Coach Jen B

Planning our meals for the week on a Saturday morning is quite beneficial. I have found that the week night dinners are much less stressful. Yet I have found that I can still be flexible with dinners when I'm just not "feeling it".  We do always have plenty of eggs here, so a quick egg sandwich, scrambled eggs or omelet is healthy option. As I'm here, racing against the winds, hoping to get this post up before we lose power (thank you, Sandy) - here's the menu for the week. Sunday - The BBQ chicken calzone was delicious!  Super easy - chicken left over from my crock pot chicken last week, cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce wrapped in my favorite Portland Pie dough.  Izzy said it was delicious! Tonight - Izzy and I had chiropractic appointments  - so a quick meal of Ham & Cheese paninis was in order.  Always a great dinner in my opinion - since I top mine with tomatoes, spinach, cukes, as well. Tuesday - I planned ahead and I'm assuming we'll ...

The girls and I have not been able to run together for quite some time for a multitude of reasons.  But last weekend we finally got back together and ran a 5 mile trail race in Augusta.   We were more than happy to be back together.    - photo courtesy of Chuck Maletich We may not be speedy - but we sure look great!   PS I think Jill needs to get a matching skirt.  Don't you?   The girls listening to the rules of the race - pink ribbons on the left, white on the right.   Or was it white on the right and pink on the left.   Shoot, I forgot!   But, hey, Jill and Stacy trusted me and I didn't get them lost.   Yes, I brought my iPhone with me and yes I tried to take pictures when running.   It turns out I need a lot of practice.  But I like this one of Stacy going up one of our first hills.   And here's Jill!   I did not get this picture - my dad came to the race and t...

Last week I missed out on the Menu Planning post and frankly, I needed that structure to get me through the week.  My mind was so wrapped up in MARATHON - I completely forgot to make sure I had food for my lunch.  This lead to quite a bit of yogurt and granola.  Yummy, yes.  But I can only handle this for so many meals. I am a little late to the game this week - but better late than never, right? So here's what we're having for dinner this week: Yes - Sunday dinner was lobster (for me) and hotdogs for the kids.  Izzy did eat some of my lobster, but Tucker wanted nothing to do with it.  Fine!  More for me.  We had out-of-state relatives visiting, which usually means lobster!  Yay!   Monday - (today) - was soccer practice night & I was on my own with the kids, which meant quick/easy dinner.  We always have plenty of eggs and that's always a winner at our house.   Tuesday - Fish Tacos.  I buy some h...

Three days later and I’m still in love with this race.   The energy, the excitement – it’s just incredibly overwhelming.   The MDI Marathon is going down in my book as the most incredible races ever.   Yes, sure, it rained.   Two marathons, both in the bone-chilling rain of the fall.   Although it did rain, this course was for sure incredibly scenic.   But I already knew that was going to be the case.   I knew most of the roads that the course went along, but it has been quite a long time since I had been there.   However, driving on the road and running on the road are quite different.   AND being 24 years older, I will have to say I appreciate the beauty of Acadia far more than I did when I was vacationing here with my parents.   The day before the race , I went up to Bar Harbor with my father-in-law and kids.   Ward had to work and so we wouldn’t have two cars up there, it made more sense for me to go u...

As the days gets shorter and the temperatures begin to drop, the thoughts of “are we ready for winter yet?” are beginning to creep into my head. Are we ready for another winter? What if we have another ice storm and are without power for days/weeks? Do we have what we need to get through it? What if we have one of those winters and we get Nor’Easter after Nor’Easter? I’m not a Maine born girl, but I’ve been here long enough (22 years) to know that winters in Maine can be brutal. We can go from a gorgeous blue-sky day with 30F temperatures to -30F (yes, that’s a negative there, NOT a mistake) within a day’s notice. We can go from zero snow on the ground and green grass to 2 feet of snow within a day as well. I am not exaggerating one bit. This is how it can be in Maine. You just never know. In the past 22 years, I’ve experienced some rather brutally cold winters as well as some whoppers of storms. Some of those storms have knocked out our powers for days. Fortunately, ...

It’s taper time and I am trying my absolute best to not go crazy or drive my family crazy.   I want to run.   I want to get out there and just run forever.  Maybe not forever, but you get my drift.  Right?    But I need to give my legs a rest for the BIG DAY on Sunday. So what’s a girl to do during taper week?   1.  Short, easy runs.   Let's change that to 1 run.  Yep.  After my kick ass Tufts 10K, I was feeling a bit sore.  I did a 4 mile easy run on Wednesday and decided to call it good until Sunday.   Of course the day I ran, it downpoured!  Poor Pepper.  She's a trooper.   2.   Yoga.   For me, yoga is the perfect way to ease my mind and stretch those tired muscles.    Plus, I can get the kids involved.    3. Eat AND Hydrate.   Just because you aren’t running a whole lot this week doesn’t mean you sho...

That was the day cancer stole my mother away from us.   She was only 54 years old.    She was the woman I confided in when the times were tough.   My rock.   She was one fantastic woman who taught me to be a strong, independent woman.   And I thank her for that.   I just wish she would have listened and quit smoking years ago.   Perhaps we’d still have her around so she could enjoy her four beautiful grandchildren. My mom & I - Acadia National Park I took it hard and didn’t deal with her death very well.   I sunk into a depression and made some poor choices.   Fortunately, with the love and support of my family and friends, the depression didn’t last very long.   6 years ago, I made a choice.   A choice to be a healthy role model for my son.   Someone who would start to enjoy life again.   I needed this and my family needed me to do it.   When I was growing up in Pennsylvania, ...

On Monday I had the pleasure of being part of Team Reebok at the Tufts 10K in Boston.   Team Reebok And I had the opportunity to meet up with some fellow FitFluential gals.   Katie , Dani , Robin , Amy and myself I went into this race with some very loose expectations.   I really just wanted to have a fun run and hopefully finish in about 49 minutes.    I was not looking for a PR at all.   I wasn’t sure what to expect.   I had no idea what the course was like and I do not have a whole lot of experience running in a larger race.   I’ve only done Beach to Beacon twice and it is quite difficult dodging fellow racers and trying to find my pace.   Plus, my main focus right now is MDI.   Around 11:15 runners were called to start lining up.   So, I kissed Ward and the kids, they wished me luck and I headed off to the 8 minute pace group.   It was crazy just hanging out there for such a lo...

Here we are, Week 2, of the Menu Planning Challenge.  I am loving this.  It helps me organize myself and get things together on the weekend.  Plus, blogging about it holds me accountable as well! What do I have in store this week? Breakfast is going to be my same old, same old.  Eggs or oatmeal.  Both are so yummy and super easy. Lunch is going to be - Southwestern Quinoa!  Yum. And then dinner . My normal Sunday mess - I just put everything on the counter and get busy. I dug out the potatoes from the garden today and I wanted to have my entire week planned around potatoes.  But I'll hold back, especially because I want to be able to eat these potatoes throughout the winter. carb loading for MDI I also cooked up one of our chickens in the crockpot.  This makes for the easiest dinner week.  I usually cook the chicken in the crockpot with water, butter, and garlic on low for about 6 hours.  Then I pull out...