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...

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.

New Moon and New Chowder

(November 19th - Was playing with my camera after one too many drinks Friday night and deleted all of my photos for this post. oops!)

This morning started out with a real breakfast. Most mornings I wake up and have toast or something equally as quick. This morning I made some scrambled eggs with ketchup, WW english muffin and a glass of milk. I think my favorite meal of the day is breakfast. I could eat breakfast foods for lunch and supper.


Got to work and had a cup of African Red Bush tea with some vanilla yogurt and sliced banana. Yogurt is definitely a necessity in my diet. I don't think I could give it up.


Last night when I was at mom's house we planned for her to come over tonight for dinner. My mom hate's intruding so she doesn't call me much or try to stop by for visits. She thinks I'm always busy. Well a lot of the time I am but I love my family and I encouraged her to come over more. I'm hoping to get more calls from her during the work day to say she is stopping by for supper. It's perfect Sunday-Wednesday too because Matt works late those days. So mom, if you're reading this, you are not intruding by coming over after work, don't be so silly! ;)


Back to food, I decided to make corn chowder for tonights dinner but had to pick up some ingredients. On my lunch break I went to Sobeys and got everything I needed plus a chef salad. These are one of my favorite types of salad and I was surprised by how good Sobeys was.

First time trying poppy seed dressing and it was awesome!!!


Afternoon snack was a honey crisp apple with almond butter and a cup of tea. I'm drinking a lot more tea now that the weather is getting colder.


When I got home I went for a quick run before mom came over. It was horrible. My knee pains are coming back and my shin splints are not getting any better. About 1/4 of my way through my regular root I stepped on an apple that was hidden under leaves and twisted my ankle. Hopped around on one foot for about 2 minutes and then power walked home. By the time my ankle was good to run again my knees were in too much pain to be able to jog. So the power walking was a good compromise. It kept my heart rate up which is a bonus right?


My Aunt Trudy was able to get this corn chowder recipe from a bistro in Halifax that she loves. It was really really really good. Email me if you want the recipe and I'll send it to you.


Because Matt still hadn't eaten the cookie I made him on Tuesday with Sarah, mom and I had it for dessert.


Once the dishes were done mom timed me for my 6 minute abs workout. My upper body was still sore from last night and I was finding that my arms were giving out before my abs were. I think that in order for me to be able to continue doing this 6 minute ab workout I reallllly need to strengthen my upper body. Matt bought a pull up/chin up/ tricep dip/push up bar. Maybe I'll tackle that on the weekend.


Mom said good-bye after that and I showered and got ready in record time. It took me 15 minutes to shower, blow dry my hair, straighten my hair, put on makeup, get dressed and go out the door. I was impressed :) I picked up my friend Andrea and we went to a late night showing of New Moon!!!! I was expecting it to be better than the first movie and I was not let down. I absolutely loved New Moon. The director did such a good job with it, they didn't use the digital retouching they used on the first one (which I found very distracting) and they left the right parts out. In the movie Twilight I found they left out parts that were important in the story but they chose well in New Moon.


Have you seen it yet? What did you think?


While at the theater Andrea and I both bought some TCBY. I absolutely love this frozen yogurt.

ZZZZzzzzZZZzzz

Lately I have been staying up waaaay too late. I mean like 1-2am. Not cool. Because of my late nights I didn't get up early this morning to work out. Got up with enough time to get ready and get to work. I was able to scarf down a blueberry bagel with almond butter and jam though.

Mmmmmm POM Wonderful juice :)

Apples and cheese for a snack. I totally recommend this to anyone who has not had the two together. It's sooo yummy.

I didn't get a chance to make anything for lunch so instead I bought a turkey wrap at work.

When I got home after work I had a snack of yogurt, banana and blueberries then went to run errands. Whenever I go to drop something off at my moms house I normally plan to be there 15-20 minutes but end up staying much longer. More like 2 hours. Like I did tonight. Ooops! lol.

Got home and made some eggs, tofu italian sausages and raisin cinnammon bagel.

With some pomegrante, blueberry juice.

Supper was kind of entertaining with these two :) Squeaky thinks she can do anything she wants whenever she wants. So cute!

Todays workout consisted of Yoga Sculpt with some weight training (quads and glutes) and then my 6 minutes of ab workout.

I'm so tired though that I can barely keep my eyes open. Night!

Photo Improvements

On Friday I posted an Operation Beautiful note on a friends car. Such an easy way to brighten someones day :)

This weekend was pretty relaxing. I've decided to relax every weekend when it comes to blogging. So as a summary here were some of the highlights.

Mmmmm Subway cookies!

Squeaky wanted to make an appearance on the blog and I mean, how could I say no to her?

Saturday night we made a really nice romantic dinner. We tried our first bottle of ice wine with caesar salads and spaghetti.

This morning was a quick breakfast of toast, almond butter and banana with milk.

Then some yogurt, blueberries and granola. We tried this new type that has more nuts than the usual ones. I don't think I like it with yogurt but it would go good sprinkled on apples :)

Leftovers from the weekend served as an awesome lunch.

Snacked on some milk and a vector bar. I haven't tried a variety of protein bars but I really like the vector bars.

Before my 4.5km jog I had to get something in my stomach so I grabbed some apple with almond butter.

I was inspired by Caitlin's blog a week ago to buy some tofu. Wasn't really sure what to do with it so I smothered it in some BBQ sauce and baked it. Added some broccoli to the mix and had myself a really yummy healthy supper.

Before bed snack was some cereal with banana. I think I might have actually gotten my serving of fruits and vegetables today. :)

When I started this blog not too long ago I was using my Canon point and shoot to take the photos of my meals. As you can tell (especially in this post) the photos have improved quite a bit. That's because I've decided to start using my dSLR. I have the Canon 40d which I use for my portrait photography. It's kind of annoying to bring to work with me but I definitely think it makes all of my meal choices look that much better :)

What do you use to photograph your meals?

Oh yeah!! On Thursday I posted about the whittle my middle challenge. I was SO sore after that initial workout that I haven't been able to do an ab workout since. I hope to complete one tomorrow though with my regular weight training routine. Check in tomorrow night to see if I was successful!