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Showing posts from April, 2012

Hester Street Fair

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GREAT NEWS!
Want to get in a great workout but don't belong to a gym?  Want to try one out with no commitment?  Get ready to thank Fitness Magazine, because they're giving away free passes to GYMS all over the country, in honor of Fitness's 20th anniversary!  

Check out the Fitness Magazine website to download a free gym pass.  On May 1, you could be working out at...
- 24 Hour Fitness
- Bally Total Fitness
- Crunch
- Gold's Gym
- Boston / Philadelphia / Washington / New York Sports Club
- A number of YMCA locations throughout the country

Thank you, Fitness Magazine! 

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In other news... I had a lovely weekend.  How was yours?

I decided to take the weekend off from work.  Time for fun!  Saturday was a faaabulous (if exhausting!) day.  The BF and I had lunch at Vapiano, a chain I used to frequent in DC.  Their design-your-own salads, pizzas, pastas are delicious, and (FYI:) the individual "charge cards" makes it a GREAT place to go with group…
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Shake up your run

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I wanted to run this morning, but I woke up in an "eh" mood for it.  It was cold and damp outside, so the weather was majorly de-motivating.  I thought I could go to the gym, but then why not just do Spinning? (I can tell you why: Because there would be a substitute who never gets us out of the saddle. Lame.)

Fortunately, Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean had just posted her recap for the week, and in it, she shared a great 4-mile run, that she reports using when she wants to cover 4 miles but isn't in the mood to run fast.  Sounded like me this morning!  See her workout here:

Perfect.  I wanted to run about 4 miles anyway, and, since I know that I'm capable of 3 miles steady at 6.0 mph, this should be right at my fitness level.  I jotted down the outline and hopped off to the gym.

I did tweak it a little bit, turning Mile 2 into a sandwich rather than intervals, and I increased the speed on the intervals in Mile 3, which I really liked.  Also went rogue for Mile 4. 





My…
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WIAW: Healthy fats and Frozen treats

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Goooood morning, WIAW-ers!  Today, I'll be sharing my eats from Monday.  Before you see my food photos, please check out my guest post on Angela's blog! --> Running: A Love-to-Hate Relationship.  Enjoy, and please leave a comment! I'd love to learn about YOUR relationship with running.

And now, on to What I Ate Wednesday Monday





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Love to Hate Running

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Hi Friends!  It's "Try Something New Tuesday" over at Eat, Spin, Run, Repeat, and while Angela is away, I'm subbing in with a guest post on her blog today!  Whether you love or hate running, this post is for you:


Head on over to learn about my  love-to-hate relationship with running, and how new and old runners alike can use running  to challenge themselves in new ways.
Please check it out and leave your comments!  
Angela has such a fun blog and I'm honored to be featured.


If you need a refresher on my own running history, you can also look back at "Become a Runner" posts, or check out the new "Fitness" page, above! 
As for monotasking, thought I'd pop in and let you know how DIFFICULT it is!!!!  Wow.  I didn't realize how much I distract myself from the task at hand!  Even something as simple as sitting down and eating my meal, rather than taking my breakfast to the computer for my morning reading.  Even when I'm at the table, I tend to …
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Checking in; TGIM: Monotasking

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Happy Monday!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  Did you try anything new?  Check out the April Adventures roundup over at Meals & Miles!  Lots of great ideas for new things to try.

Since my success with running for fun, I've dipped in my miles again, but THAT'S OKAY.  I'm still working out, and I'm still enjoying myself.  I do want to get back in running shape, though, so this morning, I was planning to attempt a long run (for me, that'd be five miles) before an abs class.  Didn't happen.  I had a really poor night's sleep and just wasn't feeling up to it.  A spent a little while feeling guilty, but then decided that it's alright so swap today's plan for tomorrow; there was still time to make it happen.  ... But then I didn't.  I'm human.  It was raining.

I DID GO TO THE ABS CLASS.  I did something.  I did not do any real cardio conditioning, (after basically taking the weekend off,) and then proceeded to spend the day planted wit…
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Gluten-Free Baking: Dark Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

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After my first April Adventure getting funky in Zumba class, I kind of took a hiatus from adventuring. Last week just flewww by, but now I'm back and ready for another adventure!


This week, I experimented with gluten-free baking! Granted, I already did some paleo baking with almond flour (which is also GF), but this time I took a regular cookie recipe and swapped in new, never-before-used-by-me ingredients:


The recipe called for rolled oats, so I was thrilled when I happened upon this gluten-free variety!

I know what you're thinking. Beans? In a COOKIE?? I was a little nervous, too, but I chose this as my flour (rather than, say, corn flour or rice flour) because Chocolate-Covered Katie uses chickpea and white bean (and I think even garbanzo!) beans in so many of her healthy, vegan desserts.  And she is AWESOME.
Today's recipe, however, called for regular ole whole wheat flour, of which I'm usually a big fan. I was inspired (dared) by My friend Rachel, who has a b…
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WIAW: Love Grown and the Library

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Ah, the life of a grad student is a glamorous one.

[Welcome to the library]
Still, we all gotta eat, right?




First up: breakfast, which was made possible in part byJenn (Peas & Crayons), herself!


After winning her giveaway a few weeks ago, a glorious package filled with Love Grown Granola finally arrived!  She even snuck in some tea and a cute note. So Jenn.


Several bloggers have been going ga-ga over this granola this for a while, so I was excited to see what all the hype was about...


...and worthy, it was.  Mm!  One bite and I knew that was it. I'm converted. Count me in.  Good thing I finished my paleo month because this is goooood.


BONUS:  It is gluten-free!  Woohoo!  It's got all these other traits to brag about, too:


And even the "flavored" bag uses REAL INGREDIENTS for the star flavors! What a novel idea, to use real walnuts and real apples rather than "apple flavor."  Well done, Love Grown Foods.


I loved the "Apple Walnut Delight" flavor.  …
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Pretend you're PALEO

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Alright, I've been dropping hints of my gluten-free, paleo-style eating all month. Time to explain what went down.
1.  I went on vacation. I didn't eat wheat, and only very few grains.  I felt great. 2.  I finally accepted all the article, podcast, and book information on the "paleo" (short for paleolithic) lifestyle and how it's curing everything from acne and indigestion to diabetes and chronic disease.
3.  I gave it a go for one month. 30 days.



There are entire books on this, so please bear with me as I try to thoroughly (yet briefly as possible!) explain the diet, my own experience, and my thoughts going forward.

PALEO basics:


What is the paleo diet?
The "paleo diet", aka "caveman diet", is essentially eating meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fresh fruits, and nature's fats (nuts, seeds, healthful oils).  What you reduce or eliminate is: grains, legumes, and (depending on who you ask) dairy.  It's fairly simple, until you go to the super…
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