Oats & Nanners: Getting over the exercise slump

Oooops! I guess I'm a bad blogger. In my defense, it's been a pretty crazy couple of days. I mean, the last time we talked, I was still in recovery mode from my ranch-soaked Brazilian meal... It takes awhile to get over something that traumatic!

Anyways, I have a few cool things to share with you :)
The thing that I'm most excited about is my newest oatmeal addiction:

Cake Batter Oatmeal Pudding
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of oats (I use Quaker - how original)
- 1 1/2 cups of water
- 1/2 cup of milk or substitute (I use almond milk)
- about 2 tbls of sugar-free vanilla pudding mix
- a little dash of salt
- a bit of cinnamon for some flavaaa

Directions: heat in the microwave for a little under 3 minutes (this stuff thickens up super fast thanks to the pudding mix... at least that's my theory). I usually make my batch overnight and stick it in the fridge but you can eat it as soon as it's cool enough not to scald the roof of your mouth & render the majoring of your taste buds useless - believe me, it happens.

I usually add 2 packets of sweetener in the morning :) I like to start 'em off on the right ~~food~~ foot.
It seriously tastes like cake. in a bowl. get outttaaa here!

So, I had a whole bunch of recipes lined up to share with you... but I've been struck by the Monday morning curse. My calorie-friendly, yet totally delicious, granola recipe was burnt. not salvageable. AND THEN my dinner turned out to be a pile of dense and really unattractive (but pretty tasty) whole-wheat pancakes and a bowl of eggs and veggies...

Believe me, nobody wants to see a picture of that.

The NEXT thing I'm excited to share are a few tricks out of my "I'm a lazy pig and half the time I have to bribe myself with frozen yogurt to get my ass to the gym" bag. Don't act like that's a surprise to you... and yes, it sounded a little less pathetic in my head.

Anyways, tips:
1. Picture your workout. Whenever I'm on my couch (in my sweatsies) trying to work up the courage and energy to get a workout in, I start picturing the running route I'm going to take. I go through my list of go-to runs and eventually, the idea of running through some gorgeous neighborhoods, soaking up the sunlight, passing by some cute boutiques, and charging up some major hills starts to sound appealing. Before the moment passes, get out the door.
2. Update your running playlist. Go to your favorite radio station's website and look up some of the playlists they post. Download some of those songs that you always sing to in the car but never get around to actually downloading... I recently added "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates, "Rhythm of Love" by Plain White T's, "Beautiful Day" by U2, and "Keep Your Head Up" by Andy Grammer.
3. Go by the first mile rule. Give yourself a good 10-15 minutes or one mile deadline. HONESTLY, if after one mile, you're still hating every second of your workout, stop. Don't keep going. Turn around and enjoy the walk back, you can plan an alternate workout for later. You seriously want to associate running with some good feelings. If you start hating your workouts, the likelihood of you exercising daily is slim-to-none.
4. Cut yourself some slack. Don't start pressuring yourself into running that 8 minute mile pace if you're already struggling to get through your workout. Just tell yourself, "I don't care how fast you go, as long as one leg is still moving in front of the other." Yes, a 12 minute mile is still better than a 0 minute mile... :)
5. Challenge yourself. Okay, this semi-conflicts with the previous tip. But, whenever I'm feeling like a slow poke, I find a hill to run up. Yes, my pace is still turtle-like, but something about conquering a challenge (like some crazy hill) really gets those endorphins flowing and your ego starts to whisper things like "Casey, you are so amazing, keep going, you're unstoppable." errr something like that.

WOOOHOO! Go workout!!!!
By the way, I'm thinking of adding a new page that documents my daily workouts...
Just so I can seriously keep myself in check. Don't feel obligated to read it - dear God! But do feel free to laugh at my pathetic "15-minute treadmill walk" exercises.

I'll try to fill the next post with some cooler pics - with food. But for now, check out pictures from my weekend hike :)