Jillian abs, kale

My abs are sore today from Jillian round 3. Yeha!! Love working on getting my abs back!

RUNNING
Today I worked on speed for the first time. I did a bunch (didn't count) of 1/2 mile repeats with 1/4 mile in between recovery/slower jog. How do you work on speed? What types of workouts do you do?

Swimming
Yesterday I was very unmotivated after doing around 300 yards, and I trekked through the workout that was on the board, but I think it was a crappy workout. It called for 12 x 100s. 12? I can get through maybe 6 and not be bored, but 12? So I had to make up my own thing to get through the yardage. I did 4 total laps of fly yesterday - I know I'm getting there when I can do one lap straight of it, so I was able to do that 4 times for 75s - we're on our way here! I really need to swim with other people. I might try to go tomorrow to the masters - but I say that almost everyday.

Eating
I found a yummy kale recipe. It called for cannelini beans and kale. I used my soaked pinto beans instead. Boil the kale - a bunch of it - for 8-10 min or till firm. Put aside. In the same pan, use olive oil and a clove of garlic (minced). Add a couple sprinkles of rosemary(this is terrible, I rarely measure things out unless I'm baking). Then add in 1/2 cup of white cooking wine. Cook until the wine cooks down a bit, and it is a little bit syrupy. Add in the beans and kale and cook till heated through and the wine is soaked up. YUM!!

I went to the store today (gave in) but mostly for next week. I bought some brown rice syrup and I plan to try these out later. I passed on the agave nectar for this time. That stuff is expensive!

I'm thinking of doing an online auction similar to OSG to see if I can raise anymore money towards my Boston Marathon. I'm short of my goal of $5k by around $1200 and really believe in the cause.
Stay tuned for that.

Long weekend

Yesterday I went swimming and it was a drag! I felt like my arms were each like 50 pounds and kind of felt like I was 8 months pregnant again! It was a struggle to get through the 2500 yards/45 minutes. I can't wait till I can get to the masters. I swam 3 days this week and hope to get back into that routine. After swimming, I went to Gentile's market in Newtown Square (for any locals) - fruit and veggies there are great prices!! I got tons of berries, fennel, zucchini, mushrooms, & bananas. I got all this stuff for $26 bucks. The berries were like $1 and $1.39 for the little ones and blueberries $3! I need to make a habit of going here once a week for my produce. So cheap!
hard to see but 3 containers of mushrooms, 3 raspberries, 2 blueberries, 3 blackberries, bag of green beans, 2 tomatoes, a head of fennel, 2 bunches of bananas, an avocado and 3 zucchini

Running - is going ok. My knees are kind of hurting, and running has been just ok since my treadmill "race" last weekend.

Food - I'm debating whether to calorie count still, and kind of just not in a good place with how I feel about my body right now, as summer gets closer and my stomach is a ball of yuck. I'm eating well, but either too much or too little. I'm tired everyday around 4pm, sometimes I wake up starving, and sometimes I feel full and gross. I wish I had a food advisor.

Breakfast- oatmeal, 1 tbsp almond nutter, oatbran, cinnamon
Then kashi go lean, cranberries and 10 almonds


That was around 10-11, and I'm ready for lunch! Probably some bean patties or a veggie burger.


Last night I made some lentil burgers similar to the pinto bean patties, but using the lentils like Heather & Mark did. They turned out pretty similar. They are still a bit dry, but tasty. I think they'd be good with guacamole. That is an avocado on top but it wasn't ready yet! Not ripe enough. Mushrooms, tomatoes and some colby jack cheese cubes.



My latest article - 5 local marathons:

Philadelphia Running Examiner: Time to start thinking about fall marathons

TIART, Lounge & Wii Fit

TIART - dreams and wishes. My dream has been to run Boston. Probably for the last 2 years it has been big, but after the day of the marathon passing last year, it was something that I REALLY wanted. I'm super excited to be able to run it with Dana Farber, a charity that I strongly believe in - cancer research. I've had several family members who have had cancer and I'm sure most of us have as well. This is my website to raise funds - I'm 1/3 of the way there! http://www.runDFMC.org/natalied2009 .


The Runners Lounge - I found this a bit ago, but I haven't really gotten into it. I like the idea and what they are doing. Sometimes I find it hard to navigate. I went to look for the TIART this morning and missed it. Maybe there is alot going on on the site. In any case, I think it is really cool, and I'm getting used to it. How many of you use this site, how often and what do you really like about it? I created a group Running Mamas. I don't know what I'll do with that. But feel free to join up!!

Wii Fit - does anyone have this thing? We got it soon after it came out. For a couple of months I was really into it and my most favorite thing was stamping the calendar. Then I stopped going on and it was a hiatus of about 4 months! I went on yesterday and it was so kind in telling me that I've gained 16.5 pounds and I'm overweight. And pretty much many activities that I did, the trainer biotch would say GREAT JOB! and then award me no points!!! The thing should have an option for being pregnant. I might suggest it to Nintendo or make millions from that idea. It would be a fantastic tool for pregnant women!

I swam 2 days in a row! It was nice and felt good for the most part, both days. Flipturns are kind of weird, I feel overly large, but I can swim fast and that feels good. What I like most though, is competing with someone in a lane next to me and trying to beat them which hasn't been possible (not enough people) so it can be kind of boring. I got up to run this morning and ended up walking hardly over 2 miles in half hour. It was lame but it was something. This week is kind of a non running week, but my goal is still to get in 30 miles.

Good luck to all the marathon runners this weekend, esp Aron, Julianne & FL!
I hope you all BQ and we can have a blogger meeting!!!

Showers are a waste of time

Many times when I get home from a run or the gym I really just wish I didn't have to shower to get clean. I wish there was another way. I find showers to be such a waste of my time, so boring, I just want to get in, get clean and get out. Maybe if the shower was more interactive, I don't know.

After spending 7+ hours in the car yesterday, and not sleeping too well Friday night, we were pooped when we made it back to PA last night. I wasn't happy spending so much time sitting when I didn't get up to run Sat a.m. but I just couldn't do it. It was too many days of running in a row and my body needed a break! Today we hit the gym together - I love it when we get to go together, mostly only the weekends, sometimes during the week. I was running for 15 minutes when I felt like I had been running for at least an hour. After 7 miles I felt like I had completed 20 (unfortunately not). I think I'll run less days this upcoming week but more quality workouts.

Also, my goal is to start swimming again with my masters program for the month of August. Then I have to decide if I want to continue through the school year - it used to be right at the high school where I teach but it moved to another school and went from $150 to $700. Right.
We'll see about that one!

Last, what is your powersong right now - the song that gets you going? For me, I'm fading, I need some more pump up songs. 'Pump it' has been the song for about 5 months.