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I WANTED to Love It…

Hey guys! Day 1 of school is officially donezo. Only 9 more Mondays until Christmas break! Yippee? Gotta love the quarter system.

I woke up bright and early to get ready for my 9am. For me, the fact that it was bright therefore meant it wasn’t early. Yep folks, 7am wakeup. Everyone complains so much about 9am classes (8ams don’t exist here…) but 7am? During the summer, my sleep in day was 6:15!

Here’s my obligatory first day of school selfie. Notebook and all.

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And check out the view outside my dorm. What a beautiful morning!

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I had class straight through the morning, back to back. But guess what? My 10am and 11am are literally in the classrooms next door to each other. #winning 

My class schedule stinks this quarter. No getting around that. I think I’ll like my MWF morning classes best though since they’re not lab classes. 

After class, I went to put some time in at that lab. To give me energy to power through, I ate this thing. I actually liked it! 

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Aaand then I went to empty my bank account buy books. Guys. Apparently I’m taking all the expensive classes this quarter because the price of books was INSANE.

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It was like nothing else. Last quarter, I think I only spent $100 on books. But this quarter? Crazy. And these are not all new books, mind you.

I then proceeded to make myself a dorm lunch. Spinach+egg white; papaya. SImple yet delicious!

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A little while later, I was off to Crossfit at my new box! I ended up driving, but I think I’ll try biking next time since it’s a 5 minute ride just to my car and the box is close. On the schedule for this week is entirely Crossfit “girls.” I haven’t done many of them before, so I was a little intimidated. 

The workout was “Helen”- 3 rounds of 400m run, 21 KB swings, 12 pull ups.

My overall opinion of the new box? I just didn’t like it. I don’t know what it was. The people seemed nice enough. It didn’t really have that Crossfit vibe I guess-and I have a better idea of what I’d want in a box after visiting 3 in Maui. I can’t exactly place what it is that I didn’t like. Maybe it was the warm up, or just the set up, or the equipment? I don’t know. I only signed up for 1 month, so we’ll see if I come around before then. There’s another box equally close to school, but my old Crossfit owner had nothing but bad things to say about it, plus it’s a more rigid schedule and more expensive. So we’ll see. I REALLY wanted to like this box. I was prepared to adopt it as my own immediately, but for some reason I left just missing my old box. I also don’t feel like my body has been through hell and back like I did at my home box.

Back on campus, I stopped for a quick dinner. Dinner was winding down since I was on the late side.Image

I usually go for the prepared salads because they’re easy and pretty good, but this was just was not. It was too creamy and the lettuce was SOAKED. Normally the salads are some type of lighter dressing, like oil and vinegar. Meh. And I had carrot cake for dessert. I don’t hate that I did that, but I certainly don’t want to get into the habit of always having dessert. 

Meanwhile, I have too much energy. I feel like I haven’t worked out hardly at all today. I’m going to try and kick up the intensity of the day overall a little tomorrow. I’m doing a morning track workout, and then Crossfit in the evening. If I still don’t feel properly tired out after Crossfit (and I don’t have too much work) I might do a spin workout on my own. 

So that’s that. Tonight was pretty disappointing. I have a sorority meeting in a little bit, and I’m going to try and resist the temptation if there is any food, because I know if I eat sugar that late I’ll never sleep. 

Also-I did decide to do flag football! It’s not as much of a commitment as it originally seemed.

Have a great night everyone!

Have you ever been disappointed by a workout?

 

The Wrong Feet Forward

Hey all! A lot has been going on lately, so let’s do a bit of a brain dump. 

1. Today I half-moved into my dorm. I unloaded all the stuff from a storage unit, plus my bike and food. Which turns out to be pretty much everything except for clothes and me. Image

2. Instead of carting my protein powder and cocoa powder to the dining hall to make a smoothie, I put together some “smoothie mixes” with cocoa powder, xantham gum, and chocolate protein powder. Just add milk, banana, and ice!

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3. I absolutely killed this WOD last night. I knew it was up my alley-any time when we do only a few reps of a heavy lift is my forte. Since lifting over speed is more of my strength, I’m never the first to finish the workout. Well, on this one, I lapped everyone in my class and was the fastest of the day. I didn’t Rx it-hardly anyone did, but I still did the deadlift heavier than almost everyone. #winning

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4. I decided to start my Mini Whole30 today, instead of having an entire day to think about and go crazy eating all the things I won’t be eating for the next week. Success? I think so. Image

Mango iced tea, chicken chop salad, plantains. 

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Egg whites, potatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, spinach; topped with avocado and nutritional yeast, plus bruscetta. A side of papaya. 

5. It was really awesome seeing some of my friends again! I love all my blog friends, but it was great to see real live people. 

6. I recently ordered a ton of things online, and my boots just came! Thoughts?Image

7. I had THE WORST run today. It was a 5 mile run-I started off at a good pace, but I made a poor shoe decision. GIven I can barely stand to run in my normal shoes, wearing my Brooks (which cause me the most foot pain) was probably not the best move. For some reason I got it in my head that they would be better. Running is becoming kind of tortuous. I had to keep stopping to walk because it felt like I was running on knives. And it’s so annoying because it’s definitely a shoe issue-I just can’t find any shoes that work. I think minimalist shoes would be better. Anything with a completely flat inside. The problem is the part on the inside of the shoe where it’s slightly raised where it’s supposed to be between your foot and toes. That just digs into my foot, hitting a nerve. After today’s run, I can’t even imagine my 11 miler this weekend. I got custom inserts made, but I conveniently don’t get them until AFTER both my 11 and 12 milers. Awesome. I have one more trick up my sleeve to try-my old running shoes which I LOVE (but are really old and worn out) plus a cushier insert to help take out some of the impact. It’s just REALLY frustrating. I swear, on some of these runs I’m THIS close to going shoeless. Grrr. Well, at least the scenery was pretty.

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I hate my feet folks. 

8. I’m a little bit Crossfit obsessed. I know I really SHOULD skip it tomorrow-I’ve gone a lot this week, plus have to run and go to Spin tomorrow, but I’m sort of drooling over the workout. I guess I’ll see how my legs feel tomorrow evening. 

9. Today was my last day in the kitten nursery. 🙁

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Happy Friday!

What’s going on with you right now?

Ready to Run

I can’t believe I’m going to be living in my dorm in a week. Where did the summer go? Since I’m pretty local, I’m going to do kind of a “rolling” move in. I have a ton of stuff in a storage unit, so I’m going to take all that on Thursday, and then move in completely on Saturday. And then wake up Sunday and do the brutal run I have planned for myself. It’ll be my first hilly long run. 

Let’s back up a little bit. Let’s talk food. And workouts. I cleaned up my eating habits a lot since coming home from vacation, and have been hitting it pretty hard on the exercise front. And I can definitely see and feel the difference. It’s incredible what healthy eating can do for you! I’m concerned though that I’ve given myself too much energy as a result because I can’t fall asleep at night! But that could also be jet lag. So here are some eats.

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A salad with spicy avocado hummus, avocado, onion, tomato, and a runny egg. I’m loving the hummus salads right now.

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Caesar salad with grilled chicken. I’m trying to see how many different types of chicken salad I can eat. 

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Sunflower seed butter on toast, plus a white nectarine from what will probably be my last farmer’s market visit in a long time.

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A new fall recipe for you guys! Baby Pumpkin Pie.

Other things:

I’ve still been having the same foot issues when I run longer distances, despite the inserts for my shoes the foot doctor recommended. SInce I haven’t had full feeling in my toe since my race over a month ago, my mom has been insisting I see the foot doctor again. I finally took a look at my inserts and realized they weren’t taking pressure off the right spot, so I made an appointment. I’m getting expensive (booo) custom made inserts that are supposed to solve the problem. Yesterday, I got the mold of my foot taken, and I should get them in about 2 weeks. However, I still have 2-3 long runs before then. I decided to try my hand at carving out a hole in the base of some old inserts to try and relieve some of the pressure. DIY at its finest.

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However, I didn’t get a chance to try them out before tomorrow’s 10 mile run, so I’m really hoping it will help. Hope for a more comfortable run, combined with a few light workout days has me more than ready to tackle this run. I forced myself to take yesterday off of Crossfit because I had gone 4 days straight and on Thursday my legs were donezo. Now, I feel much more rested and have an excess of energy!

Today, I also did a little back to school shopping to avoid the dust storm going on in my house as a result of my parents cleaning everything out. I really want boots so I can wear workout pants all the time and pass it off as acceptable. I didn’t find the ones I was looking for though. Fashion question-do black boots go ok with black leggings?

Naturally, I didn’t exactly stay on task.

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When I get the new laces for my new shoes, these will match PERFECTLY. I admit it, Nike shorts are my weakness. 

Here are some other things I picked out:

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I’m in love with infinity scarves right now. I’ve vowed not to wear regular scarves anymore, because I can never figure out how to wrap them and make them look good. Speaking of which, I started knitting my own infinity scarf! So we’ll see how that turns out!
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I’m sorry this post was all over the place-I had a lot of random things to talk about. 

What’s in your back to school shopping bag? What are you looking forward to most about fall?

Suddenly It’s Fall

Is it me or did fall just sneak up on us? When I left for vacation, it felt like summer (despite the sky looking a little like fall). When I came back, that was it. It was fall. At Crossfit last night, it was dark and windy; fall weather. I’m ready to embrace it. As much as I’ve enjoyed my summer, I’m ready for the productivity and routine that fall brings. Plus the pumpkin bread. I wish I would like the Pumpkin Spice Latte, but I know I won’t since for some reason I can’t stand sweet coffee. 🙁

So what’s going on with me? Jet lag. I couldn’t fall asleep very well last night, which was unfortunate given today was a 5:10am wakeup (aka 2:10 in the timezone I was stuck in!). Then, my needy cat kept me up all night. I’m pretty sure he spent the entire time we were gone sleepy and being lonely.

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He spent all night meowing, playing loudly with his toy mouse, and climbing all over me. I gave up on sleep around 4:30 and tried to get my WIAW linked up, to no avail. 

Spin was good though, especially since I was already awake. After spin and reading some blogs, I was more than ready for a nap. I slept maybe 7 hours total the last 2 nights, and it finally caught up with me in the form of a 3 hour nap. 

Later that evening, it was Crossfit time. It was my first Hero WOD, since it was September 11. Hero workouts are named after a fallen soldier, and are usually long and hard. 

Today’s included overhead walking lunges, tons of box jumps, wall balls, and handstand push ups. I finished in around 28 minutes, so this one wasn’t crazy long. I should have stayed afterwards to clean but I was just done so I went home and ate.

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We made Asian chicken salad, with teriyaki chicken breast, snow peas, mandarin oranges, and onion, topped with an Asian-style dressing. I sweated buckets during Crossfit so this was the perfect refreshing meal. 

Although I haven’t really PRed any lifts this summer, I definitely feel stronger as a result of Crossfit. I mostly haven’t PRed because I haven’t had the opportunity to try for one. It’s a little hard for me to see the strength gains I’ve made since I was fairly weak to start the summer. With rowing all school year, I didn’t lift much, and the lifting I did do was not that great. Plus, Mono really knocked out a lot of strength. I’m probably stronger than a year ago, but it doesn’t seem like as much as it is since I spent most of the year weaker than I was a year ago. I was also thinking about my favorite WODs-I like the ones that involve Olympic Lifts. I also like the WODs where you have to break up the workout not because I’m out of breath or my muscles are burning, but because I can’t physically finish the lifts if I don’t. That really is a great feeling.

The one other thing I want to talk about today is shoes. I mentioned that I got these guys for non-running workouts/walking:

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So here’s the question-I’m not a huge fan of the pink, so should I swap out the laces for neon green ones? Will that look good? Since everything in my wardrobe seems to be shades of blue and neon green, I’m almost always unintentionally matching. Exibits A, B, C, and D.

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Actually, all of my workout/running shoes are blue and neon yellow/green. Thoughts?

Should I swap in neon green laces? 

WIAW- A Healthier Vacation

Hello, hello! I’m back from Maui, just in time to celebrate What I Ate Wednesday. Thanks to Jenn for hosting, although I’m sure she’s super busy with her adorable new baby!

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This post will cover the last couple of days of vacation plus Tuesday. First, I wanted to talk a little bit about being healthy on this vacation. My family’s vacations are often centered around food. And in Hawaii, with so many delicious things around-how could it not be? To be honest, I was a little nervous leading up to the vacation about staying reasonably healthy. The last time I went to Hawaii was almost 4 years ago. I remember getting back from that trip and being 10 pounds heavier than I left. I was not aware that was possible. While I may be a tad flabbier than I left, it certainly is nothing significant, and I returned feeling healthy and strong. So what changed?

1. I didn’t go crazy on desserts. Last time, I remember eating so many chocolate covered macadamia nuts that I felt sooo sick. While sure, I ate more sweets than normal, I didn’t really gorge at any one time. With the exception of a very large piece of chocolate cake that left me feeling off for 2 days after…

2. I split meals. Restaurant portions are often huge (especially at touristy places). Before the trip, my mom and I agreed to split things and it worked out perfectly. We didn’t split a couple of times and both agreed afterwards that we should have.

3. I exercised. I continued to follow my half marathon training plan, so I ended up running 4 times on my 10 day trip. I also visited a few local Crossfit boxes- in Lahaina, Upcountry Maui, and Kihei. Some of my favorite days of the trip were the days I got a tough Crossfit workout in, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. On one of my no-workout days, I was feeling really sluggish. I busted out a quick 5 minute workout, and I felt like a different person.

4. Eat a healthy breakfast. On vacation, we generally buy food to eat in our room. I was really excited for all the tropical fruit. A healthy breakfast helps you feel good going into your day. Example A: my tropical yogurt bowl-plain yogurt, mango, banana, passion fruit, sunflower seed butter.

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I came home feeling pretty strong. Before I get into a ton of delicious food, I wanted to talk a little about the last Crossfit I visited- Crossfit Kihei. I had heard from another Crossfitter that they weren’t very friendly. Well…that was kind of right. Myabe they don’t get as many visitors-I don’t know. I wasn’t exactly comfortable the whole time, in contrast to the other Crossfits where I felt like part of the team. The coach was really uninvolved, and there was no group warm up. Plus, for the WOD, I Rxed it when I really shouldn’t have. It was 50 snatched with squats mixed in. No one else Rxed it and I ended up finished wayyy after everyone else, which was a little embarrassing as I was just a visitor. It was a good workout though so I can’t complain. My shoulders really are feeling it today. 

Ok-food time!

Vacation food:

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Turkey sandwich which I got for the avocado-plus it has cranberry sauce-how fun!

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Ice cream! I regretted this choice. I don’t like coffee…and this didn’t have quite enough fudge. Oh well-you live and you learn!

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Salad with bleu cheese and asian pear.

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DELICIOUS dinner-macadamia crusted Mahi Mahi with pineapple salsa, jasmine rice, and veggies. My dad and I split this, and they were kind enough to serve it on separate plates.

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Lilikoi (passion fruit) cream pie. 

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Chocolate cream pie. Sooo funny story. When my family ordered these desserts to share, my dad asked the waiter for 2 forks…for himself. And yes, he did use both. My family takes our dessert seriously.

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Airplane food. You know you’re a blogger when your first instinct is to snap a shot before eating, even on a plane. There were a few pieces of lettuce under there for garnish-you better believe I ate those-vegetables are vegetables!

Aaand that leads us back to today. This morning I ate my typical pre-run breakfast-a ThinkThin bar plus fruit, and ran 8 miles. I would be so much faster if my foot wouldn’t act up! Regardless, I didn’t worry too much about pace. PRing this race will be hard since it’s a very hilly course (Nike Women’s in SF). This weekends long run is 10 miles. And that will be my last flat long run. I have a very hellish run planned for the 11 miler. Anyone from around Palo Alto knows the Dish trail-yeah, that will be smack in the center of my 11 miles. Kill me now….

I went to Whole Foods for lunch and groceries. Image

I’m in love with Probiotics.

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Chicken, avocado and kale salad, chinese chicken salad, and a few fried plantains. I’m starting a mini Whole30 a week from Friday (I’m doing 7 days), and I want to try to ease myself into it. I’ve been thinking about it, and the list of things I wouldn’t want to give up to eat more Paleo is shrinking. Hummus for salads. Goat cheese. Laughing cow. Gummy vitamins. Run fuel. That’s about it. In the future, I may be sort of Paleoish. The big thing for me is watching the grains and sugar I eat since my blood sugar seems to like to crash.

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I also couldn’t resist trying these since I love dark chocolate. They’re good!

For dinner, we made Greek salads topped with spicy avocado hummus and a runny egg. 

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I also got another kind of hummus to try, which I ate with cucumbers. It’s really interesting and different!

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And dessert was some of the pineapple we brought back from Maui. So good. 

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A couple of random other things- I got new shoes to replace my walking around/general workout shoes. My old ones were blue and neon green. The new models are blue and pink. I don’t know about the pink though…What do you think? I might get neon green laces. That way I can accidentally match still since all my clothes seem to be neon green and blue.

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And lastly-my haul of Crossfit shirts from my trip! I swear, all I bought on the trip were 3 t-shirts but my suitcase was waaaay more full. Huh.

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And I’ll leave you with that! Have a great day!

How do you approach vacation? Has anyone done a Whole30? Tips? 

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Coffee-yay or nay?