Treadmill Pace, Green Smoothies & Dessert

Our treadmill was delivered shortly after my last post.  Hooray!  We have had it for about 2 weeks and I feel like I can't imagine life without it now.  The convenience of a treadmill being in the basement combined with Netflix and Hulu at my finger tips have been making it much easier to stick to my training plan.  I still have to plan for the runs in the early morning or late evening as our basement isn't finished and I can't set the kids up with entertainment down there yet, but it has made running 5 days a week much easier to fit in and has especially opened up some time for me on these winter weekends before the husband heads off to work.

As for the specific model of treadmill, I went for the Sole F80.  There are so many treadmills out there, which made it hard to decide.  I used the treadmill doctor website and read the posted reviews, best buy recommendations in each price range and used their treadmill buyers guide.  I found this website incredibly helpful.  So far so good.  This treadmill had good reviews for durability but I played it safe and bought the extended maintenance plan to ensure it is maintained properly.  Mechanical maintenance is not exactly a strength of mine!

My first post-baby half-marathon is coming up at the end of next month.  Although I decided to approach this race without a time goal and focus on building mileage and getting used to running distance again, I have been surprised at my paces thus far.  Surprised, as in, they have been slower than I thought they would.  Pre-pregnancy, 10 minutes per mile was my comfy, stroller-less running pace.  Thus far, I have been struggling keeping a pace of 11 minutes per mile on the treadmill.  My long runs, which is up to 8 miles as of this week, have been in the 11:40 per mile or slightly slower pace range and I can't say those runs have felt easy.  I am not upset about it- just surprised.  I thought I would be faster, especially on the treadmill where I am not using the incline or contending with the elements. 

With these paces in mind, I had an opportunity yesterday to run outside in the afternoon.  It has been weeks since I ran outside and I guestimated my iphone would be telling me a pace of 11-12 minutes per mile based on how my workouts are going.  To my surprise, I finished my snowy, icy and a little bit hilly run in exactly 10 minutes per mile feeling good. Huh???  Does anyone else find significant differences in their treadmill versus outside pace?  I always thought treadmill pacing tends to be slightly faster.  Perhaps this was a fluke run or just a really good one for me lately.  I guess we will see when this half marathon rolls around!  Paces aside, I am feeling good getting regular mileage in.  I am up to about 22 miles per week and aiming to head for 30'ish as training progresses.

On the food front, I have been keeping up pretty well with the 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge.  I did miss 1 or 2 days, but most of my mornings are starting with a breakfast like this:

 

 

For those that may be on the fence about green smoothies, give it a try!  They do not taste like spinach or kale or avocado.  The fruit dominates the taste of the drink and I am loving them.  It's great heading out for the day with 5'ish produce servings already consumed!  For those busy mornings, I have been making the smoothies in batches of 2 and storing the second smoothie in a mason jar in the fridge so it is ready to go for the next day.  Just add a straw and DONE!  Any old blender will work to try them out!

 

Oh- and on the dessert front (as you know, I can not forget dessert!), I had a chance to meet up with some girlfriends at a new favorite place of mine, which is a bakery/pastry shop/cocktail bar that makes homemade hot chocolate, desserts etc. etc.  Check out this beautiful apple tart:

 

 

So pretty and so delicious and fresh.  I want to go back!

 

Any treadmill pacing thoughts?  Favorite green smoothies?

 

Have a great week!

 



Doughnuts and Random Things

I have to give an internet shout out to two recipes that I have fallen in love with.  The first is Chocolate Covered Katie's Homemade Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.  I have actually never been a die hard doughnut fan.  I usually gravitate towards muffins, which can be even worse, despite the unexplained "healthier" connotation the word "muffin" brings. That said, it is quite relaxing on a weekend morning to sit with a fresh baked good and a cup of coffee.  The problem is that I am not so sure that most doughnuts or other "baked goods" that can be purchased would qualify as a "fresh baked good."  I stumbled across one of Food Babe's older posts "Sabotaged at Starbucks" this week.  I could not get the quote "The reduced fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake has over 75 ingredients..." out of my head.  75?  What possible 75 things could be in that cake?  Silly me, I thought the recipe would have such things as eggs, milk, butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon.   I have caved to such things on the run or given in to the doughnut at work for that quick energy pick me up....only to come crashing down and not feel so great afterwards.  Well, this recipe is bliss to satisfy that craving for a sweet, fresh baked something and not feel gross afterwards. 

The first time I made it, I did not have spelt flour or any healthy sweetener substitute so I went forward with the all purpose flour and sugar.  I don't yet have a donut pan so I threw the batter into mini bundt pans and they still came out great.


Delicious!

I made them again this weekend.  This time I used spelt flour and substituted maple syrup for the sugar.  I baked them as "donut muffins" and then topped them with the amazing second new recipe that I found.  This one is from My Whole Food Life and I used the chocolate glaze from her pumpkin donuts recipe.  It is so simple- a small amount of chocolate chips of your choice melted with milk of your choice (I only used approx. 1/4-1/3 cup for my small batch of doughnuts).  Fantastic...simple....no nasty ingredients.  Note: I am also going to need to try that pumpkin donut recipe at some point. 

The only mistake I made was not being patient to let them cool in the pan before removing because I was hungry :)  One of them fell apart so lesson learned!  Wait...they are worth waiting for.  Once I got the glaze on them, I popped them into the freezer for a few minutes to set and done.  The recipe made 6.


Definitely worth a few minutes baking...

Other random things I am loving this week include the avocado, my Vitamix blender and the elliptical trainer.  I used to stay away from avocados because of the reported fat content.  I'm learning differently now and loving them.  More on that another time.  My Vitamix blender is Ah-mazing.  I am starting each day with a handful of fruit and veggie servings thanks to this easy green smoothie recipe that I have gravitated towards:

Green Smoothie

~1 cup water

~2 generous handfuls organic spinach

~1 scoop organic wheat grass powder

~A generous heap of frozen berries

~1/2-1 banana or orange or apple

 

Throw into the Vitamix, turn on low and use the tamper to make sure the produce gets to the blades.  Blend until desired consistency (takes less than 30 seconds every time).  Enjoy!

 

I am sure there are tons of other healthy things that can go into a green smoothie and would love to hear any recipes you want to share!

 

Lastly, the elliptical trainer.  It's my favorite pregnant workout.  I have a spinning bike at home, which is my most used equipment just because of its convenience.  Although a good workout and it keeps the body moving, I psychologically like to see some miles add up and the spinning bike I have does not measure distance.  I'm sure there is something I could buy to set the bike up with mileage measurement, but I've always done my spinning workouts just based on time and I think that works fine and do not want to invest more money in it.  In contrast, the elliptical gives me that quasi-running feel without the bouncing belly and elevated heart rate so I am loving it and comfortably complete 3-4.5 miles per workout.  3rd trimester starts this weekend :)  Where does time go?

 

This weekend some friends of mine are participating in a local St. Paddy's Day 5 mile road race.  Good luck to everyone!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello QVC!

Honestly, I have never shopped on QVC or any other home shopping network....until about 2 weeks ago.  As you may be aware, I have been working to incorporate more green smoothies into my daily diet.  I'm trying to squeeze in as much healthy produce as possible for myself and this little bundle that is still growing, kicking and tumbling inside of me right now.  I'm in love with the promises of increased energy and glowing skin that I read others credit to their commitment to veggie intake.  That said, I have had my eyes on a Vitamix blender for a while.  Health blogs galore rave about them.  A good friend of mine has one and swears by it.  It is pricy and an investment, but I figured I would get to it after some planning and buy one....eventually.  Until then, I was committed to using the blender that was a welcomed hand me down from my parents when I was living away in college well over a decade ago.  Who cares that it barely shreds spinach and it feels like ingesting flakes with a fish-food like texture as you gulp the veggie goodness down, right?

So that was my plan....until my good friend the Vitamix owner sent me a text one Sunday morning noting that Vitamix was the "Deal of the Day" on QVC.  She said that she had never seen a deal this good and this girl did her research when she bought her magical blender.  I check the link out and there was considerable savings....and they were throwing in the dry container with it...free shipping....and I had a $50 credit from my bank card (I guess I am still rationalizing)....and then they throw these words in of "3 or 5 easy payments."  QVC people are smart.  After a few quick questions by text to my friend to confirm my commitment to the product, the deal was done and processed within less than minutes.  QVC made it way too easy.

Several days later, this beauty arrived on my door step:

Except mine is in red!

I have only had the blender for less than a week.  I am not yet organized enough to share recipes, but I can say that this thing pulverizes fruits and vegetables.  Green smoothies are fast and delicious.  I have also made my first batch of "soft serve ice cream" using frozen bananas instead of milk or cream...more on that another time for sure as I practice these recipes!

On the fitness front, this week was pretty slow due to some extra work commitments. I only squeezed in a few short spinning sessions. I also seem to be having these random blood pressure drops that go away once I sit down, but they leave me feeling uneasy so I have tried to rest up a little extra this weekend.  Anyone else experience such pregnancy weirdness? 

Anyway, I wish you a good week.  I'm going to avoid QVC in case there are any other "Deals of the Day" that catch my eye....they just make it too easy!

Wheat Grass and Green Smoothies

I am new to green smoothies.  In the summer, I have thrown a handful of spinach into the blender on occasion to mix with fruit and use it up before it goes off, but this is not routine for me.  Recently, I have been reading about the benefits of incorporating green drinks into your regular diet.  Food Babe, which is a great resource for healthy living tips, suggests a green smoothie everyday.  Every. Single. Day.  It is habit #4 on her suggested list of daily things to do.  One of the highlighted foods for a green drink option is wheat grass and I was amazed to see the lengthy list of benefits cited, including detoxification, mega doses of vitamins, cleansing of organs, clearer skin and keeps hair from graying. Did I just read that correctly? "Keeps the hair from graying."  Yes, I did read it correctly.  I am definitely interested!

I started searching for other sources about the benefits of wheat grass and they just kept coming.  Over at My Whole Food Life, wheat grass is listed as one of many super foods.  The Hippocrates Health Institute lists another lengthy roll call of benefits including increased energy, protection of the liver and blood and fighting tumors (It also takes the gray hair benefit even further and says that it can restore gray hair to its natural color- yahoo). One of the most notable benefits of wheat grass cited in multiple sources seems to be its accessible content of chlorophyll, which is linked to benefits including ability to rebuild the blood stream, antibacterial properties, purification, improving blood sugar issues and more.

In general, but especially due to the fact that I am expecting, I want to ensure I get many fruits and vegetables into my diet everyday.  Information supports that green smoothies or drinks are another way to ensure one's daily count of produce is up there. There seems to be three options for wheat grass smoothies or drinks:

1. Local health food store that makes fresh wheat grass juice;
2. Grow your own wheat grass (there are a lot of resources for "Grow Your Own Wheat Grass" kits);"
3. Wheat grass powder.

I do not have access to the local health food store mentioned in option #1.  Although growing my own wheat grass on my window sill sounds lovely, I understand that I would need a special juicer to juice the plant and I do not have one.  So, I decided to give option #3 a try.  I took a trip to my nearest Whole Foods Market, which is not near at all unfortunately but I timed it with another trip I had to take. I reviewed many options that were there and settled on the following: 



Wheat grass powder & fruit smoothie

On the first morning, I tried it with only water.  Admittedly, this was tough.  I was not a fan.  On the second morning, I made a smoothie by combining frozen berries, approximately 1/2 cup of orange juice, another 1/2 to 1 cup of water and the scoop of wheat grass powder.  This went down much better!  On the third morning, I switched up again and tried another suggestion of mixing the powder with a small cup of fruit juice (I added some more water to mix it up better without drinking a giant glass of juice).  This went down well too and is a great option on a morning when time is tight and the full smoothie is pushing the clock a bit.

Wheat grass powder, fruit juice & water

It has only been one week and I am excited to be trying a new healthy routine.  I am still very new to the green smoothies & drinks so I would love to hear any ideas you may have!  Do you have any go-to recipes?  Have you noticed any health benefits from incorporating green drinks into your diet?  What type of blender do you recommend for your drinks?  I have been hearing a lot of great things about the Vitamix lately so that may be hitting my wish list soon!

Thank you for your input and ideas.  Have a great week!