Month: November 2012

Friendsgiving, The Flu and Bouncing Back

SweetHanrahan2 Comments

This week has been busy/hectic/rough.

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

Last Sunday marked the Frenks’ Second Annual Friendsgiving…We had a total of 7 people and everyone brought/made a dish.  Let me tell you, we had TONS AND TONS of food + wine.  Here is a pictorial recap of the evening:

ImageGuys + gals on the left and the lovely couple on the right hosted it…Thanks guys!!!ImageAfter dinner, we capped off the night with drinking Jenga…terrible idea on a Sunday night before work.

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Brendan pulled the block that said “head-to-table for one round.”

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On Monday, I felt AWFUL…I thought it was simply the price to pay for such an awesome/fun/wonderful/alcohol-infused night but alas, it was the flu.  I was sick pretty much until Friday (yes, I was sick during Thanksgiving).  It was a little rough at first because my in-laws came to Chicago to visit but I was able to still have a good time with them and by Friday, I felt pretty much back to my old self.  With that said, being sick and working out don’t really seem to mix.  I tried to workout on Thanksgiving but it was extremely hard.

So, today I was finally able to do my usual workout which looked a little something like this:

30 minutes on the elliptical followed by…

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I was supposed to do 3 rounds but ended up only doing 2 because apparently, if you don’t workout for a week, you’re a little slow to bounce back.

BUT, I am ready for the week!!!

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! 🙂

What I Ate Wednesday…

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…But on Thursday.

I knew this week was going to be hectic with late nights at work.  So, I made sure I planned my meals carefully.  I made all my dinners the night before, to eat the next evening at work.  This allowed me to skip out on all that takeout (thank goodness!!!).

Here’s what is on tap for this week:

Monday: One of my favorites Skillet Sweet Potato, Sausage, and Spinach Hash

Tuesday: Shrimp Tacos, Yum!

Wednesday: Picadillo!

Thursday: Pesto Spaghetti Squash which you can find HERE

Friday: I will probably succumb to the takeout of my boss’ choosing (what? It’s Friday!!)

Anyway, here is a quick look at what I ate on Wednesday:

Breakfast: Toast with sugar free jelly and a banana (est. ~ 230 calories)

Lunch: Tunafish (with mustard and a dab of mayo) on an English muffin with pickles and lettuce (est ~ 350 calories)

Dinner: Picadillo (see above for details).  I personally chose ground turkey and it was still awesome.  My husband even liked it (wait…WHAT?!?!?).  I would have taken a picture of it but it looked kind of gross.  I can assure you, it was DELICIOUS!  According to the recipe, each serving is about 277 calories.

Snacks: Home made trail mix with cashews, raisins, almonds, pecans (est ~ 140 calories) + 4 strawberries (est ~ 25 calories).

And there you have it my friends!  What I ate on Wednesday!  The total was about 1,022 calories.  I probably ate a little more because I don’t think I only ate one serving of the picadillo (do you blame me?!?!?!).

Have a great weekend!!!

Chicago’s Perfect 10(k)

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So I ran my first 10k!!! Woooo…sort of.  Let’s start from the beginning.

Pre-race, I made sure I laid out all my gear and had coffee ready.  This blend rocks!!

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I got there about 30 minutes early so I could be sure I had enough time to check my gear.  The weather was PERFECT (about 55 degrees) so it got started off right.  Well, then they announced that the race was going to be 30 minutes late because of Chicago parking issues…Duh! Of COURSE there is going to be issues, this is Chicago, GET HERE EARLY!  Anyway, I digress…

As you can see below, there was a good amount of people running the race but apparently, a lot of them didn’t get the memo to line up in your pace corral.  This made it SO hard to pass people (and I’m SLOW)!!!

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I started off ok and was feeling good, until my knee started to bother (around mile 2.5).  My knee hurt the whole time (I sprained it about 2 months ago and it hasn’t really been right since) so I spent most of the time thinking about that.  But I was not going to be deterred into stopping!  So, I did end up running the whole thing with a pace that is great for me (about 9:55) so all-in-all, it was a success.

I look soooo miserable happy!  (Side Note: My eyes LOOK closed but they are so small that believe it or not, they are actually open)

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My knee has been bugging me since the race so I am going to take about 2-3 weeks off from running (waaah!) so that it can heal.  I bought this ice pack for $4.35…bam!

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Even though I’m not running, I am still working out.  Today I did 5 sets of the following:

7 minutes on the elliptical (various levels)

10 push-ups

10 squats

10 jump squats

20 sit-ups.

It was a good one!!!

Injury and Races

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Workouts this week:

Saturday: 5.6 miles outside (it felt good)

Sunday: Rest

Monday: 3 miles on the treadmill

Tuesday: .6 miles on the treadmill + half of a step class

Today: 45 minutes on the bike + arms & core

 

Yesterday during the step class my ankle started KILLING me (I broke it a few years ago and it hasn’t been the same since).  Normally, I would just reduce the intensity and power through the workout but, with me running a 10k on Saturday, I didn’t want to risk it.  This is how I felt walking out of the class before it was over:

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Because of said ankle pain, I chose to keep my workout to a minimum for today.  I am going to figure out the rest of the week depending on how my ankle feels.

In other news, my friend Indira has convinced me to run a 15k in the spring/summer and a half marathon next fall.  The farthest I’ve ever run is 6 miles so this is quite the goal for me.  I must say: I am excited!

Naturally, I started to peruse the internet for some good training plans.  I thought I would share this one (click link for more info)

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/half-marathon-training

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I am not wild about sticking to strict training plans so we shall see how it goes.  In the meantime, I am just going to work on bettering my pace and increasing my distance over time.

Any good/fun Chicago races I should look into?

The Cleanse from Hell

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Since I knew that I was going to start this “juice” cleanse on Sunday, I made sure to have a little bit of fun on Saturday.

SHOTS!!

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I was too lazy to dress up but all my friends did and they cracked me up!!!  Leslie (pictured above) was a piñata while her husband dressed up as a Mexican who had the piñata stick.  She even made her own costume!  The lunatics pictured below (Brendan, Javier & Ben) dressed up as the guys from Semi-pro.  Good times.

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Sunday I started what was supposed to be a 5 day “juice” cleanse that I bought from A Choice for Life.  I use quotations for the word juice because it was more like a tea cleanse.  It was awful.

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Each day is supposed to look a little something like this:

Breakfast: Protein shake (provided), tea (also provided), fruit, juice, water

Lunch: Fruit, juice, water

Dinner: Tea, fruit, juice, water

I only lasted for 2 days (you’ll see why below) and for dinner, I instead had tilapia and spinach.  I lost FOUR POUNDS IN TWO DAYS!  The upside was that I really was NEVER hungry and I actually had energy…BUT, let me tell you why it wasn’t worth it:

1) This “juice” cleanse was a total scam (in my opinion).  All they give you is the tea and the protein (which, you make in advance and it sits in your fridge for 5 days, GROSS!!!!).  You have to buy all the fruit and juice yourself.

2) Speaking of the fruit and juice, do you understand how much SUGAR and CARBS they want you to consume?  I mean seriously?!?!? Most “real” juice cleanses are made up of a healthy mixture of fruits and veggies.  Not this one!

3)  THE TEA.  That tea was like HUMAN DRANO.  I am not even kidding when I tell you that I had diarrhea 5 times per day!!!  Since I work in an office where all the women on the entire floor share a 4 stall bathroom, this was less than ideal.  It’s no wonder I lost so much weight in such a short period of time!  On a side note, I also had a very hard time staying hydrated due to aforementioned diarrhea.

I followed up this cleanse with the Look Better Naked 2 Day cleanse which you can get for free off of the Women’s Health Magazine Website (here: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/fast-diet).  This one is actually pretty good since it involves lots of lean proteins and veggies.

Even though I had energy, consuming so few calories had me very weary about doing any hardcore workouts (which I usually LOVE).  So, because of this weird week, here’s what my workouts looked/will be like:

Sunday: NOTHING, sat on the couch and ogled my husband’s real food

Monday: 1 mile on the treadmill (pathetic) + strength training – legs

Tuesday: NOTHING AGAIN (coming from someone who works out 5x/week, this is just terrible).

Wednesday:  NOTHING AGAIN (are we seeing a pattern here?)

Thursday: 3.7 mile run

Friday: Yoga!  I was a first-timer 🙂

Saturday: 5.6 miles outside.

Sunday: TBD (fitness class?)

My sister-in-law and her friend are Chicago for the weekend so that should be fun!

Have I ever told you guys how much I love these little fellas?

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Has anyone else done a disaster cleanse?