Monthly Archives: June 2013

Letting the Pace Go

Hey everyone! I’ve been meaning to blog since Friday…and I really have to good excuse. I’ll try to do a fairly quick recap of the past few days, and promise the next posts will have more/better content!.

Friday I had been planning on going to early Spin, but I went to bed too late and decided I would never be able to stay awake at my research job if I went. First, I ate this delicious breakfast:
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The last of my vanilla yogurt, gluten free vanilla crunch cereal, raspberries, and sunflower seed butter. 

Then, it was off to school for research. While this may sound glamorous, I assure you it is not. My job is doing a ton of spreadsheet stuff and examining photos of mice carcasses. I actually don’t really mind (although Friday was my first day of doing real stuff). The building I’m working in is attached to the hospital, so I decided to check out the hospital cafeteria for lunch. IT IS SO NICE. It was ridiculous. A salad bar (with chia seeds!), sandwich bar, hot food, pastries, everything! I went with the salad bar.
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And they even had a new to me flavor of Kevita! It was way overpriced though. And ended in an embarrassing situation- breaking on the floor of Sports Authority while I was shopping for workout pants. On the plus side, it was mostly gone!

After wearing the same workout pants for workouts 3 days in a row, my mother decided that I needed to buy more workout pants. No complaints here! The highlight was a new pair of my favorite workout pants, but with a hot pink waistband, instead of yellow. 
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Since I missed spin that morning, I decided to lift before my run. I did a leg workout, which I will post soon. I’m planning on creating a workout page shortly! I mostly make my own weights workouts, and for some reason I feel like I shouldn’t post them, which is silly. So that will change! After lifting, I ran 3 miles on very rubbery legs. Ehh it felt good to lift again so I can’t complain (well, actually I can complain…).

Dinner was a delicious greek salad with a touch of Greek dressing, but topped with hummus. 
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I also had some watermelon…and a friend!
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I love this picture because I was simply trying to take a picture of watermelon-Billy just happens to love watermelon!

Saturday morning before Crossfit I made some very ugly pancakes-they tasted just fine though! I mixed up a banana, egg whites, vanilla, chocolate protein powder, cocoa powder, and a dash of almond milk. 
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Post Crossfit I made a smoothie inspired by Beth– pineapple, mango, and pineapple coconut water. Thick, delicious, and totally hit the spot!
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After lunch, my family saw The Internship. My sister even joined us since she was in the area! Overall, I wasn’t a big fan of the movie. However, if you want a taste of where I live (Silicon Valley), this was pretty much spot-on! We couldn’t help but laugh when the characters ran in on broomsticks for quidditch, as my sister is the captain of our school’s quidditch team. Spot-on!

We went to The Melt, a grilled cheese place for dinner. I opted for sweet corn soup, which tasted exactly like those corn cakes at Mexican restaurants. And, we were right next to a frozen yogurt place, so no complaining here!
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I went half ‘healthy’ and half ‘unhealthy.’ Plain with fruit on one side, butter pecan/chocolate with heath and brownies on the other. Yumm.

As I’m sure you’re all well aware as I’ve been sort of freaking out about it all week, Sunday was my 10 mile run, which is farther than I had ever run before. 

I ate my typical pre-run breakfast:
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I was up in time to beat the heat/wind (I ran by the bay, so the wind is a bigger issue than the heat!).
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I’ve been wanting to keep up a particular pace, but my dad advised me to just worry about the distance, and not the pace. So I let go of that ideal pace, and in turn, the run went really well!
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I really loved this trail-it was along the bay, but it took me through different areas so it was more interesting. I took a Gu for the first time at mile 5, the turn around point. I couldn’t imagine running while eating, so I walked while I took it. I was a big fan-it was Cliff chocolate, and only had a few, very recognizable ingredients. It was a little weird though because it was like eating straight chocolate syrup…during a run…

I also was annoyed at having to carry a water bottle. I ended up dumping half of it right away so it wouldn’t be so much weight. I tossed it around Mile 6-7 when it was empty, which was the plan. I didn’t really think through the fact that that was the only water I had with me though…I was so thirsty by the time I got home!
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Overall, the run went really well. I enjoyed myself more at a slightly slower pace. I figure I can push the pace more with the adrenaline of the race, but if not, that’s fine too. This is my first half, and I’m still running longer than ever before!

Recovering with my compression socks:
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And my beloved PVC pipe- my hard core ‘foam roller.’ Love it!
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Let’s just say that sore legs from weights on Friday+10 miles=can’t move.

And some more scenes from the day-Farmer’s market!
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Also, 2 more things.

1. A healthy living COLLEGE conference is in the works! SO EXCITED. 

2. Thanks for all your input on self-hosting! I’m still on the fence, but I’m leaning towards taking the plunge. I need to look into it a little more though!

What’s the farthest you’ve run? Are you in college? How do you fuel during long runs?

Self Hosting?

Wow, I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve done a normal post…you know, one where at the end of the day I sit down and recap my day?

Well, here are a few eats from yesterday. Lunch was a baked yam, along with a salad consisting of Spicy Avocado hummus and a hard boiled egg. So simple, yet so delicious!
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Yesterday was also my first day of my Healthy Psychology class. It really got me thinking about the definition of health…but that is a post for another day! We’re sticking to normal, shallow posting today!

Dinner after class was also quite delicious. I had an enchilada chicken salad from PaleOMG. A salad with two of my favorite foods in the world? Sign me up! (avocados and mangoes, if you didn’t figure out what they were).
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Then, today was another fairly early morning at the kitten nursery! My favorite litter is still there, but they’re gotten much bigger! They’ll be moving into foster care soon as now they’re some of the oldest in the nursery! I wish I had a good photo of them, but they’re not too keen on sitting still. Since they are older and have more energy, they are quite the handful. Especially considering they were a handful 2 weeks ago when they were much younger. I was taking care of them when I realized one of them was looking up at my with the most adorable green-blue eyes. What I didn’t realize was that he was calculating…he jumped right up onto my shoulder! In other kitten nursery news, one of the younger kittens fell asleep in my arms. CUTEST. THING. EVER. I need to get some pictures of the younger kittens for you guys!

After my shift, I headed straight to a bike trail. In theory, I was supposed to do a 5 mile training run for my half, and then ride my newly fixed bike. I wasn’t really feeling the run yet though (spoiler: the run never happened), so I decided to do the bike ride first. This trail is seriously so pretty, and perfect for biking or for my long runs. I already have Sunday’s run all planned out. I wished I had my phone, as the views of the bay were gorgeous. It was such a nice and clear day, so there was a good view of San Francisco. 
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This trail connects to the place I ran last week, so I wanted to see how long the whole stretch was. I didn’t actually go all the way to the end, but it’s pretty long. 
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I ended up at 19 miles. Oh how I wish these stats were for a run and not a bike ride! I think my ideal biking distance is between 10 and 15 miles. At the end it just seemed long and I wasn’t enjoying myself as much. Plus, the wind really picked up by the end. Since it’s along the bay, it gets pretty crazy, so I have to get my long runs in on the early side. I refueled from my ride with a chai tea latte, made with almond milk and mint leaves. 
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And a delicious bowl of leftovers! Leftover enchilada chicken, mashed avocado, mango, and leftover spaghetti squash (because why not?).
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Plus some leftover frozen birthday cake!
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(And a leftover photo!)

I spent the afternoon napping, snacking, and thinking about my future fitness goals and eating plans/philosophies. Yeahh still working on that…

On a related note, my workouts haven’t really been getting done lately. And I miss lifting weights SO much but it’s hard to fit into my running schedule because I would like to not start out my 10 mile run in pain. Because I know I will sure as heck end it with my legs in pain! I think I’m also suffering from the gym not being a 4 minute bike ride away. And from lack of a schedule. I don’t really want to try and lift when the gym is super busy either. Problems…Either way, I guess I’ll shift my focus more to weights after my half. 

Since I had a slow pitch softball game tonight and I snacked all afternoon, I attempted a light dinner (although the leftover apple and sunflower seed butter may have unseeded this).
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An EXTREMELY open faced sandwich. You know, as in no bread at all. Spinach, mustard/mayo, almond milk cheese, onions, turkey, and apple, all heated up in the microwave (because I was too lazy to put it in the oven).

The game went well, and was fun once again. I went 3 for 4, and my team won. I rolled my ankle again, which really stinks because a) I wasn’t even doing anything and b) it was just starting to be mostly better! Darn it. The ankle doesn’t bother me running, but I have a feeling that 10 miles in enough to find any weakness in my legs. 10 miles seems so intimidating, and I’m kind of terrified. I feel like once I have 10 under my belt, 11, 12, and 13.1 are all basically the same. (I feel like I’m horribly wrong about this!) I guess only time will tell!

I also wanted to ask you guys about self-hosting. I want to make “Fitness is Sweet” shirts to wear during my half (yayy shameless self-promotion) but I’m ready to be done with the “.wordpress.com.” I could either buy the domain through wordpress, or get self hosted. Any advice? I feel like being self hosted makes sense at some point in the future of this blog, but I’m not really sure how it will affect things. Thoughts???
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Shaping Up My Summer (and Future)

Hi friends! We’re almost to the second week of Summer Shape Up. 
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Technically I haven’t finished Week One, but I decided to do a post earlier with my plans. Paleo eating went pretty well for me, although I found my self resorting to several Paleo crutches. I’m looking at you coconut milk yogurt. For this next week, I’m not going to exactly be eating Paleo, but I want to focus on lean proteins and produce.
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Although it may not be apparent from this blog, I actually love fitness…more than food. And yet I hardly ever post about fitness, in comparison to food! I want this to change! On a similar note, the new eating focus is eating to fuel my workouts. This is kind of getting back to my nutritional roots. An increase in intensity of my workouts resulted in my discovery of Nutrition. I feel like I have gotten away from this is the past year(s). Hence, the new week’s goal! I want to do well (ok, I want to complete) my upcoming half, and fueling well is really the only way I can do this. I’m going to add back in some dairy, but keep the grains out due to a possible allergy (I made a doctor’s appointment-yay!). Also, with Crossfit, I want to be able to do my absolute best on the WODs!

On a kind of sidenote, I’ve fallen in love with turkey burgers as of late. The next plan is to try them in the microwave, so I can continue this love affair next year back at school!

I also wanted to talk about my future fitness goals and plans. I love having something to train for, but I’m not sure running long distances is my true love. 
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So with that said, here are my upcoming race plans. The Giants race in early August (you know, the one I’ve been training for for the last month?). Then, head straight into training for the Nike Women’s marathon in October. After that, I want to take a break from distance running.

I am kind of dying to do a Turkey Trot, and a 10k sounds just about perfect. I take my Thanksgiving meals very seriously, and 6 miles sounds great to really rev up my appetite. 
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(Plenty of space for expansion in that dress!)

I also want to train to PR a 5k. I did a Santa Run last year, and got 25 something. I hadn’t run much (although I had been rowing a ton), so I think I can crush that PR with proper training and speed work.

Longer term, I’ll probably do some halfs in they are interesting. I might do the Giant’s race next year, but do the 10k and try to PR. (Because PRing is fun). I trained hard last summer for the 10k, and actually won my age group! (I’m super proud of this!) Sadly, next year I’ll be going up an age group, with super fast people. But with proper training, I should do pretty well (based on last year’s results). 

In summary, more of this:
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None of this:
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(Grains are not working for me right now, and peanut butter makes my face break out like crazy. Yeah, I’m basically a mess.)

And some of this:
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I’m thinking of making Sunday fro-yo a thing. I Yelped the best fro-yo places in SF, and I’ve already picked one out for after my half. Priorities people. 

One more interesting thing I forgot to note-I’ve definitely eaten fewer sweets this past week. I guess eliminated grains takes away a lot of the unhealthier sweets options. I’m fine with that!

So expect more about fitness and exercise on this blog in the future!

WIAW-Paleo-ish

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! I feel like this is basically a holiday, except it happens every week! Yay! Thanks again to Jenn for hosting the fun!
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As I’ve mentioned before, one of my goals this summer, I want to figure out what foods work best for me. And yes, I promise I’m going to get tested for gluten soon!
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(I had way too much fun making this banner.)

My summer shape up goal for this week was to try a mainly Paleo style of eating, as I’ve felt pretty good in the past when I’ve tried eating in this way (although it was only a few days in the past). My basic guidelines have been to avoid dairy and grains, so not totally Paleo. So without further ado, here are some of these new eats!
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Spaghetti squash and turkey meatballs, topped with almond milk mozzarella. For the meatballs, we simply balled up Italian seasoned ground turkey, and they came out really well! As for the almond milk cheese-it’s pretty good. I wouldn’t necessarily eat it in something where cheese is the focus, but it works in tons of different things. 
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Leftover blueberry lavender smoothie from Gina. For this, I used egg white protein powder.
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This is a Turkey and Havarti sandwich from Cooking Light. My mom and I both LOVE this recipe! This is hers- bread, mustard and mayo, arugula (spinach works), red onion, havarti cheese, turkey, and sliced apple. Put in the oven on broil until the cheese is bubbly, then top with ground pepper. The pepper makes it! Here’s my Paleo version:
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No bread (hence the tinfoil), and almond milk mozzarella cheese. SO delicious! Make this-you won’t be sorry!
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Chocolate covered frozen banana-the chocolate fudge sauce isn’t exactly Paleo, hence the “ish.”
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My new obsession! The mango-cocout flavor is so good!
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Snacks. The Thinkthin Divine bars are sooooo good. They are gluten free, and MOSTLY kind of Paleo. 
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href=”http://www.blogilates.com/videos/healthiest-quesadilla-ever-obesity-as-a-disease” target=”_blank”>This quesadilla from Blogilates. This was a great use of almond milk cheese-this meal is totally Paleo!
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Mangos which I am obsessed with. Remember when I had over 20 mangos in my dorm room? Yeah, not one went bad :)<a
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See’s dark chocolate (left over from Easter…). One thing about avoiding grains is my desserts are mostly just dark chocolate, or Baker’s chocolate with raisins. This is likely keeping me sane. 
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Any Star Trek fans out there? Yes, my family owns a Starship Enterprise pizza cutter. 

In other events in my life, I finally picked up my new shoes, and they’re ever prettier than I was expecting!
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I wore them this morning for my 3 mile run and I’m in love! (Sidenote-I think 3 miles is my mental limit on the treadmill…) I can’t wait to wear them for my 10 mile run this weekend. To clarify, I can’t wait to wear the shoes, I’m terrified for the run!

Today also marked the beginning of summer quarter. I went down to school yesterday to get instructed on the research I’m doing for a Professor, and I went back today as well. It’s not glamorous work (looking at pictures of mouse carcasses) but hey, I’ll take it! Wednesday is my first day of Health Psychology, so I’ll be sure to share anything interesting I learn from that! Hope you all have had a great week so far, and have eaten some deliciousness!

What are you thoughts on Paleo? On food sensitivities?

Freshman Year Recap

Hey guys! I just finished a 5 mile run, and am now hanging out at Starbucks blogging while sipping an iced green tea. I feel like such a blogger! There are some posts I wanted to work on for a while! Sadly, Starbucks is having terrible internet right now, so I’m typing this up in a word document. Bad Internet=posts getting lost. Believe me, I’ve had a lot of experience with losing posts!

I’ve had a request to recap my freshman year of college, aside from the healthy living stuff. I know there are a lot of readers who are either going into college this year or in the next few years, so hopefully this will give you guys a little idea of what to expect!
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We had a week of Orientation before school started. There were various academic activities and opportunities to figure out what classes to take, and there were some ice breaker types of activities. I’m not going to sugar coat it-orientation was awful. Everyone I’ve talked to can look back and agree on this. There was a lot of meeting new people (whose names you probably won’t be able to remember right away, there are just so many), and about 50,000 of the same awkward-ish conversation: Where are you from? Where are you living this year? What are you majoring in? It gets old! Plus, during orientation, there was a little too much downtime for my taste, which can be kind of weird when you don’t really know people at all. I think everyone was ready for classes to start!

I was super on top of all my work for the first few weeks-college work, how exciting! (Yeah, that wears off). I was also super antsy before crew started. This time was kind of a mess for me because getting medically cleared was a pain in the butt-they required blood tests and an EKG. Long story short, I ended up having to get a ton of tests done on my heart (including an MRI), only to find out it was….normal. I was way happier once crew started-it was a ton of fun, and a great way to meet new people. 
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The only problem with crew is I was tired all the time, and I felt like I didn’t get to know the people in my dorm as well as I would have if I had more time. As far as academics go, Fall Quarter, I for the most part didn’t like my classes (expect for my Nutrition class, but that was only once a week). My Chem class was really poorly taught-everyone walked out of class shell-shocked on a regular basis. The professor was one of those people who is super smart, but has trouble realizing the scope of the students’ understanding. My math class was also the hardest (and worst) class I have taken, before or since. I honestly feel lucky to have survived that class. These things are quite humbling-there are people at college who just GET the stuff. 

One thing that is different in college is the type of work. It may seem like you don’t actually have that much work, but there is always more you can and should be doing, such as additional readings, reviewing your notes, etc (I could definitely be better at this). Also, problem sets usually take a lot longer than you’d expect, so starting them on the night before they are due isn’t a good idea (part of why Winter quarter kind of killed me). 

In college, times seems to disappear. Looking at your schedule, it may seem like you actually have a lot of time. I promise this is not the case, so don’t overcommit! Also, if you are like me, you may work much better in the library than in your room (I discovered this on the very last day of the quarter).
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Funny sidenote-none of my fall quarter classes involved any sort of papers or writing. I just had problem sets! I had to write a final 5 page paper for one of my classes though. I realized I hadn’t really typed much all quarter! I seriously COULD NOT type. Every other word was a typo. I still haven’t fully recovered from this typing hiatus-I still spell “the” wrong every single time. Thank goodness for spellcheck!

In terms of social life, it may take some time to find your group of friends. It may seem like everyone already is super close, but they aren’t! I was actually kind of concerned until Spring quarter when I stopped rowing and was able to spend more time with people in my dorm. 
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As I’ve talked about before, Winter quarter was kind of a train wreck for me. I took a few more units than Fall quarter and crew definitely picked up and became more of a time commitment. I fell behind in my classes, and didn’t sleep. Of course, at the time it probably wasn’t as bad as I’m making it seem, but I suppose knowing the end result reveals to me what led to that point. I mean, I was still getting all my work done. I just wasn’t spending the time I should have on Chem or Math. Most of my Math problem sets were started the night before they were due, and they were hard/frustrating because the answers were really ugly. And unlike most students who can just stay up all night before the problem set is due, I had my hardest crew workout of the week Thursday morning, so I really didn’t want to stay up late. Wednesday nights were not the best nights!

As you know, the end result was a really bad case of mono. I was just not treating my body well (stress, lack of sleep, tons of workouts), and eventually it rebelled. Long story short, I ended up in the emergency room twice, went to the doctors countless times, had to go home and drop 2 classes (I finished the other 2 through huge extensions on papers and dragging myself to one of my classes), couldn’t get out of bed for 2-3 weeks, watched 10 seasons of Friends in bed, and ended up with Mono, Strep Throat, the stomach flu, a cold, and a sinus and ear infection. Moral: avoid germs as much as possible, and don’t put that much stress on your body! Luckily the classes I dropped I could have been doing better in anyways, but it was a definite wake up call for me, leading to the very difficult decision to quit crew. 

Spring quarter was much less stressful for me, but it is kind of weird for me not to be devoting my life to a sport, so I was kind of going crazy. Next year I want to get involved in more student groups-crew was taking up all my time! But in the Spring, I did get to spend much more time with the people in my dorm, which was really nice! I’ve living with a lot of them next year! During Spring Quarter, I also joined a sorority, which introduced me to a bunch of new really nice girls.

For those thinking about rushing- I would recommend at least rushing, but don’t worry if some sororities drop you. Most people are happy where they end up. The rush process was kind of torturous. The first night we had to be there for 7 hours. Those 7 hours were spent having the same conversation with a ton of different girls (flashback to orientation!), and then this process was repeated the next few nights, but for less time each night. Not my idea of fun. Look out for informal rushes-they are often fun activities that you can go to that are an alternative way of joining. 
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I actually became close to the girls in my sorority really quickly! It is definitely a great way to meet people!

So…as far as advice goes, here it is:

  1. Your health should be your #1 priority. Academics may seem important, but if you are constantly sick (or get really sick once, like me), you will not be able to do well in your classes.
  2. Don’t compare yourself to other students. You will probably be challenged much more than in high school, and your peers will likely be smarter than your peers in high school. Just do the best that YOU can do; everyone has different strengths!
  3. Don’t overcommit-especially the first quarter/semester. This is the time to meet new people and have fun! College is a big enough of a change, so try to keep the added stress level as low as possible.
  4. On the other hand, joining some student groups is a great way to meet people.
  5. Other people are just as lost as you are, even if they don’t seem to be. My school has this concept of the “duck syndrome.” In general, my campus appears pretty happy and laid back. The belief is that because everyone seems so happy, people may be really struggling, but appear fine and happy. Above the surface, they are like a duck happily resting on the water, while below the surface, they are kicking around like crazy to stay afloat. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help!
  6. It really is easier to study in the library.
  7. If you bake in your dorm, you will have 80 instant friends. 
  8. If your dorm does trips or activities, go! They are super fun, and you will meet people.
  9. Do homework with other people. Odds are there is someone in your dorm who can help you with whatever subject you are struggling on. 
  10. Freshman year is a time of exploration. This is the time you can be a little crazy, with the excuse that you are a freshman. This is a time you can find yourself, apart from your parents. Note: I am not recommending you party every night of the week. Just consider trying new things and be open to new experiences and new people. 
  11. Make sure you have your key at all times, even when you shower. Just because your roommate is there when you leave, doesn’t mean she’ll be there when you return. I’ve never been locked out in my towel, but you hear horror stories.
  12. Be a good roommate. You don’t have to be best friends, you just have to be courteous. Gross smells are not okay. Try to be somewhat neat. If you have a problem, voice your concerns politely-it is much better than letting problems stew. Set some general ground rules at the beginning of the year if necessary. Be respectful of your roommate’s sleep schedule. I also recommend buying earplugs and an eye mask, so if your roommate is up late working, you can sleep. 
  13. Have fun!

 

Hopefully this was at least somewhat helpful!
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