Food Friday: Lunch, lately

Tuna + Olives.

I had never really thought of the classic Nicoise salad combination in the "Mmm, must eat" sort of way until a fellow BODYPUMP trainee was chowing on it at lunch that weekend. She said she was obsessed with it.

And, now, so am I.

Instead of going the traditional French route, I've taken the tuna to the Mediterranean for a Greek-inspired salad with tuna. I call it such because saying it's tuna salad makes me think of mayonnaise and tuna melts and things that are not this salad.

In the bowl, which, by the way, was a serving bowl:

Butter lettuce mix (my new "all my own" obsession)
Spring greens
Sliced cucumbers
Grape tomatoes
Shaved red onions
Crumbled feta
Kalamata olives
Flaked tuna (let's be real - from the can)
Sunflower seeds (for that proverbial crunch)

The salad, for me, clocked in at 270 calories, 13 grams fat, 15 grams carbohydrates and 22 grams of protein. Well, before the light ranch dressing. Sure, a Greek vinaigrette might be more appropriate but I'm a ranch girl, what can I say.

I've enjoyed the salad several times this week and thus far, I have yet to tire of it. I would have brought it to work today had I not run out of lettuce ... and ranch. Guess I know what to put on the grocery list.

What have you been enjoying for lunch? And I really want you to answer because I'm in need of an idea for next week. Pretty please, with granola on top :)

A plan ... sort of

I was ready to run this morning. I had on my capris and shirt. My socks and shoes were downstairs. I had a cup of coffee and an oatmeal jam bar.

I was all ready.

Almost all ready. It seemed my stomach wasn't on board. When I was within 10 minutes of my must-leave time frame and still not feeling better, I knew I had to cancel. It's a bummer, too, because I was really looking forward to it - especially after spending all day home with a sick Miles yesterday.

Normally, I'd be in a shit for missing a run but I'm still operating on the no plan plan. I have for the most part decided to do a half marathon Labor Day weekend (either the Indy Women's half or the local Parlor City Trot), which will really be incorporated into my marathon plan. So I have time to do what I want.

Sort of.

Mark has determined that he's going to push me this summer so we can rock the Fort-4-Fitness 4-miler. And if I'm going to be coerced into speedwork (after swearing it off), I at least want to do it systematically. I looked around at a few plans - the "Train Like a Mother" own it 5K, a few of Hal Higdon's schedules - but in the end I decided on the Women's Running Magazine Perfect 5K plan.

"A 5K plan?" you say.

I know. I know. However, what drew me to this plan was a decent long run (the longest at 8 miles), manageable speedwork and my ability to tweak the plan to still keep my weekly mileage at 20+. It also allows me to focus on BODYPUMP instructor training as I work toward my video.

The run I  missed today was a 2-mile tempo run with a 10-15 minute warmup and cooldown. While this would be considered a key workout, I am running a 5K on Sunday afternoon. The only thing I'll have to do is tweak my long run Sunday morning so I still have some energy for the race.

Ah, the beauty of the no plan plan.

What do you during down time?