Tag Archives: jogging

A little shakin’ going on!

It’s only Tuesday?  Why does it feel like Wednesday or Thursday?  Today started week 4 of C25K.  This workout was:  5 minute warm up walk, then 3 minutes of running followed by 90 seconds of brisk walking.  Then 5 minutes of running followed by 2.5 minutes of brisk walking.  Repeat that and then cool down.  I did pretty well.  It was a gorgeous morning.  Low 50s, so perfect weather for running.  I was saying to John how running and walking seem so darn slow.  I am used to scenery going by fast with biking. I also smile more when I am biking.  Just out of sheer enjoyment.

My leg seems okay so far, although I did notice some increased numbness in my knee.  It won’t be until the longer periods of running intervals happen for me to really see what is going to happen, I think, but so far okay.

I came back for breakfast and cooked up a banana bread pudding.  Yum.

Since it was a cold morning, Pixie has become the heat-seeking lap missile again.

She says “Work, shmerk”

Had a good lunch today.  I made up some peanut flour with a bit of honey and cinnamon and added just enough water to make it thick.

It was kind of like frosting on a coconut flour biscuit.  I am totally overdosing on coconut everything.  I think I need an intervention.

Afternoon excitement.  We felt the VA quake way up here in upstate NY!  I thought I felt something funny, and definitely started feeling some rocking.  It went on for quite a while, too.  That is the second earthquake in about a year.  We just don’t get too many in this area (that we feel at any rate).  It makes us realize how poorly our 100+ year old house would do in a big quake…

Something that actually wakes Ms. Pixie up, too.

Something that wakes me up?

Latte time!  Actually, this was decaf, but it’s all good.

Scary news about this hurricane.  I hope all of you fellow East Coasters get prepared.  We might actually have to do some kind of preparations if it takes a northerly path.  Not sure exactly what we should do other than get food, store water, store stuff that can get blown around and be glad we don’t live in a flood-prone zone.

Dinner time – Chicken thigh! (Know why? Chicken thigh! Anyone remember that??)

I was popping blueberries while cooking, too.  I kept starting to grab the tortilla chips off of John’s plate while we were getting dinner ready out of old habit.  So, I started eating blueberries instead.

John and I went for a walk after dinner and headed up to the new cafe.  However, they have new hours now and close at 6 pm.  No more evening coffee.  Boooo.  So, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts.  Full of all that grainy goodness.

They just made some fresh decaf, so that is what we both had, although John also had a donut!

Ended up doing 5 miles today between the morning and evening activity.  Surprising how it adds up.  I am now eating a couple squares of dark chocolate and thinking about a morning bike ride :mrgreen:

Running week 3

Drizzly morning again today, so I put off my planned C25K for a little while and made up breakfast instead.

Coconut flour waffles. Note, this is just my regular protein waffles with coconut flour subbing for oats.

I wish they weren’t so fragile.  They are hard to get out of the waffle iron, which is why they are folded up.  Tasty, though!

After the rained cleared out, I took a break from work, grabbed a protein drink and headed out to the track for C25K.  I thought it would be a swamp, but it wasn’t that wet.

Yay!

Week 3 consists of the warm up, then 90 second jog/90 second walk, then 3 minute jog/3 minute walk.  Then repeat.  This seemed much shorter, even though the total minutes of running was the same as last week.  Go figure.

Came back for some lunch.  Egg salad!  It was a little weird to eat egg salad without any bread or crackers.

Jody asked if I was feeling any different after a week of no grains.  I can answer a definite yes right now.  It hasn’t been too terribly difficult either, which I thought it might be. No cravings for anything sweet or other bread stuff.

At all.

Zero.

And there is chocolate in the house. It’s so weird.  I do crave nuts, though, and have to be careful not to crack out on them. I will also nibble on potato chips if they are in the house (which they are now).

I do still have some sweet things, one being the dried pineapple, which I had today.

I love the dried pineapple.  It tastes good and has such a nice texture to it. It goes surprisingly well with a latte (which is unsweetened).

Yesterday was sweet quinoa for breakfast.  Today I used up the rest of the cooked quinoa for a savory dinner. I sauteed some broccoli, then threw in the quinoa with some feta cheese and a few splashes of soy sauce.

Not bad for a throw together meal and surprisingly filling.  A little high on sodium, though.  More than I usually have.

After finishing up work, John and I pedaled up the street for a little coffee!

This cafe closes at 8 pm, so it’s always an early night there.

Flag day and face pulls

Verdict on the sleep mask? Still out. At first, I kept wiping at it because my sleepy self thought it was the sheet over my face (d’uh). It did block out light, which was really good. However, I got super hot last night and that kept waking me up. So, I can’t really judge the mask yet. Ugh! There are several things that bother my sleep. First, I am a somewhat light sleeper and we live on a main road (new windows help immensely with this). I also periodically get restless legs. Then there are the night sweats and the issues with light. Funny – caffeine seems to have no effect whatsoever on my sleep. The one thing you think would matter does not.

Anyway, I was not feeling very refreshed this morning. It was a little misty/drizzly, so I drove to the gym. Then I realized I forgot my gloves since they were in my bike helmet 🙄

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-legged Deadlift 3 sets of 10 at 65# Lower Body
Underhand grip pull down 3 sets of 10 at 50# Back
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 10 (each side) at 30# Core
Face Pulls 3 sets of 10 at 30# Shoulders
Calf Raise 3 sets of 12 at 110# Calves
Hammer Curls 3 sets of 12 with 12# DBs (24# totatl) Biceps
Low Back Extension 3 sets of 12 at 80# Low Back
Triceps Pulldown 3 sets of 12 at 30# Triceps
Pliet Squat 3 sets of 10 with 40# DB Lower Body
Lying Chest Fly 3 sets of 10 with 12# DBs (24# total) Chest

My poor little hands hurt after this workout. Barbells and dumbbells have those rough surfaces and they hurt my hands.  I am such a delicate flower.

Here is the Face Pull.  I like this exercise for my shoulders, just be careful not to use too much weight on it.

Breakfast time! I made the 1-minute muffle and made a different topping today.  I am being all kinds of different this week 😉

Mashed banana with a spoon of peach jam.  I really liked this breakfast, but then I pretty much like all my brekkies.

I worked straight through to lunch sitting on the exercise ball.  Finally got caught up to yesterday’s files, but they need to add other people to my account.  Not sure what happened to the others that were on it, but I can’t do it all by myself.  It can feel a bit stressful.

I made up a refreshing lunch.  Plain greek yogurt, Kashi GoLean and strawberries.  One of my go-to lunches.

I have to let the Kashi sit for a while in the yogurt is this cereal hurts my gums!  Does that happen to anyone else?

Today is Flag Day.

In 1777, the US adopted the flag with its 13 stars and stripes.  Flag Day was officially deemed to be on June 14th by Woodrow Wilson in 1916.  Whether or not Betsy Ross really made that first flag is questionable, but she certainly is the symbol for it.  And why shouldn’t a woman be a symbol of freedom??

John made up some lattes for the afternoon break.  I really think it might be time to spring for a new machine soon.

He also made up some of those no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies last week.  You know the ones that only take 5 minutes to make?  One of my most very favorite cookies in the world.  They were supposed to be out of the house and to a poker game, but they did not set up in time.  So they are in the house.  I did not have any yesterday and it is a Herculean effort not to snarf these down.  They are a binge trigger for me, for whatever reason.  Like M&Ms.

John grilled up chicken tonight and I sauteed the green beans in a bit of coconut oil for dinner.

This was sooo good.  I love the barbie!  Not such a big fan of the beans, though.  Please just give me broccoli…

I am posting early tonight because I am going to attempt something involving these tonight:

John and I are going to do a bit of running.  It is really windy out, and I whine about that too much when biking, so I figured why not try a run.  I haven’t run since February, I think?  We are going to go to the new coffee shop. That is incentive reward, right?  Decaf calling my name.  Should be a total of 2.5 miles with a long break at the halfway point.  May not run the whole thing, and it will be pretty slow.  So why am I nervous?

Running and duty calls!

It’s Spring Break around here this week.  Minus the spring, I guess.  Temps of mid to upper 40s and really windy.  At least no rain, though.  I decided to do a walk/run today for the first time in about 6 weeks.  Had breakfast and worked first, though.  I did the 1-minute muffin as a waffle (muffle) topped with peanut flour.

I decided to sprinkle a touch of coconut on there for that extra special Thursday something.

Work somewhat busy in the morning, but then it slowed down. As an aside here, sometimes I am just amazed at people.  Two people recently have had lung cancer and recovered by having lobes of their lungs removed.  And they are still smoking! Still! I know nicotine is addicting, but what does it really take to make you stop? The doctors urged cessation, but both patients declined any of the prescription products stating they were not interested in quitting.  I don’t know about you, but lung cancer would scare the bejeezus out of me.  Okay, sorry about that.

I went out for what was just going to be a  3-mile walk with a bit of running.  Super windy out and about 43 degrees.  So I wore the technical turtleneck.

Yep – I’m stylin’!

After half mile, I started to jog.  Felt fine with the legs and I did probably 1/2 mile of running and I started walking for a little.  Then picked up jogging again.  I am not a person who likes to stop once I start running because it seems harder to get going again.  I would never stop at the drink stations in races for that reason. Just grab and go.  Which meant I wore a lot of the water, but I digress.

I jogged most of the way home. I don’t know my speed as I didn’t note the time when I left, but probably my average of 11-12 minute miles?  I did 1 mile of walking and 2 miles of jogging total.  Everything feels pretty okay today, but tomorrow is when the true story will be told.

Lunch break: I heated up some tomato sauce with a little cream in there and added chopped chicken.  Dang I like that cream/tomato sauce combo!

A little too much sauce, so I had to put it in a bowl so the sauce wouldn’t touch my pear… No food touching allowed!

John and I had appointments to donate blood today, so we made sure to stock up on liquids:

Then it was time to leave a pint behind!

You know I have been having the supervisor do the needle sticks for me lately because of rolling vein problems.  When I got to my cot, I told the tech there I wanted a supervisor to do it because of rolling and scarred veins (sound like a drug addict, don’t I?).  She said “Can I at least just look at it?”  Well, of course she can look at it, but she isn’t touching it.

Me: Sure.

Tech:  I can do this.

Me:  Yes, they all say that.  Then it rolls and a  supervisor has to come fiddle with it.  So I just go to them.  No offense, I just have to feel comfortable.

She was kind of crabby and yelled for a supervisor to come over.  Jerk. Really – my arm is not a challenge for someone to try to do.  It’s not a game.  The only reason I donate with the rolly vein is because a supervisor will do it for me.  Too many times have I gotten the experienced techs totally positive they can do it and then mess it up.  Ever have someone fiddle with a needle once it is in the vein?  Trust me – you just don’t want to go there.

Anyhoo – the supervisor said my vein was a ‘heartbreaker’.  It looks good, but very sneaky.

The stick then was fine and I finished donating with no problem.  Filled up on raisins!

My iron was 13.1 – woohoo!  Oddly, my temperature was elevated at 99.  That was weird and I almost asked to have it retaken.  I know eating coconut oil might raise your metabolism, but really? Self immolation anyone?

John took forever to get finished.  There were all kinds of delays with him. That troublemaker…

Needless to say when we finished up, I was really hungry.  It was dinner time, so I offered to buy dinner.  John suggested pizza, but I wanted a wheat-free option.  Still trying!  So we went to O’Tooles:

It’s kind of a sports bar with all kinds of stuff on the walls and TVs everywhere.

There were plenty of wheat-free options on the menu.  The soup of the day was broccoli cheese (!!!!) and I almost got that, but then thought it might be thickened with a flour roux, so I nixed that idea.  Normally, I don’t eat a lot of meat out in restaurants, but I will at a local restaurant.  Lesser of the corporate evils I guess.  So my choice was the teriyaki chicken with veggies and a tater:

How good does that look?  There were 2 chicken breasts, so I set one aside to take home.  You just might be seeing that tomorrow!  Very tasty.  I was so hungry that I almost thought about eating the other chicken breast, but they were at least 4 ounces each and I knew I just did not need to eat that much.  My ‘full’ sensation does not kick in for quite a while (like an hour).  Sure enough, I sit here now with a pleasantly satisfied tummy and no desire to eat any more chicken.  Mindful eating.

Fright Fest!

I took a day off from blogging yesterday (the keyword post was scheduled ahead of time), but we sure did have a nice day.   Woke up after a good night’s sleep and made up some protein waffles topped with pear/cranberry topping (the apple topping just make with a pear instead)

John and I decided on a post breakfast run.  We headed on down to the track and went round and round.  John is faster than I am, so he finished up earlier than I did and took some action shots of me.

Look at her go!

I did 3.25 miles today.  The loss of speed for me is pretty frustrating, but I just have to work on it and hope it comes back.  Then again, if it never does, I will just have to deal with that.

Lunch time before heading out to Great Escape was baked buffalo shrimp.  These are a frozen store brand, but not buffalo enough for me – so I added some more hot sauce and a wedge of bleu cheese LC!

And dessert:

Off to Fright Fest:

Scary.  This was fun.  The park is all decked out in Halloween stuff and scary music was playing throughout the park, plus mist everywhere

We scored free tickets to get in the last time we gave blood, so what a bargain!

Lookout – I am going to get eaten!

Looking down from the ski ride:

We ride fairly tame rides. The balloon ride:

We did go on the bobsled, but I obviousy couldn’t take pictures while on it.

I will tell you that one thing that will never get old to me is slipping into a ride and not worrying about whether the bar will close down over my lap or if I can cram my butt into a small seat, or worse yet – to not fit at all.  When I was 250 pounds – that was always on my mind at an amusement park (or an airplane, for that matter).  I looked down at my lap and just felt so grateful for that.  I also love that John and I could ride something together and there was space on each side of us!

After the bobsled, I was ready for something warm –

This place sold fudge, which looked amazing, but we resisted.  I thought this place might have lattes, but they just had brewed coffee.  I had a Seattle’s Best coffee at $2.49!  However, I will say it was very fresh and brewed properly (meaning not weak).  I was happy.

Riding the carousel.  😀

John is starting to grow his winter goatee.

Salem  witch hanging for family fun.  Real person –

I found the most unusual pink item of the day:

The Breast Cancer Site

I was starting to get really hungry at this point, and cold as the sun was getting ready to set, so we headed on out and went to dinner.  We stopped at Cool Beans where I had more coffee 😳

What does this mean about the dental work?

Egg bagel sandwich.

Very tasty.  I was still feeling hungry after this, so we decided to split a raspberry white chocolate scone.

That’s the stuff!

I had a deep chill after being outside most of the day, so it was blanket time for  a Saturday night, movies and Playstation.  We sure know how to live it up!

Lifting and cheap toys

Some great comments on the blogger role model post from yesterday.  I loved all the insights. Thanks for saying I am a role model. I don’t know as I really meant to ask that specifically, but the post title kind of did that. 😀

I woke up to cloudy gloom today. I decided against biking because rain was supposed to be imminent and not ready for new bike and rain yet. Gotta at least pay it off first, right? I got to the gym and ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill to warm up, going between 5.5 and 6.1 mph. It felt pretty good.

Then the iron. Again, lower weights and increased reps:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
1-arm dumbbell row 3 sets of 12 with 15# DB Back
Dumbbell Incline Chest Fly 3 set of 12 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Plie squat 3 sets of 10 with 30# DB Lower body
Planks 3 sets of 90 second holds,

(3rd one I touched down briefly)

 Core
Seated French Press 3 sets of 15 with 10# DBs (20# total) Triceps
Seated calf raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Stiff-leg deadlift 3 sets of 12 with 65# bar Lower body
Bent lateral raise 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders

Then I got back on the treadmill for 1 more mile. I almost stopped at 1/2 a mile because my legs really were having trouble running after lifting, but then they got used to it…. sort of. Reminds me that I need to start brick training for the duathlon coming up in October.

I had a hankering for chocolate when I got home, so I made some banana custard cream of wheat and topped with peanut butter and tiny mini morsels.  You get so many more of these per serving than regular chocolate chips.  The power of surface area. My eyes love that!

My tummy loved it, too.  Num.

Working hard today.  Crunch time to pay off the bike!  I should just need a couple more weeks of this and then back down on one of the jobs.  I keep saying that, but maybe I mean it this time 😉

For your entertainment, here is Pixie being active and playing.   She is playing with a bread tie -proof that you don’t need expensive cat toys  – (so why do I keep buying them??).

Lunch time brought out an oldie, but goodie.  Toast with laughing cow, chicken and fruit spread.

I know it may sound weird, but this is a good combo.  Some of the pear/cranberry jam I made last night.  Who knew that making jam was so much fun?  I think I see a few holiday gifts this year.  😀

Note the waffle cut carrot that snuck into my bag of baby carrots.  Someone must have been asleep at the switch.

John made me an afternoon latte:

And I had a couple of these to go with:

Antioxidant power!

We got a phone call that our windows are ready and they are going to be installing them mid next week.  It will take them 2 days, since there are so many windows.  I am not sure quite what I am going to do, as I really need quiet for transcription.  Construction does not = quiet.  I can work from the library or Starbucks, but not sure I really want to do that for 8 hours.  Will have to see.  Excited for the new windows, though!

Dinner time.  We got some more Smart Option crabcakes, I had kind of forgotten that these existed until I saw John put them in the cart.

Paired with broccoli and a pluot.  The genius of cutting these up.  My hubby is so smart 😀

More work tonight, and some Monday night football!   17 days until official kickoff!  My Broncos jersey is ready and waiting to come out (I won’t wear it for preseason).

I will be having a little dish of this that we got with our free coupon for donating blood:

Question:  Do you buy toys for your pets?  And do they play with them?

Lifting Move of the Week – Captain’s Chair

Geared up for a big workout day today! I started with a Luna bar snack (S’mores).

Then I biked to the gym. I hit the treadmill first. My goal today was to do a longer run, but broken up. I did 2 miles on the treadmill at 5.5 mph (11 min mile) and then took my sweaty self to the weights 😀

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
2-point dumbbell row 3 sets of 8 with 25# DBs (50# total) Back
Forward Lunges 3 sets of 10 (each leg)with 30# Bar Lower body
Flat Chest Fly 3 sets of 10 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Plie squat 3 sets of 10 with 35# DB Legs
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Abs
Lower Back Extension 3 sets with 10 at 100# Low back
Lateral Raise 3 sets of 8 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Kickbacks 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Triceps

Then I did 2 more miles on the treadmill. That made 4 miles total! I haven’t done 4 miles since the day before I hurt my back. No problems with the running, which is good. My knee gets tingly and the skin sort of burns (hypersensitive) on run days later in the day, but there is no pain with my back while actually running.

Then I biked home. Phew! Mega workout.  I burned about 670 calories this morning. Woo Hoo! I was ready for brekkie when I got back. Even though I was hot and sweaty, I still had a hot brekkie.

Banana custard oats topped with cashew butter and pomegranate jelly. Food tastes so durn good after a hard workout!

Lifting Move of the Week: The Captain’s Chair!  You may have seen this apparatus at your gym.  It’s actually kind of fun.

This is a great move for the abs.  You can do several variations, such as twisting your legs or lifting them straight out in front of you to work different muscles.  The hardest part of this move is not swinging your legs and using momentum to lift.  The work should be done with the abs.  Truth be told, you can also do this at home if you have an L-shaped counter in your kitchen 😉

Work consisted of a conference call (mildly worrisome) and then work, work, work at both jobs.  I am beat!  Stopped for lunch:

Lemon pepper tuna salad on wheat bread.

Plus my last pear 🙁   I hope it is a temporary shortage, although the red ones have been gone for about a month.  When do pears come in season, anyway?  I had a burpless cucumber on the side, but I had a can of seltzer with it, so not sure if it was burpless or not.

Pixie was supposed to be hard at work answering the phones for the business, but she was a slacker:

Good thing she only gets paid in catnip….

Afternoon snackage of a latte:

Plus a couple squares of Lake Champlain peppermint crunch dark chocolate.   Sort of local company (Vermont) and yum!

Sitting on a coaster for a plate.  We are pretty sophisticated ’round here.

Finished up work and my brain was tired.  Transcription can be really, really tiring to do.  So much depends on the dictator and the subject matter.  Clinic notes are easy, things like genetics are very hard.  Sometimes I would like a no thinky job.

Dinner time and I used the new toaster oven to cook my clam strips.  They came out perfectly done!  I am spoiled with the convection oven, I have to say.

Last of the blues.  I think I need to go picking again!   I only had 1 ginger altoid while cooking dinner and I didn’t need any at lunch.  I really don’t want to jinx it, but I am getting a hold of that snack habit pretty well.  I’ll talk more about the idea of the habit energy tomorrow, but it makes so much sense.

Off to visit my parents and be social for the evening 😀

Question:  What is your favorite ab exercise?

Lifting move of the week – the deadlift!

It’s that time of the week! Biked out to the gym after eating the other half of the balance bar I had yesterday. My plan was to run 1 mile on the treadmill, lift, then run 2 miles on the treadmill, but that didn’t quite happen.

I did 1 mile on the treadmill, which was fine. I got super sweaty, though. I hate lifting when I am really sweaty.

The iron:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Deadlift 3 sets of 8 at 75# Lower body
Seated lat row 3 sets of 10 at 55# Back
Pushups 3 sets of 10 Chest
Planks 3 sets of 75-second holds Abs
Stationary Lunges 3 sets of 10 (each side) with 15# DBS (30# total) Lower body
Prone Cuban Snatch 3 sets with 10 with 8# DBS (16# total) Shoulders
Lower back extension 3 sets of 10 at 100# Low back
Bench Dips 3 sets of 10 Triceps

Phew. I was sweating profusely the whole time. While doing the plank, I watched sweat dripping off my nose onto the mass (ewwww). After that, I had no gumption to run, so I just biked home.

Lifting move of the week: The deadlift! I have shown the stiff-leg (Romanian) deadlift before, but this is the big girl one. If the squat is king, then the deadlift is queen.  Note that I use the overhand grip with both hands.  Some people do 1 underhand and 1 overhand, and I have tried that, but it isn’t comfortable for me.  Although, it makes it easier when the bar is loaded heavier.  I have done 95# and found the alternated grip easier on the hands.

I even fancied the video up a little bit. If I make you watch me right after I roll out of bed, may as well make it a little more enjoyable :mrgreen:

I was hungry when I got home and made some banana custard cream of wheat with the maple syrup and toasted pecans on top.  I really like this!

I got to work right away.  Job #2 does not require me to have any set work time, but the new account I got moved to (orthopedics) has most of the work in the early part of the day.  I really enjoy orthopedics.  It’s very interesting.  Job #1 I have a set start time for work (10 am) and have to work at least for the first hour before flexing time.

Lunch time and I wanted something fast.  Omelet with a laughing cow wedge tucked in there.  I should start new things so the blog doesn’t get boring 😀

Snack attack!  I broke for a snack at around 2:45 with an iced latte and the last of the Lindt.

Something that I have noticed this week with concentrating on snacking while cooking meals is that I have not had a binge snack all month either.  The last day where I ate too much food (other than big bike days) was on July 4th at the picnic.  Usually I have 1 or 2 days in a week where I get super snacky and nibble at night or in the afternoon.  I don’t know what is different right now, but I’ll take it.  Funny because I am under a little more stress lately, which usually makes me want to plow into the food.

I was ultra productive today and finished up in time to do some cooking!  Grilled up extra chicken for this week.

I love this Coleman grill!

Plus I was chasing another butterfly around.  They are hard to get a picture of LOL!

Some of that chicken was destined for my dinner.

Oh yes indeedy!

I’ve got my snack planned out for later:


Wearing my duathlon t-shirt.  My 2 favorite tees are my triathon shirt and the duathlon shirt!

Question:  Do you deadlift?

Running and missing the scale…

Seems a lot of people like the tuna/cottage cheese combo.  I am so not sure about that one…..

Woke up early today, thanks to Ms. Pixie.  I forgot to feed her dry food last night, so she was pushing on the door at about 5 am this morning 🙄  I got up and gave her some food, then tried to get back to sleep, but no dice.  I figured I would get up and run, then.  I had a protein drink and headed out to the track today.  I noticed these nice gladioli blooming in someone’s yard!

Purty.

I’m a flower stalker, what can I say?

Here is the lovely track I run at when school is out.

It was a good morning to run, as there was a foggy mist and it was in the 60s.  I don’t like running in the sun unless it is winter time.

I did 3.25 miles.  That’s an extra 1/4 mile just because I felt like it.  I think I might be ready to get my mileage back up now that I am running regularly again.  I do have a race on Saturday, though – so nothing heavy duty this week.

Even though it was not sunny, I still sweated a lot! LOL

Bags under the eyes courtesy of Pixie….

Came home to some protein waffles.

Yummers.

Workity workity today.  Both jobs very busy.  Whew!  I was ready for a lunch break pretty soon.

Greek yogurt, Bear Naked Banana cereal (very good), and blues.

Plus 1/2 of this just to get a few more calories because I felt like I really wanted more to eat.

For some reason, running makes me really hungry.

I have to tell you all that I really, really want to weigh myself.  It’s been about 3 weeks now and I am dying to know if the scale is up or down (or the same).  I have this strange fear that it will be up 5 pounds.  After looking at all the videos of myself I did yesterday, I am feeling mildly down about my lower body.  Not too much, and it will pass, but not weighing makes me have to sit and deal with that feeling without any reassurance.  Is there a lesson to be learned there?  I don’t know.

John made me a latte and I had one of the blueberry cornbread muffins with it.  Toasted it up and sprayed some ICBINB on it.

For a more positive note on this month – I have been doing great with the no nibbling while preparing meals!  I have been going through some Altoids, though LOL.  I guess I would rather have 15 extra calories of those than 150 extra calories of nibbles, know what I mean?  It’s still really hard, though, I will admit.

Dinner time was a stirfry of broccoli and shrimp with ginger sauce on a sweet potato.


John said my dinner looked weird.  I liked it, and that is all that matters.  He doesn’t do savory sweet potatoes, so maybe that is why he thought it looked funny.

I finished up both jobs and have a free night!  I think I am going to drag out the beads and make some jewelry, maybe.  Thank goodness the ice cream shop down the street is closed on Tuesdays 😀

Sweet and salty.

Happy Tuesday!  I had a good night’s sleep last night.  Yay!  I decided to do a pre breakfast run today.  Haven’t done one of those in a long, long time.  I think pre-injury!  I had a granola bar first for energy:

then I hit the streets for a 3-mile run.  Running is still a struggle for me.  It’s  my thigh while runnning, and does not feel like it used to before when I ran.  Plus my back aches when I am done.  Oh well, I can’t complain all that much, because I am pretty much back to normal activity.

I did get pretty sweaty, though.  Good thing it was 7 am and only about 55 degrees out!

I showered up (don’t post exercise showers feel the best??) and commenced to breakfast making.  It went much easier than yesterday 😀

Custard cream of wheat with a mashed banana.

I topped it with some of that beer jelly I got a few weeks ago.

Beer with breakfast? Why not?  It actually had a beer smell to it, but not so much in the taste.  It was mostly sweet.

Work went pretty smooth today.  I actually had an interview today with another company.  MTs with experience are in demand, which is good, but the pay is just awful every where you go.  Thank you off shoring for that….  Anyway, I may try this company to see how it fits for me.

Lunch break for a tuna wrap and a delicious kiwi!

A girl needs chocolate, right?  So I had some with my latte:

There actually was more in this bowl, I just forgot to take a picture before I ate some.  Just so you know….

And yet another reason for me to keep embracing caffeine.  This study shows a link between 4 cups of coffee a day and reduced head/neck cancer!  I always take studies with several grains of salt, because the numbers can be manipulated, but there seems to be more and more evidence that compounds in coffee have beneficial properties!

Dinner time was a classic BBQ chicken salad.  This bowl has about 1/2 a bag of spring mix in it, topped with 4 oz of chicken chopped up with BBQ sauce, a little slivered almonds and 3/4 oz of reduced fat feta cheese.

It has that sweet/salty mix I like.

Speaking of sweet/salty – we headed out to run a couple errands and hit up the cheap shopping:

John snuck these into the cart:

D’oh!  I didn’t even want to try them, since I love pretzels and chocolate together.  But, I did.   I ate some out of this bag.  Quite tasty.  I actually wish there was a little more chocolate in each one, but the texture was yummy.  This is something that won’t be coming into the house very often.

Tomorrow is bagel day and lifting move of the week!

Question:  Have you tried the pretzel M&Ms?