It’s been awhile since I blogged about my new diet journey. I talked about how celiac disease and how I wanted to begin to introduce some meat back into my diet. But that’s where I left it. So I wanted to update you all on how life has been since November.

It’s been good. I’ve done gluten-free diets before but this is the first time where I actually feel compelled to read the labels of everything I eat. Sometimes I forget but there have been no huge slip-ups and I’m finding that “gluten-free” really doesn’t mean “taste-free.” I have also found that baking gluten free is a lot better than buying gluten free, in particular, Ashley‘s gluten free donut recipes have become a staple in our household. I used to bake my famous chocolate chip cookies when I was bored, now I just open her blog and bake some donuts. My mother-in-law got me a donut pan for Christmas and I have to say that aside from her son, it’s the best thing I’ve ever received from her. Well, the clothes steamer was also pretty amazing.

I keep some gluten free bread in the freezer and the company Heartland makes delicious GF pastas that taste like “the real thing!” My snacks have been fruit and nut bars as well as homemade “Larabars.” Basically, I don’t miss cookies or bagels or other snacks that I used to turn to when I needed to munch. I also keep Annie’s Mac and Cheese and some of Amy’s frozen dinners on hand.

Now the journey back into non-vegetarian foods has been a journey I am taking much more reluctantly. Quite frankly, I’m just scared of meat. I remember reading some article about the different kids of vegetarians. I was undoubtedly the Ambivalent Vegetarian: has been a vegetarian so long that the thought of meat just seems gross and I’m scared of what havoc is will wreak on my system.

So pretty much the only meat that I have eaten has been buffalo chicken dip (Ashley {running friend, not the blogger} makes this a lot and it’s delicious, so I eat it) and that one bite of bacon I had on national bacon day.

But the surprising thing is that I have started to eat fish. This is surprising because I have never, ever before in my almost-26-years of living, liked fish. Occasionally I’d choke down a fish stick covered in ketchup or masked in macaroni and cheese, but truly, the thought of eating something that both tastes and smells like it has been swimming in its own filth is repulsive. But lately I’ve been eating fish about 2 times a week. Dave makes really good salmon and I have found the convenience of Starkist Tuna Creations packages rather delightful (I’m eating some now actually).

I’ve also been addicted to eggs. In any way: hard boiled, over easy, fried, scrambled… you name it, I love it. We started buying them in the 1 1/2 dozen cartons because I just.can’t.get.enough.eggs. And I may have turned Dave on to dippy eggs too (although I eat mine with GF toast).

I guess to sum it all up, the transition to GF lifestyle has been this: more protein, less carbs. I’m ok with that. I’ve always had a carb-heavy diet and this is a nice change. And so far I’m enjoying it and it has been perfect for half-marathon training. If I feel that I am not getting the proper nutrition, I’ll definitely reevaluate what I’m eating, but for now I’m pleased with the changes.

Now I’m trying to prep myself for the non-GF vacation I’ll be taking to Rome in March. I’m sorry but I can’t go to Italy and NOT eat pasta. It’s just not going to happen. Just pray that I don’t spend the entire week sick.

Now looking back on this post I realize that there are a lot of female names that start with “A.”

And Dave is eating pierogies next to me and I desperately need a GF recipe or frozen option. Anyone?

I did it. Something I never thought I would do.

I bought a Kindle.

To be honest, I am shocked and embarrassed and it’s actually taken me a while to get the nerve to share with you my latest purchase.

I own a Kindle? Who am I?

I spent my college career (and thousands upon thousands of dollars) devoted to my love of antiquity. Older is better. Heck, I’m surprised I don’t have a diary of papyrus.

Actually, I don’t even have a diary.

But books? I love them. I love the sound of pages turning. I love the smell. I love the satisfaction I get watching my progress by how many pages I have left to read. Reading books is one of my favorite pastimes–why would I adulterate it by reducing it to no more than a collection of 0s and 1s? Books are made of words, not binary symbols.

Oh, and I have to add that this is an opinion that I have held loudly.

Inserting my foot in my mouth now.

As I have been planning for my trip to Rome and what I need to pack, I realized that books tend to take up the most space in my carry-ons. And since there are long flights and perhaps a bus trip to Pompeii, I would need a lot of books. What to do??

Oh right. Buy a Kindle. So I did. And I already kind of love it. Please don’t tell anyone.

So far I have read The Hunger Games trilogy and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. However, I borrowed the physical copies of The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest which means only one thing…

Dave has a new toy.

Do you have a Kindle? What books should I read?

I know I haven’t really been around lately. I finally read The Hunger Games, which really explains only some of my absence. The other excuse that I can give is that I have been in such a crabby mood all week and I don’t want to talk to anyone and I’m sure no one wants to talk to me. But you know what? Everyone has crappy weeks so let’s commiserate, shall we? Just this once (ha!). Here’s a list of the gripes I have against life this week:

• The lack of planning on your part does not, and should never, become my emergency.
• Facebook
• Poor use of grammar and a general lack of writing and speaking skills. Either you slept through grade school or the education system sucks. It’s probably the latter, but I’ll still blame you. Read a book!
• How judgmental I sound in the previous point.
• Shin splints
• The lack of self-awareness in difficult people.
• The lock feature on spray bottles like Windex and other cleaners.
• Celiac disease and my digestive system.
• My fear of flying.
• Stinky bathrooms
• Internet Explorer
• People who talk to me while I’m reading.  If I could peel my eyes from the text, I’d probably beat you for interrupting me.

I may have listened to this song on repeat at work.

But now that I have vented it all, I will walk away from it all. Movin’ on.

What is making you ragey this week? Vent it here and then move on.

…And the Pittsburgh Penguins have lost their mojo, but I won’t bore you with that.

I will, however, bore your with details of some of the decisions I made tonight.

Rain showers, 40 degrees, feels like 32, wind @ 15 mph. Ashley and I decide to meet at the track for some 800s.

We may also have decided to cut the workout short since we were frozen and soaked to the bone. Also, a wind gust knocked me from the track onto the field. Wicked.

3.5 miles in that was more than enough. When I got in my car, I changed out of my soaked wind-breaker jacket (I was hoping it was waterproof, but apparently not), and into a black running pullover. When I pulled up to my house, the rain had mostly stopped and I may have made the decision to run another mile and a half… dressed entirely in black… at night…with no reflectors.

Like I’ve said, my decisions tonight reflect the fact that my mind is MIA.

I survived, no thanks to myself. And I managed 5 miles with an 8:34 pace. I had a couple miles in there under an 8 minute pace. Go me!

And speaking of running paces, have you ever used the McMillan Pace Calculator? It’s an online tool for you to plug in your race times and it calculates training paces for you.

Basically, you pick a distance and enter your most recent time and it tells you how fast you should be running different runs and workouts. I was shocked at how off my times are. I had read somewhere (I think it was in “Born to Run”) that most people run their slow runs too fast and their fast runs too slow. This calculator confirmed that. A long run between 10:05 and 11:05 min/mile?!

This is based on my 1:59 half marathon (from 9/10…a long time ago!)

The website also suggests inputing your goal time so that you can watch your training times get closer to those results as your get further into your training.

And there you have it. I may have made some idiot decisions tonight, but it was a good one to play around on that website.

Now if only the Pens would decide to start playing again, that’d be great.

Have you used a pace calculator before? What’s the worst weather you’ve run in?

As gross as tonight was, I’ve run in much worse weather…long runs negative degrees with bitter wind chills. Running makes you crazy, I guess.

Have you head of Garmin connect? Yes? No? I got my Garmin Forerunner 2 years ago and I just learned about it yesterday when Dave set up his new Garmin Edge 500 (for cycling).

It does a lot, but I don’t know all of it and I’m too lazy to go look it up, but here’s what I will tell you:

It just made training and mileage tracking super easy. Below is a screen shot of the January’s training schedule. The gray bubbles are my planned runs (starting 1/8) and the blue bubbles are the runs that have been uploaded from my Garmin.

Dave set my half-marathon training up for me! You’ll see that each week has a goal in a gray bubble on Saturday and it shows how much of that goal I have reached. You’ll see the “Weekly Totals” for this past week says that I ran 25.40 miles, but the MH Week 1 has my goal at 26 miles. Which is why “98%” is in parentheses next to the goal. I reached 98% of my goal. Not bad.

If you have a Garmin, you can go to http://connect.garmin.com and set up an account for your training.

You can create your courses and workouts online before you head out to run (or ride your bike). The information is downloaded to your device so you have it with you. And you can search other people’s courses and workouts if they have chosen to make them public.

The “Goals” tab is really cool because you can create a plethora of goals (mileage, time, speed, calories, frequency) and check your progress.

And obviously you can view each workout in depth. Here’s a screenshot of my run this afternoon:

Dave and I are enamored with this program.

Seriously.

Are you familiar with Garmin Connect? Are there other programs that you use to track your runs and training?