December Grocery Goal

After Thanksgiving, I made myself a goal not to grocery shop until I go home for Christmas.

Yes, that would be 4 weeks without grocery shopping.

Keep in mind that besides breakfast (which I eat at home everyday), I only eat about 2-5 meals at home a week (2-4 dinners, and anywhere from 2-4 lunches). 

 

Mon-Wed:

• Breakfast – home
• Lunch – possibly & usually at nannying (depending on how late I nanny)
• Dinner – at the hospital

Thurs-Fri:

• Breakfast – home
• Lunch & Dinner – both or either possibly at nannying depending.

Sat & Sun:

• Small breakfast (snack) – home
• Large breakfast – hospital
• Lunch – at the hospital
• Afternoon snack (because let’s face it, I get hungry between an 11:00 lunch and dinner) – at home
• Dinner – at home or at nannying

 

Honestly, I try and eat at nannying if I can.  Often times, they have nothing for lunch, so I’ll eat at home.  But if I have a night-time job, I’ll usually wait and eat dinner over there. 

So, since I already have a stock-up of such foods in my pantry/freezer:

• Cereal
• Pancake mix
• Oatmeal
• Eggs
• A few bars
• Soup
• Chili
• Sweet potato
• Ground turkey
• Frozen veggies
• Chicken sausages
• Condiments – 1 jar jam, dressings, syrup, 1 jar peanut butter, etc.

I knew I could do it.  I’m allowing myself to shop for

• almond milk (I get it at Food4Less for a crazy good deal.  I also dislike cow’s milk, and I get almond milk for the same price as soymilk is)
• eggs
• coffee grounds (if I run out of my current stash)
• occasional yogurt as needed (especially since I enjoy yogurt as breakfast, afternoon, and nighttime snacks)

If I run out of food – cereal it is!  But seriously, I don’t think I will.  It took me 3 days to eat leftovers I had from when my boss took me out to Thai food.  And if you know me, I was thinking about those leftovers for days.  I just never had the opportunity to eat them.

Cashew chicken + brown rice = my first going out to Thai experience.  YUM.

This was after a breakfast of delicious overnight oats.  Which I hadn’t had for quite some time.

I made a mix of peanut flour + almond milk to drizzle pour over the top.  It made it soupy and amazing.

In other news, I spent last night with this mumbo-jumbo.  But I think I’m almost done with this graduate application, due next Wednesday!!

 

Now, in regards to the grocery challenge, I did make an exception for these:

(Source) I was too lazy to take pictures of them myself, and figured they all looked the same.  Seriously.

When I was grocery shopping for my boss yesterday, I noticed they were all out of pumpkin butter at my usual Trader Joe’s.  I panicked.  Last year, they sold this pumpkin butter until summer!!  I hightailed it over to another Trader Joe’s before my other job, and snagged the last 2 pumpkin butters on the shelf. 

Sure, I’m not grocery shopping for now, but I probably won’t even break into these pumpkin butters until after Christmas anyways.

So that counts.  Right?

 

Signing off,

(I had a little too much fun at work last night, and ate about 2j958735389t57 million of these little cookie gems.  Come to think of it, I think I spelled this out, got distracted, grabbed the ‘R’, and never ate the rest.  The parents were probably wondering what I was up to spelling out words with their cookies.)

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Running This Flashback

I had PB&J for breakfast the past 2 days. 

One in yogurt-mess form:

• Peanut butter yogurt (peanut flour mixed with yogurt)
• Cereal
• Raspberries
• Pumpkin butter

Yes, there was yogurt under there

The juicy berries mixed into the yogurt like PB&J!

This morning in overnight oats form:

• Peanut butter overnight oats
• 1/2 a nectarine
• Raspberries
• Sprinkle of granola
• Jam

Mmm pretty much like fresh raspberry jam

 

I also was quite the fashion statement:

Running shoes + cute dress = oh shush it, I have a sore foot.

 

Today I worked a bit, then hit the road home!  Grabbed a sandwich at a local deli on the way.

Sooooo good.  Seriously – big ol’ sourdough rolls make deli sandwiches.  I used to get plain sliced wheat.  But the sandwich is 3097532085032 million times better with this bread.

 

I drove straight to my orthotics appointment, where I was refitted.  And told I need new orthotics.  SUPER DEEEE DUPER.  Apparently, my arches have stretched out and are now over-riding my current orthotics.  Causing my ankles to roll slightly inward.  She was also in shock how tight my ankles are.  Even though I stretch after each run – it’s not enough!!  Most likely the cause of my recent foot pain.  I really need to focus on like hour long stretching or something if I want to keep running.

 

Then to Target.

 

And guess what was right next door across the street?

I can’t turn down the fact that they have pumpkin pie flavor.  If I see Yogurtland, I must buy.

 

This then welcomed me home when I walked in the door:

Except someone seems to have been picking at it!

 

I thought the yogurt and trail mix would ruin my appetite for dinner, but I still felt munchy.  I rummaged around, and found some tomato soup in the cupboard.  Eaten with a quesadilla made with a flatout wrap and cheddar cheese.

 

And then I was soooooo full.

 

I haven’t done a Flashback Friday in so long, but I figured this race weekend would be perfect to flashback to my previous times running this race!  I actually flashbacked to it last year as well, but I’ll re-flashback

 

In 2007, I ran the full Nike Women’s Marathon in SF.  It was my first marathon, and actually one of my first serious races!

I spent the day before with my sister, mom, and cousin hanging out at the hotel and exploring the Expo!

…and getting attacked in Macy’s.  No big deal.

The next morning, we were up bright and early!  (My mom and cousin walked the half)

 

I was wandering the streets, when I ran into my dad and siblings!  Seriously, out of all the people in the crowds, and out of all the places they could have been.  Talk about coincidence!  It really made me excited.

It really meant a lot that my whole family came out to support me.  I love you guys!!!  During the last 3 miles, I randomly saw a huge sign that read “DO IT FOR ZIMMER!!” (Zimmer was our dog who died of lymphoma, what this race benefits).  I cracked up, and my brother started to run alongside with me.  I challenged him to beat me But he dropped off behind me.  HA!

Sprinting to the finish!

Done

Finishers!!

 

In 2008, I ran the half! 

Enjoying the day with mom and her friends:

My hand always looks like it’s hanging dead when I have my Garmin on haha.

The weather was freeeeeezing this year!!  I ran the half, and everyone else walked, so I hung around for a good 2 hours afterwards waiting.  So cold!!

 

I can’t wait to make new memories this year!!

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Pumpkin Rehab

Wussup bloggie friends? 

I never understood the huge hype on those commercials.

Someone made an appearance this morning.

Overnight oats!  Pumpkin ones of course.

I love cream cheese on overnight oats. 

This meal was either super filling, or I just wasn’t plain hungry this morning.  As I didn’t get hungry for 4 hours.  That’s crazy and unheard of for me.

I ran a few errands for work, and picked up a few goodies at TJ Maxx along the way.  Including these Pumpkin Spice almond cookies.  I had 4 while driving between errands.

SO GOOD!

 

I also had a few bites (which probably equaled out to a whole slice) of cherry pie (cobbler?) they had at work.

SO GOOD.

 

So you wanna see me goodies, do ya?

(I accidentally typed ‘me’, meant to type ‘my.’ But ‘me goodies’ makes me sound like a legit pirate so I’m cool with that).

I’m wondering what went through the cashier’s mind when I purchased all pumpkin delights.  (And yes – those would be pumpkin spice jelly bellies).

Not all pumpkin – I did find that beauty of a deal:

SWEET.

I keep running out of time to make a good lunch.  I really need to cook up big and tasty recipes to grab and go during the week.  Unfortunately today, this is what I was stuck with:

No, not a cardboard box. I actually did eat the meal inside the box (surprise!).  Actually, I picked out all the chicken (I’m kinda grossed out by frozen meal processed chicken), and cooked up a chicken sausage link which I added to the mix. 

Even though my chicken sausage was probably just as processed.

 

Dinner was probably the best salad I’ve made so far at the salad bar.

SALAD BEAST.

+ a side of parmesan crusted potatoes.  Fried chunks of yummy potatoes.

SO GOOD.

You know what else I found today?  Pumpkin cream cheese at Trader Joe’s. 

Yes. 

Seriously.

I stopped.  I stared.  I did a little dance. 

I pondered.  I thought.  I just bought 2 containers of cream cheese this weekend at Einsteins.

I bought it.  I had to.  Besides, now I can taste test!

Here we have Trader Joe’s on the left, Einstein’s on the right.

(I took pictures of my apples dipped in them, but they turned out awful quality, so I won’t torture you with them.  And yes, I had apples dipped in cream cheese.  I told you – I love cream cheese.  Especially when it’s artificially dyed orange and flavored pumpkin).

I’ll compare the 2 in another post, but know this: it’s awesome.  So good.  Buy it!  Along with peanut flour.  Seriously.  Trader Joe’s?  I’m proud of you.

 

In other news, anyone know of a rehab program designed for pumpkin addicts?

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Pointless

Happy happy Monday! I’m tired, it’s late (10:25 is late to me), so I’m seriously just going to make this quick and simple and probably very pointless.

Breakfast:

• 1/4 cups oats + 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water
• 2 egg whites
• Cinnamon & maple syrup
• Peanut flour

Toppings:

• 1 nectarine
• Strawberry & grape jam (I ran out – but snagged a few little containers from work 😉 )
• Vanilla-pera butter
• Maple PB

I got super weird feeling only 2 1/2 hours later, and I couldn’t tell if it was a caffeine crash, or actual hunger. That’s what sucks about my type of hunger (headache, shaky, lightheaded, heat flashes). It’s hard to sometimes tell if I’m truly hungry. I had an apple just in case. It helped.

And 2 honey pretzel sticks & a handful of cereal at work.

After dealing with starting up some utilities in my new place for a couple hours, I finally got to have some lunch.

English muffin pizza.

And canned green beans topped with pasta sauce & parm cheese.

Right before work I had another snack. Not from hunger. But because I knew I’d need it.

Now, that looks delicious

But it really was. Plus it was .65 cents at the store reduced for “quick sale.” Okay I’ll take it.

I love sweet cottage cheese.

Dinner at work – chicken marsala, wild rice blend, and basil green beans.

The chicken was good. The rice was delicious. The beans were okay. Then I found out the chicken sauce was made with a beef base. Well that’s cool – maybe make that known next time?

After work, I hit up my coworker’s “taco night” at her place. Had a few bites of a homemade fried taco and a Corona. I pretended I was drinking like this:

It didn’t work.

(Source)

Plus I had a cookie from work. I didn’t take a picture. There’s one left but I don’t feel like getting up and taking a picture of that one right now either. Deal. I’ll show you tomorrow. I promise.

Goodnight!!!!

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Skimpy Dimpy

Let me walk you through my weekend day of eats 🙂

5:00 – ALARM ALARM!!!! Okay. My alarm isn’t that alarming. But at least it wakes me up that early. I made sure to have breakfast ready for me.  Overnight oats to the rescue!! And coffee already in the pot ready for me to press ON.

My first nectarine was moldy (boooo) so I had to use up 2 this morning. At least the second one was still good!

I am obsessed with jam as of late.

8:30 – Break time! Which means breakfast numero dos (sorry – awful dim lighting in the cafeteria that early). I got some scrambled egg substitute (really meant for the diabetic and cardiac patients.  But normal eggs were out). Score! There was leftover cottage cheese and canteloupe from breakfast as well. + another coffee

11:00 – Lunch break! Our lunch break is a tad on the early side, since we actually have to make and serve trays during true lunch time. Nothing on the menu looked good today, so I stuck with the salad bar:

• Mixed green
• Sunflower seeds
• Kidney beans
• Beets
• Artichoke hearts
• Pineapple
• Couple tortilla strips
• Honey mustard dressing

We actually got off early today at around 1:45 (it was a slightly slower day), and I scuttled home (scuttled Taylor? Really?) to change.

2:15 – Tummy rumbling once again! I really didn’t have any grainy carbs at lunch, so I made up for that with some cereal. And a scoop of PB in the middle.

I love to add a drizzle of syrup and some cinnamon to my cereal, depending on the flavor and sweetness.

4:00 – More work work work! At least I only babysat for 1 1/2 hours today. I did grab some grapes though.

There was one thing I knew I needed to do on my way home – and that would be get groceries!!

Sad, pathetic, skimpy food stock:

Mmmm that Mike’s Hard Lemonade looks good.

The pantry wasn’t much better.

$35 later…Oh yay – MUCH BETTER. (Ignore the empty wine bottles in the back. I only wish I bought those).

• Watermelon
• English muffins
• Carrots
• 3 small containers of yogurt
• 2 things of almond milk
• Zucchini

• Cauliflower
• Tub of plain yogurt
• Cream cheese
• 2 coffeemates (large size)
• Poweraide
• Cinnamon
• Cheddar cheese
• Cereal

While it was more than I wish to spend (my weekly budget is $40, and I still want to go to Trader Joes), I know I got a good amount for what I paid! Coupons coupons coupons! Find what’s on sale, and shop the cheap stores! Budget post is still in the works – I swear! It was also a bit more becuase I bought a few extra things such as:

• 2 almond milks (which should last me 2 weeks) – I don’t like shopping at Food 4 Less (where I get almond milk), so I try to stock up when I go in
• 2 coffeemates (it was a great coupon!)
• Cinnamon – expensive addition. But I’m out. And I can’t go without my cinnamon I didn’t necessarily need
• Cheese – I only bought it because it was on coupon for $1.69. So I’ll work my meals around it. English muffin pizzas anyone?

Right away I got to work on dinner with something I already had in my pantry. Nothing special. Nothing fancy. But something quite delicious.

Spaghettios?!?!?

Make that Annie’s P’sghetti loops with soy meatballs (found on sale at Target last week for $1! Trust me – everything I buy/eat will be on sale 😉 ). I also had some leftover chili beans chillin (I kill myself) in the fridge, so I mixed those in as well. Why not [take a crazy chance]?

Mmm these meatballs are yum.

Spaghettios was our main source of fuel when I moved into my house when I was 5.  Since we didn’t have many dishes or pots and pans unpacked to cook, we relied on these canned beauties.  I vividly recall sitting on empty crates in our empty kitchen eating spaghettios.  Brings me back.

Please don’t judge my skimpy side salad + sesame dressing (x2). It has feelings too.

Now my eyes hurt. I’ll probably hit the hay at 9:00 or so. After I have some hot chocolate of course.

Hey all, by the way – what are you all doing for Labor Day weekend?! I hope something fun pleeeeease!! 😀

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Un-overnight oats

I know what you’re thinking.

“That is one dang big bowl of cereal!”

Oh but there’s yogurt under there don’t ya know. Mixed berry flavor.

Also sprinkled with some peanut flour, for good measure.

I’ve gotten a few curious “Taylor – what exactly is this peanut flour you speak of?” comments.

Well, friends. Please, let me show you. This is (cue drumrolls) peanut flour.

It sounds way more exciting than it looks, I know.

But I told you – it’s almost like peanut flavored protein powder!

Pretty snazzy. $2.99 (or 3.99 – I really can’t remember) at TJs. Go. Run. Buy it now. But leave some for me please.

I ran. However, not to go buy more of this peanut flour (I still have half a bag left, thank you). But I ran nowhere. Just to run. What an odd concept.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 59:22

Some random thoughts and facts about my run:

• Total average was 9:53 per mile. But my first mile was a 8:34 pace. While my my last 2 were 11:06 and 10:68. I got tired. What negative splits?
• My legs were really really tired. Really.
• I stopped by my house around mile 4.5 to grab a drink of Poweraide. I thought it would be easy from there on out. I was wrong.
• My side muscle pain thing is gone. But it still feels tight there while on my running. Maybe I should incorporate ab stretches?

Post run, foam rolling, stretching, and icing (man I have a long itinerary!), nothing in my (weak) food stash looked good. Frozen meal? Bleh. Eggs? Eat that with what side? Cereal? Umm just had that for breakfast. Oatmeal? Hello – I am mucho sweaty and hot. No thanks.

Ooooh that melon looks amazingly refreshing and good. But I’m out of yogurt to go inside the “bowl.”

I’ve heard the rumors that you can make overnight oats in about 20 minutes and decided to try it out! In my overnight 20 minute oats:

• 1/4 cup multigrain oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• Peanut flour, cinnamon & squirt of syrup

Topped with 2 scoops of maple PB and some strawberry jam.

I don’t think I soaked the oats long enough – they were still chewy and slighty hard. But I was honestly hungry and had no patience! That’s the benefit of soaking them overnight I guess. You’re not awake to hear the oats taunting you from the fridge “Na na na-na na. Come eat me!!”

(PS: As per my nut butter challenge, I’m done with nut butter for the day now. Hold me to it!)

(PPS: To everyone out there who has yet to eat a melon bowl, or is craving one now –> Get up. Drive (or walk if you’re feeling extra environmentally friendly and green) to the store – hopefully one that has honeydew or canteloupe on sale. And buy a melon. Proceed to come home, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and eat your melon bowl. Preferably filled with yogurt or cottage cheese, nut butter, and jam. Perhaps you may had some cereal or granola for crunch. Please. Just take my advice).

I snacked on some nature’s candy at work.

And some manufactured made candy.

Apparently after drinking this drink I should be able to GO-GO and run around like a super-powered maniac.

Dinner fulfilled my veggie quota for the day week.

In my giant salad:

• Stir-fry veggies
• 2 scrambled egg whites (random add-in)
• Chili beans
• Mango chutney
• Sesame seed dressing

I roasted some cauliflower before realizing I had no room in my stomach for more veggies. So I saved it for a snack later in the night 30 minutes after dinner.

I toss my cauliflower with olive oil, garlic salt (or salt + garlic powder), paprika and sometimes some cumin. It’s also delicious topped with parmesan cheese. Then cook it at 400 F for 25 minutes or so!

I’m now enjoying my 3rd Red Box movie of the week (not pathetic. Just no cable over here), and enjoying a delicious snack. Also known as one of the only things in my cupboard.

Air-popped popcorn tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper. That bowl was once completely full.

Anyone seen the Bounty Hunter? That was my movie of choice tonight. Not sure what to expect though!

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Battle with the air mattress

Today my long day of hospital orientation definitely brought me back to the days of 2 hour long lectures taken back to back all day. As sad as I was to graduate, I do not miss those boring days. Imagine your most boring class dragged on for 7 hours, with a few 15 minute breaks sprinkled in. That was today.

I made sure to prepare breakfast last night as I knew I would be up and at it early this morning.

Overnight oats yummy yummy in my tummy.

Yay for more jam from Target!

I even chopped up my nectarine last night this morning at 1 a.m. for easy access. Yes 1 a.m. The same time I also mixed in more oil to my maple peanut butter becuase I couldn’t stop thinking about how dry and flaky it was.

I obviously have been having a hard time falling asleep. No offense air mattress.

Actually yes. You should take offense.

I felt like I was betraying this mug by drinking coffee out of it. It looks like a tea type of mug.

How quaint.

I made sure to pack snacks for my break. Am I the only person in the world to get hungry during break time? No one else brought snacks.

I’m sure they were all envious of me crunching my way through Kashi cereal and some cocoa roasted almonds. Plan ahead people.

Lunch was actually pretty awesome! They had many sandwich options, including turkey on a croissant and a roasted veggie one. I chose the veggie and ate outside.  It was so warm out today, and freeeeezing indoors!

It was kinda greasy. But oh well.

Sorry for the odd glare. I also grabbed a couple pieces of fruit (instead of chips) and stashed them in my purse for future consumption 😉 Budget planning my friends.

I went back and snagged a really good peanut butter cookie on second thought.

+ 2 sodas. Oh darn.  Does it help that I drank one 2 hours after the first?

But I did get out on a run! So happy I did 🙂 I don’t know if it was the time of day, that it was still warm out, or what – but it was hard!

Pre-run I had a couple bites of nut butter:

It was one of those runs I felt like I was going pretty fast, but when I looked down at my watch, I was barely going below 10 minute miles. What? I hadn’t even walked yet! I wanted to go 4-5 miles, but ended up stopping at 3 and decided to walk a mile rather than head home right away.

Distance: 3 run + 1 walk = 4
Time: 28:38 for the run; 46:23 for the whole thing.

I got a phone call from a friend during my walk, so I came home and decided to have a snack rather than dinner just in case my friend wanted to grab a bite to eat.

Canteloupe sprinkled with peanut flour.

This melon was super ripe and soft! I got all the way down to the rind!

But then decided to just make dinner soon after.

1 egg + 2 egg whites cooked up with the seasoned potatoes with herb butter sauce (that sounds fancy).

Tupperware the potatoes were stored in. Classy, I know. But it saves dishes.

I topped it with this mango chutney I’ve been using on almost everything.  Costco – will you marry me?

And another bite of chocolate hazelnut butter to kill my after dinner sweet tooth.

Ok ok, I know nut butters are a healthy fat. But there is such thing as too much! I’ve been going crazy with all my delicious nut butters in the cabinet (especially my new maple PB). I really think I’m going to give myself a challenge.

No, I’m not going to deny myself of nut butters completely. But I am going to measure out my portions for a week. And limit myself to 1 serving per day. That can be split up however I want – 1 Tbsp at breakfast, and 1 Tbsp at night. 2 Tbsp all at once or 1 tsp every few hours. Who knows. I’ll just total 2 Tbsp at the end of the day max. It’s expensive, and I think I need a detox from it.

Now I’m tired. Yawn. I have my long 8:30-8:30 day tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep!

Hey air mattress. Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you.

It’s on.

Once I fold my clothes, that is.

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Go Go Go!

Today marked my first double day of work.

Nannying 8:30-2

Hospital job 3-8:30

12 hours with a 1 hour break between? No sweat! It actually didn’t hit me until now how tired I am. I know many of you work 2 jobs (heck, I’ve worked 3-4 jobs before!), but for some reason today just wore me out like no other.  I think because I was literally on my feet all day long running around nonstop.

It was super tough waking up this morning. I do believe that the air mattress is taking it’s toll on me and I’m not getting a great night’s sleep.

Ready-to-eat breakfast!

• 1/4 cup multigrain oats + 1/4 cup almond milk + 1/4 cup plain yogurt + stevia + PB flour + cinnamon overnight
• Topped off with:
  • White peach (nectarines are WAY better)
  • Red raspberry jam
  • Nuttzo

I was beyond ecstatic when I found out Trader Joe’s now carried PB powder (aka PB2). It’s almost like peanut flavored protein powder – 16 grams of protein and 110 calories per 1/4 cup serving! Awesome. Beyond awesome.

Nanny job.
8:30-2:00.
Walked 10 minutes to the park.
Played.
Pushed the swing for 30 minutes (upper body workout. Right).
Walked 10 minutes back.
Held and walked around with the crying baby for 1 hour.
On my feet. All. Day.

Thank goodness the mom packed 6 snacks and I could sneak some trail mix! I was hungry 1 1/2 hours after breakfast? Weird.

Lunch. Or snack. Or lunch part 1 (whatever you want to call it) was another egg white wrap. No picture. But looked the same as this:

+ apples & hummus.

2:00 rolled around, I raced home, threw on my “catering” attire, and slammed some food. I wasn’t hungry, but I know I need to eat at 2:30 since I can’t eat until 7:00ish.

Peanut butter nuttzo & jam sammy. + necessary iced coffee.

I am so bummed at myself – I keep forgetting to stick my phone in my apron pocket when I head out on break. Therefore, none of my dinners have ended up documented. This was the best I could come up with today from google images:

Some curry chicken salad (which was nasty and tasted just like mayonaisey chicken salad. But I still found myself eating it anyways?) –

(Source)

Chicken tortilla soup (deeeelicious) –

(Source)

A small bite of mac & cheese (it looked good and I wanted to try it!)

(Source)

And some pineapple and blueberries to end with on a sweet note.

Needless to say, I was a tad too full after this 😉

I got home at 8:45 and crashed on the couch with some hot chocolate.

Then realized at 8:56 that my Redbox movie was due at 9:00. Crap. So the movie Chloe was now costing me $2.18. Not the $1.09 I was already upset about.

Yogurt mixed with PB flour and jam:

And now I really am crashing.

Good night.

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First Day Hunger Pains

I do believe that my first day of work went well!

Although I was melting is this get-up:

(Bad bad self-portrait quality. I’m no Kailey).

Technically I am a “Catering Associate” but really I’m a dietary assistant – taking food orders, putting together trays, delivering trays, restocking areas of the kitchen, etc.  Not exactly what I want to do with my life, but a foot in the door and great experience for the future!

I started off my morning with a delicious supercharge me type of breakfast.

A bowl of…..nectarine??

Don’t worry (which I knew you were) – there’s some overnight oats under there.

Topped with a chopped up nectarine, jam, and some special special nut butter 🙂

I had to be at work yesterday at 11:45 to watch some award snoozefest winning videos and then my actual shift was from 3-8:00. Not knowing if I would have access to a fridge/freezer/microwave, I packed the easiest foods known to man:

2 nut butter & jam sandwich thins

And a clif z-bar

However, I actually got a lunch break around 1:30 and we get $5 per meal to spend at the cafeteria – YIPPEE!!

I wish I had my phone with me to snap a picture (grrr) but I had a plain turkey on wheat. It was small. Dry. And unfulfilling. Now I know better. Plus I was starving (I mean stomach clenching, passing out, dizzy starving) by 4:00.

My dinner break wasn’t until 7:00 and then I chowed down on some type of pizza flat bread and tarragon butter artichoke hearts.

Then I came home at 8:30 and devoured those 2 sandwich thin sandwiches. I was beyond that type of hunger where I get an awful awful stomach ache and nothing satiates me.

Today I work only from 3-8 so I know now to eat a big meal at 2:30 before I go in!

I’m really going to have to plan out my eating schedule (and peeing drinking schedule since I drank so much I had to pee sooooo badly, but didn’t have a break!). I’m not used to having a job where I’m kept SO busy that I can’t grab a snack or use the restroom.

What about you? Does your job allow flexibility for snacking when hungry?

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Self-Portrait

Seriously. Full of self-portraits. Or perhaps it should be titled “Taylor has yet to master self-portraits with her Iphone.”

I just about died on my run today.

Okay. That’s a bit of an overstatement. But I sure felt like I was about to.

I set out planning to go 10-10.5. Since I’m getting pretty bored of the routes around my house, I drove about 15 minutes to our downtown area to run the trails and neighborhoods down there. I also got up “early” to beat the heat. But in all honesty I didn’t get out the door until 9:45. That’s really not beating the heat much.

Miles 1-3: Felt pretty good. I walked for 1 minute about every 9-10 minutes. Towards mile 3 it started to get tough. The sun was really getting to me.

Miles 4-5: Getting more tough. There were a lot of hills around this point of the run, and I started to walk every 5 minutes or so. Around mile 5 I really started to doubt going 10. As I tweeted “Dyingggg. Only 5.2…halfway! Will probs cut it short.” I paused for a bit in the shade and ate half the fuel I packed –

Cashew butter & peach jam on sandwich thin (ate half)

Giving myself a 2-3 minute break in the shade made a HUGE difference. I powered up the rest of the hill quite refreshed.

Mile 6-7: These miles were in mostly shade and it’s amazing how much easier the shade made my run. I was still struggling, but not nearly as much. At mile 7 I literally stopped and leaned against the fence almost crying that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do a full 10. No way José. I decided to do a run 1:30/walk 1 minute pattern. I know this sounds like a ton of walking. Heck! It’s almost half walking, half running! But honestly, I figured that if I focused on just finishing (and not speed or the time I would finish in) that I could do it. I could finish all 10.

Mile 8-9: SO. MUCH. BETTER. The shorter running segments with more frequent walk breaks kept me going. My legs weren’t dying anymore. I wasn’t getting chills. I wasn’t feeling like I was gasping for air. It allowed me to finish my planned 10 miler.

Mile 10: The path I was on for the last 2 miles was almost 100% shaded, allowing me to run a tad longer with less frequent walk breaks. In fact, I ran the last 1/2 mile straight. Once I finished I cooled down a bit on some benches in the shade.

Relief!! 10 miler done! Welcome back to double-digit land!!!

(Please ignore my creepy neck.  That sometimes happens when I smile strangely)

Okay, fine. This is really how I felt. Special, I know.

Few! Thank you Mr. Garmin for holding out the entire time.

Finished in 1:42.43.  So 10.24 pace even with all the walking.

As proud and happy I am about this run, HOW ON EARTH DID I USED TO DO THIS ALL THE TIME? I know I’m building back up from a base of…um…nothing. But I’ve done this before. And I don’t remember it being this hard. When will it get easy again? Boy oh boy.

Now my thoughts on the walking. I always used to be a runner who hated walk breaks. I would only break at stoplights or when pausing for water/food. I’ve been including walking breaks into my runs post-injury to keep it easier on my knee. Today I almost reached a 50:50 run:walk ratio. To some, this might seem like “cheating.” Heck, I probably would have used to view it this way. To some, I didn’t actually “run” 10 miles. But if you add up all my walk breaks, it probably was less than 1 mile. And I’m proud of what I did! And of my knee. GO KNEE 😀 You rock.

Moving past the essay I just wrote…

Pre-run fuel was overnight oats.

• 1/3 cup oats + 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 scoop soy protein powder (1/2 serving)
• 2/3 cup almond milk
• Banana cream pie yogurt (Lucerne brand)
• Cinnamon & maple syrup
• Peanut butter

This A.M topped with:

• Cashew butter
• Blueberries
• Apple butter

Post-run I had the magnificent idea of Starbucks. I’m sure I stunk out the entire place when I walked in.

Hello sugar, chemicals and crap carbs, caffeine and protein(?).

A couple hours later – the quickest lunch possible. 2 veggie dogs on sandwich thin halves. With a nectarine.

Eaten while melting reading outside.

This book’s description reminds me of Face on the Milk Carton. Easy peasy read. I got through over 100 pages today in an hour.

I swear I melted away liters of sweat water. Mmmm water I love you. Please replenish me.

Snacks:

Watermelon slices x4

Source

1/2 yogurt container with cashews & PB mixed in

2 Diet Cracks

(Repeat photo!)

A few cheesy fries my sister made.

And a few bites of my other sister’s cupcake.

Dinner was BBQ chicken – I had 1 1/2 breasts (tee hee. I’m mature) a scoop of rice, and a multitude of grilled onions.

And then I made these puppies to bring with me on my roadtrip tomorrow.

I’m sure I had 2-3 worth of dough. Mmmmm dough.

What are your thoughts on the walk/run (typically known as the Galloway method) training?

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