Anniversary

I (obviously) made changes to the design of my blog... what do you think? I love the font, but is it hard to read? I was in a binge-mood last night, so I wanted to distract myself by messing around with the blog. And it worked--no binges!  I wish I knew more about Photoshop, though. It took forever to make the title banner for my page. Do you like the pic of my Garmin? ;)

Yesterday morning, I decided to get up at 6:30 when Jerry got home from work, and go for a run outside before the kids woke up. I only had a 3-mile easy run on the schedule, and the weather was a PERFECT 60 degrees. I left the iPod at home (I rarely run with it anymore) and enjoyed the weather. I was trying to keep my pace at about a 10:45/mi. It was really hard to do! I started too fast, and then when I tried to slow down, I was going TOO slow. It was kind of annoying to look down at the Garmin constantly. Maybe I'll set the alert function to let me know when I'm not in the right "zone".

Speaking of the Garmin, I had an idea that I wanted to run by my readers. Many of you have expressed interest in buying a Garmin, but you weren't sure if you wanted to spend the money. I actually have TWO--a 205 model and a 305. They are the same except the 205 doesn't have the heart rate function. You use it to see how far you're going (running/walking or biking), your pace, average pace, calories burned, etc.

So here is my idea: What if I were to get a list of readers that are interested in trying it out for a couple of weeks, and make that happen? I could mail it to someone, let them use it for, say, 2 weeks, and then I will give them the address of the next person, and they can pass it along. Continue doing this until everyone who wants to try it out has done so, and eventually, it would make it's way back to me. This would all be on the honor system, and hopefully nobody would take advantage of that. Right now, the Garmin is just collecting dust, because I've been using the 305.

Is this something that would interest any of you? Let me know and maybe we can make it happen :)

So anyways, yesterday was mine and Jerry's 8th wedding anniversary. We had no plans whatsoever, which is fine with me. He had to go to work at 5 pm, so we didn't get to go out. I think I'll consider our trip to Madison our anniversary celebration. We just ended up playing cards and drinking coffee before he had to leave for work. After he left, I felt lonely and just wanted to EAT. So I spent pretty much the whole evening making changes to the design of my blog.

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Going that extra mile

Despite the gorgeous weather yesterday, I did my run on the dreadmill. Jerry is back to working midnights, so he was sleeping all morning, and I didn't want to wait and run mid-afternoon when it could be super hot outside, so I just sucked it up and hopped on the dreadmill. Again, I set the speed at 5.6 and left it there to keep my heart rate in the "easy" zone. I ran 5 miles, feeling really great. When I got off and went to mark my running schedule (I keep it on the wall so that I can highlight the runs I've completed), I noticed I was only supposed to run 4 miles. Oh well, better to do an extra one than not enough.

I started the intermediate 10k training program yesterday, because the 10k that I'm registered for is 8 weeks away. I had to switch the days around so that I am doing my long runs on Mondays instead of Sundays. It'll be easier that way when the kids are in school. I really want to focus on doing it "right" this time--going very easy on my "easy runs" and "long runs" and then busting my ass on the speed work. I'm also going to do the strength training and cross-training that he recommends. My last 10k race time was 55:05, so I'm hoping to finish in under 55:00, but I'd love to finish in under 54:00.

Remember how I made an appointment with a plastic surgeon for the end of August? Well, it's a week from Friday already! I'm super nervous. Jerry called the insurance company again yesterday to ask about the coverage, and the person he spoke with said that if it's for a medical reason (which it is), it is very likely that the tummy tuck will be covered. She said there is a much better chance it'll be covered since I lost the weight without surgery (I'm not sure why that matters).

She just said I need to create a paper trail with my doctors about the medical issues I'm having from the excess skin. I can't believe that this is a real possibility--when I made the appointment, I was very doubtful about the insurance covering the surgery, but it sounds like they will. If not, then I won't be getting it. There is no way we can afford it. I would LOVE to be able to run pain-free without my flabby stomach bouncing up and down.

You can see in this picture below where I've tucked the loose skin into my running capris:

I have an appointment for a physical with my general practitioner on Thursday. I'm dreading that, because the last time I was there was when I was at my lowest weight of 128. I need to just look at the positive, that I've managed to keep off 100+ pounds for over a year now. I'm also going to be doing my first once-per-month weigh in this week (on Friday). I don't FEEL like I've lost anything from last time. Maybe because I'm not running as much as I used to? I don't want to worry about it until I see the number on Friday.

I can't wait until my kids are back in school and it will be easy to establish a routine! I will be able to get them ready for school and put them on the bus, and then I can do my run or bike ride in the morning. Take a shower, clean up my house, run errands or whatever needs to be done, and get the kids off the bus in the afternoon. I love routines, and I am a much happier person when I have a routine. It's going to feel weird having both of the kids in school full-time though!

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Do you dread going to the doctor? Does your weight play a part in whether you dread it or not? I ALWAYS hate going when my weight is up from the last time. My OB appointments were the worst. I gained 70 and 90 pounds during my pregnancies!

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Smells like fall

I woke up this morning and opened the windows. To my delight, it totally felt like fall outside. I LOVE fall. The weather has been gorgeous lately, and it makes me in such a happy mood. I decided to make Pumpkin Oats for breakfast and eat it from my leaf bowl.

It tasted like pumpkin pie. You can find a trillion recipes for oats like this online, but here is how I made it this morning:
28 g. oats (about 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup skim milk (I would have used almond milk, but I'm trying to save money, so we don't have any)
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tsp. brown sugar
10 g. raisins
dash of salt
dash of maple extract
a whole lotta cinnamon (about 1/2 tsp)
dash of pumpkin pie spice (about 1/8 tsp)
1/3 cup canned pumpkin

Combine all (except pumpkin) in a small pot on the stove and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer while stirring for a couple of minutes. Stir in the pumpkin and heat through.
Calories: 215  Fat: 2 g. Fiber: 7 g. Carbs: 46 g. Protein: 9 g.

I was trying to keep the calorie count down, but if you have some to spare, then I would double the raisins and add chopped walnuts. Yum!

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Last night, the boys were playing outside when I saw Eli limping home, crying. I brought him in the house and he said his feet hurt so badly that he couldn't walk. This scared me, because Eli would sell his soul to be able to stay outside for one more hour--he NEVER comes home until I threaten to punish him for not listening to me. He was barefoot, and carrying his socks and shoes. When I got him inside, I looked at his feet, and they looked TERRIBLE.

They were extremely pale (almost white) and they looked extremely waterlogged. I felt his shoes, and they were dry. His feet felt dry, too. But the only way to describe them was that they looked waterlogged.  I was afraid he somehow got a chemical burn or something, so I took him in the bathtub and washed his feet. I was debating whether I should take him to the ER because I'd never seen anything like it. I figured I'd put lotion on them and dry cotton socks to see if that helped before I took him in. Almost immediately, they started to look better.

This picture is after I started taking care of them, so it doesn't show the extent to how bad it was... but it gives you an idea:

See how the color is so pale? And this was AFTER I worked on them a bit.

His skin was hard and dry, and the wrinkles wouldn't smooth out

Eli is only 5 years old, so his feet aren't supposed to look like this! But his socks were wet, so I think that he actually did get waterlogged. This morning, they were back to normal. I know it's a weird thing to freak out about, but I'd truly never seen anything like that before.

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I had a dream last night about Weight Watchers, and it kind of made me want to try an experiment. Just for a week or so, I would weigh and measure everything I eat like normal, but I would write down the calories, the WW Points, and the PointsPlus values... just to see how it all compares. Either that, or count calories for a week, count Points for a week, and count PointsPlus for a week and do the comparison that way. I even got out my WW materials--and then I saw something that made me realize yet another reason that I dislike the program.

On the back of one of the booklets, there is a section that applauds a member for earning a "Bravo" sticker. This one particular member earned her sticker because of the following:

"At a restaurant, I ate my salad, waited for the breadsticks to get cold, and then sampled one-third of a breadstick and was satisfied!"

Are you fucking serious?!  She earns a "Bravo" sticker for letting breadsticks get cold so they wouldn't taste good?  Eating a third of a cold breadstick does NOT sound like fun (or success!) to me. Why not work a whole, WARM breadstick into your plan, count it, and enjoy it?!!

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I'm really in the mood to bake something with pumpkin right now. Anyone have a GOOD pumpkin bread recipe that doesn't have a trillion calories per slice? Oh, and that does NOT contain Splenda or any other artificial sweeteners. And no, 1/24th of a loaf is NOT considered a "slice" in my book. I get about 10 slices per loaf ;)

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A very long day

Yesterday started at 6:30 in the morning. Jerry set the alarm clock for us to get up and get out the door by 7:30 for his softball tournament. I'd never gone to his tournaments in the past years, so I was actually pretty excited to go yesterday. On Friday, I apparently picked out the wrong color of pink shorts for Jerry, so we ended up going to Dunham's to buy the right color--his team color was a pastel pink and I was picturing hot pink.

I took a quick shower and ended up wearing very little pink. I wore a pink bra with a gray see-through-ish top, jean shorts, and I put hot pink laces in my shoes. We headed out at 7:30, and on the way there, Jerry wanted to stop and buy doughnuts for everyone. I got a whole grain bagel, because contrary to what you may believe, I'm not a big doughnut fan.

Jerry's team was a co-ed team called Chix N Stix, and his first game was at 10:00. However, the "Misfits" team had a few people that didn't show up, so they asked Jerry to fill in, and he played with them at 9:00. That team cracked me up! They were super laid back and were solely out there to have fun (unlike most of the other teams). Most of them were still drunk from staying at a hotel the night before, and they continued drinking in the parking lot at the tournament. Anyway, it was super fun to watch them play. Jerry told me it'd be a quick game, and he was right. The Misfits were mercied pretty quickly.

Then it was time for Jerry's team to play. I took a couple of pictures beforehand:

Chix N Stix (Everyone got a kick out of Jerry's shorts)

Jerry's team won their game, and then we had like 3 hours before they had to play again. We went to the parking lot to hang out with the Misfits. We realized that we didn't have any cozies for the beer cans (to be discreet) so Jerry and I drove around forever looking for some. After going to about 7 different places, we finally found some at Aco.

We hung out in the parking lot, having a couple of beers and eating the lunch that was catered.  The teams played again, and the Misfits were out of the tournament (after two losses, you're out). They stayed to watch the other teams and just have fun. Jerry's team was doing really well.

By mid-afternoon, I decided to just hang out with the Misfits instead of going to Jerry's game. Some of them suggested to play a game on an empty field just for fun (bringing beverages and playing "opposites"--batting left if you normally bat right, etc). I was just going to watch, but by this point, I decided to try out hitting a few balls. WAY out of my comfort zone--I haven't played softball since 7th grade!

I bat right handed, and no way was I going to try it lefty. I actually did really well--I hit everything that was pitched to me and the guys were commenting "How come you're not playing instead of Jerry?!"  ;)  It kind of made me want to think about playing next year, but I don't know.

After that, I was in a really good happy mood. I went and watched Jerry's game again, and spent the rest of the afternoon like this:

And like this:

During the FINAL final game (Jerry's team had made it to the end) there was lightening, so the umpire called off the game for 30 minutes. Then it got really windy and the tornado siren went off. We all sat in our cars while the storm came through. It was pouring rain and super windy. The umpires ended up canceling the games, and since the other team was in the lead, they ended up being the "champions" which I thought was stupid.

After that, it was about 8:00, and everyone went to Buffalo Wild Wings after getting permission to use the company credit card for dinner and drinks there. Dinner was a lot of fun! There were 30 of us and we sat outside, despite the weather. It had stopped raining. I really enjoyed getting to know Jerry's co-workers and their wives/girlfriends.

It was a super fun, albeit LONG, day.  Back to the norm this week!

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Are you a sports fan? I HATE sports--you'll never find me watching sports on TV or checking scores or anything like that. But watching Jerry's softball league is super fun for some reason!

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Pink shorts

Tomorrow is Jerry's softball tournament, and he sent me on a mission today--to find pink shorts. For him. He's going to be on a co-ed team tomorrow, and their team colors are pink and black. Their team name is "Chicks & Sticks" which I think is funny, but their first choice was rejected: Racks & Sacks.  Hahaha, I love that one.  I went to some garage sales this morning and found the perfect shorts, but they were too big :(  They were Victoria's Secret pink shorts with "LOVE PINK" on the butt. Obviously they were women's shorts, but they were probably the largest size VS carries--maybe 2X or 3X? Nothing at the thrift store either, so I had to settle for Wal-Mart (and I've mentioned before that I hate to buy *new* new clothes). I bought a pair there, so hopefully they fit him ;)  It was kind of interesting to see the looks I got when I held up pink shorts (in the ladies section) and asked my kids, "Do you think these will fit Daddy?"

I've been trying to put together a pink and black outfit for me to wear as well, but I'm having problems coming up with something. I can't wear shorts unless they are knee length (because of my loose thigh skin). I was thinking maybe I'll just wear jean shorts and a pink top and pink knee high socks. I don't know, I'll come up with something I'm sure.

My whole schedule feels so "off" this week because of the kids going to Vacation Bible School again. This time they are going from 6-8 pm, and normally we eat dinner when Jerry gets home at 6:30 pm. So I haven't really been cooking this week. Instead, we have something simple like cereal or PB&J for dinner and I take them to the church. I can't wait to get back to normal next week.  I'll try to get back to writing regularly too, along with my food logs.

Facebook just reminded me that my anniversary with Jerry is on August 16th. Does anyone remember the big "Northeast Blackout of 2003"?  Well, that was my wedding weekend. I was making wedding favors on Thursday afternoon when the power went out. We waited for it to be restored, thinking it was just a little glitch, but we learned it wasn't just local. My rehearsal was on Thursday night, and we had planned on having a nice rehearsal dinner at a local restaurant. Instead, we were sweating to death in the church for the rehearsal (no air conditioning!) and then we went to my parents' house and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the charcoal grill. When the power was still out on Friday, I cried. A lot of weddings were canceled that weekend, and I was sure that my wedding was going to suck--no music, no food, no AIR CONDITIONING in August?! Thankfully, the power was restored on Friday night, and my wedding went off without a hitch on Saturday :)

August 16, 2003

It rained on my wedding day... but held off just long enough to take pics at my parents house!

So anyway, our 8th anniversary is on Tuesday. We have no big plans.

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If you are married, how long have you been married? Do you celebrate anniversaries? Jerry and I never really have done anything to celebrate, but I think we may do something big on our 10-year.

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Gorgeous day

When I woke up yesterday and stepped outside for a minute, I was shocked at how perfect the weather was! I put on jeans and a sweatshirt and sat outside on the porch for a long time while the kids rode their bikes on our street all morning, and then I took them for a longer bike ride. That's why I didn't write a blog yesterday. I really didn't have much to say anyway.

The kids both had doctor's appointments for physicals in the afternoon. They were SO HYPER. I was kind of embarrassed that I had "those" kind of kids, running all over the place and making all kinds of noise. But they're 5 & 7 years old--and BOYS, at that--so that's what boys do, right?  They each needed a vaccination, and they took it like little champs. So after their appointment, I took them to a frozen custard place to redeem coupons for free cones.

When I got home, I had to do my scheduled 4-miler. Since it was so gorgeous outside, I kept thinking how perfect it would be for a run. However, I had no one to watch my kids, so I had to settle for the dreadmill :(  Since it was an "easy" run on the schedule, I decided to set the speed on 5.6 mph (a 10:43/mi pace) and NOT TOUCH IT the entire time. See, normally when I do the dreadmill, I want to get it over with as fast as possible, so I start at about 6.5 mph and then keep increasing it until by the end, I'm at about 7.5 or 8.0. I'll finish 3 miles in about 25-26 minutes. Needless to say, it's exhausting! And of course I'm miserable the whole time.

So by setting the speed at 5.6 (and leaving it there), I truly felt like it was an "easy" run and I actually didn't *hate* the 4-mile run! I wore my Garmin just to keep track of my heart rate, and it stayed in the right zone for an easy run. When my kids asked me questions, I wasn't barking out answers--I was able to speak in sentences. If I go slow and easy like I'm supposed to on the easy runs, I honestly don't mind the dreadmill all that much!

After my run, I quickly showered and got ready to go to Jerry's softball game. I dropped the kids off at Vacation Bible School and then went to the game. His games are always fun, but yesterday the guys were really going at it with their making fun of each other, and I was cracking up the whole time. At one point, I was talking to the girlfriend of one of the players, and the guys all started yelling "Heads up!" which scares the shit out of me when I hear it. I noticed that they were looking my way, and when I looked up, I saw the softball way up in the air coming straight down to where I was sitting. I covered my head and cringed (yes, I should have moved, but I was frozen). The ball came right down on the arm of my chair, but didn't hit me.

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I've been meaning to post this Baked Ziti recipe for a while, so I'm finally getting around to it. Don't be fooled by the lack of ingredients in this--it's SO GOOD. I was trying to imitate the baked ziti at Sbarro's. When I was a teenager, I loved Sbarro's baked ziti at the mall. So this is what I came up with. Trust me, I tried adding all kinds of Italian herbs and spices and different cheeses and all that... but I always come back to this recipe. My kids even clean their plates when I make this.

Baked Ziti

8 oz. (dry) ziti or penne pasta (I wouldn't recommend whole wheat pasta here)
1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1 (15 oz) can plain tomato sauce
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to directions. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350. In a 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish, combine the ricotta, 3/4 of the tomato sauce, and all of the parmesan cheese. When the pasta is done cooking, add it to the dish and stir well to combine everything. Top with the rest of the tomato sauce and spread it around. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, until hot.
Makes 4 servings. Nutrition info per serving (using Smart Taste pasta):

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What is your "perfect weather" day?  I love love love sweatshirt-and-jeans-type weather. Fall in Michigan is the perfect time of year for me--the colors are gorgeous, the temperature is in the 50-60's, and it just SMELLS like fall.

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My happy pace

So yesterday I tried out the new heart rate zone by the Karvonen formula, and I was MUCH happier with it. I didn't have to struggle to go slower. Running at about a 10:30/mi pace kept my heart rate in the middle of the "easy run" zone (average of 151 bpm). I'm actually kind of excited to try a tempo run or interval run just to see how hard it is to get my heart rate up to par.

By the way, I really hope that I didn't offend anyone by talking about how SLOW my pace was on my last couple of runs. I meant "slow" in comparison to ME. When I wasn't really watching my heart rate, my pace was usually about a 9:00/mi--sometimes faster, sometimes a little slower. So deliberately trying to run a 13:00/mi felt really really slow. But if I compare myself to an elite runner, a 9:00/mi pace is excruciatingly slow. So when I talk about being "fast" or "slow" on my runs, I'm only talking fast or slow in comparison to ME. So please don't be offended if I say that 11:00/mi (or whatever pace) is slow. That might be really fast for someone that is used to running a 13:00/mi pace!

Today starts Week 2 of counting calories again. I made it through the whole week without bingeing or anything. When I REALLY set my mind to something, I just DO IT. I don't make excuses, I don't bargain, I don't justify, I don't let anyone or anything stop me. I focus 100% on my goal and I don't look any direction but forward. (That's what I'm talking about when I say I "put my blinders on").

Food log for yesterday:
Breakfast- cold chocolate peanut butter oats and coffee (271)
Lunch- waffle with Barney Butter + coconut butter and a plum (278)
Dinner- homemade pizza with feta (yum!) (362)
Snacks- carrots with peanut butter, Larabar, fudgesicle (533)
TOTAL CALORIES: 1444

I was hungry all day yesterday. I did a 4-mile run in the morning, then I went to Lowe's to buy some stuff for our yard. When I got home, I worked on the yard and landscaping for a while. Last night, the kids were at Vacation Bible School, and Jerry and I decided to go for a bike ride by ourselves. We just circled the 4 neighborhoods on the peninsula at a leisurely pace, and it was SO nice. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor because I wasn't expecting a "real" workout, but I wore the Garmin just to see how far we'd gone. Lots of exercise :)

Recap of the week:

I've been eating a lot of nut butter lately, and you can certainly tell by the amount of fat I've eaten this week. I never worry about eating too much fat though, because (most of) the fat I eat comes from healthy sources. This week, I've been trying to feed my cravings so that I don't want to binge. I've been wanting peanut butter like crazy, so that's what I've been eating.

Exercise this week:

Today is a rest day, so I'm hoping to get my house cleaned and then catch up on e-mail. Jerry has a softball game tonight that I'm going to go to--without the kids! It's so much easier to go when I don't have them with me. Of course, there is going to be Pizza Hut again--but I won't have any.

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What is your favorite leisure activity?  I had so much fun riding bikes with my husband last night, and we both would like to do it more often. It's so much more fun when you do it for fun rather than exercise, and not focus on speed, calories burned, etc. Now if only I could truly enjoy RUNNING like that... ;)

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TUTORIAL: How to Make Homemade Coconut Butter

I adore coconut butter! I tried buying this at the store, and it's not nearly as good as homemade--the jars in the store have coconut oil added to them, so it gets hard as a rock and you have to melt it to spread it. Making it this way, it stays much softer and spreadable. It also has much more flavor!

This tastes delicious on banana bread or zucchini bread, drizzled on oatmeal or granola bars, or even spread on warm toast.

The only ingredient for the regular coconut butter is two bags (5 oz each) of unsweetened coconut. To make chocolate coconut butter, then you'll need a little unsweetened cocoa powder.

Put it in the food processor

Let it rip on high for a few minutes, then scrape down the sides

Let it go on high again, and this is what it will look like after about 10 minutes total

Another 5-10 minutes, and it will be smooth like this. Done! 

You can leave it as-is, or add some cocoa powder (I added about 3 Tbsp.)

Blend it just long enough for the chocolate to get thoroughly mixed in

The nutritional info on this is the same as the package of coconut you use. Since there are no added ingredients, just use the info from the package. Keep in mind that the measurement may change (one tablespoon of shredded coconut does not equal one tablespoon of coconut butter); but the GRAMS will stay the same (15 grams of shredded coconut=15 grams of coconut butter).

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What a workout!

So as I mentioned yesterday, I decided to mow the lawn while Jerry was at work. I picked up the kids' toys in the yard and then wrestled the lawn mower out of the shed. I filled it with gasoline and primed it, and then had a hard time starting it. Finally, I realized that I had to hold the lever down WHILE pulling the starter, and it started right up.

I was sweating within seconds. It doesn't seem like it would be a tough workout, but it is! Everyone else that lives around here uses a riding mower, but we don't have one, so we have to use the push mower. Anyway, I was determined to do a good job, so I spent a long time maneuvering the stupid thing around the kids swing set, eyesore trampoline, etc. I must say, it looked pretty good when I was done! And according to Sparkpeople, I burned 388 calories. I believe it.

I think I was sweatier after mowing the lawn than I was from the super humid run the day before.

Anyway, I was super proud of my accomplishment (haha) and so I took a picture to send to Jerry's phone. I don't know if I expected applause, or fireworks and music, or a trophy, or what... but all he said was, "Oh good, it's supposed to storm later." 

Well then. That'll be the last time I tackle one of YOUR chores, Grateful.

I went inside and made a delicious lunch of pasta with oil, garlic, peas, and parmesan cheese:

If you saute garlic in oil, you could pretty much put it on ANYTHING and it would taste good. I like this combo much better than a tomato sauce.

I went grocery shopping last night, and spent $93 for the week (budget was $100). My kids are obsessed with ramen noodles for lunch, so I grabbed a pretty full box of them off the shelf and put it in the cart. A full box has 24, and this box had 20. So when I went to check out, the cashier scanned the box (charging me for 24). The bagger told her that it wasn't full, so she would have to cancel it and scan them all by hand. Are you freaking kidding me?! I had grabbed the box because it was convenient, didn't take up as much space as throwing a bunch of bags of ramen noodles in the cart, AND because I figured I could tell her I had 20, so she could just scan one and type in the quantity. But she manually scanned each one and passed it to the bagger, who put them in BAGS instead of in the original box.  If I had known she was going to do that, I would have just grabbed a full box. They're like 18 cents each or something.

So anyways, my food log for yesterday:
Breakfast-chocolate peanut butter oats, coffee (271)
Lunch- pasta with peas (367)
Dinner- kielbasa & corn hash (423)
Snacks- carrots and peanut butter; Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia!!! (453)
TOTAL CALORIES: 1514
Exercise: 75 minutes with the lawn mower (and yes, I'm counting that as cross-training--I'm SO SORE today!)

Oh yes, I did. I bought Ben & Jerry's when I went grocery shopping. I just bought a single-serve cup for each me and Jerry. I got Cherry Garcia and he got the fudge brownie one. I forgot just how good Cherry Garcia is--it seriously tasted like HEAVEN last night. Totally worth 220 calories.

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Favorite Ben & Jerry's flavor?  Mine is definitely the Cherry Garcia. Normally I go for anything with chocolate and peanut butter (that's my favorite Haagen Dazs flavor) but the Cherry Garcia is seriously orgasmic! The Chubby Hubby is really good too--that has chocolate-covered peanut butter-filled pretzels in peanut butter ice cream. Sorry, I probably shouldn't be talking about this. Drool.

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Snail's pace

Yesterday was my "long run", and I once again, decided to follow the guidelines for heart rate training--trying to keep my heart rate between 65-75% of the maximum. For me, that meant 124-143 beats per minute. I sat on my porch for a few minutes prior to the run to see what my resting heart rate was. Per usual, it was <60 bpm.

Resting heart rate

I began running, if you can even call it running, as slowly as possible. Within about 1/4 mile, my heart rate was up to 143 bpm. I was basically shuffling along, feeling ridiculous. Normally, I inhale for 2 steps, and then exhale for 2 steps. During this run, I was inhaling every 5-6 steps! I know the point of it is that it's supposed to be an "EASY run" but I didn't feel like I was working out at all. 

However, when I was done, I certainly LOOKED like I had worked out! It was a sunny 80 degrees and extremely humid, so I looked like this when I was done:

You can barely see the dry spots on the bottom of my shirt

I tried to get a picture where you could see just how sweat-drenched my shirt was. I was completely soaked. When I got home, I read some more about heart rate training and learned about a different formula for calculating your target, called the Karvonen formula. This takes your resting heart rate into consideration, and is supposed to me more accurate. The 65-75% range for me went to 145-158 bpm. Yay! I'm going to switch it up and use that as a guide tomorrow and see how it goes. My heart rate is usually about 158-162 on my runs, so I'll just have to go a little slower, rather than sloth-like. 

These are MY numbers... yours will probably be different

 I laughed when I put my workout into Sparkpeople, because you have to click on an approximate pace... the highest it goes up to is 12:00/mi. Well, my pace was way more than that! 13:06 to be exact! 

When I saw that total time, I thought, "Seriously?! I could have been done with this run 15 minutes ago!" Oh well, at least it helped me to realize how far I've come since I started running at 190ish pounds.

And yes, I realize that this is the most boring topic I could possibly blog about, so from now on, I will definitely keep the heart rate talk to a minimum.

I think the hardest part about running so slowly was coming across other people. I kept wanting to explain why I was going so slow. Lame, right? Whenever I'm running and I come across someone, I automatically tend to run faster, to feel "cooler" or something. Does anyone else do that?

The boys were at my parents house ALL DAY yesterday, and they spent the night last night. I had the house to myself all day, because Jerry was at work. I wish I could say I totally took advantage of it, but all I did was my run and then read a bunch of crap about heart rate training online, and watch a couple of shows on TV. 

Today I'm ready to be productive. I think I'll work on the landscaping some more and then maybe mow the lawn. I've only mowed the lawn twice in my entire life. I think it's a "man's job", so it's Jerry's chore :)  Jerry generally gets the shaft when it comes to chores--he does the things I really don't want to do because they're gross. Cleaning out the litter box, cleaning the toilets, taking out the garbage, etc. I guess you could say I'm a little spoiled. A housewife that doesn't clean toilets? Really, Katie? 

Okay, so my food log for yesterday:

Breakfast- cold chocolate peanut butter oats and coffee (271)

Lunch- waffle with Barney Butter and coconut butter; grapes (336)

Dinner- 2 eggs, toast, cereal with milk (530)

Snacks- pretzels; carrots with peanut butter (341)

TOTAL CALORIES:  1478

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Are there any chores you pass off to your partner because you don't want to do them? The two I hate the most are the litter box and toilets.

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