Salad a junk food?

For the last month I have been meticulously logging my food intake and energy output and it's been working I've lost 4 pounds since I started doing that.  Now on occasion I let myself splurge and yesterday I didn't bring my lunch to work so I decided to let myself eat something I wouldn't normally eat, a salad from a local fast food restaurant that is right next to where I work.  Now before you say anything hear me out.....   When I normally eat a salad I have a vinaigrette dressing instead of a creamy dressing and the only fats in it come from either some olives or avocado which I consider good fats.  This particular salad had Ranch dressing (I'm going to guess it comes with about 1/4 of a cup) and shredded cheese on top, it did have some sunflower seeds on it.  So this salad had about 45 grams of fat and came in over 500 calories.  Now sometimes the salads aren't too bad but if we know the nutritional content of them would we always pick them over something more delicious?

Exhibit 1:

My favorite micro brew/restaurant I would always have the Spinach salad because I knew I was going to indulge in a beer.  Well this is what I found out:

Spinach Salad 590 cals 48 g fat

when my real favorite is

Vegetarian Calzone - small is 580 cals 21 g fat and that's with cheese which a lot of times I ask for it without cheese :-)

Exhibit 2:

How about Boston's I use to get their Greek salad and pass on the pizza then I saw this

Greek Salad   900 cals 84 g fat

 Now I know you can't forget about the nutritional value of some foods when picking what you're going to eat but I'm just saying I wish that all restaurants were required to give us their nutrition info. and I greatly appreciate the ones who do because then I can plan for when I splurge :-)  The last couple of days I've been having to dodge things like this:

But that's a whole different story!


Do you ever check for nutrition info online before going to a restaurant?  What is your favorite "splurge" food?  Don't forget about my ROAD ID Giveaway there is still time to enter HERE!!

1st Giveaway Stay Safe!

I had mentioned I have some super cool giveaways coming up and the wait is over!!!  My first giveaway is a Road ID you can pick which style you want, the color, what you want it to say etc.  Because I like you guys so much I want you all to stay safe out there.  1st of all let me just say everyone I have had contact with at this company is exceptionally friendly the customer service has been excellent.  2nd of all if you are like me this is one of those must have items for your gear bag that you keep saying you know you need but haven't gotten around to it.  So now is your chance!  I got 2 different color arm bands and I put 2 emergency contacts plus an inspirational saying for myself "Death before DNF"  :-)  NKA for No Known Allergies (they give you a run down of all the medical abbreviations you might want to use).

It comes in this nifty little box:

You can see the green arm band I also got a red arm band it's inside the box.

This is the style I got, very sturdy and it latches like a watch, ohh fancy...

I won't show you the actual Tag that has all my info because I don't want everyone calling my husband up :-)  but you can see what the tag looks like on the Road ID website!

So here's how you enter (leave a comment for each):

1.  Follow Me (a must)
2.  Share this contest +1
3.  Like My FB Page for Cautiously Audacious +1

I'll announce the lucky winner April 6, 2012

So which one is your favorite Road ID?  Do you have any stories of close calls on the road?

What do you think about while you exercise?

Hello!!!  I'm in an exceptionally good mood today because I rode my bike in to work this morning it was the first commute of the season.  Starting the day off like that always helps wake me up before I get to work so I don't need the usual hour of "don't talk to me"

I don't know about you but I usually do 1 of 2 things while I'm working out.  1) thinking of amusing scenarios that distract me, I have been known to laugh out loud while working out or 2) removing myself from my body and it's like I'm not even there, this is saved for the really long hard workouts.  So with the half marathon it got me to thinking what are other people thinking about while they run and I started with some of the people I know.

G:  "Don't poop my pants, don't poop my pants,   Don't pants my poop, ahhh"

When I asked her how accurate this was she said "When I'm not thinking of pooping my pants I'm thinking about catching the @*#! in front of me!"

K: "Ain't I pretty, Ain't I pretty, my a*$ has got to look hot in these shorts, there's got to be a cute boy at the finish to kiss!"

When I told her this she laughed acknowledging it was kinda of accurate

N: "What kind of music to Leprechauns listen to?  ShamROCK  Oh my gosh why do I keep reading these road signs I know the next one is going to be just as lame. I'm going to burn 1,000 calories and I've only eaten 200 that means I can have ____ beers at the finish line party,  Why did the Leprechaun cross the street?  DOH stop reading those!"

S:  I had no idea what she'd think about and when I asked she said WORK!!!! 


Now what was I thinking as I was riding my bike to work this morning?  "Don't run me over, don't run me over, don't run me over, Trail CLOSED nooooo, ok detour.. don't run me over, weeeeeeeeeee"

Halleluiah  I didn't poop my pants!

Happy Training!!!

What do you think about while you are exercising?

Shamrock Yuengling Half Marathon Recap

I made it back safe and sound with lots of pics, swag, stories and a PR!!

1st time I saw these at the Exp!!  Wouldn't a band aid work?

Packet Pickup

The Good:

• Lots of cool swag: technical race short sleeve shirt (long sleeve for the full marathon), backpack, finishers hat, finishers medal, finishers sweatshirt, plenty of food at finish and 1 gel stop on course, plenty of water, Gatorade and possible 2 beer stops put on by the hashers (I might have had one at mile three which might have been the reason for my PR, hmmm)
• Plenty of room on the road for all of the runners I was afraid it was going to be really crowded but I didn't have to do too much dodging.
• Walked to race start 1..7 mi from our hotel there were plenty of hotels near the start just depending on how much you were willing to pay.
• Overcast and a little chilly for half start which meant the humidity didn't bother me as much
• Very flat course at sea level which may have had more to do with my PR then the beer
• After party on the beach with beer, ocean and the sun finally came out, oh and stew if you weren't vegetarian 

The Bad:

Look at all the cool stuff!

• They started the full marathon 1.5 hrs after the half which meant some people were running in really hot and muggy conditions once the sun came out, I believe there was 1 death at this race
• Only the last quarter of a mile was along the actual beach (but that was due to the ample roads that were used instead which if you see above is one of the good things)
• Most restaurants were overbooked the night before the race and really hard to get a pasta dinner (impossible if you are vegetarian) so I bought a microwaveable pasta dinner that I ate in the room
• Totally due to our poor planning we ended up flying in to BWI instead of Norfolk which added 4 hr drive to our 4 hour plane ride which made for sore legs 

I was wanting a time faster than 2:16 so that I could call it a PR and apparently if you bother to train it works because my "official" time said 2:04:29 I PRd by 12 minutes!!!!  This gave me the confidence boost I needed for my triathlon training that officially starts today!  We had 3 PRs in the group of 4 so that was awesome!  Had fun hanging out with my running buddies!

I have started a FB page for my blog please like me if you are so inclined.  I will add all the pictures from my weekend there!   Also stay tuned I have SEVERAL exciting giveaways coming up very soon!!  Who else raced this weekend?

Pre Race 6 am

Post race, very sweaty humid race, but I'm a desert girl so you east coasters are probably use to it.

Today is I need a laugh Tuesday..

First of all something you may not care about but I felt compelled to share.  I had sent a package via priority mail with our wonderful US postal service back in January.  The first thing that went wrong is that it took my 3 post offices to find the free envelopes actually in stock.  Then I finally sent it with the extra confirmation option.  It went to California, Puerto Rico, Kirtland AFB and finally about 2 months later it made it back to me!!!  My husband is now overseas and never received his care package before leaving.  :-(  One thing I noticed though was that it was so beat up that the pixie sticks inside it had broken and there was a white powder coming out of it if you shook the package!!!!  Maybe that's why it never got anywhere?  It at least gave me a good laugh even though I was sad it never got to him...

Second of all for those of you who might doubt that my dog is crazy, this is my dog in a car at the end of a road trip AFTER being on doggie sedatives for a few hours, so this is her calm self:

 

So I found this list of Half-Marathon Essential Q&As on Runner's World UK and thought I could have a little bit of fun with it to get rid of pre race jitters:

Can I run/walk a half-marathon?  Can you?  Heck just wait until mile 10 when you realize you didn't hydrate, your calf muscles start cramping, and you will be lucky if you can continue walking.

I’ve only been running for two months – is it too soon for a half?  The sooner the better there's no better time than today right?  Who needs a base? 

Do I need to run more than 13 miles in training?  You will just get bored if you do this why not save that for the actual race and have a surprise to keep you interested. 

Why should I do speed work for a half-marathon?  This is very important in half-marathon racing because how else will you be ready for the full on sprint at the beginning of the race where everyone that snuck into corral 1 tries to run at the front with the elites?  You don't want to be trampled or embarrassed so yes it is essential!

What kind of speed sessions should I do for a half-marathon?  The best kind of speed work is to have friends help you simulate what the race will be like, have one try to run you off the road, have another oblivious to the race start still stretching somewhere in front of you where it's hard to not run over them, have another taking pictures of the person behind you oblivious to you stepping out in front of you.  You get the picture.

Can I train for a half-marathon on a three-days-a-week schedule?  Wow you train three days a week!?  You are really on top of your training!

How much fuel should I take on during a half-marathon?  Fuel?  You don't need fuel and if you do on race day feel yourself bonk they'll have something on the course to try out, even if you've never had it before your stomach should be OK with it.

How often can I race a half-marathon?  If you get in less than 12 a year then you are obviously not a serious runner, 'nuff said.

How can I save something for the last 0.1 miles? I always peak too soon.   That's OK that's how you know you sprinted hard enough at the start.  You have to leave it all out on the course right?  Oh and don't forget real runners puke at least once a race.

How long should I taper for?     Taper?!?!  Tapering is for wussies!  Actually I use this time when all the wussies are tapering to make up for any lost workouts I had during my training which means this is the hardest week of training!     


What's your favorite pre race ritual?  Turns out we will be spending Fri. - Mon. in Virginia Beach so if anyone wants to do a meet up message me!  Happy Running! 

A little bit of everything

Look at what I just ordered!  I'm super excited to get it and hang it up, my medals will no longer have to hide in a shoe box in the back of my closet!!!  Now I need to update the pictures that I have in my swim bike run photo frame because they are so old people have laughed at the old school helmet I have on :-) 

 

 Just got another update from my Shamrock 1/2 marathon and it says that as part of your race packet you get tickets for 4 free beers after the race!!!  Ok if I actually drank all 4 of those and after running a 1/2 marathon and on a practically empty stomach I would probably be drunk!!!  And I really have no desire to look like this guy:

 


Lately there are two place I haven't been able to get enough of:

1. Thai Vegan    They are soooo yummy and the owner is nice and thoughtful.  He did the catering for my brother's small wedding and gave them a really good deal and of course awesome food.  The best part is I've taken a lot of friends there that are not vegetarian or vegan and every time they love it, I've won over some skeptics.  Some of my to die for menu items are Won Ton Noodle Soup!!!! this can cure any ailment
Tom Yum Soup for those of you who like it a little spicy
And the Green Curry  Oh and they have a camera in the kitchen so you can watch them cook.


2.  Il Vicino - I love their micro brewed beer especially their brown and the fact that they have the nutrition info online, give you the option to order a "small" of anything on their menu and customize all you want.  I usually get their small vegetarian calzone sometimes with no cheese and sometimes with no goat cheese but ok on the mozzarella. 

I don't really enjoy eating out so when I find a restaurant I like it is awesome.  Some of the criteria that makes a restaurant excellent in my book is: nutrition info., fresh ingredients, and flexibility with ordering.

Do you enjoy eating out?  If so what is your criteria for a good restaurant?

Likes/Dislikes

Let's start with the likes first:

1.  Just found these when I went to do grocery shopping yesterday!!!  I don't usually fall prey to the desert demons but I love anything dulce de leche and I can cheat if I have this for breakfast at only 100 cal per 3/4 cup! 










2. St. Patrick's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays one of the main reasons is probably because green is my favorite color.  So now combine that with a bunch of girl friends, a 1/2 marathon and a good excuse to drink beer after and I'm getting really excited about all the fun stuff we are finding to wear! Just 2 more weeks!

Body Art

Dislikes:

1. Won't get to talk or text with hubs for probably the next month :-(

2. Albuquerque doesn't have any kind of sports psychologist available to anyone other than their college sports teams! 

3. WIND!  I hate running in the wind especially at this time of year where it can be cold wind!

Why I love my running club:

1. It's like having a HUGE extended family from the funny Uncle that can make a mundane maintenance run fun, to the wise aunt that has a cure for every running ailment, and the clumsy cousin who manages to always pick themselves up and you can always count on someone to be there rain, sleet or heat!










2. There is always a fun run that can help make training fly by.  Those of you who have read past posts know how much I love our club's Handicap Runs! 

3. Monthly meetings are informative, usually have a guest speaker, and sometimes giveaways!  I often see groups running before the meeting also!

I know I should have picked a better pic :-)

4. Instant fan base!!!  I LOVE IT when I'm running a race and when some of the volunteers recognize me from the running club and I hear "Keep it up Natasha" or someone from the running club passes me and encourages me to keep moving just when I think I want to start walking (World's Toughest 10k) "IFM"  Incessant Forward Motion!








5.  They never get tired of listening to you talk about all things running related!  If I talk about my training plan, nutrition, or upcoming race they have the appropriate level of interest and even provide feedback! 


That is why I'm so excited about taking on a marketing role with our club and trying to spread the word.  I just need to get a little creative because as is with all non-profits it needs to be on a tight budget. Any ideas?  Why do you love your running club?