Mental Toughness

Before my stress fracture in March 2009, I was mentally tough. While I was training for the marathons I did in October and November 2008, I would go to bed about 15 mins early. I would dim the lights and just lie in bed with my eyes shut. I could see myself winning. Winning in everything. 5ks to marathons. At the time, I have been either winning or placing in my age group in 5ks so I had a small taste of what victory was like. Big or small I'll take em!

But after not BQing (Boston Qualifying) in Marine Corps marathon in 2009, I felt so defeated. But I wasn't realistic. I was able to start training for the marathon right on schedule, coming off the injury. But I could only run 3 days a week with a peak weekly mileage at 30 miles. Now that I look back, it's actually freaking awesome that I was able to run 26.2 miles in 3:52 running an average of 24 miles a week.

So lately I have been struggling with mental toughness. I try to imagine but stress from everyday life seems to get in the way. So today I walked to my mailbox. And what did I find?



The March edition of Runner's World with Kara Goucher on the cover! And in perfect time, there is an article about finding confidence to perform at your best! This will be a lunch time read tomorrow!

Have you ever struggled with mental toughness? With anything?

Drama Monday

Today was one of those crazy Mondays! One of my coworkers was having a bad day and I hate when someone is upset. I always have this instinct to make some feel better with humor. It's something I have always felt I had to do. Even as a child. I remember making friends laugh when their dumb boyfriends broke up with them or they didn't have such a great game.

But tomorrow is another day and hopefully drama free!

When I came home this evening I ran 5 miles in lovely 50 degree weather! Perfect! But some of the sidewalks were completely flooded which had me slowing up a few times.

For dinner I decided to try a Giada de Laurentis recipe, Balsamic BBQ Chicken. This was soo good! Plus it made plenty of leftovers!



What do you do to make people feel better? Do you have that natural instinct?

What Weekend?

Seriously.. I'm sitting here wondering. What the heck did I do this weekend? It flew by!

Friday the husband and I went to Bonefish Grill with a gift card left from Christmas. Wow was this meal incredible! I did not take pictures b/c I felt weird taking one in a decent restaurant. But everyone who has been to Bonefish knows you MUST get the Bang Bang Shrimp as an appetizer. So delish! For dinner I always get the shrimp and scallops with veggies and I got a side of rice since I needed a little bit of carbs for my 8 mile run I had planned the next morning. We decided to get Chocolate Creme Brulee to go since we just wanted to be bums at home.

Saturday morning I woke up early to meet my friend Jesse for a nice 8 mile run. It was sunny and 29 degrees, a little cold but there was no wind. I just love Saturday morning runs. No one is really out yet so all the roads are quiet and peaceful. The route we ran goes through a valley and I love the early morning fog in the sun. I ran 8 miles in 1 hr 5 mins. Perfect pace. Not too fast and not too slow.

After the run I went right to the grocery store to load up on the essentials! Grapefruits for the husband, eggs, salad, milk, bread. I did not buy frozen pizza this time around. After reading the ingredients to our favorite frozen pizza I felt soooo nasty. We are cutting it out. Do not need any 16 letter ingredients in my diet! LOL





Then after grocery shopping I attempted to make a cake from thenest.com, half way through the directions I noticed they just stopped. WTF? So I had to guess what else to do in order to make this Brown Sugar Pound Cake. Turned out to be an epic fail. Grr!! But that's okay. This was for my cousin coming over later that night but we had a nice spread just for the two of us to catch up on some gabbing!



I had cheese and crackers to go with our wine. Plus I decided to give hummus and naan a try. OMG where has hummus been all my life? This snack will definitely be making an appearance more often on this blog!

Sunday was a pretty chill day. I met my good friend Angela for RPM this morning at the gym. I decided I'd give this class a try just to vary my cross training. It was a good workout but I'm just not a group exercise person. I prefer my own music and motivating myself. I'm just not into crazy class instructors. But that is just what I prefer!

After class I decided to try a new tea. Wild Berry Zinger by Celestrial Teas. Yummmm. I have defintely been on a tea kick and this hit the spot! Oh yea.. and a little piece of dark chocolate never hurt anyone!



How was your weekend?

Heath Class!

I started my health class yesterday. So I'm definitely moving toward my resolution of receiving my AA! I'm really excited to take this course. I definitely have a passion for living a healthy lifestyle (hence the blog).

Once I receive my AA then I will be able to enter a program through my job that allows me to work part time and attend school part time. Right now my work role is instructional designer.

I really like instructional design but I really feel like I need to learn so much more! I really want to contribute more to my team at work!

So for lunch today I had leftovers. Not sure what to call it but it is basically ground turkey with spices. I also had a lovely side salad!



After work I ran 3 miles. Not a good run at all. I was so tired! I think it is from limiting my carbs to burn fat. Plus I had a really hard 5 mile run yesterday.

So I came home and opted for carbs!! Linguine with roasted tomatoes! Very good. This is definitely one of the few times you will see pasta on this blog though!





How have your workouts been going?

The Bod Pod!

This morning I had a nice 3 mile run with my friend Jesse. Even though it was 40 degrees this morning I was dying to wear shorts. I'm more than ready for spring and summer. Lately I've been finding myself really missing Saturday morning long runs.

After the run, I came home showered and left for the Bod Pod. I was really interested to see what my body fat percentage was since I really had no clue! I'm at 23%, which is considered a healthy percentage! But I'd really like to get down to 19%.



My husband is going to analyze both our reports and create a better diet for us. So stay tuned!

After Bod Pod I was starving since you can't eat two hours prior to the test. So I had leftovers!! Lazy chicken and a side salad!



While making lunch I noticed our fridge was looking a little bare. So I grabbed some essentials such as peanut butter, milk, eggs, and bread.



I'm tired! Off to bed!

Weekends are...

EPIC DIET FAILS!

At least by having this blog is it easier to realize what you are putting in your mouth. Friday night cheat was crab wontons and wine. Saturday was shrimp macaroni salad and lasagna. Sunday was shrimp salad sandwich, fries, donut, and pizza. But alas, tomorrow is a new day.

Somewhere in between all the cheats was a healthy dinner of "lazy" chicken and broccoli. Lazy chicken is just chicken breast and spaghetti sauce in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours. The result? Flavorful easy to shred chicken!




Even though I have had some epic fails this week, I have managed to control my after dinner sweets craving with this..





Green Tea and Dark Chocolate! By far Twinings is my favorite brand of tea. The flavors just taste more natural than other brands. Im still trying out different dark chocolate but so far I'm sold on Ghiradelli 60% Cacao. But a Harry & David chocolate bar is still on my list to try!

Tomorrow I will be trying the Bod Pod at Brick Bodies. This machine was used last season on The Biggest Loser. This machine measures lean muscle mass and fat in order to calculate your metabolism. Check out more info here: http://www.befittest.com

Tell Me Who's Watchin..

The New Year brings new folks to the gym. It's a fact of life. I commend them for being there and getting healthy, but pleeeassee don't stare at the regular gym rats. In particular I can think of one guy who wears this flame durag and stares at me no matter where I am in the gym. Strange...

Have you noticed anyone staring at you in the gym?

Today I've been studying for my math placement test for college. I'm so nervous. Math has never been my strong point and never mind the fact I have not done any algebra in 7 years! But hopefully this will get me closer to my resolution of getting my AA!!

I kept dinner easy tonight and had a frozen spinach pizza and side salad. I think I may stop buying frozen pizza. I looked at the ingredients and only recognized 5 out of 30 ingredients. NOT GOOD! This does not help toward my resolution to get a six pack!

Its Okay To Do Nothing!

Today... I did nothing. And that's okay! I feel reenergized and ready to take on a new work week and workout week. My foot has been feeling a whole lot better but to be on the safe side I'm taking off a few more days!

So to make myself feel a little connected with running I watched Spirit of the Marathon on Hulu. I really miss training for the marathon. So far I have run 3 with a personal best of 3:50. Sooo close to qualifying for Boston!

Since I was all by my lonesome self today, I had lunch solo. It was a slice of this amazing pizza from a local restaurant called The Grill at Harryman House. The sauce was a chipotle BBQ sauce with corn salsa, pepperjack cheese, chicken, and avocado. AMAZING! Plus a side salad with cranberry balsamic dressing.



And then dessert.. a chocolate marshallow snowman!!!



Ok so after lunch and a movie I cleaned a little bit.. just a little thoough ;) The husband was on his way home and I decided to make a light dinner of Catfish and Chips! Did you know Catfish has the lowest amount of saturated fat out of all fish? Me neither! Plus a side of chips aka oven fried sweet potatoes and baby red potatoes.. yummm



And now I'm enjoying a piece of Chocolate Chip and Walnut Zucchini Bread with a hot cup of black tea!



Good Night!

The Stress Fracture

In March 2009, I was running on the treadmill and felt a slight pain in my foot. By the time I got to mile 10 the pain got worse and my foot was swollen. I was stuck in a boot for 3 months with no running! I had a bad stress fracture in my right foot.

At the time I was in the best shape, running my fastest at every run. Which is what eventually wore me down.

Tonight I started running on the treadmill and felt a pain familiar to the one I experienced Last March. But at least this time I stopped right away. I went home, iced, elevated my foot, and took ibuprofen.

I may not run for about a week. I'd rather not run for a week than not run for 3 months!!

Ok so I have a confession. Tonight I was by myself and the frudge is empty. So tonight is a cheat meal night whoo!! Drool over my Qdoba people.. steak quesadilla and fajita ranchera naked burrito!



Have you ever had a running related injury?

My Dogs Are My Children!

I love my dogs. Period. I'm very passionate about rescuing animals from shelter and truly feel blessed to have 2 wonderful dogs.

First, there's Miller. He is a 10 year old boxer/coonhound who is hands down the best dog I've ever had. He is obedient, smart, and protective. Doug saved him when Miller was only 5 months old. He was abused and Doug took him on the low. I'm convinced Miller has helped my husband through some hard times.



Then there's Tadd. A work in progress but he is painfully cute! He is a 1 year old beagle mix. He enjoys eating socks and bras, and stealing food off the kitchen counter.



In this picture he is eyeing up dinner tonight. Which was a delicious cheeseburger soup. And super healthy! Here is the recipe, for some reason it will not link directly to the page.

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beef/all-american-cheeseburger-soup/

Basically I used 93/7 ground turkey, no potatoes, and only 1 cup of reduced fat cheddar. Doug asked for seconds it was that good!



Do you adopt dogs from shelters?

Back to Work Monday

Going back to work today was HARD. I like my job but I still have stuff to do around my house. Like put away my Christmas decorations! Horrible I know...

This morning started off with the usual breakfast, microwaved eggs whites, glass of skim milk, and toast with peanut butter. Breakfast of champions right there!

For my midmorning snack I always drink Muscle Milk Light. It comes in these handy single serving sizes and are yummy.

After work I went to the gym and did an ab routine that my lovely husband (who is also a personal trainer at the gym) put together. Basically there are 4 ab workouts that run continously in 15 second increments. So it goes as follows:

crunches for 15 seconds, reverse crunches for 15, V-Ups for 15 seconds, and crunch rows with a body bar for 15 seconds. Repeat but do 30 seconds, 45 seconds, and then 60 seconds. Your abs will be fried!! Hopefully this routine will put me closer and closer to that 6 pack resolution!

After abs I ran 2 miles in 13 minutes! Sprinting balls to the wall!! Woot!

Came home and made a LOVELY dinner, side garden salad with southwest rub chicken, and mustard braised brussel sprouts. Yum!



Now its time to enjoy some tea and my hubby!

Cleaning Frenzy!

Good Evening everyone! This afternoon I was in a cleaning frenzy! Between vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the shower and toilet I'm wiped! At first I did NOT want to get up from my comfy couch but I felt motivated once I thought about the extra calories I'd burn!

I did run 5.5 miles this morning but it took me forever b/c the wind is sooo strong here in Maryland right now! I came home frozen to the bone! Right away I had Muscle Milk light and hoped in the shower for warmth!

While I was still on my cleaning high this afternoon, I decided to make a nice-ish dinner for me and my husband. To make up for the HORRIBLE meal we had at Outback Steakhouse, I made a Filet with Rosemary tomato jam and bacon green beans.



You'll find that the recipes I use are mostly from Cooking Light. It's okay to have steak as long as I keep the portion at 3-4 ounces!

First Post!

Hi blog world! After reading other blogs for about a year I've decided to start my own! I'm a 23 year old female who is a working professional, running enthusiast, newlywed, and fur mama! This blog is meant to capture my journey through 2010 and achieving 12 resolutions.

These resolutions include:
1. Running a 20 minute (or less) 5k
2. Qualifying for Boston
3. Running a 1:37 (or less) half marathon
4. Finish home renovations!
5. Lose body fat and finally get those abs I've been yearning for!
6. Host a game night
7. Volunteer
8. Finish my Associates Degree
9. Save $3k for emergencies
10. Try yoga and hopefully incorporate it into my workout routine
11. Host a dinner party
12. Drink 64 ounces of water daily

More posts to come getting into the nitty gritty details of it resolution! Wish me luck! I hope everyone has a spectacular 2010.