Follow through Friday - an Off Week

Another week down and this one just felt “off”, both mentally and physically. I ate decently (other than Saturday when we were at the Food and Wine Festival) but just didn’t feel like really exercising. I also didn’t really meal prep since I made the last two of my Hello Fresh meals (which were delicious!) so ate a lot of crap otherwise, but mostly stayed within my calories, they just weren’t good calories (so I guess not even really decently). I also got my period this morning (awful cramps ugh!) so I’m sure that is contributing to everything as well, especially my mood. Stupid Hormones! I was able to get on the walk station 3x this week, so that is always a nice change up. For the two runs that I did do, I wasn’t in the mood any of the evenings and opted to run in the morning before work both days. Well the first day (Tuesday), I hit snooze one too many times and only had enough time to get 20 minutes in (vs. 30) or else I would have been late for work. Plus I wasn’t really feeling it either. Then on Thursday, I gave myself enough time to get the run in, even though I wasn’t in the mood, only to realize after the fact that I was actually supposed to bump my run up to 45 minutes this week per my training plan. WHOOPS! So not only did I miss a run, I also cut two of them short. I’m going to attempt to get an additional run in today to help make up for it and hopefully better prep me for my race on Sunday It also didn’t help that I got my long run in early last week and didn’t replace the short run so I was overall short one run this week and I could have made it up, but I didn’t. It wasn’t even that I “didn’t have the time” – I just didn’t feel like it. I know I’m not going to love every run and some will feel more forced, especially on a treadmill, but I just hate feeling that way, especially with the Lakeland 10 Miler on Sunday! Normally you are supposed to taper before a race, so maybe this won’t be so bad after all. I wasn’t planning on tapering since this race just kind of falls perfectly into my training plan, but with only 4.6 miles logged this week, it kind of became a taper.

On a positive note, I’ve recently signed up for some 2016 races! There have been some early registration offers going around (I scored a 10k for $6.60!) and so I already have 12 races on the calendar for 2016: four 5ks, five 10ks, and three Half Marathons (Two of them are the Disney Challenges where it’s the 10k on Saturday and Half on Sunday). I’m sure I’ll end up throwing a few more in there as well, I know of at least two more that I’ll be doing that they haven’t opened up registration for yet. I completed 14 so far in 2015 and am signed up for 4 more before the end of the year. Yes, the Race Addiction is real, VERY real!

 

Results for the week (ending 10/8):

Weight:  149.6

Half Marathon training:
     Run 1: 1.80 miles in 20:00 (11:07 pace)

     Run 2: 2.80 miles in 30:00 (10:43 pace)
     Run 3: didn’t happen L

Other:

   Walk: 2.74 miles combined (Walk Station at Work)

Total Weekly (Running) Miles Logged: 4.6 miles
Total October Miles Logged: 13.6 (of 55)

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 27.0 lbs

INFLUENSTER VOXBOX #PurelyOrganics #QuenchersAdventures #tastykakeminiwins

Disclosure: This complimentary box was received for review purposes. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received. 

I haven’t been picked for an @Influenster VoxBox in quite a while, so I was excited to get the email stating I was picked! and then a week later, I was picked again! So this review is for both of the VoxBoxes I received! 

For those of you that don’t know, “Influenster is a free-to-join community of trendsetters, social media masterminds, and educated consumers who live to give opinions of products and experiences. The Influenster site is a hub where members meet to learn about new products from our favorite brands as well as review the products they already use in their day-to-day lives! Influenster invites its most active members to participate in exclusive VoxBox programs where members receive complimentary products to test and review. In exchange, we ask our members to do what they already love to do: share their opinions with their friends & followers on social media!” So pretty much, you get a box of free stuff (or sometimes just one item) to check out and review! 

 The first box I received was for Tasty Kakes! I'm a huge fan (when I'm not dieting!) of Tasty Kake Kandy Kakes so getting picked to review their latest item was even more exciting! I received a box of Tasty Kake Minis and I guess different people were sent different flavors to try. I received the Peanut Butter Cupcakes (made with Reese's PB) which was like a match made in heaven as PB and Chocolate are my two favorite (unhealthy) snacks! It appears there are also Koffee Kake and Swirly (cream) flavors. The box came with 8 packs of 3 minis. I really liked how they were smaller portion because having just one pack fulfilled my craving and didn't totally blow my diet. Each pack of 3 has 180 calories, which isn't too bad considering how yummy they are, but does seem like a lot considering how small the package is. I'll have to save them for my cheat days. I also received a party hat, coupons for more and a koozie! I will definitely be using the coupon to buy some more to keep them in the pantry for when I want a delicious snack! #tastykakeminiwins

The other box I received was for Apple & Eve Juice! I've personally never had this juice, as I typically don't drink too much juice because I try to stick to plain ol' water. I also usually don't keep it in the house since I don't want the kids drinking too much juice either since most juices are full of sugar. I know EMS gets some juice at school and when visiting other people (grandparents, parties, etc), just not typically at home, and I always try to water it down. I received a large 1L size carton of Apple & Eve 100% Juice Organics (no sugar added) Orange Pineapple and 3 "juice box" size cartons of Apple & Eve Organic Quenchers in three different flavors. I'm saving the juice boxes for EMS for when I need to bribe her with a treat (we're currently potty training) so I can't comment on the taste of those, but I did try the Orange Pineapple juice and it was pretty good. It didn't taste super sweet like some juices, but still sweet enough that I would still probably water it down since I don't drink much juice, I always feel like it's too sweet compared to my typical water. The flavor itself was really good, which is surprising for a "no sugar added" product. Usually those taste like they've been watered down or have a bunch of fake crap in them. The nice thing about Apple & Eve  Juice Organics is that it's 100% juice and organic (if you care about that stuff,  too me, that's not the most important thing). I was still surprised to see that there was 30g of sugar in one 8oz serving. Fruit has a lot of sugar in it to begin with, which is another reason I normally water  juice down, but 30g seems like a ton for something that has no sugar added.  I was a little disappointed to see the Quenchers Juice boxes are only 40% juice. I assume they do that so it's less sugar since they are geared towards kids. Guess I don't have to water those down, since they only had 10g of sugar. #PurelyOrganics #QuenchersAdventures

Overall, I'm way more thrilled with the Tasty Kakes than the juice, but still always nice to try out new products and I'm sure EMS will be very happy to have some juice for a treat!

Did you receive a VoxBox recently? What was in it? 

If you'd like to join Influenester, please let me know and I can send you an invite!

Follow Through Friday - Two Week Day Long Runs

What a week! Before we left for our cruise on Friday, I went out and ran my 8 miles, knowing I wouldn’t do it on vacation. I ran with one of my MRTT Mommas who is usually pretty fast (faster than me anyways!) and we did the first 4 miles in under 40 minutes! Overall, we maintained a great pace for all 8 miles and even saw two zebras on a property that backs up to the trail. So random!

I ate and drank heavily on the cruise like usual (but did get a decent amount of steps, like 12k+ each day) but didn’t really slow my roll much all week. I only cooked one night, bought my lunch each day at work and ate a lot of left over birthday cake. Tuesday morning when I weighed myself, I was still holding on to some serious weight and was 156.9. Somehow I got back down to 150.2 this morning. I really need to meal prep for this coming week. I got one free week of Hello Fresh (use code UYWR66 if you want $40 off your first box!) and am excited to try the meals that were delivered. They aren’t very low in calories though but since the portions are pretty large, I figure I can split the meals in half. I made the first one, which was Pan-Seared Chicken Sausage with Tangy Cabbage and Butternut Squash-Apple Puree and it was delicious (even with charring my squash a little)! I was able to split it into 3 meals too! The two I’ll be making this week will be: Seared Steak & Creamy Horseradish Sauce with Rosemary-Roasted Root Vegetables and Roasted Pork Chops with Balsamic-Fig Sauce, Greens, and Rosemary-Roasted Potatoes. I wish this program wasn’t so expensive ($69 for 3 meals for 2 people so ~ $11.50/meal) because I love the concept and love how it all game pre-packaged and ready to go!  Speaking of food this weekend may end up being just as bad as the cruise last weekend since G and I are going to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for date night tonight (we have gift cards) and then doing Drinks Around the World at Epcot tomorrow which since it’s also the Food and Wine Festival, there is a good chance I’ll be eating around the world as well! I’ll be sure to jump back on the healthy eating train 1^st thing on Sunday though!

Since I knew we’d be super busy all weekend and after drinking, I definitely can’t run the next day, I got my long run in last night (Thursday). I’d much rather get up super early on a Saturday and run with my MRTT Mommas though, but at least I got it done. After working all day, and thinking it was supposed to rain, I wasn’t feeling very motivated. I had been excited since my in-laws were taking the girls for dinner; I was excited to have opportunity to even run outside. Then when it started pouring on my way home from work, I was dreading having to do 9 miles on the treadmill. Luckily, it cleared up and I was able to get it done outside! Typically I really slow my pace down when I run by myself, especially long distances, but I’m rather impressed with this one. I will most likely be missing my third run for this week, which is just a 30 minute one, and my first missed one this training cycle, unless I feel miraculously good on Sunday after drinking on Saturday, but that is unlikely. Not too bad though, made it 7 weeks without missing a single run. And I got two loing runs done on weekdays, that's impressive in itself! I only made it on the workstation one day at work, but someone didn’t show up so at least I got it for 45 minutes vs. the normal 30. Since I was on vacation Monday, I missed the signups for this coming week, boo!

Since yesterday started a new month, figured I’d set my October Goals. I hit all 3 of my September Goals – I hit and passed the goal of150 lbs (which means I also hit my Dietbet goal, which was September goal #2). Granted I’m a little up again, but I’m confident I can get back down to at least 148.4 this month, and that’s my weight goal to hit before we leave for our 3 week vacation on 10/24, with a stretch goal of 147. I signed up for another Dietbet when we got back from the cruise and it ends October 18^th, and since most of my initial weigh in was cruise bloat, I already hit that goal, but of course that’s a goal to be able to maintain and win my DietBet for the month.  I also made the goal to run 55 miles this month, since I hit 53.9 (vs. my goal of 50 for September). I’m signed up for a 10 Miler race (Lakeland 10 Miler) next weekend and then a 5 Miler + 2 Miler challenge race (U Can Finish 5 Miler) the following weekend.

Results for the week (ending 10/2):

Weight:  150.2

Half Marathon training:
     Run 1: 8.03 miles in 1:21:56 (10:12 pace)

     Run 2: 2.82 miles in 30:00 (10:38 pace) 
     Run 3: 9.00 miles in 1:32:45 (10:18 pace) 

Other:

   Walk: 2.7 miles combined

Total Weekly (Running) Miles Logged: 19.85 miles
Total September Miles Logged: 53.9 (of 50)

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 26.4 lbs