What Kind of Beer Runner Are You?

A slideshow from Runner's World.
http://www.runnersworld.com/beer/these-runners-and-beers-are-made-for-each-other/slie/26

I'm the Cross-Country Runner, Nut Brown Ale.

Pasta & Bean Recipe

A few nights ago I wasn't sure what side dish to make to go along with the hamburgers I was cooking for dinner. In our pantry were four cans of chili beans so I figured there must be something I could do with them besides the standard chili?

I found some rotini pasta and wondered why I couldn't just mix the two of them together? But do I make it a cold dish or heat it? I wasn't sure yet. As the pasta was cooking it seemed more flavors were needed. I found a can of seasoned diced tomatoes and added them. After draining the pasta I mixed everything together and ended up with a casserole dish filled with enough servings for six people.

I think it was fairly healthy though and leftovers came in handy for a second night's dinner and lunch for work!

My inexact recipe is; 1 can drained, diced tomatoes. 1 can chili beans. 1/2 box pasta (rotini tasted fine to us), a dash of cumin, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, sliced red and yellow peppers. A generous sprinkling of cheddar cheese over the top. I covered the dish with foil and baked it at 375 for about 30 minutes. Even Jan ate it so it must have tasted okay.
Nutritional values? High carbs, some protein, a scattering of fat. 

Master of the Monroe Community College Pool?

The MCC pool temperature is always a bit, let's say...refreshing. I seriously thought about not swimming today because of laziness and the anticipation of the cold water. With only one week of the pool being open for lap swimming, at least until summer hours are posted, if they ever will be (there are times the pool is closed except for little kids camps) I decided swimming today was a must.

There was only one other swimmer at the pool, one of those fast swimming girls from the MCC team. I knew she was fast because everyone on our women's team is fast, they won the National Championship again this year. I decided to do repeat 100's. One hundred without a buoy, 100 with the buoy. My splits were good and I felt like my form was too. I concentrated on changing my breathing, three strokes or four usually, and powering off the walls. I don't do flip turns, figuring there aren't many chances to do flip turns during lake swims, so why bother now? I tried to stretch out and float along the water and actually did 3 of my fastest 100's using that method.

The MCC woman was doing lots of different drills and swim strokes. At one point I looked over and was beating her down the pool! I was so proud when I finished the lap until I saw she was doing a drill and swimming using one arm. I had barely beat her. Near the end of my workout I decided to end with two fast 50yd freestyle sprints. My first one was 53, not great, not bad. My second one was 52. During the last hard 50 I saw the girl float by me. I was beat and ended my 1350 yards with an easy 50 using the buoy. I left the pool, sat on a bench covering my bulbous stomach with my towel and timed the MCC swimmer. She was doing 50yd repeats at a consistent 36-38 seconds with no more than a 10 second recovery. It looked like she was just floating on top of the water. The repeats weren't taxing her like my 52 second ones did me.

My emotions ran from jealousy, to admiration to thinking of asking her for tips. I may have been the Master of the pool due to my advanced age, but definitely wasn't the Master swimmer.

SalsMiles Diet Plan

Bob Harper's ( a personal trainer from the television show, "Biggest Loser") book "The Skinny Rules" has a number of rules for a healthy method of eating to lose weight. In addition to advice he also has a number of recipes.
I began reading the book in secret when Jan was visiting our granddaughter during April. I quickly realized strictly following all of his rules and food to eat wasn't going to work for me. Either I wasn't confident about cooking the food his way or had no desire to eat his choices. Fish, fish, fish, is a big part of many of Harper's meals.
If it isn't a tuna fish sandwich or casserole, or deep fried, I don't want to eat fish. Sorry, not happening.
But I have adapted a few changes to my diet and in 5 weeks lost 5lbs and 1/2 inch from my waist, which is good steady progress. My goal is to lose another 5lbs and at least an inch more from my waist. Besides looking better (less stomach roll over my swimsuit) maybe I'll run a bit faster. It's not always easy to suck in my gut or cover my waist with a towel at the MCC pool when all those young, fast swimmers are around. Bad enough I'm bald(ing?), wrinkly and slow in the pool.

For those of you desiring to follow this soon to be world-renown diet plan, here are some of the major points;

1. Keep it simple. Read all the diet books you want, but a balanced diet will eventually be more successful.
2. Find healthy foods you like to eat. I am not going to drink a green smoothy, just isn't eye appealing. I'm not going to eat bananas in a smoothy, the taste is yucky. Find alternatives that your taste buds enjoy having.
3. Try and be patient. This is a work-in-progress for me. We aren't on a television show, it's real life. So what if you only lose a pound a week? In 20 weeks that is 20 pounds, that's a lot of weight and inches off your body.
4. If you are working out a lot, weights, running, biking, etc, you need protein, much more protein than the average American. You can't exist on an almost all carbohydrate diet, which I tried to do for years thinking it was the right thing when training for longer distances.
5. Drink 8 ounces of water within a few minutes of waking up in the morning. (Bob's Rule)
6. Drink 8 ounces of water before every meal.(Bob's Rule)
7. More protein, less carbohydrates, more fruit & vegetables (Bob's Rule)
8. No snacking after dinner. (My rule, I'm a cookie hound and really need to watch this weakness)
9. Now that I can run again after three months of being injured I'm trying to workout at least 10x a week instead of the previous 5-7. I want my minimum daily average to be at least an hour of exercise. For everyone else, even taking a 10 minute walk at lunchtime, or doing planks and pushups for a few minutes in the morning, will help in addition to your regular exercise routine.
10. Less bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. If you are going to eat these foods, be careful about portion size and choose whole-grains. Eat pasta with extra protein, there are several brands that sell this.

Those are the basics, a sneak preview of the e-book I'm sure will be an internet sensation. Keep your eyes open for it.