Dude, seriously. My blog titles are the worst. Although, I hope they make you laugh sometimes! Maybe I need to hire someone to help me with them? Ha!

I was planning to do a long-ish run outside this morning, but it’s snowing/raining, and I’m a big wuss (and a little sore from last night’s CrossFit class), so I decided to take a rest day today. Of course, I could hit the treadmill for a run, but I’m just not feeling it. I’d rather be lazy today.

I remember the days when I’d run in just about any type of weather, but now I prefer nearly ideal conditions for my runs. Ooh, how things have changed.

Breakfast

I woke up craving something cold and creamy, so Greek yogurt with fresh strawberries and chia seeds were on the menu.

I also ate half of a toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese.

And a glass of iced coffee with soy milk.

A Special Birthday

Happy birthday to blog buddy (and now real life friend), Theodora! She enters the final year of her 20’s today, so be sure to wish her a happy day! (I plan to make her do birthday shots when I see her next week!)

Question of the Day

Who is the cuter dog dad?

Obviously, this is a very important question on this Saturday morning. I’m sure you know who I’d pick.

I receive a ton of questions from readers about where to stay when they visit Boston. I’m always hesitant to give my recommendations because I’ve only stayed at two hotels (now three) in the area. All of my family lives locally and when my friends visit, they stay at our house, so I just haven’t had a ton of experience with the hotels in the Boston area.

With that said, I finally have a great hotel recommendation for those of you who are visiting Beantown: The Charles Hotel. It really has a lot going for it, especially if you’re looking for a “healthy living” experience.

Quick side note: The Charles Hotel is located in Cambridge, which is not Boston proper. If you want to experience all of the Boston-y things in the city, I recommend staying at The Colonnade Hotel. It’s located in the Back Bay/Copley area of Boston, right on Huntington Avenue across from the Prudential, so it’s basically near all of the touristy stuff. The rooms are absolutely gorgeous, the hotel restaurant Brasserie Jo is amazing, and there’s a pool on the roof! If you want to learn more about it, here are my reviews: The Colonnade Hotel.

Ok, back to why I think The Charles Hotel is a great place to stay when you visit Boston. The main reason is that it has so much to offer; everything is right at your fingertips.

Obviously, Harvard Square and everything that goes along with it (shopping, restaurants, etc.) is right outside your door, but check out what The Charles Hotel has to offer (I totally nabbed this info from the website, but it’s really impressive):

• Full Service Spa & Salon – Corbu Spa & Salon
• Complimentary Wi-Fi access in all guestrooms and public spaces
• 24-Hour Concierge
• 24-Hour in-room dining
• Library in lobby with The Harvard Coop’s autographed bestsellers
• Avis Rent-a-Car located onsite
• Same-day laundry
• Valet, indoor/underground parking & car salon
• “Kid’s Kits” presented to children upon arrival
• Complimentary Children’s DVD Rentals
• Pet-friendly < --- Murphy wants to visit!
• Access to The Rink (seasonal)

Not included in that list, but what I liked most about my stay:

• Complimentary access to Wellbridge Athletic Club
• Four delicious (like really delicious) onsite restaurants

Ok, now that I’ve (hopefully) sold you on The Charles Hotel, here’s a recap of my morning there. (I apologize if this post sounds super sales-y. I just want you guys to know why I think this hotel is a great place for out-of-town folks to stay.)

Snack

Jen woke up bright and early for work, so I got up as well. I said goodbye to her and then threw on my workout gear for a visit to the hotel gym for a run. I snacked on a banana before I hit the treadmill.

Workout

The Wellbridge Athletic Club is a legit gym, meaning the folks who live and work in the area are members. It has all of the usual fitness equipment (and plenty of it) as well as a lap pool. It’s definitely not your typical tiny, dark hotel gym with old school equipment.

For some reason, I just wasn’t in the mood to run this morning, but I love trying out new gyms, so I forced myself to get started. The first mile of my run was brutal (like why the F am I doing this to myself?), but once I got warmed up, I was happy I got my sweat on.

My workout for today was 3 x 800 with 5 minutes rest in between. It looked like this on the treadmill:

As I mentioned, I felt terrible at the start of my workout, but, as it progressed, I felt better, so my 800 intervals increased in speed each time. It was a short and sweet workout, and I finished in under 35 minutes.

After my workout, I headed upstairs to my hotel room for a quick shower. I watched Live! with Kelly while I got ready in the bathroom. It was awesome. How cool would it be to have one of these TVs in your bathroom at home?!

Breakfast

Once I was ready to go, I went downstairs to Henrietta’s Table for breakfast.

I almost headed home and ate breakfast there to save some money, but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dine at Henrietta’s Table. Their breakfast/brunch is epic.

The first thing I ordered: coffee! Nice and strong. Perfect.

Everything on the menu sounded delicious, so I had trouble making up my mind. Eventually, I just ordered a few different things, which ended up being a lot of food!

Check out the size of my fruit!

The waitress warned me it was a large portion, but I didn’t think it would be that huge! Ha!

I also ordered an egg and a Morning Glory muffin, which was also pretty big.

I had no problem eating the entire thing. Obviously.

Good times at The Charles Hotel. I definitely recommend it!

Off to CrossFit! Woot!

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Annual Press Party at The Charles Hotel. I was actually invited to this same event last year, but I couldn’t make it, so I was especially excited to go this time. The event also featured an exclusive look at the new Corbu Spa & Salon and, of course, I love spas, so I was psyched to see what it was all about.

With the spa as the focus of the event, I decided to invite my friend Jen to the event. She recently got engaged (and asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding!), so I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to catch up and talk wedding details. Plus, Jen is fun.

The event featured appetizer selections from Chef Peter Davis of Henrietta’s Table as well as seasonal cocktails from Noir. (Both restaurants are located in The Charles Hotel.)

I drank a couple of glasses of white wine and pretty much snacked all night long.

Everything was delicious, especially the desserts. Duh. 

The event, of course, featured mini spa treatments, including bang trims and hair straightening in the salon as well as hand massages in the spa.

I totally took advantage of the hand massage and it felt soooo good. I didn’t realize how tense my hands were from typing and mouse-ing at a computer all day long. The masseuse also used a seasonal hydrating Orange & Marigold lotion on my hands, which smelled incredible (citrus-y + sweet).

FYI: The seasonal spa treatments at Corbu are inspired by Chef Peter Davis and Chef Jody Adams of Rialto,  who are both industry leaders in the farm-to-table movement. Basically, Corbu is bringing this movement from the restaurant world into the spa by using the freshest locally sourced ingredients to create seasonal scrubs and lotions. Neat, right?

Speaking of Jody Adams, I saw her at the event last night. I’m not sure if she recognized me from my behind-the-scenes Food Network video at Rialto, so I awkwardly said hello to her, but didn’t come up with anything else to say. Derp. I wish I wasn’t such a turd in those situations. Oh, well. Next time, right?

Jen and I also had the opportunity to make our own salt scrubs with essentials oils at the spa to take home with us.

The one I picked was called “Sore Muscles,” and it has a fresh, pepperminty smell. I love it!

Then, Jen and I got our skin analyzed. Corbu offers a special skincare system called mySkin, which was developed by two Harvard Business School grads to analyze the skin to determine the prefect products to treat each unique skin type. I was surprised by my results!

Here’s the report that the esthetician emailed to me:

As you can see, my pores are “optimal” (aka clear) and my oiliness is “low,” which are good, but my propensity to aging “needs action.” Gah! That’s not good!

I panicked for a second, but the esthetician assured me that I can get my skin back on track, no problem. Of course, she suggested a few of the treatments and products at Corbu, but she also gave me a few easy things I can do on my own to improve the quality of my skin, including daily exfoliation, drinking lots of water, and using a thick night cream (she suggested Olay) to add some hydration back into my skin. I guess I need to step it up with my skin care routine!

Then, it was Jen’s turn for the skin analysis. It was actually kind of humorous to watch because Jen doesn’t use anything on her skin. No makeup, no moisturizer, no daily sunscreen, no face wash. She told the esthetician she only uses water to clean her skin. That’s it. For real.

Surprisingly, Jen’s mySkin report was similar to mine with regard to pore health and oiliness, but her propensity to aging was quite a bit better. Interesting, right? Even the esthetician was surprised by the results. 

Once the event ended, Jen and I took the elevator home! As part of the Annual Press Party, The Charles Hotel treated us to a complimentary overnight stay. So fun! They hooked us up with an adorable room on the 10th floor with beautiful views of the courtyard and Harvard Square. (I took these photos of our room in the morning since the lighting was better then.)

Adorable, right?

There was complimentary Wi-Fi!

Check out the “in mirror” bathroom television! Cooooool!

I love EO Products!

Jen and I ended up chatting for awhile before heading to bed. She had to work this morning, so we decided not to make it a super late night. As always, it was awesome to spend some time with her.

Stay tuned! More to come!

Attention: Pug people!

This is one of the most exciting projects I have ever encountered.

Introducing 1000 Pugs!!!

1000 Pugs is the ultimate expression of pug love by San Francisco pet photographer, Amanda Bradshaw. Her goal is equal parts genius, ridiculous, and insane: to photograph 1000 pugs in a single year.

Amanda’s goal is three-fold:

• Use 1000 Pugs as a vehicle to raise money for pug rescue ($10k, to be exact)
• Create the ultimate celebration of all things pug!
• Showcase the largest single collection of  pug cuteness this world has ever seen (in both online and printed form)

Each pug photographed will be featured in the 1000 Pugs online gallery as well as 1000 Pugs the book, which is planned for release in 2013 and will feature all 1000 pugs.

So cool!! Sign me Murphy up!

If you/your pug would like to participate, check out the 1000 Pugs tour schedule and register your pug for a photoshoot. The sitting fee is $50, and $10 of it will be donated to pug rescue. Winter and Spring dates are already booking up, and Fall dates (Boston!) will open on April 1, which, of course, is already on my calendar… with a reminder.

Lunch

After breakfast this morning, I headed out to NuVal. On my drive there, I swung by Bruegger’s to get my three free bagels. Yay! (Oh, it’s the little things in life.) I picked two Everything bagels (so Mal and I don’t fight) and one Sesame bagel.

At Bruegger’s, I also ordered a bagel sandwich to take with me to NuVal for lunch. On it was turkey, sundried tomato spread, green bell pepper, lettuce, and tomato.

I ordered my sandwich on a toasted Parmesan-Asiago bagel. I <3 cheese.

I finished off lunch with a cup of pumpkin spice coffee with cream and sugar from the office Keurig machine.

Snack

At home, I snacked on a Van’s Power Grains Waffle with Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter spread on top. I had a serious craving for a big cookie, but we didn’t have any in the house and I didn’t feel like baking, so I figured this was a good substitution. It actually tasted so delicious, I ate two of them.

Workout

Somehow, I forgot to blog about last night’s CrossFit workout in this morning’s post, so here’s a recap!

Skill: Rope Climbs & Knees to Elbows

WOD: “Multiplier”

5 rounds for time of:

4 Dead Lifts

8 Burpee Box Jumps

16 Knees to Elbow

24 Double Unders

Rope Climbs were fun (obviously), and I made some great progress on Knees to Elbows last night. During the WOD, I actually did a whole bunch of real ones. Ok, I didn’t touch my knees to my elbows every time, but I kipped and got my knees pretty close to my elbows, which is some serious progress and so much harder than the Knee Raises I’ve been doing for the past several weeks now. All of a sudden Knees to Elbows just clicked, and it was awesome.

Knees to Elbows? Say what? Here’s a video to show ya what they’re all about:

For the rest of the WOD, I managed Level 1 exercises: Deadlifts (95 pounds), Box Jumps (20″) and 2 x Single Unders for the Double Unders. Hey, I’ll take it. I’m just happy about my (nearly legit) Knees to Elbows!

Fun event tonight! Need to get ready.

Enjoy the evening, friends!

Good morning!

I’m so glad it’s Thursday because I have a fun day ahead. It involves spending a few hours at NuVal, getting free bagels at Bruegger’s, and then meeting up with my friend Jen for a media event followed by an overnight stay at a Boston hotel. It’s all good stuff today, and I’m excited!

Breakfast

I’m on a real oatmeal kick lately. I thought about making Protein Pancakes this morning, but I really just wanted a bowl of Super Creamy Oatmeal with a big scoop of Teddie, so that’s exactly what I made.

Sorry my breakfasts haven’t been too exciting lately, but my taste buds won this morning.

Pandora Workout Stations

Remember those cool Pandora workout stations? Well, here are some fun facts about them:

• In the first 25 days for 2012, workout stations accounted for approximately 10% of all genre stations created on Pandora
• The average listener with a Pandora workout station will listen for roughly 48 minutes a day
• 78% of listeners with a Pandora workout station listen to it on a mobile device
• Pop, Hip-Hop and Dance-themed stations are the most popular within the workout genre on Pandora

I’m a dork. I love fun facts.

Three Questions Thursday

Here’s the next edition of Three Questions Thursday!

My boyfriend and I are planning to do the Bay to Breakers race (a 12k) in San Francisco in May, and I want to be able to have my iPhone with me to take pictures and get in touch with people once the race is over. I noticed that you wear your Spibelt on longer runs to carry a few things; do you like it?

Yes! I LOVE my Spibelt! It’s definitely part of my “can’t run without it” gear for my long runs. At first, I thought wearing a Spibelt strapped around my waist would be annoying, but it’s surprisingly comfortable to wear. It barely bounces around when I’m running, even when it’s really full. Even then, I don’t notice it after a couple of minutes of running. 

I mostly wear my Spibelt to carry my GU and iPhone (for listening to music, snapping pics, and getting in touch with people after races), but I also sometimes carry my ID, chapstick, cash, and house key in there. If you’re doing a long run/race and want to carry your iPhone, I highly recommend a Spibelt!

I have tried a thousand times to food journal, but never keep up with it!! Just wondering if you food journal? If so, do you use a regular notebook or something specific? Do you have any tips for keeping track?

I don’t journal my calories anymore, but I did while I was trying to lose weight as well as on and off for my first year of maintenance.

As for tips, check out these two posts that I wrote about food journaling and blogging:

• Want to Lose Weight for the Long Haul? Start Writing!
• Want to See the Scale Move? Make Some New Friends

Since freshman year, I have gained about 15 pounds and am having the hardest time losing it. Part of my problem is during the week I workout every day and eat healthy; however, on the weekend, I like to drink and eat not-so-good-for-me foods. I know that you said that you also had this problem previously. I was wondering if you had any tips?

Do I?! This is one of my favorite topics to write about! Here are some of the posts I’ve written about balancing my splurges and unhealthy eats during the weekend and otherwise:

• 6 Ways to Keep the Weekend From Wrecking Your Diet
• 4 Skinny Tricks for Enjoying a Diet Splurge Guilt-Free
• How to Splurge Without Damaging Your Diet
• Go Ahead and Indulge! 3 Sneaky Ways to Plan for Diet Splurges
• 4 Ways to Cut Calories at the Bar (but Still Be the Life of the Party!)

Gnawin’ Forever Dog Toy Giveaway

Thanks to everyone who entered the Gnawin’ Forever Dog Toy Giveaway! Here’s your winner:

Joy Ulrich

Our dog chewed up and destroyed (in mere seconds) our four year old sons self made, self wrapped, Christmas present to dear mom & dad. It was a popsicle stick frame with an ever so sweet picture of him in the middle. Note: lots of glue and glitter and stickers were adorning the said popsicle stick frame. Broke his heart. BIG alligator tears. We spent an hour piecing it back together, wrapping paper and all!

Congrats, Joy! Please email me at tina@carrotsncake.com with your full name and mailing address to claim your prize.

—

And I’m off!

See ya later!

Do me a favor and bookmark this recipe immediately? It’s one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever eaten at home and you need to try it. For real.

What I liked best about this recipe was the flavor. Holy amazing. It was garlicky, tangy (from the lemon and ginger) and slightly sweet (from the coconut oil). The ingredients in this dish combined together so well and reminded me of something I’d order from my favorite Thai restaurant. This recipe is a keeper!

Taste of the Nation Boston

Local friends: Save the date! Taste of the Nation is coming to Boston again this year on April 19th at the Hynes Convention Center.

Taste of the Nation raises the critical funds needed to support Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, which is dedicated to ending childhood hunger by making sure kids get the healthy food they need every day. One hundred percent of ticket sales goes to this cause.

Share Our Strength is promoting a bunch of ticket discounts through Twitter @ShareStrengthMA (#TONBoston) and Facebook. Additionally, their Valentine’s Day promotion goes from now until February 14th. Just enter promo code VDAY2012 for 20% off all tickets purchased. (FYI: Joanne Chang and Jody Adams are just two of the super awesome chefs that will be there!)

Question of the Day

What’s the BEST dinner you’ve ever cooked at home?

Also on my best dinners list are Coffee-Braised Brisket with Potatoes and Carrots and Roast Chicken with Roasted Onions, Peppers, and Tomatoes. Yum!

You guys know that I receive a ton of PR pitches on a daily basis, but did you know that Murphy gets them, too? About once a week, I receive an email pitch for a dog-related product. Most of them are for dog food and treats, so, of course, if Murphy had his way, he’d try them all!

Recently, Murphy received an email about Gnawin’ Forever, a “revolutionary chew toy for dogs that provides hours of long lasting chewing fun, but is also a delicious bacon flavored treat.” Long lasting chewing fun? A delicious bacon flavored treat? It sounded great to Murphy! A few days later, I received the Gnawin’ Forever chew toy and refills in the mail (from the company for free), so today was the day to see what the pug thought of it.

The Gnawin’ Forever toy is made of two parts: a reusable outside housing unit and the chew itself, which are sold in refill packs. The chew goes in the housing unit and can be replaced as needed.

Initial pug impressions:

Oooh, yea, that looks like a great dog toy.

It smells delicious, too. Is that bacon?

Gimme a little lick.

After Murphy closely examined the Gnawin’ Forever toy, I gave it to him to chew. He attempted to gnaw on it, but then just sat there and looked at it on the floor. I thought maybe he didn’t like it, but then it occured to me what was going on.

What’s up with this toy? My adorable squished pug face can’t get to that delicious bacon treat to chew it. Help!

Apparently, for a short-muzzled dog, the housing unit gets in the way of the chew toy, so I gave just the chew part to Murphy.

He was PSYCHED and happily ran around the house with it in his mouth.

When Murphy gets a treat that he really likes, he runs all over the house and whimpers with delight before finding a place to enjoy it.

Murphy loved the Gnawin’ Forever toy and chewed it for a solid 45 minutes straight before taking a break to drink some water. He’s a big fan of his new toy.

If you have a special dog friend in your life, CLICK OVER TO THIS POST and leave a comment for a chance to win a Gnawin’ Forever chew toy!

Lunch

Today’s lunch was a good one: Chopped Kale Salad with Chicken and Truffle Oil. Sounds fancy, right? It actually seemed like I was eating a salad from a nice restaurant.

In the mix: chopped kale, tomatoes, celery, green bell pepper, roasted broccoli, chunked chicken breast, truffle oil, truffle salt, and balsamic vinegar.

Lunch concluded with a container of Liberté Méditerranée Apple Crumble Yogurt.

Have you guys ever tried this stuff? Holy crap, it’s delicious. It has fruit on the bottom (apples, cinnamon, sugar, and raisins) to stir into the yogurt, so it tastes just like apple crisp mixed with creamy yogurt. Nutritionally, it doesn’t do too well (270 calories, 8g saturated fat, and 23g of sugar), but as a dessert, it’s a pretty good option. I will definitely buy this yogurt again.

Snack

I haven’t eaten my afternoon snack yet, but on the agenda are some Cocoa Roast Almonds (< — wicked good!) and a banana, which I’ll probably eat with some peanut butter.

Speaking of bananas, here’s a fun fact from my new desk calendar that my friends at Dole sent me:

Banana Diet

Made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight? In the Japanese Banana Diet, you eat two bananas for breakfast followed by a sensible lunch and dinner. Bananas contain resistant starch, a fiber whose digestive by-products block conversion of some carbohydrates into fuel, forcing your body to rely on fat stores instead.

P.S. I’m hosting a giveaway on Trading Up Downtown for an at-home workout that seems a lot like CrossFit!

Hi, my name is Laura Pappas, and I am a health coach and blog over at Against the Grain sharing my thoughts on fitness and living a Paleo lifestyle. I recently started following Tina’s blog at the recommendation of my friend. When I started reading about Tina and her recent foray into Crossfit, I realized how much we had in common and I wanted to share my story with her (and you guys, her readers as well).

Here’s my background: I am a runner (5K – 13.1 miles) and a triathlete. In the summer of 2008, I added Crossfit to my training regime. At that point in my life, I didn’t think I could become more fit, and felt great with my health and fitness. I was happy with my weight, ate reasonably, and worked out a ton but loved it! I was following a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet where I ate toast with peanut butter for breakfast, a salad with a large whole grain roll or a sandwich/wrap for lunch, and lots of pasta, rice, potatoes along with my fish or chicken and veggies for dinner. I definitely had a sweet tooth as well, frequently indulging in treats like frozen yogurt, reduced-fat versions of cookies, brownies, banana bread…you get the picture.

Before:

Crossfit introduced me to a whole new way of working out, and also encouraged me to take a look at my diet. I started to understand that what I ate really impacted how I performed, both at Crossfit and in my running and triathlons, so I started to experiment with a No Sugar Challenge sponsored through my gym Crossfit King of Prussia. I noticed some changes in my body composition. I had always struggled to really look toned – even after I started doing Crossfit and lifting more weights, I still didn’t have the muscle definition (“arms like Kate” from LOST) that I wanted!

When I started tinkering with my food, I found I was finally seeing the results I wanted AND was getting faster and stronger. In 2009, I changed my diet to a Paleo diet, one that focuses on whole foods: meats, seafood, eggs, lots of veggies, some fruit, nuts, seeds and no added sugar. I found that I felt better, could train harder and recover faster, have much more energy, and stopped getting sick (pretty much all the time). I also saw a big change in my body composition. I finally was able to see the changes in my body that I had been working so hard to get – my arms look toned, my legs slimmed down, you can see my ab muscles, and I dropped 2 pants sizes.

After:

Now that I’ve changed to a Paleo lifestyle, I realize that this is the optimal way of eating for me. In addition to feeling the best I every have, it’s enabled me to do things that I wouldn’t have tried before – like training for and completing, not 1, but 2 Half Ironman 70.3 distance triathlons in 2011. In 2010, I was fortunate enough to be a part of my Crossfit Gym’s affiliate team, which qualified and completed in the Crossfit Games in July 2010.

If you’re stuck or willing to try something to make you feel your best, I encourage you to give Paleo a shot. I’m glad I did, it changed my life for the better! Check out my programs to see how you can get started!

Good morning!

Let’s get right to it because I want to hear your responses to the Question of the Day!

Snack

After CrossFit last night, I snacked on a bunch of Pretzel Crisps + hummus while dinner cooked. I’m not sure how many crisps I ate, but enough to finish off the hummus!

Dinner

On the menu for dinner: roasted broccoli.

And Soy-Glazed Cod, which is the best fish recipe ever. It’s super simple to prepare and it takes no time at all to cook.

After dinner, I enjoyed a few pieces of dark chocolate. I love this stuff. And I (usually)only need a little bit to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Breakfast

This morning, I woke up thinking about Teddie Peanut Butter. We haven’t had it in our house for a couple of weeks now, so I finally made a special trip to Stop & Shop yesterday to buy a jar. We typically do our grocery shopping at Whole Foods, but I refuse to buy Teddie there because it costs like $6 a jar and everywhere else it’s $3-4.

Anyway, Teddie is just so perfect in oatmeal, so I made myself some Super Creamy Oatmeal and added two huge scoops to it. So delicious!!

Feel Great Weight

When I decided to lose weight, I worked full-time in an office where I sat at a desk for 40 hours each week. I also worked part-time at a healthclub and took night classes to complete my Master’s degree. Monday through Thursday, I’d leave my house at 5:00 AM and not return until after 10:00 PM. Obviously, my schedule was a challenge, but I knew if I started to make excuses, I’d never lose the weight, so I toughened up and created a fail-proof plan that helped me drop more than 20 pounds. See the slideshow of what helped me, and how it can work for you too.

Question of the Day

How do you stick to your healthy habits with a busy schedule?

P.S. Interesting article: Coffee Vs. Tea: Which is Better for You?

Hi, guys! How’s your Tuesday afternoon going? Mine is going especially well because I just discovered a Target less than five miles from my house. Oooh, yes. I am psyched! I plan to spend a lot of time and money there.

Workout

After breakfast, I headed to the gym for a quick run. On days that I plan to go to CrossFit in the evening, I try to stick with shorter runs, so I still have some energy later in the day for my PM workout.

According to my half marathon training plan, 6 X 400m was on the agenda, which, on the treadmill with my speeds and intervals, worked out to be exactly a 3.1 miles (5K). How cool! So, here’s a 5K treadmill challenge for you! (If the speeds are too fast for you, just subtract 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 from each of the intervals.)

I planned to run six intervals at 8.5, but by the fourth interval, I still had some energy to burn, so I picked up the pace to 8.7 and 9.0 on the last two intervals. It felt good to finish strong, especially on such a short workout. This run was over before I knew it! (It took me about 28 minutes to finish the entire workout.)

Speaking of treadmill workouts, I added a new Treadmill Workouts category as well as a Treadmill Workouts widget to the right side of CNC, so you can find them more easily and discover new ones. 

Lunch

After the gym, I headed home for lunch. On the menu: an omelet with diced ham, tomatoes, kale, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

I thought a protein-packed omelet with ham and fibrous veggies would satisfy me, but about an hour later, I wanted something else to eat, so I sliced up a banana and added a scoop of Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter to it.

Snack

Just now, a couple of hours later, I broke into a KIND bar as an afternoon snack. I wasn’t super hungry, but I figured I’d want a little something in my stomach for CrossFit tonight.

CNC FAQs

If you didn’t notice, I posted a ton of Frequently Asked Questions and my responses yesterday. I hadn’t updated my FAQ page since 2009, so it definitely needed it! I also split up the questions into different categories for better organization:

• Blogging Questions
• Fitness Questions
• Food Questions
• Miscellaneous Questions
• Murphy Questions
• Tina Questions

I love hearing from you guys, so if you ever have a question for me, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or email me with it directly.

I’m off to walk the pug and then to CrossFit! We’re doing the Nasty Girls tonight. Sounds dirty, doesn’t it?