(too) hot to trot

Good evening everyone!

So two words about my daytime run… never again! I ended up getting out a little after 2pm and wow it was hot! It was definitely my hardest run as of yet. I think I’ll stick to my morning workouts. On top of all that, I think I got sunburn! Well to look on the bright side, at least I got my daily intake of Vitamin D.

Here are my stats

Time: 36 minutes

Calories: 285

Distance: 4.4 miles

Avg HR: 157

Pace: 8'03/mile

Then I did strength training in my living room while watching Yes, Dear (I love sitcoms!).

3 sets, 15 reps of

bicep curls

shoulder press

lateral raises

renegade rows

overhead dumbbell triceps extensions

3 sets, 10 reps of

push ups

I use 8lb weights for all the moves except for lateral raises, which I use 5lb-ers because they’re tough! I burned 118 more calories doing these, bringing my grand total to 403.

Snack & Dinna Time

I made myself a bowl of my favorite granola in the world. My Mom made me an Easter basket (yes I’m 21 and still get an Easter basket) full of natural and organic foods this year! She’s the greatest! The funniest is when she tells me she was scared I’d be disappointed in not getting any candy. Real food trumps candy any day!

Now I just want to say I’ve never been a huge fan of granola. I’m not a snacker so it always takes me like 8 years to finish the bag. Not the case with this! I present you with Gaby’s Gourmet Granola in Banana Chocolate Cherry.

Made with organic grains, bananas, and hemp seeds! I love hemp! It gives it such an interesting taste.

I had it with a little unsweetened vanilla almond milk and the rest of my cashew butter. That’s 2 jars done in 2 days – I’m on a roll! I told myself I won’t open up a new jar until home on Sunday though so I’m holding out. I still have half a jar of crunchy Barney Butter left.

This blog is already inspiring my eating habits because I realized I eat too late to post my dinners! So today I made sure I’d have dinner ready by 7pm. It was a very orangey meal. Bbq baked tofu, mashed carrots and parsnips, and baked sweet potato fries.

The mashed carrots and parsnips are really good and simple to make! Just boil water, add cut up pieces of each and boil until soft, around a half hour. Then mash with a fork and add a little butter and whatever spices you’re in the mood for. I usually add nutmeg and cinnamon.

Yum!

Food smarts

The answer to today’s question is…

False! Pancetta is a cut of salted pork belly that closely resembles bacon and is a key ingredient in the popular pasta alla carbonara. Don’t confuse this with panettone or panforte, which are both sweet Italian cakes.

I’m Italian and I’m ashamed to admit that I had no idea what pancetta is. I do love me some panettone though!

Have a great Friday night! Mine will be spent packing the last 4 years of my life up because the family is arriving tomorrow!

Also, check out the awesome salsa/sauce giveaway over at Lucky Taste Buds!

Spring Fitness

Time is flying by today! I said my goodbye’s at work, finished my catalog, and am gearing up for my run. It is SO nice out! Possibly too hot to run!

This year I’ve rediscovered my love of fitness. I’ve been going to the gym on an off throughout high school and college but it was always to lose weight, never for health reasons. This year it’s all changed!

I don’t want to lose any more weight, I just like including cardio as a part of my life. I feel good knowing that I’m doing my body good. Right now I do cardio 6 days a week. I got the Nike plus sensor for Christmas, and combined with my HRM, I am always up for running now so I can see my stats at the end! It’s a huge motivator!

I ran my first 10k last month and felt like I could have kept going. I’m running another one with my brother on May 9^th. I really want to do a sprint triathlon and am thinking about training for one but wish I had someone train with. I can’t wait to get home and add swimming and biking to my cardio routine, and possibly join a gym and take some classes! I currently just do the elliptical and run.

I also do strength training 5-6 days a week, alternating between abs and arms. I love strength training because I feel so much stronger and am actually starting to be able to see my abs, which is a first!

There are endless amounts of studies that scream the benefits of strength training, even just 2-3 days a week, from increased metabolic rate (allowing your body to burn more calories throughout the day) to preventing Osteoporosis! I find it the easiest to keep up with too. Lately I’ve just been doing it at night while watching TV. It goes so quick and I don’t feel bad about sitting in front of the television (although my roommates sometimes give me weird looks).

I had to bring a packed lunch to work today and in order to use up my remaining perishables, I had a simple sandwich. Nothing fancy, just hickory smoked Tofurky on whole wheat bread with lettuce and mustard. It sure hit the spot though! I also used up the rest of my grapes.

Ok, I’m off to go run the streets of Pittsburgh for my last time. It actually got rated the 10^th best walking city in the U.S. recently. Go Pittsburgh!