Weekend

It's the weekend and plans usually call for a run on Saturday and then to just chill. Saturday morning I woke up later than I thought I would. By the time I got out of bed, hubby had been up for hours and wanted breakfast, so I skipped my run and went to breakfast with him (we go to Dunkin Donuts every Saturday. It's a tradition we started about 5 years ago when I started running.). When we came home I tweeted, "A Saturday with nothing to do. What to do...what to do..." One of my Twitter friends responded with "do a little more training then maybe you have planned and then reward yourself!!! Everyday can be a fun day :-)"

And with that, I felt bad for having skipped my run. It was too hot and too late to go out for a run (plus I had just eaten a wake up wrap, donut, and iced coffee. I can't imagine that would have gone well with a run), but I could do an upper body workout and use my stationary bike. So, I did 5 rounds of upper body lifting and 60 minutes of my stationary bike. Not bad considering I usually do 3 rounds of upper body and 30 minutes on the stationary bike. I felt better.

But, something strange happened. It felt odd not going for a run this weekend. Not that I've been the best at running lately, but it still felt strange. So, this morning I got up and went for a run. Sadly, Garmin was dead and I had no idea. I only used it for the 5k last weekend, but I guess I forgot to turn it off. So, instead I used my Nano, which has the Nike+ system on it. It's not 100% accurate, but it was better than nothing. It was hot. I don't like hot. I was slow, but I kept a steady pace and ran almost the whole thing. The last few meters I walked, but it was hot. I had water with Nuun Tropical and a cold wash cloth waiting for me in the car and it was heavenly. LOL!

Came home and made lunch. Finished off my Nuun and while waiting for my low-fat waffles to toast I found Lilo and Stitch on Disney! One of my all-time favorite movies! Apparently the universe rewards following through on your plans to run. ;-)

So, I got an extra workout this weekend because I couldn't just replace my run with upper body workout and a stationary bike.

Did you get your workout in this weekend? Do you enjoy working out in the heat or are you more a cold weather person?


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Weekend

Why are the weekends so hard for me to control?  Friday nights are getting a tad easier, but they seem to be easier on Friday nights in the summer.  We grill outside, so it's easy to know EXACTLY what I'm eating/drinking when I make it. 

It's Saturday and Sunday seem to be the days that are killing me.  I ate ok on Saturday, but we were in NYC with no plans.  We ended up drinking.  It was all delicious, but it was more than I was anticipating.  I had a nice turkey burger with sweet potato fries and one cupcake.  That wasn't too bad, considering the only other thing I had to eat was a slice of banana walnut bread at 11:30 a.m.  It was the seven beers that did me in.  One at a Cuban restaurant, two at Burp Castle (yummy Belgium beers!), three (6 oz. beers, seriously, they were tiny!) locally brewed beers at McSorely's, and one at dinner.  Ugh.

Sunday, I did fairly well for breakfast. I really wanted a corn muffin (I am slightly addicted to diner corn muffins), so I knew the rest of the meal should be light.  So, a glass of water and two scrambled eggs.  While not perfect, it was definitely better than I would have done before.  But dinner killed me.  We ordered pizza and bread sticks.  They were yummy, but not healthy.  But, we were too tired to bother cooking and pizza delivers.  Then I had a brownie.  They were in the fridge and I forgot to take them to NY (so they would be out of MY house). 

Ah well, the weekend is over.  I ran 1.5 miles today, as I am prepping for a 5k this weekend.  I also had a simple lunch that was healthy and I think I am back on track.  I want to run twice more this week and hopefully will stay on track food wise this week as well.  I just need to get this weekend thing under control...

Monday!

Yup, it's Monday.  So much to cover and share!

Weekend was eh.  Hubby and I headed out to Carlisle, PA to a beer MeetUp at Cafe Bruges, which is a place specializing in Belgium beers.  Yum!  Food was good - we shared a cheese plate, ordered a veggie burger with fries and no dessert.  :-)  Had 5 beers.  All with 8% or more alcohol content.  They were tasty!  Love Belgium beer!

Saturday, I thought I had things under control.  We headed over to the mall for our free pretzels courtesy of Auntie Anne's.  The line was LONG, but quick.  Got our two free (plain) pretzels and had a nice lunch at the mall.  And since we ate out on Friday, we decided to do left over pizza and fries for dinner.  We'll, it all went down hill at dinner.  We made up some yummy dip and ate a TON of tortilla chips.  Then two slices of pizza with the fries and two beers.  Oh, it was more than I anticipated. 

Sunday, I tried out one of my two new exercise routines.  I picked up a Walk Away the Pounds 3-mile workout and Wii's My Fitness Coach.  I decided to try the DVD.  It was a workout!  I was surprised really.  I just couldn't see how walking would make me feel like I did something.  It did.  :-)  I was definitely sweating by the end and I enjoyed it.  And I ate healthy!  Had a late brunch, then we had veggie chili for dinner with tortilla chips.  Yum!  Dessert was a mix of fresh blueberries and dried blueberries.  It took me over 40 minutes to each a cup and I was FULL!  Amazing. 

So, not the best weekend, but I tend to use all my flex points on Friday and Saturday, then just go from there the rest of the week.  We shall see come Friday if it was ok.

Today, I did get in a 3 mile outside run.  It wasn't too bad, except for dodging the trash/recycle cans on the sidewalks and some of the not so melted snow and ice.  But, having not run in a month, I was thrilled with 3 miles!  Gotta get back in form for the Shamrock 5k on March 14th!

And, it wouldn't be Monday without education!  Here's today's examiner.com article for your enjoyment.

Visit the State Museum to see the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery

Check it out to learn about how PA was the first colony to set legislation to end slavery!

Weekend

Food took center stage this weekend, for better or worse, not sure.  Friday night we tried several restaurants before we finally found one that didn't have a line out the door.  We headed to Chili's first, but we could see people in the entry way...not the lobby, but in the area between the two front doors.  We nixed that.  Then we headed to Texas Roadhouse and there were at least 20 people OUTSIDE the restaurant, so we passed.  Finally, we got to Charlie Brown's and stopped.  The wait was 20 minutes, but we hung at the bar and it seemed WAY less.  Woohoo!  Had a really yummy, relaxing dinner in a fantastic wrap around booth.  We had the salad bar, which is always fun.  I had a cheese veggie burger and fries for dinner, hubby had the cheese burger with fries.  Then we had dessert.  I had a yummy pineapple upside down cake and hubby had a 6-layer chocolate cake, which he took half home.  LOL!  It was just a lovely dinner.

Sat. night we invited friends over for Caribbean Night.  January is always blah and boring here in the Mid-Atlantic, so we decided to bring some of the Caribbean's bright colors and tasty flavors.  We started with Planter's Punch from Jamaica, which turned out really well.  So yummy!  Dinner was jerk turkey with pineapple salsa and bananas with a rum-brown sugar glaze.  Oh it was delicious!  I love jerk turkey and with the pineapple salsa, it was just so tasty!  The bananas with rum-brown sugar glaze turned out so well, thanks to the efforts of my hubby.  Dinner was so tasty.  Dinner was a home made Island Rum Cake.  We have rum cake from Jamaica that we anticipated using for dessert, but it has walnuts in it and our one guest is allergic to nuts.  So, back to the drawing board and I found the Island Rum Cake recipe...without nuts.  It was so easy and oh my, so tasty!  We had that with Reddi-Whip and crushed pineapple.  Oh heaven.  It was incredible and I'm trying to think of when I can make it again.  LOL!  All in all Caribbean Night was a success, both in terms of good friends and good food. 

Today is a day of making up for all the good food this weekend.  Not sure what's for dinner, but it will be light and vegetable-based.  LOL!  But, sometimes you just have to try new things and enjoy them.  And enjoy we did.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Weekend Wrap Up and Breaking in the Garmin

The weekend was ok.  I tried mightily to stay on track Friday night when we went out to Elephant and Castle for dinner.  I knew what I was going to have for dinner - Tortellini Salad.  So good!  We also ordered an appetizer of soft pretzels and mustard.  There were three pretzels and three people, so one each.  Not bad.  But, then the others ordered dessert and I couldn't resist.  I had the yummy bread pudding, but only half.  I did have three beers...told ya it wasn't a great night.

Sat. went well.  I tracked everything and purposely knew I went over in points.  I made sure my meals early in the day would allow me two slices of pizza for dinner.  After dinner I had a beer and some toffee nuts for dessert.  It was yummy!  And only over by 6, which was fine by me.  I still have flex points left for the week, so I guess I'm doing ok.

Sunday was fine.  On points.  The only issue was I didn't exercise.  Sunday is Wii Fit day, but we spent the day taking down the Christmas decorations and I ran out of time.  By the time I had the time, I was pooped!  It's always so sad taking down all the decorations.  :-(  But, they are down and almost completely put away now - just a few more boxes to the basement.  Ugh.

Now, onto the fun stuff!  Tuesday is running day though I haven't had great luck lately getting outside to run.  But, the weather is good today and I had the new Garmin, which I was DYING to try and off I went!  Went to a neighborhood nearby that has sidewalks.  I have no sidewalks at my house, so I drove about 5 minutes to the neighborhood, parked the car and headed out.  It was still chilly and I realized I should have worn gloves.  Remember this!  Started running and found out something I didn't realize, the neighborhood was HILLY!  I had no idea.  But, I ran the whole time, up all the hills and down.  It was great!  I was really excited about that and I only ran 3 minutes slower than my 5k in December.  Not bad.  :-)  The Garmin worked well.  It fastened to my wrist, so it was easy to read as I ran.  It beeped when I hit one mile, which was good.  I need to look into having it beep at either the half mile or mile mark.  I lucked out and looked down when I hit 2 miles, but it would have been nice if it just beeped.  But overall, really liked it.  Next run, Thursday!