Healthy Chocolate Chunk Muffins

It's been awhile since I posted on here! I needed a little blogging break. I've been consumed by the Hunger Games books, the gorgeous Spring weather, trying to learn how to swim in hopes of doing my first triathlon this April, and a myriad of other stuff as well.

I've also been trying lots of new recipes! I was telling my mom and sister over the phone about these yummy chocolate muffins I made from a recipe I found on Pinterest. 

These are healthy enough to eat for breakfast for those days you wake up craving chocolate, and yummy enough to eat after a meal to satisfy a sweet tooth. B and I actually had these for breakfast today. I told him he could pick it up with his hands, but apparently eating like a puppy dog is more fun. 

Healthy Chocolate Chunk Muffins

1 3/4 C. oats

3 egg whites

3/4 C. unsweetened cocoa

1/2 C. applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 C. plain greek yogurt

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar (or 1-1/2 T. vinegar)

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt 

1 C. hot water

1 C. sugar substitute (like Splenda granular) OR 1/4 C. stevia (I just used a couple packets of Stevia. I didn't use anywhere near 1/4 C. Pure Stevia is very sweet.)

1/2 C. chocolate chips (You could also use white chocolate or peanut butter chips!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside. 

2. In a blender, or food processor, mix all the ingredients together, except the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth. 

3. Place mixture in bowl and stir in 1/2 the chocolate chips (set the rest aside). Scoop mixture into prepared muffin pans. 

4. Bake muffins for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove muffins from oven to distribute the rest of the chocolate chips on top of each muffin. (I ended up cooking mine a little longer than 10 minutes. They still looked a little too gooey after 10 minutes to distribute the rest of the chocolate chips.)

5. Place muffins back in oven and cook for an additional 2-5 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. 

According to the site I got these from, each muffin has about 120 calories, or you can make 24 mini muffins for 60 calories each. That's a lot better than the 690 calories that are in the Costco chocolate chunk muffins! 

What's the last chocolate thing you ate?

New Workout DVD, Resolutions, and Books

1. I tried a new Jillian Michael's workout dvd yesterday and today that I really like. I checked it out from the library on Tuesday. It's her Shred It With Weights. You're supposed to use a kettlebell, but you can use a weight if you don't have a kettlebell. 

2. One of my New Year's Resolutions is officially done! My 2011 family blog book came in the mail today! Here's a couple pictures of it. It made my day to actually see and hold all the hours of work I had done in my hands. 

3. I'm getting my cycling certification tomorrow through AFAA (another one of my resolutions this year). I'm excited, but also a little sad that I'll have to skip my long run tomorrow. :( I'll be there all day. I could get up really early to run beforehand, but I'm not sure how hard the class is going to be, so I'm saving my legs for the class. It better not be really easy or I'll be bummed. 

4. I made these really yummy pumpkin spice granola bars last night. I'm going to be mean and make you wait until Wednesday's Eat of the Week post to share the recipe though. 

5. I finished another book. Running On Empty. I enjoyed it, and now I'm excited to watch the movie about it. I put it on hold at the library, so now I'm just waiting for it to become available. There's a few other running books on my reading list, but I think I'm going to take a break from running books for awhile and read something else. 3 running books in a row is enough for me for awhile. I tried reading the Hunger Games last year and gave up after 1/2 a chapter, but I think I'm going to try them again for my next book. 

Have you read the Hunger Games? Did you like them? 

What's your favorire home workout dvd? 

My favorite is probably still 30 Day Shred, but I like all of Jillian's workout dvds that I've tried so far. 

What's the last book you read, or the next book on your read list? 

Training Log Tuesday: 1/2-1/8 and New Books

Training Log Tuesday is a summary of my workouts for the week so I can look back on them someday and see when and what I did for my workouts in different stages of life. 

And like usual, here's the color code: 

Running=Red

Swimming=Blue

Biking=Purple

At Home Workout DVD's=Orange

Elliptical=Green

Walking=Pink

Free Weights=Grey

Monday: P90X abs (15 min.)/2PM. 11 mile run outside (1:34 min/8:36 pace)/2:40PM. 

Tuesday: 30 Day Shred Levels 1 and 2 (40 min.)/8:30AM.

Wednesday: 4 mile jogging stroller run (37 min/9:15 pace)/8:30AM.

Thursday: 6.5 mile track workout: 1.5 mile warm-up, 5x1000 @ pace 6:28, 6:29, 6:15, 6:11, 6:17, 1.5 mile cool-down.)/10:30AM. 

Friday: 30 Day Shred Level 3 (20 min.)/ 8AM. 6 Week 6 Pack Level 1 (30 min.)/8:30AM. 3 mile stroller walk/10AM. 

Saturday: 12 mile run outside (1:37 min/8:08 pace)/6:45AM. 

Sunday: Rest

Total Running Miles: 33.5

I've been spoiled lately by my husband's 4 day work weeks for the holidays. It's been fun being able to get some extra running in without the heavy jogging stroller! I'm still enjoying running 4 days a week and doing strength training workout dvds 2 days a week. I would like to add some more ab work in though on my running days. I just signed up for a 25K (15.5 miles) race at the end of this month, so I think I'll stick with that schedule until the race. 

Then I think I'll start training for my first sprint triathlon! (I'm still really nervous about the thought that I might actually do a triathlon this year. I've always wanted to try one someday, but it's so weird that my someday might be just a few months from now. It all depends on how the swimming thing goes, but hopefully my first tri will be in April.)

I picked these two books up at the library today because I'm almost done with my first book, Kara Goucher's Running For Women. So far my New Years resolution to read one book a month is going great. I'm really surprised that it only took me a week to read my first book. Maybe I'll be reading a lot more than one book a month! I found that the perfect time for me to read is while I'm watching B play at the playground. When it's cold we like to go to the indoor playgrounds at Chick-Fil-A and MsDonalds. I'm not sure if it's technically legal to use their playground without buying their food, but we do it all the time. He loves playing there for hours, and I'm so glad I have something to do now while he plays. 

Now I get to find some motivation to fold this massive pile of fun, and hopefully find some motivation to do that ab work I mentioned wanting to do. The laundry motivation is already found. Two hours of Biggest Loser tonight will do the trick, followed by one hour of Parenthood. I actually purposefully saved up all three loads of laundry to fold during Biggest Loser tonight so I wouldn't have any guilt for watching 3+ hours of TV in a row. Tuesday night TV is the best. 

What's your favorite TV show right now? 

Do you feel like you have to multitask to watch TV?

Only sometimes. I never multitask during 24 though (Scott and I are watching all of the old seasons in order together). Those are way too intense and you have to watch them in the dark. 

What's your next race?

Training Log Tuesday: 12/26-1/1

Training Log Tuesday is a summary of my workouts for the week so I can look back on them someday and see when and what I did for my workouts in different stages of life. 

And like usual, here's the color code: 

Running=Red

Swimming=Blue

Biking=Purple

At Home Workout DVD's=Orange

Elliptical=Green

Walking=Pink

Free Weights=Grey

Monday: My first Garmin run! 13.1 miles (1:48, 8:17 avg.)/10:30AM. 

Tuesday: 30 Day Shred Levels 1 and 3 (40 min.)/9AM. 

Wednesday: 1st run with B's new dvd player! 7 mile jogging stroller run. (1:06, 9:25 avg.)/9AM. 

Thursday: 30 Day Shred Levels 2 and 3 (40 min.)/9AM. 

Friday: 6 mile ladder track workout: 1.5 mi. wrm-up, 400m, 800m, 1600m, 1600m, 800m, 400m, 1 mi. cool-down. (Not sure what the exact split times were, but we were between 6:00-6:40 pace)/11AM. 

Saturday: 12 mile run (1:40, 8:25 avg.)/7AM. 

Sunday: Rest

Total Running Miles: 38.1

My color coded training log isn't very colorful lately, but I'm OK with that. I'm really enjoying the new workout schedule I seem to have fallen into of running Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and doing 30 Day Shred Tuesday and Thursday. I think I'll stick with my red and orange training log for awhile. :) My mileage was higher this week than it has been in a long time. I think a new Garmin for me, a new dvd player for B, and my husband having an extra day off work had something to do with that. :) I'll take it! B had fun again at the track on Friday with his buddy while I ran with his mom and another running buddy. It was a gorgeous day and it felt like Spring in December. We even got a little hot which worries me because it was only 60 degrees. If I think 60 degrees is warm, I'm in trouble when those 90-100 degree days get here again. 

I used to write all my workouts down in this training log, but since I got the Garmin, I started using Garminconnect instead (an online tool that keeps track of your workouts). I thought it would tell me what time of day I did the workouts, but I guess not, so I had to guess on most of them. 

How do you keep track of your workouts? 

Training Log Tuesday: 12/19-12/25 and My First Garmin Run!

I was pretty excited to try out my long awaited Garmin 410 Monday morning, especially when I woke up to perfect running weather (high 50's, low 60's).

 Scott had the day off work, so that meant I got to run toddler free, which is always a nice treat for me! My type A personality loved knowing exactly how far I had run, and how fast I was running. I loved being able to make up my route as I went along rather than having a certain route planned in my head just because I know it's X amount of miles. I even got a little competitive with myself at the end of my run. Normally I would have just kept plugging along at my usual pace or even slowed down the last mile, but with this watch on I thought it would be fun to see if I could stay under 7:30 pace for the last mile, so I had fun picking it up and watching my pace the entire last mile. 

I am in love with my new running buddy! I did 13.1 for my first Garmin 410 run. It was so fun. :) I can't wait to figure out all the other cool features this thing has and put it to good use. 

Anyway, here's last week's training log:

Training Log Tuesday is a summary of my workouts for the week so I can look back on them someday and see when and what I did for my workouts in different stages of life. 

And like usual, here's the color code: 

Running=Red

Swimming=Blue

Biking=Purple

At Home Workout DVD's=Orange

Elliptical=Green

Walking=Pink

Free Weights=Grey

Monday: 6 mile jogging stroller run (60-ish min.)/9AM. This was a crappy run for me. There were strong winds which made pushing the stroller even harder, and my energy was pretty low the entire time. I was still recovering from my race the previous Saturday, and the sugar overload I had eaten the night before probably had something to do with my crappy energy. 

Tuesday: 30 Day Shred Levels 1 and 2 (40 min.)/9AM.

Wednesday: 7 miles (60 min.)/9AM. 3-ish mile jogging stroller walk. (My friend who also has a little boy offered to watch B this day, so I had a nice stroller-free run!) 

Thursday: Pilates (40 min.)/8AM. I was planning to do P90X plyometrics this morning, but after trying to do the first couple jump squats I knew my body needed a rest day. My legs were dead, and I was so tired. So, I did some pilates instead and took a nap later. Mentally I really didn't want to take a rest day this day, especially because I was going to a Christmas party that night and knew I would have dessert, but physically I needed a rest day. My body thanked me for taking it easy, and I woke up the next day super motivated to run!

Friday: 5 mile jogging stroller run (50-ish minutes stop-and-go style.)/9:30AM. B really didn't want to run this day. I actually need to write the details of this run in a separate post because it was quite the workout fiasco. Good thing I took a rest day the day before because I needed some serious motivation to get a workout in this morning! 

Saturday: 14 miles (2 hours)/7:30AM.

Sunday: Merry Christmas! Rest day. 

Total Running Miles: 32

Training Log Tuesday: 12/12-12/18

Training Log Tuesday is a summary of my workouts for the week so I can look back on them someday and see when and what I did for my workouts in different stages of life. 

And like usual, here's the color code: 

Running=Red

Swimming=Blue

Biking=Purple

At Home Workout DVD's=Orange

Elliptical=Green

Walking=Pink

Free Weights=Grey

Monday: Pilates (50 min.)/2:50PM. 3-ish mile run (25 min.)/5:50PM. 

Tuesday: 30 Day Shred Level 2 (20 min.)/9AM.

Wednesday: 4 mile treadmill workout. 6X400 at 9.5-10 speed + 1.5 mi. wrm-up, 1 mi. cool-down. 

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 2 mile treadmill run/12PM. 

Saturday: 10 mile race (68 min.) + 6 more miles/7:30AM.

Sunday: Rest 

Total Running Miles: 25

Here's what my taper week looked liked in preparation for my first 10 mile race. Race recap is coming. It's been a busy week full of lots of fun Christmas activities, and now we're getting ready to head to Sea World to watch their Christmas shows. I'll be back tomorrow with my new favorite soup recipe! 

Squeezing In Holiday Workouts

Last Saturday my husband was out of town and B and I had 3 parties on the schedule for that day. I knew doing a long run was out of the question, and I figured any sort of exercise that day was out of the question as well.

Here's a summary of how the crazy 3-party, no husband day went:

6:40AM-Wake-up, slap a little make-up and deodorant on, get dressed, get B dressed, grab a couple bananas, and head out the door. (No shower for me because despite our crazy schedule, I still had hope that I would somehow be able to squeeze in a workout, and not showering is actually extra motivation for me to workout. I knew I would want to shower at some point that day, but I like to "earn" my shower with a sweaty workout.)

8:00AM-Meet friends and head to Scott's work Christmas party that they put on for the kids.

12:00PM-Arrive home from the crazy, crowded Christmas party. Make something for B and I to eat for lunch that doesn't include sugar as the first ingredient. Put B down for a nap, which he didn't end up taking. (He played with his toys in his room for an hour instead.) I on the other hand was exhausted, so I took a 10 minute cat nap before getting up to wrap the birthday presents for the next party.

2:00-Arrive at birthday party for two of B's friends. 

(By this point I was really missing my daily dose of endorphins. I noticed I had felt a little antsy all day because I hadn't exercised. I still wasn't sure if there was any way I could squeeze any type of workout in, but my un-showered self was still hoping to.)

4:00-Arrive home from birthday party. (I had 2.5 hours before the next party and I still needed to exercise, shower, wrap a white elephant present, and make an appetizer. I needed at least an hour to get ready, so that left 1.5 hours for the exercise, present wrapping, and appetizer making. Not very much time. I barely even had enough time to make the decision about whether or not I was going to squeeze in a workout.) 

I had a million excuses why I should skip it; I had just eaten cake and ice-cream and jumping around might make me sick, I needed more time to make the appetizer and get ready for the party, I was tired from busying around all day, my only option was an at-home workout video, but I really wanted to run, I wasn't going to get a very good workout in with the amount of time I had to do it. 

Two things made my decision for me:

#1

Source

#2-Whenever I'm deciding whether to exercise or not, I always tell myself anything is better than nothing. So what if I only had time to do a 40 minute workout video? It would be better than nothing. 

I threw on some workout clothes as fast as possible, set B up on the couch with a movie on the laptop, and put in the Biggest Loser CardioMax dvd. It was worth it. I got my endorphin fix, I had more energy afterwards, I was in a better mood, and I finally "earned" my shower for the day! Yay for me, and for all the people at the next party.

I can't believe I almost let myself think that a short workout wouldn't be worth it. 

I finished my workout surprisingly more sweaty than I thought I would be, and jumped in the shower to see how fast I could get ready, wrap the present, and make the appetizers. All those exercise endorphins helped me straighten my hair and re-apply make-up in record time. (Wow. Two make-up applications in one day. I normally don't even do one.)

Thanks to Costco's little brownie bites, it only took me about three minutes to make these cute little Santa hat brownies. (My sis-in-law sent me a picture of these and I thought they were so cute. Not sure where she first saw them though.)

What motivates you to exercise when you're pressed for time? 

Training Log Tuesday: 12/5-12/11

Training Log Tuesday is a summary of my workouts for the week so I can look back on them someday and see when and what I did for my workouts in different stages of life. 

And like usual, here's the color code: 

Running=Red

Swimming=Blue

Biking=Purple

At Home Workout DVD's=Orange

Elliptical=Green

Walking=Pink

Free Weights=Grey

Monday: 6 mile jogging stroller run (? 54-ish)/4:30PM. P90X abs (15 min)/6PM.

Tuesday: P90X arms and shoulders (60 min.)/3:30PM.

Wednesday: 6 mile track workout (6x800 @ 3:20, 3:10, 3:09, 3:08, 3:07, 3:03)/12:30PM. 

Thursday: Jillian's 30 Day Shred Levels 1 and 3 (40 min.)/8:30AM.

Friday: 6 mile jogging stroller run (?56-ish min.)/9AM.

Saturday: Biggest Loser Cardio Max (40 min.)/4PM. (I missed my long run :( Scott was out of town, and I took B to 3 different parties today! 9AM, 2PM, and 6:30PM. It was crazy.)

Sunday: Rest

Total running miles: 18

This was my first week attempting to get back on a scheduled workout plan rather than deciding what I wanted to do when I woke up. I liked having an idea of what I was going to do that day, and I liked not feeling like I needed to still run or do cardio on my Tuesday/Thursday strength training days. I didn't like feeling guilty when I didn't stick to the plan though. I skipped abs on Wednesday and pilates on Friday because I really wasn't in the mood to do them. I actually started to do an ab video in place of pilates on Friday, but I turned the video off after about 3 minutes because I just wasn't in the mood. It was hard to miss my long run on Saturday, but there was nothing I could do about it. It's good to miss them every once in awhile because sometimes I forget what a luxury they are until I miss one. Sometimes waking up really early on Saturdays and running in bad weather starts to feel a bit like a punishment, but then I miss a long run and I realize how lucky I am to get to do those long runs every Saturday. My favorite workout of the week was Thursday's. I love the 30 Day Shred, and a double dose of the 30 Day Shred is even better. I'd never done two levels back to back before, but it was an awesome workout. I definitely want to do that again on my strength training days.

I'm really looking forward to my long run this Saturday because I signed up for my first 10 mile race! Since it's my first 10 mile race, I guess that means I'll get a PR no matter what. :) 

Training Log Tuesday: 11/28-12/4

Training Log Tuesday is a summary of my workouts for the week so I can look back on them someday and see when and what I did for my workouts in different stages of life. 

And like usual, here's the color code: 

Running=Red

Swimming=Blue

Biking=Purple

At Home Workout DVD's=Orange

Elliptical=Green

Walking=Pink

Free Weights=Grey

Monday: P90X chest and back + abs (70 min.)/10:45AM.

Tuesday: P90X Plyometrics (60 min.)/8:30AM. Stroller walk (60 min.)/4:45PM.

Wednesday: 6 mile jogging stroller run (56 min.)/8:45AM. P90X abs (15 min.)/10AM.

Thursday: 3-ish mile run (25 min.)/5:50PM. Rev Abs power intervals (30 min.)/6:30PM.

Friday: 6.5 mile jogging stroller run (60 min.)/10AM.

Saturday: 12 mile run (1:38, 8:21 pace)/7:30AM. In the rain again! I love rainy runs, especially with running buddies.

Sunday: Rest

Total Running Miles: 27.5

Strength Training For Runners

I need to find a better balance between strength training and running. It seems like I'm either on a running splurge, or a strength training splurge. I haven't had a structured workout plan since I ran Boston in April, so I've just been waking up each day and deciding what kind of exercise I'm in the mood for. It's been nice in a lot of ways, but I also miss have some sort of plan. 

I read this article today from Runner's World about strength training, and this article about ab work for runners. My Run Less Run Faster book also has a good chapter about strength training for runners. 

Here's a few things I learned about strength training for runners from the above articles:

Runners still need to do strength training for their legs. Many runners think they don't need to because they use their legs all the time when they run. Running uses our legs almost solely for endurance, not strength. Strength training our legs will help generate more force with each stride, and balance fitness in the lower body to prevent injury (RLRF pg. 184). (I'll admit I hate strength training my legs because they are usually tired from running, and I used to use the excuse that they got plenty of exercise from running. After reading this today I think I'll be more willing to do my leg strength training.)

 Strength training improves running economy which means it will help you run longer, faster and more efficiently. It also helps you recover faster from long runs because strength training makes your body more efficient at converting metabolic waste into energy. 

Most adults lose 1/2 pound of muscle each year after the age 20. (I'm 25 so I guess I better get my strength training in since I've apparently already started losing muscle. Less muscle mass means lower metabolism which means less food to maintain weight.) 

"Studies have shown that with as little as 10 weeks of strength training, 10K times decrease by an average of 2-3 percent." (RLRF pg.185) 

RLRF recommends doing strength training 2-3 times a week for about 30 minutes. Based on that, I think I'll make a structured workout plan to follow for the rest of December. We'll see if I like having a plan again, or if I miss doing whatever I'm in the mood for. 

Here's my December workout plan:

Monday: Run 3-7 miles + abs

Tuesday: At-home workout dvd for strength

Wednesday: Run 3-7 miles + abs

Thursday: At-home workout dvd for strength

Friday: Run 3-7 miles + pilates

Saturday: Long run 

Sunday: Rest

Do you like structured workout plans, or doing whatever you're in the mood for that day? 

What's your favorite way to get strength training in?

Friday Fitness Survey

I saw this fitness survey on Carrots 'N' Cake this morning and thought it would be fun to play along. Feel free to join me if you want to do it too!

Five Fitness Things I Can’t Live Without:

1. Jogging stroller 

2. Running buddies

3. Road races

4. At-home workout dvds

5. The stick

Most Embarrassing Song I Listen to While Working Out:

Most of the time I don't listen to music while I run because I'm either pushing a jogging stroller, talking to my running buddies, or watching TV on the treadmill at the gym. 

Favorite Pre-Workout Snack or Meal:

It changes, but currently it's almond butter and honey on rice cakes with banana on top. 

On My Fitness Bucket List:

1. Complete an olympic distance triathlon, and if I survive that, then maybe a half-ironman someday. 

2. Run a marathon in the 3:20's.

3. Run the Boston Marathon with the new time standards and without getting sick. (I've done it twice and both times I had some pretty bad luck. You can read about my last Boston Marathon here.)

Must Have Tech Tools:

(The top two are want tech tools, but maybe someday they'll be have tech tools.)

1. Garmin 410

2. Treadmill

3. Heart rate monitor

4. iPod  


Top Exercise Gear:

1. Adidas capri running tights

2. iFitness belt

3. Water belt

4. Pink New Balance Boston shirt

Motivational Mantras:

1. What doesn't kill you, makes you a runner.

2. No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch.

3. You only regret the workouts you don't do. 

5. Only exercise on the days you want to improve your mood.

5. If you went running when you first started thinking about it, you'd be back by now.

6. Sweat is fat crying.

7. Keep calm, and run on.


Favorite Cardio Exercise:
1. Long runs!

2. Track intervals (when I have running buddies to do them with.)

3. P90X Plyometrics 

4. Biking with B

Favorite Strength Moves:
1. Any ab exercise

2. Lunges


3. Bicep curls

4. Any plank exercise

 Tell me what fitness thing you can't live without.

What's you favorite pre-workout meal? 

What's on your fitness bucket list?