I was not expecting a snow day today! Unfortunately, the call woke me up at 5:45 and I was up for good. I played Scramble with Friends (my new addiction–way better than Words With Friends!), before I rolled downstairs for a cup of Starbucks Blonde Roast. Thursdays are normally a pretty hectic day for me–work from 6:45-2, after school help from 2-3, then class from 4-9. Not having anything to do today was a welcome break!!

This is the first snow day of the school year so I thought Id recommit to last years snow day tradition—crock pot meals! PDubs shoveled us out and we headed to the gym about noon. I ran/wogged for 35 minutes. Man was it slow! Then we hit the grocery store and I came home and made the best beef stew Ive ever had (notice a pattern here?). I followed the same recipe as usual (2 cans beef broth, 2 cans water, potatoes, carrots, stew meat, peas, onion, seasonings)…the only difference is that I deglazed the pan after browning the meat with red wine and beef broth. Made all the difference!

One more run this week (easy! 30 minutes!), then next week back at it again. I am thinking about doing the Boston 13.1 in September. When I crossed the finish line at Hyannis I never wanted to run 13.1 miles again. Now…I want to. And do it lighter, with more miles, faster!!! Still rolling a few races around though (BayState too!).

I love Chipotle. Like, I really love Chipotle. I could eat there every day and be happy. My wallet would not, however. I have been on a mission to recreate their burrito bowl at home. Ive tried it quite a few times but think I finally got it with the most recent try.
This is what I ALWAYS order:
Chicken
Brown Cilantro-Lime Rice
Black Beans
Mild AND medium salsa
Sour Cream

I am going to break down each piece here!

Chicken

The marinade is comprised of the following:

1 Chipotle Chile (from a can–super hot), chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 onion chopped
1 teaspon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder

I put it all in the food processor and then spread it over the chicken. Left to marinate in the fridge for 1-24 hours. If less than 4 hours I suggest poking your chicken with a fork first to get maximum flavor!

I then threw it on the George Foreman grill and chopped:

Salsa

While the chicken was “happening”, I made another batch of my Sister In Laws Salsa…the only edit is that I added a Chipotle Chili Pepper to enhance the spiciness!

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 lime
teaspoon clantro, chopped (to taste)
1 cup brown rice
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt butter in saucepan. Once melted, add dry rice and the juice of 1/2 lime. Mix, then add water and salt. Bring to boil then turn down heat and cover. Let cook for about 25 minutes (or 10 if you used quick rice like me ) and turn off heat. Let sit to “steam” for 30 minutes. Then, fluff with fork and add cilantro.

Black Beans

I was pretty nervous about the black beans. The only time I cook beans is when I dump the drained can into chili!!!! This was painless though.

-1 can black beans
-1 clove garlic
-1/4 onion chopped
-salt

Saute onion and garlic (minced) for a few minute in a teaspoon or so of olive oil til transluscent. Add contents of can of beans–DONT DRAIN!! Let come to a boil on the stove and add salt to taste. THATS IT!

Pico De Gallo

I whipped a quick Pico too–just a mix of diced onion, tomato, jalapeno, and a splash of salt and some cilantro!

For PW…I also sauteed some fajita vegetables (thats his Chipotle thing)

Put it all together with a dollop of sour cream!

This was the PERFECT dinner! It was enough for about 3 bowls…if you want more leftovers, more than 1 cup of rice and 1 can of beans is necessary. If you try this–let me know!!

First—considering Ive been MIA for a full MONTH, I sincerely appreciate if youre still reading this ol’ blog!!!! I have missed blogging but was overwhelmed with lifestuff, and unfortunately ThatRunnerChick was what had to give. However!!! The race I was training for–the Hyannis Half Marathon–has come and gone as of yesterday, so my running schedule isnt as pressing! Expect more regular updates from my corner of MA.

Now on to the good stuff!

So, the race I have been training for, for months. I had never raced a half-marathon, but figured it was a more manageable time commitment than a full. Plus–all my friends were doing it! (Seriously–over 20 QT2Systems people, plus at least 50 other people I know!). I trained hard, tapered harder, and came into race weekend ready to hurry up and get it over with.

Did a typical day before race fueling of pancake breakfast and carbo load. Race morning was the SureFire QT2 breakfast which has yet to let me down (I have no expectations it will EVER do so–its all part of the science!), and a quick drive to the Sheraton in Hyannis, MA.

Got there and immediately got in the bathroom line. The amount of people racing was DOUBLED this year (over 4200 participants), and since the bathroom situation was harsh last year I knew it would leave much to be desired this year. Got my race packet and proceeded to greet a bunch of friends (the best part of racing) and sit on the floor for 1.5 hours. Only getting up every 30 minutes to systematically stand in the 15 minute long bathroom line.

I wasnt NERVOUS for the race, more like anxious–I wanted to hurry up and get it over with already! I took my pre-race gel and then went outside with PW for a quick warm up jaunt. Props to Jim and Tapply for joining our parade! Back to the start line and right up front. Last year for the 10k I lined up in the right corral pace-wise, only to be trapped by people walking the half. Learned my lesson and stood my ground 3 rows back this year! I had a pace to go out at–7:20, and that was the plan come hell or high water (both apparently happened!).

Began the race and the usual 400 meter dash occurred. I hung back and kept to my pace. The first 4 miles went by pretty uneventful–hit between 7:18 and 7:21 for all of them. A minor hill came next, but wasnt a big deal. What WAS a big deal was the wind. PW said it is the worst wind he has ever seen at this race–and hes done it the last 9 years!! When we ran along the beach at mile 8 it felt like I was standing still! I started to slow down and lost my focus. This was my slowest mile at 7:50. It is also such a downer to be at mile 8 and know you still have over 5 miles left! I trucked along in the 7:30 range until about mile 10. I got a second wind and started to pick up the pace–having only a 5k left will do that to you! By mile 11.5 I was running right around 7:20-7:25′s. I was also singing “Stronger” by Kanye, but thats a race report for a different day! I hit mile 13 and started picking it up to 6:45′s…only to be let down when I hit 13.1 miles and the finish was not in sight. I held on, somewhere in between passing out and throwing up (I had serious issues at this point!), seeing Cait and PW cooling down. I ended up finishing the 13.26 miles (that extra .15 miles felt like 15 miles) in 1:39, with a 7:30 pace.

I was shooting for a 7:20 pace, but am pretty darn happy with 7:30′s. The course was long AND it was windy–no need to get stuck on the time! Effort is all that matters.

Everyone else did awesome too! QT2 took the top 2 womens spots (Cait and Amanda), PW rocked it at the end of a 31 hour training week (hes a masochist), my SIL Dawn had a 12 minute PR (rockstar I know), as did Meg. And PW’s BFF/coachee (and my fave twitter friend) Chuckwagon PRed by 10 minutes. All around great day!

I am now limping around and basking in my free time with cooking!

The best part??? I ran the half-marathon yesterday at the EXACT SAME PACE I ran the 10k last year there. And I felt way worse during the 10k. PW is the best coach around! Something to be said for QT2
Systems and consistency!

Here are PW, Rick, and I post-race:

Looking for more Hyannis race reports?

PW’s, husband and coach extraordinaire, can be found here
Meg’s (should be up soon!) can be found here
Cait’s (should also be up soon) can be found here

Be back tomorrow with a a knock-off Chipotle meal. Down to the chicken marinade and the cilantro-lime rice!!! Not one to miss, I promise!

Another week is over. Its also the conclusion of a month (well…one more day). So, before I give you the low down on my Weeks Worth of Workouts, I would like to show you something ridiculous. That being search terms used to find my blog over the last 30 days. Some of them are outrageous(ly funny). The term is in bold and my response to them follows!!

chub rub – hope i helped you in some way with this, because boy is it troublesome!
singlelady – i am not one
pw’s chex mix – it was MY chex mix party. also, no one else is pw but my husband!
you potato bro – yes. how else would you start a comment that ends with ‘bro’?
trx hurts – no joke, doesnt get any better!
huge dogs – the opposite of ours, so no advice there
fried skittles – sounds like a DREAM. i hope they are sour!!
k & n oil woburn - again, no idea.
cold shoulder cat – dont all cats give the cold shoulder? not a cat fan!!!
yellow worst candy – you tell it, sister!
“couple of girls” – quite a few on my blog!
pizza with holes in bottom boston – this sounds like a tragedy.
how to be an ironman wife – i am a pro at this and hope i gave you some tips on the lifestyle!
انار میوه عشق – translation please.
dude in green speedo - this is one of the 4 speedo searches on my blog this month. Thanks paul!
your sneakers or your life - GAH. sounds like a nightmare.
im good at running, cooking. how do i make a living at these - got me, and no info on that here, thats for sure!
what to eat when your on tina - carrots’n'cake reference? napoleon dynamite??

I don’t know either people. But for all of them that searched these things, hope they stuck around awhile!

Okay, now onto last weeks workouts!!

Monday- OFF
Tuesday- 80 minutes outside, 2×20 in the middle
Wednesday- 35 minute recovery run
Thursday- OFF
Friday- 60 minutes with 4×1 mile at 7:00 min/mi pace in the middle (tough on a Friday!!!)
Saturday- 35 minutes in Zone 1
Sunday- 130 minute split run. 90 min am, 40 min pm!

One more big week (this week), then taper time!!!

I am so sad that my blog has been going by the wayside! Unfortunately, between working 6 days a week, grad school, and trying to get in my 40+ run miles a week, I don’t have a lot of time leftover!

I HAVE been getting in all my run miles though. Last week concluded with 1 hour and 52 minutes on the treadmill! That run is dedicated to the snowstorm we got on Saturday. And the Bruins. Because I watched a re-air of their Saturday game while at the gym and it kept me thoroughly entertained!

So to the numbers:
Monday: 70 minutes, 2×20 zone 2 in the middle
Tuesday: 1 hour zone 1 interval ride on trainer, 35 min recovery run
Wednesday: 75 minute 2×20 zone 2
Saturday: 60 minute run
Sunday: 112 minute run

Total run miles: 40

My two overload weeks begin today! This week involves a couple of serious workouts looking forward to doing mile repeats OUTSIDE tomorrow!

Is it too late for a 2011 run recap? I have been out of the loop for weeks now. Grad school restarted, I had a pesky (read: debilitating) cold, and well…Ive actually been running! Excuses aside, heres the lowdown:

January: 135.33
February: 116.83
March: 102.32
April: 138.88
May: 80.41
June: 29.25
July: 91.85
August: 138.25
September: 34.91
October: 16.85
November: 47.55
December: 93.33

Total: 1025.76

What was it supposed to be? Probably about 200 higher. If you reflect on Sept/October totals, you can actually see me falling off the wagon. I took a little “timeout” those two months, and tried to come back before the end of the year. It is what it is though, and I will take a total of over a thousand any day!

Now, its a new year with new goals. Hyannis is coming quick (5 weeks, I believe), and I have just started to get my stuff together. I am going full force though, and have been running on the treadmill a lot. It sounds painful but its actually a blessing–running at the gym motivates me because its not cold (Im a wimp). It also motivates me to run hard! Ive had no issues getting in hard workouts and my pace is improving as prescribed.

Whats not improving? Body composition. Sigh. Salads and burritos galore. Yogurt everyday. It will happen, and I know patience is a virtue, but man…someone get me a loaf of bread!

So…what are my running goals for 2012? Hit 1500 miles for the year. PR in the half (okay, thats a given–Hyannis will be my first half!). NOT take an inordinate amount of time off after any race (no more than a week…unless I do a marathon). And most importantly: NOT GET BURNED OUT. That is the most important goal!!

I have been updating DailyMile pretty regularly. I will be doing weekly recaps on here again too. And just UPDATING!

for Mexican food!!!

I have brought forth my sister-in-laws salsa recipe. It is so easy (and so delicious) that I know for a fact I will never buy jarred salsa again. It just tastes SO much better!

But before that I need to show you my dinner from the other night. We went to a local, authentic, Mexican restaurant Acapaulco’s. I usually play it pretty safe, ordering a taco or quesadillas. This night though, I ordered my first Chimichanga! It was everything I dreamed of–fried to perfection. And of course I got a taco to go with it. And yes, I ate this entire plate (if you thought otherwise, you don’t know me that well!!!):

Im pretty sure Mexican food might be my favorite all-time food (even more than Italian!).

To continue with that theme, here is her salsa recipe (you will be a hit at any party with this).

Ingredients:

-1 can Ro-Tel
-1 can tomatoes (either whole or diced!)
-half an onion, chopped
-1/2 to 1 jalapeno, chopped (depending on how spicy you want this!)
-1 clove garlic
-cilantro (again, depending on taste)
-salt
-the juice of half a lime

Thats it! Throw it all in the food processor or blender:

And then, if youre like me, eat half the batch while updating your blog:

One more day of vacation means only one more day of running long and immediately napping on the couch–I shall miss that for sure, but am still looking forward to getting back in to the swing of things and away from all of these holiday treats!

PS Happy New Year everyone!!!

I cannot BELIEVE the holidays are almost over! I had a pretty fantastic Christmas, cannot believe that winter break is almost over though. The Christmas tree and decorations have been put away, we are back to eating core friendly, and I am back to 10 hours of sleep a night.

We went to my grandmothers house for Christmas Eve dinner–and my family does not mess around. Ive mentioned before that my uncle is an award winning chef. Between him and my grandma we had a top notch meal! Prime Rib, twice baked potatoes, popovers, and veggies:

(I am literally drooling looking at that picture. Not the best idea reliving that after 75 minutes of hill bounding!)

Amongst the awesome things I got for Christmas (a wireless printer/scanner/fax–can you believe we didnt have a printer?, slippers-which I was in desperate need of, Home Depot gift cards, a math shirt, gift cards to the Boynton, Brew City, Chipotle, and a panini press!), my in-laws got me a Kitchen Aid Mixer. Totally surprised me with it. Check out this baby:

Because I am six years old, I felt the need to open and use it right away. So yesterday I made pizza dough, breadsticks, and my infamous nutrient loaded pizza sauce (that take a food processor though, not a mixer!!)

The recipe for the dough was simple–a typical recipe. 1 package yeast (I used rapid rise) mixed with 1 cup of warm water and a teaspoon of sugar. In the mixer went 2.5 cups of flour, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, a sprinkle of garlic powder, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Added the yeast and then turned the mixer on!! Let that spin (with the dough hook–important!) for 8-10 minutes, then let the dough sit for 20 minutes. There you have it!

I put the dough on some cornmeal before baking to give it a little extra crisp–it was amazing (insert amazeballs, the bomb dot com, the bees knees, other blog cliches here).

And I made a different–more veggies–version of my Nutrient Loaded Pizza Sauce. This sauce had:

-1 bunch kale
-1 head broccoli
-1 bag baby carrots
-1 green bell pepper
-1 onion
-1 can beets
-4 cloves garlic

It made enough for 10 pizzas! Frozen into individual pizza servings now.

I am trying to do a LOT of running this week–luckily I still have 3 days of vacay to squeeze in the miles!
Monday-60 minutes
Wednesday-105 minutes with 2×15 intervals
Friday-120 minutes–75 min with 5xhill bounds (with Meg!) in the am, 35 min recovery PM
Saturday-70 minutes
Sunday-93 minutes with 30 min interval at the end, 30 minute recovery

Hoping for at least 55 miles, and some bike rides squeezed in!!

I postponed all my holiday cooking until TODAY! I had to work up until today so I had to cram in a lot of cleaning/wrapping/baking over last night and today. I woke up early today and got right to work on the cookies. Regular sugar cookies are not my thing–I NEED frosting to enjoy them (besides, frosting is the best part of cookies/cake/life). I bake some regular ol’ drop cookies and then mixed up this frosting, which is also my go to cinnamon roll frosting:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons corn syrup
And sprinkles to top!!

The best part of this frosting is that it dries solid so you can stack cookies!

These were EXCEPTIONAL!

I was assigned an appetizer for PW’s side of the family’s christmas party. I decided to make something I never have before (always a good strategy, amirite?)–spinach artichoke dip.

The ingredients were pretty straightforward:

1 package frozen spinach, drained and thawed
1 jar (10 oz) artichoke hearts
1/2 cup mayo
2/3 cup sour cream
1 cup cream cheese
2 cloves garlic
2 cups parmesan cheese

Chop up the artichokes first

Mix artichoke hearts, thawed/drained chopped spinach, and parmesan cheese in a bowl:

Mix together wet ingrediants + garlic (chopped really fine):

Then mix them all together and put into a baking pan of some sort. The amount actually filled TWO of these pans!

20 minutes later at 375 and you have this pretty gourmet little snack!

I am off to my grandmothers and PW’s aunts with these treats now…hope you all have a wonderful 24th of December!

Before I go on and on about how awesome our annual HUGE party was, I need to give a shout out to Chobani. The other day at work, I was eating my staple breakfast of a Chobani at my desk. I got distracted (by a funny story–give me a break it was 6:45 am!) and dropped half the yogurt on my gray pants. I was distraught, and immediately tweeted about this emergency. It was messy, I would be hungry until lunch, AND that yogurt is expensive!!! (Dont worry, I cleaned my pants before hopping on twitter). Chobani tweeted me back sympathetically, and 2 days later I got this in the mail:

How awesome are they for replacing my yogurt (I was totally crying over spilled dairy product)? And the sweet note! Love that company.

Okay, now on to the party. Around 7pm we headed into the city for a Maggiano’s feast. I loooove this place–amazing, unending, family style food. We started off with a cocktail hour so everyone could catch up–its been months since I had seen some of these people! While mingling, we had stuffed mushrooms (which are so amazing, I can’t even describe), spinach artichoke dip, and calamari (not my style). I was trying to pace myself so Id be able to out eat my table at dinner but I didnt do so well.

We sat down to dinner, and at my table were Doug, Ethan, his girlfriend Jess, Charlie, his wife Jane, Brian, and some old school friends Dave, Kathy (both of whom did Ultraman in October–no joke!), and Jen.
Oh, and PW of course

First course–my favorite salad. Which I didnt get a picture of, but just know it had pancetta. Then the main courses. I tried it all but the tilapia was my favorite–thats why there isnt much left on my plate!

Oh, and there was dessert too. Poundcake AND tiramisu!

Dinner was delicious, but the best part of the night was the company–let me tell you, we are a FUN bunch! It was awesome too see how the company has grown. For example, here are the people that were at the first QT2 Holiday dinner ever, 5 years ago:

And here is a shot from the party this year (there were 85 people there!!!!!!):

Exponential, right?!

A post on running tomorrow, I promise. But now–off to dinner with Meg and Justin!!