Monthly Archives: November 2012

Five for Friday {11-16-2012}

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1. For the past two weeks I have been challenging myself to eat at least one salad a day. I’m not trying to use salad as a way to eat less calories (trust me, I load up my salads) but I just feel so good when I eat them regularly. Right now I’m loving throwing roasted veggies, dried fruit, a nuts/seeds on top of a mix of baby spinach, baby kale, and baby chard. It’s delicious.

2. I wore the tanktop that I received from pv.Body (receive 20% off with that link) as my base layer on my run yesterday and I loved it! In my experience, tight tanktops tend to ride up, especially when working out. However, the Nux top stayed in place and I didn’t have to tug at it at all! I was super impressed! I did wear a bra underneath just in case it wasn’t supportive enough (I have a hunch it’s not).

3. Sonic has been super cuddly this week. Usually he hangs out near or next to us in the evening and then sleeps with us at night but lately he has been quite the cuddle bug. He wants to be in our laps, next to us all the time, and curls right up with us to go to sleep. He’s acting like quite the dependent kitty.

Ian with the little guy

4. I bought this awesome dark chocolate dried raspberry trail mix last weekend because I thought it would be great to pack some as snacks. Obviously in thinking this I was under the impression that I had an ounce of self-control around the delicious mix. WRONG. Besides the fistfulls to the mouth, the trail mix has been going on everything– waffles, oatmeal, and even my buckwheat bake this morning.

5. This week is a cut-back week from my training plan. Even though I was looking forward to it at the end of last week, I’m eager to get in some long runs soon. It was strange not running more than 8 miles this week and I’m not quite sure what to do with my 14 miler this weekend. Ha. You know you’re training for a marathon when 14 miles doesn’t seem like a long run!

An oldie but a good one!

Also, don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a $25 Amex card. I will pick a winner on Monday! Happy weekend!

What are your plans this weekend?

Bountiful Eatery Blogger Meet-Up

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First, I want to remind you that if you’re interested in subscribing to pv.Body, please use this link to receive 20% off. Also, don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win a $25 amex gift card!

Last night a bunch of the Chicago Healthy Living Bloggers met up at Bountiful Eatery in Lakeview for dinner. Bountiful Eatery is an entirely gluten free restaurant that also has great dairy free and vegan options. Katie and I had eaten their previously and my takeaway from that trip was that not only was everything delicious, fresh, and healthy but you couldn’t tell it was gluten free. I was excited to go back!

There was a great blogger turnout yesterday and it was so nice to catch up with familiar faces.

From left to right: Bethany, Christina, Erin, Katie, me, and Emily [photo via Kelsey]. Not pictured: Sierra, Alyssa, Cate, and Kelsey.

Last time I went to Bountiful Eatery, I tried a sandwich, side salad, and soup so last night I wanted to order something a little different. I decided on the 3 salad sampler that came with quinoa salad (fresh made quinoa, red bell pepper, tomato, parsley, mint, cucumber, scallions, lemon juice, olive oil and herbs), chickpea salad (chickpeas, carrots, raisins, mint and extra virgin olive oil), and black bean salad (black beans, tomato, scallions, chipotle and cilantro) over spinach.

They were all good but my favorite was the chickpea salad. I loved the raisins.

After dinner, the owner brought out two desserts for us to try. One was a brownie and the other was a tofutti bar.

I tried the tofutti bar last time I was there and the brownie had dairy in to so I couldn’t have one but everyone else seemed to enjoy the desserts.

Bountiful Eatery is definitely worth checking out if you are ever in the Lakeview area and craving a satisfying and healthy meal! Also, thanks to the owner for letting us bloggers take over half the restaurant and providing us with a food discount!

This morning I woke up and completed my first VO2 workout. I warmed up for two miles and then ran 800 m at 5k race pace followed by an 800 m jog (repeated 5x) with a 1 mile cool down (total 8 miles). It was really tough but I was able to get my 800 m at 5k pace in the 6:30-6:40 range. I was definitely tired and really sweaty by the end but it felt really good!

I refueled with a big bowl of protein oatmeal topped with banana slices (half of it was whisked into the oatmeal), almond butter, and trail mix.

Hit. the. spot.

Time to head to work, happy Thursday!

Have you ever been to an all gluten free/all vegan/all veggie restaurant? Did you like it?
Do you do speed work?

WIAW + A Giveaway {11-14-2012}

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Taking Monday off has really messed with my mental schedule and for once I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday! The food I’m sharing with you today is from yesterday and is extra special because there’s a giveaway for you at the end. Woohoo! Let’s get to it!

As always thanks to Jenn for hosting :) .
{5:10 am} Pre-run Snack

The usual medjool date, this is a recycled photo but you get the idea.

{7:00 am} Breakfast

I was hungry after my 8 mile run so I toasted two gluten free waffles, spread some sunbutter on them, and topped those babies with banana slices, trail mix, and maple syrup. This has been one of my favorite breakfasts of late. I can’t get enough! Coffee was also consumed around 9 am at work :) .

{12:45 pm} Lunch

I was supposed to attend a webinar at noon but our server was having some trouble and I couldn’t log in. After fiddling with my computer for 45 minutes I decided to enjoy my spaghetti squash pad thai leftovers with lots of siracha.

I also had a huge apple.

{3:30 pm} Snack

My stomach started to growl so I had some dark chocolate dusted almonds and an honest tea to hold me over until dinner.

I love the ingredient list on the honest tea (made with Stevia) but I wish it tasted more like my favorite Vitamin Water Zero.

{6:30 pm} Dinner

Last week I was contacted by Coca Cola Freestyle and they asked me to check out one of their Freestyle machines. I did a quick search of Chicago and was able to find quite a few nearby. One location was inside of a Noodles & Company so I asked Ian if he wanted to grab dinner and try out the machine. Of course he was game.

I don’t drink much soda anymore so I wasn’t sure how many options I would have. Fortunately, the freestyle machines have many healthy options including flavored water (Dasani), flavored sparkling water (Dasani Sensations), Powerade Zero, and numerous diet sodas if that’s your thing.

Obviously I wanted to try everything!

I’m a big fan of sparkling water, so first I tried the Dasani Sensations strawberry flavored water.

The verdict? I LOVED it. The strawberry flavor was spot on and the drink didn’t taste too sugary or artificial. Yum!

I also tried lime Powerade Zero and Ian tried a flavor of Hi-C (above), peach Sprite (I liked this too), and vanilla Coke Zero. Powerade Zero has always been one of my go-to hydration beverages and I liked that it was available in the Freestyle machine. I can imagine going to a restaurant with a Freestyle machine post-race and enjoying 1,000 glasses of Powerade while rehydrating. How convenient! ;) .

With my numerous beverages I also enjoyed a chinese chop salad with shrimp.

It was good but not incredibly filling. Oh well.

{8:30 pm} Dessert

My dinner left me wanting a little more so I enjoyed some warm pumpkin protein pudding with pecans, chocolate chips, and peanut butter while watching tv with Ian.

So now, it’s giveaway time! Coca Cola Freestyle wants two of my lovely readers to win a $25 Amex gift card. All you have to do is go to the website, pick out your drink, and leave a comment with it below. It’s that easy! I will be picking the winners next Monday so be sure to comment soon!

*Note: I was contacted by Coca Cola Freestyle and they offered to provide me with the two gift cards. As always, all opinions are my own.

pv.Body

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First, thanks to everyone who wished me well regarding my back/neck pain. Yesterday morning I went to a doctor who diagnosed me with a pinched nerve and I spent the rest of the day on a heating pad on my couch. Everything is feeling a little bit better today so my fingers are crossed that everything will keep improving!

Next, I have an awesome company to tell you about today. A couple of weeks ago, pv.Body (of Puravit) contacted me to be part of their review team and after hearing about the company, I couldn’t say no. Especially after I heard that they were willing to offer you guys a 20% discount ;) *.

So what is pv.Body? Well, for $39/month you take the quick pvBody style quiz to determine your workout clothes preferences, then experts put together an outfit based on your requests (top + bottom), and if you subscribe, you will receive one FitBox in the mail each month with a new outfit. pv.Body partners with high quality companies like Nike, Lululemon, Hardtail, Adidas etc so that you can get name brand gear for only $39 a month. Pretty cool right?

pv.Body (affiliate link) offered to send me a FitBox to review for the blog and last week they sent me a style quiz to fill out that included the following questions:

  • Top-size: x-small, small, medium, large
  • Bottom-size: x-small, small, medium, large
  • Style: What’s your ideal workout? yoga, runner, casual/stylish, gym goer
  • Color preference- top: muted colors, bold colors, patterns, black & white
  • Color preference- bottom: muted colors, bold colors, patterns, black & white
  • Bottom preference: shorts, capris/pants, both

I left my answers pretty open and basically specified my sizes, that I’m a runner, and that I prefer shorts in the summer and capris/pants in the winter. I don’t really have color preferences for workout clothes so I left that open– plus, I wanted to see what pv.Body would send me!

Ever since I sent back my quiz, I have been anxiously awaiting my FitBox’s arrival. You can only guess my excitement when I saw this big sparkly package waiting for me yesterday!

I opened it up and pulled out the top and bottom– I was impressed by how neatly wrapped everything was, it made me feel like I had just gone shopping in a nice clothing store.

So what did I get in my first FitBox?

I received a purple tank top and a pair of black crops both by a brand called Nux. Honestly, I’ve never heard of Nux but after feeling the fabric of the Serena Foldover Crop Pants and the Infinity Adjustable T-back Cami I knew that I would love both. I actually spent some time on the Nux website (dangerous because I liked a lot of their stuff) and found out that the outfit sent to me by pv.Body retails for $109! If I had paid the $39 for this box, I would have saved $70. What a deal!

Unfortunately, I have yet to try out either piece of clothing because this morning it was in the 20′s when I went out to run– yikes! I plan on wearing both later this week and while I’m not worried about the fit, I’ll be sure to fill you guys in on how they do :) .

Considering I probably buy (or want to buy ;) ) a new workout outfit every month, pv.Body (affiliate link) is an awesome deal– cute clothes that fit well plus no hassle of going to stores in Chicago…. all for an awesome price! So, if you want to receive a monthly box of clothes USE THIS LINK to receive 20% off when you sign-up. If you’re worried about signing up, trying it, and then not liking it or wanting to quit your subscription, you can always log in to your pv.Body account and cancel it (although I’m not sure exactly why you would want to!).

Have you ever participated in a monthly subscription like pv.Body before (monthly wine, cupcakes, clothes, etc)? Did you like it?

*pv.Body contacted me and offered to send me a free FitBox. They also provided me with an affiliate link. All opinions expressed are my own.

Monday Things {11-12-2012}

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1. I haven’t yet posted my training for last week but it should be up later today or tonight. I will most likely back post it and link to the page in this post so keep your eyes out if you enjoy reading those recaps. I back posted my training from last week and you can read about it here.

2. On Friday night Ian and I went out to Pasta Bowl to have a nice, relaxed dinner. The Pasta Bowl is actually where Ian and I had our first date so even though it’s not our favorite restaurant in the city, we have some good memories there :) .

I started off with a glass of wine and Ian and I split sauteed calamari in an olive oil and garlic sauce. For my meal, I enjoyed their vegetarian salad (grilled veggies, olives) and Ian had their gnocchi. We were both happy campers.

3. I managed to sleep in until after 9 on Saturday morning and while I could have kept sleeping, I woke up starving. I wanted to make something special and different from my usual weekday breakfasts but I was incredibly indecisive and eventually just ended up making a big old bowl of pb2 oatmeal.

4. Saturday morning was incredibly lazy. Ian and I just lounged around in our pjs until the Michigan vs. Northwestern game started at 11. Unfortunately, while I was sitting on the couch I did something to my back and spent most of the game face-up on my yoga mat on the wood floor trying not to twist my body the wrong way. Not fun.

5. A hours and two Tylenol later I decided to try to go out for a run. Surprisingly the 6 miler didn’t hurt my back (although it didn’t make it any better) and I had a good run. My Garmin was dead so I tried out a new to me app, RunKeeper and I actually liked it. If I didn’t have a Garmin, I’d probably use it all the time. I was also in love with the fact that I could run in shorts in November. Crazy.

6. I pretty much snacked my way through Saturday afternoon and by the time dinner rolled around I wasn’t too hungry. With a long run on Saturday morning I figured I should eat something so Ian and I walked over to Pita Heaven for a light dinner. Honestly, I forgot how much I liked Pita Heaven the first time we went over a year ago. I ordered the Mediterranean salad that was topped with avocado, cherry tomatoes, dates, almond slices, and peppers. Usually it comes with feta cheese but I asked for it without. I also gave my pita bread to Ian.

7. After dinner Ian and I finished Arrested Development. I’m so bummed. I miss it already. I can’t wait until the Netflix-only episodes are released next Spring. I’ve also heard talk of a movie *fingers crossed*.

8. On Sunday I woke up and my back/shoulder/neck was still really hurting. I decided to try to squeeze in my 16 miler anyway and fueled up.

My shoulder didn’t get better but it also didn’t get worse so I kept running. I probably should have skipped it entirely though and my body was not happy with me. My back hurt, my legs were tired, and I was just mentally not in it. To make things even better, my sports bra chafed my mid-back and I didn’t even feel it until I stepped into the shower and it burned. Lovely.

9. Post-run I was in a bad mood and despite my back “injury” I decided to deep clean our kitchen. I pulled everything out of the cabinets and cleaned them and also scrubbed our microwave and toasted oven. It feels so good to have a really clean kitchen.

10. Finally after my cleaning frenzy and a shower, I sat down to my post-run meal, a huge salad with avocado, butternut, roasted & salted pecans, hemp seed, and TJs goddess dressing. Amazing. [I also had a piece of cornbread + some cereal].

11. Sunday was spent running errands, laying down with Icy Hot bandages on my back, and watching lots of Breaking Amish. Eventually I decided it was time for dinner and whipped up some spaghetti squash bad thai. I liked this recipe but it wasn’t peanut-ty enough for me and I ended up adding some pb2 to the sauce.

12. Dessert was one of my new favorite combinations: pumpkin + 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup, roasted & salted pecans, and Enjoy Your Life chocolate chips with a spoonful of peanut butter. Yum!

13. I woke up early this morning to gauge the status of my back. Unfortunately it’s not getting much better and I decided to take some time today to get it checked out. Bummer. While waiting for the doctor’s office to open, I ate some waffles topped with crunchy peanut butter, banana slices, and maple syrup. Delicious!

What did you do this weekend?