Goodbye to You 2011

The year has finally ended. I know you have probably all seen this video by now but it really sums up my year in a wonderful moving way ;)

So this year has been amazing. I said last year I wanted to do somethings like run a half marathon, lose more weight, and I think I met most of those goals! When I look at myself in that video I see the excitement I had, how far I had come and how far I still wanted to go.

My body changed a lot this year. I not only became a half marathon runner 6 times, I also became a marathoner! I ran my fastest half marathon this year in 1:46. Pretty damn good feeling. Then I has my fastest 5K ever when I ran one in September in 21:04. I ran a marathon in 3:46, that was probably the best day for me in 2011. When I crossed that finish line I felt truly unstoppable.

I made some amazing friends. I have come to have some close friends who have gotten me through some tough moments and tough runs. I feel truly blessed to all of you in 2011 and you know what, we will make 2012 even better!

I have also ended my long career in retail! I have a wonderful new job that is starting this coming week and I am so excited about it!

I also discovered a love for living a more paleo lifestyle and doing crossfit. I learned a lot about my body and how it reacts to different types of nutrition. I finally feel like I have a good grasp on what I perform best with.

To usher out 2011 I ran a marathon today :) I headed out to Castle Island and it was great. I had a hard time getting going on my run but it turned out to be worth sticking it out for.

Here are just a few pictures from 2011 that I love :)

 I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's!!!!!!

Back To Basics Final Check In!

I hope everyone had a great month!!

I cannot believe it is actually almost over.Well it is in many ways!!!!

Sorry this post comes a few days late, the week in my life has been crazy and hectic and I have gotten all of my training goals met, worked, and taken care of my personal issues but blogging obviously had to take a back seat. So I apologize!

For me the week was ok. Christmas was a bit of a challenge and at weigh in on Wednesday I was up .4 I know not a total bust but it just annoys me. So for the month of December I lost a total of 5.4 pounds. An average of 1.1 pounds a week which is the healthy way to lose weight. So in the end I cannot complain. In past years I would probably have gained at least 5.4 pounds if not more in December gobbling up all the goodies and indulgences that the holiday offers. But this year I took a stand against it all and I feel like I won.

I am 3.2 pounds away now from my lifetime weight watchers goal weight. I know I will get there, I am hoping it is in January!

I am wanting so badly to do a big 2011 recap and post some goals for 2012 and I will work on that later. BUT for now lets talk about how Back to Basics went!!!!

I want to hear how you liked it, what worked for you, and maybe even what did not!

I want to hear about it because I will be picking a winner and they will win a gift card from me and a book!!! So please write about, tweet me, face book me, email me (form is on main page of my blog) however you want! But let me know :) I will pick a winner on January 4th. This gives you a few days ;)

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did doing this challenge and tweeting about it with the hashtag #back2basics

Stuffed Peppers

I know its been quite sometime since I posted any recipes!
The holidays are a hectic time for me and I have been sticking to basics and this means not much experimenting in the kitchen lately. But I cooked for Christmas and I thought I would share that.
Also this recipe helps me stick to my Back 2 Basics plan!

I wanted stuffed peppers, I miss those. I wanted to keep them light and healthy so I came up with this:

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein
Turkey - Ground Turkey Lean 93/7 , 12 oz. (112 g)	450	0	24	72
Peppers, Green, Bell Fresh - Peppers, Green, Bell, 3 cup	156	36	0	6
Raw - Tomato, 10 ounce	50	11	0	2
Onions - Raw, 1 small	29	7	0	1
Kraft - Grated Parmesan Cheese, 3 T.	120	0	7	9
Spinach - Raw, 2 cup	14	2	0	2
Lisanatti - Almond Mozzarella Style Cheese Alternative, 3 ounce	189	6	9	21

I inputted it into My Fitness Pal for all of you. This seems to be the easiest way to calculate recipes.
So each pepper is 252 calories, 16 carbs, 10 fat and 28 protein.

Each pepper is only 6 points plus! 

This is simple to make. First I chopped the onion and sauted it with some garlic in a pan, then I added the tomatoes chopped up and spinach. Once it was cooked I set it aside. I browned the turkey and once it was cooked I added it to the vegetables. When you blend it all together and add the grated cheese it blends well. And its pretty light for a filling. While all that is going on I steamed the peppers. You wash the peppers and cut the tops off and scoop out any seeds. I boil them for about 5-8 minutes just to soften them a little.

Once all ingredients are prepped just stuff the peppers with the meat and vegetables mixture! Then I topped them off with the almond cheese.

I bake them in a covered pan at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

The results were delicious! I had one for lunch and it was very filling and satisfied that Italian food craving for the day for me ;)

Do you have healthy alternatives to unhealthy choices?

My New Training Plan

It seems only fair that I talk to you about my new training plan.

After running my first marathon, I walked away happy but also with a hunger. I have a deep hunger to qualify for the Boston Marathon. So I picked a marathon in Hyannis, the same one I ran my first ever half marathon at last year and then sought out a training plan.

My friend Robin who has amazingly BQ'd for this years Boston and is going for next year in 2 weeks in Disney recommended Pete Pfitzinger. So I ordered his book Advanced Marathoning and began reading :)

The plans are tough. But I have been told by the wise Miss Robin that they are supposed to be so you can push harder and get to that goal. I know all about toughness hehe I did train for a marathon already but of course only once.

I did run my marathon in Philadelphia and I did it in 3:46 so I think I can improve upon this. I have been doing the plan for 2 weeks and it is tough. The main focus is getting more miles in during the week, instead of 5 and 6 mile runs on days I am working on 11 and 8 mile runs. There are lactate thresh hold runs and marathon paced long runs.

I did my first marathon paced long run on Saturday in the freezing cold 23 degrees weather. It was a 16 mile run with 10 at marathon pace! It was hard, it was cold and I was tired but I did it. I started at 3 miles easy pace of 9:20s and then I did 10 in a row all at 8:15-8:05 pace. I felt so strong when that was done. Then I ended the run with 3 miles at 9:10s. When I was done I felt confident. That told me simply one thing: the plan is good and hopefully I can be wearing a new marathon shirt soon ;)

Finding a good plan is important. Finding one that works with your training style and helps you get to your goals is even better.

Have you found a training plan you love?