A Very Hilly Morning and A PB&J How To

Good Morning!!

I’m SO happy it’s thursday – last day of classes for the week. The only downside, I’m in class pretty much ALL day until 6:15pm – boo!

This morning was like all the others in the sense that I was up bright and early to get a workout in before my day started. On the agenda for today was a 5 mile training run and some strength training.

Now that it is getting close to graduation and I will be heading home for good in a couple months, I thought I should start including hill work in my training plan since my town is more hilly than I thought! (Check out last week’s posts .. click here … click here) I can’t wait to get home to be able to run outside, but I definitely need to work up my endurance for hilly runs.

I figured this morning was as perfect time as any to start! I did some speed work on tuesday – which actually showed me that I am a bit faster than I thought – and planned hills for today.

So, I had a light pre-workout snack, laced up my NEW sneaks (my sauconys just weren’t cutting it anymore – they were tearing up my feet – ow!) and headed to the gym.

[It's amazing what a difference the right shoe can make - I have always been an asics junkie since I could remember and never had an issue with them - when I started all this running, I needed new shoes, so I decided to go get fitted and try out a new brand - in the beginning I would get blisters but just thought that was normal for new shoes. Well, these blisters kept occuring and reoccuring to the point where they just really hurt; so I headed back to the store to get refitted - lo and behold, the person who fitted me first led me in the wrong direction (go figure). This time, the young man recommended a pair of brooks and these asics for me. Knowing that I already loved my old asics, I went with them again this time - definitely the best choice I've made so far!]

Aren’t they pretty?! Asics Gel Nimbus 13 = LOVE – I feel the difference already!

My 5 mile hill run consisted of:

0.5 mi – 1.0 incline warm-up
0.3 mi - 5.0 incline @ 6.7
0.2 mi – 1.0 incline @ 7.1
0.5 mi – 1.0 incline @ 6.3-6.5 (depending on how I felt)
0.3 mi – 5.0 incline @ 6.7
0.2 mi – 1.0 incline @ 7.2
0.5 mi – 1.0 incline @ 6.3-6.5 (depending on how I felt)
0.3 mi – 5.0 incline @ 6.7
0.2 mi – 1.0 incline @ 7.3
0.5 mi – 1.0 incline @ 6.3-6.5 (depending on how I felt)
0.3 mi – 5.0 incline @ 6.7
0.2 mi – 1.0 incline @ 7.4
1.0 mi – 1.0 incline cool down @ 6.3

I completed it in ~ 45:40.

This workout KICKED my butt – it probably didn’t help that the gym was super humid! It ended up being a great intro. hill workout out for me. It was very challenging and half way through I was thinking to myself “ARE YOU NUTS?! Why are you doing hills? You HATE hills!” I, then, changed my mind set and pushed through by saying to myself – “Come on. You can do it! Just a little bit longer.” Once I finished, I felt awesome (and worked)! Stretched out a bit then headed downstairs for strength work.

Post-workout I enjoyed another homemade smoothie - best way to use up left over raw greens and ripe fruit! Along side I had a 1/2 of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!!! I LOVE PB&J; – always have and always will. It was a staple for me for lunch time when I was younger – my mom made the BEST PB&J; sandwiches. When I was growing up, she would teach me her method - which is the BEST and ONLY way to make an AMAZING PB&J; sandwich.

Now that I’m older, I think I have mastered her technique

It looks and goes something like this…

First, take out all your ingredients – aka. your PB, jelly/jam, and bread
(I used Costco brand all natural PB, Trader Joe’s all natural strawberry jelly, and Trader Joe’s 100% whole wheat fiber bread – I only used 1 piece since I was also having the smoothie)

Then, spread your PB on 1 side of the bread and the jelly on the other – making sure to cover the whole surface EVENLY – this is VERY important when making the BEST EVER PB&J;.
(ps. NEVER and I repeat NEVER place the PB smeared knife in the jelly or vice versa – GROSS – a huge pet peeve of mine!)

Look at that – I’m making my mom’s best pb&j; and its (not intentionally) on the mother/daughter plates she gave me

Place the jelly side on top of the PB side like so..

Cut in half (this is optional, but I love when my PB&J; is in little squares – I can remember when I would open my lunch as a kid and be kind of upset whenever my mom forgot to cut it in to 4 squares – then I upgraded to the diagonal cut like a big girl )

Now, you can either enjoy it or wrap it up for on-the-go like I did.

My mom seriously knows how to make the BEST PB&J; and I am so lucky I learned how Whenever someone asks me to make them a PB&J; and I do, they almost ALWAYS tell me that I make the best ones – my response is always .. “Thanks! My mom taught me well!”

This being in my bag for after my workout may or may not have gotten me through that run as well – hehe

What can I say, I love me some PB&J; (or anything with PB for that matter!)

After the gym, I headed to my first class of the day – ADVANCED NUTRITION! – the only class I like today – ha! I have a short break until my next wave of classes begin, so I enjoyed a simple snack of yogurt, fruit and granola since I know I have a long while until I can have lunch.

Now, I know in the past I have said that I am not a fan of flavored yogurt (I would much rather make my own FOB – as you’ll see in a later post), but it is a quick grab-n-go option when your crunched for time.

I am starting to really love this Stonyfield Oikos greek yogurt. Their vanilla brand is really tasty and the sugar content isn’t as outrageous as other brands (part of the reason why I picked this flavored brand until I tasted it ) I’m still all about my plain with fresh fruit, but when I need something quick, I’ll settle for this!

Well, I’m off to class! At least I have this to look forward to for lunch …

A roasted chicken breast sandwich (left over from sunday’s batch for the enchiladas) on Trader Joe’s 100% whole wheat fiber bread with baby spinach, tomato, avocado, and … my favorite … NANA’s ROASTED JALAPENO PEPPERS – super win!!! (Mommy had some more in the freezer from the last time she visited nana ) YUMMY!

Can you tell I’m a huge {whole} foodie?! haha – o well

Have an awesome thursday!

~ L