February 28, 2014

Coconut Almond Butter

Despite the wind chill advisory this morning, the kids still had school. I'm so glad the school isn't being canceled due to the cold temps anymore! Here it is, the last day of February, and it's still ridiculously cold. When I think of March, I think of spring; but we're nowhere near spring right now!

While I was digging through the fridge this morning, trying to figure out what I wanted for breakfast, I found a jar of nut butter that I'd bought a long time and completely forgot about (I know! How could I forget about nut butter?!)


I really wanted to try it, so I made oat bran (35 grams of oat bran cooked in 2/3 cup skim milk), and then topped it with 32 grams of the MaraNatha Coconut Almond Butter. It was absolutely fantastic! I forgot how much I like oat bran, too; it's been a long time since I've had it. The breakfast was 9 PointsPlus, and totally worth it.


I also dug out another oldie but goodie this morning--Ceylon Star tea from David's Tea. The tin was way in the back of the cupboard, and I had completely forgotten about that flavor. I made some after breakfast, and kept thinking, "How did I forget about this tea? It's so good!" I only have enough for 1-2 more cups, so I checked the David's website to see if they still had it. It was on special for 40% off, because they're getting rid of that flavor. It had to be bought in 250 gram increments. To qualify for free shipping, I may have ordered 750 grams... Hopefully I don't get sick of it, because I won't run out until at least 2020!

Today was my long run day, and on this new plan I'm doing, this is what was on the schedule:

-50 minutes at 70-75% maximum heart rate
-8 repeats of the following:
     -1 minute at 5K race pace (90-95% maximum heart rate)
     -1 minute easy jog
-10 minutes at 70-75% maximum heart rate

I was surprised at how much I had to keep slowing down during the first 50 minutes to keep my heart rate under 141. My pace for that part ended up being 10:35/mi. (I had to stop for a minute 15 minutes in, because there was a little pebble inside my shoe). I did the fast intervals at 8.0 mph, and then the jog at 5.0 mph. Next time, I'll have to do the fast intervals even faster, because my heart rate didn't get up high enough.



The whole run was only 7.3 miles, which doesn't really feel like a "long run". But next week, the schedule lists 11, which will be the longest I've done in at least a couple of months.


Today was the final day of my 10,000+ steps per day challenge! I'm proud to say that I actually did it, getting in 10,000+ steps every single day this month.


Whenever I would read about how it's recommended to get 10,000 steps per day, I never really thought about just how much walking that is. I just assumed that since I'm a runner, I get in plenty of steps; and surely I was getting in at least 10,000 steps a day! But once I started tracking my steps, I couldn't believe how difficult it was to hit that number, even on the days I ran.

The days that I didn't run this month (Wednesdays and Saturdays) were especially hard. A lot of times, I'd end up walking slowly on the treadmill for an hour in addition to the regular movement I got during the day. There were a few days this month that I forgot to check my steps until it was time to sit down and relax before bed, and I was a few thousand short. I walked around my living room and kitchen, and paced up and down the hallway to reach that magic number. I was determined to hit the goal every day!

Overall, though, I'm really glad that I did this challenge. It made me realize that I'm not as active as I thought I was, and now I've gotten used to doing things the long way in order to get in some extra steps. I'd like to continue to aim for 10,000 a day, but I'm not going to do whatever it takes to make it happen, like I did this month! I'm looking forward to my rest day tomorrow, and NOT doing lots of extra walks to get in the steps ;)

Now, for March... I'd like to challenge myself again, to give me something to focus on. My goal for March is to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. I stocked up on veggies today, so now I just have to get creative on how to use them all up!

15 comments:

  1. Oh man! Coconut Almond Butter looks amazing! I'll have to find some of that around me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. what kind of device do you have to track your steps?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use a Wii U Fit Meter. Nothing fancy :)

      Delete
  3. I love almond butter! I have it with my oatmeal every morning! Congrats on the 10,000 steps a day. That is great!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I started eating 5 fruits and veggies a day on Feb 1st and was surprised at how easily it happened. My favorite thing is to start with fruit at breakfast, so one is out of the way, another at morning snack, a couple veggies with lunch and then again at afternoon snack or dinner. I even eat more now some days. Shocker!! :) It's just paying attention, I think. good luck! It will be fun hearing how you get yours.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love that chart your used. Is that from an app?
    I have logged 10K steps a day since mid-October. I wanted to upgrade to the new FitBit and made myself promise that if I got a new one I would have to hit 10K a day. So far, so good! I have only missed three days - two days I was sick with stomach flu in November and on Christmas Day I didn't manage it.
    At the time I started this "pledge", walking/running was my only exercise and it felt like the perfect goal. I've since started to do circuit training (Jillian Michaels) six days a week and THAT is really helping me hit my goals a lot better than the walking/running. However, I've kept up the 10K a day because…because… I'm not sure why? I feel like I HAVE to keep up that streak, even though I'm making up the activity in other ways. Honestly, there are days my legs are jello from lunches and squats and all JM's other torture antics, and logging more steps feels like ultimate punishment. And yet I can't seem to let myself off the hook with that promise I made to myself.
    I sound crazy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's an app called Streaks on my iPhone. It's fun to cross off the days!

      Delete
  6. I signed up for the Streaks calendar app - love it, thank you for sharing the idea, Katie! though I'm only on day one :) I set up easy calendars to check off 26-33 WW points/day, and 1 - 7 miles/day. also "BedSinkSinkLaundry" - if I touch each of those things a few minutes a day (make it, clean sink kitchen/bathroom, fold it), it's amazing how much cleaner and more organized my house is. excited for a little March motivation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great idea! For me to feel good about my house, I have to make sure my kitchen counters are wiped down. When my counters have crumbs and stuff on them, I feel like the whole house is filthy! I love the idea of turning it into a mantra as a reminder ;)

      Delete
  7. That is wonderful that you reached goal and good luck with the new one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You must share - where is the nut butter from? That sounds absolutely fantastic! Congrats on the 10k steps as well - what a great accomplishment! Do you think you will continue to track steps now that February is over?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm pretty sure I got it at Wal-Mart. It was a long time ago!

      Delete
  9. Way to go on the 10k. I have a fitbit and my goal is also 10k, yesterday my husband and I walks circles around a store to reach it at 10pm! Today I hit my biggest day of 20k, it was an active day of running and walking to the iditarod start. I though of you today when I saw Barney butter at the store, it was $10 for 10 oz. crazy but I bet its good!

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

Featured Posts

Blog Archive