Greetings from Harrisonburg! I’m currently visiting my boyfriend at JMU, we had to see The Hunger Games together! We both loved the movie, and I especially enjoyed our dinner at Qdoba, a great substitute for Chipotle! I enjoyed a Naked Taco Salad. It was so pretty, I had to take a picture!
Do I even need to remind you of the absolutely gorgeous weather Blacksburg witnessed this past week? We enjoyed temperatures in the upper-70s, and sunny, blue-skied afternoons. For many of us, this meant pulling out the sundresses, Rainbow flip-flops, and all our favorite summer items. I was slightly less prepared; I didn’t expect such warm temperatures so soon. All my flip-flops at home, I brought my TOMs back out. The warm afternoons had me excited to sit outside and enjoy the weather, but also because it meant I could get some mid-day exercise in (maybe even a tan?).
On Monday, the first warm day of the week, around 3 pm, I changed into my Nike shorts, Dri-Fit shirt, sneakers, and headed out to my favorite off-campus running spot, Huckleberry Trail. I much prefer trail running, as it is typically where I’ll train at home. I wasn’t the only one with the fantastic idea to take advantage of the great weather, I suppose we runners take advantage of every opportunity we have. As I discussed last week, I’ve been increasing my mileage in order to train for a 10k (6.2 miles) and hopefully a half-marathon this upcoming fall. Although I know it is incredibly possible to train for long-distance races on the treadmill, I’d much rather take in the beautiful sights of the Blue Ridge Mountains while exercising.
That being said, I needed to find a way to track my distance while running. When I was at home, I either only took paths where my dad had pre-mapped the distance, or I mapped out a route of my own using our old Garmin. When the Garmin broke, I found iMapMyRun, a website where you could enter in your starting point, stopping point, and running pace to map out a run. This was tedious, what if I got an adrenaline rush and decided to run more mid-run? How would I know how far I was going? I checked out the AppStore on my iPhone and discovered iMapMyRun has an App—great news! I highly recommend the App, not only does it tell you your distance, pace, and time, but it also allows you to log daily workouts and nutrition, with specific information regarding the calories you should be taking in depending on your run for the day. I personally find it somewhat difficult and time-consuming to log what I eat, but it gives me a good idea on how much I should be eating. On that note, I recommend to just eat when you’re hungry…which is quite often for me.
That brings me to my main topic for this week: snacks. It seems as though snacks get a bad rep. Dieters seem to be under the impression that snacks are bad. This is true, only to a certain extent. Snacks are actually very important and vital to one’s diet. Nutritionists and trainers recommend that people eat 5-6 mini meals a day, meaning that you should be eating two smaller snacks between meals. It makes sense when you think about it, too. We shouldn’t have to starve ourselves waiting for the next meal. Eating keeps the metabolism running, so if you eat about every three hours, your metabolism may actually speed up and work better (since your body’s not worrying about the next time it’s going to be fed). Another plus to the snacking method: you’ll eat less at your main meals because you won’t be super hungry. Some of my favorite snacks:
- ANY kind of fruit or vegetable. In my quest to eat the recommended 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, I’ve fallen in love with the Owens salad bar where I can pick up fruits and veggies on the go. Add some peanut butter to a sliced apple, and you’re golden.
- Greek yogurt topped with cereal. Call me crazy, but I really love Graduates puffed cereal on top of yogurt (yes, it’s baby food….but who cares?) And need I remind you of my love for Greek yogurt?
- Cheese. The Laughing Cow cheese wedges are fantastic.
- Popcorn. Don’t eat a full microwaved bag like I can, and have in the past, but it’s an easy way to load up on carbs without feeling really full at the end.
Along with my goal of eating 5-6 small meals a day, I am trying to incorporate more vegetables into my diet. So here’s a picture of my attempt to fit every vegetable at the Owens salad bar into my to-go box! Vegetables are great, aside from the obvious nutritional benefits they offer, they fill you up!
Inspirational Quote of the Week: I’m currently reading Open, tennis player Andre Agassi’s autobiography. His coach always told him: “You control what you can control.” I think that’s great.