Comments (29)

By kilax, March 7, 2011 5:02 am

I love our new tea box.

It’s nice not to have our tea in a plastic shoe box anymore!

Everything’s so nice and organized (okay, except the Celestial Seasonsings brand tea that we still keep in the pantry because they come in pillow tea bags)…

and I have loved trying the tea shared with me by Gina, Jen and Erin, and some of your recommendations!

But, I am a bit sick of tea.

And not because I don’t like the way it tastes. Or the fun of making and drinking it. Or the social aspects of it. I actually really enjoy all of that!

I am sick of using tea as a substitute for food.

And no, I am not drinking tea when I should be eating food. I eat plenty of food.

I am sick of trying to control my urges to snack when I don’t need to be snacking, by drinking tea.

I guess I am just sick of having the urge to snack when I am stressed, bored, anxious, nervous, happy, alone, etc. I am sick of having urges to sometimes binge eat, because I am avoiding something. I am sick of living between two extremes – fear of eating too much/and out of control eating.

Why does food have to be so complicated for me?

There have been very few times in my life where I have just been able to eat to fuel my body, without emotion attached.

Sigh.

I hate talking about stuff like this, but I needed to get it out there. I have been trying to get to a healthy weight, and it is frustrating. And not how slow the weight loss is – that is fine! What is frustrating is the “thinking about food so much” part. I hate having food on my mind.

Do you ever feel like you think about food too much? Any tips for me?

Comments (9)

By kilax, March 6, 2011 11:02 am

My next race is the Rotary Shamrock Shuffle (5K) on March 13th.

Day 498 | February 28, 2011: cross

Ugh. On Monday morning I woke up at 2:30 to use the bathroom and couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up. And stayed up. Needless to say, I was very tired most of the day and felt like I could fall asleep on the bike! Maybe I should have taken a nap instead of worked out during my lunch break!

Recumbent Bike Time: 45:00 | Distance: 7.62 | Set on “Manual,” Resistance Level 5.0

Day 499 | March 1, 2011: 5 m run + strength class

I ran 5 slow and easy “recovery” miles in the morning before work.

Distance: 5.0 | Start Temp: 22° | End Temp: 16° | Time: 50:05 | Avg Pace: 10:00 | 1: 10:24 | 2: 10:02 | 3: 10:13 | 4: 9:42 | 5: 9:40

In the evening, I attended a group workout session with 6 other Grayslake Running Club members. The session was run by Essential Fitness, but we did the workout in one of the club member’s basements. The workout was about 45 minutes of a lot of dynamic movements with weights – running in place, knee highs, squats, forward and side lunges, crunches, pushups, tricep work, deadlifts, and so on, followed by stretching. Needless to say, I loved the workout and am excited for the next session!

Day 500 | March 2, 2011: yoga

I did the YogaWorks Beginners DVD – first time in a long time! My neck was sore, maybe from the workout the night before? My legs were sore all day too, from those deadlifts.

Day 501 | March 3, 2011: 7.2 m run + strength

I ran before work with a few Grayslake Running Club members (3 of us met at 5:00 and 2 others joined at 5:30). My legs were still store from those damn deadlifts, but the run felt easy, otherwise.

I know I’ve said this before, but it’s truly amazing how fast running flies by when I am with friends!

Distance: 7.2 | Start Temp: 29° | End Temp: 30° | Time: 1:06:46 | Avg Pace: 9:15 | 1: 9:46 | 2: 9:03 | 3: 9:17 | 4: 9:27 | 5: 9:02 | 6: 8:58 | 7: 9:18 | 8: 1:52

In the evening Steven and I did Level II of The Thirty Day Shred. Ouch. What is with all of the plank moves? They hurt my hips.

Day 502 | March 4, 2011: 12.9 m run

I met up with a few Grayslake Running Club members for my long run. It was pouring rain when we started, but the rain let off after a few miles and turned out to be a nice temperature for running!

Have you ever run in the pouring rain?

We ran all over Grayslake, which was fun for me, because I am not very familiar with the town yet.

I had a great time running and participating in the conversation, but I started to fall apart at mile 8 (when two of the other runners left and it was just me and one other person). My legs were tired (damn deadlifts!) and my pants were still heavy and wet. My last two miles were my slowest. Darn! During most of the run, I had the Garmin covered and didn’t even see my pace. I wonder if that is a better technique for me – forget the pace and just run. Seeing how slow I was running the last two miles was frustrating.

But the goods news is, I had a very special snack waiting at home for me – bagels from NYC! Gina and Steve sent them to us. They aren’t lasting very long in our house!

The Squirmle is just a toy they sent with, not necessary for bagel consumption but fun to use to tease Data!

Run stats: I wore my orchid Asics Cumulus 12s. I wore capris, a short-sleeved top, a “rain-proof” jacket, and gloves. I took the gloves off at mile 3 because they were soaked. We would stop every few miles to drink water. I had a Vanilla Bean GU at mile 4, a packet of Honey Stingers at mile 8ish (YUM!) and drink about 12 oz. of water.

Distance: 12.9 | Start Temp: 37° | End Temp: 46° | Time: 1:58:31 | Avg Pace: 9:11 | 1: 8:45 | 2: 9:15 | 3: 9:12 | 4: 9:09 | 5: 8:59 | 6: 9:07 | 7: 9:10 | 8: 9:15 | 9: 9:07 | 10: 9:02 | 11: 9:12 | 12: 9:35 | 13: 8:36

Day 503 | March 5, 2011: strength

Steven and I did Level 2 of The 30 Day Shred. It was just as hard as on Thursday!

Day 504 | March 6, 2011: 6.15 m run

In the morning I met 6 other Grayslake Running Club members for a quick run. It was exactly what I needed to get my mind off of my frustrating morning. My breathing was off for the first 3 miles or so, but then I figured it out and felt really good.

Distance: 6.15 | Start Temp: 25° | End Temp: 29° | Time: 52:20 | Avg Pace: 8:30 | 1: 8:39 | 2: 8:40 | 3: 8:19 | 4: 8:21 | 5: 8:25 | 6: 8:39 | 7: 1:14

Week Summary: 31.25 miles

Wow! This is my highest mileage week this year! Pretty cool!

I need to work harder on fitting in yoga and stretching though. It’s not my favorite thing so I get pretty lazy about it. I am going to pick up that yoga package I won later today – maybe that will encourage me!

Comments (5)

By kilax, March 6, 2011 8:17 am

It seems that WordPress is turning off all comments on new posts, even though I have comments turned on on all new posts, and turned on in the discussion settings. I’ve tried deactivating and deleting all plug-ins and that didn’t help.  If you know anything about this, please email me at kimilax@yahoo.com. Thanks!

(I noticed comments are working on this post – they do not show up in the post preview.)

Comments (14)

By kilax, March 5, 2011 7:36 am

I am having the most awful two days, technology wise.

• My netbook is operating really slow (think, dial-up speeds, takes 10 minutes for it to run at a normal operating speed – it needs more memory)
• My laptop is operating really slow (something is wrong with it)
• My website wouldn’t allow comments because I used the ≠ symbol
• I am getting “corruption” errors when I try to back up to the external hard drive
• My laptop will not open certain programs
• My laptop will not recognize certain portable devices when I plug them in to the USB ports
• The task manager is all messed up on my laptop, and does not show all of the menu options
• Despite continual “restarting” these issues do not go away

WHY does this sh*t piss me off so much? Seriously, I wanted to cry when I went to bed last night. I feel like something is wrong with me for letting these little things bother me so much.

I need help.

(How ironic that starting last night and until midnight tonight is the National Day of Unplugging. I think it is going to become the National Day of Destroying Your Personal Electronics for me.)

Comments (16)

By kilax, March 5, 2011 7:29 am

After I browsed through the April issue of Glamour, I noticed this little gem on the bottom corner:

Please! Let me know the “shocking” way celebs lose 20 pounds! What could it be?!?!

Well, you may have guessed by my title, it’s by following a VEGAN diet!

Now, to be fair, the article was more of an introduction to what a vegan diet is, but it did have plenty of celebrity references mentioning how slim celebrities became by following this lifestyle.

This annoys me for two reasons:

1. Magazine cover titles are SO misleading. Really – when you read that blurb, what did you think you would read? Something about a magic cleanse? A grapefruit only diet? I mean really, what else would make you “lose 20 pounds fast”? I know magazines do this to get people to buy the issue, but it’s so annoying. And the actual article title ended up being “Why Is Everyone Going Vegan?”
2. Vegan ≠ skinny. Oreos are vegan. Some pop tarts are. A lot of cookies are. Some french fries are. If you overeat junk on a vegan diet, you will not lose weight, just because you are not eating any animal products. Case in point:

That’s me at Christmas. Looking pretty heavy! And I have been vegan since June of 2009! But I didn’t follow a very healthy diet for the end of 2010.

So, while I appreciate the exposure Glamour is providing on veganism, I don’t appreciate the misconception. Going vegan does not guarantee you will lose weight. You certainly could, but it does not guarantee it.

It feels weird to be writing about weight loss. That is a topic I try to avoid! But I had to say something.

Do you notice all the weird misleading article titles on magazine covers?

Comments (22)

By kilax, March 4, 2011 1:51 pm

Are you similar or vastly different in personality to your parents? Which traits do you share/not share?

If you have children, which of your personality traits do you notice in them?

During my morning run yesterday, one of the runners mentioned how his older daughter is just like him. He sounded somewhat concerned! I think he mentioned how she has a hard time making decisions (gets frustrated by it) and he does too.

So, how are you similar to your parents (or whoever raised you)?

Dad, Mom and me.

Me and my dad:

I am similar to my dad in the sense that I have short temper, am impatient, stubborn and get easily frustrated (sorry dad, that made you sound awful). We also both like to pick at things. But like him, I am also very willing to help friends/family when they need something. I’ve noticed my siblings are like this too. I am also independent like my dad, and like to travel and explore new things like he does. And I share a similar need for speed. Ha.

My dad is somewhat quiet, and I am not quiet at all. He is also very talented on working on cars, can fix anything, and is skilled at building things. I also do not share those skills!

Me and my mom:

I am similar to my mom in the sense that I am giving, constantly thinking of other people, very compulsive, and always spilling food on myself. She is game for trying anything, and I am too. She is usually in a good mood, and I like to think I am too. She is outgoing, and I am too. We never know when to shut up. We both love to have fun!

Here is where we are different – she will drop anything for anyone, and I don’t always. AND, she rarely thinks anything bad of anyone and is super nice to everyone. Again – I am not super nice and have plenty of judgmental thoughts.

Hmm, I wonder what my parents think of this. Ha ha!

Side note: Sorry I left the nasty oatmeal picture up for so long! It’s been a rough week and I couldn’t think of anything to blog about.

Comments (33)

By kilax, March 1, 2011 4:58 am

I was really hungry during my run this morning, so I decided to make some oatmeal when I got back to the house (I usually wait and eat at work). And for fun, I decided to put in some of the Vega Sport Berry Protein Powder, as you guys suggested.

This is kind of dumb of me, but I expected the berry protein powder to be red. I guess there are no artificial colorings. Duh. It turned my freaking oatmeal green.

And it tasted every bit as disgusting as it looks. I could only manage 5 bites before I threw it all away. I even pinched nose as I ate it, hoping I would taste it less, but it didn’t help. I am not sure that it tasted too “plant-y” or too natural, it just tasted GROSS.

Thankfully I only bought sample packs, instead of a big jar of this stuff. I need to find something else to try.

The good news is, I lost my appetite, and can just have my oatmeal at work like I do every other day.

To make up for the gross picture above, here’s a cute one of Data!