Friday Favorites

…but first, this week in running:
Monday- Ran 10.3 miles at an average pace of 10:10
Tuesday- Rest day: Did crunches. Went for an hour long walk with husband & pup
Wednesday- 3ish mile hill run
Thursday- 6 mile tempo run/5.16 mi at average pace of 9:06.
Friday- Planning to bike once I hit publish.

I’m borrowing the Friday Favorites idea from Kristy.

1. Coffee heath bar ice cream.  This isn’t really a “lately I’ve been enjoying this flavor…” kind of thing.  I like this flavor all the time. Because it is a fact that I enjoy all things coffee.  But whereas I used to get coffee heath bar or coffee chocolate almond ice cream from my beloved Halo Farm in NJ, I picked up this little fellow from my local super-Target.  It has really big chunks of heath bar and it is delicious.

2.  Satsuma Body Wash from The Body Shop.  I don’t know why, but this citrusy tangerine-y scent is like a drug to me. I could smell it all day. I want to smell it all day.

3.  These super cool moving announcement postcards are to officially share our new address with friends and extended family.  Personally, I like getting real mail.  It’s way more fun than email.  Yeah, it’s been almost 2 months since we moved. So what, who cares. 

The talented Emily designed these, sent me the proof electronically, and I had them printed through Vista Print.

4.  I know people either love ‘em or hate ‘em:  Toms.

I got my first pair of Toms last May.  When I decided I wanted a second pair, I had originally seen these in navy canvas and loved them but they were sold out and after months of stalking, they were never restocked.  Next came tan.  Neutral’s good too.

 source

I promise you I am wearing pants.

     

    

And I thought this was a fun springy/summery print that would go with a lot of different colors.

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I’m not totally sure how I feel about the cuffed jeans look,  but it showed off the shoes better.  And in case you’re in the market for either of these, I had to go down a half size in both styles from my regular shoe size.

5. Key Lime Dannon Oikos Traditional Greek Yogurt

I found this flavor at Wegmans in N.J. and it is by far my favorite (probably because it has fat in it) but noticed it was nowhere to be found at my grocery store in California.  Vons has other full fat Oikos flavors, but not key lime. When I asked, they told me they didn’t carry it.  So started my Key Lime Greek Yogurt hunt. I checked Target, Whole Foods (shouldn’t have bothered; it’s not organic), Albertsons, and finally Ralphs before I found it.  And when I did, I stocked up and bought 7.  In fact, I’m going to get more today.

Adventures in Baking, Etc.

Sometimes recipes don't go as well as planned.  I have a whole bunch of ingredients in our pantry I've been trying to use up including flaxseed meal, coconut oil, and a can of pumpkin.  Two weekends ago, I found a recipe that used these.

Here are all the ingredient.  Minus the walnuts.

Here is the concoction plopped into lovely muffin tins.

And here are those muffins after they were in the oven for -- wait for it --  over 45 minutes.  Seriously.  I thought it was some kind of joke.  Or that I didn't have the oven on (I did).

The recipe said these should be in the oven for 25.  I kept checking them and they never rose.  And even after 45 minutes, they still looked like they weren't done yet in the middle.

They ended up tasting ok... we ate them.  But knew that they were more like a dense pumpkin bar in muffin cups.  Not at all a pumpkin muffin.  I'm not sure what went wrong here.  The recipe called for whole wheat flour, which might explain a denser end result...yet the muffins pictured with the recipe are light and fluffy.  Someone brought to my attention that if your baking powder is a little older, your baked goods may not rise.  But this same baking powder has not failed me in other recipes (banana nut bread, oatmeal butterscotch cookies).

The verdict is... I might think about trying to make this again, but I would sub in all-purpose flour for half of the flour in the recipe.  When I typically take a recipe that calls for all-purpose flour and sub in whole wheat, I usually only do up to half whole wheat.

To redeem myself, I made oatmeal butterscotch cookies later in the week and succeeded.  It's just the recipe on the back of the Toll House butterscotch chip bag, but I use half whole wheat flour.

And because I am easily excited by all things related to food, I will share some recent purchases.

Left 2 from Trader Joe's; Dannon's stepping up their Greek game w/a new flavor.

The key lime Greek yogurt is pretty delicious. Perhaps because it's not the nonfat kind.  I'd buy it again, regardless of its 4.5 grams of fat.

Had this at a friend's house, had to stop myself from downing half the jar.

How badly can I mess up this recipe?

Not as protein- and fiber-ful as Kashi's TLC bars, but a good tasting crunchy granola bar.  Or more like a crunchy chocolate chip cookie. 4g protein, 3g fiber per 2 bars (1 package)

Have any good baking disaster stories?  

What's your favorite thing to bake?

Oh. and PS...

I don't really know what to do with this.  I bought this MLO brand brown rice protein powder.
I can't remember if I picked it up at Wegmans or Trader Joe's. 

Regardless, after trying it in 2 smoothies, it's not my cup of tea, but I feel like I can't throw away a nearly full 24 oz canister (minus 4 scoops). That's like 22-23 servings left.  

It's vegan.  I'm not, but I thought I might prefer something without a lot of added sugar or other flavors.  But after buying a couple brands, I find that I prefer a protein powder with flavor (i.e. chocolate).  This one tastes kind of like flour if you don't blend it well.  

Ringing endorsement, I know. 

I don't know if this is weird, but if someone wants it: claim it, and I'll mail it to you.  Seriously.  

If there are no takers, I guess I'll toss it because I don't know what else to do with it, and I'll feel bad.

Belated Weekend Post

Friday  after work I squeezed in a mid-tempo run before happy hour with Dan and his classmates? colleagues?  I was pleased with my ability to swing by the grocery store on my way home, squeeze in a 4.5 mile run, and freshen up (The run should have been 5 miles, but I was urgent to get home to shower, walk the dog, and get out the door in a matter of 10 minutes).

Goal pace was 9:33.  Keeping my eye on the clock and the downhill at the end of my run contributed to the too-fast last half mile.

Saturday we went for a ~16 mile bike ride. 

The first 6 miles was on muddy canal towpath, which I did not photograph because I was occupied with not falling into the canal or mud. In addition to muddy spots there are still spots where the towpath was flooded from the hurricane.  All the smaller gravel was washed away leaving bigger gravel.  It doesn't appear to have been fixed yet.

We stopped mid-way along the towpath to take some pictures.

Here's a not so muddy part of the towpath:

After 6 miles we got off the towpath and decided to stick to the roads and we biked another 10 miles.

My legs felt tired on our bike ride, especially on some of the hills toward the end.  Perhaps spinning on Thursday night and a Saturday bike ride are too close together.

This can count as dinner, right?

Sunday the bananas I picked up at the store Friday afternoon already looked like this:

So I turned them into this: 

Then we went to a greyhound adoption group (the one we got Molly from) fundraiser at a local winery.

Molly made some friends:

 

And we picked up some wine and random locally made salsa & pickles being sold at the event.

 

Then we came home and made apple crisp.

There are seven apples in the apple crisp.  And there are still 10 apples leftover.

We're debating trying to make apple sauce...or just making another apple crisp.

Because my legs were tired on our bike ride Saturday I decided to postpone Sunday's long run until Monday.  I think it was a good idea to give my legs a rest instead of having a crummy long run...My legs hadn't had a day off since Tuesday.

What was the highlight of your weekend?
Anything fun planned for next weekend?

Recovery Week

With 2 half marathons in 8 days I thought I should properly recover this week.

After Sunday's trail half and "cold water bath," I took it easy the rest of Sunday and all of Monday.  My legs felt a little tired on Tuesday but my quads and calves were not sore (hooray!) and I wanted to move my legs around.  A friend talked me into going to spinning with her that night.

So I bit the bullet and renewed my gym membership after a 5 month hiatus.

Thursday work was closed for a Jewish holiday.  I met my husband for Indian buffet lunch then swung by my favorite bakery ever.  (Alyssa and Kari can skip past this part because they have strong willpower and are 2 weeks into their dessert ban leading up to their marathons this month).

 

 For the fellow coffee fan, the coffee buttercream frosting is AMAZING.

Amazing, I tell you!

Their cinnamon buns are pretty special too.

That night, I went to spinning again, followed by a 1/2 hr abs class.

And Friday morning my abs were SORE.  Admittedly, I haven't done much for them since the Fit Abs Challenge that ended in early August.

Saturday I decided it was time to run again.  My goal was to run at a comfortable pace but with still with some effort for a favorite 3 mile loop.  I tried to not look at my watch too much.

I ran 3.18 miles and surprised myself with my splits: 9:50, 9:40, 9:15, followed by a .18 mile jog then walk cool down.  Apparently my spinning classes did not do enough to wear me out and I had lots of energy to get out of my system.  The run didn't feel like I was running that hard, though the cooler weather might be to blame/credit.  I didn't run until noon and it was only 62 out.  It was glorious!

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Back to the gym:

Tuesday I dropped 94 big ones to get myself gym access-- including group classes-- through the end of 2011.  AND a free sample of deodorant.

 If you could smell me, today I smell like a rain kissed water lily.

The low cost, for me, is the main perk of going to a university gym.

Group classes are included which is a huge plus too.

They offer a bunch of classes, but my main interests are boot camp, spinning, and abs.  I don't see myself as a zumba person, the kickboxing paled in comparison to my previous cardio kickboxing classes at a martial arts place, but I hope to try yoga or pilates sometime in the future.


Some of the drawbacks?

• 2nd day at the gym and "looking good for spring break" has already been mentioned
• Realizing current freshmen are 10 years younger than me
• I was the oldest person in Tuesday's spin class (aside from the instructor) 
• one of the girls in the class loudly said the room "smelled like moth balls"
• The room did not smell like moth balls
• But I hope this was a reference to some of the older women leaving the room from yoga, not my friend and me-- soooo old in our mid-late 20s
• At one point during Thursday's ab class, out of 30 people, one student, another "regular" (university staff, not a student) and I were the only ones doing all the ab exercises.  The room was sooo loud because people were talking to eachother and not following along with the instructor. ONE girl was texting!!
• A) So rude to the instructor
• B) If you're taking up a spot in class, you better be working. Why else are you there?

Emily has touched on this recently, and I completely share her opinions.

I'll get over it.  Because it's cheap.  And at these classes - the undergrads will start dropping like flies in a couple weeks anyway :)
So to summarize:
This time around, my recovery included: very cold water bath, spinning, abs, baked goods, and a short run at the end of the week.

I'm ready to get running again!

Questions for you:
Do you belong to a gym?  University or other?
What's your usual post-race recovery routine?