Eat More Veggies - Bountiful Baskets

In an effort to eat better and include more veggies in our diet, I posed the question to my Facebook friends about the best place in Vegas to buy local or regional produce. One friend mentioned Bountiful Baskets. I immediately remembered reading a blog post about this last summer and remembered how much I wanted to give it a try.

So, I read everything on their website and decided to try it out.

If you're not familiar with the program, it's a co-op way of purchasing produce. Basically, you choose a location for pick-up, make a contribution on Monday or Tuesday, all the money gets pooled together to purchase whatever is available, you show up Saturday morning to pick-up delicious produce.

It's all run by volunteers, so all your money get put toward the produce. Since it's run by volunteers, they ask that you volunteer at least every 6-8 times that you contribute.

We picked up our first basket this past Saturday, and it was so much fun!!

The two nearest locations were about 5 miles away. An easy bike ride. We chose the one location because it had a later pick-up time and we are not at all early morning people on Saturdays.

We fully intended on getting there early enough to help volunteer. The website said the volunteer time was 7:15. We arrived at 7:10, and everything was all finished. I guess we'll have to get there earlier next time. :-)

With your order, you get one basket of fruit and one basket of vegetables.

All packed up and ready to head home.

Ewwww!

Yep. That's ketchup splattered all over my legs and shoes.

About a mile or so from home, I ran over a ketchup packet. I'm not sure why I didn't really think to avoid it, but I definitely learned my lesson as I scrubbed the dried, sticky ketchup mess from my legs and shoes. Ugh!

Here's everything we got in our baskets!

Fruits: 4 mangoes, 3 grapefruit, 1 pineapple, 1 cantaloupe (not pictured, as it was already cut and in the fridge)
Veggies: 5 ears of corn, 2 cucumbers, 1 head of romaine, 1 box of grape tomatoes, 1 butternut squash, 1 pound of carrots, 1 head of cauliflower

It seems like kind of a lot for just the two of us, but hopefully it will force us to eat more veggies.

We've already eaten most of the fruit, but writing this post reminds me that I still need to cut up the cauliflower and carrots into snack-size portions, so we actually eat them.

I'm going to need to get a little creative on some of the veggies, because we already committed to week #2. :-)

We also purchased some additional add-ons like bread, tortillas, and a Mexican blend of veggies. So excited for next Saturday!!

Hope you all enjoyed a lovely Memorial Day weekend. Back to the grind in the morning...

Have you ever tried Bountiful Baskets?
Where do you get most of your produce?
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Working It Recap:: May 17-23

Seriously?? Another week has gone by??

I'm honestly not sure where this week went, but CHECK OUT MY CHART!!!

There are only FOUR frowny faces. Pretty nigh on to a perfect week, exercise-wise. ;-) Whoop whoop.

Date	Cardio	Sexy for Summer	Strength Training	Commute
Fri 5/17	Cardio at home (jumping jacks, high knees, butt kickers, etc)	95 squats 65 sec plank	Upper Body Blast	YAY!!
Sat 5/18		100 squats 70 sec plank		WEEKEND
Sun 5/19	9 mile run	100 squats 50 lunges (25 per side) (2) 60 sec planks	REST	WEEKEND
Mon 5/20	Morning Flow Yoga	120 squats 75 sec plank	Yoga for Runners #1	YAY!!
Tue 5/21	50 jumping jacks	125 squats 80 sec plank	Triceps Tuesday	YAY!!
Wed 5/22	1 mile run (8:08 Whoo hoo)	135 squats 85 sec plank	Attempted a pull-up
Thu 5/23	REST	REST	REST

And a few other things on my mind....

1. I'm having fun spending some time over at the What's Beautiful website. There are so many awesomely inspiring, beautiful women out there, and I'm so honored to be a sponsored participant through Fitfluential. If you haven't signed up yet, what are you waiting for? Go here, set a goal, join a team or two, and let's redefine Beauty together. Maybe you'll even win a trip to Costa Rica for yoga and surfing lessons. Wouldn't that be fun?!

2. National Running Day is in less than two weeks. Will you be running? I created an event on my Facebook page. You should totally sign up! It's purely for fun. There aren't any prizes or anything, but hopefully lots of support and inspiration.

3. I ran my fastest mile yesterday (that I can remember at least). Here's what it looked like when I was finished.



I also tried a pull-up. Check out the video on my What's Beautiful profile.

How were your workouts this past week?
What are your plans for the long weekend? I'm picking up my very first Bountiful Basket Saturday morning and going to the Las Vegas 51s baseball game Friday night, but I've got no other plans. Probably a run or two and hopefully lots of time at the pool.
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Working It recap:: May 10-16

Where did the week go? I can't believe it's already Friday!!
Not that I'm complaining...

As you can see, I'm getting a bit more consistent! Yay!!

Strength training is definitely my weakest link, but I am getting some from the Sexy for Summer challenge, so I don't feel too terrible about it. It's definitely the first to get skipped, though, when I'm running late.

Date	Cardio	Sexy for Summer	Strength Training	Commute
Fri 5/10	3 mile Speed work (Treadmill)	70 squats 50 sec plank	300 Abs
Sat 5/11		70 squats (2) 30 sec plank 30 lunges		WEEKEND
Sun 5/12	6 mile run	REST	REST	WEEKEND
Mon 5/13		75 squats 55 sec plank		YAY!
Tue 5/14		80 squats 60 sec plank
Wed 5/15	4.5 miles Speed work	REST
Thu 5/16	Jump off Jiggle	90 squats 60 sec plank		YAY!

Remember last week when I mentioned that the worst section of my bike commute was getting repaved? Well, apparently I was wrong. While the road was closed for repaving, the section that was repaved was not the worst of it. *sigh*

This week, I wasn't feeling well on Tuesday, so I drove to work. On Wednesday, I was going out to dinner with a vendor and some co-workers. Since we were leaving right from work, I chose not to bike. Didn't want to get to the fancy restaurant all sweaty. ;-)

Also, since I was out to dinner until after 9pm last night, we skipped the Sexy for Summer challenge. I marked it as a REST day yesterday, because we decided to just shift the challenge to accommodate.

How were your workouts this week?
Which of your fitness goals is the easiest for you to skip (your weakest link)?
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Fitness Friday - First Week of May

Are you ready for the weekend? I sure am. :) It's been a long week.

DOMS + period + sore throat = Clarinda's down for the count.

I called in sick Wednesday. It was kind of nice to have a mid-week respite, but being sick wasn't so fun. :( Despite being sick, we are still on track for our Sexy for Summer challenge. whoo hoo!

In April, I tried doing a weekly review of my fitness goals, and, unfortunately, I wasn't very consistent. Sometimes, I just have difficulty blogging on Sundays. I want to be outside or lounging and spending time with Jeff.

So, for May, I decided to move my weekly reviews to Fridays. Of course, I didn't decide that until after last Friday, so here's a look at what I've done since May 1st.

Still not perfect, but there are a few less frowny faces out there.

Date	Cardio	Sexy for Summer	Arms	Commute
Wed 5/1		25 squats 20 sec plank		YAY!!
Thu 5/2		30 squats 25 sec plank		YAY!!
Fri 5/3		35 squats 30 sec plank
Sat 5/4	Race for the Cure 5K	40 squats 30 sec plank		7.4 mile bike to the race
Sun 5/5	8 mile run	REST	REST	WEEKEND
Mon 5/6	Indoor Cardio Crusher	45 squats 35 sec plank	Upper Body Blaster
Tue 5/7		50 squats 35 sec plank
Wed 5/8		60 squats 40 sec plank		called in sick
Thu 5/9	3 mile run	65 squats 45 sec plank	Triceps (dips, kickbacks, extensions)

I know, I know.

I didn't commute once this week. 

Partly, I was lazy. 

Partly, I was sick. 

Mostly, the crappiest section of my bike route is being re-paved this week. (yay!) With the re-paving, that section was closed, and I'd be forced to bike on roads with heavier traffic, so for safety sake, I chose to drive.

Any fun weekend plans? I'm doing a Girls Night with a few friends! I've been looking forward to it for a couple weeks now, so tonight can't get here fast enough.

And for fitness? Since I only ran once this week, I'd like to get in some speed work and maybe 9-10 miles. Not sure which to do on which day. What do you suggest?

Tuckered out Tuesday - I WILL

Ugh. I slept like crap last night. 

After a weekend of pushing it hard during a 5K on Saturday and then running 8 miles on Sunday, I started the week off on Monday with a tough cardio workout followed by some upper body work. Sounds great right?

Well, then DOMS set in. That damn DOMS! Ugh!!

Normally, I love the soreness that comes after a tough workout (or four). It's a nice reminder of a job well done. But last night the total body muscle soreness kept waking me up and then preventing me from falling back to sleep.

Oh, I can't entirely blame the DOMS. I also get my period and a nasty sore throat. Is it Friday yet? :(

I had planned on doing some speed work this morning. I was going to take control of my body and tell it who was really in charge, but the fitness center at my complex wasn't open at 6:15 - even though it was supposed to open at 5am.

SO FRUSTRATING!!

Now, I'm going to have to try and motivate myself to get it done after work. *fingers crossed*

Since my workout plans were thwarted this morning, I have a few minutes to share with you something very exciting!!

What's Beautiful? by UnderArmour




Run a sub 25-min 5k. do a pull-up. or three. I WILL.

I'm really, really excited about this! Are you working on a fitness goal? If so, you should totally join me! It could be something big or something small. Something specific and measurable or something more generic.

You can find out more by visiting the What's Beautiful website. It will suck you in. So many great, inspiring women gathered in one place to help and encourage each other.

TOGETHER, WE CAN ACHIEVE OUR DREAMS!

So, what are you waiting for? Join me!

Does DOMS ever keep you awake at night? How do you deal with it?
Are you ready to accept the What's Beautiful challenge?
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Race for the Cure 5K

This past Monday, I received an email at work asking people to sign up for Race for the Cure on Saturday.

Yes, please! Sign me up!!

The timing was perfect, of course, to count for my 5th #5bythe5th virtual race. Sweet!!

I somehow convinced Jeff to ride with me to the race, and then just walk around or hang out while I ran. I always forget how much he dislikes going to races with me - especially so early in the morning - but we managed to leave with plenty of time to bike downtown.

It was a beautiful morning, and we found a relatively quiet route to get to the race. Bonus that some of our route was also the race route, so the streets were already closed. :)

We found a great bike rack to lock up our bikes.

I loved this sign above the rack.

After getting our bikes all nice and secured, we headed toward the start line. Of course, I had to stop at the port-a-jane. :-)

These weren't nearly as nice as the Eco Commodes at RagnarZion, but they did flush and had plenty of hand sanitizer. Score!

The actual start line was still a few blocks away, so Jeff and I parted ways. He went to go wait by our bikes and the finish line, and I continued to the start.

There was also a 1-mile walk option, and I loved how they had separate starting shoots for the runners and the walkers.

Now the actual race was HARD for me. I didn't exactly set myself up for success. I hardly ate anything for dinner last night and stayed up WAY too late for how early I knew I'd have to get up. To top it all off, I didn't have much for breakfast either.

{TMI warning!} When the race started, I immediately knew I'd chosen the wrong bra. My boobs hurt with every step. Ugh! But then, I reminded myself that the pain/discomfort I was feeling would be mild compared to those who have had to suffer through breast cancer.

For some reason, this thought plus all the signs pinned to runners' backs of who they were running in honor of really made for an emotional start.

The first 5 or so minutes were a little agonizing. I felt like I was really pushing it. I started pacing with another runner until the first mile, and that helped a lot. She was going the perfect pace - until she stopped for some water.

So many times (yes, even before the first mile) I wanted to stop and walk for a bit, but kept telling myself it was only 3.1 miles. I COULD DO THIS!

I hit the split button on my watch as I passed the 1 mile marker. 8:47. Wow. I was impressed. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up that pace the entire time, but I just didn't want to walk.

I never ended up seeing the 2 mile marker, so I don't know what the rest of my splits were, but my overall time was 27:40. It's definitely not where I want to be, but I was able to push it at the end.

Now, it's definitely time to concentrate on some speed work. I mean I don't see how I'll possibly beat my goal of a sub-25 without some serious refocusing.

I was breathing so hard after crossing the finish line that it took a bit to pull myself together. I grabbed a bottle of water and headed to the finish line goodies.

I got a great Trader Joe's reusable bag, a fruit smoothie, orange, Fuji apple (my favorite), and a banana! So much yummy fruit. We walked around a bit, and Bahama Breeze was giving out cups of fruit as well. Whoo hoo!!

While I really loved getting all the fruit, I would have liked some bread or something salty. That's such a minor complaint, though. Overall, I was really impressed with the organization of the race. There were lots of water stops throughout the course. Though I did run through each of them, it was nice to know they were there for those who needed them. For as many people as were at the event, there wasn't really too much congestion. Yay!!

This race was a great start to my weekend. It kind of made for a lazy afternoon, but that's okay. Next week, I hit the treadmill or find an outdoor track to use, so I can ramp up my speed work. Wish me luck!!

What are you doing this weekend?
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Ragnar Zion - A few other things

The official results have been posted. Our team came in at 122 out of 168 teams!! Now, that may not seem all that great, but considering the injuries on the team + the inexperience most of us had running trails, I'm beyond happy with these results.

Here are my splits:

Loop	Time	Pace
Red	1:43:23	13:47
Yellow	1:25:43	20:54
Green	53:41	13:45

I'm really impressed with how consistent my pace was. Well, I'm considering it consistent since leg 1 and leg 3 had such close paces. Remember the yellow leg as the hardest, with crazy-ass hills, plus it was DARK!

While the overall experience was great, and the running didn't kill me, there were a few things I wish I hadn't forgotten.

Things I wish I hadn't forgotten...

My camera. I figured I would just use my phone. Unfortunately, it died early on and, since we were camping, charging was a bit difficult. Thus, no pictures. #bloggerfail

Sunscreen on my face or chest. Yeah, I slathered it on my arms and legs, but forgot about my face and my chest peeking through my v-neck tee.

My eyeglasses. I took out my contacts Friday night, only to discover that I'd neglected to put my glasses into their case. Instead, I'd only packed an empty case. Thankfully, one of my awesome teammates safely guided me to the Eco Commode in the middle of the dark, dark night.

A warm hat. Thankfully, I'd remembered at least some warm clothes and a pair of gloves, but a hat would have been very nice to have.

Nail clippers. I think every single one of my nails broke, and I had to rip them off to prevent further, more painful, breakage. Yes, I did give myself a manicure Sunday afternoon.

A knee brace. As you know, I irritated my knee (perhaps my IT band, causing the knee pain) in the first leg, and a brace may have helped between legs.

It was difficult to face going back to work today. I'd have much rather been running another Ragnar Trail relay!! :-)
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How did it get to be May already?

I think I say this every year, but this year really seems to be flying by. I can't believe it's already May. Well, I still have at least one more post about Ragnar (if you missed the first two, you can read them here and here), but first let me recap April and see about setting some goals for May.

I attempted two challenges in April - 50 at 50 and Amazing Arms and Abs. I did really great the first couple of weeks, but then the challenges stopped taking top priority. I tried to make a comeback for the last week, but didn't finish out nearly as strong as I would have liked.

I also hoped to run 3x each week and bike at least 3x to work each week. I failed miserably at both of these. Other than my 3 legs of RagnarZion, I think I only ran THREE TIMES the ENTIRE MONTH OF APRIL (all in the first week)!! How can I call myself a runner?! As for the biking, I didn't do too much better. *sigh* I drove waaaaayyyyy more often than I'd have liked. Sad.

So, yeah, April was kind of a huge bust.

How am I doing on my overall 2013 goals? Well, they've gotten pretty lame, too.

Run Faster. No progress on this, since I didn't run much at all during April nor really did any speedwork.
Eat Healthier. I don't think I tried any new recipes in April - certainly nothing very healthy.
Train Harder. See above.
Read More. Zero Books in April.
Serve More. Just CharityMiles on the few runs/bike rides I did.

HERE'S TO A NEW BEGINNING IN MAY!!

Here's to kicking May's ass and TAKING CONTROL!!

I'm going to try out two challenges again this month - one for eating, one for strength.

First up, I signed up for the Eat Healthy Challenge on Challenge Loop. It doesn't seem very structured - basically just try to make healthier eating choices and share on the challenge page or on Twitter/Instagram using the #eathealthychallenge hashtag.

From the challenge rules:

With this challenge, we will try to eat healthier each day. Activity ideas include: sharing a great recipe, trying a new food, sharing photos of your healthy meal(s) of the day. Get creative! If you are already a healthy eater, share what you are doing with us.

Without much structure, I'm not sure how well I'll do, but I willing to at least give it a shot. :)

Next up, I'll be doing the Sexy for Summer Challenge with H(EDGE)S Fitness. It's basically a plank and squat challenge, increasing intensity each day. I even convinced +Jeff to join me! This morning we cranked out 25 squats and a 20 sec plank, and by the end (if all goes well) we'll work ourselves up to 200 squats and a 120 sec plank. Seems intimidating, but hopefully *fingers crossed* we stick to it. That would definitely be brag worthy - at least to me.

I'm going to try again at the running 3x each week - with some kind of speed work one day, 3-6 miles another, and 8-12 miles on weekends. I also signed up for Race for the Cure on this coming Saturday, which I'll likely do as part of the 5 by the 5th Virtual Race series.

I'll keep the same biking challenge as well - biking a minimum of 3x each week. It's already been getting up into the high 90s, so hopefully with the rising temperatures, I'll be able to stick with this. I might just have to leave a bit earlier and, of course, make sure I have plenty of water.

Well, time to get ready for work, so I have time to start May off right by biking into work. Wish me luck!! :)

What challenges are you doing for May?
How was your April?
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