Hurricane Stacey On a Roll

RUNS: Last week was the week of 3's and all went well. So that means this is now the week of 4's! That starts tomorrow if I am able to get out from under Sandy's winds. Fingers crossed!

GYM: Been really enjoying the gym. Loving the muscle soreness that comes from a good workout and hoping that it is all good towards my RUNNING!!

I've done a couple of the AB machines at the gym and they were okay. But today I did Prone Jackknife and it was so awesome. I felt it in my hips, abs, everywhere! Good stuff.

Prone Jackknife

And I am excited to say that I was able to do 30 Lateral Leg Raises on each side today which means I can now add some resistance (with a band) next time. Funny how these little things make me so excited these days :-)

EATS: Packed Lunches as usual...

Nummy

Lunches

Above in the small round container is the Chopped Veggie Salad from Trader Joes. Love that stuff! Seriously, all it is is a bunch of chopped up veggies and yet it tastes SO much better then if I would chop them myself. Why does it work like that?!

How about a quick dinner of Crispy Gnocchi with Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms made this time with mini gnocchi!

Gnocchi and Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Its pretty easy to make. Just saute about a pound of gnocchi in a pan with another pound of sliced mushrooms and a half pound of shredded brussels sprouts in some EVOO. Add some garlic and any other spices you think would work. I tossed in some toasted pine nuts at the end.

I wasnt sure about the mini gnocchi but they actually worked really well!

For dessert I made a hurricane friendly Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Icing and Sprinkles.

Drool

Enjoy!

Please dont ask me to share. The boys will have it gone by the end of the night for sure.

Hope everyone on the East Coast rides out this storm without much damage. Im just happy to still have power. We'll see how long it lasts.

Peace.

Starting ITB Rehab

Gym Time

I have wished for several years now to be in better shape so that I could RUN better. Heck I have even run more and more. It did not make me faster or in better shape. It did in fact give me better endurance. That is it. Which in turn has given me an injury that has made me turn back to the gym.

I have high hopes for the gym in the upcoming months.

I have started something similar to this ITB rehab program this week. I have added in a couple of core moves as well. And I, of course, thought that it did nothing for the entire day after the first workout and figured that a "rehab" program maybe wouldnt cause the same soreness that I regular weight lifting program would.

I was wrong. Considering that I did the same exercises on both sides...this morning I feel it tremendously on the right side (the side of my injury). I could barely walk when I got out of bed. My hip was so stiff and sore.

Im sore here.

Thats were stretching comes in. My other new friend. I did some rolling and stretching and feel much better.

Im loving the BURN. It means Im getting stronger...right?!?!

Now Im going for a RUN (a short one!).

Peace.

3 and Vegan Chili

RUNS: Tis' the week of 3 milers! 3.3 miles on a short trail at the lakes this afternoon. I cant believe it is still in the 70s with humidity in October in PA. Which means it was a difficult run as far as the breathing was concerned. But the ITB was fine.  Here I am at the Lake Redman sign high above the lake. The sign is huge and this was all I could fit in the picture!

Lake Redman sign

And here is a picture of the lake in October. The leaves have peaked.

Fall colors around the lake.

It really is runs like today that make me wonder how I will ever be able to run a 50 Miler. And better yet...how I have run 11 marathon or longer distance runs in the past 11 months. Wow.

EATS: Breakfast was waffles and syrup!

Breakfast

Lunch was PB Graham Crackers. Cucumbers and dip. Clementines. Fig Newtons. Clif bar-White Chocolate Macadamia Nut---my favorite!
***EDIT*** to say that I had a migraine and stopped at the store to get some soda before work. A bag of rice cakes jumped out and made me purchase them. I ended up eating almost the entire bag with only the PB graham crackers pictured below. Everything else will have to wait until tomorrow to be eaten. Good news is that the head ache is gone...for now.

Lunch

And dinner after our run was Vegan Chili that I threw together in the Crock Pot before we left. When we got home all we had to do was stick some cornbread muffins in the oven to bake for 15mins and we had a quick delicious meal. I would not have normally eaten chili on a 70 degree day after running but it isnt normally that warm at the end of October either. And was dang good anyhow!

Vegan Chili

VEGAN CHILI
Serves 6+

1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chick peas, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Black Bean soup
1 cup diced onion
1 diced green pepper
2 diced celery stalks
3 tsp garlic
3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano

Throw everything into your crock pot. Set on high for 3 hours.
Pour over brown rice if desired.

Enjoy!

GYM TIME!

RUNS: GYM TIME: Ugg...
So I finally went to the gym today for the first time in YEARS. My body decided that it wasnt happy with all the running I am doing and that I needed to help it out by building some accessory muscles! So here I go! It was kinda like the first day of school. I was excited but didnt want to go...all at the same time.

First Day!

I also hope that this picture serves as a before picture and in a couple of months I will be able to show off my muscles and you will be able to see a difference. Thats the hope anyhow. (I did take a couple more so that you will be able to see all the muscles for different angles...oh yeah!)

I started out with a warm up on the elliptical...except they dont call it an elliptical...and I dont remember what the lady did say it was called. I obviously need to learn how to take pictures while bobbing up and down on the thing! It was nice. I got to check in on facebook while on it, haha.

Elliptical-like Machine

Then I headed over to the weights. I kept everything pretty light today so that I could just get back into the grove of it all. I only did the machines today. I will move to the free weights next time. I kind of just went around trying different things out. But I tell you what, it actually felt pretty darn good to work out those muscles! I was very pleasantly surprised!

I finished it up with 10mins on the treadmill and 10mins on the elliptical. I liked the elliptical but the treadmill just made me depressed. It made me want to go outside and run. Sigh...tomorrow.

I really hope I like this gym. It is between by home and work which makes it perfect to stop at before or after. And even better would be that I could stop in the morning on my run commute home. That would be ideal for sure! I could stop in and do what I need to do and get the heck out.

EATS: Breakfast was Shredded Wheat cereal and a Banana. Yes, I eat my shredded wheat plain. No milk. I do have a huge glass of water on the side though!

PLAIN Shredded Wheat

Check out the new thing I got to slice my cukes for lunches! I think it is considered a mandolin type thing. All I know is that is slices all my veggies to the same diameter very quickly. And it was fun to use. Love it!

I added those to the lunches along with celery, carrots and dip. Also gotta have my pita chips and hummus! A whole lotta dipping going on with this lunch. Clementines and Fig Newtons to make it a complete meal.

Lunch for work.

After my awesome workout at the gym I needed some serious refueling goodness for dinner. Enter Mexican Tricolor Peppers. Quick. Easy. Tasty.

Mexican Tricolor Peppers

MEXICAN TRICOLOR PEPPERS
Serves 4.

1 cup each Red, Yellow, Green bell peppers sliced thin
1 can Black Beans, rinsed
1/2 container prepared Mango Salsa
1 can Diced Pineapples, drained
2 cups Brown Rice.

Prepare Brown Rice per directions.

Saute bell peppers in pan.

Once soft add black beans and mango salsa until warmed.

Serve over rice and top with diced pineapples.

Optional toppings include Soy sauce, Sweet Chili sauce, etc.

Enjoy!

Let us not forget a favorite sweet snack of Coco with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips for dessert...

Peace.

Happy Veggieversary!!

RUNS: I finally ran today!! It was a beautiful 3.5 miles. Its been a week since the long run ITB/knee pain thing. And the run was good! Of course I still have plenty of Prednisone flowing through my blood, since I took my last dose this morining, so its a good thing I felt no pain or that would have been a very bad sign.

I was going to wait until Monday for this run but it was such a beautiful weekend and everyone was posting about their runs on facebook that I just couldnt wait any longer. Except, my calves didnt get the memo about the date change. Oh my they were sore! Actually my whole body felt heavy and tight. Hate not running for that long.

Rocky Ridge

You can tell that the above picture is of a new trail because of the orange flags marking where they were to build it. Its actually just a very small section that had to be rerouted from another trail.

Tomorrow starts my weight/strength training.

EATS: This month marks my husbands 6 month veggieversary!! How cool is that! I think it is even cooler how easy it has been for him. He has even found many things to cook on his grill as I think that was the one thing he thought he would miss the most...grilling. We have even found a good replacement for hot wings.

Lucky him...he has even lost about 10lbs in the past 6 months. Here is styling our 17yo sons clothes because, well, he can ;-)

Rik

He has even started to switch out his after run chocolate milk with chocolate soy or almond milk. He has no problem drinking regular milk but I am happy for these little changes!

Post run Chocolate Soy Milk Recovery Drink

I think the switch has been fairly easy for him because he really does eat just about anything. We are lucky to love beans, veggies and fruits in this house. I asked him what his favorite vegetarian dish is but he couldnt tell me because he said that we have been eating so many new dishes the past couple of months that we havent had very many things twice lately, haha.

Happy Veggieversary!!!

Peace.

Cranky Iliotibial Band and change of plan.

RUNS: Runs. Let me just tell you about runs. Since we last spoke a week ago. I decided to run over 26 miles on the Appalachian Trail with a couple of friends. Thought it would be a good training run since I didnt do the planned 50k the week before. Well...I ended up injuring my Ilitibial Band. For those of you who dont know, the ITB runs from basically your hip to your knee. And when the ITB gets inflamed it can cause incredible knee pain (see here for more info).

Appalachian Trail at Boiling Springs

I have been dealing with some knee tightness over the past couple of weeks. Pretty much since Labor Pains 45 mile run. I knew it was my ITB and thought I had it under control with rolling and stretching. This past week my runs were awesome and pain free. I had no reason to worry (to much anyway).

We took off on our run Saturday morning and it was below freezing out with frost on the ground. Love it! Totally my kind of running weather. We run an out & back part of the AT that is not very hilly and rocky except in a few sections. So I thought it would be perfect for a long run. Everything was going great and at mile 8 our friend turned around to head back to the car (this would be her longest run). Sheri and I continued on.

At mile 10 is Scotts Farm aka bathroom and water stop. We quickly decide to press on for a few more miles. I thought I was feeling fine at this point except for some knee tightness. We continue to head north for 3 more miles to our planned turn around. The last mile is pretty hilly and rocky but we want to get to that 13 mile mark. We do. And we stopped for a minute to snack. I decide I better take some ibuprofen because my knee is starting to feel quite tight.

As soon as we start moving again I can tell I have a problem. Going down that rocky hill was really hurting my knee. At one point I had a shooting pain that about stopped me in my tracks. I started limping forward and Sheri suggested I stop and stretch. I did. That made it worse. I panicked for a minute wondering how I was going to make it the 13 miles back to the car with this pain! But then it seemed to loosen enough that I returned to a decent pace until we got back to Scotts Farm water stop.

We stopped long enough to refill, snack and sign the AT book. Again, once I started moving I was in alot of pain and very stiff. Eventually it loosened again and I was running err...shuffling along. At this point I told Sheri not to let me stop again! Soon enough I could feel the ibuprofen doing it job and for the remainder 10 miles back to the car were a mix of running, shuffling, ouchy ouches, and walking. But I kept moving!

We managed to finish the 26.2 miles in a little over 6hrs. This, btw, was Sheri's longest run ever. Here she is finishing up the last .2 of her first ever unofficial trial marathon!

I knew my knee was in bad shape but as is typical with ITB pain...once the run was over, the knee pain was gone. My knee was still stiff but no really painful. That is until a few hours later when I finally got to sit on my couch for more then a minute. I went to get up and the pain was there. Big time.

Yeah. Thats where it hurts.

So in the 3 days since. I have been icing, rolling, stretching and ibuprofen (Saturday and Sunday only). On Tuesday I started a Medrol Dosepak (Methylprednisolone) to help with the inflammation since I was still having quite a bit of pain. And by the second dose the pain is almost entirely gone. Yay!

Now it is time to rehab this darn thing. I have a plan in the works for the rest of the year which totally changes my goals. I am about 99% sure that I will NOT be running Stone Mill 50miler.

If you have been following along you know that I am turning 40 in November and was planning to run Stone Mill the week before my birthday. I knew this may have been a stretch for me and now I am sure that I would be able to do it but at what cost?!

I am going to hold off for my first 50 miler until the spring. Its the smart thing to do.

EATS: Since I added this section of my blog when I started training for Stone Mill I will tell you that the goals here will change as well. I am going to go into weight loss mode instead of just eating to train and fuel my run mode.

The fact is, the more mileage I run...the more my weight seems to go up as well! Not good. Its probably from eating lots of this...

Cooked mixed grains. Peanut Butter. Agave.

When I need to be eating more of this...

Salads!

Haha. Half kidding. You know what I mean. I will continue eating all of the delicious variety of foods that are good for me but in more reasonable portions. I am going to use the app MyFitnessPal to keep track of my calories for awhile.

I will expand on my new goals in the next post. Stay tuned!

Do you count calories?

Peace.

Good run. Good eats. Good day.

RUNS: 7.5 miles around the same new trails around the lake as last week. We did do one different one to check it out but it was just a detour from another so the mileage was about the same.

Felt really good and strong on this run but my pace ended up being about the same as last week as well.

The trail ends with some awesome downhill single track that I just love. I was listening to my music during the run and decided to turn it up and put on a jammin song to get me going on this last section. I turned onto the single track and as I was messing with my music I almost fell and decided it was best just to leave the music as is! Next time I will adjust the music BEFORE the good parts of trail!

EATS: Check out the breakfast!! Quinoa Plum Pudding.

Cut up a plum. Add quinoa, chia seeds, cinnamon, and almond milk.

Mix it all up and stick it in the fridge overnight to gel.

Enjoy!

It was really good but the next time I need to add more milk. I added more after I took the picture!

Lunch was the household favorite. Peanut Butter Graham crackers. Banana. Veggies (cukes) and Italian dressing. Fig Newtons. Clif Bar-chocolate brownie. Best lunch ever!!

Packed Lunches

Dinner was made before we ran so that when we came home Rik threw some breadsticks in the oven while we got showers and it was ready to inhale when we got done! I made this Smoky Bear Quinoa Salad & Dressing exactly per the recipe except I only made half the dressing. It was incredible!!

Smoky Bear Quinoa

We sure do love our fresh veggie raw salads in this house but when the temps start to get lower you often times look for something warm which was why we added the breadsticks. You certainly dont need them with the quinoa and beans but it was a nice warm addition. And who would pass up bread!

Snack was this fruit bar. Ingredients: 1 apple + 1 pear. That's It
They are a little expensive. They taste like candy. I dont share.

Snack

Do you buy snacks that you dont share?! Or am I alone here?!

Peace.

Ran with gloves & Fast Food

Post #4

RUNS: Monday morning I did my 6 mile run commute home. It was a balmy 41 degrees out and I had to put on a pair of gloves for the first time this fall. Yay! I say this because this is my kind of running weather. My breathing was awesome and my pace was the fastest ever (by 4seconds per mile) on this route. All while feeling easy. Double yay!!

Btw, if you came here today looking for a Blues Cruise race report...you are out of luck. I bagged the race this weekend for no real reason in particular. I really cant sign up for a race at the last minute. Its way to easy to back out. Especially when Rik isnt running it with me and it is forcasted to be raining (which it ended up not doing). ALL of my friends ran but that still didnt get me to the starting line. Instead I slept from 9pm the night before until 1pm the next day! Holy cow, I must have been tired.

EATS: Im kind of proud of myself that my latest breakfast thing is fresh fruit with my oatmeal and almond milk. I used to always need/like dried fruit, probably because it is sweeter. But I am kinda digging this fresh fruit thing. It is way more volume which equals more filling! Here is a diced up plum, rolled oats, and almond milk. I always eat my oats cold.

Diced Plum & Rolled Oats

Nothing new with my lunches though. Veggies & dip. Pita chips & hummus. Fruit. Fig Newtons. And a Luna bar. I havent had Lunas for awhile and I dont know if my tastes have changed or they changed the way they make them but I am not liking them as much as I used to. I think I should stick with the Clif bars instead.

Lunch

Dinners include fast food over the weekend. Salad bar. This is NOT as much dressing as it looks like in the picture! Im not sure why it looks like so much other then the fact that I put the dressing on and shook it up before I took the picture maybe. Or maybe it is alot of dressing and I am in denial about it?!?!

Salad Bar aka Fast Food

How about a burrito at California Tortilla. No-meato burrito! I was disappointed that the limited time Caribbean burrito was gone already from the summer menu. No-meato is good but a bit spicy for me without even any sauce on. I think that is why I liked the Caribbean burrito with the mangos, to calm the heat!

No-Meato Burrito

Okay, so I actually did cook a meal at home too. I used up the last spaghetti squash that was given to us the other week. While the spaghetti squash was cooking I sauted some mushrooms in a pan. Then added a can of white beans and a jar of marinara sauce to the cooked mushrooms and let them heat together for awhile. Scraped out the squash and added the sauce mix on top. Dont forget to add some nooch on top to compete the meal. So quick and easy its almost like fast food...right?!

Spaghetti Squash w/Mushrooms & Beans

Tempeh BLT Sandwiches

RUNS: 7 miles around, up and down the trails at Rocky Ridge. 80degrees and humid. In October. Where did fall go :(

The run was okay. My legs are tired after three decent runs in a row. Rest day tomorrow.

Im still on the fence about running Blues Cruise this weekend. I am still having some pain with the ITB and I am just not sure if it is wise to run 31 miles on it.

EATS: I switched it up this morning and went with some oatmeal pancakes and maple syrup. I was hungry for something sweet.

Breakfast

Packed lunch included the Sufferin' Succotash again. Celery and dip. Apple and Pumpkin Hummus. Let me just tell you how yummy this hummus is! I have never been a big fan of pumpkin. Not even pumpkin pies. Then last year I made some kind of dessert with pumpkin in for Colton and he really liked it so I ended up making it several times and actually starting liking it myself. So this year I am trying more things pumpkin...and loving them. Funny how tastes change.

Lunch

I made a dinner for my guys that I think you will like too...a BLT! No not with bacon but with tempeh that I added spices to and baked it to give it a baconish flavor.

Another thing I was never really fond of was bacon. I did like the flavor of it just not the nasty chewiness of it  (and you know the rest). The guys liked bacon and I love tempeh. So when I saw this recipe to make tempeh bacon I knew this was a must try! Adding it to a BLT was something familiar to them. I gave it a go.

You can find the recipe here. The only thing I did differently was to decrease the liquid smoke to 2 tsp just because it smelled so strong that I was afraid the taste would be to strong as well. The next time I may increase the maple syrup though!

Smoky Maple Tempeh BLT

This sandwich was really good! Dakota even liked it. I was shocked! I think I have found that the secret to getting your teen to eat different things (and hopefully like them) is to not feed them dinner until REALLY late. And they are staving. And will eat (almost) anything.

Now I just wonder if I can get Colton to try it when he comes home on break from college!

How do you get your picky kids and/or family members to try new eats?

Peace.

Running in the rain.

RUNS: Okay. So I didnt actually run in the rain. It stopped by the time I got to the trails. But I did run 5 miles around the lake again today right after it got done raining. Lucky me. It was glorious! Well, all except for my stinkin' ITB that has been bugging me for the past week or so now.

We ran the same trails as yesterday but not the new ones around Nixon. When we got home, Rik downloaded his Garmin and it showed that those new trails DOUBLED the elevation. Holy moly! I thought those hills were big.

EATS: I am not even going to bore you with my breakfasts because it has been a 1/2 Clif bar and fruit for the past couple of days. I used to eat Clif bars alot. Then quit eating them all together. And am now back to loving them again. Go figure! I dont know whats up with the HALF Clif bar either. Like I cant eat the whole thing at one time for some reason...thats just wrong.

Lunches. Lunches. They have been somewhat different. No dips yet this week!

Instead I had some Avocado Summer Rolls that I get from Wegmans already made. Then washed that down with some kind of Pumpkin Pecan Cake that my little guys' grandmother made over the weekend.
*If you are new here...I work as a night shift pediatric nurse. So my little guy is my work ;-)

Avocado Summer Rolls

This cake was so awesome. I only had one piece...but wanted more! Im kinda proud of myself for stopping at one. Thank you very much!

Pumpkin Pecan Yellow Cake

Tonight was a Green Salad with dressing and Sufferin' Succotash Salad. Nuts. Grapes. Fig Newtons.

Lunch

Dinners include a restaurant Roasted Veggie Flaxseed Wrap with fries.

Another evening at home we also whipped together a Veggie Stir-fry made with two different Trader Joes frozen veggie mixes. Thats what happens when you cant decide which one to make. Mix them up and make both (how else do you get twenty different vegetables in one stir-fry?! Served over brown rice. Easy Peasy.

Veggie Stir-Fry over Brown Rice

And yes. I DID add more veggies to the pile after the picture.

Looks like another chance of rain tomorrow and another run in the rain, which is okay with me because I do run well in the rain.

Do you run in the rain?

Peace.