Running

I've recently started running somewhat seriously. I've never really been much of a runner (the farthest I've ever run was a 5k event, and I walked about 1.5-2 of that. It took 45 minutes to complete!). A couple of years ago, I signed up for the Sporting Life 10K, determined that it would motivate me to get my running in gear.

Weeelllllll, it didn't work out. I ended up dislocating my elbow in March, and unable to run again without significant pain in my arms till the summer.

Good times.

Finally, two years later, I've decided to make my triumphant return to running by signing up AGAIN for the Sporting Life 10K in early May! I intend to run using the 10:1 method (taught by the Running Room clinics), and I want to finish the run in under 1 hour 15 minutes. Stay tuned to see if I can do it!

So, my training runs have recently made it outdoors now that the weather is getting nicer. I'm running about 3-4km average, and gradually increasing my distance by about 1-1.5km per week.

I was feeling a little sniffly and sick yesterday. Nothing too major, just a sniffle and runny nose, bit of congestion in the face. No biggie. I decided to go ahead and go for a run after work anyway.

Let me tell you something about running in chilly weather while sick --- it's a really bad idea!

Usually when I run and it's a bit chilly, my nose gets kind of runny to begin with. But my nose was already spewing all over the place, so my run was pretty gross :P A few people running around the park stared at me a little bit as I went snorting and honking past them. Unfortunately, this also meant that I had to breathe through my mouth almost the entire time - elevating my heart rate and causing me to tire out faster than I would have liked. Boooooooo.

But here's the plus side!

Despite feeling gross and running against the wind the entire time, I still ran 3.5km in 26 minutes, faster than last week's 3.2km in 26 minutes! And at the end of my route when I reached home, I felt like I could have run more, but decided to get out of the wind.

A plus and minus side - my heart rate monitor wasn't working the entire run. I had forgotten to get it wet before leaving home, but usually within 10 minutes or so once you start to work up a good sweat, it will start to work again. Nooooo, not this time. The problem? The strap around my chest was falling off. I was fiddling with it constantly throughout my run. Why is this a plus side you ask? Well, I haven't adjusted the width of that strap since I bought the monitor a year ago (I just pull it over my head rather than moving the strap around). This suggests that my chest measurement has shrunk! If only the measurements in other places would shrink too *glares at hips and butt*

The major downside is that running in chilly weather while sick often makes you more sick than when you started. Today I'm feeling a million times more sick than yesterday. So I'll be taking it easy today and maybe tomorrow so that I can feel 100% again in time for the upcoming long weekend!!!

Busy Weekend!

This weekend was CRAZY busy for me! But given how much running around I did, I think I've done pretty well to stay on track.

Saturday morning I went to work at my Weight Watchers meeting (College and Ossington, come check us out!). This meeting is really small right now, as it just got started, but the members there are SO awesome and really inspiring! They are all connecting really well with each other and with the staff... the energy in the room is just amazing!
After the meeting, I headed home and went out grocery shopping for some super healthy yummy food, and made some vegetarian lasagna!

12 Oven-ready lasagna noodles (my pan is really big, so it was 4 noodles per layer)
2c shredded cheese (I used Kraft Mozza-Chedder)
1 bottle pasta sauce, any kind
1c skim milk
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 package of sliced mushrooms
2 zucchini, sliced thin
1 medium eggplant, sliced thin
3 tbsp olive oil

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan, and cook the zucchini and mushrooms together until they're tender (2 or 3 minutes). Transfer them over to a plate. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and cook the eggplant till tender (4 or 5 minutes).
Meanwhile, melt the butter/margarine in a saucepan, and stir in the flour. Add skim milk and whisk for a few minutes on medium heat until it is bubbly and thickened. Add 1c of the shredded cheese. Stir till the cheese is nice and melted, and remove from the heat (heat it up later if it starts to harden).
Heat the entire bottle of pasta sauce in another saucepan till it starts to boil.
Coat the bottom of your lasagna pan with 1/2 c of the sauce, and place your first layer of noodles on top. Place all your mushrooms and zucchini on top of the noodles, cover in your cheese sauce and spread it around. Add another layer of noodles. Place your eggplant on the next layer, and top with some more pasta sauce. More noodles! Cover the noodles with pasta sauce, and sprinkle the remaining cheese over top.
Cover the whole pan with tin foil, and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue baking uncovered for another 20-25 minutes till the cheese gets bubbly. You're done!

It's SOOOOOOOO yummy and insanely filling! I divided it up into 8 enormous servings of lasagna, and calculated out with my noodles, cheese and sauce that each slice is 7 points! (I'll take a pic when I get home and post it up later!)

After making my lasagna, Ed and I went to a fundraising Spin-a-thon, raising money for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Ed is participating in the ride along with his team, and the spinning studio near us generously offered up their space for the entire afternoon! We did a 1 hour spinning class and worked up a LOT of sweat!!!

We went back home to shower, eat lasagna for dinner, and headed out the door again! This time, we were headed to a kirtan for Earth Hour at Moksha Yoga North York. This was my first time going to a kirtan, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Basically, there are different forms of yoga practice. Yoga simply means a union between mind, body and spirit. You don't need to be a pretzel to achieve this balance, there are many other ways to practice yoga! Asana is the type that most people are familiar with, which is physical postures. Meditation is also a form of yoga. Singing/chanting is also a form of yoga, which is what the kirtan is all about. You sing and chant hymns to various Hindi deities in a call and response method to the accompaniment of instruments (drums, guitar, cello, etc). It. Was. Amazing. The kirtan was dedicated to a member of the Moksha community, one of Ed's sangha from teacher training, who committed suicide just before the weekend. Though many of us at the kirtan did not know her well or had never even met her, the community as a whole was deeply saddened by her loss. Now, I've never been big on the whole chanting, Ommmmmmmm-ing thing, but I think I'm finally coming to understand it and get in touch with it's power!

And then we headed home and fell asleep. THAT WAS ONLY SATURDAY!!!

Sunday I worked at yet another Weight Watchers meeting in Forest Hill in the morning, followed by an afternoon working at my yoga studio. I am an energy exchange student at Moksha Yoga Bloor West, which means that I work at the studio doing reception duties, cleaning the studio, etc. in exchange for yoga classes. I was able to fit in a Flow class after my shift was through, which was really awesome, since I haven't been able to practice much in the last couple of weeks.

Finally, an evening at home to just hang out and relax with Ed. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

How did you spend Earth Hour on Saturday?

Temptation

Today happens to be a great day to start off this blog, because I was hit with some major temptation today!

My boss' daughter is selling Girl Guide cookies. The good kind, not those chocolate mint ones (blehhh). They're only available once a year, and really, who can say no to a small girl with amazing cookies?????

So of course, I bought a box. Sigh...

After all these years, this is one of those things that still haunts me. I get tempted by snacks and treats! Trust me, even after losing weight, even after keeping it off for years, it doesn't get any easier to resist these things!!! So, this box is sitting on my desk staring at me. "Eat me!!!", it cries, "We're so delicious and chocolatey!" . I pick up the box. I flip the box over. And I read the nutritional information.

WOW.

One cookie contains 70 calories and 3g of fat! And the sodium!!!!

I put the box back down. Those little facts are enough to convince me that I need to think twice before opening the box. I know my limitations - and I know I won't be able to resist the whole damn open box staring at me with that creamy icing, even knowing full well how bad they are for me.

But here's the good news!

You can still lose weight or maintain your weight and have treats now and then! So long as you track and plan ahead, you can totally have those Girl Guide cookies and still feel great! Moderation is KEY!

Planning Ahead:
I'm going to give half of these cookies to friends who want them, and save the other half for me to enjoy and savour. I'm going to divide them up into little baggies of two cookies, so that I won't be able to go overboard when the baggie is done.

Until I get home to separate these tempting little cookies, I'm going to stick with the shiny red apple sitting on my desk next to that box and give myself a pat on the back!

What are some of your strategies to resist temptations?

First post!

Welcome to my blog!!!

I have such a passion for healthy food, exercise, and healthy mind, and I decided to post my love for healthy living online. I'm super excited to share my experiences in healthy living with the world!!!!

On this blog, I'll be posting anything and everything relating to healthy food (Snack), exercise (Sweat) and balancing it all (Spirit)! You can expect to see some of my favourite recipes and meal plans, favourite ways to exercise and new ideas to get fit, and how I try to incorporate it all into a balanced life and healthy spirituality.

So, what do I know about healthy living? What makes me think I'm such a know-it-all??? Check out my "About Me" page to find out!

Much love,
Michelle