Niki's Neverending Adventure

TGIF!! I have a lot to talk about today! Let’s start with some yummy food talk first!! I got the recipe for Red Lobster Garlic Cheese Biscuits from my friend Brandi the other day, and they are AMAZING!! I have made them twice in 3 days! Haha. I know a few of you on Twitter have asked me for this recipe, so here it is!! But beware, they are so addicting!!

Red Lobster Garlic Cheese Biscuits

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

2 cups Bisquick

2/3 cup milk (I used nonfat)

2 TBSP melted butter

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp parsley flakes

Heat over to 400 degrees. Mix cheese and Bisquick. Add milk, stir until combined and moist. Drop onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Melt butter, add garlic salt and parsley to melted butter. Brush over biscuits. Enjoy!! 

Like I said, fabulous! They reheat well too. Just stick them in the oven for a few minutes to heat up and they turn out perfect!!

In other food related news… I tried out another kind of cereal I received from the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program.

Kelloggs Fiber Plus Antioxidants Cinnamon Oat Crunch. It was pretty cinnamony, so if you like cinnamon then this is a cereal for you! Unfortunately I am not a huge cinnamon fan, so I just thought it was ok. Plus, it didn’t pack enough punch to keep me full for long. But, the nutrition stats are really good and if you think it’s something you would like, check it out!!

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Let’s get on to some training talk!! I’ve had some good, and not so good workouts since we talked last! Let’s start with the not so good…

On Wednesday, I had planned to get my butt up at 5:30am to run before class. Yea, didn’t happen. I just wanted to sleep more than I wanted to run. It happens. So when I got home from class, around 3pm, I knew I needed to get that run in. To the treadmill it was since at 3pm around here, the heat index is usually 110-115! I started out feeling good but about 5 minutes into my run, my stomach just went crazy. Cramps galore! Note to self… a veggie sandwich for lunch is not a good idea when you plan to run a few hours later. For some reason, veggies just don’t seem to agree with my stomach very well lately, causing tummy pains and cramps. Take this and multiply it by 1000, and that’s what it felt like running. I kept stopping and trying to stretch out my stomach, but nothing worked. I finally called it quits after a slow and painful 2 miles. Oh well, you win some you lose some, right?!?

So on Thursday, I decided to go check out my school’s indoor pool since it is free after all. It took me a bit to find it, it’s pretty hidden, but it was great! It is a 25 meter pool with 5 lanes and NO ONE else was there! I had the whole pool to myself! I hope it’s like that all the time! I swam a total of 1000 meters in about 30 minutes. Here’s how I did my swim: 400 meter freestyle, followed by alternating 100 meters of breast stroke and freestyle. My goal that I’m working towards is to increase my initial freestyle swim to 1 mile (1600 meters). I was definitely tired after the first 400 and that’s why I started alternating with breast stroke, I find it a lot easier. I am completely clueless on drills and such for the pool so as of right now, I’m just trying to get my distance up! If you have any suggestions, feel free to share!!

And then this morning, I had a great run! I set out to do 3.3 miles (to even out my 3.7 miles from Monday, yes I’m crazy like that) around 6:30am. It was nice to sleep in a bit. My PF was really hurting the first 0.5 mile or so, as it always does, although now it’s bilateral instead of in just one foot. But after the 1st mile it was fine. I pushed it a bit at the end and it felt good to run hard. I wasn’t trying to push myself too hard though because I’m going to do a longer run tomorrow. Here are my stats:

3.3 miles in 32:14

Mile 1: 10:19

Mile 2: 9:45

Mile 3: 9:29

Mile 3-3.3: 2:41 (9:02 pace)

Avg Pace: 9:46

I’m just glad to be picking up my speed bit by bit! And happy for my average pace to be below 10:00!! There is definitely something to be said about consistency!!

As for races and training, I’m kinda just keeping up and building my base before I start half marathon training the beginning of September!! I am still planning to swim and ride at least once a week because I want to continue to improve on those for my Triathlon’s next season! And yes, I realize that’s a long time from now, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared!!

Well friends, that’s all for now. I think I may go get into some cupcake baking :) Have a great day!!

Posted in: on Friday, August 20, 2010 at at 3:36 PM