WIAW: Tough Mudder Edition

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, WIAW by

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

This week falls perfectly (did ya get that pun?) into our WIAW theme of the month because this week I completed a huge goal of mine: to successfully finish the Tough Mudder!

Because the Tough Mudder was on Saturday, my eating this weekend was quite cray cray.

It started off healthily! The morning of Tough Mudder, I woke up at 7:20am.

Our start time was at 10:40am – which I was thrilled about. As you know, I don’t do well with early wake-up calls. 

While I waited for a few members of my team to pick me up, I had a relaxing pre-Mudder breakfast of bananas, oatmeal, and granola.

With some hazelnut coffee on the side. Our team name was WAHOOWAH, so I had to sip my coffee from a UVA mug.

Little did I know I would only be eating bananas for the next 12 hours.

Well, mostly eating bananas. Before the race I did gobble down a chocolate chip brownie Larabar. I heard that there was supposed to be lots of food and fuel (like shotbloks and gu) at the water and aid stations throughout the course, so I figured I would be eating sporadically during the event.

Nope.

By the time our team got to the water stations, the only thing available to eat was – bananas! I was starving pretty much halfway through the course, so I was glad for any kind of food, even if it wasn’t assorted gourmet sports bars.

But after eating my fourth banana of the day at the last aid station, I longed for a big ass Gatorade and Clif Bar at the finish.

Too bad there were only bananas available at the finish line.

I think I’ll have blueberries as the fruit in my overnight oats for a few weeks.

The rest of my Tough Mudder weekend consisted of eating as much junk food as possible: Dominos and Chipotle FTW.

Not actually for the win though – I’m not feeling so hot right now. It’s probably because of the ridiculousness of Tough Mudder, but I didn’t recover with the best nutrients this weekend either.

So now it’s back to clean eating for me! My next goal to conquer is to finally reach my goal weight.

I’m going to start by making these babies that I discovered on Pinterest.

What do you usually eat to refuel after a race?

Do you have any goals this fall?

Tough Mudder Teaser

Posted in Race, Tough Mudder by

I did it!

I am officially a Tough Mudder!

There was a freak thunderstorm that caused a ridiculous amount of rain and flooding throughout almost the entirety of the event.

It was exactly the opposite of what I thought: I was terrible at the running part of the course, but loved (almost!) every minute of the obstacles. I had to walk some of the time, forcing my amazing teammates to coddle me along to keep running.

How did I train on the treadmill for eight months and have an extremely hard time running the 10.5 miles, but breezed through most of the obstacles with the help of my team without completing more than 5 lifting workouts throughout the year?

Who knows.

My team finished together in approximately 3 hours and 40 minutes, without any serious injuries.

The Tough Mudder was way, way harder than I expected, and though I wasn’t the all-star of my team, (probably was one of/the worst on my team!) I fucking did it.

And I ate an entire pizza afterwards.

Butterflies

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Race, Run, Tough Mudder by

All’s quiet over here!

I’m trying my best to relax after a long week at work – I had a 12 hour day yesterday! Good timing to be exhausted for Tough Mudder day. But I napped this afternoon, so I think I’ll be fine sleep wise.

But seriously. Terrified.

I’m all packed and ready to go. I was a good girl tonight and had a simple, healthy dinner of good fuel.

Brown rice with edamame and leftover Thai peanut sauce.

My brain is all over the place with questions. Can I really do this? Do I have everything I need? Will my contacts survive? What if I didn’t train enough?

I just keep telling myself to relax, don’t think about the obstacles too much (especially the arctic enema), and to just have fun. That’s what it’s all about.

Off to bed early! I’ve got butterflies in my stomach. Hopefully my brain will shut off soon.

Do you ever get pre-race/event jitters?

Meet in the Middle

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With the Tough Mudder looming over my head this week I am being a spastic mess. Part of me wants to go run 12 miles to make sure I can, while the other part of me knows not to push it this week since I don’t want to be sore or injured on Saturday! For now, I’m attempting to meet somewhere in the middle – a few workouts (nothing too crazy) early in the week and then resting on Thursday and Friday.

I was feeling too lazy to drive to Crunch last night, so I settled for running on the treadmill at my apartment gym. It was so hot, stuffy, and sweaty in there that I could only force myself to run 2 of the 5 miles I had wanted to. I can’t believe I used to use that shithole little room as my actual gym! (Sorry apartment building.) But seriously, it smells gross in there. Thank gawwwd for Crunch.

It seems that any sweat inducing activity entitles me to refuel with lots of carbs. Simplicity was the way to go last night! I gobbled down whole wheat pasta with tomato sauce and peas.

Since Jenn @ Peas and Crayons reminded me that Fall is approaching, I snagged the opportunity to spice up my daily overnight oats with a bit of unsweetened applesauce.

That’s a lie. I just have no fresh fruit and am getting sick of eating prunes. Or as my mom tricked me in to eating them, “dried plums.”

It actually was a nice change! I can’t wait for scarf weather and apple cider and cinnamon smelling candles. And oh yeah, being able to run outside again.

Lunch was an oldie but goodie: romaine lettuce with hard-boiled eggs and Italian dressing. Maybe one day I will eat meat for my protein source. But then I’ll have to cook it first…

Dinner tonight was a keeper for sure. Puffins with milk, granola, chia seeds, prunes, and a dollop of dark chocolate dreams peanut butter. Mental note to self – buy more than one box of Puffins at a time. I go through those things at a ridiculous speed.

Though it was plenty filling a few hours ago, I just got home and was ravenous. No, I’m not eating a bowl full of leftover linguini at midnight.

OK, you caught me. But it’s race week – so I’m allowed, right?

What do you normally eat for your protein source?

Are you a midnight snacker too?

What I Really Looked Like

Posted in Food, Sports by

It was raining on Sunday, so we couldn’t veg out by the pool in the sun like we had planned on.

Luckily, we improvised and headed to the rec center instead to play some racquetball!

What I really looked like….

Embarrassing.

Apparently I am terrible at any sport involving a racquet. At least I got a little cross training in though.

We did end up going to the pool, but not for sun – for laps! I grew up doing summer swim team at my neighborhood pool and I was a lifeguard for years. I’m no Missy Franklin, but I do like swimming laps for exercise. I have been missing my gorgeous university pool lately, so I was super pumped to get to swim a little.

I did laps for about twenty minutes. I was definitely rusty, but it did feel really good on my joints.

After the pool we had BLTS with chicken breast on whole wheat bread. (And a few BBQ chips. I was on vacation, OK?)

The vacation eating continued with a splurge meal at my fav restaurant: Outback Steakhouse! 

Outback has been my favorite restaurant for years. I was even a waitress there one summer in college.

I get the same thing every time. 🙂 Victoria’s center cut filet mignon, a house salad with ranch dressing, and the garlic mashed potatoes. And of course we couldn’t resist getting the bloomin’ onion for our appetizer! This dinner was most certainly not “clean,” but it was so worth the cheat meal.

I later regretted stuffing every little bit of the delish food down because my stomach was waaay too full by the end of dinner – so full I looked preggers! (Alright, I was puffing it out a bit on purpose.)

Vacation’s over – time to get focused on the last week of Tough Mudder training. I’m starting to freak out a bit.

Is there a sport you are absolutely terrible at? I’m pretty bad at tennis but I think I am even worse at soccer!

Have you ever been a server at a restaurant? If so, which one?

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

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We went to the Nationals baseball game yesterday with Tuna’s brother, sister and  their significant others. It was my first Nats game this season!

Before we metroed over, I shoveled my face with healthy food in an attempt to convince my  stomach (and brain) that I didn’t need a bucket of nachos and seventeen beers at the game. I wanted to stay healthyish AND not spend $100 on game food.

We had spinach salad with quinoa, shredded carrots, cheddar cheese, and Italian dressing topped off with some tomato and basil hummus. It did the trick!

Our seats were sweet – they were right in the front row of our section, so we didn’t have to deal with any people in front of us.

I ended up getting one all beef hot dog with ketchup and a diet coke around the fifth inning. I was so excited to chow down that I forgot to take a picture for you! But it seriously hit the spot. There’s nothing like a hot dog at a ball game!

Look who it is! Tuna promised that he would let me post a real picture of him on CNG when I reach 300 twitter followers. Right now I only have 160 – so you must follow me! 🙂

The Nats ended up losing 10-9, but it was still  a fun game. When we got home, we booked it to the car for a late night road trip to West Virginia! Stay tuned for some embarrassing pictures from WVA!

Hope you’re having a relaxing labor day weekend.

What’s your favorite sporting event to attend? I like baseball – but I like going to hockey games too!

Do you have a must eat item at baseball games? Mine is definitely a hot dog. Mmmmm…..

Slopes and Scones

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, Tough Mudder by

If I do want to reach my goal weight the same week as Tough Mudder, I gots some work to do this next week!

I’m so close, yet so far.

The iPhone app I use to keep track of my weight is called “Lose It.” When I originally started to lose weight  (see the first negative slope) I did use the app religiously, recording both my calorie intake and exercise. But then you know how it goes next – became obsessive about putting in all of the data into the app, being mad at myself if I had chocolate pudding that put me 120 calories over my daily budget, that sort of thing.

But that sucks. No one wants to do that. (At least I don’t!) So now I just use it to simply record my weight.

The second negative slope started when I began eating clean and running at the end of January 2012. It will be nice to eventually reach that goal line and then plateau out. 🙂

Last night before book club I munched on a healthy dinner that used up the last of the tzatziki sauce. I’m definitely going to buy some more the next time I’m near Trader Joe’s!

I made some vegan chocolate chip oatmeal “scones” to bring a dish to share at book club last night, based off this recipe.

Did you notice I finally got a cooling rack?!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal “Scones”

Ingredients

  • 1 cup oats, blended into chunky flour
  • 1 cup wholegrain spelt flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup apple sauce
  • 2 tbsp almond milk
  • 1/4 cup almonds coarsely chopped
  • 1 tbsp ground flax+ 3 tbsp water
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • handful of milk chocolate chips

Follow these directions with the subbed ingredients!

We got the final Tough Mudder map – my friend Mal pointed out we won’t get to do the fire-walking! Booo.

TTYL, I need to memorize this shit…

Do you ever get weight loss iPhone app obsessive? Or very into recording the food you eat? I used to, but realized it’s not worth the pressure to stress. Just eating mindfully usually helps!

What I Ate Wednesday: Mediterranean Style

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Looking back on this summer (ack, it’s almost over!)  I realized one of my favorite new types of food is Mediterranean food. I.e. typical variations of all things pita, hummus, cucumber-y, and in my opinion, the most exciting – falafel!

Mediterranean food has definitely been one of my summer staples. I’ve eaten at Lebanese Taverna approximately a million ten times this summer, so I decided to commit to the next step in my relationship with Mediterranean food: make it myself.

Well, kind of. Make it from a mix and store bought pre-cooked chicken and sauce. But that’s how I roll, alright?

Plus, it didn’t hurt that falafel mix is $3.49 per box. That means about 12 falafel balls total, resulting in anywhere from 4-6 meals for 1 person or 2-3 meals for 2 people.

It might not be the healthiest of healthy food, being fried in vegetable oil and all, but I think the ingredients of the mix (chickpeas, fava beans, garlic, spice, baking powder, salt) still qualify as semi-clean.

Either my falafel patties were too big or my whole wheat pitas were too small!

Tuna totes gets the credit for Monday night’s meal – it was seriously like eating Lebanese Taverna but at home! Falafel with brown rice and pre-cooked frozen grilled chicken strips, all drizzled with Trader Joe’s Tzatziki sauce aka creamy garlic cucumber dip to non-foodies or to me before Saturday.

Time to infuse one summer staple with another: pasta salad with some Mediterranean flavor. Actually….regular pasta salad with more Tzatziki sauce because I can’t get enough of it.

This is a version of my mom’s pasta salad slash what I had in the freezer or lack thereof.

End of Summer Pasta Salad

5-6 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 package whole wheat pasta
  • 1/2 bag frozen peas
  • 1/2 bag frozen shelled edamame (good source of protein!)
  • 1/2 cup sliced carrots
  • 1/4 cup chopped red pepper
  • 1/4 cup red onion
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • tbsp dijon mustard
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup tzatziki sauce mixed in
  • tbsp of extra tzatizki sauce on top of each serving

In other news, I am 3 lbs away from my goal weight, and a week and a half away from the Tough Mudder!

Wouldn’t it be cool if I could reach my goal weight and successfully complete the Tough Mudder in the same week? That would be pretty cool.

Does anyone have any recipes of healthier falafel (not fried in a ton of vegetable oil?) My apartment still reeks of fried food.

Do you usually try new types of food at restaurants or at home?

I’ve Been a Bad, Bad Girl and Exciting News

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, Run by

The past week has been REALLY busy at work, so by the time I got home at night the only thing I felt like doing was sitting my butt on the couch, watching TV, and eating lots of chocolate peanut butter and pretzels.

I usually gain a pound or two over the weekend from eating pizza for dinner and guzzling down wine and then lose it during the week when I cheat less, run more, and eat more spinach.

Last weekend I cheated a bit more than I usually do, so it wasn’t too appalling that I gained 3.5 lbs. Well, kind of appalling, but I figured I could do some damage control during the week to make up for it.

That’s where the chocolate peanut butter came in. And the gummy bears, extra diet cokes, and second portions.

I’ve been a bad, bad girl.

Not only have I been chillin’ on the clean eating front, I’ve also relaxed my workouts a bit. BAD! Especially when the Tough Mudder is in 15 days. And because I need to get in bikini shape for…..

our trip to Brazil!

Tuna’s parents moved to Rio de Janeiro not too long ago and we are lucky enough to get to go visit them over Thanksgiving (with a stop in Miami to visit his sister.)

(source)

I am beyond excited.

And I better fit in to that damn bikini.

Therefore, I swear I will be better about NOT CHEATING (too much) on both clean eating and on my workouts.

Starting with my yummy-ass bagel sandwich for lunch.

Yummy-Ass Bagel Sandwich

Includes:

– toasted pumpernickel bagel with salt and sesame seeds
– spicy hummus
– cream cheese
– sliced cucumber
– fresh spinach

With some Black Forest Berry Honest Tea. I’m going back to my one diet coke a day rule and I want to drink it tonight!

I did 5 miles yesterday (in my barefoot Merrell shoes, I’m loving them) and today calls for strength training – arms and abs.

Cheers to a healthy weekend!

Do you ever fall off the healthy living wagon? 

What was the most recent trip you took?

Running as Transportation

Posted in Run by

I took my poor car to the mechanic near Tuna’s house on Sunday night for a tune-up. I took it to that specific shop because they said they would look at my check engine light for free (score!)  I dropped it off there, and had Tuna bring me home. I figured I would take a cab the 5.6 miles on Monday night to go pick the car up once the it was fixed.

But then I thought, 5.6 miles? I could RUN that far. Maybe I should RUN to pick up my car.

I was so smart and packed a change of clothes for Tuna to take home on Sunday so I would have some clean clothes to change into after my adventurous run on Monday night.

I hadn’t run outside in forever and am used to my water bottle on the treadmill, so I made a DIY handheld water bottle in anticipation of the long winding roads.

It looked a little cloudy when I was about to leave, but not too bad so I figured I’d venture out anyway. I was running along on the first leg of the run and was about two miles in to it when it started drizzling.

Ok, I can handle a little bit of rain.

A few seconds later it started torrential down-pouring. Like the ridiculous kind of midsummer rain that half seems like a slightly scary hurricane and half looks like a scene out of The Notebook.

However, usually the rain isn’t sopping through your running pouch with very important items in it such as your iPhone and iPod and fancy new headphones.

Not to mention the damn sidewalk stopped right as it started pouring.  It was kind of scary actually – running right on the edge of the road with slippery cars sliding all over the place in terrible weather. Never again!

I hope this isn’t what the Tough Mudder is going to be like: sopping shoes, being frozen and uncomfortable. Hmmm..well, it probably will be.

For about five minutes I toyed with my options. Should I just run for it and pray for my iPhone’s safety, hail down the nearest cab, or should I whip out my phone and call Tuna to come and save me?

I tried the first option for approximately 9.7 seconds.

I stumbled upon a patch of glorious sidewalk and huddled under some trees while proceeding to poke my head out into the heavier rain every 15 seconds and wishing for a cab to come my way.

Of course there wouldn’t be a single cab driving down a busy suburban road of DC the one time I’m stranded on the side of the road shivering.

It was time for Option 3: call Knight Tuna to come save his strong female lead (all the movies Netflix suggests for me are ones in the “strong female lead” category. Thanks, Netflix)

Too bad that plan required me to take out my sensitive-to-water-expensive-electronic-lifeline out of the safe confines of my fanny pack running pouch.  Heck no, I wasn’t going to risk getting my iPhone wet! But the situation was starting to get serious – I almost lost a contact. And I was was not about to lose a monthly.

Then, it appeared.

A faint, glimmering light in the distance.

A city bus! My little patch of sidewalk haven was a bus stop! (Please imagine the hallelujah chorus echoing as the bus approached.)

I didn’t have my metro card on me, but luckily I looked pathetic enough for the bus driver to take pity on my sopping wet self to give me a free bus ride to safety.

So I’m a huge snot actually terrified of city buses and have never been on one in the Washington DC metro area for the 20 years I’ve lived here (minus 4 years for college). My fear stems from getting on a bus and winding up somewhere random. I guess I’m technically scared of the bus routes map and not of the bus itself. Anyway, this bus was not a scary bus. It was a magical bus that saved me!

Thank goodness I was able to grab a map and frantically figure out where I should get off. You know, to make sure I didn’t end up on the Chinatown bus to New York City or something. Because with me, that would happen.

I was able to get off closeish to Tuna’s house and he came to pick me up. Sir Tuna to the rescue!

The moral of the story is though I only got 2 miles in yesterday, I still learned a lot about running:

– you can use running as a mode of transportation

– don’t go running if it’s about to rain/flash flood

– take an alternate route to make sure you have a sidewalk or path to run on a busy road

– always carry your cell phone on you when you’re running outside

– my DIY handheld water bottle is cool

Have you ever been caught in the rain on a run?

Do you use running as a form of transportation?