Friday, March 30, 2012

Granola recipe and proud of being a runner.

Well, look who's adventuring herself in the kitchen ha That's something, specially if you know me at all! I was really determined to make homemade granola for a while now for a couple of reasons: First, I don't seem to be able to find a single granola here that doesn't have raisins. Now, that's just wrong. Why, why put raisins in any food at all I'll never know... it's gross. Ew. d: Second, they're never really healthy - ok, remember that I live in a 3rd world now that there's no Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or any of the sort. What they do have in Buenos Aires is a  single block called Chinatown and one supermarket there that sells some healthy stuff. That's it. Third, they're obviously extremely pricey. I might become a rich sports medicine doctor someday, but I'm telling ya that day is not today.

So for all those reasons and maybe more I've decided to make my own granola at once. Omg it's so easy and the best part is that you can pretty much get a base recipe and just switch the ingredients for whatever you're feeling like at the moment! So, I got this recipe as my base and did my own thang with it ;)

Ingredients:

  • 1 c. old fashioned oats
  • 1 tbsp. chia seeds
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp. honey
  • 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 tbsp. sunflower seeds 
  • a handful of chopped almonds


Directions:
  • Preheat over to 300 degrees and spread a cookie sheet with cooking spray
  • Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and stir
  • Slowly, stir honey and sunflower oil into oat mixture until oats are adequately coated
  • Spread granola onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for approximately 15 minutes, stirring halfway through
  • Let cool until oats become crunchy (as soon as you take them off the oven, they're gonna be munchy and you'll think you did something wrong, but really, once they cool down they will get crunchy!). 



Sorry about the bad quality, itouch pictures kinda sucks :S


Back to running-related news, somehow yesterday I've managed to get my speed at the 100m from 27 to 25sec (6.24 pace) and dang it I was so proud of myself! I still don't quite get how my running has had any improvement at all after almost a whole month without hitting the pavement, but apparently the god's of running really love me <3.

Hoping everyone is having a great weekend! Don't forget to eat tons of chocolate for Easter, as long as you never forget its real meaning ;)

                       

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Running insights.

Enough with vacations, let's get down to business. If you've seen my dailymile page (probably not d:). you'd notice that I was really into my training last January/February. Well, that obviously lasted 'till I got in Europe. I took everything I'd possibly need to run... but it did not happen. I could throw a thousand of excuses here, but truth be told, despite of my actually desire to keep on running, I just couldn't bring myself to it. Our schedules were completely hectic. We'd wake up at 7am, breakfast, walk, walk, walk, lunch, walk tons more, dinner, more walk, back to hostel around 1am. Repeat. Like I said, we were basically walking in between 15, 20, 25K a day. I'm not a person to go backpacking and then get in buses or subways to go anywhere. You're there to see stuff, right? So walk to it and you might find zillions of interesting stuff on the way. And that's exactly what we did! So, imagine walking those distances every.single.day for 13 days straight and you'll have an idea. By the time we were back at the hostel, I swear I could barely feel my legs...  :(  But still, all that walking was great and totally worth it. 

I know that sometimes it's really hard to keep on schedule with your training when you are out of your routine.  Specially for me, I suffer a lot from re-adjusting into new environments, so by the time I get myself going, it's already time to head back. Usually, I'd let this stress me over and I would end up, sometimes, not having as much fun as I'd like to because I'd be all worked up on when or how I was gonna workout. This year, I just turned the "screw this shit" bottom on and just went with it. Of course I did feel a little guilty about losing my so hard-earned resistance, but hey, I can always get that back right? It's not the same for opportunities and momentos ;)

When I got back to Buenos Aires, I was pretty boomed about the score I got in one of my finals :(  It was a really important one and I've studied my a** off, so I got really pissed and depressed about it, and unfortunately, I let this got the best of me and totally hibernated in my room. For almost 2 whole weeks, I'd wake up past 1pm, turn on the computer, eat if I wasn't to lazy to get up (most of the times I was), stay up 'till 6am, sleep again. I wasn't even seeing sunlight. Thank GOD, my roommate intervened and took me to a frozen yogurt date... isn't she the best? <3 (besides, she also knows there's no depression in this world that can make me turn down an offer for free frozen yogurt d:).



After that, I've collected myself and went to meet my running mates... it was so nice seeing them all again (I haven't been training with them in forever since summer started because I couldn't bare the humidity, so I was training by myself at 6am, I know who was I?), and that alone pumped me up! So, as a repayment, I offered my roommate to run alongside her in her first race ever (Nike's Women 5K Race) and we had a BLAST!




And I don't care if I wasn't racing, a sushi after any race is a MUST!



So, now I'm really excited for my upcoming races! First, I'm gonna run the 6K "Water's Race" on April 15th, although I'm not gonna sign up for it first because I don't have a tree made out of money and second because I'm really not racing it, just using it as part of my training. Then, on April 22nd there's the FILA's 10K race ;) 



By the end of May (not sure the exact day), I'll be running the Rosario's Half Marathon. Now, my experience with Rosario last year wasn't so pleasant (who forgets their very first race (6K) and their very first injury?), but I'm really happy to see how I've grown in just one year! I know I could be in a much better place now if I didn't lack as much consistency as I do. So, for this year, I'm gonna try to really focus on this word alone and just try my very best to be a better, smarter and stronger runner ;) I can not concentrate of the bad things and injuries that happened to me last year, or I'd never be able to move forward. I can only learn from them and make sure I don't make the same mistakes again... and also give myself some credit for being better than I was this very day last year ;) (actually, I started running at this exact time last year... how about that for improvement?). 

Be positive and don't ever forget to give yourself credit for all the amazing accomplishments you've achieved! ;) 

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

And back I am!

Continuing to my never-ending trip that really did end...

From Rome to Paris! Paris doesn't disappoint. I think I was amazed by Rome because, although I knew it was gonna be a pretty city, I had no idea it would blow me away the way it did... now the thing with Paris is that you already know what you're getting... And knew it would be charming, pretty, delightful and all the other adjectives you can imagine. So that's what I mean when I say that it does not disappoint. It is indeed the city of the blinding lights... you feel like you stepped out into a whole different world.






And... ah Versailles! I thought about all the History books and everything and to think I was like standing right there... was really surreal.




And... the best for last!



Ok, so I've heard enough about how bad the food in Paris is... and now all I have to say is: WTF? The food there is amazing! And you can obviously get food from all over the world! Of course is a little pricier than the rest of Europe, but we all already knew that, although we didn't pay nearly as much as we had thought! 

Croissants and the best coffee in the whole wide world for breakfast. I could get used to that. And, for dinner, I found a restaurant at Chateau Elysee that only sells seafood, but their specialty is... OYSTERS! Gosh, I was in heaven. 

First night, I got those cheesy oysters, beer and voila, unlimited fries!


Second night, I was obviously back there and got their most famous oysters with a cheesy creamy sauce... 

that Coke was obviously my aunt's... I haven't had soda since I was 13!

So then... off to Barcelona! I don't know if I had set my expectations too high or if I just didn't have enough time to walk around, but I didn't enjoy the city as much as I did for the other ones (it was actually the one I enjoyed the least!), but we've managed to have some fun! 



And it wouldn't be complete without... PAELLA!

followed with the famous spanish beer Estrella ;)


Ok and finally our last stop... Lisbon! I wasn't really in the mood to go there, I went because I wanted to meet a childhood friend of mine who's living there... but I must say: I freaking loved it! I would've switched all my days in Barcelona to more days in Lisbon for sure <3 


The very place from where Cabral's ships set sail and "discovered" Brasil d: 

So, if you've never had Port Wine from Portugal you don't know what life is. Oh, and also their Green Wine. Gosh, this alone makes life worth living. We also had an overdose of "bacalhau" (cod)... 

Green wine!


Ok, that was pretty much it! I hope I gave you guys enough enthusiasm to go out there and visit all these amazing countries... and more! ;)  If everything goes as planned, I might be able to hit Japan by the end of the year... now THAT would be just... priceless. 

I have some new insights into my running, which I should save for tomorrow because this post is already long enough d: 

Monday, March 26, 2012

Backpacking in Europe!

Wow, I know I say this way too much but how long has it been, really? d: After my cousins left, I did end up finishing the 30 day challenge, did 3 finals and headed to Brazil for my so deserved vacations... Let's start with that. ;)

13 days, 5 countries around Europe. Tons of walking and sight-seeing. One day, we (my aunt and I) walked around 25K... we'd usually stay around 15, 20K a day, so you can imagine that no running at all was making into my day, since I could barely feel my legs after walking from 8am 'till 1am... Although I wasn't doing any workout at all, all this walking around actually made me lose way too much weight, so when I went back to Brazil, I could relax a bit and refill my fat-cells with daily doses of ice cream ;)

The cities were: London, Rome and Vatican, Paris and Versailles, Barcelona and Lisbon. Total of 1789 pictures and the certainty that hell I really should really be living in Italy.




London was really awesome. The people are incredible and the accent itself makes the trip all worth it. The weather was gray and rainy, which sucked a bit to walk around, although we did it anyway ;) My aunt had a couple of friends living there, so they guided us everywhere, which is was good, because we have very little time, but also bad, because, since I didn't have a map or anything, I've missed a couple stuff that I didn't know what it was lol. 

Ahhh the food! I made sure to have local chocolate and local food at every single country. Although London's famous traditional food is "fish and chips", I've had a normal salad because wasn't in the mood for all that fry stuff together ;) 

Smoked salmon salad with a heavenly fresh backed bread all for moi ;) 

My aunt's friends also took us to a Turkish restaurant, which I've LOVED! I've never had Turkish food before, and I'm all about trying whatever food you give me ha ;) Also it was extremely chip and they give you a free entrance that pretty much fills you up lol 

YES, this is a free-entrance! I mean, best thing ever?

The main course... which I barely touched, because I was so soo full :(

And then we were off to Rome! I'm telling you guys, Italy is simply the most amazing country ever (saying a girl who went to one city there ha), but seriously, I really want to go back there a whole month and travel around the whole country <3  And yes, there's no ugly men in Italy. I mean, seriously. 







And the food... ahhh THE FOOD! The italians just... do it better ;) 





Well, I think I'll save the rest for tomorrow, so you guys don't end up with a cramp in your finger from scrolling down the page... now that's thoughtful of me ;) 
See ya guys with more trips, pictures and some peak into my race's schedule! I'm feeling this is gonna be a good year!

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