besides I am even more conscious of what I do since I share it with the world. (Well I know that no one really reads this but the world has access). Just wanted to get my thoughts out there. I will continue writing as I have been since this blog is about me and what I do. It keeps me sane and gives me my sort of a diary to look back on.

Anyway! Jeff is planning to make us dinner tonight since he may get home early. We are trying to be creative and avoid the grocery store. (Although I stopped this morning for a few items that were on sale). He is planning to make chili with baked French fires and a vegetable on the side. Hey sounds good to me!

Tomorrow I’m going to test out my Garmin. Yay! I haven’t looked forward to a run like this in a while.

I hope that everyone (the entire world) has a wonderful weekend. Stay warm.