On my way

In less than 6 hours I will be touching down in LA and in less than 36 hours I will be in a dark secluded part of Alaska hopefully enjoying my first Northern Lights show. I am beyond excited. I get to spend a night with my adorable cousins before meeting up with my parents to head north. Seeing the Northern Lights is something I've had on my bucket list before I even knew what a bucket list was. Overall these past few weeks have been pretty amazing but some of those details will have to be revealed at a later date. Until then, I'm going to enjoy my 8days ofbvacation glory. I only have my iPad and I never really spent time trying to figure this thing out (specifically uploading photos) so you will all have to wait for photos of my exciting adventure...

What's on your bucket list?

Keeping the Mystery Alive

So I've been trying to lose weight since the beginning of January...I've been super awesome at the gym and trying really hard to eat well but something isn't adding up. I haven't really lost any weight (I think my scale is broken, for reals). We have a "health coach" at work provided to us by our super fabulous health plan. She's super nice and has one of those fancy biometric scales. According to that thing I lost 7 pounds in 10 days (not so sure I trust that scale either...).

When I originally went to her freaking out about the amount of time I'd been putting in at the gym and my attempts at foodage control she thought maybe I was under eating and my body was reacting by holding on tight to my fat reserves. She suggested that I download an iPhone app where you can easily track your food and exercise and it tells you how many calories you can eat in a day. You can always jump back and forth between the app and their website so I can track everything while I'm at work with no phone!

I've been using it for a few weeks and while it can be a pain to log everything it has made me more aware of what I eat and how many calories I burn when I work out (although I don't fully trust their calculations of calories burned). I've had some issues getting the calories under control but I'm still working on it.

The app also is a social network so you can friend people you know and be accountable to someone because they know when you eat too much or don't work out, blah blah. I'm friends with the health coach so I can pretend she's paying attention to what I eat and will call me out if I eat too much...

Sunday morning I awoke to a friend invite from some random guy. It felt awkward but I accepted in case I actually knew the guy...and then minutes after I accepted I got a message from him...yup...he was just trying to hit on me. Is this really what the internet has come to these days? We don't have enough dating sites, we have to use fitness and calorie counting websites to meet potential significant others?

At first I had to give the guy credit for being creative (although slightly creepy). That is until I clicked on his profile and saw that I can see everything he eats...which means...he can see everything I eat. And, I'm sorry, but that's where I have to draw the line. I mean, most couples don't spend ever waking moment together. There are plenty of opportunities to sneak a hidden moment of pleasure without your sig other knowing and potentially making you feel guilty. Knowing every detail about what your sig other eats is like farting on a first date. YOU JUST DON'T DO IT!! You have to keep the mystery alive for at least a few months!

What do you think about this? Hitting on girls on a fitness app, creative or creepy?

8 Down, 10 To Go. Almost Half Way There!

I've been having issues juggling bootcamp and running lately...and it seems like every time I take a rest day I end up having an issue later in the week that prevents me from gymming, boo! On to the update...

Sunday: 13.5 miles on the Expresso Bike, 3.5 mile walk, and 1 hr clogging class
Monday: Bootcamp
Tuesday: Intentional rest day
Wednesday: Unintentional rest day, thanks migraine!!
Thursday: 5 mile run, my stomach was NOT in it to win it
Friday: 3 mile run and bootcamp
Saturday: I had to work this weekend so no race, I did my 13.1 mile run and 12 minutes faster than my half marathon PR!

This week:
Sunday: 60 min cross training
Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednesday: 7 mile run
Thursday: 4 mile run
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 10 mile run

Going on vacation this week to Alaska...so we'll see how that all works out...the hotel has at least 1 treadmill but we are going to see the Northern Lights so I have no idea what our sleep schedule is going to look like. I don't have high hopes for getting in super awesome workouts during this trip...

7 Down 11 To Go

Week 7 is done...I think I need a new February goal because this whole cleaning thing just isn't working out. It's not a total loss. My house is cleaner. Maybe I just over committed time wise...that being said. I didn't do any extra cleaning during the week this week...here's the workout summary.

Sunday: Kickboxing class (this one was work!), 1 mile pool swim, Clogging class, and 2 mile treadmill walk
Monday: Planned rest day. I didn't wanna but I forced myself to take a day off.
Tuesday: Unplanned rest day and pity party. I kind of saw this one coming on Monday...should have listened to myself
Wednesday: 6 mile run (fastest yet!)
Thursday: 5k (fastest yet!) and Bootcamp
Friday: 12 mile long run (10 min mile average woot!) and Bootcamp
Saturday: 2.4 mile pool swim

I almost made up for the missed 3 mile run with the extra swim.

On the docket for next week:

Sunday: 60 min cross training (it will really be a lot more than that...)
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednesday: 6 mile run
Thursday: 3 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest
Sunday: half marathon (here's were I tweak the plan because I have a 10 mile race on Sunday so I'll need to make up the difference in miles...)

Not much else going on this week...work and all...

Fluffernutter

Yesterday I went into a cooking/baking frenzy...I made a bigger batch of my super tasty ratatoullie for lunches this week. With 1/2 a chicken breast and 1/2 a serving of pearl couscous the whole thing is about 400 calories a serving and super filling and tasty!

And as I've found myself doing most Sundays lately, I made a tasty treat. I have to admit, I came up with the idea of fluff brownies after reading seeing a picture of fluffernutter cookies on Pintrest. I searched out a recipe to make my own and I've spent the past two weeks tracking down the ingredients to make my own fluffernutter cookies (I say track down...I really didn't try that hard. I couldn't find the cereal at the first grocery store I went to so I tried a different one over the weekend and found it).

The fluff was a mess (as always) but it was definitely useful to pre-measure out the fluff and let it freeze while you make the cookie dough...makes the actual cookie constructing easier.

One cookie dough scooper size scoop, flatten, piece of frozen fluff, another cookie dough scooper size scoop flattened around the fluff ball. Bake for 12 minutes and...

Beautiful

I was good and only ate one yesterday...and then today I feel apart and ate 2...and then some ate some Birthday Cake Oreos...that I also bought at the magical grocery store that carries Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch (truth be told, I went to said grocery store because I heard they had the Oreos).

After a long day of work today I drove home dreaming about the ooey gooey of the fluffernutter cookies that were long ago consumed by my coworkers. I still had some fluff from the adventure yesterday so as I was driving I thought of everything I had lying around in my kitchen and concocted the Ultimate Fluffernutter Sandwich in my head.

Yes, peanut butter, fluff, and banana

I was all ready to stack it up and throw it on the griddle, and then in a magical moment of inspiration...Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch...

An ode to Ally Sheedy a la Breakfast Club (minus the pixy stix)

Grilled to perfection

Ok so it may have been a little sugary (maybe I didn't need fluff in BOTH layers) but it paired perfectly with Special K sour cream and onion cracker chips.

Have you ever experienced the joy of fluff? I was talking to someone at work today about the magical properties of fluff and how I was denied the joy of fluffernutters as a child (maybe not denied, my mom made them for my sister, I just thought I hated fluff). I then went on to describe the Elvis (think Ultimate Fluffernutter, minus Cap'n Crunch, plus bacon) and he says...

"Are you from the south?"

Why, yes...yes I am. And proud of it!

Week 6

Week 6 Summary....

Sunday: Pedal and Paddle class...swim for 30 minutes, spin for 45 (hardddd); cleaned my kitchen for an hour
Monday: Rest, and cleaning for an hour!
Tuesday: Track workout...6 miles, no cleaning :-/
Wednesday: Bootcamp, pooped after
Thursday: 6 mile run and Yoga...too lazy to clean...do you see a trend forming?
Friday: Bootcamp and The Vow!
Saturday: 7 mile run, lots of nap time, and cleaning for 2 hours (I almost made up for the 4 days of not cleaning)

This week's plan:
Sunday: 60 min cardio cross training
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3 miles
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 12 miles (yikes!)

Does anyone else notice they eat better on days they work out? For some reason on days I rest I eat all kinds of crap food...maybe because I have more time to sit around and think about food...

Healthy Baking

As I've mentioned before, I have a nasty baking habit (y'all saw those magic fluff brownies last week). I also have a nasty habit of letting fruit over ripen. I actually had to stop buying apples because I found myself making a personal size pan of apple crisp almost nightly in December. There has to be a happy medium. I made progress towards that this week with these babies (and over ripe bananas)...

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins!!!

I used this recipe (photo above is a double recipe). They were only 79 calories before I made the genius decision to add chocolate chips bringing them to around 125 calories. Still not terrible if I only eat 1 or 2 a day...

The benefits of cleaning

Yesterday I cleaned off my kitchen counter and did a pile of dishes (yeah, it took an hour..my b)

Today I spent a whole hour cleaning my bedroom and got halfway through. I piled up a whole ikea bag full of random clothes including a pair of yoga pants and 6 pairs of socks that have never been worn! I LOVE NEW SOCKS!!!

February Habit

So it's well past Feb 1 and I have yet to pick the habit I am going to work on...my bad. I'm going to blame on the fact that work sucked this week and every second I wasn't at work I wasn't thinking about anything. I even missed 2 days of gym this week!!!

So anyway, onto February's goal. My house is a mess. It always has been. Even when it's "clean" there is always a room that is a mess. So the habit I will develop this month is cleaning. Every day (ahem...starting tomorrow) I will clean for 1 hour every weekend day, and 30 minutes every week day. Hopefully that will get me to the point where my house is in shape and once the habit is developed that will give me enough time to keep up the clean!

As it stands now I go through my upstairs (my bedroom with loft, and my closet guest bedroom every few months and end up with piles like this:

for Goodwill

And and equally large pile of crap for the dumpster. That needs to end!! And hopefully I'll start down that path this month! As a part of this habit development I will add my cleaning hours to my weekly logs. SO feel free to call me out if I'm not living up to my promises!

5 Down, 13 To Go!

My week in review...

Sunday: 9 miles at the Y, 81 laps, wooot
Monday: Bootcamp
Tuesday: Rest day (first day off in 29 days...I know, rest days are good, blah blah)
Wednesday: Bootcamp, 3 mile run
Thursday: I had to work until after 7, I was too brain dead from work...so forced rest day
Friday: Bootcamp, Yoga, 5 mile run (I had to make up for Thursday!)
Saturday: 5 mile run, yoga, 5 mile run (as I would find out after the fact, this was a BAD IDEA!)

I tried out my new shoes yesterday and for the second half of the long run today. They're ok. I'm wondering if it is because they aren't broken in yet or if they aren't quite the right thing. Unfortunately my old Nike's are a little past their expiration date so running in them isn't really the best idea anymore...

Next week's running plan...
Sunday: Crosstraining 60 minutes
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 7 miles (yay for step back weeks!)

Really, Nike?!

I have some very sad news...remember those Nike shoes that I've been anxiously awaiting to try for the past week or so? The ones I've been raving about? The prettiest running shoes I've ever seen??

Yeah, these ones

Well apparently Nike has some serious quality control issues. I went to try these shoes on Wednesday (finally!). I pulled into the Y parking lot, grabbed my old shoes to trade out my Superfeet inserts. This should have been my first sign that something was off. I went to put the inserts into the new shoes and I practically had to hammer them in because they just weren't fitting right. I finally jammed them in and put on the shoes. They felt a little tight and small....like half a size too small. I ignored the nagging voice in my head and zipped into the gym to try them out for a run. I wanted to try my new nano!!

As I jogged around the track I still couldn't shake the feeling that the shoes just weren't right. As I turned the corners of the track there was an awful pinching feeling in my left foot. After I got home I looked at both shoes and did a side by side comparison. I checked the make/model/etc, all the same. The only difference was the color, and the width of the toe box. WAAAAY different!

Just to be sure I wasn't going insane I dragged myself into the local Runner's Alley this morning with my tail between my legs and begging for forgiveness for not buying my shoes from them to begin with. I asked for their opinion. They came to the same conclusion I did. The shoes were exactly the same short of the width of the toe box. The helpful clerk explained that sometimes companies get it wrong. When they switch colors sometimes the make a mistake in the manufacturing. She said the store once got an entire defective shipment of another brand of shoe and they didn't know it (they looked just fine!) until customers all starting returning them for the same reason.

So I'm going to attempt to return them...if I can't I'll have to think of something creative to do with them...$80 flower pots? To prove to Runner's Alley that I don't just rely on them for free advice, I asked them to help me pick up a new pair of shoes. They didn't have any of the Nike's in my size so I decided to branch out and I bought these...

Not hideous...

I told runner lady that I wanted pretty shoes. I mean, how could I go back to boring white shoes after finding glory in the Nike's?! If only the Nike's had fit!! The Asics aren't bright pink but they aren't ugly. There is a little yellow in them which is fun. These babies were $30 more than the Nike's but they felt like a dream in the store. I might try to take them out for a run later today if my tummy behaves (it is NOT happy right now!).

Moral of the story: buying shoes online to save money isn't always the best idea. Fork over the extra cash and go to a real store so you can try them on...you may end up spending more in shipping fees if you send back the online shoes (luckily, I bought mine from a site that pays for shipping both ways...)

Have you ever tried to buy running shoes online? How did that work out for you?

New Experiences

So I finally tried my new shoes today...and they sucked!!! I don't get it. I bought the same style (even same revision...you know they update them every 6 months?), same size, different color. They are like a size too small! I don't get it!!!

I also tried my nano with the built in Nike+ to track my runs at the track. It said I ran a 5k, which should have been 28 laps. I counted 25.5 laps...I'm going to have to work on calibrating that thing. Otherwise, it was super fun to run with!

Have you ever bought a pair of shoes "knowing" they will fit and then they don't??