Workouts and School

I am very proud of myself this week.  My goal to workout an hour every morning was a success.  Thursday and Friday morning were tough but I found something to tell myself that helps me get my booty moving.  I just say "I may not want to wake up but I DO want to workout".  And after about 5 minutes of working out I am so happy that I made the decision to do so.  I got an extra workout in this week too by going to Zumba with my friend Kelsey.  I had actually totally forgotten we had planned on going Wednesday night till she texted to ask when she should pick me up.  I was very happy to get to have an added workout and Thomas was working that night anyways so it saved me from being home alone most of the night.  It's really amazing how much happier I am and how much more energy I have when I workout in the morning rather than sleeping in the extra hour. 
I'm starting to feel more comfortable planning math lessons for my 6th graders.  I don't have to spend hours on the lessons anymore now it's just like an hour or so.  I try to plan all of my lessons the weekend before so that they are ready to go and I don't have to stress about them along with other homework during the week. I just looked at the list for when my proffesor would be observing me again and it wasn't until March.  There were openings in February though so I switched it so I can just get it over with.  I'm very lucky to have a lot of my assignments in different classes overlap so that I have less work to do.  For example in my Social Studies Methods class we have to create a unit, and fortunately I am teaching a unit in my practicum class.  As part of this unit I naturally will need a test and this will fulfill a requirement for my Assessments class. 
Next weekend we will be headed to Boise so I can take my spanish praxis exam to get certified to teach spanish!
Today there was a pre-placement student teaching meeting! It's all becoming real to me.

Back to School and Workouts

I've been loving doing whatever workout I feel like doing. Monday was fartleks with Thomas. Tuesday was level 3 of Jillian's 30 Day Shred, today was 5k with about 1.5 mile of it uphill.  I read in my new Runner's World that once you have been running for awhile, in order to increase speed I need to speed up at the end of my runs. So the last mile I really tried to pick the pace up.  Overall I averaged like a 9:15 pace. Yikes, I need to be going like a minute faster than that.  But I'll give myself credit, half of it was uphill. 
School starts tomorrow!! AHHH!! I already recieved an e-mail from one of my professors with an assignment for the first day.  It took me two hours! That stressed me out a little bit. I'm afraid I'm not going to be juggle everything school, working out, work, making dinner, keeping the apartment clean, etc. But the good thing is that I really think I'll enjoy the classes I'll be taking.  They are mostly practicum classes which means I'll be doing lots of lessons and even get a chance to be in a classroom doing reading interventions in a local elementary school.  And I'm starting my application for student teaching.  I'm hoping to do it this spring or next fall in Boise.  I was going to post my rough draft of my letter of introduction but I made even more changes and still want to fix it up a bit.  Wish me luck!

Runnin and Campin

This weeks workouts were on different days then normal but it all worked out really well.  Wednesday was a super busy day so it was perfect that we did our workouts on Tuesday and Thursday.  We went camping this weekend so we decided to do Saturday's long run on Friday after I got off work.  Work was soooo long on Friday and my head was killing and mentally I just wasn't feeling it.  But luckily I have a wonderful running partner who motivates me and so I went ahead and did the long run.  I thought I'd only make it like the first three miles but once I pushed through the first half it was easy breezy on the way back.  We had a strong head wind the first half that sucked and made us run about 9:30 miles but it helped us on the 2nd half to run 8:30 miles so it all evened out.  We ran 12 miles in 1:47. 

Monday: Jillian No More Trouble Zones with Thomas

Tuesday: 1 miles warm up, 6 miles tempo, 1 mile cool down

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: 6x1200 meters

Friday: 12 miles long run

It felt so great to have finished the 12 miler after thinking I totally couldn't do it. 

We went camping, like I said earlier, with a bunch of other couples.  There were 7 of us and we had a blast! We went to Camp Zarehemla Friday night and stayed up playing Balderdash and Catch Phrase.  There were 10 of us in a little cabin with 4 people on 2 bunk beds and the rest of us on air mattresses.  Two couples stayed in tents! So brave! It was still pretty darn chilly up there! In the morning we had pancakes and bacon. They guys were supposed to clean up breakfast cause they lost Catch Phrase the night before but us girls were niceys and did it ourselves. We played some frisbee in the afternoon, went on a canoe ride, and a little nature walk.  The walk/hike was cause the boys were looking for where the river was that emptied into the lake.  We found it and the boys had fun finding big boulders to push off the little cliff into the water.  It was a great start to my spring break! Wahoo! I love our friends! I wish I had pics but when I went to pull my camera out I realized that the battery was dead. 

Running, Food, and Thomas things I love!

I posted earlier that I got a new running toy, the Garmin Forerunner 305.  I am really loving it.  It tracks my heart rate, my distance, my split times, my pace, elevation, everything! It's so cool too because after you run you hook it up to your computer and it downloads all of your info and puts it into little charts.  It even Google Earths where you were running at so that you can see your route.  Oh ya and it also tells me how much calories I'm burning! I love it.  It's a little bit chunky looking on my wrist but it feels light. 
One of bloggers whose site I read does a little summary of her workouts each week when she's training for an event.  I want to try and do that. Okay so this week:

Monday: 1 mile warm up, 25 minute tempo run (3miles), and 1 mile cool down
Tuesday:  Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones (my fave of all the Jillian workouts)  Thomas joined me for some of this one.
Thursday: 7 x 1000m my splits were averaging about 4:42 which is what they were 2 weeks ago when we only did 5 of them and I absolutely died. And I didn't feel like dying this time so there has been improvement!
Friday: 30 minute easy.  I just did a 30 minute walk cause my quadricep was bugging and I figure I need to keep rested for the 10 miler on Saturday!
Saturday: 10 mile long run

Another thing I really like in blogs is when people post recipes and meal plans.  I love making a meal plan and then going and getting all the ingredients and feeling ultra organized.  So tonight because Thomas is working the weekend late shift and did the grocery shopping and meal planning.  I stopped by my parents to let the dog out and run over there and while I was at it I picked up some recipes.  I found an old church recipe book, those are the best cause you know they are tried and true.  Tonight I tried Cheese Stuffed Manicotti.  It was super easy and delicious! Here is the recipe:

4 cups spaghettic sauce ( I used one can of Prego Traditional sauce, it's the best).  Simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook manicotti shells by boiling for 6 minutes.
Filling:
1 1/2 cups mozzarella
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 cup grated parmesan
3 beaten eggs
1/4 cup parsley

Mix 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and all other cheeses, add eggs and parsley.  Stuff shells.  Pour 1/2 of sauce in bottom of 13x9 inch pan.  Lay sheels on top.  Cover with the rest of the sace.  Sprinkle mozzarella on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Thomas and I celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary today so I took him the manicotti to work for his lunch break and we had a romantic dinner eating it in the break room of the x-ray department.  ;)  Since our schedules were totally opposite today we met on my lunch break and went to this great little soup and sandwhich place right next to my work.  And like I said for dinner we met at his work. 
I love being married to Thomas.  He is my best friend ever.  Never before I met Thomas did I have a best friend who was a guy.  It's so wonderful having our lives totally intertwined.  I love having the same friends and the same plans for the weekend and weekdays.  Marriage is beautiful.