A Crappy Run at Home

The title is says it all eh? I just got back from a pretty terrible run outside. It was my first time running outside in a while and here's what I have to say about that:

- I run much faster outside than I do on a treadmill
- Running in the rain is only fun for about 60 seconds, longer if it's warm out!
- Running in the cold wind is NEVER fun and makes it very hard to breathe
- My knees hurt
- I really need a new holder for my phone/ipod, holding it in my hand is dangerous for both me and the phone.
- I also really need new contacts. My one blurry eye makes it look like cars are moving when they're not.
- There are mosquitos on Long Island! All the time.
- It really is much easier to get lost in your head when running outside than inside.

So like I said, this run was not good. It was definitely more of a walk than a run and I definitely wasn't going for anything good time or distance wise here. I started off pretty cold and it was SO windy. At one point it started raining, but for the last 15 minutes it was beautiful. Around 50 degrees, a mixture of sun and cloud cover, and the wind/rain had stopped. For those 15 minutes I actually enjoyed being out there (but not enough to keep going...hah).

Here's where I ended up:

2.75 miles in almost 44 minutes. Not terrible considering I've been running 3 miles in 45 minutes the last few weeks, but it just didn't feel good all around.

Running at home was also strange. Practically every step I took another memory from high school and before overtook me (hence the easiness in getting lost in thoughts).

When I first started running I smelled something burning -- not like a barbecue, like a fire -- and was brought immediately back to 6th grade when my boyfriend's house burnt down. I was at gymnastics and my mom came and got me early and told me the bad news. When I got home my boyfriend was sitting on my couch in his boxers and a t shirt (apparently that's what he was wearing when the fire started). We walked over to his house and everything just smelled like fire. In my mind the area around the house smelled like fire for sooo long. While they were rebuilding we used to hang out in the trailer and play video games. So strange. Stranger that I have no clue where he is today.

Well, despite how the run felt I'm still happy I went out and did something! Definitely a better move for me than sitting around on my bed for 12 hours straight...

A Quick Update

My eating has been weird since I came home to NY Monday morning. To be honest I haven't been paying too much attention or caring really. I'm going to try really hard to put on some running clothes and go outside later. I've been basically sedentary except for cleaning my parent's basement for about 2 hours. Ugh. Here's some of the eats from the past few days:

I will update fully eventually, but that's it for now.

The weekend

I'm currently writing from the amtrak acela train because I'm on my way to NY. This train is super nice. There is so much room! Unfortunately someone just sat next to me and is cramping my style.

This weekend was a fun one, but let's go back to Friday...

Friday 3/22 -

For breakfast I had another bowl of Ezekial cereal and watermelon:

For lunch, a turkey and tomato sandwich, grapes and raw veggies.

I needed a work break later in the day and was feeling a little hungry, so I go a bag of these sea salted chips:

On Friday night we went out to dinner for Hayley's birthday to Tavern Road!

I totally forgot to use my camera but I had a few cocktails over the night and shared a bunch of appetizers with the table (charcuterie, fried chickpeas, and whipped goat cheese).

For my entree I ordered the arctic char a la plancha (dark photo but it's all I got):

And me and Tom shared the spaetzle, which was like a delicious little mac n' cheese.

Saturday 3/23 --

On Saturday I woke up and started the day off with a healthy breakfast: an omelette with mozzarella cheese, a sandwich thin with peanut butter and some blackberries.

I hung out with a friend who was visiting until about 3 and then headed over to the gym. I ran 3 miles and then walked for another 15 minutes of so.

When I got home I had a peanut butter cup I'd been saving in the fridge. Yum.

Later on we ordered takeout for dinner. I got the usual vegetable udon noodles and a spicy tuna roll.

I had another friend visiting so we met her and her husband (!! still so weird to me!!) out at a bar. I got a couple of drinks but didn't go too crazy.

When I got home I had a cheese stick before bed. Tom made me take a picture so I made him pose with it:

Sunday 3/24 --

Sunday started off with an unpictured breakfast sandwich. I got egg whites, bacon and cheese on an everything bagel.

Later on a bunch of us went to my favorite Northeastern college bar for lunch. I was still pretty full from breakfast so I just ordered a side of sweet potato fries:

I got a little hungry while watching Top Chef a few hours later and had two string cheeses and some baby peppers:

For dinner we had Asian take out again. I can't get over this sushi craving. I ordered the Singapore noodles and a spicy tuna roll. I also had one of Tom's crab rangoons:

Okay that's it for now. Will update from NY later tonight or tomorrow.

3/21/13 & My Fitness Pal

It's Thursday! Yippeeee!

I felt weirdly hungry and nauseous on the train this morning, which is kind of weird. I'm hardly ever hungry before 9 am, so I went straight to the kitchen when I got to work. On the menu today was the same old Ezekiel cereal and some watermelon (yum)!

A few hours later I grabbed a light string cheese:

For lunch I was joined by a special surprise guest!

Eating with people is so much better than eating alone :)

I had a turkey sandwich, raw veggies and an orange:

I went to the gym straight from work so I had a peanut butter chocolate chip larabar around 5.

Today I downloaded My Fitness Pal onto my phone and I hated it, as I knew I would. I'm WAY more of a pen and paper type of girl. Here's why I didn't like it:

1. I hate being on my phone all the time
2. The service in my building isn't great so it took SO long to search for one thing
3. I'm not crazy about tracking my food to the calorie

I made it through breakfast then moved on to regular paper. I decided to count my calories today just to check in and see where I'm at. I do have a goal of where I want to stay around and I wanted to make sure I was doing that. Absolutely not becoming a full time thing, but I think it's always good to check yourself!

I made it to my Cardio Dance gym class right in time at 6:30. I was pretty nervous all day because I haven't been to a gym class like this in so long and I'm still pretty out of shape. I'm so happy I went though, and I did surprisingly well. Cardio Dance was similar to zumba except more pop songs and pop dance moves instead of Latin music or dance. Still tons of Pitbull though :)

I'm definitely gonna keep going but there were a couple of things that bothered me:
- The instructor was pretty low energy -- she was into the moves and the class but was pretty quiet.
- The warmup and the cool down were exactly the same (this takes up about 10 minutes of the class so a little creativity would be nice).
- One of the songs played was Gangham Style, which I haaaate. And we did the dance moves. It was pretty torturous for me.

Anyway, I'm really happy I went but I'm definitely going to be sore tomorrow. I haven't done zumba type moves in a looong time and I'm already feeling it.

When I got home it was time for dinner! I had whole wheat pasta with some of the ground turkey from last night, and the same walnut and pear salad. So good!

And I got to use my favorite spoons from Africa!

Okay that's enough for tonight. I am beat. Good night!

Wednesday 3/20/13

Aloha! Can't believe Wednesday is already done and tomorrow is Thursday, this week is flying by!

I started off the morning with a new box of ezekiel cereal and an orange:

Lunch was a sandwich with low sodium turkey breast and tomato on whole wheat bread. On the side, the usual raw veggies and lots of grapes:

And later on for a snack, 2 pieces of chocolate and a string cheese

When I got home I did some prepping for dinner then went over to the gym. I was supposed to walk with Hayley tonight but the roads were too icy so we decided to postpone. I came *thisclose* to wiping out while I walked to the bus stop this morning and didn't want to chance breaking any legs.

I brought my kindle to the gym, set the treadmill to a steep incline and the time flew by. 45 minutes passed in no time.

And then finally it was time for dinner! I roasted up some sweet potatoes and planned to make a turkey burger, but it came out a little bit differently than expected. I couldn't get the meat to stick together so I decided to just throw it in a pan and make a weird casserole type thing. I ended up topping it wish some low fat mozzarella cheese, chopped pickles and ketchup. Strange but delish! I also had some string beans on the side.

Now it's time to relax and watch Glee. So happy all the shows are back!

Tuesday 3/19/13

Since I posted mid-day yesterday I didn't get a chance to write about my workout or dinner. When I got home from work I headed right to the gym. I had a goal of run/walking 3 miles in less than 45 minutes. I just made it!

Even though I ended up finishing about a minute faster than last week, I felt like I was running significantly more. Apparently I wasn't, but maybe when I have a real goal in mind it feels like I'm working harder, rather than just going with how my body feels. Something to think about.

When I got home I had another homemade pizza for dinner! This time we used pizza stones to try to make it cook more throughly. They still weren't perfect but we're getting there! The pizza stones also totally helped with portion control. They have an 8-inch diameter so there's no way to go crazy and eat a giant pizza.

On the side I had some roasted brussels sprouts I picked up from the grocery store and cucumbers:

Today was another snow day here in Boston! This is getting crazy. I don't think I actually HAD to skip work today, but my boss commutes and the morning roads were terrible so we all stayed home. The joys of working in a team of 4 I suppose!

Tom also got to work from home so we had a lazy day of working in our pjs. Looove it.

Working from home also means we get weekend style breakfasts on a Tuesday. I was in charge of the omelettes and Tom was in charge of the bacon. I had an omelette with 1 egg, 2 egg whites and cheese, a few slices of turkey bacon, a piece of toast with butter, and some watermelon:

I was really proud of Tom's omelette (even though it's a little burnt) because it was the first time a made one with other ingredients! His had sausage, mushrooms and cheese (and real bacon):

Since we ate breakfast later than normal I never had a "real" lunch. Throughout the day I snacked on more watermelon, some raw veggies, a piece of toast with nutella, a string cheese, and a reeses egg.

I had a quick dinner of Progresso's low sodium Italian wedding soup, some carrots, an orange and another string cheese:

I also had a couple of Tom's pierogies...they looked too good to pass up trying some!!

I didn't end up going to yoga tonight because I didn't feel like going out into the freezing rain/snow. I actually thought the gym might close or classes would be cancelled but their website said:

The Gym is OPEN today, Tuesday 03-19-13!!!

We Refuse to acknowledge snow in March so we will be open regular hours today, 5:30am-9:30pm!    

LOL. This just means I need to add another workout into my week, which shouldn't be a problem at all. Now it's time for an episode of Top Chef before bed. Good night!

St. Paddy's Weekend

Hiii, it is Monday, and unfortunately I have a rather unhealthy weekend to report on.

Saturday started decently enough with eggs, toast and a banana.

Then it started to go downhill -- I spent the rest of the day with friends drinking beer and celebrating St. Paddy's day. I ended up eating way too much food later on and I'll leave it at that.

On Sunday more St. Paddy's festivities were planned. I tried to keep it somewhat on track but just didn't do a great job. I started off the day with eggs, blackberries and an English muffin.

Throughout the day I have a few beers, snacked on pretzels and chips, and then later ordered eggplant parm for dinner (was seriously craving it).

I've been back on track today but after just 2 days of unhealthy eating was craving a greasy lunch from the food court. I managed to not take pictures of anything. I started the day with ezekial cereal, then had a salad with avocado, cucumber, tomato, bacon bits, and cheddar cheese + a whole wheat roll for lunch.

On a positive note, I worked out 4 times last week, and it didn't even feel terrible!! I am aiming for the same this week. Here's the plan:

Monday: run/walk at gym
Tuesday: yoga class at 6:30
Wednesday: walk with Hayley
Thursday: cardio dance class or run/walk

I'm also going food shopping tonight and did a little meal planning. I have a few friends visiting next weekend so I imagine it's going to be another weekend of eating out. Eek.

That's it for now, adios!