Plan 3/10- 16

It's my second week of my March Madness challenge, and this week, I've added to my goal. I'm continuing my week 1 goal of drinking at least 100oz of water every day.  I've been pretty successful with that! This week, I added logging all of my food in my fitbit tracker.  Now, I'm not so much using the fitbit tracker to tell me how much to eat. Because there are days when I run a lot, so it says I can eat a lot. But then on my rest day, it says I can't eat very much.  I'm using the tracker as a tool for accountability. I'm specifically looking to make sure I'm not snacking mid-afternoon (which I REALLY like to do). Snacking is especially challenging for me on my longer teaching days. Having a snack isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is counter productive to my fitness goals to do it all the time.

This upcoming weekend is my next big race- I'll be running the Rock and Roll Half Marathon again this year.  It's gotten so that I really am running the same races every year. But I really like these races, and the timing works well with my training, so I'll keep at it for a bit. This past week, I've been tapering. Breaking in new shoes. Testing out my race day gear. You know, that kind of fun stuff.  I had to buy new running shoes because I have put the miles on the old ones. I go through 3-4 pairs of running shoes a year.  I also had to buy new running pants because my old pants were falling down. Yeah, I know, there are worse problems to have. But seriously, running pants industry. Just put drawstrings in EVERYTHING already, okay? Thanks.

Next week will also see some visits from Mia and my Mom! Whoot!

Thursday
Run 3-4
Breakfast: Blueberry pancakes
Lunch: leftover baked Caprese pasta
Dinner: A tribute to The Wild Carrot's Original Powerhouse sandwich

Friday
Slow run 3-4
Breakfast: Sweet Potato Pudding
Lunch: Samosa with Cari
Dinner: Cheater Pad Thai

Saturday
Rock & Roll Half Marathon
Breakfast: Race day breakfast- 2 bananas, dates, vega bar
Lunch: OUT
Dinner: leftovers or fend for yo'self

Sunday
Breakfast: Tofu Scramble
Lunch: baked tofu & kale wrap
Dinner: Hot Tamale Burgers

Monday
Walk
Breakfast: Irish Soda Bread in a Mug
Lunch: leftover Hot Tamale Burgers
Dinner: Philly Cheeseseitan sandwiches

Tuesday
Run 2-3
Breakfast: Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
Lunch: leftover sandwiches
Dinner: Asian tofu salad sandwiches

Wednesday
Walk
Breakfast: Strawberry shortcake polenta
Lunch: leftover Asian tofu salad sandwiches
Dinner: Irish Nachos

Plan March 4-10

I'm coming into my final training days for the RnRHM. I'll be tapering down my runs.

I've been doing this March Madness challenge with the Happy Herbivore meal mentor community. In this challenge, we each selected 6 habits we wanted to make or break during the month. Then we started with one habit the first week. The second week we will double and add a second habit, the third week again we will double and work towards 4 of the habits, and the last week we will work on all 6. My first habit/goal for this first week is to drink 100 ounces of water every day. Now, I drink a lot of water as it is, and when I'm not thinking about it, I generally drink about 60 oz per day. 100 though, which I've been successful at all week thus far, is something that I can feel a difference with. Sure, I have to get up and pee in the middle of the night. But my skin feels better, and I generally am feeling good.

Thursday:
Run 4
Breakfast: garbanzo patty breakfast sandwich
Lunch: leftover sweet & sour spaghetti squash
Dinner: Sweet Potato Chilaquiles

Friday:
Run 6
Breakfast: brownie batter ono
Lunch: leftover sweet potato chilaquiles
Dinner: Green Goddess Pizza

Saturday:
Breakfast: blueberry pancakes
Lunch: leftover green goddess pizza
Dinner: Jerk Polenta

Sunday:
Breakfast: blueberry pancakes
Lunch: leftover jerk polenta
Dinner: Baked Caprese Pasta

Monday:
Walk
Breakfast: peanut butter and jelly ono
Lunch: leftover baked caprese pasta
Dinner: Spinach Artichoke Rice Casserole

Tuesday:
Run 4
Breakfast: breakfast potatos rancheros
Lunch: leftover spinach artichoke rice casserole
Dinner: Baked Caprese Pasta

Wednesday:
Walk
Breakfast: sweet potato pudding
Lunch: leftover Baked Caprese Pasta
Dinner: Indian Hakka Noodles

Plan Feb 25- March 2

I've been a bit sluggish lately, which is not something I can afford to be, with the Rock n Roll half just 2 weeks away.
So, as of today, I'm stepping up my game.
As part of Lindsay Nixon's Happy Herbivore Meal Mentors, I'm going to focus on 6 habits to incorporate this month, starting with 1, and doubling my efforts each week.
My 6 habits I'm working towards are:
1. Drinking 100 oz of water every day. This is not only great for hydration, but also incredible for my head. I need to do it.
2. Logging my foods. I have the fitbit app, its a great tool. When I log my foods I'm less likely to grab a snack, or drink another glass of wine. It keeps me accountable.
3. Sticking with my meal plans at least 5x per week. And my meal plans are set at roughly 1200 calories a day.
4. Doing 200 crunches at least 5x per week. I have the makings of great abs. They just need daily attention.
5. Doing 3 cross-training workouts every week. I've been using this program called Cody, with workouts ranging from yoga to strength, pilates, etc. Sometimes, though, I get so that I have on my running blinders. I forget to do much else. And even though I've been able to devote a little time every day to my yoga practice,  I should work on my whole body.
6. Having fruits and veggies for snacks. Let's face it, my Mondays and Wednesdys class schedule is a little busy. There are days I don't have time to eat lunch, so I have a snack. Which is fine, until I realize that snack isn't that healthy. Vegans make some pretty awesome junk food. So, to accomplish this goal, not only am I going to plan for fruits and veggies as potential snacks, when I get home from the grocery, I'm going to immediately chop these up so that they're ready to eat?

All of this will be in addition to things I'm already doing (half-marathon training, headstand practice, etc).

Here's my meal plan this week:

Thursday:
Run 4
15 minutes kettlebell
Breakfast: banana pb wrap
Lunch: leftover chinese
Dinner: green curry chowder

Friday:
Run 10+
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: leftover green curry chowder
Dinner: chickpea ceasar tacos

Saturday:
Run/walk 3
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: out
Dinner: California "drive through" fries

Sunday:
Breakfast: baked oatmeal
Lunch: leftover chickpea ceasar tacos
Dinner: very verde burritos

Monday:
Walk 4
Cody workout
Breakfast: ONO
Lunch: very verde burritos
Dinner: bbq sweet potato sliders

Tuesday:
Run 4
15 minutes kettlebell
Breakfast: garbanzo patty sandwich
Lunch: bbq sweet potato sliders
Dinner: pizza pasta

Wednesday:
Walk 4
Cody workout
Breakfast: ONO
Lunch: leftover pizza pasta
Dinner: sweet & sour spaghetti squash

Plan Dec 1-7

Thanksgiving was a hoot- and I can't believe that the end of the semester, and the Christmas holidays are just a few weeks away. We went out to Nebraska for the weekend to visit my folks, brothers and family. My niece, Kateri was born on Monday, and I got to visit her in the hospital on Wednesday, and spend a good bit of time baby-holding over the weekend, which is always lovely. (Here's me, baby Kateri, and niece Niki! Thanks, Grandma for sharing your pictures!)

 

Thanksgiving dinner was a vegan feast that couldn't be beat- seitan, kale, brussels sprouts, potatoes and cranberries. Rachel and Mia were awesome choppers, and Jess made accidentally vegan pies, so life was good.

 

 I also ran each day, and practiced some awesome yoga moves with Mia, my SIL Rachel, and my cool niece Niki!

 

 

Now I guess it's back to real life for a couple of weeks. I have to finish out this semester, keep writing my dissertation, (my mentor sent back my Chapter 3 with all sorts of red pen markings.... sigh),  keep running- I'm a week into the Runner's world winter run streak where I run at least a mile a day every day from Thanksgiving to New Years... I started a little early, so today marked day 7, and I logged over 15 miles last week.

Tomorrow being December 1 means that I will start a new yoga challenge, one that Miss Mia has agreed to try with me.  She doesn't hate yoga as much as she claims she used to. This is a big step from the girl who once said "Mom, making yoga sound like an emergency isn't going to make me like it." We are doing the #DecemburrBasics Instagram yoga challenge. This may be trickier than I suspected because my tablet is BROKEN.  Sigh. Yep, the charging port is busted, but fortunately it is under warranty. It just means I will be tablet-less for a bit, and feel a little disconnected from the world. Mostly it means I can't instagram and can't tweet, and can't facebook in bed. But those of you who do those things know how important that stuff is.

I also am going to give the "Say it Sweat it Get it" week-long challenge a try- it's a week of mantra based exercises that Kris Carr recommended (she's the Crazy Sexy Juice lady). I'll let you know....

Anyway. After a week or so of lots of wine and eating pie on the floor of the kitchen out of the pan with my niece and nephew (someone had to show them how it was done), I'm feeling like some wholesome basic real food this week. My recipes are from the Thug Kitchen cookbook (TK), Happy Herbivore Abroad (HHA), and Happy Herbivore Holidays and Gatherings (HH/H&G). In addition, I have a choir concert this week on Thursday- if you're in La Plata, and want to hear me sing, come check us out at the college. On Sunday, Rob and I will be running the Christmastown 8k in Williamsburg, VA. We were signed up for it last year, but it got iced out. It looks like the weather will be good this year, though.

Monday

Run 2

TK Chickpeas & Dumplings

Tuesday

Run 1

Swim

TK Wedding Soup with White Bean Balls and Kale

Wednesday

Run 3

HHA Migas

Thursday

Run 1

Swim

Vega One Shake

Choir Concert

Friday

Run 4

Gardein Field Roast with Sweet Potato casserole (HH/H&G)

Saturday

Run 1

Out for Dinner with friends

Sunday

Christmastown 8k

Dinner TBD/Leftovers

Plan Feb 2 - 8

Monday

Run 3+

IDI Phyllo Pot Pie

Tuesday

Bike 10

Swim 1

HHLL Sonoma "chicken" salad (pre-cook tofu on Monday)

Wednesday

Run 3+

Crock pot vegan chili and cornbread

Thursday

Swim 1

Bike 10

Baked Sweet Potato (pre-baked on Monday)

Friday

Run 10

THH Hippie Loaf, mashed potatoes, and veggies

Saturday

Bike 

Swim

THH Corn Pudding, Spicy Collard Greens, and Vegan Spicy Sausage

Sunday

Rest day

IDI Seitan and wild mushroom stew

IDI - Isa Does It

HHLL - Happy Herbivore Light and Lean

THH - The Happy Herbivore

This week, Rob starts the 28 day E2 challenge, meaning he is going vegan for 28 days. He eats, for the most part, 90% vegan. Since I do most of the cooking and shopping, I guess I don't leave a lot of room for variation. In step with his challenge, I am cutting out cooking with oils. This won't be too difficult, I imagine.

I don't worry too much about extra fats in cooking because I eat pretty healthy foods, and exercise a lot. In fact, I just read Vegan for Her by Virginia Messina, and according to the calculations given in the chapter about vegan athletes, I should be eating more than 3000 calories each day! Wow! That is a lot!

My triathlon training is going beautifully, and I put in more than 50 miles running/biking/swimming last week! My distance run wasn't everything I wanted it to be, I wanted to do more than 10 miles, but ended up just shy of 9. I am really hoping for dry weather this next Friday, so I can try to improve that.

I haven't been reading as much as I would like to. I started Hollow City by Ransome Riggs, the sequel to Miss Perigrine, but haven't fallen in love with it yet. Maybe today I will pick something else up, and try Hollow City again later.

Or maybe, since it is my rest day, I will just clean my kitchen, make some food, and watch some football....