Salad for Breakfast

I am in a breakfast rut.  Getting sick of the same old eggs, bananas, protein shakes, toast and whatever else I usually manage to whip up.  The other week when my sisters and I were together we went to Whole Foods and got a salad for breakfast.  It was SO GOOD!   I was a little hesitant at first but wow... I wish I had one right now.  So nice and refreshing.   I could eat the entire thing and not feel guilty.  Love that about salads. If only I could have a Whole Food salad bar close to where I live.  I am sure that I would hit it up a lot.

We also ordered a green smoothie to share and to wash our salads down with.  It was pretty good.  I am not a huge smoothie person so sharing one is just enough for me.

Now on to today... Went to the gym for the 5:30 Burnout class.  It was hard like always.  Now I am just waiting for my sitter to get here so I can go for a run.  How I have been missing being able to go to the gym and run in the same day.  With the kids home for the summer those days have been few and far between.  But the air here is turning cooler in the mornings so I can't wait to get out and run when it isn't super hot.  And then the rest of the day is going to be spent at the pool.  There are not to many days left for the pool which is a little... ok a lot depressing.  

Happy Friday!!

-Heather

What to do...

This summer is really flying by.  We have been doing a lot of this....

But I know that right around the corner this is coming...

I am just trying to decide what to do until it gets here.  I know that I want to fit in a couple more races but I am just having a hard time getting myself to sign up for them.  I think it is because I was just so bummed with the way the marathon went that I am a little afraid to sign up for another long race.  I am pretty sure that I over trained for my first marathon.  And that was the main cause of my knee.  I followed the same plan as my sisters who had both already ran a few marathons.  I am going to try to get a long run in tomorrow.  Long run meaning  7 or 8 miles.  Running with a good friend so hopefully it won't feel that long.  But yet that will have been the longest I have ran since the  race.  Anyone else ever find it hard to sign up for stuff even though you know that it would be fun and you really should??   Hopefully after tomorrow I will be signing up for the Bear Water Run which offers a 10 mile and a 20 mile race.  I will be doing the 10 mile.  Then will also sign up for the Mankato Half Marathon.  Wish me luck...

-Heather

Short Fast Tempos = HELLISH

So I can't say my week has panned out like I thought.

To start, Monday morning I was supposed to go out and run 5 miles with 3.5 @ 7:30 pace.....well that didn't happen. My phone died in the middle of the night (alarm clock) and then I woke up late and said ahhh what the hell.  So I decided to switch gears and think maybe I could get a swim or go for a short bike ride later. But nope, I did absolutely nothing but hang at the pool with my little dude Peter.  It was SOO nice.

Pool, here we come.

Tuesday, I did wake my lazy self up and forced myself to get out the door with my running shoes on. It wasn't easy in the least but somehow I managed to do it.  I decided, "Ok, I missed my short fast tempo yesterday so I'll just skip running club today do that workout instead." So I started with a warmup mile which felt great and then proceeded to attempt 3.5 miles @ 7:30.  Well after 2 miles I stopped, felt like I was gonna die, lied down on the concrete sidewalk and looked up in the sky and wondered what in the world I was doing to myself =) Then I dragged my butt off the concrete (I had the outline of a sweat body on the concrete... did I mention it is HOT outside), turned up my music louder (I will be deaf later in life I'm sure) and finished 2 miles easy.

This is a picture of me in the ocean somewhere in the Caribbean shortly after I got married.  If I am gonna endure super hot weather I'd much rather be here.

Although I didn't go as far as I'd hoped I am glad I kind of figured out where I am physically.  So next week I am going to try and go 2.5 miles @ 7:30 and add 1/2 mile each week. Anyone with me?

After running I did attend barbell class like planned and I also found time to swim 1600m. So I figured, Tuesday made up for Monday.

Here is my delicious tuna sandwich I made for lunch.  I have made this recipe a few times now and I am never disappointed.  Thanks again Giada.  

Wednesday I did do what I originally had planned, and that was a mini run through of the Sprint Tri I am gonna participate in next weekend. I met up with some friends, we biked, ran and then swam. It all felt relatively good, we timed our swim so we could turn in our swim time for 100m. They want you to turn in how long it takes you to swim 100m at a normal pace so they put you in the correct lane when swimming during the race. I am coming in slightly under 2 minutes.

Today I am heading out the door shortly to run 10 miles. The bike ride I originally had planned isn't gonna happen until tomorrow morning. I don't really care because it was either go during the scorching HOT sun of the afternoon or wake up early Friday and ride then. I will go to Total Conditioning class Friday as well and possibly hop in the pool but my main activity that day will be the ride.  I want to head into boulder and kick my butt going up some hills. For some reason tackling hills on a bike is so much more fun then tackling while running....

This is a deathly steep hill in Stillwater that we ran up while I was just visiting.  So steep, they close it in the winter and they named it chili chute or something like that....?. Not fun, but a great workout. I don't think this pic does it justice but either way, steep enough that it needs to be mentioned.

It has been so crazy hot here that the motivation to go workout in the middle of it has been slim. But regardless some physical activity has been happening. It is interesting training for a Tri because now aside from running you are trying to think about the swim and the biking and it just makes for a busy workout schedule... kind of nuts.  I can only imagine how much training is involved with an Ironman.

I am missing my family all having fun up in Minnesota this week!  This is Heather and the Stillwater bridge with a picture of our hometown in the background.  Miss you guys! =)

Would you rather be in scorching hot weather in the Caribbean or your hometown?
me, Caribbean. I also wouldn't say no to Hawaii.....

Anyone out there made anything delicious lately?
That Tuna is always good, but I have also had some delicious salads.

Who's gonna eat some Fro Yo today?!?
ME, I decided today for my afternoon treat I am hitting up Red Mango for some strawberry Fro Yo topped with Mochi, M&M's, and Oreo Cookie =)


Happy Running all, and may we all make it through the scorching hot hot hot days of summer!  -Jen

Happy Weekend

I love holiday weekends.  And this holiday weekend is one of the best holidays of the year!!!  I have a whole bunch of nothing planned.  Which is ok with me.  I ran with my sister yesterday.  It was so hot out and felt so nice just to sweat.  We ran into the town where we both grew up and did a major stair workout. It was great.  We took tons of pictures so stay tuned.  But for now I just want to kick back.. sit by the pool... eat food.. and play with my kids.

Hope you all have a great weekend.
-Heather