Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Call for Guest Posts!

Happy Wednesday! I'm hosting the Workout Wednesday (WOW) linkup again, with fabulous co-hostesses Diatta Harris from Femme Fitale Fit Club, Sheila Simmons from The Frugal Exerciser, Natalie from Clean Eating Teenand yours truly!

As I mentioned on Monday, I'm headed to the Philippines NEXT WEEK for a work trip. Aaand then I'm going to Belgium and Amsterdam with the bf on vacation!! Which is all super exciting, but it means I'm going to be gone basically the whole month of May. And while I've been pretty good about keeping up with the blog during travel, this trip is going to be pretty intense so I'm looking for some guest posts! 


Interested in helping me out? Here's what I'm looking for:
  • Posts on health, fitness, food, or blogging.
  • About 300 - 750 words. It's cool if you go a little over or under. Stuff happens.
  • Original content that you haven't posted previously.
  • Posts that can be submitted to me for review by May 12.
  • Posts that are fun to read!
Here's what you'll get out of it:
  • Link on the post back to your blog.
  • Tons of shout outs promoting your guest post and blog on all my social media channels.
  • Reciprocal guest post any time after June 1 if you need it.
  • My undying gratitude.

Drop me a line at eathardworkhard(at)gmail.com if you're interested. Hope to hear from some of you soon!

Now on to the party!


Featured Blogger

As another way to spread the love and WOW spirit, this week your co-hosts are featuring some of our guests from last week. For this week, I've selected...




Lindsay of Broke and Bougie blogs about staying fit, healthy and fabulous on a dime in one of the most expensive cities in the nation: Washington, DC. And she's hilarious! Check out her blog and show her some love on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ or any other way you can think of. Just as long as you don't actually stalk her. That would be bad.

You too can be featured! Just continue participating in our weekly WOW Link Up, spread the word and keep supporting the other participants by leaving comments and showing them some love.

Point & Purpose: The purpose of this link up party is to mix and mingle and support each other’s sites by visiting, subscribing and/or leaving a comment. Please do not drop a link here, disappear and not follow through by visiting other party goers’ sites. 

Theme: We are linking up blog posts, Google+ posts or Facebook posts related to FITNESS, RUNNING, HEALTH or WELLNESS.


Simple Rules:
1. Follow, Like and/or Subscribe to your hostesses and co-hostesses:
2.   Don't be a wallflower.  I can not stress this enough.  Show some comment luv and support to other party goers of this link up by visiting their blogs and either leave a comment on a post, subscribe or both!  Visit at least others who have joined the party.
3.  Also join our WOW Link Up Pinterest Board (http://www.pinterest.com/curleedst/workout-wednesdays-link-up/ ) so you can PIN your post to it.
4.  Invite your like-minded friends!  We love finding and reading new blogs so spread the word so we can increase the size of our parties every week til we make the walls sweat!!!!  I told ya we party hard!  :-)
5.  Use hashtag #wowlinkup when you comment on someone's post for easy identification.
6.  Last but definitely not least, HAVE FUN!  This IS a party.

GRAB OUR BADGE CODE: 

<div align=”center”><a href=”http://femmefitalefitclub.com/?page_id=5741″ title=”Femme Fitale Fit Club”><img src=”http://femmefitalefitclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10411245605_4348135958_m.jpg” alt=”Femme Fitale Fit Club” style=”border:none;” /></a></div>

Monday, April 28, 2014

Easy No Prep Meal Prep

Happy Monday! I had a crazy fun and super busy weekend, including a ton of food, beer, fun, pig racing and alpacas at the county fair! 


I also have a busy week ahead because it's my last week in the office before I head out to the Philippines on a loong work trip! And the bf is visiting this weekend!! 

With all the awesome non blog things going on, I didn't have time to do my usual meal prep. But I did take the opportunity to show how you can prepare for a week of healthy food with very little prep time. So here's my super easy no prep method to set yourself up for healthy meals throughout the week. 

Breakfast

Instant oatmeal is makes for a really easy grab and go breakfast. On its own, however, even this cool oats and flax variety I found at Trader Joe's is a little wimpy nutritionally. Adding half a banana, 1 tbsp of chia seeds, 1 tbsp of almond butter, and 1/4 cup Greek yogurt (not pictured, whoops) gives you a hearty, under 400 calorie breakfast with 9 grams of fiber and 16 grams of protein. 


I'm lucky enough to have a good amount of fridge and cabinet space at work, so I can just bring a week's worth of breakfast supplies with me to put together quickly each day. If you have a little more time, portioning out each day's ingredients into an easy grab and go package works well too.

Protein

I didn't have time to cook a protein, so I picked up a couple easy items and worked with what I had. I love my baked tofu, but if you don't have time to prep it's also great raw in salads or stir fries. Edamame is very high in protein, and the frozen shelled variety cooks up easily for a weeknight meal. Canned  tuna and chickpeas also make great quick, no cooking required, low calorie proteins. 


Sides

Besides the sweet potatoes I (barely) managed to bake, I bought some easy sides. Bagged greens are great for lunch. I just throw in some protein and cut up sweet potato and call it a day. I also got some organic zucchini, which I can grate to use instead of noodles. Trader Joe's soycutash, a mixture of edamame, corn, and red pepper, is one of my favorite frozen veggies. It boils up fast and I'll even throw it in a stir fry straight from the freezer. Can't get much easier than that.


Workouts

Since the bf is coming to town, I'm not sure how much I'm going to workout this weekend. I definitely want to stay active though, especially since I'm traveling soon! Hopefully I can get the bf out for a run and to the beach to play some volleyball with me :)



Q: Do you have any time-saving tips for meal prep? Besides just not doing it at all. I've tried that one before.

Friday, April 25, 2014

The Liebster Awards

Oh yeah so glad it's Friday! I have a lot of fun planned for this weekend, mostly on the eating hard vs the working hard side. But hey, I ran 10 miles last weekend so I'm still good right?

(Image Source)
Anyhoo, I'm joining Mar on the Run, Eat Pray Run DC, and You Signed Up for What?! for the DC Trifecta's Friday Five link up as usual. Today's theme is Follow Friday, so I'm posting about an awesome new (to me) way to show love to your fellow bloggers: the Liebster Award.


What is a Liebster Award, you ask? Good question. Google says it's an online award given by bloggers to other bloggers with the goal of helping promote small, up and coming blogs, spreading the love, and promoting world peace (I may have added that last bit). The award has a few simple rules:
  1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog
  2. Answer 11 questions the nominating blogger asked you 
  3. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
  4. Nominate 5 – 11 small blogs that you feel deserve the award, and let them know
  5. Create a new list of questions for the nominees to answer
Simple enough, right? First of all, thanks so much to Lindsay from Broke and Bougie and Chaitali from Running, and Enjoying the Journey for nominating me. I'm happy to be nominated, but a little pissed too because it means I can't nominate THEM! And they're great!

And, since I saw her's first, here are my answers to Lindsay's questions:

1. Why did you start your blog?
I really started my blog to keep myself accountable when I got serious about my healthy living journey. I was posting everything on Instagram and wanted a place to reflect, set goals, and help myself grow. Once I started, I really enjoyed interacting with the blogging community and felt like I could add something valuable to the conversation.

2. What are your goals for your blog?
Hmm share my experience with more more people; connect with other bloggers that inspire me; keep myself challenged, accountable, and growing; maybe one day get paid a little but keep writing as long as I enjoy it either way.  

3. What is your biggest weakness?
Emotional eating. It sounds silly but eating past the point when it feels physically good but feels good to my soul is probably my biggest healthy living challenge. 

(Image Source)
4. What would you do if you won the lottery?
Depends how much I won. If it was a lot I'd travel all over the world to cool, but expensive to get to places. If it was like 5 bucks I'd buy some fancy-pants organic chocolate.

5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I honestly have no idea! I hope married and with a family started. Or else living in Southeast Asia and working as an aid worker.

6. What food could you never live without? 
All of it? I don't think I understand this question.

(Image Source)
7. If you could have lunch with anyone who would it be? 
Oh gosh. There are so many famous and important people to choose from, and honestly I would probably be too nervous to say anything intelligent. Maybe my grandmother on my Dad's side. She died when I was in college and before I could speak Chinese really well. I would really like to speak with her and hear more of the family stories we are losing now.

8. In a dream world what would your job be?
I still have to figure this one out. But I really would love to be able to be my own boss at some point. 

9. What is your guilty pleasure?
Reality TV shows. Bring It! is a new fav. Basically I just wish I was a teen dancing sensation. 

(Image Source)
10. What are some of the top items on your bucket list?
Mostly traveling to more places. And taking dance classes instead of just watching it on TV.

11. Fruit or veggies?
Both! In a smoothie! Mmm.

11 Random Facts:

1. Favorite animal: giant panda.
2. Languages spoken: Chinese (pretty well), French (fading fast), and English (fluent, most days).
3. I've watched every single episode of Law and Order SVU, except for the last 2-3.
4. Things I wanted to be when I grew up (in rough chronological order): ballerina, teacher, geologist, author, lawyer, journalist, roboticist, linguist, aid worker, stay at home mom.
5. Favorite color: yellow, especially the bright shade that hip DIY bloggers use to paint furniture.
6. I used to routinely forget how many zeroes were in a million. Hey, I'm not a mathematician.
7. I'm great at definitions but terrible at spelling. I just misspelled mathematician.
8. I'm also really bad at pronunciations, and I'm constantly sure I'm saying things wrong. The bf almost convinced me that "moniker" was pronounced "monkier". 
9. I was in chamber choir in high school, but I've really only sung in the shower and at Chinese karaoke since then.
10. I can sing 4-5 Chinese karaoke songs pretty well.
11. I'm an only child but I don't fit the profile at all.  

(Image Source)
5 Liebster Award Nominations (because it's the Friday Five!):

1. Jenny at Run Jenny Run
2. Janelle at Run with No Regrets
3. Michele at A Pace of Balance
4. YumYum at YumYum Gets Fit

My Questions:

1. What do you love best about blogging?
2. How did you choose your blog name?
3. What's your favorite food?
4. What's the last good book you read?
5. What's one surprising thing you are awesome at?
6. What's one thing you are surprisingly bad at?
7. Your house is on fire and you can only save one thing--what would you save?
8. What's your favorite guilty pleasure?
9. What's the scariest thing you've ever done?
10. What's at the top of your bucket list?
11. Where's your favorite place in the world?

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Chardonnay 10-Miler Race Recap

Happy Wednesday! I'm hosting the Workout Wednesday (WOW) linkup again, with fabulous co-hostesses Diatta Harris from Femme Fitale Fit Club, Sheila Simmons from The Frugal Exerciser, Natalie from Clean Eating Teen, and yours truly!

As promised, I'm sharing a recap of my first 10-miler, but first I wanted to give a huge shout out to my friend Lauren who ROCKED the Boston Marathon on Monday! It was her first marathon and she finished in 4:30:46! What a rock-star!

(Image Source)
My race was much less impressive but I'm still pretty proud of myself. Here's how it went down. 

The Race

Saturday's race was the Santa Barbara Chardonnay 10-Miler. It's apparently one of the oldest races in the area and the course is along the beautiful Santa Barbara waterfront.

I picked up my packet the night before so race day went pretty smoothly. Race-day packet pickup lines were long but looked organized, there was plenty of Gatorade, water, GU and even coffee available. The only downside was the incredibly long line bathroom line, although to be fair I later heard there were more bathrooms a little farther away.


I thought the long bathroom and packet lines might delay the start, but the organizers managed to get everyone to the line just before 8:00. It was a fairly small race, with less than 400 runners, so there weren't corals or even designated runner, jogger, walker divisions. I lined up kind of a little front of center and, after a super-casual "on your mark get set go", we were off at about at 8:02! 

The hardest part of this race was getting passed SO MUCH. One of my race goals was to go slow to avoid burning out early. But it was really hard to maintain my pace when EVERYONE was running faster than me. Seriously, I turned around once to make sure I wasn't actually THE LAST ONE. There was a particular low point around mile 4 where a 65+ BAMF lady with a full head of silver hair breezed by me. I just had to tell myself to let it go, but boy was it hard on my competitive spirit.

I definitely started to feel my legs by mile 5, and all the getting passed was a little discouraging. I also never managed to find someone running at my pace I could try to stick with. But MapMyRun kept telling me I was running around my 11 min mile A goal pace and the gorgeous views kept me going.    


I didn't end up taking a ton of pictures, because once I stopped to walk it was really painful to start running again. So except for a brief walk to grab some water from the mile 3,5,7 and 9 stations and eat my Honey Stinger energy chews and waffle, I mostly at least maintained a slow jog.

A little before mile 8, we joined the regular beach bike/jogging path, which was open to joggers, walkers, and cyclists. I didn't feel like I was in danger of getting hit but I did have to weave around a bit, which was challenging. My legs were pretty dead by this point, but this was also when I finally stopped getting passed and even passed a couple people!

Around this time, I also saw a woman a little ahead of me. I picked up my speed when I hit mile 9 and started to gain on her. Then, as soon as I heard my phone say I only had a quarter mile left, I decided I was going to beat her. I thought "You may not know it, but we're racing now" and took off. I pulled ahead of her but wasn't sure how close she was so I kept pushing. Then I saw my awesome coworker Jill waving that pink sign, Maureen cheering, and my housemate Michelle taking pictures and SPRINTED to the finish line.


The Results

I beat my A goal of finishing in 1:50:00 with a chip time of 1:47:31! That's a 10:45 min mile!! So I know people run marathons (a lot) faster than that, but it's much faster than any of my long training runs. Oh and don't worry about my head getting too big. Coming in 321/377 will keep me plenty humble. Over half the race finished in under 9 minutes! No wonder I kept getting passed!


I still feel a huge sense of accomplishment for running my first 10-miler on 4 weeks of training much faster than I thought I could, and being fit enough to sprint at the end (and go out dancing that night ;) ). Plus I made it to the wine tasting, which was my most important goal of all!


Now on to the party!


Point & Purpose: The purpose of this link up party is to mix and mingle and support each other’s sites by visiting, subscribing and/or leaving a comment. Please do not drop a link here, disappear and not follow through by visiting other party goers’ sites. 

Theme: We are linking up blog posts, Google+ posts or Facebook posts related to FITNESS, RUNNING, HEALTH or WELLNESS.


Simple Rules:
1. Follow, Like and/or Subscribe to your hostesses and co-hostesses:
2.   Don't be a wallflower.  I can not stress this enough.  Show some comment luv and support to other party goers of this link up by visiting their blogs and either leave a comment on a post, subscribe or both!  Visit at least others who have joined the party.
3.  Also join our WOW Link Up Pinterest Board (http://www.pinterest.com/curleedst/workout-wednesdays-link-up/ ) so you can PIN your post to it.
4.  Invite your like-minded friends!  We love finding and reading new blogs so spread the word so we can increase the size of our parties every week til we make the walls sweat!!!!  I told ya we party hard!  :-)
5.  Use hashtag #wowlinkup when you comment on someone's post for easy identification.
6.  Last but definitely not least, HAVE FUN!  This IS a party.

GRAB OUR BADGE CODE: 

<div align=”center”><a href=”http://femmefitalefitclub.com/?page_id=5741″ title=”Femme Fitale Fit Club”><img src=”http://femmefitalefitclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10411245605_4348135958_m.jpg” alt=”Femme Fitale Fit Club” style=”border:none;” /></a></div>

Monday, April 21, 2014

Meal Prep Monday - Breakfast Burritos and Shredded Chicken

Happy Monday! I have a super busy week ahead but I'm feeling pretty confident about it. Must be because I ROCKED my first 10-miler on Saturday!  



I'll have a full recap on Wednesday, but for now I'll just say I not only survived to make it to wine tasting, I smashed my goals! Plus, I felt good enough to go out dancing that night and get all my meal prep done on Sunday! It was basically a weekend full of win. Except for winning the actual race. That's crazy talk.

Breakfast

I got a major case of food envy when my co-worker ordered an awesome breakfast burrito at our post-race brunch, so I decided to create a healthy freezer version. I found these tips for freezing burritos from The Kitchn really helpful and chose my filling based on my love of Mexican flavors and desire to try the famous Trader Joe's Soyrizo. 



"Chorizo" Breakfast Burritos

Calories: 315 | Fat: 13 g | Cholest: 6 mg | Sodium: 967 mg | Carbs: 34 g | Fiber: 11 g | Sugars: 5 g | Protein: 20 g

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 a medium onion, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 soy chorizo 
8 egg whites
1 ripe avocado, cubed
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp salsa
1/2 cup light Mexican cheese
8 100 calorie tortillas (I used these)
2 cups baby spinach, washed and dried 

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
Add onion and pepper and cook until onion begins to soften.
Crumble in the chorizo.
Stir in egg whites until they begin to harden.
Sir in avocado, spices, salsa and cheese until heated through.
Let cool to room temperature.
Divide filling evenly into tortillas, top with spinach leaves, and wrap tightly (see this video for tips).
Wrap each burrito in plastic wrap, place into a freezer bag, and freeze.
To reheat, unwrap plastic wrap, wrap burrito loosely in a paper towel, and microwave until hot, about 1-2 minutes.
Makes 8 servings.

These breakfast burritos are full of flavor and just the right amount of spice--a nice change up from my normal sweet baked goods breakfast flow. They freeze and reheat really well, and make the perfect handheld grab and go meal.

Protein

I had an Easter dinner to get to on Sunday, so I made my slow cooker shredded chicken again. I just dumped 1.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot along with chicken broth, mixed spices and powdered garlic, and turned it on low. And 6 hours later when I came back from dinner, I had delicious, moist chicken breast waiting for me!



Sides

I kept it pretty simple with this week's veggies too, roasting some sweet potatoes, mushrooms and green beans in the oven and boiling some frozen peas. 



Workouts

Since I finished the Chardonnay 10 Miler, I plan to go easy on the running for a bit and do other things, like going back to that great Pilates class I loved.





Psst: Don't forget to wish my friend Lauren good luck at the Boston Marathon 
/her FIRST marathon! Read more about her story and how to follow her race progress here.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Friday Five - Chardonnay 10-Miler Race Goals

It's Friday!! That means I run 10 miles tomorrow! And I kind of feel like I'm getting sick. So I'm drinking crazy amounts of green tea, continuously eating zinc tablets, and carb loading with noodle soup. It's probably just my body trying to trick it's way out of having to run so much tomorrow.


(Image Source)

Anyways, instead of sitting here and wallowing in my hypochondria, I'm joining the DC Trifecta's Friday Five linkup as usual. Today's theme is fitness goals, so I'm sharing 5 goals for tomorrow's race.

First up, my three race day goals a la this advice from Run Eat Repeat, with 1 being the hardest and 3 being the easiest to achieve.

1. Finish in under 01:50:00 (11 min mile)
I'm not really sure how likely this is because i was over this for my curren- PDR-setting 8 mile run. But hey, race day adrenaline does amazing things right? 

2. Finish in under 02:00:00 (12 min mile)
Still feel this would be a respectable finish time considering I had a month to go from 5K to 10 miles.

3. Make it to the wine tasting
Because that's the most important thing after all. 



And here are two goals that I want to complete no matter what. 

4. Go slow and walk when I have to
During my last race I started out way too fast and burned out by the end. And that was less than 1/3 the distance of this one. So I need to swallow my pride, pace myself, go slow, and walk if I need to. 

5. Enjoy the view
I wanted to make this goal "enjoy the race" but I thought that might be too ambitious. But the course goes right along 5 miles of super beautiful California coast, so I figure I can at least enjoy the view.

(Image Source)

Q: Are you racing this weekend? Any tips to survive my first long-ish race?

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Workout Wednesday Guest Post - Running the Boston Marathon

Happy Wednesday! Today's my first time hosting the Workout Wednesday (WOW) linkup, with fabulous co-hostesses Diatta Harris from Femme Fitale Fit Club, Sheila Simmons The Frugal Exerciser, and brand new co-hostesses Natalie from Clean Eating Teen, Jenn from Comeback Momma, and yours truly!




I've been focused on my first 10-mile race this Saturday, but I wanted to kick off my Workout Wednesday co-hosting duties with a very special guest post. My friend and former co-worker, Lauren, is preparing for a much bigger race this week, and is here to share her story.


"Hi! I am a former cubicle-mate of Amanda's who has kindly invited me to guest post about my experience training for the Boston Marathon on April 21st! Since we worked together in Washington, DC, Amanda and I have gone separate ways - her to lovely Santa Barbara, and me to Boston for graduate school.

I've been a casual runner for years, ever since a friend convinced me to do the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, but never ever considered a marathon, even after doing two half marathons in the past year. However, my university, Tufts, has a relationship with the Boston Athletic Association that reserves 100 bibs for students, faculty, staff, and alums, with a requirement that students raise $1,500 for nutrition and obesity research at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. This is pretty cool, because the Boston Marathon is notoriously difficult to qualify for, and running as a charity entrant can require raising several thousand of dollars. So, with the encouragement of my sister, who ran the Marine Corps Marathon a few years ago, and peer pressure from some friends, I signed up.

So, in January, my training began in earnest as I contemplated running more miles (in training!) than I had ever run before. We are lucky to have an awesome coach for the team, and the camaraderie of having built in teammates. We also had several scheduled runs on the marathon course, and team runs twice a week. It makes it much easier to wake up for a 7 AM run in January when it's 5 degrees in January when you know that there's a whole group of people waiting for you!
There have definitely been challenges - the polar vortex, a stubborn IT-band problem, trying Gu for the first time - but overall it has been an incredible experience to realize I can run further than I ever thought. I can't believe the race is so soon, and I am sure it will be emotional given last year's bombings. I am looking forward to crossing that finish line!"
I'm so proud of Lauren and inspired by her decision to seize the opportunity to run the Boston Marathon in such an emotional year, even though it was something she'd planned on doing. I hope everyone will join me in wishing her luck on her first marathon!

If you want to follow Lauren's progress during the race, read these instructions to track her bib number, 30620. Lauren's a rock star and has exceeded her fundraising goal, but if you're interested in supporting nutrition and obesity research at Tufts you can donate here.

Now that we've had that dose of inspiration, let’s get on to the party!

Point & Purpose: The purpose of this link up party is to mix and mingle and support each other’s sites by visiting, subscribing and/or leaving a comment. Please do not drop a link here, disappear and not follow through by visiting other party goers’ sites. 

Theme: We are linking up blog posts, Google+ posts or Facebook posts related to FITNESS, RUNNING, HEALTH or WELLNESS.


Simple Rules:
1. Follow, Like and Subscribe to your hostesses and co-hostesses:

2. Don’t be a wallflower. Show some comment love and support to other party goers of this link up by visiting their blogs and either leave a comment on a post, subscribe or both! Visit at least 5 others who have joined the party.
3. Invite your like-minded friends! We love finding and reading new blogs so spread the word so we can increase the size of our parties every week.
4. Use hashtag #wowlinkup when you comment on someone’s post for easy identification.
5. Last but definitely not least, HAVE FUN! This IS a party.


GRAB OUR BADGE CODE: 

<div align=”center”><a href=”http://femmefitalefitclub.com/?page_id=5741″ title=”Femme Fitale Fit Club”><img src=”http://femmefitalefitclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10411245605_4348135958_m.jpg” alt=”Femme Fitale Fit Club” style=”border:none;” /></a></div>