Today was "Blah"...

Today was exactly what the title says, "Blah". It started off really promising. I woke up at 6AM, had my cup of coffee and enjoyed the morning. Louie and I went on a nice 20 min walk around our neighborhood. My husband made me an iced protein coffee which I enjoyed while studying. (Super yummy BTW)  Last week I got behind on my nutrition class, so I decided to take the day and devote it to catching up. I did manage to catch up on my nutrition studies (YAY!) but that is where the good day ended.
Our air conditioner went out. It's Arizona people! We NEED A.C.! We made a quick trip to the local hardware store to buy new fuses, but that didn't solve our problem.... and our house was heating up pretty quickly. We decided to bite the bullet and call a technician. Long, sweaty story short; our condenser was out. The part is now replaced and we've got the cool air flowing.... even if our bank account is a little lighter.
Unfortunately, all the drama, heat, and waiting for the tech caused me to miss my T25 workout. [Insert sad face here]
Somehow I did manage to finish the day under my daily calorie count. I did real good! Go me! And I got an A on my nutrition quiz! Go me again!
Derek and I decided that we will double up the T25 workouts tomorrow to cover the one we missed today. We'll get it done. It'll hurt, but we'll do both workouts. We're awesome like that.

"Best wife ever" Tilapia dinner

Friday August 9th I made this meal for Derek. It turned out so well he took a picture and Instagramed it with the tag "bestwifeever".  Not to toot my own horn, but this dinner was super good. I was very surprised.

FISH:
*Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
* Two frozen 4 oz tilapia fillets rinsed with water, patted dry, and seasoned with lemon, pepper and a little salt.
*Cook the fish for 15 mins. If you use thawed fish, only cook for 10 mins.
TOPPING:
*In a pan, combine 1 tbsp coconut oil, 2 tsp minsed garlic, 1-2 tbsp basil (I used dried basil, but you could also use fresh basil to taste.), a pinch of pepper, 1/2 cup white wine (I used a cheap-o $5 bottle), and 1 tbsp butter. (I rarely use butter, but this does add a creamy texture to this sauce)
*Cut up 3 roma tomatoes and add to the pan.
*Cook on medium-low setting until the liquid thickens.
OTHER STUFF:
*Steam frozen uncut green beans for about 10 minutes.
*Either prepare the brown rice from scratch, use minute rice, or the microwaveable packs.
SERVING:
*1/2 cup brown rice.
*1/2-1 cup green beans.
*1/2 cup of the topping sauce.
*4oz tilapia fillet.

I calculated an estimate for the Tilapia dinner I served. Based on what I put on my plate, it came out to be approximately 472 calories. Yummy AND healthy!

Sunday running

I took a little break from blogging due to having a rather boring week. I probably only ran 7 miles total. It was a super hot week, which means I have to wake up a 5 A.M. in order to get a run in. I am a morning person, but I am not a morning person to the extent that waking up at 5 A.M. is easy for me. My husband and I started the T25 Challenge on Monday. We did daily workouts Monday-Friday for 25 minutes each. These circuit workouts are really challenging! I find that I am careful with some moves because they are high-impact and tend to hurt my knees. I can't risk my knees! I'm a runner! I still need to take my "before" pictures for the T25 Challenge, and I will post them once they are available. I will enjoy comparing my "before" and "after" 10 weeks from now.

This morning's run went well. I got my nutrition dialed in. I ate 1/4 cup of steel cut oats, 1 tbsp natural peanut butter, 1 tbsp agave nectar, and 1/2 banana. In the future, I could probably cut back on the added ingredients of that particular breakfast considering the calorie count was 455. WOW! But my body sure liked every calorie.

I maintained a relatively uniform pace, and I am happy to say that I didn't take any breaks. Yup! No walking for this chick!  I've decided that now I am more confident with my ability to run longer distances, I want to start focusing on pushing my pace. While I am not ashamed of my comfy 11 min/mile pace, I know I am capable of running faster. What happened to my 9:30 min/mile pace?!

Happy running!

All in all, I am very pleased with my run. It was a hot, sweaty, comfortably slow run... and I didn't walk! Wooo! 

Sabino Canyon adventure

All smiles!

Derek and I woke up REALLY early to meet some friends at Sabino Canyon for our group run. When I say "early" I am talking 4 A.M.. Ouch. When the alarm went off my husband was so disoriented that he didn't understand why we were getting up so early. I can't blame him; the sun wasn't even up yet!

Loving the wind in my hair.

We fueled for our canyon run with bananas smothered in peanut butter and all-natural fig bars.
We met up with our friends and started out on our run at about 5:30 A.M.. The weather was gorgeous and the canyon was so green! Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, there were many other people running and hiking the canyon at 5:30 A.M.. Aside from the early morning, I was so pumped to run with my group. I ran like the wiiiiiiind. [laugh] Just kidding, but I did manage a 9:30 min/mile pace for the first mile....after that it was ALL climbing. I was thankful that I've been training on the hills near my house. At least I had an idea of the pain I'd be going through. It was easy to ignore the discomfort when my surroundings were so stunningly beautiful. I didn't see many animals, but all the plants were so healthy and vibrantly green.

And did I mention that there was running water?! WATER.... in the desert.... what is this substance? [laugh] 

It was really green and very serene.

It was a beautiful morning run. Running up the canyon was as difficult as you'd imagine. I managed to run 2.25 miles up into the canyon. At that point I needed to eat something because I was running on fumes. I tried out Shot Blocks on this run. They were yummy and very chewy, and even better was that they went down easy and digested easy too. Success! I ran the 2.25 miles back after that. I didn't make it to the top of the canyon. From bottom to top, the canyon is 3.75 miles. I've got some improving to do. Now that I know how fun the run was, we will be returning NEXT Friday. Maybe it'll become my normal Friday routine? Hmmm.... that would mean waking up at 4 A.M. every Friday and I don't know if I want to commit to that.

Hump day? It's PUMP day!

Wednesday. Ah Wednesday...
I accidentally slept in so my day started a little late. Oops! But once I did get going I jumped on my spin bike for 45 minutes of HIIT.

Notice my dog pouting in the back ground.

I suspect my animals hate this spin bike because of the noise it makes when I turn up the resistance. I really enjoy spinning workouts so I add them into my mornings a couple days a week. Yes, I moved the spin bike into my living room. After 45 minutes I was dripping with sweat, but I still took a selfie.

The weather has returned to the triple digits here in Arizona, so Louie didn't get his walk. Bad mommy for sleeping in, BAD! I tried to make it up to him by letting him hang out in the front yard while I watered my plants, but he didn't last long. I guess he understood that it was too hot for a walk.

I spent my evening at the gym. I love my gym and I really enjoy working out so I don't mind spending a few hours there a day. Wednesday's focus was lower-body strength training. Leg and glute day!!

Here's a recap of my routine: 10 mins warming up on the elliptical, weighted back extensions, walking lunges across the gym 4x, squats on the Smith machine, hip extensions on smith machine, deadlifts, plie squats, and weighted calf raises. I was a busy girl! 

Lifting makes me happy.

I finished off my workout with 30 mins of incline walking on the treadmill. I was originally going to run.... but my legs were kinda stiff from lifting. Imagine that! Walking on an incline helps loosen my muscles so it really helped. I managed to keep my heart rate in the "fat burning zone" so I got the workout I wanted from the treadmill. All-in-all, It was a great workout.

Thursday is my rest day, but I think I'll swim some laps. My legs are stiff and sore from Wednesday, so I need to loosen them up. 

National Cheesecake Day

Did anyone else know yesterday July 30th was National Cheesecake Day?
My best friend Brett and I decided to celebrate at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. But before I could indulge in cheesecake I needed to earn it. I hit this gym to focus on strength training my upper body. Curls, overhead triceps extensions, bent-over flys, bent-over rows, incline chest press, chest fly, lat pull-down, triceps pull-down.... I am sure I have missed one or two other workouts I did.

After weight lifting I needed to do a little cardio work so I decided to swim laps. My legs and hip flexors are still sore so I needed a low-impact workout. Was swimming laps after my upper-body lifting hard? Yes.
Eventually it was time for dinner.... and this happened:

The new S'mores cheesecake. OMG this was divine!

Happy Monday!

"Monday run-day!" 

Derek and I decided to go on a long run early Monday morning. The route we planned was a little over 6 miles. I also used this run as a test for my running nutrition; the energy supplements I would use during my half marathon. Nutrition planning isn't something people usually think about having to train for while also training to run 13.1 miles. However, figuring out your nutrition for an endurance sport is really important. My husband gave me some helpful tips and I decided I would use a Stinger gel 30 mins into the run... and cross my fingers that the gel wouldn't wreak havoc on my body. I've heard horror stories about some products causing diarrhea!

Anyhoo... Our run started out well, we kept up a slow and steady pace as we climbed hills. I focused on my breathing pretty heavily during the first three miles. Around 2.8 miles I looked down and saw a ten dollar bill on the ground! I snatched up the money and stuffed it in my bra without missing a beat. The running gods decided to pay me for my run! YEAY!!

$10 score!! (dont mind my red face)

After mile 3 I stopped for minute or two so I could gulp down the Stinger gel and drink a little water. Mile four was pretty harsh, but i pushed through. I started feeling aches in my hip flexors and some slight pains in my knees. I pushed through the discomfort and made sure to be careful with my movements. The last thing I need right now is an injury. Once I hit mile 6 I decided to walk the rest of the way home. It was maybe 0.15 miles and I knew I needed to stretch my legs. I also took a celebratory selfie!

Finished my long run. I'm a happy girl.

I finished my 6 miler in 68 mins. Not too shabby! My husband complemented my pace. I've got to take a moment to mention how awesome he was during our run. He runs at a much faster pace than I do, but he still chose to stick by my side for the duration of my run. When I asked him why he didn't just blow past me he told me, "No, I wanted to run with you." Kudos for being a supportive man! (xoxox)

Below is a graph of my pace over the elevation changes. Looking it over, I am happy with the consistency of my pace throughout my splits. The large spikes represent the times I walked. Only four times! WOOOOO! Believe me, it's an improvement.

6 miles, 68 mins, 11:21 pace. I am pretty proud of myself!

I have more runs planned for this week. My legs are still pretty sore, but Wednesday I will be getting back out there. I plan to run 3 miles of intervals. Friday morning I am meeting with a friend in the morning and we will be running up and down Sabino Canyon. It will be a really challenging route because it is 3 miles up and 3 miles back. Yikes! I set a goal that I have to run at least 4 miles; at LEAST!