August 17th became a Hooky Day from work. After the Swim Meet in Mission Viejo, I was feeling really run down and tired. I certainly could have worked, but I would have been no good to anyone. So I decided I was better off staying home, checking in with email, doing house work and laundry, and keeping cool. Oh, and don't forget the workout! Today's a scheduled rest day, but I actually took that rest day on Sunday at the swim meet. So today I will do a recalibration of my heart rate monitor on the treadmill and do the weight training from the Jeff Horowitz book.
And I would normally do measurements on Monday, but given that I'm home today and not going to actually wear a "real" bra, I will save the measurements for tomorrow morning.
Week Three will be interesting as the running mileage is increasing. Marathon training calls for 33 miles this week, with 7 miles hills on Wednesday and 6 miles/2 at Marathon pace on Friday. This Sunday's run is a 13 miler. Which may need to be run on Saturday, but we will play that by ear. I want to start looking at the pace I'll need to be at to run a 4:45 marathon in Santa Clarita. That would be a PR for me. Which means this weight has got to go and I gotta get fast soon!!
Monday's dinner was another crock pot recipe: Garlic Chicken with Cream Cheese Sauce*.
This was delicious! I made it slightly different from the recipe, but just in the kind of chicken:
This was delicious! I made it slightly different from the recipe, but just in the kind of chicken:
Two chicken thighs, two chicken drumsticks
1 stick of butter
8 garlic cloves, sliced in half
Salt
Cooked on high in the crock pot for one hour, then reduced heat for another 3-4 hours. Removed the chicken and made that INCREDIBLE sauce:
One cup of chicken stock (which for me meant using all the liquid from the crock pot - NO WASTE!)
8 ounces of cream cheese
(I added some jalapeno pepper in an attempt to get some heat - should have added more)
Cook that until smooth and melted, slather it all over the chicken. My hubby had his by itself, but I threw mine over a bed of spinach and treated the sauce almost as a dressing. It was fantastic! And enough sauce left over that I could lather my eggs with it on Tuesday. WIN WIN!
*Original Recipe featured on Our Small Hours.
On Tuesday, August 18, I did my measurements and was blown away. I did them twice to make sure. I've lost two inches in my waist and three in my hips. ARE! YOU! KIDDING! ME?!?!?!??! Not possible. but there you have it.
August 10: Chest, 35; Waist, 33; Hips, 42
August 18: Chest, 35; Waist 31; Hips, 39
So very clearly, something is working. THRILLED!
Tuesday's run (4 "easy" miles) felt great for me. I was really strong and I feel like I'm starting to get faster. I was able to stay in Zone 2 for the first two miles but then that "cardiac creep" set in...the final two miles were in Zone 4. I ran in a mostly fasted state (just a little water) and hydrated like crazy afterwards.
Remember that August 18th is the Strategic Planning Session for my work. And I did some recon Monday afternoon and learned what the lunch menu will be. Cobb Salad fixings with assorted meats and cheese. PERFECT. I didn't have to bring any additional food with me other than my regular snacks (almonds and macadamia nuts).
However, I experienced my first sense of Keto Food Coma on Tuesday afternoon. The Cobb Salad spread was perfect, but I might have overdone it. Maybe it was too much blue cheese, too much dressing....AHA! Was it the bacon, because I'm pretty much not supposed to have pork products, according to my Blood Type Diet profile?? Perhaps. Either way. I was SO lethargic and tired after that lunch, the early hour of the meeting was tough for me.
And since I have given up coffee, getting that caffeine was not in my game plan. Going for a walk at the break definitely helped and then I had energy to sustain the rest of the afternoon. I did have one glass of wine at the end of the event. Red wine, of course.
And since I have given up coffee, getting that caffeine was not in my game plan. Going for a walk at the break definitely helped and then I had energy to sustain the rest of the afternoon. I did have one glass of wine at the end of the event. Red wine, of course.
Dinner Tuesday night wound up being a smoothie (protein powder, almond milk, frozen avocado, coconut oil, a little almond butter). There WAS ahi poke in my fridge (thank you, Scott), but think either the fish was bad or there was too much wasabi. Either way, didn't sit well with me.
And THAT basically meant that my 7 mile run on Wednesday morning was in a fasted state. Not too shabby! My PEAR heart rate monitor is giving me fits right now, so I was not really certain whether I was in the Happy Zone of Zone 2 for the entire run. I'm still slow - but I'm keeping these runs steady AND in good form. I also had my "Best Wednesday Ever" for Nike Fuel!! WOO HOO!
Which further means that I need to get out the door earlier on those 7 and 8 mile Wednesday runs because I continue to be late for work :( Today it meant skipping breakfast, other than eating a piece of cheese. So I decided to fold that into my day and not eat again until after 11am. Which pretty much meant that I was practicing Intermittent Fasting on Wednesday.
Lunch was at work, two hard boiled eggs. And I brought my regular Keto Pudding Smoothie with me to eat as a snack. Plus some macadamia nuts. Yummy. I am totally enjoying the nuts part of this - which is hysterical because I never ate nuts as a kid. Dinner was some ahi poke leftover that Charles turned into a nice little stir fry/soup thing. Which I ate over spinach greens. I was pretty hungry going to bed but just tried to go crazy with the water.
Thursday's workout was in a fasted state - 50 minutes of cross training with weights and core work at the gym. I had my usual cheesy turmeric eggs and I am pretty sure that I finished off that cream cheese sauce! I'm not walking to work as much this week, though. As my husband has started a refresh program, he's having me drive to work so he can pick up the car after he's done. But with all these extra miles I'm running right now, I'm not as worried about my steps. I still get in some good walking at the office.
Dinner that night was late for me - had a Finance and Investment Committee meeting and Charles ate without me. I had a huge pile of spinach with a homemade dressing made of avocado, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and jalapeno pepper; and on top of that was some baked chicken and roasted cauliflower. Super tasty and totally filling.
On Friday morning I had a scheduled run - 6 miles with two at marathon pace. I did the entire run with negative splits; but I think that was more a factor of going uphill for the first half and downhill for the second half. My heart race was pretty high for the uphill and pretty steady (Zone 3) for the downhill. I felt really good and no "bonking".
I've had a smoothie at least once a day every single day this week. I love putting avocados in my smoothies and throwing in just one tablespoon of heavy cream. I also will say again that I am a HUGE fan of ALOHA protein powder. When my vegan phase kicks in, that stuff will come in very handy!
The weekend was decent - I'm embarrassed to admit that we were down to our last dollars, so meals had to be really creative and we were eating every last frozen thing from our freezer! I made a Keto "Bread" on Saturday morning from egg, coconut flour, baking powder, and melted butter. It was really quite tasty! I was able to actually toast this "bread" and put almond butter and just a LITTLE raspberry jam on it. I will definitely continue to make this "bread" during my blood type and paleo months. It was lots of fun and tasty. I made dinner on Saturday night - another version of the cream cheese garlic chicken, only this time I added sour cream and Chipotle Ranch dressing in the crock pot to get a different taste. Not a full block of cream cheese, either - just a couple tablespoons. Charles made dinner Sunday night - an interesting fish soup using chicken stock, coconut milk, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, green beans, and some frozen cod. Seasoned with salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, and cayenne. It was really fun and delicious. There's enough leftovers for tomorrow's lunch - and I intend to add both sour cream and cream cheese into that lunch for myself at work!
Sunday's workout was a long 13 miles - I don't know that I "bonked" as much as I was slightly dehydrated. But once I hit mile 9, I needed to incorporate some walking into the mix. When I finished, though, I was super hot and really kind of queasy. I needed a few minutes on the bed before my ice bath because I really felt tired and exhausted. Nothing a good shower and a few episodes of HOMELAND can't fix, LOL.
Now that Week Three is at its end, I'm actually really looking forward to finishing this chapter of the experiment. One more week to go and I'm hoping to get a little more creative this week with trying new recipes. I really REALLY want to make coconut milk ice cream. But it does seem like a lot of work and I need Charles to drag down the ice cream machine. The fact of the matter is...this lifestyle feels a little restrictive to me. I really, REALLY miss fruit! I'm very glad that September is going to be my Fruitarian month! Should make up for the lost time.
That's the scoop for week three! Just six more days to go!!
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