Changing Things Up

This week I've changed things up a bit. Instead of oatmeal for breakfast every day and salad for lunch or dinner, I decided that a switch was in order. So every day this week I've had salad for breakfast! I know it sounds strange, but I've done this before, and it is really a great start to the day. I was originally inspired to do this when listening to the audio book of Born to Run on my way to Charlottesville. One of the chapters talked a lot about nutrition, and the author was advised to eat a large salad for breakfast. He wrote, "because a monster salad is loaded with nutrient-rich carbs and low in fat, I could stuff myself and not feel hungry-or queasy- when it came time to work out. Plus, greens are packed with water, so they're great for rehydrating after a night's sleep."

This morning's salad was made with organic baby spinach, 1/2 red bell pepper, organic broccoli slaw,  organic baby carrots, 1/3 baked sweet potato, several strawberries, and some hard boiled egg whites.

After eating it I felt so much more awake and full of energy. They say that you're supposed to "eat the rainbow" so this was certainly a good way to start off my day! I've been doing the breakfast salads for three days so far and they are surprisingly more satisfying that a big bowl of oatmeal. I've just had one embarrassing encounter since I started - yesterday morning I had my half-eaten salad on my desk when someone from another department in the hospital came to my office for a meeting  (at 9am). He looked over and said "are you eating a salad?!" so I explained that I'm changing it up a bit. Then my office mate poked her head over the file cabinet and said "I thought I saw you eating salad yesterday morning!" Both of them were not convinced when I explained how good it was, but the man I was meeting with did say that he might "change it up" and have steak and potatoes for breakfast the next day. Not exactly my point, but that's okay.

I was really bad on Sunday and didn't foam roll or ice bath after the half marathon. In fact, I barely stretched. Sometimes I just get caught up in the excitement after a race and forgot! I was a little sore on Monday, but not too bad. I wanted to go to Bikram, but then looked at my bank account and realized that my rent for May had just come out and I have 3 bridal showers in the next 2 weeks, and Mother's Day coming up this weekend. So I think I'll need to wait until next week to cough up the money for Bikram. I also might have blacked out for a few minutes on my way home from work on Monday and when I came to there was a lovely shopping bag with two new pairs of shoes in it sitting beside me. Whoops. So yeah, no Bikram for me this week! Do you like my new shoes? I got some closed toe flats for work (we can only wear closed toe shoes which I think is so sad) and some new strappy wedges:

p.s. Pat doesn't know about these new shoes. We'll just keep it our little secret! I don't know how bad he'll feel for me when I say that my bank account is near empty if I've just gone shoe shopping. But trust me - one pair was on sale and I had a coupon so I got an amazing deal!

So without Bikram, Monday became a rest day for me.

On Tuesday I went to the gym and biked for a quick 35 minutes. My right knee was bothering me so I iced it a few times throughout the day.

On Wednesday I made a little more of an effort. Still no running (I like to stay away from running for at least a few days after a long race) but I did get in some more cardio and finally got back to some weights:

• 22 minutes of hills on stationary bike

• back and biceps weight training (I started with 2 sets of 15 reps of everything since its been a few weeks)

• 22 minutes on elliptical

• went through my abs circuit twice (6 different exercises in the circuit)

• 22 minutes of hill walking on treadmill

*20 minutes + 2 minutes cool down of each = 22 minutes (and my favorite number)

I have some exciting news! Well exciting for me, and I guess anyone who lives near a Great Harvest Bread Company (because maybe this will inspire you to purchase some of your own). A Great Harvest was just opened in Nashua, which I was very excited about. I'd sampled the Cinnamon Chip bread after the Charlottesville Half Marathon and have been thinking about it ever since. Today I finally got into the Nashua branch to buy myself a loaf of Cinnamon Chip bread... and they were out! Except for the three loaves I spotted on their bread shelves, but those were reserved. "Really? Are you sure?" I pleaded. The owner, Jeremy, said that two of the loaves were being picked up tonight, but the third was being picked up tomorrow morning. He said that he wasn't planning on making a batch of Cinnamon Chip bread tomorrow, but that he would so that I could have this last loaf of bread. I couldn't believe my luck!

When I got home I saw this on Facebook. I love these guys already!

I've been telling Pat about this bread, so I know he'll be excited to finally try it (and to shut me up) and Kathryn is flying up tomorrow so I can share some with her!

I did make the mistake of having a slice...and then another...

This bread is moist, chewy, light, perfectly cinnamony (yes that is a word) - its bread that requires no butter because it just perfect on its own. I may even go so far as to say that its the most dangerous bread I've ever had. Saving some for Pat and Kathryn is going to require amazing amounts of willpower. I hope I can do it.

What's your favorite breakfast food?

What takes priority when you're low on cash? New shoes or some other treat?
*Mom before you get mad - I've already paid all of my student loans and credit card bills this month and I promise that I got really good deals on both pairs of shoes! :)