Week 2 Half Training Sidelined

I am sick, the worst possible time to get a cold and I have one! The time when I need to be running my butt off to train and get ready for this half marathon quickly approaching and I did not make my mileage this week. I am so upset and worried now if I will be able to make it up this week if this horrendous sickness goes away. I am behind 5 miles now, I was supposed to do the 5 miler yesterday, but was too busy taking a test for a Census job and not feeling well. I wanted to run today, but there was no way I am in any shape to do it. My nose is so swollen and blocked off, I keep sneezing every few minutes, and I feel like crap. My Mucinex D is not helping much and I have no appetite. I am just so sick of being sick and I really wanted to do my run! Ugh! Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow morning and can do my 5 miler then and add an extra mile to the other 3 runs to make up for the 3 miles I am supposed to be running tomorrow to stay on track. I leave you with the stats for the 3 runs (10 miles) I did complete this week.

Week 2, Day 1: 3.00 miles, 29:31, av pace: 9:49 min/mi (I actually ran this one outside in our super hilly neighborhood and thought I did quite well considering)
Week 2, Day 2: 4.01 miles, 38:42, av pace: 9:38 min/mi
Week 2, Day 3: 3.01 miles, 28:04, av pace: 9:19 min/mi (my fastest pace ever!)

Week 1 Half Marathon Training Complete

Well today marked the end of my first of ten weeks of half marathon training. I am happy to report I made it through this week, ran 4 days, for a total of 13 miles, which is my farthest weekly distance ever and ran my fastest pace ever! I am so super proud of myself and am so excited to get to 15 miles next week! Bring it! I leave you with my stats for this week's runs:

Week 1, Day 1: 3.01 miles, 29:16, av pace: 9:43/mile
Week 1, Day 2: 3.00 miles, 29:17, av pace: 9:44/mile
Week 1, Day 3: 3.00 miles, 28:53, av pace: 9:36/mile
Week 1, Day 4: 4.01 miles, 37:50, av pace: 9:26/mile

My first Pretty Cake!

I have been wanting to take the Wilton Cake Decorating Courses at Michael's for a while now, in fact I signed up in November, but the class got canceled, well it finally had enough people signed up that it began January 7th. The first week is basically just an intro, and then actual baking and decorating begins the second week. So last night was my first night getting to decorate my delicious chocolate cake. I have taken to making cakes from scratch lately instead of from a box, this time I decided to go with the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake from the back of my Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder box. The cake tasted delicious and was quite moist. Decorating it was definitely fun, I still need to work on frosting the cake without getting crumbs in the frosting, and perfecting the consistency of the icing. But I am so looking forward to next week's class and the following three courses!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 3/4 cups plus 3 Tbsp Cake Flour)
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost. 10-12 servings.

Baked Lemon Chicken Pasta

I've been wanting to try this recipe since I saw it on a blog I follow, Cooking With LT, well with some adjustments, I finally decided to take the plunge this week. I guess originally it was a Pioneer Woman recipe, but I omitted quite a bit to make my own little spin on it. The recipe that follows is what I used, if you'd like the full one, check out Pioneer Woman or Cooking with LT.

Ingredients:
1 lb box spaghetti (I used a box of whole wheat thin spaghetti, 13.25 oz)
1 lemon juiced and zested
1 chicken breast, shredded
2 cups (16 oz) fat free sour cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp olive oil
Grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put pasta in a large pot and boil, cook until al dente and drain. Put butter and olive oil in a skillet on the stove over low heat. Cook until butter melts, then add in garlic and lemon juice and turn off burner. Add in lemon zest and sour cream and stir. Add in shredded chicken. Then pour sauce over pasta and then transfer to an oven safe dish. Cover with foil and cook for 15 minutes. Remove foil and cook uncovered and additional 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over dish, top generously with parmesan cheese, then give lemon a final squeeze and serve. Enjoy!

Hubby and I definitely enjoyed this dish! It was a nice break from the usual alfredo we like to eat, and in fact it was pretty similar to an alfredo texture, but with a lemon flavor. I loved it! We will definitely be having this again.

Making Good On Goals For 2010

I mentioned it a couple days ago, and have been saying for a while, that one of my goals for this year is to run a half marathon, and I think today I found the one I want to do! This one, is close to home, and gives me about 10 weeks to prepare for it, if I start this training schedule this Monday. I'm too chicken to sign up for it just yet, but I have until February 28th before the registration fee hikes up another $5. So Monday I will begin week 1 of training and see how the next few weeks play out with it and see about signing up! I am so excited! I'm trying to convince hubby to run it with me, but he is on the fence right now, so like I said, we'll wait until Feb to register. This also would get me to my goal of running between 15-20 miles per week too, something I am really trying to do.

I ran 3.5 miles Monday, and 3.5 miles today, (and both times I have upped my pace into the 9:xx min/mile) and plan another 3.5 on Friday. On the weight loss front, I gained about 3 lbs over the holidays, I lost some, but am still up about 1.6 lbs, so back to the grind I go, trying to lose these last 11.8 lbs. I leave you with my Nike+ stats for thus far in my running journey (although it's missing the first week and half I did of c25k before I got the Nike+, that would affect everything but the farthest):
# of Workouts: 38
Farthest: 4.57 miles
Total Distance: 104.79 miles
Total Time: 19.59 hours
Total Calories: 11652

Vanilla Rum Cake, From Scratch

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I made another rum cake for Christmas. Differing from the chocolate rum cake I made a few months ago, this one I decided to make without a boxed cake mix. I found the recipe here and just had to try it! It was absolutely delicious! This time I didn't overcook the syrup and it soaked into the cake perfectly! It was definitely a treat and it will definitely be made again, hopefully sometime in the not-too-distant-future.

Almost Tortuga Rum Cake (from recipezaar.com)

Basic Cake Mix

2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cut into bits
3 tablespoons oil (I used Canola)

For the Cake

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (I omitted) 
1 (3 1/2 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup whaler vanille rum (Hawaiian-style rum) (I used Tortuga Gold Rum)
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Rum soaking Glaze

1/2 cup butter (do not substitute)
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup whaler vanille rum (Hawaiian-style rum) (Again I used Tortuga Gold Rum)

Directions

1. Basic Cake Mix: In a large mixing bowl, combine basic cake mix ingredients.
2. On low speed combine ingredients until the mix is the consistency of fine gravel, and all particles are about the same size.
3. This mix may be contained and stored for up to 3 months in the refrigerator, or used right away like I did. 

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Spray a large Bundt pan (12 cup) with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on the bottom. (I skipped this step).
   
4. Place Basic Cake Mix, pudding mix, milk, eggs, rum, oil, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and combine on medium speed with electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, scrape down the bowl halfway through.
5. Batter should be very smooth.
6. Pour into Bundt pan.
7. Bake for about 55 minutes- until fully golden and tester comes out clean and cake springs back.
8. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack while making the soaking glaze.

Rum Soaking Glaze:.

1. Combine butter, water and sugar in a small saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil carefully as mixture boils over very easily.
3. Reduce to a simmer and cook until sugar is dissolved and syrup is well combined and a little thicker.
4. Remove from the heat and add the rum, mix to combine.
5. While cake is still cooling, pour some of the hot syrup on top of the cake, allowing it time to soak in (this may take a few minutes as there will be a lot of syrup) continue to add syrup until all of the syrup is added.

Allow cake to cool completely in pan before turning out onto serving platter. This cake is delicate, so once it is turned out, it can not be moved around easily. Can be eaten when fully cool, but even better the next day!

 

 

Happy 2010!!

Happy New Year!! With the new year here I suppose it is time to reflect on the previous year and the things that made it great, so in no particular order, here are my top 9 things that happened in '09:

1. Getting married! It was truly the happiest day of my life and I am so happy to be married to my best friend!! And sharing it with the people who mean the most to us was truly a joyous occasion!
2. Finally getting to live in the same place with Tony, after over 2 years of long distance, we finally got to move in together and no longer have any miles between us.
3. Our honeymoon in Jamaica! It was such an awesome time and we got to do so many cool things like ziplining, river tubing, and climbing a waterfall, basically things I was way too scared to do but so glad I did them!
4. Jessica's wedding in Miami! It was an awesome time to see my BFF get married and to celebrate with everyone!
5. Going to CT for Farva and Keira's wedding. It was such a good time to see our Navy friends and hang out and see Farva and Keira pledge their love to one another in front of their closest friends and family.
6. My bridal shower and bparty. I felt so special and it was such a great time to enjoy with my dearest friends and family!
7. Hubby graduating with his MPA. It has been such a long and arduous road for him and I am so happy that he is finally done and so incredibly proud of him!
8. Getting to my WW goal weight. Weight has always been a struggle for me, but this year I finally got to what I believe is a healthy weight and made Lifetime membership at Weight Watchers. I was so proud of this and now I know it's just a jumping point and have now decided to lose an additional 10 lbs to get to the healthiest weight and BMI I think I can be.
9. Starting and finishing C25K and becoming a runner. This has been the most challenging and most rewarding exercise routine I have ever taken on. But I am so happy I pushed through and did it. I feel so accomplished and healthy. I love running, I love logging miles now and pushing myself to be the best runner I can be!

So now on to my goals for 2010, I don't really make resolutions anymore, but this year I have a few goals I would like to complete this year, so here they are:

1. Lose these last 10 lbs and be the fittest, healthiest I can be.
2. Eventually work up to running 15-20 miles per week.
3. Run a half marathon.
4. Eat healthier, get back on track (I have been bad and off track the last month or so).
5. Get pregnant (although Hubby's work schedule may push this one into 2011, but we'll see)
6. Travel as much as possible
7. Find a job I love or start my own business.

Happy 2010 everyone and may it be a great year!!