Deep Fried Butter and Other Weekend Indiscretions

I usually indulge a little on weekends but my treats tend to be of a more refined variety – gourmet meals at fancy restaurants, decadent desserts and expensive wine. This weekend, however, I pretty much ate like a college kid – I ate pizza three days in a row and helped myself to food I usually avoid like poutine, loaded nachos, Swiss waffles and beer.

And then there were the deep fried butter balls.


Yesterday, I went to the CNE, where deep fried butter made its much-hyped debut last year. Much has been written about it since, most of it decrying deep fried butter as an excessively indulgent heart-attack-waiting-to-happen. You should have seen some of the judgmental stares being cast at those of us lined up outside of the stand.

Relax guys. Eating 1 or 2 of these once a year is not going to kill you. People should worry more about their day-to-day eating habits, which, let’s face it, aren’t so great as far as the average North American is concerned.

But back to the deep fried butter. I tried these purely out of curiousity and really didn’t expect to like them (I thought they’d be too… well… buttery) but you know what? They were pretty effing amazing. I ended up eating two.

Actually, I enjoyed everything I ate this weekend and didn’t feel gross at all, which is surprising given that my system isn’t used to eating a lot of deep fried junk. I think the trick was, I didn’t eat too much of any one thing – all of it was shared among friends and I didn’t eat beyond the point of fullness. I also stayed active and kept my breakfasts and lunches healthy.

That being said, I would now like to extend an apology to my gastrointestinal system for putting it through all that. I promise that we will now return to our regularly scheduled programming of whole grains, healthy fats, produce and lean protein. Like tonight’s dinner for example – home made pesto made from these simple ingredients:

I blended almonds, garlic, parsley, mint leaves, terragon, lemon juice and olive oil in a food processor and served it with whole wheat spaghetti, broccoli and ricotta cheese. Another succesful recipe from my Power Foods cook book. This is the fifth recipe I’ve tried and so far all have been delicious. This was definitely one of my favourites:

After dinner, I headed out for an 11 km tempo run. I was so excited to go for a run tonight – after my batteries died less than halfway through Saturday’s run, I couldn’t wait to run to the rest of the new songs on my playlist. My legs, however, were less than stoked to head out for a run after walking around at the Ex all day yesterday. The first few kilometres were really, really hard but things eventually got easier.

Post-run I had a cinnamon raisin bagel thin with a bit of peanut butter and a glass of skim milk.

 

Cinammon raisin bagel thins are my new favourite thing in life.

Would you ever try deep fried butter? What’s the most outrageously decadent thing you’ve ever eaten?

Dress Rehearsal

My first half marathon is less than a month away so it’s time to start doing weekly “dress rehearsals.”

Many articles on training suggests recreating the exact conditions you’ll be facing on race day during your long runs to prep yourself both physically and mentally. This is also a good time to experiment with anything “new” you want to try. So, for this morning’s 15 kilometre run, I wanted to test out drinking Gatorade and eating Sharkies chews.

I also got a lot of sleep last night and followed a schedule that will be very similar to the one I plan to follow the morning of the half marathon. Here’s what this morning looked like:

6:00 – woke up and ate my pre-run meal

Peanut butter and banana on toast with a cup of green tea. I followed this with a cup of Gatorade to get hydrated.

6:15 – 7:15 – put together a badass playlist (my old one was getting pretty crusty) with all sorts of gems ranging from Wu Tang Clan and Gwen Stefani to The Killers and Bon Jovi. I like to keep things random!

7:15 – 7:30 – got dressed and warmed up

Do I looked psyched about my run or what?!?

I’ve decided I’m going to wear these Lululemon running shorts on race day. They are super light, sit comfortably on my hips and have lots of hidden pockets. They also have built-in underwear. Score!

7:30 – start time (same as the Oakville Half Marathon)

8:10 – ate my first two Sharkies chews. They went down well and gave me a little pick me up (or maybe it was all in my head?).

8:15 – as I was running, I thought to myself “why does it suddenly smell like the Whole Foods hot bar?” Then I realized it was because I was a block away from Whole Foods. This was kind of a mindfuck because there have been many times when I’ve been too lazy to drive to Whole Foods.

8:20 – the batteries on my iriver died (FYI – an iriver is a cheap little mp3 player you can buy for $30 at PharmaPlus; it has lasted me five years and I love it. Don’t hate, you know you want one!).

So I had to run the rest of the distance in silence. I wish I had something positive to say about the experience — like it gave me a chance to focus on my running form or I enjoyed listening to the birds chirping — but then I’d be a big fat liar. I hated it! 

Oh well, at least I learned an important lesson – check your batteries before you leave! Another important lesson I learned today – listen to any songs you download before you load them onto whatever music playing device you run with. Today, I ended up with an instrumental version of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” (it’s a good beat but loses some of its motivational power without the words) and some lame cover version of Madonna’s “Hung Up” (this reminded me of the songs they sometimes use in LesMills classes when they obviously haven’t acquired the rights to the real version).

8:30 – ate two more Sharkies.

9:15 – arrived home (yeah, I know I’m a slow runner) with sore legs (thanks Body Pump!) but feeling pretty good.

9:15 – 9:30 – stretched and ate up a storm — a slice of cinammon raisin toast with a bit of margarine, a glass of skim milk and a few way too many spoonfuls of almond butter. Kind of random but I haven’t done the groceries yet.

On that note, it’s time to blow dry my hair and get my behind moving. Lots of errands to run today!

Do you bring anything with you to sustain you during your long runs?

Cry Me a River

I’ve had a tough week (more on that later) and I am so happy Friday has finally arrived.

Before I get into what went wrong this week, let’s start with what went right. As usual, I planned my meals and workouts ahead of time and, once again, this helped me have a successful week.  

The week in exercise:

Sunday Tempo Run (10 km)
Monday Body Pump
Tuesday Body Attack
Wednesday Easy Run (3 km)
Thursday Body Pump
Friday Rest

My only slight setback was that I screwed up my training schedule this week. I was supposed to do two Easy Runs but I only managed one. Oh well. I’ll be finishing my week off with a long run (15 km!) tomorrow.

The week in meals:

Monday – Grilled Steak with Papaya and Carrot Salsa and Avocado

Tuesday – Pork Chop Casserole with Egg Noodles

Wednesday – Soba Noodles with Tofu and Vegetables

Thursday – Panko Chicken and Baked Sweet Potato Fries

And now for the whining…

I’m not a fan of whiners. I’m especially not a fan of whiners who constantly bitch about their problems but do nothing to better their circumstances.

The thing is, whining only makes things worse; voicing the same negative feelings over and over again (“I hate my job,” “I’m too tired to exercise,” “I don’t have time to cook,” “work is so stressful”) transforms these problems into an inescapable reality as opposed to temporary obstacles that you can overcome with a bit of effort. So while you definitely shouldn’t ignore or bottle up negative emotions, don’t bother whining unless you’re willing to develop and implement an action plan to change things.

That being said, I did not have a great week and I want to take this time to reflect on what went wrong and what I can do next week to make things better. 

Problem: I didn’t sleep well

Sleep is a big deal to me. I need at least seven hours of it or else I pretty much hate the world. The problem is, I’m a very habitual sleeper – during the week, I like to sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time and any disruptions to my weekday sleeping patterns wreak havoc on my system.

This week, I forced myself to wake up earlier than usual to work out. Bad idea. Knowing I had to wake up extra early the next morning made me anxious the night before, which prevented me from getting a good rest on those nights (seriously, I am a little bit insane when it comes to sleeping).

Solution: Ditch the morning workouts

Waking up before 6 a.m. to work out is just not my thing. I don’t know why I even attempted that nonsense. It’s like I had to prove to myself that I could do it if I absolutely had to. Well, guess what? I don’t have to. Even with full-time hours, I still have plenty of time in the evenings to work out so why torture myself in the mornings when I don’t have to?

Problem: Inability to relax after work

I am no good at unwinding after a hectic day. Every evening, as I was driving home from work, I thought to myself: “I can’t wait to do nothing for the rest of the night.” Then, within an hour of finishing dinner, I was ready to pull my hair out from boredom. I don’t really watch TV and I don’t like browsing the web at night (the last thing I want to do after sitting in front of a computer all day is come home and sit in front of another screen). Reading makes me sleepy so I usually don’t read until I’m ready for bed, so what’s a girl to do in the meantime?

Solution: Stick with evening workouts

I was in a much better mood on days where I went to the gym in the evening. It feels great to move after sitting down all day, the classes are late enough that I still have time to go home and enjoy a good meal after work and when the classes are over, I’m pleasantly tired and ready to sleep. Then I get to wake up in the morning, enjoy my breakfast, blog and even do a little more reading before I get to work – this puts me in a much better mood than rushing all morning just so I can squeeze in a workout.

Problem: Migraines

I usually get hit with migraines a few times a month, usually all within the span of a week. This week was one of those weeks.

Solution: Keep a migraine log

By keeping track of my migraines, maybe I’ll be able to figure out what triggers them (I think it’s the weather) and have an attack plan ready for when they’re about to strike.

Problem: Overall grouchiness

I found myself grouchier than usual this week, probably because I was tired and migraine-y all week. I’m usually a pretty upbeat and cheerful person and I definitely do not want to turn into one of those perpetually harassed types who cuts people off in traffic and yells at grocery store cashiers (I used to be a grocery store cashier and let me tell you — those people suck!)

Solution: Appreciate the little things

Once I realized I was being a grouchy pants, I tried to find little things to cheer me up (like the fact that the girl at Starbucks accidentally gave me a Grande yesterday even though I paid for a Tall).

And when these little perks don’t cut it, I think of the bigger picture – the fact that I’m young, healthy, employed and have a loving family, a boyfriend who loves and supports me, a great group of friends, etc. When you look at your life in terms of all of the great things you have, it’s hard to get grouchy over something as silly as a few nights of disrupted sleep or a headache.

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