The truth is, I wasn’t feeling the run from the beginning, my body didn’t settle in and I couldn’t find a pace where I was feeling good…which probably would have happened if I had brought Mav or not.

The good news is…the shins weren’t hurting!  So that’s a plus.  I decided that I’m not going to let this bad run bring me down (although it did for about 30 minutes) and I’m just going to go back out tomorrow to try again.  I would like to do the full 9, but at the very least I’m going to finish the 5 I didn’t get to today.

Also, I’m excited for date night with Mike tonight.  We are going to Central Blue, a popular martini & tapas restaurant nearby.  I’ve been wanting to check it out for awhile so I’m looking forward to it.

I think that for now I’ll take a nap.

How do you handle bad run days? Or just bad exercise days in general?

My pre-run fuel was my yummy breakfast.  Banana whipped oatmeal made with almond milk and some Dark Chocolate Dreams PB on top.

In my what do you want post, I got some feedback requesting more playlists, so I will start today by sharing the music I have been listening to recently and what I will be listening to today.

None of these songs are super new but I typically change the songs I listen to while working out every couple of weeks or something.  I definitely am not the type to need different music every workout!  But maybe I should start so I can share more good playlists!!

Now that I’ve taken my sweet time this morning, it’s almost noon and I should get goin’.  Let’s hope my shins hold up for these 9 miles! 9 is my goal but if my body says I should stop sooner, I will.  We’ll see!

What is your workout today?

How often to you change up the playlists you listen to?

Broccoli Rabe & Parmesan Cheese Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 1 package lean ground turkey
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• Parmesan cheese
• Broccoli Rabe (just a few pieces)
• Spices to taste: salt, pepper, oregano, minced onion

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. In a bowl, combine ground turkey, egg whites, and marinara sauce
3. Spread a layer of meatloaf onto pan
4. Place broccoli rabe and cheese in the middle
5. Cover with another layer of meatloaf
6. Sprinkle more cheese on top if desired
7. Cook in oven for 40-50 minutes

I only had a small piece because I had 100% ruined my appetite from eating a couple of these delicious babies, but I’m having leftovers for lunch as we speak and its quite delicious.

Go check out the smokin’ hot bods in this post if you haven’t already.  Even if you have, it’s probably worth another look

#131: Laurel!

#23: Chelsea!

#107: Alisen A! 

CONGRATS winners!  Please send me an email to bessbefit at gmail dot com for directions on how to claim your Chickbands!  Thanks to everyone who entered!  If you didn’t win, don’t worry…I have two more giveaways lined up for the coming weeks so don’t go anywhere

NOW FITSPIRATION TIME!

So, on Tuesday night I tweeted this:

I was feelin’ good from some Chardonnay and Pinterest-ing under the influence…which caused a little lightbulb to go off in my head.

And you are about to see what my “genius” idea was…I’ll leave it up to you to decide if the wine planted a good or bad idea in my head.  I thought it would good be a nice little change up to the norm.

So here we go!

I hope you enjoy this slightly different FITspiration Friday.  I still think you will be able to find some motivation in it

Alright alright…in case that doesn’t do it for ya…here are some pictures of the regular sort…

Happy Friday all

If you haven’t told me what you want yet, please take a second to let me know!!

On the flip side, I also love eating healthy.  It makes me feel good and it’s what my body deserves so I try to find that nice balance.

Ideally, I’d like to have the best of both worlds.  So….

I made these.

I’d like to introduce…the best of both worlds.  In bar form.  Nice to meet you!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 shake sea salt
• 1.5 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I’m sure any milk would do)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Stir peanut butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until well combined.
3. Add in baking soda, salt, flour, and protein powder and combine all.   The mix will be dry.
4. Stir in almond milk and applesauce to form a dough.
5. Add dark chocolate chips
6. Put dough in a lightly greased 8×8 baking pan
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes
8. Let cool (or don’t…I’m never very good at that step) and Enjoy!

These are lightly peanut buttery flavored, slightly dense and slightly cake-like, and totally good.

Oh, and don’t forget the ooey gooey chocolate.

*Notes:

-If you don’t like applesauce I think it would be fine without it…it would be less cake-like.

-this dough is fine to be eaten before you cook it…no raw eggs

]]> http://bessbefit.com/2012/01/26/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-protein-bars/feed/ 13 bessharrington IMG_0639 IMG_0638 IMG_0637 IMG_0642 IMG_0644 IMG_0646 http://bessbefit.com/2012/01/26/quick-question/ http://bessbefit.com/2012/01/26/quick-question/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:21:05 +0000 Bess http://bessbefit.com/?p=7184 ]]> I have a quick question to ask all of you lovely BBF readers.

I want to know what YOU want to see more of on the blog!  I write it for myself, but let’s be honest, I also write it because I love the interaction with YOU, my readers (so thankful to have you all, by the way), so let me know of anything you’d like to see more of

Be back later with a yummy (& healthy) recipe I’ll be making this afternoon!

We should start some sort of club or something!

Now to backtrack.  I had some yummy food today.  I especially loved my mid-morning snack.

Lunch I had a sweet potato, bag of carrots, and a small slice of leftover pizza from last night…but I didn’t take a picture of it.  I did get my pre-workout snack though…more PB!

Dark chocolate dreams pb with honey on an english muffin.

My dinner is a Mediterranean salad from a place called Wild Greens that is downtown.  Mike went there for lunch today and brought me back a salad to have for dinner. So sweet

It’s actually quite a large salad and I managed to finish half and I’m saving the rest for maybe lunch tomorrow if it doesn’t get too soggy!  Soggy lettuce is worse than losing circulation to your toes.

Going to go relax for a bit before bedtime!

What about you?  Do you lose circulation?  Anything else weird happen to you while working out?

The GREAT thing about yesterday was it was National Peanut Butter Day!  Talk about a HOLIDAY people!  I unfortunately didn’t bring any PB with me to work, but I knew exactly how to celebrate when I got home.

A heaping spoonful of dreamy dark chocolate peanut butter happened immediately and I savored it for as long as possible!

It wasn’t long until I was hungry for dinner…probably not even 2 hours later!  I decided to make some homemade pizza with a whole wheat thin crust I had just purchased from the grocery store, marinara sauce, and cheese.  So easy and ready in 15 minutes!

I had a few slices and a glass of white wine to go along with it.  I just needed a glass after the day I had yesterday…or two.  Okay fine it was two glasses.

Why is pizza so perfect?

This morning I woke up with a plan on going to the gym to get a run in on the treadmill, but honestly my lower legs have been hurting me again this week like they did back when I was training for my 2nd half-marathon, and I really don’t want to injure myself so I decided against the running and stayed home to complete the Tone It Up 300RepChallenge workout.  The workout is circuit-style and the challenge is to go through the circuit twice and push yourself for time (while still focusing on form.)

I ended up doing the workout 4 times through, meaning I did 1200 reps total!! Woohoo!

I timed myself each set (2 times through the circuit), and here were the results:

Set #1: 

Set #2: 

Set #3: 

Set #4: 

Each time my goal was to beat the time before, but the third set really took it out of me since I was really pushing hard, so I wasn’t able to beat it on the fourth set.  But I was still happy with the times. I was really able to fly through the squat jacks and for the pushups with tummy tucks, I made them more of a mountain climber (which really increased the difficulty) in the way that I was barely touching my toes on the floor before switching sides.  This was so killer on my arms and hip flexors!

I hope to get to the gym after work for Body Pump but I have a meeting this afternoon and I’m just not sure how long that will go…so we will see.

Breakfast…the usual.

Did you celebrate National Peanut Butter Day?

Ever wear compression sleeves under your work clothes?  Because that is exactly what I did today.  Tryin’ to get these shins feelin’ better!

It really took me an hour to eat that whole bowl.  Kale is filling!  But there is nothing better than shoving your face into an enormous bowl of vegetables.

I woke up early this morning to get to the gym by 6am.  I hopped on an elliptical, put my headphones in to watch SportsCenter, and got going.  I did 1 hour of inclines between 10-20 and resistances between 8-10.  My legs were feeling kind of tired and sluggish so I didn’t push it too much on the resistance.

Always nice to get the workout done with!  I think I am going to hit some abs tonight, at least do my plankaday!  Maybe I can beat 3 minutes and 8 seconds this time.

Breakfast. Standard. Protein Oats. Coffee.

My day’s been off to a bit of a rough start, just annoying things keep happening, so I’m hoping that turns around soon!

Who else wants to do a plankaday today??  Time yourself and see how long you can hold it!  Then let me know!  Just go do it now!  Plank, ready set go!

Such a perfect snack!

Later on, my lunch was a few leftover pieces of “salad pizza” from Mike’s mom.  It’s a healthy pizza!  Thin, whole wheat crust, very thin layer of cheese, with a salad on top!

So good, I love the crust the best!

Since the pieces were pretty big, they held me for the rest of the afternoon until I got home, where I promptly made my favorite  pre-workout food.  Honey & PB on an english muffin!

I relaxed on the couch for a bit as my food digested, and I listened to the rain pour outside.  I did not want to go back out in such gross weather, so instead I opted for a tough rainy day at-home circuit workout and some yoga!  Here was my circuit workout:

Let me just tell you, I was drenched in sweat by the end of this…I mean, dripping down my face.  The stairs and star jumps were especially killer!  That took about 25 minutes to complete, and then I did a 42 minute yoga workout from Fitness OnDemand.  To cap off my workout, I challenged myself with a plank to see how long I could go!

I had noodle arms from my circuit workout and the yoga, so my arms were shaking badly during this but I was happy I was able to hold the plank for a little over 3 minutes before giving up!  Test yourself!!  How long can you hold it?!

And now time for ANOTHER GIVEAWAY!!!!!  So excited about this one!!

I have CHICKBANDS to giveaway! And there will be three winners!!

I was sent a couple of Chickbands to try out and I am in love.  These headbands don’t even budge during a workout!  I wore one during my entire workout today and didn’t even have to think about the headband because it stayed in place the whole time and was super comfortable on top of it.  Not too tight, not itchy, didn’t cut off circulation to my skull…you know, the important stuff.  I also happen to have a weird shaped head and have a hard time finding headbands that won’t slip off, and this one didn’t.  I’m sold!

Even when I was super sweaty it didn’t go anywhere!

Not only are the bands functional and amazing, they are SO CUTE!

So again, there will be THREE WINNERS and each will be able to choose which Chickband they want.

To enter the giveaway, it is REQUIRED that you:

1. Go to the Chickbands Etsy page and tell me which band you would want!!

2. Like Chickbands on Facebook

You can get additional entries by doing any of the following (and leaving me a separate comment for each):

1. Following me on Twitter

2. Tweeting about the Giveaway: “Win some Chickbands on Bess Be Fit from @bessharrington! http://wp.me/p108Ct-1R7″

3. Liking me on Facebook

4. Facebook-ing about the giveaway!

Good Luck!  I will announce the winner on Friday!