A DNF PDR

Happily, today felt like Friday, since I have tomorrow and Monday off for my super-fun Chicago bachelorette party and shower trip!

It was also a long run day, meaning I ate a lot.

Like chicken soup:

And a bagel with a bit of real butter:

 

And Greek yogurt with granola:

 

And a homemade protein bar:

I didn’t take a lunch break today so I could leave at 4 instead of 5, so I kind of munched bits and pieces all afternoon.  Works for me!

Also, check out my cute new flats:

 

I got them at DSW last night.  They’re super comfy, and the color is kind of a light gold-ish pewter that really will go with everything.  I wore them with a burgundy wrap dress to work and got several compliments.  I think they’ll be perfect for my trip!

Anyway, I bounced out of work at 4, excited about my long run.  I was ready to tackle 11 miles!

See?  Don’t I look ready?  I think this is going to be my half marathon outfit, because the pants and top are my favorites.

Anyway.  This was my first long run…well, I won’t say FAILURE, but it was my first really, really sucky, painful long run.

• Mile 1: Feel good.  Except my left knee hurts and is kind of clicky.  Huh, that’s random.  Ow.
• Mile 2:  My gum falls out of my mouth, hits the treadmill, and flies about four feet behind the treadmill.  I gather up every ounce of badass dignity I have, pick up the gum, and throw it away. 
• Mile 3:  Treadmill to my right is invaded by some girl in a velour track suit with a rhinestone rainbow on the back.  She alternates between giggly texting on her phone and singing along, out loud, to her iPod, while walking a 30:00 mile.
• Mile 4: Take Gu at Mile 4.5.  Knee stops hurting.  Mmm, Chocolate Gu is delicious!
• Mile 5:  Feeling good.  Hey, I’m at the halfway point!  Switch from Dan Savage podcast to music.
• Mile 6:  Treadmill shuts off after an hour.  I reset it for another 5 miles and keep on chugging.
• Mile 7:  Urp.  I don’t feel so good.  At mile 7.5, I literally have to make a choice between vomiting on the treadmill console or risking pooping my pants on the way to the bathroom.  I feel like a real runner, and thankfully make it to the bathroom.  GI distress ensues.
• Mile 7.5:  Reset treadmill for 3.5 miles.  Keep chugging.  Feel slightly less ill.
• Mile 8:  This sucks this sucks this sucks.
• Mile 9:  Maybe I’ll have a little more chocolate Gu.  Open another one, eat about half.  Slow treadmill down to a 10:20 mile.
• Mile 10:  Whoa, that was a bad choice.  Grip sides of treadmill so I can keep from falling over or passing out.
• Mile 10.4: Get the chills.  Begin dry heaving.  Throw in towel.

Grand total: 10.43 miles.  I stopped giving a shit about time somewhere around the first GI incident, but I kept up a 10:00 pace until the last 3 or so miles, when I dialed back a little.

Anyway.  Not an epic success, but I’m trying to be positive.  It’s still a PDR, and I have been hard on my body this week.  I ran HARD Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and went into this run feeling sore, and tired, and generally worn down.   In the long run, 10.4 miles is still great, and it’s actually longer than Hal recommends in his training plan.  But, it’s still a little worrisome for the race in two weeks.  Eh.  We all have crappy runs, and now it’s over.

Currently, I’m eating the only thing that sounds remotely appealing to me:

Plain elbow macaroni.  The thought of meat (or anything else, for that matter) makes me want to puke right now.  But this is pretty good.

I have a post for tomorrow, but I’ll be on a bit of a blog-cation the next few days.  I don’t think I’ll have access to post anything, but I promise giant recaps full of wedding porn when I get back!

How do you get over bad workouts?

10 mile hangover

Hi, friends.  It’s been a pretty uneventful day around these parts, which is a good thing.

Lunch: a bagel thin sandwich, a nicely brown banana, and a Greek yogurt mess.  I’m a tiny bit burned out on green monsters for the time being, and I have a bunch of Chobani in my fridge I’d hate to see go to waste. 

In other news…I have a bunch of tiny, annoying wedding crap to do before I head to Chicago (yay!) for my first shower and bachelorette party next weekend.  It’s a lot of little things needling me, and it doesn’t help that I have to work from 6:30-1 on Saturday.  The big thing?  I have to get thank-you gifts for my shower hostesses (of which there are about a million) and wrap them.  No idea what to get them. And I have to print out hair and makeup “inspiration pictures” to bring to my trial.   Agggh.

Hey, look!  2 RSVPs today.  2 people yes, 2 people no.

Post-10-miler, I am feeling…so-so.  My legs don’t really feel tired or sore, which is good.  My hips feel a little tight so I’m planning on stretching well later tonight.  My hunger has been fairly regular (except I got REALLY starving right before dinner.)  The problem, of course…my feet.  Except this time, it’s not my arch giving me the trouble (yeah, there’s a huge ugly blister in it, but it doesn’t hurt), it’s my…forefoot I guess?  The ball of my foot?  I literally have three nested blisters—a blister inside a blister inside a blister.  (I covered it with moleskin and Second Skin today, which is why it’s kind of white-ish looking.)

This one REALLY hurts.  I am a weensy bit concerned about infection with this one, as it’s very painful to the touch and red around the edges, so I’m going to keep an eye on it.  I was limping at work all day to the point where people asked me how I’d hurt myself.  I decided to give it another day to rest and will attempt my 3 miler tomorrow instead.  Normally, I’ll push through blisters, but this one obviously didn’t want any weight on it and I could feel myself rolling my ankle to avoid pressure in my work shoes all day.  So, yeah.  No good.  I feel like my foot’s been gnawed on by a wild dog.

And for those of you who wonder how I blog…this is me, in my pajamas, with Southpaw and my laptop on my lap.  She must like this post, because she is purring loudly on my belly right now.

Not the most flattering photo, but hey.  Real life.  (Also, please note why I can’t wait to cut all my hair off ACK.)

 Anyone have a March Madness bracket going?  I’m in Tim’s office pool and have Syracuse as my winner this year!

Coffee Craving

Today I’m out in the wilds of rural Missouri for work.  You know what this means?  When you leave your house in a rush, thinking “oh, I’ll stop for coffee on the way,” you should remember that there is no such thing as a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts in rural Missouri.  There is Quik Trip, which has coffee that tastes vaguely like fuel and is not worth the $1.29.  And that’s it.

It was a long, coffee-less drive to get where I’m going.  Generally, I’m not a coffee-needer to get going in the morning.  I usually brew one cup in the Keurig, and rarely finish it.  But with Daylight Savings, and sore running legs, and driving,…all morning I was dying for coffee, or at least something coffee-flavored which would give me the illusion of being caffeinated.  Ugh.

I had to be somewhere for a few hours in the morning and then had to go somewhere else about an hour away for a few hours in the afternoon.  I was absolutely determined to get something coffee-like.  Sometimes, friends, we have to settle.

McDonald’s sugar-free vanilla iced coffee.  Full of crappy chemicals, I’m sure, but goodlord did it taste good (and pick me up mentally for awhile.)

I also packed my lunch in my favorite Fit n’ Fresh lunch container so I wouldn’t have to stop.  I had an Everything bagel thin sammich, strawberry Chobani, and granola, eaten in my car.  I’m a classy lady.

 

I was done with my stuff by 3:00 and checked into my hotel by 3:30.  I decided that I was going to check out the hotel gym.  Hotel gyms kind of creep me out.  Even though I stay in half decent places…they make me feel icky.  I don’t know, I have weird mental blocks on some things.  (See also Home Depot, condiments, and birds.)  But, today, I packed workout clothes and shoes and was determined to at least give it a try. 

I was impressed with the gym.  It had three treadmills, two ellipticals, a recumbent bike, and free weights (complete with loud, grunting, Jersey-shore-type dude).  And every machine had a TV ATTACHED RIGHT TO IT JUST FOR YOU!  Love.  TV makes running 35% more tolerable.

I watched Stacy and Clinton, naturally.  I had 3 miles on the schedule today, but I figured I’d do tomorrow’s 5 today, so I can get home after a night away a little sooner tomorrow.  And really, what the hell else am I going to do here?

So yeah.  Ran 5 miles, kept at an easy 10:00/mile pace since my legs were still a little twitchy from yesterday and sitting in a car all morning.  Even though the gym was nice, it was really hot and I sweated approximately six gallons. 

I showered and then went for the epic “What’s for dinner in this strange town?” question.  My options, according to my GPS and eyes, were Bob Evans, Shoney’s, Hardee’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Cracker Barrel. 

Now, I’m not one to shun fast food entirely.  I love me an occasional McD’s breakfast and I get cravings for Arby’s.  But the thing is, I want to eat that food WHEN I WANT IT.  Today, it all sounded gross to me.  Specifically, I was craving two things very strongly during my run: cut fresh fruit and peanut butter.   More and more, lately, while I’m running, my body will say, VERY clearly, “Feed me THIS when you’re done.”  99% of the time it’s something healthy—peanut butter, fruit, and eggs have all been very common ones lately.  I don’t mean to be all crunchy and shit, but who am I to say no?  My body is like a stupid puppy—I should reward it when it does something right, like say “I want healthy food.”  So I do.

Obviously, with limited options, it wasn’t going to come from any of those places.  So I took a cue from Susan and hit up the grocery store next to my hotel instead!  (In my pajamas, no less, because I really didn’t want to put on my work clothes and heels after a run.)

The results?

Total?  $13.46, for a big container of fruit (grapes, mangoes, honeydew, canteloupe, pineapple and strawberries), a Dannon Greek yogurt (which I LOVED, BTW), a 6 pack of Nature’s Own Whole Wheat bagels, natural PB (I went for the slightly less natural version to avoid messy stirring in a hotel room), a diet coke (I know I know) and a Cadbury egg for dessert!  Exactly what I wanted.  (I obviously only ate 1 bagel with PB, and about half the fruit—it wasn’t great, unfortunately.)

I hope my per diem covers full jars of peanut butter.

Anyway, it was delicious, filling, and hit the spot and I’m glad I didn’t hit the drive through. 

What foods do you crave, healthy and not-so-healthy?  On the healthy front, like I said, peanut butter, fruit, and eggs are big…on the not-so-healthy front, I’ve been dying for ice cream after long runs lately!

Chobani Giveaway!

So, you all know I love yogurt.  A lot.  I recently got addicted to Chobani Greek yogurt when I found it at Costco for half the price of any brand of Greek yogurt in regular stores.  I love Greek yogurt because it is basically a protein bomb–it’s so much more filling than regular yogurt and has a nice thick consistency. 

The folks at Chobani were kind enough sent me a pack of their yogurt to try the flavors I can’t get at Costco!  (If you’re wondering how they ship yogurt cross country, like I was, never fear.  It came in a styrofoam cooler with lots of cold packs and was still chilly when I got it!)  I took lots of pretty pictures of the rainbow of yogurt they sent me, but unfortunately they’re on my computer that’s being repaired right now.   So, here’s what’s left:

I’ve eaten 5/9 of it already…and I predict the rest of it will be demolished this week!

 The cooler came stocked with the following flavors:

• Pineapple
• Pomegranate
• Strawberry
• Blueberry
• Peach
• Honey
• Vanilla
• 0% Plain
• 2% Plain

Naturally, the first one I tore into was the Pineapple.  I’ve already tried the strawberry, blueberry, and peach, and pineapple is seriously my favorite fruit ever.  I was way excited for this one and it didn’t disappoint!  Nice chunks of pineapple, and this flavor is 2% rather than 0% so the extra fat makes it nice and creamy.

The next day I tried Pomegranate.  Also delicious–I’d never had anything pom-flavored before.  The arils were nice and crunchy which was different.  I’ve had the Strawberry before and it’s also awesome.

There was an unexpected star to this package, though, that took me completely by surprise–the Vanilla!  I love vanilla yogurt, but usually it’s a wee bit fakey tasting or overly sweet.  This vanilla was thick and creamy and tasted like French Vanilla ice cream.  The open, finished container sitting on my desk was kind of like a room fragrancer–I didn’t want to throw it away!  (And yes, yogurt containers smell funky, usually, which is why I found this so weird yet awesome.)

Since I’ve heard so much about using Greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream, but I don’t like sour cream, I made Tim try a dollop of 2% Plain on his chili earlier this week.  He gave it an emphatic thumbs up!  According to him, it tastes just like sour cream and could detect no difference.

The folks at Chobani were awesome enonugh to offer one Fit Bride reader their very own case of Chobani yogurt!  You have up to three entries.  Here’s how:

1. Head over to Chobani’s website and leave a comment on this post about which Chobani flavor you’d most like to try and why.
2. Tweet about the giveaway, including a link to this post, then come leave a second comment about your tweet.
3. Blog about the giveaway, come back, and leave a link to the blog post in the comments.

The contest will go through Friday at noon.  You must be a U.S. resident to win!

Happy entering!

Oikos Yogurt Giveaway!

As you all know, yogurt is one of my favorite foods.  I would guess that I eat yogurt five or six days a week.  It is my oatmeal.  I don’t eat it for breakfast, but one of the healthy substitutions I made early on in my weight loss was to switch out “fake” healthy foods like 100 Calorie Packs with a cup of yogurt, usually accompanying some kind of sandwich for lunch.

As time went by and I learned more and more about nutrition, I shunned my beloved Yoplait once I realized it was full of HFCS and other slightly scary ingredients.  Eventually, I fell in love with the high protein content and lack of scary ingredients in Greek yogurt!  It is still my yogurt of choice, though cost can be an issue.

The folks at Oikos yogurt were kind enough to send me some coupons so that I could try their products and give some away to you, too!  Oikos is a part of the Stonyfield Farms family of products.  I really respect their outlook on food–they strive to promote health and nutrition and to keep the planet healthy, as well!

I first tried finding Oikos at my usual grocery store of choice, Super Target.  I wanted to sample a couple of flavors.  Unfortunately, they only had one–vanilla!  So, I went by the nearby Hy-Vee the next day and found Strawberry and Blueberry as well.  I wanted to find the plain, but no luck.  Plain Greek yogurt is supposed to be a great substitute for sour cream.  They also have a honey flavor that sounds delicious but I could not find.

First, I sampled the Vanilla.  Greek yogurt differs from regular yogurt, taste-wise, in two basic ways (as far as I can tell): it’s thicker, and it’s a little bit more sour tasting than mainstream yogurts.  However, it’s also wonderfully creamy and delicious.  I tried a bite of the vanilla plain and it was very good–the vanilla flavor was very light but definitely present.  Then I made one of my usual yogurt bowls:

Strawberries, Oikos vanilla, and granola.  It was great mixed with these, too.  I could still taste the vanilla but it wasn’t overwhelming.

I’ve had the blueberry and strawberry in the past, but it’s been awhile.  So, I have the strawberry in my lunch today and will bring the blueberry tomorrow and update you as the week goes along!

All in all, I give Oikos two thumbs up for taste and nutrition.  The only thing that holds me back from being a regular Oikos purchaser is cost–the individual cups are about $2/serving (on sale!), which is a wee bit too much for my pocketbook given that I eat yogurt pretty much every day.  I will keep an eye out in the future for sales and stock up then, though!

While I was at the store, I also purchased a cup of Stonyfield Farms plain yogurt.  I’ve heard that plain yogurt is great for dogs and cats in small amounts to help keep the bacteria in their stomach healthy.  I’m a firm believer in proper nutrition for our furrier friends, too!  So, I gave some to Milhouse in a Kong as a treat.

Two paws up!  He was a HUGE fan.  Dogs shouldn’t get much–no more than a tablespoon or two at a time because they can have trouble digesting dairy–but a little bit on a regular basis keeps the healthy bacteria in their stomach functioning and happy!  You should also make sure to use plain yogurt and not flavored.

Oikos was generous enough to give me enough coupons to share with Fit Bride readers.  So, this week’s giveaway will be free yogurt coupons of your very own! Again, like last week you have three chances to win:

1. Leave a comment on this post about your favorite yogurt concoction.
2. Tweet about the giveaway and then come here and post a comment here saying that you tweeted.
3. Blog about the giveaway and then come here and post a comment about it.

This contest will again run through Saturday, December 5th, at noon. Comments left on the Knottie Files feed will not be counted, so click through to my blog!