Ready, Set, Eat....

First up my dinner....

I had a veggies burger with the fixings, wheat berry salad, and a pickle. Yum!

Onto Dallas planning:
The main question is how to handle meals? I will be in a new city, living out of a hotel room, and most likely working longer than normal days. Here's how I am going about tackling all these challenges:

New City: Thankfully the Internet provides access to maps and searches, so I've been able to locate stores and restaurants. Nearby stores include the basic CVS Pharmacy that will give me access to come general products, but then there is also a grocery store just two blocks away. It looks like the grocery store is not a chain store and might just offer some of the more health-oriented products. I'd like to be able to get some Ezekiel cereal, Ezekiel bread, unsweetened dried fruit, almond milk, oranges, bananas, apples, salad, and oatmeal just to start. I also noticed they have a prepared food restaurant that has many healthy options and allows you to replace the fries with fresh fruit at no charge! I'm packing one of our reusable shopping bags too!

Hotel Room: Well the good news is I won't just have a simple hotel room, I'm getting upgraded to a suite because I'm staying so long. Yeah! It's got a full-size kitchen that is stocked with all the necessary dishes and cooking tools I will need. It probably won't have an oven or a food processor, but I can work around that. It will feel a little like home with the kitchen and living room- although Matt won't be there.

Long Days: Being that I'm part of the instructor team I will have to arrive early and probably stay later each day, and I think some evenings will be spent reviewing tests and cases studies. It is important to me to eat smart meals throughout the day. I plan to bring along sandwich bags and Tupperware bowls to make lunch packing easier. I plan to eat breakfast at the hotel, then pack snacks and lunch for during the day. Some evenings I will go out to dinner with my co-workers, and I plan to take home half my meal for lunch the next day. Then some nights I will stay in and make something for myself using my hotel kitchen. My co-workers know I'm health-conscious so they know I won't be planning to eat out for every meal, so I won't feel any pressure to conform.

Anyone have any other ways to handle these challenges? What would you do if you were away from home for a whole month?

(It's not hard to leave a comment! I'd like to know who is reading, but you can comment anonymously if you really want! Just leave me a comment!)

This week...

This week is going to be very busy! By next week at this time I will be settling into my hotel suite in Dallas to spend a month participating in the new hire
training. It will be a good opportunity for me, and it will give me a chance to explore some of Texas! So this week I plan to do some blogging about how I'm preparing for spending one month out of town, and how I plan to stay on a healthy track while out of town- so look for that to start hopefully tomorrow.

This Week's Workouts:
Monday: 3 miles w/ strength training
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 5 miles w/ strength training
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 3 miles w/ strength training
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 8 miles (yup that is right...we can do it!)

This week's meal options:
~Vegetarian Chili
~Healthy Beef Stroganoff (I had this for dinner- two thumbs up)
~Veggies burgers with wheatberry salad
~Turkey Sandwiches
~Black Bean Soup

We tried to make simple, easy options because last weekend did not allow much prep time and this week isn't going to give us much more time!

Mission Accomplished!

The goal of the day was to complete the 8k at a 12 minute mile pace, basically 60 minutes or less. Now this might not seem like much, but maintaining an average speed over the 5 miles was quite an accomplishment for us. Sabrina and I did great, we stayed together and encouraged each other to just keep jogging along! Sabrina's calves have been giving her some trouble so it was great she was able to work through it. Toward the end I decided to give it an extra push and see how quick I could bring it in, so that is why our times are slightly different- but they aren't much different. Either way I'm very proud of us both!

First step was to wait in line to get our chips. Chips are zip-tied onto your shoe to allow for accurate and instant timing!



Headed toward the starting point, just trying to stay warm. It was sunny but a bit windy and about 35 degrees.




A little pre-race flexing for you to enjoy!


Here's the BEER MAN! He's not only got a fuel belt loaded with beer, he also has a small speaker strapped to his helmet so he can pump the beats! Let's just say that this race brings out some characters!


A leprechaun kissed me!


Our post race nutrition was Homemade Oatmeal Cookies w/ raisins and dark chocolate. Matt was kind enough to carry a backpack that had cookies and water for us after the race. The recipe was from Clean Eating, mine look different- but they tasted great!


Jen's Official Time:


Sabrina's Official Time:


So there you have it. It was a beautiful day here in Buffalo, and we really proved to ourselves we can do this. So onward with the Halfthon training!

(Note: Halfthon is not a actual word, but I'm making it a word so get use to it.)

Getting Ready....

for the Shamrock Run. Tomorrow is the first race since I've been actively running on a regular basis. Previously I've run a few 5K, but mostly they were just done on a whim. I would try to run, but didn't have the endurance to be consistent.

Tomorrow will also be only my second run outside since starting training. I'm not a really big fan of the cold weather. Tomorrow is suppose to be around 40 and sunny- which sounds great to me! As long as there is no wind it will be an awesome day for a run.

The plan will be to hit up our favorite breakfast spot at 9am for some pre-race fuel, Sabrina is meeting us there. Sabrina and I will then get ready to run and headed toward the race! We start running at noon...

Check back Saturday for a recap...

Thursday Night....

Tuesday and Thursday nights are typically rest days from the normal gym activities, which gives us both a break and a chance to get stuff done. Tonight I had a couple errands to run.

First up was picking up the race number for Saturday's Shamrock Run, which is an 8k through the 1st Ward of downtown Buffalo- the original Irish area of Buffalo. If I had signed up sooner I would have gotten a free jacket with registration, but instead a got a nice little knit cap. Everyone loves free stuff, and a warm head isn't bad either!

If you are in Buffalo be looking for #4718 to be crossing the finish line!

Next up was a trip to Fleet Feet to see if they had a spibelt, but they didn't so I got something just like it. I tried it out "jogging" and jumping around the kitchen- Matt is now calling it the world's smallest fanny pack! Oh well, if it holds my phone and my key I'll take it. Oh, and they were having a 50% off sale on all the long sleeve gear, so I picked up a green/grey running top.


Then we were hungry, so I decided to take Matt to Amy's Place. It's a little place over by the university that offers an array of food from vegetarian, vegan, and other typical diner like options. I only took a picture of my meal, which was a Lentil-Berry Sandwich (Vegetarian). It actually is more like a wrap, and resembles a giant burrito. It was huge, so I have lunch for tomorrow now too.


Have a great night!!!

What's for dinner?

Here's what dinner time brought to our house...

For Jen it was Chili Mac & Cheese with a salad...


Chili Mac & Cheese (Serves 6)
2 can Kidney Beans (rinsed/drained)
1 pound ground beef (95/5) or ground turkey
2 cans diced tomato w/chiles
6 servings whole wheat pasta or elbows
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp chili seasoning
2 cups shredded RF Cheddar

1- Cook pasta.
2- Cook beef then add garlic powder and chili seasoning
3- Combine all other ingredients and serve.
(Note: This recipe can be reduced if you don't need six servings.)

For Matt it was Blueberry Spelt Pancakes...


Blueberry Spelt Pancakes (1 serving)
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t baking powder
1/8 t maca powder
1/2 c unsweetened almond milk
1/2 c blueberries

1-Combine dry ingredients.
2-Add almond milk and blueberries.
3-Cook over med-low heat in a non-stick pan.
4-Enjoy.


They smelled so very yummy! It makes me want breakfast now. Maybe Matt will make me some before the 8k on Saturday...wink, wink

Time to Run....

I just finished my run at the gym a little more than an hour ago, it felt pretty good. I was a bit sore after yesterday's 7 mile run, so I felt like the three mile run gave me a chance to stretch those muscles out a little bit.

This weeks goals:
Monday- 3 miles
Wednesday- 5 miles
Friday- 3 miles
Sunday- 7 miles

I've actually decided to replace Sunday's run with the local Shamrock 8k Run. The 8k distance actually only equals 5.97 miles, so I will not be running quite as far but I'm willing to trade this because it will give me a chance to run outside and around other people.

Running with others is difficult especially when the race starts out because everyone has their own pace. So my goal is to do my best through the congestion and use it to warm up, then when it finally starts to spread out I'm hoping to find my pace.

Tonight's dinner:

Chicken Sausage w/ Homemade Sweet Potato Fries and a yummy honey mustard sauce.

And tonight I'll leave you with a photo of me and the hubby from dinner over the weekend...