Monthly Running Update

I wasn't able to get in a Weekly Running Update so I'll just wrap up the month.


For the month of February I was able to get in about 129.5 miles. In the month of January I got in a little over 130 miles and that brings my total for the year to about 260 miles. I haven't lost any weight this year which is my overall goal. I've actually gained about 3-4 pounds since the year started. Hopefully you've read the previous posts and have seen that I have started a dumbbell circuit 3-4 times a week. Overall I've noticed some good muscle growth and tone and I think the weight gain is due to that(at least that's what I'm hoping)


I'm going on my third year of a challenge that I set for myself. It started 2 years ago when I first started running. I told myself I was going to log at least 2 miles walk/jogged/run everyday with no exception. The days part of it is usually anywhere from 45 to 50 days. Sounds relatively easy, but you would be surprised with how many excuses you can come up with to tell yourself that you're busy. Last year I moved up to doing a 5K everyday which is 3.10 miles. This goal was a little ambitious because I don't think my fitness and my lifestyle was there to do it so I ended up walking a lot of the time, but I did complete it. This year I've moved up to doing 4 miles a day, as of today I've completed 8 days in a row and I feel really good. I've actually been averaging almost 6 miles per day so far. I was trying to recruit some of my friends to try it with me, but only one took the bait. This year for the challenge, I think that I am ready. I've changed the way I eat and the way that I fuel my body and that has helped. I also feel like the weights have helped strengthen my core which I can feel the difference on my speed training runs. Overall for the past 6 months I feel like I've lived the healthiest I think that I've ever been.

Submitted by Miles


If you have any questions please feel free to leave it in the comment section.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

What you will need:

I was challenged by a friend of mine who is vegetarian to come up with a soup, here it is......

Vegetable Oil

Package of frozen "Stir Fry" vegetable mix(I wanted to find something quick and easy first)

Minced Garlic

3 Tablespoons Cumin

28oz can of Crushed Tomatoes

4 small cans of Chopped Green Chiles

64oz of Vegetable Broth

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1 can of Corn

Tortilla Chips(optional)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese(optional)

Avocado(optional)

I like a lot of veggies so I added an extra package of the frozen vegetables and 4 cans total of corn

Make It:

In a large pot, stir in the frozen vegetables, cumin, and garlic into the hot oil until the vegetables are tender. Mix in the chopped chiles and tomatoes. Pour in broth, corn, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. 

Serve and Enjoy

My Vegetables

All items mixed in

Simmering

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup ready to be Enjoyed

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your ownSubmitted by Miles

Shrimp Pasta

What you will need:

**** I have to start this out by saying this isn't the healthiest thing I've ever made

*Linguine

Deveined peeled Shrimp

4oz Cream Cheese Spread(I used more and it came out way to creamy for my taste)

2 Chopped Tomatoes

Spinach

*I used wheat linguine(personal preference)

**I didn't put amounts on the other items because it's all up to you how much of any certain item you want to put. This dish is easy enough to play with different amounts of any ingredient you like more.

Make It:

Cook the Pasta

in a large skillet add the shrimp, tomatoes, and cream cheese. Cook and stir until the the cream cheese has melted and the shrimp are done.

Drain the pasta, place in a large bowl. Add the spinach and shrimp mixture, mix lightly

My Shrimp

My Chopped Tomatoes

Cooking the Pasta

Shrimp Pasta ready to be Enjoyed

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your ownSubmitted by Miles

Green Eggs and Ham

What you will need:

1 Tablespoon White Vinegar

*Eggs 

2 Tablespoons of prepared Pesto (I made my own)

2 Tablespoons Greek Yogurt

**Thin slices of Prosciutto 

*Whole Wheat English Muffins

Slices of jarred Roasted Red Peppers to taste

Cheese(optional)

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

*Depends on how many sandwiches you want to make

**You can use Ham or Cooked Canadian Bacon  

Make It:

Poach the eggs. In a small bowl, mix together the pesto and yogurt until smooth and combined. Toast the English muffins.

Assemble your sandwich. Put the prosciutto, red peppers, and eggs on the muffin halves. Add salt, pepper, and pesto mixture.

***I put my sandwiches in the oven for a little while to melt the cheese

My items for Homemade Pesto

Toasting Pine nuts

Poached Eggs with Roasted Peppers

Green Eggs and Ham ready to be Enjoyed

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your own

Submitted by Miles

Easy Lettuce Wraps

What you will need:

~These are going to be the easiest Lettuce Wraps you'll make

*Meatless Ground Crumbles

Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing to taste (I used the light version)

Minced Garlic

Shredded Cabbage (to make it even easier I got the pre shredded bag)

Sliced Green Onions

Lettuce Leaves (the bigger the better, I use Boston Lettuce)

*you can substitute ground beef for the meatless ground crumbles

Make It:

Cook the ground crumbles, dressing, and garlic for about 5 minutes, stir occasionally.

Add cabbage and onions and cook until cabbage has wilted

Spoon onto your lettuce leaves. YES it's that easy

Cooking ground crumbles

Chopped green onions (I like to use the entire thing)

Mixed in the cabbage and onions

Easy Lettuce Wraps ready to be Enjoyed

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your own

Submitted by Miles

Veggie Jambalaya

Nutrition: Veggie Jambalaya

Recipe 12oz pack of LightLife Smart Ground Veggie Crumbles 14oz pack of LightLife Smart Dogs Veggie Links *** NOT RECOMMENDED. I would double up on the Veggie Crumbles above. These dogs taste like sand. Going to find a better tasting veggie dog. 28oz can of diced tomatoes 32oz of Vegetable Broth 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup chopped bell peppers 1 cup diced white onion 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce 2 tbsp Tapatio (Hot Sauce) 2 tbsp Creole Seasoning (or to taste) 2 cups Cooked brown rice *** Instead of the Veggie crumbles & Links, you can use your ground meat & sausage of choice

Directions Cut up hot dog links into chunks, add to pot. Break up crumbles into small chunks, add to pot. Add the celery, bell peppers &onions to the pot. Add the vegetable broth & diced tomatoes (w/ tomato juice) to pot. Mix the pot contents & then add your Worcestershire, Hot Sauce & Creole seasoning. Stir & season to taste. (Be careful if using the vegetarian meat as they are generally already salty). Start crock pot & stir occasionally. Should cook in about 5-7hrs on low & 2-3hrs on high. In the meanwhile, cook the rice however you normally would & set aside. Once the crockpot is done, serve the mixture on a bed of rice. Enjoy.

Review Good substitute recipe for Fat Tuesday. Just add beads & a Zydeco band to complete. I used the Smart Dogs Veggie Links to try and replace the Andouille sausage but I am not a fan of that brand. If I had to make it again now, I would just double or triple the amount of Veggie Crumbles instead. I will update this blog post once I find a Veggie Sausage I like. Also the Veggie version doesnt need to cook as long the regular meat version. You can use ground beef/turkey/chicken or chicken chunks instead of the Veggie crumbles. Also replace the Veggie Links with regular hot links.

Submitted by Bars

Roasted Vegetables with Sausage

What you will need:

*With this recipe you can experiment with different vegetables that you may like, the same goes for the sausage. Also you can add more of any vegetables and as much sausage as you would like.

**The sausage that I was "Soyrizo", a friend of mine turned me on to it. 

2 Heads of Broccoli

1 Eggplant

1 Sweet Potato

1 Squash

1 Zucchini

1 Red Bell Pepper

Sausage (any kind)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Make It:

Wash and cut all the vegetables into bite size chunks. dump them in a large bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Place all the vegetables in a roasting pan and bake them at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. Stir them occasionally 

Cut the sausage in slices and add them to the pan during the last 15 minutes. **I personally like to cook my sausage first**

***You can use the mixture as the topping of your choice, I usually eat as is, but for this I used a little pasta.

Chopped vegetables

Chopped broccoli

All the vegetables in a roasting pan and ready to go into the oven

Roasted Vegetables with Sausage ready to be Enjoyed

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your ownSubmitted by Miles

Weekly Running Update

This past week of 2/13 – 19/2012 I logged 32.50 miles. I finally put in my longest run that I’ve ever done which was 14.5 miles. I’m not going to say that I ran the whole way, I can say that I walked no more than 2.5 miles. The run started off pretty good, the weather was a little cold and drizzling a little. The rain picked up really hard around mile 13 and that’s what really forced me to call it a day.

I went to the same park that I started running 2 years ago, it had been around 8 months since I've been back. I felt pretty good, I wished that I was a little more hydrated and had a snack, I wasn’t really planning on going that long. I guess that’s when your able to put in your best workouts when your not expecting it.

The route that I ran was in a loop, I got a good 8 or 9 miles at a decent pace until I decided to stop and get some water and some oranges that I had. My concentration was thrown off after that stop, I just felt that I needed to get a little something in my system to keep me going . Hopefully next time I can be better prepared with some type of running gels or something.

The next day I felt surprisingly well and I did get in a dumbbell workout and went out for a 5 mile recovery walk/jog.


If you have any questions please feel free to leave it in the comment section.


Submitted by Miles

Chicken Noodle Soup

What you will need:

*I like a ton of vegetables and broth so I use more, the recipe below is the starting point. Adjust vegetables or broths to your taste.

1 Tablespoon Butter(I use less)

1 Chopped Onion

Chopped Celery

Sliced Carrots

4 Cans if Chicken Broth

1 Can of Vegetable Broth

1 Pound of chopped cooked Chicken

1.5 Cups of Egg Noodles

Dried Basil to taste

Dried Oregano to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

Make It:

In a large pot on medium heat, melt butter. Cook onion and celery in butter until tender. Pour in both of the broths and stir in chicken, noodles, carrots, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes

Chopped Chicken

Some Veggies washed and chopped

Everything is mixed in and simmering

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup ready to be Enjoyed

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your own

Submitted by Miles

Tofu Potato Salad

Nutrition: Tofu Potato Salad

Recipe 1lb bag of small red potatoes 1pkg (16oz) of Extra Firm Tofu * 1pkg (16oz) of Soft Tofu 10 tbsp extra virgin olive oil ** 5 tbsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp tarragon 1/2 cup parsley 2 tbsp Spicy Brown Mustard (to taste) *** Salt to taste ****

Substitution Items * Can substitute w/ eggs, tuna or whatever you like ** Can substitute w/ Grapeseed Oil or another oil of your choice *** Can leave out the mustard or substitute with your own type **** I used a couple dashes of some light sea salt

Directions Scrub the potatoes & boil them until they're tender While the potatoes cook, pan fry your firm tofu to your taste *** If you used a substitution, i.e. Tuna, prepare it how you normally would separately Grab a blender and toss in the soft tofu, lemon juice, olive oil, tarragon & parsley. Blend items until a smooth mix is formed. *** You can add a couple tablespoons of water if the mix is too thick. Find a large mixing/serving bowl & pour the mixture into it. Add the mustard, some salt and mix by hand thoroughly. Add additional spice to taste. Once the potatoes finish cooking, drain the excess water either mash them or quarter them. Add the potatoes to the mixture along with the firm tofu. Mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl with foil & place in the freezer/refridgerator until the mixture is cooled. Enjoy.

Review Everyone really liked this one. It's also my first blog post that I didn't rip. I like all types of tuna/egg/potato/macaroni salad but the underlying issue is that they all generally use a lot of mayo. Mayo is bad for those trying to watch their weight, keep their cholesterol in check or with heart issues. This recipe avoids all that & if you take it easy on the salt, it's low in sodium too. It also contains a good amount of fiber. There is a very high carb count on this for you Atkins folks however. If you drop the potatoes out of the equation and maybe go with a couple cans of tuna (or similar protein), you can significantly drop the carb count. This is great to consume on its own or in a sandwich.

Submitted by Bars

Cherry Tomatoes with Toasted Bread

What you will need:

2 pints Cherry Tomatoes

3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Oil

A good bunch of chopped Basil

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Garlic Glove

4 slices of French Bread or you can use Garlic Bread(if using garlic bread, omit the garlic clove)

Parmesan Cheese

Make It:

Wash the tomatoes and cut them in half. In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes with the olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Set aside and allow to marinate for about 30 minutes.

Turn on oven, if using french bread, give the bread a good rub with the garlic clove. Then place into the warm oven until toasted. If using the garlic bread, place bread in oven until toasted. 

Allow bread to cool slightly and tear into bite-sized pieces and mix with the tomatoes. Finish it off with shaved Parmesan cheese(can also use shredded Parmesan)

Washing the Tomatoes

Oil with salt and pepper

Marinating Tomato Mixture

Cherry Tomatoes with Toasted Bread ready to be Enjoyed

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your own

Submitted by Miles

Weekly Running Update

I can’t quite figure out what try of content I want to post, I decided that at least once a week and post some updates about my running. I always wonder how many miles or how many times a week do you have to run to consider yourself a runner. I average around 30 miles a week, but I would like to average somewhere around 35-40 miles a week. I would like to try to get in a long run at least once a week of 10+ miles. I'm still working on getting myself out there and setting a block of time so I can do it. This past week of 2/6 – 2/12/12 I put in 33 miles.

On Sunday I went to the Lake Pflugerville and ran with a friend once around the lake. This is maybe the second time I’ve ever run with another person. I usually like to run by myself because I don’t usually make plans or like to stick to someone else’s plans. I have to say it wasn’t that bad and made the time seem to go by faster. I was thinking I would like to try to with a partner or a group of my friends maybe once or twice a month.

On another note, I’ve run through my first pair of shoes for 2012, it doesn’t seem like a big deal for a lot of people, but it’s exciting to know that you can go out and get another pair and take them out for a run as soon as you get home. It takes me back to when I was a kid and it was the night before the first day of school and I would lay out my clothes on the floor, I would even put my socks into my shoes. I was so excited then and I’m excited now knowing that I’m going to be shoe shopping soon.


If you have any questions please feel free to leave it in the comment section.

Submitted by Miles

Chili Macaroni

What you will need:

1 pound of Ground Beef or Ground Turkey

1 chopped medium Onion

1 14.5 oz can of Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies

1.25 cups of Tomato Juice

2 teaspoons Chili Powder

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt

1 cup of your favorite type of Macaroni

1 package of frozen cut Green Beans

1 cup of shredded Cheddar Cheese(optional)

Make It:

In a large pan, cook meat and onion. Stir in the can of tomatoes, tomato juice, chili powder, and garlic salt into mixture. Bring to a boil. Stir in pasta and green beans, cover and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. You can top with cheese if you are using 

Ground Beef with Onion

Green Beans put in

Covered and simmering

Chili Macaroni ready to be Enjoyed

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your own

Submitted by Miles