04
Sep
10

Feeling good…

By feerlessfood 3 Comments
Categories: Dinners, Eating disorders/ recovery, Motivation, Nutrition, Workouts and fitness
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

…So I hope I’m ready!  Patriots half Ironman is one week from today!  Then the HalfMax Regional championship half Ironman is 3 weeks after that.  I found out today that there is an Olympic distance race the weekend before, so I’m thinking about doing it.  We’ll see- big problem would just be finding a spot to stay…any one from Rappahanock, Va?  

There’s a couple other reasons I’m feeling good.  Thursday night I had an interesting coaching call with a pro triathlete, but what he talked to me about was how to be successful and overcome issues that keep us from our goals- in all aspects of life.  I realized that I NEED to take CONTROL of my own life, and to stop letting negative and irrational thoughts rule my life.  So since Friday, I’ve been trying to change all the compulsive behaviors that are “safe” and “comfortable” for me.  

I also met with a new nutritionist on Friday!  She is great- I really like her and she really gets me, which is so important!  I could really talk to her and she could empathize with me.  As much as I shouldn’t have to rely on this, I feel safe in her “giving me permission” to eat certain foods and not throw anything away.   

One of the biggest thing we are working is my post workout nutrition.  For my intense workouts, I need a good amount of carbs and some protein, afterward and she has helped me figure out my numbers.  So another reason I think that I am feeling food is that both yesterday and today I was slamming a recovery drink before I even left the gym!  Thank you to GU Energy for their sponsorship- I’ve been using their recovery mix, which finally arrived last week!  

GU Energy

 

Even after a hard day yesterday I had another good workout today.  I did:  

  • 7 mile run, 6:39 min/miles
  • 1 hour HARD spin workout of intervals and power sets
  • 3x 5-minute sprint sessions with a lifting circuit in between

I think much of this was because these arrived last night:  

Zensah Recovery socks

 

A brand new pair of Recovery compression socks from Zensah (www.Zensah.com)!  I wore these all morning and my legs really do feel good!  I put them on as soon as I got back from the gym too, so I should be good tomorrow.  So far I am big time loving these and I will keep reporting on how they help my training in case anyone else wants to order a pair.  

I also got my new helmet and tri shorts that I ordered, earlier this week.  Somebody jacked my tri shorts from the pool, so I e-mailed Epix, the company who makes them, and they worked with me to get a color that would match the shirt of my kit.  I love these Epix shorts- they fit really well and are a little shorter than my other pairs, allowing me to run more freely in races.  Check them out at www.Epix.com.  Here are what they look like:  

Epix shorts

 

New Helmet!

 

I haven’t really had to many epic meals this week, although I’ve had some great workouts.  I won’t lie though, I tried to do a recovery run on Monday, which I did, but it was incredibly hard since my legs were so spent.  Then I ended up taking Tuesday off, even though I really didn’t want to.  Unfortunately, I haven’t made it into the pool yet this week either.  But I will tomorrow!  And open-water swimming on Monday…gotta get outside on Labor day.  Here’s a taco I made in the oven:  

Baked hard shell taco

 

Here is cool protein pancake I made!  1.5 scoops protein powder, 3/4 cup of oats, equal water, and cinnamon.  Then I microwaved the mixture on a plate till it was set to the right firmness.  It came out really well and I will definitely be using these a lot in the future for snacks!  

Mixing it up

 

Before cooking

 

Solidified. Would be great with some peanut butter on it!

 

Tonight, I’m going to relax and keep watching my LSU Tigers take on UNC…thank God college football is back!  I’m also going to stay in control of my life to be happy and successful without letting irrational thoughts take over.  Come back tomorrow- I made a good recipe tonight that I will share, find out whatever I make for dinner tomorrow, and also a give-away of a recovery drink I’ve been taking!  

  1. What shoes do you workout/run in?  If you have a bike, what kind do you ride?
  2. What do you want to see me try and make for dinner tomorrow (Sunday) or some night this week?
  3. And for fun, favorite all-time dessert?
29
Aug
10

Ok, I lied…

By feerlessfood 6 Comments
Categories: Barbeque, Chicken, Dinners, Nutrition, Peanut butter, Vegetables/ Vegetarian, Workouts and breakfast
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I feel like I’ve been planning this post all week!  I meant to write since Thursday but busy night have led me to not.  Stretching, foam rolling, and making lunch (plus breakfast and snack) take a long time each night!  This week has been alright- After posting my planned schedule on Monday, my planned day off, I was all set for the rest of the week.  Well, I ended up taking Wednesday off which ended up being a really bad and tough day…my eating disorder won BIG time.  But anyways, that meant I had some training to make up! 

  • Thursday: 44 mile bike (18.8 mph), 11.5 mile run at 7:10 pace, 900m swim (900m??  Yeah I know, but I only had 20 minutes before the pool closed
  • Friday: 7.5 mile run, 50 minute spin workout, 20 min elliptical intervals, quick lift
  • Saturday:  Hardest run ever…legs were realllll tired- 4.5 miles, then 2x 1.5 miles with elliptical intervals between
  • Sunday (today): 72 mile bike, 6 mile run

If I thought my legs hurt Saturday, that just made them even more tired today.  And I hate the wind here… I’m still losing- Chuck: 2, Wind: 5.  I overslept so I missed riding with my buddy, but went out a little later on my own.  It was grueling, but I got it done.  Hopefully I’ll be stronger from it  But I bailed on my swim and on yoga….both of which I need.  So I must get in the pool this week!  If you guys can make sure I do that, that would be great haha

So I have a ton of food pics from this week.  I lied, and you guys were right- WHEN THEY ARE PERFECT, avocados are delicious!  But only when they are perfectly ripe, and heated to that they are creamy.  The creaminess is sooo clutch, but if they are under-ripe, then they are just gross.  Here is the best meal I had, which I made Thursday night and tonight.  BBQ wraps using that bbq meat I made, cheddar cheese, and a quarter avocado- awesome!

bbq meat, avocado, cheddat

Melted! So the avocado got extra creamy

Friday night, I wanted to save some the bbq meat, so I decided on an omelet.  This time, I actually made it like you are supposed to instead of trying to do my “open-face” omelet.  Again, I added a half of the avocado with some light cheese.  Whole eggs and avocado…daammmmnnnn thats healthy!

Getting ready

With steamed vegetables and plain baked potato

Love that butternut squash too.

I was talking to Matt (www.Kitchenofarunner.com) and we were discussing oatmeal, and he insisted that I make and taking pics of a new recipe I had been thinking about.  This was plain oatmeal cooked in almond milk with cinnamon

Before cooking

Then I cooked it together and added in the protein powder.  I added the peanut butter after the picture

Extra smooth

Overall, a really good breakfast!

I still have a lot more pictures and a new recipe, plus a bunch of goodies from sponsors to show you!  So check back tomorrow!

  1. What are some ways you use avocados? Besides in salads or guacamole; I mean unique ways…could I mash it into a baked potato, for example?
  2. What are some weird/random things that weird you out? (not eating disorder related please).  Me: I hate the seeds in tomatoes and the very very tips of bananas sketch me out haha
  3. Anyone got a swim workout for me?

Night yall!

25
Aug
10

The Countdown begins

By feerlessfood 9 Comments
Categories: Barbeque, Chicken, Dinners, Eating disorders/ recovery, Nutrition, Pizza, Workouts and sweet potato
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Not going to lie, I’m getting a little nervous- Patriots Half Ironman is only 2 and a half weeks away!  I’m not nervous about being able to finish or anything, I’m more nervous about how I place.  I really need to pick up the swimming in these next couple weeks because I know that’s my weakest of the 3 sports.  My training last week was good and bad.  I posted last Monday after a good bike and swim and followed that with a day off.  But then I fell into a bad pattern of talking myself out of my long brick workout.  Instead, I wound up going home and grabbing a power nap for an hour before heading to the gym.  Granted, I still go crucial runs and spin workouts on the trainer, but I was disappointed in myself for not just going straight to the gym or on a ride right after work.  This led to a vicious cycle of finishing dinner at 11 and going to bed at 3 or 4…not healthy!  I almost took Saturday completely off…like barely leaving bed (tells me how much I need to sleep right?) but wound up getting a really cool workout in.  I ran hills in my parking garage: run down from the 5th floor, sprint the stairs back up and then down, and then run the hills back up to the 5th floor- repeated 7 times!  Each up and down is like .8-miles, so it actually adds up. 

I was really happy with myself today.  I left work on time, got to the gym in time to do a 2-mile run, then do an hour spin class (hard, thanks to a good instructor!), and then another 5.5-mile run of intervals.  Finished this with a good lift which ended with some hard work on the TRX equipment!  What I didn’t realize was how long I was freaking there!  

This being said, I don’t mean to put these numbers up so we can start comparing ourselves to one another.  I think its important to remember not to feel bad if you read a blog about how someone works out more than you or “eats healthier”.  I used be fixed on “oh I run faster than them and ate less _________.”  Or, “crap they had a good workout today and I didn’t workout at all!”  Remember, none of this matters!  Not to mention we don’t see everyone everyday, so there’s not point in comparison.  Be proud of what you do 

In an effort to get in the pool more, here’s my Triathlon training plan for the rest of the week, without details.  If I write it here, I’m more apt to do it and you guys can keep me honest! 

  • Tuesday: Spin and run
  • Wednesday: Run and swim
  • Thursday: Long Bike and Run brick
  • Friday: Some mix of swim, run, and road bike
  • Saturday: Don’t know, but possible swim lesson?  Probably run intervals as well
  • Sunday: Long bike ride followed with run and then swim brick (Long day)

Let’s make it happen!  Now to what you all actually probably care about- food pics!  Even though I still had tons of left over BBQ, I try to actually cook on weekends and really wanted some English Muffin pizzas! 

Ingredients: English muffins, sauce, chicken breast, chicken sausage, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, and cheese. 

Directions: Pre-Toast the english muffins in a toaster.  Then pile on your ingredients and put in the oven for 10 minutes at 375*-400*.  Eat! 

Ingredients

 

Before they went in the oven

 

Bringin the heat

 

The sausage was good on this pizza- low fat and very spicy!  I just remembered how much I like pineapple on pizza and haven’t been using it!  I’ll make a note of that. 

Here’s a meal I made Saturday night; I forgot I took a picture.  Basically a wrap that baked open face as a pizza: 

"Open face toasted burrito"

 

Tonight I had more bbq with a sweet potato.  I topped this sweet potato with half real butter and half coconut oil.  Sounds unhealthy, but is actually REALLY healthy!  It was tough though, won’t lie.  But honestly, butter and coconut oil couldn’t be more pure and real- they total like 3 ingredients total combine.  Look at the ingredients in margarine…yeah, that’s what I thought. 

Extra cinnamon on the sweet potato

 

Half and half

 

So that’s all I got!  Tomorrow I am going to challenge myself again and half avocado on the bbq wraps I am going to make.  Give me strength.  Thanks for reading yall! 

  1. Would you like me to create a Workouts page?  I have been making up some good running and spinning workouts lately and thought I would share
  2. What foods are you obsessed with right now?  I have been eating steamed butternut squash along with my broccoli every night, and I’ve also found that oregano has awesome flavor when cooked like on a pizza!
  3. Does anyone have a good protein bar/thing/cookie recipe that I can try to make?
20
Aug
10

Getting it done and a winner!

By feerlessfood 6 Comments
Categories: Barbeque, Chicken, Dinners, Workouts, beef and sweet potato
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Congratulations to Lindsay from Healthy Bites Conquer Athlete Appetite!  She won the Ben Greenfield Shirt give away.  Thanks to everyone who entered and left me comments, they all really helped!  Stay tuned for another giveaway in the next couple weeks- I will be giving away a full tub of Mike’s Recovery Mix which is a great post workout recovery drink.  You can check it out now at www.mikesmixrecoverydrink.com.

The weather here has sucked lately, which has really been cramping my workouts, man lol.  I did get a 42 mile bike in on Monday, followed by a 2150m swim.  I swear the ride was into the wind both way…but I think it was really just into the wind on the wait out, and then I was tired on the way home from doing 4 bridge hill repeats.

Then I took Tuesday off, meaning I didn’t run for 2 days straigh…really weird for me!  But I was back to it Wednesday, where I did a duathlon on my own.  I started with a 10k run, then a 45 minute GREAT workout on the spin bike, and then another 5k.  I basically did the same thing on Thursday as well, but I started with a 7.5 mile run, then a different spin workout, and finished up with another 1.2 miles.  That way my Wednesday + Thursday total was 18 miles.  There runs were good and fast!  But unfortunately they were on a treadmill so it’s hard to say how that will transfer in race performance.  I think my average paces were coming out about 6:36 min/mile.

Tonight I did another 8.5, with 6 of that being of 1.5 miles repeats.  Tomorrow I MUST do the workout I have been putting off all week- 45 miles bike and 10-12 mile run…Patriots Half Ironman is only 3 weeks away!  Anybody else had some good workout lately?  Remember, a day off to recover is part of a workout too, so let me know if you just did anything fun this week!

Later this weekend I am going to do a post on motivation and turning negatives into positives, so look forward to that!  Anyways, check out this big batch of food I made.  I was running low on food and wanted to try something new and realized I hadn’t used the crock pot in a while.  So I bought a super-lean London Broil steak, trimmed it, and threw it in the crock pot with an equal amount of chicken breasts (actually more chicken than steak).  Then I added some garlic cloves, onions, and watered down bbq sauce for a simmering liquid.

Steak and Chicken

I left this is for about 6 hours, then when it was done, I strained it, added it back to the pot and went after it with some forks to shred that mess up!

Pre-shred

Shredded...like Adrain Peterson haha

I finally got to eat it tonight and its awesome!  Not too dry being that its very low fat either.  I had it just straight tonight with a baked sweet potato with cheese, some steamed vegetables, and put a little HFCS-free bbq sauce on it.

Looks like a lot!

Doesn’t that look like a huge portion of meat?  It’s actually only like 5oz!  I weighed it only because I know how much the entire batch weighs, and I need it to last me for a certain number of meal haha.

I used the last of my meatloaf patties earlier this week too, after one of those great “duathlons”.  I made some meat loaf burrito/wraps with cheese

Before toasting the Toaster Oven

Hot and melted

 Delicious as expected. 

Thanks again for everyone who entered my giveaway and be ready for the next!  In the mean time:

  1. How can I used all this shredded meat I have now besides sandwiches?  Any cool ideas?
  2. What is your favorite thing to make in a slow cooker/crock pot?
  3. Vegetarians- do you guys use slow cookers?  What recipes do you make?
15
Aug
10

End to a long week

By feerlessfood 9 Comments
Categories: Dinners, Eating disorders/ recovery, Eggs, Motivation, Nutrition, Pizza, Workouts and fitness
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m glad this week is over! It wasn’t bad by any means, just very taxing mentally. I’ve come to realize that my working out has a huge impact on my mood and “happiness” which is ridiculous. Living knowing that I won’t be in a good mood and won’t be the person I know I am and want to be if I don’t exercise is absurd. I’ve got to learn to calm these thoughts and also not be so hard on myself when I fail to do something as planned. At the same time, I also need to treat my body better with recovery, nutrition, and sleep so that I quit asking myself everyday “am I too tired to workout?” “Should I take the day off?” “Will I get fat?” “Will I get out of shape and not be able to be highly competitive at my next race?” How about this Chuck: take care of your body, do what feels right, and do what makes you happy. I hope everyone reading this can do the same things. Life is about being happy.
I know that once I start treating my body better, I will once again fall in love with working out…not just loving the feeling I get when I am done.

 
This week was long as I expressed earlier this week. 3 times I went home and took a nap before going to the gym. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but all it did was lead to finishing dinner each night at 11:00. I also planned a shorter ride with a 12 mile run at some point this week. Didn’t happen. I even cleared my day yesterday to do so and wound up sleeping all day instead (hmmm body telling me something?) Then to cap it all off, today I bailed on my long ride at 8AM. That’s ok I thought, I’ll just go on my own later. Drove all the way out to where I was going to ride, rode about a quarter mile, turned around and said, not today. I guess sometimes we just have those days??

 
Now, this all being said, I still got a lot of good workout in. I ran over 43 miles in 5 days and got 3 specific (more in total) spin workout in on the trainer. So I accomplished a lot, just not any of the goals I set out to accomplish. I didn’t get any swims in either grrrr…haha
So that’s why I’m happy this weeks over! This coming week and I am not going to take any naps before workouts, NOT GIVE UP on any workouts, swim multiple times, and to accomplish all this, I am going to feed my body right, get the sleep I need, and do what feels right. Starting tomorrow morning, I have a great breakfast and lunch packed, some Dijon mustard coated chicken ready of dinner along with a sweet potato I’ve sliced and am going to bake with coconut oil. I’m also going to go on a 40 miles bike ride and then swim afterward. And I’m going to love it! Remember to smile and frame everything positively…it goes such a long way!
How do you overcome days when you are tired or don’t want to work out? Do you take the day off OR do you treat your body right so that those days don’t happen? 

I finally tried a recipe I’ve been dying to try! After seeing it a lot of restaurants, the pictures on Matt’s blog sealed the deal for me and I finally created my “Over easy egg pizza”!  I didn’t have the awesome pizza dough Matt makes, but mine worked awesome on a big hearty tortilla.  

Ingredients: 

  • Large tortilla (crisped)
  • Seasonings: Oregano, ranch powder, garlic, and onion
  • Salsa
  • Additional scrambled eggs or ham (to cover the parts that the over easy egg won’t)
  • 2 Omega-3 eggs
  • Cheese

I seasoned the tortilla then baked it for about 5 minutes to get it crispy.  After this is spread on a light layer on salsa, some Egg Beater that I had scrambled with tomatoes, mushrooms, and bell peppers, and topped with cheese.  Then I added 2 Egglands Best eggs and baked for about 6-7 minutes. 

Before the cheese

Added white cheddar

And fresh out of the oven… 

Perfectly cooked

I was so happy with this outcome!  I didn’t over-cook the eggs at all for once and everything melted together great.  The whole pizza had an awesome flavor and I’m not sure exactly what it was, but I think heating the oregano up before adding the ingredients brought out a ton of flavor so I suggest adding extra if you like it. 

Going to back to what I talked about at the beginning of this post, remember how important fuel is to our bodies!  That being said, remember to enter my giveaway for the Ben Greenfield Fitness shirt: 

Ben Greenfield Fitness

Thanks to everyone who was already entered and go ahead and enter again if you want.  Please tell you friends as well!  I will choose a winner at random this coming Friday and let you all know! 

  1. How do you overcome times when you are struggling to do something- whether it’s working out or just anything?
  2. And for fun, what’s your favorite bread to eat a PBJ on?  My all-time classic fav would be on Martin’s potato bread!
  3. Did any of you bloggers go to the Healthy Living Summit?  How was it and what exactly is it?

More soon!

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Feerless Food

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