Squats = pain

I had the best breakfast yesterday, like so good I kept thinking about it all day, which is a completely normal thing to do.


I am normally all about the sweet breakfasts but for some reason while giving up sugar and racking my brain for breakfast ideas the idea of a savory breakfast never came up. Maybe I should add learning to think outside the box to my New Year's Resolutions for 2012. I saw Caitlin's recipe for savory oats with cheese and an egg on top and it sounded amazing - and it was. If you ever need breakfast ideas, check out her blog, hers always make me want to lick the bowl clean....not that I ever do that, obviously I'm too classy.

I was all excited for an easy Zumba day yesterday, until the instructor decided for our last class she would celebrate by throwing in 8 million lunges and squats. I was surprised because it was a bit of an increase from our usual total of zero. My legs are sad.

BUT by some miracle I still did Jillian's 6 pack abs when I got home! This is so much work that in 6 weeks when you see me wearing nothing but belly shirts you'll know why.....

Speaking of me looking ridiculous and having no shame, sometimes after cold runs I can't warm up. Then instead of getting dressed for work, this happens:
My sweater and khakis weren't quite cutting it this morning, especially since I needed to ice my knees. Clearly I had two options, just eat my breakfast alone in my apartment like this and no one had to know, or take pictures and post them on the internet. I stand by my choice.

Now we will just have to wait and see if I go back to the sweater and khakis or if this is how I show up at work.....

Tempo run got cut a little short this morning, from 6 miles to 5, since both me and Lily had some sore legs. As soon as the squats began yesterday, I had a bit of a feeling that would be the case. We were a little chatty at first so my splits are a little slower than they have been.

8:45
8:59
8:39

Oh well, it was Lily's first tempo run and I convinced her of how awesome (read: painful) they are so she's a convert! Seriously though, I do think they really help improve your speed.

I'm planning on some Bikram tonight plus I did Yoga for Runners last night so that is one New Year's Resolution I am kicking ass on. The organization thing not so much yet.....

3 days sugar free and counting!

Headlamps make you look cool

Tuesday night track workouts are back!

Here's what I would look like as a miner. Apparently a deranged miner. My marathon training group meets to do speed workouts every Tuesday night at Goucher college. The run from the parking lot to the track is super dark, hence the headlamp.

Apparently the track was closed last week while I was still in NY, so the group never did the workout that I thought I was making up for missing on Sunday. So tonight's speed work was a repeat. I was all excited because I thought I was going faster (nothing like the peer pressure of keeping up with your fast friends) than on Sunday until I realized I screwed up my garmin by just hitting stop, instead of lap, after each mile. It felt pretty tough though, especially after my monster workout yesterday. AND I got up early this morning to do Jillian's 6 pack abs before work!

I used to be into biggest loser hardcore, then couldn't get into season 9. I am loving the premier of season 10 right now though, the former Olympic gold medalist sucked me in. I can't decide if Jillian is my idol or my girl crush though. I realized I take everything she says about health and fitness like its gospel. And she's been looking pretty hot lately....

Two days sugar free - BOO YAH!

One down, 6 to go

I'm going to go ahead and put this day down as a success in the books, despite the fact that it's not technically over. In terms of eating sugar that is. I wouldn't exactly call asking a classroom full of kids what it's called when the triangles are the same shape and same size (congruent) and having them all scream "main idea" teacher of the year material. But I did get to witness a 6 year old boy's concert version of Poker Face, so we'll call it a tie.

But back to the sugar. I had some baked banana oatmeal for breakfast, minus the brown sugar on top, plus homemade unsweetened coconut butter. Didn't even miss the sugar (of course, I was running so late due to my inability to get out of bed I had to shove it down my throat anyway, but we can't get into all my shortcomings tonight). Lunch/snacks were business as usual, I almost never have sugar in those anyway. I did realize I've been sneaking the candy jar at work more and more frequently, so its probably good to nip that in the bud before it gets out of control. I got mad at the person who had the candy today anyway, so it all worked out in the end.

The staff dessert party - two giant tables completely covered with nothing but desserts, aka my heaven normally/hell today. Luckily, for some reason in the afternoon my sugar cravings are significantly reduced - odd I know. Plus I had a workout planned immediately after, so I just ate my plain greek yogurt and pear and had fun actually getting to talk to those adults I work with but never see because we are constantly surrounded by screaming children.

It was the last day for my living social deal of 20 classes at a local gym.

Love of crazy classes that involve jumping/dancing
+ cheapness to rival Ebenezer Scrooge
+ getting my mind off eating sugar straight from the bag =
HARDCORE two hour workout. Bodypump, a weight lifting class, followed by Body Attack, the most fun/hardest hour you'll ever have working out. Now my arms are on fire.

I finally made bread from my new breakmaker! Last night, I had to restart the cycle twice when all I had was a pile of flour, until I finally figured out that all the pieces have to actually be IN the breadmaker for it to work, as opposed to the dishdrain. And by that I mean I sat on the couch and complained my bread sucked while Eric solved the mystery. So tonight I dug into my delicious bread and leftover soup, AT THE TABLE. We have a really bad habit of eating in front of the TV, which I want to change.

I don't know exactly how to explain it, but being at the table made it seem more like the meal had a beginning and ending point, as opposed to just parking it on the couch and snacking endlessly. I also didn't drink my usual crystal light, as I am trying really hard not to just replace sugar with chemical options. I don't know what made the difference, but I actually didn't crave dessert at all after dinner, as opposed to, um, every other night of my life?? I cleaned up and now I am enjoying some (unsweetened) tea before bed! Really oddly easier than I thought!

This post is basically a novel but I really want to document this sugar free thing so I can try to figure out the cravings and refer back to it later if need be - if any of my very few readers is actually still reading - THANK YOU! Your stamina is truly impressive.

Sugar Free

Getting up today was so much harder than I thought it would be, especially since I got up earlier at least 4 times over break! Getting up early is so much easier when it's for something fun, not work. Didn't help that I stayed up so late last night that I actually went to bed at the same time as Eric!

Having a serious conundrum over my workout today...it's the last day for a living social deal I got for 20 classes so I think I am heading to my last Body Attack, my favorite class ever. This is just throwing off my schedule of running and Jillian's challenge....it must be so nice to be one of those laid back people that don't have slavish adherence to training plans to the point where its psychotic.

We are taking on a big challenge this week in the Lindsey household! I've recently been working on my 101 in 1001 list (101 things I want to do in 1001 days, sort of like extended New Year's Resolutions or time limited bucket list) and one thing is break my sugar addiction. Since I've completely wasted any and all time this weekend to work on my organization resolution (playing angry birds turned out to be so much more fun than organizing the desk, who knew?), I decided to tackle one of my more difficult long term goals, breaking my severe sugar addiction. I *HAVE* to have something sweet (and often, many something sweets) after dinner each night, and I never feel satisfied with desserts. I did quite a bit of indulging over break so I figured the week after the holidays was as good a time as any to start. Today will be a bit of an extra challenge due to our staff dessert holiday party, but I figured if I put it off, there would always be something coming that I would have to wait for it to be over. I actually have very little sugar in my meals (breakfast is probably the most but even that I've learned to mostly sweeten with fruit), so it's just dessert that is going to be the big change. My plan is to eat dinner at the table, not in front of the TV, so that when dinner is over, eating is over. I'll either brush my teeth or have some hot tea afterwards.

I was really excited when I told Eric my plan and he said he'd do it with me, I'll need all the support I can get! I feel like a crack addict going cold turkey...don't they have meetings or rehab centers out there for me too?

I'm still eating fruit (natural sugars) and not stressing about little amounts (2g in my pita for lunch today, a few grams in plain greek yogurt, etc) but no cereal or other high sugar foods.

Hopefully having this on the blog will give me some accountability - I'm off to eat my baked oatmeal and then its back to the grind.

Treadmill convert!

So I headed across the street to the YMCA today to attempt to conquer my fear/animosity of the treadmill. TOTAL success! I loved getting totally lost in the music without having to worry about ice, cars, hills, potholes, etc etc. I can totally see the benefits of not having to worry about weather and safety, and I also see why people use it for speedwork. It's nice to be almost "lazy" about speedwork, you know you are going a certain speed as long as you don't fall off so you don't have to constantly be checking the pace and pushing yourself. My biggest problem with the treadmill has always been boredom, so doing an interval workout was perfect, because it broke up the run into chunks. I did this workout, which my marathon coach had sent out for this week.

1 x 200 5K Pace (7:53)

1 x 200 walk to start

1 x 400 5K Pace

1 x 800 10K Pace (8:11)

1 x 800 5K Pace

1 x 400 5K Pace

1 x 200 5K Pace

1 x 200 walk back to start

1 x 1600 Intermediates - marathon pace- I felt good and ended up doing 1.25 miles

The paces are from the McMillan Running Calculator , a great tool for race training. If you are not familiar with it, you plug in a recent race time (I used my two mile timed trial from the end of my last marathon training - it was in September but who's counting?) and it tells you all the different training paces that are recommended. I think it's a great tool for training but I'm not so sure about this 9:08 marathon pace thing.

I did some sort of short walk/easy run in between each interval (except for the last 400 then 200 at 5K pace...what's the point?) and did a half mile warm up and cool down at 10:00. I was really confused at first because the treadmill speeds were just single digit numbers and decimals. I know they are telling you the miles/hour, but since I teach first grade, my math skills are limited to things like "Di'Quann has four apples. Zaire has two apples. How many apples in all?". Converting miles/hour to minutes/mile WHILE running and figuring out my new ipod touch was a little too much for my brain.

Luckily I figured out that if you just wait (if only I'd accomplished last year's resolution to be patient!) the display actually tells you your minutes/mile speed so all was well. The new interval playlist on my ipod was perfect AND I got to wear my new marathon spring training shirt (short sleeves, too cold to run in it now). Obviously I knew I was going to look like an idiot playing with all the buttons so I had to show that I actually had run before. I'll definitely be heading to the treadmill for speedwork in Feb. when my grad class takes over my Tuesday nights and I can no longer go to track workouts :(.

Another thing that I claimed to hate but could be a little awesome? ESPN! I'm still going to turn off the TV like my life depends on it when I see sports center, but whatever show I was watching where crazy gross 400lb muscular men pull giant trucks was an awesome distraction.

PS I also did Jillian's 6 weeks to 6 pack abs for the fifth time!

Tonights dinner is featuring all sorts of wild new things and experiences.
I chose this recipe from my new Master Your Metabolism cookbook. I had never heard of laksa (who has?) so I figured I'd give it a try. I needed all sorts of things I had never bought, like lemongrass, coconut oil, fish sauce, and brazil nuts.

THIS JUST IN: Don't go on a grocery shopping trip to buy all sorts of obscure ingredients you have never even heard of on New Year's Eve around 2pm. WORST DECISION EVER. Next year I'll just save all my Christmas shopping for the mall at 5pm Christmas Eve instead.

We prepped the soup this morning while I did my weekly meal/snack session (I spend Sunday getting everything as ready as I can for the week).
Can't chop veggies without sharp knives!
Here's what lemongrass looks like....did you know? I sure didn't.
The new garlic press!
Up close

You put all this stuff in the magic bullet to make the laksa paste, and then saute it in the coconut oil and add the broth and veggies and shrimp. Both the paste and coconut oil smell amazing so I am pretty excited for this soup. I'm off to go make some bread to go with it in my new bread maker!

I was going to share this dinner with my husband, as is customary, but I am still trying to decide if I should forgive him for eating the last TWO brownies while I was at the gym.......(I mean, he could have totally left me one!)

Homebody

I think I need to just accept that I am a complete homebody now, and my days of loving going out are over, at least for the time being. Almost every activity is more appealing at home to me. For example - New Year's Eve. Basically, two options exist for this occasion.

Option One: Get dressed up, pay at least $100 in cover charges to go to a place that's normally free, probably continue to pay more for overpriced drinks, get bumped into by strangers, possibly have no where to sit, and have to shout to make myself heard to the people I'm with. At least that's how I see it.

Option Two: Have friends over (for free, with free parking!), wear whatever we want, eat whatever we want, drink wine and beer that is already here, play whatever music we want, be able to talk freely, have plenty of seating, play games, and when the night is over, my bed is mere steps away.

It seems option one is more popular in general, but option two is the way I went. We had four friends over and had a fabulous New Year's. I made pizza crust from scratch in my new breadmaker, (I really made it, Eric just used his 10+ years of pizza hut experience to do the rest) made brownies from scratch for the first time, and everybody brought over healthy, veggie snacks. We didn't even plan it that way! We played Know it or Blow it, a super fun trivia game we got for Christmas, and Scribblish, which had us in hysterics on the floor laughing so hard. We did some on demand karaoke and then it was time for the ball to drop.

Everyone slept over so we didn't have to worry about a DD, or other crazy drunk drivers. It might not have been crazy but it was a perfect New Year's.

Last night we wanted to have date night, and again were faced with two options.

Option One: Go out to dinner and and a movie (Black Swan)
Option Two: Make dinner at home and watch a netflix movie

We went for option two again, although I was dying to go out and see Black Swan, Eric was still a little sick so we felt it was better for him to recover all the way by resting a little more. Even though I had really wanted to go out (and even had a cute new outfit picked out), staying in was once again fabulous. I made some pasta, and we watched Murder by Numbers. The big advantages here were: the pasta was free (it actually was, I had a coupon! the veggies I put in I paid for, but still you get the idea), we ate and watched the movie in our pjs, showering was optional, we got to cuddle on our couch instead of sit in a freezing uncomfortable movie theatre surrounded by annoying texters, and we could pause the movie to go to the bathroom. Again, at the end, we were already home. I'm getting a little worried I'll lose all motivation to ever leave the house again.

In other news, I am attempting my first ever treadmill speedwork later today in my attempt to get over my severe hatred of that machine. I made an interval mix for my new Ipod touch as suggested by Erin, so we'll see how it goes! I will be leaving the house for this workout :)

Didn't even realize the date was 1-1-11 till someone told me....

Based on facebook and twitter all sorts of people started the new year off on the right foot, being productive, getting a head start on their resolutions, etc. I took the opposite approach. Slept in, made a sugar filled french toast breakfast for my guests, and accomplished absolutely nothing. I planned on today being a rest day from exercise, after yesterday's 15 miler, so maybe I should feel guilty about taking a rest day from basically everything, but I don't. I cleaned up from the the gathering last night (can't really refer to having four guests over as a party) and baked delicious looking brownies for our holiday staff party on Monday. So that's something.

Let's move on to New Year's Resolutions. Last year I resolved to run a marathon, run a half marathon in under 2 hours, and be more patient. I accomplished the first two, so I think that's decent. This year I'm being a little more ambitious and dividing up my goals into four categories.

Body
1. Run a marathon in 4:30 or under.
2. Do core work at least 3 times each week.
3. Do strength training at least 3 times each week.
4. Complete a triathlon.
5. Do Yoga at least 1 time each week.

Sort of seems like a lot but they overlap, like core work and strength will most likely be in the same workout, and I could certain types of yoga, like Bikram, as both as well.

Mind
1. Limit time to facebook/reading blogs/wasting time on the computer to one hour or less (unless Eric is out of town).
2. Post on this blog at least 3 times a week (at least that's one resolution I am tackling today!)
3. (The big one) Accept what people have to offer without judgement. I think I've really been much too judgemental lately so this will be my most challenging resolution, but also the one most important to me.

Finances
1. Start a mint.com budget.
2. Change my 403B allocation.

Home
1. Get organized! This is one goal but I divided it up into mini - organizational goals for each month.

• January - organize our desk, put important documents in a firesafe box, identify spots for paperwork and incoming mail
• February - my shelves at work; all my curriculum guides and materials are an eyesore
• March - Art supplies in my classroom
• April - Recipes; print ones from online, clip ones from magazines, and put all into the adorable binder I got for my wedding 2.5 years ago that is still empty
• May - classroom manipulatives
• June - classroom file cabinets
• July - email and H drive; create folders and file all documents and emails that are still needed
• August - print and put all pictures in albums (or scrapbooks if I have learned to do that by then!)
• September - go through apartment and donate or get rid of all clothes/items we no longer use or need
• October - Assess finances and financial documents, make any necessary changes and destroy any old unnecessary documents
  
• November - create a workout binder with all the ideas I've printed/ripped out of magazines
• December - spices (my spice cabinet is a hot mess, and this is a busy month so I choose a pretty easy task!)

That about covers it for 2011! Like I said, today has basically been a wasted day but tomorrow I hope to be a bit more productive. I am hoping by posting it for the world to see (theoretically that is a possibility although its incredibly unlikely) I'll be held a bit more accountable :).