Staying flexible

How strict do you keep to your training schedule? Does every run have to take place on the exact date and exact pace, or do you change things around based on life events and how you feel?

I bring this up just because I knocked my 10-mile run out a day early this week to be able to go to a crossfit class with a friend Saturday morning. I'm missing out on the actual group run, but I still got the miles in and I'm also getting a cross training opportunity out of the deal. I'm completely okay with this, but I know some people try to stick to their set training schedules and deviating is totally out of the question.

I know I'll need to get a bit stricter when I start my training for the Saint Louis Go! Marathon in January, but until then, miles are miles!

So, I tried a new recipe that I'm only so-so on. It wasn't bad, but I don't see myself trying it again. I'll share, just in case it turns out better for you.

Sweet Potato Fettuccini with Cauliflower Sauce

Needed for sauce:
-head of cauliflower, chopped in florets
-32 ounce vegetable broth
-minced garlic
-butter

1. Sauté the garlic in butter and set aside.

2. Bring broth to boil, add cauliflower. Simmer till soft, 8-10 minutes.

You can see my sweet potatoes hanging out over there, too. I was multitasking

3. Use a slotted spoon to add cauliflower to food processor (may have to do it in batches). Add the garlic and about a cup of the broth and blend. Add more broth as desired until you reach the consistency you like. Set aside sauce.

Needed for Fettuccini:
-sweet potato
-butter

1. Peel potato and bake in microwave for about 1-2 minutes, depending on size, so it's just soft enough to cut into strips.

2. Cut into about quarter inch strips.

3. Sauté in pan in butter until tender.

4. Pour about a cup of the cauliflower sauce over the top, cook for another minute then serve.

I didn't take a final picture of this because it wasn't very pretty. It made me think of Martha Stewart's ugly food tweets and I just didn't want to do it.

It was good because I like sweet potatoes and I like cauliflower, but I don't think I like them together. You win some, you lose some.

But one last gem I need to share with you. I was at City Lights Coffee shop yesterday in Downtown Charleston and got a coconut water with pulp in it. This was my first experience with one with coconut pulp and it was delicious! Little pieces of coconuty goodness along with a great hydrating drink. Perfection.

It's getting cold out here, so put on all your clothes

How do you cope with cold weather running? In the past, I would just run on the treadmill. I hate the cold! But now that I've moved to South Carolina, the weather gently eases you into the winter months with one day in the 30's, but then the next 3 days in the 60's, so I've been sticking with running outside 2-3 times a week...and the rest on the treadmill. Baby steps!

My local running store, Fleet Feet Mount Pleasant, put on this awesome holiday run - Chase Santa, Beat the Grinch - where more than 100 people showed up, ran 4 miles, won lots of prizes (a running shirt for me) and if you beat santa you got a glass and if you beat the grinch you got 20% off anything in the store. There were also smores and other goodies afterward. How cool is that?! There's not many free events like that these days and it was a blast!

Santa and the Grinch

Group shot, can you find me? J/k.

After the run, I'm in the short sleeve pink

While that was a ton of fun, I did a 9-miler with the half marathon training group this past Saturday and it just was not my running day. I felt sluggish and heavy and just couldn't make myself go any faster. The problem is that most people in that group are really fast so they took off at an 8:30 pace, which I tried to keep up with for the first mile, then paid dearly for it later. 8:30 is a very fast pace for me. The fastest mile I've ever run was a 7:45 and my best 10k was done at an 8:45 pace, so there was no sustaining an 8:30 for 9 miles. I slowly dropped down to 9 minute pace, then 9:20, then fell into a groove at a 10 minute pace - my true, comfortable, long distance pace. However, one of the trainers noticed and slowed down with me, which is great, except I had to slow down to 10:30 at some points and he was more of a sub-9 kind of person. I really use the group on Saturdays to stay accountable and motivate me to get up and get my run in. It's okay if I run it alone, I've ran plenty of miles alone, because it just makes me feel bad when I'm keeping someone back from pushing themselves. Maybe the 10-miler this upcoming Saturday will play out better.

Yesterday's run was amazing though! I felt strong and motivated, which I haven't felt in a long time, so I took advantage of it and pushed myself hard. We did half mile hill repeats, where we would run hard up a hill for half a mile, then easy back down. On the third one, the store manager ran with me up the last stretch of the hill and really had me give it my all on that last push. We were prescribed 3 sets for the workout, but since I finished a little bit ahead of the last group, I went ahead and started back up the hill till I met up with them just to give myself that little extra bit. We also had a 1 mile warmup and cooldown and then I stayed for the 30 minute core workout that kicks my butt! Overall it was just a really great workout. I've been feeling a little low lately, but that workout was cathartic and just made me feel really good.

Maybe I'll go run the bridge on Thursday to try to push some of this negativity out of my life...as long as it's warm enough outside :)

Happy holidays!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but I've been having some technical difficulties with my blogger app, so I had to wait till I could sit down at my laptop and update that way. It's amazing what we do on smartphones these days! I could go a month without ever using my laptop. Anyway...

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Mine was pretty great (for the most part)! Me and the hubs hopped in the car and drove for 11 hours to visit with his family. Now, I've gotten pretty spoiled by the warm weather of the South, but Pittsburgh knocked me right into reality with 18° and snow. That definitely made for an interesting run!

After we got back home, hubs left for a military training so I've been trying to focus on my health - lots of fruit and veg and upping the workouts. I've been doing my half marathon training program still, as well as including a core class after my Tuesday night training run. It's not much and he's only gone for 3 weeks, but it just feels good to focus on myself for a bit.

Most of my recipe ideas have been inspired by the amazing Backyard Produce that I get each week, including kale-pesto salmon, carrot and potato soup, and kale and cabbage coleslaw.

Kale-pesto Salmon

Needed:
-2 salmon filets
-1/2 cup pine nuts
-2 cups kale, packed
-1 tbsp olive oil

1. Blend the pine nuts, kale and olive oil till it makes a paste.

2. Smear it on the top of the filets and let it marinate for 15 minutes.

3. Bake the marinated filets at 425° for 12 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven, seal in foil and let it sit in its foil packet for 10 minutes, then serve.

We had ours with twice-baked sweet potatoes and a veggie mix. I am obsessed with the sweet potatoes cooked this way, it's like dessert with your dinner!

Carrot Potato Soup

Needed:
-a pound of carrots, chopped
-2 potatoes, skinned and chopped
-1/2 cup rice
-onion, chopped
-32 ounces vegetable broth
-sour cream, optional

1. Simmer the carrots and potatoes in the broth for 20 minutes.

2. Add the rice and cook for an additional 18-20 minutes. The carrots/potatoes should be nice and soft.

3. Add everything to a food processor and process till the consistency you want. Serve and top with a dollop of sour cream.

This makes a pretty big portion and since it was just me, I ate on it for four days. You could probably freeze a couple portions if you get tired of eating carrots. Luckily, I thought it was pretty tasty and definitely hearty.

Kale-cabbage Coleslaw

Needed:
-2 cups kale, chopped to bite size
-1/2 head cabbage, chopped
-2 tbsp mayo
-2 tbsp Dijon mustard
-1 tbsp olive oil

1. Mix the greens together in a bowl.

2. Whisk the oil, mayo and mustard together.

3. Pour the oil mixture over the greens and mix until covered. Enjoy!

With the New Year coming up, have you started thinking about resolutions? I typically don't buy into it, because why should you only start being a better person in January? You can start any day. But me and the hubs have talked about really focusing on our relationship in the New Year - communicating more and fighting less and just trying to be more understanding of each other. After being married for 6 years, we're about due for a reminder on why we fell in love in the first place and 2014 is the year!

Crispy spaghetti!

Did you read that title??? Crispy spaghetti!! I tried this the other day and it was so good. Definitely something I will be making again.

Needed:
-spaghetti (or Fettuccini noodles like I used)
-olive oil
-veggies to be mixed inside - I used spinach and onion, but the original post used zucchini in theirs
-pasta sauce

1. Cook the noodles as directed.

2. Sauté up the veggies you're planning to use inside.

3. Mix the cooked noodles and cooked veggies together.

4. Add a little olive oil to a pan and spread it across the entire bottom. Spread the noodle/veggie mixture so that it's across the entire pan. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until browned on the bottom.

5. Here's the tricky part: slide the mixture on to a plate (so you can flip it), wipe out the pan, add a little more oil so it covers the bottom, then add the noodles back to the pan to cook the other side. Cook for another 8-10 minutes. 

6. Serve it with the pasta sauce.

I like it so much because of the texture of the noodles. They get really crispy (hence the name) and it's super tasty. The hubs doesn't usually like spaghetti, but he wanted more of this because the texture was so different.

"I wanna go fast!" - Ricky Bobby

I joined the half marathon training program for a couple reasons. First, to meet other runners in the area and learn different running paths and second, to (hopefully) make me faster.

I still have my goal of breaking the 2 hour mark for a half marathon, with a current PR of 2:01:40 as of May. With the help if this program, I really think I can get there because they make me do something I hate - speed work.

Last night is a great example. It was chilly, after 6 p.m., I was tired and already had dinner. If I had just been relying on myself to workout I probably would have given in and just ran a slower 5 miles instead of doing sprints, but since this program holds me accountable, I did those sprints.

We did 25 minutes of 400m repeats, which ended up being 6 rounds. One round was one quarter mile lap at a sprint, then one quarter mile lap at a jog. I was able to keep all my sprint laps at 1:57 - 1:58 and I was very proud of that! There were a couple times I just wanted to slow down, but I kept my eyes on the girls in front of me and they kept me motivated to keep pushing. I felt so good afterward that it made me want to sign up for more races. That's how it happens.

I also felt really good because I had eaten really well yesterday, too, so I just felt healthy all over. I roasted my acorn squash from last week's Backyard Produce box, scraped out the meat and turned it in to a little salad bowl with spinach, tomato, onion, avocado and the roasted squash seeds (that's my new obsession, roast all the seeds!).

 Look at the pretty colors!

The acorn squash shell makes its own bowl. Convenient.

After I got home from my run last night I also had my new Backyard Produce box, so that just added to my good feeling. Spinach, kale, bell peppers, avocados, tangerines and kiwis. Have I mentioned lately how much I love this service?!

Am i ... *gulp* ... Injury prone?

I've always gotten the common aches and pains from running - knees hurt, back hurts, sore muscles - but lately, it's been more. First it was the stress fracture in my foot, now it's a constant pain in my hip for the last two weeks. It's really hard to stay motivated when everything hurts.

The thing that has been keeping me moving though, is the half marathon training group I signed up for. I knew there was a reason to signed up for it! The people are really great and the Tuesday speed work kicks my butt, but my hip has been keeping me from pushing too hard. Hopefully, the insert I bought yesterday will help out with that because I'm not ready to accept the idea that my body can't handle running anymore.

Let's move on from the thought of that and I'll tell you about a couple recent recipes I've tried - butternut squash soup and diet cherry cola chocolate cake.

Butternut Squash Soup

Needed:
-butternut squash
-3 cups vegetable broth
-onion, chopped
-garlic, chopped
-thyme

Topping:
-sour cream
-green onions, chopped
-squash seeds (from the butternut squash)

1. Preheat the oven to 400, cut the squash in half, long ways, and roast in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the squash is fork-tender.

2. Scoop out the meat of the squash and put in food processor with broth, onion, garlic and thyme. Mix until well blended. Put in to bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream, a pinch of green onions and a little handful of the roasted squash seeds.

To make the roasted squash seeds, before putting the squash in the oven, scrape out the seeds and set aside. Then while the squash is roasting:

1. Rinse the seeds really well to get all the extra guts off.

2. Bring a pot of salted water to boil, add the seeds, lower the temp and let them simmer for 10 min.

3. Drain them, then pat them dry as much as possible between two papertowels. They become really sticky and will stick to the paper towel, but not a big deal, just peel them off.

4. Add the seeds to a bowl, drizzle olive oil and salt over the top and stir it around so they're all coated.

5. Lay them on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake at 325°. There's not a set amount of time for how long, you just have to watch them closely. They burn from the inside, so on the outside they look perfectly fine, but the inside they're a crisp. We checked ours every 5 minutes for about 20-25 minutes and kinda moved them around on the baking sheet each time we checked.

They are addictive.

Then, for dessert, check out the diet cherry cola chocolate cake.

All you need is cake mix and 12 ounces of diet cherry cola. Mix them together, pour in a pan and bake as directed on the box for the size pan you use. Delish! And slightly less guilt since there's no oil or eggs.

A day of firsts

Yesterday was pretty exciting. Not only did I start my half marathon training program with Fleet Feet Mt. Pleasant, but I also got my first box of produce delivered from Backyard Produce. It obviously doesn't take much to excite me.

But I am pretty excited about the training program. The people seem great, the trainers are experienced and informative and I have a feeling they are going to get me that sub-2 hour half marathon. Tuesdays are going to be a mixture of speed, hills and other intense workouts and Saturdays will be our long runs.

Yesterday we went to the track and after a warmup lap we went into some dynamic stretching before starting the sliders. I had never heard that term before but it came down to sprinting the straights and jogging the curves on the track, and we did that for 20 minutes. I have been so bad about speed work in the past that I'm positive this is going to help me reach my goal.

Then after that endorphin high, I came home to a box of fresh produce! I immediately popped the kale in the oven and made a batch of kale chips with olive oil, basil and shallot salt. Yummo! I also made a beautiful salad with the romaine and peppers for work today. Seriously, can you get any better than produce straight to your front door? Don't think so.

Kale chips, the dieters popcorn.

A little fruit and veg goes a long way

My eating had started getting out of control - Chik-fil-a stops on my way to work for waffle fries (10 WW points!!), overindulging in my favorite vice - sushi, and neglecting to track every BLT (bite, taste and lick!) - and the scale wasn't budging from the high end of my acceptable weight range (you know those 4 pounds that you juggle between). So, I had to do something and my mom sent me just the thing - Women's Running 3-day healthy cleanse diet plan. Score!

What it really comes down to is a whole lot of fruit and veg over 3 days to get you back on track. Exactly what I needed. And the soups are delicious! I will definitely be making the carrot soup again sometime and I highly recommend you check it out. I'm not a huge fan of ginger though, so I left that out. Check out the original post if you would prefer ginger in yours.

Carrot Soup

Needed:
-1.5 pounds of carrots
-1 onion, chopped
-1 zucchini, chopped
-4 cups of water
-Garlic
-Any additional spices you want to add - I went for basil and savory
-toppings to put on completed soup - i used avocado, sunflower seeds and tomato

1. Bring the water to a slight boil, add all the ingredients and let it simmer until soft - about an hour.

2. Add all the cooked veggies and half of the broth to a blender and blend until desired consistency. Done.

It's that simple.

Top it with whatever your heart's desire and that is the only thing that has Weight Watcher point values. It makes a lot, but they said you can freeze it and use it another time if you get a little overwhelmed by too much carrots.

I'm on the third day of the plan and I feel so good. The scale is back where it should be and I feel a new urge to eat healthy. Awesome.

Today is the broccoli soup. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Yasso 800's

If you've never heard of The Yasso 800 workout, I'll try to explain it. It's supposed to be a pretty good measure of estimating what time you're capable of running a marathon in (as long as you put in the training, of course) based on how fast you can run 800 meters.

Sounds simple, right? It's actually more challenging than you'd expect. You don't just run that 800 meters once, you do it 10 times. Not sounding so simple now, is it?

This is what you do - say you want to run a 4-hour marathon (like me!). So, you need to run 800 meters (or half a mile) in 4 minutes, then jog for 4 minutes and that is one round. And like I said, you work your way up to 10 rounds of that. A 3-minute half mile would equal a 3-hour marathon, 3 minutes and 30 seconds would equal 3 hours and 30 minutes, etc. I'm currently at two rounds, building a base, and I'm slightly dreading adding that third round. This is definitely going to be a lot of work, but so worth it if it works!

Adding to that, I'm looking into a half marathon training plan to get me under 2 hours and I'm going to be a lean, mean running machine! Fingers crossed!

On the food side of life, I have to tell you about my amazing discovery. There's this local business online called Backyard Produce and for $25 a week they deliver fresh, locally grown fruit and veg to my door. I don't think it's possible to beat that deal. You have the option to get their variety box and they'll send you what's best that week, or you can custom order what you want. My first delivery should show up this week and I'm so excited! I have a feeling I'm going to be coming up with all kinds of new recipes!

In case I don't post again for a bit, Happy Halloween and good luck on YOUR Yasso 800's!

Debooted

I went to the doctor this week and they gave me the go ahead to stop wearing the boot! Woohoo!

I celebrated with a 5-mile hill workout over the bridge in Mt. Pleasant and it just about kicked my butt. But it felt so good at the same time.

I also celebrated with some new shoes. I've been rockin'the Saucony Kinvaras for a couple years now, but the new model isn't really my taste. So, the good people at my local Fleet Feet talked me in to trying the Pearl Izumi E:Motion N2 Running Shoes.

I'll give them a shot and let you know.

And I don't even want to talk about the way I've been eating lately. Let's just say it's a good thing I've been given the thumbs up to start running again, otherwise I'm going to start packing on some serious pounds. I need to get back on track.

Baby steps

I went for my first road run since the Air Force Marathon, and foot injury, last night. I took it verrrry easy at a non competitive pub run with my local running store. I did a sloooow 3 miler and no pain! And the cheap beer afterward didn't hurt, either.

I'm going to continue to take it easy for a couple more weeks before I jump in to training for my next big race - Charleston Marathon in January.

Until then, I'm going to keep up with my weight training, otherwise I might go crazy!

Broken, but trying

I'm still booted for at least another week, so I'm trying to make the most of it.

Today, I brought back my weight training routine that I had fallen off the wagon with when my marathon training picked up, so no better time than now to bring it back!

If you want the full explanation with pictures, check out this post, or here's the highlights and modifications I did today:

-20 lunges (10 for each leg)
-30 pushups
-30 sit-ups
-2 sets of 10 squats
-3 sets of 10 bench press with 10lb free weights
-3 sets of 10 bent rower with 10lb free weights, again (do 1 set of bench press then 1 set of bent rower, 3x)
-2 sets of 8 dead lift squat (25lb free weight)
-3 negative resistance with 7 second lowers
-2 sets of 8 military press with 3lb free weights. I have a shoulder injury from the military, so you can easily do more weight
-3 more 7 second negative resistances

Then I rolled out my poor stiff legs with my foam roller. Me and the hubs are also gonna go for a walk this evening and hopefully I'll be back in action next week!

Booted!

So, I went to see the doctor today for my foot pain after the Air Force Marathon and I've been booted!

He said he can't see a stress fracture, but he's going to treat it like one just in case they're missing something. It's like the cone of shame for runners.

So I'm hanging out on the stationary bike right now so that I don't feel completely useless. Bummer!

Air Force Marathon recap

Well I survived the Air Force Marathon last Saturday! Not only that, but my training paid off and i PR'd by 4 minutes with a 4:45:07. I'm pretty happy about that.

The official time says 07 seconds and were gonna go with that, thank you

The race was amazing. They had great support from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base with the start and finish at the Air Force Museum and service members throughout the course pulling security, manning aide stations, and cheering us on. The other volunteers were great, too. Lots of support all along the course and frequent Gatorade and snack points. That's my kinda race!

At the end, you ran under the wings of different Air Force aircraft and then got your medal presented by a high ranking officer (2-star general!). It was a very cool experience.

Overall, I would recommend this race to anyone. Even the people if the local town come out and cheer you on as you run down main street. There's a couple hills, 2 or 3 within the last 5 miles, but apparently not enough to keep me from PR'ing, so i won't complain. Maybe all that training is starting to pay off? Who would have thought! Maybe there's a 4:30 somewhere in my future...

Me and the momma in our swag 

Now that I've praised it, let me voice my ONE complaint. First, a compliment - plenty of parking and more volunteers out there guiding us in. BUT if parking is going to be more than a mile from the start line (1.27 to be exact) please, PLEASE, put some porta potties out there! Runners, you can understand what it's like before a race. When you gotta go, you gotta go, and we had to high tail it that far before getting to the first set of porta johns at the start line. It would have been nice to have a couple out in the parking field. Once that emergency was avoided though, everything else was great!

Now, I need to come clean about my eating habits leading up to the race. We ate and ate and ate and enjoyed every bite. We were definitely fueled for the race, but I'm currently trying to burn off the extra pounds (multiple) I packed on in the process. Totally worth it though.

The race was in Ohio, but I spent some time with my family in St Louis prior. St Louis happens to be home of Jilly's Cupcakes, 2 time winner of cupcake wars, and they also just started making ice cream that has chunks of cupcake in it. That morning, we went to Original Pancake House, best pancakes I've ever had, then attacked Jilly's. I'm telling you, we went all out. Lunch was a tame shared bowl of mac n cheese and veggie quesadilla, but then the four of us devoured a pint of their Island in the Sun ice cream. Then we split four cupcakes so we could each try a little of four different flavors. Now these aren't your typical cupcakes. These are fully loaded, topped, crammed, sprinkled, full of goodies. Seriously, if you find yourself in St Louis, do yourself a favor and go there.

After the expo, me and the momma went to First Watch and split a veggie burger and quinoa salad with butternut squash, goat cheese, walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette. Sadly, I think the quinoa was cooked in chicken broth so our tummies were upset later, but it was so tasty that I'd do it again!

The last meal I need to tell you about is our carbo loading finale - a bread salad. BREAD SALAD - warm bread, olives, peppers, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and more balsamic. It was amazing. It was warm and the bread soaked up the balsamic... *drool*... Then we split a bowl of gnocci with a mushroom sauce.

Everything was so amazing. For a moment there I thought about giving up weight watchers and eating like this forever! Then I got on the scale, had a little panic attack and I'm back on the wagon.

Now I have the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October, but I think I may have done some damage to my foot. I've been in pain since mile 25 last Saturday, so I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. Fingers crossed that I didn't do any real damage!