A little bit earlier this week – yay! As with last week, I’ll start with a recap of what we ate last week and how our meal plan turned out.
What We Ate Last Week
We started off Monday with a meatless meal of eggplant parmesan baked on a sheet pan. This slightly different take on eggplant parm worked out really well for us! I liked that the eggplant stayed crispier than usual and Lloyd liked that I only used one pan instead of two. The leftovers also made a great eggplant parm panini a couple of days later.
Tuesday we planned to have shrimp scampi using the leftover pasta from Monday night. But when I looked in the freezer, I could only find half a bag of shrimp. I really hope we ate the other bag I thought we had. I would hate to find it laying out somewhere in this heat…
The shrimplessness necessitated a last-minute switch to seared ahi tuna. I quick-thawed ahi steaks, doused them with Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki and crusted them with sesame seeds. I stir-fried some veggies that we had laying around and microwaved some rice from my frozen stash. My son, who won’t eat canned tuna, loved this and Lloyd & I enjoyed it as well. Oh, and the entire dinner, freezer to table, took about 25 minutes.
Wednesday was tacos al pastor using the recipe I posted last week. I liked the seasoning on these, but I think the cinnamon could have been reduced by about half. I also wish I had used a fattier cut of meat than pork loin as it ended up a little dry. But a pork loin was what I had in the freezer, so that’s what I used. I’ll give it another try with a different cut of meat and maybe a bit less time in the Instant Pot.
Thursday brought a change of plans. We’ve been trying to run in the mornings, but it didn’t happen today. So, that means we needed to run in the evening. Which means we needed to wait until almost dark so the temps would fall below 100 degrees. Which meant that we needed to plan ahead for dinner.
One of my favorite make-ahead meals is Cold Sesame Noodle Meal Prep Bowls from Sweet Peas and Saffron. We had leftover spaghetti noodles and some chickpeas in the freezer, and I added some crispy tofu to boost the protein value since it was a post-workout meal. I love the spicy, gingery sauce, and just how versatile these bowls are! In the past I’ve used only chickpeas, I’ve added tofu, edamame, shrimp and whatever leftover meat we’ve had laying around. We enjoyed our noodles cold after a sweaty run, but they’re really tasty warmed up in the microwave for a couple of minutes (just prep them into a microwave-safe container).
Friday was dinner out at Chuy’s because, well, it’s Green Chile Fest there and who can resist green chiles?
Saturday we ran errands in Austin and ended up at 99 Ranch Market to stock up on a few things. And of course, we had to get a snack while we were there. We nibbled on tasty bakery items and brought home pork buns and frozen dumplings to steam sometime this week. I also impulse-bought some produce – that always happens to me at the Asian market (and at Sprouts, Whole Foods, the farmer’s market, etc). I love being able to choose from a different set of veggies for us, but the greens come packaged in such large bags that I think we might be eating a lot of baby bok choy this week!
Meals for the Week
It seems like it’s much simpler to write about what we’re eating after the fact. Then I know what we actually did eat and didn’t and whether or not we liked it. So, this week I’m just going to list what’s on our potential menu and we’ll see how that goes.
- InstantPot Macaroni & Cheese
- Migas or Migas Frittata (the Tex-Mex version)
- Grilled chicken, Asian eggplant and steamed rice
- Cabbage, sausage & potato skillet
- Lap Cheong Fried Rice with steamed dumplings & baby bok choy
Miles & Muscles
Last Week’s Notes
From Lloyd: In case anyone was thinking that we always breeze through our workouts, this week was certainly evidence to the contrary. Thursday’s 4x800s were rough (see the photo above for evidence)!
Sunday was the longest run so far in this training cycle. It’s also the longest we’ve run in a few months. We headed out fairly early, planning to do a mile loop at a local park only to realize that the gates were locked at 7am. So we set up our truck bed “aid station” in town and ran a 5×1.25 mile loops around a few blocks. Thankfully, the sun hid behind clouds for all but the last lap, and I discovered that an ice-filled towel around your neck works wonders when it’s 80+ degrees with 98% humidity.
This Week’s Plan
After Sunday’s long and hot run, we decided an extra rest day might be in order. This week’s schedule has been rearranged a bit to allow for rest on Monday. Sometimes you just have to adjust, right?
| Monday | REST |
| Tuesday | 45 min easy run |
| Wednesday | Stronglifts workout B (squat, overhead press, deadlifts) |
| Thursday | 40 min run (hills) |
| Friday | Stronglifts workout A (squat, bench press, rows) 2 mile easy walk |
| Saturday | REST |
| Sunday | 9 mile long run |
So, that’s the plan for the coming week. As always, we’d love to have more accountability partners, whether we’re following the same training plan or something completely different!
I’d also like to get your feedback on the changes I’ve been making. Would you rather know more about what we’re going to eat or hear what we thought of it later? Do you want recipes or just summaries? What would help you?
Join us here, follow us on facebook (@fatmanontherun), and on Instagram (Sandy – @sleepigrl / Lloyd – @fatmanotr) for training reports, thoughts on meals, and recipes throughout each week.
