Category Archives: waffles

What’s blooming and ride prep.

Woke up to an early quiet morning today. Foggy out. It was cold, too!  Around 49 degrees.

I puttered around for a bit before deciding on what to have for breakfast:

Warm apple topping on waffles!  Tasty!  I was making plans to go to the farmer’s market when John got up.  He had breakfast and decided to bike with me to  the market, but then keep going to the lake.  He wanted a long ride today.  It was really hard not to go with him, I have to say.  I need to save my legs for 62 miles tomorrow!

Market finds:

I got a squash, some roasted coffee, and some apples.   Then biked home.  I nice and easy 12 miles.  My legs feel so awesome!  I tapered well this week and did not do any lifting and I feel super strong and fresh.

I was hungry when I got home and proceeded to have toast with jam and nut butter.

I am going to eat more today to make sure I have good glycogen stores for tomorrow (yeah, that’s it 😉  )

The garden is still getting new blooms.  The giant clematis that ate Cleveland is still going:

Along with those funky little after blooms:

The sedum has colored up.

What I find most interesting about this sedum is how much the flies like it.  I get the bees, but the flies?

This is my side shade garden, which I don’t show too many pictures of, for some reason.

Color pop on the flowering tobacco:

One single, full bloom on the scentimental rose.


I am oscillating between being very nervous and looking forward to the ride tomorrow.  I had to take a picture of myself and I can see the nerves:

The big difference is that I need to finish the whole thing.  Like with any race we do versus going out for a run.  If you go for a run and it doesn’t feel good or whatever, you can stop.  When it’s a race or some other event, either you finish or you don’t.  I won’t get my relaxed cupcake break tomorrow.  If you think about it between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, send power thoughts for my legs.  That’s about the time I will be doing the 5 mile climb. 😯   I have 2 coconut waters to take, plus some energy bars and fruit.  I don’t know what there will be at the designated rest stops, but I am sure gatorade will be there and I don’t drink that, so I have my trusty coconut water!

I might also bring along one of these:

Whole wheat pumpkin scones!  Recipe to be posted on Tuesday.  I had one of these with my latte this afternoon, topped with some icing.  Carb loading – gotta love it :mrgreen:

We watched a movie with Pixie:

and then it was time for dinner.  I wanted a good amount of protein, so I stir fried 4 oz of chicken with broccoli and ginger sauce.

Tasty.

While I was out taking some garden shots after dinner, I heard that unmistakable “whoosh” of a hot air balloon.  There was a launch earlier in the evening and one drifted right by our house:

Not sure where it ended up, but it is right over the river in this picture, so I imagine it wasn’t there.

I’ll be hitting the hay early tonight.  Be back on Sunday evening with a Century Ride recap!

Down by the river side

I was up early again today.  Supposed to be hot, so I wanted to get a bike ride in.  My upper body feels like it was run over by a steam roller, though, thanks to yesterday’s workout.  My legs are fine.   In fact, my legs are solid like trees right now!  Yay thighs!

I had 1/2 of a Larabar for a snack.

Dinky. 🙄

It was cloudy and in the low 60s this morning.  It started to rain a tiny bit and I almost turned around and went home, but it stopped.

Wouldn’t want to melt, you know…

The road itself isn’t very exciting, but this is the bike lane and it is nice and wide and pretty well maintained for the most part.

After 8 miles, I took a break for some water and some scenery viewing.

Purdy.

The water was like glass:

Must take this same picture when the foliage has turned.

Then I cranked home.  16 miles at an average of 14 mph this morning and I am feeling good!  Hungry for brekkie!

This was an excellent breakfast.  Did you see the honey fluff recipe I posted earlier today?  I am going to try to post a recipe every Tuesday, I think.  😀

Lunch break – I chopped up one of the turkey muffins for an open-faced sammie today.  This kiwi was extra good, too.  Or maybe I was just extra hungry.

Fairly busy day working today.  I need to do some catch up lines, though, as yesterday was not quite a full work day.

John made me a latte:

which I paired with some mint chocolate.

I really, really wanted more chocolate.  I did not have any, but something has awoken my sugar monster.  Mayhap the cupcakes over the weekend?

I made a return to childhood cafeteria for dinner today.  Fish sticks!

The box calls these extra large.  I would hate to see the small.  I probably couldn’t see the small…..

I want to take a moment and send a big thank you to everyone regarding my Charity Ride on Sunday.  Whether you sent a donation or gave me encouragement through email (or even in person) – I am floored by how much support I have gotten.  We have raised $377 as of the writing of this post to support the Double H Ranch!  You are all awesome!  I have my fingers crossed for weather this weekend…

What’s blooming and good eating day.

Woke up to some refreshing coolness today!  The humidity is gone, thank goodness.  I had a protein drink and biked on out to the gym.

To ‘warm up,’ I ran 2 miles on the treadmill at 5.5 mph.  That way I could get all nice and sweaty before hitting the weights. 😳

Not a heavy duty workout today.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Dumbbell pulloever 3 sets of 10 at 25# Back
Stationary Lunges 3 sets of 10 with 25# plate Legs
Dumbbell incline fly 3 sets of 8 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Lying leg press 3 sets of 10 at 100# Legs
Horizontal cable woodchop 3 sets of 10 (each side) at 30# Abs
Face Pull 3 sets of 10 at 30# Shoulders
Triceps pulldown 3 sets of 15 at 30# Triceps

Then I hopped on the treadmill for another 1.25 miles.  Total of 3.25 miles of running today.  Then I biked home thinking of waffles all the time!

I made that apple topping again.  I also noticed that Foodbuzz has this apple topping recipe on the Healthbuzz home page!  Last week they had my deadlift video on there.  Cool.

Worked job #2 this morning.  I have to say I like this orthopedics account.  It is so interesting!  I am trying to decide whether to just get another part time job and do 2 part times, or try to work this one full time and give up job #1.    It’s hard to know if one company can keep you busy enough.  The nice thing about working from home is that I can pop from one job to another during the day without commuting.  Definite bonus there.

Lunch time!  I had a bigger than normal lunch today.  Love these baked clam strips:

The garden is going well.  A couple things will be blooming soon that aren’t yet.  The Scentimental bush that I talked about last week in the video with the buds is now popping out and I so wish we had smell-o-net so you could get a whiff of this plant.  It is heavenly!

The baby gaillardas have some tiny blooms on them.

Hopefully these will make it to next year and be bushy.

More snaps.  The nice thing about letting snapdragons reseed themselves is that the offspring is always a different color than the original, so it is a surprise each year.

Those of you on facebook already saw this shot, but this little guy has been hanging around all week.

I actually entered this shot in a contest just for kicks.  My garden is really dedicated to plants that butterflies and hummingbirds love.  Have not seen hummingbirds this year, but definitely more butterflies than last year.  Last year there was a lot of mosquito spraying, which probably killed a lot of butterflies.  Now they are coming back.

Did a little more work while John made me a latte and I had some dark chocolate:

Bottom’s up!  Fashion Friday going on with those earphones, too.

After I finished up for the day, I treated myself to some reading and a Pomtail – seltzer water mixed with a splash of pomegranate juice.

Then it was time for dinner!  I made up one of those quick stir fry dishes with broccoli, a bit of cooked rice, shrimp and stir fry sauce (ginger).  I love how it takes 10 minutes to make this.

Tasty.

The evening is cooling off already.  We are supposed to have a low of 47.  When the heat breaks around here, it doesn’t mess around.   I spent time out doing some weeding.  I really am doing great on project weed control this summer!  John read on the porch while I toiled.

Actually it wasn’t really toiling.  I may be weird, but I enjoy weeding.  It’s kind of cathartic.  You get in close and personal in the plants and the bed gets cleaned out.  I do enjoy it more when it is just maintenance weeding like I am doing and not the  “holy crap – how did all these weeds get here?” type of weeding.

Came in for the evening snack.  I did make up some strawberry jam, so I had to have some on toast.

Good stuff, I tell you.  One of the best things to learn in life is to enjoy the simple things, don’t you think?

Good eating day as well.  Funny how yesterday I was so snacky and today I had no urge at all.

Tomorrow will be a picture perfect day on tap, and you know that means a long bike ride!

Burgers and bikes

Thanks for all your thoughts on my comparison post yesterday.  In reading the “Savor” book, I realize that there is nothing necessarily wrong with me having those feelings, and acknowledging that they are there doesn’t mean they are true.  The nice thing about acknowledging that is that I don’t feel driven to eat out of feelings.  I actually have to say that I have really not had any snacking disasters for a few weeks now.  My snack habit energy is waning right now.

Anyway, I got up a little before 7.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to run or not today.  I decided I wanted breakfast, instead!  I haven’t had waffles in a while 😀

So good.  I wonder how the protein waffles would be with greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese?  Hmmm….. possible experiment some time.

I got to work right away and worked steadily all day long.  Quite the productive day, I have to say.  I took a lunch break and wanted something fast.

Greek yogurt, strawberries and Kashi Berry Crunch (aka crack on steroids).  I had a sample of this months ago and was so glad the entire box wasn’t in the house.  When we were shopping the other day, John pointed out that cereal and I told how wonderful and good the sample was.  Guess I somehow managed to not give him any of it…..  Anyway, he said I sold him on it, so we got some with the caveat that it go up high as soon as we got home.   I wanted some with lunch, though.

Afternoon latte was paired  with a couple cookies from the Silk & Satin swag bag.

These are very nibbleable (yay for new words!).  The box is in the freezer, but they don’t take long to thaw.  The rest must leave to John’s poker buddies tonight.

Last file of the day was exhausting.  It was a 33 minute dictation!  I don’t know who was more tired at the end, me or the doctor.  It took almost an hour and half to do this one with some breaks.  Phew!  I was glad to be done, but felt quite exhausted.

Dinner was a 3 oz burger topped with laughing cow and some caramelized onions on a small wheat bun.  Country Kitchen lite – only 80 calories and no sucralose!

Those are some of the tiny plums we got at the farmer’s market, too.   They are so good and fun to eat.

Take that Red Robin!

I needed to get out of the house for a while tonight and decided to bike instead of run.  So, Rosie and I decided on an easy yogurt run!  The path is full and green with all the rain we have had this year.

These parts of the path are one reason I hesitate to get a real road bike.  They are a crushed cinder, and I don’t know if road tires would be a good thing to take on them.

Yay for yogurt!

I chose creme de menthe tonight.  Minty and frosty.

I think the blue from my shirt is reflecting onto the yogurt, because it was green LOL!  Very tasty.  I can imagine this with hot fudge on it some time.  Would need a lot longer ride for that, though!

Gonna do some porch sitting and relaxing tonight.  I heard the first  dog day cicadas the other day.  The sign that summer is peaking and going to head for fall!

Question:  Have you heard katydids or cicadas yet?

The Scale versus The Injury

Happy Earth Day!  The malt was quite good that John brought me last night.  It was made with maple soft serve and malt powder!  I am really sorry that I know how good that combo is….

I went to bed around 10 pm last night, hoping to get extra sleep, but I was up before 6!  I just wonder if my body doesn’t need 8 hours?

Anyway, I got up early and started working so I could finish up early today if possible.  Made a pot of coffee with some fresh roasted beans:

I am sorry that you cannot smell these.  Then cooked up some protein waffles topped with a mix of pumpkin, honey, ricotta cheese and a few dried cranberries.

This was good, although I do like my topping to be a little moister.  Yogurt works better for this instead of the ricotta, I think.

I imagine you all are curious as to how my herniated disk and lack of normal activity has affected the scale.  I was curious as well.  As you have seen on my blog, I am not restricting what I eat all that much.  Not always for lack of trying, though.  I am eating a little less, but still have my snacktacular days *yesterday, cough, cough*, just like normal.  I thought my appetite was going down because of lower activity, but I think it was my prescription pain meds.  Once I stopped those and switched to plain old ibuprofen, my regular appetite returned.

So here is the interesting thing.  All of March, I did my normal hard workouts and lost 1 pound for the whole month.  I have lost 2 pounds since I injured myself and barely moving.  The irony of this is not lost on me.  (Irony has been in my vocabulary a lot lately….). John said the weight loss gods have a sense of humor.  I thought it was a fluke, but I weighed in 3 days in a row and the lower weight stayed.  It can’t possibly be muscle atrophy in only 2 weeks, can it?  I’ll take it, though!  My cruise weight is all gone now – yay!  I’ll be curious as to what happens over the next few weeks.  I have not gone running in 14 days and no biking in 13 days (other than the stationary at the gym this week).

Lunch time!  I forgot I had bought a cucumber this week, so that went onto the plate.  With some tuna salad.

I decided on the pear after waffling between that and a kiwi.  I almost had both LOL!

Got back to work and busted out all my lines to finish up early today.  So, I had to make the afternoon lattes…..

Then I took a walk.  Went a few slow blocks and enjoyed the sunshine!

Did a quick and easy stock dinner tonight.

I cooked the broccoli on the griddle pan to our new grill!  That was pretty cool.

Stopped at the rental house to get the lawnmower and have John help me with a couple things, then back home to relax.  I am snacking on some dates with nut butter tonight and a cup of tea while I write this post.

I don’t have anything earth-shattering (har har) to say about Earth Day.  So instead, I will leave you with some photos I took today on my walk:

Dead lifts and tofu = nofu

Hello from Rainville.  It has been so wet this week!

We are supposed to get a big warm up later in the week and I am sure the garden is going to go gangbusters after all this rain!  This weather meant indoor running today.  I don’t like running in the rain (or doing much in the rain, really).  So, hopped on to the gym and did my requisite 4 miles.  I really should start doing some speed work, as we have a race coming up in April.  I know my time has slowed since last fall.

After running, I came back to absolutely no coffee in the house ready to go.  That is complete panic!  John forgot to mention to me that he used the last bit yesterday afternoon for lattes, or I would have roasted some up last night.  So, that was what I was doing instead of eating – roasting coffee in the popcorn popper 😡   Although, it does not get any fresher than that!

I made a different topping for my protein waffles today:

This is 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries, 1 tsp of honey, cinnamon, and 1/4 cup of FF ricotta cheese all mashed together and heated up.  It was quite good and a nice change from blueberries.

Went to an old standby for lunch:

This is a chicken sandwich with laughing cow and some strawberry jam!  I love this combo.  However, I found out that the Arnold Sandwich thins now are now made with sucralose (I am positive they were not before).  Yuck!!!!

I want to show you all how lifting heavy does not make you bulky.  I did dead lifts at 95# yesterday (and they were hard).  Check out the tiny lady doing 100# dead lifts (a million of them) and making it look like snap.  Strong does not equal bulky!  This is a full deadlift.  Sometimes called sumo, I think.  Different than stiff/straight leg dead lift.  Probably the 2nd best full body exercise next to  barbell squats.

I bet she felt those the next day….

Afternoon snack was a little protein powder and fluff pudding. New PP today sweetened with Stevia. It’s pretty strong stuff!  I thought I took a picture, but I guess I didn’t.  😳

I finished up work early today!  Yay!  Love those days, especially after a rough day yesterday.

Dinner time involved something new for me:

I had the brilliant idea that this would taste good if pan sauteed with some ginger sesame sauce.  My plate:

With roasted sweet potato chips and brussel sprouts.

2 things were eaten off that plate and I will give you 2 guesses.  Somebody swapped out  a can of tuna for the tofu to get the protein because I didn’t feel like getting anything else ready.  Epic fail on the tofu.  It wasn’t the taste so much (there wasn’t any), but the texture was just awful, awful, awful.  Mushy and gelatinous in the middle.  And this was the firm stuff!  I may try blending the rest up in a shake or something to not waste it, but never again.

After dinner, John and I hit the town for a little shopping.  John needs shoes.  Didn’t score on any foot wear, but we did stop for some R&R:

Tall decaf latte with a shot of protein.  I didn’t realize Starbies still did the protein shot, so I asked – and they did!  Go me!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a biking to bagel day if the rain stops overnight.

Question: Is it rainy where you are?

Waffle Wednesday!

** Oatmeal on The Go giveaway ends tomorrow! *

It’s Wednesday!  Almost done with the work week, yay 😀  Too cold to bike, so I drove out to the gym for the requisite lifting session!  I warmed up on the treadmill and then hit the weights:

  • Dumbbell walking lunges:  3 sets of 8 (each leg) with 20# DBs
  • Barbell chest press:  3 sets of 8 at 55#
  • Chin ups:  3 sets of 2 (Woo Hoo!!)
  • Barbell squats:  3 sets of 8 at 85#
  • Military Press:  1 set of 10 with 15# DBs, 2 sets of 8 with 20# DBs
  • Seated Row:  3 sets of 8 at 70#
  • Bench Dips:  3 sets of 10
  • Reverse crunches:  3 sets of 15
  • 1-arm Dumbbell snatch:  1 set of 10 with 15# DB, 2 sets of 8 with 20# DB
  • Good Mornings:  3 sets of 10 with 35# bar

Note that I did the chin ups out of normal order because someone was at the squat cage.  Well, wouldn’t you know it- I was able to do 3 sets of 2!  I don’t know if it was the delay or what.  Normally I like to do those first because they are very hard and I need all my strength to do them.  Of course on the last one, I said “Come on!” which probably helped me (and made people look 😀 )

As you know, Wednesday is traditionally bagel day, but since we went out yesterday, we stayed home today.  So, I decided to have Waffle Wednesday a la Susan:

There was a comment question yesterday that I thought warranted a longer answer:

Just curious — is this what you ate when you were trying to lose weight, or were you at a lower calorie amount then? In other words, did you have to go lower to lose? I actually am trying to lose weight right now.   😳  A couple years ago, I was at a  low calorie count of around 1200 per day.  I lost weight, but I was not exercising like I do now.  There is no way I could eat that 1200 calories these days and still have an arm attached to my body by the next day because I would eat it in my sleep.  I increased my calories as I increased my exercise, and still lost.  Now, the scale sits there, but part of that is just due to over snacking on nuts!  (The nuts have been put up high, so you haven’t seen them in pictures as of late.)  I have been somewhat hesitant about putting concrete calories up anymore, because the amount of calories a person needs to lose is really personal, and the amount I eat may be too much for one person and not enough for another.  Plus, not every single things gets documented, particularly if I snack after posting. I am still trying to figure that part out as I have become more athletic over the past year.  Becoming fit doesn’t always go hand in hand with weight loss on the scale.  If I had the funds, I would consult a sports nutritionist.

Lunch time!

Have another look:

What is that, you ask?  It’s plain greek yogurt mixed with protein powder, apple sauce, cinnamon, 1/4 cup of cooked rice topped with almonds.  This was quite good and had some nice texture differences in it.

Afternoon latte was paired with this:

Country Choice Organics soft baked cookie.  100 calories!  This plus my latte is a good example of a 210 calorie snack.  Perfect for mid afternoons.

Using up the rest of the pork we cooked the other day.  Pretty much done now (good thing, because I want something else LOL).  With BBQ sauce.  Cantaloupes were on sale, so I got one and it was good.

It turned out to be quite nice today, although a little windy, so I took a post prandial walk.  Here is my spring flag that I put outside.

Purty.  1/4 mile from our house is an ice cream shop.  I spied the opening date today:

Surprisingly, we don’t go here too much because they don’t have the yogurt that I love.

Here is tonight’s protein powder/ricotta snack that I made up ahead of time.  Almost like a cheesecake with the graham cracker.

Fruit and veggie challenge today:

F:  1 serving of blueberries, 1/2 cup applesauce, 1 cup cantaloupe

V: 1 serving of carrots, 1 cup of broccoli

Bring on the froyo!

Happy Saturday!  Another great day today!  Long bike ride on tap for the day.  Fueled up with some protein waffles topped with a mix of ricotta cheese, pumpkin, spice, and 1 tsp of honey (warmed in microwave).  Sprinkled with craisins.

Along side some cafe au lait and this was a yummy breakfast!

Set out for Lake George once it warmed up a bit.  Do you ever get those times where you are just supremely happy?   I was having one of those moments while biking.  The sun was warm, I was feeling great, enjoying the scenery and  just thinking about how happy I was 😀

The ducks are back.  These 2 better get busy and make some ducklings!

Snack time at 9 miles in because my thighs were burning:

About 10 miles in or  so, when we got into the Adirondacks, we hit some icy snowpack on the path 😯

We sort of rode over the patches while straddling the bikes and using our feet (if that makes any sense).  Did fine, except on one spot I took a spill when my bike slipped out from under me.  I banged my elbow, but at least I didn’t rip my pants.  Why I worried more about that is beyond me.  I should have had John take a picture…

Arrival at the Lake!

(John shaved off his beard for the first day of spring.)

Still a little bit of ice on the lake.

A lot of businesses are still closed for the season, but the Bank Cafe is open.  This place is fun.  It’s tiny, but cozy.

We sat by the safe:

I shared a bowl of lobster bisque with John.  It came with the most giant spoon ever!

The bisque was sooo good.

We each ended up getting grilled cheese, too.

Good old American Cheese LOL.   Old school and tasty.

We wandered around town for a while.  Lots of people out and cleaning up stuff.  You can feel the earth stretching and waking up from a winter nap.  Check out this pier – would you want to walk on it?

Then we biked home, being careful on the snowy patches, so no mishaps.  The first part leaving Lake George is the killer.  It’s a 2-mile hill up. Phew!  Quads burning…. burning!  You know what is open now – had to stop and get our frozen yogurt!

This was rum cheesecake flavor with coconut.  ~ 150 calories (plus some coconut).  Gotta love it.

Bike ride done!

Stats:

  • 31 miles
  • 3 hours
  • Average speed:  11.2 mph
  • Top speed: 26.2 mph (hills!)

Bike legs come back fast after a winter off.  I am excited to plan a 100 mile ride this summer.

Today is National Meat-Out day, so we made an effort to eat all veg today.  Dinner tonight was Indian inspired.  Potato sauteed with coconut oil, turmeric, garam masala, a red chili and topped with an egg.  Slapped a cover on to steam the egg, and then I had to add a little cheese.

Unpictured clementines were eaten as well.

Too bad this weather is gone tomorrow.  It has just been so enjoyable!  I am all set for an evening in with some chocolate and tea.

Question:  Did you Meat Out today?

Spring in my step

I am so sorry I didn’t include a P for Pixie yesterday!  So, I will make up for that.  I think she is more popular than I am……..

It is a glorious pre-Spring day.  I knew I wanted to run outside, but not until later so I slept in until 7:15!  Yay!  Felt pretty good, too.   I wanted protein waffles today, but with a different topping:

This was an apple cooked in a tsp of butter, 1 tsp of brown sugar, an SL of cinnamon, and about a tbsp of water.  I put a lid on the frying pan and let it steam a little bit.  Yum.  I might do more water next time and thicken it up to make a sauce.

Got to work early today while waiting for the temps to rise.  It was 26 degrees this morning, but low 50s this afternoon!  Woo Hoo!  Protein snack mid morning:

Here is a gratuitous Pixie pic.  John is playing with her:

Lunch time!  I had the last can of tuna today.  Officially tired of tuna, and this can has been here for a few weeks.

Nom, nom!  After digesting for a while, I got ready to run.  Hello vitamin D!

I’m not exactly sure what this pose is supposed to be.  I kind of look like a weathervane.  Did 4 miles today.  Felt pretty good except for mile 3, where I started to get tired, but I was running into a headwind.

Check out what else I spy with my little eye:

This made me dance around with joy!  These are the black and white tulips coming up.  Gonna be time to trim back and clean out the garden.  Happy, happy!  You all know how I love my garden 😀

After the run, I needed a snack:

Lattes make me happy.  I thank whatever Ethiopian goat chewed on the first coffee beans so that I can have this cup.

Dinner time and I had a frozen crabcake.  I baked it in the toaster oven (although I secretly long to deep fry it).   ….insert peanut eating here…

Brussels with cranberries and clementines round it out.  I was so paranoid slicing the brussel sprouts because I did a report today where someone sliced off the end of their thumb with a mandolin.  One of those reports that make your toes curl while typing it up. 😯

Tomorrow is the wearin’ of the green!  I need to think of some kind of green food to make for St Patty’s Day.  We have an Irish family!

I need to put something green on Pixie, too.  Bet she would love that.

My mom is coming over tonight, so we can pawn off some chocolate on her LOL!  I think tea and chocolate sounds like a good night tonight.

Question:  What is your heritage?

4-miler and snack change-up

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!