Monthly Archives: May 2012

Dr. Scholl’s, Pita, and Peeta

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, Run, Yoga by

I didn’t end up making it to Extreme Ride tonight because I had to stop at CVS on the way and buy these:

My left foot is starting to give me a little bit of trouble. Keep in mind that I am known to be a slight hypochondriac slash drama queen though, so don’t take my complaining too seriously.

I broke my left foot in October 2009 and again in April 2010. The first breakage was at work (my job for some extra cash in college was lifeguarding part-time). We were moving a bunch of equipment at the end of a shift and a huge piece of equipment fell and crushed my foot. Long story short, it took a loooong time for my foot to recover from that one.

As soon as it did heal, I took a bad drunken tumble and re-broke the same foot in the same place. I must have had some baaaad karma goin’ on or something.

Since then, I haven’t had too many issues with my foot, except that I have a much harder time doing yoga balancing poses on my left leg.

I heart my yoga mat.

But as I’ve started running longer distances and running more often than usual, the inner edge of my arch is struggling. I bought new running shoes about eight months ago-ish, and can’t really afford a new pair for a few more months (I already have been doing some Summer shopping. Whoooopsie.) Plus, I don’t even know if I have the wrong shoes for my feet, or if my foot is the problem. I figured I would try a cheap solution for kicks.

Once I put them in my sneakers they felt kind of funny at first – but as soon as I took a running stride on the treadmill, I knew I was in love. They felt awesome – it seemed as if I was bouncing along in moon boots. Remember those? From Nickelodeon?

Anyway, they turned out to be a great buy. Running felt great, and my arch was only a tiny bit sore after running. It’s a good quick fix for sure, but I will have to eventually figure out a better long term solution, since ideally, I don’t want my arch to ever be sore. Could be my shoes, could be my stride.

I ran my 5 miles, just like I promised! It was a treadmill run – the miles were a bit rough, but hey, I got them done. Another thing I need to improve on is my breathing technique. Maybe I concentrate too much on my breathing, and that’s why it feels weird, but man, was I suckin’ in air. I was definitely gasping for breath, which is probably not the best way to breathe.

At least I wasn’t making little grunting noises every ten seconds like the Mets fan running next to me. If I can hear you over my cranked up music, you’re too loud. Rude.

I ended the evening with a lovely turkey pita at Tuna’s. He even put mine together for me!

Not the prettiest picture in the world, but it sure tasted good.

CNG’s Turkey Pita

Ingredients:

Whole wheat pita
Turkey slices
Spinach
Tomato
Onion
Shredded Cheese
Garlic Hummus
Caesar Lite Dressing

And in honor of my pita, I will leave you with Peeta.

Oh heyyyyyy, Peeta. (source)

Skorts and Bic Bands Galore

Posted in Run, Running Gear by

I motion for all weekends to be three-day weekends.

All in favor, say “Yay.” All opposed…..oh right, NO ONE IS OPPOSED.

This weekend was very much needed. There was definitely some “dirty-eating” going on, according to Tuna. But I also did get my run on (twice) annnnd made some clutch purchases at the local lululemon Marshall’s.

I’ve been itchin’ to get my hands on some skorts ever since I realized my Nike tempo shorts are getting too big.

They are size XL from my boot days and constantly give me thigh wedgies. So. annoying. I have a a pair of black spandex-y shorts, but still get self conscious when there is someone is on the elliptical behind my (yes, MY) treadmill. And being self-conscious about your hammy jiggle should be the last thing on your mind while pushing through your long run, am I right?

I was pumped to find this black Avia skort for $12.99 at Marshall’s – you get the non-wedgie-prone shorty short, but sweat wicking fabric to cover your bum.

To go along with my new found love of spinning I needed some sweat-proof workout tops. I found a great one in periwinkle on clearance for $9.99.

I wore it with my skort to the gym yesterday and I was all like:

I am also super excited about the new bic band I ordered.

Minnie Sparkle Gunmetal. Prettttyyyyy.

Mal gave me one for my birthday and I am obsessed.

Can you tell how excited I am?

I wear it pretty much three out of four times I run. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I am starting to notice that the check-in girl @ Crunch looks at my bic band every time I swipe in. I don’t want to be known as the girl that wears the same sweat-stained sparkly purple bic band every time she goes to the gym. Though I would love to be known as the alternating between two colors sparkly bic band girl.

*****

Since I have alumni a cappella rehizzy this eve, I have to have my Tuesday rest day today (since I’m sure as hell not waking up one moment before my eighth snooze). I used to love having rest days since they were an excuse to sit on the couch and watch reality shows TV. But now, I really wish I could pause time, get a long run in, shower, and theeeen go to rehearsal. There are not enough hours in the day, people.

Can’t wait to run (or spin?) tomorrow after work. I would go to spin, but ONLY if I make it to the gym without rushing and speeding through traffic. I HATE rushing. If I don’t make it by 6:30pm, I’ll play on the treadmill instead. If I do run tomorrow, I’m doing 5 miles. Telling you guys makes me feel like I’ve gotta hold myself to it!

What is your favorite running accessory? Is there something you absolutely cannot run without?

Are you a morning or evening runner?

Spinning = Winning

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Spinning by

Last night I went to my second ever spin class.

I rushed out of work at 5:30pm so that I would be able to run home, quickly change, and speed through the traffic to get to Crunch by the 6:30pm Extreme Ride start time.

I really wanted to make it to this particular class, because the instructor is supposed to be one of the best. The first spin class I took, a few weeks ago, was only OK. I couldn’t really hear the instructor over the music and I didn’t know if anything I was doing was right. It was still fun, but the whole time I was kind of like:

I’m trying to take advantage of all of the different classes offered at Crunch and take them all once, just so that I know what I like best. Two weeks ago I took Zumba, which wasn’t as fun as the Zumba class I used to take at UVA. The whole time I felt kind of like:

Mr. Rogers. I felt self-conscious and wasn’t a huge fan. Plus, I didn’t feel like it was THAT great of a workout. Not to knock Zumba, but I think for now I’ll keep experimenting with other classes.

Anyway, even the first mundane spin class I took was more fun than the Zumba class, so I wanted to try it again.

Even though I got there right on time, I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough bikes available as I ran up to the spin room. Luckily, the rainy weather seemed to deter people, and the class was super empty! After the warm-up, I had already developed a girl-crush on the instructor. She was super peppy and informative – teaching us about “push point, race pace,” etc. I was definitely dripping sweat within the first fifteen minutes of class. My favorite part was our third to last song was Call Me Maybe (currently obsessed, along with the rest of the world) and we did saddle, hover, stand, hover, saddle over and over again to the beat of the song. I think my gf the instructor could tell I was loving it, because she flashed me a head nod and a thumbs up as she walked around shouting the commands.

I think I am now a spinning convert.

*****

The best part of the whole night was coming home to Tuna’s apartment and having a healthy home-cooked dinner all ready for me! It was so nice coming home and not having to make dinner after a workout, which is usually torture because I am always starving.

He made an eat-clean meal for us – marinated chicken breast, broccoli, and brown rice. We even had healthy oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert!

Liar

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Run by

Ok, so I lied. Well – I didn’t know I was going to lie. My intent to have a healthy weekend was strong, but my follow through was pretty darn weak.

As of Friday afternoon I was doing well….I ran outside for 4 mi after work. Workout, check. I made the yummy shrimp paella dish. Clean eating, check. And then I had some popcorn…..so, not too bad.

Saturday evening I had an a cappella gig singing at a graduation party. I had potato salad. A lot of potato salad. I then went to hang with a group of friends and ended up drinking many a’ brewski and ordering Dominos. Fail. Sunday snowballed into not even really caring what I ate. I had a delectable brunch, complete with french toast and white sangria…for a snack later I shoveled some hot cheetos into my mouth, (FAV) only to save the best for last – ordering Pad Thai takeout. It was glorious, though the aftermath was not. Oh yeah, and I put off my long run Sunday until Monday in lieu of watching Imortals on Netflix with Tuna.

Epic. Fail.

At this point, should I even be writing a “healthy living” blog at all? Embarr.

So I fell off the wagon an little bit. What can you do? It’s life. And I mean, I had a good weekend. At least I had the dedication to get back on the wagon on Monday morning, right? My whole eating clean thing isn’t ruined or spoiled. It’s just a little hiccup – especially since I want to maintain clean eating inevitably.

It’s all good though. I redeemed myself quickly though, being extra healthy to counteract my bad clean eating karma from the weekend.

For breakfast, I had some overnight oats in a mason jar, left over from the communal sized overnight oats dish I took to brunch on Sunday.

Yes, I only have one pretty serving dish.

For lunch I had a healthy spinach salad, topped with egg whites. I wanted to get some good fuel food in me because I wanted to be in tippy top shape for my long run last night.

Egg whites are surprisingly filling. It’s a great way to get cheap protein. My favorite part of the salad was getting to the brown rice at the bottom!

******

I was actually nervous to attempt my long run last night (yeah, the one I put off on Sunday.) The longest I had ever run before was 5 miles, and that was with a one-lap walk break. I was terrified, actually.

But guess what….I DID IT! That’s right, I ran 6 miles. I ran on the treadmill at Crunch – it took me 1 hour and 7 minutes, averaging 11 minute miles. And you know what, I think I could have gone faster! I was petrified the whole time that I wouldn’t have even steam to make it to the end, so I ran pretty slowly. I started out with 12 minute miles and worked my way down to 11, 10, and 9 minutes. I ended with a 9 minute mile!

My cool down was cut short because the guy next to me let lose a really bad fart. Like one of those healthy runner GI tract farts. It was a bad one.

After stretching for a bit (especially my hips!) I went on home and refueled with some chocolate milk.

Hmm. Maybe it is OK to eat a bit of junk and skip my run on the weekend (even if I lie to myself about how I’m not going to do it) as long as I go back to being the healthy living poser person on Monday. I think I’m alright with that. For now.

Clean Cheating

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes by

Yaaay, it’s Friday!

But you know what the weekend includes….pizza parties, barbecues, mimosa brunches. More wine (alright, a lot more) and less water. So, when is it OK to have a little junk food here and there?

Don’t mind if I do.

For me, it’s on the weekends. Some weekends I indulge more than others. It depends what event is going on and what kind of food we’re eating, and of course, what mood I’m in. Last weekend I threw clean- eating out the window on Friday night. I had a hard week and was craving Ledo Pizza cheese fries like cray cray.

I’m a firm believer of the occasional cheating if you’re eating clean. If I ALWAYS deprive myself of some of my favorite foods, I won’t continue to eat clean on a regular basis. I don’t think it’s a huge deal to eat a few junk food items occasionally. I’ve heard of a lot of people doing the 80% and 20% regimen, or eating clean 80% of the time and eating whatever they want (to an extent) 20% of the time. I’d say I’m a teensy bit more hardcore than that. I try to eat clean 90% of the time, and then allow myself to “cheat” 10% of the time.

I’ve been at a bit of a weight plateau lately, which frustrates me. I’m thinking part of it could be attributed to stuffing my face with junk food on the weekend, and gaining back the pound or two that I lost during the week. It’s a vicious cycle, man.

So this weekend, I’ll definitely have a treat or two for sure. I’m going to a barbecue tomorrow afternoon and a brunch on Sunday. I might have a hot dog at the barbeque and maybe some potato fritters at brunch, but I think that’s alright. This weekend I’m just not going to straight up plan to eat fast food for meals. If I don’t gain a pound or two on the weekend that I have to lose again during the week, I should be that much closer to my goal weight, right?

Tonight I’m making the best dish ever, i.e. shrimp paella.

I think paella is a technically a Spanish dish. So I don’t even really know what paella officially is, but it sounds better than “a bunch of shit thrown into a pot.” Tuna and I were looking through recipes on clean eating blogs last weekend, and found this one and this one.

Since I had some of the ingredients but not others (annnnd the wrong cookware for this one), I altered the recipe a bit.

CNG’s Shrimp Paella

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice
1 cup water
spinach
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 large onion, chopped
olive oil
salt
pepper
cilantro
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 bag of frozen, pre-cooked, pre-peeled (YES!) shrimp

Directions:

Chop up the pepper and onion.

Put the cut up pepper, onion, and spinach in a big ‘ol skillet with a dash of olive oil.

Stir veggies until spinach is dark and shriveled (like my expert cooking vocab?) and onions are clear.

Throw cooked veggies into a big ‘ol pot (my skillet doesn’t have a big enough lid to put on it to look the rice, so I had to transfer to the pot w/ lid.)

Add 1 cup brown rice, 1 cup brown water to the pot w/ veggies. Add all of the spices & garlic listed above.

Turn up the heat on the stove burner to high, heat uncovered until boiling.

Turn down the heat to simmer, cover for about 45 minutes.

Stir the pot (ha…don’t I always) & put the lid back on for about 15 more minutes.

Pour out shrimp into a strainer, thaw for 6 min under cold water.

Chop off the shrimp tails.

Throw the shrimp into the pot

Stir once (Total paella cooking time = approx. 55-60 minutes

YUM. I’ll have some wine with that, please.