Nuts for Nutrition

I’m back in the UK now so time for our race recap!

We had a direct flight to Vegas the Friday before our run, our flight was about 9 hours and we got to our hotel around 8pm.  We had dinner reservations at Carmine’s with my cousin and her husband at 9.  It was so great they came to meet us in Vegas and my Aunt and Uncle also from Seattle were flying in the next afternoon.

Carmine’s serve family style Italian dishes so we decided to go with the Veal parm with angel hair pasta, and it was plenty for the four of us.  Let the carb-o-loading begin!  Carmine’s has recently opened up in the Forum Shops in Caesar’s Palace, the same place where the Cheesecake Factory is,  would be rude to walk by without getting anything!  I got the pumpkin pecan cheesecake, cause I love anything pumpkin pecan, but it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be.  My cousin’s husband Andrew got the dulce de leche, which was awesome so I helped him out with that!

I was unfortunately wide awake Saturday morning at 630am, thanks 8 hour time difference, so we got up early and went to the expo at the convention center.  It was packed so we just wanted to get in, get our packs, and get out. I really wanted to try and find some salted caramel GU for the run, I had heard so much good stuff about it and don’t think it is available yet in the UK.

We got our picture taken at the gotchocolatemilk stand.  I used to collect all the got milk? pictures I found in magazines, dunno why! but I thought it would be fun to get ours done.

We met up with my cousins at Planet Daillie’s in Planet Hollywood for some lunch.  They have THE BEST Reuben I’ve ever had, and the Russian dressing they give on the side is killer.

We got tickets to the UFC fight that night, GSP had a title fight and there was no way Greg would miss it when we were in Vegas at the same time.  The pre-lims started at 330, and the main event wasn’t until about 930.  It was such a fun atmosphere, but shame that Hendricks didn’t win it.  We ended up seeing Bruce Buffer on our way back up to our room!

We met up with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins for dinner and went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants off the strip called Lindo Michoacan.  It’s an authentic Mexican restaurant, and they have their own shuttle service and will take you back to anywhere you want on the strip!

We were staying at MGM, and had a little hiccup with our reservation so we were given a complimentary meal at the hotel buffet.  We had planned out everywhere we wanted to go in the short time we were there so we weren’t sure where we would be able to fit it in.  I had wanted to go to Denny’s the morning of the race to carb-o-load on pecan pancakes, so we decided to go to the buffet then instead.  I didn’t see the pancakes until after I had filled my plate so only had a couple mini ones and carb-ed up on biscuits, corned beef hash and a maple glazed scone.  I probably ate too much, but we had about 5 hours until the race so it was more than enough that I wouldn’t need to snack on anything else before.

We had a couple of hours to kill before the race, and wanted to find somewhere in the hotel to watch the Seahawks game.  It was only showing in a few bars that had a minimum spend to sit there, so we just decided to go back to our room and chill out.  So excited Seahawks are 11-1 now, and we have tickets to a game when we are back in Seattle for Christmas, we are super excited to go to our first NFL game in the states!

Luckily we didn’t have too far to walk to the race start, so we headed over and lined up for one last potty break before the run.

Unfortunately, I was the last one out of the porta-potties and the first corral had already started.  We were supposed to be in corral 8, but by the time we got to the corrals we were in 27! We tried to walk along side and move closer to the front but the closest we got was 17 and just stayed there.

It felt like we were just trying to catching up the whole time and were weaving in and out of people the entire race.  My watch said I had run 13.26 miles at the end of it so there was lots of criss crossing across the street!

I wanted to try and run my first half under 9 minute miles so if I had to slow down in the last few miles I’d have a buffer and still be able to make my goal to get under 2 hours.

The first 8 miles felt great, the weather was perfect and the course was flat, so couldn’t have asked for better conditions. Once we were off the strip and running through random neighborhoods, my legs were starting to get heavy and I was ready and looking out to see how much further till we were back on the strip.

I looked at my watch and saw that I was at 10 miles, 3.1 to go and was on track to beat 2 hours.  A few minutes later I saw the 10 mile marker up ahead of me so that was a little disheartening, and I wasn’t sure how much my watch was off.  I really started slowing the the last mile and a half, my legs were really hurting so I just wanted to stop and walk for a few seconds and hopefully be able to pick the pace back up. It helped a little bit, and the finish line was in sight but I didn’t have a lot left in me to push it much faster.  According to my watch I crossed the finish line in 1:58:49, 6 minutes quicker than my PB! Official time was 1:58:40

We unfortunately weren’t in the mood for clubbing, and will probably be the first and only time I didn’t drink much in Vegas.  I’ll have to make up for it in August during my bachelorette party!!

My Aunt and Uncle left Tuesday morning, so we just spent the rest of our time walking around the casinos checking out the Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations and chowing down in between! We went to Grimaldi’s in the Venetian, amazing pizza and Fogo de Chao for dinner which is an all you can eat Brazilian buffet that has the best bbqed meat, I mean filet mignon wrapped in bacon? Yes please!

We left on Wednesday night, Greg back to London and me to my mom’s in Maryland for Thanksgiving.

Until next time Vegas!

Saturday I attended the Nutrition & Health LIVE Conference.  It is an annual conference for Dietitians, Nutritionists, and Health Care Professionals.

The Expo had lots of great food samples to try.  There was Chobani, Belvita, 9 Bar, Total yogurt, Oatly (oat milk) just to name a few!

I especially enjoyed the 9 Bar samples.  They had Nutty, Pumpkin, Flax, and Original and they were all really good.  As you can see, they are made with natural ingredients and full of vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids like Omega-3.

From their website: “Magnesium, a key nutrient in pumpkin seeds, is a natural energy and metabolism booster, contributing to a reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Sunflower seeds are a good source of thiamine, which helps protect and maintain energy. While hemp seed, the undisputed star of the 9bar show, not only contains Riboflavin (vitamin B2) which helps protect against the effects of oxidative stress, but is actually a complete protein containing all essential amino acids in a balanced ratio – including the 9 that are essential building blocks for good health, which is, of course, what gives 9bar its name.”

I also go to take some samples of Oatly milk in organic and chocolate flavors.  I love oatmeal so I especially enjoyed the oat flavor.

5:2 Diet 

Intermittent fasting seems to be the new weight-loss craze these days.  I was excited to get to hear the scientific evidence from the woman behind it.  Dr. Michelle Harvie is a research Dietitian, who pioneered the diet as part of her work in breast cancer prevention.

There are 48,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Dr Harvie believed that 30-40% of this is linked to excess weight, and being heavier puts women at more of a risk for breast cancer.

The idea of the 5:2 diet is to eat normal for 5 days out of the week and for 2 consecutive days you can only have about 500-600 calories.  Fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and lean dairy are included in the calorie restricted days, but they are lower carbohydrate days.

A study was conducted to compare the 5:2 diet to a conventional low-calorie diet.  The results showed those that were on the 5:2 diet didn’t go crazy on their 5 normal days and stayed in a calorie range similar to those on the low-calorie diet.  The results showed those on the 5:2 diet had greater reductions in body fat compared to the low-calorie dieters. Interesting stuff!

This was the next topic I sat in on and listened to.  It was very interesting in that psychology is being used to help people to lose weight as well as determine if they are actually ready to make a change and get healthier.  It’s not just your normal eat healthy, exercise more talk which is great since our thoughts can be a hindrance or help to someones journey to getting healthier.

Half-marathon Training

Since I was at the conference all day Saturday, Sunday was the day for my long run.  I knew I wanted to do 10 miles, but wasn’t sure how my hurt foot and sore hamstring would feel and didn’t want to push it and make it worse if I started feeling any pain.  I ended up doing 11 miles! I got new shoes last week, and I definitely think it was needed and the extra cushioning really helped.

Weather

52°

Feels like 52°

15 mph W wind

Humidity 58%

I felt great throughout the run, and luckily got Greg to meet me at 6 miles with a full water bottle, my saving grace!  I was out of water once I hit 11 miles, I was contemplating 12 but thought I should probably just stop after 11.

I took an ice bath after to help my future sore muscles. Unfortunately I was walking with a very tight hamstring and limp on the way to work this morning, I was in a rush but couldn’t even attempt to run, it was too painful!

Thoughts on the 5:2 diet? 

So I FINALLY found my wedding dress! I’ve been looking since May when I first went with my mom in Maryland.  The little town she lives in only had a David’s Bridal and one other formal/wedding dress store.  All I had in mind was that I didn’t want a strapless dress, I always have issues with strapless dresses’ and feel like I’m constantly having to pull them up so I didn’t want to have to worry about that on my wedding day. I tried on around 12 dresses between both places and there wasn’t anything that I loved. Me and my mom had been shopping all morning and went to the dress places just before lunch, so at that point I was hungry and very impatient! 

When I got back to London I went to quite a few dress places and of the 50 it felt like I had tried on, there was only one that I loved, but unfortunately since I had gained some weight from my Vegas & Seattle festivities, it was a little snug so I couldn’t get it on! I blame it on the complimentary buffet and maybe a few margaritas.

Since it was slightly over my dress budget and I couldn’t try it on properly, I thought it was best to leave it and look elsewhere since I still had a year till the wedding.  After a few months and a few pounds lost and still no luck with any other dresses, I got in touch with the lady to see if that dress was still available and she told me a girl would be going back the next day to try it on again to make a decision on it, so she would let me know what happens.  I was really hoping she wouldn’t get it, but if it was meant to be it would be.  She contacted me the next day and she told me she didn’t get it!! She wanted it, but her mom and sister convinced her to go with another dress!

I made an appointment to go try it on again, and it slipped right on and fit! I loved it.

Since the dress wasn’t brand new and had been worn once I before I managed to get £100 knocked off the price.  Initially another reason I said no to the dress was it had been worn once before, but after all the other dresses I tried on, it was the only one I couldn’t stop thinking about so I couldn’t pass it up a second time!

I will be storing it at my future in-laws house till the wedding, so no chance of him trying to sneak a peak!

Half-marathon training

I decided to try and do another 9 miles today instead of moving up to 10.  It has taken all week for my hamstring to stop hurting from my last run so I’m a little nervous how today will go. I’m going to try to keep my run around 9:00 minute miles and just see how my leg feels as I go.  I’ve changed my route to avoid the super steep hills I ran last time, so hopefully I can get through it and won’t be in as much pain after as I was last week.  1 month the race today!

Would you ever buy a wedding dress that has been worn before? 

TGIF! I have 9 miles on my half marathon training plan for today.  I always seem to have better runs later in the day, so I have been running home from work on Fridays the last few weeks which has been working well and letting me enjoy my full weekend and relax without  a long run looming over me.

Unfortunately there is a 60% chance of rain this evening,  but I’m still hoping for the 40% chance that it won’t!

Last week during my 8 mile run, my old cotton Nike capris had a hole on the thigh, and I ended up with some pretty bad chaffing at the end of it so it was time to invest in some new ones! I have other Nike capris but they don’t stay on my waist very well and annoyingly have to keep pulling them up while running, so I found some with pockets and drawstrings so I’ll be testing them out tonight.

Wish me luck!

 Does a little rain make you postpone a scheduled run?