Training Log: Cherry Blossom 10 Miler (Week 3)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Coco

I was afraid that the switch to Daylight Saving Time would make it hard to get up for my workouts last week, but for once I didn’t struggle with the time change. With big deadlines at work my adrenaline was surging as soon as my alarm went off, and since I was facing long hours in front of my computer, I really did not want to miss my exercise time–I knew my well-being depended on it!

CUCB Logo

My workouts did get lighter as the week progressed–and work stress mounted–but I pretty much stuck to my plan every day.

Monday
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Weights: ITB Rehab Routine, core program from my Cathe XTrain DVD

Tuesday
Treadmill: 50 min, including 30 min of 2/1 speed intervals
@ 6.5 or 6.7 mph with recovery @ 6.2 mph

Wednesday
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Weights: ITB Rehab Routine, supersets strength routine, planks

Thursday
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Elliptical: 30 min
Since I had barely gotten 5 hours of sleep, I thought the treadmill might be too much to ask of my body. I thought of doing a Rodney Yee program, but I really wanted to move to counteract (at least mentally) the extra hours I was spending sitting at my desk.

Friday
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Trampoline/weights intervals and plank intervals.

Trampoline Weights Intervals

For the trampoline/weights intervals, I alternated 1 min of bouncing (jumping, jumping jacks, twists, etc.) with 1 min of an upper body exercise. It was a fun way to cover the basics.

Saturday
AM dog walk: 1 mile
Long run: 8.75 miles, 1:21:20 (9:18 pace)

March 16 Garmin
Not as fast as last week, but between the hills and my exhausting week, I was really proud of myself. Plus, it was a great way to shake off the work stress and kick off the weekend!

Sunday
Am Dog Walk: 1 mile

Have you adjusted to the time change?

Posted in Fitness, Training Log, Treadmill Workouts | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Testing Out Bloglovin

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Coco

Now that Google Reader is going away, I am testing out different reader services.

Tonight I am poking around on Bloglovin’ — it imported all of my blogs from Google Reader, but not the categories, although it was easy enough to create categories and sort my blog feeds in bloglovin’.

Follow on Bloglovin

Have you found a good replacement for Google Reader?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Posted in Life | Tagged | 4 Comments

I Miss You Dad

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Coco

Lacrosse Granddaddy

Posted in Life | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Family Bowling Night

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Coco

Last weekend was my son’s lacrosse team’s annual Family Bowling Night. It was nice to spend the evening with my son, but I sure do suck at bowling! In three games, I got a few spares and two strikes, but I was just as likely to throw a gutter ball or somehow manage to knock down only one pin in the back corner!

My son was more consistent. Here is one of his strikes:

My husband did slightly better than I did. Here he cleaned up for a spare:

After we took my son back to his dorm, we headed to my favorite local restaurant for some Belgian beer and frites.

Cafe Bruges

(Did I mention that I ran 10.5 miles that day?)

Do you enjoy bowling?

Posted in Life | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Recipe Roulette: Broccoli Soup And Three Bean Salad

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Coco

Jenn at Peas And Crayons has suggested a “green”  theme for What I Ate Wednesday posts this March, and I have two new recipes to share that fit the bill.

As many of you know, I have given up meat for Lent, and that has me trying new recipes. This broccoli soup recipe was not as good as I hoped, but the three bean salad recipe definitely is a keeper.

Broccoli Soup**
1 10 oz. box frozen broccoli florets (thawed)
1 15 oz. can vegetarian broth
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp peper
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Blend all ingredients except lemon peel and lemon juice until smooth.
Pour into a pot, add lemon peel and lemon juice, and cook over medium heat until hot.

**The original recipe is from the March 2013 isue of Good Housekeeping magazine, and called for chicken broth instead of vegetarian broth.

I think I expected too much from a recipe that is this simple. It tasted fine, but it didn’t taste like much more than pureed broccoli soup–although I love the flavor from the curry powder. Also, my soup didn’t look very green, but I blame the Veggie Stock that I used. I love the short ingredient list on this product, but it has a very dark brown color–probably form the roasted onions. If I make it again, I might try blending the ingredients in my Cuisine Art (instead of using my immersion blender as I did here) to see if that makes a more uniform puree.

 Three Bean Salad**
Dressing
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper

Beans
1 14.5 oz can green beans (rinsed and drained)
1 15 oz. can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1.5 cups frozen shelled edamame (thawed and drained)

Mix the dressing ingredients in a small saucepan and
heat over low heat until sugar is dissolved and it starts to boil.
Cool before using.

Combine beans, 1/2 cup of dressing, and 1 tsp Italian seasoning in a bowl.
Cover and let marinate in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

**The original recipe is from the Cooking Light 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook and called for lima beans instead of edamame.
When I make it again, I will use a bit less sugar in the dressing. 

Three Bean Salad

I really loved the color and flavors of this salad. I served it as a side dish with quiche and over a bed of mixed greens for a heartier salad.

What is your favorite potluck side dish?

Posted in Food | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments