FlowerJournal

Eat your greens

sara — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:51:55 +0000

Since I’ve been at the hospital all day, I’ve been doing a lot of snacking in place of meals. Not my preferred manner of eating. No big deal (well at least it shouldn’t be, except that I’m a disordered eater, but I don’t really want to talk about that right now.) Anyway, when I’m in my own kitchen and not a waiting room outside the ICU, I love me some salads. Salads are really great in the spring and summer months when the temps start to climb, but I crave them almost as much in the winter as well. Most people think all salads are the same: boring, unfillling, a meal-starter, not a meal in themselves. But I have become a master of salad combinations. My salads are tasty and filling. Here are a few of the salads I’ve been fueling with lately…

The 5 G Salad: massaged kale, sprouted lentils, avocado, broccoli, and cilantro in a orange-tahini dressing.

The Walnut Salad: walnut pate (walnuts, carrots, Bragg’s) on a bed of spinach and massaged kale with Ezekiel tortilla chips on the side.

Sunshine Salad: Grilled Sunshine Burger on a bed of baby greens and kale, topped with roasted sweet potatoes (these are delicious on salads!)…with orange-tanini dressing again.

Hospitals

sara — Tue, 25 May 2010 00:44:27 +0000

Today I learned that hospitals are sad and scary places.

Today I learned that most doctors really have no bedside manner.

Today I cried out of sheer panic.

Today I sat and stared for a cumulative 5-6 hours.

Today I waited in a room with people as their family members died.

Today I was thankful that my family member wasn’t dying.

M. had his first brain operation today. It went very well, but it has been a day of ups and downs. They were able to shrink his AVM significantly. What that means for future operations is still uncertain. We know that he is stable and might even be able to go home in the next two days. I’ve gotten to visit with him several times and he looks good, though I know he is in some pain.

I hope tomorrow is better, that he is more comfortable, and the doctors have good news for us. Tonight I hope to get some sleep (likely on the floor of the waiting room). My stomach is in a knot and I want more that anything to go running right now. Just to be out of this waiting room in the fresh air. I want to be as exhausted physically as I am mentally, to let my mind be quiet while my body moves, to be free and away just for a moment.

Marathon Training: Reconsidered and Revised

sara — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:07:59 +0000

No. I’m not reconsidering running another marathon. A friend and I got selected a few weeks ago to run the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco and there’s no way I’m missing out. The plane tickets are paid for, the hotel is booked, and I’m already planning what new running outfit I’m going to buy for race day (I feel a runner’s wardrobe post coming on). Nope, not rethinking running at all. I am, however, rethinking what its going to take for me to prepare for this marathon. I didn’t train intensely for my first marathon in April, so over training and injury weren’t an issue.

I’ve revised my training schedule so that my brother and I can train together. We’re working to cut our time by 15 minutes so he can qualify and I don’t have to run Boston alone (I’ll do it but I’d rather not have to). The new training plan in intense. We top out at 50+ mile weeks and thats more than I’ve ever run before. I’m already thinking about what I’m going to do to keep myself healthy and get my body to preform at that level. So, here’s what I’ve come up with. I know that this is sort of a boring post, but I’m writing to get my ideas down and keep myself accountable.

1.) Get sleep. Lots of sleep. I need 7 hours minimums every night. 8 is better. I’m going to shoot for 10 hours before my long runs. Sleep is the biggest factor in how well and how fast I run, so I really need to be responsible about getting to bed.

2.) Water. Lots of water. That whole 8 glasses-a-day thing isn’t going to cut it. I need to keep my 24 0z bottle on me at all times and refill it 4-5 times a day.

3.) Yoga + stretching. I need to be consistent in doing yoga on my two rest days each week. This includes ab work and light weightlifting for my arms. I’m finding that better core and arm strength make me an overall better athlete. Thus, I’m less prone to injury. A strong core is great for balance and strong arms help me power up hills. On days when I don’t do yoga I still need to squeeze in a few downward dogs and sun salutations to keep my legs loose. I should probably also look into a dynamic stretching routine, I’m just a bit stuck in my ways.

4.) Nutrition. Diet is obviously going to be crucial. For me, I’m going to have to be super diligent about getting in enough calories. Specifically I want to 1) increase protein intake to help with muscle repair (right now I get in about 45 grams per day but I should really try to get that up to 60 grams) 2) avoid carby filler foods that I tend to munch on when I let myself get too hungry. (no more pretzel binges…bummer) 3.) I really want to try to get in more smoothies and juices post run as they are easy on the system and great for recovery.

5.) No Counting. Always my goal, but I’m rarely successful in not counting calories. Its the disordered eater in me. I do it subconsciously…and I hate it.

Favorite things: May

sara — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:53:24 +0000

The month of May has been consumed with finals, applying for jobs, getting ready for M’s surgery, and (because I like a challenge) moving into a new apartment…err…condo. I will be doing an extended period of house-sitting for the next year. Thats free livin’ my friends, free livin’. Anyway, life has been busy and blogging, which is normally low-ish on my list got pushed even further down. I have about 12 different post ideas though, so hopefully I’ll be posting a lot more in the next weeks. It is summer after all.

Here’s a (short) list of favorites for this very busy month of May.

1.I was lucky to come across this cook book in the most unexpected of places a few weeks ago. Laurel’s Kitchen is a wonderful book. It contains a compilation of vegetarian recipes and detailed analysis of vegetarian nutrition for those looking to develop a more plant-based diet. Actually, I take that back, I’ve already developed an intensely plant-based diet, and I learned a lot about healthful, nutritionally complete vegetarian eating. The writers are clearly hippies, but wonderfully so. All the talk about baking your own bread and saving helpless animals and meditation is charming, even a bit thought provoking? Go figure. The author also gives a few introductory chapters to explain where the inspiration for the food, the book, and the vegetarian lifestyle originated….in Laurel’s kitchen it turns out.

2. New cargo pants….in chocolate brown….in my size…on sale…for $10.99. Nuf said.

3. A beautiful, sunshiny, sparsely furnished living room, with a big window and wood floors. I’ve died and got to house-sitting heaven. Seriously, there could be no more perfect place to do yoga. That, and the minimalist in me, is the reason I’m not moving in anymore furniture. One sofa and one chair is plenty. And that room-sized rug? Its staying rolled up in the corner…so there.

I got picked!

sara — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 01:35:18 +0000