Spring Cleaning, Body edition

So not only is my plan to clean the house from North to South to East to West before Easter (which this year is March 31st!  I know right!!!)  But I am also re-re-committing myself to healthy living.  *I probably should add a couple more re-re’s on there since I’ve committed many times already.  Like I’ve said before I’m not completely unhealthy – but I do like to snack and my snacks are usually in triangular salty form…  Hee hee.

My nemesis…

I mean I can’t help myself…I say they are for HunBun but do you think that HunBun actually eats those Hint of Lime Tostitos?  Heck no…that’s all me!

Anyway.  I’ve renewed my quest for a balance of living healthy and healthy living.  I am really motivated this year to get my 2:00 goal time at my next half marathon (Disneyland in September).  I’ve been working on speed intervals on the treadmill combined with weighted & body weight exercises.  This morning I did 8 sprints at 7.0mph with 5.0mph rests between with a 7.7mph on that last one.  I did each sprint/rest at 1 min each.  My plan is to do that for a week then increase those sprint/rest times to 1.5 min and up and up until I’m running at 7.0mph for long stretches of time.  I think that gradual approach will get me used to turning my feet over faster and keeping that speed consistent.

To support my running/toning plan I’ve returned to my blended approach to eating.  I use the Tone It Up plan for both eating and exercise.  I also refer to a great book I read, S.A.S.S. Yourself Slim by Cynthia Sass, which helps with balancing each meal with healthy elements.  Both are super easy plans and don’t ask you to give up anything – which I like a lot.  Here’s what I’ve been eating the last 2 days (Oh, I didn’t take photos of the 2 handfuls of peanut M&Ms I shoved in my piehole after dinner, HA!).

Protein pancake and fresh fruit

Yesterday’s snack – blueberries & coffee

Bought something new for quick lunches…and Gluten Free to boot!

Rice & Bean Veggie bowl for Lunch

Tuesday’s breakfast. Oh yeah, that is a green pancake.

So I’m doing pretty good and feeling pretty good too.

Later today after work I’ll be doing a crafty project to get all my race bibs out of the drawer and on display.  I’ll post the finished product when it’s all done(hopefully this week  🙂  ).

Crafty project for later

See ya later!

Cathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Healthy Starts

commitments

Remember my big question the other day?  You know the one about exercising more or eating less?  Well last night I committed to the exercising more.  No, it wasn’t some big committment ceremony between myself and my treadmill and free weights.

Who doesn’t want to be a unicorn?!?

It was more like I ate a bunch of crap that necessitated my commitment when the alarm went off at 5am this morning.  Burn on myelf!  🙂

So I bounced…or rolled out of bed at 5am and was in the garage by 5:07am to do a sprint workout on the treadmill.  I actually love running on the treadmill although I do think it seems a little more daunting to go faster on the treadmill than to run fast out on the streets.  I’ll see how my theory plays out on my Sunday long run.  This is what I sweated to this morning:

Modified from an Active.com article

That was my first attempt at a picmonkey graphic’y deal.  Not sure if I’m digging the background shoe picture – I may need to find something with more lights than darks to use as the backdrop.  Anyhoo.  I survived.  My legs felt really good on the sprints and I liked the fact that I could test my ability in short bursts.  Since this was my first day of speedwork I did start at a reasonable speed.  My goal is to get to a 2:00 or a wee bit below a 2:00 PR for my next Half Marathon (January 2013’s Tinkerbell in Disneyland).  I’ve improved times in every race and I really believe I can hit a sub-2:00 if I work on my speed drills, some hills for endurance and then increase the long runs, distance and speed.

I’m committed baby!

Oh yeah!

To support this increased exercise (hey I know it was just one workout – but I committed remember), I started the day off with a healthy breakfast – which is my favorite meal of the day.

I got a whole bunch of veggies & fruit servings in these beauties.

Protein pancake

• 2 egg whites (used real egg whites since I didn’t have that carton stuff)
• 1/2 a banana
• 1 Tbsp protein powder (I use vanilla rice protein powder)
• 1 Tbsp ground flax meal (Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• Cinnamon

Mix it all up and pour into a heated non-stick pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Let it sit for 6-7 minutes until the edges pull up and you can shake the cake around when you wiggle the pan.  Flip over and cook for another 3-4 minutes.  Slide onto a plate and toss on whatever fruit you want.

Green Smoothie

• 2 cups organic raw spinach
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup frozen fruit (the lighter the fruit the greener the drink)
• 1/2 – 1 banana
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds

Blend it all up and drink it up!  Will make a lot so be prepared to sip for a while.

So now it’s worky work time.  I think I’ve got 5 conference calls today – so far…I never know if another one will get scheduled in between.

See ya later!

Cathy

What would you do?

Would you rather exercise more or eat less?

So I’ve been doing this Green Smoothie challenge that I found on vedgedout’s blog.  Now I’m only on Day 2 so it’s likely this whole idea is coming from a state of confusion brought about by my lack of salt or sugar or chips or bread or eating whatever I feel like putting in my piehole…anyhoo.

A little eating background.  I don’t eat terribly every day.  I usually eat a protein pancake and fruit for breakfast and get a Starbucks Soy Misto if HunBun’s home.  I’ll have a honeycrisp apple with some nut butter for a morning snack with or without a Starbucks Soy Misto.  (If I don’t go to Starbucks I’ll make a homemade matcha green tea latte or a homemade mocha or hot tea or just some hot water with lemon (like my grandma used to – which as a kid I thought was very weird…oh no, I’m an old lady 🙂  )  Back to my eating habits.

For lunch I’ll do a couple different things like saute a bunch of veggies with Bragg’s Amino’s or make a wrap with roastbeef and stuffed with veggies and goat cheese or a nostalgic PB&J.  Depending on how full I am I’ll add a piece of fruit to round it out.  Afternoon snack (if I remember to fit this in before dinner) usually consists of a protein shake or some veggies and hummus or another piece of fruit.  Dinner is chicken and veggies or sometimes I eat what I cook for the family.  HunBun gets annoyed when I cook their food first then cook mine while they start eating – so I try to make stuff for me that’s super quick so everyone’s not done just when I put my plate down to eat.

So really I eat pretty well – normally.  Now when we go out to eat or go on vacation I do splurge a bit more.  I love mexican food and adore the chips and salsa that our local joint (La Pinata) puts on the table before our food comes.  OM-super slurptastic!  I could eat chips and salsa all day long…if it didn’t kill my healthy living goals.  I also LOVE LOVE LOVE a good dessert.  In fact I tend to look at the dessert menu BEFORE I order my meal just so I know if I should order something smaller so I can save room at the end.

Now that I’m getting older (WAH!) I do feel like I need to do more exercising or eat less calories in order to maintain the fit of my clothes and not have to buy new ones.  I did say fit of my clothes as I don’t really let the number on a scale annoy me as much as it used to (I just let it annoy me a teeny bit).  So long as my pants fit well and I don’t shriek in horror everytime I take my clothes off..I figure I’m doing OK.  Hahahaha!

So my question to HunBun this morning was “would you rather exercise more or eat less?”  His immediate answer?  “Eat Less”.  Wha?!?!

I think I’d prefer to exercise more so I can eat what I want to (in moderation of course) and enjoy being alive and being able to taste some of the wonderous Eats out there.

So I guess I answered my own question – “Exercise More“.  Which means no more hitting the snooze or “forgetting to set the alarm”.  No more weekend chill outs because the work week was “so exhausting”.  No more excusing out the need to drive to yoga.  No more taking the easy route on circuits, speed work and hill repeats.  No more thinking about what my body can do but rather letting my body DO.

So that’s me…2 months early for resolutioning.  I will be Exercising More so I can put a little more in my piehole and not angst about it.  Hahahahaha!

See ya later!

Cathy