Healthy Pancakes!

The other day I promised a healthy pancake recipe. I am finally getting around to posting it for you! This is not my recipe but I made a couple changes based on what I had in my kitchen. My sister made these when I was visiting Florida a few weeks ago and I had to get the recipe from her. These are vegetarian and gluten free for those who are concerned with those things. I love them because the are healthy, taste good, and give me energy.

You will need:
3 bananas
2 eggs
1 tsp honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp coconut oil or butter (use real butter not margarine to keep them healthy)

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1/2 nutmeg, ground (I didn't have this and mine tasted fine)
1 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp salt
handful of chocolate chips or other mix in (optional)

It is best to mix the dry ingredients separate from the wet ones, then combine them. I used syrup because I didn't have honey. I do have coconut oil which is better than butter. But use what you have if you don't want to go buy it. The bananas are better if they are super ripe with brown spots. I had a couple in the freezer that I had to put in there to keep from going bad. I usually use them for my morning shakes but they work fine for the pancakes too if you thaw them out. I put a little extra cinnamon in mine but I love cinnamon. I normally don't care for chocolate chips in my pancakes but I like them in these so I used them. You don't have to, or you could add blueberries or other fruit. I may try blueberries next time!

Mash the bananas then mix with the other wet ingredients. For the oat flour I just used plain oats I had and ground them up. Just don't use instant oatmeal with all the additives. Get all the ingredients mixed well, adding the chocolate chips or other add in last, and then heat your pan to a medium heat. If the pan is too hot, they will burn easy. See?

This was my first attempt. After this, I switched to my griddle to make more at once and kept the heat lower. Also, these seem to be difficult to flip so keep them small. My batch made about 9 pancakes. You can double it, my sister did when she made them and it turned out fine. I put my leftovers in the freezer. I was worried about the banana in them. When eating them, they taste amazing with strawberry jam on them. But mine and my daughter's favorite thing to put on them is peanut butter and a little bit of syrup.

These are so delicious. I don't know if I will ever buy a pre-made pancake mix again. (I'm sure I will, because I'm lazy like that.) Enjoy!!

Distance running is awesome! (And not pushing yourself too hard pays off)

I have always loved "distance running." Which for me in college was my 5k races and training runs usually up to 8 miles. I think I had run 9 and 10 miles a couple times. Training for a half marathon is true distance running (not compared to ultra marathons! But still. Its far. And awesome.)

This week started out warm compared to the weather we've had recently! I donned shorts and a tank top for Monday's short 3 mile run. Tuesday it snowed. Seriously? Luckily I don't run on Tuesdays so I did my cross training (P90X Plyometrics) inside. Wednesday was a 5 mile run and I ran in the coldest temperatures I have ever run in. The "feels like" temp was 11 degrees! Once I got warmed up it was alright, and something about running in the snow was pretty awesome. I figured I should practice running through it when I can since there could be snow on the ground at my half marathon. Thursday was P90X Yoga (love it sooooo much!!) and I was scheduled for another 3 miles doing a HIIT workout (High Intensity Interval Training), but my husband told me his work schedule changed to where I couldn't do my long run today (Saturday). So I changed it to Friday and didn't run on Thursday. And here's why I skipped it.

Last week I ran 3 miles Monday, did a workout that involved my legs on Tuesday, ran 5 miles Wednesday, 3 Thursday, and then realized that like this week, I would need to do my long run on Friday. It was 8 miles. My legs were already kinda sore from the week, and the 8 miles was very rough. My average pace was 11:03. For my half marathon my goal is 10 minute miles, though I'm hoping with the weeks I have left I can drop my goal time. So I learned a very valuable lesson last week: to not overdo it on the runs. My legs hurt all week and I took super hot baths to help relax the muscles. By Sunday night they were better and have felt fine this week. So this leads me to my Friday run and how not pushing too hard and not running on Thursday helped me.

Friday was my long run. This week my schedule said 10 miles. last week's long run was 8 miles, and it hurt and I was slow. Who's idea was it to jump 2 miles in a week? Oh that's right - mine. I made my own training schedule. I was hoping I could do it but willing to stop at 9 miles if I needed to. I was also excited as this run would bring me up to only being 3 miles away from my race distance, only 3 miles from a HALF MARATHON distance. Seems crazy. My legs have felt no soreness at all this week because I trained smart and took care of them, unlike last week. I completed my 10 miles AND ---- AND!!! I did it with a 10:02 average pace. I am so thrilled that I was much faster than last week even with adding 2 miles, all because I took care of my legs. It was pretty chilly out but after about a mile I warmed up. Just after mile 6 I got really cold again and realized I must be getting low on energy. I carry a FuelBelt and Gu Chomps so I got them out and ate a couple. It was my first time eating while running. I didn't stop or walk, because I know during my race I won't want to. My chomps were in a ziploc bag because I had opened the pack to try them. Opening that ziploc bag with gloves on took forever. I either need to figure out something else or just deal with the trouble. I don't know yet.

I am so happy with my pace! Today is 50 days until my half marathon so if I just keep it up with my training I should be able to do my 10 minute mile goal or better on race day. Looking at my splits here on the picture - my second mile was really slow. No matter how far I am running, 3 miles or 10 apparently, my second mile is always the slowest. Always has been. It was around 11 minutes. So I picked it up a little after that. Then the other slow splits is from when I was opening/eating my Gu chomps between mile 6 and 7. I didn't walk but I did slow down. So I will need to account for that in the future. I finished my week today by doing P90X chest/shoulders/triceps and ab ripperx.

Overall it was a great week for my workouts and I am over the moon about my long run. I have learned my lesson to not think I am invincible and I can't push myself too hard. Obviously I need to push myself, but last week I exceeded my limits. Definitely something to avoid in the future. P.S. look forward to a healthy pancake recipe coming soon!

Four Simple Rules...

I found this on Pinterest and absolutely love it. It is so basic, not specific to any type of workout, and gives you a mindset of positivity; you can accomplish your goals. The 4th rule is probably the most important of all.

The first rule to never miss a Monday is great because for most people, Monday is the start of the work week. It is the slowest day of the week and there is no motivation. It would be really easy to make excuses and skip your run (or other workout). For me personally, on Sundays I go to church and it is a "day of rest" so it is very easy for that to be my rest day. On Monday, I make sure I get back to my workout routine. which leads to the second rule of never going 3 days without exercise. If I am feeling really worn down or if we travel to visit family I will sometimes take two days off. I have always tried not to take off much more than that. Three days seems like a good number to stick with. And if you do need to take days off, or if you aren't doing an intense workout program, then the rule of working out at least 3 days a week is good to stick by. Before I started my half marathon training, I worked out 3 or 4 days a week and it was fine. Not too intense but still accomplishing my goal of working out and getting fit.
The fourth rule: NEVER GIVE UP. It is so easy to give up. You might miss several days of working out because life gets crazy. It happens. It is hard to start again. Or if you get injured it is very disappointing to be losing progress you've made and you might get discouraged. I have given up on workout programs since having Kylie. But now that I am running and cross training and preparing for a goal, I know I won't give up. So please, if you take nothing else from this post, please never give up. Don't give up on yourself and your goals. You can do what you put your mind to if you just stick with it.
I hope someone found a little inspiration from this post. I know the rules spoke to me and I hope that I always stick to them.

Intro!

Well, hello! I am new to this whole blogging world. I have been wanting to start one for a little while now and finally sat down to do it! Now if only I keep up with it...

Anyways...my name is Kimmy and I'm almost 27 years old. I grew up in Florida and loved it, until I saw what else the world had to offer. I have a wonderful husband named Chris who is prior Army (hooah!) and we met about 6 years ago working at McDonald's together. we just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. When we got married he had just been stationed in Colorado so off to the cold we went. I don't like the cold, but I LOVE seeing seasons, and I absolutely love the mountains. He was injured in combat and was discharged last year. We moved to North Carolina to be closer to our Florida family but stay in the mountains/seasons area of the US.

We have a daughter named Kylie who just turned 2. She is the light of our lives. She has the most hair of any girl her age you will ever see. Its all anyone who meets her talks about. People have asked if its a wig. People have thought she was a doll when she was a baby until she moved. Its just all the hair. I spend more time on my child's hair than my own. Kylie loves the Cars movies and My Little Pony. And every other animal on the face of the earth. We have a 90 pound chocolate lab named Zeus, and Kylie thinks she is bigger than him. They have alot of fun together.

So, since I was in 7th grade I have been a runner. Well at that point I did the 800 meter race in track. I loved racing though. A friend convinced me when we went into high school to go to a cross country practice with her. That first 3 mile practice I thought I was going to die. And then I just fell in love with it and never looked back. I ran in high school and community college. In college I had the opportunity to run in the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) national meet both years I ran with my team. Best running experiences of my life thus far. I love competing. And yet I haven't done it in over 5 years since I got married. I think I've done maybe two 5k's since then. I stopped running completely after moving to Colorado because of the altitude. See, my lungs kind of hate me and I have asthma and grew up getting bronchitis several times a year. But I was determined to run anyways. But in Colorado I just could not run, not for a few years. I would do a short run here and there. Finally after Kylie was born I took up running again, but it was still very sporadic and I didn't keep up with it like I should have.

This past year I had to have half of my thyroid removed. I had a lump on it, and biopsies could not determine if it was benign or if it had cancer. It had grown, so I opted to get it removed. Thankfully after it was removed they determined it had not been cancer. But now I am down half a thyroid, which is what helps your metabolism and all sorts of other fun things. Well I opted not to go on the medication to regulate your metabolism. I wanted to try and keep my weight down on my own without being on a pill the rest of my life. Within a few months of my surgery I gained around 15 pounds. Around August or September, I realized that not working out and not eating right were not going to help me keep my weight under control. I wasn't overweight to begin with, only around 10 pounds above where I was before getting pregnant with Kylie, and before her I was very fit. But being more than 20 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight just wasn't good for me. I felt sluggish and lazy and just wanted to eat. Which is a side effect of not having half a thyroid and not going on the medication. I decided I should start running again. So I started going to the little gym in our apartment complex and hopping on the treadmill a few times a week. I was very diligent in going and in eating better. Not perfect! No one is perfect. I am far from it. I love food. I will not starve myself to be skinny. I will not give up foods I love to be skinny. If I can still eat what I like sometimes and be fit, that is good enough. Sometime in October I had fallen back in love with running again. I had long ago had a goal of running a half marathon (not a full....I still don't know if I'm crazy enough for that!). So I thought, "what better time than NOW to set that goal again?" So I did. I started looking at races and training schedules. In mid-November I picked a race for March. Then I hurt my ankle. I was glad I didn't pick the one in January I had been looking at!

The Half Marathon Training Schedule I created!

After Thanksgiving I started running again slowly and created my own training schedule that was based off of one I found online. My father-in-law let me borrow P90X and so I am using some of the videos for my cross training. I am so excited for this goal, something that I am doing for me and me only! For anyone who is a mother, you know that everything you do is for your child. And if you are a stay at home mom like I am, you can go a little batty watching cartoons and singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" all day long. So having something to do that is only for me, and having this goal that is my goal to achieve on my own, it is amazing! Every person should have something they do just for themselves. Reading, sewing, etc. Exercise is great because it is for yourself mentally and physically. And for me emotionally sometimes too! Today is 8 weeks from my very first half marathon and I am so excited to be counting down! I plan to keep posting my updates on my training, but I am sure this blog will also involve lots of things about Kylie and food, the two other things I love the most. Every day that I run I post about it on Instagram, which you can find here. I will probably post a summary on the blog weekly. Or more if I get bored. Oh and if you can't already tell I tend to babble when I get on a computer, so I hope you like to read my ramblings!!!

Goodnight for now!