Serious Lack of Willpower

Does anyone else have a serious weakness that tests every ounce of willpower that exists in your body? For some reason, I cannot go to Dunkin’ Donuts and walk out with just a coffee.

I go in for this:

I bet you can guess what the PS stands for…

And I come out with this:

Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Twist – Sweet carby deliciousness

Whoops.  Oh well, one thing I don’t do is guilt myself over what I eat. Unless I go overboard – which, I admit, does happen.

Speaking of eating, I concocted a delicious treat last night:  Blueberry Muffin Overnight Oats

It doesn’t look terribly impressive, but it was delicious. The only thing I would have done different is add more oats.

What’s in it?

• 1/3 cup quick cook oats
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

I also, on a whim, added half a sliced banana after I heated the oats and stirred it all together.  It really tasted like a blueberry muffin. 

As for my workout today – when I woke up this morning I knew one thing, I wouldn’t be running.  My legs were tired after 16 miles over two days, and my foot was achey again after Saturday’s fast 10 miler. 

I’ve been really making an effort to hit my other major muscle groups on my non-running days lately, so this morning I did the 10 lb Slimdown Upper Body and Core Workouts. These workouts are no joke – my shoulders are already sore! I followed that with 15 minutes worth of stretches specifically for runners, from Cool Running.  I’m ready to hit the road for a tempo run tomorrow – I have to work on locking in my race pace for my sub 2-hour half goal. 

I’m switching my runs back to nights now too.  Yesterday’s 5 a.m. run scared the daylights out of me (heh – bad joke, not even on purpose). It was pitch black for 75% of the run, wicked quiet, and just generally creepy. I’m going to play it safe and run after work, while we still have daylight after work.

Does anyone else get really creeped out running alone when it’s super dark and/or quiet out?

I Always Keep a Promise

Are you guys losing patience with my lack of race reporting yet? I’m so so so sorry.  I’m going on another adventure this weekend – Seek the Peak! I will try, VERY HARD, to get the report posted before I leave Friday afternoon. If I don’t I’ll owe you two reports – my first marathon AND my first hike to the summit of Mt. Washington.  I swear I will get to it – I always keep a promise.

Damn pesky thing called work and training gets in the way of blogging…oh and sleep, which I value, greatly.

Speaking of promises, earlier in the week I promised you a recipe for my Oatmeal Bluenana Muffins.  Here it is! I don’t bake too much in the summer because it gets too hot in my house, but I had some over ripe bananas that needed to be used.  Seeing how bananas are usually devoured before they can become over ripe, I took it as a sign that I needed to bake!

I adapted this recipe from a few different recipes to make it my own:

Oatmeal Bluenana Muffins


Ingredients

• 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 c old fashioned oats
• 1/2 c sugar
• 3 overripe bananas
• 1 c fresh blueberries 
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 c applesauce
• 1/8 c plain Greek yogurt (I use Chobani – it’s the only yogurt I’ll eat)
• 1/8 c vegetable oil
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash your bananas! I use a hand potato masher.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a medium mixing bowl combine bananas, eggs, applesauce, yogurt, oil, and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly.

Does anyone else have one of these little guys for measuring small stuff: If you don’t, you should – what a great, handy tool! 

Mix your wet and dry ingredients until well blended. 

Fold in blueberries.  Spoon batter into muffin tins sprayed with non stick cooking spray.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Overflowing with blueberry deliciousness

This recipe makes approximately 16 muffins (but they’re kind of small)

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In other news, tonight I ran for the first time since Marathon Sunday!  Even though my glutes were sore from the P90X Core DVD I did for a workout last night (holy that workout series is no joke). 

I took off running and was shocked when I looked down at my Garmin for the first time.  I felt strong, I was breathing heavy but not feeling out of breath, I felt GREAT!

Do you see those first two miles?! OMGOODNESS! When I finished Mile 1 I played a game with myself – I told myself if I can finish Mile 2 around the same time then I’ll slow down for the next two miles (I am supposed to be taking it easy 9 days after my first marathon…whooooooooopsy!). Well it worked, so I slowed it down for Mile 3 (But I did manage to hit a BIG uphill in my neighborhood – the glutes that were sore before, they’re angry now – but hey, they’ll look good!). 

I rounded out the running portion of my workout right back at my house – so I ran in the house quick, grabbed Lexi, and went for a 1.3 mile power walk with her as a cool down.  It was too hot to take her on this run, and I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t really appreciate the sub 9 mm pace. 

I’m sore but I feel great! Tomorrow I’m off to the gym for an easy speed workout (easyish – not my typical psycho intervals) and some upper body weight training (YIKES!). 

Do you ever surprise yourself in your workouts? Those first 2 miles came as a shock to me tonight, having never run a marathon before I didn’t know what to expect!