C25K week 1 Day 3 - New Shoes!

Today was my final day of week 1 of C25K. My day was slightly busy (drop the boys at school, shower, go to vocal therapy, come home and make lunch, pick boys up at 4:30) so I worried I wouldn't find a good time to complete my run. In the morning it was 41 and raining which was less than ideal.

New chooze!

After vocal therapy Mike and I made lunch (Paleo salmon salad, super yum) and then I thought well crap, aren't I supposed to wait to exercise after food (yes, 3-4 hours for digestion after a 600-calorie or more meal says a runner's forum), so I took a nap and ran after we picked the boys up. One nice benefit was that my new trainers arrived while I was napping. Sweet!

Day three was pretty easy I have to say. Not, like, so easy I'd just do it all day every day, but when my run portion finished I thought, "I could keep going." I didn't, but that makes me think that I'm ready for next week where the amount of time spent walking and running swap (so 60 seconds walking and 90 seconds running). Since I was doing lots of "short runs," I wore my new shoes today and they felt good. I think I need to wear slightly thicker socks though.

On to Week 2!

Raspberry Almond Muffin Recipe Review

As I've written before, I'm a breakfast person. And it needs to be portable. Once we started eating paleo I started looking around for recipes for breakfast-y stuff. The first one I found was posted by the Civilized Caveman Cooking blog. I scoured San Antonio for the ingredients and made us some raspberry almond muffins one night so we could have them for breakfast in the morning. Mike had to try one because he said it had a crack down the side. These are definitely Daddy approved. He's eaten three of them since I made them.

Daddy says, "They'll eat" as
he has another...

Having never had "paleo muffins" or anything that had coconut flour as opposed to "regular" flour, I wasn't sure what to expect. The outcome tasted grain-y-er than what I'm used to in terms of muffins (non-paleo muffins) but they had good flavor and sponge-y-ness. I definitely recommend them! Although I had to cook mine a bit longer than 18 minutes (perhaps user error, maybe stove issues, who knows, but I added an extra 7 minutes and they passed the toothpick test). I will definitely make them again, but I think I may substitute some almond flour for some of the coconut flour. And I'll carry a toothpick - raspberries get stuck in my teeth!

What good breakfast recipes have you found? Share!

Paleo Me

Healthy eating, everyone thinks, "I should try that" right? It's true. Most of us make resolutions (which is where we start having a problem, more on that next) to eat healthier every New Year's Eve. That's nice and all, but what happens usually? You eat better for a few days, have a bad day, eat crappy food, and then say to yourself, "Oops, I failed, I'm all done trying this healthy eating thing." And it's back to fast food and pizza and Ramen Noodles (or is that just me?).

My non-Paleo child says no to steak.

The most effective way to make a long-term change is to integrate the new view of yourself (as a healthy eater) into your identity. If you don't, it's very easy to "slip up" and not get back on the healthy wagon (reminds me of the cheese wagon wheel guy from old cheese commercials). But if you think of yourself as a healthy eater, you're more likely to "fix" it if you have a bad eating day. The same is true for any long-term identity change (exercising, quitting smoking, etc.).

For the past few months I've been watching my friends in a certain Facebook group eat the Paleolithic (or Paleo) diet and seen them post about the benefits. Weight loss, feeling more energy, decreased skin problems...hm. So a month or so ago I did some research and Daddy and I decided that we would eat at least 1 paleo dinner per week. So we've been doing that. But we weren't 100% bought in. If we were, we'd have changed our whole day of eating, not just one dinner per week. Last week I sat down with some websites and looked at a) staples of a paleo kitchen, b) easy/quick meals without "crazy" ingredients that we couldn't find at our local market, and c) breakfast ideas of paleo eating that I could make beforehand so that I could "grab and go" when I start back to work on January 14.

Daddy cooking the steak

One thing I learned - the ideas that we have about what foods are for what meals are pretty funny. Think about it. Eggs are mostly for breakfast, veggies aren't really for breakfast...these are all things that I thought before I started looking around. But what I realized is that, yeah, you can pretty much eat whatever you want (in terms of type of food) for any meal and/or snack. Pair protein with a veggie, and you have a meal pretty much.

One hang up for me was thinking about the things I enjoy and how I couldn't have them. For example, Thursday night at our house is pizza night. If whole grains aren't so hot, then frozen pizza? No bueno. But wait, Mr. Google tells me there's paleo pizza?! For real?! So ok, we can have pizza night. Sweet.

So it's time for The House to think about their food differently. I will say that I will offer Silas (now 32 months or almost 3) what we're eating but also have his "likes" on hand because I've seen him deny a perfectly tasty steak. And Sage, well, he's still on pureed solids (sounds like an oxymoron) which actually makes him a vegetarian (ha!).

My paprika-covered eggs. Mmm.

On Tuesday, the first night of our full-time venture, we made steak and eggs for dinner. Daddy was surprised that "that" could "just" be dinner. The recipe I had read (a recipe? really?) said to put paprika on the eggs so I did and Daddy just about had a heart attack (I grew up meat and potatoes, no spices), but it was good. Yes, I'd do it again. Silas ate the eggs. He denied the steak. Wednesday morning for breakfast I had an apple, some scrambled eggs, some avocado slices, and some tomato slices. I worried that I would feel unfull or that it would get to like 10 a.m. and I'd be starving, but not so much. I'm still searching out muffin-type recipes for when I go back to work, but I could easily breakfast out of the fridge as long as the fridge had fruits and veggies (and some protein) until I go back to work. I've found a few recipes and will share my experiences with those here when I get a chance.

Do you have favorite paleo recipes? I'd love to see them. Link them here or post them to the Facebook group.

C25K W1D2 Strangely...Easy?

I set out in my run/walk cycle today with Dee's comment in mind about how day 2 of any exercise program is more painful/stressful than day 1. I told myself I wouldn't watch the timer on my iPhone that told me how much running I had left to do.

Yesterday I did some stretches and exercises to strengthen the muscles around my knees, and honestly today I didn't have pain. But dang was it cold. It's 45 degrees in Texas - I give major props to the ladies doing the C25K in the North. Eesh. After a few minutes I had tears in my eyes from the cold, but either it warmed up or I got over it.

Today was actually a lot easier than Monday to be honest. I didn't push myself to be fast, I just pushed myself to keep going. And I did it. No cheating. And it seemed to go by super quick. And my knees didn't hurt. Go me! :)

Couch to 5K Week 1 Day 1

A few months ago some friends on a discussion board were talking about doing the Couch to 5K running program. I checked out the link and thought, "Well good luck to ya'll."

I'm not a big fan of exercise. I tend to start doing something then quit when I get bored or too busy. My garage full of bikes and yoga mats should prove that. But for some reason while I was awake in bed at 2 a.m. (I blame the baby), I decided one of my goals for the new year would be to complete the Couch to 5K (C25K) program. I downloaded an app for my iPhone that helps you through the program and tells you when to do what as you're exercising ("Start running now," "Start walking now"). I also enrolled myself in an on-line group through Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans - I think this will be an awesome motivator to keep me going and accountable.

On Monday, December 31 I did Week 1 Day 1 (W1D1) of the 8 week (3 times per week) program. For the first week you walk briskly for 5 minutes then alternate walking (for 90 seconds) and running (for 60 seconds). Week 2 switches those two, and then from there the running increases and the walking decreases. I scrolled through the app and saw that in Week 8 it says "just run 2.5 miles." Oh...well that sounds encouraging... But I'll get there.

As I did W1D1 I paid attention to what was not participating so that I could target those areas on my days off from running. My knees especially were cranky with me, so I went through some of my books (that I have a lot of, out in the garage) and Googled and found some things to try. So I'll run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and do strengthening and stretching on the other days.

I sound rather strange to myself, but I'm excited. I came back from W1D1's run feeling proud for not cheating (by walking when I was supposed to run) and energized. I did some "cool down" stretches and took a shower and wasn't tired when it became nap time as I usually do. That was pretty cool.

Daddy told me that today I would hurt but honestly I don't hurt, I just feel the muscles that I used yesterday that I haven't used in a while. It's more of a "Oh hey, there you are!"

On to W1D2!