Fit and Fabulous after 40!

Happy birthday to my mom

2012-01-26T16:21:00.000+01:00

Happy birthday, Mom - you are the best.

I'm sorry for all the sad things overshadowing your day, but that is what life is all about, good things and bad things all mixed together. What matters the most are the memories we have of the good things (and I sure do have a lot of those with you!) and, when bad times do come along, the support we can give to those we care about.

(Thanks, blog friends, for your support this week.)

2012-01-24T10:24:00.000+01:00

My Uncle Brad lost his battle with cancer on Sunday. Having kept in touch with him over the years meant a lot to me and I will miss him. As will a lot of other people who loved him, who are in my thoughts right now.

Friday Night is Pizza Night!

2012-01-20T10:59:00.000+01:00

Well, I haven't done much this week - between having kids at home sick and feeling a bit under the weather myself, it was one of those weeks... Thank goodness it's Friday and we can look forward to a relatively easy weekend to recuperate. And homemade pizza for dinner to start the weekend out right!

I often make homemade pizza on a Friday night. It's just so much healthier than frozen pizzas and not really difficult at all if I remember to mix up my dough early enough in the afternoon. I finally found a recipe that works for me and my family likes it a lot, so I thought I would share! This makes three large pizzas (enough for two parents and three hungry teenage boys). Youwill need to mix up your dough about 2-3 hours before you actually want to eat,but once you’ve done that, the rest is hardly any work at all.

For the dough:

25 g fresh yeast
2 tsp honey or rice syrup
500 g flour (you can do half whole wheat if you want)
Olive oil
2 tsp sea salt

For the sauce:

1 can chopped tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste (about 3 T)
1 tsp each basil and oregano
a pinch of sugar, salt and black pepper

Toppings:

Your choice! We domozzarella cheese (3x 125g balls offresh mozzarella for this recipe), fresh basil, sliced red pepper, sliced freshtomato, a bit of salami and parma ham (for the meat eaters), rucola (added after baking),black olives, … be creative and use what you like! You can also leave the cheese off and load it up with veggies if you want to avoid dairy products.

You’ll need three large pizza pans or cookie sheets.

Crumble the yeast into a large bowl. Add the honey, about 150 grams of the flourand 375 ml of warm water; mix well. Cover the bowl with a towel and leave it in a warm place to rest forabout 30 minutes, or until the yeast begins to work (it will foam up andincrease in volume).

Add the rest of the flour and 1 T of olive oil and kneaduntil you get a smooth dough. Add wateror additional flour as needed to get a soft, sticky dough that is not toodry. Add the salt and mix well. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Grease the pizza pans with olive oil. Divide the dough into three portions andspread each portion out in one of the pans. Don’t worry if it doesn’t spread easily at first, press it out gentlywith your fingers and leave it to rest a few minutes from time to time, untilyou are able to press it to the edge of the pan. This should take about 15 minutes.

Cover each pan with a clean towel and let them rise in awarm place for 60-90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 225 C (450 F). Puree the tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs andseasonings for the sauce. Spread a thin layerof sauce on each pizza, and garnish with toppings as desired. Bake the pizzas 10-15 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Cut into slices and enjoy!

Sunny Days

2012-01-17T15:55:00.000+01:00

What is it about bright sunny winter days? Everything seems prettier and perkier and this includes my mood! I had a wonderful walk this morning, making sure I kept the sun on my face as much as I could. And now I am enjoying the bright light pouring through my windows.

The family drama (it was to do with the in-laws, I should have said this off this bat, and I would have avoided worrying my sister - sorry about that!) has subsided, too, for which I am grateful.

I started a new three week program at the gym on Monday, but when I got there I saw they were working on a skylight in the weight machine area, and workmen were walking back and forth through the area where the benches and free weights were. So I did my cardio (treadmill, cycle and elliptical) and went home to do my weights and abs. Hopefully they will be done by the time I go back tomorrow!

In Treatment

2012-01-12T16:49:00.002+01:00

I just finished watching the second season of "In Treatment" and can I just say this is one of the best series I have ever seen (and I was loyal to "Northern Exposure" for many years). I sure hope we get the third season here, and soon!

I learned a lot watching this (that therapy often doesn't actually solve any problems and usually creates new ones) and yet I often thought how nice it would be to have someone like Paul to listen to all my problems. Especially this week! Family drama and a painful hip have really been getting me down, and that has kept me from posting.

Of course you don't get to be 45 without learning that all things pass, and life is full of ups and downs, right? Next post will most likely be a lot more positive...

Sven Nys ROCKS!!!

2012-01-08T16:21:00.001+01:00

Sven Nys

Belgian national cyclocross champion today

for the 8th time!

Woo hoo!

Brain Decline

2012-01-08T12:06:00.000+01:00

Just yesterday there was an article in our weekend newspaper about new research (published in the British Medical Journal this week) that shows that cognitive ability - memory, reason and ability to understand - begins to decline from the age of 45, much earlier than was previously thought to be the case.

Well, I can report that I am living proof of this! Having turned 45 a few months ago, I am definitely feeling the effects. Not only did I completely forget that my son had an orthodontist appointment on Wednesday, I also totally forgot I had agreed to skype with my godchild yesterday afternoon. And I have also been forgetting every single day that I promised Kim a photo of the necklace rack my husband got me for Christmas - I would be upstairs and look at my rack and think, "Oh, I have to take a picture of that," only to go downstairs and promptly forget. *sigh* And I am sure at this very moment that there is something else I am forgetting... Oh now I remember - the 10 euro certificate I had in my purse for several months to one of our favorite restaurants - and now the restaurant is closed for business so I can kiss my 10 euros goodbye. :-(

I am determined, however, not to go down without a fight! I decided the best remedy to foggy brain function is a good run in the fresh air, so that's what we did this morning - 6.9 km out the lake and back, in 50 minutes. In between the clouds and rain there was even a bit of sunshine!

It must have helped some because I did remember to take the picture - and I am keeping my fingers crossed for Skype again this afternoon!

Unable to Run? Do Yoga!

2012-01-05T15:39:00.000+01:00

A big storm blew through Belgium yesterday (Thursday) morning. I had plans to get up and get a short run in, but with the rain, wind and hail, it just wasn't going to happen. My body felt like it needed to move, so I decided to do this yoga video from Yoga Today's channel on Youtube. Good idea - because it felt great, and parts of it were pretty challenging. I have built up a lot more strength in my upper body this past year which means things like down dog, up dog and chataranga go a lot better for me, which is very encouraging. The Yoga Journal challenge starts next Monday and I am looking forward to it.

This morning the storm has died down, but it's Friday so I am off to the gym for some cardio on the elliptical Body Balance class. I've got my bag all packed so it's just a question of tearing myself away from this darn laptop...

Have a happy Friday!

Resolutions, Good Intentions and a Recipe

2012-01-04T15:21:00.000+01:00

I was back at the gym again this morning, doing my workout this time on my own. I missed my son! But it gave me time to reflect. It has been interesting this year reading everyone's new year's blogs and hearing what kinds of resolutions, goals and challenges people are doing.

For myself I have some long term goals focused around a big family reunion this summer in Colorado and our 20th wedding anniversary on coming up on 12-12-12: we are thinking of taking a big trip to celebrate - no concrete plans yet but we are leaning towards an exotic, warm destination - which puts visions of beaches and bathing suits in my mind...

So I have a plan for working out for the next 6 months down on paper, and a plan for healthy eating is taking shape. No hard core dieting as of yet - at the moment I am doing the PCRM Vegan Kickstart to get myself back into making healthy plant based dinners for my family, and refocus on healthy low fat meals for myself.

I'm not following their menu plan to the letter but using it for inspiration. My goal each day is to have a healthy breakfast (a green smoothie or cereal with plant milk), a healthy lunch (right now mostly soup) and then try a new recipe for dinner from the PCRM menu plan or somewhere else.

On Tuesday I made a delicious and super easy oven roasted pepper pasta sauce inspired by a recipe in "Vegan Italiano" by Donna Klein (one of my go-to cookbooks!) and I promised my mom I would post it. So here you go:

Oven Roasted Pepper Pasta Sauce
(makes about 6 servings)

1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
2 red peppers and 1 orange or yellow pepper, roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped
2 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 tsp each dried rosemary and dried summer savory (or oregano, thyme, etc.)
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450 F (220 C). Put all the ingredients in an ovenproof casserole or baking pan, stir well. Roast for about 30 minutes (while you boil water and cook your pasta of choice - we had this with 500g of tagilatele). Give the sauce a stir once or twice while cooking. When done, mash about half the sauce mixture roughly (or puree half of it with an immersion blender) and then top the pasta with the sauce. Yum! This recipe would be very easy to double or triple for a large group - maybe a meal for in Colorado?

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T16:51:00.002+01:00

Happy New Year, everyone! I wish you all good health and joy in whatever you do in 2012!

I just took my boys for haircuts - they all look so cute when they've just had a hair cut. What can I say, I'm their mom...

My oldest went to the gym again with me today and it makes me feel so happy that he actually even wants to do that with me. A lot of teens would die being seen with their mother at her gym! It really warms my heart. And we had a good time, too. I even tried a new gym machine I never did before - the rower. My son had done it before, knew how to set it up, and he preferred it to the bike, so I said I would do the rower with him. It was fun! We only had to do 10 minutes on it, which went okay, but I would definitely have to build up to do a longer workout on it. We both had the start of blisters on our hands when we were done.

It was a lot less busy at the gym than I expected for the first day of the new year. But all the regulars were there!

Our workout was:

5 minute warm up on the treamill
10 minute fast walk at 3% incline
10 minutes rowing
12 minuite elliptical
2x 16 chest presses
2x 16 lat pull downs
16 leg curls
2x 12 leg presses
12 French presses
abs

It was a good start to the new year!

Leuven Corrida 8K

2011-12-31T15:59:00.000+01:00

Last year's Corrida was cancelled due to snow - but we were in Texas running a 5K in Fort Worth last New Year's Eve. Luckily, this year the weather here in Belgium is very mild - 10 C and very light rain. Perfect running weather, actually!

So this morning we put on our running shoes and walked downtown where we met up with my neighbor's oldest daughter, Karen, who was running her very first race ever! She was a bit nervous about whether or not she would be able to finish - I remember that feeling very well. She started out with us and when Stefaan pulled ahead in the crowd (it was packed - apparently 5000 people participated this year) Karen and I stuck together, chitchatting and running a nice easy pace, and most of all, enjoying ourselves!

We ended up finishing in 56 minutes, crossed the finish line and collected our bottle of wine - then we found Stefaan waiting for us, and got him to snap a picture. One of the nice things about this race, is when we are done all we have to do is walk home!

Here are the details from the Garmin:

The other nice thing about this race, is that since it is a slow news day, after we get home, we get to watch a report about it on the lunchtime news! You won't see us on this video, but there are some very nice shots of our beautiful city!

Have a very happy and safe New Year's Eve, everyone, and see you next year!

Festive Workouts!

2011-12-29T15:18:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas weekend - going by blogs I've been reading it sure looks like it!

We've had a busy time but on Tuesday I got myself back up to the gym to work off some of the goodies I had enjoyed over the weekend. It was very quiet and calm there - I am assuming next week is going to be a lot busier when everyone decides to make good on their new year's resolutions. They have a special deal going on right now where you could bring a friend for free. So when I got back home I asked my nearly 17-year-old if he wanted to come work out with me this week, and surprisingly, he immediately said yes! Yay!

Yesterday we went bowling with some old friends of ours and all of our kids - it was a lot of fun but I must have been using too heavy of a ball because my arm was killing me when I got up this morning. But nothing was going to keep me from going to the gym with my son so off we went as soon as he was up and had some breakfast.

He was a fun workout partner to have - he was happy to do my planned workout right along with me. Here is what we did (this is my new Thursday workout for the next few weeks):

15 minute interval run on the treadmill
weight circut (chest presses, leg curls, rows, and lunges)
10 minutes on the stationary bike (my son did the rowing machine)
repeat the weight circuit
12 minute intervals on the elliptical (we scored machines right next to each other)
abs and stretching

It was a lot of fun, good to spend some one-on-one time with my kid, and now we can feel proud of ourselves that we got out and got some exercise in today!

Tomorrow I'll be back at the gym for my Body Balance class and then on Saturday morning we have the Corrida here in Leuven - my husband and I are signed up for the 8K. Looking forward to that, but hoping it's not going to be too rainy and cold...brrrrrrr.....

Arid at the AB last night - awesome!

2011-12-24T11:25:00.000+01:00

Wow. Awesome concert by Arid at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels last night. Jasper has just the most amazingly beautiful voice... We were about three rows of people from the stage and it was incredible to watch him perform. Great songs, great music, great show... I am in awe of his talent. And he's so cute, too!

It was cool when he brought out two of the young singers he is coaching on "The Voice of Flanders", he let them sing one of Arid's songs so they could get some live podium experience. They did well but the girl looked really nervous. So that will most likely run on the TV show, and who knows we might be on it as they filmed the crowd. In any case it will be a neat way to relive the concert!

It was my second time seeing them live - we saw them a few years back here in Leuven in the Schouwburg, we were also really close up then too. We said at the time that we would definitely go see them again, if we had the chance - and so we did! It was a treat for our 19th wedding anniversary we celebrated this month.

This video is of one of my favorite Arid songs, performed last year at the same venue as we saw them last night - gives you a great feel for what it was like yesterday evening! Enjoy!

Holiday wishes

2011-12-22T08:24:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas!

Wishing a bright and happy holiday

to you and those you love

And lots of good cheer this weekend

as well as in the coming New Year!

Best wishes from our house to yours,

Amy

Our Favorite Christmas Cookie

2011-12-20T09:14:00.000+01:00

Well, today is the last day of my boys' exams - woo-hoo! This afternoon we will all take a deep sigh of relief. I've been dealing with my nervous energy by making Christmas cookies the last few days and I promised Kim I would post my recipe for one of our family's absolute favorites - Mexican wedding cookies (also called Russian teacakes). I just made these yesterday!

1 c butter (or margarine if you want it vegan)

½ c sifted powdered sugar

2 t water

1 t vanilla

2 c flour

½ c ground almonds or pecans

¼ t cinnamon

Powdered sugar to roll the cookies in (about a cup)

In a large bowl, beat the butter until softened. Add the powdered sugar and beat untilfluffy. Add water and vanilla and beatwell.

In a small bowl combine the flour, nuts andcinnamon. Add gradually to the buttermixture.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls (if necessary chill thedough slightly until easy to handle). Onan ungreased baking sheet, flatten the cookies slightly with the bottom of aglass dipped in powdered sugar.

Bake at 325° F for 18-20 minutes, until the bottom of the cookies starts to look golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then rollthe warm cookies in powdered sugar. Allow them to cool thoroughly, and then roll them a second time in powderedsugar. Enjoy!

A night at the opera...

2011-12-18T10:39:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening my husband and I went to see the operette "La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein" - and we loved it! It was funny and sarcastic and the music was very enjoyable - lots of military marching music. Here is a video (from another production of this opera I found on Youtube) of one of the arias that I couldn't get out of my head when we were walking home afterwards:

The Duchess is in love with the soldier she gives her father's sabre to - she promotes him from a simple soldier to a general, which infuriates the real general. The young girl at the end of the video is the solider's fiance. When the soldier chooses his fiance over the Duchess, she turns on him and plots to kill him. The whole thing is a farce and a satirical critique of the excesses of power - very appropriate these days with the way leaders have been mismanaging countries and abusing power all over the world...so you see that things haven't changed that much since Offenbach composed it in the 1860's! In any case, it was an entertaining way to spend a Saturday evening!

Now it's Sunday morning, and today will be all about baking Christmas cookies and keeping my studying kids focused on their books... but first I need to get myself out for a run while it's not raining/snowing too hard.

Update: I got out for a quick 30 minute run - in the SNOW!!! It was snowing big wet flakes and so I ran to the Finnish track because I thought it would be pretty to see the snow through the trees - and it was. And the Finnish track was suprisingly dry - it must have really good drainage. I ended up doing 4.5 km altogether, short for a Sunday, but the right numbers in honor of my brother-in-law Mark's 45th birthday today - he was thinking of running his age in kilometers, I wonder if he did it??? Happy Birthday, Mark, no matter what you ran!

Have a happy Sunday!

Stormy weather and sad things

2011-12-15T11:07:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since I last posted - between the final workshops and the beginning of my kids' midterm exams this week I just haven't had the time or inclination. We have been having big storms all this week and for some reason it always seems to be raining really hard right when my kids have to bike to school. So I've been driving them, which means I get stuck in traffic on the way home and spend a lot more time than I am used to in my car. I have heard lots of interesting interviews on the radio, however...

The bad news which I first heard on the radio this week was of course the shooting in Liege - it is certainly frightening when these things happen so close to home. I feel terrible for the families that must be devastated losing their loved ones in such senseless violence. Two of the boys who died were 15 and 17 years old and had just finished exams at their schools and were waiting for the bus to come home for lunch. Just the same ages as my boys... I couldn't help thinking of their moms waiting for them to get back from school.

We finally have a government!

2011-12-06T09:48:00.003+01:00

After more than 540 days of negotiations, Belgium has a government - they will take their oaths in front of King Albert this afternoon.

That should put a smile back on his face...

What a relief for all of us here!

Weird Dudes

2011-12-05T15:34:00.004+01:00

Biked to the gym this morning - it was cold but so beautifully sunny I just couldn't resist! So I put an extra pair of workout trousers over my capris and made sure I had my hat, gloves and scarf and I was fine. It felt good.

But something strange was going on at the gym - there were some weird dudes there I had never seen before. One guy was wearing a bright yellow shirt and seriously had a hairdo like Jon Bon Jovi in the 80s...another one looked very ratty (and smelled kind of funky too)... Some of the other regulars looked a bit puzzled too, so I wasn't the only one. I didn't see any cameras, so who knows what was going on. Just a coincidence?

In any case, I was glad to finish my workout and head on home. Where there are four weird dudes... but they're mine and I love them!

Run thru Town

2011-12-04T14:02:00.002+01:00

I didn't really feel like running this morning - it was so gray and chilly and gloomy looking outside. There was nothing inspiring me to get out there and I was going to be on my own since my husband is sick and wasn't going to come with me. I considered going to the gym and doing a treadmill run, but it was already 10.30 and I don't like to get there too late on a Sunday, because it ends up taking a lot of time and messes up our day (we have to head out to the in-law's at 2)...But I knew if I didn't run I would be annoyed with myself and feel sluggish all day. So I decided I would run downtown and go over the new bridge at the train station. Sunday is a good day to run downtown, since all the shops are closed,
the sidewalks aren't too busy and you don't have to dodge too many pedestrians. And I also decided I would take my camera and take some pictures for the blog.We live 800 meters from the train station, in a quiet residential neighborhood. The funny thing is, the city has been developing the area around the station and just a few minutes from our home now are two brand new high rise hotels and some big buildings. It's strange.

My middle son told me he would like to spend the night at one of the hotels, just to see what they are like - I know what he means!There is now a really cool bridge that links our part of town with the center of town, and it goes right over all the train tracks, high above the platforms. I love our new bridge! It was fun to run over it today.After crossing over on the bridge, I continued on my way into town. I ran up the main boulevard that connects the train station to the big square where the cathedral and town hall are located. It was nice to see all of the shops with their holiday decorations in the windows. When I got to the town hall, Zwarte Piet was just arriving with Sinterklaas' horse, to get ready for kids who wanted to visit Sinterklaas and tell him what present they want. Sinterklaas comes on the 6th, which is Tuesday, but our boys got their presents this morning (books, chocolate, speculoos cookies, clementines).Zwarte Piet was very gracious and let me take a picture of him! and then I continued on my way, past the statue of the reading lady by the bookstore...and then I was a bit tired of stopping and taking pictures which made me really slow, so after that I wound around in town, past the University library where they were setting up all the tents for the Christmas market which starts next week, and back to the train station and home again.It wasn't a very fast run, and it wasn't a very long run (4.7 km), but I was glad I got out and got my body moving and some fresh air - I feel much better for it and ready to face the in-laws!

Hope everyone has a very happy Sunday!

Very Easy Vegan Pancakes

2011-12-03T15:21:00.003+01:00

On Saturday mornings I often try to treat my kids to a special breakfast we don't have time for during the week, and we often go for American style pancakes. I've been working with a simple recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's wonderful cookbook "The Joy of Vegan Baking" (the title says it all, doesn't it?) - and I think I've finally tweaked it to be perfect for our family! The first thing I did was double the amount - when you have three teenage boys, that means a lot of pancakes getting eaten. And then I made a few changes here and there to healthy it up. So this morning, as we were chowing down, I thought perhaps it's time to share my version...here it is:

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

2 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 cup unsweetened plain soymilk (we have tried rice and almond milk in this recipe but soy seems to work best)

3 T. canola oil

1 T. agave syrup

In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl or pitcher, mix the milk with the oil and agave. Add the milk mixture to the flour gradually, stirring as you go, until you get a relatively smooth batter. Cook small pancakes on a hot griddle or non-stick pan and enjoy!

I have no idea how many pancakes this makes, as they get eaten up almost immediately as they are cooked!

Have a happy Saturday!

Tired but Balanced!

2011-12-02T14:26:00.004+01:00

Last night's workshop went really well - we had a great group of enthusiastic participants, which was so nice.

After cleaning up the room I always need to calm down a bit before going to bed, which means I generally go to sleep much later than usual, which means I am a bit tired the next day.

But there was no way I was going to miss my Body Balance class at the gym today! Have I mentioned that I really enjoy that class? I do - this (see picture) is one of the moves I really like... I always feel great after this class, thoroughly stretched and renewed. Which is actually perfect after a late night.

I also got my upper body weights in before the class - that makes four sessions done, four more to go by the end of the year.

They had posters up at the gym announcing new versions of all their classes to start at the end of the month. I am going to miss the things we are doing in Body Balance now - but I hope the new class will be just as enjoyable. It probably will, once I get used to it!

Have a great weekend!

Very very quickly...

2011-11-29T17:32:00.003+01:00

Just a very small post to say that I am busy getting ready for my workshops tomorrow and Thursday but that in spite of all the stress (yesterday was an incredibly stressful day - today was much better) I did go to the gym on Monday and I did get my run in just before lunch today. Yay me! If there is one thing I have learned the past 5 years, it is that exercising is the one thing that can be relied on to reduce my stress level and make me feel 100% better.

Now, back to my "to-do" list! (I'll refrain from choking anyone.) Have a nice week!

Wind, wind, wind!

2011-11-27T16:21:00.003+01:00

When I woke up this morning and saw how windy it was outside, I really didn't want to go run. It looked so blustery and cold - ugh! But then I started that mental battle, arguing with myself about it, and finally I figured I would be so annoyed with myself for not going, it would just be better to go and get it done with. It would put me in a much better mood for the rest of the day, too!

Stefaan came with me and when we left the wind was terrible! But we still ended up doing nearly 8 km for just under an hour. I kept telling myself the wind was simply an additional workout challenge for my legs, but at some points it was like pushing through mud. I was so glad to be done when we finally got home - but glad I went!

Isn't running often like that? Hard to get out the door for some reason, but never any regrets once you're done.

Winter is here!

2011-11-25T14:04:00.002+01:00

To those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, I hope you had a happy day! We don't celebrate it here in Belgium, it's just a regular day in the week.

This morning the weather was decidedly colder, grayer, and very windy! Winter has arrrived, it feels like. So I was too wimpy to ride my bike to the gym and just took the car. Sometimes you gotta do what you have to to get yourself to go!

After a ten minute warm-up on the elliptical and 40 minutes of upper body weights, it was time for Body Balance class. I really enjoy that class. A lot of people leave right before the final relaxation, which is where you lie down on your mat for a few minutes and just rest. I always think they miss the best part of the hour!

Cool giveaway!

2011-11-22T14:24:00.002+01:00

Kim, one of my running blogger buddies and a very generous soul, is having a cool giveaway on her blog: you can win running armwarmers! Be sure to check it out!

Particulates

2011-11-22T08:51:00.004+01:00

I just looked "fijn stof" up on Wikipedia to make sure I was translating it right to English and turns out this kind of pollution is actually called "particulates" or "particulate matter". These are tiny subdivisions of solid matter suspended in a gas or liquid, in our case, in the air. The funny thing is, you really can't tell it's there - yesterday it was bright and sunny, just the kind of cold day that everyone here calls "healthy weather". Turns out it's not so healthy after all!

Increased levels of fine particles in the air are linked to health hazards such as heart disease, altered lung function and lung cancer. As I discovered yesterday, even though you can't see it, you can really feel its effects in your lungs. That is kind of scary! I feel okay today but even last night when I went to bed I could hear a slight wheeze when I was breathing.

So next time the weather man tells us there is too much fijn stof, I am going to listen to him. And today I am going to the gym. Gotta get my Monday workout in if I am going to reach my goal of 8x before the end of the year!

Fine Dust

2011-11-21T18:58:00.002+01:00

My workouts are all flipped around this week due to a busy schedule (including our first workshop on Wednesday morning - topic this time is "Vegetarian Tapas"!) - so today my plan was to get my run in. It's beautiful sunny weather BUT apparently there is too much fine dust and soot in the air - we are way over the safe limits. I wasn't really thinking about this as I headed out at noon, after it had warmed up enough for me...

...but I felt it right away in my lungs. It was difficult and uncomfortable to breathe. I didn't want to poop out on my run, so I did the route I wanted to do (my usual 7 km to the lake, once around and back), and tried to keep my pace easy. It felt great in my legs but not so great in the lungs! Apparently it's not such a great idea to do heavy exercise outdoors when the fine dust levels are too high, but I wasn' t the only one - there were other joggers out at the lake.

I've been kind of coughing all day...hopefully it will go away. And tomorrow I'll be good and do my workout indoors at the gym!

A week in exercise

2011-11-18T14:52:00.001+01:00

I missed one of my regular runs this week - I had an appointment with my osteopath on Tuesday morning and I have learned by trial and error that it is better to take a day off after I've seen her, rather than running or working out, and risking undoing all her good work on my body.

Then on Wednesday I went to the yoga class at the new studio...

Yesterday I almost missed another run because I was in town for two hours in the morning getting things done for two big projects I have been working on. I got home right around lunchtime and after I had lunch I decided to go to the gym and get my run in on the treadmill, because it was so cold and gray out. I hardly ever go to the gym in the afternoon, but I was so glad I went and got a good sweat on. I did a 5 minute warm-up (fast walking) and then ran for 35 minutes, alternating the pace up and down. Then a few minutes to cool off and back I got home just before my kids did, which was perfect. I would have felt really guilty if I would have skipped two runs in one week!

This morning I went back to the gym for upper body weights followed by Body Balance class. Luckily it wasn't so cold out this morning, so I was able to take my bike. I really prefer biking over, it's much less hassle with parking and lately driving back is a big pain because there is a road closed and I have to make a big detour. So I was glad!I have the same goal with my Friday workout as I do for my Monday workout - do it 8 times before the end of the year. I start out with a ten minute warm up on the elliptical, followed by 3 sets of 12 reps of the following exercises:

- chest press machine
- upright row machine
- pulldown machine
- upright rows with dumbbells
- Arnold press
- lateral raise
- triceps extension

Then I do two core exercises:
- bicycle crunches 20x each side
- supermans 25x

Then it's time for Body Balance class! I enjoy this class more each time I do it, and I get surprisingly sweaty. I have been noticing that my hip has been feeling better for about the past week, I think it might be this class plus the extra yoga I have been doing that is helping.

Bad Play

2011-11-17T09:21:00.002+01:00

My friend Linda and I had tickets to a play in the theater here in town last night. I had been having a hectic day and I was looking forward to going out, even though I was a bit nervous about the fact that my husband is in Berlin and when I left, two of my kids were still at badminton practice and had to come home on their own in the dark. But when I bought the tickets a few months ago, I didn't know my husband was going to be out of town, so what could I do?

The play itself was horrible. We went to see it because a Flemish actress we both really admire was in the lead role. We were a bit leary about it because last year we saw a play with her in it, produced by the same theater company, and it was kind of shocking (full frontal male and female nudity that in my opinion was not necessary to the story, but actually detracted from it) but we decided to give them another chance. When my husband heard this one was a Fassbinder play, he said I should be prepared for the worst! So I kind of was prepared for the worst and my expectations were fulfilled. Sigh.

I won't go into details, but we have decided that plays by this company just aren't for us. I
think a lot of other people in the audience felt the same way...I overheard one man saying that the reason there was no intermission in the play was because they don't dare - they'd have half the audience walk out at half time, never to return.

Linda and I treated ourselves to a drink the theater's beautiful bar afterwards and ended up having a nice evening talking and making plans for our workshops which start next week. After a while the actresses, all their makeup washed off, came into the bar as well. I kind of felt sorry for them and a bit sad that I don't want to go see their plays anymore.

Flowing Yoga

2011-11-16T15:49:00.002+01:00

This morning, on a complete whim, I decided to go take a trial class at the brand new yoga studio that opened not far from my home. I had only spotted it on Monday when I happened to be driving by, but it has been open since November 1st and is called Flowing Yoga.

I checked it out on-line and saw that I could take a trial class for 5 euros and you could drop in at any of the scheduled classes, and there was one on this morning at 9:30. So once everyone else headed off to school and work, and I had cleaned the kitchen and had my own breakfast and green tea, I just decided to pack up my yoga mat and go! The studio is very conveniently located next to a grocery store, so parking is no problem. I could easily bike here but it was so freezing cold this morning that I pooped out and took the car. Plus I figured I could pick up some groceries I needed after the class - how convenient!

There were 6 of us there to take the class and the set up was very nice - a reception area with stools, a hot cup of tea to welcome you, a roomy dressing room, and an airy bright studio. Our teacher, Nathalie, was very friendly and enthusiastic, and having been doing yoga on my own for some time now, it was really nice to have the support, correction and encouragement of a real person again! The class was a bit more than an hour and was a vinyasa class, which means there are certain set moves that you do in a flowing sequence, sometimes several times, always linking the movements to your breath, and then alternating this with certain poses that you hold for 5 full breaths. It was a very thorough full body workout. And best of all, afterwards I felt great!

It's so great to have another option here in our town for yoga - and I love that it's flexible and that there are several options during school hours, which suits me best. I will definitely be going back.

I'm also glad I took some time for myself this morning because the rest of the day has been rather hectic. Hope you are all having a happy hump day!

BRRRRR!

2011-11-14T15:34:00.003+01:00

It was 4 C when I biked to the gym this morning! Very chilly - but it was bright and sunny so I didn't mind too much. I was glad I took my fleece hat and gloves, though.

I was still sore so I debated about doing my strength workout as usual on Mondays. But I am having one of those busy weeks with a lot to do, and I knew if I didn't get it in this morning, it would be hard to fit it in later in the week. So I went and did it, and even though some of it was rather painful, I was glad I got it done.

On Mondays I do a weight circuit, abs and the elliptical. I start off with 10 minutes on the elliptical to warm up. Then my weights. Today's circuit was:

dumbbell chest press
alternating lunges
one armed row
sumo squats
lateral raises
French press

I do 15 reps of each exercise and don't rest between exercises, then I rest for a minute at the end of the circuit. I do three rounds. Then I do abs:

crunch 30x
oblique crunch 30x
plank 45 sec
oblique plank 30 sec

Then finish off with 20 minutes on the elliptical. Then bike home - uphill :-(

Boy am I glad when I am done!

My goal is to do my Monday workout 8x before Christmas. So far I have done two!

Have a great week!

Lucky Sunday

2011-11-13T13:12:00.003+01:00

Stefaan and I headed out for our Sunday run this morning and just as we turned into the park with the lake, I spotted a 10 euro bill on the ground!

Cool! I quickly pocketed it and we continued on our way.

It was quite chilly and gray out - I think we finally have to say goodbye to the late Indian summer we have been having. It was great while it lasted.

We did 8.7 km in 60 minutes and it did take us a long time to feel warm. Time to get the winter running tights out!

Yesterday morning I did a yoga audio podcast for the first time - a Vinyasa class taught by Seane Corn that I downloaded from IAmplify.com some time ago. I was always apprehensive about doing it, because with yoga, I often need to see what I need to do. But I listened to the podcast the other night while I was trying to fall asleep, and I was able to visualize in my mind what she was asking the class to do, so I decided to give it a go.

It helped a lot that I had listened to it first, and it went pretty well. But it was not an easy, relaxed class - rather hard work! I still feel it in my arms today...

Then in the afternoon we had the church service for my son's holy confirmation. When the bishop was explaining to the kids what it meant, and how from now on they will be able to ask Jesus to help them lead good lives, but how He can only help them if they ask him, I couldn't help but being reminded of that scene in "Jerry Maguire" where Tom Cruise has that famous line, "Help ME help YOU!"

So you see, even church can be entertaining sometimes! Have a happy Sunday!

Friday musings...

2011-11-11T18:56:00.003+01:00

Some wisdom in my mailbox today from Daily OM:

"Our level of abundance is directly in proportion to the goodness we choose to see in our lives. The perception that others have more abundant lives than we do is what usually makes our lives seem lacking. Since we tend to create more of what we focus on in life, we can serve ourselves by turning our attention to the goodness in our lives. This encourages the perception of abundance, even if we
don't have any more than we did originally. The more we focus on our blessings
and affirm our wealth and abundance, the more abundance we will create in our
lives. Your abundance will increase today as you choose to adopt the perception
that you already have an abundant life."

I think I am pretty good at this. I generally feel like a very lucky person! And I agree that so much in life is determined by our own attitude towards the things that are going on.

Yesterday I was busy all day cleaning and shopping for the weekend (just mentioning it so you guys don't think I do nothing but run, workout, meet friends for lunch and go to art exhibits all week!) - today is a holiday in Belgium with all the stores closed, and I had to be in the sports hall all day for my two younger boys badminton tournament. Then tomorrow afternoon the in-laws are coming for the last installment in our youngest's holy confirmation (hence the shopping and cleaning yesterday)!

I wasn't really looking forward to spending the entire day on bleachers - I enjoy watching the matches but it's the sitting all day that kills me! But I have to say I really enjoyed it today - cheering on my own kids and their friends, seeing other parents I knew and meeting new ones, and learning more about the sport from the coach. Despite my sore behind (I forgot to take a cushion this time, Char!) it was a fun day.

Both boys did well and now we are finally home. Tomorrow morning I need to get moving and bake a cake and put together the veggie lasagna for after church. But right now I am relaxing and having a glass of wine. Have a happy weekend, everyone!

Off to Brussels

2011-11-09T09:13:00.003+01:00

I am very lucky to live just a half hour train ride away from Brussels. There is an exhibit of Flemish miniatures I very much wanted to see in the Royal Library in Brussels so yesterday I hopped on a train and headed in.

Flemish miniatures are the beautifully detailed and elaborate small illustrations that adorned handwritten manuscripts and books produced in Flanders. In the 13th and 14th centuries this art really flourished here, and owning these precious books was a a sign of wealth and prestige.

The exhibit in the Royal Library was very interesting - I learned a lot and enjoyed the fact that you could really get up close to see all the details in the manuscripts. Some of them are incredibly detailed and I am in awe of not only the skill but the patience it must have taken to produce them. Amazing.

The other good thing about popping in to Brussels is that I was able to meet up with a very good friend of mine for lunch at Den Teepot, a cozy macrobiotic veggie restaurant in the center of town! Yum, yum - I am always up for good food and good conversation. We finished the day off with a coffee at Cirio before we both had to get home to our kids.

At the moment I am waiting for the sun to come out a little bit more so I can get out for my run and in the meantime I am going to do the Yoga Today free class to warm up.

Have a great day!

Being Flexible

2011-11-07T11:05:00.002+01:00

This morning after everyone got back to school and work, I headed off to the gym. I got my weight circuit done and 30 minutes on the elliptical and then headed home. I have a lot to do today to catch up with all the things that got put off last week with everyone home. The bathrooms are especially filthy!

Char asked how do my husband and three teenage boys cope with the fact that I eat a mainly vegan diet, and I wanted to share the answer: it's all about being flexible. First of all, if we go out to eat (about 2-3 times a month) everyone can choose whatever they want, and they do often choose something with meat (although my husband often buys the vegetarian lunch at work). At home, I mainly cook vegetarian meals (which will sometimes include dairy or eggs for them) that I know they like, or I cook a meal that includes a vegetarian option and a meat or fish option (we have access to good quality organic meat, which makes me feel a bit better about serving it); this I do about once or twice a week. We also don't use large amounts of meat in a meal - I think Mark Bittman is right when he says meat should be an accent to a meal, not the centerpiece. I always try to make veggies the centerpiece, and buy no more than 100 grams of meat per person for a meal.

For example, yesterday I made Indian food, which was a lentil-pumpkin curry, a chickpea-spinach curry, a chicken tikka masala, brown rice, and sliced oranges. My oldest son and husband eat a little of everything, my middle son eats only chicken and rice, and my youngest eats mainly chicken and rice with a little bit of lentils. And I very happily eat the veggie options (am looking forward to the leftovers for my lunch in little while)!

My biggest challenge is my middle son, who is very picky about what he eats. I try to save meals that are less appealing to him for the days when he eats a warm meal at school at lunchtime, and stick to the vegetarian meals I know he enjoys on the other days. Examples of things he likes are my vegetarian lasagna, veggie "meat" balls in tomato sauce, a tofu stew with potatoes and carrots (I serve it in little puff pastry cups which they love), and my seitan-macaroni sautee. It's just a question of being flexible, offering a variety of different foods and not forcing them. Which wouldn't work with teenagers anyway!

They all know the reasons why I am so passionate about eating a plant-strong diet, and with cancer in several family members on both sides of our extended family, I hope that as they get older they will keep in mind how important diet and lifestyle is in lowering their risk. I guess my main goal is to be a good example for them, and at the same time, reduce my own personal health risks, and contribute in a small way to saving the environment and reducing the suffering of animals in the food industry and people in developing countries where food isn't as abundant as it is here.

Passionate about Plants and Health!

2011-11-06T14:48:00.006+01:00

Yesterday afternoon I went to a conference held by the Flemish vegetarian association (EVA), on the future of plant-based diets. The day's program was extremely interesting but I was most excited to hear Brenda Davis, a Canadian dietician whose specialty is vegetarian, vegan and raw diets. She has written several wonderful books on these topics, including one that has been a huge source of information and inspiration to me over the past five years, "Becoming Vegan".

It was great to hear Brenda speak! The main focus of what she talked about yesterday was the impact of plant-based diets on health. When you see the big picture as she presents it, it is not hard to see why more and more research points to plant-based diets being a major factor in prevention of the big three diseases in affluent societies: cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Having several family members who have had to fight cancer over the past ten years, I am especially passionate about the things we can do in our own lives to prevent this modern plague. I wanted to share with you Brenda's recommendations for optimal prevention of these diseases, because even if not everyone we care about is willing to make changes, we really do have the power to reduce our own risk by what we put in our mouths:

Depend on whole plant foods as your foundation: 3 fruits, 5 veg, 1 or more servings of pulses, 30-60 grams of nuts or seeds, and 3 or more servings of whole grains are the basis of a healthy diet.
Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
Maximise nutrient density! This means choosing foods that give you the most nutrition - green leafy vegetables are at the top of this list, followed by other non-starchy vegetables and fruits.
Don't depend on refined carbs as a dietary staple! This means not loading your plate up with white pasta, processed cereals, white bread, etc. Choose whole grains.
Aim for 35 grams or more of fiber every day. (Hint: meat and dairy contain NO fiber.)
Replace unhealthy fats (saturated and hydrogenated fats) with healthy fats from whole foods: nuts, seeds, avocado, olives.
Boost antioxidants by expanding your diet to include a whole range of different plant foods.
Minimize the harmful chemicals in your diet by avoiding highly processed foods, fish from contaminated waters, and deep fried foods.
Moderate your sodium intake.
Be picky about beverages - don't drink your calories!

And I would add one more thing to a disease-preventing lifestyle: regular exercise! I know a lot of you will agree with me on that one!

So, in the spirit of health, Stefaan and I went for our Sunday run this morning and enjoyed an hour of running through the fall leaves...it was great! And then I enjoyed a plant-strong Indian feast for lunch: chickpea-spinach curry, curried lentils with pumpkin, and brown rice. I think Brenda would definitely approve!

Another week gone by...

2011-11-05T09:36:00.002+01:00

My mom was pointing out to me that I hadn't blogged all week - oops! Having everyone at home gets me out of my normal routine and then blogging so easily falls by the wayside...

Suffice it to say that we have had a busy week - with beautiful weather! I have gotten two glorious runs in (two of my 45 minute loops to the lake and back - my new favorite route) and yesterday went to the gym for weights and Body Balance class which I am enjoying more and more each time I do it. I guess I am not the only one, as the room was full - in a vacation week!

We also had two boys in the finals at the badminton tournament on Tuesday which was exciting, a big shopping trip with the whole family on Thursday, and this afternoon I'll be in Mechelen for a conference on vegetarianism with my friend Linda. And then running tomorrow morning and back to regular programming on Monday...

Have a nice weekend and good luck to Kim, running the New York Marathon, and Jenny, running the Savannah Rock and Roll Marathon this weekend! I'll be thinking of you both!

Wildlife Rescue

2011-10-31T09:00:00.004+01:00

This morning my son noticed something black entangled in his soccer goal netting at the back of our garden. So I went out to see what is was, thinking it was a dead bird or something. As I got closer I saw it was a young hedgehog, all twisted up in the netting and he was still alive! So I called Felix and we both got heavy work gloves on and a pair of scissors and tried to figure out how we were going to get the little guy loose. In the end we had to make three cuts in what we will now be calling the "hedgehog trap" to release the little guy. He must have been exhausted because he didn't struggle at all. Once he was free it took him about ten minutes to recover before he waddled off to the back of the garden, and his home under our compost heap. What a relief!

It's another gorgeous morning here and so I think I will go get a run in when it warms up a bit. My kids are on vacation all week long and tomorrow my two youngest boys have a big badminton tournament to go to, which means a long day on those notoriously uncomfortable bleachers!

Yesterday Stefaan and I ran to the Finnish Track and did a few rounds there, so we didn't do as long of a run as we normally do. My hip feels better today, so it might just be a question of making sure I don't overdo it for a while.

Is it Friday already?

2011-10-28T20:22:00.003+02:00

Actually it's Friday evening! How did the week go by so fast? Except for Tuesday the weather has been brilliant, sunny and crisp, and I have been doing my best to take advantage of it. Today I did go to the gym in the morning, for upper body weights, the elliptical and then the Body Balance class, which was a killer for my hip today. My hip has been bothering me again and I'm not sure what I need to do at the moment...

The problem is I enjoy my runs so much that I don't want to stop running! I went out to the lake again yesterday, it was glorious to be running in the sunshine at a perfect temperature. And the hip doesn't hurt while I am running, it just nags at me afterwards...

On Wednesday the free yoga class on Yoga Today this week was especially for runners, bikers and hikers, so I was excited to do it. It was a lot of focus on hip mobility and stretching (pigeon pose, anyone?) and perhaps too much of a good thing? The funny thing is I notice myself being much more careful about the movements I do when I do a yoga class by myself at home, whereas in the Body Balance class, where other people are around, I find myself trying a lot harder to keep up with the teacher and not modifying as much as I probably should.

On another note, I was so excited to get Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" cookbook for my
birthday from my sister! I have one of his other books (Food Matters) and love his philosophy about food. And did you know he is a runner, too? His recipes are often in Runner's World. Anyway, as you can imagine, I am excited to get cooking! I will keep you posted of the recipes I am trying - it will certainly keep me busy for a while as the book is nearly 1000 pages long!

45 again

2011-10-24T15:58:00.002+02:00

I normally go to the gym on Mondays and run on Tuesday, but it's supposed to be rainy tomorrow and today is beautiful - so I flipped things around. I waited til it warmed up this afternoon and went out for a glorious 45 minute run. The weather is just gorgeous - sunny and crisp with lots of leaves blowing around. So glad I was able to take advantage of it!

Yesterday we tried out the hiking shoes in the woods out at the Zoet Waters - and finished our hike off with some coffee, hot chocolate, ice cream waffles and pancakes - mmmmm.... what a treat! And sometimes you need a bribe to get teenagers to come with you...

45

2011-10-21T08:10:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was my birthday so early in the morning I told my 16-year-old I was planning on running 45 kilometers in honor of my new age! He gave me that fish-eye look that teenagers are so good at, and so I said, well, how about 45 minutes?

It was a good day, it was sunny, my husband took the day off and so we ran the 45 minutes together! Then he took me out for lunch at one of my favorite veggie restaurants, Lukemieke, and then we went on a little shopping spree in town. So now I am the proud owner of really professional looking hiking boots!

Mid-week update and a recipe!

2011-10-19T18:08:00.002+02:00

I made this Red Beet Hummus this evening and the color was so gorgeous I just had to share it with you! The recipe is very easy, too...and a great way to use up any leftover roasted beets you might have on hand.

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 medium roasted or cooked beet (about 150 g or 5 ounces)

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

juice of half a lemon

1 T olive oil

1 T tahini

1/2 t. cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor or with an immersion blender until smooth. Enjoy!

Today I did the free yoga class on the Yoga Today website - which felt really good!

Yesterday I gave up on the weather and went to the gym for my run. It had been a while since I did a run on the treadmill, and it actually felt kind of monotonous. Dare I say I might be growing out of loving the treadmill??? I sure hope not, with winter right around the corner...

Monday I putzed around until I didn't have enough time to go to the gym so I did the 30 Day Shred at home and then went for a short run - and my muscles are still sore today! That workout is deceptively intense...

Mayumana!

2011-10-17T08:48:00.003+02:00

Gillis and I had a great time at the Mayumana show last night! It was exciting and we both enjoyed it. What a treat! I wouldn't have normally picked this kind of performance to go and see, but I was surprised at how entertaining it was. And we had great seats!

We took the train to Antwerp and got there early, so we walked around China Town a little bit and then shared a pizza for dinner.

Earlier in the day, Stefaan and I ran about 8 km together. It was such nice weather!

Today I am switching around my normal routine to take advantage of the last sunny day - I think I will run today and go to the gym tomorrow, when it is supposed to be raining.

Have a great week!

TGIF!

2011-10-14T17:43:00.002+02:00

Yay - it's Friday! And we are having beautiful fall weather to boot, and expecting a beautiful weekend - although with wild temperature swings - this morning when I biked to the gym, I had my fleece hat and gloves on, while this afternoon I was sitting in a tank top on my patio talking on the phone to my sister - go figure!

I'm so excited - I won two tickets to a Mayumana performance in Antwerp this Sunday evening and I decided to take my middle son with me. We will take the train there and I think it will be a fun evening out!

Other than that exciting news, it's been a pretty normal week - I had an absolutely great run on Tuesday (yes, Fran, I ended up just going outside from home after taking too long to make a decision and not wanting to waste time going to the gym) - I ended up running 8.5 km in a bit less than an hour, and enjoyed every step - YAY!!! It was one of the most awesome runs I've had in a long time. Felt great.

Yesterday, I spent the day in Brussels with a very dear friend - it was sunny and we had a great time walking around the city and doing a bit of shopping, lots of talking, having a nice lunch and an ice cream cone for dessert - what a treat.

And today was Body Balance class at the gym which I am really enjoying. My lower back was sore from walking all over Brussels and the stretching and downward dogs really helped. I felt like I got all the kinks out after the class was done.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Week in Review

2011-10-09T15:04:00.003+02:00

I took a whole week off running - I was tired after Breda and didn't think it would hurt to give my body a little break.

I did yoga on Wednesday and went back to the gym on Thursday for upper body weights and the elliptical. On Friday I went by train to Mechelen with a friend to see the Rik Wouters exhibit going on there right now - this portrait of his wife reading was a highlight!

Finally, this morning, Stefaan and I went out for a short slow run: 5.8 km in 42 minutes. It was raining and chilly - what a difference with last week! It always feels strange to run again after a break - my left foot was painful and my leg felt stiff but other than that it went okay. Starting tomorrow I am back into a regular running-working out routine again...and hoping to find my joy in it again.

15 K Breda Race Report

2011-10-03T09:21:00.002+02:00

Thanks to Fran, I discovered a great race in Breda! I would have never done this if we hadn't decided to find a race to do together and I have to say, this was the best crowd support I have ever seen! Our bibs had our names on them and I felt like a rock star - people were yelling "Come on, Amy, keep going!" There were bands all along the way, the residents of the town had their lawn chairs set up on their front stoops and were handing out water, sponges, and spraying runners with garden hoses.

Which was necessary, because it ended up, as we feared, being quite hot. Our plan was to go easy, take regular walking breaks, and have a good time together. Neither one of us was concerned about a time goal, so we started out easy.

Now, I have mentioned before that European races don't have many slow runners - most people who actually sign up for races are very fast. So quite quickly we were at the back of the pack and before long, we had the man on the bike following us, because we were last. I didn't mind, though, because it was like having our own personal escort, and the two of us were getting a lot of encouraging cheers from the spectators - "Come on ladies! Good job!" and Fran's personal favorite: "Only a little bit more to go, now!" ;-)

I was feeling okay but I could tell Fran was having a hard time with the heat. I felt bad for her because I knew she was working very hard to keep going, and I really admired her for not giving up. We passed the first 5K marker at about 38 minutes which I thought was encouraging.

Then the man on the bike came up next to us and told us that if we didn't make it to the halfway point in under one hour, they would not let us continue on to complete the race. I am glad he told us this, because we didn't know there was a cut-off, and it enabled us to make a decision together about what to do. I looked at Fran, and she looked at me. What should we do? We were trying to do the math in our heads, based on what the Garmin was telling us, and Fran thought it would be really hard for her to make it. She already had one of those nasty heat headaches and was starting to feel dizzy. "Can you do it?" she asked me. I said I thought I could, and she told me I should go on then, and she would wait for me at the finish. "Are you sure?" I asked. "Yes! Go!" So I said okay, and headed off with the man on the bike following me now.

I felt slightly panicked because suddenly I wasn't doing a fun race with my friend anymore but I had a deadline - cross the halfway point, which was still 2.5 km away before the cutoff time. The man on the bike was a bit confused about how much time I had - first he told me 8 minutes, which made me stop and turn back to Fran again, saying there is no way I can do this in 8 minutes! But Fran's math was much better than the man on the bike, because she said, no you have 18 minutes! So the man checked with the race people via his walkie talkie and yes, I did have 18 minutes. Okay, so I headed off once again, waving goodbye to Fran again.

I felt bad leaving her behind but I decided I was going to do my best to make it. The man on the bike stayed right next to me until we go to the next runner, a lady in a white shirt. He told me he was going to stay with her now, and wished me good luck. I thanked him - if he hadn't spoken up when he did, we would have had no clue about the cutoff time.

After that, I was coming up to the halfway point - which was right next to the finish line in the very center of town. I couldn't believe how many people were there to spectate and support the runners! Did I already mention I felt like a rock star? Wow! It was so great! And of course, once I got through the halfway point I felt relieved, but also kind of bummed - I still had the entire loop to repeat and this time on my own. But I settled into a comfortable pace and started picking off runners who had passed us before - the lady in the pink socks, the older man with the blue shirt...

Thankfully there was a lot of shade on the course and I was doing okay with the heat. Luckily I had brought gels with me, because while there was tons of water on the course there was no sports drink, so I started to feel I really needed to take a gel at about 1 hour. There was this very nice family all set up in front of their lovely house and one of the kids was holding out a glass of water as I ran up. "Is this for me?" I said, and came to a full stop, got my gel out, and took it while the whole family looked on kind of amazed. Then I drank the water, thanked them, and continued on my way.

My feet were starting to hurt and I was getting one of those heat headaches by the end. I took a few walking breaks so I would feel good enough to run in through the huge crowd at the end. Which I did, enjoying it all the way! I totally get why people want to be a rock star - hearing a crowd scream your name is awesome! I was so glad to cross the finish line - I clocked in at 1:41, made it through the chute, and when I came out, there was Fran, waiting for me!

We hung out for a while together, got a good spot in the shade and watched the half marathoners run through the town (that's why there was a cut-off time - they had a half marathon that started 90 minutes after the 15K)and talked. That was the best part of the day for me.

Fran ended up finishing the first loop of the race at her own pace, and I was proud of her for doing that - it took a lot of guts to keep going knowing they were going to make you stop when you got to the halfway point. And I am so grateful to her for encouraging me to go on, for waiting for me until the end, and for treating me to a Coke when I felt like I was going to throw up after I finished!

Thanks Fran! One day soon we are going to do another race together - but not on such a hot day!

Guess what today is?

2011-10-01T08:26:00.004+02:00

Well, today is the first day of my favorite month of the year, and...

October 1st is also World Vegetarian Day!

So do something kind for your health, our environment, animals and people in other parts of the world, and go meatless today!

Just one vegetarian day a week (get inspired on Meatless Monday or Donderdag Veggiedag or Jeudi Veggie) can make a difference.

Have a great day!

Now it's time to relax a little...

2011-09-30T16:04:00.003+02:00

Yes, still beautiful weather here! I biked to the gym this morning and did upper body weights and then the Body Balance class, then I biked home. The funny thing is, it was so chilly when I biked there at 9:30 I had to wear a fleece and a jacket, but when I came home at 11:30, I was only in a tank top! It cools way down at night.

Not much else to report except that I am going to take it easy the rest of today and tomorrow. And drink a lot of water. And catch up on some of the episodes of In Treatment I've been recording while my kids are at sports tomorrow afternoon...how lazy is that?!

Fran, I will see you at de infobalie in het Stadskantoor, naast de startlokatie, around 11!

Remember?

2011-09-29T15:21:00.004+02:00

Remember this outfit, last worn in April this year? Well, I was able to wear it again today...

Remember those 4 easy kilometers I was supposed to do on Tuesday? Well, I decided to do them this afternoon, so that I could...

remember what it feels like to run when it's 79 F/26 C!

I went out after lunch and took it slow and easy. It felt good to be in the sun but it was definitely hot. I went over to the Finse Piste where there was a lot of shade. I even stopped to talk to a school teacher I knew who was there with her class, so I got a chance to rest a bit halfway.

I did two loops on the Finnish track and then headed home again, for 28 minutes total. I'm glad I went as it reminded me how it feels to run in the heat and made me think about how I am going to make sure I hydrate very well in the next three days. And rethink my choice of race outfit - I might just have to take my running shorts with me instead of capris on Sunday!

I will be going to Breda by train. I'll have to switch trains in Mechelen (B) and Roosendaal (NL). I'm looking forward to it (going to bring a good book to read) but I don't really want to sit in my running shorts for 2 hours in the train, and I don't want to wear my stinky running clothes home in the train, so that means I'll need to change - and think carefully about what to bring.

I Love Frank!

2011-09-28T14:03:00.003+02:00

Frank is our weatherman and this week I have been loving him!

It's another gorgeous day today! I told my kids we have been having our summer in April and September this year, for a change.

And it's supposed to be beautiful through the weekend, but a bit cooler and cloudier on Sunday (when I have the 15K with Fran). So, perfect! I am really looking forward to this.

In spite of the good weather, I still went to the gym today. I had some weights to get in and 20 minutes on the elliptical. But I did bike there and back. I haven't driven my car since last Saturday when we had to go to visit the in-laws.

And you can bet I will be out running tomorrow - in shorts and a tank top!

Easy Run

2011-09-27T12:33:00.003+02:00

My workout plan said "4 km easy". But how could I have known back when I wrote it that it was going to be such perfect gorgeous weather at the end of September?

So I just got back and my Garmin says: "7.40 km, 50:21, 583 calories and 6:48 pace". I just couldn't resist going all the way to the lake and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. It will be fall soon enough and then I will be dreading the wind and rain...and I can make up my "4 km easy" on one of those days.

Dress Rehearsal

2011-09-25T16:33:00.002+02:00

Today is my last long slow run before the 15 K race with Fran next week in Breda. So I really wanted to try out all my gear and make sure there were no unexpected spots that chafed or hurt. I also remembered to take a gel with me for halfway through!

It has been gorgeous Indian summer weather for running and I was looking forward to this. I had to do it on my own, since my husband got back from Vienna last night and is leaving for Warsaw this evening, he preferred to get a session in at the gym. I didn't mind, though, I loaded my Ipod with some podcasts I wanted to listen to and I was off!

I was shooting for 13 km but it ended up being 12.7 in 90 minutes. Pace was right about 7 minutes per kilometer, which is just perfect for what we will be running next week.

Everything worked out well - from socks to hat! And I don't think I really needed the gel but I took it halfway through anyway... It was a vanilla one. I had forgotten how salty and weird those things taste!

Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stays nice and sunny (for me) but not too hot (for Fran) next week!

Just for Fun!

2011-09-23T10:16:00.002+02:00

I am stuck at home this morning because our plumbers are installing two new radiators...so I have been fooling around with things on-line that I normally never have time for...like this:

If you want to make your own, here is the link!

Have a great Friday!

Finnish Track

2011-09-22T19:03:00.003+02:00

We are so lucky in my town, Leuven. We have so many sports facilities and most of them are really close to my house. One of the neat things we have, just 1 km away, is a Finnish track, in a wooded park. A Finnish track (finse piste) is a path made specially for runners. It has a spongy bottom layer covered in wood chips which makes it nice and springy to run on.

I probably use the Finnish track about three times a month. It's a 1 km loop so it's great for tempo runs. And it is surprisingly challenging to run on - while it gives your joints a nice break from asphalt, the bounciness means that you really have to work your core a lot more than you normally would.

So today I headed over to the Finnish track, did two loops in one direction, turned and did two in the other direction, and then headed home for a nice 6.3 km and 42 minutes of fresh air.

Too tired for the gym

2011-09-21T11:30:00.002+02:00

My husband has been travelling a lot and my main problem with that is that I tend to not sleep very well when he is away. It's like I feel like I have to be a lot more alert or something, being the only adult in the house. It's silly, really, because it's not like he is Mr. Super Alert himself in the niddle of the night when he is home, but there you go - I guess I'm just weird like that!

So it was a long, wakeful night last night (the last number I remember seeing on my alarm clock was 3 am) and this morning I felt groggy. The idea of slogging off to the gym just didn't appeal to me. My body felt like it wanted yoga. And the free yoga class at Yoga Today this week was hip openers, which sounded like just the thing for me and my tight runner's hips. So I got my yoga mat out and set up in front of my laptop and got started. It was actually a pretty tough class but it felt really, really good.

Then, since I had saved time by not going to the gym, I made some healthy muffins with grated carrot, zucchini and apples based on the "Harvest Bread" recipe just posted at Happy Herbivore blog (which you can find down on the left on my sidebar). Don't you just love it when you see a recipe that looks good and you just so happen to have everything you need in the house? I had a half of a zucchini sitting in my fridge just waiting for this recipe! It will be a nice surprise for my kids when they get home from school. And one of them tasted delicious with my coffee just now...

Procrastination...

2011-09-20T12:14:00.002+02:00

Oh, I was being so lazy and slow this morning! But I finally had to get off my chair and put my running shoes on and get out the door, or it wasn't going to happen. And that wouldn't be good, since I had 7 easy kilometers on my schedule today, and no free days later in the week to make it up.

So off I went. And it was actually perfect running weather, and there were actually other runners out at the lake (which I used to avoid during the week because it creeped me out to run there alone), and there were some good songs on my Ipod.

And then when I got back home my neighbor, Werner, was out in his front garden, and he asked me if I had "run a little" and I said, yes, 7 km! And I showed him my Garmin which he thought was very interesting and wanted to know all about it.

And now I'm showered and feeling happy and ready to tackle the rest of my day... and oh so glad I didn't skip my run!

Just another Sunday run

2011-09-18T15:55:00.002+02:00

I was lucky this morning - after a big storm last night it was sunny out when I got up. Cool and windy, but sunny - yay! I was moving slow so I got going later than usual but I had a bunch of podcasts loaded on my Ipod and was ready to take it slow and easy for 11 kilometers.

And that is exactly what I did - slow and easy for 1 hour 20 minutes, 11.3 km and a pace right at about 7 minutes per km. Perfect! It felt good and I am quite confident that I am ready for the 15 K in two weeks with Fran. Hooray!

Something new!

2011-09-16T16:14:00.003+02:00

From Peer Trainer: Today's tip of the day is to stop beating yourself up. Focus on the good stuff you have done. All of the small, good habits that you've started to incorporate into your life should be celebrated as accomplishments.

Well, I tried a new class today at the gym. It's called Body Balance and I was excited to try it because it was billed as a combination of yoga, tai chi and Pilates. I am very familiar with yoga and I did tai chi for over a year a long time ago and I loved it. I've only done about 5 Pilates classes, though, so I'm not too familiar with that. But I was looking forward to being able to do a class like this right in my gym. I had to stop taking yoga classes a few years ago because I simply had too much on my plate and something had to give. I do my best to do yoga at home, but it is difficult to get into a good routine with it, because I find when I am at home it is very hard to set aside the time for it. There is always something else that seems to take priority! So it's hit and miss most of the time except when I do something like the Yoga Journal 21-day challenge I did at the beginning of the year.

Anyhow, I got to the gym early enough to get my upper body strength training done first and I even had time to get a short interval run in on the treadmill (12 minutes but better than nothing, right?) before heading over to the big room where they hold the group classes.

I was surprised at how many people (all women) turned out to try this new class - the room was full!

I have to say I enjoyed the class a lot even though it doesn't compare at all to a traditional yoga class. First of all they played loud music throughout the hour. It was calm music but still, for me, a bit too loud.

Each song focused on a different type of move: there was a warm up song with arm movements (like in tai chi) and forward bends, a song with a sun salutation, a song with lunges and warriors, a song for planks and Pilates-like ab work (I found this to be the hardest part), a song for hip openers and twists, etc. At the end there was even a final relaxation song! It felt very weird to be lying down and resting at the gym, but it was nice.

Even though I would prefer a more traditional type yoga class, I am happy my gym is offering something different for once, and I am excited to be able to get some kind of yoga in every week in the convenient location of my regular gym. I also don't have to pay anything extra to do it! And it worked pretty well after my upper body weights, too. Next week I will have to miss it unfortunately because our plumbers are coming to install some new radiators, but I think after that I will want to attend this class every week.

Have a great weekend!

Just briefly...

2011-09-13T11:23:00.002+02:00

Today was one of those days where I really didn't "feel like" getting out and getting my run in. Luckily it was just 6 km easy pace or I might have really psyched myself out! After procrastinating for ages (which means catching up on reading blogs), I finally laced up my shoes at 10 and headed out.

Listening to a podcast instead of music helped me keep my pace easy, and I rather mindlessly ran three loops around the Finnish track and then headed home for the full 6 kilometers and 42 minutes of good exercise. Was it my best run ever? Not really. Do I feel better for having done it? YES! And at least I won't feel guilty the rest of the day...

A Really Yummy Chickpea Burger Recipe

2011-09-12T14:46:00.003+02:00

Back to the gym this morning for a good workout with weights and the elliptical. Yesterday I only had 8 km on the schedule so Stefaan ran it with me and we pushed the pace a little bit faster than Smart Coach called for. It felt good to go out faster than normal on a Sunday!

A few people were asking me about what was on the plate to the right... at the bottom left is a simple cucumber tzatziki, at the top is a fennel-orange-red quinoa and black olive salad, and at the bottom right are two of the most delicious chick pea burgers I have ever eaten. I found this wonderfully easy and healthy recipe on the blog Oh She Glows a while back and I have made it several times because it is so yummy, easy and healthy - the three most important criteria for me!

Here is my adaptation of Angela's fabulous recipe:

Ingredients:
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup regular oats
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 tsp coconut oil (optional)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp tumeric
• 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt, to taste
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp Parsley flakes (optional)
• 3 T sunflower seeds
• 3 T pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper and set aside. In a food processor or with an immersion blender, process the all the ingredients except for the parsley, sunflower seeds and pepitas until somewhat smooth. Stir in the parsley, sunflower seeds and pepitas. Wet your hands and shape into patties. Makes about 6-8 patties depending on how big you want them. Bake about 20 minutes, turning halfway, until golden brown on both sides. Enjoy! These are delicious with some tzatziki on the side.

The fennel salad was pretty easy too - I adapted it from a tapas cookbook I got from the library to get inspired for my workshops. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll post it!

What's Up?

2011-09-07T18:26:00.004+02:00

You'd think having all three of my boys leave the house at 8 and not come home again til 4:30 would mean I'd have a sea of time to wallow in and surely, plenty of time to blog and keep up with my blog friends, right? Hmmm. Not so much, as it turns out. Where the heck does the time go?

I've been running and working out pretty much every day except Saturdays. I'm busy training for the 15K with Fran in Breda on October 2, and combining four runs a week with three weight training days, and cross training on the elliptical twice a week. So far, things are going well and I think I may have figured out a better way to balance weight training so that it doesn't affect my running negatively: I cut way back on the lower body exercises I was doing and I do most of them with just body weight (lunges and squats mainly). This seems to be working in the sense that I don't have that terrible leaden feeling in my legs when I go out for my runs anymore. Hooray!
For the past few weeks I've been really focused on healthy eating, mainly following a "nutritarian" or Eat to Live way of eating, which means vegetables, fruits, beans, and tofu, with grains, nuts and seeds in limited quantities. I am enjoying my green smoothies for breakfast, salads, soups, stews, hummus, homemade veggie burgers, and I have also been investing a lot of time in trying new recipes and cooking techniques, as well as reading blogs on this topic to learn as much as I can. The pictures above are a couple of really yummy meals I've had recently - I love eating this way, the food is delicious and it makes me feel so good - energetic and healthy! These are truly "happy meals" to me...
I've been doing some preparation for the workshops I am going to do with my friend Linda in November. Our topic this year is "Vegetarian Tapas" and we got together last weekend with our husbands and kids to try out a bunch of recipes we both made. It was a lot of fun and delicious, too! Writing the handout and translating and typing out my recipes is not as fun, but has to be done as well...
September is also the time I usually touch base with my girlfriends and make dates to have lunch or coffee... there are a couple of dates on my calendar already to look forward to!
Finally, I've been busy taking care of the family and the house, getting things going for the new school year, trying to make a yummy dessert for the boys for when they get home from school every day because they are always so HUNGRY! And oh yeah, trying to find a balance between making them healthy meals and making room for the "junkier" things they love so much! It's definitely a work in progress...

So, these things eat up a lot of my time, I guess... But I will just keep plugging along! My main goal is to keep up with all of your blogs, even if I don't find the time to update mine as often as I would like...

First Day of School!

2011-09-02T12:17:00.002+02:00

Thankfully, everybody's first day of school went well! Felix is just starting out his first year of secondary school (equivalent to 7th grade in the US) and Gillis and Florian are in the 3rd and 5th years of the same school. It will be nice to have them all in the same school for a couple of years.

My husband was still on vacation yesterday so he joined me for my tempo run after we got all the boys off to school. It was the same run as two weeks ago: 6 km total with 3 km at 6:15 pace in the middle.

I will say - it was a lot harder to do it without my music!!! I never bring my Ipod with me when we run together, and I did miss having an uptempe song to kind of push me along when it felt hard. But it was nice to have company!

This morning I biked to the gym for upper body weights (my arms feel like jello right now) and an interval run. It was just 15 minutes of one-minute intervals but I don't think I could have done much more as my legs still felt a bit tired from yesterday. Other than that, it went well.

Now I'm off to get things done and hopefully enjoy a bit of the lovely weather we are having for the next day or two.

Still here!

2011-08-29T17:37:00.003+02:00

The summer is winding down and we were lucky enough to see friends and family (both sides!) this weekend, got some good runs in (in spite of the weather), and are now busy getting things organized for Thursday, the first day of school, when we return to our regular schedule and I will be able to return to more regular blogging! Have a great week and see you soon!

Hill Running

2011-08-25T16:14:00.003+02:00

Got up this morning and with the weather we've been having I was so glad to see some sunshine, since I had a hill run on my schedule... Rain was a possibility so I decided not to waste any time and get out and get my run done! 7 km, 46 minutes and several large hills later, I made it home, sweaty and happy at the same time!

Not much else to report except that school starts one week from today and we are all counting down - 8 weeks of summer vacation is just TOO LONG.

Totally Insane Weather

2011-08-23T15:27:00.002+02:00

What the heck is going on here? We have been having the most bizarre weather conditions. This morning I took Felix to his French camp and then headed straight to the gym for a 5 km run I had to do. It was raining and supposed to rain all day - that's why I went to the gym.

When I was about halfway through my run, I noticed it was getting really dark outside. It continued to get dark until it looked like night time outside. The gym wasn't really busy but most of us got off our equipment to look out the window - it was so creepy.

Then this huge storm started with rain, hail, thunder and lightning. I called my two oldest boys at home to make sure they were okay and to get them to check that all the windows were closed and unplug the computers and TV.

The electricity went off in part of the gym which included the locker room. I had to use my cell phone as a flashlight to get my stuff out to go home when the rain slowed down a bit. On the way home, a lot of the streets in our city were flooded. Everything seemed so ominous and threatening.

Later when I went to pick up Felix there was a huge thunder clap, which sounded like an explosion. Our electricity went out as well, but I got it back on when I got home.

Now it's sunny but there are more storms on the way. So I'll be driving my boys to piano lessons this afternoon - I don't want to risk them having to bike home in some crazy storm.

PS: Felix was much happier about going to French class this morning - he met some other kids and yesterday the teacher told him his French was "genial", which pumped him up a lot!

Wine and Whining

2011-08-22T09:50:00.003+02:00

We had a great evening with our friends; it was midnight before we knew it and there might have been a little too much refilling of wine glasses because it was very hard to get up this morning! But I had to, because Felix had to be at his French class at 9. He's taking a morning class every day this week, to refresh things before school starts on the 1st of September.

Poor Felix. He really didn't want to go. He was moaning about how he wished his brother was going because he wasn't going to know anybody and that wouldn't be fun. And so we get there and line up to sign in, and when it is our turn, the lady behind the table says, "Bonjour, Felix!" Turns out he has the same teacher as last year AND she remembered him and his name! So I told him, see, you do know someone! Of course, all that got me was the evil fish eye, but I do think he was relieved.

Now I'm on my second cup of coffee trying to wipe out the effects of last night. My plan for this morning is a brisk walk while listening to a podcast and then a nice hot shower. And early to bed this evening! And definintely NO WINE!

Quick Sunday Catch Up Post

2011-08-21T15:37:00.002+02:00

A lot of you might of heard about the freak storm that killed 5 people at a music festival here in Belgium on Thursday. We were so shocked and sad about this and while I am thankful no one we knew was hurt or killed, my heart goes out to the family and friends of the 5 who died and the 3 who are still fighting for their lives in the hospital. If there is anything to be gleaned out of this, it's that we never know how long we have, and we shouldn't take everything for granted, should we?
Yesterday we were out with friends of ours on a day trip to Kanne, a tiny village just south of Maastricht (NL) where we visited a cave where we bought "cave mushrooms", a castle, enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather and the company of our friends, and ended it all with a late dinner at an Italian restaurant. Carpe diem, right?
After the late night it was a bit difficult to get out of bed this morning, but we started off early on our run, as it was supposed to rain later today. It was muggy and hot, and I had 8 km on my schedule, but we kept to a slow and easy pace and enjoyed being able to do it.
Now I am busy cooking for friends who are coming over this evening - I will be serving a "tapas" dinner for the first time ever! Yum, yum...

Tempo run and a book

2011-08-18T15:38:00.004+02:00

I had a tempo run on my schedule today - 6 km total with 3 km at 6:10 pace. Maybe this is funny, but I have never really done a "real" tempo run outdoors, even after getting my Garmin last summer. I always used to do these kinds of workouts on a treadmill, where I can just plug the paces in! So today was a first for me - I hope I did it right!

I ran out to the Finnish track, because I know it is one kilometer around. Just to get there is 1.5 km, so I used that for my warmup. Then I ran around the track three times, trying to keep my average pace on my Garmin around my target pace. The first lap I was a bit too slow, the second lap I was pretty much right on target, and the last lap I was a bit too fast. (Yes, I do sound like Goldilocks and the Three Bears here, don't I?)

Then I ran home, slow, for the cool down. Is that all there is to it? It seems too simple. Or is there some major thing I am missing?

Anyhow, that brings me to the book I recently won in a giveaway on AJH's blog and which I finally finsihed: Running on Empty by Marshall Ulrich. There is nothing simple at all to the undertaking that is chronicled in this book: at the age of 57 he runs across America in 52 days. Which meant he ran the equivalent of two marathons and one 10K pretty much every day for a month and a half. The book tells the story leading up to this incredible journey and takes the reader along for the gruelling 52 days of the run, with all the ups and downs, emotional drama and physical pain. It is hard to try to imagine what this does to your body, but reading the book gives you a pretty good idea. It makes me even more in awe of what ultramarthoners do.

If you are interested in running at all, this is a great read. If you are considering running longer distances than the marathon, this is a MUST read, because there is a lot of practical advice that you can glean from Ulrich's years of experience. For example, I had never heard about surgically removing all of your toenails to avoid all the problems that they can cause on long distances - I have to admit just the idea of it kind of freaked me out!

Thanks again, Andrea, for giving me the chance to read this! I am going to pass it on to the other runners in our family - I know they will enjoy it. Especially my brother-in-law who dreams about doing Badwater!

Finally Summer and a Plant-Strong Recipe

2011-08-17T16:44:00.003+02:00

We are finally having a few days of real summer weather here, and as always, I try to take advantage of it. But I did have to get into the gym for some weights and the elliptical, but not matter - I biked there and enjoyed the sunshine. It was hot at the gym but not terrible and I got a good workout in.

Then I had a couple of books on reserve at the library downtown, so after lunch I walked there and back, and then got involved reading one of them (Siri Hustvedt's "The Shaking Woman" - very intriguing) this afternoon on my patio. It was so peaceful and someone was practicing a musical instrument (oboe? clarinet? I wasn't sure what it was) and it sounded so nice.

Now my boys are back home - the two youngest are fooling around with water balloons and the oldest has a CD playing - a Belgian group called Triggerfinger - great music but not exactly what you'd call "relaxing". So now it's time to stop chilling out and start thinking about making dinner...

Yesterday I made the yummiest recipe with some leftover Lentil Taco Filling (a favorite recipe from Runner's World - the only change I made was to reduce the oil) - I took some cabbage leaves, put a spoonful of the taco filling in and rolled them up, and then steamed them in my steamer til the leaves were tender and the filling was warm. It was so good!

Here is the recipe for the filling:

1 cup onions, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup brown lentils, dry
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup water or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons dried black currants or raisins, minced
1 cup salsa

In a large frying pan over medium heat, sauted onions, celery, and garlic in the olive oil for five minutes or until vegetables are soft. Stir in the lentils, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Cook for one minute. Add the broth and raisins. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender (add more water or broth as needed). Remove the lid and cook an additional 10 minutes (until lentils are thick), stirring often. Fold in the salsa.

Can then be used in traditional tacos with all the usual fixings, or other Mexican dishes, or to fill cabbage leaves, as I did, or to top a salad... be creative! It freezes really well too. I think next time I am going to make a double batch.

Originally published 11/03/2006 in Runner's World Magazine - enjoy!

Sunny Days

2011-08-16T17:59:00.002+02:00

What could be better than getting outside on a sunny day? Yesterday we went to visit some old friends of ours in Wallonia (the French speaking part of Belgium), and spent the afternoon exploring an old railway that has been turned into a biking/walking path. Lots of nice sights to see on the way!

I was very happy for the sun this morning for my short, easy run. I used the Smart Coach app at Runner's World to come up with a program for the upcoming 15K I am going to run with Fran - I suddenly realized this weekend that it is just 7 weeks away!

Anyway, today was to be 4 K, easy and so that's what I did. it was very enjoyable and it seems like my legs have recovered enough the past week to actually feel good when running - YAY!!!

The program has me running three days a week (long, easy and tempo/hills) - I added three days of reasonable weights with some cross training on the elliptical and one short interval run. I have always felt those short interval runs with high speeds really helped me feel comfortable running at my "normal" speed and so I like to do that once a week.

I feel a lot happier with a more reasonable weight workout - I am going to go easy on my legs, since that's where I always have trouble, with mainly bodyweight lunges and squats. Nothing crazy for me right now!

Hope everyone's having a good week!

TGIF

2011-08-12T11:05:00.002+02:00

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments on running and weight workouts - like a lot of you, I do think weight training has definite benefits for runners. I guess it is just a question of finding the right balance for each person as an individual and I guess I am still searching! I will keep you posted on what I try out next and how that goes.

Today was just a 20 minute walk to pick up a newspaper at the train station and now I am getting everything ready for our annual blueberry picking outing in Limburg with the boys and a friend of mine. Unfortunately it just started raining but I think we will drive out there and see what the weather looks like. If anything, it won't be very busy if the weather looks bad, and we certainly won't get too hot! Just need to remember to put the rubber boots in the car before we leave!

Have a happy Friday!

Summer Catch Up

2011-08-11T09:14:00.002+02:00

I have had a hard time getting behind the computer the last few days - just haven't felt like it, or when I do feel like it, it seems like someone else is always busy on it...

On Sunday, when we headed out for our run, I came to the conclusion that heavy weight lifting pretty much takes the joy out of my runs - my legs just felt leaden and my hamstrings were really tight. I decided then and there to go for a longer easy run than was on my program and drop the squats and lunges that were supposed to come afterwards. We ended up running a very easy 7 km in 55 minutes (the program called for a 35 minute run). Later that day we met friends of ours for a 2 hour hike in the woods outside of Brussels and I didn't feel sorry at all that I had dropped the squats and lunges!

Then on Monday I took the day off! I was totally wiped and I really needed it!

Tuesday I went back to the gym, but I modified the lower body weights (dropping a couple exercises), which made my interval run a lot more comfortable.

Yesterday was a rest day on the schedule and I took it - I had plans to meet a friend at the park with both of our kids, where we shot some baskets and walked around, biking there and back.

So today I have a 40 minute run on my schedule and a bit of weights, and I am just having coffee, waiting for my kids to get up (I don't like to leave for the gym when they are all still asleep), and catching up on blogs...

I am going to continue to modify the weight workouts and ease up on the lower body weights, so my running doesn't suffer. It makes me too sad to go out for a run and have it be a struggle every time. I like it much better when my runs feel good!

Per request!

2011-08-06T09:53:00.004+02:00

A lot of you asked to see what I bought at Forever 21 - So I had Gillis take a picture of me this morning - here are the trousers and one top (the dark blue one)...

Today's workout was just drills so it didn't really take too long, about half an hour up and down in the garden - luckily it wasn't raining! And I did it early enough to avoid the strange looks from curious neighbors ;-)

Yesterday I had another one of those hard sessions at the gym - but I learned my lesson and did the cardio intervals first, even though I was sweating like crazy when it was time to switch to weights. Yuck! I feel a lot less sore today than I did last week, too - maybe another effect of not doing weights first?

Anyhow, got to run! Have a great Saturday!

Forever 21

2011-08-04T08:40:00.004+02:00

Hey there! The past few days have been full and busy, and yesterday was the last day our visitor from Paris was here and she invited me to come and spend the day with her in Brussels. She had plans to visit the Ixelles Museum and when I looked on the map to see where it was, I discovered it was about four blocks from one of my favorite restaurants, Dolma! I'm sure I've blogged about Dolma before - it's the vegetarian buffet restaurant and it's so good! So we went there for lunch and then to the museum afterwards.

I had never been there and it had some really interesting pieces including a statue by Belgian artist Rik Wouters that really made me smile:

The name of the statue is "Vierge Folle" or Crazy Virgin and she is so full of joy that you can almost hear the music she is dancing to. What a treat to be so taken by surprise by such a lovely statue.

I must have been inspired by seeing her, because after I said goodbye to my friend and went to the Dandoy cookie shop to pick up pain grec I had promised to bring home as a treat for my youngest (who got braces put on yesterday), I realized I was only a few blocks away from the Rue Neuve, a big shopping street in Brussels.

Just last week, a huge American store called Forever 21 just opened there - I had read about it in the newspaper. On an impulse I decided to check it out. It was crazy and huge and full of people and loud music. But I ended up buying a cute pair of trousers and two tops.

Later my oldest son told me that Forever 21 is my 15-year-old niece's favorite store. Yes, the crowd was very young, yes I had noticed I was one of the oldest ladies standing in the line for the dressing rooms. But what the heck - we all have to kick up our heels like the Crazy Virgin every now and then, don't we?

Another quickie and long term plans?

2011-08-01T11:08:00.003+02:00

We have a house-guest arriving this afternoon from Paris, so I have lots of things to do again today. But I did manage to get myself to the gym when it opened to get my workout in. I was actually looking forward to the weights part of it because it was only upper body; but I was nervous about the cardio, which was supposed to be an interval run, because my legs were still sore when I got up. But they did feel better than yesterday so I thought I would at least give it a try. It actually went quite well. I think biking over helped loosen them up a bit.

Jenny and I were talking last night and we decided (half jokingly!) that we want to do the Dodentocht one of these years together: it's a 100 km "death march" here in Belgium that starts at 9 pm on a Friday evening in August and you have 24 hours to finish it, walking or jogging (or stumbling or crawling????) The funny thing is, it takes place in and around the community where my husband grew up, so he remembers seeing the crazy walkers stumbling right through his street in the middle of the night every year, and he thinks we are off our rockers to even consider it! He may come around in the end, though.... ;-) I see it every year on the news on TV and it has always intrigued me. Jenny thinks it would be cool to do a race where you get Belgian beer and peperkoek and other kinds of Belgian treats at the aid stations!

Fittingly, I just started reading Running on Empty by Marshall Ulrich, the book I received from AJH on a giveaway on her blog a while back - the book just came home to me in my son's suitcase. I will give a full review of the book when I am finished, but let me say that it already makes me realize what a serious endeavour it will be to conquer 100 km, no matter how fast or slow you intend to do it.

Busy day!

2011-07-31T18:51:00.002+02:00

Just a quick post as we have my in-laws over today - they were all anxious to see Florian now that he is back from his big adventure...
Our raw vegan dinner last night was delicious! The best course was the beet ravioli filled with cashew puree - it was absolutely wonderful. It was also nice to just sit back and be served a beautiful, healthy meal. I felt spoiled!
My workout today was HARD - my legs were still so sore and tired. We had to run 40 minutes - I don't think I have run so slow in ages but I kept thinking about how it would be getting the blood flowing to my muscles and help them heal so I just keep slogging along. We ran to the Finnish track, did three loops and ran back...
There were also drills on the schedule, which we did, but with not much enthusiasm...
Then I was busy cooking lunch, making crumble, getting veggies prepared for the buffet for this evening...on my feet all day... It is going to feel so good this evening when I can finally crawl in bed!
I am keeping my fingers crossed the legs feel better for tomorrow = an interval run!
Hope you're having a happy Sunday, too!

Sore!

2011-07-30T09:43:00.002+02:00

Luckily today's program is easy cycling or walking, 40-60 minutes. I just got 20 minutes in this morning, to go get the weekend newspaper, and then this evening Stefaan and I are walking downtown to go out to dinner (it's a special vegan raw dinner that's held every couple months at a cafe in town - I am really looking forward to it!)

For those of you who were wondering, like me, if it's okay to do your cardio first, before weights, I talked to my sister Jenny (who is a personal trainer and my fitness hero) about it last night. She said it's okay either way, depending on what your goals are. That makes sense! She did say that if you have to do interval or tempo training she would run first and do the weights second or on another day. But for people who have a regular running schedule it's okay to do the weights first and then run - unless you are training for a big race. She said easy cardio after a weight workout helps the muscles get rid of the built up lactic acid, so it's actually beneficial.

So that makes me feel better! But not any less sore... ;-)

My ss is grss

2011-07-29T11:35:00.002+02:00

OMG. Killer workout. I'm back to doing my Matt Roberts program and today was tough. I kind of brought it upon myself, though, by doing the weight circuits first and the cardio second. I had (to me) really good reasons for doing this, however:

when I do cardio first I get really sweaty and disgusting looking and hate looking at myself in those mirrors when doing my weights afterwards, so I prefer to do weights first while I am still "fresh"
if I get to the gym when it opens and do my weights first, the weight room is really quiet and I can get things done before more people arrive, and then retreat to the comfort zone of the treadmill as things get busier

Makes sense, right? Maybe not. Today's weights were four sets of each of the following exercises:

dumbbell chest press 15x
pec flyes 15x
seated rows 12x
biceps curls 15x
squat/overhead press combo 15x
stationary lunges 15x
hyperextensions 20-30x (this is like a superman)
step-ups 20x per leg!!! aaarrggghhh

This took me 55 minutes to complete and my legs were shot - and then I still had to do 30 minutes running on the treadmill, not to mention bike home. Help!

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it but I just told myself this was good practice for when you are running a race and your legs are really tired but you still have another half hour to go before you cross the finish line. So I put some good music on my Ipod, loud enough so I wouldn't hear my feet slapping on the mill and got going at a slow pace. It was hard. I took walk breaks. But I did it. And actually, after 20 minutes, things seemed a little bit easier. But man, was I glad when it was done. And I then I biked home - really really slow!

I may just have to reconsider my bright idea of doing the weights first...

He's Back!

2011-07-28T09:18:00.002+02:00

We almost didn't recognize him as he came out of those airport doors! Florian arrived safe and sound this morning, with a suitcase full of trendy clothes...and a big hug for his mom, who has been missing him a lot these past three weeks. It was hard for him to leave, having had an absolutely wonderful time with Grandma, Grandpa, cousin Allie and Aunt Christy, who all took good care of him for me. Thanks, y'all!

2011-07-27T13:55:00.004+02:00

We're back! We had a great time and here are a few highlights of our trip:

As you know I was really looking forward to meeting fellow blogger friend, Fran. It's a funny thing to finally meet someone in person whose blog you have been following for some time - you actually know a lot about them already and it's as if you are old friends who simply haven't seen each other in a while. We spent Sunday morning talking as if we had known each other for years! I found Fran to be just the way she comes across in her blog - very friendly and open, straighforward, down-to-earth, kind and easy to talk to! We found we have a lot in common besides running - but I have to admit, we did talk a lot about running, training and the races we are planning to do! With all of the other things we talked about, the time flew by. I am happy that we already have a date to see each other again - when we run our 15K together in October - and I am so pleased we had the chance to get together - thanks, Fran!

I saw Fran on Sunday morning; on Saturday we spent the whole dat the Hoge Veluwe National Park, which is fabulous. Not only does it have miles of biking and walking paths (we did a 30 km bike ride with the boys) and gorgeous landscapes, but it also has a top-notch art museum right in the center of the Park, where we spent a few hours looking at Van Goghs and other beautiful works of art. I also discovered that there is a race here in October (which Fran did last year) and this is definitely going on my bucket list of races I want to do.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be very rainy, so we decided to take it easy and enjoy our bungalow, reading books and watching the last day of the Tour de France. And then Monday we took one last bike ride before we had to return them and then went to one of our boys' favorite zoos - Apenheul - where the smaller monkeys run freely among the visitors. Always very fun and eye-opening to see how much human behavior is similar to apes, if you know what I mean!

All in all it was a great short getaway...

Now it's back to normal life, working out and running and ---- we pick up Florian at the airport tomorrow morning (yay!), and I am so ready for him to be home - even if he's not ready to leave Grandma and Grandpa's...

Intermezzo

2011-07-21T11:37:00.002+02:00

You know I put my Matt Roberts plan on hold til we get back from the Netherlands next week. But today I decided I would go back and do the first workout from the book, because I was getting a little concerned that doing "nothing" would make picking it back up that much harder next week. Not only that, but my arms were starting to feel mushy!

The first workout was 20 minutes of cardio (I went out and got a nice run in for half an hour) and then a resistance circuit followed by abs. I was sweating like a "varken" but very happy to have gotten it done! Now I don't feel like such a slacker and hopefully I won't be super sore when I get going again next week...

My husband is flying in from Poland this evening, we will pick him up at the airport and continue on to his cousin's graduation party tonight...then tomorrow we head off to the Netherlands. We have rented bikes for the whole weekend so I am not worried about being lazy this weekend. And Sunday I get to meet Fran, which I am really looking forward to!

Not sure if I will be able to blog while we are gone, but I will certainly file a full report when we are back next week!

Goodbyes

2011-07-20T11:16:00.003+02:00

My godchild and his grandparents and cousin left yesterday to return to France. I love having visitors and we had a great time with them. It also forced me to dust off my rather dusty French! The downside to having visitors is when they leave the house is so empty! Plus I know it will be a while before I see my godson again. So while my kids were being lazy and staying in their pyjamas all morning I decided to go for a short run to shake off the blues. It felt good to get out and just follow my feet and I ended up getting 5 km in by the time I got back home. Nothing better than a good run to improve your mood, right?

Then in the afternoon, I took my boys to see the latest (and last) Harry Potter. Seems like it was a day full of goodbyes...

Weekend wishes

2011-07-16T15:42:00.003+02:00

Just a short post - we are having a quiet Saturday afternoon waiting for our guests to arrive. I've been catching up on blogs and looking at all the pictures my father has been sending from Colorado, where Florian has been having a fabulous time, as you can see here! It makes me happy to see him so happy.

Have a great weekend!

Rainy Day at the Zoo and Changing Plans...

2011-07-15T09:08:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I met one of my best friends at the zoo with our kids. The weather report was dreadful but we decided to embrace the weather, dress warmly and just go. It turned out to be a great day in spite of the fact that it rained pretty much non-stop: we saw lots of animals that would be hiding on a hot day, and practically had the zoo to ourselves. And the kids didn't seem to mind getting wet and muddy but I have to admit I was glad at the end of the day to get in the car and turn up the heat full blast!

I have decided I am going to put my Matt Roberts training plan on hold for the next week. We have some special visitors coming this weekend (my godson and his grandparents from France) and then at the end of next week we planned a last minute get away to the Netherlands. I don't want to be all stressed out about not being able to get my workouts in - I want to enjoy myself. So I thought about it a lot and decided to get some runs in where I can for now and then start right back up with the program when we get back. What is a week in the grand scheme of things, right?

Finally, other exciting news is that while we are in the Netherlands, Fran and I have arranged to meet up! I am so looking forward to meeting her! It's funny how you get to know someone by following their blog and you feel like friends already - yet, you have never met. And now we will - how exciting!

Catching Up

2011-07-12T12:22:00.003+02:00

You would think summer means you have more time to do things, not less, right? Well, ever since the last week of school things have been rather busy and I think it's going to continue that way for a bit longer. But in a good way!

Sunday we took the boys to Antwerp to visit the fabulous new MAS museum (here we are to the right in the "Felix Pakhuis", an old shipping warehouse that is now a protected monument).

On the exercise front I have been getting my Matt Roberts workouts in - but man, they are tough! I was REALLY sore from them this weekend. Today is an active rest day, so I walked downtown to the library and will take the boys swimming this afternoon.

Tomorrow I have a hill repeats workout on the schedule - I haven't done one of those in a long time! I am very curious to see how that will go and keeping my fingers crossed the weather isn't too terrible - forecast says RAIN. I'll keep you posted - have a great day!

Just like Bootcamp: Matt Roberts Week 1, Day 5

2011-07-08T18:32:00.002+02:00

After spending all day yesterday expending energy worrying, I got up this morning ready to get my workout in. It was supposed to be 20 minutes of cardio followed by a circuit of strength training.

One of the nice things about this program is that he really encourages you to try other types of cardio, and not just do the same thing all the time. So in that spirit, I decided to bike today, which meant I could combine it with dropping some papers off at the bank. So I got that done and headed home, which ended up being 30 minutes of biking, which was okay with me, since biking is less strenuous than running (especially when you have to stop at traffic lights and such every now and then) I was glad to get a little extra in.

So then I get home and I start doing the strength training circuit and I realize pretty quickly that it is hard! Not only that, the first circuit took me 15 minutes, and I was supposed to do 4 of them, so I was thinking, "This is going to take me an hour - this is just like the bootcamp my mom goes to!" And yes, indeed, that is what it felt like - bootcamp. OMG! Here's what I had to do (4x):

alternating lunges 20x each side
bicep curls 15x
lateral lunges 20x each side
tricep extensions 20x
hamstring curls on a swiss ball 20x (this one was a killer!)
push ups 15x
step ups 15x each leg
seated row with an elastic band around a chair 15x

After the second round I was debating about only doing it three times, but I finally just told myself to suck it up and do the whole thing. I knew I would be disappointed with myself if I didn't. By the final circuit the lower body exercises were getting really hard - my legs definitely felt like jello afterwards. But I was really pleased I did it!

So if you are in need of a good workout - check the book out! I am really happy with it and looking forward to completing the entire 12 weeks. It's going to be tough, though!

Made it!

2011-07-08T07:57:00.003+02:00

Florian made it safely to Dallas! Yay!

Matt Roberts Week 1 Day 4 & Chickpea-Spinach Curry Recipe!

2011-07-07T07:24:00.005+02:00

Gosh, thank goodness today is another rest day! For two reasons:

I had to get up at 4 am this morning to get my 16-year-old off to Brussels airport on time for his big trip to Texas, and I feel tired!
my chest and arm muscles are really sore from yesterday!

It felt so weird to watch my son go through the security line and then wave goodbye to him, and then leave the airport without him! No, I didn't cry ;-) but I know I am going to miss him a lot the next three weeks. Thank goodness for cell phones, he has been texting me and I called him before he got on his flight to Frankfurt. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that he manages to find his way there and gets safely on his next flight to Dallas. I think I will only relax when I get the phonecall from my parents that they picked him up!

So, I think I will take a walk this morning and go pick up the newspaper - it will help me wake up and feel a bit perkier today. I also promised my two younger boys that we would go see a movie this afternoon - that will mean another good walk and hopefully NOT taking a nap during the movie - ha ha!

Florian was really happy with the Indian "feast" I made for him last night. His absolute favorite is the chickpea/spinach curry, which was a recipe I found on the BBC food website. I think I gave the link to it in a post a while back, but I changed it a bit so this time I will just give you the entire recipe, in case you want to try it. It is yummy, healthy and most importantly - very easy! Let me know if you try it!

Easy Chickpea-Spinach Curry

1 t olive oil, 1 lg onion, chopped, 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped, 1/2 t ground ginger, 1 t cumin, 1 t tumeric, 2 t curry powder, 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper, 1 T tomato paste, 1 med red pepper, diced, 1 can chopped tomatoes, 1 1/2 c vegetable stock, 8 oz fresh spinach, 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed, 1 t garam masala

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or stock pot with a lid. Fry the onion and garlic 3-5 minutes til softened. Add the ginger, cumin, tumeric, curry powder and black pepper and fry for an additional minute or two. Then add the tomato paste, canned tomatoes, red pepper and stock and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the spinach, chickpeas and garam masala and heat through until spinach is wilted. Enjoy!

We usually have this with rice and a salad with cucumber and orange slices, and a couple of other Indian dishes. I actually tried the Cabbage and Pea Curry from "Appetite for Reduction" as well last night and it was really, really good.

Okay, now I am off for my little walk...have a great day!

Matt Roberts Week 1 Day 3

2011-07-06T12:17:00.002+02:00

I really didn't feel like going to the gym today but I knew I had to or I would have to re-arrange the rest of my program for the week, and seeing as I have only just started, I really didn't want to do that. So I got on my bike, reluctantly, and went.

The first part of today's workout was an interval run: 30 seconds fast, 60 seconds easy, for a total of 22.5 minutes. I haven't done intervals in a few months, but something in the book stuck in my mind: "concentrate on making the effort that you put into the work periods of 30 seconds today much harder than you would normally do for your cardio training." So I had this in mind when I started out, and I really did my best to push those 30 second intervals - and this is where training with a Garmin for the past year really helps - I have a much better idea of the different paces I tend to run, and so I knew what would be a much harder pace for me. I started out conservatively at 12 km/hr, but by the end I was doing intervals at 13.5 km/hr or 4:26 per km, which was awesome!!!

The big downside to doing the interval run first is that I look disgusting when I am done - all hot and sweaty and really red in the face. And I still had to do some weights - gaaaahhhh.... So I freshened myself up a little bit before that.

The weights didn't seem like it was going to be a big deal or difficult - it was four exercises for the upper body and I had to do four sets of each with 15-20 reps. OMG!!! My arms feel like absolute jello - it was really hard. Thank God tomorrow is an active rest day - I am going to need it.

Here's what I had to do:

dumbbell chest press on bench: 20x 5 kg/20x 6 kg/20x 6 kg/15x 7 kg
seated shoulder press with dumbbells 30x 3 kg/15x 4 kg/13x 4 kg/12x 4 kg
seated row machine 20x 10 kg/18 x 10 kg/17x 10 kg/20x 10 kg
standing upright row with dumbbells 20x 3 kg/17x 4 kg/16x 4 kg/15 x 4 kg

And thank God I don't need my arms much to bike home - if my legs had felt like this, I am not sure if I could have made it.

My eating for today looks like this:

breakfast was a huge smoothie with flaxseed, 1/4 c soymilk, romaine lettuce, spinach, cucumber, 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup pineapple and 1 apricot
lunch was a millet/kidneybean stew with eggplants and tomato and a bit of vegan parmesan sprinkled on it, with a big salad with 2 T sanctuary dressing
plan for dinner: my oldest son is requesting Indian food for his last dinner at home tonight (he leaves tomorrow for three weeks in Texas at my parents' house!) so I am making that chickpea and spinach curry from the BBC website and a cabbage/pea curry from Appetite for Reduction.

Phew! Now I really need to go get my shower so we can start getting him packed.

Hope you have a great day!

Matt Roberts Week 1 Day 2

2011-07-05T08:01:00.002+02:00

Ha ha - day 2 is a rest day! Well, an active rest day... as soon as I can pull my youngest away from the Playstation, we are going to walk to the newsstand and the bakery this morning. It's a beautiful morning and a 30 minute walk sounds like just the ticket.

I am actually not as sore as I thought I would be after yesterday's workout. I think it does help that I was working out with weight regularly the past few months - I guess it wasn't such a shock to my muscles to start up a new program.

Eat to Live going very well - I made the most delicious vegan "Ranch" dressing with silken tofu for my salad last night from the cookbook "Appetite for Reduction". Seriously delicious - just knowing I have a jar of it in my fridge is making me look forward to my salad for lunch!

Starting Matt Roberts

2011-07-04T15:24:00.002+02:00

Hey there! The end of last week - last week of school - and this weekend were crazy busy for me. I did manage to get a short run in on Saturday because I knew I wouldn't have time on Sunday, since we had a brunch for my mother-in-law's 70th birthday. Here in Flanders, a brunch means you start eating at 12 noon and you don't stop til 5 pm. You also get non-stop refills of wine. It's extremenly decadent in a way that just doesn't appeal to me. But for a lot of the older generation in my husband's family, this is the preferred way to celebrate a special event. We have been to quite a few of these over the years, and honestly? They are deadly.

Personally, I get stir crazy at these things after about two hours. Luckily it was nice weather and there was a little playground at the place, so I went outside with the kids for a great deal of the afternoon. I was also really reasonable about my food choices - I only visited each buffet line once (there is a first course buffet line, a main course buffet line, and a dessert buffet line) and chose the healthiest things I could.

Anyway, what better way to recover from spending Sunday at a Flemish brunch than starting a new fitness program today?

I mentioned a while back that I was going to do the 12 week program from Matt Robert's latest book "I Will Make You Fit Fast". I didn't think the first workout was going to be too hard, but I have to admit my legs and especially my arms felt like jello after I got done!

The workout started with 10 minute walk to warm up, then a 20 minute run (okay, so far so good - no problem). Then there was a 4 minute strength training circuit I had to do four times which was really tough on my arms, and then I finished with an ab circuit. Phew! I am sure I will be feeling it even more tomorrow, so thank goodness it is an active rest day, and all I have to do is take a walk!

I didn't do so good on Eat To Live over the weekend, but today I got right back on the wagon with a delicious smoothie this morning and an eggplant and kidney bean stew with millet at lunch. This recipe was delicious! This evening will be a big salad. I am going to try out a recipe for vegan Ranch dressing with it.

Hope all is well with everyone!

What a change!

2011-06-29T11:26:00.003+02:00

We went from 33 C/91 F yesterday to 16 C/61 F today - after big storms rolled through last night and broke the heat.

It is still pretty warm inside most places and my gym was no exception this morning. I did 30 minutes weights followed by 30 minutes on the elliptical and I was just dripping sweat!

Eat to Live is going well so far, luckily for me it is not a huge stretch. The hardest part is limiting bread, I think. Here is a link that explains more about the program.

I did have two glasses of champagne at my son's graduation reception yesterday evening, though! It sure tasted refreshing at the time!

Hot Yoga

2011-06-28T14:56:00.003+02:00

Today we are in the tail end of a little heat wave here in Belgium - no biggie for those of you in Texas or Florida, but for us it's pretty warm. And very humid. And I did I mention muggy?

Anyhow, what was supposed to be a running day, turned into a "hot yoga" day! I put my mat down in the coolest part of my house (the living room) and did about 20 minutes before I got too sweaty and gave up. Oh well...

Luckily we are supposed to get big storms in this evening and things will cool off. So tomorrow I can go to the gym, as planned.

I also started with the Eat To Live eating plan this week - a good time of year to do this, as it calls for big salads and lots of raw veggies and fruit. I actually woke up really early and went out in the garden to pick raspberries at 6 am before it got too hot - and then enjoyed them in a smoothie for breakfast! Yum!

Summertime is a great time for change

2011-06-24T16:16:00.003+02:00

Those of you who have been reading my blog for the last couple years know that I usually take advantage of the summer months to tackle a big exercise program. Last year I did New Rules of Lifting for Women, the year before Body for Life.

As I am thinking about what my plan will be this year (yes, I have some ideas!) I just read this inspiring quote from Kirsten Armstrong's yoga teacher on her blog:

"We tend to think that summer is about letting go, chilling out, time off, taking a break. And it can be that, but it's also about using the heat to fuel change. Summer is a perfect time to explore your edge. We do this thing, all of us, we get so close to the point of real growth – and then we shrink back. We get to the uncomfortable edge, and we pull back. Always getting close to the change we need, peering at it, but not fully going the distance to make it happen. I want to encourage you to put the Soul back in Solstice, to think this summer about the growth you really want and need in your life and go there, don't shrink back. We have to be willing to stay with the fire, the discomfort, if we want to generate the heat."

Perfect! I have been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish this summer and I have found the fitness program I plan to do, starting the first Monday of July: the new Matt Roberts book, I Will Make You Fit Fast. This is a 12 week program and I am really enthused about doing it. More on this once I get going. For now I am finishing out the workouts I previously planned for June (only two more gym workouts to go!).

And on the food front, I am committed to doing the Eat To Live program this summer and see how that works out for me. I already eat a vegetarian, mainly vegan diet, but things have gotten sloppy in the past year or so (wine? chocolate? chips?), and I am ready to clean up my diet and aim to lose those last ten pounds I have been struggling with. I will keep you posted!

And while I am working on these two things this summer, I will try to remind myself not to shrink back, and stay with the discomfort, right?

Sopping wet - twice!

2011-06-24T14:25:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I did manage to get out and get my run in outside - 42 minutes and 6.5 km. Later in the afternoon I biked to school to pick up my son and just as he came out, it started to pour. In the ten minutes it took us to bike home, we got completely soaked. I might as well have stepped into my shower, fully clothed.

This morning I went to the gym for my "B" workout:

25 min biking (to and from gym)
35 min weight training
20 min treadmill run, easy pace
30 min elliptical

As I got on my bike to go home, guess what? It started to rain again! Luckily not as hard as yesterday, but still! By the time I got home, I was soaked - again!

Oh well - I don't mind too much when I am heading home. It sure made my hot shower feel extra good.

We are looking forward to some warmer temperatures and a bit more sunshine this weekend.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Happy Birthday Felix!

2011-06-23T09:05:00.002+02:00

Today is Felix's 12th birthday! He's my youngest so it seems like quite a milestone, especially since he is almost done with primary school, and as of next September, I will have all three of my boys in secondary school.

I was busy making cupcakes last night for him to take to school, tomorrow we are going out for dinner at his favorite restaurant (Thai House), Saturday he has friends over, and Sunday my in-laws come to celebrate - so it is going to be quite a few days of partying!

In the midst of all that, I intend to get my runs and workouts in all the same (otherwise I just might go crazy). Today I plan to run 40 minutes but at the moment I am watching the weather to see if it's going to be at the gym or outside...

Rainy rainy day...

2011-06-22T11:52:00.002+02:00

Luckily it wasn't raining when I had to walk Felix to school or when I biked to the gym. I knew it was going to rain today so I made sure I went out and picked a bunch of our raspberries before it started and before going to the gym.

I did weights and 30 minutes on the elliptical at the gym. It felt hard today. But I got it done! And then I biked home in the rain. Which wasn't too bad since I had my rain hat with me to keep it out of my eyes. It may look dorky but on days like today I am glad I have it!

And at least we will have some fresh raspberries to munch on this afternoon.

Procrastination

2011-06-21T10:21:00.002+02:00

I promised myself I would get moving by 10 am and it's nearly 10:30. Oops! Happens to all of us sometimes, I guess. But it is always so nice to catch up on what everyone is doing...

So this will be a short post, so I can go get moving. Yesterday it was very bad weather, so I hit the gym for 60 minutes running on the treadmill. My friend Christine (professional cyclist, so certainly not a slouch herself) asked me how I could run for so long, and I told her, "Very slow and easy!" Which is the truth indeed! Now I just need to ask her how she can bike for so long (and so fast)!

Had a great late lunch with Christine yesterday at our favorite vegan cafe in Leuven: Loving Hut, where I enjoyed their raw spring rolls. It was delicious and I felt very virtuous afterwards! I love the way eating healthy food makes me feel.

10:27 already - gotta go! Have a great day!

Back to the gym

2011-06-19T11:13:00.002+02:00

Just a quick post - thanks for all the encouragement on my neck/shoulder - they're doing better but not 100% yet, still working on it. But I felt good enough to get to the gym this morning and get Friday's workout in. It is amazingly quiet there on Sunday mornings if you get there right when they open, which is what I did.

Got my weights done, but modified for my shoulder by doing less reps at a lower weight. Ran on the treadmill and then did the ellipitical for 30 minutes. It was really hard because the battery on my music player died and the gym was playing the most boring music! What a struggle!

But, phew, I got it done, and headed home. Now it's time to shower and then make lunch for my kids, all three of whom are studying hard today - they all have math exams tomorrow.

Fit and Fabulous after 40!

Happy birthday to my mom

Friday Night is Pizza Night!

Sunny Days

In Treatment

Sven Nys ROCKS!!!

Brain Decline

Unable to Run? Do Yoga!

Resolutions, Good Intentions and a Recipe

Happy New Year!

Leuven Corrida 8K

Festive Workouts!

Arid at the AB last night - awesome!

Holiday wishes

Our Favorite Christmas Cookie

A night at the opera...

Stormy weather and sad things

We finally have a government!

Weird Dudes

Run thru Town

Very Easy Vegan Pancakes

Tired but Balanced!

Very very quickly...

Wind, wind, wind!

Winter is here!

Cool giveaway!

Particulates

Fine Dust

A week in exercise

Bad Play

Flowing Yoga

BRRRRR!

Lucky Sunday

Friday musings...

Off to Brussels

Being Flexible

Passionate about Plants and Health!

Another week gone by...

Wildlife Rescue

Is it Friday already?

45 again

45

Mid-week update and a recipe!

Mayumana!

TGIF!

Week in Review

15 K Breda Race Report

Guess what today is?

Now it's time to relax a little...

Remember?

I Love Frank!

Easy Run

Dress Rehearsal

Just for Fun!

Finnish Track

Too tired for the gym

Procrastination...

Just another Sunday run

Something new!

Just briefly...

A Really Yummy Chickpea Burger Recipe

What's Up?

First Day of School!

Still here!

Hill Running

Totally Insane Weather

Wine and Whining

Quick Sunday Catch Up Post

Tempo run and a book

Finally Summer and a Plant-Strong Recipe

Sunny Days

TGIF

Summer Catch Up

Per request!

Forever 21

Another quickie and long term plans?

Busy day!

Sore!

My *ss is gr*ss

He's Back!

My ss is grss