A Tale of Two Digits

Okay, no more job talk today! :P I actually had a big day in that I hit what I consider to be one of my biggest fitness goals.

I kinda-sorta slept in today and tried to make a fancy feast of french toast. However, I made the rookie mistake of over-soaking the bread in egg whites.

Still delicious, they were just super egg-y and fell apart on me. Had an orange dipped in almond butter on the side.

And don’t worry – I’m still eating lots of apple treats!

These apple oatmeal muffins have taken up the space in my freezer that’s usually dedicated to vitamuffins. Slathered in PB. Of course.

I couldn’t wait for lunch today so I could make a pita with my leftover roast chicken.

Do I even have to say this was good? :P Who needs deli meat?

I used a new-to-me hummus on the pita as well.

I’m told this is the closest thing to Sabra hummus that you can find in the Maritimes. It’s pretty darn good! I liked the garlic in the centre. Besides the presentation, it wasn’t anything to run home about though. President’s Choice Organics hummus, in my opinion, is just as good.

Theeeen, I waited 2.5 hours, mustered up all my courage, and hit the trails for 10 miles. That’s right my friends! Double digits!!!

This is a huge running accomplishment for me. I have no idea why, but I’ve always put double-digit runs on a sort of “pedestal.” I always thought they were so hardcore, and I’ve never considered myself hardcore at, anything!

I tricked myself into thinking that I was just going on a very long jog. No stress. It was a nice and sunny day out, 6 C (43 F) so not too cold. Not a lick of wind either, the river looked like glass.

My first 5 miles were easy, other than the fact that I was having tummy troubles. For the record, garlicky hummus and dark chicken meat do not make the best pre-run meal :P My stomach doesn’t digest high fat foods well, and I was very crampy/burpy for the first half. But, since this was such a long friggin’ run, it did eventually pass.

I did my usual 9 minutes running, 1 minute walking intervals. I went at what felt almost like a “jogging” pace for me. I figured, if I was going to run a whole 10 miles, they didn’t need to be high intensity!

After 70 minutes, I dug into my cran-razz Clif Shot Bloks. I had three left, so I popped one every 10 minutes (during my last three walking breaks). This was my second experience with these and I loved them! I was scared they would bring my stomach cramps back, but spacing them out made them easier to digest. They were easy to chew and swallow, and didn’t leave a gross sugary taste in my mouth like some sport gummies or gels do. They provided me with the perfect amount of energy to get back home :)

I was actually feeling good enough at the end that I skipped my last walking break, and even sprinted towards the end! Total stats:

Time: 1:44:17
Distance: 10 miles
Avg Pace: 10:25

I’m thrilled with that. I was secretly hoping to get it done in under 1:45:00. Now I just don’t know where to go from here When I started focusing on running after my triathlon this summer, it was my goal to get up to the double digits before it started snowing. Now that I’ve done that, should I just keep going? Should I lay off? Maybe I just won’t set any more running goals and do whatever the hell I want :P

Walking down the stairs to my apartment after was so hard. My legs were really sore to begin with today from all the exercise classes I’ve been doing. I was literally hobbling around. I immediately took a couple ibuprofen then foam rolled and stretched for about 20 minutes. Then I took turns icing my hips, knees and ankles while drinking a delicious smoothie.

• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 scoop peach-mango protein powder
• 2 big scoops plain yogurt
• handful each of frozen papaya chunks, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries and frozen raspberries (remember not that long ago when these were super cheap fresh? Boo.)

Here’s my “holy crap I just ran 10 miles” face.

Ha, I look a little tired. Rightfully so!!!

Dinner was another tofu quesadilla because the first one was so good.

• 1/4 block crumbled tofu
• red pepper
• red onion
• chili powder, paprika, cajun seasoning
• EXTRA cheddar cheese (10 miles deserves extra cheese, dontcha think?)

I had leftover potatoes and carrots from yesterday’s feast. Re-roasted and much better the next day. The chicken grease made them crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside.

I always put the salsa on top of my quesadillas as not to make anything soggy. Plus it’s more fun that way.

Yumm, perfect recovery food!

Thankfully, I’ve regained mobility in my legs. My upper body was surprisingly stiff too, either from tensing up or my camelbak. But that’s back to normal as well. Tomorrow will definitely be a rest day. Then maybe some light activity on Saturday to get my muscles moving and blood flowing again. Praying I don’t wake up with a Charley Horse tonight!

 

Question of the day: What’s your biggest fitness achievement so far? I talked about this on Brie’s blog before. But being able to run 20 minutes straight was a huge one for me. Others include swimming my first kilometre, squatting an olympic bar for the first time, and of course, the triathlon! And now running 10 miles!! :D

Baconator

Hey friends! Well, today was less apple-filled, but “Apple Watch ‘09” continues. Ellie’s concerns of my turning into an apple may in fact be legitimate! :P

Before getting to my lovely breakfast, I was up at 5:30am to make it to a spin class before work. As always, it was awesome! Chugging a glass of iced coffee beforehand makes all the difference for me. Today we had a different instructor. An older guy who wasn’t quite as intense as the younger girls we usually have, but you could tell he was suuuuper nice. I pushed myself really hard just because he was so polite about it! :P

Okay, then I came home and re-heated the steel-cut oats I made before bed last night.

For a two serving batch I cooked:

• 1/2 cup steel cut oats
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• lots and lots of cinnamon
• 1 chopped macoun apple

The directions said to let simmer for 30 minutes, but it didn’t feel like that long at all. I measured out half of it this morning (can’t trust my post-spin judgement! :P ) and topped it with almond butter and Fluff watered down a little for optimal drizzling.

This bowl was epic. I actually meant to put applesauce on top too, but I got too excited and forgot! Good thing I still have another bowl’s worth in the fridge ;)

I had a cah-raaazy busy day at work today. Covered a trial all day long, and spent what should have been my lunch break chasing after protesters in the woods. Pita was eaten in the news car.

Deli chicken and cottage cheese with all the veggies I could find in my fridge.

Carrots to round it out…

Yeah, haven’t been taking pictures of my week-day work eats because it’s still always the same thing – pitas with veggies or fruit. This isn’t a rut either, I just love it!

Ended up working super late and got started on a tofu quesadilla the second I walked through the door.

I crumbled the tofu up in a frying pan with some onion, red pepper and mushroom, dousing it in every spicy seasoning I have. Topped it with some quality jarred salsa (or, as quality as it gets anyways).

Because people like to say saaal-sah.

Now, you’re probably wondering why this post is called “Baconator” when I had tofu for supper. Well, the fabulous and adventurous Emily the Experimentarian sent me some bacon-flavoured goods she sampled on one of her Freaky Food Fridays. I love bacon. I love mints. Why not bacon mints!?

I like candy too!

It almost had the texture of raw bacon.

Thankfully, it was strawberry flavoured. I actually really liked this stuff! It’s no secret I have a soft spot for candy and corn syrup. Even when it’s shaped like raw meat :P

I especially appreciated this warning…

The mints however, were much more interesting. They were actually smoky smelling like bacon. I had to call in back-up for this one.

Chris was scared, but he wouldn’t admit it :P

He said “Ew. Minty ew. I already had bacon once today.”

I said, “Tastes like rubber tires.”

NO to bacon mints. YES to bacon-shaped strawberry flavoured gummy strips :P Thanks for the Monday night entertainment Emily!!!

Don’t forget! Tuesday is your last day to enter my giveaway! You’ve got till 5pm Eastern time (I figured most of you haven’t heard of Atlantic time, which by the way, is 6pm my time :) )

Question of the day: What’s your favourite candy? If we’re excluding chocolate here, my favourite is just plain ole’ suckers or Twizzlers.

Chris’ question of the day: Am I bacon you hungry?

Top of the Muffin to You!

I’ve got a lot of food photos for today! Some days I don’t bother taking pictures of all my eats, others I’m all over it. Today was the latter, so let’s get to it shall we?

I reeeally wanted to make protein pancakes for breakfast this morning, but my plain cottage cheese had gone bad. I know tasting foods is always the best way to tell – but ew. Sour dairy freaks. me. out.

Anyways, the alternative was pretty stellar regardless – oats in a jar!

It was 1/2 cup oat bran, 2 cups water, 2 tbsp protein powder, cinnamon, raisins and almond butter, of course ;)

Looks disgusting but it’s ooohh sooo good. This is the best way to use up the hard nut butter at the bottom of a jar :)

 

I had the morning off, which meant time to go to step class! It was a different instructor today, she wasn’t as awesome as the last one. But the class was packed with energetic ladies, which perked me up! The moves are starting to come a little easier now. I noticed it felt like I wasn’t working as hard, so next time I’ll add a riser to my step (now that I’m almost sure I won’t fall of :P )

I was a sweaty mess when I came home. My shirt was soaked through! I stuck it out though so I could have a snack first.

Half of a homemade protein bar and a couple clementines. Or tangerines. Little citrus fruit??

Since I was eating lunch at home today, I skipped the usual bread or pita and went straight for a giant salad. 

• romaine lettuce
• yellow pepper
• onion
• tomato
• sundried tomato tuna
• Mediterranean cottage cheese

The awesome thing about putting cottage cheese on salads is that it not only ups the protein but acts as a dressing. Yum!

And since I’m photographing everything today, there’s the usual sweet ending.

I feel like I need something a little sweet to end every meal. So I like having half a square of Lindt chocolate. It’s only 25 calories, so it’s not like I’m breaking the bank. This is the fleur de sel kind. Just enough richness to tame that sweet tooth!

Unfortunately, big salads never hold me over that long. So I was snacky all afternoon.

I had some Mary’s crackers with soy nut butter.

For some reason the soy nut butter tastes awesome with these crackers. This was my first time buying them. They’re alright – really hard and crunchy. I’ve never been much of a cracker person though, so I probably won’t spend the $4.50 on them again.

I haven’t been having the best day mood-wise, so I decided to give the whole “baking therapy” thing a try. I’ve been wanting to make muffins forever, so I went to the queen of healthy muffin recipes – Steph Chows.

I opted for the Cinnamon Roll Muffins based on the ingredients I had on hand. I don’t have any pumpkin though, so I subbed it out with a banana.

I think I may have been a little too aggressive with my “swirling,” a lot of them just came out looking mangled! :P

 

I of course ignored all cooling rules and had one immediately.

With a little melted earth balance. Do I even have to say it was good? They taste more like cinnamon-y banana muffins.

The baking did help my mood a little too :)

Supper was totally random. Which in my kitchen always = delicious.

A tempeh sweet potato quesadilla and broccoli.

A wonderful combo actually! I pan-fried a cubed tempeh burger and miniature sweet potato in cajun spices then put it on an ezekiel tortilla with mozzarella and bbq sauce.  Squeezed in the george foreman and dipped in salsa!

I’m leaving for Windsor on Friday, so I’m trying to go the week without getting food. Should be interesting!

Work this evening was a boring city council meeting, but included the highlight of my day. My dad stopped by!! He’s a lawyer, and in town working on a case. Our schedules don’t really match up over these next couple days, so he popped into the media booth to say hi. I’m a total daddy’s girl, what can I say…

More muffin snackage happened upon my return to the office.

Stuffed with a little PB… times two. This is why I don’t bake!!! I actually froze half the batch. Cheapest frozen muffins I’ve had in a while. Take that VitaExpensive. :P

Now I’m curled up in bed. Anticipating the results of my first slow cooker experiment.

Ooooh…. What could it be?? :P Gonna have to wait till tomorrow! Night night!