Soreness & Sleeplessness

Good evening bloggies! First of all – I’m trying out a new layout and a new picture size. I think the default ratio on ecto is a tad too big. Also, I am LOVING getting all of your comments – keep them coming! I also respond to each one, so go back and check if you wrote me a note on my last post!

Where did we leave off? Dinner, last night .. turned out to be super boring. Mah b.

Buffalo Crackwrap, steamed brocc with parm, steamed carrots and brussels with S&P

I got expectedly snackalicious:

Plain Chobsies with frozen blueberries

It turned into a giant purple mess of antioxidant-y goodness – loves it!

Today. Ohhhh, today. Well, I haven’t been sleeping that well at home this break, which is incredibly unusual for me, as I always sleep the best at home, in the sense of restfulness and not waking up. Every single night this break, I have woken up around 3:30. Sometimes I can toss and turn and fall back asleep, sometimes I’m in and out until about 5:30 when I actually fall asleep again. But this morning, I could not get back to sleep. I turned my TV on for white noise. I flipped channels. I read blogs. At 6ish, I finally got up and did the 20 minute free podcast of Morning Flow #1 from YogaDownload.Com – ahhhh. I’m pretty sure I’ve finally fallen in love with yoga, to the point where I crave doing it, all thanks to that one-hour class and Heather.

I made coffee, watched some TV, read some more blogs, tried to nap, gave up, ate breakfast:

Fuji, pom, MultiGrain Cheerios with warm skim

I thought about going to the gym. I continued the TV, blog, and nap attempt cycle a few times. I made lunch.

Tuna salad in a Joseph’s wrap with some granny covered in cinn

Santa’s not going away anytime soon. Well, until I’m back at school a week from today. Blech.

I dressed myself for a Target and gym trip, felt snacky, popped a cookie:

Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar

and immediately felt too full. Fail.

I bought some socks, a new pair of sweet royal blue running shorts, and the new pina colada Orbit flavor at Tarjay, and still super full, headed to the gym where I had a hideous run. Hideous. I won’t dwell on the worst run I’ve had in at least two months, but I finished 4 miles in 37:37 and walked another 20 or so minutes. My hamstrings are gloriously sore (but not too too bad) from yesterday’s amazing yoga. The run and walk made them feel fab but they’re still pretty tight – in a good way. I love sore muscles!

I snacked on some very friendly clementines while I made din:

They’re only a couple weeks late. Dinna:

Baked sweet potato rounds with s, p, and chili powder + hummus and spring mix on fluffy whole wheat

Nom. My favorite sweet potato parts were the burnt ones! They taste like toasted marshmallows. I need to remember to slice much thinner slices for the crunchy, fry-like texture. Actually, I might do a batch super thin, like some of mine were, so that they’re like chips! Honestly couldn’t tell the difference. Oh sweet potato, you are the perfect food.

Congrats to all the Disney marathoners! Meghann, Caitlin, Ashley, the twins, Megan, and everyone else did AMAZING! My friend Jess, who I’ve known since kindergarten and ran (she ran, I walked) cross country with in high school finished in 3:37.48 – she is obviously beyond awesome and qualified for Boston!!!!!!!! I’m so proud of her! AND it’s her birthday! She celebrated by running a marathon. I went shopping and ate a lot of Japanese and had cake. It’s cool.

I really want to make an inspiration/goal board a la Gina for 2010. I have a few ideas of what to put on it, but it definitely needs to be fuller :0) Did you make an inspiration board? What is or would be on it?

I’m feeling snacky!

 

Pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pomelo-pu-pu-polemo

Pomelo!

Related to the grapefruit, this guy tasted like a super mild and extra sweet version of a pink grapefruit – yum! That super thick rind does NOT want to peel off and reminds me of cotton candy or insulation in its texture.

.
Looks like lungs!

I chopped some up and paired it with plain Chobani and pomegranate arils …

And then covered the mess in MultiGrain Cheerios!

Pre-gym, I had half a PB cookie Larabar – one of my favorite flavors!

At el jimnasio, I ran a 5k:

• Mile 0-0.75: 6.4mph, incline 1
• Mile 075-1: 6.4mph, incline 2
• Mile 1-1.5: 6.5mph, incline 1
• Mile 1.5-2: 6.5mph, incline 2
• Mile 2-2.25: 6.6mph, incline 1
• Mile 2.25-2.5: 6.6mph, incline 2
• Mile 2.5-2.75: 6.6mph, incline 1
• Mile 2.75-3: 6.6mph, incline 2
• Mile 3-3.1: 7mph, incline 1

Finished in about 28:40, with a 9:14 minute per mile average. I jumped over to the elliptical for 15 minutes on mountain setting, level 7 and finished with 15 minutes on the stair mill, rolling hills level 5. It was a really good workout! Not too hard and not too easy – juuuuust right!

Lunch was quickly assembled as soon as I got home:

Joseph’s pita with LC Garlic & Herb wedge, black beans, avocado, salsa, and Frank’s + more pomelo

AKA Tex-Mex-Mess. It could have used something else .. or a better job mixing it up? Next time … I also snacked on an unpictured apple mid-afternoon.

Dinner was SO GOOD and the perfect amount of food!

La cena perfecta consisted of:

• Half a can of tuna with celery, plain Chobani, and deli mustard with romaine on a Joseph’s tortilla
• Sweet potato half moons roasted in the oven, with salt, pepper, and organic ketchup
• Overly roasted brussels with s&p

I honestly wasn’t hungry the rest of the night. I snacked on a piece or two of pomelo with some seltzer because I was thirsty and it sounded good (which it was), but I didn’t need my usual 4th meal. Yay filling food!

Last night I watched Reservation Road a la Netflix, with some of my favorites – Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connely, Mark Ruffalo, and Elle Fanning, Dakota’s little sister. She looks just like her! I honestly thought it was Dakota until I IMDB’ed it. I didn’t know it when I started watching, but they filmed part of the movie in Connecticut! They even shot at my FAVORITE breakfast/brunch place – The Olde Bluebird Inn in Easton. I was seriously so excited when I recognized it. They also shot at Lake Compounce, an amusement park I’ve been to multiple times, including with my campers the past few years – so cool!

Brekkie:

Egg whites with broccoli, reduced fat cheddar and Frank’s + Thomas’ Light MultiGrain english muffin

Have a great day!

 

Hug a Carb

Last night I obviously had a bedtime snack!

Pumpkin Pie Parfait!

Also known has 1/2 cup of pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and one egg white microwaved for 4 minutes, topped with plain Chobani mixed with vanilla extract and TruVia and sprinkled with a Kashi Pumpkin Spice Flax granola plank. Yum.

I really wanted waffles for breakfast but I opened the freezer and tried not to cry when there weren’t any :(. I was in a bit of a time crunch, so making some was a no-go. I settled.

MultiGrain Cheerios with skim and frozen blueberries

I never had blue milk before this morning! I had a doctor’s appointment, after which my mom and I headed into New Haven to have lunch at Claire’s Corner Copia, a fairly famous vegetarian restaurant. Sorry for the BlackBerry pictures!

I had the roasted vegetable salad with feta, which came with a grainy roll (not sure if it was multigrain or whole wheat?) and an iced tea. Honestly, it wasn’t good. The vegetables were pretty oily – so much so that the bed of spinach they came on got soaked. The veggies were cold. I don’t get cold roasted vegetables? They were also pretty tasteless because of the oil – I really don’t understand why people drench things in oil. It takes all the flavor out! Regardless, I was starving and ate all the veggies minus the peppers but left most of the lettuce and half the feta (there was a lot more than pictured). I also had half of the roll, which is a lot bigger than it looks. The roll was the best part! It was warm and so doughy, fluffy and chewy – perfect bread! I took the other half home.

After running some errands, I was still hungry when we got home, so I snacked on an exceptionally good Fuji before some nappage occured:

Eventually I got up and made a random dinner:

Egg white scramble with broccoli, onion, half an LC French Onion wedge and organic ketchup, plus the other half of my roll – half with strawberry jelly and half with the other half of the LC French Onion wedge

I heated up the bread in the microwave and it was still so.damn.good. Best bread ever? Maybe.

I was planning on taking today off from the gym, but I got so bored I ended up getting dressed, but then talking myself out of it again. I went back and forth for a while until Grey’s came on Lifetime and made my decision for me. Of course I got exhausted right after that so it was a good call. I just snacked on some carrots and sriracha:

Andddd now I’m passing out. Good night!

PS. I’m super excited for breakfast tomorrow! Something new!

 

Another new Chobani flavor!

So obviously as soon as I posted about not being hungry, my stomach immediately demanded food. I went with my second sample from Chobani. Thanks again!

2% Strawberry Banana Chobani Opinion

Taste: Just like a strawberry banana smoothie! More strawberry than banana, but seriously – gasm. 5/5.

Texture: Thick like any Greek yogurt and extra creamy since it’s 2% = perfect. There were definitely strawberry chunks, but no banana – it would probably brown? 5/5.

Fill Factor: Great for my nighttime snack with some MultiGrain Cheerios. 14g of protein and 3g fat will keep you satisfied! 5/5.

Ingredients: “Cultured pasteurized nonfat milk, cream, evaporated cane juice, strawberries, bananas, natural flavors, locust bean gum, pectin, fruit and vegetable juice (for color), contains five live active cultures including S. Thermophilus, L. Bulgaricus, L.Acidophilus, Bifidus, and L. Casei.” 4/5.
Nutrition: Like the other 2% flavors, there are 160 calories in 1 6oz. cup. 3g of fat (2g saturated), 5mg of cholesterol, 65mg of sodium, 19g of carbs (1g from dietary fiber and 17g of sugar), and 14g of protein. Again, sugar is pretty high from lactose and fructose, but also from the third ingredient of evaporated cane juice (before both strawberries and bananas). 4/5.

Overall: Seriously did not want it to end. I’ll definitely be buying this regularly once it’s in stores. It was absolutely delicious. 5/5.

The carb/fat/protein combo kept me full into the morning, when I had to get blood drawn without eating anything first – so good job smoothie yogurt! After that surprisingly calm experience, I did some glorious detox yoga a la YogaDownload.com podcast. After that 7-miler yesterday, my legs and hips are kind of stiff but yoga definitely helped.

I kept breakfast light:

1/2 pear, mango, with cinnamon and milk

Surprisingly wasn’t feeling this at all. I dumped it and made apple cereal instead:

Huge fuji chopped and warmed with cinnamon, TruVia, and warm skim

Before my mom and I stopped at the store, I snacked on the other half of my super juicy pear:

And came home and roasted a small country’s worth of vegetables:

Zucchini, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, onions, sweet potato, eggplant

=

La Tortilla Factory wrap with hummus, brussels, onion, sweet potato, zucchini, eggplant, carrots with a side of crispy broccoli

Broccoli fries, anyone? Delish. I think I’m going to add balsamic to the three tons of leftovers I have in the fridge – like my favorite balsamic grilled veggies from the student union at school!

I lazed around all afternoon and had my mom’s amazing minestrone soup for dinner:

With a Joseph’s low carb pita – mmm!

There were so many goodies in the soup!

• Whole stewed tomatoes
• Carrots
• Green beans
• Corn
• Onion
• Celery
• Black beans
• Chickpeas
• Pink beans

I snacked on the other half of my Cashew Cookie Larabar for some pre-gym fuel and some tea for caffeine:

Larabar Cashew Cookie Opinion

Taste: Pretty light taste of cashews, which apparently aren’t my favorite.  2/5.

Texture: Moist, chewy, nutty – perfect!  5/5.

Fill Factor: Kept me fueled for 7 miles yesterday and an hour on the elliptical today without hunger pangs either time, which is really, really unusual for me. 5/5.

Ingredients: “Cashews, dates.” Maybe they should throw some salt in there? But still – 5/5.
Nutrition: 230 calories (highest count in a Larabar I’ve seen), 13g of fat (2.5g saturated, 0g trans fat, 2.5 polyunsaturated, 8g monounsaturated), no cholesterol or sodium, 340mg potassium, 23g of carbs (4g from fiber, 18g from sugars, and 6g of protein. 4/5.

Overall: Least favorite flavor yet. I was pretty disappointed, considering that I’ve heard such great things about. I won’t buy it again unless I’m craving cashews – and I can’t be trusted around unportioned nuts. 2/5.

At the gym, I did 60 minutes on the elliptical – “Kilimanjaro” aka mountain setting, at level 10. I probably should have taken today as a rest day after running more than I ever have before yesterday, but my legs weren’t sore at all, just a little tight, so I thought going easy on the elliptical would loosen them up. It did, and I don’t regret it, but it just wasn’t a good workout. I was however, extremely entertained the entire time.

To my left was a small man I see a lot, maybe in his late twenties, watching “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” on ABC Family. To my right was Rabbit, from 8 Mile. Legit. Complete with black hoodie covering his head and face (yet I could see him creeping) and ragging his finger – you could just tell he was angrily rapping at the poor elliptical. The finger wagging was so intense and consistent it actually really started to annoy me. Pretty persistent out of the corner of my eye there, Slim Shady.

I also watched the first half of “The Bachelor” premiere. Wow. Some of those girls are just … they just have to be following a script. There’s not way that show is unscripted. “Do you have a registry for those guns?” First of all, is your hair up or down? Second of all, that is not the proper term. Third, really?

Anyway. Post-gym snack:

0% Plain Chobani, a clemmie, and a packet of Stew Leonard’s Cranberry Fitness trail mix

Looks just like my brother! Except his eyes are green, not walnut hazel. I loveee this trail mix! It has peanuts, walnuts, almonds, pepitas, cranberries, raisins, and maybe one other seed? SO healthy and SO good.

I need to rehydrate – maybe with some more clementines! Have a great night!

 

7 Miles

If when I ever start racing, I know what my pre-race dinner will be – a bento box with teriyaki shrimp and scallops and brown rice. Maybe minus the shiraz and carrot cake.

I seriously had such a great run at the gym. I planned for 4, but I felt so great I decided I’d go for 6 and cool down until I had been running for 60 minutes. I finished the 6 miles in 55:27, but by the time 60:00 rolled around, I was at 6.48 miles so I decided to just speed up again and get to 7 – a new PDR for me! I ran it in 64:50, averaging about a 9:15 minute mile.

Pre-run, I had half a Cashew Cookie Larabar that my mom put in my Christmas stocking. Definitely not my favorite flavor – I’ll post a full review when I finish the other half. I’m sure the dates and cashews (the only 2 ingredients – why I love Larabar) helped keep my energy level up as well! Honestly, I felt so good I could have gone for 8, but I my knees were starting to feel the pounding and I knew I needed more fuel for a run that long.

Post-run, I really was not hungry at all (normally my stomach is growling after a workout), but after I showered I made a snack plate to refuel.

Baby carrots, broccoli, sugar snap peas, and hummus x3 – plain, garlic, and plain with hot sauce

I got a little hungry again a couple hours later, so I heated up a small dinner of leftovers:

Curried chickpeas and sweet potato rounds with organic ketchup

While I reheated the sweet potato rounds in the oven to crisp them up, I sauteed a tiny bit more onion and spinach to add to the chickpeas, and microwaved some frozen peas to add to the mix. When the onion and spinach were fully cooked, I threw the leftovers and the peas into the skillet to heat up and mix in. The peas were definitely a great addition!

4 hours later and I’m still uncomfortably full from that small meal. Running does such weird things to my appetite – 3 or 4 miles will leave me starving, but 7 miles and no appetite? My huge dinner and dessert from last night is probably contributing, but still! I guess my metabolism was just having a quirky day!

Sad, quick, and poorly-lit pictures are due to my camera’s quickly dying battery and my complete cluelessness as to where the charger is.

Have a great night!

 

New Chobani Flavors!

After responding to a tweet by @ChobaniNicki about new flavors being sent to bloggers for review, I was SO EXCITED to have Chobani send me two new flavors – 0% Raspberry and 2% Strawberry Banana. I think we all know how obsessed I am with Greek yogurt, and especially Chobani. It’s really rare that I go a day without it. I have definitely been wanting a raspberry-flavored Greek yogurt for a while, as raspberries are one of my favorite fruits so hearing that this was one of the new flavors was super exciting! Here’s what I got:

In a cooler, I received one regular-sized yogurt of each new flavor, as well as an insulated lunchbox. Thanks Chobani!

This morning, I decided to try the raspberry for breakfast:

Like the other fruit flavors, the raspberry is fruit at the bottom. Pulling the lid off, you can see how thick it is – I expected nothing less. The nutritional stats are comparable to the other fruit flavors as well. I had it with some MultiGrain Cheerios y cafe.

Chobani 0% Raspberry Greek Yogurt Opinion
Taste: Amazing. Raspberry-licious. 5/5.
Texture: Thick and creamy, exactly like the other 0% Chobanis. 5/5.
Fill Factor: 14g of protein. With the Cheerios and coffee, held me over through the gym and to a late lunch. 5/5.
Ingredients: Raspberries are the third ingredient, after evaporated cane juice. To me, it seems like those should be at least switched. Also, what is “locust bean gum”? 4/5.
Nutrition: Like the other fruit flavors, there are 140 calories in 1 6oz. cup. No fat or cholesterol, 65mg of sodium, 22g of carbs (1g from dietary fiber and 19g from sugar), 14g of protein. A lot of sugar, and I’d like to think mostly natural – lactose and fructose from milk and raspberries, but the evaporated cane juice as the second ingredient obviously contributes. 4/5.
Overall: It’s love. CAN’T WAIT til it’s in stores. New favorite fruit flavor next to blueberry. 5/5.

Before breakfast, I did the 20 minute class of Hip Opening Flow #4 from YogaDownload.com. My inner hips and thighs were super tight when I woke up and have been all day, so it was just what I needed.

Before the gym, I had half a bar I’ve been toting around since August, the Kashi GoLean Roll bar in Chocolate Turtle. My step-aunt gave me this as part of a back to school gift she gave me. Obviously I am obsessed with Kashi, but I’d never tried the “roll” bars before.

Having it for many months has transformed it’s “roll” status into a … somewhat flatter shape.

My b.

I had half.

Kashi GoLean Roll Bar in Chocolate Turtle
Taste: Definitely a chocolate protein bar. A bit chalky. This is not a Russel Stover turtle.  1/5.
Texture: VERY tough and chewy. Hurt my jaw. To its credit, I’ve been toting it around for 4 months, but still. Oh, just saw the “Nov 19 2009” date on the wrapper. Disregard. I’ve heard they’re super tough anyway, though. 2/5.
Fill Factor: Great fuel for an hour on the elliptical! 5/5.
Ingredients: Long. Visible oats, nuts, and crunchy nuggets on the outside, on top of caramel, with chalky chocolate nougat inside. 2/5.
Nutrition: For one bar, pretty good. The bar is a substantial size and the whole thing would definitely hold me over for a snack. In one bar, there are 190 calories – pretty good for its large size! Of the 5g of fat, 1.5 are saturated (from nuts, I’m thinking), no cholesterol, 240mg of sodium (kinda high for a bar?), 60mg of potassium, 27g of carbs (it is meant to be a pre/post-exercise bar) – 6g from fiber (3g each of soluble and insoluble), 14g from sugar, and 12g of protein.
Overall: While not taste or texturally-ideal, I’ll definitely eat the other half pre-run/exercise. I think that it fueled me really well and kept my hunger at bay. For a protein bar, I find it funny that I got more protein from my Chobani this morning. Definitely tastes like a protein bar, but since its technically past its date-prime, its possible it tasted better in its prime. I’d try this flavor and others again. 2/5.

At the gym, I spent an hour on the elliptical, random hill setting, level 10. Women’s Health and “Untold Stories of the ER” passed the time pretty quickly.

I was hangry when I got home but could not for the life of me decide what I wanted. Actually, I wanted to make Gliding Calm’s tofu, but I didn’t have a bunch of the ingredients and my fridge FROZE my tofu! So it’s currently defrosting outside of the apparently arctic meat drawer. Then I decided on veggies and a veggie burger. Without carrots and wanting to save my brussels, I went with brocc. Microwaved a CostCo veggie burger in a paper towel.

Eff. I am now STARVING. Take two.

Don Lee Farms Veggie Patty on a Multi-Grain Sandwich Thin with onion and organic ketchup, plus a broccoli forest and garlic hummus

FOOD. Finally. These veggie “patties” are so so good. Just what I wanted. I just had a vanilla chai tea with skim and TruVia andddd I need a snack! If you’re driving today/tonight please be safe. New Year’s Post coming later!