Monday, April 5, 2010

Hiatus

Good Monday Morning everyone! I am not in good shape this morning. My stomach is killing me – not sure if it’s cramps or Easter food buffet re-take. Ugh. I just hope it goes away soon. I’m sitting with a heating pad on my tummy – the heat helps the cramps.


I apologize for not blogging this weekend, but I was taking a little hiatus. I really wanted to concentrate on relaxing and unwinding over the weekend. Plus, I had a lot of miscellaneous things that were keeping me occupied. Now that the warmer weather is approaching, I’m finding that I don’t have that much time to blog!!! I not only have inside chores, but also outside chores as well. This change in schedule has prompted some thinking about how to achieve balance in my life – having time to take care of responsibilities around the house, exercising, reading time, family/Vlad time, and blog time. Plus, “work” needs to fit in there somewhere. :)

After thinking everything through, and being realistic with myself I’m going to make some changes on the blogging front. Right now, I’m blogging 2-3 times a day sometimes more. From this point forward, I’m going to cut back on blogging so many times a day. Instead, I’ll really concentrate on blogging about exercising, training for the half marathon, NEW foods I try, restaurant reviews, NEW or tweaked recipes, etc. I’ll also add other snippets of things that I think are interesting. I’m not going to blog about my entire day anymore though. Overkill! I hope that you’ll keep checking back on my blog for new entries – I’ll still blog almost every day I’m sure – I’m looking for more quality now than quantity… make sense?

On that note – here are some food highlights from the weekend:

Dinner on Friday night - whole wheat couscous, steamed green beans, and baked chicken breast! Mmmm!  I ran 4 miles for my half marathon training on Friday evening - this yummy dinner was totally needed!

After my 7 mile run on Saturday (yes, 7miles!!) I made a strawberry banana smoothie.


In the smoothie:  6 frozen strawberries, 1 banana, 1 cup plain non-fat yougurt, 1/2 cup skim milk, 1 TBSP flax seed meal.  This smoothie was delicious!!!

Oven potatoes for Saturday night's dinner.  I cut up two baking potatoes into diced pieces, drizzled olive oil on top along with a few seasonings, spread on a baking sheet, and baked at 400* for 40 minutes.

Delicious!

First grilled hamburgers of the season on Satuday night!  Yummy! (Lean ground beef & seasonings)

EASTER BRUNCH

Carl, his parents, and I went to Fanny Hill bed & breakfast, and restaurant for Easter Brunch.  I didn't take any photos though.  Sorry!  I do have a couple of pics of us though at Fanny Hill.  See the Easter bunny in the background?



Easter wonderland.


Here's what I did have to eat at Fanny Hill:

2 mimosas (OJ and champgne) - love this drink!

1st Plate:
~ honeydew melon and strawberries
~ one small blueberry muffin
~ 1/2 cup of cheesy hashbrowns
~ 2 sausage links
~ 1/2 cup of scrambled eggs

2nd Plate:
~ two slices of ham
~ 1/2 cup of butternut squash ravioli (this was delicious!)
~ 1/2 cup of cauliflower
~ more honeydew melon
 
Dessert:
~ Carl and I split two desserts - a slice of lime cheesecake, and a slice of blueberry poundcake with major frosting.  We didn't eat most of the frosting, it was just too much.
 
MMMMMMMMM!  Brunch was delicious!  I was really, really full!
 
 
HALF MARATHON UPDATE
 
Friday night I had 4 miles scheduled to run, which I did!
 
37:00 min
4 miles
450 cals burned
 
Saturday was my first really long run.  At least, this was a really long run for me.  I have never run 7 miles straight through before.  I was so nervous before I got on the treadmill.  I didn't want to let myself down, but at the same time had doubts that I could do this run.  Eeek!
 
I ran with my ipod, listening to tunes, instead of watching tv.  I knew I was going to have to really focus to get through this, and music helps keep me going during long exercise stretches.
 
The first 30 minutes were fine.  I ran at a regular pace for me (6.5-6.6mph), nervous that if I over did it I wouldn't be able to finish the run.  Around 40 minutes in I started to get a little flighty (this is usually my stopping point when running), ready to be done and get off the treadmill.  I had to calm down and refocus myself by staring at a knot in the wood on the wall.  (Concentrating on the music, and finding a focus point really help me with running long distances).  I did calm down, and caught my second wind around 45 minutes into the run.  Around 55 minutes, I got off track again, and had to refocus myself.  But, I made it! 
 
7 miles
1 hour 5 min
650 cals burned
 
WOW!!!  Keeping my pace pretty steady throughout the run helped a lot.  There was probably no way I could have gone up to 6.8 mph and finished without completing wanting to die.  I can't believe it!!!  YAY running!  PLUS, my knee didn't hurt after the run or on Sunday, which was a REST DAY.
 
Today I have 4 miles scheduled, which will be a piece of cake now after Saturday!!! 

1 comment:

Libby said...

Whew. You're back....I was a little worried about you. Good to see you have decided to strike a balance....way easy to spend too much time on the computer. Everything in moderation!

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