Brr… Winter has finally hit Mississippi! I went to Java Jog yesterday morning and it was one of our very first cold runs. Thankfully I just got some leggings in that I wanted to try out. They worked great and I look forward to wearing them this Saturday at my 5K. I gave myself a sub 30 goal for the 5K because I’ve always wanted to do one that fast and just haven’t yet. Granted, I haven’t done a lot of 5K’s the past few years since I’ve been running more heavily, but I still consider myself a very slow runner and my motto is usually “Slow and steady wins (or at least finishes) the race!” I know sub 30 would be awesome to do though, so let’s hope I can pull it off. For Java Jog, I met up with my usual running partner, Louise. Her husband is the Marketing Leader at our local Whole Foods. After running into Mary Lindsey the other night at Lucky Town Brewery, she decided to give Java Jog a try as well. I finally feel like I’m finding my running buddies in Jackson. I’ve had some great ones in the past, but it doesn’t always last long because of people moving or getting too busy to keep it up. Mary Lindsey offered to run with me during my marathon training and all 3 of us stayed together throughout the run yesterday morning. They’re the perfect pace for me – slow enough for me to keep up, but fast enough to keep me challenged.
After my run, I got my free coffee & I had a smoothie waiting for me in the car. This smoothie is delicious and it has some great fruit & veggies. One tip I learned from this recipe is to blend up your spinach first and then you won’t have an issue of your blender getting clogged. Sometimes I get smoothie happy and throw a ton of stuff in the blender without realizing how it will all mix together and that I should have blended part of it beforehand. I blended 2 cups of spinach with water, then added 2 bananas, pineapple, and mango. It makes one large smoothie, but this was the perfect post-run treat on my way to work.
WEEKLY MENU
This week’s menu has been pretty good. I’ve been trying to cook more of my Health Starts Here approved dishes and not eat out so much. So far I’ve made vegetarian chili (still have some leftover), pad thai (didn’t turn out as good as I expected, but I’ll have to work on the recipe some), morning glory muffins (which have been a lifesaver in the morning and for snacking), the beginner green smoothies (pictured above), and I have plans to make a hummingbird cake on Friday. I meant to make the cake earlier in the week, but just never got around to it. Yesterday I did have lunch with my boss’ wife since he’s out of town the rest of the week and I’m having lunch with a friend today who is leaving for China next week to do missions for a year or so, but other than that, I’ve been very devoted to eating at home and eating healthy.
MARATHON TRAINING
Training isn’t going stellar, I’ll be honest, but it’s going…. On Monday, I did a 3 mile run on the treadmill at the gym. On Tuesday, I did my favorite HIIT class. On Wednesday, I did the java Jog which on my training is suppose to be 4 miles, but we did right under 3. Today, I’m suppose to do 3 miles, but depending on how I feel, I may go for 4 since I missed that yesterday. Friday I’ll rest to get ready for my long run on Saturday which is just 6 miles. I have a 5K to get me through the first 3 and then I’ll probably go and do the course one more time to get through my second 3. Overall, it’s going okay, but I have a lot of room to improve! I need to better plan my eating schedule so I can be properly fueled for when I do my runs. I also might talk to my boss once I get into longer runs about switching up my schedule some so I can either come in early and leave early or come in late and leave late so I have more time to get my longer runs in during the week. Honestly, I’m not sure how he’ll take it, but I might as well give it a try.
- What are your weekend plans?
- What is your favorite smoothie?
- Do you have any plans for a race? Are you training for anything?
) We ran into another guy from work, so we spent the first part of the night hanging out with him and his friend. They’re both MSU grads, so that gave us something to talk about! We were suppose to have a tour of the brewery, but we couldn’t quite figure out how that worked. I never heard them announce it and I never saw tour groups going around. I believe they have tours all the time though, so I’ll try to snag one of those eventually! Overall, it just seemed like a large party – drinks, food, music, & community!
