It feels great to be home! The ride back from Vermont seemed to last an eternity. When I am on vacation, and it is about time to leave, I just want to be home if that makes sense. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive back, but after driving up to Ben and Jerry’s yesterday I was pretty much as sick of being in a car as I have ever been.
I woke up at 8 this morning and the sun was shining. I knew it was supposed to be a pretty warm day so I decided the best way to spend my last morning in Vermont would be to go for an outdoor run. That is the beauty of being a “runner”, you always have a means to get your heart pumping (especially if the hotel gym is closed). I chose to run the mile and a half to the fitness and center and then the mile and a half back for a total of three miles. I was running to run so I did not keep track of time and stopped to takes pictures along the way.
The hallway from our room to the front of the Inn
Sunny Morning
Getting started
The air in Vermont is a lot crisper and cleaner and I listened to Amy’s Playlist as I ran. Before the run I made sure to stretch and when I began I felt sluggish. I actually ended up feeling sluggish until the last quarter of my run. Does that ever happen to you? You struggle to get through the time/distance you set for the run, and in the end feel like you could’ve done so much more? I think for me that being a planner is detrimental to my run. I get a set distance in my head (with a set route) and if I feel like running beyond that I can’t seem to find anywhere else to run, so I just stop!
I know you are supposed to always run on the right side of the street and during the first half of my run that was fine! I did notice that the fat sidewalks were only on the side of the road that I was running on the way to the fitness center. The other side of the road barely had any room for a runner, it was a thine area on a slope. So when I turned to head back, I attempted to run on the left, but seeing the cars coming toward me, so close, was freaky! I felt slightly panicked as to what to do! In the end, I ran on the right side and stepped carefully so I wouldn’t roll down the hill, or get hit by a car!
see?! not much room!
After the run I showered and we went to the same coffee shop so I could have one more bowl of their “World Famous Oatmeal”. This stuff is soooo good! I think that I could recreate the recipe if I take some rolled oats and toast them in the oven before mixing them as oatmeal. If you don’t remember the oatmeal had: steamed milk, crunchy organic oats, cranberries, almonds, coconut, walnuts, maple syrup, and honey. YUMMMMM! I also had an iced coffee but only drank half in fear I’d need to stop to go the bathroom a million times on the way home 🙂
Woodstock, VT was a great little place to get away for a few days. We spent our last little bit of time perusing their local shops. There was a gourmet butcher shop that sold lots of mustards, marinades, and meats. There was an old country general store that sold local goods ranging from wine to toys to kitchen supplies. And also a small bookstore that specialized in Vermont and New England reads. All in all, great little get-away!
When I finally got home, I unpacked, tidied up my apartment, and took a nice long nap! For dinner I had some Pillsbury Savorings (jalapeno Popper flavor) and two glasses of savingon blanc (Love vacation)!
Tomorrow I had a 3 mile or so run at the Lake in preparation for my first race on May 9th and then hitting up the gym for some abs and chest. Amy and I are in the process of planning our new workout that we will start Sunday. This is our second workout we will plan together and what I like most about researching and choosing our exercises is that it allows us to invest and believe in what we are chosing to do. We pool online resources, magazines, Karon Karter, and moves we see other at the gym do to create a challenging workout! More on this to follow!
In a closing thought, I am also looking into a way to change-up my diet. I have begun doing some reading on food and in the May issue of Cooking Light the editor, Scott Mowbray, talks about the first two months this year in which he became a vegan. His column inspired me to experiment with my eating habits. He says:
“A change of diet requiring considerable discipline and creativity is like any other change: It broadens the view, feeds the mind, awakens the senses. Things you think you need, you find you don’t need all that much. A few people look at you like you’re crazy, and that alone makes it worth the effort. For all those reasons, I recommend it. Maybe not the Full V[egan] right away. Maybe, to start, a day or two of vegetarian eating each week”
(Cooking Light, May 2010, pg 14)
Much like when I began Weight Watchers in October, changing up my diet felt restricting at first because I focused on what I couldn’t have, on what I was missing. When I say I want to change-up my diet, I mean a gradual shift in what I eat, and the way I think about food. There are some things I am not willing to give up (alcohol, meat, chocolate) and some things I am not willing to incorporate into my diet REGARDLESS of how good they are for me (eggs, blech!!).
What “eating plan” do you currently follow (i.e. Weight Watchers, South Beach, Atkins, Clean Eating) and how did you get into it? Why did you decide to shift your eating and what kind of results have you seen or felt? Right now I am thinking of giving Clean Eating a try with a goal of eating clean two or three days a week in June. Clean Eating is basically eating whole grains, fruits, lean proteins, and vegetables in the form they are found in nature (“If man-made it, don’t eat it” mentality). {Source 1} I don’t know much about it yet, and want to get more information about the foods and purpose behind this eating plan before I get started. The recipes I have found so far look pretty good! Right now, it is just something I am thinking about….share your thoughts with me!
Off to bed, Night!
~L
Want.Believe.Achieve 
eggs… i hated them use to hate them, too! egg whites are not as gross as you might think!
Hi Lisa – I came across your blog on Facebook because I wanted to ask you if you went to the BSC at Wellington. I saw someone there that looked like you, but wasn’t sure.
I think this is great, and it also comes at a time when I’ve decided to both eat better and become more active. My girlfriend has really taken to trying to eat more organic foods, avoiding processed foods when possible, choosing better snacks for both nutrients and reducing full meal portions, and reading labels. Not that we really know everything in the ingredients, but it gives us a good idea how processed the foods are, and she knows certain things she wants to avoid. She also has taken to brown rice as opposed to white, and whole wheat pasta as opposed to regular pasta. We recently had fresh pasta from a place in Davis Square called Dave’s Fresh Pasta, and I’m not sure I can eat anything from the box again…
I’ve taken to eating oatmeal (still processed Quaker, but better than breakfast sandwiches from the cafe at work) and cereal in the morning, with a banana, or sometimes egg white omelettes with tomatoes or mushrooms. I bought a big jug of mixed nuts to snack on when I am hungry, and have gone to a couple wine expos where they had some organic chips for samples, and those were great too. Also, when going out to eat, I usually choose to eat a fish option, try to avoid fried foods when I can, and avoid an appetizer if I know I want a dessert. I still crave bad foods every now and then, but I’ve come to enjoy healthier options too and look forward to finding others that taste just as good. Just remember to still eat what you want sometimes otherwise you’re going to drive yourself nuts.
As for the gym, I hate hate hate running, but am trying to get into it. It hasn’t gone well though haha. My friend recently turned me onto a circuit workout from Men’s Health called the Spartacus workout, and it is pretty intense. But we are keeping track of everything amongst ourselves, similar to your blog, and I have found that it has really helped me stay focused and committed to keeping at it. I think this blog is awesome, and it was something I had in mind when we decided to start the workout, but I got lazy and quite frankly, am pretty boring lol.
Best of luck with all of this – if that is you at the Wellington BSC maybe I’ll see you around!
Ced
Hey Cedric,
Yup, that’s me at BSC. I feel like I live at that place! It’s great that you are following a workout circuit from Men’s Health mag. We get a lot of our new exercise ideas from Women’s Health. When it comes to planning a workout I like to stick with the mindset of “why reinvent the wheel”! If something is already out there working for someone else, why not make it work for you!
I also had the same feeling about running, and didn’t really start liking it until I came up with a kick-ass playlist (Check out this post) and started running outside! The treadmill is so boring! Try an outdoor run sometime and let me know how it goes!
And thanks for reading!
I am with you lisa…i only like my eggs in brownie form 🙂 clean eating sounds intriguing and probably so good for you!