FIVE DAYS

FIVE days until Twin Cities Marathon! EKK. I am really excited but so nervous. Catherine and I got to workout this weekend together and we both are so nervous for this race. Not sure why, but we both just have some nerves. I believe it is TOTALLY normal and OK to have nerves. I remember a hockey coach told me years ago, “if you do not have any nerves, that means you are not thinking about this game enough. You are not invested if you have zero nerves.” Amen!

So five days out means everything needs to be on point this week, mainly carbs and water though. Ha ha!

But actually, my workouts need to push me but definitely not give me soreness. It is like a perfect balance that is really tricky to find! I have a 6-mile run tomorrow and one 3-mile run left, possibly two 3-mile runs, who knows! Every run this week is an easy pace, no PRs ;) I might do boot camp on Thursday without weights, but again, I really want to see how I feel Thursday.

I will try to post one more time before the marathon – if not, I will catch ya on the flip side friends!

Spaghetti Squash Mac N' Cheese

I should be reading for class, but as I took my first bite of lunch I had a change in plans: blog the recipe of my meal, of course!

Spaghetti Squash Mac N’ Cheese:

1 spaghetti squash

1 cup cheddar cheese

½ cup mozzarella cheese

¾ cup milk (I used Fairlife for more protein)

1 T. flour

1 t. garlic salt

1 t. pepper

2 heads broccoli (optional)

bacon (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half and take out the ‘insides’. Then bake the squash for 50 minutes. Take squash out and let it cool, once cooled, with a fork scoop it into a bowl. Next, heat milk on stovetop and whisk in flour. After milk is warm slowly add the cheeses until they are all melted, still whisking it. When the cheeses are creamy pour over the squash, add in pepper and garlic salt, and serve.

I will say two things: not all bacon is crappy for you. If you have good quality bacon it actually is not as high in fat AND it is a good source of protein (nitrate free, organic, etc.). Also, you probably have seen a lot of different recipes online for spaghetti squash mac n’ cheese. I didn’t have Parmesan cheese, goat cheese or flipping other fancy cheeses in my house. Therefore, I used regular cheeses that I always have in my house. You could fix the recipe up for the ingredients you have and I am sure it would still be yummy!

Macros on 200g of squash + two pieces of bacon + 100g broccoli =

19c/2f/22p

New Goals

I decided to think of some new goals as I go forward with a cut. They are pretty simple and straightforward, but for me, if I make them crazy, super confusing, extremely hard I do not stick to them ;)

Fall 2015 Goals:

Hit macros (Regular days: 72f/157c/150p…high carb days are 190-250g carbs and micronutrients: fiber, vitamins, etc.)

Try my hardest to work through pain and run – I really want to do the marathon

Water! Water! Water!

Stay on track when traveling. This will be hard. I do not count macros when traveling or when visiting Kyle, but I want to do better than I have been doing. Lately it turns into three straight days of eating and drinking crap. I am okay with a night or two here or there, or a meal out, but when it turns into a whole weekend my body goes into shock!

Get more sleep – I am in night class three days a week and then waking up at 4:52 am It has been rough!

Try new recipes, mostly pumpkin ones ;)

Try new things that scare me (gym wise, fashion wise, reach out to people)

I will relook at these goals in early October and see how it is going.

This weekend I am home and I plan to chill tonight before race day tomorrow (5K with my Troopers!) and babysitting multiple times this weekend.

20 Miles

I am SO glad to have that behind me. It was not pretty. I started off with a great attitude, ready to kill my run. Katie was texting me and I was feeling great around mile 12. Around mile 12.5 I started to get some pain in my toe/foot/leg, I got super upset, but still tried to run.

I started the first 6 miles around a 10:24 pace! Then I got slower around mile 12, slowing down to 10:58. Not bad, I still would be happy with that! However, at the end, I had to walk the last 3 miles home. I eventually turned off Map My Run because I was getting sad that my pace was 13:56 (I could not find my watch).

Anyway, I fueled up with yummy food, an energy bar, liquids from the gas station and energy gels. Those for sure helped me!

Post run had me dead...

I still burned a ton of calories - this is always motivating 

Sweet tan lines!

My foot is still achy today but I plan to try to run again soon. I need to decide what my plan is for the marathon!  Tomorrow I will try to post goals and my new macro plan :)

Cutting!

For the last few months I would say I have been content with my weight. I am at the point where it is not my biggest concern, I more care about how I feel. Throughout the summer I began to eat a little more than I did in the spring and I also turned 21 - so more alcohol. I will be honest, I hate the taste of almost all alcohol. I drink for the socialization part but man it's nasty! I'm the person who orders a chocolate martini (doesn't like it) and then orders a margarita (doesn't like it) and then I want to know what "virgin" drinks there are. Hahahaha. 

Anyway, I feel like while I maintained my weight I was able to have some NSV (non scale Victories) like lifting more weight! This was huge for me; however, with that said I want to try to lose a little more "fat" on my body and then try to mini bulk to gain more muscle, before cutting again. 

You CANNOT pick where you lose fat on your body, your body picks for you. AKA why I have a small chest but still a tummy ;) Dumb, I know. A few areas I would like to see more fat loss: armpit/back, around my Bicep, lower tummy. We will see how it goes! I am still going to be eating about 1880 calories (but following macros, not calories, MFP always messes with your calories FYI) vs 2200 a day - if I feel sluggish at 1880 I'll bump it up but I know my body loses while eating 1800's calories. I'll keep you in the loop about how it goes! 

hahahaha, I laughed too hard.

Tomorrow I will post some upcoming newer goals and my macros!

Overly-Annoying

Happy Monday!

I am in a really good mood today and I am not going to let anything stop me from being overly-annoying on this beautiful Monday.

I am participating in a workout study and getting paid a lot of money to workout and wash a t-shirt. That is one reason I am excited.

Another reason? Well I went to the doctor and he put me on antibiotics, gave me shoe inserts and told me I can run as long as it is pain free. Hopefully Wednesday I will run 20 miles!

I also started a “cut” today and nailed all my food/workouts. That makes me proud. I do not have a lot of weight to lose, but I want to lose some inches. I will post about this later on.

I booked a trip to Chicago with Kyle in November. We have a wedding but will also call it an anniversary trip!

I might be traveling to England with my mom and sister – this is exciting!!

Geez, I do not even know what else is making me so happy. I guess life is just great and I am feeling blessed!

And…. I had a friend send me this – ummmm, yes this is AMAZING!