Had a really good run today, though it was a struggle getting there. By 6pm or so today I was suddenly famished, and desperately wanted crispy chicken pad thai for dinner. So before I left work today I sat and debated with myself for a long time as to what to do. In the end I decided to go to the gym, run my 5K, and have thai takeout as a reward afterwards to balance out the calorie intake/output.
I was originally going to just run 25 minutes non-stop, and then do a 4-minute run/1-minute walk thing until I get to 40 minutes, which usually equates a 5K more or less. But luckily, I caught half an episode of Castle that just happened to be playing on the treadmill I picked. It was a season finale, during which Beckett was fighting some bad guy on the rooftop of a building that ended with the bad guy getting away and left Beckett hanging by the edge of the building and had to be saved by Ryan. The actual fighting part happened about 20 minutes into my run, and even though I kind of knew what happened, having seen the episode before, I was nonetheless engrossed in the plot and I almost jilted when Beckett was ambushed at one point. The episode cut to commercial right after Beckett rolled to the edge of the building and was hanging by her fingers, and I could feel my heart pumping faster because of the suspense.
And that's when it happened. Just minutes before I started to breathe really heavily and audibly as I usually do around minute 20 and had to really put an effort and focus on my breathing and running, but as I watched the show and I got excited by the plot I found myself breathing normally again, as in, no loud, forceful breaths to artificially pump my heart faster to accommodate the demand of my body. Watching the show seemed to give me an extra shot of adrenaline without me having to do any extra work. The effect was not long lasting though, half way through the commercial break I found myself having to breathe really hard again. I managed to keep running until I did 31 minutes, and ended up running the fastest mile, km, and 5K according to my Nike, earning a pre-recorded congratulatory message from Paula Radcliffe, which was kinda nice. The data is false, by the way. Nike has a tendency of overestimating my distance and I don't always recalibrate afterwards. So now I have a 32-minute 5K record that's not real that I will have to beat later on. Oh well, none of that really matters that much.
But that kind of got me thinking. I used to be really afraid of watching anything suspenseful while running on the treadmill because I didn't want the plot of the show interfere with my breathing. But now it seems that having my heart beat faster is actually a good thing and I might need to do it more often. I also found that during the first 10 minutes or so I really need to concentrate on whatever I'm listening to keep myself from being bored, but this distraction is less necessary beyond the 10-minute mark, as running then requires more conscious effort. Now it seems that around 20-minutes I need something exciting again to give my heart an extra push. I'm not sure this is completely good for me, as people usually talk about increasing their lung capacity instead of heart rate when exercise, but before the capacity of my lungs are properly expanded I'll have to settle with faster heart pumping.
Afterwards as I was walking home I asked myself if I still wanted pad thai, and as usual my appetite gets curbed after exercising and my desire for thai food and fried chicken was not as intense as before. But I still like the idea of very savory food and I couldn't think of any good alternative that I could make at home that would be comparable. I set my mind on the salty ramen noodle in the end, as I was feeling for something soup-y, but I still could not abandon the idea of pad thai. I literally was at a crossroad, having one way leading home and the other leading to the thai restaurant. I ended up sitting on a very cold bench and played 2048 for 3 minutes before my butt got really cold and I just told myself to go home and have ramen and save the $13 I didn't really feel like spending anyway. In the end it was a very successful day with eating, exercising, and money spending.
I've also start to take more walks. On Monday I walked around the nearby pond twice (roughly 2 miles) because I didn't want to go running but I felt the need to exercise. Today I walked around the pond once, since I really need the time to think about the outline of a review I needed to write and I was too full from lunch to sit in front of my desk comfortably. I still haven't come up with a good outline but I did stop feeling bloated. As spring hesitantly approaches there are more runners coming out. On my walk today I saw 2 guys and a girls jogging (separately), and a group of young kids doing some sort of track workout. I started mile 2 and all of a sudden decided that I didn't want to walk anymore but would like to go back and start making a tentative outline and assemble a reading list, so I literally stopped abruptly, turned around, and walked back to my office. As I turned around I saw the group of young kids running their third and they must have thought that I was most weird. Oh well.
Showing posts with label Eating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eating. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Here's to another 100: Happy 101~~
Just realized that my last post was my 100th. I was gonna talk about how I obsessively had to go to the gym today, and afterwards went to a restaurant alone and stuffed myself silly with a burger, fries, and carrot cake, but...
Well I guess I pretty much summarized what I wanted to say in one sentence.
Okay here are a few more details. I got home later than I had planned and forgot to eat a pre-run snack (also my new scale arrived and I was playing around with that). When I was running on the treadmill the TV was on and even though I couldn't hear what they were talking about, there were some very nice Christmas dinner themed dishes featured on the news program which ended with a delicious-looking pie, which made me very hungry. After I got home I realized my need to have a good, fancy meal, and decided to go to a restaurant after my shower. It's restaurant week in our town so a few places had put out special menus. I picked one that opened late and for about an hour stuffed my face while reading Stephen Fry's newest autobiography, and came home with leftover fries and carrot cake. I'm slightly disgusted at myself for eating more than I should, but at the same time feeling blissful.
But back to this artificially special post. 100 is such an arbitrary number and rationally should not really be a cause of any celebration. It's been about 21 months since I started running and this blog, and overall I've written about my every workout and random thoughts I had during each workout. Recently, I was ashamed and disappointed at myself for not running regularly in the summer and stopping writing for a few months, and after I started taking my Dartfit course I was just too overwhelmed with the class to really sit down and think about it. Tomorrow is the last day of Dartfit and maybe I'll write something to reflect on this past school term.
I had also planned to write about all my cooking adventures (thus the "glutton" part of my blog title), but because I am too lazy to take pictures of my cooking, and recounting my cooking experience is too boring for me, I sort of stopped doing that after the first month. I love to read blog posts where other people try out recipes and include pictorial instructions, but writing about them, especially right after the cooking experience, is extremely dull.
Plus I lost interest in cooking new things sometimes earlier this year and I haven't tried any new recipes in a long time.
Hm... I really have nothing else to say. Think I will be more thoughtful and reflective toward the end of December, maybe my later posts, while not landmark-y in number, will be somewhat more nutritious.
Well I guess I pretty much summarized what I wanted to say in one sentence.
Okay here are a few more details. I got home later than I had planned and forgot to eat a pre-run snack (also my new scale arrived and I was playing around with that). When I was running on the treadmill the TV was on and even though I couldn't hear what they were talking about, there were some very nice Christmas dinner themed dishes featured on the news program which ended with a delicious-looking pie, which made me very hungry. After I got home I realized my need to have a good, fancy meal, and decided to go to a restaurant after my shower. It's restaurant week in our town so a few places had put out special menus. I picked one that opened late and for about an hour stuffed my face while reading Stephen Fry's newest autobiography, and came home with leftover fries and carrot cake. I'm slightly disgusted at myself for eating more than I should, but at the same time feeling blissful.
But back to this artificially special post. 100 is such an arbitrary number and rationally should not really be a cause of any celebration. It's been about 21 months since I started running and this blog, and overall I've written about my every workout and random thoughts I had during each workout. Recently, I was ashamed and disappointed at myself for not running regularly in the summer and stopping writing for a few months, and after I started taking my Dartfit course I was just too overwhelmed with the class to really sit down and think about it. Tomorrow is the last day of Dartfit and maybe I'll write something to reflect on this past school term.
I had also planned to write about all my cooking adventures (thus the "glutton" part of my blog title), but because I am too lazy to take pictures of my cooking, and recounting my cooking experience is too boring for me, I sort of stopped doing that after the first month. I love to read blog posts where other people try out recipes and include pictorial instructions, but writing about them, especially right after the cooking experience, is extremely dull.
Plus I lost interest in cooking new things sometimes earlier this year and I haven't tried any new recipes in a long time.
Hm... I really have nothing else to say. Think I will be more thoughtful and reflective toward the end of December, maybe my later posts, while not landmark-y in number, will be somewhat more nutritious.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Exercise Diary: I'm back, it's back
Weekends are for long runs during times you would not normally be out. And I'm glad that I took advantage of my weekend. Yesterday morning I got up extra early and went to the next town over to do my favorite loop, and today I tried to do some fartlek around my usual pond. I really need it too to burn of all the delicious I ate in the past week.
After many last minute yoga classes and pond runs, I spent 6 blissful days in New Orleans, where my lab mate and I attended this years American Society of Microbiology conference and did all the touristy things one would do in New Orleans. There were 4 days of overwhelmingly vast choices of workshops and talks and vender and posters to attend and look at, we each presented a poster detailing our work, and got really excited about microbiology in general and our research specifically.
But perhaps more fun were the things we did outside of the conference. We went up and down Bourbon way too many times since our hotel was right in the heart of the French Quarter and a block away from Bourbon, went to the French Market, visited many pubs and bars, looked around in many galleries and antique shops, and took many pictures. But the reason for my runs, and the things that I was most akin to, were the southern food. Surprisingly only very few meals I ate there consisted of fried food; somehow I managed to avoid that for the large part. But I did make a point to eat as much seafood as possible, because why not? So after these blissful days I managed to try beignets, alligator sausage, po-boys, gumbo (many many times, it's my favorite!!), étouffée (which tasted just like gumbo), oysters, catfish, and many other delicious things. Not to mentions the cocktails and beers I tried every chance I got. Unfortunately apart from the Hurricane we had on our first night there, none of the other cocktails (including a very expensive absinthe drink that was way overpriced) gave me any buzz. At least now I know now how these traditional New Orleans drinks taste.
Both my lab mate and I were absolutely disgusted at ourselves by the end of the trip for how much we ate and how lavishly we ate. I could feel that one of my shirts became noticeably tighter. Surprisingly after I got home I found my weight stayed within a reasonable fluctuation of what I normally weigh, and after not eating any real meals for two days after coming back (there was no food in the apartment and I was too afraid to go shopping on an empty stomach, and I was abnormally exhausted after coming back), I actually lost a pound. Perhaps I didn't eat as much junk food as I thought I had. After all I did eat a lot of soup (gumbo).
But it was time to go back to regular exercising. Although I brought my gym clothes and running shoes to New Orleans I didn't get any chance to go running. The hotel gym closes at 11pm every night and apparently that just wasn't late enough for all the things we ended up doing every night. On our second to last day I saw many people out running along the tram tracks that go through the middle of the road and those people made me happy. For one, there are runners in New Orleans, and for another, none of them were very fast (though they all looked very fit). It's probably the humidity that slowed those people down, or maybe where I am from people are just more into running as a whole. Either way I was very happy to see them and if I had stayed for another week I would definitely join them.
Did 3.5 miles yesterday and honestly it wasn't as bad as I had thought. I was going extra slow at first since I didn't want to burn out again after mile 1 with its steep downhill and grueling uphills, and surprisingly I managed to do the whole run without any walking. Granted the entire thing was slow, and I wasn't really concentrating on my run since I went back to my podcast listening, but it was nice and cloudy and breezy, and I had a good time outside enjoying a beautiful town early in the morning. People were extra friendly too, every cyclist, runner, and other early risers who saw me waved or smiled at me, and I really appreciated the comradery. On my way back I even saw one of my students running too. Since they were taking their finals later that day I guess it's her way of de-stress.
Today I couldn't get up early enough for a run so I resorted to the pond in between my experiment. I've long given up the idea of me lifting or doing HIIT exercises so I thought doing fartlek or interval running to increase fat burning would by my way to burn more fat. But maybe I over did it today. By the second lap I could feel a sharp pain surging from the bottom of my right foot and all I could think of it, oh no, my plantar fasciitis is back. I'm not sure if it ever fully went away but I haven't had the cropping pain in a long time and my foot hasn't bothered me in a big way after my runs for a while. Maybe given my weight at the moment and the pressure I put on my legs and feet when I try to run too fast is just not a good idea. I will still do intervals but maybe I shouldn't push myself too hard. I just hope today's little episode won't turn into something bigger. I don't want to spend another summer not running and procrastinating on stretching out my plantar fasciitis. Fingers crossed.
After many last minute yoga classes and pond runs, I spent 6 blissful days in New Orleans, where my lab mate and I attended this years American Society of Microbiology conference and did all the touristy things one would do in New Orleans. There were 4 days of overwhelmingly vast choices of workshops and talks and vender and posters to attend and look at, we each presented a poster detailing our work, and got really excited about microbiology in general and our research specifically.
But perhaps more fun were the things we did outside of the conference. We went up and down Bourbon way too many times since our hotel was right in the heart of the French Quarter and a block away from Bourbon, went to the French Market, visited many pubs and bars, looked around in many galleries and antique shops, and took many pictures. But the reason for my runs, and the things that I was most akin to, were the southern food. Surprisingly only very few meals I ate there consisted of fried food; somehow I managed to avoid that for the large part. But I did make a point to eat as much seafood as possible, because why not? So after these blissful days I managed to try beignets, alligator sausage, po-boys, gumbo (many many times, it's my favorite!!), étouffée (which tasted just like gumbo), oysters, catfish, and many other delicious things. Not to mentions the cocktails and beers I tried every chance I got. Unfortunately apart from the Hurricane we had on our first night there, none of the other cocktails (including a very expensive absinthe drink that was way overpriced) gave me any buzz. At least now I know now how these traditional New Orleans drinks taste.
Both my lab mate and I were absolutely disgusted at ourselves by the end of the trip for how much we ate and how lavishly we ate. I could feel that one of my shirts became noticeably tighter. Surprisingly after I got home I found my weight stayed within a reasonable fluctuation of what I normally weigh, and after not eating any real meals for two days after coming back (there was no food in the apartment and I was too afraid to go shopping on an empty stomach, and I was abnormally exhausted after coming back), I actually lost a pound. Perhaps I didn't eat as much junk food as I thought I had. After all I did eat a lot of soup (gumbo).
But it was time to go back to regular exercising. Although I brought my gym clothes and running shoes to New Orleans I didn't get any chance to go running. The hotel gym closes at 11pm every night and apparently that just wasn't late enough for all the things we ended up doing every night. On our second to last day I saw many people out running along the tram tracks that go through the middle of the road and those people made me happy. For one, there are runners in New Orleans, and for another, none of them were very fast (though they all looked very fit). It's probably the humidity that slowed those people down, or maybe where I am from people are just more into running as a whole. Either way I was very happy to see them and if I had stayed for another week I would definitely join them.
Did 3.5 miles yesterday and honestly it wasn't as bad as I had thought. I was going extra slow at first since I didn't want to burn out again after mile 1 with its steep downhill and grueling uphills, and surprisingly I managed to do the whole run without any walking. Granted the entire thing was slow, and I wasn't really concentrating on my run since I went back to my podcast listening, but it was nice and cloudy and breezy, and I had a good time outside enjoying a beautiful town early in the morning. People were extra friendly too, every cyclist, runner, and other early risers who saw me waved or smiled at me, and I really appreciated the comradery. On my way back I even saw one of my students running too. Since they were taking their finals later that day I guess it's her way of de-stress.
Today I couldn't get up early enough for a run so I resorted to the pond in between my experiment. I've long given up the idea of me lifting or doing HIIT exercises so I thought doing fartlek or interval running to increase fat burning would by my way to burn more fat. But maybe I over did it today. By the second lap I could feel a sharp pain surging from the bottom of my right foot and all I could think of it, oh no, my plantar fasciitis is back. I'm not sure if it ever fully went away but I haven't had the cropping pain in a long time and my foot hasn't bothered me in a big way after my runs for a while. Maybe given my weight at the moment and the pressure I put on my legs and feet when I try to run too fast is just not a good idea. I will still do intervals but maybe I shouldn't push myself too hard. I just hope today's little episode won't turn into something bigger. I don't want to spend another summer not running and procrastinating on stretching out my plantar fasciitis. Fingers crossed.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Exercise Diary: Yoga and Life
Yoga Tuesday again. This will be the last Tuesday of this term that I will be going to yoga classes. Starting next week I will have lab sessions to TA every Tuesday night. We've agreed to move our yoga day to Thursday, but we'll see how that goes. I foresee a lot of missed classes ahead.
And for once in a long time I actually skipped running yesterday. I even planned to go run. The gym is now in full spring term hours, which means that it opens until 10 pm. And because of that I had planned to be in lab until after 7 so I would have time for everything.
Time I did have, energy I did not. I was exhausted by the time I left lab, I just could muster the energy to run. Plus my calves and ankles were sore ( much better now, it really was just muscle soreness), and my plantar fasciitis is getting quite bad ( my foot is hurting right now). I considered it very wise to have skipped gym yesterday. But it also means that my schedule is again completely screwed up and I will probably postpone the training plan by another week.
Not that it matters anymore. Yesterday my friend had confirmed that she will not be running the half marathon we had planned to do. Although she said she would be happy to go with me, I quickly called off the plan too. It's a week before I had to leave for a conference, and right in the middle of the last third of my TA. And I just don't think I could have the time and energy to worry about it. I thought that the cancellation of my running goal would not affect my routine, but apparently it has.
I don't think it's the only reason though. Although I had anticipated that I will all of a sudden become very busy because I'm TAing again this term, I had not factored in how mentally and physically exhausted I would be. And this is ridiculous: it's only the second day of the term and I had not taught any students, graded any papers, or dealt with any problems. So far all I did was attend a TA meeting, a lecture, and a lab prep training session, and I'm already constantly exhausted and overwhelmed. I think part of it was that because time is all of a sudden a commodity I was also trying to squeeze more experiments into certain days as others are increasing becoming unavailable. That combined with the fact that I just don't do well if I have to get up early in the morning, is making me a very unhappy person.
And because of it I fear that my workout routine also has to change to accommodate my new (but temporary) life. I will have to come to terms with not running as much or work out as much. I will also have to be more efficient. If it takes me an hour to run a certain distance, I will just have to shave off time for before and after I go so working out doesn't take up 3 hours of my life that I don't have. And I also need to be careful of my diet since I tend to over eat and eat unhealthily when I'm tired or stressed, and to moderate my fluid intake so I will still drink a lot of water every day but will not have to go pee every 5 minutes when I'm supposed to be doing TA stuff. The peeing part worked pretty well today, but the fluid intake part did not. I couldn't have drunk more than 1.5 liter today, and I already feel dry.
Before I started this week I was already overwhelmed with all the things I will have to do this term, and my response to myself was to just "suck it up." There is just simply no other way. And the motto remains, but I have to figure our how to suck it up smartly or I will completely fall apart in probably every way of my life. I haven't worked out how to do it yet, but I will definitely keeping trying.
And for once in a long time I actually skipped running yesterday. I even planned to go run. The gym is now in full spring term hours, which means that it opens until 10 pm. And because of that I had planned to be in lab until after 7 so I would have time for everything.
Time I did have, energy I did not. I was exhausted by the time I left lab, I just could muster the energy to run. Plus my calves and ankles were sore ( much better now, it really was just muscle soreness), and my plantar fasciitis is getting quite bad ( my foot is hurting right now). I considered it very wise to have skipped gym yesterday. But it also means that my schedule is again completely screwed up and I will probably postpone the training plan by another week.
Not that it matters anymore. Yesterday my friend had confirmed that she will not be running the half marathon we had planned to do. Although she said she would be happy to go with me, I quickly called off the plan too. It's a week before I had to leave for a conference, and right in the middle of the last third of my TA. And I just don't think I could have the time and energy to worry about it. I thought that the cancellation of my running goal would not affect my routine, but apparently it has.
I don't think it's the only reason though. Although I had anticipated that I will all of a sudden become very busy because I'm TAing again this term, I had not factored in how mentally and physically exhausted I would be. And this is ridiculous: it's only the second day of the term and I had not taught any students, graded any papers, or dealt with any problems. So far all I did was attend a TA meeting, a lecture, and a lab prep training session, and I'm already constantly exhausted and overwhelmed. I think part of it was that because time is all of a sudden a commodity I was also trying to squeeze more experiments into certain days as others are increasing becoming unavailable. That combined with the fact that I just don't do well if I have to get up early in the morning, is making me a very unhappy person.
And because of it I fear that my workout routine also has to change to accommodate my new (but temporary) life. I will have to come to terms with not running as much or work out as much. I will also have to be more efficient. If it takes me an hour to run a certain distance, I will just have to shave off time for before and after I go so working out doesn't take up 3 hours of my life that I don't have. And I also need to be careful of my diet since I tend to over eat and eat unhealthily when I'm tired or stressed, and to moderate my fluid intake so I will still drink a lot of water every day but will not have to go pee every 5 minutes when I'm supposed to be doing TA stuff. The peeing part worked pretty well today, but the fluid intake part did not. I couldn't have drunk more than 1.5 liter today, and I already feel dry.
Before I started this week I was already overwhelmed with all the things I will have to do this term, and my response to myself was to just "suck it up." There is just simply no other way. And the motto remains, but I have to figure our how to suck it up smartly or I will completely fall apart in probably every way of my life. I haven't worked out how to do it yet, but I will definitely keeping trying.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Exercise Diary: what a day
Spring is finally here! Need proof? Mud. I actually stole the last bit off of a board somewhere on campus. But it's true. It's been raining all day today and we've moved on to snowy to muddy. Not my favorite part of spring but I did go to the gym today with no heavy jacket or outer pants so...
So much happened today in terms of everything fitness. So far today I've drunk about 3 liters of fluids (coffee and water) and still counting (I'll try to get down 3 14-oz mugs of tea before bedtime), which I've been doing all week but today I actually rigorously counted and timed my fluid intake. My diet, however, fell short by about a mile since I ate nothing but spaghettios all day (breakfast and lunch). They are homemade and they were make this morning so at least there was no preservatives and they are fresh, but in terms of nutrition... well, telling yourself it's got protein from milk and cheese and veggie from the tomato sauce can only go so far. Plus I way over ate and basically spent the whole working day today doing everything I could, short of self-induced vomiting, to get all this carb and fat out. This included standing all day, walking around as much as possible, drinking a lot of water afterwards, and even doing squats while I was in the dark room developing some film for my experiments.
The good news is, I did manage to get some of it out before going to the gym. I wasn't worried about feeling bloated or full while I run, but I just don't want to carry any extra weight if I can.
I also found these fat burning pills I bought way back when, that if you take them about an hour before your workout, they help increasing the amount of fat you burn. They got good reviews when I bought them who-knows-when, and I figured that since I had some left I might as well take them before I go running.
I think part of its mechanism is to induce water loss right before your workout, and somehow quench your thirst during the workout, and I still haven't figured out if it does anything to you afterwards. I don't feel that my belly or thighs getting extra warm or anything so I don't know if there are more fat being burnt, but the whole water loss at the beginning was unsettling. I had thought I just drank too much water during the day and therefore I had to go to the bathroom more but what happened before I had to leave for the gym was unsettling. I was afraid that I wouldn't last even a mile on the treadmill before I had to go again but thankfully somehow by the time I got on the treadmill my body went into no-i-don't-need-anymore-water-but-i-also-don't-need-to-get-rid-of-any mode.
So that was all weird, but my run today was fantastic. I still weighed more than I did yesterday when I got on the treadmill (still lots of people today and the cardio machines were dangerously full but there was one for me and that was all it mattered), but my 4-mile run felt great. The speed I usually run at felt easy and effortless, and I could just go on and on. The only thing that bothered me was my right foot as I sped up, but I managed to stay at 5 mph for about 10 minutes before I forced myself to slow down as my run was approaching an end. I really think I am getting better.
Watched an entire episode of Makers series on PBS on the women's movement. It was the first of a two-parter (I think, there may be more than 2 parts so who knows), and it ended gloomily as the Equal Rights Amendment failed to be passed in the 70s and abortion clinics suffered severe harassment till today, but the show was narrated by Meryl Streep and ended on a promising note. The second part advertised things like gay women's rights (featuring Ellen Degeneres) and some other exciting but now-forgotten topic I can't recall, so I think I'll actually go search for it on the PBS website and finish watching the two-parter. But it was a remarkable show and at various points I found myself to be very emotional and almost cried, all while running of course. It was weird. But I guess after all the LOLs while watching various cop shows and sit-coms it's time for some opposite emotions.
After I got home I buckled down and did the Day 10 beginners pop pilates workout from Blogilates. It consisted of some ab workout, bubble butt workout (which I also did on my own on Tuesday and was still feeling it), and a stretching video. I also added a new arm workout that was part of new video Monday. That video only had five moves and 1 minute each for each move, so it seemed easy (and short), but by the time I finished doing the arm circles and arm spears (which were too bad) and triangle and cobra push-ups (really really bad) I had absolutely no strength for alternating plank push-ups, as my arms started to involuntarily crashing down onto the floor. So it was only a 4-minute workout for me. My arms still hurt a lot and I had trouble pointing and clicking the right window on my computer screen afterwards.
Now I'm done. Yay and it felt really good too. Plus I'm feeling hungry as much carb-heavy lunch has finally passed through my colon. No carbs tonight. Okay maybe a little but definitely no spaghettios and no heavy dairy stuff mixed in. Maybe some soba noodles. Mmm.
So much happened today in terms of everything fitness. So far today I've drunk about 3 liters of fluids (coffee and water) and still counting (I'll try to get down 3 14-oz mugs of tea before bedtime), which I've been doing all week but today I actually rigorously counted and timed my fluid intake. My diet, however, fell short by about a mile since I ate nothing but spaghettios all day (breakfast and lunch). They are homemade and they were make this morning so at least there was no preservatives and they are fresh, but in terms of nutrition... well, telling yourself it's got protein from milk and cheese and veggie from the tomato sauce can only go so far. Plus I way over ate and basically spent the whole working day today doing everything I could, short of self-induced vomiting, to get all this carb and fat out. This included standing all day, walking around as much as possible, drinking a lot of water afterwards, and even doing squats while I was in the dark room developing some film for my experiments.
The good news is, I did manage to get some of it out before going to the gym. I wasn't worried about feeling bloated or full while I run, but I just don't want to carry any extra weight if I can.
I also found these fat burning pills I bought way back when, that if you take them about an hour before your workout, they help increasing the amount of fat you burn. They got good reviews when I bought them who-knows-when, and I figured that since I had some left I might as well take them before I go running.
I think part of its mechanism is to induce water loss right before your workout, and somehow quench your thirst during the workout, and I still haven't figured out if it does anything to you afterwards. I don't feel that my belly or thighs getting extra warm or anything so I don't know if there are more fat being burnt, but the whole water loss at the beginning was unsettling. I had thought I just drank too much water during the day and therefore I had to go to the bathroom more but what happened before I had to leave for the gym was unsettling. I was afraid that I wouldn't last even a mile on the treadmill before I had to go again but thankfully somehow by the time I got on the treadmill my body went into no-i-don't-need-anymore-water-but-i-also-don't-need-to-get-rid-of-any mode.
So that was all weird, but my run today was fantastic. I still weighed more than I did yesterday when I got on the treadmill (still lots of people today and the cardio machines were dangerously full but there was one for me and that was all it mattered), but my 4-mile run felt great. The speed I usually run at felt easy and effortless, and I could just go on and on. The only thing that bothered me was my right foot as I sped up, but I managed to stay at 5 mph for about 10 minutes before I forced myself to slow down as my run was approaching an end. I really think I am getting better.
Watched an entire episode of Makers series on PBS on the women's movement. It was the first of a two-parter (I think, there may be more than 2 parts so who knows), and it ended gloomily as the Equal Rights Amendment failed to be passed in the 70s and abortion clinics suffered severe harassment till today, but the show was narrated by Meryl Streep and ended on a promising note. The second part advertised things like gay women's rights (featuring Ellen Degeneres) and some other exciting but now-forgotten topic I can't recall, so I think I'll actually go search for it on the PBS website and finish watching the two-parter. But it was a remarkable show and at various points I found myself to be very emotional and almost cried, all while running of course. It was weird. But I guess after all the LOLs while watching various cop shows and sit-coms it's time for some opposite emotions.
After I got home I buckled down and did the Day 10 beginners pop pilates workout from Blogilates. It consisted of some ab workout, bubble butt workout (which I also did on my own on Tuesday and was still feeling it), and a stretching video. I also added a new arm workout that was part of new video Monday. That video only had five moves and 1 minute each for each move, so it seemed easy (and short), but by the time I finished doing the arm circles and arm spears (which were too bad) and triangle and cobra push-ups (really really bad) I had absolutely no strength for alternating plank push-ups, as my arms started to involuntarily crashing down onto the floor. So it was only a 4-minute workout for me. My arms still hurt a lot and I had trouble pointing and clicking the right window on my computer screen afterwards.
Now I'm done. Yay and it felt really good too. Plus I'm feeling hungry as much carb-heavy lunch has finally passed through my colon. No carbs tonight. Okay maybe a little but definitely no spaghettios and no heavy dairy stuff mixed in. Maybe some soba noodles. Mmm.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Exercise Diary: I hope I don't get appendicitis...
We are more than half way through March, and yet I'm still only on Day 9 of my 30-day beginner's workout out and Day 11 of the thigh and butt challenges. Yet, since the one week when I intensely followed all the workout schedule despite my other activities with running and yoga-ing, I could no longer distinguish one type of pain from another. Does my heel bone hurt or just my skin on my heel? Is my plantar fasciitis acting up again or does my foot just feel real tight? Did I pull something on my hip, or am I just getting sore muscles that happen to be near my hips? Do my knees hurt from all the kneeling I did for my New Year performance practice or did I do something stupid during my running? Am I getting premature menstrual pain, or have I just over-worked my abs?
Did I just get appendicitis from running after eating too much too soon, or was the pain I felt during my run tonight a normal side-effect of running?
I certainly felt no more pain now, or I would definitely get myself to the emergency room. But tonight's run didn't go the way I wanted. With only 2.5 miles tonight I was going to do some mini tempo work, playing with the speed a bit to make the run more interesting and productive. But after 1.3 miles my left side of my stomach area start to hurt in a way that had nothing to do with my muscles, or at least that's what it felt like. I didn't know what it was, and as I made it to the 1.4 mark the pain persisted so I slowed to a walk, hoping that by not bouncing up and down as much I would alleviate the pain a bit.
And it did. So I finished running the last mile. And for the most part I felt fine, until I finished and slowed to a fast walk and the pain returned, until I got home and stopped moving. I stretched and sat down to write the post and now I don't feel any more pain anymore, so I hope it's nothing serious. I probably just ate too much tonight and the food hadn't completely digested. It's still a problem I have. i get hungry in the afternoon and instead of eating a quick snack to curb my hunger I start fantasizing about what I want for dinner and like today, I actually went to fulfill my fantasy.
Before I went running I did this butt workout, in addition to the butt and thigh challenge. I did this because they were short moves (the video was only 8 minutes long, and the actual workout was only 5 minutes), and I thought it would be good to warm me up and wake me up before my run. My legs ended up hurting so much during that 5 minutes and my butt hurt more after I was done (it as a glute workout video after all). I think I will feel my butt more tomorrow, and it was a hard core workout, very effective too. Still I think I liked the other 6-minute workout better, only because I didn't feel as much like dying while doing that video. And now I'm way too tired to do the Day 9 workout (most because it has a 28-minute total body workout that I'm just scared to do, even though i've already done it twice already and it's really not as bad. I think I will do it Wednesday. I probably shouldn't try too hard to add the workout to days I'm already exercising, but rather to use it to fill in the days I'm inactive to created a more regular routine. Maybe this way I won't feel so guilty during all the days I'm just to tired to do the videos.
Did I just get appendicitis from running after eating too much too soon, or was the pain I felt during my run tonight a normal side-effect of running?
I certainly felt no more pain now, or I would definitely get myself to the emergency room. But tonight's run didn't go the way I wanted. With only 2.5 miles tonight I was going to do some mini tempo work, playing with the speed a bit to make the run more interesting and productive. But after 1.3 miles my left side of my stomach area start to hurt in a way that had nothing to do with my muscles, or at least that's what it felt like. I didn't know what it was, and as I made it to the 1.4 mark the pain persisted so I slowed to a walk, hoping that by not bouncing up and down as much I would alleviate the pain a bit.
And it did. So I finished running the last mile. And for the most part I felt fine, until I finished and slowed to a fast walk and the pain returned, until I got home and stopped moving. I stretched and sat down to write the post and now I don't feel any more pain anymore, so I hope it's nothing serious. I probably just ate too much tonight and the food hadn't completely digested. It's still a problem I have. i get hungry in the afternoon and instead of eating a quick snack to curb my hunger I start fantasizing about what I want for dinner and like today, I actually went to fulfill my fantasy.
Before I went running I did this butt workout, in addition to the butt and thigh challenge. I did this because they were short moves (the video was only 8 minutes long, and the actual workout was only 5 minutes), and I thought it would be good to warm me up and wake me up before my run. My legs ended up hurting so much during that 5 minutes and my butt hurt more after I was done (it as a glute workout video after all). I think I will feel my butt more tomorrow, and it was a hard core workout, very effective too. Still I think I liked the other 6-minute workout better, only because I didn't feel as much like dying while doing that video. And now I'm way too tired to do the Day 9 workout (most because it has a 28-minute total body workout that I'm just scared to do, even though i've already done it twice already and it's really not as bad. I think I will do it Wednesday. I probably shouldn't try too hard to add the workout to days I'm already exercising, but rather to use it to fill in the days I'm inactive to created a more regular routine. Maybe this way I won't feel so guilty during all the days I'm just to tired to do the videos.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Exercise Diary: Sunday Evening run
My Nike+ is fucked up. I can't wait to run outside (so I can use my GPS watch for tracking) or until I get and iPhone (come to think of it, I would have to hold the phone during my treadmill run if I want to use the Nike+running app on the phone so maybe that's not a good solution either). Or if I win the lottery so I can get a new iPod or something. But at least it tracked my run today accurately. I had to calibrate it again to adjust for the right distance, but somehow my iPod uploaded today's run twice so I got a trophy for running twice in a day and my mileage shot up by a third. But nowhere else can I find the record that I ran twice today, and I have no idea how to delete the run. I'll just have to re-sync my iPod tomorrow when I go for my 2-miler.
And I'm skipping my Day 6 beginner's workout. Not skipping, really, but switching. Day 7 is a rest day and I thought I would do that for my long run days so I can still walk the nest day.
Today I did my long run (4.5 miles), and because of my experiments in the morning and daylight saving, there was no way I could get up early to do it. But this didn't stop me from running into the same problem. I again didn't eat well. As soon as mile 0.5 I could feel my flabby but empty stomach jiggling and I felt sick. Then my stomach hurt, I don't know if it was the cold water or hunger, or maybe both. I ate a good breakfast (courtesy of Dunkin' Donuts), but after I came home I ate half a bag of chips, felt disgusted, took a nap, woke up and watched the most sickening episode of "Fortitude" yet, and the whole time I just feel like throwing up. I ate a banana and orange, and had two bites of my freshly made mashed potato before I left.
Apparently it wasn't enough. And I had been worried about the 4.5-miler. I ended up, after the first mile and half, doing a 5-minute run/2-minute walk routine to sooth my stomach, and after 58 minutes I finally managed my 4.5 miles. I didn't feel physically tired, not really. My shoulders were tight and that didn't feel good, and my breath got short at points, but my legs were fine and I didn't have the exhausted feeling. Still feeling a bit queazy and I'm not sure if I even want dinner anymore. A nice curry would be good though.
Doing a 2-miler tomorrow to start the week off. Should be a piece of cheesecake after today's fiasco.
And I'm skipping my Day 6 beginner's workout. Not skipping, really, but switching. Day 7 is a rest day and I thought I would do that for my long run days so I can still walk the nest day.
Today I did my long run (4.5 miles), and because of my experiments in the morning and daylight saving, there was no way I could get up early to do it. But this didn't stop me from running into the same problem. I again didn't eat well. As soon as mile 0.5 I could feel my flabby but empty stomach jiggling and I felt sick. Then my stomach hurt, I don't know if it was the cold water or hunger, or maybe both. I ate a good breakfast (courtesy of Dunkin' Donuts), but after I came home I ate half a bag of chips, felt disgusted, took a nap, woke up and watched the most sickening episode of "Fortitude" yet, and the whole time I just feel like throwing up. I ate a banana and orange, and had two bites of my freshly made mashed potato before I left.
Apparently it wasn't enough. And I had been worried about the 4.5-miler. I ended up, after the first mile and half, doing a 5-minute run/2-minute walk routine to sooth my stomach, and after 58 minutes I finally managed my 4.5 miles. I didn't feel physically tired, not really. My shoulders were tight and that didn't feel good, and my breath got short at points, but my legs were fine and I didn't have the exhausted feeling. Still feeling a bit queazy and I'm not sure if I even want dinner anymore. A nice curry would be good though.
Doing a 2-miler tomorrow to start the week off. Should be a piece of cheesecake after today's fiasco.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Exercise Diary: Friday 3-miler
Dragged my butt to the gym today despite getting up super early this morning with very little sleep. I had the wonderful plan this morning of getting home at 5pm, eat dinner, go to the gym, and go watch the CSSA Chinese New Year Celebration show. Well, when I came home at 5:30 I felt nothing but exhaustion and just wanted to sleep and not wake up. So being an antisocial soul after getting up at 8:20pm I decided to skip the celebration (I would've gone to both if the gym doesn't close early on Fridays).
The gym was nice and empty today, but my usual treadmill was still occupied. I didn't mind it that much, but did find a treadmill that I am now determined to avoid. It had crappy TV reception. Did 3 miles, again while constantly staring at the monitor for time and distance elapsed. It was very torturous. My Nike+ was being weird again and had to be calibrated once more. Watched an episode of CSI: Criminal Intent with the sexy Mr. Big Chris Noth. Still don't really care about CI.
My feet didn't bother me the way I had feared. I wore my sneakers outside yesterday in anticipation for a run that never happened, and I found that if I walk on concrete in them my left heel bone hurt, a lot. Like a stress fracture if I ever know what a stress fracture would feel like. And I was worried. About my foot and about whether the shoes would be good enough when I will finally be running outside. I love my Saucony shoes! Oh well.
But today wasn't so bad. When I sped up for my last mile my right foot again felt the pressure but otherwise I felt fine. I think I should take better care of my knees and my left hip though, as I could feel them when I run.
Not sure if I'm going to run tomorrow. Instincts tell me that I shouldn't, but my pride wants to put another run on my Nike+. Perhaps I should finally have a date with the ellipticals like I said I would. For the past week I've been fond of artisan cheese and beer, and for two weeks before that had not been doing a lot of running. And now my scale is telling me that I'm paying for my indulgence and lapse in exercise. Going to Boston this weekend for some great Asian food so I doubt I will be refraining from excessive eating, but starting next week I'm going back to a light, more normal diet. I'm thinking of making some sort of beer and beef stew, so I don't have to cook every day and have potatoes as a source of carb instead of rice. All the beer stew recipes look similar so I'm just going to buy whatever I like and throw everything in the slow cooker with a bottle of whatever beer I have in my fridge. Hey, it's veggies, beef, and beer right, I don't think much can go wrong with this combo.
Happy Weekend!
The gym was nice and empty today, but my usual treadmill was still occupied. I didn't mind it that much, but did find a treadmill that I am now determined to avoid. It had crappy TV reception. Did 3 miles, again while constantly staring at the monitor for time and distance elapsed. It was very torturous. My Nike+ was being weird again and had to be calibrated once more. Watched an episode of CSI: Criminal Intent with the sexy Mr. Big Chris Noth. Still don't really care about CI.
My feet didn't bother me the way I had feared. I wore my sneakers outside yesterday in anticipation for a run that never happened, and I found that if I walk on concrete in them my left heel bone hurt, a lot. Like a stress fracture if I ever know what a stress fracture would feel like. And I was worried. About my foot and about whether the shoes would be good enough when I will finally be running outside. I love my Saucony shoes! Oh well.
But today wasn't so bad. When I sped up for my last mile my right foot again felt the pressure but otherwise I felt fine. I think I should take better care of my knees and my left hip though, as I could feel them when I run.
Not sure if I'm going to run tomorrow. Instincts tell me that I shouldn't, but my pride wants to put another run on my Nike+. Perhaps I should finally have a date with the ellipticals like I said I would. For the past week I've been fond of artisan cheese and beer, and for two weeks before that had not been doing a lot of running. And now my scale is telling me that I'm paying for my indulgence and lapse in exercise. Going to Boston this weekend for some great Asian food so I doubt I will be refraining from excessive eating, but starting next week I'm going back to a light, more normal diet. I'm thinking of making some sort of beer and beef stew, so I don't have to cook every day and have potatoes as a source of carb instead of rice. All the beer stew recipes look similar so I'm just going to buy whatever I like and throw everything in the slow cooker with a bottle of whatever beer I have in my fridge. Hey, it's veggies, beef, and beer right, I don't think much can go wrong with this combo.
Happy Weekend!
Monday, February 23, 2015
Exercise Diary: Monday Night 3-miler
The only thing easy about tonight's run was getting to the gym. And even that was kind of hard.
Dozed off right before going but still made it there before Castle started. We had a major temperature drop from yesterday's warm and sunny weather, and the night walk was kind of brutal.
My favorite treadmill was again taken but who cares anymore. My Nike+ is more or less calibrated for distance but the speed it measures was a total lie. I totally did not run at a high speed during mile 1 and slow down afterwards. But I guess that doesn't matter either.
I've decided to push my training plan back by a week so this will just be a catch-up week. I got a 3/4/3 on my plan for this week but I doubt I will get to them. Yoga tomorrow and a show on Thursday that I promised to go with a friend, and a weekend in Boston so the only other definite running day is Friday. I don't know if I can actually do a 4-miler.
Running on the treadmill is SO boring, and I think if anything Castle made it worse. The suspense moments mess with my heart rate and that is very distracting. I think I do better with a harmless show that does not require too much of my attention or emotional investment but at the same time can distract my mind from the run. I found myself staring at the treadmill monitor, looking at distance already covered, time lapsed, and thinking about how much longer I would have to run, how much longer I would have to run till my Nike+ registers the proper distance, and that really drives me crazy. There was a very appropriate blog post a few days ago about treadmill running tips, which I found somewhat helpful, but not entirely useful. It's mostly about running with a positive attitude and make the run more interesting by playing with the speed and what not, and that makes sense. I tried to distract myself. I tried to tell myself that when I do my 25K (in less than 3 months, yikes!), 3 miles will just be 1/5 of what I will have to do. That sort of set me in a calmer mood for about 1 minute before I gave up trying to talk myself out of how boring it is.
I also felt more pressure on my feet with this run. I don't know if it's the longer distance, the short rest before my last run and this one, my greasy dinner (I will never ever eat another greasy dinner before a run ever again). the fact that I tried to increase my speed during the run (by only ever so slightly), or the fact that I gained a few pounds during my hiatus (which I didn't really feel until after my run when I looked at myself in the mirror), but I think I was putting more pressure on myself than I wanted. I guess the few days of rest before my next run won't be so bad.
I know it's not even March yet, but I am really over with this winter and can't wait till I can run outside. The hills in my neighborhood may make the runs tougher, but I think I would gladly trade the scenery for the stuffy indoor runs, even with the TV thrown in.
Dozed off right before going but still made it there before Castle started. We had a major temperature drop from yesterday's warm and sunny weather, and the night walk was kind of brutal.
My favorite treadmill was again taken but who cares anymore. My Nike+ is more or less calibrated for distance but the speed it measures was a total lie. I totally did not run at a high speed during mile 1 and slow down afterwards. But I guess that doesn't matter either.
I've decided to push my training plan back by a week so this will just be a catch-up week. I got a 3/4/3 on my plan for this week but I doubt I will get to them. Yoga tomorrow and a show on Thursday that I promised to go with a friend, and a weekend in Boston so the only other definite running day is Friday. I don't know if I can actually do a 4-miler.
Running on the treadmill is SO boring, and I think if anything Castle made it worse. The suspense moments mess with my heart rate and that is very distracting. I think I do better with a harmless show that does not require too much of my attention or emotional investment but at the same time can distract my mind from the run. I found myself staring at the treadmill monitor, looking at distance already covered, time lapsed, and thinking about how much longer I would have to run, how much longer I would have to run till my Nike+ registers the proper distance, and that really drives me crazy. There was a very appropriate blog post a few days ago about treadmill running tips, which I found somewhat helpful, but not entirely useful. It's mostly about running with a positive attitude and make the run more interesting by playing with the speed and what not, and that makes sense. I tried to distract myself. I tried to tell myself that when I do my 25K (in less than 3 months, yikes!), 3 miles will just be 1/5 of what I will have to do. That sort of set me in a calmer mood for about 1 minute before I gave up trying to talk myself out of how boring it is.
I also felt more pressure on my feet with this run. I don't know if it's the longer distance, the short rest before my last run and this one, my greasy dinner (I will never ever eat another greasy dinner before a run ever again). the fact that I tried to increase my speed during the run (by only ever so slightly), or the fact that I gained a few pounds during my hiatus (which I didn't really feel until after my run when I looked at myself in the mirror), but I think I was putting more pressure on myself than I wanted. I guess the few days of rest before my next run won't be so bad.
I know it's not even March yet, but I am really over with this winter and can't wait till I can run outside. The hills in my neighborhood may make the runs tougher, but I think I would gladly trade the scenery for the stuffy indoor runs, even with the TV thrown in.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Exercise Diary/Food Diary: the Yoga-doing hungry hippo
Yay for actually going to yoga today~ Every time I go I always feel reluctant beforehand, exhausted during class, and euphoric afterwards, until hunger sets in for real and I just want to eat everything under the (already set) sun.
Today's class went really well. I felt that my legs and core became stronger. I could hold out for most of the standing poses, and the core stuff we did (~10 secs of plank and ~25 crunches) was a piece of cake. But there was one part, where we went from the chair pose to a chair twist and back, made my thighs sweat at an incredible speed that the area of my yoga capris became drenched instantly. And the crescent lunge-- knee lunge-- worrier III pose killed my thighs even more. But other than that (or maybe because of it) it was a very good class.
Despite eating lunch at almost 2pm, I began fantasizing about food about 15 minutes before class. I think it went from fried chicken to Thai noodles to burgers to the actual dinner I was going to make to cake and some other random stuff. I think chocolate made an appearance at some point. The fact that I had to go back to lab for a bit after class really killed me. I was ravished to the point of going crazy when I got home, but still somehow made myself do all the dished I left behind in the morning, and cooking rice and another dish.
I ended up cooking rice with a few new ingredients: tomato, corn, and salted beef (or is it pork? I couldn't tell and didn't care). It was a bizarre recipe that was circulating on Chinese social media for quite a bit a few months back, and I had been procrastinating on trying it out. It's amusingly named "whole tomato rice," and the most basic version is adding an entire (uncut) tomato, along with salt and pepper, to a pot of washed rice and cook in a rice cooker as if you are justing cooking regular rice, and the result was supposed to be heavenly good. I took the liberty of adding the extra stuff.
And it ended up looking like this:
Which is a lot of rice. I think I over did it. I had to add more hot water in afterwards and let it sit in "warm" for another while to ensure that all the rice is fully cooked. But it tasted great! Not too sour as I had feared, and the rice is softer and mushier than regular rice. Very filling too. I couldn't eat too much of it, which is good since I always over eat after exercising.
Also stir fried some broccoli tips. Don't remember if I've ever had them before but it's certainly the first time I cook them myself. Slightly bitter, but good nonetheless.
Happy Tuesday~~
Today's class went really well. I felt that my legs and core became stronger. I could hold out for most of the standing poses, and the core stuff we did (~10 secs of plank and ~25 crunches) was a piece of cake. But there was one part, where we went from the chair pose to a chair twist and back, made my thighs sweat at an incredible speed that the area of my yoga capris became drenched instantly. And the crescent lunge-- knee lunge-- worrier III pose killed my thighs even more. But other than that (or maybe because of it) it was a very good class.
Despite eating lunch at almost 2pm, I began fantasizing about food about 15 minutes before class. I think it went from fried chicken to Thai noodles to burgers to the actual dinner I was going to make to cake and some other random stuff. I think chocolate made an appearance at some point. The fact that I had to go back to lab for a bit after class really killed me. I was ravished to the point of going crazy when I got home, but still somehow made myself do all the dished I left behind in the morning, and cooking rice and another dish.
I ended up cooking rice with a few new ingredients: tomato, corn, and salted beef (or is it pork? I couldn't tell and didn't care). It was a bizarre recipe that was circulating on Chinese social media for quite a bit a few months back, and I had been procrastinating on trying it out. It's amusingly named "whole tomato rice," and the most basic version is adding an entire (uncut) tomato, along with salt and pepper, to a pot of washed rice and cook in a rice cooker as if you are justing cooking regular rice, and the result was supposed to be heavenly good. I took the liberty of adding the extra stuff.
And it ended up looking like this:
Which is a lot of rice. I think I over did it. I had to add more hot water in afterwards and let it sit in "warm" for another while to ensure that all the rice is fully cooked. But it tasted great! Not too sour as I had feared, and the rice is softer and mushier than regular rice. Very filling too. I couldn't eat too much of it, which is good since I always over eat after exercising.
Also stir fried some broccoli tips. Don't remember if I've ever had them before but it's certainly the first time I cook them myself. Slightly bitter, but good nonetheless.
Happy Tuesday~~
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Exercise Diary: Best Treadmill Run
By which I was very surprised.
I was going to go yesterday since it would give me a day to rest before my Monday runs, and there was an NCIS marathon on TV. But I didn't. I made spicy fried chicken and ate too much for lunch, and although I finished lunch by 2pm I still felt like throwing up by 6.
Which was pretty much what happened today as well, this time with creamed potatoes and spinach. It was a variation on the creamed parsnips and spinach I made for Thanksgiving, but I realized that I don't really care for the slightly sweet root vegetable. The result today was too much cream and too big a portion, I'm sorry to say.
My stomach felt like lead for most of the afternoon and I took a nap before my 6pm run. I felt dizzy just lying still in bed and that was kind of terrifying, and I wasn't sure if I should go, but when I got up I felt most of the food had passed on to the lower intestines and I felt better. I did a one-minute plank and walked around for half an hour before changing into the my gym clothes and left for the gym.
The run went really, really well. Despite my big lunch I did drop a few pounds this week (yes even with the Thanksgiving feast and my fried chicken lunch yesterday) through dieting. It wasn't a real diet, I just didn't feel like eating and when I did eat I didn't care for big portions or meat or a lot of fat. I can't explain the origin of this lack of interest in eating a lot but I'm glad I did and didn't question it much. And as a result I went back down to the weight I was before I stopped running regularly, and that was way back in June.
Anyways, probably because of my light body I felt extra energetic today. I preempted my run with a 9 minute warm-up walk while searching for something suitable to watch (Brave that was playing on ABC family), and did 2 miles on my initial, faster speed (4.6 mi/hr, not very fast, but still). This almost never happens to me, as I usually poop out after a mile. Then it got hard for my breathing and my heart, but instead of stopping to walk I slowed down to a even slower jog and kept at that for another half mile before walking for ~2 minutes. But I started to jog again until I finished an approximate 5K. Then I walked for a bit more to cool down before stopping. The treadmill read 53 minutes but my Nike+ said 46, and apparently I achieved my fastest 5K yet. The time was similar to my last and only 5K race, at about 40 minutes (I ran that 5K with my Nike+ app running as well but the distance didn't quite match so it didn't register as a 5K, oh well). I know I'm not very fast by any standards but I felt really good afterwards. My foot didn't hurt, my ankle didn't hurt, and I didn't even feel that much fatigue in my muscles, which means that next time I can run a bit longer if the my time allows. And if I drop a few more pounds maybe I'll even try to run a bit faster at some point. Small victories~
I was going to go yesterday since it would give me a day to rest before my Monday runs, and there was an NCIS marathon on TV. But I didn't. I made spicy fried chicken and ate too much for lunch, and although I finished lunch by 2pm I still felt like throwing up by 6.
Which was pretty much what happened today as well, this time with creamed potatoes and spinach. It was a variation on the creamed parsnips and spinach I made for Thanksgiving, but I realized that I don't really care for the slightly sweet root vegetable. The result today was too much cream and too big a portion, I'm sorry to say.
My stomach felt like lead for most of the afternoon and I took a nap before my 6pm run. I felt dizzy just lying still in bed and that was kind of terrifying, and I wasn't sure if I should go, but when I got up I felt most of the food had passed on to the lower intestines and I felt better. I did a one-minute plank and walked around for half an hour before changing into the my gym clothes and left for the gym.
The run went really, really well. Despite my big lunch I did drop a few pounds this week (yes even with the Thanksgiving feast and my fried chicken lunch yesterday) through dieting. It wasn't a real diet, I just didn't feel like eating and when I did eat I didn't care for big portions or meat or a lot of fat. I can't explain the origin of this lack of interest in eating a lot but I'm glad I did and didn't question it much. And as a result I went back down to the weight I was before I stopped running regularly, and that was way back in June.
Anyways, probably because of my light body I felt extra energetic today. I preempted my run with a 9 minute warm-up walk while searching for something suitable to watch (Brave that was playing on ABC family), and did 2 miles on my initial, faster speed (4.6 mi/hr, not very fast, but still). This almost never happens to me, as I usually poop out after a mile. Then it got hard for my breathing and my heart, but instead of stopping to walk I slowed down to a even slower jog and kept at that for another half mile before walking for ~2 minutes. But I started to jog again until I finished an approximate 5K. Then I walked for a bit more to cool down before stopping. The treadmill read 53 minutes but my Nike+ said 46, and apparently I achieved my fastest 5K yet. The time was similar to my last and only 5K race, at about 40 minutes (I ran that 5K with my Nike+ app running as well but the distance didn't quite match so it didn't register as a 5K, oh well). I know I'm not very fast by any standards but I felt really good afterwards. My foot didn't hurt, my ankle didn't hurt, and I didn't even feel that much fatigue in my muscles, which means that next time I can run a bit longer if the my time allows. And if I drop a few more pounds maybe I'll even try to run a bit faster at some point. Small victories~
Monday, September 8, 2014
Foodie Diary: Moon Cakes~
Ignoring the shameful fact that I have not been updating my blog as I really should (I even went to the gym more than a few times since my last post!), the food related posts on this blog has really been lacking, which is in no way an accurate reflection of what is actually going on in real life. I have been trying quite a few new recipes recently, and I've only neglected to write about my culinary escapade is because although they are new recipes to me, they really aren't anything to write home about.
I recently upgraded my computer (finally) to Mavericks for the sole reason so that I can download Microsoft's Onenote. It's essentially a digital notebook but the layout is quite amazing and very user friendly. Thus I've started a recipe notebook and it's been growing quite robustly.
But anyway, today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a Chinese holiday that falls on the lunar 8/15, a day that supposedly has the brightly full moon. It's sort of like the Thanksgiving in America, a time when people get together with their families and to cherish the company of each other.
Another important tradition is to eat the moon cake. It's an extremely sweet pastry filled typically with things like red bean paste, lotus paste filled with salted duck egg yoke, and weird things like nuts and even seaweed. Personally I never really liked moon cakes, for I dislike any desserts that are overtly sweet. But I like traditions and I like to try and make these things myself. One of the few advantages of living in the middle of nowhere is that you have the motivation to make all the things you want to eat yourself. Hey, it's more fun than doing experiments in the lab.
So at some point a few weeks ago I was inspired to make snow-skined moon cake, which is a more recently invention that involves very translucent crust made of sweet rice flour and fun, non-traditional filling that can involve fruit, chocolate, and even ice cream. I somehow got into my head that it would be easier to make than traditional moon cake, but I was probably more interested in the non-traditional fillings. I really don't like red bean paste or lotus paste. My teeth are hurting just thinking about them...
Finding the ingredients proved to be a challenge that involved translations, wikipedia-ing, and endless search in the local supermarket. I don't have easy access to an Asian market but our local store is more like a whole foods in that they like to carry weird stuff. In the end I found everything I needed, or their appropriate substitute.
I first made the snow-skinned moon cake with green tea flavored crust and mango filling. I don't have a pot for steaming so I followed a microwave recipe and although I followed everything to the letter the crust never came out to be what I expected. The dough is very sticky, and the moon cakes don't look right if I add enough flour to make it unsticky. In the end they came out not looking like the moon cakes they should look but rather like a bun with a very thick base. They didn't look very nice since the green color made them look moldy. But they tasted quite nice.
I recently upgraded my computer (finally) to Mavericks for the sole reason so that I can download Microsoft's Onenote. It's essentially a digital notebook but the layout is quite amazing and very user friendly. Thus I've started a recipe notebook and it's been growing quite robustly.
But anyway, today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a Chinese holiday that falls on the lunar 8/15, a day that supposedly has the brightly full moon. It's sort of like the Thanksgiving in America, a time when people get together with their families and to cherish the company of each other.
Another important tradition is to eat the moon cake. It's an extremely sweet pastry filled typically with things like red bean paste, lotus paste filled with salted duck egg yoke, and weird things like nuts and even seaweed. Personally I never really liked moon cakes, for I dislike any desserts that are overtly sweet. But I like traditions and I like to try and make these things myself. One of the few advantages of living in the middle of nowhere is that you have the motivation to make all the things you want to eat yourself. Hey, it's more fun than doing experiments in the lab.
So at some point a few weeks ago I was inspired to make snow-skined moon cake, which is a more recently invention that involves very translucent crust made of sweet rice flour and fun, non-traditional filling that can involve fruit, chocolate, and even ice cream. I somehow got into my head that it would be easier to make than traditional moon cake, but I was probably more interested in the non-traditional fillings. I really don't like red bean paste or lotus paste. My teeth are hurting just thinking about them...
Finding the ingredients proved to be a challenge that involved translations, wikipedia-ing, and endless search in the local supermarket. I don't have easy access to an Asian market but our local store is more like a whole foods in that they like to carry weird stuff. In the end I found everything I needed, or their appropriate substitute.
I first made the snow-skinned moon cake with green tea flavored crust and mango filling. I don't have a pot for steaming so I followed a microwave recipe and although I followed everything to the letter the crust never came out to be what I expected. The dough is very sticky, and the moon cakes don't look right if I add enough flour to make it unsticky. In the end they came out not looking like the moon cakes they should look but rather like a bun with a very thick base. They didn't look very nice since the green color made them look moldy. But they tasted quite nice.
Normal people who make their own moon cakes usually all own their own mold so the finished products have all kinds of patterns on them. I ended up ordering a set from Amazon but I don't think it's going to arrive till the end of the month (by then any spirit of the holiday will be long gone). So for now all of my moon cakes take the shape of a fat disk. I should've made my next set of moon cakes as squares but I had a brain fart when making them so they are also round.
I was unhappy with my unsuccessful experiment with the snow-skinned moon cakes (if you see a commercially available product you will see how much I have failed), so I turned to try the more traditional kind. The recipe I got from a friend called for custard fillings mixed with crushed salted duck egg yolks, but since they pack enough cholesterol to kill a small army, and can really be found anywhere near here, I decided to use shredded coconut instead. Because of the unsweetened but also unsalted coconut my fillings came out to be too sweet, and I forgot to add the egg when making my crust (which I suspect made the product look so pale, but overall I was quite happy with this next experiment.
The color scheme was quite unfortunate since both the coconut filling and the crust turned out to be very white. But they tasted great (confirmed by every friend who was too polite to refuse free food), a tad too sweet but falls normally within moon cake standards. There is a small party on Wednesday for a friend who is going back to China and I think I will make another batch. This time I'm thinking of making the filling a bit different and more colorful by substituting some flour with cooked purple yams. We'll see how things turn out.
中秋快乐 everyone~~
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Exercise Diary: Best Yoga Class Ever~
Recently I've been on this bad procrastinatory cycle, where I put off going to yoga class for two weeks and then go again with great trepidation for being so out of shape yoga-wise. Today was no different. I went back to the yoga studio for the first time in two weeks, my thighs still hurting from Sunday's run, and I was worried about how out of shape I was going to be, how hot and sweaty I was going to be after I was done, and how miserable the windowless, humid basement studio felt in my mind.
I was very pleasantly surprised.
Because of the beautiful summer weather that finally greeted the Upper Valley, and because of the summer term in this college town, today's class was only half filled. We were able to spread out nicely. In addition, although the studio is still heated for its class it actually feels cool and breezy at times so it's not humid and yucky. In the two week when I was absent they managed to paint a nice pale blue and white tree on the orange wall across one side of the room so it looked less ugly, and the tree was very tastefully done.
The class was awesome as well. We started slow, in the child's pose, did a bunch of breathing exercises to get us into the rhythm, and gradually went into downward facing dog. I don't know what it was, but by staying in push up high plank for a bit longer than usual I was able to take better control of my pose and my downward dog was better, my arms straighter, my back more arched, and my head dropped straight down so that for the first time in my life I was able to breathe deeply and easily in this pose. And it was a revelation. It was so awesome that my breathing was improved overall throughout today's class.
There were some parts of the class that really reminded me of how sore my legs still are from the running two days ago, specifically the chair post, the chair twist, and the crescent lunges. Not only were they painful, they heated up my legs so much that my sweat glands were working over time. My legs felt like squeezed sponges after we got out of those poses and it felt like water was pouring out of every pore into my capris. But luckily we didn't do endless crescent lunges today so while I felt accomplished that I got through the poses they didn't seem to drag on. Instead we took it easy in between with runner's lunges, which is just the crescent lunge with the back knee dropped down, and warrior II, which holds an infinite numbers of variation on its own. We didn't do a lot of balance related poses like the tree, the airplane, or the eagle poses, but I suspect my balance is still my weakest part that seem to regress with my infrequent class attendance.
I also felt that my running has somewhat strengthened my control of the different poses. I now have a much easier time with all the different lunges than before, and I feel that my base is much stronger. I really like this instructor because she always took time to work on our core. She is the only instructor who made us do crunches, and I'm really glad of the opportunity. We also did a short planks when we were in between the dolphin pose, which was easy for me since I always try to do minute long planks on my own.
And most thankfully, my foot pain only acted up once during one of the crescent lunges we did and afterwards it never bothered me again. My ankles and Archilles tendons were behaving, and my hips were more flexible than I had anticipated. Still sucked at all forms of inversions but that's no surprise. I felt so cleansed afterwards. And I wasn't the only one. My friend who went with me thought it was an excellent class as well.
When I run my body feels lighter, happier, and more effortless after about 2.5 miles. Although my speed never goes up I always enjoy the later part of my run much more. And for the first time, I experienced the same thing in yoga. As we got to the end of out class the instructor was talking about the homestretch and finishing strong, but I found that I didn't need that to motivate me because I felt I could go on forever. It was such a strange but familiar feeling, I was quite proud of myself.
I don't know what happened today that culminated into such a wonderful class, but there were a few things I think I could try again to achieve the same result.
1. Keep running. Aerobic exercise or not, running has definitely strengthened my leg muscles.
2. Keep doing those sporadic core exercises, especially planks. I don't know if it real but I feel my arms are getting stronger judging by the downward dog and its preceding poses.
3. Eat a light lunch on the day. I didn't cook a lot for today so all I brought was some rice and uncooked cucumber mixed with salt, pepper, chili flakes, and sesame oil. I had a small bag of Cheeze-its as snake about an hour before class since I was starving by then. But the light and carb/veggie rich lunch really helped to make me feel light, maybe strong as well?
4. While I get the merit of heated yoga I also really appreciated the light breeze in the middle of the class. I sweated a lot but didn't feel too dehydrated afterwards.
5. Speaking of hydration, I drank a lot of water before going to class and maybe that also helped, given the ample seasonal articles now coming out about running in the heat.
These things aren't hard to replicate. Besides the light breeze in the classroom I have control over everything else I think contributed to today's awesome class. So next time I must repeat the same things, hoping I can replicate the same result. Doesn't always happen in lab, but I really hope it will happen for yoga.
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