Daily Run: Long and Fast

August 19, 2008 at 9:15 pm | In Daily Run | 2 Comments
Tags:

Time of Day: 5:50 AM

Weather: Dreary and drizzly, but not hot.

Duration: 61 min.

Estimated Distance (based on assumed pace of 7:35/mile): 8.04 miles

Notes: I had a good, fast run this morning, and I’m starting to get my miles up as well. I had some good moments of very hard running, surged up some hills, and finished almost sprinting. I had moments of slower running too, so this was a very informal fartlek-style run.

No Fuel post today. I worked late and made a trip to Whole Paycheck afterwards to grab a few things, and I also picked some miscellaneous stuff of the salad bar for dinner. Apparently miscellaneous stuff is very expensive. It was probably worth a blog post, but honestly it’s almost my bed time and I should do some studying. I thought Whole Paycheck was farther from my office, but it’s really close. This is bad news for Jess’s wallet, but good news for her tummy. Hopefully Jess’s tummy will remember sitting in traffic on the way home and won’t want to go too often.

I’m getting treated to lunch by Company Big Cheese tomorrow. Of course, I will be too shy to do something weird like *gasp* take pictures of food. A little nervous…wish me luck!

Food for Fuel: Brian Sell’s Hearty Minestrone

August 18, 2008 at 8:55 pm | In Food, Literature, Nutrition, Recipe | 5 Comments
Tags: , , , ,

Are you getting tired of recipes from The Runner’s Cookbook yet? Should the editors be cutting me a check for all this publicity?

Brian Sell will be representing the U.S. in the 2008 Olympic Marathon. He makes a very Hearty Minestrone. Also, a delicious one. Actually, it says in his notes that it is one of his favorite meals that his wife, Sarah Sell, makes, so I give her full credit. Shame on him, it’s not like he has a day job ;)

I had to scale down this recipe quite a bit, and I will still be getting two meals out of it. Cooking for one can be difficult when following recipes. I used my last small chicken breast instead of ground turkey, but I think ground turkey would have been even better. I omitted the celery because it bores me so I didn’t feel like buying it.

Because I was starving and needed to use up some eggplant, I made eggplant pizzas! I just sliced my remaining eggplant, covered it in jarred sauce, and sprinkled on Asiago and fat-free mozzarella. Baked at 425* for about 15 minutes. I put my eggplant pizza on a bed of baby spinach and chopped olives stuffed with garlic. I used some Mandola’s bread to scoop up the soup, which I cannot wait to have again for lunch tomorrow.

Nutrition of this Meal

This meal contains 14 ingredients from the World’s Healthiest Foods list:

  • Whole wheat (ziti)
  • Eggplant
  • Olives
  • Garlic
  • Eggplant
  • Tomatoes
  • Spinach
  • Summer squash
  • Carrots
  • Onion
  • Kidney beans
  • Garbanzo beans
  • Chicken
  • Low-fat cheese

Enough vitamins to fuel an Olympic marathon.

Strength Day and Monday Announcements

August 18, 2008 at 8:40 pm | In Life, Racing, Ramblings, Strength Training, Training Method | 3 Comments
Tags: , , ,

Time of Day: 5:50 AM

Weather: Air-conditioned

Duration: About an hour

Notes: If I must workout indoors, I’m glad that it happened on such a humid, nasty morning. I did my “off day” strength session before work and then spent the rest of the day with my shoulders and back getting progressively achy. I got a little annoyed beforehand because the lady opening the gym this morning took her sweet time, but I got everything in and now the dreaded weights are over until later this week.

Announcement #1

I’m going to tackle the Marathon. I’ve been considering this for quite some time and have been too scared about attempting this on my knee. But, I’ve gotten my mileage up high enough and managed my knee well enough, so I will be training for the White Rock Marathon in Dallas, Texas. It takes place on Dec. 14th, making it roughly 18 weeks away. Does anyone have a marathon training plan that they have used and liked?

In the meantime, I’m hoping to do the following races:

  • Silicon Labs Marathon Relay (9/21)
  • IBM Uptown Classic 10K (10/19)
  • Dallas Running Club Half Marathon (11/2)

Announcement #2

Even more importantly, I’m studying to become an ACE certified personal trainer. I’ve been studying for a few weeks now, and all the biomechanics and anatomy are more difficult than expected, but I’m remaining confident and optimistic. Finding the time to study with a full-time job is even more difficult, but I’m very excited about this potential change and can’t wait to pursue my love of fitness as a career.

And honestly, every time I go to the gym I remember why I want to be a personal trainer. About 75% of the people I see there are overweight and working out incorrectly. They want to be in shape and be healthy, they just don’t know how. I’m not going to be the obnoxious stranger who tells them that holding onto the bar of the treadmill while slugging down Gatorade isn’t going to give them an adequate workout. I guess I’ll have to wait until I have the credentials to be that annoying. ;)

Weekly Run Down: 08/11/08-08/17/08

August 18, 2008 at 8:18 pm | In Weekly Run Down | No Comments
Tags: , ,

Time Spent Running: 5 hrs. 48 min.

Estimated Total Mileage: 45.97(!) miles

Strength Training: 2x

Wow, my mileage is getting up there, despite my IT band acting up. I had another ART appointment today and I feel pretty great, so I’m hoping this next week will be even better. The mileage may not be as high because I think I’m going to go up and down on the long runs each week, so this week may be more like 10 miles instead of 12. Meh, I’ll play it by ear. We have another week of Olympics, so hopefully I will remain inspired!

Food for Fuel: Matt Tegenkamp’s Chipotle Sloppy Joes

August 17, 2008 at 8:50 pm | In Food, Literature, Nutrition, Recipe | 2 Comments
Tags: , ,

Man, I’ve done lots of Fuel posts today. Don’t go raising your standards on me. I’ll slack again soon.

Matt Tegenkamp is representing the U.S. in the 5K at the 2008 Olympics. He apparently makes some serious Man Food, as shown by his Chipotle Sloppy Joes in The Runner’s Cookbook.

This recipe was quick and easy. I liked it, but I changed it a bit and I hope I didn’t alter it too much. Instead of ground beef, I used sliced beef flank (already had it), and instead of chipotle pepper I used a red pepper and a green pepper from the farmer’s market. I know that chipotle peppers have a distinct taste, so this may have altered the recipe quite a bit. I was also pretty loose about measuring and really just did a scoop here, a dollop there instead of getting out the cups. I scaled down the ketchup quite a bit and did not have any cilantro.

Instead of making a sloppy joe sandwich, I decided to serve the mix over a baked potato. Because it’s not often that I’m home for an entire afternoon before dinner, I decided to try A Veggie Venture’s suggestion of baking the potato for 3 hours. I dumped the sloppy joes on the potato and covered them in a reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend. I also made a side salad of mixed greens, baby carrots, green bell pepper, avocado, and leftover salsa from Kerbey Lane.  

So, is it worth baking a potato for 3 hours? If you’re a fan of crispy potato skins, then definitely. If you don’t even eat the skins, I probably would not bother, although it did make the insides nice and soft. Also, nothing makes you crave your dinner like smelling it for hours. If you’re crunched for time, Tegenkamp’s recipe in a nice sandwich bun would be a great quick meal.

Nutrition of this Meal

This meal contains 11 ingredients from the World’s Healthist Foods list:

  • Avocado
  • Bell pepper
  • Carrots
  • Onion
  • Potato
  • Romaine lettuce
  • Tomatoes (in tomato sauce and salsa)
  • Low-fat cheese
  • Black beans
  • Cumin
  • Olive oil (rubbed on potato)

Hmm…quick, easy, stereotypical Man Food with 11 WHF ingredients. Yay!

Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.