Finding Radiance

Woke up this morning and figured I would run outside today, so I ate breakfast first.  Custard banana oats!

Yum.  We sat and goofed around on the computers for a long time this morning and then when I looked up to run – it was sprinkling outside!  It looked like it would pass, so we waited a little bit and went out.  It was windy and cold.  Hit up the track, where I did 4 miles and John did 3.  Here is me finished.

Don’t be fooled by that smile.  What I really was thinking was “Who’s idea was this, anyway??”  I even voiced that to John a couple times, to which he said “We already established that it was your idea.”

Came home and had a quick protein snack of powder mixed with water and some almond butter (really dry almond butter) before showering.

While getting ready, John asked if I wanted to go shopping! Was I going to say ‘no’?? I don’t think so!  We headed out to Saratoga Springs and the mall down there.  Stopped at Esperanto for a quick lunch.  They just remodeled and the place is a lot nicer.  Very local feeling:

Here I am all cleaned up.

And my hot date (he has windblown hair):

I had the beans and rice dish.

It was quite good, but a lot of food! I only ate about 1/2 of this figuring we would probably stop for coffee in a couple hours.  I was right!

We certainly have been going out a lot the last few days.  Not a lot of money each time, but it can add up.

We hit the grocery store on the way home and you can see the colorful display of Peeps!  That means spring is just about here, right?

I actually love Peeps. I remember when they just used to be the yellow ones!

Could I have put more of my favorites onto my dinner plate tonight?

This was a bagel thin egg sandwich with laughing cow.  Plus my 2 favorite produce partners!  Not that big a fan of the bagel thin, though.  It was pretty much and Arnold thin.

Speaking of berries, I got a great picture from one of my blog readers.  Summer sent me a photo of her at a strawberry festival in Florida last week.

A girl after my own heart….

Chocolate update.  I have been really good with the chocolate.  I had one square of John’s bar yesterday and today I just didn’t feel like having any.  Isn’t that weird?  Maybe it is just comforting to have all that chocolate in the house or something

Question:  Peep lover or do you think they are gross?

This granola has a nice chocolatey flavor and 5 grams of protein per 1/2 cup!  I used why protein powder for this. If you use a soy, you might need a little more liquid.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Rice Krispies
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup (25 g) sliced almonds
• 4 tablespoons of coconut
• 2 tablespoons of apple juice concentrate
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 2 -3 tablespoons of water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 2 tsp of oil
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (10 g)
• 1 scoop (34 g) chocolate protein powder

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray or use a silpat liner.

In a large bowl, combine the Rice Krispies, oats, coconut, and almonds.

In a small bowl, mix together the the apple juice concentrate, 2 tablespoons of the water, honey, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix well.  Stir in the protein powder and cocoa powder.  Mix really well to get out as many lumps as you can.  If the mixture seems too thick, add the extra tablespoon of water.  This mixture will be syrupy – like this:

Pour over the oat mixture.  I found it easier to mix this with my hands.  You can use a spoon or spatula, but you will crush the Rice Krispies too much.  Best to get your hands dirty

Once thoroughly mixed, spread onto the prepared cookie sheet evenly.  Bake for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so and breaking up large pieces of the granola.  When baking granolas, remember that they aren’t crispy when they come right out of the oven, but still somewhat soft.  As it cools, it gets crispy, so you don’t want to over bake it.

Let cool and enjoy!

Stats using my whey protein powder (120 cal per scoop and 25 g of protien)

Per ounce of granola:

120 calories, 3.2 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein.

The start of the weekend!  I got it going with a fantastic weight lifting session.  I got to the gym at 7:15 – I sure know how to sleep in on my day off, don’t I?

I jogged 1 mile on the treadmill for a warm up, then hit the iron:

• Chin ups:  2 sets of 2, 1 set of 1 (this is never going to change….)
• Barbell squats: 1 set of 10 at 65#, 1 set of 8 at 85#, 1 set of 6 at 95#, 1 set of 4 at 105# (YES!)
• Barbell bench press: 1 set of 10 at 45 pounds, 1 set of 8 at 55#, 1 set of 6 at 65#, 1 set of 4 at 70# (new high weight)
• Reverse lunge with single dumbbell: 3 sets of 8 with 20# DB
• Dumbbell pull over: 3 sets of 8 with 25# DB
• Face Pulls:  3 sets of 10 at 30#
• Lunge with bicep curl: 3 sets of 8 with 15# DBs
• Triceps pull down: 3 sets of 10 at 40#
• Reverse crunches: 3 sets of 15

Man was I feeling it at the end!  Getting done with a good lifting session feels so different than running or biking.  It’s way more exhausting and I feel drained (but in a good way).  I am *loving* these longer workouts.

Do you love this or what?   I so need this on a t-shirt.

I was staaaahving when I got home.  Needed those protein waffles to fill me up.

Sprinkled with some toasted coconut.  I had to consciously slow myself down with the eating.

Spent the morning relaxing, blog reading, and making some chocolate protein granola, which I had with lunch.  I will post the recipe tomorrow.

I had some of my newly minted granola with lunch topped on some greek yogurt, vanilla protein powder, 1/2 of a mashed banana, and cinnamon.

And yes, it was quite good!

For flashback Friday, I thought I would answer a question that Susan posed for me:

If you were to do it all over again (lose the weight) knowing everything you know now, would you do anything differently?

This is a really tough question, or I am making it tough to answer, I guess.  I try really hard not to regret any decisions I have made in the past or think about how things would have been different if I had done something differently.  There is part of me that wishes I could go back to my teenage self and tell her how to eat properly and exercise in a fun way so that I could have spent the majority of my life being fit.  Learning it right from the start instead of doing fad things and not learnin’ nuthin’ but how to yo-yo.  With that being said, I almost wouldn’t want to change a thing, because I really like the person I am now and I don’t know if I would be this person if I had been thin at a young age.  Know what I mean?  Maybe I might talk to my plateauing self a few years ago and really kept on her about not giving up, though.  That would have made things a little easier This was probably a more complex answer to this question that was necessary, but that’s me in a nutshell LOL!  Short answer would be you can eat more than you think and lose weight.

Afternoon out and browsing shops led me back to the Chocolate Mill for some coffee.  They really improved their lattes quite a bit since the last time I was here!  Last time they were pretty substandard.  This time -

Nice latte art.  Maybe a touch bitter espresso, but still much improved.  John met me there, which is also nice   I managed to just have the skim latte and avoid all of this:

(It’s funny, these pictures look like nighttime, but it was 3 in the afternoon!)

I just didn’t want something that rich today.  Think it is because I actually have eaten quite well this week and have gotten a lot of the sweet tooth out of my head.

Came home and started on dinner prep.  I bought a rutabaga at the store – and roasted it up along with some sweet potato.  I also made broccoli in case I didn’t like the rutabaga LOL!  It was pretty good.  I need to do a GVE post on this.

With some chicken and BBQ sauce.

Saving some fruit for an evening snack tonight!

Might top this with some nut butter or laughing cow.  Not sure which yet.

Think tomorrow will be an outdoor run day – woohoo!

Last day of the work week for me!  Thursday’s are run days for me.   I snacked on a couple pieces of protein waffles with jam before hitting the gym.  This was a nice snack.  It’s also good to know this recipe does well reheated in the toaster oven.

I ran with a download from jogtunes that was a 45-minute jog with a sprint section.  I did 10 minutes past the podcast and ended up at 5 miles today.  Felt really good.  I am surprised my hammies weren’t sore from the dead lifts yesterday, but I’ll take it!  Also as a side note, Robin from Running Circles Around the Turtle did a running Q&A with me for her blog.

Came home and made some oatbran today.  We got a new protein powder from Puritan Pride.  It’s soy and strawberry flavored.  I avoid sucralose like the plague and it was not on the ingredient list for this powder, and then after I made this bowl, I see that it has acesulfame potassium in it, which is another type of artificial sweetener.  Grrrr….  Tastes way better than Splenda, though, although it made this bowl very sweet to me with only a 1/2 scoop in there.  It has beet powder in it for color, so my oats were a little pink:

Also note that if you make the ricotta/protein powder combo – the soy versus whey makes a huge difference in moisture content.  Here is some made with soy powder.

I actually had to add some water to get this consistency, too.  It almost looks like ice cream, doesn’t it?  Just a heads up.

Regarding all that chocolate from yesterday, almost all of it is up high and out of reach of my hot little hands   Just the bars are in the pantry, which I am okay with (for whatever reason – who knows how my mind really works).  The nuggets are what would be most problematic for me, so they went up last night out of reach:

Lunch time included a fun combo.  I knew we were going out for dinner and I wouldn’t get my broccoli, so I had it with lunch today.  I made an egg/egg white puff in the microwave and put it on a corn tortilla with laughing cow and topped with hot sauce!

Yum.  I love hot sauce.  Those are some peanuts on there.  I was nibbling those while I cooked.

Work went pretty smoothly this afternoon.  Always nice to end on a good note for the week   Of course, snack time always makes things better.

John doled me out one treasure to eat with it.   Then I realized I didn’t have any fruit with lunch, so I got a kiwi out.

Tart!

Since it is my Friday nights of sorts, we decided to have an inexpensive dinner out.  That means one of our favorite local pizza spots: East End Eatery

We both started with a side salad, which was really small, I have to say.

And then we split a cheese calzone.  Normally we get the pizza wraps, but decided to go for this one.

I usually guesstimate about 500 calories or so for the 1/2 calzone.  It is soo good here.  The staff at this place is really friendly, too.  I am very glad John will split one of these with me, because I could eat a whole one myself, but it would be way too much.

Trying to decide how to spend my night now, either a netflix or just some vegging in front of the TV with my jammies on!

Question: Are you a Splenda lover?

Wednesday and a busy day for me today!  Started out with a nice lifting routine.  After a warm up walk, I did the following:

• 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?

Tuesday and it is midweek for me!  Hope you had a chance to read my running post from earlier.

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!

I got a lot of questions about my running, so like with the weight lifting post, here are my all my secrets

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)

I totally rocked the weights today!  I puffy heart lifting and I missed it last week, but my muscles were glad for the break.

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’s Sunday and back to work for me… sigh… The weekend goes all too fast.  We headed on down to Saratoga for a different bagel today.

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?

Okay, not on the road traveling per se – but the bikes are out!

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?