Injured Again

Hey guys.

I really am trying to get back into the swing of blogging. Like I said the other day, I miss it. And I am in desperate need of an outlet… Especially now.

Warning: this post is going to be even more depressing and lacking in energy than usual. It will also very likely be mildly melodramatic. Proceed with caution.

Workout – 30 minute interval cycling workout on the stationary bike + 25 minutes of intervals on the elliptical.

So, as the title kind of already says, I am injured. Again.

My life for a while.

During my run the other day, I was feeling sharp, but not unbearable, pain in my inner ankle/calf region of my right leg. I figured that the muscle was just tight, as my calve muscles typically are, and that the hills of Central Park were just getting to me. I thought I just had to get used to the uneven terrain and hills of Central Park. Nothing to worry about. I was just thrilled that the deep blisters on my heels were finally recovered enough to be able to actually run without having to stop due to pain.

The next day, I did speed work on the treadmill and felt fine. Actually, I felt great. Such a great workout. I was stoked.

So after my workout, I packed up my things and went home for the long weekend. That evening, I noticed that the muscle in my leg was feeling very tight again. Again, I didn’t really think much of it.

I spent that night at my grandparents’ house, and laced up the next morning for a 5 mile run. Well, I made it about 3 miles before I was hobbling and crying from pain. Being my insane self… I forced myself to do at least one more mile… And then I had to stop. I couldn’t take it.

I had a therapy appointment and had to drive out about 45 minutes in severe pain. I made an appointment with my chiropractor for right after my therapy session and rushed there after. Unfortunately, due to the new health care laws, my chiropractor isn’t really able to spend as much time with each patient as she used to. So I was hooked up to the electric stim machine to loosen up the muscle for a while, and then she came in, looked at it, told me to go get an ace bandage, and wrapped my leg up with ice. She also worked on the muscle a little bit and I, one who has a VERY high pain tolerance, was sobbing. I can’t even explain the amount of pain.

Needless to say… She told me not to run. I, being the emotionally unstable person that I am, started, to my complete mortification, crying… Yup. Crying. Right there in front of everyone. I felt like the world was ending.

Like I said, quite the melodramatic post.

Here’s the thing, I had just come from therapy, and that already typically makes me more emotional that I usually am (and I am already a pretty emotional person). I had just had a great session, we spoke about how I have been scaring myself lately with how low I have been. I have been unable to find it in me to even text my best and only friend, let alone attempt to make new friends at my new school. I haven’t been able to find it in me to do my school work. Leaving my dorm to go to class is unbearable. My only salvation? Getting up and running every morning. Joanne (my absolutely amazing therapist) said how important it is for me that I even get up in the morning to run. It is the one thing that allows me to face the world. It is the one thing that makes me truly grateful for the body that I have and that makes me think about how much I truly love this world. It is the one thing that keeps me going and feeling like maybe I may have some sort of purpose in this world. I spend most of my time feeling like a failure. I don’t know what I am doing with my life. I don’t know what I am meant to do. I don’t know what my purpose is. I hate my body. I don’t have friends and I don’t feel as though I can handle having friends right now, yet I am terrified that I will now be alone forever. I feel as though I am wasting my college experience and that I am wasting my life.

But running makes me feel a glimpse of hope. It is the one thing that can actually make me feel ok about myself.

With my being in such a truly terrible place right now… I need my running now more than ever. And I can’t do that.

On top of that, I have no idea when I will be able to run again. It is my favorite season for running right now, and it only lasts a few weeks. Also, like I addressed the other day, I have gained weight and I am not ok with this… And now I really can’t workout except for the bike.

I am just at a complete loss. And I know that I am being stupid and dramatic and trust me, I of all people know that there are much worse things in this world than a temporary injury preventing me from running. It is just that I have really been scaring myself recently and running was my only salvation. I just feel like it is always something going wrong and I just don’t know what to do. Also, my mobility is very limited. I have trouble getting up and down the stairs due to pain, and walking is painful and problematic… I am not good at sitting an doing nothing. Again, I feel as though I am wasting time.

I just don’t know.

Sorry! I’ll try to be more positive tomorrow. I just really needed to vent.

On a more positive note… I put up a new makeup tutorial today! It’s a fall look inspired by the iconic autumn drink, the pumpkin spice latte. Hope you enjoy!

Mental Health Monday – What Is Over Exercising?

Hey all.

Workout – 4.31 easy recovery miles in Central Park.

(The reason that the pace is drastically slower in the first mile is due to the fact that there were a million red lights on the run over to the park and I didn’t pause RunKeeper at them… Whoops).

So it’s been quite a long time since the last time I sat down to write a Mental Health Monday post, and today’s topic is one that is very close to my heart.

Overexercising.

Or, more specifically, what exactly is overexercising?

The term is pretty common. You see it everywhere in the forms of magazine articles, health website posts, and even in those little ads that you see on the sides of the webpages that you are browsing.

Are You Over Exercising? 5 Signs Of Overtraining.

How To Tell If You Are Overtraining.

Science Finds That Too Much Exercise Can Lead To Weight Gain.

Wow. If there is so much talk on the issue of over exercising/compulsive exercise/overtraining, then surely there must be a great amount of awareness surrounding the issue, right?

Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case.

See, the lines of what is too much exercise is a very blurry one. I mean, pro athletes train for hours every day and often train twice a day. They aren’t over exercising. In fact, they are arguably some of the healthiest people out there.

So where does that leave us? If pro-athletes can train every day, then who are we to think that our *need* to exercise for 30 minutes every day with no rest days ever is too much? It can’t be, now can it?

I have a very strong opinion of what exactly over exercising is. Now, keep in mind that this is purely my theory, and has no real scientific backing. However, as someone who has struggled with an eating disorder that manifested itself as an exercise addiction for quite some times, I do like to think that I am fairly knowledgeable about this particular issues.

Now, when I say compulsive exercise, what exactly do I mean?

The NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) references compulsive over exercising in their definition of the anorexia subtype called, “anorexia athletica.”

Anorexia Athletica (Compulsive Exercising)

Anorexia athletica is a condition where people over-exercise because they believe this will control their bodies and give them a sense of power, control and self-respect. It isn’t a clinically recognized diagnosis in the same way that anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are, but compulsive exercising can have serious health consequences.

Symptoms of anorexia athletica include:

Exercising more than is good for our health.
Being fanatical about our weight and diet.
Taking time off work, school and relationships to exercise.
Focusing on the challenge exercise poses and forgetting that it can be fun.
Believing that our self-worth depends on our physical performance.
Rarely being satisfied by what we achieve physically.                                                           Saying that this exercise is okay because we are athletes, or insisting that the behavior is healthy.

(Source)

Now, I know that whilst anorexia athletica always includes excessive/compulsive exercise, over exercising does not always mean that one has anorexia athletica. However, I would definitely argue that over exercising often has less to do with the amount that you are exercising and more to do with the mentality that surrounds/backs your compulsive exercise.

So some questions to ask yourself could be:

Do I exercise because I want to? Or do I do it because I feel like I am a failure/will gain a million pounds overnight/will be looked at as lazy etc. if I don’t?

If there is a day where I truly can’t workout, will it completely destroy my day? Will I obsess over this one missed day of exercise for weeks to come?

Do I put working out over spending quality time with family and friends? Do I avoid making plans if it cuts into my workout schedule?

Do I not allow myself to take off if I am sick or injured? 

If you answered yes to these questions, then your mind is definitely not in the right place for exercising.

Also, obviously you can kind of tell that you are over training (even if you are in complete denial of this fact and push the thought to the back of your mind) when you are constantly fatigued, start dreading your workouts, or begin to feel sickly often. These are obvious symptoms and are always the first to be mentioned in those magazine/web articles that I referenced earlier in this post.

One thing that I don’t ever see in these articles is something that I believe to be the number one most crucial factor in determining what exactly it means to be over exercising.

Your caloric intake vs. the amount of exercise that you are doing.

Sure professional athletes can workout for hours a day and not be accused of overexercising, but these athletes are also eating a ton to make sure that their body is properly fueled for this level of training. However, if you are eating a calorie deficient diet and exercising for hours a day, you are literally destroying yourself.

Think about it, we all too often see this (idiotic) idea that women should be consuming 1200 calories a day if they want to lose weight. Firstly, that is complete nonsense. Unless you are obscenely short (and even then, this is often way too low), your body needs more than 1200 calories per day just to perform its necessary functioning for survival. Now, add exercise, even if it is just 30 minutes per day, each and every day, into the equation and you very likely will now have (depending on the workout that you do) a net caloric intake of less than 1000 calories. You are literally preventing your body from properly being able to fulfill it’s job of keeping you alive… And yet you are expecting it to support and give you energy for working out? It doesn’t work like that. Keeping you alive is your body’s priority.

So what is over exercising?

I firmly believe that the term over exercising is completely relative. There is no set amount of time or intensity level or frequency of workouts that can tell you whether or not you are over training. It all depends on your mentality surrounding exercise, and whether or not you are adequately fueling your body to support your level of activity, whatever it may be.

Moral of the story? DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS.

Just because someone can run ten miles a day and be perfectly healthy doesn’t mean that you should ignore that you are feeling the symptoms of over working your body while running 3 miles a day. That other person is not you. They do not eat the same food. They do not eat the same amount. They are not at the same stage of life as you. They do not live in the same environment as you. What they can do should never influence how you feel about what you can do and what you should do. You are your own person and I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you acknowledge that fact and listen to your body. You know yourself best, and you know when something is not quite right.

Never let the fear of not being enough prevent your own personal growth and healing.

Thank you for reading. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow =).

WIAW 9.3.2014 – College Edition

Hey everyone!

Workout – Elliptical Intervals

It’s been a while since I last did a What I Ate Wednesday post.

Shout out to our wonderful host for this link up!

As per usual, I’m not exactly the best at taking photos of all of my meals. I also eat more in a ways that I eat small meals and graze the entire day (a bad habit that I am trying to break), so I don’t exactly have a photo of everything that I have eaten down to the last pretzel. However, as I mentioned in my first ever WIAW post, it’s not about being perfect! That is the beauty in this whole What I Ate Wednesday deal, it’s not about perfection or judgment or any of that.

Anyway, as you may know, yesterday was my first full day at school… So basically, it was my first day living on my own (plus roommate, but she hasn’t been here). The school that I attend doesn’t technically have dorms, there is student housing that is shared with students from other New York City schools, but it’s not a traditional dormitory by any means. Due to this, there is no meal plan of any sort… Meaning that I am responsible for buying all of my groceries and preparing all of my meals with nothing but a refrigerator and a microwave. Basically, I have to be both thrifty with my grocery shopping and creative with me meals.

I am thinking that once I get better at this whole eating as a student on a small budget with no kitchen whilst still eating healthy thing I will do a full on post about it. However, today is not that day and I am definitely still getting the hang of everything.

Breakfast – 

Fat free vanilla greek yogurt with “rawnola” and coconut chips that I picked up from Fairway… Plus a whole bunch more coconut chips.

Dang is right. These things are dangerous.

As per usual, I also had some cashew putter and frozen banana that I really didn’t need to have since I was full after breakfast… Again, the grazing is a problem.

 

Lunch – 

You didn’t think that my snack plates wouldn’t follow me to school, now did you? I can’t have as much diversity veggie-wise since… well… I’m not exactly finically secure over here. Romaine and snap peas a carrots with hummus (tried Fairway’s brand hummus for the first time and it was AMAZING), sriracha, and Fairway brand mango salsa (so good).

Plus, pretzels and rice snacks and Brad’s raw chips from my snack drawer, all dipped in hummus or cashew butter (I have a problem).

 

Dinner – So, the original plan was to have brown rice with steamed veggies and sweet chili sauce for dinner… But it was about one million degrees out yesterday and the last thing I wanted after walking through the heat was to eat something hot… So dinner wound up being an exact repeat of lunch… Whoops.

 

Unpictured – Crystalized ginger and dark chocolate covered ginger, more pretzels, cashew butter with pretzels and jam… The works.

 

 

Sorry today’s post was so choppy, Wednesdays are the days that I have all of my 3 hour classes! I think my head is still spinning from Japanese class this morning and now I am headed out to my next class.. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will talk to you tomorrow! =)

 

 

Thinking Out Loud 8.21.2014

Hey!

Wow, I’m actually posting something… And it’s on a Thursday, so you know what that means!

Shout out, as always, to this link up’s lovely host.

1. Workout – 5 miles easy.

I have both a chest and head cold, so it goes without saying that this run was pretty meh. I had originally planned on going to the gym for some speed work before therapy, but I spent so much time talking myself out of it that I wound up too pressed for time… So a run it was! I almost stopped after 3 miles, but I didn’t have the time to walk the 2 miles home (I was running an out and back route)… So there’s that!

I normally do two a day workouts, but I was feeling so crummy all day that I wound up not doing anything but lying around and doing school things for a bulk of the day. I have to say, I am feeling extremely guilty and lazy and gross. Like I have mentioned a million times lately, I am gaining weight. Unfortunately, since I am very inclined to fall into unhealthy exercise and food habits, I have been feeling more and more pressure to workout as much as physically possible. This has resulted in my feeling lethargic, sick, and weak. I actually think that overtraining, in addition to stress, not sleeping, and grieving largely contributed to how sick I currently am.

2. New video went up on my Youtube channel yesterday!

Just me sharing a couple of things that I picked up from the thrift shop (I’m gonna pop some tags…) the other day. I know, so exciting right? Haul videos are actually one of my biggest internet guilty pleasures. I don’t know what it is, but I just love watching them… Even if they do just make me think about all of the things that I can’t afford.

*dramatic sigh*

3. I did a thing.

Yes, it is actually green. Yes, it is actually that neon (no editing or enhancing). Yes, I may regret it kinda-sorta a lot. I didn’t think I dyed as much of it as I did… So now I have neon green hair. Not exactly the best way to avoid attention when you go out in public.

3. I am supposed to move into my dorm on Saturday. I am dreading it more than anything to the point that I am in complete denial of my actually having to go.

I don’t know if it is due to how traumatic my experience at my last university was, or if it just my severe anxiety over change… But I just really don’t feel like I can handle this. I am dreading it so much, but I should be excited.

Everyone I am friends with on Facebook is posting about how unbelievably excited they are to be going back to their colleges to their dorms and their lives and their friends. So why am I not? Am I really that much of a failure that I can’t even handle school?

I truly don’t know what to do. I am at a point where I don’t even know if college is right for me. Thing is, I can’t afford not to go.

Yes, I could live at home and take classes at my local community college. That would be comfortable. That would be safe. But there is no room for growth there. Yes, I would have significantly less anxiety over school if I were to go the community college route. But I would never get out of this rut that I am in. I would get up, go to class, come home, and repeat. Every. Single. Day.

I wouldn’t have anything driving me to branch out and meet people (not that I am really feeling up to doing that yet), or to get involved. I wouldn’t have anything pushing me to start living. I would continue to just exist. I would continue to waste this blessed life that I was given.

I don’t know. I really don’t know what to do. I am excited for my classes. I am excited to be in the city everyday. I am not excited to live away from home. I am not excited to not have access to everything that I am used to and accustomed to. I have a set routine that I live my life by, and I get panicky just thinking about not being able to stick to my standard routine. Throw in the fear that I am going to have a roommate that judges me or thinks I’m weird or crazy or one that bullies me like I did last year into the mix and you have the recipe for a full-on breakdown.

I’m just really not ready for this. But I have no other option. I really hope that I can get my head on straight soon, because right now I feel like nothing but a failure, not only to my family, but also to myself.

Wow, this just got real depressing real fast. I’m sorry guys, I’m just at a rough point in my life I guess and this blog, while I really want it to be a positive place, is my one and only outlet. Like, you guys reading are the only people that I really have to talk to. So, if you do read this blog or watch my Youtube videos, I just hope that you know how unbelievably grateful I am to you.

I hope you all have a wonderful night and I will talk to you tomorrow. Got to get back on that being-consistant-with-my-blogging grind!

Oh, and I just want to leave you with this quote that I found.

=)

Music Makes Me Feel Alive…

Hey!

I have no idea why, but up until about 5 minutes ago, I was thoroughly convinced that today was Monday. I had just had breakfast, was making some green tea, and was going to sit down and write a Mental Health Monday post. Gosh, I felt so on top of things and productive… But apparently it’s Sunday. Whoops. So I have to changing gears a bit! Workout: My knee felt a little bit off today, so I figured it would be best to stick with a low-impact workout. Enter the stair master! I went for one of my go to stair master workouts from Blogilates. As per usual, I adjusted the workout a bit to cater to my needs (I swapped minutes 28-35 with 35-45 and upped the steps per minute by about 10 for everything except for the warm up and cool down). I have to say, I don’t feel like I get the best workout in regards to my heart rate increasing and calorie burning when I do the stair master… I do, however, feel like a flipping beast. I actually remember my first attempt at the stair master. It was a couple of years ago, I had just come off of cross country season and was looking for a good way to cross train. Woman cannot survive on the elliptical alone (actually you can, but I just really wanted to try and be funny… fail), so I decided to hop on the stair master since it seemed like a great way to work my legs. I think I lasted 10 minutes… 15 at most. And this was right after cross country season, so I was definitely in shape. Better shape than I am currently. However, the muscles required for the stair master are obviously different than those used in running. I don’t know, it’s just kind of nice to be able to look back on that while I am doing a stair master workout as a reminder that I really have come far on this fitness journey of mine. Not my best smoothie bowl. I still don’t have acai, so I made it with non-fat greek yogurt and it wound up just making me feel pretty sick. Normally, even though I am lactose intolerant, I can take greek yogurt due to the probiotics in it… Today was obviously not one of those days. So last night was pretty rad.   That photo was actually taken by my friend Cody (he’s pretty much the only friend I ever talk about on this blog… So if I ever say my best friend, I mean Cody) because I am approximately two feet tall and couldn’t see anything. He saw my struggle to get a photo and offered to take a few for me. What an angel that kid is. I’m sure that I have mentioned this before on here, but I live for live music. This summer alone I have seen Fall Out Boy, Paramore, State Champs, Yellowcard, Motionless in White, Mayday Parade, Front Porch Step, Say Anything, The Front Bottoms, Bowling for Soups, and now… Brand New!

(I took this one… I may have had to stand on my tippy-toes to get it.)

If you have never heard of Brand New before, I strongly suggest that you check them out. Some of the songs I would recommend include: “Jesus/Jesus Christ,” “Sic Transit Gloria Fades,” “Guernica,” “Degausser,” “Daisy,”… Ok, I would honestly suggest any and every song by them.

Have you picked up on the fact that they are one of my favorite bands yet?

I get chills just thinking about the fact that I got to see them perform that song (my all time favorite by them) live last night. It’s surreal to me.

I just had a really good night and I am so grateful to have been able to get the tickets (I had to sit at my computer and buy them the second that they went on sale… Brand New tickets always sell out immediately), was able to experience live music that really elicits a special, almost indescribably so, feeling of gratitude and happiness within me, and that I was able to share the experience with my best friend.

I am so thankful for the times that make me feel alive. I know that I have previously addressed that fact that most of the time, I feel as though I am not living but just simply existing… And last night made me feel alive.

I am just really happy.

 

Time To Live

Hey everyone!

I really need to start beginning my posts with something different than, “hey everyone” every. single. time.

Workout: 

Hit up the gym this morning some speed work!

Here’s how the workout goes:

3 minute warm up

6 minutes at tempo (7:30 min/mile)

3 minute recovery jog

5 minutes at tempo

2.5 minute recovery jog

4 minutes at tempo

2 minute recovery jog

3 minutes at tempo

1.5 minute recovery jog

2 minutes at tempo

1 minute recovery

1 minute at tempo

.5 minute recovery

3 minute cool down

This is one of my favorite workouts to do because it reminds me of tempo runs when I used to do cross country… Which just so happened to be, along with ladders, the workout that we all dreaded! When coach told us that the next day would be tempo day, we would spend the entire school day before practice freaking out! Obviously, we ran them much faster than I do now… Which kind of makes me feel crummy, but it also motivates me to really up my game with speed work and get back to where I once was!

Breakfast

You may need to sit down for this… I did something kind of crazy this morning.

I had something other than an acai bowl for breakfast!

And guess what? That’s not a bowl of oats that you’re looking at either!

Can you guess?

IT’S CAULIFLOWER!

I happened to be out of frozen acai packets, so I figured that it would be a good time to force myself to deviate from my usual breakfast routine (I am the very definition of a creature of habit) and try a recipe that I have been eyeing.

I first saw the idea for this grain free cauliflower-based “oatmeal” or, as they have been dubbed, cauli-oats, over on To Her Core  the other day and I have been thinking about it ever since.

It’s no secret that I love cauliflower… I mean, how can you not? It is probably one of the most versatile veggies out there. You can dip it, roast it, make it into pizza, make it into mashed potatoes, and now… You can even make it into a sweet breakfast!

If you think about it, we should all be inspired by cauliflower. It is the true physical embodiment of your ability to be anything that you want to be as long as you are willing to think out of the box and try.

Woah… Getting real deep over here on Snaps ‘n Flats…

Aside from the whole inspirational experience that is cauliflower… This breakfast was absolutely delicious! Mine didn’t come out quite as creamy and I had hoped, but it was still sweet and comforting and filling. You also definitely don’t taste it as cauliflower at all! I’ll definitely be making it again and am excited to try new flavor combinations. I kind of want to make chocolate cauli-oats… But the idea of chocolate and cauliflower together kind of turns my stomach.

Some other new things happening over here:

I attempted to cut and dye my hair and it kind of sort of came out as a disaster.

I think that since the color was a pale mint color, I was supposed to bleach my hair white… But I wasn’t willing to do that to my hair so I just kind of went for it and now it’s all patchy and weird.

Yay.

Last night I also forced myself to leave the house (I have been having a hard time doing that lately) to meet up with my family for dinner on the beach.

Going out to eat, especially when it is with a large group of people, is always difficult for me. I have never been one to really enjoy going out to dinner, and now it’s at a point where it just makes me anxious. Part of my anxiety and food issues is control or a lack-thereof, and not having control over exactly what is going into the food I am eating, the portion sizes, and how the food is prepared just really makes me uneasy.

That being said, I am always super proud of myself when I do go out and eat without any issues. It shows that I really have made some progress, even if I don’t feel like I have!

We started off our meal with steamed mussels as our appetizer. We got two orders, one with red sauce and one with white and they were so flipping good! The mussels also came with bread (my favorite thing ever) for dipping and I think I ate a whole loaf.

Whoops…

For my meal, I opted for the Manhattan clam chowder with a side of steamed veggies.

Any restaurant that gives you a plate of vegetables that is larger than your head is a winner in my book. The soup was also just as good as it looks.

 

I also had a taste of my mama’s food (she got sesame tuna tacos with sweet potato fries) and I don’t know if it’s just because I don’t know the last time I had a sweet potato fry or what… But those fries were probably the greatest ones I have ever tasted. They had absolutely zero grease (greasy things sit in my stomach and make me feel sick) and had some pepper on them which contrasted so nicely with the sweetness of the… well… the sweet potato.

Fresh ahi tuna is always a winner in my book, so that was great too.

Also, we ate outside, and I guess the view wasn’t too bad.

Something that I am really trying to work on is actually living my life.

I have always been an introverted person. I cherish my time alone and am ok with not always going out… But my already introverted personality has been amplified by my anxiety to a point where it is crippling.

I actually have a whole post about introverted personalities vs. social anxiety in my head that I need to post because I feel like all too often people think that they are one in the same… But that couldn’t be less true.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I close myself off from the world and I am sick of it. I don’t spend enough time with the people that I love and cherish more than anything because I’m too afraid of putting myself into a situation where I may have anxiety.

I don’t know, I just feel like I need to really acknowledge and admit to these bad… habits(?) that I have fallen into and that I need to change. I’m sick of just existing instead of really living.

So I am happy that I went out with my family last night. It sounds small and menial, but it was a large step for me and I am so happy that I did. I got to see my cousins and my cousin’s fiancé and my aunt… Just some really important people in my life.

It was also one of the first days where it felt like summer, which is kind of sad given that I only have two weeks until Summer!

So, I’m going to make the most of these next two weeks =).

Now I have a concert to get ready for. So excited!

I hope you all have an amazing day!

 

 

WIAW 7.30.2014 – On The Road Again

Hey guys!

It’s Wednesday… You know the drill.

Shout out to our lovely host for making this awesome link up possible!

Workout – Yesterday, my mom and I drove out to the Hamptons again (we just went last week) just to stay the night… So naturally, I was more than just a little stoked to be able to run out there this morning!

 

My legs were super dead, so I set out with the intention of running 5 easy miles… Well, I wound up running 7 and walking 8. It was just so pretty and peaceful and the weather was perfect!

My mind said yes, my body said no. I don’t know if I will be out in the Hamptons again this summer though, so I really wanted to experience as much of it as I could. How dead my legs are going to be tomorrow will be so worth it.

Pre-Run: 

Since we were only staying at my grandpa’s house in the Hamptons for one night, we didn’t bring any food with us, so there was nothing in the house.

To give myself a little bit of energy to power through my run, I snacked on some of the dried mango that I always keep in my car for… y’know… emergencies =P.

Breakfast/Lunch/Snacks: By the time my mom was up and ready to go into town for breakfast, it was almost noon! Needless to say, I was starving.

Wow, this picture didn’t look this blurry and awful on my phone… Whenever I’m in the Hamptons, or away in general, I like to treat myself to coffee that could pass as a dessert. This baby has both vanilla soy milk and white chocolate raspberry (lactose free!!) creamer in it. Mmm!

Also, no Hamptons trip is complete without stopping at our favorite health food store for some mixed nuts (unpictured… but I basically ate my body weight in them) and other goodies from the bulk bin!

 

 

Weird combination of food, I know. I wanted fruit (KIWI!!!!), but then those roasted veggies looked so good that I just had to get them too.

 

 

I am obsessed with these Bai drinks.

Coffee #2

 

The next couple of hours were enjoyed laying out by the water, reading my book, and enjoying some of the mixed nuts and other goodies (I am currently obsessed with crystalized ginger) while my mom walked around town.

That cube thing is a chocolate-chia-chunk made with nuts, dried fruits, and chia seeds. Tastes like a cookie! So good!

Then it was time to hit the road where more of the mixed nuts and treats were enjoyed.

When I got home, I got straight to making dinner for my mom (she stepped on a bee right before we left and her foot is scary-movie-esque swollen so I wanted to take care of her as much as possible) and making potatoes and eggs (a super simple family recipe that my grandma passed down to my dad who passed it down to me) for my grandpa as a thanks for letting us use his house.

Whole wheat pasta with mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, edamame, and shrimp in a miso-sesame-wine broth. Master chef over here.

I snacked on all of the stuff that I was making while I was doing it, and then I was so over cooking by the time that everything was ready that a snack plate for dinner seemed like the only viable option.

Although, when isn’t a snack plate a viable meal option for me?

Post dinner I had a black bean brownie with walnuts that I made the other day, and now I’m having some ginger tea to help my stomach… Because my digestive system obviously hates me and likes to cause me to have tear-jerker level pain.

Now it is time for sleep!

Oh wait, before I go…

While Wednesdays may mean WIAW over here on the blog… On my Youtube channel, hump day means something totally different.

A NEW VIDEO!

Hope you enjoy =).

Good night!

Question(s):

Best thing you ate today?

Any current food/meal obsessions?

 

 

A Sentence Per Picture

Hey friends!

Another day where I am blogging from my phone due to lack of wifi.

Due to this, I would say that it’s a sentence per picture kind of day.

Slow recovery runs are wonderful.

A necessary part of any road trip.

Hamptons, I’m coming for you.

These shorts are way too small and way too short and it kind of sort of made me miserable for a majority of the day.

Nothing fixes a bad mood like a walk on the beach.

There’s nothing better.

Nothing says Montauk like eating at Gosman’s Restaurant.

Fresh muscles with a lemon broth for tons of bread-dippage.

Quotes and happy things.

Hello lover.

What if I painted my room to look like Ben and Jerry’s?

Why?

I hope you are all having a terrific Tuesday! Talk to you tomorrow!

Check In and New Goals For The Week

Hey everyone.

Workout – Another speed workout!

Warm up – 2 minutes walk, 3 minutes jog.

Workout –

1 minute run fast

2 minutes jog recovery

repeat 5x

30 second sprint

1 minute recovery

repeat 10x

Cool down – 5 minutes jog to walk.

All done at level .5 elevation.

Aaand breakfast.

I have to say, this was the first time ever that I was actually able to taste the spinach in my smoothie bowl! So weird! It was still yummy though!

Also, remember those cupcakes I mentioned on Friday?

Yeah. They were a big hit.

I brought them to my cousin’s graduation party yesterday and they got rave reviews!

And I must say, the frosting job also wasn’t too shabby (for me… I’m the worst at frosting things). Very proud of myself!

Last Sunday, I set a few goals for myself for the week. So, I thought that I would perhaps do a little check in and update you all on how I have been doing in regards to reaching those goals!

Goal number 1 was to drink green tea. This was definitely the simplest goal that I set for myself, and it was definitely the one that I had the least trouble accomplishing.

The only downside to all the tea drinking is that as my tea intake goes up, my water intake goes down. I suppose that green tea is hydrating though so it’s ok… But still.

Unfortunately, the whole drink more green tea thing was the only goal that I really nailed this week. I did make some progress I guess, but not as much as I would have hoped I would.

I guess that breaking certain habits and changing behaviors takes time! I should be happy with the progress I am making instead of focusing what the progress that I haven’t.

Two of the goals that I set for myself were to eat more protein and to eat more normal meals. I will admit that my snack plates have still appeared more than once daily for meal… But I have taken a small step in the right direction!

I cooked up this stir fry twice this week for dinner!

 

 

And at yesterday’s party, I stepped way out of my comfort zone and challenged myself to some potato salad. I actually really don’t like potato salad at all.. But that stuff was so flipping good! That chicken teriyaki was also amazing (and yes, my food choices completely contradict yesterday’s post… I still don’t know what to do).

I know that it probably seems silly to consider something as simple as eating normal meals a challenge… But it’s something that I really struggle with. I know that my eating habits are bizarre most of the time, and honestly, I am embarrassed by it. I want to live this healthy lifestyle and my disordered eating habits are preventing that lifestyle that I want from being a reality.

 

I’m not setting many more goals for myself this week. I want to give these things that I am still struggling with all of my attention.

However, I do have one more goal to add to my list, and that is to incorporate more strength training into my weekly workout schedule!

I used to be super disciplined in doing strength training almost daily, but I sort of fell out of that habit when I went away to college and didn’t have my own set of dumbbells.

But now, being home, there really is no excuse.

As a distance runner, it should come as no surprise that I love my cardio. But I know that strength training is a crucial component in injury prevention and in improving my overall fitness!

Also, on the more shallow side of things, I have lost a lot of strength and muscle tone and am just generally not feeling good about my body and want some of my toned-ness back!

So here goes nothing!

Now I have to go work. I’m apparently going to be there until almost 1 in the morning… So I’m kind of freaking out.

Bye!

Friday Favorites 7.25.2014 – So Much Link Love!

Hey everyone, happy Friday!

Workout: I got up bright and early to get my brother ready for junior life guarding and to get to the gym before heading out for an appointment.

I opted for the elliptical today since I did a long run yesterday and figured that it would be a good idea to go easy on my knee today.

I also tried out a new workout that I found on the POP Sugar fitness app! Did you know this thing existed? I just found it the other day and it’s great!

I did this workout at a level 20 elevation and those sprints were brutal. 

I also added an extra 10 minutes of intervals before my final cool down for a nice 40 minute workout.

 

 

 

I don’t know why there are tissues on the ground next to the elliptical.

So now let’s talk about some things that I have been loving this week.

This week’s favorites include more links to blog posts and recipes than anything else because it seems that while I was in a slump blogging wise this week… The rest of the world was on a roll with some quality posts and recipes!

Favorite Eat: 

My korean chili stir-fry from the other day! So so good. I’m actually considering making this again tonight!

Either that or some sushi… Mmm.

Favorite Workout:

 

Favorite Sip:

I could drink iced mochas all day, every day for the rest of forever.

I just add chocolate to my regular iced coffee and BOOM dessert in coffee form!

Favorite Watch:

I have been obsessed with this Youtube channel this week! Wengie is actually the cutest person ever and I love her style and her everything and I may or may not have spent a bulk of this week binge watching her videos.

Seriously, check her out.

Favorite Listen: 

I’ve actually been listening to a lot of K-Pop and J-Pop this week! Super fun to run to and so darn catchy.

I used to listen to J-Pop all the time (mostly Ayumi Hamasaki and anime soundtracks… yes I am one of those people), but I kind of fell out of it. I forgot how much I enjoy this music!

Favorite Internet Finds:

And here’s the fun part.

Fashion – 

1. This simple look from I Dress Myselff.

I promised myself that I was done shopping for the summer, but I may need to make an exception for that t-shirt dress.

2. This dress is almost as gorgeous as the woman wearing it. Can you believe that Amber only just had her baby a little bit over a month ago?

Also, I wish more than anything that that dress was within my broke college student budget.

3. I just bought a similar pair of overalls to these. Here’s hoping I can actually pull them off!

4. I can’t even with this entire look. It physically hurts my soul that this outfit isn’t in my life… And even if it was, it wouldn’t look anywhere near as amazing.

Blog Posts – 

1. I know that this only just went up yesterday, but it deserves a mention. Sam’s guest post on Angela’s blog on body image was just wonderful and inspiring. I keep seeing this whole, “all you need to get a bikini body is a bikini and a body,” idea pop up all across the internet and while it’s awesome, it’s nice to see a post that dives a bit deeper into that topic. Plus I just love Sam and her blog and am so inspired by her progress in recovery!

2. These cupcakes! I actually made a batch of them in mini form today for a graduation party that I am going to tomorrow! Now if only I could make them look as pretty as Sally did… Alas, while I consider myself a pretty good baker, I am probably the single worst froster on the planet. Cake always winds up everywhere.

It’s bad.

3. 

Yes I am putting my own video here… Because what better place is there for shameless self-promotion than on my own blog? =P

In all seriousness, I am loving doing Youtube videos. Like, really loving it. It’s such a great outlet for me and I really hope to continue to learn how to film and edit and how to not be awkward in front of the camera and that I can really grow my channel. I just love it.

 

Goal for the night is to go to bed at a normal time! I’m actually going to get off of my computer and read soon….

After I watch a few more Youtube videos ;).