Cherry Blossom 10-miler: check

I did the 10-miler yesterday! woop woop! I was pretty nervous about it because I didn't feel great about my training, but I managed to slog through it and I'm really pleased with my time! I finished in 1:45:52, which means I averaged about 10.5-min miles through the whole thing. Many miles were more like 11-mins or more, but the final 2 I was able to speed up a little bit, with the final quarter mile Much faster than the rest of the race. I like to keep some reserves for the sprint to the finish. So that's out of the way...

...now for the marathon!! Eeeep! Amber, Eliz and I have officially registered for the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon. I am PSYCHED. and terrified. But while I was running the cherry blossom race yesterday, I felt pretty good about my chances for the marathon. It wasn't easy, but just considering how I felt around 3/4 of the way through 10 miles, I felt good about my chances for the marathon as long as I train well enough. And with Amber & Eliz to train with, we should be able to do a good job!

But I keep forgetting this blog was originally intended to track my progress on the Biggest Loser thing.. I keep forgetting to weigh myself on Sunday mornings, but I think I'm doing ok. The last couple weeks I've been thrown off by traveling and preparing for the race, but now I can focus more on this competition, and also building up my mileage to get ready for official marathon training, which we'll be starting at the end of June.

My goal this week is to not go crazy with carbs. Friday and Saturday I was sort of carbo-loading in preparation for the 10-miler, but I think I overdid it a little. And then Sunday I think I ate more than I needed to but I wanted to make sure I wasn't eating Too little. It's tough figuring out how much I should be eating while I'm training. I want to lose fat but I don't want to go into starvation mode and actually slow down my metabolism..

wooops update

It's been so long since I posted here, I forgot which font I was using.. I think this is the one.

Anyway, I've been a lot better about working out lately - I kinda have to be, my 10-miler is coming up in umm less than 3 weeks now, and one of those weekends I'll be in Portland, OR, so I probably won't get to run that weekend.

I haven't been to the gym yet, but I have been getting better about getting up in the morning to run before work. I don't do it every day, but I do it Almost every day when I've decided the night before that I would do it. There are days I turn off the alarm and go back to sleep, and most days when I actually get up, I'm running late so I don't get as long of a run in as I should, but it's still progress. It'll get a lot easier when it's not black as night out there at 6am.

Good news - I ran in the St Patricks Day 8K in D.C. on Sunday, and improved my time by almost 2.5 minutes, from last year! Last year I finished in 51:32, this year I finished in 49:07. So that's something to write home about. My goal for next time is 45 minutes.

OH and another announcement, I think I must be absolutely insane, but I'm almost 100% sure I'm going to register for the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon. :-o I'm terrified, but So Pumped at the same time. Amber suggested it and we're both pretty sure we're going to register - maybe Eliz too! Registration opens April 1, so we'll see.

epic fail continues..

OK wellll I definitely gained 2 lbs this past week. That's umm not really what I meant to do, but I wasn't really trying too hard to not gain 2 lbs so I deserve it.

I'm considering possibly maybe going back to the gym. Have i said this on this blog before? I feel like I'm repeating myself but maybe I just say it to myself a lot..

Actually the weather over the next couple of weeks looks supa fine, in the high 40s and low 50s, mostly sunny except this Friday, so I should be able to get outside no problem. There is the issue of the sun going down kinda early, but honestly that's not that big of a deal, I just won't listen to my Shuffle and I'll make sure I have reflective clothing on - and I'll stay in the busier parts of Clarendon rather than the dark neighborhoods.

I also have weights I can play with in the apartment, there's just not a lot of Space..

Recipe 2

Another contribution from Coach Fred - well actually Mark Bittman, via Coach Fred.

Polenta “pizza” with pancetta and spinach

Mark Bittman

Yield: 4 servings/ Time: About 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus oil for the pan

• 1/2 cup milk, preferably whole

• Salt

• 1 cup coarse cornmeal

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 small onion, chopped

• 1/2 cup (about 4 ounces) chopped pancetta

• 1 pound spinach, washed, trimmed and dried

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 450˚ F; brush a layer of olive oil on a pizza pan or cookie sheet. Combine the milk with 2 1/2 cups water and a large pinch of salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring just about to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and add the polenta in a steady stream, whisking all the while to prevent lumps from forming. Turn the heat down to low and simmer, whisking frequently, until thick, 10 or 15 minutes. If the mixture becomes too thick, whisk in a bit more water; for this crust, you want a consistency approaching thick oatmeal.

2. Stir 1 tablespoon of the oil into the cooked polenta and pour and spoon it onto the prepared pan. Work quickly so the polenta doesn’t stiffen and spread it evenly to a thickness of about 1/2-inch all over; sprinkle with salt and pepper; cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to set (at this point you can leave the polenta overnight if you prefer).

3. Put the polenta in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until it begins to brown and crisp on the edges. Meanwhile, put two tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and the pancetta is nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to take the onion and pancetta out of the pan and set it aside. Add the spinach to the skillet and sauté until it releases its water and the pan becomes dry; sprinkle with salt and lots of freshly ground pepper.

4. Take the polenta out, sprinkle with the Gorgonzola, then spread the onion, pancetta and spinach evenly on top of the cheese; drizzle with another tablespoon of olive oil. Put the pizza back in the oven for two minutes, or until the cheese begins to melt and the pancetta and vegetables are warmed through. Cut into slices and serve hot or at room temperature.

TIPS

Variation: Before you put it in the oven, top the polenta with thin slices of fresh mozzarella, two or three thinly sliced Roma tomatoes or a bit of tomato sauce, and a handful of fresh basil leaves.

no excuses

OK dang I am having some trouble focusing on this biggest loser thang. The wedding blog is taking over my liiiife!! haha. good news? blabbing constantly on the wedding blog keeps me from snacking my butt off all day.

I still haven't done any laundry so I still have no workout clothes. How PATHETIC. But I think I really need to unpack some box I shoved somewhere because where the heck are all my workout clothes?? I now only have 1 sports bra, what the eff, I know I have at least 4, where are they?? I think there must be a bag somewhere full of everything from my workout drawer at the old apartment.... Sigh it's probably in a box full of ramen and headphones...

Tonight I'm eating at the Peking Gourmet with Mary's mom so I can't make any promises about how healthy it's going to be! Hopefully I can at least work in some steamed vegetables and avoid the sweet and sour pork or whatever. Sommme day I will get back out on the road again, would really help if this winter crap would cut it out!!

Thanks Mom for the comment on drinking more water to make up for high sodium! Hadn't really thought about that, but it makes sense. I just hate peeing.

sugar is scary

Coach Fred sent out this article about how to lose a bunch o weight just by cutting down on sugar intake - most of the things were kind of obvious but there are some helpful tips in there.

This weekend was a total bust. I didn't run, I didn't really work out at all except for some walking to and from brunch, grocery stores, etc. I ate meatloaf and cheesecake and drank a lot of wine and beer.. Somehow my scale tells me I lost 2 pounds last week but I think that's a fluke. I weighed myself on Sunday morning and it showed the 2 pound loss, but then I weighed myself again on Monday morning and I had gained back a pound. So net loss 1 pound, that seems more likely. This week I've already missed 2 days where I definitely could have gotten a run in, so now I have to try to make up for it. I'm surprised I don't feel more motivated to get into shape, I have a bridesmaid dress fitting with Kara on the 28th, would Kind of like to not be a blob by then.

I did make some lentil soup this weekend, I think that's pretty healthy. I heart lentil soup.

well it's a holiday weekend...

Just realized I forgot to post anything yesterday.. well it's alright, nothing happened! I didn't run, I didn't work out.. during the day I think I was pretty good about what I ate.. OH right, I had a frozen meal, shrimp alfredo... sounds much worse than it was actually. It was about 250 calories and it was pretty balanced, bad thing was the 1230mg of sodium.. yikes! other than that, good day food wise. For dinner we made a spaghetti sauce with turkey burger meat, mushrooms, spinach and onions, and then had it over whole wheat shells. Had a glass or two of red wine but not the whole bottle! so that's an improvement. ;)

Today, I've been OK. I took the day off so I should have plenty of time to go out for a run, but I've actually been pretty busy! Should have gone for a run first thing I guess. Anyway around 9:30 I walked down to the store and back, so that's about 2 miles. Had a nice healthy lunch of turkey/swiss/lettuce/tomato/avocado/cucumber on whole wheat bread, strawberries on the side. Oh but then I had umm probably 2 servings of Pirates Booty, so that's another 300 calories I probably didn't neeeeed...

Tonight I'm going to try not to overdo it on the wine/sparkling wine, I think we're just staying in but we might walk out to a movie or something. Tomorrow is going to be the big challenge.. Who thinks I'll get a run in before brunch? HAHAHAH well we'll see.

And then Sunday, I'm weighing in again. I can't imagine I'm going to see a lot of improvement. I don't think I'll have gained any weight, but this was a pretty pathetic week in terms of effort. I'm hoping as the weather gets warmer, and the sun stays up longer, I'll get better about going out for a run in the evenings..