Seriously?

The wheels on my jogging stroller melted! That has been the culprit if all my tire problems. Looks like I'm on a running hiatus until I figure out what to do. Man...

From Yoga to Flat on My Face

Exercise: 45 mins elliptical

Today was a cross training day and I normally do weights but I was feeling a little tired so I decided to just do some easy yoga. I've been practicing yoga off and on for years but I stick to the basics, never trying the more challenging balance moves. When I started practicing again back in March I decided I really wanted to improve my practice and further my balance and core strength.

In the beginning I started doing a lot of the standing poses like chair and tree and moving on to half moon and warrior 3. A few months back I decided I really wanted to be able to do some of the arm balancing poses. So, pretty much, every day I do my strength training I try to incorporate push-ups, plank, side plank and chaturanga. I'm really trying to develop that arm strength and balance. But all along I've really wanted to be able to do the crane, side crane, peacock and firefly. I have been trying to do crane for awhile and yesterday I held it the longest yet, maybe 3 seconds. But at least I'm getting that balance.

Today I made the mistake of just seeing if I could hold crane longer than yesterday. I got my knees on my triceps and started moving forward, towards the balance. I was there for a second before one of my dogs came to investigate what i was doing with my rear in the air and before I knew it I was going face first into my concrete slab floor. I was convinced I had broken my nose because it felt like someone stabbed me in the face and then my teeth went numb. Sounds bad, but it was fleeting. I'm doing just fine now, not even a bruise.

Next time the dogs stay outside while I practice yoga.

Here are today's meals and a snapshot of my day.

Egg white omelet with spinach, cheese and prosciutto and a slice of sprouted grain toast for breakfast

Little Man playing the organ

Pre workout snack: flour tortilla with black bean dip, low fat mozzarella, tomatoes, spinach and avocado

Post workout snack was a veggie burger on toast with a slice of soy cheese. I was into carbs today

I hosted a seriously fun play date today. The pool turned ball pit was a hit. Best $30 ever! Enjoyed by kids aged 1-4. there were 5 kids in there at 1 point. I highly recommend this for sweltering summer days.

There's something up with my camera so my afternoon snack and dinner aren't documented. Snack was a bit more intricate because of the play date but I didn't eat much. I made guacamole and served hummus with sweet potato chips and crackers and some sliced strawberries on the side. Dinner was weird and kinda ugly anyway, but totally tasty. I had madras lentils and brown rice on a bed of wilted spinach and steamed green beans. All fruit popsicle for dessert.

I also have an update for my 21 day challenge. My #1 objective  is to photograph my meals but I'm adding a 2nd objective: to stop snacking after 7. I think that's when I consume the bulk of my calories, through mindless eating in front of the TV. Now I'm just going to have herbal tea. This will help eliminate those extra calories as well as improve hydration. Success so far!

Day 2 and a Box of Graham Crackers

Here's today's food. Nothing too special but everything was pretty tasty.

Iced coffee with vanilla coconut milk savored before anyone else was awake

Chocolate oatmeal with chia seeds and oat bran topped with peanut butter brown sugar

Weird lunch of Chobani strawberry, sweet potato chips, homemade bean dip (yum!!!) and celery with goat cheese (eww)

Tomato flat bread with the tons of tomatoes from my garden and the surplus from the csa box. Inspiration here. So very tasty. I used a similar recipe except that I made my own crust (whole wheat) and used low fat mozzarella instead of parmesan so that Little Man would enjoy it. He did. 

We ate it with steamed broccoli and super sweet strawberries

Not pictured- I ate close to half a box of graham crackers. Never a good idea to go to Trader Joe's without having a snack first. Normally I just get a sample of whatever they are serving but today's sample was god awful. A processed chicken nugget with orange marmalade, yack. Who decides that sort of thing? 

Timed Mile

Exercise: 4 mile run

Splits: 10:43, *7:34*, 9:45, 10:44

My fastest timed mile yet! The last timed mile I ran was 7:38 just prior to my 5k. This time all I hoped for was my time to be below 7:38 and I thought 7:35 was a good estimate. I know it's only a 1 second difference but I am extremely pleased by 7:34. I feel like my hard work is paying off.

My next timed mile will be in 2 weeks just before my next 5k on 9/25. To get that sub 25 5k I need to get my timed mile to 7:30. According to Jeff Galloway you can calculate your 5k pace by adding :33 to your timed mile. And an 8:03 pace will get me my coveted sub 25. I have some hard speed work in the next few weeks but I'm thinking this 5k will be mine!

21 Days... Take 2

I realized I sucked at my 21 day challenge. Well maybe not complete suckage. I wanted to do a lot of core work and I have since added many more core moves into my daily workout. But the diet part, well that was a bust. I actually gained 2 pounds. Eek! Also, it's been a month, not 21 days. It's time to reset.

The only thing that's ever helped me lose weight has been food journalling. So For this 21 days, I'm going to photograph everything I put in my mouth. It will especially help me make better choices because I'd feel pretty gross showing you a day full of french fries and cake.

So here goes day 1

Egg white omelet with soy cheese and prosciutto and a slice of sprouted wheat toast for breakfast

Fage pomegranate cherry Greek yogurt for morning snack time

Baby greens with pecans, blueberries, goat cheese and balsamic for lunch

Pretzel slims and mustard for afternoon snack

Pre dinner brewski

Meatloaf burger things (yummy) corn and green beans for dinner. I gave Little Man some tater tots just to make sure he ate something but he was totally focused on his meat and corn.

Not pictured was 2 small pickles, 1 small bite mint ice cream, and a handful of Peanut Butter Puffins. I feel ok about what I ate except for the beer but that's not a daily occurrence, it's a holiday. I did eat kind of a lot, but I was pretty active today.

Hiking with My Little Man

Exercise: Friday- 45 mins easy elliptical
              Saturday- 10 mile run- 9:38 avg pace
              Sunday- planned 4 mile run, jogger got another flat tire!!!! 45 mins elliptical and 10 mins strength
              Monday- 60 mins elliptical, 15 mins strength, 2 mile hike with Little Man

First off, my 10 mile run went really well besides the fact that I was exhausted. I woke up at 4 Saturday morning with Little Man, he went back to sleep but I was up for good. Four is too early to run in my neighborhood so I waited until almost 5. My only plan was to run a more comfortable pace, slower and listen to my body. I did run more comfortably and my average was only 5 seconds slower than last week. It's amazing how easy it is to run without a jogger. I also had a few miles where I was a little nervous about running in the dark after seeing rats and roaches and creepy fog and my pace sped up to 9:09 and then 9:01, but then I made an effort to chill a bit. All in all it was a pretty great run.

Little Man and I had a pretty fun holiday. It was a little warm here, mid 90's, and it was a bit too warm to play outside. I decided it was fine to relax today and not do any big outings, but if we're stuck inside then sometimes the TV goes on and stays on too long and I didn't want that. I did toy with the idea of taking Little Man to a movie, but none of us are the 'go to the movies' type. We'd rather be active. I should mention that Music Man had to work, bummer.

After a lot of contemplating what to do I decided to drive towards the coast to take Little Man somewhere we could be outside. So we went hiking. Music Man and I attempted to take Little Man hiking a few weeks ago and it was a bust. We made the mistake of putting Little man in a hiking pack and he really wanted to run around. So this time I wore my Ergo just in case and a hydration belt and just let Little Man walk on his own. It was great. The path was well defined so he followed it to a T. He had fun climbing over branches and fallen trees, being under the green canopy and throwing rocks in the creek. It was perfect.

The full hike was probably 2 miles but took us over an hour to complete. I think when music Man and I hiked before we intended to get exercise, this time I didn't and let Little Man set the pace. He walked over a mile, pretty far for a 16 month old, but eventually just stopped. We had some water and I gave him a snack but he was done walking. So I put him in the Ergo on my back and he happily hung out and enjoyed the scenery.

It's been a pretty great day, way better than I had expected.

More Hills and 7 Mistakes NOT to Make

Exercise: 4.5 miles hills/ 9:58 avg pace

Yesterday was a little craptastic. It was one crappy thing after another but the twist is that after each crappy situation occurred, it resolved itself and the outcome was better than expected. So that's pretty awesome, but it would have been cooler to not have to deal with any crap at all.

So the last crappy thing that happened was while getting ready for my regular evening dog walk I noticed my jogger tire was completely flat, so flat the tire was coming off the wheel, damn thorns. Luckily I have another stroller which solved the immediate problem but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do my planned run this morning. Music Man changed the tube for me this morning but I plan to do the next one myself. So if you're a dork like me this video is short and straight forward and makes me feel fairly confidant about changing a tire on my own.

Things worked themselves out, love it when that happens, and I got to do my hill run. This run was a bit more pace driven than hill repeats but my main goal was just to finish the run comfortably. In my head I hoped my pace would avg 12 or below and I lucked out with 10. Makes sense, I averaged 12 min pace on the up hills and 8 min pace on the down hills. And I finished pretty sweaty but also comfortable. I focused more on how I felt than actual pace.

I used to run all my training runs as fast as I could,besides the easy run, but I changed my tune a bit after reading this article yesterday

7 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Long Runs | Active.com

Immediately I knew I was guilty of 2 of these mistakes, and at some time in the decade I've been running I have been guilty of all of them. I get so caught up in pace because I feel like my pace is what makes me feel like I runner. I've always enjoyed running but it wasn't until I started clocking those 8 min miles that I really allowed myself to say "I'm a runner." The article made me realize it was time to slow down a bit before I burn out. I did some further research and looked at Jeff Galloway's pace predictor and Jenny Hadfield's pace plan and figured what's best for me is somewhere between slowing down and listening to my body. I'll still push hard on hill repeats and speed workouts, runs that require the push, but the easy and long runs I'll take, well, easier.

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to (mostly food wise):

Burger w/ cheese and avo, baked "fries", and Stone IPA

Prijesnac- The recipe I used was from my friend Melinda, I changed it a bit

But it was damn good

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Waffles swimming in butter and maple syrup

Little Man LOVES broccoli 

He's also a Diva

Beet dyed napkins (turned out only faintly pink, oh well)

Beet, walnut and goat cheese salad

The last few days have been yummy! We've also been moving our house around thanks to Little Man, aka, THE DESTROYER ;) I'll post some pics when it's not such a mess.