Friday - The Gym - What Motivates Me?

It's Friday!

I was supposed to have PTO today because K's daycare is closed for half of the day so I took the day off. BUT! BUT! But work is too busy so I ended up putting in some hours from home. It was sporadic since Kellan was home with me, but I was able to get everything done that I needed to get done. More like a half day of PTO. I was able to drop Kellan at daycare for an hour this morning while I went to spin class though. Holy cccrrraaappppppppppppp. I have not been to spin in close to a year. I was still going when I first got pregnant, but haven't been since I went on bed rest while I was pregnant. It's definitely something that's easier when you go often. WOW! It was tough.

I was able to keep up and finish the class and of course now I've been famished for the rest of the day. :)

The class was a good one. We did a twelve minute sprint in the middle. I mean, 12 minutes is a long time for anything. 12 minutes to wait for noodles to cook. 12 minutes waiting for the bus. Let me tell you, 12 minutes sprinting on a spin bike when you think people are watching how fast you are going (even though they totally probably are not) is a reallllyyyyy long time. We also did an 8 minute hill. Sheesh. 

Workout: Spin Class

Time: 55 minutes

Distance: 22km which is something like 13 miles? I am not sure I'm just doing that in my head. 

I spent the rest of the day with Kellan. We went grocery shopping and wrapped a present for my sister in law's baby shower tomorrow. We did laundry. We cleaned the house. 

So I was sitting on the spin bike today thinking about how this blog is supposed to be about my life, but also about working out and I thought I would write a post about what motivates me to get my butt to the gym. 

So here goes. What motivates me? First and foremost I want to be healthy for me and for my family. I want to live a long life. I want to set a good example for Kellan. I want to FEEL good every day. And I like to eat. Working out means I get to eat a lot. I also like to look fit. I like the feeling I get knowing that I am a runner. Sometimes when I am out for a run and it's just one of those really hard runs I think to myself: this sucks. I think life would be easier if I just sat at my desk all day. But the cool thing about being a runner is that it's hard. If it was easy everyone would be a runner. I like to put in the hard work - on those hard run days - on those days when I'm dragging my butt to the gym I rely on the satisfaction I get in my life from knowing I'm putting in the work to accomplish that goal of being a runner. A real runner - someone who runs every week. Or if you are me someone who runs at least 3 times a week. Ha ha. Just working those goals in here. 

So I have my 3 runs in this week (Mon, Tues, Thurs) and a spin class under my belt. My legs may be a bit wobbly, but bring on the weekend! Looking forward to spending time with my husband and our friends this weekend. Looking forward to family time. 

What motivates you to get to the gym on those tough days?

Kellan Day

As I've mentioned before I have every other Wednesday off from work. I took a slight pay cut so that I can spend that day every other week with my son. It's been so worth it and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to spend that time with him as he grows. And he is growing way too fast! Slow down kiddo, mama wants to savor every moment of your incredible development. The other day on the changing table he made probably 8 - 10 different sounds with his mouth and it reminds me that we aren't that far away from crawling... and talking... and walking. I need to enjoy every day.

Before I get into my day off - I did get in a workout on Tuesday. I got some really tough news from a good friend who was going through a tough time. I had her in my heart all day. The way I deal with stress or sadness is usually with a good run. I got on the treadmill and kept cranking the speed up until the tears at the corners of my eyes were at bay.

Tuesday's Workout
Workout: Treadmill Run
Distance: 4 Miles
Time: 31:18
Pace: Just under 7:50/mile

Ok so my day off. My husband and I were up somewhat early with a happy, active little guy in the morning. We were met with a new blanket of snow making the morning quite pretty even though the sun wasn't even close to rising yet. After my husband left for work I got Kellan down for a nap and put a lovely meal into the slow cooker. The plan was to have it bubble and cook all day filling the house with a warm, wonderful smell by the time the day was coming to a close.

With dinner successfully slow-cooking, I left to go meet up with two of my best friends. Our kids are sure to be great friends as they grow older and we love the opportunity to spend time together. When I arrived at my friend Elise's house she informed me that our other friend, Tara, had called with a flat tire. And not just a flat tire, but a flat tire in the middle of a snow storm with her twin 1 year olds in the van. I called Tara since I have plenty of experience changing tires and offered to come help. I inched my way back into the morning's traffic to her location. I think while changing her tire I looked a little something like this:

With the tire successfully changed - we headed to Elise's house for some much needed girl time. Oh and pizza. That was much needed too. Since I still can't have dairy I had to order half of it without cheese. And that was sad. So sad. But to be honest the pizza was really good. Even without cheese on it. Is that even technically pizza anymore?? :)

I had to leave around 2pm because my dog, Wyatt had a vet appt. I didn't really want to drive in the snow storm all the way to the vet, but I did. 

When we got home from the vet the house smelled amazing, just like I was hoping it would. It was warm and the Christmas tree was lit. I fed K and put him in his pack and play and shoveled the incredibly heavy snow. Blech. Then I put in some laundry. What a day!

All right, enough boring details. No workout today - unless you count shoveling and tire changing, both activities had me breathing heavy so it must have been good for something. 

I'll post this in the morning when more people are reading. Now I'm going to wait for my husband to come home from work so we can enjoy some chickpeas and chicken from the crock pot for dinner. 

Thanksgiving Recap

I got in my three runs last week on Mon, Tues and Wed because I pretty much knew there would be almost no movement Thursday - Sunday :) And I was right.

Quick Recap of last Wednesday's run, which I will tell you I DID NOT want to go do.
Wednesday's Workout: 
Workout: Treadmill Run
Distance: 3.5 miles
Time: I ran the first 3 miles with a 7:47/mile pace!! WHOO HOO. I finished with an additional .5 miles at an 8:00/mile pace.

Thanksgiving this year was awesome. I loved having four days off of work. Four days with my husband and my kiddo. Four days visiting families that we really love. Four days of delicious food and good memories.

Thursday we celebrated with my husband's mom's family. We had a traditional dinner - turkey and the fixings and yum yum. His mom even made everything dairy free for me which was incredibly gracious of her and certainly not expected. The meal was so tasty - I ate more than I thought I would and we ended up not eating dinner that night because we were stuffed. That's when you know things were really good. The time spent over there was really great. Kellan focused on getting in lots of snuggles, especially with Grandma :)

Friday we ventured out to my husband's dad's family celebration. His step sister made us 4 different kinds of soup - some made with turkey left overs - and WOW everything was so delicious. I can't believe how much work she put into making these great soups for us. I felt very spoiled. Kellan focused on hanging with his aunts and uncles and tried to be adorable all day. He got to see his Papa Steve and GJ. Life as a cutie is tough work. 

Saturday we celebrated with my mom's family - and had another traditional Thanksgiving meal. My mom makes things differently than traditional-traditional though, so there was turkey and potatoes and stuffing but it was different than Thursday. The stuffing was prociutto, fennel stuffing. The gravy was porcini mushroom gravy. To die. It was all so amazing. Again - we are so lucky for all these amazing meals and the time we got to spend with our families. Kellan soaked up some quality time with his Papa Keith and his Gma. 

(He doesn't usually wear knee high socks with no pants ha ha - but we figured a little bit of no pants time is always fun.)

Sunday Kellan decided he had snuggled with enough other people and it was time for some Sunday morning snuggle time with his mama so he took a 30 minute nap on my shoulder. I die! 

I'm one lucky mama. :)

Sunday I went to Vikings game with my stepdad. What an incredible game to be at - especially this year. The Vikings finally won a game in this country. :) It was so much fun to spend the time with him and I feel so lucky that we have kept this tradition for so many years of going to the game together. Plus we had amazing seats!!

So I leave the Thanksgiving weekend with the thought that I really wish there was a holiday every month where we had the ability to spend time with our families - away from work and away from the hectic normal lives we all lead. 

Coming back from four days of eating I hit the gym for a run. I assumed my legs would be nice and rested, but instead I struggled through 4 miles. 

Monday's Workout

Workout: Treadmill Run

Distance: 4 miles - literally hit the STOP button at 4 miles and didn't even walk my cool down that's how over it I was by the time I reached the finish line. 

Time: 33:18

Pace: 8:20/mile

What was your favorite memory from Thanksgiving this year?

Is she really complaining?

I better start out this post by apologizing to all the new moms out there (Elise! Molly! Ana! etc). I mean Mother of 2 week old Kellan would look at me today - Mother of 4+ month old Kellan and laugh that I have the audaciity to complain. But things in the present are HARD and things that have already happened don't seem that bad haha.

So let me get the meat of my complaint. Sleep! Kellan has had a few rough nights. He had been sleeping pretty well only waking up once a night for a dream type feed and back to bed. I was dancing in sugar plums! Or something like that - you'll have to excuse my sleep deprived mind. Two nights ago my dear son was up several times in the night and then decided it was time to get up for good at 4:45am. FOUR... FORTY FIVE. In the AY EM! Luckily Pete came down at 5:45am and I was able to go back to bed at 6am for a little more shut eye before the day started. Last night Kellan woke up at 9:45pm - talked to himself in his crib and fell back asleep. H was up again at 11:30pm and before I even peeled myself out of bed I knew it was going to be a tough night because 11:30pm is way too early for his first wake up time. He ate and then had really bad gas - poor kiddo. Pete came down to the sound of cries around 12:15am and we stood listening to Pink Floyd in Kellan's nursery rocking him and kissing his face and staring at each other silently knowing we were in for a long haul of a night. He finally fell back asleep at 1am. But alas he was up again at 3:30am. Ha! Of course he was. Why would he want to sleep for more than 2.5 hours? That would be just SILLY! He was up until 4:30am and crashed from what I can only assume was pure exhaustion.

Needless to say we were a tired bunch this morning. I know this will pass and so I don't let myself get too upset by all of it. And that kiddo is just too cute to ever be mad at.

Up all night? WHO ME?? NAH!!!

To top off the morning when we pulled into the parking ramp at work I realized I had forgotten my gym clothes. Likely on the kitchen floor. Awesome. 

Luckily I was able to borrow a sports bra from someone at work. Go ahead judge me. I really wanted to workout. Because you know what cures a night of no sleep?!? A HIIT workout!! Right? Especially when you are wearing a borrowed sports bra and long sleeves indoors because it's the only thing you could scrounge out of your locker. 

Tuesday's Workout - HIIT and a Circuit

HIIT Intervals = 1:50 minutes @ between 6.1 - 6.5, then 1:10 minutes @ 10.0 - 8 Intervals

Distance: 3.18 miles

Time: 24:00

Pace: 7:43/mile

Circuit: 

10 lb weighted side hypers - 15 reps

Medicine Ball Knee Ups - 1 minute

Elevated Bench Dips - 15 Reps

15 lb Arm Curls - 12 Reps 

Repeat the Circuit 3 times. 

And just to be consistent I did get in a workout on Monday: 

Monday's workout: 

Workout: Treadmill Run

Distance: 4 miles

Time: 32:12

Pace: 8:04/mile

One more work day and then we're all off for the weekend. We have a jam packed schedule but we're looking forward to some quality time with our families and to celebrate Kellan's first Thanksgiving. Not that he cares. He'll enjoy the time with all his grandparents and aunts and uncle though!

Weekend before Thanksgiving

Hello - Happy Monday. I am actually typing this Sunday night but I will wait to post it until Monday morning when normal people are awake. :)

Before I start in on the weekend: Friday's workout

Workout: Treadmill Run
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 32:32
Pace: 8:08/mile

I had a good run and some friendly competition on the treadmill next to me to motivate me to get in a good run. I was happy to get in my third run of the week (per my goal - you all remember) before the weekend started.

Friday night we made a new recipe out of Cooking Light - Minestrone with spicy turkey sausage and chickpeas. It was a relatively easy recipe to make. The flavors were awesome. We will definitely be making this soup again. I forgot to take a picture - so I'm stealing one from the internet :) This is exactly what it turned out like though, except we paired ours with a big old Wheat Bun from Breadsmith - amazing! 

Saturday we cleaned the house and installed some new stuff - like a new Fox Hook for K's room. We started to decorate for Christmas even though I know it's silly to start so early. I literally could not help myself. We put up the outdoor lights - although we won't turn them on until Friday. And I put up some decorations inside. We'll put up the tree on Sunday. 

Sunday morning we put together a slow cooker recipe - also from Cooking Light magazine - Cuban Pulled Pork with Rice and Beans. It took us about 45 minutes to put together. It was a fun new recipe with a few interesting mixtures that I would have never thought of. 

While that cooked on low for 8 hours, we had Tom and Elise come over to watch the Vikings vs. Packers game. Luckily for us their cable went out on Saturday night and they asked to come over. It was an improptu get together - and we loved every minute of it. 

Just a couple of dads with their kiddos :) Boy how our lives have changed in the last year.

After they left we hung out for awhile and prepped the last parts of the slow cooker recipe. We made some rice and put together the fresh salsa that goes on top. The meal was AMAZING. We will be making this again and luckily for us the recipe made a ton. We'll eat it for dinner again tonight and then freeze some for some future meals. 

I am definitely planning on hitting the gym today. I am hoping to get down there all three work days this week. Otherwise I'll have to run over to the LA Fitness by our house on Friday to get in a run. We have crazy Thanksgiving plans. Thursday with Pete's mom, Friday with Pete's dad and Saturday with my mom and stepdad. Whew. Looking forward to quality time with the families though and probably some amazing food. 

Is anyone lucky enough to be going out of town somewhere fun over the Thanksgiving holiday?

Here's the recipe for the Pork if anyone is interested. Warning that it makes a lot!

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pork-shoulder-beans-rice-50400000131785/

No workouts, Snuggles and Dinner

I haven't had time to workout the past few days. It's ok, I don't need to work out every day. I'm just too dang busy with work and life right now for working out. :(

Wednesday was a good day with K. We had his appt and he did a great job. He's growing up nicely and is still up there in the 75-80%. He weighed in at 16.5 lbs. Go Kiddo Go! I gave him Infant's Tylenol BEFORE his shots this time and that seemed to help. He was a quiet and tired boy that night, but not too cranky... UNTIL... 7pm. He would NOT go down for his usual 6:30pm nap. I had to put him in the Boba (baby carrier) and dance with him in the kitchen until he fell asleep. He just really needed some extra cuddles. He didn't seem to want to go to bed at 9pm either and then he was up a lot in the night, very restless and feeling not great. Poor Goose.

Extra Snuggles with Mom:

Wednesday night Pete and I made a fun dinner though! We made Lamb and Red Pepper Pita Sandwiches from Cooking Light magazine. They were super yummy although I'm not used to eating red meat so my tummy was definitely chewing on those for a little while. The flavors you mix up in the food processor to put into the meat were really tasty! Here's the recipe we used and a picture of the results.
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/lamb-pepper-pita-sandwiches-50400000131742/

Last night my mom came over for a little time with K and we had dinner together. I whipped up a batch of quinoa and I bought a rotisserie chicken. I also got a green pepper and some carrots to dip in hummus. An easy but delicious dinner plan. K loved the time with his GMa. 

Like I've been mentioning I'm swamped at work, the other night I was holding K with one arm and testing emails with the other. That's definitely not quality time with my boy, but sometimes work deadlines loom.

That's all for now.  Hopefully I can sneak down to the gym at lunch today for a treadmill run or at least a quick lifting session. We'll see!

Any fun plans this weekend?!?! Feel free to leave comments here on the ole Blog.

What I eat

It's my day off with K today. I've already cleaned the bathroom, showered, fed K, thrown in laundry and started cleaning the kitchen. Ha. We have a lot planned for today. We're starting out the morning by bringing breakfast and coffee to Elise and Eva. I love being able to go visit them on her maternity leave. It can be kind of lonely so having friends to pop in make all the difference. Then it's K's 4 month appt today - I can't wait to see how big he's measuring. I'm not looking forward to his shots though. Poor kiddo. After his appointment we have pest control coming to spray for spiders - they tend to come inside when it gets cold out. And finally I have a few new recipes I mention at the bottom of this post that I need to get groceries for. Whew.

Tuesdays run was pretty good. I decided to run outside because the temps were supposed to be in the low 40s. I decided to wear my capris instead of my full running leggings. Brrrr. I am not hardcore enough for that. It was really windy so I was chilly. The thing about a cold run is that it makes you run faster. Running faster means not only are you warmer, but you'll be back inside SOONER.

Workout: Outdoor Run

Distance: 4 miles

Time/Pace: I don't know. When I run outside I typically run "naked" - meaning I run without a watch. I ran the first mile at whatever felt comfortable as I warmed up (literally) and got into the groove of the run. The next two plus miles I kicked up my pace and made sure that I didn't feel "comfortable" and was breathing heavier. Then for the last 3/4 of a mile I kicked it up as fast as I could without getting a side ache. I felt good and I know I had a good pace. I can tell that I worked my leg muscles and I'm a little sore. Run success!

So let's talk about food a little bit. I burn a lot of calories. Feeding K burns about 500 calories every day and my workouts typically burn between 300 - 500 calories on the days I work out. I eat pretty healthily. That doesn't mean I'm on a diet - because I'm NOT. I just don't like to put things into my body that aren't good for it. Things like aspartame, excessive sugar, caffeine, and artificial packaged stuff. I like to eat foods that are good for me so I might skip that chocolate cake, and instead have two servings of chicken. Ha. BORING. But it's true. Food is fuel. That doesn't mean I don't have a stash of Halloween candy at my desk that I break into every single day. Sugar is good. It tastes good and it's a good pick me up. I just like to eat it in moderation. Because I'm burning so many calories right now I need lots of snacks available to me. I can't eat dairy right now because K isn't processing dairy well. This has limited the kinds of snacks, meals and desserts I can have. I eat a lot of fruit - apples are in season right now. I eat granola bars and hummus with pretzels and/or carrots. I've been going to Breadsmith to get their cinnamon buns and their brownies. They are a kosher bakery and they don't use dairy. SCORE! Plus their stuff tastes amazing! 

I've been making banana oat muffins a lot lately. I think they taste really good and they are pretty dang healthy too. I made some modifications to the original recipe to sub in some wheat flour and to use applesauce instead of oil. If you make them I am sure they'll be a hit. I'll post the recipe at the end of this post. 

I got my Cooking Light magazine in the mail this week. I LOVE getting easy recipes out of that magazine. Here are a few I'm planning to make this week - I'll try to post pictures as we make them. 

- Chickpea and Sausage Minestrone

- Lamb and Red Pepper Pita Sandwiches - with brown rice on the side

- Cuban Pork Shoulder with Beans and Rice (slow cooker recipe)

And without further ado - here are the muffins. 

Banana Oat Muffins - makes 12 muffins: 

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour - you can use all white flour if you don't have wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk - I use almond milk 
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil - I use applesauce
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed bananas - use a really ripe banana

Directions

1.     Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt.

2.     In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. Add the mashed banana, and combine thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture until just combined. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper bake cups, and divide the batter among them.

3.     Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 18 to 20 minutes.