Feelin’ Like Summer!!

The 10k isn’t exactly official yet. But in the meantime, I’m training for it as if it were.  That way it won’t be a list minute thing. 😀  My running plan for the week is as follows:

Monday: off
Tuesday: 2-mile easy run
Wednesday: 2-mile easy run
Thursday: 2-mile easy run
Friday: off
Saturday: 5-mile distance run

This doesn’t count the walks I’ll still be doing with the mom.  And for the most part, this week is the same as I’ve always done except I’ve increased my weekly mileage by 10% (aka, 1-mile 😀 ).  I’ve heard it’s better to not rely completely on your long run to up your mileage, so I’ve added in an extra day during the week, which I’ll be be building my mileage up with too. 

If I do sign up for the race, my two main goals are: a) Finish the race 😉 b) don’t get injured.

For fueling my morning 2-mile run, I stuck with a whole wheat english muffin with a pat of pb.  Too much pb causes me to cramp up because of the high fat content of it, but a little bit doesn’t seem to bother me. 😀  What are some pre-run snacks/meals that work best for you?  I’d love to hear about them! 😀

 The run went pretty smoothly.  It’s starting to feel like summer where I live, and I’m wondering why I ever complained that it wasn’t warm enough and that it didn’t feel enough like summer.  Whew…it’s making up for it now.  This slowed me down and forced me to take an ice cold shower when I came home, but I think my body is slowly starting to adjust to the weather change. 😀

My breakfast cooled me down too.  I made another batch of overnight oats, just like how I had made them yesterday.  Only this time I added a handful of raisins and threw it into my not-quite-empty peanut butter jar.  The raisins were delicious in there, by the way.  They really plump up overnight. 😀

  Breakfast was fun to eat from the top…

 To the bottom. 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After breakfast, I got right to work.  It wasn’t too hard to “force” myself to focus in on homework today.  We don’t have A/C, which means I was more then happy to plop myself in the coolest part of the house: directly under the ceiling fan, sitting on the couch, typing away.  Let’s just say I got a ton of work done, including some quizzes that I didn’t expect to accomplish until the end of the week.  Woohoo…just one of the positive sides to this warm weather! 😉 

I started getting hungry around 11’ish, but wanted to keep on truckin’ before breaking for lunch.  So I snacked on a juicy peach to hold me over.

 Then I finally got sick of sitting.  I swear, sitting down for long periods is the worst form of torture for me.  Not gonna lie…sometimes I just had to get up randomly and start dancing or doing jumping jacks or push-ups.  It does wonders for waking me up too. 😀

I’ve had this bag of Kashi Fiery Fiesta pilaf in my closet for a while now.  My sister picked it up for me since she knows me so well and how much I love kashi stuff! 😀  Thanks Nicole! 😀

It was a quick ‘n’ easy side dish to leftover salmon.  I was feeling lazy and decided to eat some raw veggies on the side. 😉

It was pretty tasty too!  I liked the mix of whole grains in there, and it had a nice kick of spice to it. 😀  I ate half the bag and saved the other half for tomorrow!

Dessert blew my mind.

This was my first attempt at banana fro yo, a very popular blog item right now.  I only used 1/2 a banana and sprinkled it with cinnamon.  It was such a creamy, sweet treat!  I can’t wait to go further with this and throw in some interesting mix-ins, as well as using a whole banana.  Using just 1/2 was such a tease. 😉

I know it’s getting repetitive, but what can I say…these next two weeks I’m focusing completely on homework.  So off to work I went again!

But this package completely made my afternoon.  A big THANKS to Stoneyfield Farm Organics, with a special thanks to Kristina for putting it together, for sending me the fun reusable shopping bag, as well as a bunch of free Oikos yogurt coupons.  I did a little happy dance when I got this package…what can I say?  I’m a huge greek yogurt fan, and can’t wait to try this brand out!!  They come in plain, vanilla, honey, blueberry and strawberry, and all are high in protein, have 0% fat, and contain less sugar then other leading flavored yogurts on the shelves…all the flavors sound delicious to me, but I’m especially excited to first try the plain yogurt and add my own mix-ins. 😀 

This package prevented me from crying over spilled milk while I was preparing my iced coffee… 😉

It was delicious despite the mess. 😀  Made my usual way: 1 c. cold coffee, 1/2 c. milk, 1 tsp sugar. 

By the end of the late afternoon, I was sweating bullets!  Whenever it’s this warm out, all I ever want is yogurt or cold fruit, so I went with an ice cold grapefruit.  It was the perfect, light snack to hold me over for dinner.

Thankfully it was starting to cool down towards the end of the day, as I headed outside to eat dinner. 

It started with a salad…

And ended with lentil tacos… 😀  Topped with chopped tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, and cilantro.  All on top of a whole wheat tortilla wrap.  It made for a super messy, super delicious, super quick dinner. 😀

I go a little crazy on the cilantro because I love it so much. 😀  The raisins in the taco’s are pretty crazy good too.  Most bites are spicy, but then you’ll bite into a sweet raisin which is such an unusual but lovely touch.  YUM!

This recipe is a keeper in my house. 😀

My mom surprised me with this pomegranate chobani yogurt!  Ahh…I’ve been dying to try this flavor out!  And it didn’t disapoint!  There were pomegranate seeds on the bottom, which I loved. 😀  The pineapple is probably still my favorite flavor so far, but this one tops the list too.  Delicious!

Balance for MEre’sblog had asked what people’s “weakness” foods are, and I completely agreed that for me, cereal tops the list!! 

I know it won’t keep me full in the morning unless I eat it with something else, and I also know it’s incredibly easy to eat an entire box in one sitting if you don’t portion things out! 😀  Which is why I always make it my ‘night-time’ snack, and fill up my little ramekin with whichever cereal I’m in the mood for.  I never (or rarely) photograph the snack, but I have a bowl every night. 😀 

Tonight was Maple and Brown Sugar LIFE with milk.  It was the end of the bag, so there were a lot of crumbles.  I think it’s the best part. 😀

We might be getting thunderstorms tomorrow night, so I’m trying to decide if I should risk waiting to go for a run tomorrow night after volunteering, or if I should get myself up and out the door for an early morning workout before leaving for the hospital.  Ahh…decisions, decisions. 😀

One thing I am sure of is that tonight is going to be another early night.  I swear, I’m turning into a memere before my time. 😉  But considering I’ll be up early tomorrow, I want to feel refreshed for my workouts and for work too. 😀 

G’night!

Exercise: 2-mile morning run + 4-mile walk post-dinner + 10 minutes of gentle yoga