Martha's So-Called Life

what we're eating 4/30-5/6

Monday:  Cobb Salad and Cilantro Chicken Nuggets

Tuesday: Sweet Potato Enchiladas 

Wednedsay - Sunday:  I will be out of town so John is on his own!  He says he plans on eating a lot of stir frys and grilled cheese sandwiches.  

would you like ice with that?

I have been consuming a lot of beverages that require ice lately.  Mostly iced coffee and smooties with a few ice cubes to make them cold and refreshing after exercising.  

The other day I noticed that there wasn't much ice in the bin in the freezer, so I turned on the ice maker (we don't use enough ice to leave it on all the time).  A day or two later I noticed that there was even less ice in the bin than before...hmm.  I turned off the ice maker and then turned it back on.  Several hours later I noticed that I never heard it do anything (it's pretty loud for a couple of seconds when it comes on, and when it dumps the ice it always scares me).  

When John came home I told him he had to fix the ice maker.  Secretly I was hoping that it was unfixable and we could just get a new refrigerator.  I hate our fridge.  It's massive and it's the kind with the freezer on one side and the fridge on the other.  The shelves are really deep so it's hard to keep things from getting lost in the back.  I want the kind with the fridge on the top and the freezer drawer on the bottom.  I think LG makes my dream fridge (at the measly price tag of $2000).  

Anyway, John took it apart and looked at it.  Then watched a YouTube video about how to fix your ice maker and determined that the heater that heats the pan up so it can dump the cubes out, is burned out.  So he ordered a new one and we should have a functioning ice maker in a couple of weeks.  

I guess I'm glad he knows how to fix stuff.  I would have just gone out and bought a new fridge...and then been sad when I had no money to buy groceries to fill it up! :)

trail mix

I am always looking for ways to make snacking easier.  When I'm hungry, I want to eat something now...not wait for things too cook.  This results in me eating a lot of string cheese and Larabars because I don't feel like putting together something more complicated.  

The other day I decided to make my own trail mix so I would have something a little more substanial to snack, and something that was easily portable if I was out and about and needed a snack (string cheese doesn't travel well for more than an hour and a girl can only eat so many Larabars).  

Dried cranberries, cashews, almonds, dark chocolate chips, and unsweetend coconut.  Yum!  I did not measure anything, I simply eyeballed the ratio.  Well actually, I just started adding things to the half empty contrainer of cranberries I had.  You could pretty much put anything in your trail mix.  I think I have some dried pineapple and cherries around too which I might add in once there's more space in the container.

Happy snacking!

a randomly long post about my day

Yesterday, I tackled my first long run since I ran the half marathon back in February.  I had planned 8 miles, but was fully aware that had the potential to be unrealistic given that this is the first week I have really run consistently.  Also, my Alaskan blood is not ready (or cut out) to run in 60+ degree temps.  I love that it was a beautiful day, but the trails are still buried under soft snow and running on the bike path in full sun is less than desireable.  I like to be able to hide in the woods when it gets toasty out!  Heck...I just like being able to hide in the woods when I'm running.

Here's Kiva after our run, she looks as tired as I felt!

Apparently, at first, she did not get the memo that you are supposed to be tired from a 7 mile run in the sun.  I put a couple of ice cubes in her water bowl (because she loves them and was extremely hot) and she proceeded to chase them around the inside of her bowl, fish them out, give them a little shake, and then fling them around the house while growling and running around like a crazy beast.  I'm glad she finally realized she was tired! 

Other than my run, I had a fairly productive day, which is good considering it was my last real day off before I head to California and Portland for a long weekend.  

I woke up to this face...

Apparently John forgot to put Kiva in her kennel before he lft the house.  He said she was being so good and quiet (a rarity) while he was getting ready for work that he forgot she was even there.  She looked like she was sad that she had been forgotten and didn't understand why she was locked out of the bedroom!

Then I made myself a delicious breakfast - pancakes with applesauce, fried eggs, and iced coffee.

(pardon the messy table in the background...)

After breakfast, I went to Fred Meyer and Costco, then I came home and took a nap before going to Target in search of cheap sunglasses to run in.  I have a terrible time finding sunglasses that fit well.  My face is pretty small, but not small enough for kids glasses to fit comfortably.  I found some at REI that worked, but they were $130.  Then I found some online that came highly recommended for $60.  Somone else suggested looking at Target...success!  $25 and they fit perfectly!

After errands it was off to a doctor's appointment.  I always dread going to my "yearly" appointment, but this year I switched doctors and it was no big deal.  However, I decided it is a little awkward when your doctor comes in and hugs you instead of shaking your hand while you are wearing a tiny gown and trying to stay as covered up as possible.  I should have prefaced that with, I now go to a doctor who I know very well from working with her in Labor and Delivery, so it was more like hanging out with a friend than seeing a doctor.  She's running Lost Lake too, so we talked about running the whole time, which was an excellent distraction from the actual point of the appointment.  

TMI?  Well, it's my blog, so I can share whatever I want :)  

 

a girl with a plan

I have said it before, I am not a planner.  However, thanks to my weekly meal plans, I have proved to myself that I am capable of making a plan and sticking to it.  

And so, the training plan was born. I mentioned the other day that I used an online program, SmartCoach Plus available through Runner's World, to create my base plan.  I am sure I will change it as I go, but it's a good place to start.  

The plan has four workouts per week, and on their calendar it suggests doing a workout every other day and resting or cross-training in between.  That is not realistic for me given my work schedule.  Luckily I have four days off per week and can still fit in the four suggested workouts, just not every other day.

I have outlined my plan in a spreadsheet that you can view, but only for the weeks that I have my schedule.  As I get my schedule I will update my planned workouts.  Also, please remember that this is a plan for me...you should really make your own plan depending on your fitness level, needs, and goals (but you can definitely use mine as a place to start!).  

{view my training plan}

Happy running!

sun + run = tired

Both Kiva and I suffered a little today on our run.  I'm not complaining that the weather was absolutely amazing, but it was not ideal for running with a black dog (or in black pants) at 1pm.  

Today was also the first time that I've run up any hills in a loooong time.  Guess I should get used to that if I am going to tackle Lost Lake again this year.  

Here's what you get when you have (way too much) black fur and run in the sun for 45 minutes:

At least she was well behaved all afternoon!

And here's my delicious after running smoothie!

1 banana, frozen strawberries, frozen peaches, almond milk, a large spoonful of PB (or almond butter) and half a scoop of Chocolate Shakeology.  Delicious!  Lately I've been using Blue Diamond's new almond coconut milk and my Wild Squirrel Nut Butter's chocolate coconut PB, let me just say it's an amazing combination.  At one point I told John I was going to quit eating real food and just drink that smoothie.  

Tomorrow is a long run day.  Hopefully I'll either get it out of the way early (not likely) or be motivated enough to do it in the evening.  

Also, because I know you can't get enough of my ridiculously adorable (and ridiculous) dog, here's a picture of her I know I'm not supposed to be here, but if I lay still and look cute, maybe no one will notice pose.

i want to run faster

{image source}

In my daily internet perusings, I came across this blog post by runner and certified personal chef, Devon Crosby-Helms.  Then I started reading more of her blog and I became slightly obsessed.  She's kind of a good runner.  Then I started reading about other people who are good runners and it made me want to run better faster.  

After my last race, I realized that if I wanted to do better next time, I would need to actually put some thought and effort into training.  My "training" for the Disney Princess Half involved getting my butt out the door to run as much as possible.  I think I managed two or three long runs between December and the end of February (one of which was my epic track workout...I'm never doing that again).  I know I won't run faster unless I train to run faster.  Duh.  

I'm such a non-planner that I have never found a training plan that works for me.  Mostly the problem is that they outline specific workouts on specific days and tell you to run however many miles at "your 5k pace" or "your 10k pace."  The problem with that, for me, is I don't know what those paces are for me, nor do I care to calculate them.  The shortest race distance I have run in the past 10 years is 15km (9ish miles).  

The other problem is that my two big races are 18 (and 19) weeks away.  Most training plans are only 12 or 14 weeks.  It seems like it would be easy to modify them to take longer, or to just wing it for a couple of weeks, but that's not what I want to do.  I want a plan.  

Today I found "Smart Coach Plus" through the Runner's World website.  It's a paid service, but they have a 30 day free trial going on right now.  So I signed up.  I plugged in my last race time, told it when/what my next race is and it made me a plan!

Each week has two easy runs, a fast run (it alternates between a tempo run and speedwork), and a long run.  For example, the first workout of the week this week is "2 miles @ 12:19min/mi."  I did that yesterday.  I like that it gives you an actual target pace.  If you find you are running faster/slower than the pace it lines out for you, you can go back and adjust the plan to give you a different target time.  I don't plan on keeping this subscription after my free 30 days are up, but it's nice to have an outline for training.

I'm really looking forward to all of the snow melting so I can run in the woods.  I'm not a huge fan of running on pavement or on the bike path, but right now I don't have much of a choice.  

Happy running!

jack and his blanket!

On Monday I wrote about the blanket I made for Jack. I received this photo from Brittany via email last night...so cute!

Apparently it's the perfect size for napping in the air conditioning! I'm glad he is putting it to good use :)

a blanket for jack

Last October I saw this pattern for a crocheted blanket and I decided that I wanted to make it.  Rather than figure out how to make it by knitting, I decided that I would just teach myself how to crochet.  It sounds rather silly, but it wasn't all that hard thanks to Google.  It also turns out that crocheting is easier that knitting.

I started the blanket with plenty of time to get it to Jack for Christmas, in my usual style, I didn't finish it until four months later.  Oops!  It was supposed to be a carseat blanket to keep him toasty when it was super cold out, but now it will have to find another purpose as he is in Little Rock while his mom completes her pilot training for the AK National Guard.  I doubt he will be needing it to keep him warm...

However, I have been assured that a use will be found for it!

what we're eating 4/23-4/29

A couple of weeks ago I had Chicken Meatballs with Pesto Pasta on the menu.  It sounded tasty (which is why I planned to make it), but it wasn't a dish that I was super excited to try.  Well, it turns out that it was quite delicious and I can't wait to have it again.  The highlight was actually the spinach pesto that is a part o the recipe.  Next time I go to Costco, I'm buying a giant bag of spinach and I will make a big batch of pesto from it.  I had a bit leftover from this dish and I put it on everything!  The best use I found for it was on top of hardboiled eggs with a little salsa. Yum!

Here's what's on the menu for this week:

Monday: Zucchini Lasagna (we ate eggs on Friday instead of lasagna, and now I have a zucchini that I still need to use!)

Tuesday: Cheesesteak in a Bowl and Sauteed Yams with Lime (this recipe is from a cookbook I have called Clean Food)

Wednesday: Salsa Chicken with Veggies

Thursday: Pizza

Friday: Balsamic Onion Pot Roast with roasted broccoli and yams

Saturday: Turkey Meatloaf

Sunday: Breakfast for dinner (eggs, bacon, and pancakes)