5K, Gazelle, Intervals, & New foods!

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Hola amigos, how’s your Sunday going? Mine’s pretty good so far 🙂

I had an overall good weekend that I’d like to share. Yesterday, I ran my first 5K! It was intense but I LOVED IT.
It was at Colt State Park in Bristol, and it was to raise money so that others wouldn’t go hungry — a great cause! $10 bought 100 lbs of food, and registration was $30 so I alone bought 300 lbs of food for needy and hungry families! It was such a great feeling to participate in something that not only made me feel good, but also made others feel good, also.

The water I bought for the 5K. It’s over 50 fl oz!

Can you believe I drank it all before/during/after the race? I LOVE water!

It was such a beautiful day for a race yesterday. We were really lucky we didn’t get the thunderstorms that were predicted.

 

Here I am ready to get my 5K on!

 

The race began near the beach, looped around by the water, and continued through the park. I finished in 41 minutes. Not first, nor last, but I was SO proud of myself, and for my first 5K, that was EXCELLENT TIMING!

After the race, I grabbed an apple, and they were also giving away this…

They had regular baked chips, white cheddar popped crisps, and these — kettle corn crisps! Trust me, they were delicious (sadly, not entirely sugar-free), but they hit the spot!

 

EXERCISE

Last week, a friend of my boyfriend and I gave us a Gazelle for free! Since then, my boyfriend has been using it religiously in the mornings. Oddly enough, the Gazelle was the way my brother lost all of his weight. I hopped on it the other day and worked out on it only to pull a muscle in my left calf!  Luckily, it did not interfere with the 5K, and I am feeling much better! I love going to the gym, so I personally wouldn’t use the Gazelle in place of it; but it sure is a nice alternative!

I’ve been looking into more interval exercises to do. I downloaded a HIIT and Tabata timer to my Android. I do best with interval exercises because:

  • they are effective in a short amount of time
  • I don’t feel like I’m exercising
  • they work out many groups of muscles at one
I’ve been searching the internet for some great  HIIT and Tabata exercises, many of which include push-ups, mountain climbers, lunges, high knees, and floor jacks. I am hoping to try these out and let you know how they go!

FOODS

I’ve been trying my best to eliminate sugar from my diet after a fall-back. I was at the store the other day when I spotted some unsweetened coconut. As I inspected the package, I saw a recipe for some chocolate macaroons and then my mind got creative.

I followed the recipe as given. However, these were  my substitutions:

  • instead of using chocolate chips, I bought some Baker’s unsweetened chocolate and used that instead. I used between 4-6 oz.
  • I used 1/2 cup of Stevia in the Raw baking stevia instead of the sugar
  • I added 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract, as well
(taken from Bob’s Red Mill package) You will need:
  • 2 Egg Whites
  • 1/4 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon Almond Extract
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 1 6-ounce package (3/4 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled.

Preheat oven to 325’F. Beat egg whites and salt until almost stiff. Add sugar (or stevia), slowly beating until egg whites stand in peaks. Add flavoring. Fold in coconut. Add melted chocolate and stir until well mixed. Drop my teaspoonfuls on parchment paper on cookie sheet and bake for 15 min. Cool slightly and remove from paper with spatula.

Mmm melted chocolate.
This is the coconut mixture with the stevia, egg whites, salt, and flavorings. I folded the chocolate into it after it was cooled.
The macaroons looked like this upon baking!
The verdict?
They were not bad! I think next time, I will add some more stevia and use less chocolate. The flavor wasn’t exactly too bad, though. It was EXTREMELY chocolatey, but not sweet chocolately. Next time, I may try a different method of chocolate. I think perhaps cocoa powder? I love the way my black bean brownies come out when I use the powder 🙂
But, on the plus side, it’s curbed my chocolate craving for the week and I still love the taste!
Hope you’re having a great weekend!

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