Homemade Paleo dinner: Salmon cakes with ginger mayo and asparagus.
I actually made this shiz for once.
Month: March 2013
Paleo apple pie is happening.
UPDATE: This did not turn out well. Might’ve been something we did wrong. Here’s the recipe if you want to judge for yourself, but I’d rather cheat and have a slice of regular apple pie!
We wound up salvaging the yummy cinnamon-apple filling to snack on this week and trashing the crust.
Paleo Banana Bread Muffins
Aaron made these this morning. They are YUMMY. It’s tough to find paleo baking recipes that actually turn out as good as or better than conventional recipes, but this one is a winner.
Aaron also took this photo, and I stole it from his Instagram. I’m completely useless around here. At least I admit it.
Cleaned up for a night out to celebrate the birthday of one of my best friends and bridesmaids.
Hair curled. Skinny jeans on. Non-t-shirt shirt donned.
That last bit alone is so rare that I figured it was Tumblr-worthy.
11 miles
I’m nothing if not consistent.
February 16: 11 miles, 1:41:40
March 2: 11 miles, 1:41:04
March 16: 11 miles, 1:41:13
Not bad after missing two runs this week to recover from my cold!
It sucks to miss runs, especially right as I’m diving into my marathon training plan, but sometimes it’s just smarter to get well and then jump back in.
Remember that time I took four days off of marathon training to be sick and then ran 18 miles? I’ve learned that as long as I do my long runs, it’ll make for a better situation in the, uhh, long run. SAY LONG RUN ONE MORE TIME.
I didn’t feel like going far from home today, so I just did three loops around Green Lake.
There was a rowing competition going on at the lake, which was interesting to watch, plus a guy on a skateboard being pulling by what looked like two real, live sled dogs in the bike lane of the trail.
Umm, AWESOME. Where can I get me some of those?
The most-used drawer in our kitchen. @aaronpass
March 15 weigh-in
I’ve been sick this week (classic post-race cold situation), so I rested Wednesday and Thursday and feel muuuuch better today. I think I’ll be able to do my long run tomorrow.
Now, time to see how the first two weeks of Paleo/calorie-tracking have gone!
Drum roll, please…
(Sorry for the gross, dirty scale. It’s in Aaron’s bathroom and his beard whiskers get all over it when he shaves. Time to give it wipe, clearly! Also, ignore the inaccurate body fat percentage.)
March 1: 145.6 lbs.
March 15: 138.4 lbs.
Loss: 7.2 lbs
Here’s what I look like with seven fewer pounds:
I took the “before” photo on the night of Feb. 28 and the “after” photo last night. The weigh-in is from this morning, and I’m actually down 0.2 lb. from yesterday, which is why the weigh-in and the caption are slightly different. Blah blah blah, who cares?
The fact is that I’m fiiiiiiiinally back at my marathon weight after more than a year!!!
I did NOT expect to get back here so quickly. I’ve weighed myself every morning since March 1 (to track in My Fitness Pal), and there have been a few times that I’ve weighed myself twice because I didn’t believe the number the first time.
I haven’t starved, I haven’t completely restricted myself from treats, and I haven’t been working out more than usual. I’ve simply cleaned up my eating and become more aware of nutrition facts and portion sizes!
- I eat wayyyy more veggies now, including as part of my breakfast, because they’re low-cal and filling (and delicious).
- I eat a huge salad every day, usually for lunch, along with some protein, like a hamburger patty, chicken breast, or roasted turkey.
- I still crave treats in the mid-afternoon and sometimes after dinner, but now my treats are things like dried mango, homemade apricot-pecan bars, and dark chocolate chips, and I try to really enjoy ONE serving rather than mindlessly munch and lose track.
- I’ve been able to enjoy celebrations by eating ONE bite of a cupcake for a co-worker’s birthday and ONE bite of cake for my brother’s birthday (I use a clean fork to just snag one bite and be done with it). I get to have a taste, and once I have it, I find that it’s all I want anyway!
- I’ve tracked every bite in My Fitness Pal — even those cake bites!
- I eat when I’m hungry, even if it means going over my calorie goal for the day, and stop when I’m full.
- I’ve eaten mostly Paleo, except for a few servings of pasta in the days leading up to my half-marathon and a huge, delicious waffle right after the race. I’m sure there has been some other stuff, but my point is that I’ve avoided processed carbs and dairy 99% of the time.
- I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since Valentine’s Day. I don’t really miss it, either.
None of this is groundbreaking. It’s the same, old stuff we know we’re supposed to do, but for some reason we all struggle with it.
All I know is that I’m feeling great right now, and I want to continue to keep up the healthy habits that are making me feel this way. (Side note: I used to struggle to wake up at 6:30 every morning, but now I wake up easily at 5:45, go into work early, and get to leave early!)
I feel like my body is now moving toward its natural equilibrium. Before I changed my eating, I was holding it back by feeding it sub-optimal food, and too much of it.
Now that I’ve reached my “goal” weight, I still feel like I could stand to lose a bit of fat and tone up, but I don’t really have an ideal weight in mind; I’ll just continue to eat this way and see where my body settles.
You can follow along on My Fitness Pal if you like, and I’ll do another weigh-in here on March 31!
Like magic
Today is an exciting day: I’m officially back in the 130s!!!
I may be back up in the low 140s tomorrow, but I’m still thrilled that I weighed in at 139.6 this morning — exactly six pounds down from my starting weight on March 1.
This is not from eating a dramatically low-cal diet or going hungry or anything; you can see every bite I’ve eaten on My Fitness Pal. I eat plenty to fill me up and fuel my workouts, but nothing extra!
It’s amazing that I’ve been running, cross-training, and lifting pretty consistently since Thanksgiving, but I’ve only seen significant, immediate weight loss and noticeable changes in my body shape since I cleaned up my eating.
I’ll post more thoughts on returning to Paleo eating and using My Fitness Pal, plus my official mid-month weigh-in, on Friday.
But for now… yippeeeeeee!
Lake Sammamish Half Recap
The Lake Sammamish Half is a relatively small race with just under 2,000 runners, but it generated the worst traffic jam I’ve ever been in prior to a race.
After sitting on a freeway off-ramp for about 20 minutes as the clock ticked closer and closer to the race start time, I gave up on the car… and I ran.
Luckily, I only had to run about half a mile to the start line. I never do any warmup running before races, but maybe I should start, because this little jog felt great (although very stressful)!
I found Aaron’s parents and my family waiting in line for the porta-potties near the start — perfect. Aaron’s mom, Greta, had my packet, and my mom had brought my favorite running tank top that I had left at her house, so I changed in front of everyone in the porta-potty lines because whatever.
Aaron eventually parked and showed up in time to take a few pre-race pics. Greta and me:
And a big smile with my dad, my mom, and my mom’s fiance, Don! So happy that they all came out!
Greta and I made our way over to the start corral to seed ourselves. I hopped in at the 8:00-9:00 min/mi sign, and Greta went further back. I love how in sync we are in this pic. : )
After a few minutes of hopping around in the crowd to stay warm, the race began! We strolled ever so casually to the timing mat because the crowd was too thick to run…
…except I also did some lame, fake running poses for the benefit of my dad’s camera.
Yes, this is who I really am.
Here’s Greta! How sweet are her tights??
And then we were off!
I started in just the right place in the crowd, since I didn’t have to pass slower people or get passed by very many faster people. The pace around me felt a wee bit fast to start out, but I felt good, so I went with it.
I guess I should mention here that I didn’t really have a race strategy. My goal was to stick to at least 9:00-9:05 pace, and possibly start off on the slower side and finish faster.
Yeah, no. Didn’t do that. But I was incredibly consistent throughout the race! I’ll spare you the suspense and throw down all the splits right now:
You’ll notice there were only 19 seconds between my fastest and slowest miles. MAGIC SPLITS, these are!
I first saw Aaron and his stepdad, Mark, a few miles in. Apparently I arrived earlier than Aaron expected because his lens cap was still on as I approached, and he dropped his car keys while sprinting ahead of me on the trail so he could still get some photos! I somehow managed to scoop them up mid-run and throw them back to him as I passed.
Just out for a light power-walk with Aaron’s keys. Look at all those fools behind me running.
My dad also showed up not once, but TWICE along the trail, to take even more pics!
I quickly realized it took too much energy to say anything intelligible to him and just settled for a smile and a wave.
Although these photos don’t show it, I spent most of this race running right behind someone else. Like, I was a shadow to many different people, probably to the point of annoyance. It helped me to stay on pace, but not go too fast and burn out. I would simply stalk someone for a while, pass them when they became too slow for my liking, then settle in behind the next person.
Is drafting a thing in running? Hmm.
I took frequent sips from my Nuun-filled bottles and took a chocolate Clif Shot at mile 5 and mile 9. The course hopped off the gravel trail and onto a sidewalk at mile 8.5, and I was sooo happy to be done with the trail! Although, it didn’t really bother me at all while I was running on it. Those three long runs I did on the trail really paid off.
Everyone else around me seemed to really speed up once we got onto the sidewalk, but I seemed stuck at what felt like a very slow pace (although now I see that it wasn’t). I started to mentally struggle here, thinking I would just get slower and slower for the last few miles and miss my goal.
Then I head a familiar voice yelling my name, and it was my dad driving alongside me in his car!!! It was a complete coincidence that he found me as he headed toward the finish line, but it was so welcome because it gave me the mental boost I needed at that moment.
Not even that boost could help me face this wretched ending to the course, though. WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS??
I really, really struggled with the last few miles as they wound, snake-like, back and forth. I really wanted to stop and walk for a while, or say “f*ck it” and just cut across some of those evil loops, but I knew I would be so disappointed with myself if I did.
This race came down to mental strength and stubbornness. I pushed and pushed and absolutely hated those last miles, but I knew I was so close.
Just a few more hairpin turns, then a bit of trail parallel to the lake, into the trees, then a loop around, and… and…
THANK F*CKING GOD.
Somehow all the exhaustion melted away when I saw Aaron and my family waiting for me at the finish line!
Official time: 1:55:22 — 8:48 pace
Check out Greta springing like a gazelle to the finish line for a big PR! I screamed and yelled so loudly for her!
And of course we took many happy, tired pictures afterward. Half-marathon finishers!
With Dad (aka the most interesting man in the world).
Aaron (photographer extraordinaire!), Greta, and Mark.
Don, me, and my beautiful momma.
All of the above: Best spectators EVER!
Aside from the traffic/parking issues at the beginning and the torturous, winding last few miles, this was a fantastic race: flat, straight, and perfect for running a PR.
I’m awfully proud of myself for training hard for this race and sticking it out until the glorious end. It’s a huge confidence-builder as I begin training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Marathon!
And, of course, it was incredible to have such strong support from my family at the start, the finish, and the whole way through. Plus, how fun is it to run a race with my future MIL?? Watch out, Chicago Marathon — we’re both coming for you in October!
I must mention that Greta treated us both to foot/leg massages (plus a pedicure for me) later that day!! Best idea ever. Thank you, Greta!!
Now… how’s about I start training for that sub-4:00 marathon?
Recovery run and THE NEWS
I will write my half-marathon recap tonight and post it either tonight or tomorrow morning — I promise!
In the meantime, here’s my three-mile recovery run from Monday night:
Cold. Rainy. First two miles = not exactly recovery pace, but I felt fine. I slowed it way down for the last mile.
My legs were sore sore sore on Sunday and I had a bit of left IT band/knee trouble, but they feel great now!
On to the hilarious and entertaining news I teased back in mid-December. Someone guessed it had something to do with The Bachelor, and that someone was right!
If you followed along with this season or if you’ve seen the headlines today, you know that the bachelor, Sean, proposed to Catherine… who is Aaron’s ex-girlfriend of two years from college.
Catherine emailed Aaron back in December (the show finished shooting in late November) to let him know that she had filmed for The Bachelor and “got pretty far.” She wanted to give him a heads-up that producers had asked her to talk about her past relationships, and he was the only one she mentioned, but she said she only said good things. She also congratulated us on our engagement and wished us the best.
I watch The Bachelor religiously, so this was mind-blowing to me. I also read the online spoilers religiously, so I already knew back then that Catherine was engaged to Sean! I told Aaron to send the “congrats on your engagement” right back to her. 🙂
So, that’s why this was a really fun season to watch! I’ve never met Catherine (they broke up in ‘09; Aaron and I met in ‘10), so I only know her from what I’ve heard from Aaron, his family, his friends, and from TV.
Based on the show alone, I think she is gorgeous and adorable. I wasn’t sure how I would feel watching my fiance’s ex on TV every Monday, but I didn’t feel jealous or anything — just amused, and now happy for her that she seems happy. I’m too secure in my relationship with Aaron and with myself to feel any differently!
Best of luck to the new couple! Thanks for the entertainment. 🙂
Dev on Running 