Now, you may be asking how in the heck do I know how to put together a fundraising plan – well I do not. this is where the experienced help of my lovely fundraising coach steps in. I will be having a conference call with her this evening to discuss and conjur up some new fundraising ideas.

To accomplish all this I have to first fuel myself up for the day. This mornings breakfast was a new little thing I am trying in order to get a good breakfast in – in minimal time. I have always been a HUGE fan of original old fashion oatmeal. Just plain so that I can build my own perfect craveable oatmeal to whatever may satisfy my days tastes. Waking up earlier and getting to work earlier has put a small kink in my normal breakfast routine. To make old fashion oats each morning was taking up too much of my precious morning time, therefore I have been looking for some time saving, nutritious breakfasts that will keep me satisfied.
While perusing the breakfast/oatmeal aisle at my grocery store I ran across Quaker Oats new “high fiber” instant oatmeal packets. Now I am going to be honest, I have never really enjoyed an oatmeal packet. They always end up being a slightly off-kilter texture and hella too sweet. Literally hurts my teeth that is how sweet they tend to be – yet I still keep trying different packets. I must have some undying love for oatmeal to put myself through the torcher every time a new flavor or type comes out. Well again I found myself faced with a new type of oatmeal, high-fiber. I got excited! This means this little packet of oats should technically keep me fuller longer. So I purchased a box of the brown sugar flavor. I felt this flavor would meld best with all the toppings I enjoy cramming into my oatmeal.Today’s oatmeal was packed with diced pears and apples, flax seed and pumpkin granola. Yum! tasted great. The texture was better than past oatmeals in a bag I have tried but, lets not get carried, it was no old fashioned oats. Needless to say these are a great alternative for fast and portable breakfast. Now the real test will be if the “high fiber” will keep me satisfied till lunch.

Nope, was hungry around the eleven o’clock hour. Well at least the oatmeal was yummy too bad it did not stick. No fear, lunch was to the rescue to my rumbly tummy. I brought 4 massive pieces of sushi for lunch. California and spicy tuna, both made with chili oil in place of spicy mayo. That is a great little trick for cutting calories. And as long as the white rice is not insanely packed on, sushi is a great low-cal meal. After my spicy sushi I tamed the flame with a little sweet canteloupe. What a great super flavorful lunch. Super filling yet light.

After work I booked it home to prepare for my conference call with my Team in Training fundraising coach, Laura. What a smart cookie she is. She helped me conjur up tons new fundraising opportunities that I need to take advantage of. Guess it is time to get to fundraising work now! I am currently at 29% of my goal amount. This may not seem like a whole lot, but I am definitely on target to achieve my goal and that is super exciting!!

Dinner tonight was supposed to be a new broccoli pasta dish but Nick got tied up and was not going to be home till late. Luckily Nick’s mom was nice enough to invite us over for a nice home cooked meal of smashed taters, meatloaf and roasted veggies. Yum! The roasted veggies were especially delicious. They consisted of sweet potatoes, cauliflower, onions and squash. And to top off the busy crazy day a shamrock cookie and coffee. I love eating good hot food and not having to do the cooking. Thanks Mom P.

This morning I tried out a new Greek 0% fat yogurt made by Dannon. Lately
I have not been able to find my favorite Greek yogurt, Fage, in the aisles of local grocer. But, I have been seeing lots of companies that traditionally focus on making regular yogurt trying to bust into the Greek yogurt market. Because we all know that is where the good stuff is at! (; But anywho, a few weeks back I tried out Yoplaits version of Greek yogurt and sadly it was most dissapointing. Sorry Yoplait, stick to the whips! Needless to say I was a bit hessitant to try Dannons version of the Greek yogurt after the Yoplait bad experience. But, as always I love love love to try new products so I gave it a whirl. I cracked open a little tub of their 0% fat original flavor and topped it with honey, pumpkin granola and flax seed and OH BOY was I surprised at the deliciousness of my breakfast! Dannon’s Greek yogurt was super creamy and thick and just the perfect tartness for Greek yogurt. I was pleasantly surprised, this stuff definitely gave Fage a run for it’s money this a.m. I sure will be purchasing more of it in the future, especially if my grocer is still not sticking Fage.

I left my breakfast experience very satisfied. But, low and behold I walk into my office and see cake on my office-mates desk. It is another employees birthday today an she was nice enough to surprise her with some goodies. The cake consisted of 4 parts: German chocolate, sinful white, super sinful chocolate and carrot cake. It was cute how the cake was pieced together. So in celebration of my co-workers birthday I indulged in a half of a small slice of carrot cake. This is sure one aspect of my new job I have been trying not indulge too much in. Honestly, everytime you turn around here there are cakes and goodies popping up EVERYWHERE!! I think I could easily gain 5 pounds in a month if I didn’t keep myself in check. I just keep reminding myself, everything in moderation.

The treats just kept coming today too, my manager took our department out to lunch too!! For
lunch I had a house salad with balsamic vinegarette, Greek orzo and half a veggie sandwich. The veggie sandwich came on whole-wheat bread, spead with hummus and topped with sprouts, diced tomato, onion, pepper and cucumber…. delicious! I obviously was super hungry this afternoon because I cleaned my plate! The only leftover was the crouton from my salad (never did like hard bread in my salads).

Ohhh I forgot to mention that it is also my his ands birthday today too! This means there was more celebrating and food to be consumed when I got home from work. Nick REALLY wanted to go to a BBQ place for his birthday, problem is, I was unaware of any decent places to
take him that was somewhat local. Luckily
my co-workers helped me out and gave me a few suggested
options. I chose a spot, punched it into my navigation and told Nick to
follow the instructions and dinner would be a surprise. We drove about 27 minutes and arrived at our destination. BBQ yeah! I ordered a half slab of rubs with waffle fries and steamed vegetbles. Wow is that an oxymoron or what? Oh well I had to find amlittle balance somehow. Food
was great and again today, I was part of the clean plate club. On our journey home Nick wanted to top off his birthday with a little icecream from Baskin Robbins. That is where I had to draw the line. No more desserts for me today. Instead I went home and made myself a cup of sugar cookie tea and enjoyed.

Wow what a day, came and passed, now time for sleep so I can conquer Tuesday!

Anwho… back to talking about the training. I asked my coach the other day what speed (mph) I should try and be riding at when I train. Coach Dave then indicated that it is not about speed, it is about what percentage of your max heart rate you are riding at. He then went on to explain that you want to be riding at about 75% of your max hear rate when training. Since I currently do not have a heart rate monitor he told me to gauge my heart rate on how well I could talk and ride. He said if I can say about 5-6 words while riding and, not be completely out of breath, that is probably a good goal. If I can talk all day without getting out of breath, I probably need to be pushing myself a bit harder.

After hearing about all this heart rate stuff I wanted to learn more and figure out how to use it to its fullest potential. So that is precisely what I did…. internet research to the rescue!

About Heart Rate Training
Turns out, your heartbeat is a pretty big deal. It’s actually one of the most important indicators of overall wellness, and is one of the most effective elements of any fitness program. Your heart rate not only controls your body but also the efficiency of your exercise. To get the most out of your physical activity–whether it’s walking, dancing or aerobics–you need to make sure you are in your target heart rate zone. To determine your target heart rate, first subtract your age from 220. That’s your maximum heart rate. Your target heart rate is roughly 50 to 75 percent of this maximum heart rate. To see how your fitness level is progressing over time, measure and track your resting heart rate–usually between 60 and 100 beats per minute–on a weekly basis. As you become more fit, your resting heart rate will decrease.

Your target heart rate generally encompasses three zones. Exercising in the Active Zone (50 to 60 percent of maximum heart rate) reduces blood pressure and cholesterol and is ideal for fitness beginners or those on a low-intensity program. Almost all calories burned in this zone are fat calories. Reaching the Training Zone (60 to 70 percent of maximum heart rate) requires more intense aerobic activity and is perfect for fitness enthusiasts working to burn maximum calories and fat. Finally, exercising in the Endurance Zone (70 to 80 percent of maximum heart rate) is generally recommended for athlete in training. The primary benefits of this zone are cardiovascular strengthening and elevated caloric burn.

After learning about how to monitor my heart rate and what the major zones are, I now had to start doing some research on heart rate monitors. After scavenging the internet and reading review after after review I had settled upon purchasing a nice little “Sportline 915 Women’s Solo Heart Rate Watch” from Dicks Sporting Goods.

Won't this bad boy look good on my wrist. (=

My new little toy will hopefully arrive next Tuesday. I will definitely post a review once I play with this little guy and find out if it is worth the pennies.

After lunch it was time to be a wee bit productive. For Christmas I received Trek incite 11i which is a little computer that mounts on your bike and it will calculate your speed, mileage and many other important stats. Well, I love Trek but the instructions to install the incite and the sensors was beyond horrible. Needless to say I have been putting it off for a long time since I kept getting frustrated when trying to install the darn thing. But yesterday, I was filled with much determination. After about an hour and a half and a crap ton of Internet searches I turned out victorious!! And since I was so excited about the install I decided to ride and test it out. I rode for an hour on my trainer and biked 15 miles.

After working out Nick and I decided to adventure out of the house for a bit. We made a Best Buy, Target, Borders run. At Borders I had a coupon for a free coffee, and you know I took advantage of it! Since I knew before leaving the house that I was getting a coffee, I even brought my own chocolate baby biscotti wig me to enjoy while perusing a few books. It was very relaxing.

Since I shot down Nicks idea of dinner in the city, I devised a new plan for dinner. Pizza buffet! We ended up ordering pizza from two different places, a deep dish and a this crust each with our own favorite toppings. We brought out pizzas home, got comfortable infrot of the TV and ended our great Valentines Day with a movie and a food coma. Loved it!

I got myself up early and went over to the gym to get a quick little workout in. 35 minutes on the eliptical and then 15 minutes on the bike.

I heard from my Team in Training coach yesterday and he suggested getting an hour in this weekend on the bike. Looks like tomorrow I will need to get about an hour in on my trainer.

On my way home from the gym I stopped at starbucks and got a free breakfast. I received a coupon in the mail to try a free hot oatmeal. I ordered mine with all the fixings, nuts, brown sugar and dried fruit. I also had an empty bag from my Starbucks coffee that I brew at home. When you bring back in your empty bag to Starbucks they give you a free tall coffee. So man was I happy when I got an oatmeal and coffee for breakfast without paying a dime.

I took my breakfast home with me and made an eggy sandwich on a sandwich thin to acompany my oatmeal and add some protein to the mix. Now I will admit I was super skeptical of how the oatmeal was going to taste seeing as it comes out of a packet and hot water was added. I put all my fixings on to my liking, took a big bite and was super happy with my oatmeal! The oatmeal tasted more like slow cooked steal cut oatmeal then the normal quick oats I am used to. The oats were also not too slimey or wet in texture, sorry but that always seems to be problem for me. Definitely started the day off on the right foot.

After breakfast Nick and I headed down to the city to gawk at lots of cars. We ended up staying at the show for 5 hours and 30 mins. There was a ton to see. Closer to the end of our browsing I needed a snack bad! In my little purse I had stashed a bag of apple Peeled snacks. This brand has been all over different blogs. I have heard only good things about the cherry, apple and mango flavors. The apple ended up being scrumptious. They were like sliced apple peels that were slightly dried out and yet still chewy. Very good I will definitely be trying the other flavors. The best part of this snacky is that it has 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber!

Now on to the best meal of the day… dinner at Uncle Julios Hacienda off North Avenue in Chicago. We were starving and excited to eat. We started the meal off with a small cup of queso, fresh salsa and the thinnest, warmest, most delicious tortilla chips in all of Chicago. I literally could have made my meal out of chips and dip. But no! That would be cheating myself of a great meal. So, I ordered the grilled vegetable fajitas. The platter came with zucchini, yellow squash, onions, red pepper, poblano pepper, potatoes, guacamole, pico de gallo, black beans and portbellas. Do I even need to say that I asked politely for no mushrooms and other extra veggies (; Amazing dinner, I can not wait to eat all my leftovers!!!!!!!

First let us revisit the Yoplait Greek honey yogurt. In desperate times (aka my supermarket not carrying Oikos or Fage Greek yogurt) I was forced to try new brands of my beloved Greek yogurt. I had never seen Yoplait Greek yogurt before so I gave it a whirl. At first glance it looked promising. Into the honey flavored yogurt I added blackberries, ground flax seed, pecan granola, slivered almonds and pumpkin seeds. After adding all my toppings I dug my spoon in and took my first bite, and, I have to say I was a bit dissapointed. Don’t get me wrong, the flavor was good but the texture for a Greek yogurt was all sorts of wrong. This yogurt was definitely more-so along the lines of Yoplaits fat-free regular yogurt. Well I have learned my lesson and know for next time that when it comes to Greek yogurt stick with Oikos and Fage!!! Plain and simple. Sorry Yoplait just stick to the fat-free Boston creme and those Whips you make so well.