There were multiple deaths from falling trees in Central Park yesterday, I think running indoors at my gym was the right decision.
The day started out with slushy rain and progressed to windy snow. Oh winter, you’re not welcome here anymore.
Once I was warm and dry inside the office, I chowed down on breakfast: chobani 2%, dried cranberries, and Kashi Go Lean Crunch.
Followed by a mid-morning cup of green tea (not coffee, I swear!) and Hershey’s kisses.
Lunch was leftover peanutty root veggie stew and an apple with a wedge of laughing cow cheese. Umm, there’s not much you can do to make leftovers in tupperware look pretty, but it all tasted very good!
The highlight of my afternoon was a delicious cinnamon roll from Holey Donuts. I don’t even care if I get diabetes. It was that good.
The cinnamon roll was savored with a hot cappuccino, mmm.
As much as I missed working out with the Central Park Track Club, I knew running outside wasn’t a (safe) option. To pump myself up for a solo workout, I reviewed my tips on surviving the treadmill and headed over the the gym around 6pm.
1 mile warm-up
4 x 1 mile @10K pace with .25 mile recovery jog
1 mile cool-down (7 miles total)
I set the incline at 2% for miles 1 and 3 to simulate the terrain of Central Park. I hope I’m just fatigued from Wednesday’’s 12 miles because I can’t remember the last time I worked so hard on a run. Pace for the mile repeats wasn’t that fast (7:13, 7:08, 7:13, 7:05), but I was struggling to maintain good form. I wanted to decrease the incline SO badly, but I gritted it out. I just kept thinking about the hilly 5K I have planned for next weekend – a 0% incline will NOT be an option on race day. I’m a little nervous (ok VERY nervous) about trying to run 13.1 miles at ~7:25 pace next month. Meh.
After waiting 25 minutes for the subway (WHY do half empty local trains randomly run on the express track??), I finally made it home. Famished. I didn’t have time to run to the grocery store, so din-din was a mish-mosh of whatever I had in the fridge.
First I whisked together an easy vinaigrette – 1 Tbs olive oil, 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tsp lingonberry jam, and dash of dalt.
I tossed romaine lettuce, dried cherries, walnuts, and Wildwood baked tofu in with the dressing and topped with shredded cheddar cheese.
I also made myself a plate of tortilla chips + melted cheddar. Andddd then I killed the bag of chips. The reduced guilt yellow corn tortilla chips from Trader Joe’s are SO good (probably the best store bought tortilla chips I’ve ever had). I bought the bag four days ago and they’re already gone. Mmm, salt + carbs = perfect post-workout fuel.
Check out the latest on True/Slant: Are you making these common running mistakes?
Treadmills – love ‘em or hate ‘em? Unless the roads clear up this weekend, I’m facing a long run inside!
My plans for an early morning spin class were nixed when I woke up feeling less than stellar. More sleep and a coffee date with my girl, Frida were what I opted for instead.
I had some leftover pumpkin from the muffins I baked this weekend, so I turned it in to overnight oatmeal. I combined rolled oats, canned pumpkin, greek yogurt, chopped walnuts, and dried cherries the night before and then added a splash of milk and some cinnamon this morning.
Followed up by a piece of flax bread topped with peanut butter and raspberry jam.
Last night whilst doing my laundry, I roasted some beets. I love beets – they’re sweet like candy!
Roasted Beets
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees
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Wash, peel, and cube 4 beets
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Toss the beets with 1 Tbs canola oil and 1 Tbs rice vinegar
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Cover with foil and roast for 20 minutes on a baking sheet
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After 20 minutes, remove foil, and roast for an additional 15 minutes (or until tender)
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Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!
For lunch I tossed together chopped romaine, roasted beets, goat cheese, walnuts, dried cherries, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.
The folks at popchips sent me a box of samples the other day (loved the way it was packaged!) and my stash is nearly gone. These chips aren’t fried or baked, but rather “popped” and I think they have a tremendous amount of flavor and crunch for a relatively healthy product. I saved one of my favorite flavors for last – salt & pepper!
Psst…I’ll tell you a secret – popchips didn’t really need to send me free samples, I buy these all the time because they’re SO good!
My afternoon snack was compliments of Chobani greek yogurt (yay, samples!). Last week I received a Chobani lunch bag packed with some of my favorite flavors. I added some toppings (coconut, granola, and crumbled oreo) to the plain variety.
And thennnnnn the afternoon never seemed to end. As much as I love running, sometimes my motivation disappears. Around 4:30pm I started to feel very blah and the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym. I thought maybe a little sugar would help, so I went downstairs and bought a Twix bar. Yes, even healthy food bloggers crave candy! 
Energy bars and candy bars are essentially the same thing, so I wasn’t too worried about having the twix bar before my run.
I wanted to run intervals this evening, but since I don’t have access to an indoor track, I performed the workout on the treadmill. Not ideal, but it got the job done!
1.5 mile warm-up
2 x 400m @ 5k pace (400m recovery after each interval)
2 x 400m @ 3K pace (400m recovery after each interval)
2 x 400m @ mile pace (400m recovery after each interval)
1.5 mile cool-down
No problems with my hips or back (yay!), but dang those 400’s at mile pace felt FAST. I finished up the last one in ~5:33/mile pace and I was just praying I didn’t fly off the back of the treadmill. Can’t wait till my running club starts working out on the outdoor track again….
Once I got home, I whipped up a super fast dinner salad: romaine lettuce, mushroom veggie burger, cheddar cheese, dried cherries, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.
For dessert I melted some chocolate chips on a piece of whole wheat toast and topped it with mashed banana. Served alongside herbal tea to warm me up.
Have you heard about Michael Pollen’s new book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual? What are your personal “rules” for healthy eating? Do you limit red meat? Avoid HFCS? Buy organic?
