My Fitness Pal and PICTURE TIME

Why has it been so long?  Because I have joined a website called myfitnesspal.com.

Basically - it's Facebook for people who have fitness goals.  It's a place to track and celebrate you success and track and figure out your trouble spots with people who are like minded to you.   I highly recommend it to anyone looking to train for something, or lose weight.. or even just track their food for the hell of it.  I've learned a lot from that website.

Essentially when you set up your profile, you enter in your goals and your time frame for you goal along with your personal h/w details.  Then... it calculates how much you need to eat (not just in calories but in protein, fiber etc) and how much you need to exercise in order to reach said goal.  It can be extremely eye opening.  I mean.. i know sbux is bad for me but did you know that even the "slim sensations" muffin at Mcdicks has 380 Calories in it?  Since when is that slimming OR sensational?  NOT WORTH IT.  Anyway... since starting that site I have seen a pretty exciting 3 pound weight loss.  WOOOoOO

The food log is probably the most benificial part to me as I feel like I can't hide anything anymore.  My fave quote being.. "What you eat in private shows on your body in public".

I do feel like I lost weight upon starting my running adventures ... but since I am highly against scales and how they make me feel... I will never ever know.

I DO know that my clothes fit great... and I feel smaller.

I also know that... my shins are KILLING ME.  Shin splints are death!!!  They are bad to the point of bruising on my shins.  It looks like I got into a fight with something... or just walked into something.  But I didn't.  I just ran my tush off and BAM.. bruise action on my legs.  I think this is because I've really started to kick it up a notch.  I've been doing longer distance running every other day - outside.  Yes.  Outside.  Which is tough!  I don't know why but my sense of timing is really different outside as opposed to inside on a treadmill.  I do know that I can run a pretty solid 8 km without stopping.   I do know that i run at least 6 km every other day.

CN wants me to mention how awesome he is right now.  So yes.  He is awesome.  But no this blog isn't about him.  (sorry dearest).

Back to running... well.. no speaking of CN - still pretty scared to run with him!  I don't know why but I find that when I run with people (especially him)  I get all self conscious and my breathing goes out the window as I try to push myself into his gazelle like pace (stupid.. long legged ... lean muscled boyfriend...).  Another one of my goals is definitely to be able to run on par with him.  Without feeling like a complete idiot.

True story.

Anyway.  I feel like an embarrassing picture is long overdue SO HERE WE GOOO!!!


I don't know if you can see a difference... but... i feel better walking around in my skivvies.  So that's a difference in itself.


A

Mexican feasting

Hit the treadmill again yesterday and did my hour.  Starting to have some doubts about if I will actually be able to do this without an 'official' training program ala the Running Room training programs.

These are my thoughts...

a)I sign up as planned for the May 15th Half.... which map wise online doesn't look scary (because it's itty bitty!)...
OR...
b) I continue what I'm doing and take the next half Running Room training program (that starts in June) and continue that for four months with the goal of running the Scotiabank Half in October.

It doesn't help that CN is skeptical about me being able to do it now.  Yes... I can run straight for an hour.  But I've never run the distance of a half marathon before.  Perhaps it's an idea to head over to the route and attempt to run it - see how well that goes... and gauge from there what my plan of attack is.  

Shin splints have started to be an issue... and treadmill boredom has become an issue (COME ON SPRING).

I have stuck to my previously mentioned goals.  I've upped the anti on my workouts.  Today was a doubled up day... I did Booty Beat and a Zumba class - which was a blast AND kicked my ass.   There's nothing like getting a sweat on while doing a cowgirl dance move.  Hilarious.

I also cooked again my my Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook.  I am definitely starting to wish I had started cooking more from this cookbook sooner!  Everything has been DELICIOUS.  I told you about the Mexican Lasagne (with the tortilla instead of noodles)... well last night I made this amazing salad called "Nacho Ordinary Taco Salad".  (Cheesy titles to each meal are a wee bit of a bonus folks..)

Anyway.  It was basically romaine salad topped with an extra-lean ground beef mixture (beef, onions, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, chili powder, tomatoes and ketchup) topped with corn, black beans, green pepper, tomatoes, cheese, salsa, plain yogurt, and sliced avocado.   NUMMERS.  I liked it a lot because I felt full after one serving, and while cooking it... I knew that lots of really healthy things were going into my body.  I was excited to make and eat this beast.

Here is a recipe should anyone want to try it out  *** note... I did not make any dressing for mine, and found it absolutely scrumptious without it ***

Na-cho Ordinary Taco Salad

Eat Up, and Cheer Up!!!  

Rainy Saturday

May isn't far away.  People are starting to ask about what date the Half Marathon is so that they can come cheer me on at the finish line.  People at work.. my mom.. and even regular customers at my store.  Hello pressure how are you?

Last time I blogged I wrote about wanting to step it up.  I've been doing that this past week.  I did 3 runs with number 4 planned today and one class PLUS a dance call for an audition. (which I got a callback for that happens next week)... It's been a good body week. So good in fact that my shins and calves are crying out in shin splint, fatigued pain.   I haven't been 'injured'  at ALL this whole journey.  I'm not really down with starting that now.   I know I need to rest but I also know how crucial it is to keep moving so that I don't lose my motivation.  I may need to step on over to bike land and spin for a week until my legs have healed a little bit.

The only thing iiisssss...... I'M A COMPETITIVE MOFO.  I have such a rawry inside that needs to up everything and be my best.  I don't like getting shown up after training for like.. 6 months.  It makes me feel like I haven't been training well enough.  So as much as I love the gym... ad my run... I like doing it alone.  Then I can push myself as I want to and not worry about the speed the person next to me is running.  When I run with CN - I'm watching his treadmill.. i'm watching his pace... and feeling a wee bit insufficient as I know if I run at his.. 7.5 pace that ... I will die.  My short little stumps can't go at that pace for an hour.  

Anyway.  That was a little rant inside a rant.

Made a great lasagne last night from the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook! It had soooo many delicious and healthy ingredients.  It was a Mexican inspired Lasagne.. no noodles - instead it used whole wheat tortillas.  CHECK IT OUT!!!  MAKE IT!!! EAT IT!!! Enjoy!!!  Here is a link to the recipe.  

Mexican Lasagne  
Instead of ground turkey - I used extra-lean ground chicken.  Enjoy!!

I dont have anything else to say right now!

Ta!