Juice Cleanse Recap

So the last juice has been drank.

empty 

And I'm overall super glad that I did the cleanse!

As I mentioned in my previous post, It was a combo of good timing, a decent price, and Leslie's cleanse that made me make the commitment.

I purchased the kit through babo market, a local health food store curated by Sava Lelcaj, who also owns and awesome restaurant in Ann Arbor. It came with the following 6 drinks:

Wake up Elixer: green tea, agave, cayenne
      i was scared of this one at first, but it ended up being a great day starter. the cayenne just added its signature spicy-ness without a lot of flavor. I might keep these up!
Breakfast Smoothie: apple, celery, chia, spinach, avocado
     LOVED this one. super yummy -- the apple shined, and i love anything with chia.
Power Shot: wheatgrass, ginger, probiotic, agave
    this one was a struggle. I actually haven't even taken it from day 3 yet (whoops!). wheatgrass is just not very appetizing and the ginger and agave dont really help to get rid of the dirt/sludge taste/texture.
Lunch: carrot, sweet potato, beet, tumeric, coconut water
    this baby was featured on my instagram and previous post. It's just so gorgeous in color! and also delicious. sweet and refreshing.
Happy Hour: OJ, green bell pepper, kale, chard, parsley, tomato, ginger
    the ginger really shined in this one, but i LOVE that it included so many greens! also an enjoyable one.
Dinner: Strawberry, banana, almond butter, almond milk, hemp protein
   This was a smoothie in a bottle - quite similar to the smoothies I make at home. So i enjoyed it. sweet and filling -- a great dinner.


Positives: generally feeling well days 2 and 3, controlled hunger, commitment to a plan which meant I wasn't snacking, losing bloat (I really noticed this at spin on tuesday - no tummy bulge when spinning = yay!), finding out what kind of weight loss I need, and I think my sugar cravings have subsided a bit. YAY! was pleasantly surprised i had normal energy to run, spin, and yoga as planned.

Negatives: feeling crappy on day 1, price point is a little high for a poor law student, a little bit of scatterbrained-ness, but nothing unreasonable.

Total weight lost: 4 pounds! probably water weight but i'll take it.

With our law school formal coming up (space prom), and heavier half marathon training, I think this was a great idea for me, and I def. feel refreshed and energized.

YAY JUICE CLEANSE!

first post cleanse meal:

the greenest omelet with a whole grain tortilla

Juice Cleanse

Reading Leslie's posts about her juice cleanse and some good timing prompted me to try the juice cleanse route.

Babo Market here in Ann Arbor offered a 3-day cleanse for $90, and I thought this wasn't the most unreasonable price and it's spring break, and I was in for a detox.

food for the next 3 days

So I'm finishing up my last juice of the day and wanted to give an update.

I woke up a little hungover and a little dehydrated thanks to a late night at karaoke, and started the cleanse a little late, with my first juice around 11AM. 

All the juices were great. It includes 4 juices, a wheatgrass shot, and a cayenne green tea.

lunch - beet, carrot, sweet potato, tumeric, coconut water

I drank water and green tea through most of the day as additional hydration.

I felt a little off all day - a little lightheaded, a little nauseous, but not super hungry all day. so that was good.

I went for a super easy run that felt okay as I was going, but I was so tired after.

I think all of this is to be expected for day one, but hopefully my energy will pick up for day 2 and 3 as I have lots on the agenda.

So we'll see! More updates to come!

Chicago marathon here I come

So I did it...

I signed up for the Chicago Marathon.

Forked over my $175, dealt with the drama of the active.com server overload that was signing up and committed to 26.2 miles.

The marathon is an idea I've toyed with for a long time, and I figured with a summer in Chicago coming up, and a summer of working and not studying for the bar, there's no better time than now to train and run 26.2 miles.

And it's been good so far. Not that training has really happened yet. But I am half-marathon training right now and that's going well.

I'm in a clinic this semester that really focuses on goals and written reflection. And its made me miss this space. So I'll try and come back.

I'm still doing the same interesting things- running, baking, baby-lawyering.

I just would like to do a little more writing.

So recap for the week:

Sunday - REST DAY
Monday - 4 super easy with a friend. Early morning run in the sunshine. Love it
Tuesday - 55 min spin class
Wednesday - 3 miles treadmill watching HOMELAND (just started. Pretty obsessed already)
Thursday - Rest day #2
Friday - 30 min arc trainer cross (more homeland watching)
Saturday - 7 miles, 29*, race-ish pace.

And the plan:
MON - 4 miles outside easy
TUES - spin
WED - yoga
THURS - run 3
FRI - barre
SAT - 8 outside in the (fingers crossed) gorgeous weather

2013 intentions

I've tried to cement some new year intentions (yes, like setting an intention for a yoga practice) for the past week, and it hasn't been the easiest thing in the world. But since I still have over a week until back to the law school grind, I think I still have some time.

What i do know is that I'd like 2013 to be a year of getting healthy again. 1L kicked my butt pretty hard - I didn't consistently eat healthy or run, and I think that was to my detriment.

So new gameplan for 2013.

source

I will be signing up for a half marathon very shortly (for April 27! Plenty of time to train for a PR), and I'm seriously toying with the idea of signing up for the Chicago Marathon this year - I'll be up to 8 mile long runs at that point, so I think I'll have a good idea of whether that's something I want to do.

So fitness intentions:

1) PR the half
2) run consistently
3) keep up spinning class, as cross
4) foam roll
5) master an impressive strength training project - headstand, pull-up, something like that

and more general health and wellbeing intentions:

1) continue eating whole foods
2) snack healthy, less often, and smarter
3) break up with sugar

With regard to these health and wellbeing goals, I actually have the good fortune of a physical this week with bloodwork - so I can make sure all those pesky levels are where they need to be and adjust accordingly if necessary.

So far, the running stuff has been going well.

I've been consistently meeting my plan (minus the spinning as I'm not near my go-to spin studio), and it's been great.

So nice to just get out there and run.

Plus i feel like a badass running in the cold.

these things have been lifesavers:

toe warmers

Having my toes be toasty when i run makes running in the cold infinitely better.

Running a lot has me a little worried about old injuries (a legit 3rd metatarsal fracture from running in 2011), but I think if I run smart and cross train, I'll be good to go.

So here's to 2013, big goals, big accomplishments.

Let's do this. 

Done-L means Running and Food

Guess who is finally done with 1L? Oh yes, this girl.

And with the end of 1L comes free time that I never knew I had!

So here I am, blogging again, running again, baking again.

It's a good life.

After last fall's half-mary #2, I ran a bit over the rest of the fall/winter (including an epic faceplant on thanksgiving. i rock) + here and there in winter semester. Most of my exercise time was on the arc trainer or bike reading law supplements (yes, FML). 

But with finals, and the tinges of an injury brewing in March caused me to lay off the running. + quite a few binge drinking episodes to celebrate the end of exams, and then the end of write-on, I was way out of shape.

So running is working its way back in. it's been pretty consistent -- at least 3 times a week for the past 2 weeks. Go go go Lauren.

The heat is definitely a killer, but I'm working with it. 

Some days are better than others. like 55* mornings, followed by 10 minutes of turbofire stretching and some crepes for bfast (see bellow)

I've also been cooking like a fiend. homemade meals for bfast, lunch, dinner most nights. 

some of my accomplishments:

crepes a la the fitnessista  definitely one of my favorite bfast recipes. lemon + sugar.

and of course, nutella. 

carb free pizza. yum yum. no pepperonis, + spinach, and olives.

other favorite bfast eats:

omelet

new obsession. love chobani

banana + dark chocolate dreams

With regard to baking, 2 weeks ago  I got together with some awesome girlies and made joy the baker's raspberry almond cupcakes with chocolate ganache.

again, fabulous.

so in all honesty, i've had this post in the queue since over a week and half ago.

so despite gathering new blogging material, i have yet to post this one, so i'll do that and then drop the big news. although if you follow me on instragram or twitter, you probably already know.

40 days of running.

Law school is the worst.

Spare minutes are spent pinning on pinterest, catching up on crappy reality tv, and running of course.

my lenten goals are pretty blog-worthy though, so i'm going to attempt to pick this baby up again, at least just to keep myself accountable.

plus i have an iPhone and instagram now, which i think makes blogging a bit easier (although it means my poor rebel is quite neglected)

so here's the exciting-ness:

1. 13+ miles by Easter. 
Marathon 2012, here I come. 
I have a plan that even includes a cut-back week. I got this.

2. Vegan 5 days a week.
no red meat.
my motivation on this one is a combination of health reasons and environmental impact reasons.

I think these goals are super do-able, I just need to completely commit. Which I will do.

and to kick off the 13+ miles by easter goal I have this awesome run from yesterday:

I have a new running buddy who rocks at pushing me. I adore her.

So running, healthy eating, and law school. I can do this.

How have you all been?! What's new and exciting?!

What is a Fartlek?

I feel like I can call myself a real runner after today.

And why you ask?

because i did my very first fartlek workout! GO ME.

yeah i do own the oiselle rundies. i'm obsessed.

what's a fartlek? It's sweedish (love my swedes) for "speedplay" and involves interval-like training. Run hard for a specified period of time and then run easy. repeat.

Today I was determined to get a run in before I donated blood for the UM-OSU blood battle (reigning champs for 5 years! we rock!), and it was POURING when i left class, so to the gym for a fartlek workout it was.

Workout
10 min warm up - 6.0 pace
2 minutes hard - 7.9 pace
2:30 easy - 6.0 pace
3 minutes hard - 7.6 pace
2:30 easy - 6.0 pace
4 minutes hard - 7.6 pace
2:30 easy - 6.0 pace
3 minutes hard - 7.6 pace
2:30 easy - 6.0 pace
2 minutes hard - 7.8 pace
5 minutes cool down - 6.0 pace

hard stats:
40 min
4.5 miles

DONE.

i felt so strong going hard on the treadmill, and I'm not sure that I could have pulled it off out on a track or just out on the roads. so it was definitely a great first fartlek.


Go. Me.

(btw, this is totally 1. major stress relief, and 2. major working off the dozens of cookies i made on saturday)

(also blood donation was a total success, per usual. Go Me again.)