Back to Basics

And so we complete our first week of running after vacation. 

More days than not now it’s starting to feel like spring and with the spring running weather comes the spring smells, i.e. BBQ, freshly cut grass, etc. It’s nice to be outside this time of year. 

With the temps rising and falling it’s still pretty hard to gauge what to wear for running. We have established that any temps +10 and over requires a t-shirt/tank & shorts/capris. Anything else is shorts/capris & long sleeve shirt. Our long run this past Sunday was another 10k and it was muggy and yucky. By km #5 we were ready to strip. Lesson learnt. A lot of people were out on the trail walking/running/biking and we even ran across a local celebrity in the Timberlea running blog world :)

All in all it was a successful week and now we are back on track and headed for the finish line. We have made a commitment that no matter what happens or what’s going on with family, friends, etc running comes first (until September 22). 

Back in January both of us signed up for the JM 90 day Body Revolution Challenge and did well until Twin 2 gave up during the last week. JM also has a meal plan that we did not follow during the challenge but thought why not give it a try because if it works for her type of workouts and strength training then why not for running? This isn’t a diet, it’s a ‘meal plan’. 

We printed off the meal plan on Friday and Saturday afternoon/evening was spent wondering around the grocery store trying to find things like cumin, cannellini beans (still can't find these), rice vinegar/balsamic vinegar/cider vinegar/red wine vinegar/white vinegar (who knew there were so many types of vinegar?) etc. 

Sunday was spent trying to divide all ingredients up between us and prepping a few meals to help us get meals prepared at least one day in advance. We had to recruit our little sista, Wi, to give us some cooking lessons as she, like any other normal person, knew what ‘broil’ was. We however, did not. About 3 hours later with 3 of us cooking in the kitchen we were one meal ahead. 

Our fridge is now full and our cupboards are empty.  We have not used/bought anything that was packaged in a box.  This means all ‘healthy’ food right?!

Here are a few pics of some of the things that were on our menu so far this week: 

 

1. Veggie burger with salad

2.  Spinach omelet with berries and pita

3. Salmon cakes with salad

4. Spicy & cheesy pumpkin seeds (attempt) 

Week one has been a challenge (see burnt pumpkin seeds above) and neither one of us have ever spent this much time in the kitchen but it’s fun learning of new foods and recipes.  We have tasted things for the first time (i.e. veggie burgers, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, beans, etc.)  The learning curve has been a big one and we still have a ways to go.  Hopefully this upcoming long weekend we’ll get ahead and the nights next week won’t be so busy with running/prepping/eating food and our grocery list won’t be so long or expensive.

Hope everyone enjoys their long weekend!