I am almost recovered from my night of no sleep! It was worth it though, I’m glad I went to the midnight showing. :)

This morning, I’ve been doing some research on the Alzheimer’s Association’s Run for the Memory campaign. It sounds like I will most likely be running my half-marathon as an individual effort for the cause. While I would love to run one of the ALZ’s sponsored races, I’m already signed up for my half in September and none of theirs really fit my schedule. Luckily, this program allows me to still make a difference by running my individual race!

I think I’ve gotten myself into a rut with meal variety. It’s great to have some go-to options for meals, but eating the same thing every day is already getting a little old. It’s time for a challenge!

Mix Up Your Meal Challenge!

Every day, I’m going to try a new meal for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I would love to try some oats at breakfast, cook up the tempeh I have sitting in my fridge, and try out some new recipes from my cookbooks. Anyone else?

Today I don’t have much time to spend on meal preparation, so I’m going to just do a simple switch-up. I’m planning on a quesadilla with one Joseph’s Flax wheat wrap, some soy cheese, and some kind of mix of veggies. I’ll let you know how it turns out this afternoon!

On the schedule today is an easy 3 mile run, because I took yesterday off due to lack of sleep. A nap was just far more tempting ;)

See you this afternoon!

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Wahoo! – it’s my first post at my new domain, http://atasteofsparkle.com! I’ve begun the sloowww process of transferring my wordpress.com account over here – and I don’t even have very many posts! I’m glad I’m doing the transferring now. It’s tricky because I’m still figuring out the basics of the internet, haha!

Tonight, the new Harry Potter movie comes out! My boyfriend and his friend are coming up to my school to take me to the midnight showing. Guilty pleasure, what can I say? I’m excited :) Of course, this means it’s going to be quite a late night. I hope I can stay awake through the movie!

I woke up this morning not feeling so hot, with what are probably the beginnings of a cold. Sigh. I rolled myself out of bed, had a big bowl of cereal, and skipped on to my doctor’s appointment, where I got some labs drawn that my nutritionist wanted to see. Because I am vegetarian/90%vegan, she wants to make sure that my iron and B-12 levels are on track, because I have a history of low iron levels. I should hear back in about a week.

After I got back, I made myself a GM with spinach, a banana, frozen strawberries, flax, and almond milk. Afterward, I felt well enough to get my run on!

halfmarathon

On today’s schedule was a 35 minute tempo run. I knew that was going to be a stretch, so I decided to do some intervals, kind of like several mini tempo runs

I did:

  • 10 minutes warm-up jog
  • 4 minutes fast run
  • 2 minute recovery
  • 3 minutes fast run
  • 1 minute recovery
  • repeat intervals once
  • 10 minute warm-down jog/walk

By the end, I really wasn’t feeling that great, but I’m glad I went. Now I just have my easy 3 miler tomorrow and I think I’ll be feeling better by then anyway.

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The Nutritionist “Experiment”

As per yesterday’s N appointment, I am experimenting with eating smaller lunches that contain a fruit OR a vegetable, instead of both – the fiber was filling me up way too much to a point where it was uncomfortable.

Today’s lunch was another Gardenburger-hummus wrap, this time with a cup of melon on the side. I also had about a tablespoon of White Chocolate Wonder PB for “dessert”. Again, I was full for about 3.5 hours afterward, which is perfect!

This experiment is really interesting to me because it is giving me an idea of how long my meals will last me, and what to add if I need to make a meal last longer (like when I have labs on Wednesday from 5-9 p.m.!). While we should of course observe our hunger/fullness signals, sometimes it isn’t always possible to follow them completely. For example, when I wake up, I know I need to eat breakfast before I go to class, even if I’m not hungry, because my opportunity to eat is now. I also know that if I’m going to be in lab through dinner, I need to eat a substantial snack. I might feel too full afterward, but I need to remember that I’m not going to have the opportunity to eat dinner for another 5 hours. So, my hunger/fullness cues + my intellect and foresight allow me to develop the best eating schedule for me.

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For dinner today, I tried a new pasta – spinach fettaccini that I bought in the bulk foods section of the Co-op. I’m going to be honest here, I did pick it up at first mostly because it was green ;)

Here it is cooked up with some tofu, broccoli, garlic and olive oil, with some soy cheese on top, and of course, some Green & Black’s dark chocolate for after:

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It was yummy, although I think I prefer my usual whole wheat spirals. What can I say, I’m a creature of habit!

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It’s my boyfriend’s birthday on Saturday, and since I won’t be seeing him then, I’m giving him his present today – and I’m excited! Since he won’t see this until after he opens it, I’ll tell you what it is:

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Shh! It’s an i-Pod touch! (with some creative wrapping paper ;) )

Talk to you all tomorrow, when I’ll be very, very tired!

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Flowers of the Week:

A purple spider mum flanked by white mums!

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In this episode of “SparkleTV”:

1. Nutritionist appointment

2. Half-Marathon Training

3. Exciting news!

nutrionistnews

I had my second appointment with my new nutritionist this morning. My goals for last week were to swap out some of my soy milk consumption for something else, and I succeeded doing that with almond milk.

We talked a lot about meals and snacks and hunger and fullness. My “experiment” for this week (to be taken with a grain of salt) is to “eat as little as possible” at lunch, but still end up full. My lunches have been including lots of fruits and veggies, and while that’s great, I have been getting super full afterward, but forcing myself to finish because I was scared that I would get hungry immediately afterward. We decided I will have a fruit OR a vegetable serving with each meal and fit in what I am cutting out from meals during snacks.

It worked well today. Instead of having a Gardenburger-hummus wrap with carrots and almond butter AND a cup of melon, I just had the carrots and almond butter – and get this: I was full after the meal and I stayed full for three hours. When I got hungry again, then I had a piece of fruit, right before my run. I will update you all on the continued experimentation ;)

halfmarathon

Today I went for a 3.5 mile run at about a 10:00 min/mile pace. It was very hard to force myself to get out the door and get running, but once I was, it was no problem and turned out to be a pretty good run.

I have a 35 minute tempo run tomorrow which I am ready and excited for. My plan is to go out with a plan to break the tempo run in two segments of 17:30 and take a small break in between, but if I feel good, to keep going.

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I haven’t been blogging as much because I’ve been “blogging behind the scenes”! Expect a brand new look within the next week!

Good night!

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Monday

3.5 mile run (10:00 pace)

My knees were hurting from my long run the day before, so I ran on trails in the park. I felt good after pushing through the first mile and was able to put on some bursts of speed. I could feel some minor pain in my knees, but didn’t think much of it.

However, that night my knees were really hurting. I had to limp up and down stairs. I had speedwork scheduled for Tuesday and struggled with whether or not to take an extra rest day.

Tuesday

90 minutes of Anasura yoga

I made the decision to take the day off. It was a hard decision to make, but it was definitely for the best. My knees started feeling better today, but I took it easy with running. I did do some extremely difficult yoga that including lots of flexibility and core work. Looking back, I’m glad I did this – the yoga work included lots of strengthening and was a much better use of my time than running, which could have possibly turned my slight knee pain into an actual injury.

Wednesday

3 miles on elliptical

It was pouring rain all day, so I decided to take my scheduled easy 3 mile run to the gym and did the elliptical just to give my knees some extra rest. I got an okay cardio workout from this, but my body is so used to the elliptical that it doesn’t do much for me anymore. It was a nice break for my knees though!

Thursday

4 mile pace run (9:10 pace)

I ran today with NO knee pain at all and had a great run. I’m so glad I took some extra rest. I really pushed myself pace-wise today, in lieu of doing speed work this week. It was definitely hard, but such a good hard. I was really proud to see my pace at the end, because it’s close to my all-out pace for a 5-K in high school; I’m getting faster!

Friday

Rest day

I had class/lab 10-3 today and an event for Phi Tau at 8, so I decided to just take it easy and rest in between. It was also a scheduled rest day. I didn’t feel any pain from Thursday’s run, just normal soreness.

Saturday

60 minutes of Anasura yoga

3 mile run (10:00 pace)

I did the tough class I did on Tuesday again, and again it was a workout! Yoga always makes me feel great afterward, and this was no exception. Later, I went for a short run through park trails.

Sunday

Rest day! I’m a little sore from yoga/running yesterday – a good sore though! I’m going to take it easy today and then hopefully back to my normal plan for next week:

Monday: 3.5 mile run
Tuesday: 35 minute tempo run
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: Rest day (yoga)
Friday: 3 mile run
Saturday: 7 mile long run
Sunday: Rest day (yoga)

What I learned this week:

  • It is better to err on the side of caution, listen to my body, and take an extra rest day rather than run through pain and risk injury.
  • Yoga can give me a great workout – and I feel great after doing it. It also helps with stress and is a good option if I am sore or need an extra rest day.
  • I am able to push myself. It hurts, but the rewards are so worth it.
  • Just because I don’t feel 100% on a run one day doesn’t mean I am “losing fitness”; I have to remember the good runs I’ve had in the past week too.

I’m ready to take on Week 4!

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Have a great Sunday!

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I slept until 11 this morning! It probably had something to do with my staying up until 2 a.m. delivering bids for the co-ed fraternity I’m involved with…but it was fun! As long as I get my 8 hours of sleep, I’m happy.

College Tip:

Go ahead, stay up late and party! But not every night. Make sure to get your sleep schedule back on track as soon as possible by going to bed at your normal bed time the next night, even if you aren’t able to fall right asleep. Resist the urge to sleep in the next morning and wake up at your normal weekday time. This is what I do to get my sleep schedule back on track so it doesn’t become a cycle of going to bed and waking up later and later!

I started off the morning with a giant green smoothie.

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In the mix:

  • 2 leaves kale
  • 4 frozen strawberries
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1 Flax Pak
  • 1/2 c almond milk
  • 1/2 c soy milk
  • 8 ice cubes (I like my smoothies cold and icy!)

Per my nutritionist, I’m trying to sub out some of my soy milk consumption for another kind of milk – I chose almond milk. As you can see, I started slowly by doing half and half in my smoothie, but I really can’t taste the difference. I think for my next GM, I’m going to try a whole cup of almond milk.

On the agenda today is a long run and/or some yoga. I took the day off yesterday, but made sure to get in lots of fruits and veggies. I think it was a success!

I had:

  • 4 kale leaves (smoothies)
  • 1 cup strawberries
  • 2 bananas
  • 1/2 cup green peppers
  • 1/2 cup cauliflower
  • 1 c sliced carrots
  • 1 cup grapes
  • 2 cherries (my first time trying them!)

I can’t believe it’s Saturday already!

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