Babble Babble

I keep forgetting to mention this, but be sure to check out Melissa’s (from For the Love of Health) giveaway.  It is seriously a smorgasbord of delightful items!  The deadline is Thursday, but if you forget to enter the contest, that’s okay with me, I totally want to win it!

I made a serious monster of a Green Monster this morning, it was really only so big because I added a ton of ice, but I wanted more girth to my monster this morning (TWSS!).  It tided me over nicely, but there was watermelon and cake at the office this morning, so I made myself a little plate.

I had been craving watermelon like I was pregnant yesterday because I was so dehydrated, so I HAD to have some.  Plus, the cake helped brighten up my monday morning!

Lunch was out of a box – hey, it happens.  I tried the Amy’s Kitchen Asian Stir Fry.

Picture from www.amyskitchen.com.

I forgot to take a picture, oops!  I love Amy’s, but I was not impressed with this meal.  It was too soupy and mushy, but oh well.  I had a few more hunks of watermelon with it.  I just can’t get enough!

So, after reading this post by the incredible Caitlin I decided I needed to add some more structure to my workouts if I ever really want to be a good runner.  I decided to start with Hal Higdon’s 5K Training Program for the novice.  It’s an 8 week program and even though I don’t have a 5K in 8 weeks (I might do a midnight 5K on July 26th, but that’s undecided) I figure it will get me in better shape and then I can begin the 10K training program, which will end right around the time of my first 10K in October. 

Here’s what’s on the training docket for this week:

 Mon: Rest of run/walk (I’m doing yoga and maybe elliptical)

Tues: 1.5 mi. run

Wed. Rest or run/walk (same plan as today)

Thurs: 1.5 mi. run

Fri: Rest or run/walk (I like a program that tells me to rest!)

Saturday: 1.5 mi run

Sun: 30 – 60 min. walk

I used to be embarassed to admit that I don’t run 5 miles every day for some reason.  But I’ve discovered that being a runner has less to do with how far you travel and more to do with why you do it and how it makes you feel. 

Even though I’m not a great runner, I definitely do way more cardio than is outlined in the program in a given week, so I’m sure I’ll be adding elliptical sessions on the rest days and probably doing more walking or elliptical on the 1.5 mi. run days.  And, of course, I still have to do some strength training.  But I am really excited to have the structure so that I know I’m doing it right.  After I ran my first 5K my ankles hurt for like a month, so obviously I pushed myself too hard.

I had my usual processed snackage throughout the afternoon – Breakstone Cottage Double and a Fiber Plus Antioxidants granola bar.  These are the “unhealthy” snack foods that I’ve been holding onto out of convenience.  In reality, these snacks are infinitely better for me than snacks I would have had in the past and I am realistic enough to know that a processed-food-free diet is nowhere in my near future.  But in the interest of always moving onward and upward, I’m going to try to start changing these into less processed snacks in the future.

I made the first step this weekend when I bought a container of Organic cottage cheese that I can pair with fresh fruit instead of the syrupy stuff I’m currently consuming.  As far as the granola bars go, I’m a little torn.  I need something to get me through my workout right after work, but I don’t want to eat a Larabar, which contains twice as many calories even if it is way more nutritious.  It’s not a calorie-counting thing – just commom sense since all I’m usually doing is yoga.  And fruit doesn’t really have enough umph to keep me energized.  Geez, I am very ranty today. What’s that all about?

I went to Vinyasa class after work and got in the sweaty yoga I’ve been yearning for!  Oh, it was soooo good.  I did 20 minutes on the elliptical after just for good measure.

By the time I got home I was hizzungry.  I made the usual Boca Burger with a corn, edamame and black bean fricassee.

I’m going to cut this off now in an effort to save your eyeballs from overload.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a lot less words – maybe…