Brie Fit

Thanks, everyone, for your advice on my running dilemma last night!  Honestly—I was so frustrated with the travel arrangements today I very nearly threw in the towel.  However, I was able to find a reasonably cheap hotel room near the start of the race that is accessible by public transit from the airport, so I’m feeling a little excited at long last.  Let the record reflect: I WILL do a long run on either Thursday or Friday while I’m in Toronto.  I’m not going to hardcore train for this, but I don’t want to make a fool of myself either, so I’m going to go middle of the road.

Anyway.  It was an early CrossFit morning today!  It’s tough getting out of bed, but once I’m there and moving I don’t regret it.  I just need to remember that when the alarm is blaring at 5 am!

Today we started with 4 sets of 5 front squats.  I started with the 45 pound bar, but quickly moved up to 55 pounds for two sets and finished with 65 pounds.  I think I can definitely push this further next time, too! Today’s WOD was:

• 4 box jumps/8 jump squats/12 air squats
• 4 air squats/8 box jumps/12 jump squats
• 4 jump squats/8 air squats/12 box jumps

We did this twice.  My first time around I finished in 2:50; the second was 3:08. 

I had to do five burpees for not being faster the second time around.  Boo.  Anyway, it was fun and my legs are trashed.

Here is unflattering photo proof that I was there, poached from my box’s Facebook page:

(We were stretching.  Not pooping.  Every time we do this stretch I think about birthing babies.  It’s a weird association.)

Anyway, I hightailed it home to shower and prepared for the onslaught of CrossFit hunger with a breakfast cookie. 

(Ingredients: old fashioned oats, peanut butter, chocolate whey protein, milk, a sprinkle of coconut and a few chocolate chips for fun.)

I also brought a hardboiled egg for a morning snack.

I think I got a whole lot of fruits and veggies in at lunch. 

Afternoon snack: a new bar that was delicious.  I just wish Kind bars were kinder to my wallet.

Dinner was slightly decadent, but I was starving to the point of a headache and the shakes by the time I got home.  We had homemade garlic bread, and pasta with Italian sausage and a creamy tomato sauce.  (Jarred.  Mixed a little alfredo with arrabbiata.)

I think it will be an early night for me tonight.  Tomorrow morning it’s back to morning CrossFit and I think Tim might join me!  My legs are tired and I think I need to get it on with the ol’ foam roller.

What’s your favorite kind of pasta?

When I was in a sorority in college, there was a ceremony that talked about how having sisters will halve your sorrows and double your joys.

Then, that same phrase was used in our marriage vows.

Having a blog doesn’t just halve your sorrows and double your joys.  It respectively reduces and multiplies it by a factor of the THE INTERNET, which is approximately one bajillion.

This is my way of saying thank you for sharing in both my joys and sorrows over the last few months.  I am glad to be in the “joy” camp again.

Ahem.  Anyway. 

So!  I’m on staycation for the rest of the week. 

So I slept a little late (9:30) and cuddled the dog and my iPhone in bed for awhile and read through all the awesome comments from last night and smiled some more.

Then I had breakfast.  I had packed a lunch for yesterday, then I remembered I was going to lunch with Chandra and Therese so I didn’t need it.  So, I had the PB&J English muffin for breakfast with a little cantaloupe.

I loafed for a bit, and then got ready, and then decided to just have a big morning snack—a big bowl of fruit and a Babybel cheese.

Then I went shopping! 

I’m pretty disappointed in the clothes selection I’ve seen lately, but I did exchange an eyeliner that kept breaking at Sephora (LOVE their return policy), and got a free gift of Benefit samples as well as these amazing tinted lip balms I’ve been coveting for awhile.

Then, I had an eye doctor appointment at 2.  I’ve been having some trouble with the ol’ peepers lately—specifically, I feel like my left and right eyes aren’t working together well, and things have been very blurry and my eyes have been constantly itchy and burning.

The optometrist visibly recoiled at the sight of my corneas, which she deemed “ravaged” by allergies.  So, for at least the next week, I’ll be rocking glasses…

…and three kinds of eye drops.

And then I have to go back in to get re-fitted for contacts, since she determined that fitting me today would be pointless, since it’s like I’m looking through a dirty window right now because my eyes are so irritated. 

I tend to shy away from my glasses but I’m looking forward to some quality time with them the next few days.

Anyway, I went home and had some eggs with goat cheese and a slice of peanut butter toast.

(I didn’t eat the yogurt—was full after the other stuff!)

Then, a few hours later, yet another fruit-and-cheese snack.

…because I was doing late-night CrossFit!

A new CrossFit gym is getting ready to open here, and I’ve been in touch with the super-nice owner, and he said I could tag along to some of their test classes this week!

And…it was a doozy.  In a good way.  It was a partner workout, meaning my partner and I had to share all the reps (so, she would do 50, I’d do 50, she’d do 50, I’d do 50).  Whoever WASN’T working had to be babysitting our “pet”—a 35 pound kettlebell that wasn’t allowed to touch the ground for fear of a 10 burpee penalty. 

We did…

• 200 squats
• 200 sit-ups
• 150 push-ups
• 150 lunges
• 100 box jumps
• 100 thrusters

It took everyone in the group about 35-37 minutes.  I was dying by the end!

The nice part about having a partner was that you could play to individual strengths.  My partner was a pilates instructor who rocked out more than her fair share of sit-ups and push-ups…but since I’ve got strong legs, I did extra squats, lunges, and box jumps. 

Anyway, I think I’m going to head back tomorrow. It was a lot of (masochistic) fun!

I made enchilada soup in the crockpot but by the time I got home all I wanted was a bowl of cereal.

(Apparently, I ate breakfast for all three meals today.  Huh.)

And now…I’m going to crash.  I can’t believe my day off was so busy!  Good times.  I think I may attempt to purchase actual clothing again tomorrow.  We’ll see.

Any suggestions on how to get eye drops in your eyes effectively?  I’m terrible at it!

…since I posted a gross foot picture.  More on that later.

Today was a pretty busy day at work.  I had some cereal for breakfast.  Then, around 11, I found out I was being called into a noon meeting (which should be outlawed, BTW), so I split my lunch in half and had a peach beforehand.

These peaches aren’t great, but for $.99/pound, I suppose you can’t expect greatness.

After my meeting, I had the rest of my lunch.

Leftover pulled pork, tiny cheese, kiddie Greek yogurt.

After I wolfed that down, I had to run to the Barkery for more raw for Milhouse and Southie.  (Buckley is our lone dissenter from the raw lifestyle.  Not shocking.)  If you’re in KC, I can’t recommend them enough—their staff is always friendly and they are so knowledgeable!

Anyway, an aside about raw feeding: it’s kind of a pain in the butt to package it all up and remember to thaw it, but there are some cool benefits I very much like.  Southie’s mysterious lifelong dandruff has disappeared, and Milhouse poops less than a squirrel.  So, we’re fans. 

Snacktime:

This banana was perfectly overripe.  There is nothing worse than an underripe banana, no?

After work, I had a most excellent four mile run on the treadmill.   I watched the beginning of the last season of Biggest Loser on Hulu Plus, since I can’t bring myself to sit through two hours of it under normal circumstances.  But it’s great motivation while actually working out.

So here is the aforementioned gross foot picture.

I don’t know WTF it is about my feet, but that same area gets ridiculously blistered and callused over and over and over again.  It falls off, and grows back.  And now it’s got a giant blood blister on it.

(Sidenote: Remember Blistersquatch?  Were any of you around in the Blistersquatch days?  I’m glad I finally discovered the joy of wide width running shoes.  This is nowhere near as bad, but still irritating.  Literally.)

For dinner, we tried a new recipe for Saucy Garlic Chicken.

I healthified it a bit by using half the butter, whole wheat pasta, 1% milk, less cheese, and double the spinach!  (It’s under there, I promise.)

It was pretty tasty, but fairly labor-intensive for a weeknight.  I think this is a make-on-Sunday, leftovers-on-Monday kind of meal!  Luckily we have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

Anyway, tomorrow I’m going to do our regular grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s instead of Target!  Exciting.  I’ve never gotten to take advantage of their frozen or refrigerated foods section since I’ve been transporting it long-distance or going on my lunch hour at work. 

Any cold TJ’s suggestions?  What is wrong with my feet/shoes?

I get a full unicorn sticker today!

I also win an award for self control.  My newly adopted, “If it didn’t walk in the door in your lunch bag, it’s not walking out the door in your tummus” rule worked its magic again!

I was invited to a breakfast this morning, and instead of going and eating delicious greasy biscuits and eggs and sausage, I ate my cereal beforehand and settled for a cup of coffee.  (Which totally does not count, because I would have had my own personal coffee, and this was a mere substitute, and whatever, it’s just coffee.)

I also resisted delicious breakfast leftovers all day, and was happy with my decision around noon when the grease congealed in the sausage pan and turned the whole thing into a Jell-O-esque brick.

Lunch:

Nothing exciting, but fresh and delicious.

Also, I joined DailyMile.  Follow me, or whatever you call it.

Snack:

After work, I went to the gym.  I felt like lifting, but also had a bit of a running itch, so I decided to run sprints between supersets.  I did:

• 400 m sprint: 2:07
• Superset: 3X deadlifts (12 @ 80 lbs) and shoulder press (12 @ 30 lbs)
• 400m sprint: 2:05
• Superset: 3X lunges (24 @ 50 lbs) and lat pulldown (10 @ 60 lbs)
• 400m sprint: 2:04
• Superset: 3X overhead squats (12 @ 40 lbs) and upright row (12 @ 40 lbs)
• 400m sprint: 1:59
• Superset: 3X dumbbell snatch (12 @ 25 lbs) and bicep curls (12 @ 20 lbs)

And that was that.  Pleasantly taxing.

And then it turned into the best day of my life when I got home.

Okay, so that was a bit of hyperbole.

Tim…is kind of a quintessential lawyer.  He follows rules, and this extends to his food preferences.  He is what I refer to as a strict constructionist.   This means that, if you are out of hamburger buns, and hamburgers are on the menu, well, it just does not belong on a slice of bread instead.  This also means that you eat breakfast for your first meal of the day, and never again.

(He also claims to be traumatized by school lunch breakfast for lunch—soggy eggs and the like.)

But I love breakfast.  I eat breakfast for lunch all the damn time.  And I would eat it for dinner all the damn time too if Tim didn’t have this rule.

So, last week, I made puppy dog eyes and stuck my lip out a bit and he agreed.

And I think he liked it!

I had an English muffin, eggs over medium, bacon, and watermelon.

Tim had bacon, peanut butter toast, and poached eggs (his new obsession).

Speaking of which, he has requested that I ask the blog world if anyone knows how to poach eggs without excessive amounts of white foam appearing.  Any ideas?

Did you eat hot lunch at school?  What were your favorites and least favorites?

Yeah.  You read it.

Breakfast was meh.

The Greek yogurt was extra tangy today and it wasn’t sitting well in my stomach.

Lunch.

Spinach salad with craisins and goat cheese, carrots with hummus, hard boiled eggs, peach, mini cheese.  I like hardboiled eggs, but I think two is too many.  I was getting a little gaggy by the end of the second one.

Then there was more bad news.

And I cried in my office with the door shut and ruined my eye makeup.

Then I opened my door and cried a little bit again.

Then I calmed down, and my co-worker asked if I was okay, to which I replied, “I’m fine,” which, hello, is universal code for “STFU”, and then she followed me into my office and I practically had to yell “I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT” in her face to get her to leave.

Or, wait.  Not practically.  I did. 

Unprofessional?  Wildly.  Thank god my boss was on vacation today.

When I was in kindergarten, I used to cry every day because I missed my mom until she made me a no-crying chart in which I got a unicorn sticker for every day cry-free at school.  I think I may need one of those now.  Even though I would not get a sticker today.

Snack.

After work I ran 3 miles.  It was angry running.  I pinned this today and it was all I could think about:

This song, that was played at my dad’s funeral, came on at the two mile mark and I cried on the treadmill. 

I came home to a no-effort dinner. 

We grilled chicken last night, so I heated that up with a microwaved baked potato and a side of watermelon.

It was a pretty healthy day of eats.  I am proud, I guess, that amidst all the insane stress today I didn’t stress eat once.  And I worked out my not-nice feelings and it felt good.  Baby steps, I guess?

However, there will be a small slice of ice cream cake in my very near future.  FYI. 

This, too, shall pass.

Tell me something good in the comments.  What made you happy today?  Bonus points for links of adorable cat pictures.

It was an unexpectedly late night last night and I didn’t sleep well.  Bear with me.

I fancied up my Greek yogurt breakfast today with flavored raspberry Chobani instead of plain yogurt. 

I’m liking the yogurt for breakfast thing lately, but I think I’m actually ready to bring back breakfast cookies, which I ate pretty much every day for an entire year.  Maybe I will pick up the supplies at the store next week and mix things up?

(For those of you who want to know how I make a breakfast cookie—roughly 1/2 to 2/3 cups old fashioned oats, 1 tablespoon-ish of nut butter (snort), 1 scoop chocolate whey protein, a few splashes of milk, and mix-ins like dried fruit, coconut, etc.  Splash in the milk bit by bit until the mixture is crumbly, not wet, press into a plate/container and refrigerate overnight.  Voila.)

Anyway, for lunch we were going out for a co-worker’s birthday today.  At 1 pm.  Which meant we wouldn’t be eating until at least 1:30, which is way too late for me, so I had a morning snack today.  Unorthodox!

For lunch we went to Blanc Burgers.  I had a turkey burger with spinach and swiss, and sweet potato fries.

Burger was excellent, fries were underwhelming, service was terrible.  It took us two hours to have lunch, and the restaurant was half empty.  The server was very nice, but forgot several things and was slow as molasses.  I think I’ll opt for takeout next time.

The upside of a two hour lunch is that the afternoon went by really fast.

The downside of a two hour lunch is that I was too full to run.

The upside of not being able to run, and eating a protein packed lunch, is that I had an excellent lifting workout.

I don’t remember what I did, exactly.  I think I did supersets of overhead squats/lat pulldowns, shoulder presses/dumbbell snatches, deadlifts/lateral raises, and step-ups/bench press.   I don’t remember the weights I used, but it took about 45 minutes and I was sweaty afterwards.

The weird part was that my left side felt very weak.  When I did Crossfit with my buddy a few weeks ago, my thumb and forearm felt numb and tingly for about two weeks afterwards and is just now starting to feel normal again.  Today I had a lot of trouble keeping that side under control and it felt very weak.  And I also have a very twitchy left eyelid for the past two days.  Hmm.

For dinner, we had chicken tacos, to which I added a few blue corn chips and fresh cantaloupe.

I have decided that I’m terribly bad at figuring out how much produce we need for a given week.  It’s Wednesday, I shopped on Saturday, and I’ll run out of fruit tomorrow.  Blech.

Anyway, I’m exhausted and I’ve instructed Tim to tuck me in at 9 am.  Hopefully some good snoozing tonight will send my twitchy eye away!

What was the worst service you ever got at a restaurant?

Jet setting on the last several weekends has been fun and all, but I’ve been looking forward to this one for awhile.

Because I got to stay home.  And do stuff that needed to be done, and that I wanted to do.

When I was in Boston, I bought Tim these Star Wars pancake molds for fun.  Today, we used them.

They didn’t turn out super great, but it was fun nonetheless.  Tim insisted on eating the Millennium Falcon one.

We ate them in bed, with iced coffee, whilst watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix.  It was perhaps the happiest moment I’ve had in a few months (aside from finally reuniting with my best friend at the airport).

I spent the morning doing random things around the house that have needed to get done for weeks…but haven’t been, because I’ve been gone so much.  I shredded every FAFSA worksheet or financial aid notice my mother saved since 2002 (and recently gifted me) and it took over an hour.  I also gave Milhouse a bath and  scrubbed the master bathroom clean.  Not fun, but oddly soothing.

For a late lunch, I had a tasting plate of sorts, a la Meghann.

This was kind of a “finish the last of the produce” plate: slightly past-their-prime strawberries, a slightly mushy white nectarine, baby carrots and hummus, a toasted pretzel bun, and a tiny cheese.  It was pretty light and just what I wanted after a somewhat heavy breakfast.

Then I engaged in cat photography for awhile, because Buckley was just, you know, chillin’ with his tongue out.

Then, I went on my biannual Sephora trip!

I try to stay out of Sephora as much as possible because I have no willpower around pretty things.  I have recently decided that twice a year is the way to go—in between trips, I can replenish the necessities (foundation, mascara) that run out, but that’s it.

Anyway, I was out of a bunch of stuff, so I wound up getting:

• Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Dollface
• bareMinerals Mineral Veil
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (this stuff is incredible)
• Buxom Insider Eyeliner in Amethyst
• Lorac Starry-Eyed Baked Eyeshadow Trio in Star Struck

And now I will not buy any more until 2012.  Womp womp.

And then I got my hair cut.  My usual hairstylist was out sick, so I had someone new, and she cut it a tiny bit shorter and styled it a wee bit spikier than I like.  But, I could not wait another day for a haircut, let alone a week (my beloved Mandy is only in on Fridays and Saturdays—sigh), so…it is what it is.  It’s hair, it’ll grow, and it will probably look better when I style it my way tomorrow.  Whatever.

I went home and made a quickie dinner.

We usually get something out on Saturdays, but since we ate out a lot last weekend, we stayed in tonight.  I did a quickie chicken parm served over whole wheat pasta and it was pretty yummy.

Then I hauled my butt to Target to do some shopping for the week.  I was going to wait until tomorrow, but the thought of going to the grocery store on Sunday afternoon when it is one zillion percent humidity and 100+ degrees out sounded less than appealing.  So I did it.

Now, I’m enjoying some Edy’s S’mores ice cream and we’re watching Scott Pilgrim Versus the World.  (It’s just okay.)

The only thing that would have made today better would have been a more palatable temperature (100+ is not okay with me—a little run might have been nice) and having my usual hairstylist.  But alas.  I will not complain.

What would your perfect Saturday look like?

Hold the phones, guys.  I ate something different for breakfast.

When I was visiting my friend in Boston, we ate plain Greek yogurt, berries, and delicious farmer’s market granola for breakfast, and I’ve been craving it ever since.  So I rLuecreated it!  (Thankfully, she sent me some of the granola for my birthday.  It’s delightful!)

Lunch was kind of generally munched in bits and pieces from about 11:30 to 1:30.

Underripe cantaloupe (boo) and a mini Babybel, the last of the disgusting Fiber One brownies I impulse bought a few weeks ago and a white nectarine, two hardboiled eggs, and a pretzel roll from my favorite joint in Chicago dipped in some garlic hummus.

Random, I know.  I have food ADD, I think—I like little bites of everything rather than one big meal.

I snacked on some trail mix before I worked out. 

This is the Trader Joe’s “Just a Handful” of cashews, almonds, and cranberries, and it’s super delicious.

After work, I kind of did something crazy.

I was SO excited to get back to the gym after a bit of a hiatus.  And I was also inspired after reading Emily’s Ironman Race Report.  So, I decided to put on a DIY Mini-Tri.

Specifically, I swam 400 meters (in 12:14), biked 10 miles (in 39:08), and ran 2 miles (in 19:48).

The hardest part?

Putting on my bike shorts while dripping wet from the pool.  I think “T1” was about 9 minutes trying to wedge myself into those.

Anyway, it was a fun workout, and burned a whole lotta calories.

I think doing sprint triathlons would be right up my alley, but bikes ain’t cheap and mama likes pretty shoes and purses.  Maybe someday?   Until then, maybe I’ll just continue being a big faker at the gym.

Anyway, I was starving after this. 

Unpictured: sourdough pretzel with hummus, bolted down immediately after opening my front door.

Dinner was light and refreshing.

Spinach and strawberry salad, grilled chicken, and corn on the cob.  And now it’s time for a little bit of ice cream.

Have you ever done a triathlon?  Do you want to?  Should I? 

Back to work today!

I am feeling less monstrous today, though nausea still interfered with my workout.  It seems to be subsiding, though, which is a good thing.

Lunch:

Spinach salad, homemade pretzel roll, watermelon balls*, mini Babybel cheese**, Greek yogurt***.

*: I enjoyed balling an entire watermelon at my mother-in-law’s house so much she gave me her spare melon baller.  Baller!

**: Crack.  These tiny cheeses are so NOT budget friendly (I think they’re $3.79/6 at my store right now), but they are infinitely better than any cheap string cheese out there.  Worth the money.

***: I’ve always really liked Dannon Greek yogurt.  It’s cheaper than Chobani and Fage, and I really like the texture.  Apparently now they are merging with Oikos?  Anyone know the details?  Please tell me this will not make the prices go up. 

For snacktime, I tried a new flavor of Luna Bar.

It was basically a really big Quaker granola bar.  Meh.

After work, I was really excited to run…but it didn’t go so well.  I think it was a combination of guzzling too much water in the late afternoon due to the heat and my general nausea came back.

I ran 2.5 miles, walked for about 5 minutes, and then ran another .5.  Womp womp.

Dinner was leftover pulled pork and corn on the cob.

I wasn’t full, though, so I had a peach that was pretty excellent.

Now I’m baking cookies for Tim to take to work, and in a bit I will be hacking up 15 pounds of raw food into individual Milhouse-and-Southie-sized portions.

I can’t wait to see my best friend in just three short days!  She has a CrossFit workout planned for us on Saturday morning and I’m quaking in my boots already.

What do you and your best friend like to do together? 

No post yesterday because I didn’t feel like taking photos.

The highlights?  Lunch with Therese and Chandra at my favorite Mediterranean place, Sahara, and a most excellent 1200m swim after work.

Also, I am working on a big long post celebrating my one-year anniversary of being hormonal-birth-control-free, but figured I should check to see if there’s any interest in reading about my experiences before I go and post stories about my lady business.  So…is anyone curious?  Leave a comment and let me know if you want to read this or if it should remain for ever in my drafts folder, where blog posts go to die.

Today’s lunch was leftovers from yesterday’s lunch, plus a bit of fruit salad and some baked Tostitos swiped from the break room.  (The peach wound up as an afternoon snack, as did a big slice of watermelon.)

After work, I worked it out at the gym with a speedy little 3 mile run in 27:45. 

I’ve been very pleased with my running speed of late.  I’m not really sure why it’s improved—whether it’s a function of losing a few extra pounds, or the cross-training, or if it’s just that I’m not underestimating myself anymore.  But I do hope I can keep it up.  It feels good.

I think part of my problem, actually, is that I get confused going between my outdoor intense hill running pace, which can easily be in the 10:30-11:00/mile range and feel like a max effort, and my flat track or treadmill pace, which I tend to lowball.  I don’t think I realize just how much the hills slow me down, and I’ll set a 10:00/mile pace on the treadmill thinking, “Oh, this is faster than I was outside” and be cool with it.  I need to pump it up even more, because frankly, my 9:20-ish pace today felt…not easy, but not like a balls-to-the-wall effort, either.  You know?

It was stir-fry night for dinner!

One of my favorites—lean round steak, edamame, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, cashews, teriyaki sauce and lemon juice served over brown rice.  Perfect for summertime!

Anyway, life’s about to get busy around here.  My July schedule is (roughly) as follows:

• July 1-4: visit the in-laws in the Ozarks
• July 7-9: Atlanta for work
• July 15-18: Boston for a much-needed weekend with my bestie
• July 22-25: Chicago for half work/half family time

So, lots of travel, and I’m sure I’ll be tired by the end of it, but I’m looking forward to all of it.   I can sleep in August!

Any travel recommendations for  Atlanta or Boston?  And do you want to hear about my experiences sans birth control?