Lately, I’ve been trying to eat a very large breakfast:
I believe I’ve mentioned before that I struggle with balancing my meals throughout the workday. If I don’t use snacks properly, I’ll end up overeating at one of my regular meals. Last week, I was very hungry at breakfast, so I had oatmeal AND a breakfast sandwich — it was a lot of food, but I didn’t feel groggy afterwards like I do when I eat a huge lunch, and I noticed when it came time for lunch, I didn’t eat nearly as much.
So, despite conflicting studies (this article in the New York Times cites a study that says more calories at breakfast merely adds calories throughout the day), I think for me a large (about 600 calories) breakfast is the key to curbing my hunger throughout the day.
Also, let’s stop demonizing bagels, ok? I eat a bagel for breakfast roughly once a week and it’s one of my very favorite breakfasts. If you get a whole grain bagel and don’t go overboard on the cream cheese, it’s actually a very nutritious breakfast. I can see how eating such a large amount of bread daily could be an issue, but having a bagel for breakfast isn’t the end of the world. And it tastes so good!
Anywho, after all that I’m sitting here post-bagel and I’m not sure I can choke down the rest of my breakfast. No big deal, I’ll eat it in about an hour. The key is to not go into lunch feeling like I might die of hunger!
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How was your St. Patrick’s Day weekend!? Mine was pretty good. Zach and I ended up not doing much of anything in the evenings, however.
On Friday, I went to Crossfit and saw that our first task was to run a mile for time. I was immediately anxious. There were only three of us at class on Friday evening, and the other two were men (one of whom was wearing a t-shirt from a marathon). I was sure that they were going to finish a mile 5 minutes ahead of me. Ever since my injury during the Marshall Half Marathon and the longest winter ever where I’ve been plodding along on the treadmill doing 11 minute miles, I felt like my days of running (relatively) fast were gone. A few years ago, I took a running class at my alma mater’s Rec Center and we had to do a mile for time. My time was 8:08, and I’ve been so proud of that mile ever since.
So, needless to say, while we stretched and foam rolled our muscles at the beginning of that class, I was feeling nervous. We set off to do the mile and I was sure I was going to fall behind the guys, but I kept the pace. I focused on breathing evenly and just kept my pace up, pushing hard at the end. I was glad to see that I was only a few seconds behind the guys when we finished, but when my coached said my time, I was shocked: 7:50! No way! I thought for sure I would have run it slower than my fastest mile. I’m pretty pumped to get back out there and run again after that.
Our WOD, if you’re interested, looked like this:
1 mile (for time)
2 rounds:
10 high pulls (65 pounds)
10 front squats (45 pounds)
Prowler pull
30 sit ups
I finished the mile in 7:50 like I said, and the rest of the WOD in 9:06 (I was the first to finish, but the guys were doing 115 and 65 pounds respectively).
After that, I was content to sit on the couch like this for the rest of the night:
The Friday evening Crossfit class has been giving me zero motivation to do any other workouts for the rest of the weekend. I didn’t do anything on Saturday OR Sunday (although to be fair, the weather outside on Sunday was awful! Snow! So over it!)
Our evenings on Friday night and Saturday night were laaaaazy! We just couldn’t get the motivation to hit the town. I’m a little bummed we missed out on all the St. Patty’s Day fun, but we did manage to spend a little time at a friend’s house on Saturday:
I just love this photo of Zach. He’s so handsome.
..and on Sunday, I decided to throw together a vaguely St. Patrick’s Day themed dinner:
…which consisted of sausages, sauerkraut (which is cabbage!), Irish soda bread and potatoes. Zach even braved the yucky weather to go get us a six pack of Guiness for the occasion.
Question of the Day:
If you’re a runner, have you ever run a mile for time? If so, what is your best time?