I Did It!! Finally Back On Track

I did it!! Finally I woke up at a good hour and got a chance to do a workout before heading to work. As per my training schedule I did Yoga Sculpt and leg strength training. I really liked getting my workout over with and going on with the rest of the day. I also found that I am a lot less sore/stiff than I normally would be. Most of the time I do my workout late at night and then don't do much for the rest of the night. I think the lack of moving around causes me to get stiff. Whereas today I feel absolutely fine :) Hopefully that will motivate me tomorrow morning to get up early again. He he he.

Breakfast was a bowl of cereal with a sliced banana.

When I got to work I snacked on some granola with yogurt and a clementine.

By lunch time I was getting pretty hungry and this sandwich hit the spot perfectly. It's just greens, tomato, turkey on my fav bread (pumperknickle).

I also had a couple of bites of yesterdays pasta salad.

During the afternoon I snacked on a clementine.

And I succumbed temptation and bought a bag of hickory sticks.

We're not perfect all the time right? ;)

I was originally planning on making some chicken noodle soup for supper but when I got home I wasn't really hungry. Instead I cleaned our entire department. I mean like scrubbed, dusted and vacuumed the whole thing. I even scrubbed down our shower with CLR. Talk about a productive evening. :)

Afterward he hunger hit and I made corn chowder. Here it is in the pot.

And in my bowl :)

It was the same recipe as last week. Let me know if you want it!

After my run last night I posted on Twitter/Facebook asking people if they knew of any ways to get rid of shin splints. I got a lot of good suggestions that I will be trying very soon. In the back of my head today I was thinking about being not just a better athlete but a smarter one. Then when I read Angie's post tonight it really got me thinking about it. She talks a little bit about how it has taken time to trust herself and realize what she is capable.

I know what my New Years resolution will be. To be a smarter athlete. My doctor (she's been my doctor as long as I can remember) retired this past summer. And although that is awesome for her, it sucks for me :( I am going to find a new doctor in the new year and go for a check up. I really want to be proactive about keeping my body healthy and strong enough to continue with my running.

Have you thought about your New Years resolutions for 2010?

Just Another Day

November 24

As I mentioned in yesterdays post I have been having a hard time getting up early to do workouts. Today was no exception. Even though my alarm was set for 7am I didn't get up until 8am. I'm going to aim to be to bed by 11:30pm tonight and I hope that will get my butt out of bed early in the morning. *cross fingers!!*

Before work I had the last of the dozen blueberry bagels with almond butter and jam. I am going to attempt to remember to take daily vitamins. I am not good at remembering them but I have started my next attempt to do so. From left to right there is vitamin D, one a day for women and fish oils (name).

When I got to work I snacked on one of these two celmentines.

Lunch consisted of a chefs salad from Sobeys with poppy seed dressing (my new fav!!). I also had a few bites of this pasta salad. Saved the rest for in case dinner needed a little punch.

While at Sobeys I was browsing the organic food section and stumbled upon a few items I wanted to try. First was snack bar called Everyone's Organics. It is made by Honey Bar which just so happens to be a Canadian company :) Yay!

It was pretty satisfying. The ingredient list is pretty simple so I might try making some on my own sometime.

When I got home I went for a 3km run as per my training schedule. I have found my Nike+ to not be very accurate. I tracked my distance using Google Maps and it was 3km but my iPod showed 3.48km. The run was a lot better than the run I had last Thursday. Thankfully!

Anyone else have problems with their Nike+ being accurate?

I was browsing the internet tonight and stumbled upon RoadID. I really want to purchase one. I think that'll happen after Christmas. I would probably get the sports band for my wrist. It is basically a little ID bracelette that you wear while running/cycling/hiking/etc. that has your name and emergency contact information on it. You can even get ones with a subscription to an online Emergency Response Profile. There you list all of your information including name, address, alergies, medical information, picture, emergency contacts, etc. The bracelette will list a phone number and website with your serial# and PIN# and the first response person can use either method to find out everything they need to know about you. Maybe Santa will bring me one? ;)

By the time I got home I was pretty hungry so I made the second item I bought at Sobeys earlier. Wolfgang Puck butternut squash soup with some pumpernickle bread. I love the holidays. The holidays bring with them pumpernickle bread :D I ended up not needing any of the pasta salad I had bought with lunch because the soup was pretty filling.

And because she is just SO cute here is Squeaky.

She doesn't look like she wants her photo taken. hehehe.

Upcoming Races

November 23

I have concluded I am horrible at getting up early to work out. I meant to get up early this morning to go for a really quick jog but alas, my alarm clock couldn't get me out of bed until I had just enough time to get ready for work. I am pretty lucky with my current position. We can come in between 8am and 10am as long as we do our full shift when we are here. I have been unable to get up in time to go to work for 8am or 9am consistently for the past two months pretty much and have ended up coming in at 10am pretty often.

Fuel for the morning was some cereal with a banana.

Afternoon snack was some clementines and tea.

Lunch was a mean salad. And by mean I mean wonderful. It was made up of mixed greens, tomato, red pepper, mushroom, turkey and flax seeds with some sun dried tomato and oregano.

During my lunch break I devised a training plan because I have decided to run some races. I will be participating in the following runs:

1. Santa Shuffle - Dec. 5th - 5km

2. Run For a Better Tomorrow - May 2, 2010 - 10km

3. Bluenose - May 17, 2010 - 5km

4. Johnny Miles 10K Classic - June 20, 2010 - 10km

5. Run For The Lobsters - July 11, 2010 - 10km

I have not officially registered for all of them but I will before the registration closes. Promise!

Here is a look at my training schedule. I have never made one before and it looks pretty busy. If any experienced runners out there have any suggestions for it please email me or comment below. I was told not to advance in milage by more than 10% a week so I haven't.

Afternoon snack was some POM Wonderful jewels with yogurt and granola.

Before I went home Matt came by to visit at my desk. He brought with him some blueberry juice which I had a couple sips of.

Isn't he a fabulous hand model?! ;)

After running some errands I made some supper. A veggie omelette with 1/3rd a banana and an english muffin with almond butter and jam. This really hit the spot. I was so hungry because it was pretty busy at Shoppers and I got home later than expected.

Before bed I snacked on some pieces of apple with almond butter on them. My almond butter is almost gone :(

Finished the night off with some reading. I am having such a hard time finishing The Lost Symbol. I'm only about half way through...

Books and Stuff

November 22

Today was another early morning but for a completely different reason. I woke up around 7am, had a breakfast of a blueberry bagel with almond butter and jam, packed my bags and went to a photoshoot. It was a portfolio session with a local male model. I'll be posting some of the photos on my photography blog in the next few days so keep an eye out.

While waiting for the model to finish getting ready I snacked on a clementine.

After the shoot I stopped into a used book store on the way home. Matt and I go into book stores at least once a week and during the past couple of visits I have been SO close to purchasing Germs, Guns and Steel by Jared Diamond. The reason I haven't is because it is so close to Christmas and I might get gift cards :) I have made a deal with myself that for the next month the only books I am allowed to buy are ones that come from a used book store. So I stopped into this place looking for Germs, Guns and Steel. They didn't have it but I did pick up Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Once I got home I had lunch of fried eggs and meatless Italian sausage. I forgot to take a photo of it though because I was in a rush to get out the door again.

Then off I went to a friend's place to take photos of her pets. She just got a new pug puppy and she is sooo cute. I photographed the puppy and her three cats. Here are some of the photos.

When I got home I had a snack of yogurt with granola and a clementine.

Supper was similar to a previous night but was still just as delicious. I had BBQ baked tofu with broccoli and fried zucchini. I LOVE zucchini. The only other time I can remember eating it was when my mom put it in chocolate cake and you couldn't really taste it. But it is sooooo good. I can't wait to try some new recipes with zucchini in them :)

Dinner was so delicious that when Matt got home he had to try it while I was sleeping and ended up eating all of the left overs! Hehehe.

The rest of the day was just recovering from Friday night/Saturday. Again for some reason I had no energy so it was mostly spent reading and napping. Oh I love lazy Sundays. :)

Nature

November 21

As usual, the morning after some good drinking I always get up super early. Don't get me wrong, I go back to bed for a few more hours but I always end up waking up for a bit early in the morning. Saturday was a great example. We didn't get to bed until 2am the night before but I was awake at 7am. I got a nice cold glass of water and sat by the back door and watched the birds in the back yard. It was something about this that made me want to write. If you know me I'm not much of a creative writer. Never have been. Even though I thought about it, I didn't end up writing anything that morning. Instead I rocked back and forth in a rocking chair, watched the sun come up over the field and enjoyed the quietness of the country. Next time I will definitely boot up the computer and write a little bit.

When I woke up a few hours later I went downstairs for breakfast. While it was cooking I saw more birds in the backyard and this time I ran, grabbed my camera and photographed them. I love blue jays. They are so pretty. I really want to do some more nature photography. Now that it's winter it might be a little hard to accomplish but next spring I will definitely be going out in the woods with my camera more often.

Breakfast was the best cure for a tiny hangover. Fried eggs, bacon, homefries and toast with some pineapple juice. I love greasy food the morning after drinking. :)

After the stomach had settled a little bit I had some blueberry and pomegranate white tea and did some yoga sculpt. The tea wasn't my favorite but it was nice.

Lunch consisted of some yummy homemade lasagna with garlic bread. Matt's mom is such an amazing cook. I wish we lived closer so that I could enjoy it more often :) Her house is amazing too. It's a tiny home in the country that really feels like a cabin. Next time we're there (probably over Christmas) I'll have to take some photos to show you all.

Matt and I headed back to the city pretty early (around 6pm). We did some grocery shopping and when we got home we were both completely out of energy. Furnace heat is sooo different than electric heat. It like zaps the energy out of you. Supper was an easy bowl of cereal with a banana and a clementine on the side.

I didn't keep track of how much water I drank but I can tell you it definitely wasn't enough. Hahaha.

Off We Go For a Mini-Trip

(November 20)

Eat, Live, Run often posts her breakfast oatmeal and I decided this morning I had to try it. Ingredients included:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1 banana smushed up

1 cup quick oats

2 tbsp almond butter

brown sugar to taste

I have to say I really really enjoyed this. It's such a good twist on a classic. I can't wait to try her overnight oats. I'll let you know how it goes :)

As per the norm I got to work and had some tea and my morning snack was vanilla yogurt with POM Wonderful seeds. This is such a good mixture. I think the only thing that could have made it better would have been a little tiny bit of granola.

I love leftovers. I honestly think that almost everything is better after it's been in the fridge for a night. I was so happy to have some more corn chowder for lunch today. And as usual, it was PERFECT as a left over. I can't wait to make this again. I think I might double the recipe and freeze some.

My afternoon snack was a yummy banana. As good as banana is mixed with stuff it's pretty awesome on it's own too.

And a cookie. It was cookie day at work so I couldn't help myself.

When I got home from work Matt and I left to go to Wentworth for the evening. We picked up two bottles of wine and stuff to make a pizza on the way. When we go there we made two big pizza's for everyone to chow down on.

Toppings...

Bacon... yummy ....

Pizza crust..

My first glass of wine ;)

My first piece of pizza...

I ended up drinking about a bottle of wine and Matt drank the other bottle of wine. I ate two small pieces of pizza.

Overall it was a great night. There was 7 us at Matt's mom's place and we stayed up until about 2am. Ooops! More to come in the next post.