Frrrriday Favs: Chocolate Cake

This may be one of my favorite things to bake, mostly because it is so easy but also because it is delicious! Also, I am not a huge fan of frosting but love cool whip!

Finished product

Ingredients:

• 1 box of any type of chocolate cake
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 1 jar of chocolate sundae syrup
• 1 jar of caramel sundae syrup
• 1 bag of heath bar bits
• 1 container of cool whip

Instructions:

• Bake the chocolate cake as you normally would and let cool.
• Once cool, poke holes in the cake using a large spoon (or the end of a spoon).
• Pour 1 can of condensed milk over the entire cake and let it soak in (about 30 mins to an hour)
• Pour jar of chocolate syrup over the condensed milk and let soak in (you may need to heat the chocolate syrup up to pour it on top)
• Pour jar of caramel syrup over the chocolate syrup.

  

• Next, sprinkle a thin layer of heath bar bits over the caramel layer.

• Cover the cake with cool whip

• Top with the rest of the heath bar bits

• And enjoy! oops doesn’t last long!

I have heard this cake called by another name but will not call it that since my family reads my blog or at least I think they do….

I’m A Morning Workouts Person Now

Over the past couple months I have made the transition to a morning workout person. I will be the first to admit that it was not an easy thing to do, I love sleeping in, who doesn’t. I also love being able to come home from work and not have to run, eat dinner and go to bed.

At first I started out by working out in the morning if I had something to do after work. This way I was guaranteed to get my workout in. I would hit the snooze multiple times but would eventually, slowly drag myself to the gym. Once there I was fine. Getting there was the hard part.

I eventually started going every morning and guess what? It got easier and easier to get up at the god awful time of 4:40am. Seriously, if I take a rest day I wake up at 5am (on my own) and am like “OMG!!! I over slept!!!” Nope, just used to early morning workouts.

Here are my tips to get yourself out the door and to the gym.

• Have everything ready to go and laid out the night before. Gym bag packed, Ipod charged and clothes ready. Even have your shoes untied so you can just slip your feet in and go.

           

• Sleep in your gym clothes. I will sleep in my tank, sports bra and socks most days. That way when I get up all I have to do is throw on shorts and go. (Bringing sexy back, I know)
• Put your Ipod on your night stand. When the alarm goes off, instantly turn your Ipod on and put in your ear buds (don’t want to wake the whole house). The music will wake you up and get your moving.

• Don’t think! When the alarm goes off, don’t even think about how tired you are or talking yourself into a few more minutes of sleep. As soon as you start to think about it, you talk yourself out of it.
• Bribe yourself. I tell myself I can have a special coffee to reward myself for working out. Seems counter productive but after my workout I usually decide I don’t want or need it. (Shopping Bribes work too)
• Move your alarm clock. Preferably across the room.
• Grab a friend. Have a friend meet you for an early morning workout, can’t skip when you are meeting up with someone.
• Go to bed early. Duh. Go to bed early wake up early. Pretty much rocket science right there folks.

If those tips don’t help, maybe it will help just know that you burn more calories by working out in the morning. Talk about jump starting your day!

Are you a morning worker outer? Any tips that help you wake up?

This Year For Lent I Am Giving Up Everything!

Not sure why but pretty sure every year I give up something food related for Lent. Last year I gave up pop and that wasn’t extremely hard but was a minor inconvenience at times. This year though I am giving up a list of things. God help you all.

I was going to do The “No Junk Food Challenge” for the entire month of March, instead of the 21 days it states.

But with Lent starting, ummm, tomorrow, I decided to do this for the next 40 days.

OMG I am going to die. (cue dramatic music and screaming)

 So yes I am giving up the following:

• Chocolate-including chocolate milk *gasp!
• Candy-I miss you already Swedish Fish.
• Cookies-Oreos, I will come back for you. I promise.
• Cakes, Donuts, Muffins, Pastries-I love you carbs, xoxo!
• White Bread-I really don’t eat you anyways so this should be easy. Peace out.
• Chips-this includes chips and salsa, one of my favorite snacks.
• Fast Food-I don’t eat fast food often, but I will miss you Taco Bell (yes I eat Taco Bell sober, don’t hate).
• Pop-This one is fairly easy since it is rare that I have it now anyways, plus I gave it up last year, so really this is round 2. Oh hey, Pop is not even on the list and I am giving it up. Go Me!
• Peanut Butter, Nutella and other yummy spreads Yes I said Peanut Butter, wow is this getting tough.
• Ice Cream-Including Fro-yo. Don’t forget about me Menchies.

If I survive this it will be because coffee and beer are not on the list. Hopefully I can get by eating popcorn and hardboiled eggs as my “junk food” for the next 40 days.

Questions: Do pretzels count as chips? and does Subway count as fast food? I say no to both but I don’t want you guys to think I am cheating so let me know!

If you participate in Lent, what are you giving up? If you don’t do Lent feel free to join me in my death sentence/No junk food challenge anyways (even if it is just for a week, 21 days, a month or 40 days). Also any tips on some healthy snacks that I can eat is more than welcome. (Besides fruits and veggies)

Cleveland Marathon Training Week 5: Tired

Not really sure why but my legs were really tired this week. Could have been all the running I did in the snow last weekend plus back to back long runs, awesome speedwork, and it being week 5 of training. Whatever it was my legs are almost over being tired now. Now they are just sore, good thing today is my rest day

Sunday: 8 miles-outside-group run with Heather, Beal, Mason and Ryan. We even went to brunch afterwards and then I did 8 more miles to complete my long run that I missed on Saturday due to the Blizzard.

Thanks for the picture Heather!

Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: Speedwork, 6-800s @ 3:03, 3:02, 3:04, 3:02, 3:01 and 2:57. Plus warm up and cool down=7 miles. First time this season I have done just 800 repeats and it was hard. Mentally and physically. and Nike Training App 15 min leg sculptor
Wednesday: 6 Miles and Nike Training App 15 min arms
Thursday: 6 Miles and Nike Training App 15 min Butt Blaster
Friday: 6 Miles and Nike Training App 15 min Shoulders
Saturday: 2 mile warm up, 5K race, 3 miles with Ryan, 6 miles with Eli and then 3 more on my own for a total of 17.

Total Mileage: 58

Only reason my mileage was so high is because I did a long run on Sunday and then one that Saturday. This week I should be back to my normal routine as long as we don’t have a snowstorm on Saturday. If we do I will just head to the treadmill instead

I have been kinda good about cross training. Have not been to yoga or spinning (fail) but I have been picking a Nike Training App workout and doing the short 15 min ones. Also still keeping up with the Fab Ab February.

Chili Bowl 5K 2012

I went back and forth on if I wanted to run this race this year. It is a good race but I really wanted to get a good long run in. I was afraid the 5K would make my long run extra hard, and the race didn’t start til 9:30 so my long run wouldn’t be done until much later. I eventually decided I would run the race and that it would be awesome speedwork and to see where I am at in my training to far.

Loving this year's shirt

After a 2 mile warm up, parts of which were on the 5K course I felt pretty comfortable with the course. Nothing too hilly and the wind didn’t seem like it would be a factor. Last year for this race it was incredibly windy for the entire race so I was happy that there was very little wind.

I had so many goals for this race: 1) don’t go out too fast, 2) run sub 23, 3) run 22 something, 4) go crazy if I PR, 5) don’t be upset if I don’t PR, and 6) have fun!

Before the race I ran into so many Cleveland area runners that I haven’t seen the past couple months so it was nice to say hi and it also helps to keep the nerves down. Yeah I still get nervous after running over 100 races.

As the gun went off, I was going way fast but felt amazing, I slowed down a little but my first mile was a 6:25. For the second mile I just tried to hold on to that pace which was not easy but ended up with a 7:05 for the second mile. After that I hit the wind and could feel my pace slowing down and also had to go up a gradual hill. Mile 3 ended up being 7:32 and my sprint to the finish was at a 5:55 pace. I was doing some major work and finished with a time of 21:28 a 6:55 pace. For the first race of the year I am beyond happy with that. Proving that my hard work and speedwork is paying off. I have been chasing a PR in this distance down for a while and I think this might be the year I get it. Fingers Crossed!

So I didn’t place in this race, was 5th in my age group but there is some pretty tough competition so there is always next year

Anyone else race the Chili Bowl this year? thoughts? (I loved it).

Next race is St. Malachi 5 miler, who will be there (raises hand). Pre-Register before March 8th for only $18 (your welcome)

Refuel With Chocolate Milk

A couple months ago I begged all my friends and family to vote for me……daily so that I could win a Chocolate Milk Refuel Grant. Well it worked! I was a finalist for that month and won the grant. They also sent me some other goodies in the mail as an official member of Team Refuel. A running hat, a bag, an ipod arm case (I think it actually fits my phone), an ice pack and a shirt.

                    

Other Team Refuel athletes include Apolo Ohno, Chris Bosh, Dana Torres, Skinny Runner, Emily Sweats and now me!

Fun Facts about Chocolate Milk:

1. Chocolate milk has 9 essential nutrients not usually found in recovery drinks.
2. Chocolate milk is a “natural” when it comes to electrolytes. Provides calcium, potassium, sodium and magnesium.
3. Chocolate milk is a nutrient-laden liquid that helps you rehydrate. Some say better than sports drinks
4. Chocolate milk contains high-quality protein that helps repair and rebuild muscles after exercise.
5. Chocolate milk contains the right mix of carbs and protein to refuel muscles after a tough workout.

Aka, train hard and then sit back and relax with some chocolate milk.

Thanks so much to everyone who voted! You guys are incredibly awesome!

You too can be a part of Team Refuel. It is as easy as filling out this application and getting your friends to vote.

Cleveland Marathon Training Week 4

A couple ups and downs with this weeks training do to the snow storm we got on Saturday. I admit I was pretty cranky about my Saturday long run but I have to remember that I cannot control the weather and I did what I could.  Also I did much better on cross training this week. I used some of the workouts on my Nike Training App. They have workouts from 15-45 mins. Sometimes I would do a quick 15 minute workout before I left for work or at night while I was watching tv. If you have not tried this app I recommend it. My legs were sore for days.

Sunday: 8 miles-outside with Ryan. Super bowl Sunday so the group didn’t meet.
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: Speedwork=3-1 miles @ 6:42, 6:43 and 6:37, 4-800s @ 3:04, 3:00, 2:59 and 2:55. Plus warm up and cool down=7 miles
Wednesday: 7 Miles
Thursday: 7 Miles
Friday: 6 Miles with Kristy
Saturday: 10 miles with Second Sole down in Hinckley. Which if you are not familiar it is really hilly which makes for great training. What didn’t make for great training was all the snow we got. Running up hills in the snow was not going so well when you had no traction. Also, it was snowing pretty hard while we were running and my eyelashes kept freezing together. So yeah, that was fun. Since I only got in 10 miles I moved my long run til Sunday instead.

Total Mileage: 45 Miles

97 days til the Cleveland Marathon. I am getting super excited!!!!