Tag Archives: smoothies

by

Triple Workout Day

Summer has officially begun for me and I am loving it!  Colby did his half Ironman this past weekend and rocked it!  I will post tomorrow all about his race.  We got back yesterday and I only ran 3 miles on the treadmill at the hotel once.  I had plenty of time today to workout… so that is what I did!

179775_183865308441004_912897079_n

(PM workout)

I asked Colby to run 3 easy miles with me outside.  His legs were sore but he was okay going slow with me.  We walked a little too.  Tonight, I did something I haven’t done in a longgggg time… I went to a SPIN class!!  Two years ago I tried to get into spin, but I just couldn’t.  My new gym has all  RPM (Les Mills spin class) and they have a 30 minute class two times a week.  Tonight they had the 30 minute class and CXWORX was right afterwards.  I really loved it!!  30 minutes was just enough, because I’m not sure I could have done much more tonight.  Spin is just so hard when you aren’t used to it!  I loved that it was in a separate spin room and it just had such a cool atmosphere.  I really liked the instructor too!

photo

I made an awesome smoothie this morning after my run.  I haven’t made a smoothie in a few weeks so it tasted great.  Chocolate Vega protein, Silk almond milk, PB2 powder, spinach, frozen banana, frozen strawberries and chia seeds! YUM!

Big Ironman review tomorrow! :)

by

Making a Smoothie With an Old Blender

Don’t worry about me! Just because you might not hear from me everyday does not mean that I have fallen off the exercise train! I have been very good about getting to CXWORX/BodyPump classes on a regular basis at the gym.  I haven’t been running a lot lately because of those itchy legs and rashes I was getting from running outside.  I have been going for walks a lot and using the elliptical at the gym for a nice change.  As soon as the fall weather comes, I know I will really want to run outside. I’ve also been eating very healthy meals and I try to change up my breakfast each morning.  I usually rotate between smoothies, eggs and cereal.  Smoothies have by far been my favorite this summer and I don’t even have a good blender!

Even though I dream of the Vitamix, I use this VERY old and crappy blender for my smoothies and it might take a little longer, but it works.

 

A few weeks ago, the nice people at Zico sent me a bunch of their coconut water to try out.  I’ll be honest, for some reason I have been scared to try it! I don’t know why!! I like coconut stuff, but for some reason I didn’t think I would like it… but I do! I’ve been putting it in my tropical smoothies and it is great!  I’ve been using the My Fitness Pal iPhone app ever since I finished my spring marathon to get my eating back in shape, since I wasn’t going to be running 30-40 miles a week over the summer and didn’t need to eat a box of pasta everyday! I’m always low on potassium when I log my food, so coconut water is great to get extra in for the day.

Here were my supplies for my tropical smoothie this morning.  An 11.2 oz box of Zico coconut water, my awesome Vega tropical tango smoothie protein mix, chia seeds, 1/2 a banana (that bag has 2 in it… I like to freeze a bunch of them at a time), spinach and strawberries.  I promise you can’t taste the spinach at all.  Put it in your smoothies!  I know that is a weird “healthy living blogger” thing that everyone does, but it really has no taste.  I put at least a cup in my smoothies.

To get things started in this dinosaur of a blender, I rinse the spinach in my salad spinner and then put it in the blender first.  I cover it with whatever liquid I’m using.  Today was the coconut water, but I also use Silk’s Pure Almond Milk in Unsweetened Original  (30 calories).

 

 

Then I add my dry ingredients. Today was the Vega Tropical Smoothie mix and chia seeds.  I forgot about chia seeds for awhile and I’m trying to bring them back!

 

Then I add my frozen berries.  After trying different things out this summer, I realized I think frozen blueberries get kinda watery in smoothies, so I haven’t been using them as much.  I like frozen bananas and strawberries.  I just buy frozen strawberries in a huge bag at the grocery store.  For my bananas, I buy a bunch of 6 or so and cut them up and put two bananas in every ziplock bag and keep them in the freezer.  I hate to run out of bananas!

 

By then, everything is looking pretty gross because of the spinach (I promise you can’t taste it) and the smoothie is usually green.  I use crushed ice from my fridge – this blender can’t handle whole cubes… I’ve tried.  The ice definitely makes the smoothie bigger and a little thicker.  I put it in last, and have to take a spoon and mix it into the smoothie.  Then I get frustrated and have to keep stopping it and mixing it around with the spoon so it will all mix.

 

Then the smoothie is done! Today I had a lot so I put it in one of my large mason jars.  I really like how much smoothie this makes and it takes awhile to drink all of it!  This one is about 300 calories and really keeps me full.

 

Ugly color, good flavor!

Also…

My Mom and I went to look for a dress for her to wear to my wedding in October.  We ended up going to the shop where we got our bridesmaids dresses.  I tried on Colby’s sister’s dress because they just came in and was so happy! I love them! I love the scoop neck and how comfortable the chiffon is to wear.  We didn’t get to actually see this exact dress when we ordered it because the store had sold their last one off the rack.  The girls had tried on the strapless version of it and we just had to hope that it would work out!  Love it!  The purple dress hanging in the background is the dress my Mom picked out to wear!  We are going to have it shortened so it is about the same length as the bridesmaid dresses.

Woo hoo!  A little sneaky peak of my dress with my shoes! Ignore the green toenails please! I tried it on the other day too.  I ordered the one pair of Badgley Mischka shoes I had on my Pinterest wedding board and they are 5 inches tall!!!!!! I can do 4, but 5?  I’m just barely 5’5” so these shoes put me around 5’10”! I love feeling tall, I just hope I can walk! Good thing Colby is over 6’2”!  The shoes are so tall that the  dress doesn’t need hemmed and is at the perfect length!  :)

by

Allergic To Running?

Am I allergic to running? Or does my body just forget what it is like to run outside?  The weather this week has been so nice and I’ve really had the “itch” (pun intended) to run in the cool rainy weather.  In the past, when I was new to running or took a long break and would try to go for a run my legs would sometimes get really itchy while I ran.  It usually happened more in the summer and would go away if I ran a few more times.  I found this article a while ago that says it should go away after you start running more and it is just caused by “capillaries and arteries inside our muscles rapidly expanding because of the demand for more blood” and this can make you itchy.  So this has happened a few times this summer, but something worse happens…

Rash!! YUCK! I’ll have a rash on my legs or sometimes the side of my stomach for a few days! It looks like broken capillaries and this has happened a couple times over the past few weeks.  I’m not sure if it is because I’ve been doing other exercises that don’t make my heart rate go up as high like BodyPump/CX, yoga, walking, etc. but this needs to stop!  The rash might be from the scratching I do like a crazy person outside my house.  Pink Runner needs to run more often to make this stop…

 

On a happier note, Colby and I decided to go see Legally Blonde the Musical a few nights ago.  I’ve seen it before and have the soundtrack memorized so I’ve been obnoxiously singing the songs for the past few days.

 

You might have noticed a lot of Tweeting from me a week ago about Vega Smoothies and they were (still are?) having a contest.  Yesterday, I got all this awesome stuff from them in the mail!! I got a bag, recipe book, chocolate coconut protein bars (so good) and three smoothie protein powders!! I LOVE THE CHOC-A-LOT! It is awesome in a banana pb smoothie and tastes like a milkshake :)

 

 

Love you Vega! Thank you :)

Congrats to Cherie for running her second 13.1 !

 

 

by

Vega Smoothies

I am going to take it easy today and just go for a walk as my workout.  I was DYING at BodyPump last night and I am so sore today!  I even went easy on the weights because I haven’t been to that many classes in the past few months, but my legs were literally shaking during some of the tracks! The chest and lunge tracks are always the hardest for me!

I have been on a HUGE smoothie kick this month.  I know that is nothing new for bloggers, but it is for me.  I stopped drinking coffee at the end of May and I really like drinking a big smoothie in the morning.  They really fill me up and they are so easy to take with me.  I’ve been teaching music lessons a few times a week and one day I usually teach 9-2 without a lunch break.  I don’t mind it, but the smoothie saves me! I make a huge one and put it in a mason jar to take with me.  The kids think it is gross because they are usually green from the spinach.

The smoothie above is one from this morning.  You can’t really tell the green color from the iPhone picture in my kitchen.  I have been using protein in my smoothies because I am pretty low on my protein intake each day.  I was so happy when Vega sent me some samples of their new energizing smoothie supplements.  Today I tried the vanilla almondilla and it was very good.  The almond flavor was VERY strong, but I liked it because it was so different.

I tried the chocolate (choc-a-lot) last week and it was absolutely amazing! It tasted like a chocolate PB milkshake and I LOVED it!

No picture of the amazing chocolate smoothie, but like I said before... almost all of my smoothies include Silk Pure Almond unsweetened original milk (amazing! my favorite almond milk), frozen banana, frozen berries (strawberry this week), spinach, protein powder and/or peanut butter (PB & Co!!) and crushed ice.

I’m excited to try the other three flavors I have left, especially the berry!  Do you drink smoothies? What do you put in them?

by

Getting Into A Routine

June 11-17

Monday- off

Tuesday- BodyPump and 30 min. elliptical

Wednesday- off

Thursday- CXWORX 30 min core class and 40 minutes on elliptical

Friday- BodyPump (1 hour class) and 4 miles on TM

This is my first full week off from school and I’ve been enjoying going to morning classes at the gym!  I love working out in the morning, but I would never get up at 5 am during the school year to workout/run before work!  I tried a CXWORX 30 minute core class last Thursday and really enjoyed it.  It is created by Les Mills, the same company that creates BodyPump.  I’ve been getting on the elliptical a few times before class just for something new.  I was a little burned out from running and sticking to a training plan for so many months and it is nice to switch it up.  I’m really enjoying running the mileage I want.  I ran 3 miles last Saturday and Sunday and I’m hoping to run 5 tomorrow morning.

Along with working out a lot, I’ve been trying to eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

Lots of salads and they are tasting so good! I’m really on a sunflower seed and chickpea kick right now.

I’ve also been making smoothies almost every morning! This is what I usually put in mine:

  • 1/2 cup Pure Almond Silk Milk
  • 1 cup spinach
  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 1/2 strawberries, blueberries or raspberries
  • 1 Tbsp Chia Seeds
  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein
  • Sometimes 1 Tbsp PB (PB & Co is my favorite!!)
Colby and I have 3 weddings to attend this month! We went to one last weekend…
We are going to another wedding tomorrow and I am playing violin for the outdoor ceremony.  We also have one next weekend that is near Colby’s college he went to and it is one of his best friends.
_
Speaking of weddings… I’ve been trying to find wedding accessories for my wedding and I am having a hard time.  Please help me out and go on my Pinterest Wedding and Wedding Hair site to see what I am thinking for shoes and headbands.  I went to a huge mall (KOP!) with my Mom and Colby yesterday looking for shoes and had no luck.  All the Badgley Mischka shoes I found online aren’t at the major department stores, but I found similar Badgley Mischka ones.  They didn’t fit my feet at all! It was like they were made for someone with a flat foot and my arch didn’t even touch the shoe.  I did find shoes to dream over…
Ahhh you know about my Twilight obsession… these are the Manolo Blahniks Bella wore for her wedding in Breaking Dawn.  They come in a few colors and they had the pink ones out at Neiman Marcus.  I want I want I want, but they are $1300!  I put them on and of course they fit and looked beautiful.  *sigh*
___
Vega has a 35% off sale going on right now with the promo code: VEGAVEGA
by

Positive Splits

Saturday Workout: 5 miles (56:19)

I’m in a surprisingly good mood after my 5 miler this morning in 86 degree heat and POSITIVE splits. That’s right, I got increasingly slower as the heat got to me… and I’m okay with it.

A few mistakes I made this morning:

#1: Don’t sleep in – I didn’t start running until it was almost 10:30! The sun was killer the whole time and I didn’t get much shade.

#2: Don’t eat high fiber cereal for breakfast – I thought that it would just be a short 5 miler so it wouldn’t matter, but my stomach was in knots the whole time

#3: Don’t start running at your race pace for your first “long run” when you know you won’t be able to hold it the whole time – there was the problem with the positive splits. It was way too hot and I thought I felt fine at the beginning. Once I got to some hills, I ended up walking more and more as the heat got to me.

#4: Bring a cell phone in the heat – Which is more dangerous, running a 20 miler in April or a 5 miler in July? I always carried my phone with me for my long marathon training runs in March/April in case something happened. I still think this is a good idea and I carried my iPhone with me in my SPIbelt. BUT, just because I was going for a short run it was in crazy heat that I am not used to and I felt really lightheaded when I was 2 miles away from my house. I would have rather called someone to get me and finished the run on the treadmill.

I think the main reason I’m not upset at all over this run is that I know it is just the heat for me. I have always preferred running in cold weather over hot and I know as soon as the fall temperatures come I will be running so much better outside. I also know that if I would have ran this 5 miler on the treadmill I could have easily kept a 9:20 pace the whole time. I can’t wait for colder weather!

Smoothie time after my run!

My smoothie was actually a nice chocolate pink color from the raspberries. I also included a scoop of this…

OH MY GOSH! Where has this been all my life??! I see Peanut Butter & Co on a bunch of blogs and finally saw it at my grocery store. I had to decide between PB honey or PB chocolate… obviously this won. It is amazing. I want to put it in smoothies, bananas, sandwiches, everything! Obsessed.

Yesterday, I took a break from blogging to do important things… like get my hair done. :)

I LOVE my hair dresser because she is one of my friends that I graduated HS with and she is amazing.

My hair <3′s Rachel and her awesome skills. I told her we look like hair twins right here. I promise she can do way more than long blonde highlighted wavy curls :) I did get an inch or so cut because it was getting out of control and I have to get into teacher-mode in a few weeks!

So as I blabbed on and on about blogging Rachel gave me hair products to review! Free hair products???? Yes :)

Love Wella products and I can’t wait to actually use professional shampoo/conditioner at home.  I’ll admit, I’ll pay to get my hair done but I don’t always spend the $ for shampoo/conditioner at home.  This will be a nice treat for my hair :)   I’ll let you know how I like using the Shampoo, Conditioner, Deep-conditioner, and finishing spray when I wash my hair today! Yes, I’m still sitting in my sweaty nastiness from running.  Maybe a little hair tutorial should be in the works for how I curl my hair? It is really easy and I get comments on it when I post a curled hair picture. I tend to curl it more than straighten because I think it is faster and it always looks good and almost the same the next day if I don’t wash it.

Oh yeah, still obsessed with this stuff. Thanks for introducing me to this expensive tea habit Jen :)

#1 favorite is the ginger flavor. It is amazing. Liked cranberry and #2 favorite would have to be Katalyst Kombucha’s berry flavor.

by

Running Partners

Tuesday Workout: 3.25 mile run, BodyPump class (1 hour)

I was SO lucky to have an awesome new running partner yesterday morning! It was so nice talking and running with my friend Amy, a teacher from my school.  We took it easy in the extreme heat at 8am ran at a comfortable pace and talked the entire time. I forgot how easy it can feel and how fast a half an hour can go when you have someone to talk to during a run! I really hope we continue running together every once in awhile. I forgot how important it is to take an easier run every once in awhile and have someone to keep you company! I need to just calm it down with the Garmin and run at a comfortable pace sometimes in the summer heat!

Both rocking our running skirts yesterday morning! Don’t you think Amy should sign up for the Hershey Half Marathon too????  She was worried about going on vacation the week before the race, but I said that’s the best time to take it easy and have fresh legs for the race!!

The Brooks Glycerine skirt I bought to match the tank top and shorts I already own came in the mail Monday and I wore it on my run for the first time.  I think it looks flattering and is a longer than the shorts.  I wasn’t used to the tight shorts that are underneath the skirt, but I’m sure I could get used to them.  I do think it was hotter wearing the skirt than the super lightweight Brooks Glycerine shorts, so it might be perfect for the cooler October weather for my race…

Colby and I came up with a training plan for the Hershey Half Marathon on October 16th.  We combined and altered Hal Higdeon’s Novice and Intermediate plans. I can always stick with the long runs on a training plan, but if my legs ever feel really horrible, I’ll lower or drop a mid week run.  So I know that might be a possibility during the end of the plan, and I am okay with that.  This really doesn’t look that bad compared to the Hal Higdeon Novice I plan I used for my first full marathon. For my first full marathon, I felt like I was running a lot last winter/spring! I’m looking forward to this half plan because I will still be able to incorporate BodyPump and yoga/pilates into my schedule!

After my run, I made a chocolate/banana smoothie! I used chocolate protein powder, chocolate recoverite, 1 frozen banana, 1 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, and xanthan gum for thickening.  I knew I was going to BodyPump at night, so I wanted to make sure to have a protein shake!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE BodyPump?? Yesterday was the premier of the new songtrack or “release” for our gym and it was a pretty big deal! I didn’t expect balloons and signs metioning the premier and 3 instructors for class! It was awesome having instructors up front running the class and another walking around and helping.  It was pretty crowded, but would have been perfect for newbies to get the extra help!

Meeting stuff with my department at work today and tomorrow, so I’m not sure when I will fit my running in, especially since it is supposed to be 100 degrees both days!! Craaaazy. I’m hoping to make this Barefoot Contessa salad tonight after seeing her make it on tv yesterday.  I seriously love this woman and she never gets on my nerves like all the other food network people!

by

Marathon Recovery Is Tough!

Sunday morning run: 6 miles – 58:47

Not going to lie, I stopped my watch two times during this run at a water fountain and tried not to die.  When I started my run it was about 72 degrees, when I came back it was over 80 and I was hot!  I reached my goal of 6 miles today, but it was difficult.  I never expected running after a marathon to be so tough.  I felt like stopping the whole time and my legs are definitely weaker on hills right now.  I also didn’t use any music because my headphones are messed up from the marathon and I hated hearing how heavy I was breathing the whole time.

I have a 6 mile loop from my house that I used during my marathon training.  When I did my 18 and 20 milers, I used this loop 3+ times and it could get boring.  Today, I took my camera and took pictures during my 6 mile loop…

At the start of my run when it was only 70 something degrees and I was happy.

Crossing a bridge about .5 miles from my house. I hate this bridge because it is so narrow and I’m scared a car will hit me.

There is a Sheetz and McDonald’s 1 mile from my house.  I always feel like stopping for gatorade.

At mile 1.5 there is one of our district’s elementary schools.

At mile 2.5 there is a water fountain at a park.  I stopped here both times I passed it today.

Mile 3… Why yes, I do feel like stopping and turning around. Thank you.

Passing McDonald’s at mile 5 and feeling good running past the people in their cars at the drive-thru

There is a main road between McDonald’s and Sheetz and sometimes I have to stop and wait for the traffic light to cross. I secretly love when I hit the red light and have to wait.

I made a smoothie when I got back home.  The color was nasty but the taste was good :)

My smoothie was made of:

* 1 cup almond milk

* blueberries

*strawberries

*fresh spinach

*1 scoop chocolate Recoverite

*1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder

Then I went to my aunt and uncles today for a Memorial Day dinner with my parents and Colby.

Tonight I was craving chocolate, so Colby and I went to Rita’s and I got chocolate peanut butter ice :)

Yummmmmmm

Time for bed! Maybe another attempt at running in the heat in the morning?

XOXO,

Pink Runner