Back to the Long Runs.

I have been working back up to longer distance running for the past two weeks.  Slow and steady was my game plan and so far it seems to be working.  Yes, I missed out on logging quite a few of my training miles but since it’s pretty early in training, hopefully it does not negatively impact me come race day.  Not to mention, the only real goal I am going to let myself have for running my first marathon is to FINISH!  Sure, I have “secret” goals in my head that I know I would be capable of in ideal situations but the truth is, I really have no idea how my body will respond to running 26.2 miles at one time… And my longest training run is “only” 20 miles so those last 6.2 on race day could be the hardest 6.2 miles I ever run in my life.  So I need to have NO TIME GOALS!  (going to keep telling myself this for the next 3 months…)  We’ll see how well I really do with this!

So to practice this no time goal mentality, I set out on this morning’s run with no goal pace or finish time.  I just wanted to go out, run 12 miles and finish.  Those were my only requirements.  There was also to be no looking at the garmin except for figuring out when to turn around/how much is left (yeah, nice thought practice makes perfect?)  I did pretty well with the first part of that goal but the whole watch looking thing didn’t really pan out.  It’s just WAY too easy to glance down and see your pace.  Regardless, it didn’t really seem to mess with me and I just took it for what it was and glanced back up.

Before heading out, I sipped some coffee and snacked on a banana, rice cake and peanut butter.  I also drank plenty of water.  My race fuel for the day was one Chocolate Clif Shot and one Mocha Clif Shot (arsenic free!!)

I planned to set out on a 7 mile loop and then a 5 mile loop to give me a chance to stop home if things were not going too well.  I don’t really like doing things like this because it’s mentally challenging but it just seemed like a good initial plan since I have not run double digits in a month or so.  I ended up doing more of an 8 mile loop, with another 2 mile loop here and there so I stuck closer to home at the end but didn’t ever get TOO close!  It ended up working out just fine (minus that I ran past the same creeper cop car about 6 times…)

Overall, I would say this run went really well and was definitely a confidence booster for getting back into training.  I hate to say it because I will probably jinx myself (and Sister will hate me) but this run was not really a struggle at any point.  I hate to type this but yet I know there will be plenty of runs that go horribly and I will need to be able to look back to runs like this that go better than expected to remind myself that no two runs are created equal and just because one goes poorly, does not signify anything about the next.

Weather today was just about perfect February weather as well!  30 degrees and sunshine!!  When does that happen in Wisconsin and in February!  We are being spoiled this winter and I have a bad feeling we are going to pay for it oh about May 20th?  Ha!  I wore running tights, long sleeve shirt, t-shirt, fleece vest and light gloves.  The t-shirt would not have been needed and the gloves were on again, off again…

Splits looked a little something like this:

Finally took the time to figure out screen shot instead of re-typing these all #lazy

I ended up giving myself a goal to finish my last mile under and 9:00 and I made it!  Whoot!

And post run, my breakfast looked a little something like this!!

Oatmeal minus the oats, coconut butter, White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter, apricot jam and a few sprinkles of Love Grown Foods Granola!  (plus maybe a spoonful of cookie dough )  I’ll probably need a snack/lunch in about 20 minutes already because nothing seems to be keeping me full these days… annoying??!?!

Finally, I had a little arch pain in my foot today because I think I pulled a muscle in it the other day when I was getting out of the shower… seriously?!?!  It did not really hurt when I was running as much as it does walking but I am currently icing it and hopefully by Monday’s run it’s gone?!  Also, it never fails to surprise me that my ARMS have the guts to start to feel “tired” when clearly my legs are working a little harder… but not matter what I do, I can’t seem to get my upper body muscle to get as strong as my lower body ones?!?  I’ll have to do some research on this and see what I can find out because I honestly would have been able to make my legs move more this morning but my ARMS couldn’t do it.  What the heck!

Guess 800+ words about one run is probably enough so I’ll stop now – lol!  Happy Saturday, Everyone!

WIAW: Long Run Style

So a looooong time ago I participated in What I Ate Wednesday which is a blog party hosted by Jen over at Peas and Crayons (such a fun idea!) and then somehow just totally fell off the wagon of joining this party…oops!  Well, after having fun looking back at my one post and Sister’s dozen or so posts, we both decided to get back with it!  Since weekday eatings are very boring around here, I decided to show everyone who cares what I ate the day of my long run this past weekend!  My appetite is always kind of off after running longer distances but today ended up being pretty good in the end I think!

Morning: Started with a cup or two of coffee (unpictured) and some rice cakes with peanut butter and jelly.

On my Run: One Clif Chocolate shot and One Mocha Clif shot

Post Run: Protein pancake, TONS of peanut butter, cup of cocoa with a huge marshmallow and an EmergenC.

Lunch: PF Changs Take Out.  This is a recycled picture from another time we got take out but it was the same items, Singapore Street Noodles and Pork Fried Rice (plus a Ginger Chicken and Broccoli).  I think I could have eaten all three meals but I somehow refrained

Lunch was followed by the making of the World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Some cookie dough AND baked cookies were consumed…

Afternoon snack: Luna Protein bar (Cherry Almond flavor) and some Popcorn!  Salt and protein are my two favorite post run items for sure!

Dinner: Vegetable Rice Soup (with white corn tortilla chip crumbles), Grilled Cheese Sandwich, extra piece of string cheese and two clementines.

Dessert: Two more of those delicious cookies!

Like I said at the beginning, my appetite is really not as high as it should be after long runs so you can bet I made up for that fact on Sunday  Also, next week I’ll work on trying to take pictures with better backgrounds

Happy Wednesday, Everyone.

Shake it up.

I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures and interesting content on this post.  I am tired.  Boo hoo I know…

Normally on Thursday’s I run in the morning and do Body Pump after work.  Today I decided to do them both back to back.  All I can say is oof da!  But it really reminded me I am NOT an evening running, I am a morning runner.  I don’t know what it is about me that makes it so much more painful to run in the afternoon.  I get a side stitch and just want to lie down and take a nap  But regardless of how bad I was whining, I still made my 3 miles of tempo plus warm up/cool down plus some because apparently maps and me don’t get along… I wanted to make the entire loop 3.7 miles to give me time before Body Pump but ended up getting a route that was 4.2 miles… oops!  So instead I had to rush around and cram a icky larabar down my throat so I wouldn’t pass out…  Oh well, I still finished in record time of 36 minutes!  So not bad considering my tortoise speed  But man did this combo make me hungry!!  I had a smoothie immediately after getting home, plus then pizza dinner and cereal and could still eat more… bottomless pit!  Good thing I only have to change to this routine this week and then change it up again next week!  Otherwise, I would run out of food for eating Friday or until grocery shopping again!

And so my half marathon is all of a sudden 9 days away!  When did that happen??  This time next week I will be officially in taper mode and sitting as much as possible!  For my past half marathon’s I started carbo loading like 3-5 days before and this has always left me feeling rather squishy in the middle if you know what I mean so for this race, I think I am going to try to stick to a good amount of protein before and then maybe just Saturday lunch and dinner load up on carby things?  We shall see… being glutenless and carbo loading creates it’s own challenges as well…. One more long run on Saturday – 11 miles!!  Crossing my fingers for an encouraging run and not a imnevergoingtorunagainwhattheheckwasithinkingsigninguptorunthiscrazything!  I’ll maybe do a post about my pre-race eats and try to think of some other interesting things to post about.  I feel very uninspired lately and I think it has to do with the total exhaustion I have by the time I get around to blogging.  Wittyness and tiredness do not get along well with me… Sorry

Question – anything in your routine you have recently switched up?  How did it go? Did you realize you had a routine for a reason??