Shin Splints, Anyone??

Good evening, lovemuffins :) How are we tonight?

I'm fab.. minus some minor crampage (TMI? Prob. Sorry.) But it's not too fun and resulted in a wardrobe change at around 4pm into Anthony's lacrosse sweatpants (aka pants two sizes too big for me), big warm socks, & zero makeup. Moral of the story? I'm a beaut right now, let me tell ya... a real catch.

Prior to the downturn of the day, I "slept in" until 9ish which was perfection. I woke up to Bella-Cat sleeping on my toes (equally perfect & adorable) AND nothing but rain outside (yuck!)... I began my morning with some of the regular breakfast... scrumptious banana-coconut oats:

Oats always seem to be the perfect solution to the rainy day blues :)

Had a cup or two of coffee & lazed around a little more to catch up on blog reading, make a to-do list for the day, AND plan out the rest of my meals for the day (part of my attempt to get more protein and LESS carbs in my diet)

Saddled up to brave the rain and go out to the gym...

I did 50 minutes of cardio - 20 minutes on the treadmill & 30 minutes on the elliptical

449 calories and a major leg workout later, I stopped at the grocery store for a few essentials for the rest of my planned meals of the day...

Where these caught my eye!!!

Seasonal Clif Bars!!!!! I've seen these around the old blog-o-sphere lately but they haven't shown up at any of the grocery stores I go to until now.... Cannot wait to try them :)

Have any of you been able to get your hands on these flavors?

What did you think of them??

I've still only been able to find S'mores Z-bars at one of those grocery stores too! Ughhhh...driving me nuts.

Anyway.. my legs were still sore after leaving the gym and it's starting to cause concern for me... I've had shin splints since high school when I first starting getting extreme pain and tightness during field hockey season. I've been able to keep it under control rather well through icing and wrapping during games over the years but lately the pain has come back full force. What is discouraging is the fact that it has been continually effecting my runs. The duration of my runs have become shorter & shorter due to the pain and even after excessive stretching (and icing) I haven't seen an improvement. IN FACT... it's only gotten worse :(

My concern now is that I won't be able to run the Turkey Trot I have signed up for that takes place in mid-November. It will be here sooner than I think and at the rate I'm going, I feel I'll have trouble even running the first mile!!!

The only positive point in this is the fact that the pain hasn't completely effected my workouts. I'm still able to bust out a good workout on the elliptical to make up for the missed time on the treadmill but, in all honesty, I'm more of a runner at the gym & would like to get my butt back on the treadmill (& kick its' butt!) I miss pounding out a great run and a long workout on the elliptical just doesn't give me the same accomplished feeling :(

Have any of you ever dealt with shin splints or some kind of injury/pain that has caused a drop in your productivity during a workout???

What did you do to solve the problem?

I'm desperate here! I'm not sure what to do next!!! Any advice you darlings could give me would be greatly appreciated!

The rest of the days eats look like so....

Snagged the idea for lunch from Therese for her easy-squeezy frittata... I used mushrooms (a whooole lot of them) rather than broccoli... Pre-poppin into the oven!

Made with 1 egg, 3 egg whites, 1 oz. FF cheddar cheese, BIG handful of chopped mushrooms, sprinkle of parsley, and salt & pepper....

All thrown into a pie plate coated with PAM....

Baked at 500 for 15 minutes & this browned beauty is what came out:

Sooo very good & so simple! Filled me up for quite a while & will definitely be making it again asap!

Just had to have another little sliver ;)

Doing good on the Meal Menu so far!
Oh..and P.S. that Sweet-Potato & Corn Chowder is on the menu for making tomorrow night (if I dont get stuck at work all night *fingers crossed*)

My afternoon snack was a long overdue yogurt...

Vanilla Chobani with 2 crushed graham cracker boards & a spoonful of Teddie PB

Did about 10 loads of laundry... Oyyyy! Very long overdue... and then plopped myself down to watch a Halloween favorite... ITS THE GREAT PUMPKIN CHARLIE BROWN.

Seriously... if C.Brown was a real person, he would be one sad little boy...

"I got a rock...."

Good God, poor child hahaha.

Then came dinnatime once the rumbling in mah bellay began...

Started with a pan of roasted veggies because when am I not craving those?

Roasted up some:

Yellow squash.. Carrots.. Mushrooms.. Eggplant... Onion

Along with a tilapia fillet I seasned with Season-All (a delicious combo of onion, garlic, blah blah) cooked it up in a pan for about 3-4 mins on each side...

Holy Yum... Hence why I could never give up seafood :)

My snack-fiend alterego presented herself tonight and I was craving chocolate like no other... luckily I stuck with this baby rather than picking out some tasties from our Halloween stash:

I'm a newbie to the Deeeep Chocolateeee although I do LOVE me that chocolate... I don't discriminate. If you are of the Chocolate Family, I adore you so.

Uhhhh....no brainer what was required to add to this bitty:

Light spread of smooth Teddie PB on top of a warm Vita-top? Yowzaaaah!!! PB & Chocolate at its best bebe...


And that combo, of course, requires a cold glass of this...

Time to devour.... Going....

Going......

Ended too soon if you ask me...

Thank you Sir may I have another?????

The rest of the night will consist of ME. SLEEPING. FOREVER.

I have a double at work tomorrow & want to make sure I get a full night's sleep... doubles have been killing me lately! I'm pretty sure I can blame lack of sleep and being on my feet for 9+ hours straight for this... then I'll be heading to the gym to (hopefully) get in a hard workout.... we'll see if my shins allow that :-/

Looking forward to:

1. The Volunteer Fire Department Benefit tomorrow @ work.... aka glorious firemen will be present at Flatbread and will be assisting the servers (aka yours truly) in serving dinner to customers.... Does anyone else see this as a potentially amaaaazing night? ;) Haha...come on girls. Can I hear a AMEN to FIREMEN.

2. Halloween festivities this weekend with Anthony & some of my college bebes who I've missed sooo very much! Still need to figure out a few minor pieces to my costume though (Ahhhh!) it's coming up fast!!

What are you lovelies looking forward to in the upcoming days???