Mouthful

So, we had 3 very large very ripe bananas sitting on our kitchen counter for a few days. Thankfully, somebody in the house was wise and put them into the freezer. I took that as a clue that somebody wanted some banana bread. As I was sitting in my Health Education class today I remembered that I just happen to have dark chocolate chips and peanut butter on hand.

Who am I kidding? I always have chocolate chips and peanut butter on hand.

Anyways, since all I had on my mind today was chocolate chips, peanut butter and bananas there was only one thing left to do after I finished my lab today..

Enter Dark Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Bread (that’s a mouthful)

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 TBS brown sugar
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray pan (I used a casserole dish.. don’t judge) with non stick cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients together: flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and sugar. Pour in all wet ingredient, minus the chocolate chips. Mix em all together! Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into baking pan and bake! I’m not sure how long this takes because I didn’t really pay attention so just keep an eye on it and make sure you put a tooth pick in it to check to see if it is finished! You should probably also let it cool before you eat it…but this is optional.

Perfect post running fuel if you ask me.

This morning I woke up drank my coffee, ate my banana and toast and set out for a 3 miler.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	28:13.0	3.01	9:23
1	9:38.8	1.00	9:39
2	9:22.6	1.00	9:23
3	9:08.4	1.00	9:08
4	:03.2	0.01	8:49

 

See those negative splits? That’s right, it happened! My goal to start with a warm up during my first mile has been achieved! Now, hopefully I can keep this up during my longer runs.

I also made sure to do some stretching and a little bit of yoga before I showered and refueled with the DCCPBBB that’s the dark chocolate chip peanut butter banana bread in text language.

What is your favorite thing to bake?

Probably breads!

Do you try and sub out oils and sugars where you can in baked goods? 

Yes!

Do you try and negative split during your runs? 

I try but this has been my first run that actually looks pretty consistent with my times!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I’m thinking the weather gods must read my blog because after I published this post complaining all about the weather/I hate winter/wahh wahh I’m a wimp because the sun came out today! It snowed on Friday night meaning I had to run on ice Saturday morning and then I wake up on Sunday and it was 61 degrees with sunshine I haven’t seen since September!

Missouri weather is crazy.

As soon as I woke up on Sunday morning and saw the sunshine I got such a burst of energy and I knew that I had to go for a run. Technically I wasn’t supposed to run according to the ol’ training plan but I cheated and celebrated the weather with a 7 mile run in shorts!

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:08:42.7	7.29	9:25
1	9:02.5	1.00	9:03
2	9:01.7	1.00	9:02
3	9:44.0	1.00	9:44
4	9:38.9	1.00	9:39
5	9:37.2	1.00	9:37
6	10:38.3	1.00	10:38
7	8:50.7	1.00	8:51
8	2:09.4	0.29	7:20

One of my goals for this training plan is to really work on my times; not necessarily getting faster but learning how to pace myself to where I start out with an actual warm up and build up speed throughout my run. Clearly my times are all over the place so this is definitely something I need to work on.

After I made it back to my house I stretched (not as much as I should have) showered, puttered around for a bit and then got to work on another crock pot dinner! I decided with the warmer weather it was reason enough to celebrate with mexican food! So, I made a pulled chicken recipe to top a taco salad I had envisioned for dinner.

Crock Pot Pulled Chicken (measure to taste!)

• Chicken breasts
• Salsa (I used hot)
• brown sugar (I used 3-4 tbs)
• sprite (1/4 of the can)
• Combination of spices: onion, garlic, chipotle pepper, cumin

Put all ingredients into the crock pot and turn on low for 4-5 hours. Once chicken is cooked through pull apart the chicken with a fork. Place all chicken back into the crock pot and turn on warm. I added a little more salsa to keep the pulled chicken moist.

This recipe was very very easy and the best part is I have leftovers! Love that

Now, that it’s Monday I’ve got classes to go to, reading to catch up on and the Bachelor to watch!

Oh, and this is the kind of weather I’m waking up to for the next few days:

Partly cloudy high 50 degree weather in January/February? Sign me up!

Have you had crazy weather where you are this year?

umm yes!

Do you follow a training plan exactly or do you do you mix it up a bit?

I mix it up a bit. I need more cross training than what a plan gives me.

Favorite type of food?

I really do love mexican food! I miss fresh Tex mex more than anything.

Awkward Cheese

It’s been awkwardly cold here for the last week or so. Awkwardly cold meaning it’s cloudy with temps in the low 40s. The sun is trying to peak through all day long and then at 5pm it goes away and just gets plain cold. Not a fan. I’m a warm weather runner and happen to love the sunshine.

And on another note  it’s totally affecting my wardrobe situation. Yesterday  I wore flats around campus and by the time I made it to class my toes were freezing! The majority of students on campus were wearing boots or sneakers and then the one’s in those moccasins that are slippers. So I really don’t have an excuse for wearing flats except that the sun was shining when I walked out of my house!

Oh Missouri, you’re killing me. No more of this awkward weather business. 

Along with the whole wardrobe situation the weather is affecting my eats. Not cold enough to crave a heavy stew but definitely not warm enough to be eating frozen yogurt for meals.. what’s a girl to do?

Remember in elementary school when it was grilled cheese and tomato soup day? I was never really a fan, I think it was the plastic cheese that they used that turned me off of it. Either way, kids went crazy for this meal! Being the college money saving monster I am, for the most part, I decided that I was not and I meant NOT going to go to the 1.) grocery store and 2.) Ingredient. I resorted back to my childhood and found a few very simple ingredients in my kitchen that made for a killer comfort meal.

Enter Fancy Grilled Cheese and Tomato Basil Soup:

Oh yum! Warms my heart just looking at the picture

Simply make your grilled cheese, I used mozzarella, and throw as many veggies as you can on one side of the bread. Smash the two together and enjoy!

Would you like the recipe for the tomato basil soup? It’s the easiest recipe I’ve used as of yet! Go to your nearest grocery store, walk down the soup aisle and pick up Campbell’s tomato basil bisque, combine can of soup and 1 cup of water in a pot to heat it up. Genius!

So, there ya go! I did not spend 1 dime for this meal and it was quite delicious.

Sarah: 1

Ingredient Restaurant: 0

I do love dining out but restaurants are a money suck and I’ve got to pinch pennies where I can for the next 1.5 years! Ya know?

Okay, off to run! Meeting my solemates running partner in T-minus 33 minutes!

Have a fantastic Saturday!

What is your go to no shop meal?

Do you like dining out?

I love it! My wallet does not..

Are you running this weekend? 

I am! We’re doing timed running right now so we’ll see how far we get in 55 minutes!

Windy Run

Good Morning! After finishing up with my  bio class yesterday I made the 1.5 mile trek to my parking spot across campus. It was cold, it was windy but I would so much rather make the walk than stand in line to get onto a shuttle to drive me to my car. That’s a system that just doesn’t make sense to me. It  takes the same amount of time to go through the whole bus process as it does to just walk. Craziness.

Of course everyone leaves campus right around the same time so I got stuck in a tad bit of traffic on the way home but worse things have happened so no complaints here. I didn’t get in my run early in the day so I knew it was going to have to happen before the little sun that we had yesterday went down. I made myself the most delicious pb+ banana microwave combo that I stole form Miss Tina. This was peanut butter genius. Mmm

I got my running butt in gear and through on my most favorite cold weather running clothes and headed out for my 4 miler I had planned for the day. I decided to do a 2 mile out and back and was pleasently surprised by how great I felt for the 2 miles out. My pace was up and it wasn’t nearly as cold as I thought.

Until I turned around. 

Apparently that whole wind thing still exists.. doh! Needless to say my 2 miles back were a little rough. My times weren’t all that great but I did it. I finished the day with 4 miles under my belt and some pilates thrown in there at the end.

Something you never regret right? A workout, good or not so good.

Yesterday, I thought about making something for dinner with this guy:

Except, I had a change of plans and ended up making a chicken parmesean concoction in my crock pot. Here’s a sort of recipe I threw together:

Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan (measure to taste!)

• olive oil
• oregano
• basil
• garlic powder
• salt/pepper
• red pepper flakes
• bread crumbs
• 2 egg whites
• chicken breasts
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• mozzarella
• parmesan

I coated the bottom of the crock pot with a little bit of olive oil; coated the chicken with the egg whites and then the bread crumbs; topped both chicken breasts with some mozzarella; poured the can of diced tomatoes on top and threw on all of the seasonings!  Easy cheesy! 

I turned the crock pot on high, did some pilates took my shower and then like magic dinner was ready!

Wahoooo I <3 crock pots!

Okay, now time to get my run on. 5 miles today and some strength training if I can make it to the gym before it gets crazy with new years resolutioners (it’s almost feb and they are still going strong!)

What is your favorite running weather?

Fall! No question; prettiest time of the year by far

Do you use a crock pot? 

If you have never tried one you most definitely should! I am obsessed!

WIAW #2

It’s already Wednesday? What? Holy cow time seriously just flies by when I’m at school. I think it’s a sign that I’m getting old. I hear that happens as you get older. Time just keeps going faster.. yikes!Oh wells, good thing I eat my veggies and moisturize! Keeps me young

To celebrate WIAW here are some of my eats over the last week:

The last of my sweet potato chili.. sad story. Time to make more I suppose!

Black bean fallafel! Never had fallafel until this guy and whoa baby I will be consuming more of this!

On Monday I went to a bachelor watching party. One of my friends asked me my favorite pizza and I said I had a weakness for hawaiian pizza. So, when I walked through the door to find this little monster I was so pumped and hungry. Oh man was I hungry that night. A weekend of running will do that to ya. Unfortunately, my stomach was in knots for the rest of the night. It was bad. Not sure why but I guess my stomach doesn’t like pineapple pizza as much as I do. Tragic.

Now, I have one more class to go to today and then I’m off to get in a good run and figure out what to do with this guy for dinner..

Hmm decisions decisions..

Are you a squash fan?

If your a squash lover what is your most favorite way to cook it?

 

It’s Back!

Training that is! After I ran my marathon last October I went through a mega slump that I wasn’t expecting. I spent months preparing for that race. Every morning I woke up and new exactly what I had to do that day: easy runs, long runs, rest days, they were all planned out for me. So, when the big day came and went I had no idea what to do with myself. How many miles should I be running each week? Do I still need to cross train? Have rest days? SOMEONETELLMEWHATTODO!

I’m a planner, a scheduler, a list maker. It’s what I do. It’s who I am!

Well, ladies and gentleman I’ve officially got a brand new plan that I put to action this past Saturday and it feels good

Since I’m part of fantastic running group now they gave me a lovely little plan to follow to get me ready for my half marathon in the spring: Rock the Parkway. The only downside to it is that it basically starts you off as if you were a beginning runner with a run/walk system. Now, I’m all for run/walking but I need a little bit more of an endorphin lifting blood pumping workout to really get me going. That being said I plan on following the plan but also adding my own spin on things.

First Few Training Runs: 

Saturday – 5 miles: I woke up to the coldest Saturday I have experienced in a while. It was 17 degrees with no sun.. ew? I was so ready to curl right back under my covers in my fleece coffee pajamas. Ohh sounds good doesn’t it? It was a tough decision but a few encouraging text messages later I was bundled up and out the door. Running buddies are da best. Once I met with my solemates I found out we were going to work on pacing and negative splitting. Organized running? Running with a purpose? Huh?

side note: I’ve been running fo-eva and just found out what negative splitting means (don’t judge) soo if you’re like me and just never asked it’s finishing the second half of your run faster than your first! 

I brought along my trusty garm garm (garmin) and we set out for our first half marathon training run. We ran 2.5 miles out and back and ran our first mile as a warm up about 30 seconds slower than the rest. We should have gone slower for our warm up but it was our first run pacing ourselves. Practice practice. My garmin died half way through (doh!) so I’m not sure about negative splitting but all in all I’d say it was pretty excellent/freezing run. We finished up with some much needed dynamic stretching.

Sidenote #2: I haven’t done dynamic stretching in quite along time and ya know what? I woke up on Sunday feeling like a million bucks! I’m learning so much from my solemates!

I then raced home, showered, put on my cozy sweats and drank some warm coffee. Mmm happiness in a cup

Sunday – Cross training: I love running I do, but I really love running in the morning. Afternoon runs seem like work to me so when it got to about 2:00pm on Sunday I decided it was time to hit the gym. I did a little research and found a super awesome  Elliptical Workout from Julie. I’ve been loving interval workouts at the gym; they do a fantastic job of keeping me entertained.

Once I finished with Julie’s workout I hopped off and headed over to the free weights. I only know a few moves so I did what I knew and left with some pretty tired arms!

Monday – 3 miles: One of the best things about not having 8am classes is that I can start my day doing something that I love. Once I graduate and have to do that whole real world job thing I always want to make sure I can run or get some sort of workout in before the day begins. Starting my day with work just doesn’t really appeal to me.

So, I woke up ran 3 miles in some crazy wind, (my times were all over the place today), came back and did an awesome yoga inspired workout I saw in my Health magazine. My arms are still burning!

I’ve got a whole week of planned workouts and can’t wait to wake up and run my miles tomorrow! Wahoo!

Now, it’s time to finish up some Bio homework before I head over to a friend’s house for a Bachelor watching party!

Do you workout in the morning? Afternoon?

Morning is my favorite!

Are you watching the Bachelor tonight?!

You betcha! Things are getting crazy! Drama drama

 

Solemates

Yesterday was just one of those days that everything seemed to fit together nicely. It was refreshing. I enjoyed it.

It started off with my first WIAW post  and then I walked into a magical class called Health Education in the Classroom. Seriously? I could not be more excited about this class! Health education + schools? It was meant to be. I think that’s called serendipity? AKA my most favorite word.

Then I had my run.. that didn’t go as well as the rest of my day actually but I did it. 

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 27:38.8 3.01 9:11 1 9:01.1 1.00 9:01 2 9:24.4 1.00 9:24 3 9:08.9 1.00 9:09 4 :04.4 0.01 9:00

Bing Bang Boom

Went to my bio lab class that was fun fun because it was syllabus day. I’m sure I’ll have a completely different opinion of it in a few weeks. But ya know yagottadowhatchagottado and I’ve gotta take a bio lab class.. ehh

Got to spend time doing my usual Wednesday/ Thursday babysitting thang. We ate pickles, read stories and colored.

It doesn’t get better than that if you ask me. Professional babysitter right here. Love it.

Once the babysitting gig was up I met up with my Solemates team for our season kick off!

Recycled photo.. but pineapple pizza is so wonderful and deserved a piccha.

Loads of pineapple pizza was consumed whilst talking about about running, races, chafing and blisters. Loved it. #runnerds

We all talked about which races we’re all signed up for and I’ve got 5 from now until the fall that I’ve got my eye on.

1.) Rock the Parkway: Half marathon: April 14

2.) Go Girl: Half Marathon: May 26

3.) Mother Road Marathon: October 9 – I think it would be so awesome to run a marathon in 3 states and this races goes through three different states!

4.) Girls on the Run 5k:  May 19 –  Can’t forget about this race in May! I won’t be “racing” it but I for sure will be cheering on all of my future GOTR girls as an assistant coach!

5.) The Color Run: June 16 – Have you seen this? Oh my gosh I might have to make a visit back to KC this summer just so I can do this run. How fun would that be?!

So, there ya go I’ve got 4 5 big races coming up this year. So crazy pumped

After all that running talk and pineapple pizza eating I was in a fantastic mood and then on my way home I got a call from one of my oldest bestest friends from life! We talked and talked and caught up on everything.  It was so great. I love talking to old friends. Warms my heart

Pretty fantabulous day if you ask me. I went to bed with a smile on my face and pizza in my belly. Yummzo

Do you keep in contact with old friends?

It’s been hard since I’ve moved away but I’ve tried to keep in touch with a few.

Have you ever been apart of a racing group like Solemates or Team in Training? 

This is my first time running with a group!

WIAW

I’ve never participated in a WIAW before but this morning I decided why not? I love looking at others foodie pics, I like taking foodie pics, so I think it’s about time I jumped on the “What I Ate Wednesday” train.

First things first ya know?

 Snickerdoodle coffee fuels my soul mmm

Oats for breakfast: 1/2 c oats, vanilla almond milk, 1/2 mashed banana, walnuts, + greek yogurt for some extra protein

This yum yum chili fed me last week, last night and will show up in my lunch today too! My dad got me a crock pot for christmas and I used it for the first time last week making this sweet potato chili! It was so so good.  I’ve had leftovers 3 x over! Thank you to Dad for making the ole college wallet streeetch out

These little guys have been 10 for $10 at the store and every time I run in there I have to grab a few more. $1 greek yogurt? Sign me up!

That’s all I’ve got for my first WIAW! Now, it’s time to start my second “first day” of classes and then some babysitting action will ensue and then later I’m going to the Solemates kick off party! Fun Fun!

Hope everyone has a magical hump day!

Do you participate in WIAW?

First time this morning!

Do you like taking foodie pics?

I do when my food is pretty!

Meals and Miles

Happy MLK Day Everyone! How has everyone’s weekend been going? Good? Great? Did you get in some good runs? I sure hope so! I got in a 5 miler on Saturday but was so worn out on Sunday that I planted my self on my couch and watched one of my favorite bloggers get married on David Tutera! It was fabulous. Congratulations Danica!

Sometimes you just need a couch day ya know? 

After my lazy Sunday I made plans to meet a friend for an early 5 miler this morning. I set my alarm for 6am and made my way downstairs to grab some pre-run fuel and coffee.

Toast with jam, half a banana and some walnuts + snickerdoodle coffee

I read over some bloggie blogs: i.e. Hungry Runner Girl; Singing Runner; & Susan Runs for some motivation and was out the door by 7:15.

We ran 2.5 miles out back and it felt so awesome. After a freak snow storm last week I was so happy to ditch my tights and run in shorts. It was great.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	46:16.9	5.00	9:15
1	9:39.1	1.00	9:39
2	9:01.0	1.00	9:01
3	9:12.4	1.00	9:12
4	9:30.5	1.00	9:31
5	8:53.9	1.00	8:53

 

We chatted and the 5 miles flew by. 8:30 am and 5 miles done! Bam! What did you do this morning before 9am?

Fueled back up with an egg sammie and now it’s time to finish organizing my room before I meet some new friends for some ultimate frisbee and then later get ready to go to the MU Bball game!

(Source)

Any good runs this weekend?

This mornings 5 miler was my favorite!

What is your favorite sporting event to go?

I hate playing basketball but I actually really do love to go to the games!

Deep Breath

Well, now that was a whirlwind! After packing up my room, and shedding a few tears saying goodbye to the family I made the 9 hour trek back to school. Fueled by coffee and jellybeans I made it back safe and sound to my little college home.

It’s crazy to think that another semester is about to begin. Where does the time go? Each semester is so different for me: sometimes good, sometimes not so good but every time I close up a semester and head home for break I’ve learned something new about myself. Over the last 2.5 years I’ve been figuring out little bits and pieces about who I am, what I can handle, what I most definitely can’t handle and have been slowly but surely been coming into my own.

This semester feels just a little different than past semesters. I’m feeling more at ease, more comfortable where I am both in my life and in my actual college town, and quite honestly I’m feeling just a little more grown up. While, I still plan on shedding tears while saying goodbye to my parents and still plan to give them frantic “the world is going to end because I don’t think I did well on this test!” phone calls; I feel like I can take a deep breath now and say “okay, I know what I’m doing; I know how this whole college thang works. Let’s do it, get it done. I’m ready for summer break already.”

Ready? Let’s do it. Deep Breath now.. ahhh

Feelin good. 

Now, if your still reading after my quarter-life epiphany paragraph super! Let’s talk about some food, running, and all that jazz.

As soon as I got back to school I met up with my friend for a running date. Perfect way to start off the semester if ya ask me! We ran 1.5 miles out and back averaging a 9:05 pace with our first mile at 8:41. We slowed down after the first mile but I definitely felt like I could keep that pace up for the whole run. On my own I usually run a 9 minute mile but I know I can go faster and need to start  pushing myself  a little harder which is one of the reasons why I love faster running partners. It’s crazy when I’m running with someone it doesn’t even feel like I’m working as hard but my pace is always always faster.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	27:15.2	3.00	9:05
1	8:41.6	1.00	8:42
2	9:16.4	1.00	9:16
3	9:17.2	1.00	9:17

 

Note to self: work harder. You want to get faster and know that you can. So, why not? Stop being lazy Sarah. K? K, great!

That being said this semester I need to increase my cross training, do more weights, and eat more meals that will make me fast like this one:

I can’t get enough of this quinoa! Mmm

Do you cross train at all?

Do you lift weights? Do you notice a difference in your running when you incorporate weights?