Random Post...including the return of good coconut water and speedwork

Wednesday I got a call from the local bike shop that my specially-ordered Mint Chocolate gu was in!  I stopped there last Friday after work, picked up some Espresso Love gu and they ordered a box of Mint Chocolate for me.  That was super fast.



I was super excited.  And still am.  I'll be having one of these on my long run on Sunday and another NEXT Sunday during my half marathon.

Despite my excitement over mint chocolate gu (did you not know I like mint + chocolate?) I was exhausted after getting home from work on Wednesday so I made it a rest day.  I think the gross weather was making me feel rather blahhh too.  Pup-a-roo felt the same way too:

 

Oh wait,  I'm pretty sure she naps on our bed every day (I caught her mid-yawn here).  Look at what a number she did to our nicely made bed while we were at work.

I kicked my feet up for a little.  Did some laundry.  And when hubs got home, he seemed to be feeling the same way, so we walked down the street to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner.

 

These flowers my husband picked up earlier this week will help me remember it's spring even though it's been barely 40 all week.  Oh, and after dinner on Wednesday?  It was raining/sleeting sideways. Hard.  And then it started to thunder and lightning.  Then we had pea-sized hail.  Perfect spring weather.

We were stuffed from dinner, but brought home this delicious macaroon to split.



...minus a couple bites.

In other news, recently I picked up a giant 1 Liter container of coconut water from Trader Joe's.  I used to love the Zico brand, but then they started selling it in plastic bottles instead of little tetra-packs and it tasted different in a not-good way (here's my previous discussion of coconut water).  But I was intrigued by the return of the tetra-pack-like packaging and took a risk.

And I'm glad I took the risk, because the taste of the coconut water in this packaging is good again!  Also, I found an explanation on the tag.  According to the tag (pictured below), the blend of Brazilian, Thai, and Indonesian coconut water tastes like balls.  However, Brazilian or Thai on its own is delicious (my opinion).

I drank some on its own the other day and in a smoothie with strawberry lowfat kefir, a frozen banana, and some frozen berries:

Last night I did my bootcamp class.  As usual there were a lot of planks, crunches, pushups. We also worked on triceps, biceps, did bench presses, and ended with some lunges and squats. (I promise the class was more varied and exciting than my summary though).

Afterward I did the speedwork I should have done Wednesday (by the way, I'm glad I took a rest day Wednesday...I ended up passing out on the couch after dinner and macaroon, somewhere around 9:30).

My speed work was 5 x 800 @10k pace.  You can see my recap on Daily Mile here. But to summarize, my goal pace for the 800s was 9:49-10:07.  I ran them at the following paces: 9:46, 10:02, 9:40, 9:38, 9:42.  I did a .15 mile rest interval between each.  0-2% incline to keep it interesting. Including a short warm up and cool down, I ran 3.5 miles.  Avg HR 167, Max 185.

(Does anyone else find some minor discomfort in the ankle/lower shin region while running on a treadmill...but never while running outside?  I stopped and stretched, changed the incline, and it got better).

Those paces weren't uncomfortable, I was just bored out of my mind because I did not bring my mp3 player, did not have headphones to plug into the built-in tv, and I couldn't figure out how to get closed-captioning on it.  So I watched a tornado special on the weather channel, without any audio or text, for 39 minutes.  There's a cool built-in fan on the treadmill which is nice...but it turns out that if you're 5'2" you're not really tall enough to enjoy the full benefit of the fan.  Bummer.

Anyway, I was pleased with Thursday's workout.  Today was a scheduled rest day.  Tomorrow's a shorter pace run. Eight days to go til my half marathon!

If you run with a Garmin, please check out my post from earlier this week and comment on how you like to use your Garmin during races (what screens you find most helpful, etc).  Inquiring minds want to know!

Enjoy your weekend!!

New Delicious Coconut Water

Newest awesome discovery:

 Coconut Water a la Goya.

 

Back of the can.

And I drank it down so fast, I didn't remember to get a full-glass shot.  

But here is a photo to show you the (surprise!) chunks of actual coconut in the beverage.

Anyway, this was fantastic and reminded me of my coconut drink experience at the Vietnamese restaurant in Philadelphia back in August (read about that at the bottom of this post).

And here is a lesson about why you should read labels at the store.

I loooved the above coconut water, so I went back to Wegmans and picked up 3 more.  Why not, at only .99/can!?  And I poured it into a glass:

 

 No coconut chunks!

It turns out there are 2 versions of Goya coconut water.  Note the little "un-sweetened" graphic on the lower left of the can.

 

It's 120 calories vs. 80 calories.

I'm gonna say it's worth the extra 40 calories though.  I like it enough to drink it not just after workouts.

Checking out the nutrition info:

The first has 80% young coconut water; the second has 98% young coconut water.  Water is the second ingredient for both.  The sweetened one then has sugar and young coconut pulp, followed by citric acid (which is also the next ingredient in the unsweetened version).  Both ingredient lists end with potassium as a preservative.

The Sweetened version has slightly more calcium and iron + 1g fiber, but also 2g more sugar and 1g more fat.  Sweetened version has only 130mg sodium; Unsweetened has 180mg (high compared to other brands).

Moral of the story: Look closely!

The un-sweetened version is comparable in taste to some of the other brands, but maybe not my top choice (I'd rank it below Vita Coco; on par with the Naked and O.N.E; above new-Zico).  Not bad, but it was a let down when I was expecting the sweeter version with coconut pulp.

I will be sure to pick up more of the sweetened variety!

New: Naked Juice Coconut Water

Today I had a fabulous package waiting for me outside my door when I got home, and inside it was:

A glorious case of coconut water.

I have been on a quest to find my favorite coconut water ever since Zico changed their product (for the worse, in my opinion).  I have tried the new Zico, after being bought by Coca Cola (thumbs down, I'll have to post about that another time), and I have tried O.N.E. and Vita Coco (both inferior to Old Zico; better than New Zico).

O.N.E., 11.2 oz, is $1.69 at my grocery store.  (15c/oz)

Vita Coco, 17 oz, 2.49, $1.99 with my Shopper's Club Card. (11.7c/oz)

Why didn't I buy more of the Vita Coco???

It's tough to compare the two nutritionally because O.N.E. has an 11.2 ounce serving size, and the Vita Coco is two 8.5 ounce servings.  Still, O.N.E. has more sodium (60mg) per serving than the Vita Coco's 30mg.  Even taking into account the different serving sizes, O.N.E. has more sodium per ounce (5.36mg v. 3.53mg).  O.N.E. has 670mg potassium; Vita has 515mg.  I am finding I like the taste of the Vita better than the O.N.E.

I was perusing Amazon the other day, possibly prompted by an email from them, to check out current prices of coconut water and to see if Vita Coco was available for a good price.  I found that Amazon now carries coconut water by Naked (they make good bottled fruit/veggie smoothies).

They did have it, and at the time it was $20 for a case of 12-11.2 ounce tetra packs.  What's really annoying about Amazon is that their prices in the grocery department seem to fluctuate often!  I thought $20 was a good deal, but as I write this entry, I see the same case is now available for $18.  Oh well.

I ordered a case on the 8/13 (Friday) through Amazon's subscription program (Get 15% off + Free shipping) and it was shipped the same day by UPS.  It arrived today, only 2 business days later.  Ordering through the Subscribe & Save Program saved me 15% ($3) plus $10.83 in shipping (I probably wouldn't have ordered something this heavy online otherwise).  Check it out:

The good thing about the program is that you can cancel at any time.  I set this up for 1 delivery every 2 months, that way it will give me some time to try it out and decide if I like it or not, and leave me plenty of time to cancel if it's not so great.

Anyway, here's what the Naked Coconut Water looks like:

 

Naked's serving size is the same as O.N.E. so you can compare directly.

Naked has 20mg sodium, 650mg potassium - so a lot less sodium, and a little less potassium.

I must close with saying that NONE of these can compare to the coconut drink I had at a Vietnamese restaurant in Philadelphia last week (Pho Cali). 

It was soooo much sweeter than packaged coconut water and so delicious.  I wanted to get a second one to-go when we left, but I restrained myself.  I asked them if they added anything to make it sweeter and they told me all they do is crack open the coconut and drain the liquid, then add some of the coconut 'meat' to the glass.  It must have to do with ripeness or freshness of the coconut?  Anyway, I need to find some of that closer to where I live.  I can't drive into Philly for this all the time.

What are your thoughts on coconut water?  Do you like it? Do you have a favorite brand?

What I Wore Running

I got up this morning around 6:45ish so I could get an earlier start on a long run today. An 8.4 mile run, to be exact! The high for today was 93... and it's staying in the 90s for the foreseeable future, so I guess I need to get better about waking up early if I want to run outside. I didn't get to check the temperature when I left because my husband was still sleeping, so I just got ready and slipped out the door. But when I got back, sometime before 9am, it was 84 with 59% humidity.

I made sure to drink lots of water last night so I would be hydrated when I woke up. After I got ready, I ate a banana and drank some water, grabbed my Garmin Forerunner, then I headed out the door.

This is what I wore:

Front - New Balance Cocona Tank

Back - Check out the Reflectivity

I wore my New Balance Cocona tank. It is antimicrobial and moisture-wicking. It's semi-fitted, but a little looser below the bust. It's made of 35% COCONA Polyester/65% Polyester. Cocona is a fabric embedded with activated carbon from coconut shells, a renewable material that wicks, fights odor, and offers UV protection. You can read more about cocona [here]. This is a nice lightweight tank. It's fitted, but not tight, and I like the slightly longer length so I don't need to worry about it riding up. While it wicks, it doesn't show sweat easily.

Lululemon Speed Shorts, black (Summer 2009)

Back - Note the venting, reflective logo, and zip pocket

I love my Lululemon Speed shorts from last summer. They seem to be a different material than the two pairs of Speed Shorts I bought this year (white/wish blue and sidewalk/white foxy plaid). My black pair seems lighter and softer. The ones from this year seem to have a stiffer fabric. I also prefer the fit of these guys; they are shaped a little more to my butt and upper leg. The new ones are a bit looser and flare out at the leg opening more. I still like the new ones I bought, but this black pair is really my go-to running short. I find I choose to wear them for running more than any of my other shorts.

O.N.E. Coconut Water

When I got back from my run, I was thirsty! I was hoping being hydrated was enough to get me through my run, and it was, but on my next long run I'll definitely be bringing water along. It's hard to compare these long runs with my earlier training - since the long runs for my spring half marathon training were in 50-70 degree weather. Anyway, I filled up a big glass with ice and coconut water and downed it pretty quickly.

I just picked up this Liter sized container of coconut water at Whole Foods for 2/$8 the other day. Considering O.N.E.'s little 8.5 ounce (250mL) bottles are ~$1.19, this was a good deal.  The 11 ounce containers are usually $1.69.

After breakfast, we went to the local farmer's market where we picked up some more fantastic honey from a nearby farm. I had always just bought the bear shaped clover honey from Wegmans, but THIS stuff is really good.