Monday, August 20, 2012

More protein please

Friday at work, I got to pretend to be super important.
Outside the front door of the NC Legislative building


















Inside the House chambers. Fancy!


















Saturday morning, I got up and went for a run. I was supposed to run 7 miles but 4.5 was all my legs had in them. I was struggling the whole time and was hoping after the first mile my legs would be warmed up and feeling better, but it didn't work that way. After posting on Daily Mile and taking a look at what I've been eating and drinking, particularly after workouts, it became clear that maybe I need to up my protein intake.

Apparently roam rolling isn't the problem.















If I'm being completely honest, I've been probably getting the majority of my protein from peanut butter which, it turns out, isn't actually that great of a protein source. I went grocery shopping and I now have chicken, sausage, bacon, and beans in my fridge. I already had almond milk in there, so I'm not a complete dunce. Post-run chocolate milk sounds good to me!

I guess someone left it here in case, mid-run, I was feeling a little randy?


















Pippi and I then went to training class. Whenever Trainer Ryan explains what we'll be learning this week, I'm always hesitant to believe it's possible. This week we're practicing the first skill in having Pippi go directly to her bed and lay down when someone comes into the house (or knocks on the door). Yeah, I'm skeptical too, but one step at a time. For now we just need to get down "on your bed". Here's our progress:

1.
 

2.
 

The next step involves someone actually coming over and helping me by knocking on the door or hitting the doorbell over and over and over so we can practice. That's so much easier said than done. I may need to ask my firefighter friends for more help. I'm assuming pizza and beer will be motivation. (If you're reading this and live near me and want to assist in this super fun exercise, let me know!)

I spent the remainder of my weekend cleaning and painting walls. I finally finished the stripe wall!

The colors are a nicer in person. Promise.

Mom. Tell them how I helped. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom.
Just don't look at it up close. Painters' tape is a damn joke!

On Sunday morning I set out to clean the house and I got halfway done vacuuming the first level when my "check vacuum bag" light came on. I figured it would be an easy, quick trip to WalMart and I'd be back in business. Yeah, not so much. Apparently the worst day to shop at WalMart is a rainy Sunday the day before the college semester down the street begins. For crying in the sunshine! On the way home I had to stop at the frozen yogurt place to console myself.

At least my vacuum bags smell freaking delicious.



















I hope your running was much more pleasant than mine this weekend. What do you eat or drink after runs to recover?


Have you ever found something completely random on the ground while running/walking/biking/skipping?



10 comments:

  1. Awwww look at how good Pippi is!

    I've started drinking a class of chocolate almond milk within 20min of finishing any workout longer than an hour and I think it's helped a lot. I feel like my recovery time is shorter, plus I'm less hungry throughout the day.

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  2. Sometimes I am really good about getting the protein in post workout and sometimes I just get busy and forget. I do notice a big difference though.

    I am with you, painters tape is not all that.

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  3. Almond milk is pretty low protein, especially when compared to cow's milk. Is lactose an issue?

    Where do you get ideas for things like a striped wall?? File that under things that would have never occurred to me.

    I'm glad training is working out well for pippi!

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  4. I pretty much just drink water after runs. My stomach won't really tolerate anything else. I'm pretty awesome at fueling later in the day, though.

    Pretty much the only thing I see on runs is road kill. There's nothing like having to vault over a deer carcass at 7 am to get you going.

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  5. Those walls are amazing. Apparently all Walmarts in the area were awful on Sunday. We went and bought 3 things and got out as fast as possible. Did I mention I love those walls? And from one striped wall painter to another, I know what you mean about painter's tape. Not meant for the perfectionist. I spent 2 months touching up the lines on our stripes with tiny artist's paintbrushes.

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  6. I don't usually eat after my runs, because I'm always rushing to work, but I find that as long as I fuel appropriately each day (because the day before affects me a lot) then I feel fine. Almond milk only has like 1 gram in a cup, so I wouldn't really use that for protein. Well done on the bacon though. I want to see some killer recipes with it!

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  7. I love chocolate milk after a race. I can't have it at home or I'll drink the entire gallon without running a bit! The striped wall looks really neat I think and I'm sure Pippi was a huge help.

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  8. I love that striped wall! I usually eat a full meal after I run- I time it so that I eat before breakfast or dinner, usually. So I just eat whatever I was planning, and there's usually some protein in there somewhere.

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  9. Your stripe wall looks great! And makes a great backdrop for Pippi :) My long runs are usually with my running group and end at a starbucks, so my post-run treat is usually an iced latte (hey, 8g of protein in a grande!) + oatmeal or a breakfast sandwich or a Clif bar from home.

    I second what Kara said. The Silk Pure Almond almond milk that I've bought only has 1g of protein per 8 oz compared with 8g of protein in the same amount of skim milk. Greek yogurt has anywhere from 10-20g/5ish oz container, depending on the brand.

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  10. I love chocolate milk after a workout. If that isn't available, Zico makes Chocolate Coconut water which I happen to like too. Runningoncoffee is right - my nutritionist said Greek yogurt is a good recovery as well.

    We did a striped wall in our old house (watched a lot of Trading Spaces) but not as colorful. Very nice!

    And Pippi is so good. Maybe I need to work on Riley with that since he goes outside to greet everyone when I open the door.

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