Free Cheese!

On a completely non-workout matter, I won a cheese basket today from Ile de France! I'm so excited! I never win anything. I signed up on a whim and got lucky. Plus it looks like they are giving them out for the next couple of days so you should sign up too. :) Who knows?! As a warning, I'm not planning on sharing. Well, except with the 20 people coming to Thanksgiving... no one else though!

Tonight I had yoga which was lots of fun. I got about 3/4 up into headstand for a bit (no wall!) and didn't flip over onto my back like last week (that bruise is just fading). Plus, I got to untape my feet afterward. I think that it helped, but by the end of the day, the outside of my right foot was sore. I don't know if that has anything to do with the taping or if I just walked into something though!

Alright, late night for me. Another round of PT exercises and maybe a little more time on this exam before bed. As of Thursday afternoon though, 2/5 classes down! Woohoo!

Frittata Success

My run yesterday was a tad miserable. I got about 2 miles in on the treadmill and the left knee was starting to twinge and by the 2 1/2 mile point, it was downright hurting so I stopped. I'm glad that I got a little bit in but I'd feel better about it if I could've gotten through the whole thing pain free. Right now I'm just focusing on getting the knee swelling down and making it through Saturday in one piece. My mom suggested that I just do the 5k instead of the full half, but I want to try. Hopefully my knees will play along. I wish I had fit more runs in the past two weeks. Sigh. Things to do next time around.

Yoga was pretty theraputic though and felt great. My teacher did lots of corrections on me and it felt great on my knees and back. Plus, I really am starting to get the hang of headstand!! I still have my legs bent but I can hold that for about five breaths. I wish I had more room in my apartment to practice on. Now that I'm not totally relient on the wall maybe I can try the living room? There isn't a whole ton of free floor space! I'm looking forward to Thursday and told her that I might need to opt out of a few warriors so I don't exhaust my legs for this weekend!

Last night, I opted out of going to Zumi because I am both trying to save some money and get more veggies into my diet. Solution: I made this awesome frittata from the Clean Eating website!! I've been considering subscribing to the magazine, mostly for the recipes, and now I think that I definitely will. I found the recipe on their main website, under Menus&Recipes (I can't seem to get a direct link to the recipe), and it was delicious with potatoes, arugula, and cherry tomatoes. I subbed in red potatoes because I like how creamy they are and added onion.

Easy Deliciousness

So amazing. I planned on eating half of it, but could only manage to eat about a third so now I have lunch for today and tomorrow! I'm going to roast some butternut squash to accompany it, if I have the time. I have another class this evening and a presentation to work on for the next couple of hours so I don't know how much time I have to devote to cooking. Unfortunately.

However, when I get home tonight, I'm going to try my hand at this Curried Vegetable Stew, but I think I'll just have a nice chunk of sourdough bread instead of the couscous. Hopefully it goes well! Goodness, what would I do without the internet and its recipe search functions.

Swine flu avoidance at school

So the knees are feeling a bit better today! Hurray! I bought another IT band strap for my left knee yesterday and I'm going to try a 3 mile jog or so this afternoon to see how it goes. I'm hoping it goes well ... or else. I know that the straps are just a temporary fix, but after this weekend, I can work to get to the root of the problem. Eeks, I also have lots of work to do and errands to run as well. Yikes. I can't believe it is already November!

Plus, school right now basically sounds like a swine flu infirmary. On all sides of me, people are coughing and sneezing and looking downright feverish. When I had the swine this summer, I was out of work for almost an entire week so these people must really be suffering trying to get here for class. On the other hand, I am working so hard this semester not to get sick so being surrounded by all this illness really stresses me out. I had bronchitis during both sets of finals last year and got pneumonia this summer. My poor lungs just can't take another round! I'm doing all I can with eating well, exercising, sleeping enough, and taking lots of Airborne. Hopefully I'll make it through the semester unscathed as I definitely do not have time to get sick again. Although I should be immune to swine flu now, I still fear the seasonal flu... and any cold really, as it always goes straight to my lungs.

On a happier note, tonight I have yoga, hopefully after a successful run! I'm working on my schedule for next semester and as of right now, it looks like I'm going to have loooong Tuesdays, with class intermittently from 8am to 5:50pm. Sigh. I was trying to avoid that but the schedule of offered classes for next semester is pretty terrible.

OK, I'm off to get some more reading done and have a snack, of course. Skim cappuccino and cashew cookie lara bar it is! However, before I run off, I have a bone to pick with Starbucks...

Really!? It's the beginning of November! I love the holidays as much as the next person, but this is getting ridiculous. I am officially boycotting all things holly jolly and jingle bell-y until post-Thanksgiving. Call me Scrooge but this is starting to become absurd.

Project done and running freakout

Soul-sucking, life-killing project has been submitted! Hip hip hurray!
And the Yankees won tonight to tie up the series! Hip hip Jorge!

Goodness am I glad to be done with that project. Well, in all truth, only the writing portion is done as we still need to present next week. Also, I have to physically turn it in tomorrow morning as it was just sent to the printer to be bound. However, as it is no longer able to be edited, in essence, I think it is done.

Tonight, I was able to beg off a few hours from my partner (who was fabulous by the by) and steal off to yoga for an hour tonight. It was so nice to be back moving, but I could really feel my inactivity from the past week. Plus, it was a crazy challenging class! We must have held chaturangas for 5 breaths at a time, 8 or 9 times. I was suffering by the end of those. Plus, my body was really super tight, probably due to stress.

Usually, I find Ardha Matsyendrasana (seated twists) to be super comfortable and easy to bind, however, I was having a lot of trouble getting into it. So, instead of being an intelligent yogini and taking it easy, I shoved by shoulder down and pulled my left shoulder. I suppose it's not really the shoulder, rather the muscle under my left armpit towards the back? Anyway, it hurt. I tried to rotate my shoulder a bit to loosen it up, but it was hurting even to extend my left arm all the way out so I was down for the count. I was especially sad because they spent the rest of the class working on backbends and walkovers, which I loooove. Anything involving a bendy back. :) I wish I could say lesson learned but we'll see. I tend to be rather injury prone and it's usually from pushing myself... or walking into walls. I don't think it's bad though and will probably be all better tomorrow.

Anyway, tomorrow is a "no school work" day for me as I am celebrating the end of this project! I'm looking forward to a nice pedicure, some sushi, maybe checking out the new Lululemon showroom. Fun fun fun! I also need to pick up my 5K registration. Oops. I haven't really run in.... (checking blog for training records).... OH MY GOSHNESS NINE DAYS! And my last long run was TWO WEEKS AGO!?! Crap crap crap. Well, 5K Saturday and I'll do a long one on Sunday and have a short taper until the half on next Saturday. This project could not have come at a worse time and I need to learn how to fit runs in when I'm busy. I hope this doesn't really screw me over come next week as it would suck if I lost all my endurance after all that work. Sigh. Alright. Positive thoughts and energy to my muscles.

Plus it's my five year anniversary on Saturday! "Anniversary of what?" you ask?


I shall tell you tomorrow. :) Good night!

Ice baths?

Today my legs still felt pretty sluggish and I was so frustrated in yoga. Although I felt pretty alright after my run Sunday, I'm just not recovering well from it.

Which led me to, of course, do a handy internet search. The suggestion that kept coming up for recovery from 8+ mile runs was.... ice baths. I find that runnersworld.com usually has great articles and advice, so I'm a little dismayed that they also support this tactic (see this article!). I'm starting to like running more and I'm really pleased with my progress, but I hate, despise, loath being cold. My car's seat heaters are always on, I have about 4 or 5 throw blankets in a one bedroom apartment, and my winter heating bill is embarrassingly atrocious. Therefore, the idea of lowering myself into a bath with ice sounds appalling. However, it seems like there is a whole lot of support behind it and marathoners and ultra-marathoners swear by it. (And then there is little ol' me, huffing and puffing behind.)

Plus, the science of it makes sense. When you run, the blood vessels in your legs open up to deliver extra oxygen to your muscles. By cooling them, you are helping to restrict the vessels which keeps blood from pooling in your legs and helps in the healing process. (Can I tell you though, just the idea of blood pooling anywhere, even in my legs, is enough to make me squeamish... Ick)

Have any of you actually done this ice bath madness? Did it result in hypothermia? What kinda of really really exciting reading material did you have to take your mind off of the numbing of your extremities? Sigh. I'd like to think that I'm willing to do anything, within reason, to help my running process along, but I wonder if this is outside my boundaries of reason. Burr.

Yoga was shockingly unenjoyable today. I think much of it was because my legs were so tight and my body felt crappy. We also were working on peacock pose, which involves resting on your chin a little bit in order to get your balance to go totally up. I can't put any weight on my chin since I broke my jaw a few years back (more on that soon, I'm sure) so I found it exceedingly frustrating.

Peacock Pose in Yoga Journal

Oh well. There will always be hard days. I suppose that getting through hard classes and difficult days with grace is always a bigger accomplishment, but that didn't stop me from cursing under my breath. At least, I got to gorge myself on sashimi afterward!!

Sigh. Onward and upward, I hope.

Thwarted by the weather

Today was supposed to be my 10 mile run. I didn't get up as early as I would have like but I got dressed and drove to the park. On my drive down, I heard the warning signal on the radio that there were tornado watches and hail warnings. I made it a mile into the run when I decided that the sky looked way too ominous and that I would try again tomorrow. The sky opened up about 30 seconds later so I think that I made a good call. :) I will run through rain but I will not run through hail and high winds. I had a bit of a bad experience with the movie Twister when I was younger, so I have a tiny (read: huge) fear of those ravenous wind tunnels. During the spring in Nashville, the tornado sirens go off almost every afternoon and I usually spend the afternoon hours of 3pm - 6pm terrified. I'm certainly not up for running in it. Plus, I had forgotten my watch at home so I felt totally off kilter without it.

Yoga last night was crazy challenging. However, I suppose that I write that about every Thursday class but it's very true. I loved it though. I think I do need to find a new mat though! Mine becomes way too slippery when I sweat and it's caused me to fall on my face several times. This past class, I was in side crow and my right hand slide out from under me and thump, I was on the ground. Takes all the pride and fun out of doing a really difficult asana! My shoulders are a bit tight this morning but I'm definitely not hurting as bad this time around. My teacher is also a dancer and I like how graceful she makes everything look. All of her asanas have a really amazing flow to them and it is certainly something to look up to and try to emulate. I'm one of the world's most ungraceful beings, but it's still fun to try!

On a rare non-training note, today I bought a couple of pumpkin ales to test out. First up:

Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale

Pretty tasty, smooth, mellow. I can't say that I taste all that much pumpkin in it and it's not as sweet as pumpkin beers can sometimes be. Definitely a delicious beer to just sip on while I did stuff around the apartment, but it's a little steep on calories at around 216. I might buy it again, but I'm going to wait to see what I think about the others. I only have 2 more types to try right now but may be willing to open up my lateral taste test to some more options!!

Off to walk the puppy and hopefully get to bed early so I can try a new yoga class tomorrow. Still working on my getting up early goal but at least I'm going to bed earlier!

Update:
How have I not mentioned the Yankees yet? After tonight's game, I'm ready to propose to Teixiera. I love that team, even if they try to kill me by being down in the 9th. Just saying.

Yoga for the Hamstrings and to bother Julia

Some crazy person said they wanted to work on hamstrings and quads today in class... OW. Those muscle groups are so tight on me now! Looking at it objectively, it was a very necessary class because I really needed to stretch them out because of all the running but as I was doing it, I was not having very yogic thoughts. Asanas that are usually pretty standard for me were really hurting. However, I do at least see a whole lot of improvement in the length of my hamstrings. Pre-yoga, my hands would come to about my knees when I'd try to touch my toes. Now I can now get my hands flat on the floor. I'd love to be able to do a full hanumanasana at some point but right now, I'm pretty happy with where I am. :) Oh yes, and a headstand. For some reason my body is afraid to go upside-down...?

Hanumanasana in Yoga Journal

At least post-yoga I had some delicious salmon sashimi and miso soup. I'm very odd about salmon. I like it raw, i.e. sashimi, and smoked, i.e. lox, but salmon fillets really do not appeal to me at all. Something about the texture and smell... yick. However, Zumi Sushi is really fantastic. I'm so glad that this city finally has a decent sushi joint. So yummy.

This is a super short and boring post but I'm tired and want to go to bed. I'm glad today was a day off from running and I felt a whole lot better this morning after a full night's sleep, but tomorrow it's back to the grind. In theory, I'd really like to run tomorrow morning before class. It's only a 4 miler and to be able to bang it out before my day really starts would be so fabulous. We'll see what I think this idea at 6:40am tomorrow morning though. It's a process but I'll get there. I think.

Looking over this blurb, it's such an optimistic entry. Yay me. :)

8 miles! 8 miles!

I did it! I ran my planned 8 miles at Centennial Park this afternoon in 1:47:24. It was grueling and difficult and at mile 3, I was pretty ready to give up but I didn't. I'm so proud of myself, really. My knee started hurting about at mile 2 so I did a variation of run/walk every quarter mile. When it was really hurting, I'd walk a half, run a quarter, but by the end, it was back to the original plan. I was so exhausted and starving when I finished but at least I finished.

This trail was a great find though since it's much much closer than the one in Brentwood. It's a mile loop, with every quarter marked. Paved, flat, and very pretty. Also helped that today was perfect running weather with 68 degrees, sunshine, and a light breeze.

Trail

View of the Parthenon over the lake/pond

My whole body is pretty achy though. I popped some ibuprofen when I got home but my lower back especially is bothering me. The combination of my yoga class yesterday and the run today really kicked my butt. So, what do I plan to do about it? I'm going to another class tomorrow morning! :) This one is only a level II though so it should loosen me up a bit. I don't want the running to shorten my hamstrings and counteract all the goodness I have been achieving in yoga!

Alright, I'm exhausted but wanted to document my accomplishment today. Certainly not on the pace to break world records, but it was right on for making my under 3 hours goal (on pace for a 2:55, but I was definitely slowing towards the end). I also tried to keep my walking mile time under 15:00/mile in order to keep the pace up, even if I couldn't run all of it.

Good night! Hoping for less sore muscles in the morning!

Good night moon. Hello October.

Alright! I'm excited to run again! Woo! The weather is so perfect outside that it has renewed my running spirit. The fact that I find it really difficult doesn't mean I should give up as nothing worth doing ever comes easy, no?? Well, it surely does not for me. Plus, I have found the next half that I want to do: The Disney Princess Half Marathon. Imagine the possibilities! A sports tiara! Pink running skirts! A finish line filled with Disney princesses! A giant pile of chocolate chip pancakes with Goofy following the race!! Unfortunately the race starts at 6am, probably to both avoid the heat in Florida and so that they can open the park to the public at a reasonable hour. My goal is to finish the November 7th one in 3 hours, and then I will consider the DPHM. Goals to work towards! Tomorrow is my long run and I'm looking forward to checking out the loop at Centennial Park finally. Hopefully this nice weather will hold out for me (According to the weatherman, it should be perfect around 9am!!).

I'm hoping that my morning run will loosen up my legs a bit. Yoga was insanely difficult tonight and I was almost chaturanga'd to death. I'm always surprised by people who think that yoga is just stretching and chanting Om. Holding those high lunges and up-dogs for several minutes can be excruciating! I definitely need a towel for class though. I was trying to hold onto my ankle in trikonasana and my hand kept sliding off! Funny... but ew. I love the crazy challenging classes the most though. I love feeling exhausted, like I've worked hard and done my best. I've been easing up on the strength training in the gym because yoga is doing a pretty great job kicking my butt on its own. Interestingly, I find the meditation parts to be the most difficult as I can't quite get my mind to sit still yet. It's amazing how hard it is to think of nothing and just... be.

Also, I finally got around to making the acorn squash tonight. I meant to take a picture, but it was at about 10pm that it finally finished cooking so I basically dove into it. It was alright, although not the most special thing that I've ever eaten. It was definitely less food than I was expecting as I ended up also making tomato soup and crackers, and later had some of the roasted cauliflower that I made for tomorrow. I'm actually hungry now again. I guess that means that I better get to sleep.

Good night moon. Hello October. :)

Yoga and Acorn Squash Adventures

Ah, yoga was as lovely last night as I expected it would be. It's definitely a pretty tough workout for me and I pour sweat (such an attractive, feminine quality, I know) but I really love it. We spent a lot of the class working on back bends which I adore so it was a pretty fun class! I think I finally got the hang of flipping the dog too. Tuesdays classes are more instructive while Thursdays are more flow-y so it's a very nice combination. Hopefully I can add one in on Saturday too this week.

I ran out of healthy food on Sunday or so and never got around to getting to the grocery store so for Sunday and Monday, I kind of just ate crap. (Well, crap for me.) Grilled ham and cheese, grits with butter, chocolate covered pretzels, eh. I was surprised how blah I felt because of it, and rather quickly. Yoga always inspires me to do and eat good things though so I restocked yesterday. I bought an acorn squash, which I've never worked with, and through a quick online search, found this recipe that I think that I will try out tonight. I'd like to roast a head of cauliflower too for the next couple of days. I love cauliflower in eggs... maybe with some potato and spinach and cheese for a frittata? Delicious. This upcoming weekend (which starts for me tomorrow night - no class on Friday!), I'd like to do some cooking for the upcoming week. I love making homemade soups and they are so easy for midweek meal because you can freeze them. Plus, I've been meaning to make some more veggie burgers, but they take forever without a food processor. Maybe I'll just give in and buy a Cuisinart...

I also hope to get a run in today. I have a softball game, but I think that counts more as hanging out than real exercise so hopefully I can squeeze it in. My breaks are annoying on Wednesdays though because they are all about 2 hours long... not quite long enough to get a whole lot done but too long to just be lazy. At least I've been a little bit better on the sleep front. I was asleep by 1am last night and up around 8am... I'd love to be a morning person and I think it just will take some training to go to bed earlier and get up by 6:30am everday. I feel like I waste so much time with my current schedule.

Anyway, the weather is finally gorgeous and is so autumn-y! I guess I should bite my tongue from what I said a few days back! I think I'll go sit outside for a bit before shuffling back to class... mmm...

Semi Vegetarian

I mentioned in a previous post that I haven't been eating all that much meat recently. For a few years now, I have been back and forth on whether or not to become a vegetarian. For the most part, I'm tempted because of environmental concerns (read Michael Pollen's The Omnivore's Dilemma) and animal cruelty. I actually am not against the consumption of animal products but I prefer to do so in a eco-conscious manner. For example, I think that small farms that treat their livestock humanely and don't pump them full of hormones are lovely. However, the vast majority of meat in supermarkets and restaurants comes from concentrated animal feeding operations (affectionately known as CAFOs) which saddens me. THerefore, it's really just easier to forego meat if I really want to practice what I preach.

On the other hand, the second I decide that I'm giving up meat for good, all I want is a cheeseburger. And a giant corned beef sandwich. And maybe some flank steak with chimichurri sauce. And a big plate of meat lasagna. So you can seem my dilemma! I suppose that happens with a lot of things in that once it is banned, it is all that I can think about.

Therefore, I've finally come to the semi-vegetarian catagory. Ninety-five percent of the time, I try to avoid meat products but since it's not actually forbidden, it's a much easier policy to follow. There are some comfort foods, like the aforementioned corned beef, that I'm not willing to give up but on a day-to-day basis, I try to be fairly meat free. It's super easy to do most of the time since I cook and prepare the majority of my own food. However, when I go out to eat with friends, I usually don't admit my eating status to fellow diners because it prompts a few undesired responses.

(1.) You're a big pansy for not eating meat.
(2.) Yay for not eating meat! Wait, did you just get bacon?
(3.) Being a vegetarian most of the time doesn't make you a vegetarian.

So really, it's just private choice to not eat a lot of meat that I try to live by but no need to be perfect. (Well, private except between you and me now!) I still eat a fair amount of fish, but now that I think about it, I don't think that I've had meat in 2 or 3 weeks now. However, I'm also going out for Ethiopian food tonight so we'll see how that goes! :) Do you have any self-imposed food choices?

I also need to squeeze in a four mile run today. Because of my schedule today, I need to do it inside on a treadmill. Boo. I feel like a hamster on a treadmill. I do appreciate that it's flat and very convenient at least and I think for my 8 miler on Friday (knee pending of course) that I'll make it out to the Brentwood trail. Even if I have to walk a bit of it, it should be an enjoyable romp. Bug spray is definitely a necessity though!!

Finally, my yoga class yesterday was lovely again!! The teacher is so challenging and teaches lots of poses that I've never done before. Plus, she is really hands on and corrects your alignment which I love. It's the only way I learn, especially since there is no mirror in the room. We also spent a lot of time in trikonasana and half moon pose which are two of my favorites. All in all, a great class. A friend of mine also started it too which was sooo much fun, especially since we got sushi afterward. Actually, I should probably eat before class because I started thinking about food about halfway through! All in all, it was a solid class and I'm looking forward to another yoga class tomorrow. Life is pretty good. :)

Yoga Beginnings

Yoga class today! I've been looking forward to the class since my last one late last week. Right now, I only have two classes scheduled per week and although I would love to add another, I'm a bit worried about over training with running and yoga and recreational softball. I was pretty much just a lazy slug this summer so this past September has been rather active!

I started taking yoga classes at my undergrad a few years ago and loved it. It was really the perfect way to start to learn because the class was 4 times a week AND I got school credit for it! I'm pretty thankful for those classes because they gave me a pretty nice foundation to work off of. In the past 3 years, I've been on-again off-again with it and usually slack when I start to get really busy. I'm hoping to stick with it this time around though because it makes such an enormous difference in my mind set and relieves a lot of the stress that I've been putting my legs through! My goal for this class is to work on crow pose. I've gotten up into it, but usually just for a few seconds. I'm hoping that I can hold it for a few breaths today. Do you have any poses that you are working on?

I must get going but I will leave you with a picture of my pup, who is the sweetest most gorgeous little doggie in the world.

Meet Martha!

Hello!

Hello Interweb!

The first post is always the hardest, or so I'm assuming. Where do I start? Is an introduction in order or am I just to assume that will all come out eventually? And really, who am I actually introducing myself to?

Well new friends, please bear with me as I awkwardly start off.

During my most recent long weekend run, I was thinking about all the silly and inconsequential things that pass through my mind on a daily basis. To stave off running boredom, I figured there has to be at least one person out there in this ginormous world who is interested in my musings. We'll see how true that turns out to be.

So what am I planning to write about? Well, I've lost my mind and am training for my first (last??) half marathon. I'm a terrible runner. Really, no modesty there at all. I've always been really daunted by the activity and that bugs me to no end. So the solution? Grab that running beast by the horns and defeat it! Very very slowly over the course of 13.1 miles. That's the plan at least.

I'm also getting back into my yoga practice. It helps me find some much needed balance and clarity. Plus, all this running has really shortened my hamstrings so that's a nice bonus as well! I just started at a new studio and I already loooove the teacher.

Ok friends, I have loads of work to get done and I can't give it all away on the first post but I'm glad you found me!