it's only a day away...

the brooklyn half marathon is tomorrow!!!

i'm happy to say i'm feeling MUCH better today, and expect to be 100% for tomorrow's race! my dad and the fiance are both coming out to cheer me on - yay :) it's always so nice to know you have people in the crowd there to cheer you on, especially for a long race. it's very motivating, and you have something to think about and look out for while you're chugging along.

i still have to pick out my race outfit- it's supposed to be warm tomorrow, so no doubt i'll be in shorts and a tank, and i'll probably wear my visor. since the race is in brooklyn and not central park, i'm bringing a bag with me to check, so i'll need to pack that too.

i also want to take a look at the course map and plan out my race a little. i did that last year for the queens half marathon, and it REALLY helped. in that race i got a half marathon pr, with a time of 1:55:29. my time in my first half marathon was 2:17:52. i improved by over 2o minutes!!!

that wasn't all from planning my race, i also added speedwork into my training, and was in much better shape overall. but still, planning my race ahead of time allowed me to think about what my goal pace per mile was, and what my overall goal time was. i then looked at the course map and figured out what my time should be at different key points- mile 3, 6, 9, etc.

it honestly really helped me stay on pace throughout the whole race, and to not go out too fast in the beginning. i wanted to finish in 2 hours, and i beat that by almost 5 minutes!

i'm not really sure what i want my time to be in this race, and i'm not as concerned about getting or beating a certan time as i was with queens. i think 2 hours is certainly a good target, and i will probably plan my race around that.

yay - i'm getting really excited!

i also decided to treat myself to a mani/pedi after the race- which definitely gives me something to look forward to :) i have a wedding to go to sunday, and figured my feet will need some lovin'.

today i have the day off from work- wahoo! so far i've been cleaning up the apartment and getting some wedding stuff done. i was finally able to check a few things off my (LONG) list, which felt great!

breakfast was yummy, my new favorite oatmeal combo:

• 1 packet tj's maple brown sugar oatmeal
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. soy milk
  
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1 cup tea with 1 tsp. agave syrup

it was a little sweet today, because all i had at home was vanilla almond breeze (not the unsweetened kind), but it was still good. once i finish up all of my maple brown sugar oatmeal, i'm going to just start using plain steel cut oats to make my oatmeal. that will cut back a lot on the sugar, and i'm sure it will still taste great with the banana and milk and pb. maybe i'll even start experimenting with some other combos and different kinds of fruit now that it's summer!

now, what should i have for lunch?! i can barely finish one meal without thinking about the next!

Neti Pot Love

good morning- or should i say afternoon (already?)! i'm happy to say i'm feeling much better today than yesterday.

i'm definitely still congested, but i'm hoping to get lots of rest tomorrow, so i'll be in tip-top shape for saturday's race!

i think my fears of swine have been put at bay, since last time i took my temp it was actually an un-fever! it was a whopping 97.3. i wonder if a low temp is also bad like a high temp?

in any case, my main concern about being sick was that you really aren't supposed to take any cold medication 48 hours prior to a race. luckily my friend, who suffers from bad allergies, recommended a natural way for me to relieve my nasal congestion, and hopefully prevent a sinus infection. enter: the neti pot!

upon first mention, the neti pot seemed to me like some weird freakish thing, kind of like ear candling- frea-ky!! but, after thinking about it more, it really makes sense.

the neti pot is basically a tea pot-like pot, which comes with packets of sodium chloride. to use it, you mix 1 packet of the sodium chloride with 8 oz. of luke warm water inside the pot. then, you tilt your head to the side (be sure to do this over the sink!) and basically just stick the spout up one of your nostrils. the water flows through your nasal cavity and out the other nostril.

so, if you're still reading and not totally grossed out at this point, the neti pot is basically like nasal irrigation. it flushes out your nasal cavity to remove allergens, relieve sinus congestion and pressure, and help you breathe easier.

honestly, it worked like magic! i used it about an hour before bed (they say on the package to wait an hour before bed, so that the solution won't drip down your throat and cause irritation). immediately after using it, my sinuses felt totally clear. soon after that, i did start to feel some congestion, but i was still able to breathe clearly, which i could not do before i used it. i went to sleep an hour later, and was able to breathe, and sleep completely through the night!

i know several allery-sufferers who swear by this pot, and say it really helps immensely. i'm going to continue using for the next few days, and i hope that by saturday morning i'll be at or almost 100 %.

i'm in loooove with the neti pot! (sorry fiancee).

shroom town

happy hump day!

the great thing about short weeks is that just when the week begins it's already halfway done! tomorrow is also my friday since this week i have off friday.

but, that means busy days at work. just because the office is closed, doesn't mean the work goes away :(

today, i woke up feeling pretty congested. it's hard to tell if it's allergies, or a cold. at first i thought allergies because my throat was killing me yesterday, and has been bothering me for a few days now - that usually happens with allergies. today it's not so bad, but i feel pretty run down. it's one of those curl up on a couch with a blanket and a movie kind of days.

but here i am, working away!

excercise
this morning, i decided to do some yoga instead of an intense session with jillian and the 30 day shred. i felt bleh, and figured it's probably better not to over do it with the half marathon on saturday (ahh, so close!)

i chose a yoga workout from exercise tv on demand that was 16 minutes. it was only ok, i didn't love it. this could be due to the fact that i wasn't really feeling the whole working out thing this morning (and the cat kept getting in my way- apparently he loves yoga, or at least the yoga mat!) but i did learn some new poses:

• moon
• sun
• cat
• cow

we also did a few i remembered from before:

• downward dog
• chair
• child's pose

i think this would have been good if it was longer, but i did like that it incorporated flow. we held a pose, then came out of it, then went back into it, and repeated that several times for each pose.

after the workout was over, i had been planning on doing it again, but decided to try something else instead. so i found a 10 minute core workout focusing on abs, and after that i did some exercises with my hand weights:

• 30 bicep curls
• 30 tricep curls
• 20 upright rows
• 20 dead lifts
• 20 shoulder presses

then i called it a day! or at least the start to my day...

it wasn't the best workout i've ever had, but i was glad that i at least did something. had i waited until later in the day, i know a workout would NOT have happened! it was my last workout of the week, and i'm excited to have a few days off to rest before saturday.

it's always hard for me to taper and rest in the last week before a big race. i tend to feel like if i'm not pushing it to the max, i'm not getting a good workout. it's particularly tough when i go to the gym and see other people running farther than me on the treadmill, or working harder/getting sweatier than i am. but, i have to remember to stick to my plan- i've been there and done that on other days! and it will only help me to take it easy. every day doesn't have to be my best workout ever. we all have our good days and our bad days.

i'm hoping the next few days of rest will help me feel better before the big race! i'm also trying to drink lots of fluids, and hopefully i'll hit the hay early the next few nights (easier said than done)!

eats
breakfast

• few handfuls kashi honey sunshine ceral pre-yoga
• 1 packet tj's maple brown sugar oatmeal, with 1/2 c. water, 1/2 c. milk, 1 banana, and a scoop of almond butter
• 1 cup english breakfast tea with stevia

YUM! i had been craving this oatmeal since last night...

lunch

• 1 medium mushroom barley soup from hale and hearty
• 1 hunk of whole grain bread

this soup was SO GOOD! i had been craving comfort food, and this hit the spot. and, the best part is, it was dairy free, low-fat, and vegetarian :)

snack

• 1 serving kashi tlc honey sesame crackers

today is a pretty carb-y day so far - oops! i tend to crave carbs when i'm feeling under the weather, especially with a cold. luckily, this is the week before a big race (hey, i'll take any excuse to carbo load!). i really try not to over do it with that though.

what are your thoughts on tapering and carbo-loading before races???

snack attack

today it was back to the grind, and a healthy routine! but, i after eating so much this weekend, i felt like i could not stop snacking all day long :(

i kind of knew this would happen since i'd be sitting at my desk all day, and on top of that i knew it would be a busy day. so i tried to plan for it packed a lot of healthy things to munch on. i also broke into the snacks i keep in my cabinet too- oops!

today's eats:
breakfast

• 1 cup nature's path raisin bran with skim milk and one sliced banana
• 1 cup chai tea with stevia

lunch

• lemon scented quinoa salad with chickpeas (recipe from jenna's blog)
  
• 1/2 golden delicious apple with cinamon, warmed in micro for 45 seconds- yum!

snack

• other half of cinamon apple - 2:30 pm
• cup of english breakfast tea with stevia - 3:30 pm
• 1 serving kashi honey sesame crackers with 1 piece babybel light cheese 4:30 pm
  
• about 1 serving granola - 5:30 pm
  

yep-i pretty much snacked every hour on the hour all afternoon!

dinner

• 7 trader joe's shrimp dumplings with small amount of soyaki

desert

• 1 soy delicious chocolate almond covered coconut bars with 1 tbsp peanut butter
• another tablespoon of peanut butter- just on the spoon!

i guess it was just one of those days! alright, time for bed. the good news is, tomorrow's already wednesday :)

summa time

hello! i hope everyone enjoyed a nice, long, memorial day weekend. i know i did :) for us adults (ok, i guess in this case i fall into the adult category), memorial day weekend is like the equivalent of summer vacay. oh, except you have to go back to work after 3 days :( bummer...

here's a re-cap of my weekend:
Friday

• i was lucky enough to have the day off! after a 12 mile run (last 12 long training run before next week's half!) i embarked on a huge cleaning and organization spree (spring cleaning about a month too late!) this girl's got one busy life to organize, and this was a good jump start to the weekend
  
  
  


• lunch at Sunburst Cafe - delicious greek salad with iced coffee
  


• a yummy dinner at VAMOS! a mexican restaurant, with friends followed by drinks at the Subnurnt Cow for a birthday celebration. dinner was veggie tacos with rice and beans, and a margarita! drinks were 2, ok, maybe 3, vodka sodas
  

Saturday

• bagels at Ess A Bagel followed by a trip to central park, and bloomie's 40 carrots fro yo- yum!

• dinner and wine at i Coppi, a cute Italian gem in the East Village

Sunday

• errands- finally got a fan for the apartment!


• Dinner at Zabb City - cute little thai place in the village (dinner was shrimp sauteed with garlic sauce, and jasmin rice) - SO good! followed by Angels and Demons, and a beer with friends

Monday

• brunch at Banc Cafe (love this place!). i had the chicken and wild mushroom quesadilla- i pretty much get it every time!


• spent some time hanging out with friends, then headed home to prepare for the (short) week!


• made a recipe from Heidi Swanson, that I found on Jenna's blog for lunches this week, and dinner (chicken salad melt with peanut ginger noodles from tj's)
  
  
  


• went to 16 handles for more frozen yogurt- i'm addicted to this place, and somehow always end up adding too much yogurt to my cup, even though i swear next time i won't... i got the ny cheesecake/peanut butter with almonds and carob chips
  

all in all a lovely weekend. WAY too much indulgence, but i'm very excited to get back to some healthy eating this week in preparation for my half marathon on saturday!

take me out to the ball game

hello! sorry for no posting yesterday. at the last minute, the fiance was able to get tix to the yankee game! i rushed out of work to come home and change, and didn't get home until late, but it was well worth it :)

the new stadium is beautiful and open, and a total homage to the yankees with photos everywhere.




i really love going to yankee games, and i have great memories of going as a kid with my dad and my grandpa. it was always fun and special, and i still feel that way when i go to games now.

one of my favorite things about the games when i was younger was all of the great "baseball food" at yankee stadium! i mean i do like baseball, but as a 7 year-old, it's pretty tough to sit through an entire game. so i always looked forward to all of the fun treats. without fail my dad always got peanuts, i always got ice cream, and somewhere in between was a hot dog (even though i never liked hot dogs i always got them for some reason), a soft pretzel or cracker jacks.

at the new stadium, there's even more food, and a lot of different choices! i was honestly expecting there to be even more variety with the way people were talking, but it was still prettu overwhelming.

i did think they would have a few more healthy options. we walked around two levels of the stadium fully to scope everything out. the first level had the most variety, and i guess the most healthy choices (although those weren't so spectacular) - that's where the tix cost the most, so not surprising!

i settled on the boar's head vendor for a sandwich, which i thought was one of the best bets- but was surprised to see the turkey sandwich i wanted was over 800 calories! (they put the calories next to every menu item at all of the stands- which is kind of nice, but also kind of stinks!). i chose the roast beef with provolone instead, which was about 100 calories less.


it came with chips- and i was so hungry that i opened the bag on the way back to my seat to eat a few. when i got back to my seat and started eating my sandwich, i was really disappointed to find that the roast beef was really fatty- yuck! i had planned to eat only half the sandwich, but instead i pretty much took out all of the meat except for a tiny bit, and ate the whole sandwich, which was mostly provolone cheese, lettuce and tomato. i also added a little mayo (which i love, but try not really eat much of- i figured a ball game was an appropriate place for it!).

i also had a piece of the fiance's soft pretzel. no pics of the food- it was too hard to balance everything on my lap!

anyway, the game was great- the yankees won! and i'm really glad i got to go, even if dinner was a bust.

alright, off to bed soon- more on today's eats tomorrow!

still shredding

i've been doing the 30 day shred for about two weeks now (yay!), and i guess it's time for an update.

date started: may 1, 2009
current date: may 18th, 2009 (what?!?!?!!!! how is it already may 18th??)
number of days i shredded: 10 (approximate- i kind of forgot to keep track, i think it may have only been 8 days, but sometimes i did it twice)
current level: 3

truth be told this is a tough workout. i started off with level 1, and did that only for a few days. level one was challenging, but definitely still manageable for me, not too tough for someone who's already fit and doing weight training.

then i moved on to level 2. well, that's another story- definitely more intense. the cardio is harder, and you work your shoulders a lot, and the abs were tougher. do this twice through, or after a run, you feel like you're going to die!

today, i started level 3- even tougher! i had a slight snafu with my dvd skipping, and ended up only doing this once through, and taking a 5 minute break- which actually was kind of nice because i felt like i needed one! the cardio intervals are really intense. the abs were challenging too, as were the jumping lunges (ugh, i hate lunges!).

i think level three will be really difficult to do twice through, but will make for a great workout.

overall likes:

• easy to wake up and do the video in the comfort of your own living room
• less time-consuming than going to gym in morning
• intense- feels like i'm getting a great workout
• cardio and strength in one
• can be short or long workout if you do once or twice through
• i don't hate jillian michaels in this workout as much as i hated billy blanks from tae bo (maybe since it's only 20 minutes)
  

overall dis-likes:

• feels like not enough "strength" and too much cardio (since i already run and do other cardio on my own)
• don't feel like i'm getting an overall toning like with total body conditioning, although maybe i'm working my muscles in a different way
  
• my living room is a bit small, so it's kind of a tight squeeze, and sometimes my cat likes to try and workout with me
  
  

i took my measurements before i started, so i'll give an update once the month is over, and see if anything changed! i was already "in shape" before i started, so not sure if it really will make much of a difference, but i guess i'll find out!

and here's a recap of today's eats!

breakfast:

• 1 cup kashi go lean crunch cereal, with 1 small banana and skim milk
• 1 iced coffee with 2 splashes of chocolate soy milk, and 1 stevia

lunch:

• 1 boca burger garden medley veggie burger on 1 slice of sprouted wheatberry bread, with 1 slice soy cheese and 1 smear of mustard (ok, a lot of mustard, but it was the last of the container i brought to work, and i scraped every last drop out)
• 1 cup green grapes

i know this lunch is pretty much the same thing i've eaten every day for the past week or so, but, as i mentioned earlier today, i didn't go grocery shopping! i love veggie burgers because they're so easy to bring for lunch - quick to pack, quick to make, they taste good and they're filling. i'm sure after i finish my stash, i'll move on to somehting different for a few weeks :)

snack:

• 1 cashew nut larabar (not pictured)

dinner:

• 1.5 tbsp sabra greek olive hummus, with some carrots and mary's gone crackers
• leftover mexican pasta (not pictured)
  

this hummus is AMAZING!! i don't know how i've lived this long without it. i decided to try it today, since they didn't have my regular hummus at trader joe's (which is where i usually by my hummus since it's cheaper). but, i may never eat that trader joe's hummus again! in face i might never eat ANY other hummus ever again! it's seriously that good. if you like olives like i like olives, you must eat this hummus- it will change your life!


desert:

• 1 chocolate vita muffin, microwaved, topped with haggen daz vanilla low fat frozen yogurt (didn't measure, but about 1/4 -1/2 cup) and 1 tsp peanut butter and co. white chocolate peanut butter - YUMMMMMM :)

this was a really satisfying desert! the peanut butter co. peanut butter was just ok. i mean, it was good, just not as good as i imagined it to be. it tasted a little processed to me, maybe because i've gotten so used to eating only natural peanut butter for the past year or so. it felt a little hard, and not as creamy, but the flavor was nice.

alright, this girl is off to bed!

coming soon on steph runs the city (if, at this point, anyone is even reading steph runs the city!):

• review of bethenny frankel's naturally thin (i'm almost done!)
• more about team for kids, and how you can help me raise money and run the 2009 nyc marathon!

also, don't forget to check out these giveaways!

ashley's newman's own giveaway

tina's coffee lovers giveaway

leftover extravaganza - mexican pasta!

i had a fun night out saturday, and yesterday was my first day in a long time to sleep in, and let's just say i took advantage of it- i slept til noon! it was AWESOME. can't remember the last time i did that. i slept longer than the fiance, which never happens, and felt like i could have kept going.

i did manage to get myself out of bed, probably because i had a bagel calling my name :) we were going to our new fav bagel place- Ess A Bagel on 1st ave and 21st. the bagels there are delish- they're big and dough-y, and usually warm out of the oven. i always get a whole wheat bagel with some varation of tofu cream cheese, and yesterday i had the tofu lox spread. they only had 9 grain bagels though, so i got that instead of whole week- it was a nice switch-up.

my 9 grain tofu lox spread bagel hit the spot (i always take off a lot of the cc, because they slab it on- there's enough for 2 more bagels)!

i also had a small coffee with a little skim milk.

the only downside to Ess A Bagel is that it can get pretty crowded, and since it's a small place that means sometimes no tables, although luckily that wasn't an issue yesterday. also, they don't toast bagels there, but i don't like my bagels toasted, and neither does the fiance, so this is the place for us!

after bagels we went home, and i did some work on the blog, some wedding stuff, and some work related to fundraising for team for kids.

i know i haven't really mentioned it yet on the blog, but i'm running the nyc marathon with a charity program called team for kids! more about that to come in a later post!

while i was working, the fiance and i watched a show on the discovery channel, or maybe the history channel? about earth after humans, which was seriously the most fascinating show- it was a little scary, but extremely interesting. it basically said that after humans, lots of other species will survive, and there will be no trace of us left excpet for bones!

after all that work/tv watching (and a snack - 1 kashi cruncy granola bar) i was ready for dinner. i had a mexican cheese blend that i was going to use for mexican lasagna, but since i didn't make it to the grocery store to get the other ingredients for that, i decided to use what i had to make mexican pasta instead.

ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pasta (any variety- i used rotini)
• 2 skinless boneless chicken breast, sliced into strips
• 1 cup frozen green beans (can use fresh, or substitute another green veggie- i.e. broccoli)
• 1-2 tomatoes (i only had one)
• 1 half bag frozen corn
• 1 1/2 cups salsa (any variety- i used medium trader joe's salsa)
• 1 cup lite blended mexican cheese
  
  

directions:

• cook pasta according to package directions
• spray a large skillet with non-stick cooking spray. sautee chicken several minutes on high heat until no longer pink on the outside
• add veggies and salsa
• lower heat, and cook until chicken is done, about 10-12 more minutes
• slowly add pasta to skillet with slotted spoon and combine with chicken and vegetable mixture
• turn off heat; add cheese and mix well until blended, then serve!
  
  
  

it makes about 4 servings, so i have some leftovers for tonight. it was really good- you can add more flavor to spice it up if you like your food spicy. next time i might add an onion or some peppers too!

healthy kindney 10k

yesterday morning, i ran the healthy kidney 10k in central park, as part of my nine races to qualify for the nyc marathon in 2010.


new york road runners has a program for people to qualify for the nyc marathon and get guaranteed entry in the race (since the marathon is a lottery). you have to become a member of nyrr by the end of january of a single year, run nine qualifying nyrr races, volunteer at one race, and maintain your membership the following year to get guaranteed entry in the following year. so, in 2009, i'm running 9 races, and volunteering 1 race to get guaranteed entry in the marathon in 2010.

in the morning, i got ready as usual. my morning race routine (for a race starting at 9 am):

• wake up 7:15 a.m.
• bathroom, brush teeth, wash face (7:15- 7:25)
  
• feed cat (if haven't the night before) (7:25-7:30)
  
• put on a pot of coffee, if i'm making it (7:30 - 7:35)
  
• get dressed (7:35- 7:40)
  
• put on race chip and pin on race number (7:40 - 7:45)
• put on sun screen (7:45-7:50)
• eat breakfast (7:50 - 8:00)

this morning's breakfast: 1 small banana with a spread of almond butter- yum!


i usually leave myself a few extra minutes for anything else i may need to do- bathroom, grab a hat or extra shirt, re-tie my shoes, etc.

then i head out the door around a half hour before i'm supposed to meet my friend. it takes about a half hour, door to door, to get from my apartment, to the subway, to our meeting spot.

if the race is at 9, we meet between 8:30 and 8:40 depending where the start is, so i leave between 8 and 8:10.

saturday's race day began as usual, but it was definitely a doozy!

this week it was tough to motivate myself to work out, and it definitely continued through the weekend. i guess you could say maybe i was feeling lazy, or maybe just tired, but whatever the case, i wasn't pumped and raring to go for this race like i was last weekend.

maybe it had something to do with the weather (overcast). but i did think the rain was supposed to hold off until later in the day. that is, until we crossed the starting line, and it started pouring! we rain the first 3 miles in a heavy rain, which luckily tapered off and stopped for the second half of the race.

the direction of the course was killer- a clockwise loop around the park, starting at 62nd street on the west side, ending around 74th on the west side. once we hit the 110th street hills, i felt like the hills just kept coming!

this race was supposed to be part of a long training run, but somehow my friend and i ended up running at more of a race pace. sure, if i was actually racing i could have gone faster, but i felt like with the rain and the hills and the fact that this was a training run, i was going way too fast altogether!

i finished in about 52:46, at an average pace of 8:30 minutes/mile. great time, but too fast for long training run, which you're technically supposed to run 3 minutes per mile slower than race pace. not that i always run them that slow...

so, needless to say i was exhausted after the race, and the 5 miles we had to do after that were totally killer. not to mention i was still soaked :( we did stop to get water and a snack- i had half of a cinnamon swirl bagel and two bites of an apple - and for a bathroom break. that definitely helped, but it also made it really hard to start up again!

we stuck it out though. the hills were even HARDER the second time around, and were VERY happy to finish! i took the longest hot shower when i got home and then took a nap!

it was rough, but today is a rest day and boy am i glad!

happy sunday :)

biggest loser yoga

yay for friday!

i had been planning on doing a spin class today, but after yesterday's run i felt really sore/tight. since i'm doing a 10K tomorrow morning plus an additional 5 miles, i figured i should give myself a little break. so i decided to wake up early and do some yoga instead!

as i've mentioned before, i am NOT a yoga person, and i previously HATED yoga- HATED, not disliked, HATED. but, i have to say, i'm really starting to get into it... i think i just had a bad experience with the first yoga class i took, and it was kind of a turn off for me. i guess that's what you get for taking yoga at NYSC, which isn't the greatest gym in the world to begin with.

this morning, i decided to look for a yoga class on exercise tv on demand, and i settled on biggest loser yoga. it was a 26 minute long class (that included probably 2 minutes worth of advertisements for alleve), and i did it twice through.

it wasn't necessarily that hard, in terms of being really strenuous, although a few of the poses were pretty challenging. because it wasn't that strenuous, and there wasn't a large variety of poses, it really gave me a chance to focus on learning the poses. since i'm still a yoga newbie, i thought that was good, and i didn't feel overwhelemed at all. i was also happy i could actually do most of the poses! ( i am extremely un-flexible).

by the second time around, i felt a lot more stretched out, and found it was easier to do some of the poses without having to bend my legs so much. afterwards, i felt super loose and relaxed. it was a great stretch, and i'm not sore anymore!

here are the poses i learned in today's workout:

• downward dog
• crescent
• upward dog
• warrior 1
• warrior 2
• chair pose

i'm excited that i'm learning more about yoga, and that i'm liking it! i think once i really start running a lot more once marathon training is in full swing, it could be good to replace one day of weight training with yoga.

i think the more advanced you get, the more strength-building yoga can be, since you're using your own body instead of the aid of weights to build muscle.

alright, no pics of this morning's breakfast but it was:

• one individual container non-fat chobani vanilla yogurt
• 1 sliced banana
• 1 iced coffee with 2 splashes chocolate soy milk and one stevia

happy friday!

wheels on the bus

ok, this will be a quick post, since i'm exhausted! even though this week went by pretty fast, for whatever reason the days felt sooo long.

i forced myself to go to the gym after work even though i wasn't really feeling it (motivating this week has been tough!). i did have a cup of coffee before i went, which definitely helped, but it was a slow, challenging workout.

re-cap:

• 5 mile run @ 8:57 minute mile pace (stopped twice for water breaks!)
• total time: 45 minutes 10 seconds
• total calories burned: 495 (although i really don't trust the treadmill's accuracy- need that garmin!)
• my sit-up workout from high school- 25 of various different ab exercises, all who's names i do not know, and am too tired to try and figure out, although it started with regular crunches, ended with the bicycle crunches

i also waited about 25 minutes for the local bus after the gym , which i was NOT happy about! i like taking the bus better than the subway, because it's more convenient, you can talk on the phone, etc. etc. but there's no reason why you should have to wait close to half an hour for a city bus down second ave. near midtown at the end of rush hour. NO REASON!

now that i got that off my chest, here's what was for dinner:

• 1 trader joe's sweet italian chicken sausage on one slice whole wheat bread, with 1 slice soy cheese and some ketchup
• asparagus roasted with olive oil, garlic salt, pepper
• pineapple for desert
  

i sort of paid attention to 30 rock and the office during dinner. i wanted to get so much more done tonight but it will just have to wait until tomorrow.

i'm off to bed - goodnight!

pizza pizza

today at work we had a pizza party! i feel like that sounds so second grade, but regardless of my current age, a pizza party is still a pizza party, and still exciting to me.

i knew we were having the party, so i planned ahead and i brought a side salad with me to eat with my pizza.

the salad consisted of:

• mixed greens
  


• grape tomatos
  


• walnuts



• dried cranberries
  


• paul newman's lighten up! italian dressing con limone (aka the best salad dressing on the planet)

with the salad i had a yummy slice of veggie pizza, which had broccoli, spinach, and a little bit of cheese. i topped it with some garlic and oregano.

my stomach is very happy now. VERY. HAPPY.

on the schedule for later today is a 5 mile run and maybe some weights/sit-ups, depending on how i feel. since it's pretty yuck out, i'll do my run on the treadmill (ugh, which reminds me i forgot to bring my ipod with me AGAIN!!!!), so i probably won't do the 30 day shred, because i doubt i'll feel like doing it by the time i get home.

don't you hate it when you forget your ipod??!! or am i the only one who forgets mine? it makes the workout way more boring, especially if you're just doing a straight run, and not intervals or something. :( oh well, i will push through. hopefully there will be entertaining people at the gym today to keep me preoccupied.

have a nice thursday! and also, don't forget to check out Danica's snack pack give-away!

tre

good morning! i'm so glad it's thursday, which means one day closer to friday :)

i did get my self out that door for my run yesterday morning. i did about 3.25-3.5 miles (again, this is really where a garmin would come in handy!) and finished in about 30 minutes. i walked a few blocks back to my apartment, and did level 2 of the 30 day shred once through.

doing the 30 day shred after a run is kind of tough, i'm not gonna lie, because it includes some intense cardio in between the weights and abs, so by the time i was done i felt super exhausted! it probably also didn't help that i hadn't eaten before my run. by the time i got to my office, where i usually eat breakfast, i was starving!

i made myself a bowl of trader joe's maple brown sugar oatmeal, with 1 banana, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup skim milk, and topped it with one packet of justin's honey almond butter. yum!

seriously this was SO filling- i didn't eat lunch until about 3 because i wasn't hungry, which trust me, NEVER happens! but, since it is so filling, it might not be a bad idea to consider eating an earlier breakfast at home, instead of making breakfast at work. i feel like that will balance out my day a little more- i've been finding by the time dinner rolls around, i'm not super hungry, and i think the late breakfast thing is throwing me off. although, it is nice to have a yummy bfast to look forward to when you get to the office...

for lunch, i had a veggie burger AGAIN! this time i skipped the cheese, since i was going out for italian food later in the day, and instead i topped the burger with salsa and mustard- yum :)


i also had some strawberries on the side.


after work, it was my friend's birthday so i went out for drinks and dinner. we met first at a bar called stanton public on the lower east side. the place was really cute, albeit pretty empty at 6:30 on a wednesday evening. i decided to order a pint of magner's cider :) i've never been a huge beer drinker, but i like light beer, and i love cider! whenever they have it on tap, it's hard to pass up. SO good!

after a drink we headed over to dinner at tre, an italian restaurant on the lower east side. this place was good! we ordered wine, and a bunch of appetizers for the table. for my main dish i ordered the salmon, which had carrots and brussel sprouts on the side, and came with a spinach salad, and cheesecake for desert!

i ate the spinach salad (dressing on the side), a small plate of appetizers, about 3/4 of the salmon and veggies, and a few bites of the cheesecake. i also had a glass of red wine (not pictured).

this place was super cute, totally authentic, and the food was really good too. the space was a little small, but even still they were able to accomodate our large group. it was a great atmosphere and a nice, relaxing meal. i definitely want to come back again- maybe on a monday, when they have a great special of unlimited spaghetti and sangria- yum!

also- it's really close to the AWESOME cupcake shop, sugar sweet sunshine- maybe a little too close for comfort. luckily i was so full i didn't stray towards the cupcakes last night- although i have been known to do that :)

some of these pictures may not be so great- i'm still working on my photo-journalism skills and may also need to start using a different camera, but you get the idea. i also apologize for the extremely ugly/boring plates i have! i think i need to get a cute dish or two- working on that one...