Feature Friday- What I Ate In A Day

Happy FRIYAY! I hope you have something fun planned this weekend! I've got 2 x 8 mile runs on my schedule and am teaching skiing both Saturday & Sunday, so most of my weekend is already planned, but hopefully I'll get to fit in something fun one of those days. I wanted to share with you what I eat on a typical training day because nutrition is important! I've never been one to count calories, but I try to eat smaller meals (especially when training for a big race) every 2-3 hours and never limit myself to no sugary items or alcohol (but I'm not too into that stuff most of the time anyways). 

This is what I ate on Wednesday when I had a double workout (9 miles w/ 6 tempo miles in the AM & a Pilates Jumpboard Reformer class at my lunch break). I like to do my strength training days on my hard workout days to really fatigue my legs and keep my easy run days as a great recovery day. If I'm not working out hard (less than 70 minutes), I typically will only eat a banana before running in the morning (with my coffee & an 8 oz glass of water).

**I also consumed 4 * 32 ounces of water (plus maybe a little extra- not including my Nuun tablet & Natural Calm cup of hot water**

Before AM work-out: Coffee with a bit of Hazelnut Creamer/ Collagen Peptides (I LOVE this stuff) & Toast/Honey Almond Butter/ Half of a Banana & Caffeine-infused Active Nuun Mango Orange Tablet (I do this before my hard workout days)

After AM work-out: Starbucks Bacon, Cheddar, & Egg Sandwich & Beet/Spinach/Blackberry/Plain Greek Yogurt/Quarter of a Banana/ Cinnamon/ Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (I made a big batch of smoothies and then split them up throughout the whole week)

AM Snack Before Pilates Reformer: Run Fast Eat Slow Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies (I made these a few weeks ago and froze the ones I didn't eat right away) & Banana

Lunch: Chicken Sandwich (Canned Ground Chicken/ Light Mayo/ Sprouted Bread), Baby Carrots, Spinach w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette, & Almond Sea Salt Crackers PLUS a cute little beggar

PM Snack After Lunch: Luna Greek Yogurt Protein Berry Bar

Dinner: Brinner! Totally not pretty, but it was pretty tasty! 2 Eggs, Ketchup, 2 pieces of toast (butter/ 4 berry no-sugar-added jam), and 2 pieces of Bueler's Breakfast Sausage & Natural Calm Raspberry Lemon Hot Water

After-Dinner Snack: Chocolate Cashew Milk!

Friday Feature- Why Running Las Vegas Will Be Extra Special & 5 Things I'm Doing This Weekend

I recently came across this article posted on Women's Running Magazine and it really got me thinking how the events that occurred on October 1st has made running on the strip even more special. While the starting location was set to begin at the same site that the incident occurred, it has since moved (but not yet announced where the new location will be). I am (of course) excited to still have the opportunity to run, but now I actually have more drive to run for those that lost their lives or were seriously injured that fateful night at the country music festival.

I will channel any pain that I have back onto the strip and push through because I CAN. I'm grateful to have this opportunity to run and not back down when it comes to gun violence. I will stand with other runners on that starting line and utilize that as a platform to stand-up against the atrocity that occurred October 1st.

Every day someone could find a reason to be scared, but I will not let those who chose violence over love and compassion get me down.  

With Alex away (guy's weekend at the casino), Stella and I are on our own, so it's a perfect time to catch-up on all those Fall things that I've yet to do (or well...more like chores that still need to get done):

1. Jewelry making for my MS Run The US fundraiser! I can't wait to share with you my finished products and sell them at the Artisan Fair here at the beginning of December!
2. Collecting items to do an online garage sale, also for a MS Run The US fundraiser. There's definitely quite a few items that already come to mind that I've been dying to get rid of...
3. Napping. A LOT of napping will be going down. We also just got our Casper mattress (it.is.HEAVENLY), so any excuse to lay down I'm taking right now ; )
4. Cooking up some goodies. I'm thinking I may make these Cheddar, Bacon, and Green Onion cornbread and some chili (we also just made chili last week), but it's my favorite meal come Fall!
5. Going out for a hike. Not sure where yet (or how the weather will be), but I need my fix of trails this weekend!

Any fun plans this weekend? 

Any good recipes that I should make or fundraising ideas? I need more!

Weekend Activities

Does anyone else ever feel like the weekend went by so fast that it actually didn't happen? We were relaxing on the couch Sunday night after a crazy weekend and I felt like it was still Friday night and we had 2 full days to fill with so many great activities (boy oh boy was I WRONG!). 

Friday I started off with an 8 mile run on the treadmill binge-watching Gilmore Girls (definitely a #guiltypleasure of mine) and then had a serious craving for a bagel and cranberry juice. Luckily we have ONE bagel shop in all of Steamboat that could cure me of my hangriness. 

The rest of the day went by relatively smoothly and we got out early (wohoo) so the weekend was here! We had leftovers (so glamorous, I know) and got some chores done (hellooo endless amounts of laundry- does it ever stop? and cleaning out the car). 

Saturday we originally planned to go for a hike, but the weather showed a pretty good chance of storms so we put that on the backburner. I had 8 miles to do, so I headed into town and did a little over a mile before my Power Barre class at Steamboat Pilates Studio and then did the remaining 6.85 miles afterwards! Talk about a seriously long work-out session. The class was really challenging and I knew that I would need to push through the rest of my miles (luckily I just had an easy pace scheduled so I could take it as slow as I needed and just get the miles under my belt). It didn't go as bad as expected and I met up with Alex & Stella afterwards to go check out the Farmers Market! We both got Falafels for lunch and shared a lemonade. 

The rest of the day was spent doing some grocery shopping and cooking! I made the mustard-glazed chicken thighs from Practical Paleo and twice-baked stuffed jalepeno sweet potatoes (find the recipe on my Recipe Pinterest page!). Both things were seriously SO good.

Photo was taken before they went in for their second bake!

I also made some homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies (those were gone by Sunday night), Superhero Muffins from Run Fast Eat Slow (for breakfasts this week), and roasted some beets for smoothies!

On Sunday (rest day), we finished up chores in the morning (lots and lots of cleaning!) and then headed out for a short hike with a few friends. I can't believe I didn't take any photos the entire time! So unlike me, I know.. Just take my word for it- the view of the lake below was beautiful! 

I did some meal-prepping for the week ahead and for dinner and made up this lovely salad for lunches for the week and dinner Sunday night with Salmon. Super easy and it had: Spinach, Arugula, Onions, Strawberries, Sesame Seeds, Feta, Broccoli, Thyme, Salt, Pepper, and basil. 

We headed out Sunday afternoon to the lake! We live less than 2 miles away from it and this was our first time being out on the lake. We just got a kayak so we wanted to test it out and rented a paddleboard (since the kayak was a one-person). I ofcourse ended up falling in the water on the paddleboard after getting a bit toooo cocky in my abilities and trying some warrior 2 yoga poses... I held it for a good minute and while waiting for Alex to retrieve the camera, fell in. It was pretty funny though and luckily the water wasn't TOO chilly.

That was our weekend full of chores, activities, and a little bit of rest! I'm excited to get back to a week of training and another long run on the schedule this coming weekend. 

How was your weekend?

Thoughts on splitting up a run between a work-out class?

Ever tried yoga on a paddleboard or paddleboarding?

Weekend Things!

Last week felt like it went by so slow (and it was only a 3-day week) and then when the weekend hits, it goes by in a blink of an eye! Anyone else feel this way?? We were blessed with BEAUTIFUL weather here and it was hot. 

We slept in Saturday morning and didn't even get up until 8:30! I can't even remember the last time I slept in that late- we got over 10 hours of sleep Friday night. Definitely finally feel well-rested from our trip. 

I got out for an easy 7 miles (at the gym because sleeping in + over 80 degrees + no cloud cover= too hot to run outside) then 20 minutes of arms/abs. Here's a photo of my run on Thursday because it's too pretty not to share!

After getting home, we just relaxed for the evening! I finished reading up on the Hanson's Marathon Method (training plan I'm starting this week for the Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll Marathon in November) and it really is an interesting/unique perspective on marathon training! I'm starting to follow the 3:50 marathon training plan, but will alter it later on if I feel like the work-outs are either too hard/ easy.

On Sunday, I worked on putting their work-out plan into my own homemade calendars!

The calendars are now up on our fridge and I love that I also added in the paces that I need to hit for each work-out and think this training plan will be both fun/a challenge. 

Rewind to Sunday morning and this view with my coffee:

We took Stella out for a walk around the lake Sunday afternoon and she just had to get in a swim too. 

We came back and I started doing some meal prep for the week. Hoping to also fit in a run later this afternoon/early evening when it cools down a bit, but we'll see! I'm trying to relish in the last few days of an unstructured training plan before mine starts on Wednesday. 

Also totally obsessed with How To Get Away With Murder right now- anyone else watch this?! So happy that I can watch Netflix at the gym again, since I'll need to start doing more afternoon training runs to prep for the late start that Rock 'n Roll Vegas has (the marathon starts at 4:30pm). 

Finishing up my recap on our Hello Fresh experience and I'll post it over here in the next few days so be sure to check back! We weren't too impressed with Blue Apron, but decided to give this one a chance.

Ever tried HelloFresh?

Favorite training plan?

Are you currently training for anything?

Favorite Netflix show you're watching right now?

Ever Try Blue Apron? & New Training Plan!

We are one day closer to FRIYAY! Have you ever tried Blue Apron before? I was pretty skeptical to try it, since I really love making my meals from scratch, picking out recipes, shopping for the ingredients, and making my own creations, but since we're going on vacation next week and I'm still in the post-marathon lazy-phase, I figured it would be a good chance to try it out and leave us with less leftovers/fresh produce in the fridge to throw out! I also got my first 3 meals free from Hungry Runner Girls' post, so that was a pretty good deciding factor ;)

It was pretty exciting to come home and see the box sitting on our doorstep! I really love shopping for food, but also really love the ease of having meals already planned out for us. Plus, who doesn't love coming home to a package?!?

All three meals (we got the 3 meal, 2-person plan, normally $39.95) came together and they came with the recipe sheets like the one above. I really love that all the food is hormone free, farm-fresh seasonal products, and the sheets are really detailed! I chose to cook up the crispy chicken tenders with fresh zucchini, and roasted potatoes! 

The entire meal prep, oven preheat, cooking, and reading the directions took about an hour (the recipe card said that prep should take 15 minutes and cooking should take 20-25 minutes), I took my time to let the oven preheat and also read over the recipe a few times, so I think that's why it took me a bit longer. The recipe was pretty detailed, so it's a good thing I read over it a few times!

The meal even came with an aioli dipping sauce for the tenders and potatoes and a chimichurri seasoning to coat the zucchini with! I liked this part of the meal because it gave me a few more ideas to create new sauces for veggies and switch things up a bit. The meal turned out really delicious and fresh!

We have two more meals to cook and I currently have another week of scheduled meals to try after our vacation (easier than planning it out when we return). I'm not sure if I would do Blue Apron all the time since I really do love recipe planning and shopping for organic local produce, but could see myself doing this once and a while to switch it up! Overall, the price wasn't too much considering that everything is measured out for you and it's three meals for two people (serving sizes are really generous).

If I lived alone this would be really inexpensive as I would utilize the leftovers for both dinners/lunches for the entire week and would just need to worry about breakfast/snacks! Keeping my meals healthy and fresh!

Still no running for me, but I did make it to the gym yesterday! 20 minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes on the stationary bike. Barely broke a sweat, but felt SO good to move my legs again!

I also ordered the Hanson's Marathon Method book and can't wait to dive into it this weekend and begin planning for Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas Marathon in November! 

Just finished my book about the Appalachian Trail, so I needed to order a new one for our vacation next week (since hopefully we'll get to spend a day at the Ocean)! I heard super good things about this one and cannot wait to start it.

Ever tried a service like Blue Apron?

Do you like to meal plan and prep or would rather just utilize a service to have your meals all set for you?

Training cycles- do you always use the same one or try different ones? Do you have a favorite go-to training plan?

Currently reading?