Weekend in a Nutshell.

This past weekend was a fun one.  Nothing super exciting happened but it was still much appreciated after a full week back at work (with co-worker drama mixed in – blech)

On Saturday I overachieved at my 2013 goal for January and also did a craft project to add to my organizational project I did last week!  I’m on a roll!  I’d seen this post for a pompom/wood slice project and for some reason was really drawn to it.  And really drawn to the idea of a mindless craft project after an annoying week…

Here’s how mine turned out!

Not quite as good as Ashley’s and $10 over my monthly craft allowance but considering I had to purchase a glue gun that I will ideally be using again, we’ll say that’s close enough.  Side note: I have totally missed the smell of a hot glue gun.  If you’ve never used one, you don’t know what I mean but it brought back many memories of crafting as a kid and projects at church, etc. So random!

Before and After

I also tried my hand at baking some Babycakes cookies this weekend!  I wanted to make Babycakes cookie sandwiches but I struck out on locating Rice Milk Powder… never fear, Amazon Prime is here (but not until later this week).  The cookies were a major bust on the appearance front (except for three), because I failed to realize how much these suckers spread!  I’ve never made vegan cookies that spread anywhere!  Despite their none bakery case appearance, they tasted fan-tas-tic!

One cookie, right?

Almost as pretty as the original, or no…

I got the recipe for these cookies on the Babycakes app so if you want some good vegan and gluten free recipes, check out that app!  It’s really fun, probably my favorite purchased app. (One version was on Oprah too, slightly different than mine but same idea)

I also took my Little Brother bowling this weekend!  Is it weird that my arm is sore from throwing the 11 pound ball?  Ha!  He had such a fun time and so did I.  I’m really loving the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program so far.  It’s letting me remember all these fun things I used to do when I was little  You’re never too old to act like a kid, right?

Got to wear these cuties too!

Now I just need to find a way to get through the next 4 days to get another weekend… I might start a petition for 3 day weekends every weekend.  Is anyone in?

Did you do anything fun this weekend?  Would you rather work 5 8 hour days or 4 10 hours days to get your “40 hour work week” in? 

Marathon Monday: 11/26

A day late, a dollar short – whatever!  This holiday/birthday week went way too fast and I had zero interest in blogging this weekend (or doing my NASM apparently – whoops!) so this will just have to be a day late + – I’m sure you’re really broken inside about this – I know I am

Anyways, here’s a recap of my workouts from the past 7 days + whatever else happened while I was out!

Monday (aka my b-day): I stayed home from work and went to check out a class at the gym in the morning – Interval.  Not exactly a class I will be missing attending regularly, that’s for sure… but later in the afternoon, when sister was done with work, we headed back for another class, TRX!  Love, love, loved this workout!  But I refuse to pay $10/time after we use up our joining gift certificates.  Sad.  Also kind of worried this gym is going to be a big fat bust on the classes.  So far, not so good…

Tuesday: Back at work, yuck but I managed to run 3 miles before work!  I don’t think I did anything else in the after work hours but I cannot recall…

Wednesday: Yoga DVD + 15 minute Core + 15 min Arms DVDs.  Yoga was either this day or Tuesday I guess.  #memoryfailure

Thursday: Turkey Day!!!  My favorite holiday!  I cooked dinner/lunch at my house and my parents, grandparents and sis were there to enjoy the food.  I always fail to time turkey cooking correctly though… Wanted to eat at 5pm but the turkey was done by 3:30pm.  I always end up with turkeys cooked way before the normal Xmins/lb says it should be done.  But regardless, it was all really delicious and I ate way too much!

TURKEY!

Man, I want there to still be leftovers in the fridge…

For workout it was a big fat rest day + being on my feet for 5ish hours cooking – ha!

Friday: Sister and I tackled her first ever 20 mile run!  It was terribly windy on Friday and also quite cold.  We didn’t really feel the full effects of the weather on the first 13ish miles but by the time we finished that first portion, we were both so cold + so windblown.  We refilled water bottles and tried to chug along for the final 6.35 miles but those 6+ miles felt like they might as well have been the full 20!  And then to top it all off, my hip started hurt, hurting around mile 17 and I tried to make it go away up to mile 18 but to no avail… so we walked the next 1.5, stopped home for a little pup and walked it to the finish around his “block”.  Hopefully we will get in another 20 miler closer to Christmas because this one was anything but confidence boosting for me!  Plus I want sister to run it home next time  After the run, we parked our butts in bed and watched a Twilight Marathon – ha!

Nap time.

Saturday: I was planning to go to the gym but guess what?  Didn’t happen!  So instead I did the Strength DVD from Insanity Asylum.  Totally love this DVD from the crazier Insanity!  The others have a lot of jumping but someday I want to go through the whole program and actually eat healthy along the way too to see what it can do for me!  Maybe come February…or when I’m 40.

Sunday: Made it to the gym!  And did a 40ish minute weight circuit I made up (must practice chin ups…) and then went to a yoga class at the gym.  After working out, the family attempted to get a Christmas tree for my house and the parents.  It turned into quite the ruckus when we 1) got locked out of the house and 2) had to drive to THREE tree farms to try to find something >4′ tall + <$70.  But somehow we managed… after walking, and walking and walking some more!

All said and done, I ran 23 miles and made it to the gym 3 times so I met all my goals!  I also squeezed yoga in twice so that’s a good thing for me!

For the next week, I am planning 20 miles of running + 3 gym trips again.  Also yoga > 1 time

Peace out, Homies.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday if you are in the US!  Any good workouts from the past week?

Race Flashback: 2012 Fox Cities Half Marathon

On Sunday, I finished my 8th half marathon. And it was by far my favorite or at the very least second favorite half marathon so far. But let’s go back to Saturday, the night before the race!

We headed to Appleton around lunchtime on Saturday. I’d wanted to check out this gluten free store that closed at 2 and thought we weren’t going to make it. Turns out I would not have missed much. I have more gluten free options at a regular grocery store than this special store… Plus it was in a really weird building and they had tanning and a gym in adjoining rooms. Weird.

After this “store” we headed to the race expo to get our bibs. It worked out awesome because we got to meet up with my blogging buddy Allison from runningthroughredlights.com!!! It was so fun to finally meet a person I’ve only connected with online. We chated for awhile and then headed our separate ways to prep for the big run in the morning.

We did a little shopping and then headed to dinner. We tried out a new to us place called Gingerrootz. They had an awesome gluten free menu and were very knowledgable. We got the summer rolls to start and then I got an a.a.c roll and an asparagus maki roll. Both were very good. I got full pretty quick but managed to take one for the team and finish them since I figured four little sushi pieces might not cut it for a half marathon in the morning! The salt + carbines of sushi tasted just perfect. Might have to try this combo again sometime very soon!

After dinner, we stopped at my favorite ever grocery store and found some cookies and then headed to our hotel to get ready for an early bedtime. (After cookies of course). There happened to be some soccer tournament in town haring our hotel and man, kids are LOUD! They were literally running up and down the halls and then sitting outside our room to talk, loudly. Really, our room needs to be the place you do this? No, I don’t think so.

Once we finally got to sleep, we all slept pretty good which never happens before a race!  We woke up early, but well rested so overall it wasn’t a total fail. We ate breakfast, got ready and headed to the start line about 6:15.

We got right into a porta potty line when we got there but man, we picked the slowest line ever!! It took way too long to get through the line and we got to the start with about 3 mins to spare.

I haven’t ran hardly at all these past three months so I was not expecting much to be honest. I was hoping to finish but never thought I’d run the whole thing but, (spoiler alert: I did!). Sister and I ended up running the whole thing together and the time just flew by.

Normally around 8/9 miles I hit a point where I just want to give up but this time, I just was having so much fun and feeling really great! It was pretty cold this morning, like 34 when we started, but it felt really good to me! I seem to always have better times in colder weather so something about it must work for me.

Sister and I did a run .5 miles, walk 1 min routine the whole way through and did really well with it. We never had a mile slower than 10:40 and our fastest was 9:51! I think sister and I were both shocked by how speedy we were for this race. Well, speedy for us anyways

I think the distance was getting to sis by about 11 miles but she was a trooper and just kept on going. I’m pretty sure my perkiness was starting to get on her nerves but maybe that motivated her to run faster to bring that to an end?

Before the race, I’d been having troubles trying to remember the course even though I’ve run it in 2010 and 2011. But once I started running it, the memories started coming back. I could remember seeing sister and mom in years past at certain spectating spots and hills and turns, etc.

Another highlight of this race was that my dad and little pup came up just to watch us! It was my day’s first opportunity to see sister run even though he’s seen me a few times but I’m pretty sure croz stole the show lol! He’s just so darn cute and would be watching everyone going by him looking for us and then his little ears would perk up as soon as he saw us coming!

Around mile 12, we both ended up getting super hot and sweaty! The sun must have come ut or something? But that was short lived because the finish was not too far off!

We turned the final corner and I pointed out the finish to sister and then be both put the pedal to the medal, maybe a little too much ha! Somehow, we ended up crossing the finish line with a time of 2:15:33/34 (yes, sister beat me by 1 second). A 15 MINUTE PR for sister and a middle of the road finish for me too! Slower than my last two years here but that was not the goal this year

We walked over to the river in the park where we finish and took a few more pictures and then headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for lunch.

After lunch and on the drive home, we of course had to stop at Dairy Queen for a little ice cream recovery fuel –  I don’t know what it is about ice cream but it tastes so darn good after a long run!

I really feel sore now but during the run I didn’t feel my lack of training at all. It was so weird. I definitely don’t recommend this training plan but overtraining must have been my issue and a break was more what I needed than more running. Hopefully I can channel some of this excitement for running to transfer into my marathon training I am supposed to start soon…

I still am not sure if my half in three weeks will happen or not. I read something about them not having the necessary road permits? Guess I should check into that…

Another race is over but my passion for running seems to be restored. Bring on Disney!  I’m already excited for Fox Cities in 2013!

Indianapolis: Day 4

I feel like a broken record but Wednesday was another busy day!  I’ve never been good at resting on vacation and this vacation turned out to be one of the busiest active-wise!  But it was pretty fun so I’m not complaining.

On Wednesday, Sister and I headed out on a 4 hour bike rental.  She’d gotten some free coupons with her conference so again I lucked out by being her tag-along.  We set out to explore the Broad Ripple area.  It was about 8 miles from where we picked up the bikes which didn’t really give us much exploring time but that ended up being ok because we really just ended up aimlessly wandering again…

If there was fun shopping here, we missed it…

We did stop in a couple of store but the kind of shopping district I was picturing was not quite what met up when we got there.  We did find a couple of dog store to try to find something for our pooch but were not successful in finding something his picky little butt would appreciate…

He probably would have shared this cookie with us…

We also spent about 20 minutes trying to get our bikes locked together and to a bike rack… sounds easier than it ended up being when we just had one solid U-lock to try to use for two bikes + bike rack…

We wandered around a health food store in the area that was pretty cool and reminded me of one we went to in Kauai.  It had floor to ceiling supplement and healthy foods!  We found a few scores – namely peanut butter ginger chews!!! – and a good granola + some cookies and then ventured on to try to find a cupcake place that had gluten free cupcakes, called The Flying Cupcake.  (It sounds like we eat nothing but sweets on vacation and to be honest, that’s kind of the way we like it – lol! Not so healthy but live’s too short!)

Our cupcake after it’s 10+ mile bike ride to our picnic location!

We just took one to split later when we had our picnic lunch, a Maple Pecan.  Then we headed back since we were not sure how long it would take us to bike and we were quite a  ways away and figured we could eat lunch after we’d returned the bikes.

The not as paved part of our journey…

We made the 10ish mile loop back along the trail (the Monon Trail) and realized this trail was not quite as pretty as the downtown Cultural Trial but it was still nice to have a trail to ride along.

Almost back… just wanted to make it at least 20 miles!

We made it back to the Bike Hub, turned in our bikes and then walked the City Market real quick to try to find some drinks!  We ended up with just some Snapples but they tasted so good!

Most beautifully photographed lunch ever!

We ate our little random picnic lunch outside the Bike Hub – lunchmeat turkey, pretzels, sweet potato/carrot chips applesauce + our cupcake/cookie desserts.

Then we made the 1ish mile walk back to the hotel to rest a little and allow sister to shower and get ready for a few hours of working this afternoon.  I typed up a few posts, watched a few episodes of Angel and lazed around for awhile to wait for sister to finish working.

Once she was done, we went out walking again and decided to climb this monument but it closed at 5:30 so that will have to wait for another trip.  So we walked around a little more and then ended up at dinner at Adobo Grill Indianapolis.  They had a specific gluten free menu which initially brought me to their website but the very unique set of offerings convinced us we needed to give it a try!

I

We shared the guacamole to start and then I had pumpkin and black bean enchiladas.  They were really good but I’d eaten so many chips + guac that I could hardly eat any of my main meal… oops!

After dinner we walked around some more and then ventured back to the hotel for an early bedtime.  Sister was beat from working so hard and I was tired from being lazy so it worked for us – lol!

After dinner, we strolled the canal a ways and got to view a beautiful sunset!

Only a small portion more to recap and then it’s back to regular vacation-free posting for awhile

Indianapolis: Day 3

I missed posting yesterday but I’ll try to catch up eventually… this recap is from yesterday but I’ll have adventures from today to recap at some point also.

Yesterday was another full day but it included sister as she had a much longer break from work on Tuesday! She had to help with some morning items but by lunch time, we were free.

Boring + Healthy Breakfast

We started with lunch at cafe patachou. This place was excellent!! It was a farm to table type place that made most items from scratch or were as locally sourced as possible. I had split pea soup + half a turkey sandwich. It also came with a little side salad. Everything was fantastic!

After lunch, we head off to check out the zoo. Sister knew she got in free but I was planning to pay but when we went to get her voucher, the checker asked if I was her guest and said I’d get a free ticket too! Score.

The zoo ended up being kind of boring and it was really hard to see the animals.

One of the good exhibits.

I think we have one of these at home. We call him Crosby.

But it all became worth it when we saw the baby elephants!!!!! Elephants are my favorite animals but I’d never seen a baby one at a zoo before so this was extra cool. I think sister and I sat there for like 10 minutes saying “awwwwww it’s a baby!”

The two smallest ones are sisters I think!

After the zoo, we headed to find Whole Foods and lululemon in a mall in north Indy. Both turned into major busts… Whole foods was so run down and small and lulu was just not worth it to us today. No shirt there seemed worth their ridiculous $80 price tags. They all seemed worn or weird or something… I know that’s probably sacrilegious to say on a blog but oh well.  The mall was also a total dump construction zone. Total waste of a trip.

Then we spent about 20 minutes trying to find a dinner location. So annoying. But ended up at Cheeseburger in Paradise so we were pleased in the end! I had an all American cheeseburger, fries, side salad + a piña colada! Yuuuum!

I’ve missed cheese

Even though we’d had a largish dinner, we both still really wanted ice cream but struggled again with finding a good place so we ended up getting sundae makings at the grocery store. We ended up throwing a lot away but oh well, it was delicious and still cheaper than going for froyo or something like that. And was exactly what we wanted!

We had our “little” sundae back in the hotel room, watched a few castle episodes and hit the sack. Lots of steps again even though I was shooting for a rest day… Try 12,600!

Only one more full day

Horrible Series Ending + an Experiment.

Total random post alert!  And has nothing to do with running… you are warned

For as long as I can remember, I’ve needed to watch TV while I am getting ready in the morning.  For whatever reason, silence at that time of the day just puts me back to sleep.  I used to have a TV in my room which made this easy but since living in my current house, I have been sans bedroom TV because there are no jacks in there and I just don’t have another TV.  So to occupy my time in the morning, I have been watching trough seasons of all my favorite TV shows on hulu and Netflix. I’d pretty much exhausted the Netflix options so I cancelled my service with them after 9ish years!  (They’ve definitely gone downhill since the good ole days)  BUT, I have been really getting into some of the options on hulu!

My last series I watched through was one of my old favorites, The Pretender!  I never watched this show when it was on TV for real but I did watch through many episode on TNT when we first got cable in like 2001.  I don’t know what it is about this show but I really think it’s one of my all-time favorites  But anyways, I could not for the life of me remember how the series ended so I had to go back and watch them all again, of course!  I finished the series this week and well… I don’t remember how it ended because it was the worst ending EVER!  It just left you hanging in total suspense and it made me so mad.  Thank goodness for google though because I quickly entered “the pretender ending” and found there are two movies that they made post-cancellation!  I have obviously ordered these and will be watching them as soon as they come although it sounds like not all the answers are reveled in these movies. grrrrrr!  But whatever, worst series ending EVER.

Oh, Jerod

Now I am on to watching Angel.  I’ve never watched this series but thanks to hulu, that will be changing  I’m pretty sure this makes me a huge nerd and that’s just fine.

On a totally unrelated topic, I am currently trying a new “diet” experiment.  I’ve had a stomachache pretty much every single day for the last 5+ years and am bound and determined to find something that will help!  I’ve been to the doctor and nothing is really, really wrong but it’s just annoying more than anything.  So the experiment is to try something called the Blood Type Diet.  I’ve heard about this diet before but never really put much faith into it until one of my sister’s co-workers had really good results using it so I figured it’s not going to hurt to try it.  It’s not limiting your food by any means, just avoiding certain foods that are supposed to be “poison” for your blood type and add more foods that work as “medicine.”  Seems kind of out there but clearly something is not working for me currently…

Since I am O+, that means avoiding coconut, peanut butter, dairy, wheat,  corn, avocados and other things as well and eating more kale, spinach, red meat, kelp and sweet potatoes.  I already avoid wheat because I know that’s an issue for me but dairy will be missed – very, very much  I’m planning to give this a full two weeks of being pretty diligent about it but then you are supposed to only need to obey the rules 80% of the time so that seems pretty doable (so I will get to eat fro-yo and ice cream occasionally!!! – hopefully) so we shall see.  I am not too convinced this will do anything but I figure it can’t hurt to try.

I started on Monday and so far I am 2/3 for not feeling like crap so maybe it’s on to something… or it’s just luring me into a false sense of security, one of the two.  Yesterday was not a great day but the first two this week, I felt better than I can recall feeling recently…   Another good thing, finding new to me food that I really like!  Two main ones being figs and okra  They both sound weird but I was surprised by how good both are!  In fact, baked okra nuggets might just be my new favorite food. (Ketchup is technically outlawed but let’s be honest, ketchup is worth being a little bit sick for )

As you can see, the meals don’t look weird at all and actually look pretty good!

Can you spy someone’s birthday dinner??

If it goes well/fails miserably, I’ll try to post an update in case you are curious or have ever thought about trying it!

Questions:  What is/was your favorite TV show?  It would be really hard for me to pick just one…

Have you ever tried a random diet?  Are they all just a bunch of fluff or do some actually do what they promise?  I’ve tried Paleo, South Beach and low fat diets and all have just made my stomach feel worse.  Although South Beach did really help me feel better for awhile but zero carbs + running = disastrous bonks all around!

First Friday of Summer.

Man, it feels like it’s been a while since I typed up a random Friday post.  I have been failing miserably at blogging lately, most likely because I am sick of typing the same posts over and over and over again talking about marathon prep this and marathon prep that.  That is certainly one thing I am going to be very happy to have behind me after Sunday!  (And I suppose the whole running for 5 hours thing too!)

That’s right!  Sunday is the Big Day take 2.0 already!  These past 5 weeks have literally FLOWN by and it’s hard for me to believe it is here already.  In fact, I am pretty sure I am more in denial this time than last time because I have failed to have shoes fit for running in… oops.  My new ones showed up at my parent’s house yesterday (thank you VIP status with ZAPPOs.com!!!) so I’ll have to hope that walking a bit in them tomorrow helps break them in.  If not, I guess I will pay the price but my old ones are so bad I couldn’t make it 3 miles on Wednesday without my legs hurting horribly bad because they were so worn out.  I am pretty sure they are over 6 months old which is about 2 months past my normal retirement date… again with the Oops.

They used to look so pretty and new!

Other not so interesting facts about my week:

1) It was hellishly hot on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Like walk in an oven hot.  Somehow this particular heat wave appears to be leaving by the marathon although I will not place bets on that fact…Seriously Wisconsin.  Enough!

2) I ran about 4 miles on Monday and 3.5 on Wednesday this week for taper week and struggled with each and every step I took.  I am trying to convince myself that that does not mean anything about race day… but…

3) I am 1/3 on carbo load days so far!  It didn’t take much for me to overshoot 400gs so we shall see how the really high days go.  To be honest, I felt pretty drunk/sugared up all day and I really didn’t have much sugar, more bread like products.  Oats, bananas, pizza, larabars, homemade bread, potatoes, oh my!

Last night’s carb filled dinner!

4) These items are on standby for carbo-loading and race day!  I hate food with food coloring but sometimes I just really don’t care and say bring on the Red 40!  I bet it’s the magic marathon drug.

5) I have the taper crazies in totally different ways this time than last time.  Prepping for the last marathon I was totally mentally distracted all week but this time, I am physically bouncing off the walls.  Probably some thanks to the excess sugar/carbs and much more reduced exercise than last time?!

6) When I look at the course pictures/map for this marathon, I am so much more interested and excited by what I am going to see!  It’s pretty much all right along Lake Michigan and looks gorgeous!  Too bad I can’t just stop and take lots and lots of pictures while I am running

7) This weekend is also the second annual SummerFest Rock n Sole Half Marathon in Milwaukee.  Last years’ was an absolute disaster so I am interested to see if this years goes any better.  From what I have seen on Facebook, it sure looks much more organized than last years.

I survived!

8) I am still 100% terrified that I am going to putter out around mile 12 on Sunday.  Eeek!  I was so much more positive about the outcome of the last one… oh well, maybe that’s a good thing?!  No over confidence to mess with my head this way, that’s for sure.

9) 48 Freaking Hours!

Here we go again…..

Dammit, I want to earn this stupid sticker!

Carbo-Load.

To carbo-load or not to carbo-load.  That is the question.

My favorite food group.

When preparing for my last marathon that didn’t really happen, I didn’t bother to carbo-load. I used to be better about this when I first started running and racing but now am more freaked out by packing on even more weight in the days leading up to a race rather than being as fueled as humanly possible.  Now that I get a do-over, I am wondering if maybe I should put a little more effort into this aspect of racing.  Last time I only made it to 15 miles before they called the race but I was already starting to feel a little “wall” popping up… and I honestly don’t know how much longer I would have been able to run in that state.  Maybe it had nothing to do with carbo-loading but just maybe it did…

Oh these were GOOD carbs!

I’ve been doing a little google research these last few days (scientific, I know!) but it’s leading me to think maybe I SHOULD give myself every advantage I can in trying to cross this stinking marathon finish line finally.  I found one article that was especially convincing from Run Your BQ.  I would be joking if I thought I was capable of running a BQ race but I don’t think that exempts me from being able to use some of their tips to run MY best marathon!

Also GOOD carbs!!

According to the article, I should aim to consume 500-700g of carbohydrates for 2-3 days before the race.  That’s a TON of carbs… I normally eat about 200ishg I would guess.  If there is any truth in this theory, I would pretty much be setting myself up to fail by only consuming 200-300gs the few days before.  So I think I am going to give it a shot.  Worst case scenario I gain 5 more lbs from marathon training and it does nothing to help.  Best case scenario, it actually does something and helps me come race day.  I don’t really think the worst case scenario would be the end of the world.  What’s another 5lbs at this point??

If only I could carbo-load at the all you can eat pancake joint in TN!!

So my plan consists of the following:

Thursday: Increase carbs to 400-450g, light workout

Friday: Increase carbs to 500-550, light workout (1-2 mile jog/walk)

Saturday: Increase carbs to 600-700, no workout

Sunday: Race Day Breakfast, per usual

I’m not really sure if I could even fit that many grams of carbs in my belly so I am going to have to drink some of those carbs if I am going to really hit 700 on Saturday.  Doing the math, 700g carbs=2,800 calories of straight carbs!!  Yikes!  This could be interesting but if I am really having trouble getting all those carbs in, I won’t worry too much about it but those are my goals!  Come race day, I guess we will see if this helps anything or not.  But it will probably make my glutenous tendencies very happy

Bring on the pasta, muffins, bread and cereals!

Time to EAT!

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Doubts.

Man, it feels like I should be done with my Saturday morning long runs by now, doesn’t it?! I’m not gonna lie, the mental factor of starting over for training again is so much harder than the physical action of running.  I spent the last six months training through mentally wanting to quit with the promise of how I would feel on May 20th… and that just didn’t quite end up how I thought it would  But in some ways, I am even more resolved to just keep going now because I am so stinking close to being a marathoner it hurts!

Yes?? Or am I just obsessed? Or half crazy?!?…

This morning I was planning to just run about 7 miles because my legs are still a little beat up after the “marathon” last weekend but once I got out there and got moving, I ended up covering more like 9.5 miles and only turned around because thunder started!  The first 1-2 miles were rough… I was having a little pity party for myself and being frustrated with the fact that I “had” to be out running today but after about 20 minutes, I realized I really WANTED to be out there running.  I love running.  I don’t love starting races that get cancelled but I do love running  So instead of wondering why I “have” to be training again,  I ended up glad that I still have a motivator to get out of the house to run!

Shortly after the thunder started and I turned around, the rain started… oops!  Tomorrow it is supposed to be 95+ but today it’s pouring rain and about 55.  Love you Wisconsin!

I was pretty well soaked through by the time I got back home and my shoes started to get squishy and squeaky… my very favorite feeling in the world… NOT!  But I made it back before lightening started so I’ll take that as a positive thing!

It feels so incredibly weird to be back running and technically training for a marathon right now!  After I finish runs lately, I have the strangest de ja vu feeling like I am not really the one running… it’s hard to explain but it’s just so strange!  Hopefully my mind and body get back on the same page before June 24th!

I am hoping to get in a higher level of mileage this week and then start the taper over again!  Good thing I only ended up tapering for two weeks last time because that leaves my last 20 mile run every so slightly much closer to my try #2 at marathon day.  Hopefully I’ll get in a 16-18 miler next weekend and then take it easier until race day.  I honestly have no idea how to milk out a marathon training plan to a delayed marathon day… I couldn’t find much through Trainer Google either  This could be a total disaster or it might end up working in my favor.  I guess only time will tell!

On a totally separate note, I have a loaf of gluten free and vegan homemade bread in the oven right now… it smells and looks divine.  Fingers crossed that it bakes up just as well as it’s risen!

Pre Baking…

Hope everyone in the US is enjoying their holiday weekend thus far!  So nice to have Monday off

WIAW: 20 mile run Edition

Welcome to Wednesday!  I was half convinced all day yesterday, that it was Wednesday already but no such luck.  I have been doing this to myself a lot lately and I am not too fond of it  It’s one thing to think it’s only Wednesday and then realized op, nope, THURSDAY but NOT the other way around… that is just depressing.  But anyways, since it IS Wednesday, it means it’s time for another edition of What I Ate Wednesday hosted by Peas and Crayons!

This week I took pictures of my eats from the day I did my first ever 20 mile training run for my upcoming marathon!  So be warned, it may look like a lot of food because, well it was  I also had some random other bites that I didn’t photograph and have now forgotten… I do that a lot – forget things.  Oops!

I had been having almost uncontrollable hunger for a few weeks awhile back so I decided to try having an actual breakfast before these long training runs and then just waiting a bit to leave.  So far, it’s been working awesomely and I have been able to not feel that weird ravenous hunger that I had been feeling.  So before today’s run, I had a very delicious bowl of oatmeal and a frozen blueberry waffle!  My oats were topped with a banana, a little cashew butter, a little almond butter and some blueberry jam!  I could eat these oats every single day!

Then I ran for hours and hours and hours… and came home and immediately was starved!  This is very strange for me though.  Normally my appetite is gone on long run days and I have to force myself to eat but not today!  Stomach was growling when I walked  in the doors!  To get me through an ice bath and lots and lots of stretching, I had a smoothie and mostsome of this bag of trail mix.

But I won't lie. This bag did not survive very long...

This is my current favorite smoothie combo – coconut milk, banana, frozen pineapple and vanilla protein powder.  Tropical and refreshing!  I think it tastes a little like a pina colada  You know, without the delicious flavor of rum anyways

Lunch was served not too long after showering and getting ready for the day.  I had two chicken salad sandwiches, two pickles, some delicious Hawaiian style kettle chips from Trader Joe’s and a Chocolate Coconut water for dessert.  Yum!

A few hours later, I was starving again!  Shocker  So I had a snack of two over easy fried eggs, two toaster waffles with almond butter and honey.  I loved this snack and I wish I could bring this to work with me on the weekdays!  I want this now

Then my Sister and I drove up north to our parents house to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.  We planned a grill out – in March!  Crazy!  But it turned out delicious!

All that driving and stuff made me hungry again so we snacked on a little fancy appetizer platter before dinner!  Only the best Old Wisconsin Pepp bits and Dill Pickle Lay’s potato chips.  Meat + salty pickle flavor = delicious and totally not nutritious!  Healthy, ok, maybe not but that’s not the point

Dinner was really, really good but the picture turned out kind of blah… for my Dad’s birthday dinner, we grilled ribs, shrimp, carrots and sweet potatoes.  These ribs turned out SO good on the grill however my mom made them.  I know they cooked in the crock pot for hours and hours so that probably helped too but oh my tasty were they good!

We didn’t make a cake because we were trying to be all “avoiding desserty” but after dinner I could not stop thinking about ice cream… I ALWAYS crave ice cream the night of a long run… Of course by me talking about it, everyone was quickly on board with some DQ!    I honestly cannot remember the last time I had Dairy Queen or even ice cream in general… and it tasted beyond delicious!  Plus my mom had coupons!

I see three servings of fruit plus calcium plus protein. Health food!

Little known fact, I worked at a Dairy Queen for 6ish months when I was 16 and I can still make a mad bowl of soft serve ice cream complete with the dollops and swirls!  I used to love making the banana splits because they were actually fun to assemble.  Blizzards on the other hand were my nemesis.  So I was kind to this DQ employee and ordered a banana split – for the potassium of course

Oh man, looking back I had some really delicious food again this week.  I think I say that every week though so maybe I am just in love with food in general  But that’s not really a bad thing, right?  It’s kind of hard to run 20 miles so I think it’s important to fuel back up after the fact.  I could have been completely healthy but where is the fun in that so instead I shot for some healthy and some not so healthy to balance out all those nutrients

Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday!

Question: What do you crave after a long run/work out?