Friday January 27, 2012: The TGIF edition
First of all I want to thank you for your lovely and supportive comments on my last post regarding my running. I love the blogging community and I’m glad I found all of you on the internet, too bad we live to far apart to meet but hey, you never know what might happen in the future.
I’m glad to say I did go out for a run again this morning and it was a much better run than most of my other runs this month. When I was running (it was sunny but cold) and looked at the sky I was reminded again that this was one of the reasons I love running so much: being outside on a gorgeous day.
Monday dinner: steak, rösti and a salsa of cherry tomato with red onion.
I have this colleague, a girl, I don’t speak to her that often but she’s a nice girl (much younger than me). She had the most beautiful blond long hair. Tuesday I saw her from behind and was confused if it was her because she had cut her hair. I asked her if she was tired of her long hair and she said that she was a little bit but cried when they cut off her long hair. I asked her why she did it if it made her so sad. Well she donated her hair to the Kika foundation (a foundation that helps children with cancer) so they can make a wig of it for a child. I think that’s a beautiful gift she gave.
Tuesday dinner: made an chili oven dish with tortilla chips.
Wednesday Bella was with my Mom all day and R. and I drove to her house after work to have dinner there. We don’t do that often, say never, but it was nice. My Mom lives alone and eats alone almost every night so for her it was nice to have us over too. We definitely should do this more often.
She made pasta for us.
I don’t have it very often but I’m really glad it’s Friday. It has been a rough week with my running doubts and some work-related stuff that kept me worrying. Today R. and I both have the day off and we started our weekend last night with a movie night. R. lighted the fireplace and we watched Avatar for the second time. Too bad I was so tired I fell asleep and missed the last 15 minutes.
This afternoon I’m getting a hair cut and a new colour (grey hair is trying to get through again) and tonight my friend T. is coming over for her birthday dinner. I look forward to a nice evening with one of my best friends, it’s just what I need now.
Have a great weekend my dear blogger friends.
The 180 days challenge
May 22, 2012 I hope to reach the age of 44 in good health.
As of November 24, 2011 that’s 180 days.
How did I do this month?
Not so good! The extra weight is weight I gained between Christmas and New Year that I still haven’t lost. Truth be told is that I did eat too much too, especially on the weekends. I still eat mostly low carb but made a few adjustments. The program said that fruits only can be eaten at dinner but I missed my fruits as a snack. Since the beginning of this month I’m eating fruits again as a snack. And I’ve added a slice of whole wheat bread to my lunches.
If I want to reach my goal weight on my birthday I do have to be more strict for myself which I am going to do after this weekend.
Weight goals:
Target weight: 72 kg (158 lbs.)
Weight on November 24: 79.3 kg (175 lbs.)
Weight on December 22: 78.4 kg (173 lbs.)
Weight on January 22: 79.4 kg (175 lbs.)
Target fat %: 27%
Fat % on November 24: 40.9%
Fat % on December 22: 41.3%
Fat % on January 22: 41.7%
Target muscle %: > 43%
Muscle % on November 24: 29.9%
Muscle % on December 22: 29.7%
Muscle % on January 22: 29.6%
Measurements November 24:
Waist: 87 cm (34.2 inches) -> January 22: 86 cm (33.8 inches)
Belly: 98 cm (38.6 inches) -> January 22: 98 cm (38.6 inches)
Hips: 107 cm (42.6 inches) -> January 22: 106 cm (41.7 inches)
Chest: 103 cm (40.5 inches) -> January 22: 103 cm (40.5 inches)
Upper arm: 32 cm (12.6 inches) -> January 22: 32 cm (12.6 inches)
Other goals:
Set a new 5K PR.
Set a new 10K PR.
Run 10K without walking breaks.
Countdown till May 22, 2012: 116 days (from November 24)
Wednesday January 25 – 2012, The workout edition
Thursday
I knew I had a long day ahead of me with a long meeting and wanted a short workout to start my day fresh. I did another workout from The Firm Express, this one was pure cardio.
Total time: 21 minutes.
Friday
Rest.
Saturday
This was a tough one, lots of rain and a brutal wind that made it look like I was standing still sometimes and it slowed me down. Luckily it wasn’t cold. Not the fastest or best run ever but always look on the bright side: I did it.
Stats:
Weather:rain, strong wind, 10C (50 degrees)
Distance: 6.4 K / 4 miles
Time: 00:45:32
Average time: 7:07 /km
Average speed: 8.4 km/hour
Last song on Ipod before finish: Robbie Williams – Trippin’
Sunday
Rest.
Monday
First time for a Jillian workout of the DVD Killer Buns & Thighs (level 1). What I noticed is how much stronger my legs are than my upper body. Where at upper body exercises I often have to adapt the exercise, this workout I could do all the exercises because it was all focussed on the lower body.
Total time: 40 minutes.
Tuesday
An unexpected rest day. I got up in time and got dressed in my running clothes. I went outside and walked to my starting point. That’s when I started noticing the roads were icy. I walked a little further but I slipped away a few times. As I don’t run on icy roads because I’m too afraid to fall and get injured I turned around and headed home.
Wednesday
This run sucked big time, period!
Stats:
Weather:dry, not much wind, 2C (35 degrees)
Distance: 2.8 K / 1.7 miles
Time: 00:21:25
Average time: 7:39 /km
Average speed: 7.8 km/hour
Last song on Ipod before finish: Glee Cast – Total eclipse of the heart
Weekly review
I had such a bad run this morning and since I’m not happy with my runs the past couple of months, I seriously thought about quitting running. This run gave me such a bad mood for almost the entire day and quitting seemed the easy way out. It took 3 sweet guys at work, who all run, to convince me I shouldn’t give up.
I’m rocking my workouts this month so far, I hardly skip workouts and if I do it’s always a run because I dread most of the runs. I’m losing my joy in running. I had about 2 runs that went okay this month, most other runs sucked. I also noticed I’ve lost the base I build in the first half year of last year. I’m slower and I can’t run longer than 20 minutes without walking. What to do?
Give up running? This morning I said yes but at the end of this day: no way!
That leaves adjusting my plan. I’m going back to run-walk-run starting with a 5:1 ratio and build that up. I have to experiment if I can add a minute after every run or after 2 runs or more. I’m going to be flexible. My goal is to get back at running straight for 1 hour which I could last year and get faster. I don’t have to win a race, after all I’m 43, but right now I’m too slow. At the pace I’m running now I’m always going to be one of the last to finish. In Holland runners that run races are fast. It will be nice to finish somewhere in the middle.
But the most important thing I want to achieve is that I look forward to a run again instead of dreading it. For now I’m not giving up, I have to be able to rebuild my running base and have fun again.
Wish me luck, I will need it.
Monday January 23, 2012: The mishmash edition
Daily stuff
Stayed home a lot this weekend because the weather was very bad: lots of rain and lots and lots of wind. Saturday afternoon I baked a chocolate-hazelnut cake, new recipe and I used half of the ingredients, otherwise it would be too big. It was a bit dry and I think I used not enough of some ingredients.
Sunday around noon it was supposed to stay dry for a while although the wind was like a storm at that point. We decided to go to the forest for a short walk with Bella. After 30 minutes we thought we were where we left the car but we were wrong: we were lost. After another 30 minutes we found the car. It’s not a huge forest so we would have found the car eventually but this hardly ever happens to us. At least Bella had a great time because she could run around for an hour instead of 30 minutes.
You can see the forest is very wet:
Book I’m reading
Tess Gerritsen
The Mephisto Club
I finally finished David Baldacci’s True Blue. First book I’ve read of him. Not sure if I will read another one of his books since it took me so long to finish it.
TV shows I watched last week
The Big Bang Theory, Glee, New Girl, Modern Family, Raising Hope, The Voice of Holland, Private Practice, Necessary Roughness, The Mentalist.
After a couple of months on Friday finally the final of The Voice of Holland. I don’t watch talent shows but made an exception for this one because the first season was a huge success here. I liked watching it but am also glad it’s over. I always recorded it (except for the final which I watched live) and watched it on Saturday afternoon. The winner wasn’t my choice although she was very good. The one I wanted to win won 2nd place.
Dinner
Saturday
R. had to work Saturday at a factory where they make all kinds of bread things for the oven. He brought home a kind of calzone that was filled with ham and cheese which we had for dinner.
Sunday
Chicken masala soup (bought it) with red onion foccaccia (brought R. home too on Saturday).
Highlights of the week
Bella got a haircut which makes her very cute, great workout week, forest walk with Bella.
Friday January 20, 2012: The TGIF edition
Everything is expensive at the moment. We’re in the middle of a recession and prices/taxes/insurances are going up but salary doesn’t grow equally. Especially gas for my car is very expensive at the moment.
I’ve been thinking a lot how I can save money. I don’t really want to buy cheaper food but I can make some changes. I often throw away food, either because I made a bit too much (and I don’t eat it the next day) or I bought it and then don’t use it.
I’m organizing all my cook books in Excel sheets categorized on ingredients. If I make something with, for example, zucchini and I only need half of it, I can look in my zucchini file for another recipe. That way I won’t have to throw away the other half.
The other thing is that I printed a fruits and veggies calendar, sorted by month, with all the fruits and veggies that are available and cheap in that month. I never really thought about buying season products but am going to do that. Although I never buy strawberries in Autumn/Winter because that’s a Summer fruit and way too expensive outside the season.
Monday’s dinner was minced meat rolled in ham and cheese. I put that in an oven dish with on the bottom leek. I put some tomato sauce and cream on top and cooked it in the oven. It was a new recipe and we both liked it, which means it’s a keeper.
Tuesday we had minced meat and potatoes. Vegetables were Brussels sprouts. I cooked them for a few minutes and after that stir-fried them with leek, garlic, sesame seed and some soy sauce, it was delicious.
I’m going to experiment with the time I workout in the morning. Right now it’s a bit too early for me because getting up at 5 am means being in bed before 10 pm. Personally I find that too early, I hardly have an evening left that way. My job has flexible work hours, I can start between 7 am and 9.30 am. About 2 years ago I started working from 7.30 am till 4 pm because at that time I did my workouts after work. I’m not working out after work anymore and I can work a bit longer. What I’m trying first is that I will get up at 5.15 am for workouts/run longer than 45 minutes. Under 45 minutes I will get up at 5.30 am. Going to see if this works good for me.
Wednesday another new recipe: stir-fried rice with chicken and pineapple. It was okay but not something I’m going to make again.
Thursday was such a long day. I had to take notes at a meeting that was supposed to last from 9 am till 3 pm. It was 6 pm when we were finished and the last 3 hours took so long. When I got home I was tired and did nothing more than lay down on the couch with my feet up and watch TV. R. wasn’t home when I got home and I made an omelette with herbs for dinner. Didn’t want to cook.
Today the lovely miss Bella had a haircut. She’s too cute now, I love that dog.
Have a great weekend.
Wednesday January 18 – 2012, The workout edition
Thursday
First time I tried a workout from the program “The Firm Express” that I recently bought. This set has 13 DVD’s with workouts. Every workout is approx. 20 minutes. It is short but intensive. I felt my muscles in my arms and legs later in the day. Love this workout too.
Total time: 21 minutes.
Friday
I had planned Jillian Michaels yoga meltdown level 1 that is approx. 30 minutes. But a combination of being sore and very tired had me finish this one before the end. Better luck next time.
Total time: 11 minutes.
Saturday
Saturday is my long run day. Because I started a 10K program this week, it was actually kind of short, only 6.4K (4 miles). But it was a great run. Weather was perfect for running and the run itself went easy. I’m trying to run my long runs around 7:00/km and I succeeded.
Stats:
Weather:dry, cloudy, hardly any wind, 5C (41 degrees)
Distance: 6.4 K / 4 miles
Time: 00:44:42
Average time: 6:59 /km
Average speed: 8.6 km/hour
Last song on Ipod before finish: U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday
Active rest day. After 6 days of working out my body told me it needed a break. I didn’t workout but I did walk with Bella because the weather was so good for January.
Monday
Did a workout from the program called X-TrainFit. This exists of 8 DVD’s with various workouts. Monday I did the chest and back DVD. It had 3 sets of various exercises for the back and chest (lots of push ups). I liked this workout, the instructor explained the exercises very well and she was no-nonsense.
Total time: 1 hour and 3 minutes.
Tuesday
I totally slept through my alarm this morning. By the time I woke up it was a bit late and I thought about skipping my planned run. But then I thought that a short run is always better than no run at all and I did go. It was cold but luckily no wind. Afterwards I was glad I decided to go instead of skipping it.
Stats:
Weather:dry, no wind, fog, -2C (28 degrees)
Distance: 2 K / 1.2 miles
Time: 00:14:18
Average time: 7:09 /km
Average speed: 8.4 km/hour
Last song on Ipod before finish: Stevie Wonder – I wish.
Wednesday
Zumba time! What a fun workout to start my day with.
Total time: 46 minutes.
Weekly review
Very happy with my workouts this week.
I have changed my running schedule, meaning I made my own schedule for the first 6 months of this year. When I look back at my average mile per month last year, it seems I had a kind of running burn-out the last couple of months. I don’t want that to happen this year and thought about what would work best for me.
I love to use a training plan for running. I like it when I know what en when I have to run. Most internet schedules are “fast”. By fast I mean that you have a schedule for 8 weeks and in these 8 weeks your weekly long run is longer every week. My experience last year is that I don’t really like that, I prefer to do a certain distance twice before I move to the next step, it gives me more time to get used to distances and it builds my confidence.
That’s how I build my new training plan: every distance for my long run and my pace run I will run twice. The first time I run the distance for the long run it will be slow, the second time I’m using the 3/1 method: run ¾ easy and ¼ in pace tempo. On a weekday I will do a tempo run or do speedwork.
After every 3 weeks I have a recovery week in which I cut back on the mileage.
For now I will be running 3 times a week and do a DVD workout 3 times a week. My upper body strength is very weak and I need to work on that because I know it will benefit my performance in running too. Maybe when it is light again in the morning I switch to 4 times running and 2 times a DVD workout but I’ll see about that when that day comes.
The plan I made feels very good for me and I hope it will get me to PR on a 5K and 10K race which are my short-term goals.
Monday January 16, 2012: The mishmash edition
Daily stuff:
Thank you all for the tips how to bring food to work. I will see if I can buy a bag to bring my own salads to work. Next week I will still be buying my salads at work because I already did my menu planning and shopping before I decided to bring my own food.
My sky at my Saturday morning run
Both days this weekend were easy days. The weather was great on both days and I enjoyed my walks with Bella and my run on Saturday morning. For the rest I stayed home this weekend, watched some TV, did some reading and other things. It sounds boring but it’s how I like to spend my weekends most. I do like to go out and do things or meet people too but not every weekend.
I saw the first “sneeuwklokjes”. I have no idea what they are called in English, my free translation would be snow clocks.
My sky when I was walking Bella on Sunday
It’s Blue Monday today, some say the most depressing day of the year. I read somewhere it’s partly because most people that made resolutions on January 1st already quit by the third Monday of the new year. I didn’t feel depressed today, in fact I had a great day, how about you?
Book I’m reading
David Baldacci
True Blue
Almost at the end of this book (finally). Now I’m getting to the end the book is more interesting. Think I’ll finish it this week.
TV shows I watched last week
The Big Bang Theory, Glee, New Girl, Modern Family, Raising Hope, Homeland, The Voice of Holland.
Dinner
Sunday
Tried 2 new recipes. The main course was pork tenderloin with mushrooms, onion and garlic in tomato sauce. We ate it with some foccaccia. It was okay but not that special that I’m going to make it again.
Dessert however was a keeper. It’s made of soft curd cheese with whipped cream, chocolate chip cookies and clementines.
Highlights of the week
Coffee date with K., awesome workout week, beautiful cold sunny Winter weather on Sunday.
Friday January 13, 2012: The TGIF edition
Dinner Monday was a new recipe. One of the things I want to do more this year is use my (new) recipes. I have a subscription to 3 food magazines and as you know a huge collection of cook books. The recipes I save from the magazines I want to make within a few weeks after I received the magazine. Otherwise I will probably not make them at all. And recipes in magazines always fit in the season. Monday I made an oven dish with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, chicken en pineapple. We bought thought it was okay but not good enough to eat it again.
And for the last time back to the rösti. Lori asked in her comment on my last post: Rösti is pretty much just potatoes, right?
That’s right. However the one I use has little pieces of ham, onion and cheese in it which makes it very tasteful.
Tuesday we had an oven dish with mashed potatoes, chicory, ham and cheese for dinner. I’ve made this dish before and I like it very much.
I’m thinking of bringing my own salads to work. Lately either they’re out of salads because I eat in the second lunch shift or I don’t like the salads or they aren’t low carb.
Question for those of you who prep food for the week in the weekends: how do you keep everything fresh, how do you store it?
And if you bring food to work, how do you keep it cool till it’s lunchtime?
Wednesday we had noodles with vegetables and chicken for dinner.
Getting back at Bella and thinking big: at the doggy day care where she goes twice a week they have a playground for the little dogs (which she is) and a big field for the big dogs. When I came to pick her up on Wednesday I heard a familiar bark on the big field. Guess what: Bella was at the field with all the big dogs, she was the smallest. The owner said she had been playing on that field all day long with the big dogs. I have such a tough doggie, I love it.
Thursday: kale with mashed potatoes and meat.
I received a letter in the mail on Thursday from my company. The letter was to inform me that I have my anniversary at this company coming up this year. In December I will be working there 10 years. This means that on the day itself I will get a little party with a speech and cake and a little bonus. But what this company also does is: all the people that have an anniversary in a year are invited, together with their partner, for a day where the anniversary is celebrated. What we will be doing is the biggest secret in the company every year but everyone who has had their anniversary says it’s a lot of fun. This day will probably be held somewhere in September.
You know what’s not fun? The fact that you can’t do a single push up because you have no strength in your upper body and your hub, who never ever works out, does 7 in a row. Why oh why did I challenge him to try it 
The title of this post is especially true today: TGIF! I’m very tired.
I had a few nights at the beginning of the week where I slept very, very bad. The past 2 nights I slept good again but I knew it was going to catch up on me. Yesterday and today I’m so tired, I’m glad it’s Friday and I have the weekend to recharge.
Today’s dinner: we made homemade cheeseburgers. Maybe not the most healthy dinner but always better than take out food which we ate way too much lately on Friday.
Have a great weekend!
Wednesday January 11 – 2012, The workout edition
Thursday
Because of the storm I couldn’t run in the morning or at night. I knew Wednesday there was going to be a huge storm and decided that night that I would switch my rest day from Friday to Thursday.
Friday
After cleaning my house first, I did a Chalean Extreme workout, Push Circuit 2. Chalean Extreme is a weights workout so I worked those muscles good.
Total time: 35 minutes.
Saturday
When I got up I didn’t feel well at all. I doubted if I should go for a run but decided I wouldn’t. I took it easy on Saturday and recharged my battery for next week.
Sunday
Still not feeling 100% and another restday.
Monday
Great workout to start the week. Did Turbofire HITT 15 and Sculpt 30. First an intensive HITT session for about 15 minutes. Followed by a full body workout using resistance bands.
Total time: 40 minutes.
Tuesday
First run early in the morning this year. Weather was great, especially for January. I had a tempo run to do for 35 minutes and I completely failed at it. I did reach the pace of 6:30/km sometimes but was more slow than fast. I warmed up at a slow pace for about 10 minutes and used 5 minutes for cooling down at a slow pace. I had to walk twice. But you know what: it’s okay. I’ll get better at this (I find running at a certain pace hard). I was out there and I enjoyed my run.
Stats:
Weather:dry, hardly any wind, fog, 3C (37 degrees)
Distance: 5 K / 3.1 miles
Time: 00:35:53
Average time: 7:11 /km
Average speed: 8.4 km/hour
Last song on Ipod before finish: Duran Duran – Hungry like the wolf.
Wednesday
When I got up I didn’t feel to well, it seemed I had a light cold. I had an easy run to do and decided to go out anyway and see how far I would come. I did a shorter distance than planned at a very slow pace but no walking breaks. After the run and for the rest of the day I felt great, no sign of the cold anymore.
Stats:
Weather:dry, hardly any wind, 7C (44 degrees)
Distance: 2.7 K / 1.6 miles
Time: 00:20:03
Average time: 7:26 /km
Average speed: 8.0 km/hour
Last song on Ipod before finish: The Black Eyed Peas – Let’s get it started.
Weekly review
Week 1 didn’t go exactly as planned and during the weekend I thought about that. On Monday my first 3 weeks cycle of running/exercise started and I don’t want to make up anymore excuses and skip workouts.
Tuesday I started a 10K training plan that I adjusted to what works best for me. After every 3 weeks I have a recovery week. I’ve calculated paces for tempo runs, speed work, long runs, pace runs and easy runs and I want to try to follow the pace as much as possible. I have planned a 5K in March and a 10K in April and my goal is to PR on both races. But I have to get faster if I want that, that’s why I use paces for different runs.
Overall I’m happy with last week. The quote at the top of this post is how I feel right now. I’m really enjoying my running and workouts at the moment. It sure doesn’t feel like a chore but something I like doing.
Monday January 9, 2012: The mishmash edition
Daily stuff:
Tamara asked if I could post the recipe for the rösti in my last post. Well that’s easy: you go to the grocery store, frozen food section, buy a bag of rösti, bake it -> done! In other words: this is one of the few products I buy that I don’t make myself.
Shelly mentioned Hans Brinker when she read about the dykes bursting (which never happened after all). Alarm bells went off because I knew the name and it had something to do with dykes. So I checked my friend Wikipedia. Turns out Hans Brinker never existed but was made up for a children’s novel. Funny thing about it is that there are 3 statues in Holland of the imaginary Hans Brinker. I read they are put there especially for the American tourists. Shelly thanks for the mention, I learned something new and that’s always a good thing.
Friday night we had a New Year’s reception from R.’s work. We didn’t really wanted to go because usually parties from his work aren’t very fun. But have to say, Friday night wasn’t that bad. We went bowling for an hour and after that we had drinks. We said before we went, we would go home early but came home after midnight.
Saturday was an easy day at home. I didn’t feel all that well and didn’t want to go anywhere.
Sunday afternoon we went to my friend T. She had her birthday last Friday but celebrated it yesterday. It wasn’t a big party, just coffee and cake. We stayed for about 2 hours. My gift to her is (as you may remember from last year) an invitation to dinner at my house. We’re going to do that first weekend of February.
And our Bella thinks big! Why pick a little stick if you can have the big one. She made me laugh when she picked this one up, she even ran with it, that was even more funny.
The first week of this year didn’t go completely as I had in mind when the new year started. Yes I did eat better than the last 2 weeks of 2011 but I could have done better. Yes I did workout a few times, but I could have done better. What’s done is done, all I can do now is start over, starting today, with healthy eating, no skipping of workouts. No excuses Fran, just do it!
Book I’m reading
David Baldacci
True Blue
Still reading this one. It’s not a bad book and I want to finish it but after I’ve read a few chapters I have enough of it.
TV shows I watched last week
The Big Bang Theory, Private Practice, Glee, Modern Family, New Girl, Raising Hope, The Voice of Holland, Homeland.
Highlights of the week
Facial treatment at my beauty salon, my friend’s birthday.
Quote of the week
Friday January 6, 2012: The TGIF edition
My Friday post as of today is all about things that happened during my week.
Monday I took Bella for a walk. It looked like it was going to stay dry. But about 15 minutes from home it started to rain hard including hail. We were both soaking wet within a minute. Bella doesn’t like the rain at all and she was looking for a place to hide. I saw a church that had a little covering and we took shelter from the rain. I called R. if he could pick us up but he was in another town and couldn’t come. After 5 minutes it cleared up and suddenly it was dry and we could continue our walk.
Monday dinner was bread with leftovers from Saturday night.
I must have been living under a rock or something because I totally missed the weather forecast for heavy rain and storm on Tuesday. The weather was terrible. Luckily after dinner when it was time for Bella’s walk it was dry but still there was a lot of wind.
I decided not to buy new pants or skirts this Winter because if all goes according my plan, I’m on goal weight next Winter which will mean buying a lot of new clothes. I did buy 5 blouses however, that were on sale so I can make new combinations with the clothes I already had.
Wednesday dinner: chicken with mushrooms in pesto creamsauce with rösti.
We have had a huge storm from Tuesday till yesterday. Up north people are evacuated from their homes because the dykes might burst. Luckily we live in a part of the country that’s situated higher than other parts of the country and we never have floodings or something like that.
Today’s lunch: rocket salad with bacon, tomatoes, pine nuts and a dressing of olive oil with basalmico vinegar.
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