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It’s always nice coming back from being out of town and getting to sleep in your own bed, wake up to your usual routine, workout in your normal surroundings and make breakfast in your own kitchen.

As much as I wanted to hit snooze a million times this morning and sleep until the last second possible, I dragged my butt out of bed and hit the gym for an early morning cross-training session.

Workout

I spent 40 minutes on the arc trainer and then got in a leg workout pretty similar to this one from last week. My legs were especially tired by the time I got started so I took it easy and shortened the workout a bit instead of doing the complete 3 sets.

I had zero energy when I got back from the gym, which worries me that I may be getting sick. I wasn’t feeling well at the end of the last week and I’m sure the busy weekend didn’t help. Gotta fight it off though because I have a jam-packed next two weeks. Bring on the Vitamin C!

Breakfast

Being back in my kitchen for breakfast meant a big bowl of FiberOne Caramel Delight cereal for breakfast.

Topped with chia seeds, frozen banana slices and chopped dates.

And a spoonful of peanut butter.

Finished off with a hearty pour of almond milk.

So good to be home.

Question:

What is your go-to preventive measure for when you feel you are getting sick? Mine is usually sleep so I plan to get to bed extra early tonight while I can!

Put Another One in the Books

I accidentally overslept this morning and woke up in a panic thinking that it wasn’t a good sign for how mu 16 miles were going to go.

Luckily, the morning got right on track and I was only set back about 20 minutes from the time that I was hoping to get my run started.

Breakfast

Breakfast was the typical pre-run meal.

A bagel toasted with peanut butter and banana slices.

With the leftover banana on the side, with more peanut butter.

Once I hit the streets for my run, I pretty much was all over the city.

I covered Harboreast, Fells Point, Canton, Federal Hill, the Inner Harbor, Locust Point and even Fort McHenry. Talk about a running tour of the city!

I ended up completing the 16 miles in 2:30:32. I’ll take a 9:24 pace for a long training run. Now only 10.2 miles to add and 14 seconds per mile to shave off and I’m at a 4 hour marathon! 😉

I have to admit, last night’s purchase a new running belt definitely made a difference in my run today. Having water with me at all times not only gave me a feeling of reassurance but also helped to keep trucking along.

So 40 ounces of water (I had to stop at Fort McHenry at a water fountain to re-fill), 3 shot blocks and 1 pack of sport beans later, I can say another long run (and my longest run to date) is now behind me!

As soon as I made it back to the apartment, I made friends with another ice bath.

And then refueled with that Banana Date Cinnamon Smoothie I told you would make another appearance today! I did add a scoop of protein powder to the mix today as well!

Now it’s time to get my stinky butt into the shower, finish packing (I see Brian tonight!!), get some lunch in my belly and get to work!

This may be a looooong day!

Questions:

What was in store for your Saturday morning?

What is on the agenda for the rest of the day?  For me it is work and then driving to PA to see Brian for two nights!!  I can’t wait!!! 🙂

Surfer Girl

Happy Friday you little LoveEatRunners!!!

Workout

I woke up this morning and was ready to get some needed stretching going!

Yoga class it was!

I didn’t sleep very well last night for some reason. I was completely relaxed, lying in bed but could not for the life of me fall asleep.

So yoga this morning was the perfect workout. It helped my body and let my mind relax and slowly wake up and focus for the day.

During class I noticed that the guy next to me seemed to be a little unsure of a lot of the positions and was furiously glancing around at everyone else in the class with each transition to a new move.

I figured he must have been new to yoga.

After class he was talking with the instructor and me and apologized for if he was distracting to us.

He said it was, in fact, his first class so he was trying to watch everyone and follow along.

He said that yoga was a lot harder than he thought it was and actually used the phrase, “after we started, I thought to myself this is terrible”.

I thought the instructor was going to pass out!

He did clarify and say that it was just hard for him but that he did like it and will be back again.

I think I heard the instructor let out a huge sigh of relief here and I definitely saw her coloring start to come back. 😉

Just last week my sister tried yoga for the first time and she had the same thing to say to me, “yoga is a lot harder than I thought”!

Both of these beginners’ comments made me think back to when I first started yoga and I definitely had the same opinion.

I went into my first class expecting a relaxing, rejuvenating experience and I walked out thinking, “what the heck did I just do to myself?!”

It’s funny how sticking with something really can change your perspective once you learn the techniques and forms and become more comfortable.

So Katie and new yoga man at the gym – stick with it! You will definitely feel the benefits before long! 🙂

Breakfast

As if yoga wasn’t already a great start to Friday, my breakfast may have just put today over the edge.

One of my favorite coffee shops across the street my family’s condo at the beach offers a breakfast sandwich called “The Surfer Girl”.

A toasted bagel sandwich coated in peanut butter and topped with sliced banana, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with granola.

If that is a surfer girl, get me a board and to the water – now!

This morning I recreated this little piece of heaven in my own kitchen.

I topped two slices of whole wheat bread with cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter. I then added banana slices to one slice and topped it with a honey and granola.

I closed the sandwich with the second piece of peanut buttered bread and placed it into the panini maker.

Hello sand, ocean and waves!

I may have been sitting in my kitchen this morning and not on the west coast riding a wave but holy moly, I don’t think it made a difference.

Eventually, I brought myself back to reality and put together an iced coffee to enjoy on my walk to work.

Between an awesome yoga workout and an amazing breakfast, I really set the bar high for the rest of the day!

I hope everyone else’s Friday has started off great!!! 🙂

Question:

What were your initial thoughts about yoga?  Did you think it was challenging?  What did you go into it expecting and did it meet those expectations?

Ultimate Summer Snack

Breaking free from the office at 1pm on a Friday can never be a bad thing.

And so far today it definitely has been nothing but a good thing.

When I got home, I immediately got to work putting together lunch.

Not just any lunch either.

A lunch containing peanut butter.

I know, I know, no peanut butter for me after breakfast while I’m trying to break myself of my addiction to it.

However, it is allowed before workouts. And today’s lunch was providing me fuel for my workout.

Why else do you think I slept in and saved today’s for the afternoon?! I’m always thinking. 😉

Lunch

So lunch today consisted of Peanut Butter & Co. crunchy peanut butter spread on half of a whole wheat tortilla. Then topped with sliced, frozen banana.

I folded the tortilla over and place the now peanut butter and banana quesadilla in the panini maker.

Delicious triangles of melted peanut butter and gooey, slightly melted banana slices.

Heaven.

Workout

This afternoon’s workout consisted of 6.7 miles on the treadmill in an hour. It was a nice run, keeping at just under a 9 minute/mile pace.

I actually felt really good during the whole run and after. I think it was the peanut butter. 😉

I spent a lot of time stretching and rolling my muscles after my run.

My IT bands have been really tight lately and possibly the reason I’ve been having slight knee pain so I took time to roll them with my foam roller, grid roller and the stick to really loosen them up!

Talk about hurt so good!

Afternoon Snack

In order to refuel and finish up the rest of my afternoon chores before heading to PA to see Brian, I snacked on some watermelon with feta cheese crumbles.

This is one of my favorite summer combinations ever! The ultimate summer snack!

I also like to toss in some chopped onions, olives and a small amount of baby spinach and top it with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar or even a berry vinaigrette. Talk about the ultimate summer salad!

This cool snack definitely hit the spot on such a hot afternoon!

Off to tackle my chores!!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday afternoon! It’s almost the weekend! 🙂