Spring Forward and Run!

It was another crazy week at work and with things after work.  This means no real blog-worthy meals, so once again we’re just fastforwarding to this weekend :)

I did make it to dance class Tuesday night though, so I was excited for that!

Tonight is Daylight Savings…don’t forget to  Spring Ahead!!

This is especially important for me because I have a 5k tomorrow morning.  I’m excited for it, but also bummed that it’s going to be raining and cold :(  The race is centered around celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and Irish Pubs in the area, so it should at least be entertaining. 

Trying to find weather-suitable clothing is going to trump any chance I had at being festive, but I did just pick up this $2 huge green bowtie I plan to wear somewhere…I’m thinking as a huge hair bow?

Any advice for a cold rainy run??  How bad would the weather have to be for you to back out of a race?  I think for me temperature is a bigger issue.  If it was going to be, say less than 20 degrees out tomorrow…I think that would deter me more than rain. 

I did read this website about tips for running in the rain.  I’ll take the idea for a hat.  I never wear hats, but I can see how it would be good tomorrow.

Once again, my schedule left me with no workouts Wed-Fri.  I’ll admit I could of fit in a workout after work yesterday, but I was so mentally drained from the week I knew I just needed to rest.  Plus I was planning an early morning Hot Yoga class today!

With the temps rising a little around here, the instructor said it was harder to control the heat/humidity in the room.  Boy was she right…this morning was especially HOT and HUMID!  But it felt so good…like I just sweat the stress of the week right out. 

Once again, I had a post yoga Whole Foods excursion.  One thing I was craving was a fresh fruit cup.

Once home I made a delicious egg+ham+cheese+whole wheat sandwich thin breakfast sandwich!  With fruit and water.

I needed to replenish.

Once I ate, showered, and dressed, I made myself a cappuccino with cinnamon.

Then it was busy time at home.

Lunch was a mish-mash of snacks.

Snack plate:  Triscuits+1 whole carrot+hummus+3 olives+dill havarti cheese.

Then a Fage with Peach (another item from the WF’s trip this morning).

I forgot how much I love these little peach Fage’s! 

This afternoon we went into Harvard Square so I could look for a new water-resistant jacket for the race, but no luck…the only one I saw was $75…I’ll pass.

Then we had dinner at Grafton Street in Harvard Sq.

I had 2 appetizers as my meal.  The first was:

Warm Goat Cheese Salad - herb roasted olives, charred bell peppers, caramelized onions, sherry vinaigrette

I’m drawn to anything on a menu with the words “warm” and “goat cheese” involved.  So good.  The cheese was tangy and light. 

My main course/appetizer was:

Sweet Potato Gnocchi - slow cooked lamb ragu, pecorino

Incredibly flavorful!!  Perfect amount too.  The sweet potato flavor was not very prominent, but you got a little taste of it towards the end of each bite.  The sauce was delicious, and the pecorino cheese was sharp and salty :)  This was delicious!

Our super exciting Saturday ended with…Grocery Shopping!  Wow, we’re lame :) 

I did dig into this when I got home.

 
This stuff is like cinnamon crunch crack! 

My little ramekin of cereal and milk was my dessert…I even wanted this more than the Samoa ice cream we just bought!

I’m about to make some homemade pizza dough to have for dinner tomorrow night!  Then its bed time :)               

Spring in the Air

and back in my step!  I told you I’d be in a MUCH better mood when I next wrote to you guys!

I don’t know if it’s the weather, the weekend, or that I had some great workout-time these past couple days, but I feel SO much better.  I love when that happens. 

It all started Saturday morning when I took a 90min Body Combat class at 7:30AM!  It was a little rough getting up early, but SO worth it.  This was a special Combat class with 2 instructors.  It was AWESOME!!  Halfway through I didn’t know how I was going to be able to finish, but I did and was dripping sweat and felt like my butt was thoroughly kicked!  The usual 1 hour classes are tough, but this was killer…I hope they do the 90min super Combat class again soon!

Of course, I was immediately starving when I walked in the door and couldn’t think of anything that would taste better than a cold creamy protein shake at that moment!

• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 container of organic fat free vanilla yogurt
• 2/3 scoop Amazing Grass/Meal
• 2/3 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/3 banana
• 4 frozen strawberries
• BLEND

SOOOO good!  I usually crave these more in the warmer weather, but it was in  the 50’s all weekend!!!  SPRING IS AROUND THE CORNER!

After that, I got showered, dressed, and we headed north for a gathering of Brian’s side of the family. 

Conveniently I started getting hungry for lunch just as we were heading through Portsmouth…weird how that happened ;)

I picked up an iced hazelnut coffee at Breaking New Grounds, then we headed to The Works for sandwiches.  I was craving chicken salad…which I ordered on multi-grain with:

• baby spinach
• cucumber
• tomato
• red onion
• carrots
• sprouts
• think that’s it?

We had planned to get our food to-go, but since it would be messy we opted to stay, and I’m SO happy we did because we sat outside and the sun felt glorious.

Moving on to Sunday…

Got up a little early and I was craving breakfast.

Half of a grapefruit while I thought.

I was thinking oatmeal, but then remembered that I wanted to try Kath’s Oatmeal Pancake

Mine contained:

• 1/3 cup quick oats
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 1/3 smashed banana
• cinnamon
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• pinch salt
• 1 Tbsp ricotta cheese

1 pancake!

The flip didn’t go too smoothly though…

Topped with a couple chocolate chips, some almond butter on 1 side, and peanut butter on the other with syrup to dip.

I will say I was expecting more of a “pancake-y” taste but with the banana so prominent, it reminded me more of an oatmeal bowl…not that there’s anything wrong with that :)  I think next time I’d try it without banana in the batter and just add a little agave for sweetness…maybe a little flour too? 

Iced Cappuccino of course.

The smell of my pancake woke Brian up :)  He requested his own.

He loved it!

Later that day, Brian and I went for a quick 3mile run!  We have a 5k next weekend, and I can only hope its this nice out again.  It felt faster than usual for me, but after calculating…it wasn't.  Oh well.  I’d love to break 30min for my 5k… baby steps :) 

One thing we had been planning all weekend…because of the nice weather was firing up the grill!!

We had a DE-LICIOUS dinner!

I marinated a flank steak in:

• olive oil
• white balsamic vinegar
• lemon juice
• garlic
• chopped parsley
• salt and pepper

Quick cucumber + tomato salad:  chopped with salt, herbs, and a drizzle of olive oil

Broccoli

• chopped broccoli
• garlic
• crushed red pepper
• salt
• olive oil
• in a foil “pouch” (I made a foil “cover” too)
• on the grill!

Red pepper + red onion, olive oil + salt + pepper

a fresh olive baguette

with feta + Greek olive oil + dried oregano for dipping :)

Mmmmm the fresh bread and that olive oil is SOOOO good. 

Perfect “Summer” meal!!  Everything tasted amazing.                          

Dessert:  yeah I replenished my stock of Malted Milk Ball gelato!

Feeling good, time for bed!

How do you bounce back from a “blah” week?

March Challenge

I hate when I go MIA!  Work has been crazy busy, and I’ve also had many work-related commitments in the evenings which has really been screwing up my workouts AND blogging…double whammy!

when I don’t blog for a while I feel blah
and when I don’t get my workouts in I feel REALLY BLAH!  It affects my mood and I hate it…

sad, tired, un-exercised face:

Hoping things will go back to “normal” after this week…hopefully.

On to my Challenge!

I don’t think I’ve ever done an official “blog challenge” on here, but I thought of one recently and no time like the beginning of the Month to start!

I’ve been having trouble feeling balanced with my eating lately.  At first I thought it was all the Body Pump making my body need more protein.  All this strength training has been making me hungry!!  However I don’t think it’s just that, but I’m just not feeling as “good” as normal.

SO!  This leads me to one issue I always have self-control issues with…food brought into work.  Usually it’s never even all that good…donuts, bagels…etc.  I’ll go cut myself a tiny piece, then another, and sometimes another and I just feel it’s extra “crap” I don’t need. 

My challenge for March is to avoid the unexpected office treats!!  I threw in the “unexpected” part, because sometimes I know there will be lunch or breakfast coming in and I can plan around it…like pack a salad to eat along with a slice of pizza that was brought in.  I just have that issue where if the food is there in front of me I tend to dig in, even just a little…but it’s bound to add up.  So there you have it, I figured this is the perfect way to make me accountable for my little goal. 

sweet sweat

I haven’t been to yoga all month!!  Craziness.  However, it was the perfect activity to kick me out of the “blahs”.  I hit up an early Hot Power Yoga class Saturday morning.  Afterwards I felt refreshed and “cleansed”. (edit: I could really go for that feeling right now) 

Sunday morning was Body Pump, with a quick 10 min on the elliptical before.

Monday:  meeting for work = NO BODY COMBAT!!  So sad.
Tuesday:  quick 30min treadmill run before class (for work) (worked late didn’t have time for the gym before class)
Wednesday:  hot yoga? (nope, worked late missed class)
Thursday: quick 30min treadmill run before class (for work) god I hope so!!!
Friday:visiting a friend after work…so yeah, it’s a no go.
Saturday:  WEEKEND!  YES!  90 min Kickboxing class at 7:30am!
Sunday: depending on if we are back from NH yet, I would love to hit up Body Pump, AND go for a run (5k in 1 week!) 

But enough of the blah’s…on to the good stuff, like when I actually got to workout this weekend!

Before yoga I had 1/2 slice of whole wheat bread with some Barney butter (on 1 side) and almond butter+jam on the other.

After yoga, which is all too conveniently shares a parking lot of Whole Foods, I went in to grab a few things I’ve wanted to try, including these guys:

My sweaty starving self got to work on oatmeal as soon as I got home.

Banana oats with about 1T of chia seeds!  Topped with coconut, granola, a few choc. chips from trail mix, a small dollop of almond butter and a small spoon of peanut butter!

Not all that different with the Chia seeds…I think I’ll have to keep eating.  I’ve heard they “gel”, and may thicken the oats, but I didn’t really notice a huge difference.  They do provide some great nutritionals though.

Requisite weekend Iced Cappuccino of course.

Sunday before Body Pump I had a super trio bowl of cereal

with Banana, strawberries, blueberries and skim milk

Mmmmm coffee.  My bff gave me some of these beans to try.  She picked this flavor up at a little shop in CT:

I forget the flavors in these beans but it was something like: hazelnut, toffee, butterscotch, vanilla?   Regardless, it’s DELICIOUS!

After Pump, I did a quick shower+change at my mom’s house and headed to my aunts for a Bridal Shower tea for my cousin’s fiancé :) 

When I arrived, people were already getting through so the pictures aren’t “full”

tea sandwiches

oh the scones…

amazing homemade scones, with clotted cream, and jams made by my grandmother.  incredible.

tea + coffee station (p.s. my aunt just re-did her kitchen…I have major “stove envy”)

         

cakes and other treats

Fun girly afternoon :)

Ok well I think it’s time to end this super RANDOMLY filled post and hit the hay!

I promise to be back to my perky-self next post!!