l-i-v-i-n-g.

i stole your post title, susan. well, i added the g.

wow. what a weekend! this has probably been one of the best weekends of 2010!  i say one of because i am afraid that the weekend i got engaged in jamaica is going to be a hard one to beat ;)

i guess there is no way around it, so i better tell you now. this post is going to be ridiculously long. grab a snack and a libation and let’s get started.

saturday. (aka the most active day of my life).

the morning of the 5k!  i woke up bright and early at 5:30 to get ready to head over to the bestie’s so we could get to the starting line on time.

i fueled myself with NO coffee (can you believe it? i didn’t have time) and a simple, quick breakfast:

plain chobani, a small banana & 1 cup kashi golean cereal.

i inhaled this in probably four minutes flat. it was delicious! it definitely would have been better with a little peanut butter mixed in, but i have recently read a lot of things about eating fat before a workout.

one such thing was something i saw in april’s issue of oxygen magazine where dr. susan kleiner (owner of high performance nutrition and author of power eating) said that you should actually avoid eating fats-even healthy fats-before a workout because fats are digested and absorbed very slowly compared to carbs and proteins, so your pre- and post-workout choices should be higher in carbs and protein but low in fat.

moving on!

we got to the gateway, which is an outdoor mall where the race began. it was bustling with lots of people, both racers and spectators.

we did some stretching and tried to wake up.  both kristen and i decided we are NOT morning runners.  she usually works out around 10 or 11 in the morning and i work out after work.. so a race at 7:30 is pretty dang early for the both of us!

here we were pre-race, ready or not!

there ended up being 1836  participants in the 5k, so we were waaaaay far back in the starting lineup!  it took four minutes and 32 seconds after the gun before we even started!

can you spot us?

the run was fun. i was really worried because i have not run outside since last summer, and even then i usually stick to the treadmills. i know, how boring am i? i usually do 20 minute cardio intervals so that is just easier on the treadmill. but after yesterday, i am pondering running outside more often.

my only beef with the race is that the course was very narrow in several spots and there were SO many people, we spent a lot of time bobbing and weaving through people and i think we definitely would have been quicker if there was not so much navigating required!  on a particular part of the course, where we ran through twice (because we turned around and came back the way we came), it was more narrow than a one lane road.. and that had to accommodate both the runners going out and the ones coming back in. kinda ridiculous! come on, salt lake city. get with it.

here are a few photos of us as we came up on the finish line. action shots!

kristen:

me:

this photo below cracks me up because it looks like i am floating in the air!

i finished with a new personal best 5k time, so i was pretty stoked about that.

after the race, sweaty but smiling :)

my HRM stats said total time: 26:43, ave HR: 166, max HR: 184, calories burned: 236

wow.. my average HR was a lot higher than when i run on the treadmill. i need to get my butt in gear when it comes to workouts. i liked to see that average HR so high.

at the finish line they had the typical post-race fare: bananas, bread, cookies, creamies (these are chocolate popsicles), chocolate milk.. etc.  okay, i am going to say something here that might offend people but whatever.  i see this all the time.  people who were grabbing every single item offered and shoving it into their mouths, some people even eating a couple/few of every item.

people. you just ran a 5k. 3.1 miles. you did NOT just run a long enough distance to constitute inhaling 1000+ calories immediately after the race. ALSO, while i am on the topic.. running a 5k does not mean you need to do some “carb loading” the night before and eat 300 grams of carbohydrates.  i know it takes some energy to run a 5k.. but really?

there, i said it.

we did get a few of the free goodies.  i got a roll and a cookie that were supplied by paradise bakery~ but i only ate the cookie :D not because i was hungry (i actually was still full from my breakfast!) but because i LOVE paradise bakery’s cookies!

isn’t kristen’s food setting on her new camera amazing??! soo jealous!

you may be wondering how i did on the race. or.. maybe you aren’t. you bet i am going to tell you either way.  here are the official stats:

• official time: 26:44 minutes
• average pace: 8:36 min/mile
• 209th out of 1836 total runners
• 58th out of 1239 female runners
• 11th out of 232 in my age bracket (ages 25-29)

pretty sweet! special thanks to kristen for asking me to join in on the race. after my 10k last summer i vowed to never race again, but i have definitely been re-inspired to run outside and hopefully do another race this summer.

after the race, kristen and i headed up to one of my favorite breakfast places in all of utah: ruth’s diner.

the BEST part about ruth’s is the buttermilk biscuits.. i could seriously eat ten of these and be a happy camper.

i ended up ordering the quiche of the day which was made with tomatoes, mushrooms & artichoke hearts, yum!

it came with fresh fruit on the side.

all together:

it always puzzles me when restaurants put the side of fruit over a leaf of lettuce. i just don’t get it.

i was still pretty full from breakfast and my cookie, so i could only conquer half of the quiche. plus i am never super hungry after i do cardio, for some reason. but i did drink copious amounts of coffee!

i spy kristen’s face in my java!

saturday afternoon i was just FULL of energy for some reason, despite my 5:30 AM wakeup call. i decided to head to the gym for my lower body workout that i was originally saving for sunday.

here is what i did:

• warmup 0.5 miles on treadmill @ 7.5 MPH

in between the first four of each the quads, hamstrings and calves sets, i did 30 seconds of heart rate-pumping exercises. i did:

• butt kicks between set 1 & 2
• high knees between set 2 & 3
• heisman between set 3 & 4
• mummy kicks between set 4 & 5

QUADS:

move	reps	weight
barbell squat	12 @ 10 @ 8 @ 6 @ 12 @	25# 30# 40# 50# 30#
bulgarian split squats	12 (each leg) @	15# dumbbell (each hand)

HAMSTRINGS:

move	reps	weight
barbell squat	12 @ 10 @ 8 @ 6 @ 12 @	25# 30# 40# 50# 30#
bulgarian split squats	12 (each leg) @	15# dumbbell (each hand)

CALVES:

move	reps	weight
barbell squat	12 @ 10 @ 8 @ 6 @ 12 @	25# 30# 40# 50# 30#
bulgarian split squats	12 (each leg) @	15# dumbbell (each hand)

INNER/OUTER THIGHS:

i superset the following exercise:

move	reps	weight	# of sets
hip abbductor machine	12 @	70#	3
hip adductor machine	12 @	70#	3

GLUTES:

move	reps	weight	# of sets
kickback machine left leg	12	20#	3
kickback machine right leg	12	20#	3

i finished off the workout with some much needed stretching.

total time: 1 hour, max HR: 165, ave HR: 134, total calories burned: 404

i ran LOTS of errands saturday afternoon and i got to work in the kitchen, fixing a bunch of good things for a BBQ we were heading to saturday night.

when marshall got to my house, i took a time out from the kitchen shenanigans to take the dogs on a walk/run.  we ended up walking/running for two miles.. poor randy dog was SPENT by the time we got home!!

hahaha.. haha.

so.. saturday included a 5k, an hour long lower body workout and a 2 mile walk/run. umm.. who was i yesterday?! that is so not normal! maybe i should start my mornings with an outdoor run more often. i was just FULL of energy!

for the BBQ i made:

• susan’s sunflower seed hummus (served with pita chips)

• greek yogurt ranch dip (served with carrots & cucumbers)

• jill’s black bean and corn quinoa salad (to which i added LOTS of avocado)

• baked russet & sweet potato fries

• milk chocolate chip cookies

we snacked on the chips and dips while waiting for everyone to arrive.

and i baked the fries:

we had burgers on the menu for grilling.  i purchased some premade patties from the store~ marshall’s was bacon and cheddar infused and mine was bleu cheese infused. i purchased heirloom tomatoes to top them with and fresh baked buns (whole wheat for me, onion for marshall) to put them between.

my plate:

burger, fries and a couple different salads thanks to kristen. everything was so, SO good.

chomp.

how about a plethora of photos?!

except.. the jazz lost their first game of the playoffs :( sad utah fans.

WHEW.  it was a GREAT night. the BBQ was tons of fun and i ate lots of good food. i ended up so full.

i was going to blog last night but there were some internet/photo malfunctions~ plus i was BEAT.

sunday.

i started my sunday like any normal person.. with pancakes!

allie’s low carb pancakes, to be exact.  topped with chemicals in the form of sugar free syrup and ICBINB spray.  i also had the other half of my leftover quiche.

around 11 AM we headed up the canyon for the last day at brighton (which i talked about in my flashback post, in case you missed it)..

prepare to be bombarded with a slew of photos  from this afternoon. it was 70 degrees and sunny. and it was the best.

i spy KOMBUCHA!

JAZZ FANS

friends :)

on the mountain.. snowboarding.. and stuff.

after a few runs we called it quits and had a BBQ in the parking lot.

well, i had a little something different on the menu…

i came prepared! chobani, justin’s peanut butter, a banana & kashi golean.

delicious.

and how could i resist some hummus + pita chips with this blonde bombshell modeling the snacks?!

parking lot shenanigans. ready, go!

see ya later, snowboarding season. (for the record.. that was only like 1/17th of the photos i took…)

after snowboarding i had dinner at my parents..

baked chicken and organic brown rice, broccoli and salad. i also ate my weight in fresh fruit.

so did my mom. she took the whole bowl in the car with her when we went down to my new house.

this weekend was nothing short of amazing.

i love living.

see ya tomorrow! gotta go to bed! FYI: HUGE things in store for the blog this week ;)

Qs~

1. are you a morning, afternoon or night workout person? i am a night (as in 5 or 6 PM) workout person. but i REALLY want to change my ways and be a morning runner! i had tons of energy from the run on saturday!

2. what was awesome about your weekend?

xo.  janetha b.