Comments (5)

By Liz, November 11, 2009 9:37 pm

Okay, so I’m a bit ticked right now…my 3 month old 250 buck camera has something wrong with it. Okay, I’m not ticked…I’m pissed!

Anyways….now that I got that off my chest….

I bet you are all biting at the bit (or not ) to know what the “special” purchase I made on Sunday was. Well the wait is over…

Vibram Five-fingers baby! For anyone not aware of these amazing shoes, read about them here. In short, Vibrams are the ultimate “unshoe”. Wearing these is essentially like walking around barefoot. I personally LOVE being barefoot, and I think most people prefer to not wear shoes. I will be using these for walking around, working out, daily activities and running. So what do they feel like you ask? Well, you feel everything under your feet. Every rock, every change in surface. You feel very attune with your surface and surroundings. I warmed up and cooled down with my Vibrams on Monday and I warmed up with them on Tuesday, as well as walking around all day at school with them. They take some getting used to, and there is definitely a break-in period. I am not ready to wear these 100% of the time yet, but I am working up to that. What I can definitely say thus far is that these shoes (or unshoes) are amazing! I have fallen in love with them, and cannot wait to be able to spend more and more time wearing and running in them. Vibrams rock!

So lets see…what the heck have I been up to these past few days?

The most notable parts of Monday include:

Running an awesome workout: 5 miles including 1mile warm-up, 3 min, 4 min, 5 min, 4 min, 3 min all ran hard then a 1 mile cool-down. Loved running in the Vibrams for the warmups and cooldowns!

Hugh jass taco salads, with blue corn chips and salsa.

Aaaannnd…spending all evening and into the wee hours of the night working on a speech that I procrastinated on until the night before it was due. Ahh, good times.

Tuesday was the usual school, school and more school. I think I rocked my speech, even though I didn’t prepare as much as I should have. Also, in English my teacher used my paper that I turned in last week as an example of A+ work. I was really humbled by her praise for my work. Totally put a smile on my face! My mandatory sweat sesh was an easy 4 miles with the xc team.

Wednesday…nothing too special here. Breakfast was exceptional though.

I had some leftover pancake batter in the fridge from Sunday. I also had about 1/4 cup of pumpkin in the fridge, too. My genius brain decided to put the two together and make pumpkin pancakes! Topped with pumpkin butter, almond butter and walnuts…this was a pancake breakfast made in heaven. Oh ya, there was some maple syrup on there, too.

The whole spread:

Lunch was pretty darn good too.

That’s 2 slices of ezekiel bread stuff with mashed pinto beans, 1/4 of an avocado, red pepper slices, spinach, carrot, radish and tuscan dressing. This sandwich pretty much rocked. It was accompanied with blue corn chips and strawberries. Yum!

Workout today was 40 minutes on the elliptical, 15 minutes of swimming and about 5 minutes of ab work. By the way, have you guys checked out Angela’s Whittle Your Middle challenge? I’m totally on board!

Dinner tonight was pretty quick, thrown together and unspecial. Also, my camera has been taking totally crappy pictures as of tonight (there is a line running through the middle of all my pictures)…so I will not be including those pics.

I’m watching Glee right now…totally addicted to that show!

Nighty night guys.

Comments (6)

By Liz, November 4, 2009 11:19 pm

Hey guys! I have been really slammed with life in general lately, so I apologize for my lack of posts. However, I am here to chronicle my past few busy days. There are some interesting tidbits to discuss!

Okay so Monday!

I ate one of these….

Have I mentioned that I am in absolute love with Chunky Strawberries? Haha, I am truly obsessed!

I did some Trader Joe’s shopping and got some crazy cool stuff…like Sprouted Wheat Bagels (yum!), Pumpkin Butter (yummier!) and Peanut butter filled pretzels (the yummiest of yum!). I got other things too (like 5 jars of peanut butter-what addiction?) but those 3 items are definitely the standouts of the bunch.

So, the real excitement on Monday began after I got home from work and TJs. This was the day that I was finally able to get some new running shoes. My old shoes are kinda…what’s the word?…GROSS! They smell like dirty gym socks and are covered in dirt…not to mention that the cushioning is completely worn out and I have put almost 700 miles on those babies. Yep, it was time for a new pair. So, Jacob and I ventured down SLO to get me a new pair. Sadly, the only stores that sell my shoe are 45 minutes away and my work (running shoe store) doesn’t carry my brand. Okay, so I get to the first store…don’t have my size. I get to the second store….don’t have my size. At the second store though I got a new pair of racing flats that were only 20 bucks!! I couldn’t pass that up, especially because there are holes in my old ones. But, I still didn’t have the prize in hand. I went to a third store…and they didn’t have my size! I was kinda pissed. We had just spent precious time and gasoline to go down to SLO to buy me some running shoes that I was in desperate need of, and we came out fruitless! However, we made the best of the situation and decided to go out to eat for a dinner date. We ended up going to get Indian food, because Jacob has never had it before. Oh, that boy needed to be enlightened. Now, I’m a bad blogger and didn’t bring my camera with me. I wasn’t planning on needing it, as I thought my shoe expedition would be a quick one. But let me just tell you, the food was amazing. I definitely ate my fair share…plus a pint of beer. Hey, you gotta live a little! We don’t go out to eat very often, so I thoroughly enjoyed our night out. Only drawback, we got home kinda late from out unexpectedly long outing that I had to stay up late and do homework. Boo!

Tuesday was pretty run of the mill. School, school, school. The most notable part was my speed workout at cross country practice. I did 2×200m then 4×800m then 2×200m. It was a very fast workout. The first 200s weren’t timed. My 800s were supposed to be at 3:24. My actual splits were 3:21, 3:18, 3:16 and 3:13. My last 200s were :45 and :40. I was a speed demon! Again, I exceeded my coach’s and my own expectations regarding my abilities. I’m very proud of myself. Total, including warm-up and cool-down, I ran 4 miles. SoCals here I come!

And now we have arrived at Wednesday, good ole Humpday!

My day started off with a swim. I created a good little workout for myself: 2oom warmup, 6×300m. Between each 300 I would alternate either 10 pushups or a 1 min plank. I did 30 pushups altogether (a few of them were girl pushups) and 3x 1 minute planks. Total, the swim was 2000m. It took about 45 minutes.

Okay, so I gotta throw this out there….I have a new addiction. Lately, I have just been craving coffee! Yesterday and today I stopped at Starbucks and got a tall black coffee with 2 pumps pumpkin spice and a splash of half and half. Boy of boy, this is good! I need to refrain from making this a habit though, as my bank account will slowly get drained if I do.

Next order of business…breakfast…

Featuring 2 of my TJs foods: Sprouted Wheat Bagels and pumpkin butter. The other half my bagel is smeared with peanut butter. And if you didn’t realize, that yellow blob in front of the bagel is eggs.

Work work work…uninteresting leftover soup was consumed with a pear and my other super cool TJ find:

Whoever thought to put peanut butter inside of a pretzel was a genius!

Look what was waiting for me when I got home!

My new pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 12s! Since no stores had my shoe, I resorted to buying them off the Internet and I got 2 day shipping, because I needed these guys bad! The Wave Rider is my all time favorite shoe ever. They were my first shoe when I began cross country in high school, and I haven’t gotten sick of them yet. Yay for new shoes!

Check out my old pair:

Can you say “well worn”? These were subsequently thrown in the trash. The stench was so bad on these guys, I couldn’t even keep them or kick-a-round shoes. But first, I had to get a side by side picture, so y’all could see the striking difference.

Go Mizuno!

I also bought two nifty items at my work today.

1) a new pair of Superfeet for my insoles.

These were recommended to me by my podiatrist when I broke my foot two summers ago. I’ve been wearing them in my running shoes ever since. They add a bit of arch support and really cup the whole foot so it feels comfortable and locked in place. These are great and I highly recommend them. It’s cool also, because they sell them at my work, so I get a discount…yay!

2) My second item was a pair of Skins compression tights

I have been wanting a pair of these for forever! However, I didn’t want to spend all the money (they retail for 100 bucks!). I just found out about a program that the Skins company offers to store employees (not Skins store employees, but employees of stores that carry their products) that gives them 30% off wholesale, which brings the price down to 40 bucks. That’s a big difference! So, I bite the bullet, and decided today was the day to get me some Skins. Check out the website on the link and read about them. This product may be expensive, but I can already tell that these work! My legs feel fresher and less sore. These will especially come in handy when I’m riding in a van for 5 hours down to LA for SoCals tomorrow. I’ve been hanging out in these all day.

Pretty darn comfy. My legs feel awesome. I’ll give a full review on these at a later time when I can test them out a bit more.

I spent most of the afternoon today baking my Superpowerfood muffins for the team tomorrow. Sadly, they turned out a little burnt, but they taste okay. I also made homemade Larabars for the first time. I used this recipe. They look just like a Larabar!

I took a little nibble and they taste just like a Larabar, too! I made PB & J Larabars, although I have ‘t had the real version yet. I used dates, dried cranberries and peanuts. Simple and delicious. I made these because one of the girls on my team is hypoglycemic and can’t eat flour or refined sugar. So, I wanted to make something that she could eat, too. I hope she likes em!

The rest of the afternoon included some of this…

and this…

(Barbara’s Shredded Oats in fat-free milk)

plus I did some homework. This evening I had a work meeting where I was served chili, salad, rice and bread for dinner. No pics though, it didn’t seem appropriate. More homework after that…and now I am here, typing away.

I’m pretty exhausted. I’ve had a busy busy day. Tomorrow I am leaving for SoCals at around 10am. I still need to pack and stuff…but I’ll do that in the morning. I’m racing Friday morning at 10:30 (send those vibes my way!) and getting back Friday evening. So, till then…tata for now!

Gotta catch some Z’s. Night guys!

Comments (7)

By Liz, October 28, 2009 10:12 pm

Ahh, another hump day is over. Wednesdays are always pretty darn stressful for me. I actually didn’t think I had much homework this week, but since Tuesday I’ve had quite the load of assignments piled on me. But hey, I’m halfway through the semester…so I just gotta get through it.

I was planning on getting up early to workout this morning, early as in 6:30. However, my plans changed quick once the alarm went off. Instead I slept in till 8 and had a leisurely breakkie.

It was an oats in a jar kinda morning. Sadly, this was my last jar of peanut butter. *moment of silence*

This jar of oats included 1/2c. oats and 1 tbsp. chia seeds and 1/2 an apple cooked in water, cinnamon stirred in at the end and topped with walnuts. But of course the shining star was the ooey, gooey peanut butter lining the jar. Ahh, the simple pleasures of life my friends!

I made my lunch, sipped some tea and watched the Today show before heading out the door for work.

At work I got another large shipment of Asics shoes in, so that took up a good 3 hours of my 4 hour shift. Lunch was had around 11am. I got hungry for lunch really early today.

Lunch was a whole wheat tortilla wrap filled with 1/4c. of hummus, 1/4 of an avocado, lettuce, carrot, broccoli, radish, grape tomatoes and about an ounce of fresh parmesan cheese. Here are the innards:

For dessert I had that pear peeking out from behind the wrap.

Since I had lunch so early, I got hungry right before my shift was over. I was planning on working out after work, so I munched on half of this clif bar for a pre-workout snack.

Workout today was an easy recovery day at the gym. 45 minutes on the elliptical (incline 4, resistance 10, avg stride per min 165). Then I did some core work, lunges and squats with a 10lb medicine ball and 3 sets of 10 pushups. After that I swam a relaxing 1000m in the pool, which took about 20 minutes. The other half of the clif bar was eaten immediately after working out. I was pretty famished!

Post workout snacking this afternoon included a hard boiled egg:

Jacob was my lovely hand model for that pic. My other snack was the super special thing I got at the store exactly 1 week ago. Remember my hint was HEAB. Well, sorry to disappoint you Allison, but it was not almond butter (although almond butter is pretty spectacular). It was actually…..drumroll please…a Kambocha squash!

Those are 3 of the 4 quarters of the cooked squash. I prepared my squash by following the directions on the sticker that was on the squash.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 370 degrees F and cut squash into quarters.
2. Get baking sheet, place quarters face down on sheet and fill the bottom of sheet with water (I think the water prevents the squash from sticking to the pan)
3. Bake for 30 minutes
4. After 30 minutes, turn squash over and top with a mixture of 1 tbsp melted butter, 1/4-1/2c. honey, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake for another 20 minutes.
5. Eat up the wonderful goodness!

Here is the quarter that I munched on immediately after baking:

I gotta say, this squash quite literally rocked my world. I was a bit wary to try it when I first saw it on Heather’s blog. No offense Heather, but you have quite the adventurous palate and I was a bit intimidated. But boy of boy what this squash good! The texture was buttery and smooth…almost creamy. The taste was slightly nutty, almost bland…so the honey and spices really helped kick it up a notch. I now have a tupperware full of cubes of Kabocha goodness. You can bet you’ll be seeing this for a while around these parts.

Let’s not forget about dinner though.

I had a mini steak seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder, sweet potato fries/chips baked the usual way in 425 degree oven tossed in evoo, salt, pepper and cumin, and a huge pile of steamed green beans. Oh, and tons of bbq sauce of course!

You know it’s Halloween time when the candy starts coming out!

One of my roommates bought trick-or-treater candy yesterday, so dessert was pretty obvious. I couldn’t decide which one I wanted more, a Take 5 or a Reese’s cup, so I just had both. I’ve been good though and kept these off limits to just after dinner and only 1 or 2 candies…no more!

Okay, well I still have some major studying to do…the story of my life.

Oh wait…I almost forgot to tell y’all how the race went yesterday! Quick recap: I ran a 22:41. The course was hilly and the weather was crazy windy. That was also a PR for that cross country course. My teams’s #1 girl won the race, and our girl’s team as a whole won 2nd. The guys team got 5th. It was our home course, so we totally represented. Like usual, I always have doubts about my performance, and I know I could have pushed a little harder. But all in all, this was one of my best races all season. So…yay for me and yay for my team. So Cals here we come!

Good night guys!

Comments (8)

By Liz, October 24, 2009 4:26 pm

To peanut butter! I just realized as I was uploading my pics that every single meal I’ve had today has involved peanut butter. Haha, I’m sure many of you guys can relate. There are worse things in life than peanut butter addictions though.

Anyways, how’s everyone’s Saturday going? Mine is plugging along. I only have about an hour left until I’m off work and then home sweet home it is. I feel like I’ve been way boring lately, just sitting at home when I’m not working or running or doing the school thing. I need some good ole fun in my life! When the time comes…when the time comes…

On to the eats!

I woke up at frackin (Battlestar Gallactica anyone?) 6:30am on a Saturday morning to get to the gym before I had to be at work. That’s dedication I guess. Before I left I munched on 1 Nature Valley Peanut Butter granola plank.And then I was off for a serious sweat sesh. Well, not too serious! I did 45 minutes on the elliptical. I always say “45 min on the elliptical” and realize how vague that is. I actually did 45 min on the elliptical at level 4 incline, 10 resistance and averaging about 160-165 rotations per min (think it’s per minute). I watched some Sabrina the Teenage Witch while working out. I laughed out loud a couple times…such a classic show…ah the good old days! After elliptical monotony fun, I did about 10ish minutes of abs (swiss ball jackknifes, planks, side planks, russian twists, rope climbs, leg lifts, bicycles, side crunches). I don’t really do the typical sets/reps stuff with abs. I get way to bored…so I just do a bunch of random ab exercises, repeating a few, until I feel a major burn. Ab burn=good! Then, I hopped in the pool and busted out 1000m in just under 20 min. Whew, good long recovery workout!

I was pretty pressed for time when I got back from the gym. Shower, dress, pack lunch, breakfast….I made a smoothie to-go. My green monster contained 1c. skim milk, 6 frozen strawberries, bananer, 2 tbsp. peanut butter and lots o’ spinach (probably 2 cups). My smoothie matched the cup. I also had the other granola plank from the package for something solid to accompany my GM.Works been “eh”. Like no customers and me trying to find things to do to keep busy. My tummy said lunch was as 1pm.Just some leftover soup that Jacob made on Thursday. It’s the Rachael Ray soup I made a couple weeks ago. There’s a little parmesan stirred in there too. I paired my soup with a pear. But where’s the peanut butter in this meal? Oh yeah! I had a spoonful of peanut butter to fill the void in my stomach just a bit more.Totally licked that spoon clean!

Snack time was just a little bit ago, which was celery and peanut butter.

I know…I’m soooo boring! But I just love celery and pb…and I’m the type to just crack out on a certain food or snack for like a week, and then you won’t see it again for a few months. However, my celery and pb obsession has been stickin around for a while now.Nom nom nom. By the way, I’m almost done with Omnivore’s Dilemma. Less than 100 pages to go! Right now I’m in the section about hunting and foraging your own food. Very interesting indeed.

Okeedokee. That’s it for me! Have a good night and hopefully you are all having a blast somewhere doing something!

Oh…and if you didn’t notice already, I’ve been doing larger pictures. They seem clearer and easier to see being larger. Love ‘em, hate ‘em? I’d love to hear some feedback.

Adios!

Comments (3)

By Liz, October 21, 2009 11:28 am

Hey guys! Can’t tell you have great it is to be in the middle of the week. Monday and Tuesday were busy busy days for me.

On Monday I woke up early and got in a sweat sesh at the gym (45 min elliptical plus 10min core) then I went to work for 4 hours, where I was busy with customers, inventory and cleaning. Then I rushed up to Laki Naci to clean a woman’s house. She had more cleaning planned for me than I expected, and I was cleaning till almost 10pm! So, my monday was pretty packed. But I made some good moolah, so it’s all good!

On Tuesday (yesterday) I had school all day. Luckily, I didn’t have tests or huge assignments due, but my brain still needed to be on for 7 hours. I do want to highlight the super awesome and speedy workout I did yesterday at Cross Country. The gals had to do 3×1200m repeats. The group I was running with had to hit all our splits at 5:18-5:24 min. Here were our actual splits: 5:24, 5:18, 5:15. Each interval I felt like I was getting slower, yet I was actually speeding way up. I think I get so psyched out sometimes that I’m going to slow down that I actually speed up. Weird huh? Anyways, it was a great workout and made me feel very confident for the super important regionals and so-cals coming up soon!

And by the way, I watched this movie called Secret Window last night, starring Johnny Depp. Woah, this movie was intense. Very interesting, and not the typical thriller. Highly recommended.

So, now we are here, at Wednesday! Getting over that hump!

I could not figure out what to have for breakfast today! I didn’t want my usual oats, but I wanted a hot breakfast. I didn’t have enough time to bake something though. I munched on this muffin while trying to decide.

The woman who I clean for on occasion gave me a huge ziploc bag ful of healthy muffins and cookies. She’s an amazing baker! This muffin tasted like it had coconut and pecans in it.

I searched in my cupboard and pulled out some 7-grain hot cereal I’ve had in there for a while. I cooked up that and topped it with a bananer, 4 chopped dates, a huge dollop of peanut butter and a splash of skim milk.

This was good, but just not as good as oats. However, it was something different, and my taste buds appreciated that.

Currently taking a break from a big inputting of inventory in the computer system. We got a huge shipment of Asics shoes and some winter gear. Fun stuff.

I’m tapering down for the next month on exercise, preparing for regionals, so-cals and hopefully State! So that means more rest days, faster workouts, not as many long runs and no weight training. I’m kinda love/hate about this. It’s kinda nice to not have such a rigorous workout schedule, but I just love breaking a good sweat everyday! So, no workout for me today. I’m planning on doing some abs later today, just to feel like I did something.

Adios friends!