Comments (7)

By Liz, October 21, 2009 9:47 pm

Good evening guys!

Today was not the typical Wednesday. Not in any super unusual way, it was just different in the way that I didn’t do my usual schedule of things. It kinda threw me off to tell ya the truth.

Anyways…

I didn’t get hungry for my lunch until 3:30. Totally not me, I’m usually starving by 11 or 12. Jacob packed me a really cute lunch today.

Happy! That’s what it looked like before I ate it…and here’s what it looked like after…

My salad included spring mix greens, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, radish, cuke, shredded chicken and goddess dressing. Super yum. One of the guys down in the bike shop gave me some candy today at work.

It’s almond toffee with dark chocolate. I can’t believe I was able to restrain myself and wait half the day to eat it after lunch. It was way way delicious. I forgot how much I liked toffee. I also had a pear.

Kona was very intrigued by my picture taking.

After eating my late lunch I did some studying then Jacob and I went grocery shopping. I bought two especially special items while shopping. One of them I’ll show you guys soon…but I’ll give you a hint : HEAB. The other special item that I got was Project Feed Me items.

This weeks items were two cans of tuna. I also caught up and got last weeks items, which were two cans of chili. If anyone doesn’t know about Project Feed Me, go over to Natalie’s blog and check it out. It’s a great way to help your community by donating items to your local food bank. I think it’s a great idea and am so happy to be a part of it. Great idea Natalie!

Dinner tonight was spaghetti squash with meat sauce.

I cut the squash lengthwise and cooked it face down on a cookie sheet for 45 minutes at 450 degrees. Then I ran the insides through with a fork and the result was stringy squash strands. I made a meat sauce to top the squash with. I sauteed onion and pepper, then zucchini and yellow squash, broccoli and spinach. Then I cooked up some lean ground beef seasoned with pepper and garlic powder and added that to the veggies once cooked. Pour in 2 cans of tomato sauce and 1 can of diced tomatoes, season with basil, thyme and garlic powder. Voila…meat sauce! I also made garlic bread with 2 slices of ezekiel bread smeared with butter and sprinkled with parmesan cheese and garlic powder.

This was a lot of food! I finished the bread but only ate about 3/4 of the squash and sauce. By the way, I made my plate all pretty and ready for a picture. Then I sat down to eat and totally forgot to take a pic! So, what you guys get is a semi-eaten dinner photo. Silly me!

I also accompanied my dinner with a glass of red wine. Just some two buck Chuck…nothing special.

I poured the wine in our new Halter Ranch glasses. Jacob made a comment after his first sip of wine that he felt so spoiled after all the wine we tasted on Sunday. We tasted some really great wine and the cheap stuff just does not compare! One of these days we’ll get a really good quality bottle, when we have a little more money.

A little homework is waiting for me tonight. Thank goodness it’s nothing crazy and I won’t be up till 11 or 12!

Goodnight folks. Sleep well!

Comments (5)

By Liz, September 28, 2009 1:24 pm

Hey guys! How’s the Monday going? Well, it doesn’t really feel like Monday to this girl because I worked all weekend, so I’m feeling dandy!

I woke up this morning quite sore from my run yesterday. I think my body is really reacting to me pushing the pace yesterday. I’ve been feeling better as the day goes on, which is a good thing, because I have a speed workout later at practice.

I was a hungry mungry this morning. I’m warning you guys right here and now, that my eats for the next few days will be random and may not reflect perfect nutrition because I am tight on moolah and am trying to stretch my food supplies until Friday when I get paid. So, anyways, here’s my breakkie.I made oats (which I am almost out of! Oh the horror!) with chia seeds and 50/50 milk and water. Then I mixed in flax and cinnamon. I topped it with peanut butter, the last of my dates and a small handful of trail mix, oh, and more cinnamon. I’m out of  bananas (Oh the double horror!) so this was a very banana-less breakfast. I think that every breakfast creation I make includes bananas. Now that’s a serious addiction, my friends. Oh, and to try and get some fruit in I had some grapes.

Off to work she goes! Lunch rolled around at 11:30…Here we have some leftover chili. This is a good picture to see all the ingredients a bit closer. Last night, everything was covered in cheese, so you guys couldn’t really see all the ingredients in action.I also had some semi-thawed frozen strawberries. They were really refreshing, because they were still slightly frozen.

And now I’m here, typing away.

I do have a special post for you guys today. Here goes…..

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Hydration and Running: Taking the H2o To-G0

So as some of you know, I recently bought a Camelbak to start taking on long runs and some easy runs. I touched roughly on the reasons why I bought it and why I like it. However, I have been meaning to go into a bit more detail and give a proper review on this hydration system and compare it to the other ways I’ve hydrated in the past.

When I started running again about 3 years ago, I worked my way up to long runs of about 8-9 miles. My fueling and hydration strategy was eating 1/2 a clif bar before heading out and taking some Gatorade with me in a regular old plastic water bottle that you’d buy at the gas station. Truthfully, it worked for me. I didn’t mind stopping every once in a while to unscrew the cap and take a drink. It bugged a little to constantly need to hold onto the bottle, but I just ignored it. I stopped this hydration strategy once Cross Country started. No one was bringing anything with them on long runs, so I just followed the pack and didn’t hydrate either. I can’t really remember if I felt a difference.

When I really noticed a need for fueling and hydrating during a run was when I hit a mileage PR that season of XC. I ran 12 miles for the first time…and it was hell! By about mile 7, my body just shut down. I feel that is the closest I’ve been to “hitting the wall”. I was getting dizzy, I could barely move my legs, I had to stop and walk, and I cried a little.  I can bet that if I had had a gel or sports drink with me, I would have finished feeling 100% stronger and better. However, I guess I didn’t really learn my lesson, because I would still run without anything in my system on long runs.

I started giving hydration another chance when I began swimming with a little swimming/triathlon group at my gym this past Spring. They all came to workouts with a water bottle full of sports drink. Some drank Cytomax, some drank Fluid, and other brands. I always brought nothing. It dawned on me one day, after a particularly hard workout that I struggled to finish, that maybe I could benefit from a sports drink. I tried out few kinds until I settled on Hammer Nutrition’s HEED. I love this stuff! It tastes great, doesn’t upset my stomach and most importantly it works for me. Sports drinks are not a one-size fits all kinda thing. You need to try a bunch of different brands and flavors until you find one that works for you.

Anyways, after seeing the difference in my swim workouts, and I DID see a big difference when I started to use a sports drink, I toyed with the idea of running with my drink. But how? It’s not the most convenient thing to lug 12-24oz of liquid with you while you’re trying to run quickly. So, the first hydration system I tried was the Nation Quickdraw Handheld Water Bottle.

I tried it out on a shorter run of about 4 miles to see what I thought of it, without being tied down to running with it for over an hour. Here are my thoughts:

Pros

• Hand stap was breathable and snug
• Pocket came in handy for my keys
• Price of 20 bucks was reasonable

Cons

• Made the hand I had it in feel weighed down
• Annoyed the heck out of me
• Hated having to switch hands holding it every few miles (I did this as not to create an imbalance of always holding it in the same hand)
• Had to stop to drink to avoid spilling sticky sports drink all over me

I tried it on a few more runs to make sure I hated it as much as I thought I did. I don’t use it much anymore. It’s okay to bring to the gym, or practice, but I will most likely not run with it again. After the handheld failure, I gave up on the thought of hydration during running. That was until I talked to Kass, in my swim group, and she reminded me that it’s important to hydrated and fuel on long runs. So, I thought of other options. I did not want a fuel belt. I did not want something bouncing up and down around my waist. That sounded uncomfortable and annoying. I remembered seeing a few other bloggers using Camelbaks (most notably Jenna and Caitlin) so I thought I’d try that. My work carries Camelbaks, so I tried a few on, ran around a bit in a few options and decided on this one, the Camelbak Female-specific Charm.

That next day at practice I tested it out on a 5-miler. The second I started running with it I fell in love! Here are my thoughts:

Pros

• Light-weight
• Don’t have to stop to drink
• Handy little pocket for keys or my camera (so I can take cool ocean pics during my long run! )
• Holds 50 oz of water, which is more than I need, but the option is there if I need a lot of water for a super long run
• Very minimal bounce! Which I think is the most important factor
• Adjustable shoulder straps and chest straps
• No chafing (for me at least)
• Price of about 35 bucks retail, which isn’t too bad, but I got it for cheaper at my work

Cons

• Need to spend a little extra time cleaning after use
• My back gets really sweaty
• The chest strap digs into my skin a tiny bit (but not enough for me to not want to use it)
• My ponytail sometimes gets stuck in the zipper during the run (female with long hair only problem)

All-in-all, the pros out way the cons, and for weeks now I have been doing all my long runs with my Camelbak and loving it!

So there you have it folks! This is my personal opinion and the solution I have found fits my own specific needs. Hopefully this helps a few of you guys who may be trying to figure out what your options are for hydration on the run. And boy are there a lot of options! And maybe you already have found something that works for you and you just enjoyed reading a fellow runner’s point of view on running and hydration. Keep on running (or just plain exercising) friends!

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I want to leave you guys with the cute cat picture of the day!That’s my roommates kitten, Kona, and he is just too adorable for words!

See you guys for dinner!